Visiting a Garden (kind of):

So I tried to visit Morikami Japanese Garden on August 2nd as well but got there right as it closed so they let me get a quick look around before they made me leave. I came here once a long time ago and when I did there were many different types of flowers growing, but when I asked one of the workers what had happened to them they said many of the plants that had been imported from Japan had died during the summer due to the heat, so most of the plants that were left over were Florida native and used to the weather and just cut into a bonsai shape. There were a few flowers left over though which I took pictures of below, but really wish I was able to come during the spring because the worker showed me some pictures from her phone and they were stunning. It was still a really cool looking place so I'll definitely be back at some point to see it in its prime. 

 Walmart vs Trader Joes vs Target:

I went to 3 grocery stores on August 2nd, to compare the different setups of their fruit and veggies section.

Walmart had by far the most widespread fruit in the sense that the section was the most spread out. It was probably the size of the Publix and the Trader Joes fruit sections put together, and was probably the most messy of the three. I thought this strategy was pretty smart of leaving it pretty open so shoppers might spy something out of the corner of their eye they now absolutely need that they might not have seen if everything was more clustered together. They did not seem to care as much about keeping the shelves stocked as there were quite a few fruits where the supply was running low, but maybe I just came at a bad time. The fruits were arranged a bit nicer than they were in the farmers market from the day before, but still kinda just thrown together compared to other stores.

Moving onto Trader Joes, my favorite of the three for its variety and its price point. They didn't;t disappoint with nice signs advertising the fruits that were not there in either of the other stores, and what I'd personally say are more appealing displays (unfortunately I'm a fool and didn't get the sign in the banana photo). There seemed to be less of each fruit but it didn't seem as noticeable because they were help in smaller shelves making it look like they had a plentiful amount. The shelves here were defintiletly less spread out than Walmart but more so than Publix.

Finally, I went to Publix which happens to be right next to my house. I don't shop here too often because everything here is 5 times the price it is at Trader Joes, but came here today and unfortunately have to admit they had a pretty nice fruit section. They didn't have the signs that Trader Joes had, but everything was very methodically, carefully placed, the colors really stood out as they contrasted the ones next to each other, making them much more appealing to the eye. They only kept ripe bananas out, which was probably a good move compared to Trader Joes whose bananas were pretty far from ripening. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd sadly have to give it to Publix just because of how neat everything is, and the whole thing was very different from the other two which were much more spread out, but I think putting everything close together like this is personally more visually appealing:

 Visiting a Farm

After going to the Boys Farmers market on August 1st, I headed over to the Girl's Strawberry Patch. I again used to come here all the time as a kid, and while The Boys still remained pretty much the same since my last visit, the Girls had fallen off the face of the earth. When I was a kid they let me walk around the patch, picking as many berries as I wanted, but apparently too many people had taken advantage of their kindness as all the berries were now fenced off away from the public.

They still did have many of the plants they grow in the back available for display, but you had to ride a kiddie train to get anywhere near them. Surely no grown adult in their right mind would ride a kid's train just to look at what fruits their growing in this farm right...

So anyway, I bought tickets for the kiddie train and rode around the track to see what kinds of plants they were currently growing. The a few of the strawberry plants I remembered from when I was a kid had started sprouting but most of them were still very small and underdeveloped:

Next we drove past some mango plants, which the driver helpfully informed me had recently been picked and had actually produced some mango:

In addition there were a LOT of avocado, in fact I suggested to the driver they should change their name to Girls Avocado Farm because that was a majority of what they had for display:

There were also some bananas that hadn't ripened yet but the worker said they would be ready pretty close and I should come back in a few weeks to see the fully ripened ones:

They also said there were lychees, and had a sign for the area where the lychees normally grew, but I couldn't see any:

Overall a pretty negative experience, would not recommend unless you really enjoy kiddie train rides, it really was a fraction of how cool I remember it being as a kid.

 Visiting a Garden Center:

On August 2nd I went to Mac's Gardening Center in Delray Beach. I wasn't too sure what a gardening center was before this, but it seemed to just be a garden where pretty much all the plants were for sale. There was an entire section dedicated to herbs including basil, cilantro, and rosemary which I'll definitely be coming back for as I use these in pretty much everything I make.

They told me during the spring their garden is usually full of a variety of different flowers for purchase, but many of them had died or been sold during the summer. There was however, one of the most resilient ever: cactus

I really wanted to get one of mini colored ones but it was pretty much about to close when we got there so I was unable to 😢.

There was also some mini succulents in a more shady area, which the workers told me was pretty surprising since they usually don't survive the summer:

There was also this plant which I'd seen pretty everywhere as a kid, but never knew the name of called Dracaena:

I will definitely be going back after the tropical storm this week to get those mini cacti for my room, but again overall a pretty cool experience, just wish I had come earlier so I'd gotten to look around more and more plants were still alive.

 Trying New Fruits

While I was at the Boys Farmers Market on August 1st, I picked up some new fruits I hadn't tried before. I wasn't too confident that they'd have any new fruits, but to my surprise they had a pretty huge variety, some of which I definitely had heard about but never worked up the courage to try.

First we have the Golden Berry:

I had pretty high expectations for this one, because I've never tried a berry I didn't like and it has a nice color, but as soon as I bit into it I was disappointed. It basically tasted like a tomato with some chaat masala seasoning. Don't get me wrong I love tomatoes, I probably don't eat a meal without it, but eating tomato by itself is crazy. If you're a huge tomato fan, this fruit is for you, otherwise I wouldn't buy this again.

Next up we have the green plum:

I'd definitely had plums before, but this one definitely peeked my interest because it just looked like a small apple. I would say plums aren't a fruit I'd go out of my way to get but these were pretty solid, it tasted like a normal plum (with a little apple aftertaste but maybe I imagined it because of how similar they looked), but a little sweeter, and had a nicer texture. It wasn't as mushy inside as normal plums which is definitely something I look for in fruits so may be something I'd try again.

Last but not least definitely the one I was looking forward to the most The Dragonfruit:

This might be the coolest looking fruit I've ever seen in my life. I'd definitely been offered it once or twice when I was younger but never took a shot and tried it. It cut open very easily and I had to scoop out the inside, but it was pretty amazing. It had a really jello-y type of texture, reminding me a bit of lychee, and though it didn't have too much flavor on its own, my cousin is sending me a recipe on how to make a dragonfruit yogurt that will supposedly blow my socks off. I'll keep you updated on how that goes.

Overall, some very solid fruits, I'll probably try the dragonfruit again since I finished the one I bought, but the other two may be a once in a lifetime purchase.

Going to the Farmer's Market:

On August 1st as soon as I got back from India for the second time this summer (dang that airplane was long), I went to my local farmer's market: The Boys Farmers Market in Delray Beach, FL. I used to go here a lot with my parents as a kid but haven't been in probably 5 years at least. 

To my surprise, it was pretty much exactly as I remembered. I walked in and could immediately smell fresh bread being made, as I tried to navigate my way through from my memory the employees were very helpful and knowledgeable about the available fruits. 

They also had a counter where they offered to juice any fruit you brought them which I'd never seen before, but definitely makes me want to come back in a few days.

The place was pretty dimly lit compared to most grocery stores, and had  zigzagging shelves to fit as much in the space as possible whereas most grocery stores are pretty spaced out giving customers more space to move around and have a better view of all the available inventory. I could tell the place did not sell the fruit based on how it was arranged or marketed, but rather based on its freshness. The fruits were definitely a bit more thrown together than other grocery stores I've been to, but there wasn't a single fruit that was sparse, everything on the shelves was there in large quantities. There was a place in the back where they served a wide variety of meals, so I picked up a chicken parmesan for dinner.

In addition to all that, the best part came right as I was exiting with my food, there was a statue of a guy dressed as Santa just attached to the ceiling:

Overall, very cool, I'm definitely going to be coming here more often because it seems to outshine most grocery stores on quantity, quality, and variety, with grocery stores edging them out on price.