Puerto Rico

The Sprout has sprouted a chomper.  Lil' Bit is pooping for chocolate. Chef is on a diet...and I thought my head was going to implode yesterday.  Life has been more than full lately, and ever since I stopped nursing my mental state has been far from balanced. 

Yes, I stopped nursing.  I know, I should really nurse for a full year.  The thing is I went to Puerto Rico for 3 days and when I returned The Sprout was so acclimated to the bottle I just didn't see the point in reintroducing the boob for another 4 months, only to wean her again.  And to be honest, and I say this with a twinge of guilt, it has been nice to have my body back to myself.

I went to Puerto Rico in celebration of one of my best girlfriend's 30th birthday.  It was 4 women pushing 30, tons of rum and sun, and a hotel with a casino.

We hiked in the rain forest and went swimming in a waterfall.

 

We went horseback riding on the beach.

We played craps and slots, but they don't let you take pictures in the casino.

We did a lot of eating.  Here is a run down of some of our more memorable meals. 

We had breakfast at La Bombonera one of the oldest restaurants in Old San Juan, to eat mallorcas and have coffee.  Mallorcas are spanish pastries dusted in powdered sugar.  I had mine with egg, cheese, and bacon sandwiched between it and it was divine. The restaurant  was listed as super authentic, and as an old diner it has a lovely charm.  But Rachel Ray had eaten there on her $40 a Day travel show, and when we walked in they handed us little Food Network cards with her face grinning up at us, which immediately detracted from the ambiance...if you know what I mean.

Another great regional food we tried there was called mofongo.  It is mashed plantains served in a bowl with something on top of them, like pork or beef.  Many times it is served in a soup as well.  If you are ever in Puerto Rico go for the mofongo, if not for the fact that it is fun just to say out loud. Mofongo.

The best meal we had was at Dragonfly.  It is a seafood/latin fusion restaurant and the dinner was extraordinary.  One of the highlights of the meal was the truffle infused tuna tar tar served over a sushi roll.  It was amazing.  The only thing that put a damper on the evening was the real estate lawyer who interrupted our meal to hit on us, and the sad fact that the birthday girl had been stung by a terrible jellyfish just hours before. 

It was tragic.  We were enjoying ourselves during a late afternoon Caribbean swim.  Four tipsy gals bobbing along the beautiful briny sea. When all of a sudden the birthday girl let out a yelp.  She had been stung and tentacles were still trapped in her monokini.  We dashed out of the ocean in immediate crisis mode.  The victim was lead upstairs by one girl, the other grabbed our stuff from the beach, and I set off to the poolside bar for vinegar.

An entire gallon of vinegar later...the most expensive vinegar we have ever purchased at $30 a gallon from room service, mind you, did little to alleviate the burning.  So we all chipped in and tried to drink the pain away.

In the immortal words of Stevie Wonder...that's what friends are for.

On a totally different note, I just launched a new blog in honor of my upcoming kid's book which is going to hit the virtual shelves of Amazon come December 9th...if all goes as planned.  Please, swing by if you get a chance.  http://www.nowallsforthesmall.com/blog.html