Sand... Surf... Sun... Food... Food...Food!

    Wednesday, April 13, 2011,  I have just returned from having breakfast at "Perkins" where I ingested three and a half  cups of coffee, a record for someone who once upon a time hated coffee, as I left I glanced at the half full cup of coffee and felt the urge to finish it but immediately walked to the cashier to pay for the meal instead.  They were the best three and a half cups of coffee I've had since Saturday and believe me I have tried coffee from the likes of "Starbucks", "Dunkin' Donuts",  "connecticut muffin" in New York and quaint Cuban shops here in Florida, but none of these can compare to "Perkins" however.  I think in the area of coffee I've been fortunate as of Saturday, when I took Gs' (a classmate) advice and had breakfast at "Cracker Barrel"  the pancakes arrived somewhat burnt and the sausage gravy was bland, but the one wonderful thing was the coffee, I had two cups and was offered a third but was affraid I'd be jumping off the walls in a few minutes so refused it.  So two suggestions for great coffee "Perkins" and "Cracker Barrel"  I'd say it's been a productive couple of days wouldn't you?  I also found that the breakfast menu at "Perkins" is quite diverse, well cooked and tasty, my choice this morning was the "Farmers' Omelette" filled with bacon, sausage, onions, green peppers and cheddar cheese and topped with chopped bacon, sausage and cheddar cheese, the first bite provided what one would expect from this omelette a burst of savory flavors and those smooth and crispy textures in one yum!   I'm just sad that I didn't take a picture to show you, but if you go to the website you can see some menu items for both restaurants. 

      On Saturday a friend arrived  from Orlando her one demand "show me around West Palm Beach" show her around West Palm Beach I did,  just the areas I find pleasing.  We started with a tour of "City Place" downtown, I enjoy going there because something about it reminds me of New York, probably the liveliness.  When we arrived it was just getting dark out which livens the atmosphere because the lights go on and so does the music and "Mo" (my friend from Orlando who also lived in New York years ago) loves lights (must be a Christmas thing).  The band for the evening played "Beatles"  songs and hey who doesn't like the "Beatles"?  We were on the right track, as we walked on I spotted "The Cheesecake Factory" although I had been to "City Place" various times I had never had the opportunity to go in due to lack of money or patience,(there can be a wait when you choose to do "The Cheesecake Factory" in the evening hours) "let's go to the cheesecake factory!" I shouted over the noise, the girls were up for it and in a few seconds so was "Mo", we went in and a reservation was made the wait? about thirty five minutes, customers are given a pager and told to explore until they are paged, so we did.  As we walked talking and laughing, I said to Mo "I dare you to go into the cheesecake factory and tell the hostess the pager went off"  (I enjoy daring people to do stuff) without speaking she grabbed the pager from me and headed for the restaruant, we followed behind, I was smiling of course.  "Mo" goes up to the hostess and says "we saw the light on the pager flash and thought it was a page" (lie, big lie)  the hostess checks and says "oh yea you were paged" I looked around thinking "this is wierd and "Mo" looked at me perplexed, I think I heard crickets a minute there.  Although I requested a table inside "Mo" convinced me to change my request to "al fresco" so I did, (daring night for me), the hostess reminded me I asked for inside I replied by reminding her I actually said "whatever" when asked (it's true).  We were given a table outside but I wasn't sure about that it was hot out, I thought I'd be uncomfortable, but I wasn't there was a nice breeze.  I ordered onion rings, they were served piled up on each other with a garlic dip which reminded me of "mojito" (used to dip fried plantains) only it was white, so I deduced that perhaps they added flour to a "mojito" created this wonderful, tasty dip for the onion rings.  We also had cappucino and for dessert  a slice of "tuxedo" cheesecake and the Godiva brownies with ice cream plate, this plate can be filling and can feed two or three people, so can the cheesecake slice.  

 

     

         Mo decided to rent a hotel room and asked us to stay with her, how could I say no?  It was an opportunity for the girls to have a dip in the pool and relax a bit outside of home and for us to get reaquainted as friends.  The irony I realized was that this was the hotel where I dropped off the ex-brit beau I spoke of in past post/, I never thought I'd end up staying here as it's located on Okeechobee Boulevard in West Palm Beach and I live just twenty minutes away?  We picked up some "Taco Bell" (love the ninety nine cent chicken burritos) and headed for our room, the beds were comfortable and the room had a cozy ambiance.  In the morning before heading out to the pool, we enjoyed the free continental breakfast which consisted of boiled eggs, bagels , cereal, milk, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, bread, batter and waffle maker to make your own waffles, yogurt and muffins it all looked so pretty and appetizing and was much appreciated by all.  After about an hour in the pool we headed to our room and packed up, next we would hit Lake Worth Beach.  The sand was unbearably hot as was the atmosphere, but it's what you want when in the beach, we stayed about an hour and a half, then headed for home as Mo had to begin her trip back to Orlando.  On the way home, I suggested a bbq, we stopped in the market and picked up some steaks, hot dogs, corn and kielbasa, all in all it was a great weekend and it was mostly based on spontaneity, if planned as you well know, it would have been boring, thank you for reading, below find some photos, take care!