How does Apopka taste?

As Andy Gardiner made his way through the VFW hall in Apopka on Thursday night, he shook hands with local business leaders, helped give out door prizes and, oh yeah, posed for a picture with a guy dressed up like a cockroach for his pest-control company.

Such is life for the State House Majority Leader when he's in his other job as leader of the Apopka Chamber of Commerce. "One day you're handling bills on the floor of the Legislature," he explained. "The next you're emptying out garbage cans."

And there were a lot of cans there. The event, after all, was that chamber's annual Taste of Apopka event, where politicians, business owners and locals mingled while tasting all the grub local eateries had to offer. (Top honors, by the way, went to some oh-so-tender ribs and greens from Birdsong MLB Southern Cooking.)

At the event, conversation topics ranged from the food to last week's elections. But whereas most people had some race results they liked and others they didn't, Mayor John Land said: "I won 'em all." Pardon? "Well," explained the man who was first elected in 1949, " I've learned through the years that I'm gonna have to work with 'em all. So I'd better say that."

Toasting the arts

A night earlier, local Democratic booster Jim Pugh was hosting a party at his expansive lakeside home in Winter Park and admitted he didn't, in fact, win 'em all last week. Pugh, after all, was one of the biggest fundraisers for Democrat Jim Davis, who lost to Charlie Crist. But on this evening, Pugh was raising money for something much less partisan -- a performing arts center. And he felt more confident about victory. That was partly because we later learned (as you may have read elsewhere in today's paper) that Pugh and his wife, Alexis, agreed to personally give $7.5 million to the center as well. So, while Pugh was toasting the arts enthusiasts gathered at his home last week, we should raise a glass to the Pughs as well.