El Palacio de los Jugos- A Miami Landmark

As I mentioned in my previous post, Brandon and I had to travel home to Miami for a family emergency- all is well now though.  It was a very short trip, but one of the days, we decided to hit up a famous Miami landmark called "El Palacio de los Jugos" which means "The Juice Palace".   The place isn't fancy or anything but they have the nicest tropical produce, milkshakes and Cuban treats.  The main reason for our visit is to buy fresh coconut water.  Basically a guy stands there with a huge machete and chops of the the tops.  You can buy the coconut whole with a straw in it, or you can buy the water in a half gallon.  Coconut water is one of my favorite things to drink, and now that we live in Dallas, it's one of the things I crave the most.  They also have a huge selection of prepared dishes and desserts. Their fruit salad is amazing too.  When we lived in Miami, we would just drive by this place and really take it for granted. These kinds of markets have sprung up all over Miami, but this one here is the original.  Now whenever I go back to visit, this is a place I always try to visit. If you're ever visiting Miami, this is one of those places you'd want to check out.  Anthony Bourdain should have totally covered this place when he did his Miami show.

If you're ever in Miami, check it out... if only for the coconut water machete man... lol

Back from the Gorgeous Countryside of Kentucky…

Every fall we celebrate a series of Holy Days called "The Feast of Tabernacles".  We refer to it as simply "The Feast" for short.  Every year we travel somewhere for the Feast and this year was no different.  The site was held in a little town in about 2 hours south of Lexington and it was absolutely gorgeous.  I had no idea Kentucky was so beautiful.  The place we stayed at was surrounded by lush green rolling hills, haystacks and lakes... a perfect and picturesque scene for what this time pictures for us.  We did so many fun things, but above all, it was a great opportunity to visit with people we hadn't seen in quite some time, as well as make new and lasting friendships.  This vacation was jammed packed with activities.

We started our trip with a visit to a local apple orchard.  We were not disappointed, especially since the first place you walk through when you arrive, is the bakery where the smells of apple pie, caramel apples, and fresh pressed cider circled the air.  We knew it was going to be a great outing.  We then paid for our collecting bags and went out to the orchard.  They told us we could taste any apple we liked. And let me just say... taste we did! The country store attached to the orchard was so quaint and lovely.  There we found all kinds of farm fresh products like locally grown honey as well as every kind of jam possible. We bought some pumpkin jam and had I known how great it was, I would have stocked up for the rest of the year!  We exited the orchard, but not before buying a half gallon of cider and an individual fried apple pie for each of us.

We got a group together and went horseback riding one of the days. We stopped at this gorgeous state park right by the riding stables.  The views were so beautiful.  After that, we set of to the stables.  I'll admit, I was so scared at first.  But I felt a ton better knowing my new friend, Erica, was in front of me.

One of the evenings, we hosted a sock-hop.  In a ton of pictures I'm in the background getting down.  It's also hard to miss me since I'm wearing a sweater with large green and white stripes.  It's almost like playing "where's Waldo" when I see these pictures. The evening was a blast and there were several games we played like the freeze dance and the Senior's twist that were such fun.  We played lots of oldies that everyone knows like Please Mr. Postman, The Lion Sleeps tonight, Rock Around the Clock etc.  My only complaint is that my feet were so sore the next day from dancing all night!

We also visited the prettiest state park and went horseback riding.

Last but not least, we hosted a Caribbean dinner for everyone.  Originally I thought there was too much food, but boy was I wrong...  it was well attended and we had a a great time getting to know everyone.  For those of you who asked me for some recipes, I will link them here.. I made Picadillo- a Cuban ground beef hash. I also made Ropa Vieja which is a shredded beef dish, but I made it with chicken instead (in the recipe I linked it to, it's served with mashed green plantains, but I served it with white rice at our Caribbean night). Several people asked me for the trick to making white rice that isn't sticky or soft.  I will do a separate post for that soon with step by step instructions.  For now I'll leave you with pictures of our Caribbean night.  I want to thank everyone of making this the best Feast ever!

Summer in Miami…

Last week I was in Miami... why is it that time always goes so fast when you're having fun?  Here are a few pics from my trip.

                                      

Miami we need to see more of each other...

I usually try to travel home every year at least once. Usually its in December since I have the week between x-mas and new year's off. This time though, I was there for a much shorter time since the ticket was too expensive if I would have returned on the day I wanted. It was a blast though. I got to spend time with family, saw friends I hadn't seen in a long time and ate at some really great places. I really enjoyed my trip down there this year- the only downside is that time sure flies when you're having fun. My grandmother really spoiled me too... she made my favorite Cuban Dish- Rabo Encendido- (Ox-tail stew). She also made Churros another favorite- super fattening, but hey I only get to eat it once a year. I will be posting those recipes soon, but in the mean time, I am posting a few pictures from my trip. There were a couple of things I did which I did not get pics of... one being hanging out with my good friend Gaudy. We saw avatar in 3D... so fun! I also spent a day at Dolphin Mall with my brother Eric... it was nice to have some solo time with my little brother... it had been a long time since we did anything together like that. Among other things, I looked forward to waking up every morning to a cup of coffee with my mom, grandmother, and Eric where we'd talk for at least an hour. There was another evening where we hung out with my uncle Ruben, my aunt Cristy, my mom and grandma and talked over some Manchego cheese and wine. It was just nice to connect with everyone again. It's always so bittersweet when the end of my trip is near because on one hand I am anxious to come home and see my husband, but on the other hand, I know it will most likely be another year till I see most of my family and friends again.

At Mr. Yum with my mom, Eric and Anabelle. The food here is amazing and the decor is so cute... This place serves the best plum wine you'll ever have. The food was amazing too.

At Havana Harry's with my family.  Man the food at this place is so good... if you're curious just check out their menu.

At Chili's with Jenny and her mom Nancy... I hadn't seen them in FOREVER... I seriously have known this girl since I was three... So good to catch up!

At Cinebistro with my aunt Cristy, my mom, grandma, and some friends of our family Soly, Ana Laura and Soly (Sr.)... We saw It's complicated... one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. If you haven't seen it yet, you need to go... it was awesome.

Back from Sunny Florida!

I have been away from the blogging world for a while. I just got back from vacation, but prior to that, things at work were crazy as I was trying to get everything ready before we I left. My life will be pretty hectic at work until the middle of November because our department is hosting a fairly large event. But I digress. Brandon and I headed to Panama City Beach again this year to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. An observance we keep every year in the fall.

We had a great time. The beach was gorgeous. We laid out and listened to our ipods. At one point Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison came on and I just kept tapping my foot against the sand thinking "life is good".   Nothing like a nice day at the beach. Man do I miss having an ocean nearby. The the condo we stayed at was really nice too.

This year we actually had a few really good meals. We discovered this little hole in the wall Indian Restaurant called The Curry Pot. It was beyond awesome. The Mattar Paneer was AMAZING! I also recommend the lamb curry and the Mango Lassi. If you're ever in Panama City Beach check them out- the food is awesome.

We also discovered this little place called Sheesha Cafe. They make some awesome gyros and tabouli. So yummy. The owner was such a nice guy too. I hope his business takes off- especially since the dining in Panama City beach is not that culturally diverse. Most restaurants there are tourist trap places which are never good.

Besides going to the beach and shopping, we looked forward to brewing some awesome coffee and watching the Golden Girls. The TV selection kind of sucked. I guess because there are a ton of old retirees, they looped golden girls and I love Lucy all day pretty much. It was like being in a time warp but in a good way.

Here are a few pictures from our trip: