{Sarasota, Florida - Hyatt Regency}

On May 1, we were at the Hyatt Regency in Sarasota, Florida. We had been there once before but loved to go back to this place.

Love the exotic surroundings here at the Gulf of Mexico where this Hyatt Regency Sarasota is located.

Husband Pieter in the back of the hotel where you even can dock your own boat or yacht.

King Size bed with pillow top and down duvet at all Hyatt hotels, makes us feel at home!

Husband Pieter made a tea for me and a coffee for himself, after my drive from Orlando where we stayed at the Hyatt Place Orlando/ Universal which we can reach in about 6 hours driving from home.

That feels relaxed and even though it is windy, the balcony offers such a great view of Sarasota Bay...

At our previous stay we were informed that this is a Hyatt hotel where you could dock your own yacht in the back... you can reach it IF you have one!

View from balcony

Parking for the hotel is in the back of the hotel, you can see the cars under the palm trees.

Restaurant is right next to the dock.

This is the path that we walked alongside Sarasota Bay...

Will show you more next!

Have you been to Sarasota, Florida?

We will be back for another time; using some of our Hyatt Points for more free nights.

Related links:

{Sarasota Bay, Florida - Great White Heron} | post by me about the walk around Sarasota Bay

{Sarasota Bay, Florida - Anhinga} | post by me about Sarasota Bay walk

{Persian Cucumbers & Slicer}

As stated before, both my husband and I are the son and daughter of a market gardener so again, knowing cucumbers is not foreign to us. But Dad grew the long English cucumbers and now we saw these Persian Cucumbers at Trader Joe's. Had to try them out!

Yes, this is their size and as you can see inside my hand they are not large.

Seedless, sweet and crunchy product of Canada.

We know in the Ontario region there are a lot of market gardeners with Dutch last names...

But we, being Dutch by birth, never actually did slice them as thick as shown above!
Unless you want to eat them just raw.

Being seedless is an added bonus too, no need for scooping out the seeds with a spoon, after cutting the cucumber lengthwise.

No, we don't peel them but they get sliced paper thin on this typical Dutch slicer!

Below my post you will find some links to e.g. a Japanese slicer that is available here in the USA.

This time I used Greek yogurt with some grated garlic and fresh ginger.

That's how it looks like...
Not quite the same as the Greek Tzatziki for which lemon juice and dill gets added to the garlic, no fresh ginger.

These are English Cucumbers but just to show you different ways of preparing them.
Here I used some olive oil with natural vinegar and Italian herbs.

When I was in Japan in July of 2007, one of our sister city members went to the early vegetable and fruit market for buying. He was so kind to make photos for me from all the fresh produce.
Guess these are small, Persian looking cucumbers as well, with daikon it looks like.
My Japanese blogger friends for sure can fill me in on that...

How are you slicing and eating your cucumbers?

Related links:

Benriner Japanese Mandoline Slicer
Shenzhen Knives. Ceramic Blade Mandoline Slicer
Rösle Adjustable Vegetable Slicer with Grip, Stainless Steel
{Healthy & Quick Vegetarian Supper} | previous post by me showing Cucumber salad

{Storage Box Roller Casters Added}

One great advantage of following other bloggers is to pick up some great ideas once in a while. Blogger friend Daniela from the blog: Frugal Ain't Cheap, is such an example. You will find two links below this post from where I got this idea for adding Roller Casters to our Storage Box in the garage. Thanks Daniela!

We used to keep this on our balcony to store the chaise's cushions.

With our remodeled attic we now can keep them there, nearby the balcony, for use.

It is a Suncast Resin Deluxe Deck Box with Seat from Wayfair.com and now it is in our garage as a favorite lounge area for our felines.

You see the Roller Casters underneath...

Pieter glued some planks underneath with the casters attached.

Detail of such a Roller Caster that we got at The Home Depot, together with those planks and they are cheap.

Photo taken from the spot where usually our car is parked. This is the corner where it is stored and easily rolls out of the way with items piled on top.

You like it?

Related links:
How to make a rolling basket and "new" coffee table - blogger friend Daniela's example of using casters
Ikea dresser turned into kitchen recycle/trash cart - blogger friend Daniela's clever idea with casters
{Our Balcony} | previous post by me where you can see this storage box on the balcony...