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Deep Freeze Your Sultry Spring with Berries Deluxe

Parkesdale Farm Market, Plant City

Close your eyes. Imagi—Wait, open your eyes. Dammit, you can’t hear me. I’ll wait.

Okay, sorry about that. Imagine closing your eyes and imagining the reddest, ripest, juiciest strawberry you’ve ever tasted. That initial tart tingle, the juice welling behind your lips, the sweet sugar on your tongue, the soft, warm flesh speckled with the tiniest of seeds. That fragrant scent unlike any other. Now, how would you like to try that for real? How’d you like to try that with vanilla ice cream? Or with shortcake and whipped cream?

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Cure the Subtropical Homesick Blues by Showing Visiting Family a Whirlwind Tour

A Vist from the Parents – Sarasota and St. Petersburg

How do you remedy homesickness? The glib answer is to just go home. But it’s a big world with lots to experience and staying home just isn’t for us. That doesn’t mean we don’t get the longing and depression that comes now and then when remembering the people you left behind and the places you used to frequent.

A great way to shake off the homesick blues is to open your home to family and friends who’ve traveled far to see you. Quality time can be well spent with a tour of the town, a taste of the local fare, and plenty of moments spent together living, laughing, lov…I have got to stop cutting through the home decor department of Walmart. Continue reading “Cure the Subtropical Homesick Blues by Showing Visiting Family a Whirlwind Tour”

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Find a Wealth of Sunny Sand and Surf and Tasty Frozen Treats

Treasure Island and St. Pete Beach

Do you like to take off in the car, motorcycle, or hovercraft to explore someplace new without any planning at all? It’s almost perfunctory these days to pull out the smartphone and get to Yelping or Tripadvisor-ing even the po-est of dunks. “Hmm. They don’t show a place to eat, but Rhonda’s Hair Port gets three stars.” We landed on Treasure Island with a map but without a clue as to where to eat or what to expect.

The name Treasure Island invokes a romantic ideal. Not in the modern sense, but in the pirate and booty sense. Which, now that I type it, sounds a bit romantic in the modern sense, too. Corsets and cocked hats aside, I wanted to assess the cut of the beach community’s jib. So one capricious morning we rigged the sporty little runabout and set sail on the macadam sea for Treasure Island, with no plans other than a cruise down the main drag, a walk on the beach, some tasty vittles and come what may. Continue reading “Find a Wealth of Sunny Sand and Surf and Tasty Frozen Treats”

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Drag a Hot Dog Through the Garden but Think Twice about the Beef

Review – Dixie’s Dog House, Treasure Island

We left mainland St. Petersburg and Central Avenue North became the Treasure Island Causeway which carried us over two islets to deliver us into the hands of the Treasure Islanders without a Ben Gunn. Before we got far we pulled into Dixie’s Dog House, because we cannot say no to hot dogs and though we hadn’t even scratched the surface of eatery options, the advertised Italian roast beef forced my hand to turn the wheel.

The Dixie’s Dog House marquee advertised Vienna Beef brand products which have never been a selling point to me. I’ve been to several Vienna Beef operations and they range from “That was great, I’ll be back” to “We should have stopped for dogs at the Circle-K.”

Also, there is nothing particularly superior in taste or otherwise about a Vienna Beef product over another premium dog. Displaying a Vienna Beef sign is to me not a plus; in fact, it is a caution. Similar to the bad feelings summoned when I see cheese company marketing posters on the walls and windows of pizzerias, I get really wary when I see a VB sign on a mom and pop shop because some tended to rest on the suspect laurels of the VB name and simply slap warm weiners in stale buns for a premium price. But, ever the optimists, we pulled in any way with high hopes.

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Rescue a Wasted Day with Riverside Eats and Refreshing Drinks

The River’s Edge, Gibsonton

You know those beautiful weekend days that you spend like free money? Those glorious sun-drenched hours that are exchanged for either binge-watching on the couch or knocking out your chore list around the house. And just when you stop to rest your weary bones or to shake the crumbs off your Snuggie (are those still a thing?) it’s supper time and another beautiful day off is nearly in the can. We had one of those days recently—maybe it was spent on the couch or maybe it wasn’t—and we decided to salvage the remaining time with dinner and a movie.

Our weekend falls on Wednesday-Thursday and it was on a sunny, breezy Wednesday evening that we decided to check out another local spot on the Alafia River. The River’s Edge, here we come. They’ve got a food, a deck, and a bar–the perfect ingredients to a lost day cure.

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Get Your Fill of Aggregate Fruits at the Strawberry Fest

The Florida Strawberry Festival, Plant City

Do you love fresh, sweet strawberries? Do you love food fairs? You should be aware that our hearts throb for both and The Florida Strawberry Festival was right up our alley and S.R. 39. We had been hearing all about its glory since we moved to Tampa and its time had arrived.

To me, strawberries are as much a part of Florida as citrus, sunshine and that damned mouse. When visiting Florida in my younger days, we’d take a trip to Parksdale Farms for shortcake or bring the ripe fruits home and enjoy them with biscuits and whipped cream. To me, Florida equals strawberries.

Therefore, the Florida Strawberry Festival was a must-visit on our list predating our move and we were all hopped up and ready to go.

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Don’t Gang Agley around the Anclote Anchorage

Key Vista Nature Park – Anclote River Park – Fred Howard Park, Holiday

It was one of those mornings when you can’t decide what to do, but you just need to do something; get out of the house. Get. Out. So I set to making plans for a grand day out. Since we know what becomes of best-laid plans, you’d think I’d expect that things would go dreadfully awry. Considering that these plans were poorly laid off the cuff while I sipped my morning coffee, we should have expected that they would shit the damned bed. 

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Enjoy the Basics: Cheap Eats and Cold Drinks on the River

AJ’s on the River, Gibsonton

Why does food taste better when eaten beside a beautiful body of water? From a pack of cheese crackers to Chateaubriand, I love a good meal riverside, lakeside, or ocean side. A PB&J and a Yoo-hoo at the bank of a babbling brook is enough to satisfy me. Except for the Yoo-hoo; you can save that chocolate water for the rubes back home. Tell ‘em the cherry pit is on me.

When we realized there were some waterfront eateries on the Alafia River not thirty minutes from us, we got excited to try them out. There is no open-air waterfront dining in March back in Pennsylvania. I picked one and we set off in the sporty little runabout.

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