Tulum – Day 2

We got a wake-up call at 7:30am and briefly debated going back to sleep, but in the end got our boots up and out the door for yoga on the beach. It was a good way to start the trip and our teacher, Gabriel, was especially entertaining. He was very concerned about “inhalation” and making sure we were all using our nostrils. After yoga we grabbed breakfast then got changed to hang at the beach. We got three chairs and sat staring at the ocean as we soaked up some warm sun.

After an hour, Shelby & I hit the pool for water aerobics, but it was not very aerobic. Just lots of lame arm motions – though there was a live DJ. But we called it quits after about 15 minutes and went back to our chairs. But what about the rental car you may be asking? Ahh yes, the adventure continued. I went the concierge, who at that moment was Juan and he looked like he was about 12 years old. I told Juan my story and gave him the numbers for Hertz so he could call around. After a few calls, we determined they couldn’t find my reservation, but there was one car in Playa del Carmen. An hour away? Uh no. Another phone call later, Juan got me a new reservation and Fiat on hold in Tulum. I went back to tell the girls, and we planned to go get it after lunch (which was lime soup and chicken quesadilla btw).

We taxied to the Hertz office and were once again greeted with “we have no cars.” Excuse me? I just called two hours ago, here’s my reservation. Still, “no cars.” Unbelievable – we thanked them for nothing and exited the shop. Next door was a supermarket so that brightened my spirits briefly (I love foreign grocery stores) but there’s was nothing exciting to be bought. We taxied back to Dreams with new plans of staying put which was fine, given the jam-packed schedule of activities available each day. The valet was surprised to see us return without a car since we had asked him where to park when we returned

I got on the phone to Hotwire to get my refund in process since I was never gonna get a car, while Eleni headed to the pool. Unsurprisingly, Hotwire had difficulty reaching anyone at Hertz Mexico to speak with and verify my story, so it may take a few days to process.

Shelby & I then went to the gym to work out, but it was much smaller than expected and the few cardio machines were all in use. Instead, we hit the 4:30pm Buns & Thighs class on the beach which was great. The instructor, Andreas, was pretty funny and the setting couldn’t be beat as the sun was starting to set. Several kicks and squats later, we celebrated with the drink of the trip, the mango tango, and met Eleni back at the room. We hung out on our little patio and took turns showering in preparation for the New Years Eve festivities.

Normally you can go to whatever restaurant you want at the resort with no reservations, but for this special night you had to make a choice and were assigned a seating time. Rather than paying an extra $29 for a dinner at the fancy restaurants which got you a bottle wine, we got an 8:00pm reservation at the “free” option and planned to just order wine. Just as we were about to leave our phone rang. “Are we expecting a call?” asked Eleni. Nope, but we should answer it. Guess who – Hertz! They had a car for us if we came to pick it up right now. Seriously? At 8:00pm on New Year’s Eve – Umm no, we have plans. They let us know that they may not have it in the morning and also that they were closed the next day – since we were fairly certain they may not have it even if we sprinted out the door that minute, we told them no thanks and walked to dinner.

Normally the World Café, where we were eating, is buffet central, but for tonight it was seated dining with a set menu. However, the staff at this restaurant was not used to having to seat folks and serve individuals, so the whole evening was a slow string of comedic errors. Luckily we got there a couple minutes before the majority of our other 8:00pm diners but it still took a few minutes to get seated. Once there, we got some wine and our first dish, a lobster mousse on a pastry puff spoon. But after that things started to derail – this staff was not as fluent in English yet as, and as more guests arrived they had trouble keeping track of who had been served what so far, etc. Eventually we got our second course, a nutty soup of pistachios and almonds which I really liked, but it was a long wait for our main entrée and our wine glasses had not been refilled. We finally tagged one of the other waiters, a young girl who spoke pretty well and got her to fill our wine glasses, and then finally our waiter took our dinner choices. This is where the language issue became a problem because Shelby is pescatarian and both entrée options had meat on them. She tried to ask for just the veggie crepe side dish listed on one of the options and we thought it got through. We waited some more, and managed to get some bread from the girl, but still no main food. A different waiter then came by and took our order again, and a few minutes later we ended up with two rack of lambs with scallops and one beef/tuna/shrimp entrée. We did a bunch of swapping around the plates and end everyone ended up with something to eat. For dessert we were supposed to get crème brulee and we waited and waited. Our waiter came over and said “ OK, Happy New Year!” thinking we should be leaving and we said, where’s our dessert? Ohhh, no more crème brulee. What? What is there? Chocolate mousse. Great, bring three please. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Where’s our chocolate mousse? No more desserts left – maybe cookies? Great, bring us anything. At the same time, we see brulees and mousses going by elsewhere. We manage to snag one lemon mousse and someone else brings us two frozen flans. The mousse wasn’t bad, but the flans were horrible. Not a good way to end a 2 hour 20 minute marathon dinner.

Earlier in the day we had discovered some yummy chocolate chip cookies at the Lobby Bar, so we made our way over there to see if there were any left. There weren’t, nor were there any ice creams, so we settled for three glasses of champagne and some pretzels. At 11:30 we hit the beach for the rock & roll concert and New Year countdown. It was warm and breezy and a nice spot to clink glasses with two good friends. The band was playing oldies but we didn’t stick around for long. We still needed dessert, so we went back to our room and ordered room service – a cheese quesadilla with guacamole, a piece of chocolate cake and piece of cheesecake. Now that was a fitting end to New Years Eve.

Slogan of the Day: You can have whatever you want at Dreams (except dessert)

SEA-CUN-PDC-TUL – Day 1

About a month ago, Shelby M asked if I was interested in going to Mexico some time.  I said sure and we casually started looking.  As we thought more about it, we decided New Years would be good to go and spent an afternoon finalizing plans.  Eleni wanted to go too, so we got ourselves booked at a 4-star all-inclusive resort for 30% off at Orbitz and we all had Alaska miles to use so tickets were only $60 for taxes.  Sunday we decided to get a car too, so we booked that and were set.

We left Tuesday morning on a great direct flight to Cancun  – departs Seattle at 9:00am and lands in Cancun at 5:00pm, just in time for happy hour.  We worked some magic with the gate agent to get us seated together and the flight wasn’t too bad – we spent a lot of time on the crossword puzzle at the back of the Alaska Airlines magazine.  Landed in Cancun a little early, got through immigration and even got three green lights going through Customs.  Now all we had to do was pick-up our car and we would be off to meet our friend Daphne for happy hour at the Ritz in Cancun.

This sadly, is where our story begins to falter.  Despite having a pre-paid reservation, we were informed there were no cars available and they didn’t know when one would turn up.  How do we get to Tulum then, 90 minutes south of Cancun?  By bus apparently, and then call hertz to see if Tulum Hertz has any cars.  No other agencies seemed to have cars either, so bus was our only option at that point.  Luckily it was leaving in 5 minutes, but not straight to Tulum of course – first we had to stop in Playa del Carmen.

We texted Daphne the bad news we wouldn’t be coming to see her and boarded our coach.  The bus was full and the ride lasted just over an hour – we were entertained on the way down with a showing of Daddy Daycare in espanol.  Once in Playa del Carmen, we had 75 minutes to kill before the bus to Tulum, so we wandered down the Pedestrian Mall in search of food.  Playa del Carmen seems very touristy, so I’m glad we’re not based there.  We quickly scarfed down a plate of guacamole & chips, then I had chicken fajitas.  It was nearing 8:30pm, so we paid up and trudged a block back to the bus station for our next bus.

There were a few buses already lined up, so Shelby went to ask which one was ours.  We were shocked and concerned to hear the woman announce the bus had already left.  Knowing this could not truly be possible (running late yes, but leaving early?  c’mon)  So Shelby next inquired with a driver who said it would be here in 10 minutes.  About 45 minutes later we were finally on our bus to Tulum.  This bus seemed to be more local than express, so we carefully looked at each stop to make sure we didn’t miss Tulum.  This ride also took about an hour, and we spotted our resort as we neared the town.  Once off the bus we grabbed a taxi and 5 hours later arrived at Dreams.

It’s a beautiful spot, big and airy as you would expect.  We have a garden room which Eleni gleefully discovered today is on the Oaxaca courtyard.  (as some of you know, I love the word Oaxaca).  It was nearly 11:00pm but we wanted to explore a bit so we unpacked quickly, read through the program of events, and then wandered to the Sugar Reef bar for our first included drink (btw, they are all included!).  We saw the pools, ocean and beach, the giant chess board and ping-pong tables.  We ducked briefly into the disco then up the stairs to the Rendezvous bar for drink #2 (super sweet, like a watermelon jolly rancher).  But with yoga looming at 8:00am, we called it a night shortly thereafter.

New Orleans – Day 8

For our last day we only had a a couple hours to devote to Katrina Corps, so instead of manual labor Marshall took us on a tour of the Lower Ninth Ward which took the brunt of the flooding.  Whole blocks where houses once stood are just empty lots overrun with weeds.  On one spot an entire High School is gone.  The houses that do remain are in disrepair.  Only about 10% of the residents have been able to return.  We went into a couple houses that Katrina Corps had helped gut, visited the Katrina Memorial, saw some of the Brad Pitt “Make it Right” Houses, and then finished off with a stop at the Lower 9th Ward Village (http://www.lower9thwardvillage.org/).

The Lower 9thWard Village is a Community Center in progress, being established by a long-time resident of the community, Mack.  We spent a long time speaking with him about his work, his family, his Katrina story.  It is truly unbelievable that all of this has occurred and still is in as bad a shape as it is.  Like the Studio yesterday, this spot was also part of the Propect 1 art exhibits, so as we spoke, many folks dropped by to see the exhibits being hosted there. 

Marshall dropped us back home around lunchtime, and we headed to Nola since Erin had missed out on that dinner.  I finished off thetrip with a good southern theme,  shrimp and cheddar grits, and we shared a piece of chocolate pecan pie.  I didn’t eat anything else the rest of the day I was so full, but it was so delicious.

Erin then flew off to DC while I sopped a little more before heading to the airport.  I was a little worried my flights might get screwed up due to the freezing rain in Seattle, but luckily it was clear but cold by the time I landed.  and by cold, I mean COLD!  24!  I thought New Orleans had been bad.  But G got me home safe and sound.

New Orleans – Day 7

This was a day I was really looking forward to.  Eleni had spent a week in New Orleans in July volunteering with Katrina Corps (http://katrinacorps.org/), and once I knew I was coming down, I extended my trip over theweekend so I could do a little volunteering as well.  I recruited Erin & Julie to come with me, so Saturday morning we were picked up by Marshall, a member of the Katrina Corps team, and spent the day doing some recovery work.

Katrina Corps is currently helping clean up a former middle school and turn it into a community center/art center/etc called the Studio at Colton (http://www.cano-la.org/studio_at_colton.html).  Our task today was painting on the third floor – through the day we got white on the walls and ceiling of an alcove and one hallway, then did the baseboards black in the alcove and three hallways.  The day flew by and after painting baseboards all afternoon sitting on the tile floor my butt was so cold.

Part of the Studio at Colton is already open for business though, so as we painted through the day there was a steady stream of visitors coming by for the Prospect 1 art exhibit (http://www.prospectneworleans.org/) and a small craft fair.  We just told the visitors we were the performance art piece.  It was a good day – in the end we didn’t do much, but every little bit helps I hope.

Getting back to the hotel, Erin and I immediately dove under the covers to get warm and even dozed off for a bit.  Once refreshed, we met Julie downstairs and headed off for dinner #7, Dante’s Kitchen:  http://danteskitchen.com/

This place was way out by the Camellia Grill, so we took a cab.  It had been recommended by Doug’s friend who knows the chef and I had also read a lot about it.  It started off great when they brought us molasses spoon bread.  From there I had BBQ shrimp and then swordfish “fish & chips”.  But this resembled fish and chips in now way.  It was good though.  We also shared a side of caramelized onion mashed potatoes and a side of root beer mashed sweet potatoes.  I could have just eaten side dishes all night.  We were actually so full at this meal we didn’t order dessert (though secretly Erin had an alternative plan up her sleeve).

On the way home we hopped the St. Charles street car and were entertained by four Tulane students heading to Pat O’Briens.  Once we we got off we went in search of a mask Julie wanted to buy for her nieces, and somehow ended up wandering back towards Stella!.  Erin was hoping for a grilled cheese sandwich dessert encore, but unfortunately by the time we got there, the kitchen was closed.  We also struck out on Julie’s mask and Eleni’s coffee mug, so we heaed home 0-3.

New Orleans – Day 6

In complete contrast to the day before, woke up to clear sunny skies.  First thing I ran down to check on Julie’s all day meeting and once things were good to go I spent the morning on email with a quick escape to the gym.  Once lunch was underway, I escaped in the afternoon for a bit of shopping as well, wandering along Riverwalk place and through the French Quarter.  Even though it was clear, it was still chilly out.

Most of the team had now left New Orleans, so dinner #6 was just me, Erin & Julie at a spot I had been looking forward to all week, Stella!:  http://www.restaurantstella.com/

This was a true foodie meal of interesting combinations and beautifully presented plates.  On the recommendation of Tom-Tom I started withe butternut squash soup with applewood smoked bacon, and it did not disappoint.  For dinner I had scallops served atop an andouille-potato hash, and stole bites of Erin’s salmon and Julie’s sea bass.  Dessert was the real star though – a grilled cheese sandwich!  seriously – triple creme brie and chocolate grilled between two slices of bread on top of a huckleberry sauce.  In addition, we also had a chocolate cake with a pink lemonade sauce.  So sour and so good.

After dinner we called Peter to see where he and the UNC folks were and to hear about his day trip to Biloxi, but no answer, so we all turned in early for our big day of volunteering.

New Orleans – Day 5

Woke up to snow! yes, snow!  lots of little snowflakes swirling all about my 43rd floor window.  It apparently hasn’t snowed in Nola in 4 years so it was a big deal.  Like Seattle, the city seemed to freak out and quickly tell everyone to hunker down and not leave their house. 

The morning around here was quiet as the conference was winding down and folks were starting to leave.  I didn’t have anything to do until lunch meetings, so I finally made it to the gym.  It was good to not feel quite so slothful anymore.  Doug & Julie then each had two big meetings kicking off at lunchtime so I rode the escalator back & forth quite a few times for 30 minutes.  Kicking off Julie’s got especially stressful when Erin & I had problems with the memory stick of presentations, but it all worked out.

With both meetings up and running, I escaped with Peter for another adventure.  The snow had melted away already bit it was still COLD, so I bundled up in whatever I could and went up the street to jump on the St. Charles streetcar.  Peter went to Tulane for a year, so we headed to the Carrollton district to eat at Camellia Grill and walk through Audobon park, two of his favorite memories.  I think I’ve been to Camellia grill with Mar – its a diner, but very popular.  I had a grilled cheese and a piece of chocolate pecan pie.  Peter had the same, though the true reason for the trek was red beans & rice.  Unfortunately, they only serve them on Mondays which we did not know.  The most amazing thins was the pie.  As we ordered, our waiter asked if we would like it heated and we both said yes.  He then proceeded to cut a slice and put it ON THE GRILL!  crazy!  He literally just put the pie on the grill where our sandwiches had been made.  And then, he flipped it over! omg!  it was nuts – and delicious.

Our post-lunch walk was perfect.  It was still cold out, but noticeably warmed up as we continued around the park, with the sun trying to peak out.  Peter was on a search for Spanish Moss and we found lots.  After making a full loop, we hopped the streetcar back downtown, and both did email the rest of the afternoon.  Around 6:00pm we had planned another field trip to visit one of the new modular libraries that was opening thanks to funding from us.  I was a little nervous it might not be happening because the NO website said all libraries were closed due to snow.  So, when our taxi driver didn’t know where the address was, we took that as a sad sign to abort this mission.  I’m sure it’s a lovely library

Dinner #5 was at Antoine’s, the oldest restaurant in New Orleans, open since 1840.  http://www.antoines.com/  This was a big group dinner for Julie’s meeting, so we had a pre-set menu and not a lot of choice, but everything  was yummy:  some puffy potato slices and crab gratin to start, then trout amandine with creamed spinach, and bread pudding to end. 

After dinner, we all just headed back to the hotel for a quiet night and catching up on the blog.

New Orleans – Day 4

So, we didn’t really get home the night before until about 1:45.  I was tired, but Tom had a meeting starting at 8:00.  So I set my alarm for 7:45 and when it went off I quickly threw on my jeans, a top and ran a brush through my hair.  I ran downstairs and made sure everything was in good shape, and then caught the elevator back up to the 43rd floor.  Back in my room, I threw my pjs back back on, jumped under the covers, and slept for another hour and half which helped A LOT.  I spent the rest of teh morning on email before going down to get each of Kate and Julie’s luncheons off and running.

Once they were both set, I met my adventure buddies Peter and Bose in the lobby for a true field trip.  We hopped into a cab and went in search of a fabulous little bakery I had read about but that Bose had also seen written up in Men’s Journal of all places.  This place was adorable:  http://www.shopsucre.com/magazine/  We had lunch (pork sandwich for me on a soft brioche roll) and all bought lots of treats.  I do have to admit my Chocolate Peppermint cupcake was a little disappointing.  The top part of the frosting with peppermint candy on it was good, but below that the frosting was pretty tasteless.  I still have a bread pudding from there to eat, so hopefully that will make up for it. 

The afternoon was more of the usual (email and meetings), then Bose emailed for happy hour.  First I met him on floor 42 where the secret preferred guest lounge is.  Then we headed to Pat O’Brien’s via taxi because it was pouring outside.  Pat O’Brien’s is famous for a rum drink called the Hurricane so Bose wanted to try it (and he had two!)  I don’t actually like them, so I went with the more appropriate Rainstorm (which was even green & blue, two things I love in a drink!).

At 7:30pm we met some of the team at Nola for Dinner #4:  http://www.emerils.com/restaurant/2/NOLA-Restaurant/  This is part of the Emeril empire, which had made me question whether or not we should go.  Plus, I had gone there previously with Mar.  But I remembered really liking it, and last night did not disappoint.  4 words for you:  Bourbon mashed sweet potatoes.  That was my side dish to fried chicken breast and some snap peas.  For a starter I had BBQ shrimp which were also super good.  We were all so full we couldn’t do dessert (plus we were saving up to take Andrew to Cafe du Monder since he had never heard of a beignet).

Very full as usual, we walked some of it off heading back over to Frenchmen street again, but we did not stay out as late.  We hung at the spotted cat once again, until grabbing a cab to Cafe du Monde, where Andrew could only mutter “I love them.”

New Orleans – Day 3

6:00am came quick again, and 7:00am was even more exciting:  we had another breakfast session we were hosting – the schedule told people to go to ballroom D, but the hotel set the food up at ballroom A.  Good Times.  The rest of my morning was spent figuring out the mix-up and making sure the rest of my event plans were correct.

For lunch Peter, Bose & I went across the street to Palace Cafe(http://www.palacecafe.com/) to scope out one of the restaurants I was sending Tom and his group to the next night.  They greeted us with a jingle bell necklace which was fun.  I had super yummy pecan catfish and Peter had gulf fish panzanella.  Bose had pasta – New Orleans is a tough town for a vegetarian so Bose has not been eating as well as he did last year in Philly.

I spent most of the afternoon on email and checking meetings, but Bose, Peter, Gretchen & I did manage to escape for a quick field trip into the French Quarter to buy Pralines.  We went to Leah’s which had been recommended to us by a local chef sitting on a stoop the day before as we were wandering.  http://www.leahspralines.com/

Dinner # 3 was at Bayona:  http://www.bayona.com/     Susan Spicer is a popular local chef and dinner was great.  I started with the cream of garlic soup and then had striped bass.  For dessert, Anastasia and I shared a pistachio pot de creme that came with a phyllo wrapped pear and pomegranate sorbet.  It was a really random assortment of items but all tasty.

After dinner we wandered over to Frenchmen Street for live music.  Lots of folks were gathered at the Spotted Cat, and I really enjoyed the band playing there.  Once the took a break, we went up the block to the Apple Barrel where Bose and eventually all of us befriended a local named Gus (Augusta).  Gus was very friendly and told us all about New Orleans and his Katrina story, so it turned into a pretty fascinating outing.  But alas, we once again all had early morning, so we eventually made our way home, but not without a quick stop for beignets at Cafe du Monde!

New Orleans – Day 2

From 4 hours sleep Saturday night to 6 hours sleep last night.  I’ll hopefully get 7 tonight and be back to normal.  The 6 hours sleep was due to the fact that our team was hosting a 7:00am breakfast session, so I had to be down there by 6:45 to make sure all was well (which it was).  After that session I went in search of the meeting room our team has reserved for any side meetings we want to host through the week.  I planned to make it my base of operations until I learned it would cost me $250 a day to activate the wireless.  (!!!!)   So, now I’ll be shuttling back and forth between my room on the 43rd flor and the meetings rooms downstairs because wireless up this high only costs $10/day.   The other kink in my plan of the week is working out – I’m much busier this year than last year and the gym costs $10 to use.  So, we’ll see how many times I make it to balance out the gorging.  I better do a few push ups and crunches before I go to bed.  Maybe I’ll only get 6.5 hours of sleep…

But onto more important things.   Breakfast was a very unexciting granola bar.  Lunch however found me walking into the French Quarter with Peter B to Napoleon House on the recommendation of the concierge.  It was a great old building from 1797 – I had a roasted chicken sandwich with herbed chevre on an onion roll while Peter had Shrimp Remoulade in an avocado.  Both were good.   Since we now nearly in Jackson Square, we were easily swayed over to Cafe du Monde to have beignets for dessert.   MMM – how they can they be so good?  Warm and sweet, crispy and chewy.  Sadly though, we eventually had to wander back to the hotel for more meetings, logistics and email.

Dinner #2 was at a newer restaurant near the Convention Center called Grand Isle:  http://www.grandislerestaurant.com/home.php

Starters included calamari, oysters with jack cheese & tasso ham, and Angela got frog legs!  ewww.  For dinner I got a fish I’ve never heard of and still haven’t figured out how to spell – phonetically, it’s papadrum but I’ve googled various spellings and can’t find anything.  It was good – pan fried with a beurre noisette (nut butter) served on top of spinach and sweet potatoes.  Others got tuna, pasta with lobster sauce and I can’t remember what else.  Everything looked good, except Bose said his mac & cheese side was “two thumbs down” after the best mac & cheese EVER he had in Boston a couple days ago.  I finished off with bites of Peter’s Pecan pie, Jan’s dreamsicle cheesecake and Doug’s german chocolate cake.

New Orleans – Day 1

Who’s ready for Kendra’s culinary tour of New Orleans?  Most of my team, that’s for sure.  While last year’s culinary tour of Philadelphia was much more haphazard, accompanying the team to New Orleans this year has brought much bigger expectations of where they can eat besides the conference hotel.  Of course, I am happy to oblige and organize.

I flew in Sunday via Houston on Continental.  Assuming that all airlines had given up on free food service completely, I made my usual Sea-Tac stop at Kathy Casey’s D’Lish for a breakfast panini and Chocolate Toffee S’More cookie.  Imagine my surprise when the flight attendants actually served us honey nuts cheerios, a muffin and a banana! miracle!

I got into New Orleans around 5:00pm and after getting settled in my room, met up with ten fellow co-workers for dinner #1:  MiLa (http://www.milaneworleans.com/)

MiLa stands for Mississippi and Louisiana, the home states of the husband/wife chef team.  It took awhile to get the menus and then get our orders in which was a little frustrating since most of us were starving, but once the food started coming all was forgiven. 

To start, Janice and I sharedt the white sweet potato soup that had a big grilled scallop in the middle of it. Then for dinner I had pan seared Atlantic Grouper with a couple little sweet potato medallions, andouille and bok choy.  Other folks at the table had tuna, duck and pork for the most part – all was beautifully presented and yummy.  Desserts shared at our end of the table were caramel poached apples with mini beignets and a chocolate peanut butter tart.  Someone at the other end had satsuma sorbet which also looked good.

Then it was home to bed since we all had to be up and at the malaria presentation at 7:00am!  eek – and I was running on 4 hours sleep after Kate & Zoey’s birthday party and my early flight.  We’ll find some music Tuesday night though I hope.