ginnyinshanghai

Apalachicola’s Piggley Wiggley

December 12, 2022 by ginnyinshanghai

This is a g.r.e.a.t grocery store, even if it is located in a small town. Every time we visit Apalach, there’s usually a post about the grocery. 🙂 I’m always finding something new! BTW – love their marketing. You can find it on shirts, cups, headwear and bags to name a few.

So, really, why talk about a grocery store on vacation? LOTS of reasons. I’ve listed my top three below.

~First – snacks & meals. Depending upon where we are staying, we usually have one of our daily meals at our place (breakfast or dinner).

~Second – great place for goodies and gifts to bring home.

~Third – interesting insight into the culture and people.

There you have it. You can pretty much guarantee the Dardens are hitting a grocery store no matter what place, state or country we are visiting. Now, on with the rest of this story………..

One thing I’ve always noticed was the plethora of options for many foods at this ‘small town’ grocery store. How many pickles can one community eat? I mean seriously?

How many salsas can a community try?

And these hot sauces? I’ve seen hot sauce stores with less options. There were more but I didn’t capture everything in the photo below.

Who or what exactly was Piggley Wiggley Groceries. A bit of history………

~Piggley Wiggley was founded in 1916 in Memphis TN, with their current headquarters in Keene NH.

~In 2020 they had 499 locations with their parent company being C&S Wholesale Grocers.

~They were innovative being the first self-service grocery store. At the time of founding, customers gave their list to the clerk who gathered their requested items – customers weren’t allowed to wander the store. This store changed all of that. Wow!

Let’s talk (more) products. As we wandered the Apalachicola store, they have items not found in my Publix: 4 different goat cheeses (pumpkin spice – really), pate’, sriracha sauce (heard there was a shortage which is why I can’t find any at home) and these Community Coffee flavors (I can only order them on-line! K-cups no less.).

This place is not stagnant and resting on current product selections. One corner of their store showcases all of their newest items. Yikes!!! That was a lot of newness.

Let’s talk honey, specifically Tupelo honey. Saw the price for this jug of honey and while I knew it was ‘special’ I didn’t know it was that special. $74!

Tupelo Honey – why the hype? Did a little internet research and came up with these 6 reasons:

(1) Buttery, mild flavor, golden hue with a taste that has wide appeal.

(2) Buy it as a liquid, it stays a liquid. It will keep in liquid form for years when kept at room temperature.

(3) Higher fructose ratio, healthier sweetener and easier for your system to break down.

(4) Medicinal uses: anti-inflammatory properties and antioxidant properties

(5) More than a sweetener having trace elements when not processed (Vitamin C, Iron and Thiamine)

(6) Preserves habitat. Tupelo trees grow in Florida, George and Lousiana.

Hmmmm, okay. I guess I’m won over.

Craft beer has exploded in the last decade and never would have guessed this small southern town would stock up on this variety of styles and names.

I mean come on – Icelandic beer? Two types no less. I can’t find this at all in my Publix.

I’ll close with brews from their local brewery: Oyster City Brewing Company. While only one was pictured in the photo below, the flier lists some of their others. One of my favorite was Hooter Brown.

Ginny

Apalachicola’s Grady Market

December 6, 2022 by ginnyinshanghai

My previous post I vaguely mentioned our accommodations………..we stayed in one of the Consulate Suites atop the Grady Market. The building has a few ‘extra’ touches with the Christmas decorations. Nice. Turn around 180 degrees and the Apalachicola River was the view in front of you.

Who’s patiently (or not) sitting on the front porch? The center door under the green Grady market sign leads up to the suites.

The Grady building was originally built to house J.E. Grady & Company in the 1800s and was a ships chandlery. What is a chandlery? Had to google it and discovered several definitions but the one for this was ‘a shop selling nautical items for ships and boats’.

Notice the balcony jutting out from the side of the building? Yep, that’s our room. Each of the four suites have a balcony.

The rooms atop the building fall under the umbrella called The Consulate.

Why The Consulate name? In the early 1800s France and other European nations maintained interest in Apalachicola due to it being the 3rd largest shipping port along the Gulf. Through the ages, the space above the chandlery was used for the French Consulate, the Captain of the Port and the U.S. Customs Office.

We stayed in the suite titled The Port Captain.

Brick walls, heart pine floors and tin ceilings are the first thing seen upon opening the door, leading you into the sitting area. Notice the ‘window’ with the handle?

Yes, that leads to the outside balcony with the Apalachicola River in the background. It was a little damp the day we arrived – not going to sit outside just yet.

Back to the tour, here’s the kitchen………

The Port Captain suite was one bedroom.

There are framed antique prints scattered around.

The current building was built after 1900 when a fire destroyed the original building. A three-year renovation begun in 1995 brought the red brick storefront back to life. Here’s a shot of the ‘back’ of the building facing downtown Apalachicola.

My last shot in this post………a coastal sunset with gorgeous colors.

Ginny

Apalachicola in December

December 5, 2022 by ginnyinshanghai

We’re heading north to one of our favorite locales – Apalachicola. With St. George Island right across the bay, it is a hopping place in the summer months. We enjoy stopping in during the off season to get a real feel of the place. As you can see below, it’s under a 5-hour drive………unless you make stops – which we did.

The weather was looking gorgeous, giving us a break from the high 80s we’ve been seeing lately. Don’t get me wrong, LOVE the warm weather, but month after month after month of hot temps, you need a break.

Since we weren’t in a hurry, we took a different route. Not too many people & cars on this road. Eric was doubting the wisdom of google maps.

New roads gave us a chance to try new restaurants, like this one in Dunnellon, Front Porch Restaurant & Pie shop. It is a local favorite run by long-time members of the community. Everybody who’s working there knows everyone else – probably knows too much. Ha!

While driving I read Eric some of their menu. As soon as I mentioned fried chicken – he was sold. Naturally he had to add a basket of fried okra.

While I’m not the biggest fan of okra, the crunchiest morsels were okay dipped in the ranch dressing. Yes, it was ranch dressing and no, Eric did not partake.

While I was reading about the restaurant what sold me was mention of a cuban sandwich. Yep, that was my order, along with fries. The slices of roast pork on the sandwich were some of the best I’ve eaten!

Remember the full name of the restaurant…………….we had to try their pie. Cherry was my pie of choice with Eric ordering the blueberry pie. It was a tie concerning who won. 🙂

After a few more hours of driving, our next planned stop was in Sopchoppy – love that name. I will say, we have some unusual names for Florida cities.

Would you believe there is a brewery in Sopchoppy? Civic Brewing Company. Who knew? Well, actually we did, otherwise we would have taken a different route.

Here’s a snapshot of what was on tap. Eric selected the first one and I ordered number 8. They want the brewery to be a community hub, family and pet friendly gathering place for the surrounding area. They are the only brewery in Wakulla County.

We had been in the building waaaaay in the past, when it was a pizza place. The owner of the brewery is a native of Wakulla County. He opened in 2020 – not the best timing but talking to the barkeep (owner’s mother) he’s had success with small batch brewing and plans are in the works to upgrade and expand his equipment next year. And yes, she confirmed this 1912 building was originally a pharmacy, a restaurant, a pizza place and eventually this brewery.

Finally made it to Apalachicola early evening, checked into our accommodations and walked across the street to our second brewery for the day – Oyster City Brewing Company.

Did a little googling and discovered the idea was conceived in 2012 with the owners doing lots of research (drinking beer around the state – tough job), gave samples to friends and family for feedback before opening in 2013. An old dive bar was transformed into this brewery and the community has been supportive ever since. Their Mission: Improve their beer with every batch they make.

Lunch was so big we didn’t want much for dinner – but Eric wanted oysters. Only one place was open and serving food in this town, Half Shell Dockside it was. We’ve been there before and remembered their fish dip. You can barely see the pickles at the bottom of the photo. Didn’t remember them from the past, but it was a tasty addition.

Eric got his raw oysters……………….

I needed my six oysters cooked, with cheese, bacon & jalapeno bits of heat.

There was some fog rolling in off the Apalachicola River, keeping things quiet and mysterious. It’s been 40+ years since I’ve lived in a small town, things definitely close up early, especially in the off-season. That’s why we’re here. Is this where we want to spend retirement years? My guess – yes.

More adventures are coming.

Ginny

Fall Fishing….always interesting

December 5, 2022 by ginnyinshanghai

We had a chance to spend a few days at one of our favorite fishing destinations – Crystal River.

Sorry sis – going to lead with fish photos as I share our catches. Day one was afternoon fishing after motoring to Kings Bay Lodge and dropping the trailer in nearby parking. Not much of a catch on day one, but enough for two. Most of our (keeper) catches were seatrout as seen in the first few photos.

Second day of fishing was a bit more successful. Guess you can figure out which ones I caught! 🙂

Third day brought in another species, mangrove snapper – the red one at the bottom.

Fourth day was all about the mangrove snapper, more on that later. I had a little fun with the photo. Eric just shakes his head.

It wasn’t all about the edible fish. I caught this stingray when we were fishing along the banks of Crystal River.

Don’t worry, he lived to see another day. Eric came to my rescue and released him. Her? Who knows, he wasn’t getting close enough to tell.

It was too windy to fish in the gulf so we tried our hand at fishing the banks of Crystal River. We caught a few other things, like this (short) redfish. It went back into the water.

Eric caught a short snook. It also went back into the water.

We had luck fishing along structure, but it did require lots and lots of hooks. Eric was kept busy, either retying my line or his line to replace the multitude of hooks we lost.

Here’s the other reason we were fishing the river and looking for shelter……..yep, those are cold temps in Florida and colder temps on the water.

That morning we choose breakfast at a local diner – The Biscuit Barn. You can tell by the decor (everywhere) it’s a down home kind of place. Someone was enterprising enough to make this wall hanging.

Breakfast was hearty:

Yes, we both got biscuits. I had mine last slathered with butter and jam – it was my dessert.

After warming up a bit, we got back on the water and caught these mangrove snapper before heading home.

Eric continues to shake his head at my fish photos. You would think by now he’d be used to it.

This vacation was a great little escape from the rigors of living and working in Central Florida.

ginny

Ybor City, FL – cigars, food & chickens

November 19, 2022 by ginnyinshanghai

Time to visit another favorite city in Florida. Less than 1.5 hours and 72 miles away lies a historic neighborhood northeast of Tampa…….Ybor City.

Founded in the 1880s by Spanish cigar manufacturer Vicente Martinez Ybor, he moved his cigar operation from Key West. He liked the nearby port of Tampa and the opportunity to expand his business. Thousands of immigrants, mainly from Cuba, Spain and Italy became a part of the business. As indicated in the shot below, it was an art and respectable livelihood that had additional benefits.

When visiting the area, this is one of the best places to dig into Ybor City history.

While not a huge state park, mainly encompassing half a city block, their exhibits are extremely informative. Let’s start with the obvious, cigar making. Here are a few shots from one of their exhibits.

With the finished product being a well-made cigar.

They had what they considered a ‘special’ ingredient – Cuban tobacco. Cuba has a sub-tropical climate and is renowned for the unsurpassed quality of its tobacco. There you have it.

There’s a nice adjoining courtyard great for eating your lunch or hanging out to enjoy the Florida weather or maybe snapping a few photos. 🙂

You do have to watch out for these guys: Ybor City chickens.

They are wild, direct descendants of chickens that lived in nearby backyards over 100 years ago. Penalties are levied if caught disturbing them. Yep, Eric is in the background – photo bombing my shot.

Another reason to drive to Ybor City? The original Columbia Restaurant resides here. It is Florida’s oldest restaurant and the largest Spanish restaurant in the world. It can seat 1700 guests within their 15 dining rooms. They now take up a city block.

I usually like to add in a few ‘fun facts’ in my blog posts and OMG, when I started some preliminary research I found LOTS more info that I was unaware of and restaurants outside of the Columbia name this family operates.

They operate five ‘Columbia’ Restaurant locations in Florida, two ‘Columbia’ Cafes and four additional eating establishments that I listed below.

~1989 opening, Cha Cha Coconuts in Sarasota, tropical Floribbean flavors.

~2014 opening, Ulele in Tampa serving indigenous ingredients (been there – great!).

~2016 opening, Goody Goody Burgers, actually took ownership of a local favorite place in Tampa’s Hide Park Village that had closed, specializing in handmade pies & burgers using original recipes from 1925.

~2020 opening, Casa Santo Stefano, home-style Tampa-Sicilian recipes, a rooftop ‘drinkeria’ and cigar lounge.

Sounds like future roadtrips need to be planned!\

Okay – back to their food.

A natural start to their dining experience, Sangria, homemade table-side, of course. It’s always the beverage of choice for Adrienne and myself – sorry Eric, you’re driving home.

We brought along our new ‘roomie’ to experience something uniquely Florida.

Warm Cuban bread and delicious butter arrives at each table – more!

Someone usually orders the 1905 Salad, also made table-side.

While maybe not the prettiest piture, google the recipe. Eric has made it in the summer months, and it hits the spot. Sorry, hon, theirs’s tastier, but yours is a close second.

And now to the meals:

Once in a while we order dessert, but not today. Always enjoy coming to original Columbias for the dining and eating experience.

Until next time…………….

Ginny

A small disruption – Hurricane Ian

September 29, 2022 by ginnyinshanghai

Wow! Been awhile since a hurricane has closed the Disney Parks, but thanks to Ian we did.

Speaking of work…………….that’s what I was doing when I heard the news of the actual closing. And to be perfectly honest I had misjudged the timing. I really thought I would be working a partial day on Wednesday, so I didn’t bring comfortable clothes & shoes. Wrong! All that work needed to be done before going home Tuesday night. It was a v.e.r.y long day.

What did my team need to do? Our main focus was mobility. What’s that you ask? Strollers, wheelchairs and ECVs that we rent on a daily basis. They have to be rounded up, organized and stored – creatively. We have waaaaaaay too many to store in our building. We bring the extra to a nearby guest locker area – perfect.

It was time to activate our plan! We rely upon partners to gather our random (lost, abandoned) items, place in designated pick-up spots and my team drives a box truck to load them – repeatedly. One obstacle………..guests! We can’t finish until the park was clear – hence one of the reasons the day was long. We’re usually one of the last to leave…………and the first to come back.

One positive from the night’s experience – night-time photos. Yep, it’s damp outside and it was just starting to get windy for the photo below.

I made it home safely and was able to convince Eric I needed a foot massage before bedtime. 🙂

What to do while waiting for the storm to arrive? LOTS!

We had a few chores around the house to get things ready like pulling in lawn chairs, placing potted plants next to the house and laying down anything that could go flying. Eric thought we might have two weak spots. One was the front door; this was his solution.

Notice the sandbags at the bottom? He decided (late) that a few sandbags were needed and we had to make our own. East-facing windows were our second weak spot with the direction of the driving rain being the main factor. Here’s one of them. Not very pretty, but effective.

Outside secured – check. What’s next? Time to head inside.

I think we’re fairly secure with the power not going out since the utilities are underground – but there’s always a first time. I want to be sure we have clean laundry, and several loads of wash were done.

It was also a good time to iron shirts – for when we return to work. Crazy I know, but got to be prepared for afterwards.

What does Eric concentrate on – food! He drove around until he found one grocery store open. When he couldn’t find all of his needed ingredients for gumbo, he went to plan B – chili!

Not to be outdone, I baked some Toffee banana bread to satisfy my sweet tooth – very tasty.

Now all we had to do was wait, while listening to the wind, the rain, the wind, the rain and more wind. One way to ensure a good night’s sleep? This was courtesy of my leader. It worked.

I woke up to this. The eye of the storm was south and east of us and now we just had to deal with bands of rain throughout the day. I can do that!

Walking outside, things didn’t look too bad. THANK goodness we had our trees trimmed last Fall taking away some of the weight and branches over the house. Clumps of leaves and branches were all over the front yard. Got to find the rake!

One of the funnier things I saw…………this wrapped tree in my neighbor’s yard. Really? We’re expecting rain and wind, not cold temps.

Bottom line – we made it through unscathed. Others in Florida were not as lucky.

I’m closing with a photo after working 15 hours and finally heading home to wait out mother nature. We still had icons lit so I took advantage of the moment.

Ginny

A new addition to Sundays

September 6, 2022October 30, 2022 by ginnyinshanghai

We’ve added another to our weekend jaunts – our godson, Connor. It’s giving us a chance to introduce another person to the eating delights of Central Florida. One of our first forays was Mamak, asian street food.

We started with one of my favorites, fries dusted with asian spices.

And another fave, golden wontons.

One more dish was ordered, hokkien char mee, Singapore’s signature dish with chicken, shrimp and pork. It was v.e.r.y tasty.

We’ve had a few different dessert items but none that bore a repeat. However, fairly close by is a dessert pretzel, at Ten10 Brewing Company. So what exactly is a dessert pretzel? Think warm chewy pretzel, coated with cinnamon sugar and having a tub of cream cheese icing nearby – love it!!!!

Another weekend, we had a visit with Rich and Hunter and we stopped at Deadwords Brewing.

Interesting story about it’s location. Notice the phrase ‘Parramore district’ in the screenshot below? This is not known as an upcoming neighborhood. I was curious why here?

While this is a new building the ground beneath has a fascinating story. A couple from Indiana moved to Central Florida in 1948 and took ownership of the old Arrowhead Restaurant on this site. They changed the name to Chastains. For 40+ years they served up home-cooked, generous helpings of American country-style cooking to all walks of life: common laborers, politicians, sports celebrities, the sheriff and tourists. In the 1097s it was a safe space to discuss civil rights issues. Even in the 1980 and 90s it remained busy with concertgoers attending events in the nearby Citrus Bowl. In the late 90s, the Chastain’s son called it quits when no one else in the family wanted to take over the business.

The building was demolished and the space turned into Al’s Army Navy Store, remaining that way until 2019 when the brewery leased the property. The brewing group liked that there was history in the location and were excited to be a part of what happens next. There you have it.

They have this fabulous communication board, highlighting their current beers and throwing in a few bits of trivia. It is mesmerizing. The ‘clacking’ of the individual letters draws your attention towards it. Seriously, it does.

Why the name Deadwords? The owner was resurrecting the latin language.

With our group of 5 we ordered a variety of items. They have one of the best charcuterie boards in Central Florida – just saying!

Naturally there was a pretzel as part of this mix. The poutine appetizer was also part of the choices.

Throw in a few flame-fired pizzas and we had enough to fill everyone up.

Here’s the whole group for this outing. We’ve got to remember this place when others come. It has a variety of choices on their menu that should suit the pickiest of eaters.

Kind of empty when we first got there but by the time we left they had a nice Sunday afternoon crowd. We’ll be back.

Ginny

Exploring Orlando – again

September 6, 2022 by ginnyinshanghai

Sundays are a good day for food trips. On a recent day we stopped at Market To Table. It’s described as ‘modern American cuisine with classical influences’.

It’s typically an evening destination – except on the weekends when they add a 11am – 2pm dining period. No better way to start than with some special brunch drinks: 2 bloody marys and 1 Market mimosa (vodka, orange, hibiscus & sparkling wine) – v.e.r.y delish! Can you guess who had the market mimosa?

Starting with the salmon Gravlax was an excellent choice. I would go back just for that treat.

Between the three of us, we chose very different entrees. I had been craving eggs benedict and they had their own ‘market’ version. Loved it! Except for the breakfast potatoes left on the plate, everything else was gone.

Adrienne’s selection looked absolutely delicious: pork belly B.L.T. Her fries looked great. Maybe next time I could substitute fries for breakfast potatoes?

Eric enjoyed his braised short rib hash. Not my thing but he ate every morsel.

A repeat visit was to Hall On The Yard.

It’s not your typical restaurant or food hall. The concept involves one owner for the building with different chefs & company. They cook their specialties without sinking a huge fortune into a building, infrastructure, kitchens and waitstaff.

One (very large) menu highlights the diversity of flavors and one waitstaff brings your selection to the table as selections are ready, no matter where it’s coming from.

We started with the ‘zazzy’ fries from the Indian restaurant. Mm, mm, good. Loved the salty & spicy coating and remoulade.

We added their guacamole and homemade chips before the main dishes arrived. We all agreed the flavor was unique (quite good!) so much so that Eric went to it’s kitchen and asked their chef. Honey vinegarette was the ingredient that ‘made’ the dish interesting.

Wow! This looked great – Greek octopus salad.

Eric ordered two more appetizers, samosas and a chicken quesadilla.

Remember at the top when I said I had been craving eggs benedict? Yep, I got another one the following weekend. Hidden underneath those eggs…………salmon (after the replacement dish arrived).

When my first plate arrived, I started digging in, got about 1/2 way through one of the eggs and said ‘Wait a minute”. While it was tasty it wasn’t what I ordered. There was homemade sausage underneath. Eventually we flagged down our waiter and he didn’t seem to understand why I wanted my original order. Really? BTW – much better with the salmon.

Ginny

Barcelona – the end

August 29, 2022 by ginnyinshanghai

I’ve said this before, but going to say it again………..I just hate, hate, h.a.t.e to write the final blog at the end of a trip. I can pretend it’s all about jumping back into work and trying to recover the lost time, it’s not. It’s the realization the trip is over.

I was scanning through my photos and they were bringing back great memories of the awesome food we had. That’s the reason I’m writing this post – food, glorious food. Let’s get started.

Here we go. Right outside of our door was Tapazia, a tapas spot. It’s literally so close we are standing in our AirBNB doorway for this shot.

Naturally started with Sangria, along with these croquettes.

Below was the main attraction: Spanish tortillas. They were these eggy, cheesy, tasty, chock-ful of potatoes very filling meal. Add in some protein or veggies and you would be set for the day. One day, these were lunch – SUCH a long walk.

One evening we visited another host recommendation……………. lo Pinyal.

No surprise, another tapas restaurant.

Top – anchovy and stuffed olives. Middle – sheep cream cheese with fig and almonds. Bottom – romesco eggplant

We finally learned the art of ordering tapas – don’t order everything at once! So simple, but effective. Otherwise (most) everything comes out at once, not leaving time to savor the small plates already at the table.

More of the tomato bread and their fabulous Iberian ham, thinly sliced.

Sheep cream cheese with anchovy and olive

And always to top off the meal, Sangria.

We had a few repeats our last few days, one of which included going back to the market and snacking at Bar Boqueria. Yep, there was a lot of sangria drunk while in Barcelona. This was NOT the same day as the photo above, let’s keep it straight.

Potatoes, always taste better on vacation.

Yes I did……ate a tenacle.

Not just a repeat, but a three-peat. Never happened before! Our first meal in Barcelona was at Tapeo and we made Tapeo our last meal. YEAH!!!!

Dessert:

Drinks:

Our last day in Barcelona, we wandered more of the historic streets and found this second story bar. Great for afternoon refreshment and people-watching.

I snuck a tasty little sweet treat with me on the plane. We had walked past these several times and I finally succumbed. They were just so darned cute. Basically, they were donuts with a theme or ‘dressing’.

Yep, it was sweet and very tasty.

Okay, that’s it, the trip was over and so are the photos.

Ginny

Montserrat Monastery

June 13, 2022 by ginnyinshanghai

Founded in the 11th century, then rebuilt between the 19 & 20th centuries it was the destination for a booked tour. Why was it rebuilt? During Napoleon’s invasion of Spain, the abbey was twice burned down and sacked by his troops.

Located 30 miles northwest of Barcelona, Montserrat means ‘serrated mountain’. During the 12th and 13th century, a Romanesque Church was built and that was our first destination in the morning. It was at that time this monastery began to see pilgrims visiting.

As expected, beautiful and ornate inside.

A little closer to the pulpit.

The organ was unlike what I had seen previously with some of the pipes placed horizontally.

While a great deal of this church was old, one of the chapels had this sculpture V.E.R.Y different and modern.

Exiting the church you came upon these prayer candles.

This fountain holds the secret to a youthful beauty. I’ll try any and everything to hold back the years – just saying.

A few last shots of the church before heading to other parts of the monastery. Also, it should be noted 1223 was the first account of a boys’ choir which continues to this day and can be heard during one of the daily masses.

The detail in the prophets above the doorway was amazing.

Earlier I mentioned this became a stop for pilgrimage. Why? Legend places the finding of the statue of the Virgin of Montserrat around 880. These carved Madonnas are believed to have been created in Jerusalem at the beginning of the religion and can be found all over the world. This cross indicates the chapel where it’s displayed. No, we didn’t make the trek.

There are accommodations on the property.

Along with a number of statues. This was carved in a nook along one of the pathways.

We had some free time and chose to take the funicular to the top of the Monserrat mountain. A group of young children and their adult chaperones squeezed in amongst the adults. Needless to say, it was quite noisy on the ride up.