Happy New Year!

Thank goodness collard greens and garlic are always happy waiting for me in the 'fridge for a week or so. We returned from a whirlwind trip to the Boston area only a couple of hours ago, and my good luck New Year's Day Black Eyed Peas were easy to whip up in a jiffy from what I already had on hand. After a fun-filled-toe-freezing "First Night" walk all around Boston last night, we were finally nestled all snug in our hotel beds (albeit still bone-chilled) at around 2:30 a.m. Somebody snores sometimes, so by the time the wake up call sounded at 6:30 a.m., most of us had slept for only an hour or two. Hustling to our early morning flight thus impaired was no joke, and we all are in a bit of a fog this New Year's Day 2014. Needless to say, I was not up to a grocery run, so was very happy I could make this dish so easily without getting out of the pajamas I had quickly donned upon our arrival home. The canned black eyed peas were rinsed and quickly fried in olive oil along with three smashed garlic cloves and half a bunch of collards. I added a little salt, quickly stirred it around and voila -- good luck in a bowl.

We visited three wonderful families while in the Boston area -- folks who knew us decades ago before we were hitched. Among many other attributes, Boston has amazing pubs, and we had wicked good pub food -- lots of it! Aside from cold salads, however, greens did not figure into the pub food, and even the kids missed them. This bowlful fit the bill today. This is how we do it in the South!

We had a wonderful trip, and are so grateful for dear friends, but there is no place like home!

30th High School Reunion!

Last weekend, my husband and I got away for a long weekend for Thomas Jefferson High School's 30th reunion. That's me, front and center. What a photobomb! The photographer added the spouses for this shot and, being on the tall side, I was trying to squat down a little to avoid eclipsing the actual class members. Instead, I look like I'm posing sassily. My daughter thinks this is hilarious.

What a wonderful group of people! I had known a handful of them previously, through my husband, but also through another Jefferson alumnus, my wonderful friend and roommate of many years, Cheryl Ross Lage, bestselling author of Twinspiration, Taylor Trade Publishing, 2006. I was happy to meet so many more from this amazing high school class last weekend. What an honor and a privilege it was to get to know all of you, Colonials and spouses!

My own 30th reunion will also be this year, but I will not be able to attend because of prior commitments. My husband and I grew up in different parts of Virginia, but after college Northern Virginia became my home as well. I lived in Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax, and worked in Washington, D.C. As our taxi pulled up to the hotel, I looked up and realized our old apartment building was right next door!

There it is, shot from our 10th floor hotel room. You can see a little sliver of the Potomac just beyond the lower buildings on the left. We lived here in Old Town, Alexandria for only a few months when the kids were little. Here's an interior shot of our place there, featuring my little punkin and her rockin' hairdo:

Here's what she looks like now, except she has moved on from pink hair to blue:

But I digress . . . Back to 2013: We arrived Friday afternoon, and met up with a few people at the Fish Market that evening. It was great to be on old stomping grounds, and I really enjoyed getting to know some amazing people. The conversations were deep and rewarding, just the way I like 'em! I look forward to a continued acquaintance with these great folks.

I also enjoyed a plateful of fried oysters. I'll always choose fried oysters over iceberg lettuce, otherwise I'll choose veggies every time. I see myself as "vegan+" -- mostly veggies/grains, never dairy, or hooved or winged beasts, but very, very rarely, I'll have seafood. See http://midlifevegan.blogspot.com/2011/08/coming-clean-sometimes-i-eat-shellfish.html for the full backstory of my mid-vegan recalibration.

Saturday morning, we were lucky to have a visit from Andres' brother, Sol, and family, who drove down from Maryland to see us. We had brunch at Union Street Public House and walked around Old Town for a couple of hours afterward.

Featured in the photo are, from left to right, our nephew, Andres, who will start Harvard Law School this week(!), Sofi, the au pair from Costa Rica, Heather, Sol's wife, Morgan, our littlest niece, Sol, Andres, and moi. When Sol and family had to leave, it was such a beautiful day that Andres and I walked all the way back to the hotel, where I needed a siesta for the upcoming fiesta.

Back in business after a short rest, we cleaned up and proceeded downstairs for the reunion festivities. I always worry about buffets. Sometimes the only veggies available are doused in dairy. This actually makes them inedible for me, as my system really cannot handle it after so many years without. In this case, I needn't have worried. The food was AMAZING! My cell phone pic doesn't do it justice:

There was romaine and pasta, rice, roasted peppers and sauteed veggies of a ratatouille bent. I loved this delicious food so much that I had intended to go back for seconds, but the event was so socially stimulating and fun that I lost track of time and before I knew it, it was all over. I wonder what the catering crew did with those leftovers? It haunts me.

I received so many gifts from the experience of this reunion, but here is one of my favorites from the lovely Lisa Jones Pierce, keeper and cataloguer extraordinaire:

That's my husband, senior class president Andres Salinas, with his friend, and now mine, the wonderful Wray Eldridge. Will you look at those babies?

South Caribbean Vacay, Final Installment

Docked back in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after hours (!) of waiting in a line to go through customs, we decided we had to wolf down some local delicacies before embarking on the sightseeing jaunt we had missed at the beginning of our trip. Above is a photo of Platanos Maduros redux -- much more fresh and tender than the timbale-shaped version at the beginning of our journey. I was STARVING so I had to eat half of it before I remembered to snap this pic. This dish was so, so good. I still find myself dreaming about it!

We took a cab to Old San Juan (I'd love to spend a week in this locale alone - such a beautiful place!) so we could see the old fort. Isn't it lovely how the locals utilize this beautiful national treasure? Many were picnicking and flying kites.

Gorgeous!

'Kenzie administering one of her famous "bear-hugs" to Hans -- sweet!

Ancient . . .

Formidable . . .

Stunning! Time was too short. I would love to spend many more days exploring Old San Juan.

Back at our groovy hotel room by the beach (yes, that's what I said) we began getting a little blue that our amazing adventure was coming to an end.

We focused the remainder of our time together upon our beloved extended family members. Then, it was time to go.

Upon landing in Atlanta, my parents called me from San Jaun with the shocking news that, immediately after our cab left the hotel from the airport, the hotel was surrounded by the flashing lights of many local police cars. Apparently, while we slept in our groovy rooms, a murder was taking place in another room of the hotel! We did not hear anything. As we were eating breakfast, a chamber-maid was finding two men -- one deceased and one still alive but critical. They had been bound, gagged and shot, so the leading theory is that it was a targeted hit, most likely drug related. Yikes!

Oh well, I still want to go back.

South Caribbean Vacay, Installment Four

Today I want to feature some photos from our ports of call on our fabulous cruise. A cruise is a great vehicle for a "sampling" of several different locales. It only affords a few short hours at each port, but that was enough for us to form some rudimentary opinions about the islands. We participated in excursions which allowed us a slightly deeper exposure than we would otherwise have had.

On St. Thomas, we enjoyed being part of a jeep caravan tour with walkie talkies. It was fun to have our own jeep to drive on the "wrong" side of the road. At times the mountainous terrain provided roller-coaster-like thrills.

This blurry photo perfectly captures the breakneck speed, the treacherous curves and bumps in the road.

This photo of our caravan doesn't adequately convey the sense of vertical climb we experienced. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you there were moments when it seemed we would roll over backward.

At the top of one of the mountains, we stopped for a restroom break and a photo opp. of Oprah Winfrey's compound. See the small island at the top of the photo? Right below the right edge of the island is a clump of white buildings. That's Oprah's compound. We enjoyed St. Thomas, a beautiful, mountainous island with friendly people. 

Here's a "bumper" photo, on board ship, in between islands. That's my daughter, Wynne on the left, and my niece, McKenzie, on the right.

On St. Kitts, a beautiful, raw, mountainous island with plenty of history, we enjoyed a short bus ride to a double-decker diesel train. The lower deck of the train was air conditioned and had a restroom and the upper deck was open air. Here is a very old cemetery containing the grave of Thomas Jefferson's great-grandfather. Did you know that Alexander Hamilton was born on St. Kitts?

The terrain of St. Kitts reminded me of Nicaragua.

These look like goats, but it turns out they are sheep! I guess sheep don't need so much wool in the tropics.

The raw beauty and history of St. Kitts were impressive, but we didn't care for the folks at the dock so much, who were very pushy, unlike what we found at our other ports of call. People tried to put monkeys in diapers on us so they could charge us for a photo. I felt sad for the monkeys. The natives see them as pests now, since they are garden marauders. The French brought the monkeys as pets to St. Kitts when they colonized it. They are not indigenous to the island.

And now for another "bumper" photo:

My parents -- aren't they cute?

Curacao! There's the lovely port with our home away from home, The Serenade of the Seas, in the background. 

We loved the town and port of Curacao, but were disappointed in this:

Yes, that's an oil rig right on a lovely beach. Our tour guide was very proud of the nearby oil refinery which provides economic stability for the people of Curacao. She also pointed out the KFC and McDonalds that were on the island to make us "tourists feel at home," going on to explain that the locals can't stand our food, but they entertain it for their economic benefit. Hmmm. Being judged doesn't sit well with me, but then I just judged them for their oil refinery, didn't I? In any case, the island was beautiful, and I was glad to have "sampled" it.

I was surprised to find I had not taken any photos of Aruba, but that was probably because we went snorkeling there, and so I was busy learning that skill and drinking rum punch. Aruba looks like a wonderful island, Oranjestad seems to be a fun, cosmopolitan city, and I look forward to spending a longer time there when possible.

Stay tuned for the final installment of our South Caribbean Vacay saga.

South Caribbean Vacay, Installment Three

Aboard the beautiful "Serenade of the Seas" (Royal Caribbean) we were amazed daily at the bountiful offerings. This is a shot of the restaurant where we ate most of our breakfasts and lunches. That's little McKenzie in the foreground in her sunhat.

As any good vegan should, I had called Royal Caribbean ahead of time to discuss what I should expect in the way of food and to take any suggestions. I spoke to a lovely lady who described in detail what I would find at the buffets and mentioned that at every meal there would be vegetarian, and gluten-free offerings. I told her that was impressive, but pressed further to ask about vegan offerings. The spokesperson was perplexed to find in the bylaws "absolutely no vegan meals will be prepared". She and I both agreed there must be more to that story, some kind of history/previous lawsuit or somesuch.  I explained that I wasn't expecting tempeh, or even tofu on the ship, only that I would like the assurance that I could find food not covered in dairy products. While I have my favorites at home (whole grains like quinoa or wild rice with lots of dark green leafies) I can subsist on many different side dishes as long as dairy is not involved. I told her I was actually surprised that "lactose intolerant" was not honored in the way that "gluten intolerant" is. The gluten-free lobbyists must have been more vocal.

In any event, I was assured the buffets would provide plenty for me to choose from, and it was suggested that I speak with the maitre'd in the dining room about supper. I never did the latter, preferring to relax and "roll with" the offerings at hand. As it turned out, I had a vegetable curry with naan every night (the name of the dish and the veggies featured changed every evening) except for the night that pasta with marinara was featured. I was able to find a bit of variety at dinner with the salads and soups (an amazing green gazpacho was a highlight) The server asked why I chose the same thing every night and I explained that I'm vegan. Then she understood. I wanted for nothing actually. I was grateful for the curries, which were delicious, and I was mainly there to enjoy the experience and the pleasure of my family's company. I did eat something different at every breakfast and lunch, with salads, fruits, grains and beans of every kind featured prominently.

This was our first cruise and we were all bowled over by how much fun and how elegant it was.

Look what I found in the on board art gallery! "There's my girl!" I said (Alicia Silverstone's "The Kind Diet" initially inspired my veganhood). So I had to take a photo of the photo.

Here, 'Kenzie and Wynne prepare to do some on board rock climbing. I think that's St. Thomas in the background.

Britton and Cathy at dinner

Hans and Braedon

Andres and my Dad clean up pretty well, don't they?

We enjoyed making friends with the staff, who hail from all over the world. Look at how our Stateroom Attendant, Elida, welcomed us back to our room one night! She utilized my daughter's Ray Bans. Elida lives in Managua, where my husband was born, and where we all have visited, so we had a lot to talk about.

A view off our balcony . . . A sailor's life for me!!

South Carribbean Vacay, Installment Two

 At the beginning of our journey, in San Juan, there was not much time or energy to do any sightseeing. We arrived around lunchtime, too early to check in, so we stashed our bags with the front desk and looked around for my Mom and Dad, my brother, Britton,  sister-in-law, Cathy, nephew Braedon and niece, McKenzie. They had all arrived in San Juan the day before. We did find everyone at the pool with a bucket of cervezas. We were all hungry, so we found a table for a quick lunch. Quesadillas, burgers and fish sandwiches were chosen by most.

I picked the most vegan item on the menu: guacamole, salsa and chips -- not health food, but vegan, as far as I could tell, and very, very delicious. The chips were plantain and root veggies, not tortillas. I regret I have no photo of the meal, which was very sustaining.

Once we got our room and our bags, we donned our bathing suits and took a dip in the Caribbean Sea! It was lovely, but after a full day of travel and a couple of beers I was ready to motivate for a little local flavor, None of us felt like venturing too far out, opting instead for a short walk from the hotel. The part of San Juan where our hotel was located reminded me very much of South Beach, Miami, so it felt comfortable and accessible by foot. We found a wonderful local restaurant which was able to handle our large group of 10 (I couldn't tell what the actual name of the place was, since advertisements for cerveza, entertainment and other things dominated the facade).

The specialty on the menu was Platanos Maduros -- mashed plantains roasted with your filling of choice. Most of us tried it, filled with beef, pork, chicken . . . mine was filled with veggies! The small, cup-sized molded concoction was unlike anything I had eaten before. The flavor was sublime, but the texture, rubbery, and the whole thing had plenty of oil, so it was instantly filling. I opted to eat about half of the oily plantain mixture and all of the veggies. Despite the meal being so filling, I was pleased with my choice for cultural reasons if nothing else. Later, at the end of the cruise, I ordered the same meal at the same restaurant (I asked for other suggestions, but there was really nothing else for a vegan except rice) and was surprised to find that it was much more palatable -- not in the molded timbale shape, fresher and more tender, less oily. I will feature the photo of that meal at the end of this series.

Here are some pics of us at dinner in San Juan, our first night. This is my son, Hans, and my Dad.

Here's my Mom with my nephew, Braedon. This is not the best photo for either -- they are much better-looking in real life, but I want them to be represented. They were tired. Stay tuned for more flattering pics of these two.

Below is my Dad with my husband, Andres. Have you ever travelled to a Latin country with a native speaker? It's fun! I used to speak Spanish many moons ago, but am only able to understand it now, and speak very little. My husband, who was born in Nicaragua and only learned English at the age of 6, was able to connect us with the locals.

Here is my brother, Britton, with my daughter, Wynne. This perfectly expresses the mood of this gathering -- tired, but so happy to be together! We only get to see my brother and his family once a year.

Here I am with my sister-in-law, Cathy.

Finally, here's niece, 'Kenzie, who slept through dinner. Nighty-nite 'til next time!

I'm Back! (South Caribbean Vacay, Installment One)

Hello MLV readers -- I guess you figured out I've been away.We just returned from such a wonderful vacation. My parents organized a family reunion cruise to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary! In attendance were my parents, my husband and I with our kids, and my brother and his wife and kids -- all the way from China! There's quite a bit of content I want to include, so I'll be making at least a couple of posts about the trip. I realized, upon my return home, I'd not taken enough food photos, being enthralled with the pleasure of the company of our extended family as I was.

Here's a shot of the girls up front, my daughter, Wynne, my niece, McKenzie, and my Mom. My son, Hans, is relaxing in the backgeround as he watches TV.

We began our journey in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We stayed at a very groovy hotel (my kids are mortified when I use that word, as it ages me so).

See? Groovy.

I loved that the toiletries offered by the hotel were my favorite brand: Aveda! It's not so easy to find in some parts of the world, like Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A., where I needed some hair paste for my brother-in-law's wedding, but there it was in San Juan!

To wrap up this installment, here are a few shots of the view from our hotel before the cruise:

Ahhh! The beach at sunset -- never gets old does it? More soon.