Since my flight from Boston flew into the Tampa airport on Friday night (there isn’t an airport in Ocala), I planned to stay at my parents’ house in nearby St. Pete for the weekend since today is Mother’s Day and I wanted to spend it with my mom!
My family and I had plans to attend an early morning church service followed by a special Mother’s Day brunch at Marchand’s at the Renaissance Vinoy.
We’ve been to Sunday brunch at the Vinoy a small handful of times before and it is always absolutely incredible. It’s the perfect place to celebrate a very special occasion since you can sit and relax for as long as you’d like and take your time visiting all of the different buffet stations that are packed with fresh, high-quality food.
My whole family started brunch with hot tea and let it steep while we hit up the buffet for round one of a two-hour eating extravaganza. (Side note: I totally thought you let tea “seep,” but I just double checked and apparently it “steeps.” And now we know!)
I did a quick lap around the restaurant to see what I wanted to tackle first.
And then I saw it…
Snow crab claws! Decision made.
I filled my plate with crab claws, sushi (I ate two pieces before snapping the picture), clams and vegetables. The crab claws were easily the highlight of the meal.
Round two included more crab claws and sushi and a bowl of seafood from a “seafood hot pot” that included mussels, clams, scallops and shrimp.
Mother’s Day mimosas!
For my third visit to the buffet, I filled a parfait cup with the beautiful fresh fruit and a few slices of smoked gouda cheese.
In between each visit to the buffet, my family and I had a great time simply hanging out. We made sure to relax, take our time and just enjoy being together.
My mom eventually kicked off the final round: Dessert!
I started with the little chocolate dessert that was about the size of a shot glass and so, so good.
I couldn’t pass up the macaroons!
Or the made-to-order churros!
The churros were my whole family’s favorite dessert.
I also filled a plate for myself that I called the “dessert sampler.”
I initially planned to just take a bite or to of each, but I ate almost every single thing on the plate. It was just too good!
After dessert, we headed home and I packed up my bags and hit the road for Ocala. I was so, so excited to see Ryan and Sadie! I missed those two!
We’re off to go for a quick evening walk before hopefully calling it an early night.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers and mothers-to-be out there!
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Brunch looks awesome 🙂 I am glad you had a lovely day with your mom!
what a nice day!! when i lived in AZ, we always did a mother’s day brunch too. my family still does, but unfortunately i wasn’t able to be there today. all of your eats look incredible! enjoy your time with ryan and sadie. 🙂
Phew, for a second there I thought the food was going to stop at the fresh fruit and cheese as your dessert! I was thinking that is very unlike Julie..where’s the good stuff? And there it was. Just a few more pictures down, an entire plate filled with it! My faith in you was quickly restored 🙂
Ohh the food looks delicious! And the mimosas look yummy! I hope your mother had a wonderful day!
Looks delicious Julie! For the future those beautiful little French cookies are actually spelled with one o not two! the American macaroon with coconut is spelled with two o’s. Just a little fun food fact:)
thanks for sharing! ya learn something new every day!
What a wonderful way to spend Mother’s Day! Snow crab, shots of dessert, and sushi = looks like my kind of brunch!! 🙂
The seafood looks divine! Enjoy your night back with Ryan and Sadie.
Looks like you had a lovely Mother’s Day with your family. Brunch looked delicious! 🙂
Oh my god that meal looks amazing!!! I’ve never seen crab served like that.
Wow, what a fun Mother’s Day!! Those desserts look delicious! 🙂
I love Mother’s Day Brunch! This year I made ours and posted about my mama… 😉 Cheers to family time!
What a fun way to spend mothers day — everything looks delicious!
What a seafood lovin’ brunch! Glad you had a wonderful day with the fam jam! 🙂
oh my looks awesome! made to order churros? yummm
Those desserts look amazing!
All of that food looks incredible! I definitely would have tackled the seafood too 😀
Looks amazing! Especially the dessert 🙂
It all looks so yummy!
That food looks ridiculous delicious!
What a lovely brunch. Happy Mother’s Day to your mom!!
Brunch looks like a ton of fun! Happy mother’s day to your mom! Have a great evening back at home
That’s an amazing seafood selection! I guess that’s one of the many perks of living in Florida!
For approx 25 years I thought tea seeped too! And now for the last two years it is the butt of many family jokes!!! Kind of like when my little brother said he made a cake from “scrap” 🙂
ha!! i love that!
Looks like an amazing brunch! We used to go out for Mother’s Day every year when I was a kid. It was my WHOLE family – extended included. I just had a major flash back to those days. 🙂
What a spread! We went for Mothers’ Day brunch too yesterday and ate over and beyond our heart’s content…only way to do it at a buffet :)!
Looks like you had a great mothers day! Especially with all that awesome food. I wouldn’t be able to say no to the desert table either 🙂
Wow, what an impressive brunch spread! I’m so glad that you were able to enjoy Mother’s Day with your entire family; I bet it was a treat for your mom to have both you and Leslie home. 🙂
It’s been years since I’ve had a churro, but now I don’t think I’m going to be able to get them out of my thoughts. 😉 Where can a churro-craving girl get a churro, other than a fair and a baseball game? I may need to do some investigating…
Hope you enjoyed your evening with Ryan and Sadie!
Oh my goodness!
That buffet looks like my dream buffet! If there is unlimited seafood, I am there, making sure I get my money’s worth, haha.
Looks like a great mother’s day.
Plus the desserts look delicious, macarons are probably my favorutie treats ever.
Wow; all of that food looks delicious!
Love your matching red, white, and blue dresses 🙂 pretty!
This brunch looks absolutely perfect Julie… snow crab legs? Yep I would have been ALL over those too, and all of the yummy other choices for seafood! Okay sad day but I have never tried a churro before, they must have been awesome homemade
Great outfit too!
Happy Mother’s Day to your Mama, Julie! Looks like she had a pretty amazing day with her family:) Would you pretty, pretty please do a fashion post about your outfit (and Leslie’s dress, too!)? You look so pretty!
I hope you enjoyed getting home (finally!) to see your hubby and puppy:) [And from your next post, it looks like you loved coming home!]
aw, thank you! my top is from forever 21 and the skirt is banana republic. (both are actually my sister’s!) leslie’s dress is from j.crew. 🙂
Happy (belated) Mother’s Day to you and your family, Julie! I know it is a really special day for your family after what you went through with her battle against breast cancer. What a perfect day to celebrate such an unbelievable woman! The brunch looks absolutely lovely!
Hi Julie! I’ve been a reader for a while and this is my first time commenting, because I feel the need to share this with someone:
Yesterday I was preparing tea, and the tea cover said “steep for 2-3 minutes.” I was immediately at my computer, typing an email to the company telling them that they mispelled “step.” I was excited, I thought there might at least be some coupons as a reward for my hyper-awareness. And then I realized I’m the idiot.