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Kim’s Cafe

February 24, 2016 by KTgreen

Subtitled

“What a Fish Reuben really is”

Lunch is my totally favorite meal to go out to eat.

I can make breakfast at home. Seriously. I always have eggs and toast here. Quite often bacon and hash browns in the fridge. Just a few of our staples. Easy Peasy.

Terry likes to make dinner. He’s expanded his grilling horizons and makes all kinds of yummy meals for us.

But lunch? It just happens to occur while we are out running errands. So easy to stop in and grab a sammy.

One of my favorite local places is Kim’s Cafe. Prices are good, service is quick, and the food is really yummy. And it’s only about 12 minutes away. (Used to be 10 minutes but now we have that 25 mph golf cart zone and drivers are taking that very seriously. It’s also a good excuse for me whenever I’m late for a meeting)

Last week after I wrote about how disappointed I was with the fish reuben at Norton’s Riverside Sportsbar, I met a couple of my good friends at Kim’s. Which just happens to have a fish reuben on the menu. And you know I had to order it. My friend Yvonne never had one before but loved the corned beef version of the reuben and was ready to give it a try.

Yvonne is now a fish reuben lover.

So good!

Then the next day, Terry said let’s have lunch at Coyote Cafe.

I’ve already wrote about Coyote Cafe right here in Old Homosassa a few times so this isn’t really a review. (Love the place, the chef, and the servers)

Just want to say that there is a Reuben on their menu. And that’s what I ordered. And this is what a real reuben looks like!

coyote cafe reuben — OH yes corned beef and sauerkraut!

Here’s Terry’s ham and cheese. (he would never eat anything with sauerkraut on it.) Yum for him. Next to chicken wings, I think this is possibly his favorite food!

Then I thought, I should just write reviews for Fish Reubens all over the county! But then Friday we stopped at Old Mill Tavern (another local favorite) and they had a fish reuben on the menu. And I said, Nope, can’t have reubens three days in one week!

Next time!

Stomping in the Swamp

February 22, 2016February 22, 2016 by KTgreen

The newspaper said to turn at Reds Restaurant on State Road 200 and follow the signs.

That was the directions to the 10th annual “Stomping in the Swamp” Bluegrass Festival on Saturday.

More on those directions, later….

I’ve considered going to the Stomp over the past several years but it was either raining, or cold, or we had something else already scheduled.

But this year, nothing else going on and the weather was PERFECT! 75 degrees, no chance of rain. Sun was shining. So we were off.

And now, about those directions. Turn at Red’s. And follow the signs. Which were few and far between. It started out paved but quickly turned into sand trails. Three miles of sand. Following a long conga line of other festival goers.

Smartly we drove the Jeep rather than the Camaro. Clouds of sand dust. All the specified parking lots were full. So Terry made his own spot. That’s one of the benes of having a little Jeep.

Went to the concert and there were like 1000 people there. And just to make it real, Terry said there were probably about 300. But seriously. This was in the middle of NOWHEREsville. How did all these people stumble on this place?

Missed the first group, stayed for the next two, and everyone knows that the last group is the best, but…..

they ran out of food because they weren’t expecting all 300 of us and I was really HANGRY…. and if had waited any longer, we would have been stuck in a dust storm of ghibli proportions during the mass exodus. And I would have died of starvation. (Fat chance of that happening)

This was the view on the way out before the last band even started.

A wee bit of dust…

Just kidding. A WHOLE LOT OF DUST!

Like I said, I was hangry.

Reds Restaurant is only open for lunch and dinner and we’d missed that window so headed to Stumpknockers on the River which was right down the road.

Always wanted to go there but never had the opportunity.

Okay.

This is not a restaurant review. These are just observations.

Got there about 2:30. Place was busy but not too bad.

Service was okay. The view of the Withlacochee River was amazing.

Surprised that the place didn’t have things like hamburgers and fish sandwiches. It was all appetizers and entrees.

Terry ordered the catfish platter. Mostly because it included corn on the cob. I ordered the grouper dinner. Blackened. It was all quite good.

Then the “bus” came in. Not really a bus. But it suddenly became CRAZY busy.

As I said, I’m not calling this a restaurant review because I consider service a large part of the whole dining experience. And there was very little service. And it wasn’t our server’s fault. Too many tables. Plus she had the bar. Not fair to her.

We knew it was going to be a beautiful day. Along with everyone else in Florida. Unfortunately, the management at Stumpknockers didn’t bother to check on the weather report. Or maybe they just don’t want to pay extra servers.

The food was good and the setting was beautiful. But, due to poor management, service sucked. In addition, the restrooms were ridiculously small for such a large place. Which doesn’t matter to anyone but the half dozen women waiting to squeeze into that tiny space. Really. This wasn’t a rock concert. This was dinner.

If I go back to Stumpknockers on the River, it will be in the summer when there won’t be quite the crowd.

I’d love to hear from anyone else that’s been to Stumpknockers on the River during normal time.

Friday Meanderings

February 19, 2016 by KTgreen

It’s Friday!

Already. Next thing you know, it’ll be Christmas again.

Or maybe not.

I put this photo up for my “pic of the day” yesterday. I had to repeat it here for those of you that don’t look at the pic of the day. (what, you don’t look at my pic of the day?)

I saw these guys just hanging out there. Catching the rays. The wood storks are only here in the winter. I think they go to South Carolina and visit my friend Terry in the summer. We have so many cool birds that visit my back yard this time of the year.

The Old Homosassa Heritage Council put a sign up this week at the Water Tower to show the progress we are making on hitting our $60,000 goal to restore and maintain it.

Sign looks really little. But it’s actually quite BIG!

Okay. I was reading the paper yesterday (which I do everyday) and just had to share the following stories from right here in Citrus County according to the Citrus County Chronicle…….

A parent took his child to Rock Crusher Elementary School and his gun fell out of a hole in his pocket and another parent found it and a custodian shot it because he thought it was a toy.

How many things are wrong in that scenario?

A volunteer with the Citrus County Sheriff’s department was terminated because he was driving erratically and there was a bottle of vodka on the floor board.

Okay, I gotta fess up that being a volunteer for anything might require a little bit of alcohol but it might not be good driving drunk when the group you volunteer for is the Citrus County Sheriff’s department.

Just saying.

In the Sound Off section of the paper there’s been a lot of complaining about people picking and choosing and then changing out the eggs in the cartons in the grocery store. Am I the only person that finds this hilarious? All I can think is that whoever is writing these sound off’s needs to be a volunteer with some community group so they can use their whining for a constructive cause. But maybe not the Sheriff’s department.

What’s going on this weekend?

Annual fish fry by the Homosassa Guides Association is Sunday at MacRae’s in Homosassa. Proceeds go to a local charity and the Homosassa Elementary School.

Healthy Living Show at the Crystal River Mall on Saturday.

Ozello’s Heatin’ Up with Crafts & Chili is on Saturday.

Stomping in the Swamp Bluegrass is on Saturday. It’s somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. And it’s free!

Guess where I’m going???? No, I’m not taking my happy banjo.

Have a Great Weekend!

Kathy