Category: Family Travel

Thanksgiving, It’s all about the food….and the family…and friends…and……

November 30, 2010

Just back from a Thanksgiving trip to my brother’s in Nashville. Great city, great company. Love visiting them. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, my brother hit the jackpot when he met his wife, Gina. In fact I said exactly that last year, when I wrote about the Thanksgiving 2009 trip here. The confirmed bachelor is now married, and a father. Last year my nephew was a newborn, this year a new walker.

Adding to the enjoyment, Gina’s aunt is a great hostess – and from day one has welcomed us as extended family into her gatherings. For most of these gatherings, we are in charge of bringing the drinks – beer, wine, a bit of spirits. For the Thanksgiving feast, Jeff and Gina do prepare quite a bit of the food. Last year I did my part entertaining 2 week old Jack while his parents cooked, this year, kiddo had that duty….providing me an opportunity to help with the cooking.

Preparations began Wednesday evening and continued through Thursday morning with an eye on our 1 pm deadline. Thursday morning found four of us in the kitchen, and we quickly developed almost a dance…weaving between each other, passing ingredients, stirring while another measured, one manning the sink – washing the dishes. Lots of mumbling under our breaths, reading the recipe’s next steps, thinking about what we needed next.

I’d suggested to Gina that we do the Roasted Brussel Sprouts with pomegranate I’d seen on the Thanksgiving edition of Throwdown when Bobby Flay took on one of my favorite bloggers, Pioneer Woman. Gina put me in charge of making this dish. Highly recommend. Very highly recommend this dish. Even folks who think they don’t like brussel sprouts will love it. As delicious as it is beautiful.

Also on the menu was a homemade version of the classic green bean casserole. Created without a single can or bit of processed food. the best green bean casserole I’ve ever tasted, and tons of fun to make. From sauteeing the fresh mushrooms to creating my own onion straws. So good, so worth the effort.

Gina and Jeff (with the help of her young cousin) made a fabulous pumpkin cheesecake- which had all of us licking the bowl. The bourbon laced sauce really, uh, topped the cake.

When the cooking was done, it took two cars to load up all the goodies and head to Gina’s aunt’s house for our feast. (Yep, plenty of my fav, Blue Moon)

We started with appetizers of artisan cheeses, homemade pumpkin hummus and babaganoush, spinach artichoke dip and lots of crackers and veggies to dip them with.

Then quickly moved onto the main course which even my little nephew loved!

After dinner, in a slight food coma, we all retired to the family room. Some watched the football game. Though electronics also came into play – folks in the same room texting each other, “Angry birds” being played simultaneously on the iPad, an iPod and an iPhone. Even the little ones got in on the fun.

Through it all, I was very impressed with kiddo and how good he did with his cousin. Makes me proud to be his mom.

My kinda town…………

October 17, 2010

I started the summer with the intention to once again chronicle Chicago’s street planting. Knew I’d be in the city at least once a month. The plan started strong the first week of June, when I spent an enjoyable hour or two with MrBrownThumb wandering the Lurie Garden and the other public spaces between Michigan Avenue and Columbus drive. The salvia at the Lurie Garden was stunning, the annual/tropical beds along Michigan Avenue were recently planted as was the Art on the Farm potager garden.

I was back the first week of July. Took tons of pictures, but never got around to downloading the pictures from camera to computer. Back again the first weekend of August for the Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon. The annual/tropical beds wre now well developed, the Lurie Garden had shifted to coneflowers, and the Art on the Farm garden was ready for harvest. However, the weekend turned into an electronics nightmare. Started with dropping my phone in, uh, water at the race expo, then lost my camera not once but twice. Unfortunately, only recovered it once. Gone were the July and August planting updates (and sadly, shots of cool “destruction” along Wacker at the Transformers 3 film set). It did give me an excuse to get one of those cool new waterproof cameras, a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX5, but that’s another story.

There was one more trip to end the summer. My favorite trip of them all…Labor Day weekend in the city with the boys (hubby and son). The weather was perfect for exploring the city. We rode down from Milwaukee via Amtrak; dropped our bags off at the hotel, and began our city adventure with a river and lake cruise using the Wendella line. Someday I’ll do the Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise, but first wanted to introduce kiddo to Wendella. I remember doing this tour with my Girl Scout troop – at about the same age. Sill a great tour.

Kiddo has come to love walking around the city and on this trip we also introduced him to using public transportation, the el, the subway, city buses.

He’d seen a story on Travel Channel about a place in Wicker Park called “I Cream”. This was his must see of the trip. Very cool concept – pick your own flavors, colors, add-ins and they add it to the ice cream or frozen yogurt base. The liquid, not to the already frozen ice cream. Then use liquid nitrogen to make your creation in front of your eyes. Loved it.

Had to introduce kiddo to Chicago at night. Both walking around the streets and hitting a performance by the Blue Man Group. A visit to the fire station at Illinois and Dearborn was a pleasant surprise, the friendly firefighters not only are great city ambassadors, but let kiddo climb in the trucks.

The clear skies made a trip up to the Willis Tower a must see. We weren’t the only ones with that idea. Nearly 90 minute wait. Strongly recommend pre-purchasing the City Pass if you plan on doing two or more museums plus either John Hancock or Willis Tower. Not only will you either break even or save $$$, you get a fastpass to the top. The new glass cubes that stick out of the observation deck are a bit freaky. But of course we had to try them.

A weekend in Chicago wouldn’t be complete without brunch at our favorite place – Yolk. We originally discovered the N. Wells St location on a trip for kiddo’s gymnastic meet at UI-C. On our half marathon weekend, we stumbled upon the S. Michigan Ave. Location. That was the one we hit this trip (love the orange bread french toast!). Also gave us a chance to visit the torsos across the street – where kiddo did a pretty good imitation of the sculpture..

Spent our last afternoon at the Museum of Science and Industry. A childhood favorite of mine, and now my son’s. Spent quite a bit of time in the Smart House exhibit.

Hit the coal mine first to avoid the crowds – and ended up with a three person, personal tour, saw the Hubble movie at the Imax, found the Poop to Power exhibit amusing, the submarine tour well worth the extra charge, and the interactive screens are tons of fun.

All and all a great family weekend. Had a slight melancholy moment as we entered Union Station to take the Amtrak back to Milwaukee. My foursquare check-in said, “And with this summer comes to a close”.

Of course with every closed door, God opens a window……..so know we’ll have more adventures ahead.

Continuing a childhood tradition….

August 15, 2010

Growing up midway between Chicago and Milwaukee gave us the option of taking advantage of what both cities had to offer. The Milwaukee Zoo, Christmas window shopping on State Street, and in August, the Wisconsin State Fair. Now that we live in the Milwaukee area, I am able to continue this tradition with my son. We’re not big ride people, choosing instead to skip the midway and focus on the barns, the exhibits – and of course the food.

At least the traditional Wisconsin state fair food….the roasted corn and the cream puffs. The chocolate covered bacon, deep fried Milky Ways or deep fried Oreos, just aren’t calling our names. In fact, if you asked the kiddo, he’d tell you that deep fried Oreos sound like one of the grossest things *ever*.

As we toured the animal barns, we noticed these container groups, and living wall.

There are a couple of “rides” that we can’t miss, the Giant slide and the sky ride. First up was the slide. Mom skipped it this year, but kiddo says next year, I must do it. And I will. To ride, you grab a burlap “potao sack”, climb a ton of stairs to the top (getting more nervous with each step), and then fly down!

From there a quick trip through the Wisconsin Products building, and a bit of Cedar Crest ice cream. We fell in love with Cedar Crest while living in southwestern Il. About 15 miles east of downtown St Louis, you’ll find the town of Lebanon, IL. On Main Street is Dr. Jazz Soda Fountain. Oh how, we miss Dr. Jazz (and its owner, Paul). But we still can have the ice cream…in fact this reminds me that we owe Paul a picture of us in front of the cow statue at the Cedar Crest factory up in Manitowoc , WI.

Next up the sky glider. No trip to the fair (or Summerfest for that matter) is complete without a ride on the sky glider. Kiddo and I love it – hubby not so much, in fact I suspect avoiding this ride was the reason behind needing to stay home and cut the grass. Great views of the fair from up here – no doubt we’re in Milwaukee, home of the great beers of MillerCoors!

Perhaps the best part of the sky glider is where you end up……

Kiddo was getting tired, so we grabbed a box to go…because no trip to the fair would be complete without the cream puffs. Even have one for Mom when she arrives tomorrow.

Mi Mexican Casa

March 23, 2010

There’s times I think I work to support my vacation habit. I come about it honestly, my parents were great travelers, and my mom still is- just returning from a cruise through the Panama Canal. As a child we traveled a lot – cross country to California, toured most of the west, the southeast. I am nearly always dreaming of my next trip. I keep a count up of last time I was at Disney, or snorkeled/scuba-ed, and countdowns to next trips on my facebook page. Friends comment on how often we take trips. My timeshare weeks and points allow us to go to some incredible paces – this trip was no exception.

The latest trip was to one of my favorite beach destinations, Playa del Carmen, Mexico, on the Yucatan Peninsula about 45 miles south of Cancun. This time we didn’t trade a timeshare week, but instead purchased a $200 “Extra Vacation” from RCI for a 2 bedroom unit at Hacienda Tres Rios. Of course, we still had to pay the all-inclusive fees, but overall for considerably less than it would cost to book this resort through a travel agent.

Loved Tres Rios. Highly recommend. Wish we could have spent more time. If you go, try to do the bike tour and the coati (snorkel) tours early in the week, just to give you a good feel for the resort. After that you can check out bikes, grab kayaks, and swim the cenotes at your leisure.

The Resort:
Hacienda Tres Rios bills themselves as a luxury, all-inclusive, eco-friendly, “green” resort, spa and nature park. As stated on their website, they are “at the forefront of sustainable tourism development, creating amazing guest experiences while protecting the region’s natural beauty and culture”. Loved the nature park and all the included activities. We biked through the jungle to the cenotes,

Snorkeled from a cenote down the river to the sea.

Kayaked up a river from the sea to another cenote

Sailed on a hobie cat in the Caribbean sea

Played volleyball on the beach, chilled where the river meets the sea, toured their nursery where they are working to restore the vegetation lost in Hurricane Rita, and skipped countless rocks into the cenote or the ocean.

Of course, we also relaxed on the beach. Oh, those beach beds. Nothing could be better than a mid-afternoon siesta on a bed on the beach, feeling the sun, hearing the sounds of the ocean.

Resort also has two pools and three hot tubs. My son and his new BFF loved what they called the cliff area of the upper pool – which conveniently placed them close to the pizzeria.

The Food and Drinks:
The resort has a buffet style restaurant open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A dinner-only restaurant that rotates 3 nights a week with an Asian theme, 3 with an Italian theme. A fine dining Mexican dinner restaurant. An outdoor grill open for lunch and dinner, and an outdoor pizzeria open from noon-7pm. They also offered two theme style dinner parties, a Mexican fiesta on Sunday evening and a Caribbean party on the beach mid-week. Finally, there’s a coffee/pastry restaurant. Son loved the pastries, I loved the mid-afternoon pick me up of a perfectly foamed cappuccino. Oh yeah, also 24 hour room service.

We mainly used the buffet restaurant for breakfast – nice fruit selection, really good granola with a wide selection of yogurts. Interesting selections on the buffet, son loved the pastry, chef making eggs/omelets’ or quesadilla to order. Never ate lunch there, dinner was ok, chef doing pasta.

Spent a lot of time at Hacienda Grill – the outdoor restaurant /bar. Lunch there was very good, dinner even better. But our favorite was grabbing a table w/ friends around 4pm for some chips and guacamole, or shrimp and having happy hour. Close to the pool to watch the boys. Fresh, yummy guac. Nice steak at dinner.

The boys couldn’t get enough of the pizzas. Lunch, dinner. Gotta admit I loved the European pizza – a white pizza with guyere and gargonzola. Oh my. One thing we did find odd was the “Italian sausage”. Probably better described as hot dog.

The most interesting meal was the adults only “chef’s table”. This one required the purchase of a bottle of wine. Was a five course meal in the kitchen just outside head Chef Oscar’s office. Oscar helped present most every course. Started with a summer roll, then a coconut shrimp with a great mango, peach and sundried tomato sauce, a duo of cream soups, salmon with saffron sauce and vegetable risotto, beef with miso sauce (sorry, Chef, I’m not such as fan of the sweet, clingy miso sauce which you seem to love to use, and I think overpowers everything), and a chocolate dessert.

There’s a tradition for Chef’s table guest to sign the chef’s apron. I choose to sign next to the Prince and Princess of Denmark (who were also guests of the resort while we were there).

Italian concept was very nice. From appetizers through dessert. I had a well done risotto with sausage, hubby had a veal dish which he loved, and others at our table enjoyed their meals. We all agreed on enjoying this restaurant. The first time we ate at the Asian restaurant, did not enjoy it. Sushi was three pieces of rolls with minimal fish. I had something with the words sashimi tuna, tempura and miso in the description. To me sashimi tuna implies something other than heavily battered fried fish with a sweet clingy miso sauce. I admit to not noticing the word tempura first time through.

For our last dinner, we’d originally planned to go back to the grill. However, ran into Chef Oscar and made a comment about the coconut shrimp. He said if we came to the Asian restaurant, he would make us a plate of them as an appetizer. We decided to give the Asian restaurant another try. Noticed though some folks were eating lobster. Hmmm, that’s not on the menu. Talked to our server who arranged a special menu. Quite good. Choice was just lobster, surf and turf or surf and surf. Between the six of us we had all of them. Plus the coconut shrimp. And a mixed dessert platter to share. Highlight of the evening was tableside preparation of Mexican coffee.

As to the bars at Tres Rios;
I think bars are the one big miss here. Granted there is a very good selection of premium/top shelf products. No skimping there. However, with all-inclusive comes the expectation of pool bars (the swim up kind), no such thing here. In fact outdoor drinks are a bit tough. There are servers on the beach and pool side, but service is slow (like 20-30 minutes to get a drink, hour or more to get food). While we enjoyed “happy hour” at Hacienda Grill, if you weren’t there by 5pm, you were out of luck as they closed from 5-6:30 to prep for dinner. Which means the only outdoor bar is closed. There is spotty bar wait service at the outdoor tea/martini bar – but on a couple of nights servers were not present. With all the lovely scenery and beautiful weather more options for outdoor drinks with friends (esp. casual, post beach time) are sorely needed.

This is not a big night life resort. Yes, there are shows and events at night – but all fairly low key.

The Room:

Magnificent, huge, well equipped. We basically had a one bedroom suite with a connecting hotel room. Fridges in the rooms stocked with sodas, water and beer.

Overall an incredible vacation. Made even more special by meeting some new friends. Tom, Stephanie and their son Spencer. The boys hit it off as fast friends. The parents also. From the time we all meet, we were pretty much inseparable. Hope to travel with them in the future, enjoy more meals, more wine, and games of find Stephanie a new drink. Great, great family. And huge thanks to Tom both for taking me out on the Hobie Cat not once but twice, and even more importantly, the really good pictures on the blog are his – thanks so much for allowing me to use them.

Newborn, Natchez, Noshing, Nashville, November

December 6, 2009

Our family had a little something extra to be thankful for this year – my new nephew Jack Stephen. Jack is the first child of my brother. He’s named in memory of my Dad, Jack, and in honor of his maternal grandfather, Stephen. My brother was a confirmed bachelor who hit the jackpot in his mid-40’s when he met his wife, Gina. Smart, fun, beautiful with an incredible family to boot. Really none of us could have asked for more. So, this year for Thanksgiving, we loaded up the car, put the bikes on the rack and set out on the 10 hour drive to celebrate with Jeff and Gina’s family and new son down in Nashville. And celebrate we did.

Gina’s Aunt is a great hostess and great cook. As with many great cooks, they have friends who are equally good cooks adding to the fun. What a feast we had – a foodie’s heaven! Two turkeys, one oven roasted, one smoked, two kinds of stuffing – including Gina’s family recipe of an italian sausage and bread stuffing that was almost addicting.

More and more food kept appearing on the tables….a couple of different sweet potatoes, the most amazing layered jello salad, several versions of cranberries, I loved the cranberry ginger chutney. Wines of the day were Pine Ridge Chenin/Vognier, Edna Valley Chardonnay, and Ponzi Pinot Noir. Blue Moon Honey Moon was available for the beer lovers. A bottle of Woodford Reserve was around. (any guesses what hubby and I were responsible for bringing). I forgot to get a picture of the dessert table – but it was equally impressive – two kinds of pumpkin pie, pecan pies. All so yummy.

Thank goodness with all that eating, we’d brought the bikes. Got in several good rides. A couple around Nashville in the Oak Hill/Belmont areas. But the most memorable was a ride along the Natchez Trace. Beautiful and challenging with the continual rolling hills.

Discovered that I’m a bit of a wimp riding over this famous bridge over Hwy 96. Heading out I stayed a decent distance from the edge. Coming back, a crosswind had blown up, and I was scared to death. Rode at almost the center of the road. Even once we got across and I got off the bike to take these pictures I never was able to stand next to the rail. Just a bit too freaked out.