With J&J: Just us Kids

 Jonny needed to go back to work on Monday morning, November 28, 2016, so Jenny took Dave and me back to Homestead to get another shake at Knaus Berry Farm and to visit the Fruit and Spice Farm.  As Jenny climbed up front to drive, Sam said softly to me, “There’s a seat here next to me.”  I sat in the very back with him and played a game of Chutes and Ladders.  Dave and I brought that game as a gift to Sam, in a magnetic version he could play in the car, and it was a huge hit.

 I loved the Fruit and Spice Farm.  When we walked in, there was a spread of sliced up exotic fruits for us to taste.  David liked the canistel, a yellow fruit with flesh that looks and tastes like a sweet potato.  He bought five of them, and we took them back to Utah to ripen.  I also enjoyed the “miracle fruit” that made other fruits taste sweet.  I ate a slice of lime after swishing the “miracle fruit” around my mouth, and the lime tasted like limeade! Sam tried a slice of “star fruit,” whose slices are shaped like stars.

 We walked around the park, with Sam stopping to pick up raw coconuts, Henry peering, wide-eyed, at all the sights, and all of us tasting the fresh bananas that had just been picked from the trees. 

 Sam couldn't get his arms around the biggest trees.

 We then took a tram ride around the property, to hear the tour about the tropical fruits and herbs growing in the park.  The guide stopped the tram several times to hand us leaves and fruits to smell and taste.  She gave us Old Bay leaves that smelled just like Old Bay aftershave, because that is the herb that provides the smell.  Sam and Henry had had enough of tram riding, after about ten minutes, so Jenny took the two boys and their umbrella stroller off the tram and walked them back to the visitors center, as Dave and I continued riding through mango and macadamia nut groves.

 Next stop was the Coral Palace, built by an eccentric man to honor the lover who backed out of their wedding at the last moment.  There was a house, tables, and beds, all carved from coral.

 We stopped for one more bit of shopping at “Robert is Here,” with its amazing collection of fresh tropical fruits and the jams that they can be made into.   Every time we drive south of Miami, we stop at "Robert is Here," and every time we stop, I take a different treat home with me--orange blossom honey, fig jam, gooseberry preserves.

 We were lucky enough to meet Robert himself, and tell him how much we love his store.

When we arrived at Knaus Berry Farm for another cinnamon roll fix, the lines were impossible, so we bought their equally wonderful shakes.

 We met Jonny, after work, at the Peruvian Ceviche Gastrobar in Doral, near the John Deere offices.  The food was luscious, and added to the array of ethnic foods we relished on this visit to Florida--Middle Eastern, Haitian, Cuban, and now Peruvian!  And there was an all-American Thanksgiving dinner prepared by Mama Gretta and Mama Jenny, as well.  (Unfortunately, I was working too hard on that meal to remember to take pictures.)