Thanksgiving at Perkins in Altamonte Springs, FL

 Wondering what a Thanksgiving meal looks like at a Perkins? I ended up at the Perkins in Altamonte Springs on Thanksgiving since they were one of the few places open. I was going to order breakfast since I did the meaty Thanksgiving thing already, but the talkative regulars at the next table had great things to say about the holiday meal on the menu. Taking the recommendation, this came with several slices of turkey, stuffing, green beans with bacon, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce.

A slice of pie was also included. I had the lemon meringue.

Not the best Thanksgiving turkey ever, but the meal was totally passable for a late night breakfast chain.

Blond Giraffe Key Lime Pie Factory in Tavernier, FL

I went down to Key Largo and decided to get some key lime pie. I ended up at a place called Blond Giraffe Key Lime Pie Factory in the town of Tavernier. They had several variations of the pie available, including plain, dipped in chocolate, but I decided on the key lime pie with meringue topping. The pie was nice and tart and the meringue was very fluffy. That was all good, but we really don't want to talk about the food, do we?

We want to talk about the bunnies. Blond Giraffe had a fenced in yard behind the restaurant. This yard was filled with rabbits! Apparently they have chickens back here too, but I visited after dark so they were all roosting for the night.

I ate my key lime pie rather quickly, but stayed much longer petting rabbits...

Lazy Moon Pizza in Orlando, FL (Mills-50)

Way back when this blog was pretty new, I wrote a post about Lazy Moon Pizza. This was at a location that no longer exists in a strip mall that was demolished for a newer development. Since then, Lazy Moon has expanded with a newer location nearby UCF (which I have not eaten at) and another location in Mills-50. The Mills-50 location is what this post is about.

The slices here are still huge, but the overload of half melted cheese that the UCF location was known for has seemed to improved. Lazy Moon seems like they have learned that too much cheese could be a bad thing and their slices are much more balanced in terms of cheese/sauce/toppings now.

Here's a slice with pesto as the sauce, topped with spinach and Italian sausage. They use slices of sausage rather than crumbles, which is always better in my book.

The Cuban Slice is a more unique pizza that I can't say I've had elsewhere. Its basically a Cuban sandwich in pizza form. It has mustard as a sauce, topped with pork, ham, pickles, and cheese. I was skeptical, but I ended up enjoying this.

I am glad Lazy Moon has improved since my first few experiences with the restaurant way back when!

Fort Wayne, Indiana Restaurants (Dash-In, Cindy's Diner, The Hoppy Gnome, Proximo, True Kimchi, J K O'Donnell's, and The Famous Taco)

I spent a few days in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Food was eaten there. This blog post is some of that food. The first food I had in the city was at the Ft. Wayne Airport. There was a TSA agent handing out chocolate chip cookies as I left the secure area of the airport. My Uber driver was telling me about how the airport cookies are somewhat controversial in the city. There is apparently somewhat of an obesity issue in Ft. Wayne and people say the airport shouldn't be contributing to this. Regardless, free cookie!

Dash-In:

This was my first actual meal in Ft. Wayne. I asked around for restaurant recommendations and was told to visit Dash-In.

I ordered the Pesto Deluxe Grilled Cheese. This sandwich was filled with cheddar, swiss, provolone, muenster, artichoke hearts, tomato slices, and pesto. I had a cup of Tomato Bisque as my side. The sandwich was good, with one major exception. The cheese wasn't melted in the center of the sandwich. Melted cheese is the whole point of a grilled cheese...

Cindy's Diner:

Breakfast the next morning happened at Cindy's Diner. This was a tiny building that was a very stereotypical diner. They only had counter seating and a few outdoor tables. It was very busy.

I had French toast, eggs, and bacon. It was exactly how I would have expected the meal.

The Hoppy Gnome:

This was another restaurant that was recommended to me. It was half restaurant and half brewery.

I had three tacos here. I sampled the Duck Confit, Korean Short Rib, and Chili Glazed Shrimp tacos. The shrimp taco had the most flavor in its sauce, but didn't have much else going on besides the breaded shrimp. The Korean short rib seemed to be lacking in the sauce and was very dry but had interesting taco toppings. The duck confit was a bit boring and bland tasting.

Proximo:

I had breakfast at a restaurant called Proximo. I ordered something called the Garbage Skillet, which seems to be an Indiana breakfast item because I saw similar garbage themed items on other breakfast menus in Ft. Wayne. This was potatoes with bacon, peppers, and onions, topped with gravy and eggs. It was good, although I found the gravy to be a bit too salty (and I like salty food!).

True Kimchi:

This was a booth selling Korean food at the Ft. Wayne Farmer's Market. 

I had the bibimbap. It was rice topped with all sorts of pickled vegetables and a fried egg. I enjoyed it!

J K O'Donnell's:

This was an Irish pub in downtown Ft. Wayne. Apparently there are more than one Irish restaurants in downtown and this is supposed to be the good one.

I had a cup of potato leek soup.

I also had a plate of curry and chips topped with chicken. I received more than I was expecting with all sorts of good vegetables in the curry, including broccoli, squash, and cauliflower. This was all in a delicious curry sauce which soaked into the fries underneath.

The Famous Taco:

My last meal in Fort Wayne was at a restaurant called The Famous Taco.

I had three tacos. I tried the chorizo, pastor, and carnitas in the corn tortillas. The tacos were served alongside white and yellow rice and refried beans.

Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA

I had a couple hours of free time in Seattle before leaving on a cruise. With that time, I decided to explore the Pike Place Market. This huge market sold everything from produce to seafood to flowers to gifts. 

The fruits and vegetables were very pretty in the market. 

The retro neon signs all over the market were very cool as well!

Seafood was fun.

Poutine at a Canadian McDonalds in Victoria, BC

I was in Victoria, British Columbia while on a cruise ship stop. While sightseeing, we spotted a McDonalds with a maple leaf on the sign. Out of curiosity, we went inside to see if Canadian McDonalds have any interesting menu differences compared to the US for horrible food.

Canadian McDonalds does have a menu difference. They serve Poutine. I had to try some going in with the lowest expectations. My low expectations were met with some of the worst poutine I've ever sampled. It was so bad half the box ended up getting thrown out. The fries tasted stale. The gravy didn't have much of a flavor. The worst offender was the cheese. I'm pretty sure these weren't cheese curds and were instead chunks of mozzarella. McDonalds, you make Canadian food look bad...

Cruise Ship Food Aboard the Norwegian Bliss

I recently went on a cruise aboard the Norwegian Bliss from Seattle to various ports in Alaska and British Columbia. While I did eat off the boat, this post will focus on food aboard the ship.

Garden Cafe:

This is the main buffet on the Norwegian Bliss. While the Garden Cafe did a good job with their food for the most part, sometimes certain foods were hit or miss. I found the breakfast buffet got repetitive with the same several items repeating themselves over and over again with certain items that they could never get right (good luck finding a piece of crispy bacon on this buffet). Breakfast also seemed to lack certain items which seemed standard on every other cruise I've been on (lox/smoked salmon at breakfast). Lunch and dinner buffets had a nice selection with a good number of items that changed from day to day. There was an after hours buffet in the Garden Cafe which was quite sad. Seemed like hamburgers, hot dogs, and a few select leftover items from dinner.

Various Breakfast Foods:

There were certain genres of food that the Garden Cafe did consistently well. For example, they always had really good Indian food. I'd rank the Indian food at Garden Cafe up there with some of my favorite Indian restaurant lunch buffets!

Tried some of the items when Garden Cafe had a seafood themed dinner buffet. Fish cakes, seafood casserole, and salmon bisque.

There was also an Asian noodle soup station which I enjoyed. There seemed to be some daily variation here in terms of broth and noodles. I saw udon, ramen, and pho.

Desserts:

The Local:

This was the only restaurant serving food 24 hours a day on the Bliss. I enjoyed almost everything I ate at The Local with one exception.

Rachel Sandwich and Pretzel Bites.

Caesar Salad

Watermelon Greek Salad and Turkey Pot Pie

Fish & Chips. This was the only meal from The Local that I didn't enjoy. The batter on the fish was thicker than the fish itself and was soggy rather than crispy. The french fries were also on the soggy side.

Taco Salad. Beef, beans, salsa, guacamole, and cilantro served over rice, all in a taco bowl.

Watermelon Greek Salad. This was one of my favorite salads I had on the Norwegian Bliss. The sweet watermelon mixed with the salty feta, kalamata olives, and vinegar was very nice.

Carrot Cake

The Manhattan, Taste, and Savor:

These were the three main dining rooms on the Norwegian Bliss. These were the fanciest restaurants on the boat which didn't have an upcharge. Each location had a different name, but each had the exact same menu for each day. Like the Garden Cafe, some foods at these restaurants were hit or miss.

Breakfast was consistently better at Taste and Savor compared to the Garden Cafe. You got service, presentation, and items that didn't make it to a buffet.

French toast:

Bagel with lox.

Eggs Benedict.

Strawberry Yogurt Parfait.

Smoked Salmon and Dill Spinach Pancakes. This was my favorite breakfast aboard the ship. I am a big fan of savory pancakes, and this combination of spinach-green tinted pancakes, salty fish, and sour cream topping was delicious.

Breakfast Casserole. This seemed like an interesting variation on an English breakfast. Baked beans and sausage topped with a poached egg. Not my favorite, but it was interesting regardless. 

I think I preferred breakfast in these restaurants a bit more than dinner. Dinners weren't necessary bad, they just had the feel of mass-produced convention center type food. I had an appetizer with every meal in these restaurants at dinnertime. Here's some of them:

Scallops:

Fig and Goat Cheese Flatbread:

Baked Brie:

Matzo Ball Soup (I question the Kosherness of this soup):

Stuffed Mushrooms:

Tostadas - I think nachos would be a more appropriate name since these were basically tortilla chips topped with stuff:

Spring Rolls:

Vegetable Tempura Rolls:

Here's some of the dinner entrees I ate:

Lamb Shank:

Salmon:

Shrimp and Grits:

Eggplant Parmesan:

Pad Thai:

Various desserts from Taste, Savor, and The Manhattan:

Overall, the food on the Norwegian Bliss was decent. There were definitely some hits and misses when it came to menu items, especially at dinners in the dining rooms. Definitely better food compared to what I've had on Carnival ships.