We Survived Hurricane Irma!

 family
Sep 192017
 

I’m so thankful Hurricane Irma wasn’t as strong as they predicted for our area. Only minor damage where we’re living now, and one tree down at the house in town. We did loose everything in our fridge/freezer and another freezer. Tons of food gone to waste 🙁

I didn’t  read or listen to my current audiobook. No blogging or visiting blogs, so it will take me  few days to catch up. Also none of my dvr shows got recorded so I have to find them On Demand.

We stayed with my son Jeremy, daughter in law Susie, Arianna and Jordon, since they live in town and only a few minutes from work. (Thanks so much for inviting us to stay with you. It was very much appreciated!) The first few days were bearable because there was a breeze, but then the wind stopped and it got HOT! Thankfully my son and daughter in law found a generator in a town about 50 minutes away, so they drove there and bought it. It felt so good to have a/c again! Let me tell you, nothing was easy to find after the hurricane hit. The grocery stores and gas stations finally got up and running but lines were really long and they ran out really soon.

Publix opened up as soon as they could but ended up having to close in a short time because they sold all their food. I love Publix, Here is one of the reasons why. Make sure you read the article after watching the video.

 

Our electricity where we live finally came back on we were able to go back home on Sunday.

The Withlacoochee River is flooding and many houses are in water. We live about a mile from the river, but thankfully it hasn’t reached us.

My daughter Kilah, son in law Harley, Alecia, and Harley Jr.  stayed with Harley’s brother. They are all ok.

Thank God Maria is headed out to sea!

My prayers are with everyone who has suffered from the hurricanes, fires, floods etc.

BTW: I’ve lived out in the country for over 30 years which means well water. You need electricity to use well water. When I found out Jeremy & Susie still had water, I was shocked. I had forgotten that with city water you still had water, it just can’t be heated. I loved still being able to take a shower, but doing it by flashlight and only cold water isn’t something I’d recommend. Especially having to wash your hair in cold water. Brrrrrrrrrrr

Weekend Cooking & Saturday Snapshot: Ford’s Garage

 family, photos, saturday snapshot, weekend cooking
Sep 022017
 

The other day my son and I took the day off work because we had business to take care of. Our appointment was in the morning so we decided to do something instead of going straight home. We were trying to decide where to go eat lunch and since we had never been to Ford’s Garage we decided to go there.

I love different, and this restaurant was definitely different. I absolutely loved it!

We both decided to get a burger and since you can choose which patty you want, we both ordered the bison. I’ve had bison before but this burger was the best I’ve ever had, anywhere. You can click on the link above and then click “Food Menu” to see the other burger options.

I couldn’t stop taking photos! It is the most unique restaurants I’ve ever been to. Check it out!

 The front door with gas nozzles for handles

 

Old Timey Gas Pumps, the front outside wall are glass garage doors

 

There are 3 or 4 old vehicles outside

 

There are even some inside the restaurant, hanging from the ceiling

 

The menu is leather

 

The napkins are grease rags secured by metal clamps

 

My bison burger with fries

 

Anthony’s burger with mac & cheese, served in a mini cast iron skillet

 

The bathroom door handle was also a gas pump nozzle

 

The sink was a tire, the faucet a gas pump nozzle

 

Photo of the water running

 

Urinals were beer kegs (son took this photo of course)

 

Don’t you think this is a neat restaurant? We both loved it and we’ll definitely be going back!

 

Weekend Cooking

Saturday Snapshot

Datz & Wicked & A River Walk

 family, misc.
Feb 182017
 

Last Sunday I went to the Straz Center to see the play Wicked with my daughter in law Susie and her mom Joan. It was so so so good, and very hilarious, which surprised me.

Before we went to see the play, we went to a new to me and Joan restaurant called Datz. For an appetizer Susie ordered the Berrychetta, which is toasted batard topped with goat cheese and Florida Strawberries, arugula and cherry balsamic drizzle. Oh my goodness. It was fantastic!

Everything on the menu sounded amazing, but I ended up ordering the Pepping Tom which is Oven roasted turkey, Swiss cheese, avocado spread, lettuce, tomato and mayo, served on a ciabatta roll. I asked for regular bread instead of the roll (don’t ask me why, it was just a spur of the moment thing)  and the sandwich was amazing. It was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. Yum E!

All the sandwiches are served with house-made sweet-n-salty chips with creamy blue cheese drizzle and green onions. We all thought they were yummy!

 

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Berrychetta

Peeping Tom

Pepping Tom &  Sweet-n-Salty Chips

(you can click the photos to enlarge)

Joan ordered the Roger’s Rockin’ Reuben: Sy Ginsberg’s corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing. Served on rye bread. She loved it.

Susie ordered the The Happy Cow: House-made black beans, fresh corn veggie burger. Topped with Sriracha aioli and shredded lettuce. Served on a sweet sourdough bun.  And yes, she loved it.

The restaurant had a great atmosphere and I would recommend it 100%. I hope to go back soon. Sadly, the only locations at this time are in Tampa.

We had some spare time between the restaurant and the play so we decided to walk around Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. I love the park and enjoy it every time I go. That day they were having Yoga In The Park and I was surprised at how many people were yoga-ing. I also love watching all the dogs that people bring to the park to walk. Someone even brought their pet pig.

Piggy

Piggy

Of course my favorite part is walking beside the water. I am a water lover. Pond, river, canal, ocean, puddle. I love em all.

Anyway, if you are ever in the downtown Tampa area and are hungry, I suggest you visit Datz. They have other items on the menu besides sandwiches. Everything we ate was really good.

wkendcooking

Hosted @ Beth Fish Reads

I ♥ Sweet Tomatoes

 family, weekend cooking
Jan 282017
 

My daughter and I go on day trips once in a while. Two weeks ago we went to Lady Lake and stopped at Sweet Tomatoes, one of my top 3  favorite restaurants. For soup and salad, it’s #1. If you’re not familiar with Sweet Tomatoes, they’re a salad, soup, and baked goods restaurant. And their food is oh so yummy. I didn’t get a photo of the salad bar because we got there just as they were opening the door and there were a bunch of people waiting to get in. By the time I tried to take a photo, there were people on both side of the bar and I couldn’t get a good shot.  Next time. There are more soups and bakery items than in the photo, it was just hard to get a clear shot with the people standing in front of them. I know the restaurant isn’t in all states, but if you haven’t been to this restaurant, check to see if there’s one near you. Their food is so good!

 

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Sign Outside

ST soup bar

Soup Bar

ST bakery bar

Bakery Bar

 

wkendcooking

Weekend Cooking is hosted @ Beth Fish Reads

Souper Sundays2
Hosted @ Kahakai Kitchen

Weekend Cooking: The Fresh Market

 family, weekend cooking
Apr 232016
 

The other day my daughter Kilah and I drove to a new shopping mall, I’ll post about that in a week or so. Anyway, while driving home, Kilah told me there was a store nearby that she’d never been to but would like to go. Well, of course I was curious so we checked it out. The store was The Fresh Market. It’s similar to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.

I really loved how they displayed everything, and the lightening  really made it have a comfy feeling. I don’t remember seeing any fruits or veggies but Kilah does. I guess I was just engrossed with the all the different kinds of coffee they had, that I forgot to take a photo of. The meat section was amazing, and they had rows and rows of nuts, cheeses, wine.  Here are a few photos I took:

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wkendcookingWeekend Cooking is hosted @ Beth Fish Reads

Beyond The Books: Things I Miss About Being A Kid

 family
Mar 242016
 

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Hosted @ Kissin Blue Karen

This week the prompt is: Things I miss about being a kid

Oh man, where do I start? Ok, these are in no particular order.

1. School. I miss everything about going to school. I miss being in class and learning new things, having lunch in the lunch room, and even though I still keep in touch with most of my friends from 1st grade up, I miss being with them in person, having sleep overs and going to the mall on Saturdays with my 2 bff’s.

2. Going camping and on vacations with my mom, dad, and brother.

3. Playing baseball, riding bikes, going to the roller rink, movies etc. with all the neighborhood kids.

4. Getting to live all over Ohio. My mom and dad owned a house in Columbus, but for a few years my dad’s job sent him to other cities in Ohio. So during summer vacation he would rent us a house wherever he was working and we’d spend the summer there. It was a lot of fun getting to explore all the differnt places.

5. Being a Girl Scout and everything we did together.

6. Spending time with my mom and dad, especailly on the weekends.

7. Having my brother and two of my sisters (the oldest got married when I was 3 and lived nearby) live in the same house. We had some really fun times.

8. Holidays. The whole family would get together every holiday and it was so much fun.

9. I miss my dog Buffy. He was an American Eskimo and was a beautiful loving dog. I miss spending time with him, throwing his ball and just cuddling with him.

10. I miss living at the lake. We could fish off our dock, go out in the boat, swim, and most winters the lake froze far enough out that we could go ice skating.

Weekend Cooking & Saturday Snapshot: Whole Foods

 family, weekend cooking
Jan 302016
 

Since I live at least an hour from any city that has a Whole Foods, I’ve never been to one. I usually just go to where I need to and go back home. Once in a while we’ll roam around a bit to see what we can see. That’s how I found a Trader Joe’s a few months back, and then yesterday after my son had some drs. appts. in Tampa, we decided to go to some pet stores we’ve never been to (don’t you love GPS?) and passed a Whole Foods and stopped on the way back to check it out. That store is amazing! I loved it! They’re a bit more expensive on some things, but we saw some food we’ve never seen before like 4 strange varieties of sweet potatoes. We bought one of each to try them. I also found Kiss My Face products. I love this brand and can’t find them anywhere in the area I live. I bought a bottle of their deep moisturizing lotion for 50% off! I’ve also been looking for Garam Masala and found some there.

I was surprised to see that they had so many different departments. Their meat looked amazing as did the seafood. If we had been going straight home I would have bought some. They also have a floral section and cheese shop, but what surprised me the most was their buffet style food tables. They had one for soup, one for all kinds of different foods, and one for olives. What? Yes, they had an olive bar. I was amazed at how many different types of olives they had. Neither one of us knew there were that many different varieties of olives. When we told my daughter about it she said the same thing. The soup bar was amazing too and we smelled every one of them. There was one that smelled over the top yummy and I plan on making it soon. We didn’t get a photo of all the bars (wish we had) but we did get one of the olives. There’s even a little section where you can sit down at a table and enjoy the food. We were there around noon and quite a few people were eating their lunch there.

If you haven’t been to a Whole Foods (and Trader Joe’s) before, you really should find one and go. I love them both.

whole foods olive bar

 

wkendcookingWeekend Cooking is hosted @ Beth Fish Reads

Saturday Snapshot

Palm Crest: St. Petersburg Beach

 family, photos
Aug 152015
 

palm crest

This is the Palm Crest. My family and I stayed there every year when we came to Florida from Ohio for a two week vacation. I loved this hotel and the friends I met each year. I live in Florida now and still visit this beach.  I took this photo the last time I was there, when my son and I went. So many good memories!!

Saturday Snapshot

Saturday Snapshot: Fort DeSoto Beach

 family, photos
Jun 272015
 

This isn’t the main beach, it’s a little secluded spot my son found yesterday when we went to Fort DeSoto. The tide was going out and you could walk on the sand dunes between where we were and the island that you see in the distance. There were a lot of birds and even a raccoon. People must have been feeding him because he sure wasn’t afraid of us.  The whole time we were eating he would come really close to us and my son or grandson would keep shooing him away. He kept coming back though, until we were done eating.

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racoon fort desoto

Saturday Snapshot

Saturday Snapshot: Gatorland

 family, photos
Jun 202015
 

When we made plans to for our June vacation, we planned to go to St. Augustine, Fl for a week and then go to Orlando and stay 2 days. We went to Gatorland and then on to Old Town in Kissimmee. I didn’t get any photos of Old Town, but got a bunch at Gatorland. The first is the water park, and the second is of something I had never seen before.  I thought it was a great idea, but also very funny. Have you ever seen one?

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Saturday Snapshot

Weekend Cooking & Saturday Snapshot: Whetstone Chocolate Factory Tour

 family, photos
Jun 132015
 

June 2nd was my daughter Kilah’s birthday and all she wanted was to go to St. Augustine, Fl for a week. So, my youngest son and I, Kilah, her husband and kids went. We walked and walked and then walked some more (most people walk, ride bikes or take the trolley rather than drive), but we had a great time and did a lot of interesting things and visited quite a few places. Other than the beach (of course) , my favorite was the Whetstone Chocolate Factory Tour. It was very interesting to see how they make their chocolates. The tour guide was great. He was full of information, asked many questions, was very funny, and best of all, he handed out lots of different chocolate samples.

Chocolate Factory 2015 1

 

Chocolate Factory 2015 2

 

Chocolate Factory 2015 3

 

Chocolate Factory 2015 4

 

Chocolate Factory 2015 5

 

Chocolate Factory 2015 6

 

I loved this tour and will probably do it again the next time I’m in St. Augustine. See that t-shirt in the next to the last photo? I love that! “Put The Chocolate In The Bag And Nobody Gets Hurt”.

 

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