Back to School!

We got home at 2AM from Cancun (our flight was delayed three hours!!!), and I passed out as soon as I greeted my puppy Buddha, my cat Mylo, my dad, and Jimbo. I woke up the next day at 12! I can NEVER get enough of my bed! For the holidays this year one of Jimmy and my big presents were new beds for both of us! But no, they weren't just any old beds...Ritz Carlton Beds!!!! AKA BEYOND HEAVEN. I need to sleep really well in order to function. I wake up around 7/7:30 every morning, but require a solid 7-8 hours each night, or I really feel like shapoops! Anyways, I woke up and was SUPER excited to get into the kitchen!

While still in Cancun, Mom and I had emailed Jimmy a grocery list with specific instructions :) Haha, poor kid. He emailed me back and was like, "Is grocery shopping honestly this thought out???" I guess since I ADORE the experience, I never think of it as a hassle, but for my brother, it was like being on a different planet. I do most, if not all of the food prep and cooking for my family (in between classes) and have been since I was about 15. I LOVE IT and so do my parents (naturally...they come home to dinner made, the dishes cleaned and a house stocked full of fresh groceries every day). Fortunately, I still live with them so I can buy groceries, but they pay for them...SO LUCKY I KNOW!!! Their market of choice? Whole Foods! That morning I woke up and cut up TONS of fruit for the week! Cantaloup, Honeydew, Papaya, Mango, Kiwis, and Strawberries! Mmmmmmm! Jimbo you did a GREAT job!) Okay, no lie, this papaya was HUGE! Over the summer we lived in Kailua Kona, HI (our cousins live there and went away for the whole summer! They asked us to dog sit. It was SO nice!) and we had 2 papaya trees (2 good ones, that is) and 3 mango trees (we also had banana trees!). Everyday, 10-15 mangos were perfectly ripe! We had to slice and freeze them because we couldn't eat them fast enough! They were magically delicious, seriously, those things put you in a trance! We had papayas in EXCESS...I mean, OVERKILL! I couldn't stand them when we were there, isn't that awful! But now I loooove them :) Kind of ironic, no? Anyways, Jim bought us two papayas from WF that were beyond ginormous. Here's one:

Mmmmm!

Mixed Fruit!

Strawberries and Kiwis!

Strawberries...I couldn't choose which photo!

Boy am I tired! Tomorrow is my LOOONG day of classes! Tomorrow morning I have Advanced Step which I LOVE! The instructor, Seasun, is incredible! She totally makes the class SUCH a blast...It's a killer, but it's so much fun and I look forward to it every Tuesday and Thursday! I like to mix up my exercise throughout the week! Monday I swam, Yesterday was step for an hour and 15, today I did 6.4 miles in the gym, tomorrow's step, Friday's swim, Saturday is step, Sunday is swim etc etc. It makes me look forward to each day, ESPECIALLY because I workout in ways that I truly enjoy, so I never feel like, "ugh, I have to workout". I wake up excited for them! Anyway, after step tomorrow I have to shower and get ready for my day of classes that go until 9PM! How gross! I bring my stuff to the gym and shower there because it makes so much more sense that way. My mom has off tomorrow, but I'll barely get to see her because of all my classes! Boo. Oh well, Night Everyone! Sleep Sweet :)

First Post! weeeeeeeeeeeee!! =)

Hiiiiiiiiiiii :)

This is SO exciting! (If you could see my face right now...SUPER CHEESER!) My first post of my first blog (everrr) is going to be a shmorgesborg of the past week/ten days...LONG STORY SHORT: Last week was my spring break and ever since I was 14, my beautiful mom and I have gone away together, just the two of us. My dad travels like a MAD MAN during the spring for work and my brother Jimmy has always had a different break than me. ANYWAYS, this year mom and I went to Cancun! I know, I know, CANCUN WITH YOUR MOTHER?!?!?! But noooo, we didn't do Cancun that way! We stayed at this beauuuuuutiful resort called, Le Blanc that was absolutely DIVINE.

All potential serious couples/honeymooners/married readers YOU MUST GO! Save up and doooo it! It's just the bee's knees =). My mom has really special taste and every trip we've taken together has been magical. I feel so lucky to have such an amazing relationship with both my parents (Love you Guys!!...ahem, dork...)

OK, so now for my point of telling you all of this mumblejumble: I left my camera charger in Cancun! Ughh, I always leave something in a foreign country, damnit! Don't even get me started on this one...one of my BIG TIME pet-peeves of myself! I'm planning on getting a new charger either tonight or tomorrow, but considering I probably won't have any readers for a little while, that shouldn't bother you guys too much (is anyone out there?? hello???)

NOW for some pictures =) First up, we have a couple of enchanting sunsets (I loooove sunsets!) from our room that I just HAD to show you!

FOOD PICS!

I was totally random with my food pictures in Cancun! I think it was a matter of whether or not I had my camera with me...I would leave it in our room every once in a while (in the safe, of course!). The resort was all-inclusive and had many FABULOUS restaurants, all of which were delish and full of healthy options! (My family has always been classified as a "health nut" family...though by NO means are we "perfect"! We love food and enjoy decadent meals/desserts on special occasions =). So here are the pictures...

Beautiful papaya at Lunch (Is that a presentation or what?)

Amazing + GORGEOUS cappuccino with skim

Le Blanc Orient (Asian Fusion)

Each restaurant gave you a sampler while you decided what to order (aka too much food!)...I'm not big on fried food (personal preference since I was little, but my mom LOVED these!) On the bamboo skewers are fried plantains with a soy glaze (the glaze was soooo good, the plantains not my cup of tea) In the back is a veggie spring roll. There are four different dipping sauces for the next appetizer that came...drum roll please...

Close-up :)

SASHIMI <333333333

(nuff said)

Wine and Dine =)

OK, so confession time: Yes, I want to go to culinary school (scratch that---NEED to go to culinary school), but my real passion? WINE!!! Yes, that's right! One of my dreams is to be a sommelier, and teach people how to pair together incredible wine with incredible food. I grew up in a Jewish household where wine was a blessing and deeply treasured! I was exposed to it's marvels at a very young age (just sips before some meals). Other than wine, I don't drink ever. I just don't care for the feeling and I don't drink enough wine to feel anything anyway...Ok, enough with being defensive, Julia. The truth is, I adore it and although I am not of age in the US, I was in Mexico! HA! So here we go...FIRST: With the Sashimi, we had my FAVORITE white wine possibly of all time (so far, at least). It's a 2005 Oroya from Tierra de Castilla, Spain and it was made specifically for pairing with sushi (even though it's not a sake). I would pair it with any fish or lighter fare (if I was of age, again). It's delicate and has a very light body and a super soft finish. It's lower in alcohol than regular white wine. It's quite fruity with a lovely fragrance...YOU MUST TRY IT!!! (sorry for the unclear picture)

LABEL CLOSE-UP SHOT! (Sorry... Still a little blurry)

My dinner that evening was shrimp and chicken sauteed with sprouts and peppers in sesame miso...It was VERY light and definitely supported the Volumetrics concept! None of the flavors were overpowering at all and it went perfectly with the wine! (ps: the glass in the picture is my moms! Mine had half of that...told you haha)

My mom's dinner was the STAR of the evening BY FAR! She got the chicken curry which had sprouts, peppers, and peas. It was a green curry and was BEYOND WORDS. During her college years, my mom did her abroad study in Nepal and India...The girl knows her curry. She said it was some of the best she'd ever had!

There are a couple more pictures but unfortunately they didn't come out too well :( I'll admit it, we definitely did more than our fair share of eating while on vacation! :) Both my mom and I adore food and love sharing the experiences together! We also swam every day in both the ocean and lap pool on the third floor so we got our exercise in, and then some. Gosh, we just had SUCH a blast together :)

So that's it for my first post! I'm SO excited to get this blog rolling, you have NO idea! yayayayyyy :)