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.

With that said, I ended up going along to Blizzard Beach at Walt Disney World for someone's birthday. 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. All of the slides I went on were fun and most had a pretty short wait. Soon, everyone started getting hungry so we ate 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. It wasn't the greatest thing in the world, but when compared to the much worse foods that I’ve had at water parks in the past, it wasn't that bad. 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.

 Burgers and fruit salads were also purchased here, none of which I tried.

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.