Food for Thought

As I've looked back over my blog, I realized it reads more like a regional food review than anything else.  I am happy to report that if you get off the crumbling interstate system when traveling across this great country of ours, there's still plenty of regional flair and flavor.  The food is one of the things I love best about Tampa.  There are a plethora of great ethnic restaurants to match the population.

I am a coffee drinker. As I sit writing this, I am sucking down Starbucks.  And while I love, love, love my Grande Non-Fat Latte, there is nothing in this world to compare to a properly made Cafe con Leche. Nothing.  There are secrets to the perfect cup of joe that is famous in Tampa  and Miami.  First, start with full-bodied expresso beans.  Cafe Bustelo is one of the famous brands.  Next, steam whole milk.  I made the mistake of asking if I could have my cafe con leche with skim milk.  The waitress at the restaurant made a face like she didn't understand me.  When I repeated my request, she scrunched up her face as if she were fighting off dry-heaves.  I got whole milk.  After they steam the milk, they put regular old white sugar in it until it's just sweet enough.  You can't use stevia, equal, splenda, raw sugar or any other substitute (same response as above).  To the table comes a cappuccino-size cup and saucer filled with sweet milk and a separate little pitcher of expresso.  Pour the expresso into the milk to the desired strength, and voila! So good.

Cuban food, for me, is comfort food.  My daughters grew up eating it.  One of my favorite restaurants in Tampa is a little place called Arco Iris on Columbus St. On a recent visit I had ropa vieja (which is kind of like a pot roast) and yellow rice and black beans.  Larry had roast pork that is so tender and full of flavor.  If you have room, you can get flan for dessert, but why bother when cafe con leche is on the menu...

Baseball and Other Essentials of Life

Although we originally planned to tour U.S. presidential libraries as we traveled across the country, it turned out we were drawn to Major League Baseball.  After Arizona’s fan-friendly stadium, we went to downtown St. Louis to see the Cardinals play in their new ballpark.  The view was beautiful.  From our seats, I could see the Arch, the old courthouse where the Dred Scott citizen case was heard before it went to the Supreme Court, and of course, Beltran, Freese, Holliday (the handsomest man in baseball), and the rest of the Cards.

We also traveled to Miami with my parents to see the Marlins in their new park  (with all these new ballparks, you would think the economy was booming…).  It is a techno dreamboat for fans and fish.  The roof opens for outside ball games when the weather cooperates.  My favorite thing in this dazzling, bling-infested park is the Homerun Sculpture designed by the famous artist, Red Grooms.  We were lucky enough to see two homers the day we went—and the sculpture comes to life: lights blink, fish swim and splash.  It’s FAN-tastic!  Oh, and they have a bobble-head museum, too.  Pretty neat stuff, even before the first pitch is thrown!

Those poor Tampa Bay Rays are "forced to make due" with a stadium that was built to woo a major league team way, way back in the ‘90s. “If we build it, they will come…” said city leaders.  After many failed attempts, St. Petersburg finally bagged a team of its own, only to have the team leave the name of its host city out of its name.  Ever heard of the St. Petersburg Rays? It’s like being a parent to a teen who doesn’t want to be seen in public with you…they don’t want to share your name and your house isn’t fancy enough for them. But that is all behind the scenes owner’s stuff.  The Rays are my new team and I enjoy watching them whenever I get the chance.  Larry even bought me a scorebook so I can keep track of what the boys are doing. 

Bottom line, I seen a lot of baseball, but I missed many of the presidential libraries along the way.  It wasn’t my fault: I had the plague in Texas so I missed both the Bush museums and the LBJ library is closed because its being renovated.  The stop at Jimmy Carter’s library in Atlanta was canceled because someone in the group was tired of traveling…

I still plan to visit those libraries and more—they are a treasure for those of us who love history.  But not today, there’s a game on at 3.  Play ball!

 

Becoming Real People Again

For the past few weeks we have gone about the business of establishing ourselves in Tampa.  We rented a mailbox at the U.S. Post Office on MacDill AFB and went to the AAA to get our Florida Driver’s Licenses and Florida License Plates.  Because of the events of 9/11 and the Patriot Act, it is darn near impossible to get a driver’s license, especially if you have no real physical address—P.O. Boxes no longer work for an address for driver’s licenses, banks, or credit cards. It doesn’t really matter what you use for a physical address, as long as you have one.

After much creative thinking and scavenging, we managed to find enough proof of identity to please the state of Florida.  We now have our identity in one state: our permanent home address is the Family Camp office at MacDill.

Next order of business was admitting that a person cannot graze with wild abandon on fried okra without paying a price.  My price: 10 additional pounds to shed.  My solution: Weight Watchers.  Hi, my name is Cindy and I have recently eaten my body weight in fried okra and Reese’s Pieces.  No judgment, just a new plan.  “It’s choice not chance that determines your destiny,” said the WW leader.  I decided that’s an updated quote for “you are what you eat.” I am now eating less. My destiny is to get back into people clothes and out of moo-moos.

What better way to slim down than to get a bike? However, in addition to being the lightning capital of the world, the Tampa Bay region is known for cars flattening bike riders.  Defensive bike riding is definitely a must.  Larry has mirrors and reflectors hanging off multiple parts of his body and bike.  I wanted to mount a cannon on the side of my bike, but Larry thought that was impractical.  I do try to stay off roads and ride on trails or sidewalks.  Although militant walkers have been known to push over sidewalk bike riders.  Riding in Florida is great, though. After the hills of Carmel Valley, CA,  the flat expanses of the bay area are welcome to couch potatoes like me.

Hello, Tampa!

When we loosely planned our trip, we thought we would spend a few days in Nashville listening to music and eating grits, then head on down to Atlanta to tour the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, and finally push on south to Tampa.  But when we hit the road in Indiana, Larry was struck with the notion that it was time to be in Florida.  His foot was out of the cast but it was swelling daily and sore.  He needed physical therapy  and he needed structure.  

I thought he would slow down as we drove through Kentucky, but we whizzed past the Jim Beam plant and the Makers Mark plant.  We plowed through Atlanta (yes it was rush hour!) on Thursday, then on a Friday afternoon, we pulled into MacDill Air Force Base in beautiful Tampa, Florida. My trip odometer read 6,364 miles.

(Atlanta in Rush Hour. )

MacDill and Tampa have changed a lot since I left 8 years ago.  With both Central Command (dealing with Europe, Africa, and the Middle East--including Afghanistan) and Special Operations Command (Larry’s old command which is responsible for Task Force 160, Seal Team 6, and all the other secret squirrel groups) headquartered here, the Air Force has spent money to spruce up this base.  Compared to the Marine’s Camp Pendleton, it’s the Ritz-Carlton.

MacDill AFB Tampa, FL

The family camp is on Tampa Bay.  Actually, if you think of Tampa Bay as a mouth opening into the Gulf of Mexico, the peninsula MacDill is on is the dangly thing in its throat.  (Dr. Larry says it’s “the Uvula.”)  The sunsets are incredible but cell phone service and internet connectivity is almost non-existent.

Our first outing took us to nearby Ybor City (pronounced E-boar) where the nationalities that make Tampa so diverse converge.  Cuban and Italian immigrants called Ybor home, and their culture is evident on the streets today.  There’s a Cuban Sandwich contest underway, and for those of you who have not been to Tampa, let me tell you about cubans (the sandwich, not the people.)

Cubans were created in Tampa, NOT in Miami or on that island south of us.  To make a perfect Tampa cuban, start with a loaf of fresh cuban bread sliced lengthwise.  Cuban bread is long and thin and lighter and airier than french bread.  If it is real, it has a palmetto frond in the center of it.  Back in the day, bakers delivered cuban bread to houses using horse-drawn carts.  Each house had a hook located on the alley side of the house.  The driver would hook the long loaf onto the hook in the alley.  No bag, paper or plastic.

Back to the sandwich...add sliced pork marinated in mojo, thin italian sausage, a slice of swiss cheese, dill pickles and mustard.  Slather the outside of the bread with a little bit of butter and heat in a press.  Pair it with fried plantains and a cafe con leche and you have the perfect meal.  

I don’t know which restaurant won the bragging rights for Best Cuban Sandwich in Tampa this year in Ybor, but I can tell you everyone in the vicinity was a winner for partaking in the fragrance alone.

A Field Trip to Redwood RV's

Maybe I should have been in construction.  Or maybe I should have worked in a chocolate factory like Lucy and Ethel.  For that matter, a TV newsroom is a lot like a factory...it’s just the product doesn’t taste as good as chocolate at the end of the day.  

Anyway, I’ve always been intrigued by how things are made, especially things on an assembly line.  So when we had to take our 5th wheel to the factory to get a few things fixed, I was delighted to find out we could take a tour.

Redwood RV’s are literally built from the ground up.  They make about six RV’s a week in the factory in Syracuse, Indiana.  It’s not an assembly line exactly, but there are teams that construct each part of the RV, starting at the wheels and frame and working up to the roof.  It’s a relatively new company and their target market is baby boomers who want an all-season coach.  As “full-timers” born in ’53 and ’61, we can say “bullseye” to the marketing folks.

I learned a lot about our home during our three-hour tour.  Maybe we should have taken the sales tour BEFORE we bought the RV, but I am happy camper.  We learned some really helpful things.  We found out there is a vent that can be opened so the microwave and exhaust fan have somewhere to push out steam.  We also learned that the hose for the black/grey water actually swings out from under the RV.  Maybe Larry already knew this, but didn’t tell me so I would have to crawl under the RV every time we set up camp.  Finally, we found out we have a hidden safe in the bedroom! Who knew??? Now I just have to buy jewels to keep in the safe...

It was fun to see other RV’s in various stages of completion, but it was even more fun to meet the people who actually made our 5th wheel.  They were absolutely delighted that we were happy with our home.  Pride in workmanship.  Made in the USA.