Mexican Vacation

Last Saturday we got up really early and took off for Mexico!  We had gone to bed at 7:30, so we ended up getting almost eight hours of sleep, which made the traveling much better.  In the late afternoon, we arrived at our favourite resort, Now Amber/Secrets in Puerto Vallarta.  We love Puerto Vallarta, as the weather is always perfect, and it did not disappoint on this trip.  It was the hottest, most humid time in Mexico we've ever had.

 

I posted about why we love this resort here.

We had a gorgeous, ocean view room.  There is nothing like falling asleep and waking up to the sounds of the ocean crashing outside the screen doors.  Sooo soothing.

 

Each night we went to sleep around 8:30 p.m., but were up early. 

I was usually up a bit earlier than Christopher, and ordered coffee, juice, and fruit up to the room.  We'd enjoy that on the patio in the quiet of the waking resort, before going to the buffet for some eggs, bacon, etc..

The room service is 24 hours, and is included at no extra charge.  We had it a couple times for lunch.

The a-la-carte restaurants are great, and don't require reservations.  You can also go as many times as you want.  There are five a-la-carte restaurants (French, Italian, Seafood, Mexican, and Asian), in addition to the snack bar and buffet.

My birthday was on Thursday, and we celebrated by going to the Asian restaurant for Teppanyaki!

I had a wonderful birthday, and was happy to spend it in Mexico.

The next day we celebrated Christopher's birthday (one day early - his was on Saturday), and went for the Teppanyaki again.  We also made friends, and invited Errynne and Hilary to join us at the Teppanyaki table.

We had so much fun, and continued to hang out with the girls in the lobby until late.  We're excited to visit our new friends one day in their cities, Seattle, and Chicago.

Overall, we had an absolutely wonderful trip.  We were up most mornings before sunrise, and it was beautiful.  We also watched the sun set each evening.

We look forward to visiting Now Amber again in the future.

What have you been up to in the past week?

Thursday Things

We recently got a new kettle, as ours broke.  We are absolutely loving this new one, which is Lagostina brand.  We prefer a stove-top kettle to electric.

We make tea a lot, and the other evening we each had tea and a grapefruit for an evening snack.

We found a pumpkin based pasta sauce at the grocery store recently, and were skeptical, but wanted to try it.  We were both pleasantly surprised by it; it was great!

Last night we cooked up some chicken and potatoes, which we topped with a jalapeno sauce.  We had a bunch of jalapenos to use up, so making a cream sauce out of them seemed like a good idea.

To get the nice browned, crispy skin on your chicken breasts, make sure you dry them really, really well, then season with salt and pepper.  Heat canola oil in a pan on medium-high.  Once hot, add the chicken.  Don't touch, poke, or turn for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, flip and do the same on the other side.

We didn't buy groceries this week, as we wanted to eat things up in the house before we leave for a vacation on Saturday!  That being said, we are having tuna casserole tonight, as we always seem to have the ingredient in the cupboard for it.

How is your week going so far?  Do you drink tea?  Do you use a stove-top or an electric kettle?

Visiting Mom

We spent the weekend in Saskatoon visiting with my mom, and stocking her up on groceries.  On Friday evening we ate a quick dinner at Seoul before going to our hotel.

If you're ever in Saskatoon, you absolutely have to go to Seoul and order tukbaegi bulgogi.  You're welcome in advance.

On Saturday we found a place called Baba's Perogies to get my mom some tasty perogies and pumpkin pie for her lunch.  She's not always a fan of the food they bring her in her care-home, so we like to find old favourites for her to enjoy when we're there.

When we weren't visiting or running around, we were eating.  We had breakfast at Poached one day, and Aroma the next.  Our dinner on Saturday night was also at Aroma. 

How was your weekend?  What did you do?

Cooking This Week

On Sunday we made a batch of spaghetti and meat sauce - not for dinner, but instead, to use for our lunches for the next couple of days.

Dinner on Sunday was bee bim bop.

I will never, ever get sick of this meal. 

On Monday evening we had curried shrimp, stuffed eggplant.

On Tuesday evening we made salmon with Greek salad.

And then last night we had fish again.  We enjoyed coconut crusted fish with mushroom risotto.

What have you been cooking this week?