Friends Don’t Let Friends Shop Chain Stores…

Posted on November 12, 2012 by fmadmin

Last Saturday, a group of Plant City Women Owned Businesses got together for our first ever “Friends don’t let friends shop chain stores” event at the corner store.  Amanda Pope of Restore Soul Studios, came up with the idea for a group of “girlfriends” to get together and showcase their products and services.  Cynthia, owner of the corner store, very kindly opened up her store to hold the event.  With about 10 different businesses present, the corner store was packed!  Sister’s and Company, Southern Posh, Ego Girl Outfitters, Momma Knows Bows,  Heather Dykstra’s Tabata Fitness and Michelle Ferguson Photography were some of the exhibitors present.

photo courtesy of Ego Girl Outfitters

 

Cynthia allowed us to set up behind the bar, so we brought a lot of goodies for snacking.  We set up a sampling station with marinated mushrooms, marinated artichokes and our new crushed olive spread.  This crushed olive spread is made with green olives and jalapenos, so be ready for a spicy bite.  We also sampled our Amish made cheese curds.  If you ever wondered what they taste like, the best way to describe them is a salty mozzarella.  They are already cut in little pieces so they are great for snacking.

 

We also brought our Strawberry Salsa and our Five Amigos Roasted Pepper Salsa for dipping with our Veggie Chips.  But we couldn’t truly have a sampling station if we didn’t sample some of our new jams.  We had Peach Jalapeno, Gooseberry Jelly, Tropical Jam and Christmas Jam.  The best seller by far was the Gooseberry Jelly.  I’m not sure how to describe it, but it reminds me of guava jelly.  The Tropical Jam was also well received; it’s made with coconut, mango, kiwi, banana and pineapple.  It definitively packs a nice punch of flavors.  The Christmas Jam is made with strawberries and cranberries and it’s a perfect mix of sweet and tart.

While the event was great to raise awareness and showcase a lot of small businesses in Plant City, the highlight of the event was Madison’s Mission.  This little girl who is raising money to help families in need is wiser beyond her years.  All the local businesses donated items or their services as raffle prizes to raise money for her to help a single family or two during the holidays.  Seeing our community rally together makes me glad I live in Plant City.  If you were unable to make it, but would like to help Madison fulfill her mission, please contact her by email at helpmadisonsmission@hotmail.com.

 

 

 

 

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We now return to our regularly schedule programming…

Posted on November 10, 2012 by fmadmin

A lot has been going on this week.  I’ll start at the Wildhorse Xterra 1/2 marathon on November 4th.  This summer I decided to run a 1/2 marathon before 2012 was over.  The decision to run a 1/2 marathon was something I’ve been debating over a couple of years.  As October was coming to an end, I felt ready.  The question then became will it be a road or a trail 1/2 marathon.  Thanks to other bloggers such as Heidi  and Steph who encouraged me to go for it, I signed up for my first ever 1/2 marathon.  It just happened to be an Xterra trail race.

I also took the opportunity to bring our Parkesdale Market goodies for the runners.  We set up a table with our yummy, moist Strawberry Bread.  We offered our Amish Granola as a pre-race snack.  But the winner had to be our freshly squeezed 100% Florida orange juice as a post-race refreshment.  The runners went through all of our orange juice in minutes!  Note to self, bring more orange juice next time!

This race was definitively a lot more intense that any other race I’ve done before, and it was totally worth it.  The race began at the Keith Waller Park on Sydney Dover in Sydney.  From there we ran through the woods to the Sydney Dover Park on 60.  That’s where things got a bit tricky.  The trails became single track up and down steep hills where you basically had to walk.  I think the second time around it, I was more comfortable and picked up a bit of speed.  Unfortunately I forgot my garmin that morning so I was that runner who kept asking “how much farther?”

 

As the saying goes, the race organizers definitively left the best for last.  In the last mile of the race, there was a hill with a rope for you to hang on while climbing.  Yes, we do have some hills here in Florida.  It was tough.  But I knew there were a lot of people counting on me to finish.  Getting to that finish line was gonna happen one way or another.  My mantra became “I may not be the fastest one here today, but I’m sure faster than those that didn’t show up”.

As a person who runs on pavement 100% of the time, being in the woods was such a nice change of pace from all the sidewalk and pavement races I’ve done in the past.  So, if you are looking for a challenge, check them out!

 


While my time for completing the 1/2 marathon was longer than I expected, I was pretty happy with being 4th in my “age group”.  Meeting my family at the finish line was definitively an awesome experience.  They’ve all helped me accomplish my goal in one way or another and without them I could not have completed it.

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Best Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

Posted on November 9, 2012 by fmadmin

For over 30 years we’ve been making our famous Strawberry Milkshake and Strawberry Shortcakes.  With the current pumpkin craze going around, we thought it was time we gave it a shot.  This fall we introduced our Pumpkin Pie Milkshake.  May I say, it has gotten a lot of attention.

In keeping with our goal of creating our milkshakes with all natural ingredients, we followed the same formula for our Pumpkin Pie milkshake.  We started with vanilla ice cream, 100% pure pumpkin puree, brown sugar and pumpkin spice.  All 100% natural ingredients, nothing artificial.  No fake syrups or artificial flavorings in this milkshake.

 

The result? A delicious mixture of flavors and creaminess without it being too heavy or too sweet.   So far, we’ve gotten great reviews.  Its only rival is our Strawberry Milkshake.  But for being a new comer, I think our Pumpkin Milkshake has done fantastically well.  But all good things must come to an end, so be sure to stop by before it’s gone.  The Pumpkin Pie Milkshake will be available through November 30th.   So, if you haven’t tried it yet, make sure you stop by before it’s gone.  We are now open seven days a week from 9 am to 6 pm.

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