Lychee Jelly Cups

I had my very first Lychee Jelly cup yesterday. It was very good. It reminded me of a Jello shot, with the exception of the fact that you can get it out of the cup with relative ease. You simply squeeze the size of the cup and it pops up.



I was told that it was very sweet and that I probably wouldn't like it, but I prepared myself, squeezed the cup, and took a bite. It was very good. It is a very sweet think gel substance with small chunks of coconut in it. The coconut is soft from being immersed in the gel and is surprisingly complimentary.

To find out more about the Lychee Fruit you can go here, here, or here.

To buy Lychee Jelly cups you can try here.

I'm back!

I was sick last week. I went home early for two days and then didn't come in at all on Friday. I was in and out of a fever. I slept more than I have in a long while. My cats watched over me in confusion as I drooled and sweated all over myself. On Friday, I was finally determined to go to the doctor. I got the info I needed and then I had to wait until I was the best I could be to drive. I was so dizzy and tired that I needed to be sure that I could not only get to the doctor, but make it back home.

I was diagnosed, by the perkiest human ever, as having a severe sinus infection. I was given a horsepill of antibiotics for the next ten days and told to take Mucinex with it. I was relieved.

I had to cancel seeing my children because I was too sick. I felt really guilty and sad, but promised to see them Sunday if I was better. I knew I made the right decision when I slept the majority of Saturday too. I never could have kept up with them for the whole time.

Sunday dawned and I was nearly me. I felt better than I had in a long while. I made arrangements to take the kids and Bob to lunch. I read the paper, relaxed, and then went for lunch with the kids. We went to Cafe Alfresco which was delicious. Our waiter was kind and patient with the children. The children ate everything on their plates. I had a very delicious mushroom omelette, which left me full and satisfied for nearly the rest of the day. We went to Strachan's for ice cream afterwards and I had the chocolate chunk. It was hellagood.

Sunday evening, Bob and I visited our favorite resatraunt, Vallarta's. It was the same as it always is and we had a good time talking about Ponkeys and chaps. I was accused of being less funny than usual, but after explaining that I NEARLY DIED or something this week, I was cut some slack. MEN! Actually, I had a wonderful time. It might have been the first time that I felt back to normal. Bob caught me humming several times during dinner. I generally save that for when I am happily baking, but I felt great and day dreamy.

Today, it's back to life, back to reality.

My visit to The East Lake Cafe

Sunday, after learning that my newest favorite restaurant was no longer in business, I had to find a new restaurant for breakfast. My stomach was rumbling, my daughter was starving, and my boyfriend had a suggestion. He suggested the East Lake Cafe. It was close to where we were, so we stopped in.

We walked in the door and were seated promptly. The restaurant was clean and comfortable. Not long after we were seated we ordered our drinks. We ordered coffee and my daughter ordered Apple juice. I did not try the juice my self, but I was assured it was good. Our coffee arrived, and though we loved the large colorful mugs, the coffee was very watery.

I ordered the The Cafes Southern Special which includes eggs, 1 biscuit & gravy, grits, and sausage patties. I ate the sausage patties first and they were good. They were juicy and what you would expect in a sausage patty. I then ate the biscuits and gravy.

I should probably note that I have been making biscuits and gravy for a long time. I make it about 3 times a month and it's one of my favorite breakfast dishes. I think it's usually incredibly flavorful. When I received the biscuits and gravy from the kitchen it was lukewarm and completely devoid of any meat flavor. It was actually slightly sweet. I found that really confusing. The "meat" itself could actually be mistaken for sawdust because the pieces are so incredibly tiny. The biscuit was a very dense flavorless lump. I ate half of it and gave up. It was very disapointing.

A note about the grits. I never order grits in restaurants. I'm a real Southern girl and the majority of the grits I have eaten were made by my Grandma, who could outcook Emeril in my book any day of the week. Her grits are cooked through and are soft and creamy in your mouth. No matter where I have ordered them outside of her house they are hard, gritty, and raw. This restaurant was the exact same, but I beg you to not hold that against them since nearly every restaurant in the area makes them the exact same way (unfortunately.)

My daughter got a waffle which she actually devoured. I am going to assume she liked it because getting her to eat anything is generally a giant pain and a long process and she finished before I did.

The plates were garnished with a large leaf of something that I am assuming is parsely and an orange slice. We gave my daughter the oranges and after one bite she refused to eat them. Since oranges are one of her favorite foods I became curious and took a bite. It was very sour. I am of the opinion that nothing should ever go on a plate that is not expressly meant to be eaten. The food should speak for itself.

Bob got the Traditional - Canadian bacon - Eggs Benedict. He said that it was very bland and had very little flavor.

We found ourselves saying at the same time that we were off the opinion that very little, if anything other than the eggs, were cooked here. The kitchen is silent. There is no rushing of hot food. There are no clanging pans in the kitchen. It really was confusing as they have a sign in front that claims that they are they best in Palm Harbor.

Their website makes the claim that "All of our selections are made to order with the finest ingredients & the greatest of care, and trans fat free! Your patience is appreciated!" However, there was about 4 minutes between the time we ordered and the time that we recieved our food. I would argue that the previous statement is blatantly untrue.

The one bright spot in this trip was the service. Every staff member keeps a watchful eye on your table and they are quick with coffee refills and anything else you might need. I feel terrible about what I have written because I felt that the staff worked hard and were genuinely kind, but the food was not acceptable.


Urbanspoon rocks

Writing and why I seem to not be doing it.

Did you know that in addition to this blog I write for three other blogs?

I write for Hotbuckles, Renter's Regret, and I just started writing for The Kind of Cat Lady. I feel like I have been neglecting my writing lately and I apologize.

When I write for Hotbuckles it's probably the most challenging. I'm not representing myself. I'm supposed to be writing about things that are important to the company. Unfortunately, whatever pops into my skull simply will not do. I have a small list of things to write about and for some reason, it seems to be a struggle.

I haven't written for a few months over at Renter's Regret. I was so furious with a situation that I wanted to scream out the details. I felt like it was a bad move and every time I intended to write something coherent, I wrote out a hateful rant. That's not really the direction I want the blog to go in, so I had to let it go for a little while. You can expect a few things up there this week. I have some new topics that I'm excited about.

I have written for The Kind of Cat Lady (or The Cat Lady Chronicles) recently. I could talk about cats all day, but whether you, the reader wants to read it is another issue entirely. I will be posting a few things there this week too. I'm super excited about that.

For this site, you're at www.courtneyschoenfeld.com by the way, I had planned to have some write ups on some restaurants I visited. The first was for The New York Skyline Restaurant in Palm Harbour. I visited. It was delicious and everything you could dream of in a breakfast place, but when I returned this past Sunday it had been closed and sold! My heart broke! My stomach grumbled! I had to go somewhere else.

My boyfriend suggested we go to The East Lake Cafe. The next blog post will describe that experience!

Cemetery Junction

You probably don't know this, but I am a huge fan of Ricky Gervais. I MUST see this movie.

Death took a vacation and followed a star map.

My brother called last night. This is the message he left:

	Voicemail You'll Love Share this ...

Now, as sad as everyone is for Michael, Farrah, and Ed, I feel bad. I don't feel sad for them.



I'll start with Ed. Ed was an older man who had lived quite a massive life. I'm not going to expand on everyone's accomplishments because everyone else is so I'm sure you have read it elsewhere. He was respected widely and people liked him. Later in life, especially in the past few years he began to have financial and legal troubles. I think he was ready to go. My grandmother says that once you get to her and Ed's age, that you are kind of ready to go. Most of your friends are dead. Your parents are dead. Sometimes, your children die before you. It's tiresome. I think he was ready and relieved.



Farrah Fawcett was an actress and a very passionate woman. The past few years for her were a struggle. In addition to battling Anal Cancer, she also watched the love of her live and her son battle drug addiction and each other. She tried desperately to find a way to a cure. She traveled to different countries and looked for alternative treatments.



She made a documentary on her struggles through Cancer. She shaved her head reather then let the chemotherapy take it from her. She fought hard and I respect that. I hope that her death was like falling asleep after a hard day.



Finally, we come to Michael Jackson. I feel sad about his death because he is just little younger than my parents and a tiny bit older than my boyfriend. I worry about my mother even though she's healthy as a horse and pretty much seems invincible. I worry about my Dad becuase he has had a liver transplant and that's not really ever a sure thing. I worry about my grandparents, mostly because my grandmother's are determined to tell me that "you never know" and that they could be dead and any moment. I'm literally convinced that that will never happen. It's childish to believe that all of my family will live forever, but that's where I'm at.



Michael had a crazy life. He had a sucessful career with his brothers and then on his own. He was married though it seemes everyone thought that was strange. He was accused of skin bleaching, but claimed he had Vitiligo. He had a series of plastic surgery mishaps. He had children and named them all ofter himself. He was accused of child molestation. He had everything he had ever wanted in a physical capacity, but I don't think there is a doubt in anyone's mind that he was still desperately searching for something.I hope that Ed, Michael, and Farrah all are resting in peace, or traveling to the next place, or starting their new lives.

How to leave a voice mail message.

This blog post is obviously about phone messages. As the person who gets here first every morning, it is my job to check the messages. This morning I had 18 messages. Here's a breakdown:

• 11 were people hanging up after the tone.
• 3 were messages that I was able to understand.
• 1 was so rapid fire and mumbled that I listened to it three times and hoped for the best.
• 2 were only phone numbers shouted into the phone.
• 1 was a person yelling "ARE YOU KIDDING? I THOUGHT THIS WAS A BUSINESS!" into the phone.

It has become blatantly obvious that the majority of people on the planet are not clear on what makes for a successful voicemail message, so I am here to tell you. You could think of me as the voicemail messiah, but I think that might be a little blasphemous, even for me.

Step one: If you are calling you should leave a message.

If you are calling with a question or concern, I WANT to help you. Your question might seem silly to you, but if you need an answer it's not silly. I want every customer to feel confident and comfortable.

Step Two: It's all in the details.

When I call you back, I want to make sure I have your account pulled up and some basic history. It saves everyone time in the long run. At the absolute least, you should leave your name, your phone number, the reason you are calling. This is the best way to make sure I can call you back quickly and get the right person.

Step Three: Keep anonymous comments to yourself.

The voice mail inbox is not the place to anonymously air your grievances. I can't help you because you haven't given me the tools to solve the problem. I can speculate that you are one of the other callers, but I can't make that assumption and address the issue. If you have a problem you want solved, you have to assume that I WANT to solve it and give me the opportunity to do so.

The Rise of Reason:

You might be saying that this is all common sense. I would have to say that I agree with you. I can tell you from experience that most people just don't think these things through. I have people who wait ten seconds and then leave a message. If you know why you are calling you have all the tools you need to make a good message. Here's a good message example:

"Hello. My name is Courtney Schoenfeld. My number is 727-555-1234 and I am calling to ____."

In the blank you should state your purpose.

I am calling to:

• Check on the status of my order.
• Discuss my account with you.
• Ask a question about [a product or service offered by the business you are calling.]
• Clarify something I read on your website.

If you follow these steps to voice mail success I think you will have a lot more of your calls returned and many more of your issues resolved.