What I Ate in Turks & Caicos

I only took a few photos of the food at the resort. Forgive me; I had to see these people throughout the rest of the week, so I didn't want to be that girl. Even though, at heart, I totally am that girl. 

Check out the other WIAWs!

I mentioned that we were really happy with the food, and I'm sorry to say I took photos of the most boring meals. 

Freshly baked whole wheat bread, grilled chicken, pineapple, and cheese

Caesar salad and chocolate-banana tart

Tropical drinks!

One night, we ventured off the resort for a fancy meal at Coco Bistro, a little gem only ten minutes' walk from Club Med. Terry and I had heard that this restaurant would be delicious, so we called for a reservation before leaving California--good thing, too, because 9 pm on our last night was their only open time! 

Luckily, the adventurous walk in the dark to Coco Bistro and the late reservation were absolutely worth it! We LOVED this place! I'm so sad it's in another country. But it's probably best we didn't eat there until the last night; otherwise we would have spent the entire vacation here!

The stunning "decor" was actually very simple: Since the seating was outdoors, a ton of palm trees created an overhead canopy of palm fronds. The lighting created a very romantic atmosphere without feeling stuffy.

Our appetizer: Conch Two Ways--a ceviche and a calamari, plus the most delicious mojito I've ever tasted

Terry's meal: Fresh red snapper, caught that day

My dish: a giant lobster tail

For dessert: Coco Bistro's famous coconut pie

Our sweet waiter offered to take our photo!

From the setting to the service to the food, this night was the best of our trip. We loved everything and absolutely recommend Coco Bistro if you venture to Turks & Caicos!

Turks & Caicos Part II

A few more miscellaneous fun photos from our trip:

Purchased this hat before the trip and the bag because we didn't have a beach tote. I love it!

I also bought this dress before the trip (TJ Maxx!)

We also loved the sunsets.

Little photo session by the pool where I look like I'm wearing a palm tree tiara. 

Did I mention the sunsets?

And Terry's trapeze stunts!!

This looks weird, but he's actually doing a back flip. 

And the catch!

You'll notice I didn't try it. Honestly, I don't have a valid excuse. I am a little afraid of heights, but not that much, so I am just a loser.

A lot of our trip was surprisingly active, too! We walked or jogged on the beach almost every day (beach running is not my forte, but I liked how it worked new muscles!), plus we tackled paddle boarding and kayaking. Talk about core muscles! I loved that we could skip the gym and enjoy the outdoors but still stay active.

Tomorrow I'll share some of our delicious meals from our trip, and then I promise no more Caribbean photos. :-)

As for today, I survived post-break Tuesday. For some reason, I always feel that the students (and perhaps the teacher?) are more out of it and dazed on Tuesday than Monday, especially after a long break. Today didn't feel too terrible, especially since we woke up early to hit the treadmill for a Best Body Boot Camp cardio workout. It's still tough to wake up, but man, does it feel good to be done after work! I even made time to sit on the couch and grade comfortably for an hour or so once I arrived home. 

For dinner, I whipped up Ina's Balsamic-Roasted Brussels Sprouts. Oooohh boy! This seriously simple recipe absolutely floored me. I like Brussels sprouts, but the pancetta and balsamic took the flavor to a new level! If you're iffy on this vegetable, consider trying this recipe. And honestly, it was the balsamic that stole the show, so you could even omit the pancetta without losing too much flavor.

And now we're off to eat some lemon cupcakes, watch House Hunters, and probably fall asleep on the couch. This life makes me happy. 

Are you active on vacation, or do you prefer to take it easy?

Spring Forward

March Madness has ended. Spring Break is over. It seems like a lot of the joys of spring come fairly early in the season, doesn't it? Thankfully we're finding plenty to look forward to in the coming months:

• Our friends Katie and Corey have a baby girl due in the next week or so, and we are all so excited to meet her!
• Terry's birthday, which we haven't planned yet but will hopefully involve a little day or weekend trip
• A visit to see my parents, brother, and sister-in-law
• More killer workouts through Tina's Best Body Boot Camp
• Warmer weather, though today was windy and chilly
• Good movies coming out, especially The Great Gatsby (ahhh I can't wait!)
• Spring cleaning, which will actually happen closer to summer, or during summer, because right now I'm spending all my free time grading and planning

My recent posts have been Turks & Caicos-related, so I thought tonight I'd take a quick break from the tropical magic.

Yesterday we took a hike up in the Brentwood area, fairly close to our home. The full route is actually 8 miles, but we cut it in half and still found it challenging. I liked the path because it offered options at times to take a super steep hill or a more mellow, level path. The trails converged several times, so we could pick our difficulty. 

Sometimes I forget that LA has such natural beauty.

And other miscellany:

Post-hike sandwiches

Mad Men is back! Last night's episode was incredible, as expected.

Made lemon cupcakes!

Hung out with this adorable little guy.

Made a delicious chicken Caesar salad--homemade Caesar dressing, shaved Parmesan, crock pot chicken, and homemade bread

Tonight's meal: seasoned talapia from Whole Foods (already prepped--purchased from the incredible seafood bar there), homemade guac, black beans, Manchego cheese, Greek yogurt, and corn tortillas

And that catches us up! Today was a little crazy getting back into the swing of things at work, so I'm looking forward to a morning workout and a less hectic day tomorrow.

In case you missed it, here are the posts I published last week while on vacation:

• Saving for Vacation
• Vegetable Lasagna Recipe
• Beach Abs Timed Circuit

Hope you find something you like!

What's your favorite aspect of spring?

Turks & Caicos Part I

Terry and I left on Friday night/Saturday morning on a red eye out to Philadelphia, then on to Providenciales, Turks & Caicos. We booked our travel through a travel agent, and she took care of making sure we had a transfer to the resort, which made life super easy.

This view also made life easy

We ended up choosing to stay at Club Med Turkoise. We had never stayed at a Club Med before, but my friend Amanda was at this resort just a few years ago and said she had a great time. We ended up being pleasantly surprised by the food, location, and staff, but the rooms were disappointing. 

Bright, colorful buildings

A few little kittens hanging around

Right on the beach

Gorgeous landscaping

Nice-sized rooms, but old and not super clean

Nice pool, though we chose to spend our lounging time out at the beach

View from the hallway to our room (sadly, our actual room window looked out onto a courtyard instead of the beautiful beach)

We spent a lot of our time reading and relaxing on the beach the first day, though we made sure to take a long walk down the beach to check out the rest of the resorts.

That first day was WINDY! This is me fighting the wind. Obviously.

We also spotted a big crab!

The second and third days, Terry enjoyed some time off the resort to dive with Flamingo Divers. They were recommended to him by some dive friends, and he said they were awesome. A big part of our desire to travel to Turks & Caicos was for Terry to check out the diving, so I'm thrilled he had such a great time. He met a few people, saw some incredible fish and a few sharks, and added four dives to his log book!

Back at the resort, I used the time to myself to read, read, and read. I finished four books over the course of our trip, Julia's Cats, Horns by Joe Hil (not my typical leisure reading, but we chose it for our little book club), Summer by Edith Wharton, and Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner. All were great in their own ways, but honestly I was just thrilled to be reading on a gorgeous beach.

I also treated myself to a massage, which was pretty good and a great way to sink even deeper into my week long relaxation. 

When Terry returned from his dive trips each day, we grabbed a bite to eat and then either walked on the beach, read, or paddle boarded. We also took time each evening to relax in the room, get ready for dinner, and watch some Downton Abbey, which we brought with us. 

The dinners at Club Med--and the food in general--was on par with that of cruises we've been on before. Everything was buffet-style, and the choices provided plenty of variety. Each night had a theme--Italian, Island, Asian Fusion, French, Mexican, etc.--and our favorite was Island (Conch fritters, crab puffs, conch ceviche...yum!). They also encouraged clothing themes, but no one really followed those (they were super random, like "Pink and White" night and "Cappuccino Night"--what?). 

Our only complaint about the meals was that the tables were almost all large tables of about eight seats, so you were generally expected to sit with other people. I appreciated that they encouraged people to get to know each other, but there were times when we really wanted to just enjoy a meal the two of us and couldn't. A lot of the times, other people didn't seem to want to chat either, so it ended up being an awkward experience. Plus, since there is no set time for meals, some people were just sitting down to eat as you were finishing, so it felt a little uncomfortable getting up and walking away as they began eating. 

And drinks. Since it's an all-inclusive resort, we anticipated that the drinks wouldn't be particularly strong, but WOW--talk about weak! We stuck to the local beer, which was actually really good and came in both lager and amber brews, as well as daiquiris, pina coladas, and rum punch. We almost never tasted the alcohol in any of the drinks, but I suppose we shouldn't have been too surprised. 

Overall, the accommodations and resort were about what we expected. Thankfully the food was quite tasty and the location couldn't have been better. We also happened to choose a time when not very many people were at the resort, so we never had trouble finding a lounge chair or getting a (very mellow) drink.

I'll be back to share some of the island activities, plus our workouts and a night off the resort!

Back from Paradise

Despite our best efforts, Terry and I are terribly jet lagged today, so my grand return to the blogging stage will be a quick one. Rather than recapping our trip, let's just focus on yesterday and today.

We left the resort after a delicious last breakfast in paradise and enjoyed an uneventful flight from Turks & Caicos to Charlotte, NC. Unfortunately, our layover--only 90 minutes to begin with--became shorter with a late landing and a ridiculous security line after Customs. By the time I made it through the line, we had about 15 minutes before takeoff, and Terry was stuck because his bag needed to go through the X-ray again. So what to do?

Obviously: Sprint through the airport. I swear, you think you're in good shape until you have to lug two carry on bags through two concourses as fast as possible. The flip flops didn't help. But I made it to the gate, where they were literally announcing the final boarding call. Mercifully, they waited for Terry, who also dashed to the gate, and we took our seats while a fellow passenger made the brilliant (to be read sarcastically) observation: "Well, those are two people who look like they almost missed their flight." Duh, dude.

(Source)

You'll notice something pretty crucial here: Our meals for the day included that breakfast at 9:30, a Lara bar at noon (which we shared), and a second shared Lara bar at about 6 pm. That is NOT enough food. But thankfully planes sell food now, right?

Yeah, except when they run out of meals. We ate Chex Mix for dinner.

(Source)

By the time we landed in LA, the day had consisted of thirteen hours of airports, planes, running through airports, standing in lines for security, and waiting for luggage. The much-needed trip to In-N-Out devoured in the living room made the night tolerable. We finally got to sleep around 11 PST, but our hopes of sleeping in diminished around 5 am when we both resigned to being awake.

Today felt like an extension of our awesome vacation. We worked out--Tina's Best Body Boot Camp started while we were away so I'm playing catch up--plowed through some chores and errands, and baked Ina's Chocolate Chunk Blondies. Tonight we visited some friends and their sweet four-month-old baby. Honestly, this child is beyond adorable. It was so fun to catch up and hear about parenthood. They're doing a great job!

I'm so grateful that we scheduled our trip to end well before the end of spring break. Three days off to unpack, grocery shop, plan meals, and prep for the week. Tomorrow I'll be back to share photos of our little getaway!

A little sneak preview

What's your best (worst) travel story? Honestly, yesterday was a breeze compared to the flight home from London when I'd been up all night with food poisoning. I'll take sprinting through the terminal over that nausea any day!

Saving for a Vacation

As you know, Terry and I are currently soaking up the sun in Turks & Caicos. Last year, we took a Caribbean cruise, and the year before that we went to Europe twice!

Miami, 2012

London, 2011

Paris, 2011

The truth is, though, we don't just hop on a plane to these exotic places without a thought. And we want to be able to make small trips along the way: wine tasting, We have spent years working out our finances and figuring out how to live the life we want to live without breaking the bank.

Saving for Vacation and Budget-Friendly Travel

Have a goal in mind. If you’re not sure of the location, at least have some sort of an idea of how long of a trip you plan to take, how fancy vs. laid back you want it to be, how much you plan to do while you’re there. But setting a goal for a week-long vacation in Europe next summer creates a more specific idea for you of how to get there.

Shoot for travel within a year. Terry and I have tons of dream destinations in mind for future trips: Australia, New York/Boston, a road trip across the U.S. But with time and budget constraints, some places will have to wait. We choose based on what we can do in a reasonable amount of time. Setting a dream vacation for five years from now is too far; we set goals we can accomplish in six months or a year.

Prioritize. Consider what’s most important, and if you want to make a trip happen, figure out where you can cut back. Maybe save that big screen TV for next year. Eat out less often and work out from home instead of at a gym, wait for movies to come out on Netflix instead of going to the theater.. If you find little ways to cut back here and there you’ll be able to afford the vacation you want.

Save your time off, too! If your work limits your time off, plan in advance and do your best to avoid taking unnecessary vacation days. We usually travel when I have breaks during school, of course, and Terry is diligent about not taking days off unless absolutely necessary.

Start saving! It’s never too early to start a little fund for your trips! We have set up a separate account with our bank that allows us to pull money out of our checking each week or month to set aside for luxuries. Even $10 per week is $520 per year! That’s enough for a long weekend road trip or a flight to visit friends.

Need some motivation? Read travel blogs, research your dream vacation(s), and decide where you want to go. Then print out a photo and stick it on your fridge. Remind yourself of that goal whenever you think you might need a little push to save more!

Then, once you’ve decided on your trip…

Consider your options. Terry and I travel from LA to the Bay Area several times per year, and we really save a lot of money by driving instead of flying. But of course we add another hour or so to our travels that way. As far as hotels, consider staying at local inns or bed and breakfasts instead of fancy brand name spots. As much as we love Hilton, we haven’t yet found a good deal on one abroad.

Research ahead of time for the best deals. This part is daunting. The countless travel websites out there make personal research possible but also overwhelming. We had a blast researching for Europe but ultimately contacted a travel agent to help us with advice and bookings. Her prices were far better than what we were able to find! Consider a travel agent especially if you are traveling abroad or taking a cruise; they make the whole thing much more manageable!

Plan ahead to avoid costly fees. Pack smart and bring from home what you know you’ll need. There are usually plenty of necessities wherever you travel, but you can save by not forgetting your essentials (contact solution, reading glasses, camera batteries, cell phone chargers, etc.).

Bring snacks for travel day and/or your hotel. Airports have huge mark ups on their food! Skip the lines and stress and salty foods and bring your own snacks for travel days. This time around, I packed healthy oatmeal cookies (basically a breakfast cookie), strawberries and pineapple (not allowed to bring into another country, but we ate it before leaving the U.S.), Lara bars, and KIND bars. These foods aren’t the most nutritionally dense, but they prevent us from skipping meals or having to pay way more than necessary.

Eat like a local. Especially if you’re staying somewhere for more than a few days, consider a grocery trip at the beginning of the week to cover breakfasts and even some lunches. I’m all about eating the local cuisine when I travel, but we save a good deal of money when we stick to dinners out! My mom also always brings appetizers (cheese, crackers, salami, etc.) for the hotel room instead of ordering a first course at the restaurant.

Bring your own alcohol. Whenever you can, this tip obviously cuts down a lot of the overhead from adult beverages. Just be aware of corkage fees!

What is your dream destination? Any tips for saving for travel?

Vegetable Lasagna

I mentioned it last week, but this recipe was one of our favorites during our no-meat Lent. Of course, it would also be delicious with a meat sauce in place of the marinara, so feel free to add the meat in--just keep the veggies, too!

Vegetable Lasagna

Serves 6-12, depending on your serving sizes. I like a small serving (1/12 of a casserole) for lunch, but for dinner I might eat two of those or serve a salad on the side.

Ingredients

• 1 large or 2 small eggplants
• 2 large or 3 medium zucchini
• Salt, pepper, and olive oil, to taste
• 12-18 ounces fresh spinach
• 1 egg
• 15 ounces ricotta cheese
• 16 ounces mozzarella cheese (the “log” form is ideal)
• 10 whole wheat lasagna noodles
• 3 cups of your favorite marinara sauce

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Fill up a large, shallow bowl or casserole dish with very warm water and place the noodles in the water. Let them sit for about 20 minutes while you prep the rest (this way they won’t get soggy in the lasagna).

Meanwhile, slice your zucchini crosswise (about ½-inch slices), and slice your eggplant crosswise in ½-inch or ¾-inch slices. Spread the eggplant on a large baking sheet (or two), brush lightly with olive oil on both sides, sprinkle with salt and pepper (to taste), and roast at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned but not soggy.

While the eggplant roasts, toss your zucchini with olive oil, salt, and pepper (I placed the slices in a Ziploc and shook the whole thing up), then spread on another baking sheet. (To reduce dishes, you can wait until the eggplant is done and then use the same sheet, but I like to let the eggplant cool on its baking sheet to avoid it getting soggy.) Roast the zucchini for about 5-7 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Next up: wilt the spinach. This step is super simple. Just throw the spinach by big handfuls into a large pan over medium heat, tossing occasionally until wilted. Keep adding more spinach as it cooks down. Let cool slightly.

Then mix up your ricotta mixture. Throw the ricotta, egg, and spinach into a medium bowl, mix well, and set aside.

Now it’s time to assemble! Be sure to grate your mozzarella if needed, then grease your 9x13 casserole dish with olive oil. For the layers, bottom to top:

• 1/2  cup (approx.) of marinara on the bottom of the dish, spread evenly
• Layer of half the eggplant slices (can be slightly overlapping, and some parts may not be covered)
• Layer of half the zucchini slices
• Layer of 5 noodles (feel free to break some up as necessary; no one will notice)
• Layer of half the ricotta/spinach mixture
• Layer of half the mozzarella
• Layer of about 1 cup of marinara sauce
• Then repeat: rest of the eggplant, rest of the zucchini, 5 more noodles, rest of the ricotta
• Last step: spread the last of the marinara over the ricotta, then sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella on top!

You can freeze at this point, save for the next day in the fridge, or cook right away. Bake covered for 15-20 minutes, then remove the foil/lid for about 15-20 minutes. For an extra treat, broil the lasagna for the last 5 minutes of cooking.

I recommend a great red wine with this dish, and of course a delicious Caesar salad on the side wouldn’t hurt!