June 12th, 2010 by Dawn Becker

Before I went on my trip to Orlando, my only references to Florida were few. In one of my past jobs I used to be the Sales Promotions Manager at Tupperware Canada. Seems like a strange place to work but for a foodie and an avid home cook, it was pretty decent. It was also my first foray into the corporate side of marketing versus the agency where I came from. And the first time I was exposed to a real show stopping style of sales conference with on-stage skits for new product demos, screaming award winners running up to the stage under a follow spot and cameras shedding tears on the big screen, and herds of sales people doing line dances and sing-a-longs. Tupperware is a strange world but it works for them.

Coming from a fairly traditional Chinese family of non-touchers, it was a new experience being in this world of “huggers”, back then mostly decked out in sequins and polyester pant suits and perfectly French manicured white-tipped nails or glossy cherry red talons. I will admit I am now a fully converted hugger. It just feels good. But you can forget about the nails. These are working girl hands, made for chopping, dicing, slicing and typing.

The worldwide head office of Tupperware happens to be in Orlando, where my friend Daniel is from. It was on my wish list to do a drive-by viewing of the Tupperware fountain but it wasn’t in the cards on this trip what with the emergency hospital visit, tour of Disney World Resort, driving through half the state up to the border of Georgia and getting lost in a $100 USD taxi in Jacksonville. Scariest moment of my life which I’ll save to write about another time.

My other reference to Florida is from my former sister-in-law, Dana, who resided there. She was an extravagant person, lively, loud and what I thought was classically American. She also happened to be very funny though I think without knowing so. She used to travel the world with my ex brother-in-law as he was a huge car enthusiast, visiting the Porsche Zuffenhausen plant in Germany and one time to France, possibly to see Le Mans but I’m not sure of that. Upon returning from a whirl wind trip through Europe, the first thing she said about their vacation wasn’t how wonderful the scenery was, nor how interesting the people were, nor how fascinating the history was, nor how delicious the food tasted. Her first statement was this. “You know, you just can’t find a decent hamburger in France.” I still laugh when I think about how serious she was when she said that.

In that moment that statement established firmly in my mind what people from Florida were like. Although I don’t think that much differently now that I’ve actually been through half of the state, I do know that it’s hard to find a decent meal in Florida. Even the multi-starred Azurea Restaurant in the tourist trap called One Ocean Resort (entrance pictured above) in Jacksonville, failed to impress me. The service was mediocre, the food was over-sauced and the desserts were cloying. Below, a badly lit shot of the lobster and mushroom risotto I shared with Daniel. You can see two weird strips of melted cheese and the claw that looks like it was dumped on the top of the gummy risotto like an after thought. But of course, the company saved the day and it was there that we had laughs amongst friends that I will never forget. 

In Daytona, we went to a quaint place called Our Deck Down Under. It’s one of those places that you feel is a find because it’s tucked away under the Port Orange Bridge. The atmosphere is slightly rowdy and it has a shack-by-the-sea look to it. Unfortunately, the food didn’t live up to the ambience. The raw oysters on the half-shell were sickly – bad Florida oyster experience number two (you think I would learn) – the crab legs on the steamed platter tasted bland and now that I think of it were probably previously frozen (go figure “snow” crab prefer cold waters like those off Newfoundland so I’d be more likely to get tastier crab legs here in the T-dot). The spice on the shrimp, while pleasantly zingy, wasn’t marinated long enough to impart any flavours to the shrimp meat. The servers did remove the charge for the raw oysters since we only ate one. They were a really wacky bunch, gracious and perfect for this watering hole.

We also went to another kitschy spot called Joe’s Crab Shack. Yes, it seemed a touristy kind of place where they make the servers dance and sing in a line. What’s up with everyone dancing in a line in the south? The food had a lot of potential and from what I remember it was a worthy spot. Sadly, it was also a night of debauchery where our adult friends (Larry and Nicole) left the three child-like friends (that would include Daniel, Ronald and myself) alone with a six-pack of Corona’s and a full bottle of tequila. ‘Nuff said.  It looks like we ordered the Bean Town Bake on the menu which is a steam pot with 2 whole lobsters, 1 pound of clams, 6 shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes. I’m very sad now looking back at the menu online to see that they also served crawfish which was high up on my must eat in Florida list. Very sad. Needless to say I didn’t get to eat any crawfish, also known as crayfish, mud bugs or craw dads.

And despite my memory of throwing a Krystal’s burger at Daniel at the end of the night, my regrets are few. I suppose it’s all about the story at the end. And here is not the place to tell it all. But stay tuned. There’s more to come on my trip to Florida.