My Heart & I jetted off to Tampa for HealthCampFla (Saturday, July 30).
I looked out and thought the clouds looked like someone had dropped cotton balls – they were just so odd because they were little singular “puffs” of clouds.
I Loved that I was able to catch the plane’s shadow on a cloud… and then we were Here!
“Home Sweet…” Hotel room – not bad at all ! There were tattoo parlors… and…
Cigar shops all around the area we were in – Ybor City. I Loved this balcony over a shop
It was an interesting little city
So we stopped in a shop and, while wandering around, asked the shop person where we should go eat lunch. He recommended the Columbia – open in that location since 1905. Now it is an entire city block – has 19 dining rooms and can hold 1,700 people. The room we were in had great light and was just lovely!
Seemed like the perfect place to enjoy a Sangria. The man in the shop also told us to have the “1905 salad” and he was totally right – it was delicious. A mix of ice berg lettuce, julienned ham & swiss cheese, olives, tomatoes with a lovely garlicy vinaigrette.
My lunch was the chicken with yellow rice… very traditional and delicious. My Heart had these amazing cannelloni – handmade cannelloni with “Maine lobster, shrimp, scallops & sauteed shallots blended with a lobster sherry cream reduction, smothers with a lobster sherry mornay cheese sauce”… YUM!
One of the dining rooms – I Love the doors!
After our meeting at KForce with the HealthCampFla organizers – off to dinner at the Acropolis Greek Taverna
There was live Greek musicians playing and periodically the Waitstaff would DANCE through the room then the waiters would yell OPA and throw cocktail napkins into the air (this is a good time to protect your food!) – which explains the napkins on the fans, light fixtures, rafters, etc!
A pint for my Heart and one of the organizers generously shared his Sangria with me – Appetizer: grilled octopus (which was wonderful… I don’t remember eating that since I was a kid) and Tzaziki (some of the best I’ve ever had)
My Heart had the Gyro salad and I had a shrimp salad that included candied walnuts, onions, goat cheese, with a mango dressing. Both were excellent!
On the wander back to the car I noticed several of these poems in the sidewalk. Day ended with a couple rum & Dr. Pepper in the hotel bar. A great day – tomorrow HealthCampFla !