Anchors away!

My friend Jenn lit a little fire under my tail to post some pictures from our post-graduation celebratory cruise. I'm only 3 months behind. That's not so bad, right?

We started in San Juan and then sailed to Curacao, Aruba, Dominica, and St. Thomas. Since Andre is not much of a beach person, and I get sunburned just looking at the beach, we decided to look for other types of excursions for our island stops.


In Curacao (ok, I know there's supposed to be a little comma-thing under the second c, but I can't figure out how to do that on my American keyboard) we went for a mountain bike tour of the island. It was incredibly beautiful and included stops at an old fort and a sanitorium which was a hospital of sorts built well outside of town and oriented so that the wind blew into the building from the island side and out the windows to sea to prevent the spread of TB.


For some reason, Andre really liked this old cannon. I pretended not to know him while he was doing this.

In Aruba, my sweet sweet husband agreed to go horseback riding along the beach with me so that I could enjoy one of my most favorite pasttimes. Poor Andre and his poor horse. For some reason, the ranch decided to give Andre the smallest horse, and his legs were almost dragging the ground! We also found the hotel and beach where we stayed on our honeymoon, and so went back and spent about an hour on the beach there. No worries, though--we stayed tucked under a little thatched umbrella so that the dangerous rays couldn't reach me as easily!

Dominica was gorgeous! All green and mountainous. We took a van ride way up into the mountains for an authentic cooking experience in the home of a local family. We made fish stew, coconut-coated fried plantains, coconut rice, tropical fruit salad, and an incredible spiced rum pumpkin drink. Most of the fruit, vegetables, and herbs came from the backyard.

Andre and Liz, the family's chef. He needed a little assistance scraping all the tomato out.

Slicing plantains. Riveting, I know.

Proof that he's not just a pretty face.


Cooking in the outdoor kitchen. I was kinda nervous because we were given the task of frying the plantains, and this chica doesn't really fry stuff. They turned out pretty good, though.

Pumpkin juice!!! I have a whole new appreciation for Harry Potter's love of this drink.

One last comment on the cooking experience. If you are thinking about signing up for one of these, and perhaps work in a Caribbean or Mexican restaurant, and think you know better than the chef teaching you her way of preparing a dish, and you can't keep your mouth shut, please rethink your decision to come along. Just sayin'.



Our time in St. Thomas was spent on a 40-ft racing yacht, learning the different roles and racing with a second yacht. Andre was a superb grinder, and I pulled on some ropes. We actually have some really great pictures of this. Unfortunately, they are all on a jump drive in Andre's office. Maybe I'll get them uploaded next month.

Our "cup" for winning the regatta. We let the other people onboard keep it, since the entire rest of the group (including the other yacht) was an extended family traveling together.

We did sign it, though. I again had to pretend not to know Andre.

We had a really great time on the ship, too. Lots of relaxing. We read six books between the two of us, and made it to the gym a couple times, too. I found a great hidden deck at the front of the ship that was perfect for an afternoon nap. And the food was pretty great too. I may or may not have ordered multiple desserts some nights. Okay, I absolutely did.

Escargot. Glad I tried it. Once was enough.

Andre's new friend :)

We went to a mystery dinner theatre one evening, and this "woman" just loved Dre! She pulled him up out of the audience during the hors d'oeurves/plot set-up part of the show and had him help her out with some props, and then came around and hugged on him during dinner. Can you tell how much he loves it?!

Okay, Jenn, I did it!

Rosie Toes

The only known surviving video from girls' weekend at Kiawah Island.

Home-grown is so much better

Not even gonna say anything about not posting in ages. Not. a. thing.

This winter when I was home visiting my parents I happened to pick up and browse through a seed catalog and it got me thinking. My grandparents have planted a garden for as long as I remember; my dad often planted small ones while we were growing up and now plants a large one every year; my sister and brother-in-law have been planting for several years. Why not me?

Maybe because Andre and I live in a townhouse with a concrete patio for a "backyard" and pine straw-covered flower beds for a front yard. What is a farm-girl-at-heart to do?

A pot garden! Wait. Pots garden? Container garden!

My first ever produce. One beautifully ripe strawberry. Andre and I split it for dessert. Or maybe for a dessert garnish.

My strawberry vs. Dole's. Smaller but 0h-so-much sweeter!

What I predict will be the first blueberry to ripen. We had lots of flowers at first without any fruiting, but that's starting to change!

The second tomato. Sadly, the first tomato fruit succombed to a tragic accident when its stalk was completely severed during an attempt to prove to Andre that we did, in fact, have a tomato on the way.

The Windowsill o' Herbs. They are, from L-->R, rosemary, thai basil, german thyme, chives, sweet basil, and more rosemary.

I also have a couple different kinds of peppers that are starting to show promise. The first flower has been spotted, and I will be keeping a close eye (and a much gentler hand) on the situation. I am also keeping a running tally of the produce picked and eaten--so far, we've had 7 strawberries and 0 anything else. It's still early.