The Mason Jar in New Smyrna Beach, FL

Smoothies are a food which I am pretty opinionated about. To me, smoothies are something that I can make myself for much cheaper and usually better than what I can purchase out. That's why I was skeptical when someone took me along to get a smoothie bowl from The Mason Jar in New Smyrna Beach.

I ordered a smoothie bowl called Sunrise Pitaya. The whole concept of a smoothie bowl was a new concept for me. I know they've been a thing, but never anything I payed attention to. I'm assuming there was pitaya/dragon fruit in the smoothie itself, along with other ingredients which were tasty. It was topped with strawberries, bananas, and coconut. The whole bowl did taste really good and was a good portion. Still was a bit pricey though, costing more than a meal at some restaurants...

Yogurtland in Winter Park, FL

Yogurtland in Winter Park is one of the newest frozen yogurt shops that recently opened in Central Florida. Located across the street from Winter Park Village, this store was packed with people. With all of these customers, Yogurtland seemed to be doing the best business out of the Frozen Yogurt places I've visited.

I tried three different flavors. Plain Tart was good and tasted very similar to the tart flavors from the other frozen yogurt shops. Lemonade Passion Fruit Tart was also okay, but vaguely reminded me of the Lightning Lemonade flavored Bubblicious gum. Green Apple Tart tasted more like a sour candy than any granny smith apple I've ever had. I topped my yogurt with kiwi, raspberries, mango, and lychee.

Yogurtland was okay, but based on the flavors I picked, I think I prefer some of the other yogurt places in the area. I like fruit flavored yogurts, but I want the yogurt to taste somewhat like fruit rather than candy. I might return to try some other flavors, but with so many other yogurt shops nearby, I think I would try them first.

Lakeland Farmers Market

After running a 10k race in Lakeland, I found myself wandering around downtown and came across the Lakeland Farmers Market.

They had a good selection of vendors. The food choices included at least three fruit stands, at least one selling locally grown organic fruits and vegetables. There was honey, bread, kettle corn, an ice cream truck, prepared Italian sandwiches, and more. The variety of edible items at this farmers market was really nice!

Here's a bread vendor:

One of multiple vendors selling fruits & vegetables:

They had plenty of non-food items too, including plants, clothes, jewelry, and more. Here's a plant vendor:

Overall, I enjoyed my visit to the Lakeland Farmers Market. It could compete with some of the better farmers markets in the Orlando area...

Race the Lakes 10k Food

On Saturday, May 24, I ran in the Race the Lakes 10k in Lakeland, FL. It was fun (although paying to run, even if part of the money goes to a good cause, seems so silly to me). The race started in front of Lake Mirror, proceeded through downtown, around Lake Morton, through some neighborhoods filled with lots of old historic mansions, around Lake Hollingsworth, and then returned to the start at Lake Mirror. After the run, it was time for the post-race food.

They had water bottles printed up specifically for the race. I wonder how much of the $20 registration fee went to printing custom waters? Behind the bottle is a view of Lake Mirror and Downtown Lakeland. The stone arches on the far side of the lake is main entrance to Lakeland's underground tunnels that run under downtown. I'd love to see inside these long closed tunnels...

I normally stick to water, but I picked up a bottle of orange Gatorade. I felt like I needed to brush my teeth after...

They had boxes of bananas, Fuji apples, and Gala apples.

Fuji apples are one of my favorites, and I'm normally fine with bananas. For some reason though, bananas always taste horrible after I run.

Bagels!

Cookies aren't exactly the healthy post-race food that I would expect, but these oatmeal raisin and lemon coconut cookies were pretty good.

Overall, Race the Lakes had better post-race food than some of the other races I've run in...

Robert Is Here

I was down in South Florida for a weekend and decided to do some sightseeing. My first stop was the Coral Castle. It was definitely an interesting place to stop, but they pushed too much of the woo with their theories of how the place was built. It seemed pretty well established and obvious how the castle was built, but this is a food blog, so I won't complain much more about roadside attractions adding more hype than actually surrounds a place.

My next stop was the Robert Is Here fruit stand. I found out about this place their brochures in the rest stops along the Florida Turnpike, so they must be pretty touristy. There advertising works though, because I visited as a tourist.

Robert is Here sells all sorts of tropical fruit that grows locally in the Redlands area south-west of Miami. They had some of your standard tropical fruit like mango and papaya (grown on the trees out back), but then there was more exotic stuff. They had locally grown Jackfruit, and then there was fruit I've never heard of.

Besides from the tropical fruit, Robert is Here's milkshakes also seemed to be a big draw. I bought myself a key lime milkshake. This very thick shake tasted just like a key lime pie in a viscous, semi-drinkable form. Really good!

I also had to buy myself some of the locally grown fruit. I choose a Florida Mango and a Mamey Sapote. When I went to pay for these two fruits, I found out why Robert is Here can afford to advertise in all of those Miami brochures. These two fruits came out to $8 and change. It seemed really overpriced to me, especially since mangos can often be found in supermarkets for under a dollar during the season. I was doing the tourist thing though and I really wanted to try the mamey, so I ended up buying th fruit anyway.

Lately, mango has become one of my favorite fruits. I've noticed that there is quite a difference between fruits depending on where the mango is grown. If the mango comes from South America or Mexico, they have a lot more juice and are slighly stringy. A Florida mango doesn't have the stringyness and has a creamier texture. Out of the two types, Florida mangos are definitely my favorite. The mango that I bought from Robert is Here was a prime example of a really good Florida Mango.

I bought the mamey sapote because I was totally unfamiliar with the fruit and the sign said it tasted like a pumpkin pie. You would never know from the brown fuzzy skin on the outside of the fruit that the inside flesh was a brilliant deep orange color. The flesh had the texture of an avocado and really did taste just like a pumpkin pie. This fruit could probably be put in a pie crust, and you would have an instant pumpkin pie with no work! It would probably be a lot healthier too! I've never seen a mamey in a store up in the Orlando area, but I'd definitely buy the fruit again if I see it!

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!

Run for the Trees

At the end of last month (April 25), I was convinced to run a 5K race called Run for the Trees in Winter Park, FL. I find these races kind of silly since they charge you $20 for the entry fee. I could run five kilometers any time I want for free, and I won't ever wear the t-shirt that is included in that fee, so I find the whole race thing kind of pointless. Regardless of my feelings about the entry fee, I still ran the race.

I finished the 3.1 miles in 25.58, and was shuttled back to the starting point where food was given out. I've run these races in the past, and I remember getting bagels. This race gave out oranges, bananas, and Strawberry Kiwi Gatorade (it was disgusting).

Toojay's Greek Wrap

I had a Greek Wrap from Toojay's in Altamonte Springs, FL. The wrap consisted of turkey, ham, feta, lettuce, olives, peppercinis, and Italian dressing, all wrapped in a tortilla. Fruit salad was served on the side. I enjoyed it.

Also on this visit, someone that I was eating with ordered a potato knish. This reminded me of something that I've noticed in my previous visits to several Toojay's locations. If someone at the table orders a knish, it seems that about 90% of the time it will not be served and the waiter will have to be reminded about it after the rest of the food is delivered. It's very strange that over multiple visits to multiple Toojay's, they almost consistently forget to bring out a knish when everything else about the order was correct.

Christmas Panforte

A panforte was ordered from Amazon to have for dessert on Christmas. The panforte was a type of very dense cake filled with dried fruit and nuts, topped with powdered sugar. It actually was more like a candy rather than a cake, but it was a very unique dessert.