Tampa Photo Diary, Part Three

Burger 21’s Bananas Foster Shake

If you’re ever in the Tampa Bay area and want some great burgers, take a look at Burger 21. They’re a local chain and part of that “better burger” trend away from the sort you’ll get from the McDonald’s/Burger King/Wendy’s axis. For a little more than what you’d pay at “Raunchy Ron’s” (that’s my personal nickname for McDonald’s), you get better burgers with better condiments, better sides, better shakes, better service, better surroundings and better bathrooms.

Pictured above is one of their shakes — the Bananas Foster shake, topped with a caramelized banana. The only way it could be even more Bananas Foster-y would be if it were drizzled with banana liqueur and set alight. The Lady Friend and I split one, and its was delicious. I’m planning on dropping by Burger 21 on my next trip.

Being John Cusack (for an Evening)

In my previous Tampa Photo Diary, I wrote that I was at a birthday party complete with outdoor band gig, karaoke and gladiatorial drinking. What I forgot to mention was that it was an “End of the World”-themed party, in reference to the belief that the Mayans predicted that the world would end in late December 2012.

The birthday girl’s friends came up with a lot of “End of the World” ideas, including a variation on the “Who Am I?” ice-breaking party game. Each of us got a sticker on his or her back with the name of a person, place or thing associated with the end of the world, whether in fiction or non-fiction. The Lady Friend got “Global Warming”; I got “John Cusack”, whose relationship to the end of the world was a bit of a stretch. Needless to say, it took me a while to figure out who I was.