Fresh-eat-grape: Fresh-eat-grape

Hey Peeps!

The Saturday before Christmas I decided (for well-being reasons! LOL) I needed to escape the everlasting coldness and gray skies of Wisconsin and replace it with sand between my toes and sun shining on my back. Totally spontaneous…

So off to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, beach my teen daughter and I went! (hubby stayed back for a previous committment-attending a Packer game on Christmas day). We spent a fun Christmas and my daughter’s 15th birthday on the beach. I’m digging the unconventional beach holidays!

Just what my well-being needed. Fun times spent with my daughter, sunshine, blue-green ocean to swim in, sand to sink my toes into, an abundance of fruit, and beautiful boutique style ocean-side hotel for chillaxin.

*My daughter 500 feet in the air on Christmas Day*

She was able to see sea turtles and jelly fish from way up there!

I heart this fruity lifestyle~

Hubby booked us in this stunning ocean-view room (10th floor) at the B Ocean Hotel. Thanks, hubby!

The B Ocean Hotel was formerly the Holiday Inn, which was destroyed by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Completely remodeling it, it became the chic (yes, it was designed by a chick!) beachfront B Ocean Hotel in 2010.

What I Ate on Christmas Day~

(not everything is pictured)

nanners
papayas
cukes
cantaloupe
bunch of celery
3 large toms
3 large apples
water
romaine

My cantaloupe tower. I plowed through these sweet babies one morning. Can you imagine the hotel housekeepers arriving in my room? I tried to be creative with my fruity mess…

Yes, I share my nanners with others!

A large fig tree in Hugh Taylor Birch State Park. along the Intercoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale. We had never seen anything like it before! Directly around the corner from our hotel, we explored this park a few different days, walking trails and taking in the variety of foliage, lizards, spiders, coconut trees and sapodilla trees (see more park pics below).

My fruit ripening stations…the top of the dresser…

and the breathtaking window sill…. We woke up to this view & the scent of ripening fruit every morning. Heaven~

16 Tips for Frugal Fruitarian Travel

1) Save $$ on Water: On the day of arrival, buy gallons of water for cheap (I picked some up at nearby small market for $1.99/gallon) to keep in your hotel room so you can fill up your stainless steel water bottles all day as necessary. Versus spending $2.50-3.50 for one small individual size plastic water bottle in the tourist shops and/or restaurants. Stay hydrated and drink LOTS of water when on vacation.

2) Book your hotel stay near a local grocer, farmers market or fruit wholesaler: Before booking hotel, be sure to research to find out where you are going to obtain your fruit. The nearest fruit supply this trip was a Publix grocery a short 10-15 minute walk (depending how fast you walk!) from our hotel. This made it easy to supply myself with abundant fruit. On the few occasions my fruit haul was too heavy to carry, I relied on a short cab ride ($5 one way) back to hotel.

3) Save $ on Food: If your hotel is near a grocer, you can rely more on preparing your own meals and snacks in your hotel room vs. eating out at local eateries for every meal & snack, which can add up $ quickly. Prepare your snacks in your room and always carry a backpack filled with goodies. This way, you and your fam will be less tempted to eat out at every turn.

4) Book a hotel with a fridge in the room if possible: This is optional. I survived (and thrived!) 5 nights at a beautiful boutique beach-side hotel without a fridge. Our hotel didn’t provide them in the room but you could request one upon arrival and if they had it available, they would provide for free. I asked during the stay on a few different days and they were never available. I even used “I have a special diet” bit and they asked “do you have diabetes?”. No but..

A fridge is nice to store your greens, cukes, apples, and celery. I learned to enjoy eating these all at room temperature. However, I didn’t consume the amount of greens I normally do due to they wilt quickly in the humidity if not stored in cool place. As for the gallons of water, I prefer my water at room temperature. All the fruit ripened beautifully on the windowsill and on the dresser counters, no need to put in fridge.

5) Save $ on transportation: Location, location, location! Be sure your hotel is in a location near attractions, the grocery, etc. so you don’t have to rely on a car rental if you don’t have to.

Instead rely on your feet to take you where you want to go. We had such an active stay this way walking everywhere and walking far. When you are surrounded by beautiful scenery (hello…palm trees, white sandy beach, ocean), you don’t even realize you are getting exercise! OR better yet, rent a bike or scooter.

We really enjoyed taking a water taxi one day which featured many stops. You pay a flat fee. We were able to see all of Fort Lauderdale this way. Fun! In addition, if there is a bus system at the location, this can be an economical way to travel if you need to get to the other side of town or further.

One of the stops from the water taxi was the Museum of Discovery and Science where we took in a fascinating 3D film called Sea Rex: Journey To A Prehistoric World, at the 300-seater IMAX theater, which featured a 5-story high screen and is home to the biggest screen in South Florida.

6) Plan Your Fruit Haul Ahead: Plan on making a large fruit haul from local grocer the day of arrival and then plan accordingly for more as necessary. I was in Florida 5 nights and visited the grocer 2 days. If you are going to rely on a cab to take you back to the hotel with your fruit haul, make it worth it. Stock up!

What I Ate On This Trip (Dec.24 afternoon through Dec.29 afternoon)

Note: Because I didn’t have the luxury of all-I-can-eat ripe nanners and fresh organic medjool dates (my staples at home) at my destination (and no blender!), my caloric intake was considerably lower than if I were at home. But for this short of time, it didn’t affect my energy levels and overall feeling of optimal well being. We do the best we can, given the circumstances and can still thrive!

9 papayas
1 HUGE $10 watermelon (yep, had to take a taxi-cab home from the grocer for this one–this watermelon weighed more than I did!)
6 cantaloupes
5 lbs apples
2 lbs nanners
2 cactus pears
1 pineapple
3 lbs tomatoes
10 cukes
3 bunches celery
6 Romaine Hearts
2 lbs red grapes
30 kumquats
1 quart fresh blueberries
2 pummelos
1 lb dates
water
2 salads eaten out in restaurants

7) Leave your vitamix, large cutting board, meat cleaver & veggie peeler at home! I totally rely on my vitamix, meat cleaver,large cutting board and veggie peeler at home, but I know that when I vacation, having these luxuries is not necessary. I can do without! Isn’t the purpose of vacation to get out of our comfort zone and mix things up?! Think simple.

8) Pack a small cutting board. I brought along a small wooden cheese board. Used it every day in the room to cut my fruit. Going through security, they wanted to go through my bag. They claimed the cutting board looked like a bottle of liquor!

9) Prepare Salad on the Go: For rawkin’ peeps, pack in a large ziplock bag: some romaine hearts, cuke slices, toms, red pepper slices. This makes a great beach picnic or eat-on-the-go.

For the non-raw peeps, stock up on pita bread and pre-packaged salad bags, along with small individual salad dressings at the local grocer. Filling up the pita pocket with some salad mixture, then drizzling a little dressing over top, makes an easy delicious meal.

10) Ask for kitchen tools upon arrival. Upon arriving at the hotel, I went to one of the hotel restaurants and requested 1 knife (small simple dinner knife) and 1 spoon, to be used during my stay in my room. No problem.

Here is the knife and small cutting board I used all week. Believe it or not, this small knife worked well slicing the papayas, pineapple, cataloupes, watermelon, and all my other fruit. I didn’t have a veggie peeler either so used this to cut peeling off my cukes too.

This is Fort Lauderdale’s famous beachfront coastline that goes for miles featuring shops, sidewalk cafes, restaurants, entertainment venues, all with breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean. It goes for miles, and we enjoyed daily walks here, to and from our hotel.

11) Bring walking shoes.There’s nothing worse than a complaining tourist with blisters on her feet! Wear your comfortable sneakers on the plane so you don’t have to pack them. You can bring flip flops on your warm destination trip but don’t leave behind your most comfortable pair of walking shoes!

12) Pack backpack w/fruit & water. For airport travel, as well as when you are at your destination, always have a backpack filled accordingly with fresh fruit, greens, dates, and your stainless steel water bottle. The key to this lifestyle is to always plan ahead and have fresh fruit & water on you at all times!

13) Choose easy backpack fillers for snacks or meals on the go:

apples
stalks of celery
Romaine Hearts, medjool dates (fill a romaine heart with dates)
sliced cukes (in your hotel room, peel cukes (I didn’t have a peeler so I used my knife) and slice them lengthwise, put in ziplock bag)
large tomatoes– delicious eaten whole like apples
Clementines–(bring extra bag for peels)
kumquats
nanners
stainless steel water bottle

14) Have a standard “go-to” meal when eating at restaurants:

We went out to local eateries often while on this trip (usually twice/day). And while I kept my daughter company at the restaurants, I only actually ate out on 2 occasions myself. I usually delighted in eats from my backpack or in the hotel room, absolutely not necessary to order out a salad (that wouldn’t fill me up anyway!) every time we made a stop. That would be $8-15 per salad/per stop, depending on where we went. And being that it would take 5-6 of these salads per restaurant to actually fill me up, you do the math$!

This Romaine lettuce-tomatoes-cukes-herb salad above (NO dressing!) with lemon slices on the side to be used for dressing-is my usual “eat out at a restaurant” meal . This is my go-to meal when at a restaurant and am always pleased with the presentation. Each place presents it a little differently.

I enjoyed this particular salad above at The Cheesecake Factory on Las Olas Bouleverd on my daughter’s birthday while she ordered…

The biggest enchilada you’ve ever seen! And for the birthday girl’s dessert…

Of course, one of The Cheesecake Factory’s 50 cheesecake creations…

Three handsome waiters delivered the cheesecake to her and surprised her by singing Happy B-day! She was just a little embarrassed.

14) Share The Abundance! I feel so blessed to be living this fruity lifestyle, I wish to share it with everyone! Upon arrival, when I saw peeps who had fallen on hard times, I wanted to do my best to share the abundance. Some of the best moments on vacation are shared with others we reach out to.

We had noticed a homeless man (the Annual Report on Homelessness Conditions in Florida 2006 reports that “the impact of 2004-2005 hurricanes that hit Florida and it’s neighboring states have destroyed many low cost housing units and have contribute to a rise in the cost of housing statewide.”) hanging out under a palm tree on the beach for a few days so on my daughter’s birthday….

coming back from having dinner at Briny Irish Pub with leftover Shepherds Pie in tow, we decided to deliver it to our friend. We looked for him and he wasn’t there, passing on to another location.

So, the following day, after acquiring more than enough food items in our hotel room & wanting to share the abundance, we decided to put together a bag of pre-packaged salad bags (my daughter couldn’t eat these fast enough), individual pre-packaged salad dressings, some oranges, package of pita bread……

and some fresh untouched leftover breakfast items from Primanti Brothers, one of our fave eateries near the hotel-see pic above in hopes that our friend would be sitting under the palm tree. (No utensils needed when you can fill a pita bread with just about anything!)

Our friend wasn’t sitting under the tree but I knew we would run into more friends along our walk on the famous Fort Lauderdale coastline bustling with tourists and locals alike. We came upon a woman and her companion on the beach, surrounded with bags of her belongings, I knelt down and looked into her eyes and said, here is a bag of food for you. Her response, “I love you, I can’t wait to dig into this, I love you!”

Not 30 minutes later my daughter and I were coming out of…..

Sonic Beach and saw our friend eating the pita bread. It’s a picture we’ll always remember!

According to Poverty in Florida,“On any given day, there are an estimated 83,931 persons living homeless in Florida (Pierce, 2005). Why? Among the major causes is the devastating impact of the 2004 hurricanes, which destroyed over 20,000 homes and caused major damage to over 45,000 rental units. This alone left over 17,800 people homeless and increased burden to Florida’s already limited housing stock (Pierce, 2005).

We enjoyed kumquats for the first time!

15)Try some new fruits that you can’t find at home. We tried kumquats and were delighted to also find cactus pears and pummelos.

How to Eat Kumquats: First wash them. Next, according to Foy Update, “roll the fruit back and forth between your fingers with enough force to squeeze the fruit. This releases the oil in the skin, and it will look shiny. The oil has a sweet citrus smell and taste. If the kumquat isn’t rolled the peal tastes bitter. Then just bite into the fruit skin and all. The inside is juicy like a tangerine and the skin is tender enough to eat.”

Delicious prickly pear (or cactus fruit)! How to Prepare: I used my knife to skin it (spines and all!). I then sliced into bite size pieces. I chose to eat the seeds too, chewing very well as they are rather large. However, you can choose to scrape off the seeds if you prefer not to eat them. Prickly pear makes a wonderful snack.

Succulent pummelos (pronounced pom-EH-loh)! They resemble a large grapefruit (they are relative to the grapefruit). I slurped through a few of these and have been picking them up in our local stores lately. Mmm! To see a vid on how to peel and cut them, click here.
Here’s my go-to salad I dove into at The Parrot Lounge.

~~Enjoying Hugh Taylor Birch State Park~~

16) Take A Time Out In Nature!

This is a sapodilla tree …another fruit I’ve never tried before. But alas, I brought a sapodilla home from Florida that is ripening on my table now.

About sapodillas: Sapodillas are also known as chikoos or sapotas.

According to nutrition and you.com, “Sapota fruit is brown in color with sandy “potato like” outer surface. Internally, the pulp is white with sticky latex called as saponin in unripe fruits. Latex disappears once the fruit ripens and the pulp turns to brown color. Pulp is deliciously sweet with smooth or grainy texture and contains 3-10 black colored smooth, shiny “bean” shaped inedible seeds in the center.”

How to Buy Sapodillas: nutrition and you.com explains, “In the store, buy fresh sapodilla with smooth intact skin and without cuts/cracks, bruises or wrinkles.

When they are ripe: Once ripen, the fruit just yields to gentle thumb pressure. Mature but unripe fruits must be kept at room temperature for 7 to 10 days to ripen. Firm, ripe sapodillas can keep well for several days in the home refrigerator.