it's been so long since I last posted that my homepage has been blank! and that's just unacceptable. I guess it's because I've been thinking about various posts but I never got around to it. So a small update on what I've been doing the past two months.
Wayne and I finally went on our honeymoon to Mexico. It was a rather last minute decision, but we had a great time and got some fun and sun in the process. We found a flight to Puerto Vallarta - definitely a town that has its charms, but for us perhaps a bit too much on the touristy side. We only stayed for a night in PV, and headed on farther south in the bay to Yelapa, a wonderful village that was the perfect getaway. We stayed at Casa Milagros, a beautiful house on a hill owned by Hugo and Antonia. They were such gracious and friendly hosts - Hugo had the best stories ever and Antonia can cook up a storm!
Wayne and I finally had some time to relax together and do the things that we love to do...cook, take photos, paint, sit on the beach. Plus we got to do things that we've never done before or do very rarely - I went fishing for really the first time ever (I caught three bonito!!! but got super sea sick), and kayaking as well. I would love to go back again soon, and this time armed with some knowledge of spanish so that I can actually have a conversation with Antonia and maybe learn some of her recipes. ;-)
I recently earned my green belt in karate - woohoo! Honestly I never thought that I would make it to this point, but I've been training for almost two years now. Ha before you know it i'll be a black belt. I just have to keep my determination to continue training. I'm just psyched that I can actually spar now.
I just went through a cycle of wanting to be in the kitchen, so I've tried making everything from preserved lemons to japanese style curry to hummus to bolognese sauce to banana bread. And surprisingly everything came out pretty well. I still haven't actually tried any of the preserved lemons yet, I need to figure out some dish they'd be good in (some kind of tagine perhaps?). and hummus is so ridiculously easy to make and so much tastier when it's fresh that I wonder why I never made it myself to begin with. The japanese style curry was inspired by a story on Serious Eats, but I did a couple of modifications - I used stew meat instead so it took longer, but so so tasty. Definitely one that I'll be adding to my repetoire for cold wintery nights. And the banana bread came out the best that I've ever made it - perhaps in part with help from the new Kitchen Aid mixer and the fact that I let the dough rest for a bit in the fridge before popping it in the oven. The outside was so crusty and golden, and the inside was fluffy and, well, marvelous. Go Irma!
Hrm that's about it for now. I'm looking forward to visiting Sannie in Vermont, we're planning a little bit of snowboarding action which I have been missing with tales of all this snowdumping all over the country this year. However I am looking forward to spring - I think Wayne and I will actually have a functional herb garden this year seeing as we have a bona fide patio (and nice landlords who offered us a plot in their section of the backyard) as part of our apartment. So I suppose I should start reading up on that. And before you know it we'll be hosting fabulous cocktail parties in our itsy bitsy apartment way out in Brooklyn. Come and visit! ;-)
