An Ode to All-Inclusives

I never thought I would be the one to vacation in an all-inclusive resort, but now that I have given it a go I have to say that I highly recommend them. Well obviously it depends where you stay and when, but the concept of going somewhere to simply relax and not worry about anything is quite necessary from time to time. Don't get me wrong, I could certainly not become convinced to only go on those types of vacations, but I'd say every so often it's a must.

We stayed in Dreams, Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, and loved it. It really is a well run beautiful place, and the service was unbelievable. All rooms have ocean views and there are no reservation requirements to have dinner at the specialty restaurants. The food was decidedly good and beautifully presented. James and I were able to go and sit on the beach, drink yummy sugary frozen drinks, eat, swim and generally do a whole lot of nothing. Bliss. The advantage of the Dreams resort is the private beach; many other resorts are layed out on a strip with one beach going into the next. It never felt overcrowded though we were there at a busy time, and we were always able to get a little hut for beach shade. In case you can't get enough to eat in the 5 restaurants they also include the 24hour room service in the package. If there is one thing that I would do differently it is to omit the additional service from the airport to the hotel and back. I think we paid a ridiculous $76 for both of us, and found out that a taxi ride from the airport isn't normally much more than $10. Of course never having been, we were uncertain what other options were available - now we know and we are making sure others know!

A few favorites during our 5 night stay:

Favorite employee - Gaby - front desk

Favorite frozen drink - Passion Punch (non alcoholic naturlich!)

Favorite dinner: sea bass from Oceana restaurant or pesto linguine with duck at Portofino

Favorite beach spot: South side close to the old tower - it's a little quieter

Favorite pool: infinite pool and Jacuzzi. It helps that it's adults only there!

Favorite breakfast choice: mini waffles with nutella and whipped cream

Best entertainment: circus night - the rest was actually quite bad but we didn't care since we had plenty to keep us busy.

There's more I'm sure but for now that's enough. So if you've been hankering for a getaway, check it out...

Naw Ruz - A time to explore eating!

So this year like most, Naw Ruz came with the sudden urge to eat things one normally isn't interested in - preferable of course, during the day, but any time will do! James and I have begun a more adventurous exploration of New York food as our new year resolution (not really a discussed thing, but anyway). I think we have been sort of conservative on that front simply because we don't spend much time in Manhattan. However thanks to our pal Tracy, we now have a deck of 52 places in Manhattan to have a go at in the next year. Can it be done? I'm not certain since we got a late start, but so far we have tried 2.

On the eve of Naw Ruz we chose to dine with Matt and Karen at a little slip of a place on the lower east side. O.G. stands for Oriental Grill, I read. As a food critic I would say I probably wouldn't rush back, though I must say I did enjoy the food. Atmosphere was nice, waiter a bit nuts, but humorous enough. I would say the dumplings were the highlight. We tried Chicken and mango and a very interesting spinach and goat cheese. If you are offered the Tuna - don't. It wasn't good. However, the soon to be extinct (Karen gave me a lecture before ordering it) sea bass was quite delicious and had a very interesting coconut sauce around it. Yes to the chocolate spice dessert thing too.

Our second foray - in the same week even! - was the City Crab. Right in the Union Square area it seems a safe place to order seafood as it boasts it comes in fresh from the fish market each day (shouldn't that be a given?). A little pricier but hey, it is seafood, it was GOOD. We enjoyed cold crab for an appetizer but the true piece De resistance had to be my Red Snapper wrapped with smoked bacon with stewed apple slices on top, served with Yukon potatoes and very tasty, not over cooked string beans. What a fine combination! It's kind of a weird place inside - surprisingly large and during this sat afternoon a Jazz band was playing downstairs. However, as we were upstairs we were simultaneously hearing Spanish music. Not sure what that was about. Didn't get to dessert but they did look good....

We have also discovered two new things about bugsy. She loves sharp cheddar cheese, and she would eat crepes if she could only figure out how. This picture below is before she got it on the floor. From there, without the fold in the crepe she just couldn't find an end to pick it back up with!

Now that the weather is changing I am ready to come out of hibernation a bit more. Finally! And in just a weeks time I will be flying to Mexico. Life is good.

Electronic heaven

Today I became a little techie. Well not really. But I was gutsy enough to try and open up my own DVD player to extract a stuck DVD. Mind you there was some motivation behind it knowing that I certainly didn't want to pay $22 to Blockbuster just because I couldn't return it in time, so this is an example of how incentives work. Normally I'm too nervous to do anything to electrical equipment. My idea is immediately hand it over to a professional who can say this, that, and the other thing and after a fairly hefty payment on my end, the appliance is (hopefully) fixed. Today I did not fix my DVD player but I felt almost like I could. I had a mini screw driver and a credit card and felt all set.
I've dreamt of knowing more about things that confound me but truth be told, I'm not too interested. I know there are Dummies guide to everything these days and I could just pick up a book and read about it, but I really just don't want to. Carburetor shmarborator. Who cares if the gasket is blown or the mother board is on the fritz? Well actually I do care, but I don't care to know what to do about it. Unfortunately (and this is solely my perspective of the universe) the most conniving and corrupt people run the repair shops for electronics as well as cars. How many of us take the car in for something minor and don't get it back before we've forked out $700. (and isn't it strange how it's always somewhere around that number?). And then if that's not bad enough suddenly 2 months later you hear something else rattling under the hood.
Right now we are dealing with a computer that frequently tells us it won't start because the CPU fan isn't working. Fabulous. we just force start it anyway. I can't take it in because in the past we brought it in for that, among other issues, and guess what? it still is happening despite us having a brand new mother board, a brand new screen, a new CD and DVD and floppy drive and who knows what else! It's unreal. Of course that was all under the warranty. Now that it's expired I'm not even trying to find out how much they'll charge...!
If electronic heaven exists its a place where things fix themselves, grease their own joints and know exactly when to upgrade their software and update their anti virus programs.

Malcontent in the month of Feb

It's a rather dreary February day and besides maybe March, this has to be one of my least favorite months. I blame days like today. You look outside and there's a rather greyish white sheet hanging in the sky. Everything else in this city is a matching shade of dirty or just happens to be brown. Nothing looks fresh or clean, and those are two of my favorite adjectives. Oh well, no sense in me complaining, it isn't exactly going to change anything!

So I shall focus on the good bits. Like the fact that right now as I sit here, Bugs is sleeping underneath my duvet and here's the proof.

We had a wonderful Oscar and Yummy Food Party sunday night. (is it possible to have a party without food?) With a menu that included: Lasagne, Spinach salad with strawberry dressing, Tracy's rib recipe (If I said tracy's ribs it would give an entirely different meaning!), and the most outrageously richly potent flourless chocolate cake. (also made by Tracy) Yum. Swallowed down with swigs of San Pele and you're looking and one content cookie! Actually make that 5 contented cookies. That's practically a tray.

This must have been when James came up for air!

Uh, is this absolutely necessary?

And I guess this is after the fact. Please note that Karen did not sample the ribs!So as we head into March, into the Fast and hopefully into Spring, I will be on the look out for the first leaf buds, that change in the wind and the smell of earth. Bring it on.

For your amusement only

When this much time goes by and I still haven't found time to write anything serious you know there's trouble. So I figured laughter is the solution to all things and will hopefully embarrass myself enough to make someone laugh. Or such is my goal. Please do not pass on to future potential clients and/or employers!

You might call us your average family. Valentine's day turned out to be more than James bargained for. I was all Tadiq eyes for him...

Then again maybe that wasn't sparkling grape juice at all!

And of course the moment we had our backs to her, Bugsy decided that parental guidance wasn't necessary for the avid TV watcher.

Investments? What investments!?

I am finally starting to feel my age because I have started to be quite serious about investing in a future. For the past few years I have pretty much brushed all that talk off thinking: "I'm just getting started here, why worry about that stuff?" And now I am starting to see a few reasons.

In my independent self-employed state, I have no 401K, no retirement funds matched by someone etc. Quite frankly it's scary. It's scary to think that I was happy to sit back and not worry about it because I'd have time and James. But not to be morbid, but things can change suddenly and then what? Any security through James is not necessarily security for me. We have to have a better plan.

Unfortunately, I hate research and reading things that aren't so clear and desperately wish I had a financial consultant who really didn't want my money but just wanted to help me out, so that I could have a clue about what to do. It's in the overwhelming stage right now where I know a few terms here and there and that's about it. Roth IRA, traditional IRA, CD's, Mutual Funds, Stocks. I sort of get a basic picture but then I don't know what to do with it. Who knows this stuff and isn't a stock broker or something equivalent in the investment world? I'm on the look out for a savvy investor to hook me up with some good advice and some high earning something or other. I don't want to wake up one day with $26.50 in a checking account and nothing else to my name. so this is what it's like to be 26. Joy.

Random thought of the day: who invented eeesht? And what does it have to do with a chin? And why does it translate to guss, bounce, shneide and who knows what else? (if this looks like a foreign language to you, you probably did not grow up in Zimbabwe...)

On being an Aunt and Cat owner

I'm going to be an Aunt! And not just that, but I'm going to be the aunt of a cheeky little Boy! I don't know if I could be more excited or thrilled about a sister of mine having a child. In fact I keep thinking how it's even better than having one of my own right now since I don't exactly feel up to the full time task. Perhaps it will be inspirational though, who knows. I have come to realize, through the comments from other people, just how much I can blab on about my cat. So if it's so easy to fall in love and be fascinated with the sweet and naughty things a cat can do, I'm guessing that more can be said about a child that is your own flesh and blood. I only hope that I will get to see the tyke through many pics and videos since for now we have to be so far away.

Please mum, may I have some more?!