Here is one more reason to love IKEA besides the space saving furniture and storage items. If you travel with a small refrigerator, as an electric chest type or an RV type, IKEA’s menu items are priced competitively with Cracker Barrel, and less during special IKEA family deals. Plus, after you fill up on fish or meat balls with two sides, and enjoy your family member free coffee or tea, go back for a second meal then ask the cashier for a carry out box.
Two space saving IKEA take out boxes
Two of these boxes fit in less space than one from Cracker Barrel. Also, there is no tipping charge. It’s the very best deal I have found in any city for take out meal food that has a vegetable or two for no extra charge.
Now, if they only would put up signs for special RV parking in their huge parking lots…
After skipping breakfast, which I almost never do, I needed a hearty lunch and didn’t want to break my budget. Here was my total bill:
There is no tipping so this $14.89 was the price including tax!
What did I receive for under $15.00? One Greek salad, containing delicious pitted black olives, and Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing, one lemon breaded cod fillet with pesto sauce, peas, and corn with summer squash.
At a furniture store called IKEA. It is located next to the Mall at Millenia Off I-4 between the theme parks and downtown. Just type IKEA Orlando Florida into your navigation.
Since I joined the FREE IKEA family club, I get coffee or tea with refills free daily. I like to get a glass of ice and pour my fresh hot black tea over it. This is so much better than any instant iced tea anywhere.
The pesto sauce is free to anyone with the meal. Just ask for it. If peas or corn with summer squash is not your thing, they also have fries or, mashed potatoes (gravy if you ask), and macaroni and cheese.
The Greek salad comes with a side of dressing, but Newman’s dressings are also free if you want them. They are near the small salads and soup of the day.
And if you have never visited an IKEA store before, they sell more than food and furniture. IKEA can plan, and the kitchen designers work is free, an entire kitchen for you including major appliances, faucets, sinks, cookware, and utensils. They have a great selection of toys and furniture for children too. Well I could go on and explain they have everything INCLUDING the kitchen sink, but go and see for yourself!
If you are such a fan of the silky pillowcases so much so that you take them with you when you travel, here is a tip on washing them.
By machine, wash with cold water with like colorfast colors and gentle cycle and gentle spin. Be sure there are no other clothes with Velcro or fasteners that could tear your delicate pillowcases. Remove from washer and give a good shake. Unzip and re-zip around plastic hanger. Hang to air dry. Once dry, place in closet still zipped on hanger.
Silk Pillowcase Ready for Storage
By hand, use cold water wash and rinse well without wrinkling. Zip around plastic hanger. Place over sink or in shower to drip dry.
Silk pillowcases dry much faster than cotton ones, so they are great for travel in a RV, Recreational Vehicle!
This time of year I check and replace batteries in and about my entire home. Nobody wants to wait until the power is actual off to find and replace batteries. This year, I even replaced batteries in a light up mirror. It’s all white and difficult to find the battery compartment. So, washi tape and a permanent marker later, I have new batteries and have marked the month and year on the tiny hard to find compartment door. Regular masking tape will also work. So quick, and no fancy label maker required!
Label date on battery compartment door when batteries replaced.
In the above title the word NOW is there because this is a limited time chef special. It’s is delicious, nutritious, and a gem of a surprise. It would be culinary sacrilege to call this a chicken sandwich; this is a taste and visual experience that will have you asking to make this available everyday. When they do remove it from it’s special menu, that you must ask to see, you will be deprived of the tender chunks of lemon grass roasted chicken nestled in a white bread roll and topped with just the right amount of sriracha flavored mayonnaise, fresh jalapeño slices, pickled carrots, daikon radish, and fresh cilantro served next to thinly curled pickled cucumber that is adorned with a garnish of fresh edible flowers.
So, hurry over to WDW Contempo Cafe in the Contemporary Hotel in beautiful Florida before it’s gone.
Within this past year and a half, my husband retired and we purchased a brand new recreational vehicle. A few days after we took delivery then began traveling with him in our RV, our parrot had a seizure in the RV, and passed away from his second seizure less than a week later at the second emergency veterinary clinic that we took him to for diagnosis and treatment. It was a difficult time for us, and it’s been all these months and miles before I could bring myself to sit down and write this letter.
Our Grand Bird
So, dear family and friends, we feel blessed to have had him in our lives and to share our love with him and to learn from him that humans are not the only creatures that matter. We need to treasure our planet Earth, and work together to save it and all inhabitants thereby also saving ourselves from ourselves.
Elk Nose Print on Passenger Side of RV
We have traveled from our home in Florida as far West as California and as far north as Michigan, and visited many states and National parks, such as the Grand Canyon, in-between. During our travels we purchased a vacation property, what I like to call our cabin in the woods. So, now we are snow birds and we made several trips setting up housekeeping while enjoying some time to relax and watch the birds, deer, and other wildlife. It seems rare to see birds in some areas now.
View from Cabin
The only downside was the lack of an avian veterinarian nearby. So, we will not be having a feathered companion again. Sure wish the training and licensing of this exotic animal specialty would be set as a priority for every state with a school of veterinary science and clinics in their pay structure.
We are proud that our daughter became a veterinarian, and is dedicated to the health of animals. I wish that she wasn’t thousands of miles away. She has a career that she loves and at a location where she is happy, so that is what we want for her. She is also de-stressing from a demanding profession and 300K in crushing student loan debt by taking up figure skating! She enjoyed ballet and dance when she was a child but I never imagined that as an adult living in a desert that she would be ice skating!
Also in our family is my mother who is nearly 94 years old! She is, as they say, doing well for her age.
As for me, the RV experience was not good for my health, diet, and exercise program; actually, stopping my gym membership during lockdown was the start of a downhill trend. So, I am setting my goal for 2023 as getting back to what I achieved pre-pandemic. Being back in the sunshine state will help immensely.
Coral Castle Florida
So, that sums up what “florida fun times” has been up to during the past few years. I would like to add that we started our RV travel adventures in our own state of Florida first. I would highly recommend taking a tour of Coral Castle. It’s not for young children, and it’s not much walking, so it’s perfect for we older folks looking for a short and fascinating lesson in science and history.
Hope these past few years have given you time to find what is truly important to you in your life. Take care, be well, and let me know how you are doing.
FloridaFunTimes 