Food at the Watermelon 5K

Last weekend (July 4), I ran in another 5K race in Winter Park. This one was called the Watermelon 5K. It started in Mead Gardens, then left the park and went through some of the surrounding neighborhoods. The race passed very close to where the route of the last 5K went, and then eventually returned to Mead Gardens and ended.




Since I paid money to run in this race, I made sure I ran the 3.1 miles somewhat faster than normal. Paying money to run is silly in my opinion, but I keep on getting talked into running in these races anyway. I normally can run 3.1 miles in about 25 or 26 minutes, but today I ended up getting about 24:30. There was no official time, so I am interpolating the time from these two pictures I took of the finish line, just before and after I crossed.


And the food came after the race was over! The first thing I grabbed was a bottle of Whole Foods brand water out of this kiddie pool.

Then I drank a cup or two of this mystery colored drink. I'm assuming it was some sort of powdered Gatorade type drink that was mixed in the Crystal Water bottles.


Bananas came after the drinks.

Since this was the Watermelon 5K, watermelon slices were also given out. I normally don't like watermelon all that much, but after running it's normally sweet juice tasted really bitter to me and I ended up only finishing half of my slice.


They put on a watermelon eating contest to compete with Nathan's hot dog eating contest. Grand prize was a watermelon, hat, and a watermelon shaped wine glass.

Making my way around to all of the vendors that set up tents giving out free samples and trying to sell their products to the runners, I ended up with a smoothie sample and an acai berry energy drink from Planet Smoothie, a bag of dog food, a Track Shack towel, and a backpack from a lawyer.

Several years ago I ran in a few of these 5K races, and bagels were given out after each race. This is the second 5K I have run in recently, and there are no bagels. I don't know what the reason behind this is, but I know that after I go running, I always crave some carbs, so I find the lack of bagels disappointing.

There were big crowds of sweaty people in the area surrounding the finish line of the race.

So I decided to take a walk through the emptier areas of Mead Gardens. On a sign, I came across this really big Lubber Grasshopper. I hear they are good eating, especially when chocolate covered!

I have no plans at the moment to run in another 5K race when I can run at home for free, but who knows. I may be talked into doing another one, but looking at the upcoming races in Orlando, I think my choice would be to do a 10K. This 10K in particular. Free Epcot Food & Wine Festival samples after the race!

7/11/09

Today is 7/11, meaning it is free Slurpee day at all 7 Eleven stores. I stopped by the 7 Eleven at the corner of Lake Mary Boulevard and Country Club Road and enjoyed my free Slurpee. I mixed all of the fruity flavors together and avoided the Crystal Light and soda flavors. I would not buy a Slurpee normally, but for free you have to sample the flavors!

While on the topic of frozen beverages, I was at the Whole Foods Supermarket in Winter Park earlier in the day. In their deli section where they have all of their prepared foods, I noticed this machine. It looked like a normal slushy machine to me, until I noticed the flavor. The sign called it a chilled soup, but I disagree. That's a broccoli flavored slushy. Try and find that at a 7 Eleven!

Lottawatta Lodge at Blizzard Beach

I don't like water parks all that much. For the most part, they consist of waiting far too long on narrow, shadeless staircases, all leading up to a ride experience that provides an adrenaline rush lasting only a few seconds. And in regards to the content of this blog, I've found that water parks also have horrible food in most cases.

For someone's birthday, they wanted to go to a water park. The choices were narrowed down between Sea World's Aquatica and Disney's Blizzard Beach (my choice would have been Typhoon Lagoon). Although Aquatica is relatively new and nobody had been there before, the park's website made the park seem really small, so it was decided that we were going to Blizzard Beach. I was at Blizzard Beach once years ago, back when they were the new water park in Orlando, so I didn't remember very much about the park.

Once at the park, we went around the park’s lazy river a few times and rode several of the slides on Blizzard Beach’s purple and red slopes. As far as the lazy river goes, it was far too shallow and the current was very weak. I’m not a person that enjoys sitting in a tube floating around. Instead, I enjoy actually being in the water swimming, but it was kind of hard in here with a depth of less than 3 feet. All of the slides I went on were fun and most had a pretty short wait. Soon, everyone started getting hungry so we at the biggest restaurant in Blizzard Beach called the Lottawatta Lodge.

I had a Chicken wrap with French fries. Disney food is generally good, and I liked this wrap, especially when compared to much worse foods that I’ve ate at water parks in the past. It was filled with grilled chicken, cheese, lettuce, and tomato. The fries were good, but I made them even better by doing the British thing and poured several packages of malt vinegar all over them.


Once lunch was finished, digestion was aided with a few rides down the more intense slides at Blizzard Beach, like the near vertical, 120 foot drop of Summit Plummet.


I still don’t like water parks all that much. I’d much rather spend money on other types of theme park experiences rather than water slides, but I did have a good time at Blizzard Beach. As far as water parks go, you can’t beat Blizzard Beach with it’s whole ski resort theme. And the whole day, not one person understood my joke that you have to be careful at these water parks so you don’t get sick from ingesting dihydrogen monoxide. Figures…

Everything Bagel from Dunkin Donuts in Lake Mary

I didn't eat anything for breakfast one morning except for a cup of tea when I left the house at 8:00 am. Needless to say, by the time 10:00 came around, I was getting hungry. I've heard good things about the baked goods sold in the BP gas station on Lake Mary Blvd. I stopped in looking for a bagel. They had bagels and they looked okay, but if I wanted cream cheese, it would be $0.70 for a tiny tub of the bagel topping.

I decided instead to go a few stores down to the Dunkin Donuts in the Home Depot shopping center. For just about the same price, I had my everything bagel and not only did I get more cream cheese than what the gas station sold, they also put the cream cheese on the bagel for me.

It bothers me when I order a bagel with cream cheese at a restauant and I receve a bagel and a cup of cream cheese on the side. Normally the cream cheese is barely enough to cover the bagel and I have to do extra work that I would hope to skip when eating out. As for the big chains, I've found Dunkin Donuts and Einsteins will put the cream cheese on the bagel. Panera Bread sells the tiny cups of cream cheese. Normally the cups are right out of the freezer so the cream cheese is too hard to apply to the bagel with the plastic knives provided. And forget having your bagel toasted at Panera. You have to do it yourself as well. Most private bagel places seem to follow the method as Dunkin Donut/Einsteins and will provide the bagels already buttered. This really is pointless bagel blabber, so I will stop now...

Jerk Chicken Sandwich from Millie's Jamaican Cafe

I had lunch at Millie's Jamaican Cafe in Orlando near UCF. I had a Jerk Chicken sandwich that consisted of chicken, lettuce, and cheese on a roll. The spicy jerk chicken on the sandwich was really good, but it wasn't easy eating. There were still some bones in the chicken, so it wasn't exactly conducive to eating as one would normally eat a sandwich. Every few bites I had to spit out some bones. If I wasn't eating a sandwich and had just ordered plain jerk chicken, I wouldn't have issues with the bones, but sandwiches shouldn't be filled with non-edible parts.



The sandwich tasted really good, but the bones in a sandwich were sort of a turn off. I probably would return to Millie's, but I won't be getting a sandwich next time.

Happy 4th of July!

What better way to celebrate July 4th than to visit Coney Island for Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest?

I visited Coney Island back in 2007, back before this blog existed, and enjoyed some of the very varied food that is for sale on the boardwalk. I started out at Nathan's in honor of today's hot dog eating contest. I'm not a big fan of hot dogs, but this place is classic. I wish I knew they had frogs legs, lobster rolls, and clam chowder before I ordered from the outdoor window that only served hot dogs.





Besides from Nathan's, Coney Island had all sorts of other interesting food.









Ralph's Italian Ices had a stand set up on the boardwalk.

Over the past few years, Coney Island has been going through some controversial redevelopment. A company named Thor Development has been buying up property and evicting the occupants in order to build mostly condos and a few new rides. In 2008, Coney Island's Astroland park had it's last season. This food stand from the park has since been removed. The famous rocket on the roof was once an early simulator ride and has apparently been bought by a Coney Island history museum.



And what visit to Coney Island is complete without a ride on the historic Cyclone Roller Coaster after eating the boardwalk's food?

Golden China Buffet in Lake Mary

I ate at the Golden China Buffet in Lake Mary, FL. The food tasted okay for the most part. I thought their dim sum pork rolls were really tasty (especially from a Chinese buffet), and those deep fried sesame balls are strangely delicious. This place always used to be packed, but on this visit we were one of the few occupied tables in the restaurant. If a buffet doesn't have enough customers, that means they probably don't have a very good turnover on the food. I try to avoid empty buffets...

Pizza from Caffe Positano in Lake Mary, FL

I picked up a pizza from Caffe Positano in Lake Mary, FL. I've bought pizza from their other two locations in the past (Apopka and Sanford), but for some reason I thought this location didn't serve pizza. I remember going here when they first opened looking for pizza, only to be told that they didn't have it. I finally returned to the restaurant, and it seems they are now equipped to make both pizza and other types of Italian food.

Just like at the other two locations, the pizza was really good here. It was nice and thin with a nice cheese/sauce ratio. The only weird thing happened when I picked up the pizza. It was coming right out of the oven when I walked in. Several employees proceeded to argue with one another about who would slice the pizza before anyone actually sliced it. It was kind of strange that 4 or 5 people in the kitchen all had excuses to why they couldn't slice a pizza.

Del Taco & the Big Burrito

Del Taco is one of the newest fast food Mexican chains to pop up in Central Florida. It went into the old Fazoli's building in Oviedo, FL and there was quite a bit of a buzz on the internet when this place opened. I signed up for Del Taco's email club on their website and received a coupon for two free chicken tacos. Eventually, I made it to Del Taco and got my free food.

The tacos tasted okay, but weren't anything I'd go running back for. The chicken at Del Taco actually resembled meat, unlike a few other Mexican chains that I can think of. I was impressed that they used Romaine lettuce instead of iceberg, but other then that the tacos weren't anything special. I was also surprised with Del Taco's menu. Rather than being all Mexican, they also served burgers and fries. Because of this split menu, both the Mexican and burger sides of the menu both seemed somewhat limited. Taco Bell has a much more impressive menu when it comes to their available items on the menu.

A few weeks later, Del Taco had a grand opening event where they made a really big burrito, cut it up, and then distributed the slices among the onlookers. They filled the burrito with ground beef, beans, cheese, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and a red and green sauce. While making the burrito, the announcer/DJ kept on referring to this as the world's largest burrito and said that people from Guinness were there. Somehow I doubted that a fifteen foot burrito had never been made in the past. I googled it and found pictures of a much larger 3,578 foot burrito. But who's complaining? The big burrito resulted in a free dinner and tasted pretty good! They were giving out coupons for free chicken tacos at the event, so I took one of those for my next visit. That's three free meals from Del Taco so far!

Giordano's Stuffed Pizza

I have heard good things about Giordano's Pizza. It is Chicago style stuffed pizza with multiple layers of crust with the sauce on top. I really have very little experience with Chicago style pizza, and I had never tried a pizza quite like what Giordano's sells. The restaurant was on my list to try for a while, an I finally made it to the location on Apopka Vineland Road near Disney.

The meal started out with some garlic bread. There was a decent amount of garlic on here, unlike some other Italian restaurants that just use garlic butter and no actual garlic.

Although I was planning to just have a cheese pizza, I realized that would defeat the purpose of the stuffed pizza if it had nothing but cheese. It was agreed that my half of the pizza would have ground beef, pepperoni, and black olives. The meat was baked into the pie in between the layers of crust along with cheese. On the top layer, Giordano's put more cheese, sauce, and the black olives. I came across this video of how Giordano's makes their pizzas:



The pizza was definitely unique, but I think I still prefer the more traditional New York Style pizza. This pizza had far too much cheese that all oozed out of the slices. Perhaps if it was given time to set, the oozing wouldn't be as big of a problem, but it was still too much. One slice on this pizza probably had just as much cheese as a few slices of a traditional pizza. The crust on this pizza was pretty good though. It was sort of flaky, sort of like a pie crust rather than the bread that normally makes up a pizza crust.

I didn't think Giordano's pizza was anything great compared to traditional pizza, but it's definitely a novelty. Because of the uniqueness, I would gladly return and give their pizza another try. This visit to Giordano's also introduced me to another Chicago specialty that I now need to try: The Italian Beef Sandwich...

Sonny's Bar-B-Q in Sanford

I ate at the Sonny's Bar-B-Q in Sanford, FL. I had a pulled pork sandwich on garlic bread with a side of beans. It was on par with other pulled pork sandwiches that I've eaten in the past leaving me with no complaints about the food.

Although the food was good, I can't say the same for the service. When we entered the restaurant, we stood there for several minutes while we were passed from employee to employee, each saying "Someone will be right with you." Eventually we were seated and our waitress acted like we were bothering her by eating at the restaurant. Our food came long after tables with other servers that ordered after us. The service at Sonny's was equivalent to the service that you generally get at a place like Denny's.

Free Orange Julius Smoothie

Friday, June 19 was free smoothie day at Orange Julius if you came in with the proper coupon printed from their website. Always on the lookout for free food, I of course utilized this offer. I went to the Orange Julius in Sanford's Seminole Towne Center Mall and was offered the choice of three light smoothies with 250 calories or less with the coupon. I chose the Berry-Pom Twilight smoothie.

Although it was free, I thought the smoothie was horrible. It tasted like a mix of apple and grape juice that was somehow thickened. Neither of these juices are my favorites so that didn't help the taste. Orange Julius also put all sorts of artificial sweeteners in the smoothie like Splenda. I am not afraid of sugar, so I try to avoid artificial sweeteners, and Splenda especially scares me. Google 'Splenda side effects' and look at all of the results that comes up. I couldn't find any scientific studies on the effects of Splenda, so I am a bit skeptical of all of the claims that come up, but it also seems like a whole lot of people are experiencing negative side effects that they are attributing to Splenda. When I make smoothies at home, I only put juice and fruit in them and the smoothies come out plenty sweet. I don't understand why restaurants always add extra sweetener to make their smoothies extra sweet. I drank about half of the smoothie and threw it away.

Free IKEA Breakfast

Every so often, the IKEA store in Orlando puts advertisements in the mail or newspaper for a free weekend breakfast at their restaurant. On one of these occasions, I decided to go get my free breakfast. It consisted of a plate of scrambled eggs, hash browns, and a cup of coffee. They advertised bacon as part of their free breakfasts, but apparently that wasn't happening on the day I visited.

Little did I know, free IKEA breakfasts are nothing new. They actually give out free breakfast Monday thru Friday and normally charge on weekends. Perhaps a visit during the week would come with bacon.

On the way out of the store, I stopped off and ate one of IKEA's cinnamon rolls. No complaints here.

Don Pablo's in Sanford, FL

I ate at the Don Pablo's in Sanford, FL next to the mall. The meal started out with some chips and salsa:

I ordered the San Angelo combo for my meal. It consisted of a chicken taco, a pork tamale, a cheese relleno, black beans, and rice. I ordered this not being too familiar with what tamales and rellenos tasted like exactly, but I enjoyed it. The tamale was basically a fried corn tortilla filled with pork and the relleno was a stuffed bell pepper.

The only problem I had was the temperature of the restaurant. I ate there about 3:00 on a sunny day and it was kind of hot. The air conditioning was definitely on, but with the building resembled a warehouse with high ceilings and not much insulation on the ceiling, so it didn't seem very effective.

Strawberry Cheesecake Waffle Cone from Deltona Ice Cream

I had a huge scoop of Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream in a waffle cone from Deltona Ice Cream. Apparently the ice cream is homemade and getting it in a waffle cone results in a giant portion.

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