Hotel Aranjuez

What would your life be like if you could start every day with a breakfast like this?

...In a setting like this?

...With people like this?

Life would be very nice.

The only way it could be any nicer is if my kitchen had tile like this:

Yes, I seriously love this tile.  I know most people probably hate it and think it's hideous but I adore it and would give my eye teeth to get it put in my kitchen.

Meat and Potatoes

One of my favorite hearty cold-weather dishes is Shepherd's Pie.  I think last winter was the first time I even tried it and all summer I longed for the cooler weather just so we could have it for dinner again.  I love the rich gravy and the luscious layer of potatoes on top, especially when they get a quick blast from the broiler. 

Perfect for a rainy evening.

Maybe another reason I absolutely love it is because the flavors and the richness remind me of the pasties a friend and I enjoyed in a cozy little joint called The West Cornwall Pasty Company.  We (the girls) took the day to shop at Harrod's and the boutiques around Covent Garden while our husbands toured Stonehenge.  A wise decision considering it ended up sleeting and snowing that day. 

It was so cold and windy on the Thames!
The Hubs doing his job as trip photographer.

That was such a fun trip!  And so was our trip to Mexico the following March, in fact, none of us wanted to come home. 

We were going for the 'sun-kissed' look that week.
One of the most relaxing trips ever!

After taking a year off in 2010 we are on the move again with a trip planned to Costa Rica this spring break.  Booked the tickets last night and the countdown has begun!

Eating my way through vacation ... Snacks & Shops

One of my favorite things to do while on vacation is to go to grocery stores.  Historical sites, grand works of art, picturesque landscapes - those are all fine and good, but I'll take a market over a masterpiece any day. 
(Don't tell the Hubs though, it's heresy to say things like that in our house)

I also love little snacks.  Traveling is hard work and I am in constant need of sustenance while exploring a new location. 

Here are a few of the snacks we consumed and little stores we checked out while in Italia and Espana. 

In Montecatini Terme we went out for a stroll around the town and stopped for a drink.  We had the usual -  gin and tonic for me and Campari with orange for the Hubs.  While the drinks were refreshing, my favorite part was the tray of bar snacks we received. 

(From left - homemade corn nuts, spicy mini rice cakes and some dried/baked bean.)

Of the three my favorite was the beans.  Partly because of the flavor, but partly because if you look at them closely they are really cute.  There is a thin piece of the 'skin' left on the middle of the bean, but the rest has been stripped away. 

You can never go wrong with gelato in Italy.  I think one of my favorite things visually about gelato is that it always appears as if it is on the verge of turning to liquid.
These are two of the students' cones - mint and lemon, respectively.  (I always order mine in a cup) .  It was hot this day in Cinque Terra and the girls were very kind to let me take a photo of their treats!

While walking around Firenze I happened upon this little bakery with the most fabulous window displays.  I wanted so badly to head inside and check out the rest of the goodies, but knew if I did I would be powerless to resist their sugary siren songs.  I had to settle for photos through the windows.

Before we boarded the ship that would take us across the Mediterranean from Livorno to Barcelona we were taken to the local supermarket, Supermercati PAM, to stock up on food for the journey.  We only had about 30 minutes, but I could have spent 3 hours.  Luckily, the Hubs and I are very practiced at grocery shopping in Italy and knew exactly what we needed/wanted, which freed me up to wander for a little while. 

Part of the meat counter -

And in addition to the meat counter there were stacks of pork everywhere.  This must be what heaven is going to be like... mealtime will be a buffet of lovely cured pork products.

And to carry our food purchases on to the ship I bought the most adorable reusable grocery bag.  How can a mozzarella ball dressed up like a little person not bring a smile to your face?!?!

Because of a series of unforeseen incidents, our arrival was delayed by about 5 hours, meaning we needed to eat one extra meal on the ship.  Here is the drink I chose to have with my dinner - wine in a juice box.  Not sure if it's sheer genius or the epitome of white trash...

Unfortunately, since it was Sunday when we were in Barcelona all of the food markets were closed.  Oh well, we still made time for snacks drinks while strolling Las Ramblas.  The joint was called Cerveceria Catalana and these really might have been the best Sangria we have ever had... or maybe I just thought they were really good because they were so cold. 

Eating my way through vacation ... Rome & Florence

We had a fabulous trip, but I am glad to be back home.  Keeping track of 14 teenagers is exhausting, even when they are all 'good kids'. 

Traveling with a large group and doing the 'tour' thing is much different than the way I have always traveled and took some getting used to.  On one hand it was nice to not be the one in charge of reservations and scheduling, but on the other hand it required me to give up control. 

And that is something I am NOT okay with. 

Especially if you're asking me to give up control over what I am going to eat. 

Because the meals had to accomodate large numbers of people, several of whom were very picky, our meals were pretty blah.  I don't want to sound ungrateful or snobby, please don't misunderstand me, I wouldn't trade this trip for the world.  I'm just used to eating cheap, local, non-processed food when I travel and for the most part that's not what we got. 

Thankfully there were a few bright spots sprinkled in those meals and for a couple of the lunches we were able to choose our own restaurants! 

Roma:

My basic pizza in Vatican City, complete with the requisite Peroni.

R's prosciutto covered pizza in Vatican City.  This pizza embodies everything that is good about salty foods.

Here is our favorite pizza counter in Roma.  It's located on the side of the Pantheon and is to die for.

And this is our favorite Italian birra to drink with their pizza. Yes, this is me being white trash and drinking it from a can.

Finally, and on a healthier note, we saw gorgeous, fruit-bearing olive trees everywhere. 

 
Firenze:
 
The Mercato Centrale (right next to the Medici Chapel) is the place to be at lunchtime.  Why?  Because that is where Nerbone is located.  It's a fast-paced lunch counter with some of the most delicious food.
 

Everything is good there, but I'm a sucker for their roast beef.  Specifically the roast beef sandwich. 
There are no words to describe the tender, flavorful meat and then those heavenly juices that soak in to the crispy bread, softening it just enough to make it edible.  I always enjoy mine with a small carafe of house red wine. 
 

To avoid going in to a food-coma after lunch, a leisurely stroll around the market is a must.  So many beautiful counters to check out and so many foods to sample. 

There are meat counters,

fresh produce stands,

dried fruit stands,

and when it's time to let that wine or beer out, there are restrooms too.  Available for a small fee, of course.

After a 460+ step climb to the top of Il Duomo (to burn off all of those lunch calories)

we were certainly ready for this decadent primi piatti - penne with cheese and peas.  This wasn't a white sauce, simply several delicious types of cheese and a dash of cream tossed with the pasta and peas.  Divine.

Oh, and remember all of those olives growing everywhere? 

This is how they end up - delicious, salty gems just begging to be consumed.

Paris and Comfort Food

As an experienced traveler, I typically laugh at those who make "rookie" mistakes while on the road.  I, sadly, made one of those rookie mistakes the other day.  I left my purse on the plane we took from Houston to Paris. 

As soon as I realized it was missing I began trying to recover it, all to no avail.  The Air France agents were very helpful, but the purse never surfaced. In it was my drivers license, insurance card, 2 credit cards and a tiny bit of cash.  Fortunately, I never travel without wearing my money belt, so my passport and 400 Euros were on my body.

This was both disheartening and humiliating at the same time.

So to cheer myself up during our 5 and a half hour layover at CDG I visited a delightful little pastry shop. 

The window displays were absolutely gorgeous, but I was not allowed to take photos of them.  My only other option was to purchase a few treats for myself and photograph them...

Macarons were all the rage and there were countless options.  Enough in fact to truly paralyze my decision making abilities.  So I did what I always do in that situation, ask for recommendations from the person working the counter. 

Her choices for me were a Currant and Violet flavored macaron and a Salted Caramel flavored one. 

Aren't they gorgeous?!?!?

 I liked the Currant and Violet flavor, very interesting.  I'm not a big jam or preserves person, so I didn't like the filling of that one as much.

But the Salted Caramel one... Oh. My.Word. 

I felt much better after these.

Fabulous, Fun Weekend #2

This weekend I was off to College Station to reunite with some fun, crazy ladies.  I took a much needed day off of work on Friday and after sleeping in I hit the road and got in to town by lunchtime.

You know how some couples have 'their' restaurant?  Well, my girlies and I had 'our' favorite spot on Northgate - Fitzwilly's.  Not as famous as The Dixie Chicken, but we loved it and ate there several times a week.  (It helped that our dorm was right across the street.)  

Two things you must do at Fitzwilly's:

1. Order a 'Fitz Favorite' - hamburger, fries and a beer
2. Play shuffleboard 

I love shuffleboard.  I don't know that I have played much since college, but it all came back.  Made me want to find some places around here with shuffleboard tables... and people who also like to play shuffleboard. 

Summer and Jennie needed to take a break from the game for a few minutes.

Wahhhhndah was our chariot for the weekend. She is a big ol' diesel Excursion who almost gurgles as she gets going, hence the name Wahhhhhndah. Jess was a great chauffeur and parked the large vehicle with ease.

Later on that evening after dinner we headed back to Northgate to a rooftop bar called The Corner.  Although we had to climb 3 killer flights of stairs, the view and breeze were well worth it. 

When we first arrived The Corner was almost empty and it was very easy to hold a conversation, but as it got later and later the place became packed with college students. 

College students who seemed very young... and had no crow's feet, cellulite or varicose veins. 

We soon began to feel old.

So we left.

Since we were so close we drove over to our old dorm, Davis Gary.  Davis Gary was not a glamorous dorm.  In fact, it was probably the most basic of all of the female dorms on campus.  A very small room for two students, community bathrooms and it was surrounded by male dorms. 

We lovingly referred to it as Dirty Ghetto instead of Davis Gary. 

We had some great times there.

My room was on the first floor and just outside the frame of the photo.  Room 114.  And since the window was right next to the door, anyone who forgot their ID (which was needed to enter the dorm) knocked on the window for us to come open it for them.  If I had a dollar for every drunk student that knocked on our window in the middle of the night...

The next morning before I headed out of town I hit one of my favorite 'hole in the wall' joints, Layne's. 

Their chicken fingers are to die for, even better than Raising Caine's, in my opinion. Not health food by any stretch of the imagination, but absolutely declious. 

I had such a great weekend with my girls!  It was fun to reminisce and revist all of the old favorite spots.  However, I am not as young as I used to be and 24 hours of 'college life' wore this 30-something out.

I was sad when the trip was over and I had to head back home.  Maybe with a nap and a longer night's sleep I could have gone another 24 hours...

I'm hoping that it isn't 7 more years before the next reunion.  This was way too much fun to have to wait that long to do it again.   

Fabulous, Fun Weekend #1

This is the time of year when things start to get crazy around our house.  Both my husband and I teach and I'm not sure who is more anxious for the end of the school year, us or the students!  Don't get me wrong, we both absolutely love what we do for a living, but it's at this point in the school year when I can start to feel emotionally drained.  It's very bittersweet. 

This year has been especially demanding (and emotionally stressful) with my teaching partner being out on maternity leave for 12 weeks and then being the Cooperating Teacher for an incompetent student teacher for 14 weeks.  Thank goodness the long-term sub was fabulous and that I have many good friends at work who helped me hide from my student teacher during my conference period! (Did I really just say that out loud???)

All of that to say that it was time for me to have a little fun last weekend.

I kicked things off on Friday by throwing a party during the last period of the day to celebrate my student teacher's final day with us.  I was so happy to have survived the experience see him graduate that I made red velvet mini-cupcakes since red and white are our school colors. 

I think I ate at least 4 of these.

I'm a sucker for homemade cream cheese icing.

On Saturday I headed to Austin to visit my sister and ended up having an incredibly interesting evening.  She volunteers with Refugee Services of Texas and takes refugees to their medical appointments, grocery shopping, and helps them with paperwork... you know, all of the things we take for granted.  One of the family groups she works with are Nepalese refugees. 

Their life stories are incredible. 
Absolutely mind-blowing.

These people have been persecuted, imprisoned and tortured, yet still have this light that shines inside of them.  While they may lack material possessions, they are some of the richest people I have ever met.

Sorry for the poor quality. 

I only had my phone with me, but felt the need to capture the moment.

Over time my sister has developed very close relationships with them and we were invited into two different apartments, treated like royalty and fed a wonderful Nepalese meal.  I didn't quite catch everyone's name and how they were related, but I do remember that Aruna is on the far left and Tia is in the far right.  The girls in the middle brought us drinks and cooked us something to eat.  They are either Aruna's children or children of Aruna's husband's other wife.  Did that make sense?

The noodles were coated with a spicy paste and the garnish/relish was a combination of cilantro and onion, along with fresh lime.  Delicious, but I had heartburn afterwards! 

After a good night's sleep and a leisurely morning we were off to Tacodeli for brunch.

I wish we had one here. 

I would visit every weekend...and weigh 500+ pounds

Their queso was out of this world creamy, almost like it was a mix of traditional queso and a white sauce.  I stupidly ordered a large. 

My sister and her roomies are still probably eating on it. 

My sister ordered one veggie and cheese taco. 

This picture sums up my sister pretty well:

smallish portions, mainly non-meat and an international piece of clothing

And it shows how gorgeous she is...

Her food looked good, but not as good as my 2 fat-loaded El Otto tacos.  Refried black beans, thick cut bacon, sliced avocado and shredded cheese on corn tortillas.  Did your arteries just harden a little bit? Mine did.

Yes, the refried 'black' beans were purple.

And this picture sums me up pretty well: I LOVE to eat.

I had a wonderful weekend spending great quality time with my sister.  It was just what I needed.  

This Friday I'm off to my old stomping grounds, College Station, to reunite with some former roommates from college.  Three day weekend, here I come.