Archive for "Food and Drink"
Thanksgiving 2017
Posted on December 29, 2017 by Ching under Family, Food and Drink.
Brian’s parents came up from Oklahoma for Thanksgiving this year. It worked out great because the place where we normally get our Thanksgiving dinner form (Fresh Market) closed a couple of years ago. Since Brian’s mom enjoys cooking she offered to make Thanksgiving dinner. In exchange, we agreed to buy all the ingredients and have them ready for her.
Brian put together the most hilarious grocery list.
Brian usually gets ham from his work but Donna wanted a 20-lb turkey also. We have never bought so much food from the store. Ever.
This is where he tells me to brace myself. LOL.
Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving feast.
Here’a picture of grandma’s plate.
It turned out to be just the five of us. Brian, his parents, grandma, and me. Brian’s parents invited another couple to join us but they canceled last minute. Brian and I also invited Eleanor, Peter, and Ella but Peter ended up falling ill and so they bailed as well. We appreciated him not spreading his germs to us, though.
Eleanor and Ella stopped by later that evening to enjoy some of the homemade chocolate ice cream that Brian’s mom made. We also sent them home with a bunch of leftovers. We still didn’t make a dent, though. We had leftovers for days. We tried to eat as much of it as we could but mostly ended up just throwing a bunch of food away, which is a complete departure from our usual MO.
I always feel so wasteful throwing food away. I think next year we’re going back to just having the right amount of food. You live and learn.
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Dinner at Soy and Kimonos
Posted on December 22, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Because Brian and I were on a mission to try every single restaurant at the resort and were quickly running out of time, we decided to hit two restaurants in one night. The night of our reservation at Kimonos, we thought we could pre-game at Soy, the sushi restaurant next door. I mean, hibachi and sushi go together really well like peanut butter and jelly, right?
I’m not really sure what we were thinking because the sushi rolls are quite filling by themselves but we thought the idea was brilliant at the time because we could just go from one restaurant to another.
Here are a couple of pictures of the Soy menu. Lots of options. You could totally do dinner here and be completely satisfied. In fact, another couple we met on our trip (Nathan and Cassie) didn’t get a chance to check out any of the other restaurants on the property because they really liked Soy and ate there pretty much every night.
Here’s a picture of the restaurant interior. Soy doesn’t require reservations, so it’s a safe bet, but the restaurant isn’t very big either. There wasn’t a wait when we went. However, I’m not sure if it makes a difference whether you’re there during high or low season. Late October is low season.
I liked that the rolls came in fours because then we didn’t feel so bad for ordering a few. We wanted to try as many of them as we could without getting full.
The sushi was delicious and so, predictably, we ate too much.
Here’s a picture of the interior of Kimonos. It’s not a very big restaurant either. Kimonos requires dinner reservations and, since there are only four stations, it’s really hard to get in at times. For instance, we arrived at the resort on Friday and Wednesday was the soonest that we could get in.
I can’t remember why I took a picture of my drink. Maybe because I thought it was delicious? The taste doesn’t come through in the pic, though. Who knows?
I’m not sure why I took a picture of the hibachi either. Maybe I wanted a picture of our official Kimonos plates?
As if the sushi wasn’t enough food already, we also got some appetizers at Kimonos. This is the shrimp and scallop starter.
We also had to get some dumplings. Had to.
The experience at Kimonos is totally interactive. It’s like dinner and entertainment rolled into one.
Here are a few videos just to give you an idea.
I didn’t get any more pictures of food because we were pretty much eating as the chef cooked. The interesting thing about Kimonos is that you get everything. You get the steak, chicken, shrimp, fish, etc. Instead of choosing from items on the menu, they cook everything and just ask you if you want some as they go.
It was fantastic but it also meant you were going to eat way too much if you don’t have any semblance of self-control, which is my biggest problem. I ended up overeating and had to waddle my way to the White Night chocolate party. Then when I got there and saw all the amazing desserts, I was so disappointed that I couldn’t eat any of it because there was no more room in my belly. Yikes!
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Halloween at the Resort
Posted on December 13, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
After Jay and Becca left the resort, Brian and I were pretty much by ourselves.
It was Halloween so the resort had plenty of activities for those inclined, including a pumpkin carving contest.
There was even a costume contest in the evening. Of course, Brian and I were unprepared. We didn’t pack any costumes because we weren’t sure they observed Halloween in the Bahamas. I guess they have enough American visitors that they wanted everyone to feel right at home.
The entertainment team members were dressed in costume all day. That’s Destiny, above, dressed as Harley Quinn.
Though you can’t see his face, this is Linden in the Deadpool costume. Linden/Deadpool also hosted the poolside trivia. It was a lot of fun.
There’s always fun activities put on by the entertainment team at the main pool but the added Halloween activities made it extra festive. They had an activity where you would mummify someone and other stuff. We didn’t get much of a nap that afternoon because there were lots of interesting things happening.
That night was our first “just us” dinner. We decided to go to Bahama Bay because it doesn’t require reservations. Here are some pictures of our food.
I ordered the surf and turf, otherwise known as steak and lobster. I had no idea that lobster was on the menu every night at Bahama Bay until then.
I could have been eating lobster every night!
Brian was quite content with chicken and I’m not sure what that other thing is.
I had a mini coconut crème pie for dessert. It was the best coconut crème pie I’d ever had. I actually had it again another night and Brian also ordered one for himself that time and he ate the whole thing. That’s when you know it’s really good because he hates coconut.
After dinner we decided to check out the Halloween Spooktacular, a special show put on by the resort staff, at the bandstand. But, before the show started, they called everyone dressed in costume up to the stage to announce the winner of the costume contest.
I was really disappointed that Brian and I didn’t get to participate. I think everyone who wore a costume got special resort gift certificates. You might have even got extra ones for being willing to make a fool of yourself in front of everyone. LOL.
I took a bunch of pictures of the Halloween show but I can’t find them for some reason. I need to figure out what I did with those photos and videos so I can share them here. I hope they’re still on my phone. Until next time!
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A La Carte Breakfast at Il Cielo
Posted on December 10, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Tuesday morning, Halloween, was Jay and Becca’s departure day from Sandals Emerald Bay. They had plans to spend Halloween night at Universal Studios before heading to Mexico (Valentin) to celebrate Jennifer Jacob’s BIG 50th birthday. Our breakfast at Il Cielo was our last sit down meal with them.
Here are some pictures of our delicious breakfast.
I think it’s pretty easy to guess who ordered what.
I ordered the benedict (first pic), Becca ordered the omelet (second pic), Brian ordered the pancakes (he’s not very adventurous when it comes to food as you all know), and Jay ordered the steak and eggs (pictured below).
The craziest thing about Jay and Becca’s departure day is that it was the day that all of the crazy flight cancelations started. Apparently, the airport only has one firetruck and it was broken. US safety regulations don’t allow US flights to land in an airport without a working firetruck.
Well, Jay and Becca were relying on the flight to arrive because that was the plane that they were going to take back to the US. Being the savvy travel agents that they are, they managed to reroute their travel from Georgetown to Nassau and Nassau to Miami. This was possible because local flights and Canadian flights were still running as usual. The airport firetruck issue only affected US flights.
Several people who couldn’t get rerouted returned to the resort (it took several days for the firetruck to be repaired). The resort was nice enough to offer these folks a discounted rate for the additional unplanned days. Such was the case with my birthday sister Sharon. We found out that we share the same birthday at the manager’s cocktail party. Anyway, she and her husband didn’t end up leaving until Saturday. Their flight just kept getting rescheduled for the next day and the next.
At least I can’t imagine a better place to be stranded. Sharon and her husband didn’t seem to mind staying the extra days.
Jay and Becca, on the other hand, had specific plans. They had a few more stops on this trip. They had to get off the island stat. They figured it out but we did get to hang out with them a bit longer as they came back to the resort to sort out their flight situation after their original flight was canceled.
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Birthday Dinner at the Bombay Club
Posted on December 10, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Later that evening we celebrated my birthday at the Bombay Club. My 40th birthday dinner was also our last dinner with Jay and Becca since they were leaving the next day to travel to Mexico to celebrate another friend’s 50th birthday.
I know. They live quite the luxe life!
Here are some pictures of our delicious dinner.
Everything was served in little metal bowls that are set on a base with a tea light candle inside to keep the food warm.
The presentation was both beautiful and functional.
The served us the most delicious naan bread I’d ever tasted.
This garlic shrimp tikka was also super flavorful and delicious.
I think these are the samosas. Brian LOVED them!
Just a silly picture of me with our table centerpiece. LOL.
An even sillier picture of Brian.
Here are a couple of pictures of the menu so you can see the descriptions of all the amazing foods we enjoyed at dinner.
Here’s a picture of me with the beautiful glass turtle that Jay and Becca got me for my birthday. Thanks, Dills!
And finally, here’s a picture of our good looking dinner party.
The funniest part of the dinner is that the entire day Jay and Brian were joking about having to go to the pizza place after because they were worried they wouldn’t like anything. Everything was so delicious! The Bombay actually turned out to be our most favorite restaurant at the resort.
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