Local favorites

If you're just joining us, welcome to Miami.com, a site full of guides and reviews to help you get out and enjoy life in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, the Keys and pretty much anyplace within 75 miles.

We've spent months gathering, categorizing and curating shops, outings, clubs and restaurants, and in the process, we've come across moments, places experiences that are too singular to be packed into a guide (so far). Here, a few of our favorite things that just don't seem to fit elsewhere:

Favorite spot to fall in love with Miami: Most Sundays around sunset, an elderly husband-and-wife couple perch on the Beachwalk at 17th Street on South Beach. He plays guitar, she taps along on rhythm blocks and warbles Latin songs, stopping occasionally to correct her husband's melodies when they falter. A crowd of couples, parents, kids, dogs and sunbathers gather as the sky grows pink and the sun sinks low...the sweetness is overwhelming (surely, the Germans have a word for this feeling, something like das sunsetpoignantmelodafreude?). You can't help but feel tremendously lucky to be exactly where you are.

Favorite place to pick up a plane snack, Fort Lauderdale edition: Love delicious Middle Eastern baked goods? Love cheap airport parking? Hit Noor Bakery on your way to the Park-n-Save lot in Dania Beach before you fly. Show up early to get the chicken pies and feta pies in all their fresh-from-the-oven homemade hotness. They go quick, so if you get there late in the day (after noon or so), you'll have to content yourself with baked pita topped with zata'ar and tangy, sour spinach pies. It's all fresh, all good and all under $2.50. Noor Bakery's at 4691 Ravenswood Road, Dania Beach, 954-986-1944. Exit I-95 at Griffin, go west, and turn right at the first light - Noor's up on the left.

Favorite proof that ours is, at least sometimes, a just universe: Anytime I see someone in a Bentley or a Rolls-Royce ticketed (or better yet, towed) for double-parking near Lincoln Road. Runner up: Anytime I see someone busted for illegally driving in the HOV lane on I-95.

So welcome to Miami.com. Have fun. Poke around our guides, take a video tour, leave a comment or two. Send us your feedback, your ideas and your favorite South Florida places to editor@miami.com and keep checking back to see what's new.