Reflecting on 2010

I was reading an article the other day called Seven Important Questions to Ask Yourself Before the Year Ends, and I thought I might do a little reflecting. My humble thoughts:

1. On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with 2010?
I would rate it 6 out of 10. Maybe 7 out of 10.

2. Why did you score that way?
2010 was a year full of amazing experiences, and not all of them good ones. But, I have learned a lot about people, and a lot about myself this year. I can only hope to continue down the road of personal growth. Everything I have been a part of has served me, one way or another.

3. What are your biggest accomplishments this year?
I helped friends and family commemorate some epic milestones this year. I went to five weddings, celebrated many births, attended a graduation ceremony, helped colleagues finish a two-year program, was part of a championship team, mourned several losses, watched children grow before my very eyes, and shared in some very personal & some very public struggles. My biggest accomplishments are in supporting others.

I also did some travelling this year: Mexico, New Orleans, Portland, Las Vegas - and to some more local destinations like Harrison Hot Springs, Campbell River, Kelowna & Kamloops. I know that travelling isn't much of an accomplishment, but it's something I enjoy doing, and it helps me appreciate everything I have. I saw some amazing things, I did some amazing things. I wouldn't trade my experiences for the world, but the best thing about travelling is coming home. Although there aren't many places in the world that I don't want to go, I love coming home. BC is beautiful, and I am so lucky to live here. Home is where my family is. Home is where my friends are. Home is where my heart is. And there's nothing like sleeping in your own bed! Having said that, I am excited to plan my next series of adventures away from home.

4. What are the biggest lessons you learned this year?
Not to work so much. To eat dinner at home instead of at my desk. To go outside more instead of looking at a screen all day. That my time is valuable - for my health and general happiness. To spend more time with people that give back. To appreciate my success, but more importantly, to appreciate those who help me succeed. That I have a long way to go. That I talk the talk way more than I walk the walk. I have learned, again, that change is HARD.

5. What are your biggest goals that you want to achieve next year?
I want to participate in a No Impact Week. I want to drink more water, eat better, exercise more, get more sleep, don't let work run my whole life, and stay as mentally & physically balanced as possible. Literally too - I'd really like to be able to balance on one foot with my eyes closed. That would be great.

6. What new habits do you want to cultivate?
I want to be a better neighbour. I want to be a positive part of my local and global community. Before the Olympics began, I was caught up in the furor of controversy. I wasn't sure that it was going to be good for us, and I'll admit it - I was rather blasé about the whole thing. It just seemed like a bunch of hullabaloo. Boy, was I wrong. One of my colleagues said it best: "No matter what your politics are concerning these Olympic Games, they are here, and it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to celebrate with your compatriots in your own backyard. This opportunity will likely never happen to any of us again." It was the surge of Canadian pride that affected me the most. I will always remember walking downtown high-fiving strangers, singing 'O Canada' on the Skytrain with other commuters, seeing the torch amidst a happy Vancouver crowd, watching events alongside friends and family, and screaming my head off when Crosby scored the epic goal - a feeling shared by many and heard in the streets. It was this sense of community and pride that I take with me now. I'm so proud to be Canadian.

7. What are your immediate next steps to achieve them?
Well, I started by writing this post. Next I will look into some exercise options for 2011 and see who else I can get on board. I will put up a calendar and track how successful I am. And go from there. :)

Saying goodbye to a beloved pet

If the world is classified into cat-people or dog-people, I'd probably align myself with the dog-people. I love the unwavering loyalty of a dog, the affection & attention that they give you, their constant companionship, and their happy wagging tails. We had a family dog growing up, and she was the best pet. We never had a cat.

However, when I moved out on my own and into an apartment, having a dog didn't seem feasible. It seemed like having a backyard was rather necessary for a dog, and besides, a dog is pretty high-maintenance. So, I got a cat. His name was Katmandu. We found Katmandu from the local SPCA and took him home. Katmandu was a lovely indoor/outdoor cat, and it wasn't long before we wanted him to have a friend for company.

Camouflage and I were fated to be together; I found her at the local animal hospital and fell in love with her instantly. Her multi-coloured fur was beautiful, and I loved how a line down her face & nose divided her in half, one side grey & one side tan. Her patchy colours looked just like army camouflage. However, I couldn't take her home right away; I was moving, and I wouldn't be settled for 3 more weeks. I told the animal hospital that I would come back, and if she was there, I would take her home with me.

Three weeks later, and true to my word, I came back to get her. She was still there, miraculously. They told me that during the last three weeks, Cami had been taken home THREE times by people, and all 3 times she'd been brought back: a wife didn't get a husband's permission, someone found out they were allergic to cats, and someone decided that they didn't "have room." I like to think she was just waiting for me.

Over the years she has been a terrific cat. She was dainty, and didn't like to be picked up, but she was affectionate and loved to be pet. She was sweet, and often "talked" to you if you addressed her. She loved to perch up on high places or inside boxes, and she always greeted you in the morning. She purred like crazy. The vet said that she was so well-behaved that she should be a "model" cat and used as an example in vet school. She was pretty angelic. She really never did anything wrong or got into anything. She was no dog, but she definitely was a sweetheart of a cat.

A few nights ago, we had to put Cami down. She had kidney damage (this, we knew about), lung cancer (this, we didn't know), and for some reason couldn't stand up or walk. She yowled in pain and she could hardly breathe. It came on so suddenly. We struggled with considering other choices: waiting until morning, taking her home, getting a third and fourth opinion. But in the end I just couldn't bear to see her in pain. The vet was not optimistic, more test results wouldn't change anything, and waiting just wouldn't help. We made the call; it was her time. We stayed with her and talked to her and petted her until she was at peace. It was so sad.

Pets give us unconditional love. They give us their whole lives. We gain so much from them. And in return, we have to endure times when they are sick and can't tell us, in pain and need it to stop. If we don't make the hard decisions, they will try and try and try, just to please us. This is a heavy burden to bear, but worth it I think.

Cami will be missed and her memory will be treasured. She was a great cat. I made two picture slideshows to commemorate her. The first one is just photos with a sad song playing; the lyrics convey the sadness of her passing. The second one is photos interspersed with the poem "The Last Battle" and some classical music. They are both very sad, but I am glad that I made them. They really helped me to grieve and to honour her.

Sadness warning alert:
Saying Goodbye to Cami
Goodbye Sweet Cami

To all pet-owners out there: give your pet some extra affection today. And treasure your moments with them.

"I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul."

-Jean Cocteau

If New Orleans is Sinking...

Hello lovely people!

On Wednesday after we explored the Garden District we came back to our hotel and decided to head to the pool (we did bring swimsuits, after all). Although there are 2 pools here at the Hilton the one attached to our particular building is rather pathetic. It was strange to be in an outdoor pool with the air so warm outside. We struck up a conversation with a guy from Virginia/Florida and when Lisa mentioned how hot we thought it was down here, he said, "Where are you guys from, Canada?" like it was some kinda joke. He loved it when we told him we were from Vancouver because then he spent the next few minutes making cracks about how he would import snow for us. He thought he was hilarious. We didn't stay too long at the pool.

After that we got all dressed up in our finery and headed out to a rather nice restaurant for dinner. It was called the Bon Ton Cafe and we had a salad and shrimp etouffee (sorry, there should be accents on that but I just can't bother figuring that out right now). Etouffee means "smothered" down here, and yes, it was. (I took a picture; I have been taking lots of photos of food!.) Then we headed to our favourite store to get some snacks for tomorrow and called it a night.

For the next 2 days we were pretty derailed by the weather. We had an AMAZING bike tour booked (check it out here), but they cancelled due to the storm. I guess that was a good idea cause we didn't really want to be riding a bike around the city in the rain, but still, it was pretty disappointing - the bike tour was the only thing I really wanted to do, and it didn't happen. I guess I will have to come back. Anyone want to come with? :)

We had some lunch, did some shopping, and booked a ghost tour of the city for that evening. We went to Pat O'Brien's, got a famous Hurricane drink in a "go cup" and headed out, ready to be spooked. Our tour guide was Jennifer and she was kind of a riot. She had us cracking up pretty good. Or maybe it was the Hurricane. But in any case, we had a good time. :) After the 2-hour tour we had dinner at a pretty fancy place (that also happens to be haunted) called Muriel's. The best thing we ate had to have been the shrimp & goat cheese crepes. SO GOOD.

Let me mention that the food here has been fantastic. Almost every person that we've spoken to has talked about the food and how people have a misconception about it not being safe to eat due to the oil spill. As far as we can tell, it's totally safe, and extremely delicious to boot. People here seem quite upset that people think otherwise - and you can see why. They just start to get back on their feet after Katrina, and now the oil spill. Tourism is a big industry here, and so is commercial fishing. So, the food here is great. We are still walking up those flights of stairs everyday to justify eating so much of it. :)

We had rebooked our swamp tour for Friday morning and I am so glad that we did. I don't know what I was expecting - Lisa seemed to have a better idea about what would happen than I - but it was absolutely fantastic and worth every penny of that eighty-five dollars!! We were on a small, 6-person airboat, and our tour guide, Jay, was very enthusiastic (I got footage of him so I could remember him later).

Right away Jay sped us around in the airboat and it was awesome - it was also very, very wet. He sprayed all of us on purpose and had a good laugh about it. I knew it was coming when he asked me to cover up my camera. The poor Italian couple sitting next to me were pretty nonplussed about it at first, especially the wife since she didn't understand any English and had no idea what was coming... Anyways, it turned out to be a good thing that he sprayed us because for the next 20-30 minutes or so it acted like a natural air-conditioning and cooled us down as we flew around the water. Method to his madness, for sure. :)

As soon as we were out in the bayou an alligator swam right up to us. Jay called to her in French, and she swam up to the boat and Jay fed her marshmallows. Apparently alligators are attracted to white things. I got to feel her tail (rubbery & smooth!) and she entertained us by swimming around the boat. Once I got over being nervous I was pretty transfixed. Then in another part of the bayou a large male alligator swam up and Jay got him to jump out of the water for the marshmallow. He explained that his family, including his children, have a bond with these alligators that has grown over a number of years, and that there is a level of trust between them (although never forgetting that this animal is wild and that accidents can very easily happen when you are putting things in its mouth!).

We saw the hugest spiders I have ever seen (nobody needs that), herons, ducks, other birds and the best part was when we got to hold a baby alligator!! It was so soft and cute, I wanted to snuggle it and take it home. But, the rain was approaching and we had to get back to the dock, and fast.

Well, it wasn't fast enough.

The rain came down on us, fast and furious, warm and hitting our face like hail as we raced to get back to the dock. By the time we got there, we were soaked - and it was only maybe 5 minutes from start to finish. We thought we were wet from Jay spraying us before? Oh NO - this was sitting your butt in huge pools of water, soaked through to your underwear. Your shoes and socks are soaked, everything is soaked (our bags and cameras were okay cause they were wrapped up). We got off the boat, dripping and saturated from head to toe. It was like we went swimming with all our clothes on. All I could do is laugh. It was totally worth it! We had an amazing time.

Back on the bus with air conditioning. That kinda sucked. But we survived and once we got back to the hotel we rejuvenated with hot showers. Then we went out for lunch, had ice cream (yeah we earned it!), went shopping again (not much else to do with the weather being what it was). Then since we had no other plans, and it had cleared up, we decided to book another evening tour.

What tour did we book for Friday the 13th? Well, a Vampire Tour of course. Jonathan our tour guide was most entertaining and informative, and like the other locals we've met, loves this city and is pretty proud of it. Especially the dark history. It was creepy! I found this tour to be way more creepy than the ghost tour we had done earlier. We enjoyed it though, and it took us into parts of the city that we had not gone yet.

Once the tour was done Jonathan recommended a joint to eat called Coop's Place - he was the second person to direct us there. The service there is not terribly friendly, because they don't much like tourists. Locals eat there and we could easily see why - the food was pretty amazing. Yum!

Being Friday night, we decided to walk through Bourbon Street on the way back to our hotel. Oh, my god. Can I just be honest for a minute and dub it the Bourbon Street Nightmare? I can see why the locals don't go there - it's a total mess. Here are some words to describe it: beads, balconies, drunks, strippers, bars, music, cops, trashy, neon, garbage, crowded, loud, smokers, and signs denoting "Huge Ass Beers" and "Barely Legal Girls." Again, I got footage so that I can remember just how bad it was. I guess it'd be good if you were 19 (oops, I mean 21) and here with a stag. Other than that it was just obnoxious and kind of gross. I feel old for saying that. :P

One thing you should know about New Orleans is that it's pretty old, and the streets and sidewalks are not flat. This is important to keep in mind because you will likely do a lot of walking, with or without a "go cup" in your hand. There are many holes that cannot be described in any other way than "treacherous." Hospital-visit kinda holes. Maybe they do that for sport - obnoxious tourists do get tiring after all...

The day that we had gone to the Garden District, we took a cab home and the driver was thrilled to hear that we were Canadian - so much so that he asked us to sign his "book"; a veritable compendium of all the out-of-town guests he's ported around the city. He also told us about the Red Dress Run, which is basically a charity event where groups of people (and especially men) put on red dresses and go bar-hopping for charity. So as we were making our way around the city Friday & Saturday, we'd see these groups of people all in red and totally outrageous. I can't imagine what Mardi Gras would be like here! Crazy!!

Some random last thoughts:
- Humidity means waiting for your camera lens to become unfogged. This takes a while. Most inconvenient.
- Humidity also means never being dry. Also inconvenient.
- After a while, getting the "uh huh" response to my "thank you"s really started to bug me. I know, I know... it's an American thing...
- We had a celebrity sighting! Della Reese! Oh, oh, and we sat next to a guy with a Green Lantern t-shirt! Does that count??
- The pineapple is a symbol of southern hospitality; we saw it everywhere - mostly carvings and ironwork.
- Child hustlers attached the tops of pop cans to the bottoms of their shoes and tap-danced for money on the street.
- Rats. Roaches. Need I say more?

So today was our last day in New Orleans. At the airport, there was a mix-up with my reservation because someone had entered me into the system as a man. So when I tried to check-in as a woman, they couldn't do it. Hmmm... anyways after some stressed looks from the agents, and subsequent worrying on our part, it was all sorted. Except for maybe inside my own head, as is illustrated by the fact that right after, I went in the men's washroom by accident. I quite confused and upset a young ESL boy when I did that. Oh well...

We flew into Vancouver this evening with an amazing sunset over the mountains and Pacific Ocean. It's good to be home!

Cheers & love,
E!

Tropical Opulence

Hello lovelies,

Did you know that New Orleans is on the same latitude as Cairo? That explains a lot. Plus, it's interesting since I was in Cairo this time last year, and can confirm that the heat here is pretty darn oppressive as well. The humidity makes it hugely different, but the uncomfortableness is still the same. In fact, I don't actually mind the humidity that much except for the fact that you are always sticky and usually downright doused in rivulets of sweat. When you are so wet all the time, and then step into air conditioning, then you freeze your butt off. It's a bit of a challenge.

Bourbon Street in New Orleans reminds me of Las Vegas. There are palm trees everywhere, neon lights, bars, tourists, drinks, and general mayhem. It's not the part of New Orleans that I love best, but it's certainly busy and no matter what night of the week it is, it's fulled with activity. Probably mostly tourist activity - I don't think the locals go there at all.

After we got back from Oak Alley on Monday, we decided that we would take a streetcar up to a local cemetery to take some photos but as we were waiting there we heard a great ruckus coming our way. It was a parade! Complete with marching bands, throwing of beads and other paraphernalia, Mardi Gras floats, police and fire escorts and wonderful music. Quite the sight! We got some beads, and even a t-shirt. The parade was to celebrate the kickoff of the football season, as the Saints are the current Superbowl champs! According to a few locals, the city has not stopped celebrating since the win. :)

Once the parade was done it was too dark to get any good photos at the cemetery, but we jumped on the streetcar anyways and at the end of the line, the streetcar operator was kind enough to let us get off, take a few (probably not very good) photos through the gates, and ride free of charge back into town. We headed to Walgreens for snacks because we are finding that we need to have liquids on us at all times, and eating at the hotel is quite expensive, so... snacks are handy. And besides, we're still climbing the stairs to our hotel room every day! We can eat what we want, right?? Haha...

Yesterday we got up and walked a few blocks to visit a client of Lisa's whose office is just down the street from our hotel. Then we took a streetcar and walked up to the most famous cemetery in New Orleans, which houses the tombs of Marie Laveau, Homer Plessy, Daniel Clarke and Ernest Morial. The grave of Marie Laveau is covered with XXX's everywhere, and there was obviously tons of pilgrimmages made to her grave. She's the only one who I had even heard of before reading up on the history of New Orleans.

After that, we went to the St. Louis Cathedral and saw the Mardi Gras museum in the Presbytere. It must be absolutely crazy to be here during Mardi Gras! Just based on that tiny little parade we saw, I bet it's totally nuts! Then we had lunch at Napoleon House, where they are famous for their Pimms Cup and Muffuletta. Then we headed to the Pharmacy Museum, and took pictures at the famous Cornstalk Hotel. Then we saw Beauregard-Keyes House and went by the Old Ursuline Convent, which is reportedly the only remaining French building in the French Quarter (all the rest were built when the Spanish ruled).

Then we went to the Old US Mint, which is now a museum and looked at a few exhibits including a fairly serious one called Target America and was all about the devastating effects of drug use. Then we walked through the French Markets and took in the ambiance before heading to our big-ticket item for the day: an afternoon Mississippi cruise on the Steamboat Natchez. Two hours to relax, re-hydrate, chat, and take in the sights is exactly what we needed considering the exhausting morning we had had in the heat.

The people here are especially friendly. I am not quite used to striking up conversations with strangers - I am always immediately trying to figure out what their motives are for talking to me. But down here, you have to let go of all that. People are friendly and welcoming, and love a good chat. We've had really favourable responses when we tell people that we are from Vancouver.

On the way from the dock back to our hotel, we struck up a conversation with a busker (okay, he struck it up with us) who was playing the trumpet. In fact, he played Stevie Wonder's "Isn't she Lovely" just for the two of us! Quite the charmer. He invited me to sit next to him while he played and as Lisa went to take a photo he swung my arm around him and we looked quite cozy. Like I said, people down here are friendly! Even the old, busking trumpet players have moves.

Hardly believing that we packed that much into one day, we got to our hotel and passed out for a couple of hours. Then we had dinner at Mother's - we'd been hearing about their famous Po' Boy sandwiches. We got one called "Debris" which was shredded beef, gravy, cabbage, & mayo. All that plus a root beer was YUM. We have a list of local foods that we want to try before we leave here, and there are only a few things left...

Today we had booked a swamp tour but the thunder & lightning at 8am clued us in to the tropical storm that is approaching, and alas... it was cancelled. We rebooked for Friday. Tomorrow we have a bike tour booked but fear that it will be cancelled too. In the meantime we are struggling to find activities that we can do mainly indoors. This morning we went to the Aquarium and then went to visit another client of Lisa's. The rain had slowed to just a little spitting, and so we ventured out into the opulent (and I mean OP-U-LENT!) Garden District. Holy crow - these are dream homes in a dream neighbourhood!

We saw a few famous homes including Anne Rice's former residence. Then we treated ourselves to cheesecake, a cab ride back to our hotel, and some shopping. Cross your fingers for us that the storm dissipates and we can head outside again soon!

Hope all of you are well,

xo

E!

Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree

Hello everyone,

I can't believe it's only Monday and I have only been here for 2 whole days (well, not counting Saturday...). We've already done so much!

Saturday night after I last wrote, Lisa & I had dinner at the hotel restaurant, called Drago's. Apparently it is famous for crabcakes so we made sure to order that, some salad, and some "surf n' turf" to share for dinner. It was fabulous. Our waiter, Richie, filled us in on the places to go in the French Quarter (which our hotel is right beside).

We also decided that each night we would walk up the stairs to our hotel room, which is on the 18th floor. No really, we think it's a great idea since we'll be eating rich food every day. Right?? Right?!! Riiiiiight....

Yesterday we had breakfast at the hotel and booked some tours. We went walking along the Mississippi River, past the Holocaust memorial, Moonwalk promenade and ending at Washington Artillary Park. Then we headed down into Jackson Square where the famous Cafe du Monde is located and we had beignets and drinks. Beignets are French donuts - square and deep fried and served with heaping powdered sugar on top. It's quite an ordeal to eat them; we got pictures.

Then we headed into Jackson Square where there were tons of local artists and psychics and people selling their wares all around. Music everywhere. Hotter than hot. Humider than humid. We explored Pirates Alley and walked throughout the French Quarter. There were streets blocked off to cars and bands playing really cool music. We looked in some shops and wandered around a bit until the start time of our first tour!

We chose to go on a Cocktail tour. Now before you go thinking that this is some kinda pub crawl, think again. Drinks are not included, and the tour guide took us around the French Quarter talking about the history, and yes, stopping in several establishments to tell us about the drink specialties. A bunch were highlighted: Pimms Cup, Fleur de Lis, The Green Fairy (made from absinthe), Bayou Bash and the Sazerac. We tried a few but I refused to drink the ones that tasted awful. Yech!

And do you know about "go cups"? You can drink in the street here. So you can get your drink to go and walk around with it. Very handy.

Our tour guide was named Joe and he is a Hurricane Katrina survivor. Katrina is everywhere here. You see it all around and the locals all have stories about where they were and what happened and how it affected them. Most (that work in tourism) are pretty happy to have people to tell stories to - they are glad that we came. :)

Joe lived in Gentilly, which according to him, had the largest death toll of all the New Orleans' neighbourhoods. He said a wave of water came at him and lifted him up high enough and he had to scramble to get on top of a roof. All of his neighbours one street over were elderly and died. He and others stayed on their roofs for 5 days, with no food or water, swimming from house to house to scavenge whatever they could. Sometimes they had to break through roofs to rescue people stuck in their attics. He said that they spent so long up there and nobody had any news, obviously no TV or radio, and they didn't know if anyone even knew that they were there. When they were finally lifted out by helicopter, they were put on a bus and spent 7 hours trying to cross a bridge to get out of the city (along with just about everyone) and he said that people died on the bus, but there was nothing anyone could do about it. You just had to ride the bus with people that were dead & dying.

Let me just say right now that I am so happy to live where I live. Katrina aside, New Orleans isn't the place I would choose to live. Those of us on the west coast are SO LUCKY. Okay, I'm done. :)

After the tour was over, we had jambalaya and shrimp remoulade at a restaurant in the Quarter and it was delish! Then we went to another bar of Lisa's choosing.

Today is Monday and we spent most of our day at the Oak Alley Plantation. It is this totally awesome plantation that lies on the Mississippi River and there is a walkway from the river to the big house that is lined with 28 Oak trees. We got AWESOME photos - Lisa especially cause she has the skookum camera! It was gorgeous there. Our tour bus driver's name was Bryan and he was basically like Eddie Murphy, the same huge laugh and cracking jokes and being comedic all the time. It was funny at first and I must admit, got a little tiring by the end.

Okay, that's enough for now. This internet cafe is about to close! Tell you more later. :)

Cheers

E!

Epicure Lemon Dilly Dip

Ok, now I know that I have mentioned an Epicure dip mix before, but I just want to take time to mention the Lemon Dilly Dip Mix because it is also amazing. Having so many cherry tomatoes left over from my last recipe, plus a bunch of fresh veggies in the fridge, prompted me to find my as-of-yet-unopened jar of Epicure dip mix.

Originally I had bought the Lemon Dilly, 3 Onion and Cheese Chives & Bacon dip mixes so that I could make a batch of the "Extraordinary Cheese Dip" I had had at a party. That cheese dip was SO GOOD that I knew I had to have it again - and that's what led me to Epicure.

Anyways, I am not promoting Epicure products for any other reason than the ones that I've tried, I love. If I don't have success with something or don't like it, I'll say so. I have only tried a few things from the Epicure company so far, and I don't expect to like everything, but these dips are not included - they are amazing!

So, today I made the Lemon Dilly dip mix to accompany some fresh veggies. I mixed equal parts sour cream & mayonnaise, added the dip mix, and chilled it in the fridge. It was excellent. I won't hesitate to make this for a party, or just for myself! :) 10/10 on both counts!

Balsamic Strawberries & Blackberries with Ricotta Cream

My friend Mark sent me a link with comments that echoed my thoughts: YUM. I knew that berries & cream wouldn't be T's ideal dessert, but it was very close to mine, and since I had already decided to get him some sort of rich chocolate cake for his birthday, I figured I could afford to spend a little time making a "pre-dessert, dessert."

Basically you mix up ricotta cheese with honey and vanilla, blend it until it's smooth and refrigerate for a couple of hours. Then you make the sweet balsamic drizzle by cooking the vinegar and sugar in a saucepan and then letting it cool. Mix the berries with some basil, the drizzle, spoon over top of the ricotta cream, and voila! Berries and cream.

Did we like it? Well, we both agreed that it was interesting. T said that it would be ideal at a wine-and-cheese type party. I think that it simply wasn't sweet enough - we thought that the berries & drizzle on vanilla ice cream would be heavenly. Perhaps if there was more honey mixed with the ricotta it would be better. Over I would give it a 6/10 for taste; I ate all of it, but wouldn't make it - at least the same way - again. For ease of preparation I would give it a 9/10; it was easy. Next time though, I'm breaking out the ice cream!

Ohya, and here's a photo of the chocolate-brownie cheesecake that I bought for T's birthday. He's a chocolate lover and I knew that he would appreciate a professional cake for his birthday. It was delicious and rich, and went over quite well - although it's quite expensive for its size. Perhaps my next endeavour will be a foray into the land of chocolate! I may never come back!

Sweet Cherry Tomato and Sausage Bake

It was T's birthday, and I asked him to pick a recipe that he'd like me to make for his birthday dinner. Of course, he picked something from Jamie Oliver - his favourite, and my nemesis. Okay, it may be a bit strong to say nemesis. I do like Jamie's FOOD after all. I just have a hard time following his recipes. But really, I should give it another shot. I don't have too much to base my opinion on.

As I read over the ingredient list and recipe, I think to myself that T has chosen (perhaps deliberately) something that actually seems easy and dare I say, quick, to prepare. There are not many ingredients to it and the procedure seems rather straightforward, if not exactly the itemized list of steps that I prefer to work with. All I need is cherry tomatoes, herbs, sausages and some seasonings. Off I go to the store.

Jamie asks for 4 and 1/4 pounds of cherry tomatoes. The kind of cherry tomatoes I am looking for (the ones with varied colours and sizes) come in clamshell containers of about 8 oz. each. I punch 4.5 (just to be sure) into the Conversion App in my iPhone and it says that I need 72 ounces - that's NINE containers of cherry tomatoes. Seems like a lot to me, but I don't like to question amounts in recipes that I have never tried... especially from gurus like Jamie Oliver.

The directions said, "Get yourself an appropriately sized roasting pan, large enough to take all the tomatoes in one snug-fitting layer." As I started washing the tomatoes I realized that I did not have a pan to fit all of them. In fact, I only ended up using HALF the amount of tomatoes that Jamie said to use. Sheesh! Good thing we like tomatoes in our house.

Anyways, I didn't have a pan that would take them all, so I ended up choosing to use a 9x13 clear-glass casserole dish. Turns out that was a mistake. After you cook the tomatoes, herbs & sausages, you are supposed to reduce the sauce down a little bit. Jamie says to "lift the sausages out and place the pan on the stove," which I did. However, T informed me - in a rather panicked tone of voice - that you are not supposed to place glass on direct heat and could I please get it off the stove right now!!

Oops. Well, no harm done. See what I mean about not having that intuition in the kitchen?

Anyways. The dish was really yummy - we both loved it. We had, as a treat, white Italian bread to mop up the sauce. It was delicious! We score 10/10 for taste (T says it's the best thing I have ever made), and I would give it... 9/10 for ease of preparation. Definitely going to have this one again - soon!

Creamy Pasta Salad

I know that it's practically a staple at every BBQ and picnic, but I have never made creamy pasta salad. And upon deliberating what to bring to a friend's BBQ, I was informed that it was really simple and fast to make. You can just imagine how my eyes lit up at those two words: simple, and fast.

A friend of mine is a consultant/representative for the Epicure Selections company, which deals in gourmet spices, mixes, cookware, and more. She introduced me to a few things, and while I haven't fully delved into everything that Epicure has to offer, I am quite pleased with the few things I have tried.

One of those things was the creamy pasta salad. All it took was the making of the noodles, adding whatever accompaniments that you choose (I chose bell peppers, cheese, grape tomatoes, broccoli and parsley), and then adding the creamy sauce - that's where Epicure came in.

The Cheese, Chives & Bacon Dip Mix is mixed with sour cream and mayonnaise (low-fat versions if you wish), and after sitting in the fridge for a few hours, makes the most delicious & creamy dip or sauce. I was doing quite a bit of taste-testing before adding it to the salad.

The trick is to make sure that your pasta is very cold before you add your sauce. I think that my pasta was slightly warm and it may have encouraged absorption of the sauce into the noodles (or maybe it just does that anyways, who knows...). Epicure products are generally low in salt, so it could have used a little seasoning to really bring out the flavours, but other than that, it tasted good. I would give it a 7.5/10 for taste and a 10/10 for ease of preparation! I am definitely going to make it again.

Roasted Salmon with Lemon Relish

As I was sitting in the parking lot of the grocery store, pouring over this week's chosen cookbook, Great Food Fast: Everyday Food from the Kitchens of Martha Stewart Living, I wanted a recipe that was quick and didn't require a lot of groceries - mainly because I had plans after dinner and I only had one reusable grocery bag with me in the car.

Roasted Salmon with Lemon Relish seemed like it would fit the bill; besides, earlier a few of my friends had dog-eared it as a recipe to try. As any normal-cooking-person will know, roasting salmon in the oven is pretty easy. Even I had done it once before with some success.

Here's what I learned at the grocery store:
- Pine nuts are expensive. I better not make any recipes with prosciutto and pine nuts in it, or I'll probably go broke.
- I don't really understand the difference between Coho and Sockeye salmon. Research on this coming soon (i.e. ask Mom).
- Based on the debacle in the back of the fish department, it's not that easy to take the skin off a fillet.
- Why is parsley sold in huge bunches like that? And who would ever use that much??! I have no idea what to do with the rest of it.

I liked this recipe because it had 5 steps and said it would take 25 minutes. Great! Step one required me to toast the pine nuts for 5-7 minutes to a "lightly golden" colour. I set the timer to 6 minutes and walked away.

Mistake.

They burned. Not all of them, but many. And the ones that didn't burn were pretty darn brown. Not much "golden" in the pan after that. D'oh! Ah well, I got rid of the blackened ones, taste-tested the brown ones (they were fine), and soldiered on.

The biggest time-taker in this recipe is making the lemon zest. Especially when you have to stop part-way through to put a band-aid on the knuckle you just skinned with the vegetable peeler. Ouch! After all the lemon peel was off, it was painstaking to slice it into thin little slivers. But really, that was the hardest part. The rest was easy.

The lemon relish had raisins in it too, which I thought was strange at first but after eating it I was actually wanted more of them. I think a little more sweetness in the relish would compliment the salt & pepper in the recipe quite nicely.

Overall, I thought this was pretty good although I don't know that I would make it again. For taste I would give it 6/10 (more raisins would help, and/or less salt) and for ease of preparation I would give it 9/10.

I feel like eating something sweet after this meal. Fresh blueberries are calling!

To BBQ or To BBQ

I have never BBQed in my life.

It's summer, and with the season comes great summer food. As I crack open the cookbooks I notice so many recipes for BBQ chicken or burgers, or grilled veggies or shish-kebabs. In the past I have pretty much passed by these with a few cursory glances, but now - things are different. I have more than just a George Foreman Grill at my disposal.

We bought a BBQ! It's called the Napoleon Prestige. T was sold on the fact that it is made in Canada and has a 10-year warranty. He went for quality, that's for sure. I was hoping to get a BBQ with the handy feature that tells you when your propane gas is low, but I am okay with sacrificing that for something that T is comfortable cooking with. After all, he's the guy, and he'll be doing the cooking on the BBQ. Right?


Not necessarily. I know that my summer goal was to try out new recipes every week and post my efforts & experiences, but if we are going to invest our hard-earned money in a fairly substantial cooking tool, I better learn how to use it! I am determined. I'm not going to break-out the BBQ recipes just yet - I'll take a few lessons from T first. But by the end of summer, let my BBQ prowess prevail! Or, at least, just not start a fire and ruin the food. :) It's all about the food.

Cheers & happy BBQing!

Balsamic-baked Onions and Potatoes with Roast Pork

So, this was the week to go out of my comfort zone. I picked up Jamie Oliver's Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life cookbook, and flipped through the "Summer" section. I marked all the pages of recipes that I would be willing to try, and let T pick one that he wanted. He picked Balsamic-baked onions and potatoes with roast pork.

Okay, I can do this. I have never made a roast before, and never cooked from this cookbook before (despite having it since December), but I am not daunted. I love balsamic-anything, so I am prepared to make some YUM!

One thing about the cookbook is that the instructions are given in prose - there are 6 well-developed paragraphs on the page. I kinda prefer an itemized list, but it should be fine, right? There are several things that I need clarification on, and so I call my Mom: "What colour are 'waxy' potatoes?" "What does 'chuff them up a bit' mean?" "Do I put the pan in the oven with a lid or without - it doesn't say?!"

I love Jamie Oliver - he does an amazing TED talk about food that is inspirational. But I love my Mom more. And if I could cook half as good as her, I'd be happy. But for now, I just have to be content with phoning her half a dozen times every time I cook something new (and truth be told, I think she kinda likes it). She's way better than the internet.

This recipe wasn't all that difficult. Mostly. The roast, which was intimidating for me, was the easiest part. Take the roast, roll it in some herbs and spices, brown it in the pan, stick it in the oven with some chopped onion and celery. That's it.

The hard part of this recipe is that Jamie has you cooking potatoes and onions at the same time, and there are quite a few steps for those. Chop, chop, chop, grind, smash, blend. Boil the potatoes for a bit, then add spices and onions, add balsamic and put into oven. When the roast is done, you take the drippings and broth and onions and celery and mash them all up, add some white wine, reduce, and you've got a sauce for your pork.

I had timers going all over the place, for the potatoes, then the pork, then the onion-potato-balsamic mix, then the reduction. The potatoes didn't cook through the first time (I should have had more of a rolling boil I guess, or cooked them longer than the 8 minutes Jamie suggests), so I had to have a second shot at them in the oven with a lid. The pork juices weren't convincing enough, and so I threw that back into the oven, too.

The whole thing took 3 hours, and I was exhausted at the end! This is why I usually cook out of books like "Great Food Fast"; I mean, what if I had screwed this up irreparably? I would have lost 3 hours of my life and about $50. Sheesh.

Anyways, it turned out. T loved it and was complimenting it all night and even did all the dishes for me. I thought it was pretty good, but almost more trouble than it was worth. I would give it an 8/10 for taste and a 6/10 for ease of preparation. I would probably make the roast again, but I doubt I would try doing a million other things at the same time. :)

Asparagus Rolls

Recipe from Save-On-Foods Healthy Recipes cookbook.

Needing to bring an appetizer to a party prompted me to again delve into the "appy" section of my cookbook. I have been getting away with avoiding meat for the most part (unless you count the shrimp or the ground turkey), but one of these days I will make myself get out of my comfort zone. :) But not just yet.

The very first recipe in the Save-On-Foods Healthy Recipes cookbook is for Asparagus Rolls. At first glance, it appears to be very easy, which I like. Take a piece of prosciutto, spread it with goat cheese and pepper, and roll it around an asparagus spear. Ta da! Well, it was a little more involved than that.

First let me say that prosciutto is expensive! I got 18 thin slices for $22. Also, working with prosciutto is a little painstaking for a few reasons:
(1) the slices are very thin
(2) prosciutto is very greasy
(3) you need to remove the fat that is clinging around the edges

Other than that, it went pretty well. It wasn't terribly fast, but it was pretty easy. I would give it a 8/10 for preparation.


As for taste, I needed to rely on others to help me out with the score. I am not a huge fan of prosciutto myself, but I knew it would be a popular choice at the party. I asked a few people what they would score it, and they said 8 or 9 out of 10. Knowing that I made it though, perhaps they scored it a bit high. :) I was given the suggestion to try a little balsamic drizzle on top, or to add a little more spice.

A few hours later, all of it was gone - so I will take that as a sign of success!

Easy Lettuce Wraps and Bruschetta

Recipes from Save-On-Foods Healthy Recipes cookbook.


Lettuce wraps & bruschetta - yum! Perfect picnic food... well, almost. The lettuce wraps taste better when warm so if there's a way to transport them to the picnic or party and keep the heat, then great. Keep in mind that you want to add the steam fried noodles pretty much right before you eat them so that they stay crunchy. For ease of preparation I would give them a 10/10 - it was dead easy. The hardest part was taking apart the iceberg lettuce so that the leaves were intact and bowl-shaped. The hoisin sauce is really what makes this dish, and you don't need much because its flavour packs a punch. I would say for taste, it's a 9/10. I will definitely make this again!


As for the bruschetta, I wanted to make this because I had just rediscovered my love for it at my cousin's wedding. It was very yummy! This recipe was great, and it combined sun dried tomatoes and basil with fresh tomatoes, green onion and garlic. It then instructed to leave the tomato mixture at room temperature for up to 2 hours - probably to let all those flavours come out with gusto. And they did!

First, a spread of goat cheese/ricotta/basil on your crostini, and then the tomato mixture on top. It was delicious! Lots of chopping but it was really easy to make - 9/10. Make sure to drain the fresh tomatoes of the extra juice and seeds. The flavours were awesome and for taste I give it a 10/10 although I may be biased! :) The recipe yields 60 pieces and so I cut it in half - and there is still lots left over. Picnic, anyone?

Curried Apple and Shrimp Wraps

Recipe from Save-On-Foods Healthy Recipes.

This "dinner" was a perfect recipe to start with my summer goal because it didn't really require much cooking. Although it didn't take me much out of my comfort zone, it was something new and it was a nice summer-patio-type dish.

The hardest part of this recipe is peeling and chopping the mango, and cleaning the blender afterwards. :) I would give it 9/10 for ease of preparation.

The combination of the mango-curry sauce with the apples and shrimp was especially delicious. I would give it 10/10 for taste! Yum. I would recommend having just one amply-filled tortilla, with a side salad. I ate 2 tortillas and was immediately regretful. Plus, with each tortilla being 311 calories, there's no need to double-up.

The cookbook tip says to fill the wraps and store them in the fridge for up to 2 hours in order to make them more stable. This is probably a great idea too, since it can get a little messy.

There's enough to make about 6 tortillas - so some for lunch tomorrow! Yay.

Summer Goal: Cooking

One of my goals this summer is to cook dinner twice a week. I don't want to take over the cooking completely because T loves to cook, and I am hoping that as soon as we get a BBQ he'll be wanting to do even more of it. However, he's working lots right now, and I am not, so it's a perfect opportunity to take some of the load off him while also brushing up on a few kitchen skills!

I enjoy cooking but I find that I don't do much of it. I am rather tired and/or impatient much of the time, and I don't have the intuition that some people do. T can watch the Food Network, and then come home with ingredients the next day for a culinary experiment... which is inevitably delicious. I, on the other hand, am pretty good with a recipe - but that's as far as it goes. My penchant for choosing insta-foods is part of the reason I gave myself this summer goal!

My most favourite cookbooks are the ones with pictures. Not only do they help me decide what I want to cook, they give me a reference point for what the food should look like! One of my most favourite cookbooks is Save-On-Foods Healthy Recipes. Photos of nearly every recipe, health and nutritional information throughout, and tons of awesome dishes to try! I also like to work out of Great Food Fast and T swears by any cookbook written by Jamie Oliver. There will be lots for me to choose from.

As I try out my recipes, I will try to take photos, rate them on tastiness and perhaps ease of preparation, and comment generally on the process. I don't know if anyone will read my cooking posts (which is fine since I am certainly NOT a cook), but they may be invaluable to myself if I am trying to remember something later on.

A shout-out to some inspirational culinary bloggers:
Brandon
Leela

Cheers - and Bon Appetit!
E!

Harrowing Hotel & Dinner Disaster

Okay, okay, so it hasn't all been great. When I checked into the Hilton at the Mexico City Airport, it was the perfect location. Right by International Departures, beautiful lobby, and I had already pre-paid for my room, so ahhhhh... nothing to do but sit and relax, right?

Well, when I got into my room yesterday I immediately noticed a strange smell. After a couple of minutes I didn't notice it again, so I didn't say anything to the front desk. Plus, I was totally exhausted and Ted was with me and he was leaving in an hour and I didn't want to spend that hour complaining. And after he left I just wanted to go to bed.

Anyways, when I got back to my hotel room this evening after my day tour, I couldn't get in. My key card didn't work anymore. I went up to the front desk and they said that it would take a few minutes to fix. The concierge let me into my room with his own key, but I quickly remembered that the key card actvates the lights in the room and I didn't really want to sit in the dark. So I told the front desk that I would be in the business center and they said that when the key was ready they would come and bring it to me there.

The business center is located right by the front desk. I sat in there for AN HOUR writing emails and the like, waiting for my bloody room key. Finally, the concierge brought it to me. I finished what I was doing and headed down to my room. Nope, this key card didn't work either. GREAT. Back to the lobby I go.

I see the concierge, tell him, and he tells me to please speak to the front desk. Well I would love to but now they are helping multiple customers and nobody has time to acknowledge me. I am just tired and hungry and I want to get into my room, for crying out loud! So I wait and wait and wait. Finally, they talk to me and I get my new card in about 20 seconds. Why have I been waiting for an hour and 20 minutes?

I get into my room. Oh, RIGHT. The SMELL. It's even worse and now I am choked enough to say something about it. Turns out that it's coming from the floor drain beside the toilet, which housekeeping has now covered with a wet towel. Yuck. I figure that for my last night in Mexico City, I will take myself out for a nice dinner (there are several nice resturants nearby) and even though I am not keen on eating alone, it sure beats hanging out in my smelly room!

So I stop by the front desk. I tell them about the smell. They want to change my room, but I don't want to since it will mean a lot of hassle and I am checking out at 4am anyways - that's only a couple of hours from now. They know I am unhappy and they are duly apologetic. To be fair, the front desk staff and concierge have been pretty great. It's all the rest of it I am not pleased about. I would have expected a discount on my room for all the trouble but since I prepaid that's not likely.

Anyways, so off I go to find some dinner. I settle on Casa Avila, a nice looking if-slightly-fancy-for-my-taste kind of place. I do a quick check on the menu to make sure I will actually eat something and in I go. I am almost happy to see that there's no-one else in there, so I feel less dumb eating alone.

The waiter asks me what I'd like to drink. Well, that's what he means anyways - his English isn't super great. I want some juice, they don't have any. He keeps suggesting all these alcoholic drinks, but I'm not interested. Finally he suggests lemonade, or so I thought. What actually came is the bitterest carbonated lime drink that I have ever tasted. It was so bitter that I actually winced. Convinced that trying to explain what was wrong would get me nowhere, I said nothing. I settled for the bitter drink. I would survive.

I ask about the Casa Avila salad. I ask what's in it and I specifically ask if there's meat in it. He says no. Sounds great - bring it on. In the meantime he brings out bread and sliced radishes.

While I wait for my salad, I try some bread (pretty good) and some radishes. I had imagined that the radishes would be cool & fresh with a bit of a kick, like they are at home. But these were just covered with salt. More wincing. More bitter drink to wash it down. More wincing.

So now a family of 5 comes into the restaurant, which is fine except that they could have sat anywhere but choose to be only 2 tables away from me so that their kids can stare at me wondering why I am sitting there by myself. It got even better when the father went ballistic and started yelling. Now they are staring at me because they are embarrassed about the scene their father is making. Get me out of here!

Salad comes. Initially it looks great - has endive, mango, avocado, tomato, and ... what's this? Crabmeat? That definitely qualifies as meat in my books. Oh well - it's not like I am vegetarian, I just won't eat the crab. No big deal.

I start into the salad and soon realize that it's drenched, no, DROWNED in salad dressing. It's so bad that I put my spoon under the edge of my plate so that I can get most of it to pool on one side of my plate (the side where I have put my crab). I actually want a paper towel to pat down the greens so I can have an easier time of choking them down, but why bother when I can just wash it down with this bitter carbonated lime drink?

I do my best with the salad. I decide that before I head back up to my room I am going to have some dessert. I saw chocolate mousse on the menu and that's what I want, please. Who cares if it was listed under the "low-calorie" part of the menu? How can they possibly screw up chocolate mousse?

By adding coffee. I don't drink coffee, never have, and generally abhor coffee-flavoured items (aside from an occasional Coffee Crisp, that is). So yes, the menu failed to mention that it was coffee/chocolate mousse, and here I am stuck with yet another consumable that I don't want.

Anyways. I paid. I tipped (it's not their fault they didn't quite have the English down, and they can't read my mind!). And I got the heck out of there. Now I am going to bed in my smelly room and will be home in a few short hours to a place that is all sorts of welcoming!!

Mexico City tour

This morning I woke up early and prepared myself for the Mexico City tour. I had ordered room service for breakfast, and on the form it indicated exactly what time you'd like your food to arrive. You could choose any 15 minute interval between 6:00am and 10:00am. I chose 7:00-7:15am. That would give me enough time to eat, and finish getting ready before I was picked up at 8:15am for the tour.

My food arrived at 6:45am. Which was fine, but slightly annoying. I had just put on my clothes 2 minutes before the knock on my door - why do they ask for a specific time if they are just going to show up early? Ah well, no harm done. Breakfast was pretty good - fruit and eggs and toast and something unidentifiable which tasted ok.

I exchanged a few bucks into pesos and waited to be picked up. Eventually a friendly English-speaking Mexican man arrived and whisked me off to the tour van. We picked up some other people who were also going on tours (not the same one as me though) from France and Peru. While we were driving around town picking up people I noticed that the little man who indicates that it's time to cross the street is green & animated. First you see him walking and as the time counts down closer to the end, he walks faster and faster - he kinda seems to break into a run. I found this rather mesmerizing to watch. I wish I had gotten some footage of it.

We went through the main square of the Zocalo area, and our guide explained that it was fairly quiet in Mexico City today because of it being Good Friday and many of the people are out of town. I noticed large groups of police everywhere, and in particular, a group of cops on horses with sombreros - the Mexican version of RCMP. Quite the sight!

Anyways, we headed to the tour office, paid for our tours, and split off into different groups depending on what we were doing that day. My group was heading to the famous Teotihuacan pyramids and a few other places. It turns out in my tour group that I am the only native English speaker. The driver & tour guide are Mexican, a family of 4 is Mexican, and a group of three sitting behind me were all from Germany. We all managed to communicate pretty effectively by the end of the day - although it started off rather lonely for me.


The first stop on our tour was to see the ruins at Tlatelolco. They were located right in the middle of the city and were many centuries old. We took some photos but did not stay there very long. Off we went to the Basilica of Guadalupe, and it was rather busy since it was Easter weekend. There is an "old" basilica and a "new" basilica - the old basilica is rather like the leaning tower of Pisa, and it is very off-kilter. From the outside you can tell things are not level, but from the inside it is even more apparent as you try to gain some solid footing.


Inside the new basilica there is a painting of Lady Guadalupe (the virgin Mary) on display at the front of the altar. There is an underground level right underneath the altar, and there are 3 or 4 escalators that go back and forth underneath this painting, so that people can pay their respects to it without disturbing whatever service is going on above. Photos are even allowed - with no flash.

The next & last stop on our trip was out to the pyramids. We drove for an hour to get outside of the city limits. Before the actual pyramids, though, we headed to an artisan shop where individuals gave us a tour, information about their craft, and then invite us to do some shopping. This seems to be a popular and convenient (and probably lucrative) arrangement for tours - I remember it from when I travelled to Egypt.

Anyways, we saw how they carved obsidian, how they did craftwork with silver & beading, other souvenirs and how they used the local plants. We had samples of a few drinks made from plants - the only one I recognized was tequila, and no, it does not taste any better down in Mexico. They did point out though, that it's not supposed to be salt, tequila, then lime - like so many in Canada do, but that it's supposed to be salted lime, then tequila. The lime juice "prepares" your throat for the tequila and make it easier & smoother to take.

After we had a good look around the shop, it was time for the big ticket event. We were heading straight to the Teotihuacan pyramids! These ruins are different than the other ones in Mexico in that people are allowed to walk on them. You used to be able to climb up Chichen Itza, but no longer - I wonder how long it will take Teotihuacan to follow suit. I imagine that having thousands of people trod on the archaeological sites does a fair amount of damage.

Once we arrived at Teotihuacan, our guide took us to a few places and we climbed up a pyramid to have a look at the Temple of the Feathered Serpent. It was harder than it looked - the steps are really high & steep. Going down wasn't much fun either - you had to go sideways, and it had a bit of the dizzying effect. I can see people just bailing down the steps to certain injury.


Then he let us go and have free time to walk around the huge site - apparently it was about a 1km walk from one end to the other end. It didn't sound like much to me, but in the heat of the afternoon it seemed to go on forever. The walk was punctuated by the huge Pyramid of the Sun and ended with the Pyramid of the Moon. There were people everywhere and lineups to go up and down each pyramid.

After that our guide met with us again and talked about the frescoes in the Patio of the Jaguars and then we were off to have lunch. By this time we were starving! We went to a little local place, and we all ordered various authentic Mexican food. I had chicken tacos - they were okay. We had a great time talking and laughing. The Mexican family that we were on tour with didn't speak any English but their two kids were uninhibited and adorable. We all bonded over food & drink and our shared experience.

Happily fed, we chatted all the way back into Mexico City. We parted ways at our various hotels, and even promised to share photos online. How fast we make friends when travelling!

Tulum to Mexico City

Today we got up early and packed our things. We checked out of our resort and started the 2-hour drive back to the airport. The speed limits are all posted at the side of the highway and they frequently change. Anytime you pass by the entrance of a big hotel, it slows down to 40km/hr and then is right back to 80 or 100 a few seconds later. Needless to say, most drivers ignore the slow-down-zone. And I was getting comfortable enough to start ignoring it myself. Except well, I forgot about the fact that there are Mexican police parked by the side of the road every 5 minutes or so - there are a lot of them around.

Anyways, so I go zooming past one of them, and sure enough, he pulls out and gets on the highway after me. I am sweating bullets now because I can't speak Spanish and I have heard that the police are uber-corrupt down here, and I pretty much want to do anything I can to avoid them. To my surprise though, he goes more slowly than I was expecting, and as it turns out, pulls over a van that was travelling behind me. Needless to say, I drove the speed limit thereafter pretty fastidiously.

After we get to the airport, we check-in, go through security, and settle down to eat some lunch. I hate to admit it, but it was fast food. We didn't really have time to sit down at a restaurant, and convenience food IS rather convenient. I don't think I need mention that I regretted this decision later - kinda goes without saying. :P

The flight back to Mexico City was uneventful. They served us "cracker peanuts" for a snack. The Spanish translation on the package means... "Japanese peanuts"? I don't know. But they were peanuts coated in this cracker-like substance and there was some kind of spice (wasabi, maybe?) in it that gave it a slight kick.

We got to the airport and took the shuttle to Terminal 1 where my hotel was supposedly located. After a few glitches (one information agent insisted that there was no Hilton hotel at the airport), we found it, checked into my room - there was a strange smell but otherwise it looked pretty nice - and headed downstairs to check Ted into his flight back to Europe. While waiting in the incredibly long line for the KLM check-in, I had many close encounters with the woman behind me who seemed to think that "personal space" was just an expression. Ah well, I was too tired and too Canadian to do anything about it.

Ted & I grabbed a snack before he left, and then I was by myself in Mexico City again. This time however, I was feeling much less nervous. I went upstairs, talked to the concierge at my hotel (named "Jesus") and he arranged a tour of Mexico City for the next day. It was exactly what I wanted: they picked me up at my hotel, toured me around a few sites for the day, and returned me back to my hotel. Nice! All this for $55 USD. I'm in.

Another thing I love about the hotel is that it has free Wi-Fi and free 24hr Business Center access, which means I can get on the internet as much as I want in the next 36 hours. Yay! Right now though, I badly need a shower (the salt-water shower I took at the cabana in Tulum just doesn't cut it), and sleep. Last full day in Mexico tomorrow!

Another Life Goal Completed

We got up early today because the woman in the cabana next to ours had been to Chichen Itza before and she strongly suggested that we get there as early as possible, to avoid the crowds and the heat. We had meant to leave by 7am, but it ended up being more like 8.

On the way to CI, we stopped at 7-11 and got some snacks to eat for breakfast. At home, 7-11 is not ideal for breakfast and this is still true in Mexico. However, we needed something to sustain us on the 2 hour drive, so bad convenience food it was.

It was basically one road from Tulum to Chichen Itza. And it was one road (albeit a different one) from the Cancun airport to Tulum. I kind of like this one-road thing! Makes getting around really easy. :) We saw a couple of small side streets that said San Diego 2km, and San Francisco 1km and had ourselves a chuckle about how close we were to California.

Anyways, when we arrived at Chichen Itza my first impression was that it was HUGE. We walked in and was immediately greeted by the famous "El Castillo." This was what I came here to see, this is what was on the life goal list. I was a little awestruck, and I think I kept murmuring "Oh my god, oh my god," but in truth I don't remember much. Let me just tell you that it was impressive.

In the middle of it all, they were setting up for a concert - Elton John was coming to play right amidst all the ruins. But despite all the equipment everywhere, we pretty much had free reign and walked anywhere and everywhere we wanted. It wasn't even all that busy at first.

There were several little stands set-up by locals who were there to sell some souvenirs, and it was really nice looking stuff. As the day went on, they were everywhere. You couldn't walk anywhere without going by them. Ted bought a really cool mask. It was really very hot though, and I was not that interested in shopping & bartering, so I didn't get anything for myself. I suppose I probably should have.

After we left the huge site, we stopped for some lunch at the little local cafe. We shared some burritas and they were excellent. While eating we were entertained by some Mexican dancers one of which performed while balancing bottles on her head!

When we drove home we went through a military checkpoint. We had seen them on the way there, but they were waving everyone through. On the way back, however, they seemed to be pulling people over and searching their car. Lucky for us, they seemed busy enough and we were waved through again. Big sigh of relief!!

On the one road between Tulum and CI, you pass through several small towns. One of which was called Valladolid, and it was charming. An old cathedral, colourful buildings, a park, and many great shops accentuated it. It was really pretty.

Passing through another small village, we could see kids up ahead on the road playing soccer. There are always speed bumps in the main parts of town (any town in Mexico, it seems), and they "accidentally" kicked the soccer ball right at our car and hit it straight on. As we slowed down, they came racing up to our vehicle trying to sell us stuff. Clever ploy, eh? I imagine that some people feel bad enough to buy something from them.

When we got back to our resort we went to the beach to join up with the rest of the group, soak up some rays, and play in the surf while the sun was still out. And then for our last night in Tulum Ted & I went in search of a really nice dinner. We walked down the road and found a lovely hotel that was serving outside on the patio right on the beach. We had the sunset, then candlelight for dinner. It was very romantic (although at times, really quite windy).

After dinner we spent the last bit of our time with the group, having drinks and socializing at the resort restaurant. Up at the bar they had swings instead of stools, so that was fun to hang out there. It was our last bit of time in Tulum - tomorrow we are back to Mexico City!

Day of Whatever-we-want

Slept late this morning. Ahhhh, it was decadent. Well, pretty decadent anyways. The cold night and the birds chirping at 5am were not ideal, but hey, it's just a different form of paradise to adapt to. ;)

Speaking of those chirping birds. The one right by the cabana had me awake long enough to determine that it was changing its chirp over and over. It would always do the same chirp twice, and then change it up. Double-chirp, just to make sure you heard him correctly, and then onto the next. Made for interesting listening, actually - just not at 5am. Anyways, I haven't seen him yet, so I don't know what kind of bird he is.

We headed down to the beach bar, which served breakfast overlooking the ocean. Crystal blue waters and gorgeous sand beach. Warm air, tropical breeze. NICE. Oh, but if you sit facing the wrong way you can get more than you bargained for - the beach is clothing-optional. It was a little jolt in my morning paradise to see naked-man doing handstands and yoga poses as I was trying to just chill out and enjoy my meal. Ted says it's all in where you sit and what way you face.

We decided to take the 10 minute journey to the Tulum ruins, which are just down the street from where we are staying. Apparently they are unusual because they are situated on the coast, while other ruins in Mexico are inland.

We were there for a couple of hours and it was pretty awesome. I am always amazed by being able to experience something that was built so long ago. I am walking in those same footsteps, seeing the same rocks, wondering at the same carvings. Fantastic!

When we were done we stopped at the little market/shopping area located on the way back to our car. There were a few cultural performances happening around us, too. It seems like many of these people depend on tourist dollars or tips to make a living.

I had lunch at Subway. Despite all the bonafide Mexican food I have been eating, I really have been craving a good veggie sandwich. And so that's what I had! So far, no problems with my stomach - hope it lasts. The sandwich is just like what I'd have at home... except for the pickles. I don't know exactly how to describe the pickles, but they are not the same. More sour, more salty maybe?

We got back to our cabana and had a bit of a rest. The heat really saps your energy, and we just spent 2 hours walking, walking, walking. A nap was in order! Upon waking we went to the restaurant and had a snack and a drink. While we were sitting there we saw 2 guys from the wedding arrive. We visited with them for a while, and waited a bit longer for the rest of the group - 20 more were on their way. We are going to take over this place, haha!

As the rest of the group arrived we hung out with them down by the beach and then we eventually all moved up to the restaurant when it became too windy. We are planning to go to Chichen Itza tomorrow but none of them will come with us since they have another week her and just want to relax. We can hardly blame them. But, as we are leaving in 2 days, we want to take the chance while we have it!

Off to shower & bed. I think the shower water is salt water, and it does not do a great job of washing my hair. I don't really feel clean afterwards. I suppose I'd get used to it if I had to, but for now it just leaves a little grimy feeling. Ah well, better than the sweaty, sticky-suncreen feeling. Tomorrow, Chichen Itza!!

Travelling to Tulum

Today was a travel day. We got up early, which was difficult since we got home so late from the wedding last night. We arranged a taxi to the airport through our hotel, and checked into our flight.

Then we had breakfast at a restaurant at the airport. It had a buffet, but I think that best be avoided when travelling. I ordered some familiar-looking stuff, and Ted had bread - he was feeling rather sick.

A friend of mine recommended that I get some Grapefruit Seed Extract and put some in whatever I drink down here in Mexico. It's from the health food store and apparently neutralizes any (bad) bacteria that is in your system. Anyways, I must admit that I am a bit of a skeptic, but after getting sick on my last trip I am willing to try something new. More than a few drops makes your drinks taste bitter though, so I just put it in my juice.

One thing that I am impressed about at the airports here in Mexico is that there are many individuals in wheelchairs working as information agents. I don't see that much at home, and it seems like a good job to have.

The flight to Cancun was pretty uneventful - only 2 hours. When we arrived we talked to some information agents about how to get to Tulum, which is almost 2 hours drive away. We were convinced to rent a car, as it would be cheaper in the end and allow us a bit more freedom.

They gave us a standard, so I started us off with the driving, much to a few people's surprise. Ted hasn't driven a manual in a while, so he didn't want to take the first shift. Anyways, the drive was long and in some places harrowing - not surprisingly, there are fewer rules here than there are at home. Cars squeezing themselves into any spot that they can find, passing within inches of each other, Mexican police parked by the side of the road every 5 minutes or so. There were also these speed bumps every once in a while which forced everyone to come to a virtual stop on the highway. Lucky for us it was one road from the airport to Tulum, but I have to admit, I was wishing we had taken a taxi by the time we actually got there.

When we arrived at our resort, Copal, I was initially charmed. Cabanas right by the beach, water views, the sound of the ocean with clear blue water and the finest sand I have seen. Magical! The reality of the eco-friendly resort was, however, not terribly luxurious. I describe it as similar to camping. No electricity, no lights, sleeping with the sounds of the outdoors (ocean = good, squawking birds at 5am = bad), sand everywhere on your floor, running water but fickle plumbing, etc. All in all, it was good - but luxury, it was not. There were however fresh tropical flowers waiting for us in the cabana when we got there, courtesy of Ted. They were beautiful and made the cabana smell lovely!

We were pretty hungry by the time we checked in and so we had dinner at the resort restaurant. We were accompanied by a very friendly feline friend who sat next to us and talked to us and wanted to be petted and waited patiently for handouts while we ate. We had yummy Mexican food - fajitas and guacamole and chips and salsa... it was heaven. It was right at dusk though and there was another feast going on - and the dish was me. That's right, mosquitoes came out in force and I got about fifteen bites in 10 minutes. By the end of dinner I was squirming. Why didn't I bring my insect repellent??

Off to the local grocery store we go. We pick up some Off, After Bite, sunscreen, snacks and drinks. The sunscreen was about $17. I think that store made a killing from unprepared tourists! Ah well. The After Bite was soooooo nice, and made me much more tolerable to be around, I'm sure.

Sleeping in the cabana was fine, although it takes some getting used to. I didn't know it was going to be so cold! In the middle of the night I had to get 2 more blankets. The sound of the ocean is nice to fall asleep to though, and even though I had nightmares that night, I still woke up to a little bit of paradise. :)