Food & Fall Weekend

As the weekend neared the girlfriend and I had one more fancy dinner prior to the two day break. As we both enjoy a great steak we have been visiting the fancy steakhouses around Tampa. This time we were visiting Ocean Prime that offered both an extensive seafood and steak menu.

I couldn't rock my usual shorts/t-shirt where we were going. A bit of a fancier set of an attire to match the gorgeous +1 and we were off. Something about the venue at an elegant place just sets the mood for the meal. From walking in and getting greeted and being sat with champagne immediately poured is quite the experience.

Unfortunately for myself with such an elegant meal - I failed to take photos of all the food and instead only have my wedge salad.

The steak melted in my mouth and was extremely good. Each bite had the perfect combination of fat & meat with a side of hollandaise sauce. As we ate I was always amazed as the cocktails came out in a mixer glass and were poured into chilled glasses at the absolute perfect level - never overflowing the glass. One drink even had dry ice in it making a constant smoke cloud that drifted onto the table.

As the weekend arrived - we were off again this time to Keel Farms in Plant City. I live in Temple Terrace so it makes a trip to Keel Farms just one road winding through the rural part of Florida to the farm. It was crazy to see so much flooding and destroyed homes as far inland as we were. It just showed that with back to back hurricanes of Hellene and Milton - a lot of folks lost homes.

As we arrived, things at Keel Farms looked a bit different with police presence and traffic cones everywhere. We went along our way through guides and parked in an assigned spot - it turns out we had arrived during Fall Fest. An event every single weekend in October where Keel Farms hosts 40+ vendors, offers hay rides and much more.

So while folks hurried out to the vendors as the farm opened - we opted to grab a seat at the bar and enjoy some cider & food. The place got busier by the minute and what was once an empty bar and restaurant had almost every single table/seat taken.

Now that I've tried every single cider I'm less tempted to get a flight of varieties I know I might not enjoy. Paired with not being a fan of pumpkin drinks led to me getting ciders I know I'd drink. We got some nacho fries and any time a dish has pickled red onions I'm immediately a fan.

After our drinks were done - we got one to go for exploring the vendors. Lesson learned its a bit difficult to wander among hundreds of people with a plastic glass of water & cider. We passed one vendor (15olives) selling olive oil and flavored vinegar and I was already convinced I was spending some money.

I left with:

• 2 Mango Sriracha Infused White Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 Robust Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 Elderberry Infused While Balsamic Vinegar

I've already tried the mango vinegar with some chicken and it added a nice blast of flavor. I burn through olive oil so much so can't wait to try out some salad, steak, onions and other items with this new robust olive oil.

With one quick trip back to the car to drop off the heavy olive oil we went back inside to grab a real meal after only eating some french fries. A salad for both of us that I forgot to snap pictures of and we were exhausted. Wandering around in the sun with hundreds of other people really does steal the energy.

The weekend went on with friend's birthday and watching their band perform, but I crashed early in the night from the exhaustion of a workout and fall fest. When Sunday morning arrived I knew it was going to be a breakfast burger type of day.

The burger was great, but as this blog hinted at - a jammed packed weekend meant the chores had caught up to me. Open source work, a work emergency, mowing, laundry and more stole the rest of my weekend.

Halloween is near which means October is almost over, which means this year is going by fast. At least I get to slow down every once in awhile and enjoy some ciders with some company.