WHOA, MY KID ATE A FLOWER!!!

Day before yesterday, the kids were bouncing off the walls. I had my three, and my mom had my nieces. Five kids bouncing around making a mess everywhere. So I had an idea. "Let's go to the beach." We decided to go to the Hilton on the beachside in Indialantic, because you can swim and go down to the beach, and they also serve food and drinks right there next to the pool. True I (pronounced like "true eye"), pictured at right, plays at the Hilton on Sundays, adding smooth reggae music to the already relaxed atmosphere. This place is like heaven. Other bands play there as well. I actually went there the past three days in a row, because I enjoyed the atmosphere so much. The kids had a blast, too. It is a family-friendly place, to be sure.

We went swimming and then down to the beach. It was so peaceful and relaxing that I lost track of time easily. When I ordered the Sprites for the kids, the woman behind the counter told me that the appetizers were half off. Wrong thing to tell me, Roxy Bargain Hunter, who can't turn down a good deal. So I ordered two orders of jerk chicken wings and two fruit platters. The chicken wings were really good. We had eaten a lot of buffalo-style wings lately, so it was a nice treat. The fruit platter looked delicious, even garnished with a purple flower. My eleven-year-old son inadvertently grabbed a flower and ate it. He tends to eat first and ask questions later. The question he was asking now was, "Mom is it okay that I just ate that purple flower?"

Not knowing that you can eat that type of flower, I said, "OH MY GOD...." and I ran up to the counter and told the woman he ate the flower. She said it was edible. I said, "OH." I didn't want to look as stupid as I must have looked, but who ever heard of edible flowers? I refused when the children tried to get me to eat the remaining flowers. My nieces did eat them, though. When I went back and got the fruit platter again, however, I did eat the flowers. They were quite good! They don't always have them, though. I know because I have been going there often lately. This has become our summer haven.

Did you know you can eat some types of flowers? I learn something new every day! I checked it out on the internet and found this story http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/reviews/blog/2008/10/orchid_garnish.html , but I found this article to be awfully negative about the idea of using the edible orchids. I thought the purple flowers made the dish look beautiful, and the idea that you can eat them is even more awesome. So much more appealing than your every day orange/lettuce garnish. Kudos to the Hilton!

(UPDATE:  This summer, they no longer have half-off on the appetizer menu...but the food is still really good....just more expensive!)