Hoping to repeat our dinner feast back in Austin TX, when we visited Whole Foods Market, we dropped in on a place here in Tampa called Wild Oats.

It was not nearly as large or fun as Whole Foods Market, but we still found a lot of great goodies for dinner, and laid them out here for you to see.

Our smorgasbord tonight. Click for larger view.

OK, from top center going clockwise: Emma’s pepperoni pizza slice, a combination tray of sushi (with tuna and salmon) for Rich, croissants, a slice of fig almond cake, miso soup, dolmas (grape leaves stuffed with rice), sushi for Eleanor (eel roll), calamari salad, salmon pate, Australian blue cheese. In the center of the table, cornichons (little pickles), olives, onions, and more dolmas.

We never even got to the cheese, pate, or fig cake, and there were leftovers of most other things, so we’ll have an interesting lunch tomorrow. Between tonight’s shopping and other things we’ve had in restaurants lately, the 8-cubic foot refrigerator of our Airstream is stuffed full. I think I’ll be eating leftovers for a few days, but I like that, so no problem!

Well, maybe a small problem… Last night I had leftover gyros from Tarpon Springs. I had to eat them because every time we opened the refrigerator, the entire trailer would smell like garlic. I may have to prioritize what gets eaten based on what smells the most.

Financial note: this three week stay in Tampa has been by far the most expensive part of our trip. Camping here is expensive: $39 per day at this campground, and other places near Bradenton and Sarasota cost up to $55 per day. We are paying a weekly rate of $220, so we’ve spent as much to stay here for three weeks as we spent in the first two months of our trip.

This would have really trashed the budget but the offset has been that we aren’t spending money on fuel. Our propane bill has been $0 since we got here and our gas expense has been minimal. I’m glad we came and spent time with our friends in the area, but I wish we knew someone with courtesy parking. I’ll be glad to get back to our cheapskate ways soon.