I wouldn't keep you little

A lot of parents say they wish they could keep their babies little forever.  I'm not one of those parents. While I adore my now-14-month-old "little baby" who's quickly toddling her way to toddler status, I never for a moment wish to go back to when she was a tiny, inert lump, which newborns are.

Don't get me wrong, she was a cute lump, but honestly there is nothing about that stage that I miss. She didn't smile for the first time until she was about 12 weeks old and it was a LOOOOOONG 12 weeks waiting for that smile. When you put so much time, blood, sweat and milk into caring for a completely helpless human, the least you want in return is a little love and they can't give it yet.

People who say they wish they could keep their babies little are probably referring to the smiling, sitting-up stage around 5-8 months. Babies definitely get cuter around this age as they fatten up and lose their smushed alien newborn look. But I wouldn't go back to this stage either, cute as it was. Valerie wanted to go places and reach for things but she couldn't crawl yet. It was frustrating for her to wiggle on her hands and knees trying and failing to get anywhere. And of course she still really could not communicate at all except by crying or smiling.

Each age for me has been more fun than the last. Every tiny step toward personhood is a victory. Every new development lets a baby show you her personality, her love, her curiosity; every gain in physical strength lets her explore and discover the world around her and you begin to see who she will be. This is so much greater to me than an adorable but impenetrable creature who is impossible to interact with.

Every day my struggle is to enjoy her as she is now and not wish away the day, hoping that tomorrow will be the day she finally says "mama" or uses a spoon to eat. Every time she makes the next big leap in development there's another one right behind it that she can't do yet.

She is new to walking and getting steadier every day and I can't lie, seeing her walk on her own feet fills me with joy every time. And not just because she's so hilariously and adorably wobbly.

I can't imagine seeing her toddling around the backyard pointing at everything she sees and wishing she was a tiny baby again.  Nothing is more thrilling than seeing her grow into an upright, capable person.

I sing songs to Valerie all the time now. Her eyes absolutely light up whenever she hears one of her favorite songs. Keep in mind I can't carry a tune to save my life. I'm still trying to learn the words to the animal sounds song even though I've heard it about a million times (that one is her absolute favorite). But she loves it when I sing and smiles and claps for more. I'm sure she will soon be demanding that I never sing again and I don't want to be singing the ABCs 10 times a day forever, but tonight I was trying to remember the words to "Baby Beluga" and "Down by the Bay" on the way home and actually really enjoying myself.  Anyone having a rough day should try singing their favorite kid's song to a toddler who listens, entranced. One of those mom moments you never anticipated loving, but there it is.

Today was a pretty successful one in the ongoing struggle to enjoy the moment. It is getting easier. All I have to do is ask, "what does a chicken say?"  and the tiny answer, "cuck cuck," climbs inside my heart and fills it to the brim til I can't imagine loving her any more. 

This is my experience of being a mom so far: getting to watch this brand new person meet herself as she gradually becomes aware that she exists. I have no idea what tomorrow holds but my little girl will be a little older, a little stronger, and a little more aware than she was today, and I will be there to see it.

I have an image of her in my mind, wearing a backpack, her hair in pigtails, getting on the school bus by herself. Off to school she goes!  I love to imagine her like this, old enough to tell me about her day, ask questions, surprise me and make me laugh with the things she says.

I know that day is coming faster than I realize and I can hardly wait.

My birth story

Here the blog takes a more personal turn from the recipes and creative topics that came before today. I've been wanting to record my birth story ever since I've had a birth story to share and now going on 14 months since I gave birth, I'm finally getting around to it.

I came to love hearing other women's birth experiences when I was pregnant.  They are all unique and so personal. And giving birth is so intense it's hard to convey what it's really like to others.  I'm sure there is a lot I've forgotten in the 14 months that have passed but I will try to remember as well as I can. Get comfy because this story pretty much goes on forever.

In the first trimester of pregnancy, in the throes of 24/7 nausea, giving birth was not remotely on my radar. It was in the second trimester, when my belly started to grow big and round, that it started to dawn on me that this baby was going to eventually need to escape and I better give that some consideration. I took my usual approach and reserved a selection of books from the library to read on the topic. Some of the books I read were:

1. HypnoBirthing:The Mongan Method: A natural approach to a safe, easier, more comfortable birthing
2. Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor's Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices
3. Your Best Birth: Know All Your Options, Discover the Natural Choices, and Take Back the Birth Experience
4. Natural Hospital Birth: The Best of Both Worlds

You have probably by now picked up on my crunchiness and desire to have a natural birth.
If you want to read about saving the placenta in a velvet bag until it falls off naturally and breastfeeding until the child is 7, check out the second book - WHEW that one promotes some seriously alternative, some might say "fringe," parenting choices. No judging here. (!)

I heard so many birth stories during my pregnancy that started with a desire for natural birth and ended in C-section and I was feeling very discouraged, but researching birth helped me to feel like I understood what was going to happen and while I wouldn't ultimately be able to control the outcome, I could at least be informed about my choices. Some of what I read was empowering and I even looked forward to giving birth, although let's be honest, mostly because giving birth meant I would no longer be pregnant, glory hallelujah.

As the weeks ticked by, I hoped I would go into labor naturally. I started having contractions (very minor ones) a couple weeks before my due date, December 24th, which was very encouraging. I even enjoyed the contractions when they came- they mostly just felt like a warm sensation in my back. They started coming at regular intervals a few days after my due date, and I was so excited, I sat at my desk at work and wrote down the times of each one, about 7-9 minutes apart. They went away and returned a few times over the next few days and they got stronger. I felt buoyant at the signs I would really go into labor on my own. And by buoyant, I mean I was so miserable, huge, exhausted, uncomfortable and desperate to get.this.baby.out of me that just the hint that the end was near was all I could grasp at to get me through.

My last day at work was Friday December 28th, 4 days past my due date, and I knew it would be the last. I was having strong contractions all day and knew there was no way I would be returning on January 2nd, the next workday. I could tell my body was finally getting ready. It was nearly go time. I barely managed to waddle out to my car in the snow with all my stuff at the end of the day, ready for my 12 weeks off.

The next day I was at a friend's house catching up with some girlfriends when my water broke around 3 pm. "Well you guys I'm pretty sure my water just broke.  ...Yep. It definitely did.  I guess I better head home soon."

I planned to wait at home as long as possible before going into the hospital where the timer would start (t minus 24 hours until they would take the baby) so we settled in for an evening at home managing contractions, which quickly got stronger and stronger with the water broken. They went from a warm sensation to a feeling of pressure in my back to an incredibly intense pressure unlike anything else I have felt. Labor pain isn't pain like being cut or wounded, but rather, for me at least, it was a really strong pressure.  The only word that really describes it for me is intense. The pressure builds to such an intensity that it's hardly bearable.

I sat on a beach towel on the couch (anything less was inadequate for the "water" which continued to break) watching TV and wondering if I would make it without an epidural. I have absolutely no idea what was on TV. It was getting seriously intense and I seriously doubted my resolve to go natural. Finally we called the doctor to let him know I was in labor and we should probably come in. I packed my bag and around 11 pm we went out to the car.

It wasn't a fun car ride, trying to breathe through contractions and hanging on tightly to the car, hitting what felt like epic potholes and bumps, but we only live about 10 minutes from the hospital and at 11 pm traffic was light. 

It was late Saturday night, two nights before New Year's Eve, and the labor and delivery floor was a ghost town. I felt like I had the place to myself. The very kind nurses who checked me in and gave me a hospital gown coached me to breathe through my contractions and were very supportive of my wish to have a natural birth. I was so reassured by their presence. At check-in they found I was 5 centimeters dilated and the doctor said he expected we'd have a baby on our hands early in the morning, in 5 or 6 hours. Music to my ears.

We settled into our room and attempted to rest, if not sleep, through the night. I nodded off briefly between contractions and tried my hardest to relax and breathe through them. Finally, finally morning came, and I had made it to 8-9 cm. 10 centimeters is the magic number when it's time to push the baby out. So close. Just wait to feel the urge to push, the doctor said. Ok. I'm ready.  It was around 8 am. Come on urge to push, let's do this!!!!! But I did not feel an urge to push.

I snacked on some nuts and granola and drank pregnancy tea. Being able to eat and drink is a lovely perk of natural birth, although I wasn't terribly hungry. And we tried everything I had read about to get labor going. We walked and walked around the halls. I stopped and leaned on the wall when a contraction came and Rich pushed on my lower back to counteract the pressure.

We had a lavender scented neck warmer that could be heated up in a microwave which I used on my back - counterpressure and heat were the only things that I found really helped.

I tried sitting on the exercise ball.

I paced around the room....and as the hours ticked by I started to panic. This was not good. Lunchtime was coming and we should have a baby by now. Why don't I have the urge to push? The nurses gave us the afternoon to keep trying to get things going but the 4 pm deadline loomed and I didn't have a good feeling about this.

Sure enough 4 and 5 pm came and went and the urge to push never did.  I cried. I had made it so far on the "natural" plan - no pitocin, no epidural - but I knew I would have to get hooked up to the IV and get pitocin to increase my contractions and try to reach 10 cm. The doctor said we have no choice at this point. I had been stalled at 9 cm for about 8 hours.

I had read enough labor books to know that a labor with pitocin is exponentially harder to endure than natural contractions.  I had been able to breathe through and manage mine.

But at 5 pm the pitocin drip started and within the hour I was out of my mind, unable to bear the unrelenting contractions. I couldn't breathe through them or sit still or fathom another minute. I whispered to Rich, "epidural."

They called the epidural guy, and luckily since the floor was so quiet he came quickly. This man was pure speed and professionalism. At 6, he set up his tools lightning fast and went to work. The nurse held my arms in her arms, pulling me forward to try and anchor me still so he could make his incision. I wasn't capable of holding myself still through the pain. I was hardly aware of him working behind me; I was too overwhelmed with contractions.

But then the amazing, amazing medicine worked its magic and the contractions stopped.  At least as far as I could tell. They continued just the same, but I could no longer feel them and I nearly passed out with relief. I rested for the next 2 hours in blissful epidural calm while the pitocin did its work.

And around 8 pm, the doctor returned and declared I was ready to push. He swung a huge mirror down from the ceiling so I could see... what I would be doing. I had heard about this mirror and thought I would decline using it. But the doctor didn't ask first, he just busted it out, and there I was, in stadium-style lighting. It was horrifying, but I have to admit it was helpful to see what I was working toward, so I'd use it again.

I didn't have enough feeling internally to do any real "pushing" with the epidural still in effect, but it was quickly wearing off. I was starting to feel contractions again, which at this point was helpful (and they were MUCH reduced from before). I crunched up and pushed from the top, pushing down on the top of my belly with my hands, and trying to squeeze the baby out from the top. This actually worked shockingly well.

After 10 minutes and several rounds of focused pushing during contractions, there she was. First her head, then her shoulders. My baby girl. The doctor hooked his fingers under her armpits and pulled her out, with her squishy face and all her black hair. I have never felt such a tremendous physical relief as the moment she was born. It was hard to believe she was only 7 pounds because I felt a hundred pounds lighter as all the pressure released from my pelvis.

The epidural was mostly worn off and I had sensation back by then. The moments after she was born were a blur. I saw the placenta make its exit and asked the nurses to please aim the mirror somewhere else, I was all set with that view.

They gave her to me to hold and I was so overwhelmed with emotions and relief and physical feelings and crying and happy. I'm your mama! You are my baby! I'm somebody's mama now, and my baby is here, breathing her first breaths, alive for the first moments.  I couldn't even comprehend all that at the time, I was just trying to catch my breath. I was physically and emotionally exhausted from the 30 hours of labor since my water broke, long long ago, yesterday afternoon.  But so happy. We did it. She's here!

One of my favorite moments was seeing Rich holding her for the first time and falling in love with her. He glowed and it was so beautiful. He'd seen her on the ultrasound before but this was real, for the first time, he was really a dad now and holding his baby girl in his arms. I loved them both so much and I was proud of myself for bringing her into the world.

Every mom should be proud of her journey, whatever it holds. At home or in a hospital, labor induced or begun on its own, with or without medical interventions, chosen or not chosen. We all have our own paths to motherhood and each is unique and beautiful in its own way. My journey didn't go exactly the way I hoped but sometimes the failures make it even more beautiful.

I don't know if anyone will get anything useful from my story but I think all women should feel free to share their birth experiences. I can't even imagine being a mom without leaning on my own mom, my friends and other moms for advice and support, and I hope they know they can lean on me too.  We're all in this together and learning from each other. 

And I think that's all I have for now. Thanks for reading and have a beautiful day!

The best salad

A lot of people have a go-to recipe for when they need to bring a dish to something. Mine is this salad. The credit for introducing me to this salad goes to my stepmother-in-law Susan who served it at Christmas one year. Someone else introduced it to her, so I'm not sure who originated it, otherwise I would credit them heartily. I've been making this salad as often as possible, especially for everyday dinners at home, ever since Susan shared the recipe. It's just so good, I can't bring myself to make any other kind of salad beyond minor variations on this one. Favorite minor variation: add fresh chopped strawberries.

I've served it at a number of functions and I always get asked for the recipe. It's pretty much a guaranteed home run unless someone is allergic to walnuts or doesn't eat cheese. Candied pecans (or any other nuts) are a great substitute and you could also serve it without cheese for vegan or lactose intolerant friends. (Of course you would also have to substitute oil for the butter on the walnuts to be vegan.) Although, come to think of it, I don't personally know anyone who is completely vegan (that I'm aware of) so I have never tried that variation.  A life without butter or cheese... ok we're getting a little off topic here.

Back to The Salad. The secret is, of course, the homemade sweet-and-tangy vinaigrette dressing. It's so good I want to just dip anything in it after the lettuce is gone. Vegetables, potatoes, fish... I don't eat chicken but I have also heard it makes an awesome marinade for chicken. Here is the official recipe:

Glazed Walnut Salad
 
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 T butter
¼ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
½ to 1 tsp pepper
Large amount of salad greens
¾ cup dried cranberries
4 oz. feta cheese
 
For the dressing:
¼ cup vinegar (any type)
½ cup chopped parsley
¼ cup red onion/shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup sugar
½ cup oil
½ tsp. oregano
Salt & pepper to taste
 
Melt butter in a skillet; add sugar, walnuts, salt and pepper.  

Cook on medium for 5 minutes.  Cool on wax paper.
 
For the dressing: Combine all ingredients in 

blender or food processor until well mixed.
 
In a large bowl, layer salad greens, feta cheese, 

cranberries and walnuts.  

Add dressing before serving and mix well.

 

 The homemade candied walnuts really take this over the top.  I started making those by themselves for Christmas every year because they were such a hit.  I will admit, though, that in a time crunch I just buy the candied walnuts from the grocery store and skip that part. It is easy, and worth it, to candy them yourself, but it gets a pan dirty, and well sometimes we're just a little crunched for time and we take shortcuts. 

The dressing is very flexible. I've made it many ways - with balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar, or red wine vinegar.  Basil or parsley. Red onion or shallot (or neither if I have neither on hand). I stopped measuring long ago and I just eyeball the amounts of everything and I am yet to screw it up too terribly.  As long as it's about 2 parts oil to 1 part vinegar, you get some sugar in there, and pack it as full of the fresh herbs as possible, you are not going to go too wrong. 

 

Once again, I love my Cuisinart hand blender so much for making the dressing - just make it in the container you'll be storing it in, no transferring. An old glass pickle jar is perfect with a wide enough mouth for the blender, and you don't have to chop the parsley much at all, just small enough pieces so they will blend. 

One key tip, which you already know if you've ever served a dressed salad before, is add the dressing right before serving - not too far ahead. It will get soggy and sad. The best is when I have time to make the dressing and serve the salad all at once - oh my yum, it's so fresh and amazing. I often have to make the dressing the day before which is slightly less amazing but still works. 

 

It will keep for about a week or so once it's made and I try to maximize my greens intake whenever I have some left over and just keep scarfing mass amounts of this salad until the dressing is gone. If you are looking to get more greens in your diet this will do the trick I promise!  It's not a "light" dressing or salad by any means but it is so, so delicious and it is great real food. 

Nutrition tip of the day: an oil based dressing (or any fat) helps your body absorb the fat soluble nutrients in the salad greens, so pour on the dressing and enjoy!

An Ode to the Microwave

I'm a little low on inspired topics today, so I am devoting today's blog to the wonderful modern convenience that lives above my stove. I have a gas stove and I hate it.

Short side rant about my gas stove/oven. I know everyone loves gas stoves... they cook so great, blah blah blah. It's true that the stovetop burners fire up instantly, but the oven takes FOREVER to preheat, and I *hate* cleaning that filthy bastard stovetop. The burner grates are an absolute bitch to get clean, even scrubbing with steel wool and soaking... NOT worth the hours of blood sweat and tears. Ain't nobody got time fo DAT.

my archnemesis.

Okay enough negativity, let's talk about the microwave!  A frequently underappreciated piece of scientific achievement.

I don't want to say that time is not at a premium for people who don't have kids, but becoming a mom seems to make every second that much more precious. While I used to love spending time making elaborate and delicious meals, and on special occasions I still do, most often I just don't have the time and energy to spend.  For that reason, the microwave is easily my favorite appliance. It's not just for reheating leftovers!! There are so many things you can make fresh in the microwave so much faster than in an oven or on a stove!

Who knew that you can bake potatoes in the microwave? Just poke holes in it with a fork, give it 8 minutes and you have a whole russet potato (or sweet potato) all ready to go. You can cook fish in the microwave in just a couple minutes (covered, since it tends to explode.) The best part about cooking in the microwave, besides the time savings, is you have no pots or pans to clean!  Which is even more time saved. And priceless for me since I HATE washing dishes. If I can't load it into the dishwasher, forget it. (Ok.... I really do love my dishwasher.... it could face off with the microwave for favorite appliance.)

Some of my go-to microwave items:

• hot water, to which I sometimes add lemon, lemon and cayenne pepper, or lemon, honey, vinegar and cinnamon for a sore throat. no kettle needed!
• fish fillets (usually salmon in our house)
• whole potatoes
• steamed vegetables (peas, broccoli, butternut squash.) I do admit that most vegetables are best roasted with olive oil, but in a time crunch or to go in a recipe, microwave steaming is clutch. I steam frozen peas for my one-year-old, add a little olive oil and salt and she loves them.
• "scrambled" eggs. It's true that they aren't as good as real scrambled eggs, but if you really don't want to wash a pan, you would be surprised by how good they can be.  The key is frequent stirring, every 10 (or even fewer) seconds to prevent them from getting too rubbery.
• oatmeal. no hot breakfast is faster.

Also, if you're looking for a fun activity on a rainy day, marshmallows are fun to microwave.  You can watch them inflate to HUGE proportions!!! Pure entertainment.

I won't even get into all the things you can just heat up for a quick meal like beans and cheese and frozen dinners. I really feel the microwave makes my life so much better. The number one rule is don't microwave anything plastic.  No plastic wrap or plastic containers; always microwave in glass or on safe ceramic dishes. Some plastic says it is microwave safe, but I try to err on the side of NO plastic in the microwave. I prefer to risk as few nasty chemicals in my food as possible.

There is some controversy about whether radiation from a microwave oven can be harmful, but it is non-ionizing radiation and no studies have shown any cause for concern with normal use (versus a microwave that's rigged to work with the door open or some other such craziness).

So, I am forging ahead with my love of the microwave, because the most precious thing I have is TIME and this awesome technology lets me make the most of it! Thank you to Percy Spencer for accidentally discovering the specific heating effect of a high-power microwave beam in 1945, and engineers everywhere for inventing new technologies that improve our lives every day, because lord knows I'm not doing it.

In closing, I give you a haiku:

the food's almost done
better hurry and press clear
before I hear beeps!!!

Soup Swap!

This week we've had the coldest weather Cincinnati has seen in 20 years! The real temperature got down to -6 and with the wind chill it felt like -30! I am so relieved it's going to get a little warmer tomorrow. I have to wear my Cold Avenger mask to and from work when it's this cold and it can be a little embarrassing to walk around looking like Darth Vader. But still vastly preferred to freezing my face off.

Obviously all I want to eat when it's brutally, bitterly cold and windy outside is some hot, steaming SOUP. Yum. My coworker, former college roommate and now bff 4-life Sarah suggested the brilliant idea of a soup swap and I screamed YES! at the top of my lungs.  Ok, we work in an office, I didn't really do that. But inside I did! Because a soup swap is pretty much the best idea ever, especially when you are swapping with Sarah, who is truly a legendary soup chef.

Here's the idea: we each make large batches of 2 or 3 soups, and we bring in half of them for each other! So simple yet so, so ingenious. If you love soup, find a coworker, friend, or neighbor who also loves soup and you are in business. Since I eat a pesco-vegetarian diet, Sarah was kind enough to modify her recipes to make them vegetarian (mostly by using vegetable broth rather than chicken) so we could both enjoy all 5 soups. Yes, 5 - I made 2 and she made 3! Overachiever!  So here are the 5 delicious soups we are enjoying this week:

• First I made my favorite, April Bloomfield's Chickpea-and-Rosemary Soup which I originally found in the September 2005 issue of O magazine and have made approximately a thousand times since then. With vegetable rather than chicken broth, of course. This might be my favorite recipe for anything ever. It's so easy, so delicious and so healthy, the golden trinity of recipes. I like to describe it as similar to hummus soup. If you like hummus, and rosemary, do not delay and make yourself a batch. I was lucky enough to have some fresh rosemary from my grandmother's garden left over from our visit at the end of November to add, although I cut corners on the garlic and just used the powdered kind. The one thing, in my opinion, NOT to skimp on is the lemon juice.  Squeeze a real lemon! Don't buy the bottled lemon juice!  Seriously, ugh, it is not even close to the same.

• Next I made a butternut squash-apple soup. I used Ina Garten's recipe as my main reference but also deviated from it somewhat since I didn't have any apple juice, cider or curry powder on hand. For the seasoning I used some turmeric and nutmeg instead. And I used broth and water instead of the juice. There are 4 chopped apples in it so it is plenty sweet! It took forever to chop up 4 apples and 3 onions so I will definitely look for pre-chopped onions next time. Such a time saver!! Plus less crying in the kitchen. When I wore contacts, I never cried chopping onions, but ever since I got Lasik it's a different story. 

The huge time saver I did take advantage of was a big bag of pre-chopped butternut squash from Trader Joe's. I chopped up a whole butternut squash once and I won't be doing that again! 

One other thing I love: my Cuisinart immersion blender for pureed soups. I can't sing the praises of this thing enough. It's so super easy to puree soups and a breeze to clean up. No transferring to a blender or processor - we don't even own a blender since ours broke a couple years ago and I haven't missed it!  I just stick the immersion blender into anything I would blend and my god, it's so much less mess. It also has a mini food processor attachment which I love for things like pesto. Ok, Cuisinart should really start paying me at this point, I'll move on.

Sarah made 3 Rachael Ray soup recipes: black bean, farmer's market veggie and pumpkin, cheddar and chipotle. She modified the black bean a lot to remove the chorizo and add rice and it was super delicious.  Definitely a great black bean soup base reference. The farmer's market veggie comes with a side of pureed herbs in oil and that soup is AWESOME as well, so good. I haven't tried the pumpkin one yet but it also sounds amazing and I can't wait - I am soo spoiled with a fantastic variety of soups this week, I can barely contain myself. Soup swap for the win!

Puerto Rico December 7-14 Part 2 Cabo Rojo

The most relaxing, beach- and pool-centric portion of our trip was the last 3 days, in Cabo Rojo. This whole region had a really wonderful and secluded atmosphere to enjoy some honeymoon-style R&R.  A highlight for us was the awesome view from our condo, where we got to just sit and drink mimosas to start the day.

The key word here is secluded. No one goes to Cabo Rojo for vacation, as least as far as I could tell.  We did not see other tourists around anywhere, and it was honestly a little sad at some points, that we were the only two people in really beautiful settings, enjoying secluded dinners, secluded beaches... it was amazing, but also, it makes me want to get the word out about Cabo Rojo! Why aren't more people vacationing here!?!?  I want the nice restaurants to stay in business!!

We enjoyed lovely dinners at

• Tino's Restaurant, where our waiter was as kind and sweet a middle aged waiter as you've ever met. His English was many magnitudes better than our Spanish, but still he made the most endearing effort to communicate and also quickly correct my meal when the kitchen made the wrong thing by mistake. This was clearly a local place, serving Puerto Rican food and frequented by locals; the only other two tables while we were there were large local families. It's nothing fancy, but fabulous service and authentic food.
• Agua al Cuello at the Parador Bahia Salinas Beach Hotel, on our way back from Playa Sucia. We were the only people here, and the best thing about this place is the ambiance. Really beautiful resort setting on the water.... just lovely. I could not fathom the absolute lack of people at this resort and the restaurant!  Where was everyone?!?!  The food was good, we got a huge salad with mango and almonds, some ceviche and a fried appetizer, as well as some festive and affordable Bahia Sunsets to drink.
  

• Miski Mikuna, which is Peruvian cuisine, and the chef will knock your socks off by coming to your table, explaining what the specials are that night, and customizing your dinner to you. I was SO excited to come here after reading the TripAdvisor reviews and it wasn't fancy like I thought it might be, but the food was definitely the focus. Unfortunately, we had eaten a late lunch that day and didn't have tons of room for feasting, or else we definitely would have tried more courses. As it was, we enjoyed a salmon appetizer, and DELICIOUS passionfruit cheesecake and key lime pie for dessert (the key lime pie!!!! WOW maybe the best I've ever had) -- and... drumroll... our most adventurous food of the trip, the whole red snapper (head included) which was that day's special.
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  We saw the snapper come out to the table next to us and got nervous.... should we have ordered that??? But it was actually delicious and I was proud of us for trying it. It came with tasty leeks and carrots in cream sauce. And I mean, it WAS deep fried, so there really wasn't much chance it wouldn't be delicious, with or without the head and tail.
  
  
  The only "activity" we really did in Cabo Rojo, other than stopping by Walgreens and the grocery, was a day spent at Playa Sucia. It was the most glorious, fantastic day and we did not want to leave.  We had a perfect shady spot under a tree with our beach chairs, books and towels and very few other people around.  The only mistake was not bringing food and drinks (and bug repellent). I may have come away with bites all over my back. Bummer. But totally worth it. Around lunchtime we started getting faintly hungry. Rich said, should we go? I said, maybe another 20 minutes.  2 and a half hours later we finally reluctantly decided we had to leave and get food.  It was absolutely beautiful and zen and one of those days I wish I could relive over and over. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  It was a bit challenging to find since it's pretty remote and the trip was rough on the rental car but definitely WORTH it. I'm so glad I got to spend a perfect afternoon in this heavenly spot. I'll always remember it. 
  
  
  I can't recommend enough to anyone going to Puerto Rico to get away from San Juan (as much fun as it is!) and get over to Cabo Rojo for at least a day or two. If you want secluded, this is your place. Not to mention the weather is reliably spectacular. It's more arid than San Juan and the rainier east side of the island; high of 88 and sunny most every day. I would even compare it to Hawaii as a perfect tropical weather location. We had such a lovely time here. Sadly, all good vacations have to come to an end. Bye Cabo Rojo!
  
  
  

Puerto Rico December 7-14 Part 1 San Juan

Hey blog, I bet you forgot about me. It's been over 2 years since my last post! And another year and a half since the last post before that.... okay, we're off to a slow start. A lot has happened in the last 2 years, most notably I got pregnant, became a mom and survived my baby girl's first year, which I really should have blogged about!  We'll start that next time.  This post is dedicated to the trip my husband and I just took to Puerto Rico from December 7-14. It was absolutely fantastic and we have some friends who are going in the next few weeks and months so I wanted to share some of the highlights here!

We stayed for 4 nights in San Juan (Isla Verde) and 3 nights in Cabo Rojo, on the southwest corner of the island. The weather was perfect all 7 days so we really got to enjoy our time to the fullest.  I should also clarify that there were pop-up showers every day in San Juan but they usually lasted about 5 minutes and never killed our mojo so I'm still calling it perfect. It started to rain when we got to the airport to go home so we really could not have timed this one better.

 Rich's MO when we go on vacation is to experience everything there is and go on memorable adventures.  Mine is to relax poolside with a magazine and a beverage.  I am happy to report that we found the perfect balance of both on this trip and we even enjoyed each other's favorite parts.

We stayed in condos that we found through airbnb.com and were very happy with both. We spent some lovely relaxing time by the pools at our condos and we used the blenders that we found in the kitchens to make pina coladas which were outstanding poolside. At the local Supermax grocery store we got the smallest bottle of Bacardi white rum they carry, a couple cans of coconut cream and a jug of pineapple juice. Fill the blender with ice, those 3 ingredients and you have yourself a fantastic afternoon. We finished off the rum and two cans of coconut cream over the course of the week but we did have some pineapple juice left over. A smaller jug would have been ideal but there's only so much of your vacation you want to spend browsing in the (sorry, Puerto Rico) crappy Supermax for a smaller pineapple juice. Ok let's get to the good stuff.

Rich's highlights from the trip:

• Kiteboarding lesson through 15knots.com. He did the 3 hour lesson and did manage to kiteboard on his own by the end of the lesson which apparently most people don't manage. He absolutely loved it. His instructor, Frances, has a prosthetic leg.  She broke her leg kiteboarding and it got infected and had to be cut off. Even with a prosthetic leg, though, she made kiteboarding look SO easy. I'm pretty sure you can find her picture in the dictionary next to "badass." 

I just hung out on the beach, which was very nice, during the lesson. That was when I got fried to a crisp.  Note to self, duh, you need to load up on sunscreen when you are in the sun for 3 hours in Puerto Rico.

•  We did ziplining in El Yunque National Rainforest through JungleQui. That was fun. Bug spray and water shoes/mud-friendly shoes needed!! We had the place to ourselves, which was also our experience for almost the entire trip. Everywhere we went, restaurants, beaches, our condos and pools, we were practically the only people around! However, the Walgreens in Cabo Rojo and the grocery store were packed. If you're looking for people, just go to the store.  You will find numerous Puerto Ricans.
• The same day we went to El Yunque, we did the Kayak Trip to Monkey Island. You will want to book this more than 24 hours in advance. If you like kayaking and want to see lots of monkeys, this excursion will not disappoint. The tour guide Bob took us in a group with 2 other couples and you don't actually get to step on the island but he ties up the kayaks just offshore and you stand in the shallow water and watch the monkeys from there. We also saw some enormous iguanas and a stingray. We went just before sunset, which is a great time to see tons of monkeys.
• In between those two adventures we stopped for a delicious lunch at Erik's Gyros and a brief siesta at Luquillo Beach, which it turns out costs $4.25 for entry, but if you are out of cash and you can scrounge up about $3.43 in coins the kind lady at the gate will let you in. You may not feel your rental car is entirely safe in the parking lot when you notice the broken glass from a previous car window in the parking spot next to yours, but we didn't see any shady characters when we were there.
• The fort at  San Cristobal. We only went for about an hour, it's not really my thing but Rich really enjoyed it and it was cool to walk around, I wasn't toooo grinchy about it.

Some of the restaurants we went to:

•  Kasalta for brunch.  This was walking distance from our condo and we had an enjoyable 15 minute walk to and from there. Rich enjoyed his presidential sandwich and I had a fantastic $12 mimosa which totally satisfied my need for a mimosa on our first vacation morning. We also sat at the table Obama sat at when he was there which was fairly entertaining. It was the only empty table by a window which was why I grabbed it, not realizing it was The Table. I took a picture of the plaque next to it when I noticed it, which then triggered a few other tourists to come over and take pictures. 
• We had dinner our first night at Pamela's on the beach which was excellent. Especially the passionfruit tilapia ceviche. I was nearly licking the plate. It was a little pricey but the food was good. The drink to get at a lot of places is sangria, we had some great white wine sangria there.
• We had mofongo, the Puerto Rican cuisine that you have to try, at Raices in Old San Juan which is right next to the parking garage, which is super cheap to park in. It's touristy but a good place for mofongo, which is mashed fried plantains and a tomato-y broth with your choice of meat/fish/vegetables. I also really enjoyed my passionfruit mojito.
• We had awesome sushi at Sushi City in Condado which is apparently THE hip happening area of San Juan. We love salmon and the salmon sashimi was great here, as well as the sangria. We sat on the front patio which I of course loved, getting to sit out in the perfect temperate air in December. 
• By far my favorite and the best dinner we had was at St Germain also in Old San Juan. It. Was. Amazing and I wish we'd gone there before our last night in San Juan so we would have known to go as many times as possible. Great prices, awesome drinks, super fresh ingredients. If you are there on a Sunday, by god please go there for the brunch, I'm so sad we didn't know about it in time. They have a bar which serves craft cocktails upstairs and it is the old home of Don Pedro Albizu Campos, the Nelson Mandela of Puerto Rico. There are bullet holes in the wall next to the bar where the feds busted in to arrest him... crazy history there.  And then a rooftop level which we didn't get to see because it wasn't open on Tuesday when we were there... seriously go there for the brunch and go again for dinner and teleport me there to join you PLEASE.

This was just the San Juan portion of the trip. I'll do another entry on Cabo Rojo but wanted to get this one out ASAP for our friends who are going next week. This was an outstanding place to vacation that I would recommend to anyone looking for a quiet, relaxing, honeymoon-type trip to the tropics in the winter.  Perfect weather, sunshine, beaches, just a one hour time change from the east coast, relatively short travel time, and no passport needed from the US. And for me, the parent of an almost one-year-old, it was the place I went and got so much sleep every night and felt so marvelously rested for a whole glorious week and can I go back now?