Ebony and Burnt Umber Live Together (in perfect harmony?)

 

 

Cats Napping peacefully in the sun … too bad it was on the dining room table.

 

There was a lot of excitement after I unloaded the groceries this morning.  The bags were jumped in and on. 

 

Every cat was in every bag.  Tailwheel got in on the fun, too.  It was definitely equal opportunity attacking.  Not long after this, the black cat got his head stuck in the bag, got the handle caught on the dining room chair and ripped the handle off the bag. 

 

 

Everybody gets a treat from the grocery store! 

 

 

For people who don’t go out very often, we have lots of plans this weekend.  We were at the Minnesota Orchestra last night.  It was Osmo Vanska’s first concert back after the orchestra settled their contract after the long lock-out.  People were hooting and waving Finnish flags (he’s Finnish so it’s not that weird).  Overall, it was a rowdy scene… for an orchestra concert.

 

 

Tonight, we’re going to TWO parties.  The first is a surprise birthday party for one of my colleagues in downtown Minneapolis followed by a party for the nurses that Doug works with.  I made these Caprese skewers to take to the nurse party.  They taste good but I bet they’ll be better if summer ever comes and we have fresh tomatoes. 

Speaking of summer, we booked our BOSTON trip today!  We’re going to fly into Boston to spend a few days, take the train to Portland, Maine to do Maine stuff (whatever that is) and fly home from there.  

Karibu

We were very happy to be at the airport to meet our Tanzanian friends who arrived for about a 2 week visit.  We were amazed at how energetic they were after nearly 24 hours in transit. 


It’s always exciting to watch all the excited people waiting for people to appear through the International Arrivals door. 

We hope they have a good rest and look forward to seeing them in a few days!

Whole Bunch o’ Lazy

 

There’s a fair amount of laziness going on around here this weekend.  Somecat has discovered that the trombone case makes a very good napping place.

Doug had a blanket of cats (all 3!) on him last night for a long, long time.  However, as soon as I snuck upstairs to get the camera, the black cat had to get up to see what was going on. 

Sunday night Catpile

Five Days of Feasting

 

One of the fun things about going to an all-inclusive resort is the chance to try lots of fantastic food.  The meals at Live Aqua were exceptional.  I’ve heard we have blog readers who wonder “WDDE” (What Did Doug Eat) so here are a few favorites.  You know a place with an afternoon Chef’s Parade will have some tasty dishes!

 

 

We had breakfast delivered to our room a couple mornings. Who doesn’t want to eat more fruit and tasty Mexican pastries than humanly possible while enjoying this beautiful weather?

We usually steer clear of buffets but decided to give them a try here.  They were amazing!  We requested the omelet guy make our breakfast spicy the last morning and he did it up!  Another crazy stunt food was the juice/smoothie bar.  I couldn’t decide what I wanted so I just asked the guy to make his favorite.  It was very pink, fruity and delicious but had a distinct after-taste of something very leafy.  Breakfast kale or spinach maybe? 

 

We had lunch at the beachfront restaurant several days.  We had a favorite waiter named Cesar who was very personable.  Doug had some delicious lettuce wrap (fish I’m sure) along with a side of fishy carpaccio. 

There are several resident iguanas who hang out on the deck of the beachfront restaurant. 

I was less than impressed especially after the waiter fed him a french fry and he came charging toward me. 

Another lunch. Another mojito. Another beachfront restaurant.  Isn’t the water amazing?  This was at Sea Corner.  I didn’t expect that EVERYTHING on the menu at SEA Corner would be SEAfood when I suggested we try it.  After Doug ordered the fish tacos and a seafood ceviche, the waiter had a chicken and beef quesadilla brought over from another restaurant for me. 

Note Doug’s Minnesota Timberwolves cap.  This is the best way to get people to ask you if you’re from Minnesota. When Doug was wearing his Houston Astros t-shirt saw another guy wearing an Astros cap, they just made eye contact but didn’t talk.  Were they embarrassed to be Astro fans? 

Our evening meals were absolutely spectacular.  My favorite were our meals at Hidden Garden, an outdoor Asian fusion restaurant.  We had lots of great Thai/Japanese/Chinese/Indian type dishes in this beautiful setting.

Some things don’t change even when we’re on vacation. On our first night, we decided to go to Hidden Garden.  The restaurant opened at 6pm so we arrived a few minutes before 6pm as we heard it was small and could get busy.  They were nowhere near being open… the lights were off, some staff were sitting around but definitely not on duty, nada.  We came back a several minutes later and they were almost ready to seat guests.  The next time we arrived a few minutes after 6pm and they were just getting ready.  The lights were on this time but they weren’t seating just yet.  

 

A fantastic setting for an amazing meal!

 

 

We had two great meals at MB, the upscale restaurant at the resort.  By upscale, I mean men are required to wear pants (not shorts).  Most men dressed in a resort-tropical or golf-shirt but there were some men who did the absolute minimum.  Yes, they were wearing pants but had it paired with the t-shirt they wore to the beach or worse.  We remarked on the number of these men who were with nicely dressed women.  What gives guys? 

Here is Doug (who was impeccably dressed) with Omar.  He introduced himself as the sommelier (wine guy) at the resort and led a complimentary wine and cheese tasting one afternoon.  He was also our waiter one evening so I think he is a multi-tasker. 

The food here was amazing.  Doug had several good fish dishes and appetizers as well as a Spaetzle dish that would have received the approval of all the Germans we know.  We had the most amazing habanero soup.  Our goal is to try new things every time but it was an absolute must to repeat the soup. 

 

I even tried a duck ravioli appetizer but went with steak and pork for my meals.  One of the things I like about resorts is the small portion sizes.  Three bites of duck ravioli is just right!   

 

 

Let’s not forget about the desserts.   Some were chocolate. Some were fruity. All were tasty and delicious. Here Doug had the pineapple biscuit and I had a chocolate soufflé with a chocolate martini.  Again, each was about 4 bites, the perfect amount. 

 

 

Still hungry? Help yourself to the mini-bar snacks and drinks.  They’re included too!

 

 

More anything?  More everything!  Still hungry?  Wait for the Chef Parade to come around with mid-afternoon snacks!

 

 

Beachfront restaurant heaven.

 

 

Our last meal was probably the craziest.  The soup choices were Fish Broth Soup or Mushroom Soup.  I passed. Doug had a hard time deciding which sounded best.

 

 

With a big smile on his face, our favorite waiter Cesar recommended the fish so Doug said OK.  Here was his last lunch!

Here’s looking at a great vacation!

Live Aqua–Ahhhhhhh…. too cool….

Our hotel was called Live Aqua.  We wondered if it was “live” like “Live and Learn” or “live” like “Live from New York…it’s Saturday Night”.  I think we determined it was the first.  Don’t quote me.
 


There were about 300 rooms including lots of suites.  We had the “ocean-view” room which was a step up from the lowest priced “garden view” room that had a view of either the tree trunks or construction site next door but much cheaper than the ocean-front rooms and various suites.  We liked that we ‘viewed’ the ocean at angle instead of straight on (ocean-front) so we had some shade on our balcony.
 


Our room was on the 2nd floor.  By 2nd floor, I mean the 5th floor.  The bottom floor was called “pool” and above it was “lobby”.  Up from there was “mezzanine” and above that “first”.  Then our 2nd/5th floor.  Add in the fact that most of the floors are not continuous due to the big space in the middle of the hotel AND all the rooms on the pool, lobby, mezzanine and first floors begin with a “1”, you can understand why we encountered several people who couldn’t find their way back to their room.

If you find the angled floor that has 4 balconies, you’ll see our room which was the first one of the four.  We were very happy with it and it was easy to find.  



We agreed that this might have been the nicest room we’ve ever stayed in.
  


With cool pictures like this, I think Doug could have a second career in hotel brochure photography.



When we stay in places like this, I get home improvement ideas.  We might have to get our tile guy back again soon!



Live Aqua has a heavy emphasis on water and good views of the ocean.  They are serious about a view of the ocean from every room in the hotel.  Yes, even that room.  Rest assured this blind was closed for every moment of our vacation except for this one picture. 



We had a very nice balcony that provided plenty of shade and a good view of the hotel grounds. 



In addition to the views of the ocean and water in general, they were also very serious about “aromatherapy”.  Every day, a different scent was burning in our room when we came back from the pool or beach. 



A couple days we found cute designs made from colored rice on our bed.  We decided this would be really fun to do when we have guests here at our house.  We also decided the cats would have a fabulous time making a gigantic mess with it. 



The colored rice designs were fun!  And there were M&Ms!



More views of the ocean from the lobby.



More water in the lobby. It also had a distinct spearmint scent.  Very nice.



The grounds were beautiful!



Even the hallways had a great view.  We could see the lagoon and La Isla Mall.  The weather and the resort must have been beautiful because I didn’t even consider a “quick trip” over to the mall. 



A nice view of the hotel at night from our room.



The lobby at night.  Cool.  Blue. Spearmint. 



Finally, here is a view of the hotel from the beach at night.  We don’t know for sure what was in that blue area at the top of the hotel.  I’m guessing elevator equipment.  I’m fairly sure we’d have a definitive answer if Pete and Katie had been with us.  It sounds like just the sort of thing Doug and Pete like to “check out”.  
Next up… To the Pool or maybe for something to eat…

To The Beach

We had a fantastic beach vacation in Cancun!  It was amazing to get on a plane at 7am when it was around 0 degrees and be sitting at this beautiful beach before noon enjoying 80 degree temperatures.



We couldn’t get our room right away but we were able to enjoy the resort from the start.  Both of these pictures are from our room.  The one above is mid-day and the one below is early in the morning. 



Delta got us there on time and we had arranged a ride from Canada Transfers to get us to the hotel.  They were waiting for us and off we went.  Our driver Jose pointed out lots of interesting things on the way and drove slowly past the first glimpse of water so we could see how pretty it was.   



We did a whole bunch of relaxing
. 


There may have been some fine hand-crafted beverages.

One of us may have been hoping to be mistaken for a Canadian.

The last place we stayed in Cancun was mostly American and Canadians.  This resort had a wider range of countries represented.  We heard Italian, Spanish (of course) and French spoken.  Judging by the number of men in Speedos, we’re pretty sure there were plenty of Europeans as most men from North America would not be caught dead in such suits. 

There were Asian couples who looked like they were probably on their honeymoon.  We tried to listen in and see what language they were speaking to the staff.  Almost everyone who worked there spoke good English; we’re not so sure about the guests.  Despite the people from all over the world, we always meet somebody from within 20 minutes of our house!  



The weather and the beach were amazing.  The water was so clear we could see other people’s feet who were swimming or standing yards away from us.  We did a cloudy afternoon but it was plenty warm.  The rain started as our plane took off so our timing was impeccable this year.





Despite our best efforts to seek out shade, we managed to get somewhat fried by the end of the week.  We were very happy that we were able to find shade whenever we wanted it. 

When can we go back? 

Next up… to the pool or maybe the hotel…