These Are Our Stories
We hope you enjoy the stories behind our menu items and names. They are what make us unique, and a part of who we are! Within a month of us dating (clearly this is Jess writing...), I noticed that our initials together spelled PB&J. I knew Phil was a Chef, so I told him that if things worked out between us, we should open a restaurant together called PB&J Bakery & Café. He was also really into pickling veggies, making fresh jams from scratch, and fermenting starter dough for bread at the time, so I said it could also stand for "Pickling, Breads, & Jams," as well as our initials. This may or may not have been sent to him in the form of a text around 1 in the morning. Although he didn't think it was a great idea when a text woke him up in the middle of the night, by the morning, he realized it was a great concept! I'm thankful he did. That was all the way back in 2016, so it's safe to say it worked out! That's why this is so special to us!
Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner
We went mini golfing on our second date. I was VERY confident in my mini golf game because I had been coming to Fort Walton every summer, basically since birth, and played SO MUCH Goofy Golf with my Nana. I was SO confident in my mini golf game, I decided to place a little bet: the loser had to cook dinner for the other person. I hadn't planned on losing. Phil is a Chef. Clearly, he would be doing the cooking first in our relationship. Well, he didn't let me win, and maybe I had an off-day, but I TOTALLY lost. So, what on earth was I going to cook FOR A PROFESSIONAL CHEF?! (Especially to impress him because I wanted more dates!!) I have always loved cooking at home and, most of the time, made up my own recipes on the fly, but I did have a citrus ginger chicken that I made when I really wanted to impress people. I knew that wouldn't be enough; I had to take it to the next level! So, enter Winner Winner Chicken Dinner, my spin on Chicken and Waffles. I'm not a HUGE fan of Chicken & Waffles, because for me, it's just too much breading. So, I put my pan-seared citrus ginger chicken on a ginger waffle with marmalade. I grew up in Hong Kong when I was a kid and LOVE hoisin sauce. It reminds me of eating Peking Duck there, which was always a special occasion treat. So, I combined that with syrup to make it more of a waffle-syrup consistency, and added cilantro as a tasty and pretty garnish, to contrast the colors. Needless to say, Phil was super impressed. His exact words were "top 5 flavor profiles" he has ever tasted. Photo to the right is literally from that night! As a non-Chef, *mic drop*
Greek Island Vacay
Phil took me to Europe about a year into us dating. Clearly, I was going to get engaged in Europe! We were both in our 30s, had been in a serious relationship for a year, and he was taking me to EUROPE. If that doesn't scream, "Engagement," I don't know what does. I'm fairly traditional about things like that, so we weren't the couple to discuss it or go ring shopping together. I was counting on him to ask my dad for permission and, hopefully, pick out a ring I would love (he did great on both of those, without me knowing!). We were in Europe for two weeks and went to Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. Greece, to this day, is our favorite place we have been to together. We sat in this Café in Hydra, Greece, which is an island off of Athens, where basically no one on the whole island has a car, just horses and donkeys. We literally tried to come up with a plan to never leave there. Phil says he "should" have proposed there; such a beautiful island, rich culture, surrounded by stunning, shining blue water. He had the engagement ring on him the whole two week trip, waiting for the perfect moment. It wasn't there, but I would have said, "Yes," anywhere. Our engagement story is a whole other epic story, but for the purposes of, "Greek Island Vacay," it was inspired by that Vacay state of mind, where you are in a dream world and try to come up with ways not to go back to reality. The picture to the right doesn't do it justice.
Our future goal, if it all works out, when we are in our 60s/70s would be to retire there and run a Bed & Breakfast.
Mario's 1UP Dream Dinner
When I started experiencing Fibro symptoms, it would be another 2-3 years before I got a diagnosis. In the meantime, my body was in so much pain and I had gained about 80 lbs. I am a big believer in the adage that you are what you eat. Literally, what you eat constructs your cellular makeup and your entire body completely turns over all its cells and regenerates every 7-10 years. So, we started an elimination diet to see if it would help! At this point, we were completely Vegan + eggs, which I called, "Veggan." I started craving so many foods, but wanted to find healthy ways to make them, so I'm sure my conscious mind was ruminating on this a lot. Well, this recipe came to me in a dream. I had never seen or heard of sweet potato gnocchi, but ate far more sweet potatoes than white potatoes for their nutritional value and lower score on the glycemic index, keeping my blood sugar from spiking. When I woke up from my dream, I described the dish to Phil and he whipped it together.
For the Bride
Phil wanted to cook for the whole wedding weekend and the entire wedding. He probably could have pulled it off too. We rented side-by-side houses on Scenic 98, one for the Bride's family and Bridesmaids, and one for the Groom's family and Groomsmen. Phil made most of the meals for everyone, and it was a nice time for our families and friends to meet (I also highly recommend doing this because we saw so many people over the weekend, we didn't feel as much pressure to mingle at our wedding reception but focus more on enjoying being new newlyweds and dancing with each other!). I requested that Phil cook my favorite "Special Breakfast" the morning of our wedding, because I knew it would be delicious and satisfying, give me energy for the whole day, and not make me feel heavy; smoked salmon, poached egg, hollandaise sauce, and pickled red onion on a sweet Hawaiian Roll.
For the Bride was the breakfast sandwich I had right before the picture on the left was taken! Phil sent it over from the Groom's house with some small day-of wedding gifts and a note! Most beautiful and picturesque day of my life.
Irish Blessing Coffee
Our Irish Blessing Coffee simulates a rain shower by using the steam of coffee to melt a cotton candy "cloud" and make it "rain" to sweeten your drink. It reminds me so much of this Traditional Irish Blessing scroll, that a dear friend of mine gifted me at my high school graduation, and have carried with me since:
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the hallow of His hand.
Sundog Rainbow Salad
We got married on Norriego Point in the Destin Harbor. I had been going there since I was about 16 and could drive. I would go out there to pray for my future husband, or just vent to God about whatever I had going on in my life. It was a special place to me, became a special place for us, and the weather worked out for our wedding day. I'm a Christian and dating as a Christian wasn't always the easiest thing. At our wedding, we sang a hymn to the Lord called, "Great is Thy Faithfulness." While we were singing the hymn, a sundog rainbow started to form around the sun behind us. In the Bible, the rainbow was a sign of God's promise and I couldn't help but feel like it was Him smiling down on us as we thanked and praised Him for a promise fulfilled. Normally, rainbows come because of rain and they are in the opposite direction as the sun. A sundog rainbow forms in a circle around the sun, so you can look at both at the same time. Our Sundog Rainbow Salad has all the colors of the rainbow
For the Long Run
Phil is a freakishly fast runner and he loves to run! I always have to either bike next to him, or slow him down with more than a 35 lb kettlebell (we haven't found the exact weight yet that he must carry to run at a normal, average person's speed). He's built to run. He's an inch taller than me... until we sit down and you notice that he's 90% legs and 10% torso. Runners have a phrase that you don't repeat what's talked about on the long run. That's a lot of miles of talking, especially if you're training for a marathon! Also, clearly, we are in our marriage "for the long run." Picture to the right is from one of Phil's half marathons. Meanwhile, I've never been able to run one mile at a 6:30 pace, let alone 13.1 of them! It's an amazing thing to watch him race and cheer him on. Phil is a big part of the Destin Run Club! We both love the running community here!!
Tandem Bike Bisque
Yep. We own and ride an obnoxious, bright yellow tandem bike. At night, it's lit up like a circus and I LOVE IT. We bought it because:
I get obsessed over random, weird things sometimes
So that we can help the environment by not relying on our car so much
and for great exercise to and from work once we open the Café (in cooler months....).
I think the most accurate way anyone has ever described me, is as having, "quirky enthusiasm," so, don't be caught too off guard if I get overly excited about quirky things when you see me at the Café. Tandem Bike Bisque comes paired with a slice of fresh bread. Two things together, like a tandem bike....
Aunt Millie's Almond Tea
Why, yes, we do literally have an Aunt Millie! Her and my mom are originally from Cookeville, Tennessee, outside of Nashville. This tea is coming from our family to yours! We always drink Aunt Millie’s Almond Tea at special, holiday dinners, so, we associate it with special occasions and great extended family gathering conversations around the dinner table. 💜 It’s our hope you can experience that feeling when you taste our tea at the Café! I haven’t known any restaurants to have almond tea on their menu, so we are excited for this debut on ours!! If you’ve never had Almond Tea before, you’re in for a treat! Cool down with us this summer with this deliciously refreshing drink! Or enjoy it during the Fall and Winter-- it really brings out the savory flavor of any meal! We have always enjoyed it at Thanksgiving, usually when my mom's side of the family has the tradition of getting together. This is actually the first time I've had it while it's warm outside and left me wondering... why haven't I been drinking this all year round?!
Middle to Maiden
My maiden name was Steele. I think we can all agree it's a pretty BA last name to have, especially when you're an attorney. See my engraved sword to the left, "Jessica N. Steele, Esq." My dad was a Junior, but I'm the end of my line of Steeles, since I'm an only child and a female. Long before I met Phil, I had some strong opinions about changing my last name. My plan was, if I ended up marrying someone with a last name that I didn't think was as cool as Steele, we would have to come up with a creative solution like hyphenating or combining names (or, if his last name was truly terrible, he could take mine). It also became more and more of an issue because my whole reputation as a lawyer comes from my name. Jessica is just too common to be noticeable. Anyhow, I love Bauer! So, I agreed to take Phil's last name and change my maiden name to my middle name BUT, I thought it would be fair, since I was taking on a part of Phil and his family, that he would also take on mine, so I asked him to also change his middle name to Steele. And he did. To this date, it is by far the most romantic and thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me, simply because he knew how much it meant to me! So, fun fact: Phil and I not only share a last name, but also both changed our middle names to my maiden name!
Btw, since the sword has two sides, the other side now reads, "Jessica Steele Bauer, Esq."
(Thank you to my friend, Ron, for gifting me this sword!!)