The Mediterranean Plus on a Hot and Humid Day
“What can you say? It’s summer in Pensacola!” my Pensacola friend laughed. We had been talking about the week of rain-bursts and thunder and lightning we’ve been having – with more the same to come. I don’t mind, the cloud cover keeps the temperatures down, even if it makes the air more humid and heavy.
A perfect day for lunch at the Mediterranean Plus.
There isn’t any time of the year that is not perfect to eat at the Mediterranean Plus. In the winter, you can have their lentil stews and heavier main dishes. In the winter, their lentil soup and seafood soup (it isn’t on the menu; the chef has to make it as the soup of the day) are wonderful. In the summer, we love the salads and often order a plate to share, like the Vegitarian Plate or the Mediterranean Plate.
We split an order of baba ghannoush to start.
This time I had Chicken Kabob (known in the Middle East as Shish Taouk):
While AdventureMan had a felafel sandwich:
There was so much Shish Taouk that I brought the rest home and we split it for dinner, too. Nice light eating on a hot Pensacola summer’s evening.
6895 North 9th Avenue Pensacola, FL 32503
(850) 469-9225
(Between the liquor store and Rob’s Cameras; around the corner from Four Winds)
5 Stars for Bonnie, at Pensacola’s Fish House
It’s another rainy, stormy day in Pensacola, and we decide we want to have comfort food for lunch. That narrows our selection down to three places – Tudo’s, 5 Sisters, and The Fish House. We decide this is a good day for The Fish House – maybe we can get in without a wait, with all the people heading out to Pensacola Beach.
We have to wait in the car, once we get there, because the rain is coming down in buckets, and the wind is blowing it sideways.
Our windshield looking at the Fish House:
Once it abates a little, AdventureMan gets his umbrella, runs around to my side of the car, and covers us both as best we can as we run up the steps and inside the restaurant.
Things can change in a heartbeat, we think, watching out the window next to the table where we are seated. Today is the Blue Angel’s Day at Pensacola Beach, but with all this thunder and lightning and we can’t imagine how this can work.
“There is always a bubble over the beach,” Bonnie, who has a sweet smiling face, informs us. Even when it is raining in Pensacola, most of the time it is fine out at the beach.”
That’s a comfort, because the rain is really coming down.
We order, and when our order comes, AdventureMan’s pizza is covered with cheese. That is a good thing, if you are a normal American, but not such a good thing if you are us. We’ve eaten pizza for so long overseas that we aren’t used to the gooey layers of cheese covering most American pizzas. AdventureMan scrapes it off, and eats the pesto and tomato topping underneath. (My Grits a Ya Ya are divine.)
Bonnie is dismayed.
“Can I take it back and have it done the way you like it?” she asks.
“No, no” we assure her, it’s our fault, our idea of pizza is different and we just forgot that momentarily, we are fine.
She couldn’t let it go. She felt so badly seeing all his piles of melted cheese.
“Let me buy you dessert,” she tried.
“No, No, Bonnie, this isn’t your fault or the Fish House fault; it’s our fault for not remembering that pizzas here come with more cheese. It’s not you’re problem, we are happy with this nice table and a great waitress. We don’t fault anyone for this.”
She brought the bill. As we handed the payment to her, she handed us a small take-away box.
“I want you to have this,” she insisted. We opened it when we got to the car. It was a piece of their special blueberry cheesecake, garnished with a flower.
You know me. I complain about bad customer service. It’s only fair that when we get superb customer service that we tell you about that, too. Bonnie was superb. She has mastered the art of customer service. She is a reason people come back to The Fish House. 🙂
Hot Rain For Pensacola Blue Angels
It’s the biggest week for Pensacola and Pensacola Beach, it’s Blue Angels week, and people come from all over the USA to watch our home team do arial acrobatics. It’s always a thrill, driving to an appointment, when suddenly the Blue Angels appear in the sky, flying in close formation. Their practices are a weekly delight to Pensacolians.
It’s a funny week, though, a week when we have had rain almost every day. It makes summer in Pensacola different from summer in Kuwait and Qatar. In Pensacola, rain is a good thing, sometimes we don’t get enough. This year, we have been deluged; one area of our city flooded while we were in Zambia, and even our house suffered from the hurricane-force wind-driven rain.
It’s not a cold rain, it’s a hot rain, the rain falls and the temperatures are in the 90’s, falling to the high 80’s. We are planning to go out to the beach to watch the big practice on Friday (we do not plan to go for the full show on Saturday! Maybe someday when we can book a hotel room for that time) hoping the beach breezes keep the mosquitos at bay. Thundershowers are forecast for the entire week, through Saturday, but, when they come, they don’t last too long, an hour at most, and then the air is clear and clean. Not crisp, but clear and clean and HUMID!
The mosquitos are thriving. It was forecasted when we had such a mild winter that the insect population would rocket, and already, barely midsummer, or at least mid-heat of summer, and dengue fever has hit in New York, Miami, and other mosquito-borne illnesses are showing up throughout Florida. Dengue fever, the article referenced above states, used to be seen only in people returning from overseas country where it was present, but now, mosquitos in the USA are carrying it. Good time to wear repellant. 🙂
Barnes and Nobles: Paradise
We’d had guests, people we really like and admire, and now I was about to take them shopping. This kind of shopping is special. It is people-on-limited-budget shopping by people-who-may-never-visit-the-United-States-again and who have a lot of people hoping they will bring something back for them. We know this feeling – we’ve been those people on a limited budget who want to delight our family and friends with some exotic treasure.
I had a plan. Truthfully, I should know by now how it is going to work out, but I always plan bigger, just in case. This time, we started at TJ Maxx and The Dollar Store.
We park in a highly visible place. I know it sounds rude, but I escort them in, explain a few little things, then I go back to the car. I have a book with me, and Sudoku; they get to shop at their own pace without feeling like they are inconveniencing me. They have my phone number, and they know where the car is parked. Some groups come back and forth, many times, they bring packages, drop them, and head back again. This time, I didn’t see them, so after two hours, I went in and found them and told them this was their “one hour warning.” I had promised to have them back at their hotel by seven.
Almost on the minute one hour later, they came out, entered the car, and were so excited. One said she had finished all her shopping; she had something just right for everyone. The other said “Look! My friend wanted Bicycle cards! They had Bicycle cards!” They had found special gifts for all their friends and family, but the price was high. They had wanted to go to the Barnes and Noble store, but we had run out of time.
Deep sighs.
“It’s totally worth it,” the older one said, “I really really needed to have the peace of knowing my shopping was done. But . . . I’ve never seen the Barnes and Noble, only heard about it. Maybe I’ll have another chance at our next city . . . ”
I couldn’t bear it.
“The Barnes and Noble is only a short distance away,” I gave in, “I will take responsibility for getting you back late IF you promise me to only go in and look, just take a quick look, and come back out to the car.”
“Yes! Yes!” they both promised enthusiastically.
They were gone for twenty minutes. When they came back out, their faces were stunned. They got in the car, so silent I was afraid there was a problem.
The youngest leaned over, buried her head in her hands. She looked like she was going to be sick.
“What’s the matter?” I asked, alarmed.
“I almost feel sick,” she said. “So many books! We walked everywhere, but I stayed most of the time in the Business Management section; they had EVERYTHING. They had Who Moved My Cheese. Oh! They had so many good books, not the blah-blah-blah you get in textbooks, but the way they teach in parables, it’s so easy to understand their point. I can’t carry all the books I wanted to buy. I’m feeling shocked. All those books, right there where anyone can buy them! I want them all and I can’t have them.”
“You could order them, have them sent,” the older girl offered, and then remembered that no, she couldn’t have things sent in her country. She would never get them.
All the way to the hotel we had a great conversation about the flow of ideas, about censorship and the internet and cable television and Twitter, and how ideas flow more freely everywhere in the world, in spite of those who would try to restrict what their citizens might access. We also talked about freedom to travel – or the lack of freedom. We talked about families, caring for the elderly, and family responsibilities. We talked about what we’ve learned from one another, the truths travel teaches you about your prejudices and opinions, about others, and about yourself.
As I dropped them off, we all hugged, sadly realizing that we may never see one another again. Nonetheless, no regrets. Just the time I had with these two impressive young women was a great gift, and seeing the Barnes and Noble through their eyes – I will never again take a book shop for granted.
Not the Day We Expected – Even Better
LOL, as our Friday dawned with thunder and lightning, our day totally changed. We had thought we would rush to our water aerobics class, rush home, hand up our clothes, head out to meet friends for Italian food near Destin, and then come home.
With the thunder and lightning, however, we knew there couldn’t be a class, and so we had an unexpected holiday from exercise, sort of puttered around the house taking care of things that needed taking care of, and headed off to meet up with our friends. We had a great time, great conversations, and they mentioned – as have other friends – how much they enjoyed The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and that we really needed to see it. After long, fond farewells, we headed home, via the beach, which we always love. So far, it was a much cooler day, only reaching the 80’s as we drove along, due to the cloud cover.
AdventureMan suggested we look at the GulfBreeze4, a really fun little theatre we love to go to where they show a lot of foreign movies or quirky movies that didn’t make it to the big screen, and there it was, the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and we were just in time for the afternoon showing.
It is a delightful movie. It has a lot of fun moments, some sad moments, many very human moments. You know me, I especially love the cross-cultural moments, and the thought that people can grow and adapt – no matter what age. We really enjoyed the movie.
And, when we left, we just had to have Indian food. We stopped at Taste of India on the way home and had Talli. It was one of those nights when almost every table was taken, but they had room for us.
“How spicy?” our favorite waitress asked.
“Spicy,” we stated emphatically.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, “Indian spicy!” and we said “Yes!”
When it came, it tasted like being back in Kuwait, eating food my friends had prepared. Not dumbed down food. Good, strong spicy food. We couldn’t even eat it all; but we know how good it will taste tomorrow. We brought a lot of it home 🙂
So it wasn’t the day we expected, but we feel blessed by the day we had. Good friends, good conversation, lots of laughing, good movie and a good time at Taste of India. A great day altogether.
Angry Summer Storm
KKKRRRRREEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!
BBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM rumble. . . rumble. . . rumble . . rumble
I was almost awake even before AdventureMan said “It’s raining hard; do you want to go turn off the water?”
You know how marriages are, you get so in places you specialize. When we first moved here, I got up early on the hot summer mornings and watered. We have a watering system that costs a fortune to water-in all our low-water landscaping . . .
I gave up. The summer heat defeated me, and AdventureMan is now the gardener – and the yard is beautiful. We have vines on the back fence, butterfly gardens in several locations, bee attractors, hummingbird attractors . . . he takes good care of the yard.
But he doesn’t “get” the watering system, and so I go down and turn the switch from on to off.
This storm is a strong and powerful storm, but not serious. The sky is still light – it’s six in the morning – and I suspect it will be all over by time to go to water aerobics. Its already fading in intensity – and moving off. 🙂
Kuwait Mode On a Hot Day in Pensacola
“On any given day in Kuwait, this would not have even registered on our ‘so-what’ scale” AdventureMan responded when I commented on the particularly bad driving we had experienced on our way back from the commissary. People were weaving, people were taking right-of-way-not-their-own and people were taking stupid chances.
What is it about heat that makes people crazy?
I wonder if any one has done a study to find out which crimes go up in very hot temperatures, if any?
I’m in my Kuwait mode these days; if there is anything I need to do outside the house, I do it early in the morning (occasionally, early morning is even pleasant) or after the sun has gone down. The rest of the day, I stay out of the sun and in the air conditioning as best I can. I always have projects, quilts to sew 🙂 and books to read, not to mention a floor to scrub and a dishwasher to unload, plenty to keep me busy inside.
My heart goes out to those in the eastern USA, hit by storms, hit by electrical outages and hit by the extreme heat. At least in Pensacola we have a sea breeze which keeps things bearable most of the time.
“Diesel’s in Time Out”
“Where’s Diesel?” AdventureMan asked our Happy Little Boy, who is now talking up a storm and we are loving every minute of it.
“Oh, Diesel’s in Time-Out,” Happy Little Boy replies, as he continues to roll one of the locomotives around the wooden track. Sometimes he likes to set it up on the table, and have the trains drive off the edge. “Accident!” he crows!
“Why is Diesel in Time-Out? What did he do?” AdventureMan asks.
“Diesel hit Thomas!”
“And Diesel hit Percy!” (big eyes popping out of head!)
“AND Diesel hit Mr. ToppemHat! He had to go to Time-Out!”
He is learning so much, and we love hearing what is going on in his life. We are so glad to live so near, and to be able to be a part of his life.
Another Broken Egg in Pensacola
AdventureMan and I often discuss why one restaurant succeeds and another fails. One restaurant with a high quality food was very successful, moved to a larger location, and soon after a popular Chinese buffet moved in close by and now, he complains the competition is killing him.
These are killing times, highly competitive times, when people have less money to spend on eating out. While we prefer non-chain, local owned places which prepare their own food, many of the success stories are parts of chains where they can maximize standardization and gain benefits from ordering supplies in large quantities.
Another Broken Egg is somewhere in between. It is part of a chain, but a very small, very high quality and successful local chain. The Pensacola owners visited a Broken Egg in Destin multiple times, loved its product, and decided to bring the chain to Pensacola.
We’re glad they did. First, they serve a really, noticeably GOOD cup of coffee.
Then, they have a menu with a lot of variety. My first time there, I ordered the Popeye, which had lots of spinach, and it was yummy. This time, I tried the Smoked Salmon Eggs Benny, another hit.
Umm . . . err . .. yes, it is half eaten. Sorry. One funny thing, I thought “oooh, that is too much whipped cream cheese” and scraped it off, only to realize that the fluffy white thing was the egg, beautifully and artistically poached. What is not to love, a beautiful poached egg, smoked salmon, an English muffin (hardly any fat)?
AdventureMan had the Greek Wrap; he loved it.
The wait-staff is well trained; they make easy conversation, pay attention to what you need, and the owners/managers come around to make sure you enjoyed your meal.
Another Broken Egg
721 East Gregory Street
Pensacola
(850) 912-8347
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