A Week in Seattle!

This week we went home to the Northwest to visit friends and family, and to shop!!  We had so much fun seeing everyone, thank you to everyone who came out to visit.  We were having so much fun, that we forgot to take pictures with most of our friends and fam.  Oh well, we will do better next time!  Here are some highlights from our fun week!

Here I am at shopping stop number 1 with my new hot pink suitcase...it was definitely needed to take all my loot back to Mexico!

Finally a decent sandwich!  Eric started talking about going to Port of Subs when we boarded our first leg of the flight.  Speaking of the flight, I have a story!!  

So we had one of the worst flights of our lives flying Continental from Houston to Seattle.  So, we board the plane and everyone is sitting there, and the captain comes on and says there's mechanical trouble and we just need to sit still until they get the all clear.  So we all sit for an hour, and then he announces that we all have to get off the plane.  So we get off, and go sit in the terminal for 30 minutes...then they loaded us back on the same broken plane, with no explanation and we were on our way, 2 hours later.  Continental cannot board a plane quickly.  They should take some tips from AeroMexico! Anyway, so we finally get in the air, and the plane is crazy hot inside and stuffy.  I managed to get a little sleep, but at midnight I woke up totally nauseous.  This is weird, because I travel all the time and I never get motion sickness.  I think it was the combo of the late hour, the heat, the weird non-food they serve and the cramped-ness of the plane.  So I leap up and decide to violate my personal policy of never using an airplane bathroom, and scurry to the back of the plane.  Of course, it was occupied, so I waited patiently, trying to focus on something stationary and hold it together.  So, the lady comes out and there's a brief shuffle to get her back in her seat.  I step forward, finally about to take my turn when this flight attendant shoves in front of me (practically pushing me out of the way) and steals the bathroom!!  I could not believe it!!  She stayed in there for 20 minutes!!!  Luckily, I ducked into the men's room and pulled myself together.  Can you believe that witch??  I hate Continental.  I will be avoiding them at all costs.

Anyway, back to the fun!

I have a colleague who swears the best Mexican food is found in the US.  I don't know if I would go that far, but I would say that this burrito (which, though served in a Mexican restaurant is not really Mexican food, as I have never seen a burrito on a menu here) was incredible!

Here is the lone picture I remembered to take with a friend.  Jason and I after a fabulous lunch at my favorite restaurant in Seattle, Peso's.

Hand made cheesecake balls from the Market.  So good!

Look at all that crab...can someone please hand me a fork?

Look at all that fresh produce, available every single day!  So pretty!! Seeing all of this amazing bounty, we could not help ourselves.  We bought up a bunch of fresh ingredient and Eric made...

An amazing planked salmon dinner!!

 

Eric and I in front of Pike Place Market.  See!!  We really were there!!

Of course, we made many stops to my favorite place in the world...Trophy Cupcakes!

I did not personally consume every one of these cupcakes (I kind of wish I had though), but the one in the middle I certainly gobbled up myself.  My favorite cupcake of all time, Neapolitan.

Back in the old neighborhood.

Downtown held some amazing shopportunities.  I really needed that new suitcase when all was said and done.

This ridiculousness is dedicated to our friend Jackie, who introduced everyone to it.  Don't worry, there were four of us working on it.  So good, but so much....

While back in Seattle, we did some tourist things that we never got around to in our 10 years of living there.  We visited EMP, which I must say was a little disappointing.

This sculpture of musical instruments was the most interesting thing I saw here.

The Monorail bursting through EMP...How futuristic!

EMP against the (fairly) blue sky.

The Space Needle, of course.  We did not go up in it.  It is not worth $18 a piece.

Enjoyed a round trip ride on the famous Monorail.

And we enjoyed all of the fish we could get our hands on.  This is the damage after a trip to the rotating sushi bar.  We need one of these in Mexico City pronto!!

Our trip to Seattle was really fun.  Just what we needed!  Looking forward to seeing a lot of you in June in Kettle Falls!

The (Not So Long) Trek Back...

Monday afternoon we headed back to Mexico City, but not before a little more Texan fun!

This is our rental car.  We selected it based on 2 criteria:

Criteria 1: Ugliest car in the lot

Criteria 2: Virginia License Plates

Needless to say, we were the most awesome car operators in all of Houston this fine weekend.

This is a Kolache.  It is apparently a Houston specialty.  This Kolache was not refrigerated, or in anyway safely preserved when we purchased it (and yes, those are egg spilling out).  We suspect that it was the culprit in Eric's later gastrointestinal distress.

Texas is apparently full of bored lawyers.  In fact, one of our new Texas friends was a lawyer...not a bored one though.  Anyway, this was about the 20th clever 1-800 number lawyer ad we saw.  Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of my favorite one 1-800-WASNTME.  Hahaha, it's so funny!!

And the Next Day...

After rising bright and early at 12:30 pm (hey, we stayed up late, and like I said before, we are old now and need our sleep!), we met Johnathan, Krissy and friends for "brunch" (I would call it lunch but they insisted...).  We spent the afternoon strolling through Houston before parting ways until their next visit to Texas!

Lovely downtown Houston.  According to Johnathan these buildings are oil company, oil company, oil company and oil company.

Us with the Winstons in front of a futuristic building whose name escapes me.

And, of course, what visit to Texas is complete without brisket BBQ, cream corn and  some sort of green chile soup stuff?

Home Sweet Home....Almost.

We arrived in Houston, Texas late last night for a weekend of celebration with our friends who usually live in Africa, but happen to be in Houston visiting family, and throwing a fabulous party to celebrate their 1 year wedding anniversary! Now, we have attended the celebration dinner in Tyson's Corner, VA after they married in a courthouse last April, and then their small wedding ceremony in the Virginia countryside late last April (see the photo here), so it was only fitting that we make the hour and 45 minute flight to Houston to help them ring in their first anniversary in style!

It was my first trip back to the States in 6 months, and I sensed a glorious shopportunity was close at hand!  We found a giant mall (everything is bigger in Texas, right?) and shopped away until it was time for the party.  This mall was so huge, it had two Macy's in the same mall, and a hotel built on top of it.  Anyway, back to my story.

The party was really fun, and seeing the Winstons again was great.  We made some new Texan friends, and celebrated well into the wee hours.  We even took some sort of light rail in the middle of the night to get back to our hotel.  Once back at the hotel, the party continued for my friends, but beings that we are old people now (approaching 30 very quickly!) we went to bed...a choice I stand behind!!

Muahahahaha!!  Look at all my American Dollars!!!  All 7 of them!  Rich!!!

What can I say?  Despite their questionable social stance, we cannot resist the Chicken Biscuit.  I think the secret ingredient might be crack....

Us with Johnathan and our new Texan friends, enjoying the party.  I think Johnathan would make an excellent politician one day, just look at that camera ready smile and suit!  This picture may interfere with those plans....because Eric is clearly shady!!

After party time!!  Luckily this is the only picture we took at the after party...because we are smart.

Food & Wine Festival: Ixtapa / Zihuatanejo

This weekend we took the quick 45-minute flight to Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo for the first ever Food & Wine (magazine) festival in Mexico. The cities and beaches were beautiful, and the events were amazing. Celebrity chef, Rick Bayless, winner of Top Chef Masters on Bravo, owner of Frontera Grill, Topolobampo and XOCO in Chicago, and star of Mexico: One Plate at a Time on PBS was the headliner and one of our main reasons for going...although do you really need a good reason to go to a tropical beach resort to be stuffed with delicious wine and Mexican food?

We had dinner on a stone terrace built into the hillside overlook the Pacific Ocean when we arrived at the hotel (Las Brisas, which we highly recommend for any would be visitors), and it was spectacular.

The next morning with headed off to our cooking class, Market to Table, with Rick (yes, we're on a first name basis!)  haha, if only... Anyway, the class was very fun and informative. We learned all about making red chile sauce and a bunch of recipes to develop from the same base sauce for shrimp and lobster, and a few other tips and tricks. The food looked amazing, and we had a little bite afterward.

We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the beach, drinking out of coconuts and swimming before we headed to La Perla for dinner.

The dinner was called 32 Tastes of Mexico (note:  there are 32 states in Mexico, hence the punny name)! It featured chefs from local restaurants that each prepared one or two tasting plates, so we grabbed little bites and glasses of wine and munched our way through the evening. They had tables set up on the beach and there was another cooking demonstration with Rick. The mayor of Ixtapa, and some other government / tourist officials were there too! After dinner we got a cookbook signed and chatted it up with some non-work related Americans (for once!). Overall, it was a really fun evening, and I am looking forward to our next FWF ...that's Food & Wine Festival....I just can't help giving a three letter acronym to everything...it's one of my many new government skills.

The view from our room at dawn...we were too excited to sleep!

 Sleepy hammock time!

 Cooking class with Rick...yes he's holding a lobster!

 Spiny lobster with tomatoes and "mojo de ajo" sauce aka the "bath of garlic"

 Buenos dias!

 A little bite of a sweet corn tamale and a bean and cream tostada...YUM!

 View from the class

 Las Brisas hotel! Wonderful!

 Autumn finally got her "Coco Loco"

 Camarones en mojo de ajo! Shrimp in a garlic bath!

 It's hard to tell, but that's about an eight foot high wave!

 Oops! Too close!

 Sunset

 32 Tastes of Mexico on the beach at La Perla

 This was the best thing we ate all night...
it was a spicy-sweet octopus wonton with an egg-y cake thing.

 I was just a bit taller than the rest of the people in line for the book signing!

'

 Autumn and her "playin' it cool" hands with Rick!

Bienvenidos a El Salvador!

Early in the week of March 12th, I was asked to go work for 12 days in San Salvador, El Salvador.  This was very short notice, but, always up for an adventure, I said yes!  I met some really great people, and had a wonderful experience there.  We worked hard, so I didn't get a chance for a lot of sight-seeing, but here a few pics I did manage to get.

This is the San Salvador Volcano as seen from my hotel room...

More of San Salvador.  My room had a beautiful view!  

This is traditional Salvadoran food.  Pupusas, fried yucca and a Pilsener, my favorite Salvadoran beer.  The pupusas were delicious...it was great to have the pupusa experience in their native land, rather than out of a truck in Virginia!

Finally, after all the work was done, my section took me to dinner at a beautiful restaurant on a volcano.  These gorgeous exotic flowers were in the courtyard.

This is a view of San Salvador from the volcano.  Note:  The haze is not/not pollution!  I asked one of my new Salvadoran friends who passionately explained to me that it was mist and clouds, definitely not pollution!

San Salvador by night.  Que bonita!

Overall, I had a great experience!  Look for another entry soon, as Eric and I are planning a lovely beach weekend!!