I woke up at 6 am and headed straight to the gym. I ran on a treadmill for the first time in maybe eight months. I really wasn't sure how my right leg would hold up after suffering my leg injury in May. I started with a brisk walk at 4.0 mph. Every quarter mile, I increased the pace by half a mile. Eventually, I got it up to 7.0, which is a pretty fast run, but not an all-out sprint for me. I stayed on the treadmill for about 21 minutes. I could feel a little tightness above my right knee, but it went away pretty quickly. I don't know if I'm ready to run a 5k just yet; I think I may want to wait until I actually have medical insurance again before I do that. I also hit the dumbbells or a half hour and went down to grab breakfast. As part of our deal with Courtyard, we got $20 worth of food every day. I got an OJ and a "healthy" breakfast sandwich, as well a smoothie for Mom.
The first stop of the day was St. Pete Beach which is off the west coast of mainland St. Petersburg. We drove down the inlets, noticing a lot of hotels, summer beach homes, and small shops. It would be a really neat place to spend a weekend. One part of the inlet where we spent a lot of time is called Pass-A-Grille. Very laid back area, that may be best known for the Don CeSar hotel, an enormous pink hotel that has a lot of history in the area. They only had a few places to shop and eat, but it was just a really cool beach community.
We headed back over to the east side of St. Petersburg to check out Mazzaro's Italian market. This was in a tough area of town, surrounded by car washes, empty parking lots, and the site of a future Dunkin' Donuts. But I could tell this place was the real deal because it had statues outside of lions and the Virgin Mary. We went in and I nearly fainted. The smell of garlic, roasted peppers, and Italian cheese permeated through my nose, just making me feel so alive. We went to the deli counter, where about 20 people were waiting for their sandwich orders. Mom got a roast beef while I got a salami and capicola. They topped the sandwiches with provolone cheese, Romaine lettuce, Italian slaw, tomatoes, red onions, roasted peppers, oil, vinegar, and Italian spices. First, having lettuce and cabbage was really different. I almost feel like I didn't need the lettuce with the slaw being on there. And the red onions didn't work for me, I felt they were just too strong. But the meat was fresh and that bread was just perfect. Soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside, and just thick enough to keep all those ingredients inside. Really good, though next time, I'd go for an Italian sausage or a chicken parmesan sandwich.
We also got two cannolis. I had never had a cannoli quite like this. The cream wasn't bright white, as most are. This had some brown specks. Later, I found out the brown specks were cinnamon oil. The oil gave the cannoli a richness and sophistication that I have never had in another cannoli. Just tremendous.
We then headed over to downtown St. Pete. I wanted to check out Haslam's, which is the largest bookstore in Florida. It wasn't as big as Powell's in Portland, but they had some cool things. One was an assortment of vintage jigsaw puzzles with some unique themes such as pencils, vending machines, the 60s, the Three Stooges, and state postcards. One of the interesting books was titled "Things Every Man Should Know." It had everything from dressing to changing a tire to poker terms to how to fart in public...Then, Mom spent about 45 minutes checking out shorts and shoes in a local shop. Meanwhile, I sat outside watching five dudes walk into an antique store together. They were either queer or...nah I guess there's no other possibility.
It was around 3:30 and we weren't quite sure what to do, so we went over to Hogan's Beach to grab a drink. This place opened two years ago and is a shrine to Hulk Hogan. It is in Tampa, right near the airport and on the water. It's also attached to a Best Western hotel, which may not be the best hotel to be associated with! I walked in and it was like a museum. On the wall were Hogan's movie posters and classic pictures from wrestling and films. There were glass cases filled with action figures, championship belts, and plenty of other Hogan odds and ends. We went to sit in the outside bar, but it was totally filled with smoke and there was barely any room. I refused to sit around smokers unless absolutely necessary. So we went back inside and sat at the empty bar and were told it wasn't open for five more minutes. We did not care about that. Here's what we did care about. Numerous tables had empty plates and baskets on them and had not been cleaned. Also, all the liquor bottles at the bar were covered with paper cone cups instead of pour spout tops. Even worse, three girls were standing around at the merch table, just yapping away and refusing to clean anything up. And the inside dining room was way too dark. There are championship belts on the highest parts of the walls. The problem is the lighting is so dark that they can barely be seen. Outside though, there are three bars and two sand volleyball courts. I guess this place is just a nightspot. The drinks were fine, though they took about ten minutes, came in plastic cups, and weren't exactly large. I had a Hogan's punch, which was similar to a rum runner. And it was happy hour so I got it for $5.00 instead of $8.90. Nice discount. I went once and can't imagine returning.
After chilling at the hotel for a bit (homework time for me), we drove 25 minutes back to southwest St. Pete. We had dinner at Ted Peter's Smoked Fish. I can't imagine coming to this area and not eating there. I had a frosted mug of High Life $2.99. Mom's wine was served in a frosted mug as well, which was kind of crazy. We both ordered the mahi. It came with their German potato salad, which is unreal. It is loaded with bacon and bacon grease and had NO MAYO! It also comes with pineapple cole slaw and a slice of tomato, sweet onion, and a pickle spear. There are also sides of horseradish sauce and spicy horseradish sauce as well. I like to squeeze lemon on my fish and smear it with the spicy horseradish. Then I cut the tomato, pickle, and onion into small pieces and eat some of those with the fish. The mahi came out moist with a little bit of smoky flavor from the red oak that they use. It's just such a unique product and it tastes great and healthy at the same time.
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