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.

Termini Bros in Philadelphia, PA

While wandering around Philadelphia, I stumbled across the Reading Terminal Market. I had heard of this market in the past, but completely forgot about it until it was in my sights and bells went off in my brain that I should go in.

 

Inside, Reading Terminal Market sort of reminded me of Chelsea Market in New York, only on a larger scale. They sold almost every type of food stuff imaginable in here, ranging from Pennsylvania Dutch made cheese to Middle Eastern foods to Italian pastries.

The whole market was swarming with people, some taking foods to go, although the majority seemed to be eating in the tables set up in the aisles between the various vendors.

I had already ate lunch at Tony Luke's earlier in the day, so I decided I would get some dessert in the market. I came across a place called Termini Bros that caught my attention.

They had giant butterfly cookies in their display case. I have some happy food memories from when I was a little kid associated with these cookies, so I decided that I would get myself one.

The cookie was huge, probably a foot long from wing tip to wing tip. It was made of a flaky dough with a sweet cinnamon filling between the layers. I totally overdid it, but I devoured the entire cookie in one sitting.

We also got a cannoli from Termini Bros. They were filling these behind the counter as ordered, so it definitely made it more interesting than just getting a pre-made dessert from the case. The filling had a very strong ricotta flavor which I enjoyed. To me, this is what cannoli filling should taste like. The person who I split the cannoli with disagreed and prefers the typical Florida Italian restaurant cannonli filling which tastes more like icing.

Russian & International Food Market in Boca Raton, FL

I found a place called Russian & International Food Market in the shopping center at the intersection of Glades and Lyons Road on my last trip to Boca Raton. The store was filled with all sorts of interesting Eastern European foods, but what really drew me in was their case of pierogi. For $2.50, I had a huge potato pierogi. Unlike other pierogi I've had elsewhere, this Russian version of the food was more akin to a knish rather than a dumpling.

This huge pierogi had a flaky crust wrapped around a mound of mashed potato. It was quite different from other pierogi that I've had in the past, but was still very tasty...

I also bought this Poppy Seed Danish. Pretty good, although nothing compared to the freshly baked poppy seed rolls I've had in the past...

Middle Eastern Aromas in Melbourne, FL

I picked up take-out a couple of times from a Lebanese restaurant in Melbourne called Middle Eastern Aromas. It's located in a somewhat dilapidated looking strip-mall and is half restaurant, half Middle Eastern market. I've picked up cans of stuffed grape leaves from the market on each of my visits!

I tried their falafel pita sandwich, filled with falafel, lettuce, tomato, parsley, pickled cucumber, and tahini. The falafel had plenty of flavor and the pickles were interesting. In other Lebanese restaurants, pickled turnips seem to be more common on sandwiches.

On another visit, I had the Chicken Shawarma Pita. This sandwich contained chicken, french fries, lettuce, tomato, pickled cucumber, and garlic sauce. The fries didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the pita in my opinion, although that garlic sauce was wonderful. I must have stunk for days afterward, but it's really good stuff.

El Palacio de Los Jugos in Miami, FL

I visited El Palacio de Los Jugos on Flagler Ave during a recent visit to Miami. It was in my conciousness since I remembered seeing an episode of VendrTV on the place so I decided to check it out.

El Palacio de Los Jugos was set up with several counters, each selling a different type of food. There was an outdoor pork counter, seafood counter, and sandwich/coffee counter. Inside, there was the juice counter as well as lots of fruits and vegetables for sale.



When I was going to order something, I realized that there was zero English being spoken here. It was really quite intimidating with my very limited Spanish language skills, but I was able to manage by walking up to the juice counter with Jugo de mamey, por favor. It got the point across and I received my cup of mamey juice.

Since this was the Juice Palace, I was expecting good juice. The mamey juice did not disappoint. It tasted like pumpkin pie in liquid form. The cup was huge and it only cost $2! Because I had previous plans for dinner (and they ended up being closed) when I happened upon El Palacio de Los Jugos, I unfortunately didn't try any of the food on this visit. I'm definitely making a point to return here to sample some of their Cuban food on a future excursion to Miami!

Harmoni Market in College Park, FL

I ate lunch at Harmoni Market in Orlando's College Park neighborhood during an unexpected detour caused from an I-4 closure. The service was a bit weird when we entered, the group of employees standing at the bar ignored us for a few minutes until someone finally told us to sit anywhere. This awkwardness was followed by a drink being served in a cup covered in lipstick stains, but after the initial weirdness, the food and service were good.

I ordered the Rockin Goat Flatbread. It consisted of rock shrimp, arugula, goat cheese, homemade mozzarella, and tomato sauce all on a whole wheat flatbread (baked by the Olde Hearth Bread Company). Although they called it a flatbread, it was technically a variation of a pizza. Seafood and pizza combinations always seem strange to me, but I liked this a lot. I'd gladly get it again! My only real complaint was that Harmoni was really stingy with the goat cheese. For a flatbread with goat in the name, I was expecting less mozzarella and more goat cheese crumbles.

When looking over Harmoni Market's menu, it seemed to be somewhat overpriced (especially on the sandwiches). Since I shared the flatbread and there were plenty of rock shrimp on it, what I ordered wasn't too bad. It came out to about $5 a person and filled me up.