Birth Week

Earlier this week was my husband's birthday (37), and our tradition is to celebrate Birth Week: for a week before the birthday you get to be ridiculously pampered, then on the actual birthday you have to celebrate by doing something you've never done before.

During Birth Week you don't have to walk the dog, or run any errands, you get to have whatever you want for dinner (but not cook it), and the other has to oblige with a smile.

Me: (All the way in the other room) "T, can you look in the freezer and tell me how long I'll have to cook those french fries?"
Him: (Standing by the freezer) "But it's my Birth Week!"
Me: Oh, yes dear, sorry! Let me look!

On the birthday, the "thing you've never done before doesn't have to be anything extraordinary, just something you've never done before! My first year on island I celebrated the day by bar hopping in bare feet, another year we went horseback riding on the beach. For T's birthday, he wanted to go to our favorite Mexican restaurant and have one of every taco on the menu: shrim taco, fish taco, pork taco, chicken taco, ground beef taco, shredded beef taco, and oh yes, veggie taco. I think he doubled up on some...don't know where he puts it all!

Because of Birth Week, I went WAY over budget, which is $105 for the week. Normally if we eat out, he pays, but not on Birth Week! I spent a little over $200 this week. In addition to Taco Night, we had pizza out twice, and I made some of his favorites at home: Veggie burgers in the style of a Big Mac (which if we had real ones would cost about $10, but to get everything to make them at home cost $25. Not right!), Veggie Lasagne, Split Pea Soup, and the absolute favorite- Pierogis!

Since we live on a boat with a very small galley, there is not enough room to stretch out and make these, so I only do when we are house sitting or dog sitting like we are right now. I am 100% Polish, and have made pierogis a million times, but this time I tried Josephine aka Spitfire's recipe for the dough. Everyone at the dinner party agreed they were fabulous! Thank you thank you Josephine!! I made three fillings, potato and onion, sauerkraut, and sweet cheese. It took about 5 hours to make them all, which is another reason I don't do it often!

At the end of the week, T thanked me for an excellent Birth Week, and I agreed he doesn't look a day over 25.

Yes Dear.

Tropical Storms

We are a couple days into our 2 weeks of dog sitting, and this was a good week to not be on the boat...Tropical Storm Erika passed over us and we got a lot of rain- we get a few leaks on the boat when it rains hard and continuously. Of course, the tourists hate it, but those who live here actually love the rain. Since we are surrounded by salt water, all of our usable water comes from the sky. Rain is collected on every rooftop and stored in a cistern, usually under the building, then filtered as it comes out of the faucets. Everyone is very careful not to waste water- we turn the tap off while lathering in the shower, washing our hands, brushing our teeth, doing the dishes, etc. If you do run out of water you can buy it from the water truck, but it's very expensive.
Here's the view of a whole lotta rain!
One of my meals this week was Grape Stuffed Meatballs on Flat Bread with a warm broccoli salad, feta cheese, and Greek dressing. Husband tasted it and fell in love!
Quote: "If I died and could come back as a sandwich, this would be it!!"
I don't know. It was pretty good, but if I could come back as a sandwich it would probably be a Monte Cristo.

I also made a White Gazpacho this week (green grapes, cucumbers, garlic, onions, almonds, and cilantro). I keep running across recipes for it, so I thought I'd give it a try. Really good, perfect for a hot day.
Other meals this week were veggie lasagne ($0), broccoli quiche with lamb chops ($21), pesto pasta ($0) with wine ($12), carrot soup with cheese quesadillas ($13), and steak and baked potato ($0). We also went to a dinner party and brought a dip and beer ($15). So the total for the week was $61...that means $44 into vacation fund! I do admit we got lucky because the friends left a lot of food in the fridge.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Crab Dinner!

Two gigantic crabs that will become dinner!


The claws were so big that we had to use a hammer and a rolling pin to open them...and they were delicious!
The dog agrees!
We ate lots of delicious meals this week, though we went slightly over budget ($105) for the week. Somehow we ended up with three dinner parties, and the wine/beer portion always breaks the budget. In addition to the crab dinner, which was served with a pork tenderloin that friends brought over, we had vegetable coconut curry one night, spinach salad with home made focaccia bread the next. I also made fried chicken with mashed potatoes, ch

Brick Chicken

This week I stepped out on All Recipes and tried two new dishes from the recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine. The first was Chicken al Mattone, which is a whole chicken roasted under a foil wrapped brick. The trick is that you have to remove the backbone so it lays flat. I have never cut up a raw chicken before. It was gross! I didn't have a brick, so I used a cast iron pan filled with foil wrapped rocks for added weight.

We ran out of propane sometime during the roasting process- which I didn't realize until the cooking time was up! We hooked up a new tank and I had to guess at the rest of the cooking time, with the help of a meat thermometer. It was the best roasted chicken I have ever had!

The second recipe from the magazine was Schnitzel-wiches, which was really easy- a pork schnitzel on a bun with lettuce and tomato- plus it's really fun to say a bunch of times!

Other meals this week were Mexican Ravioli and Edamame Won Tons with mexican-asian stir fried vegetables on the side. (Thanks to all of the suggestions on the recipe exchange!!) I also made French Onion soup, Borscht, and finished with pizza night. T has been begging me to make a coconut cream pie, so we had that for dessert last night. I couldn't believe that it cost almmost $10 to make it home made! The grocery had frozen ones for about $8, but I think making it fresh was worth it! I spent a total of $72 this week, so $33 into vacation fund!!

I don't have meal phots this week, so I'm sharing the view again from the villa we are house sitting. This week Hurricane Bill passed about 400 miles from us, so we got some storm bands coming through.

Have a great week everyone!

Off the Boat and House Sitting

What a relaxing week I have had! Husband T took over the menu challenge this week ($15/day, breakfast and dinner, food and drink), and planned, shopped , and cooked every day. We had some great meals- Sunday was pot roast and vegetables in the slow cooker, Monday spinach salad, Tuesday veggie lasagne (with an extra pan for the freezer!), Wednesday bbq beef sandwiches from the leftover roast with carmelized carrots, and Thursday was samosas made from the leftover slow cooker veggies- apples, sweet potatoes, onions, peppers, and peas. He bought crescent rolls on sale and stuffed them with the veggies, adding cumin and curry. He deep fried the first couple...SO GOOD. The dough was literally melting in our mouths. It was too decadent. He baked the remainder in the oven...so good, but being a grease freak I preferred the deep fried! He served the dueling samosas with a sauce made of sour cream, avocado, hummus,and hot peppers, along with seamed broccoli and jasmine rice.

Wow! T can take over the menu anytime! At this point he is about $20 under budget. We are having dinner out tonight, and he's bought some pork chops for dinner Saturday. He also bought some random items on sale that will set me up nicely for my menu next week...evn if I can beat his $$, nothing beats hubby in the kitchen for a week!

Assembling the veggie lasagne


Deep Fried Samosas (center) versus baked...I vote for fried!