Puerto Rico – April 2013 – Day 5

The day everyone left.

Morning

Our last breakfast buffet with and paid by Salem’s work. People were leaving at various times in the day so we were still running into people until the early afternoon.

A view of the beach from our room. La plage à partir de notre chambre.

We spent most of the day on the beach and, to our surprise, it got rather crowded. My guess: the hotel may be selling day passes to locals on Sundays. I wonder how much that costs! There was a public beach right next door, it had a lot more people and kids but there is a division to keep both beaches apart. I have mixed feelings about the division…

We also had a non-human local come and sun himself with us. Some of the female guests were freaked out – I thought he was pretty cool and rather cute!

This local would like to borrow Salem’s goggles. Ce gars du coin voulait emprunter les lunettes de natation de Salem.

A local tanning. Le gars du coin en train de se faire bronzer.

For lunch, we made our way to the beach grill. I was hoping to get a kosher hot-dog (advertised as so on their menu) – I haven’t had a hot-dog in years! I would love to get a good “steamy” but God knows what is in those things! Thankfully, Salem asked an employee what was in the hot-dog. Their answer a mix of either chicken or beef and pork! How is that kosher? No thanks. Now the big question: is this false advertising on the Hilton’s behalf or a mistake on the employee’s behalf? Either one is not a good thing!

We decided to enjoy the beach a bit longer and go back to our room in the late afternoon. We did a little tour of the hotel grounds and found this cute garden with some resident pets! I wouldn’t suggest you try and pet them though.

Duck and a rooster! Un canard et un coq!

Turkey in mid gobble. Dinde en plein milieu de son glou-glou.

2 swans. 2 cignes.

Supper was at the Pina Colada Club (part of the hotel). We had the same thing as last time – Caro = fish tacos (I had been dreaming about them) Salem = chicken wrap.

Back to the Pina Colada Club! YUM! De retour au Pina Colada Club!

Prepping for our walk! Prête à marcher!

Evening in Condado

After that, we made our way across the bridge to Condado – it’s a nice walk (10 minutes from our hotel) – it seems this is where most American tourists hang out. There are quite a few American restaurants and chains, some stores, green spaces, beach access, etc along Ashford Avenue. Be prepared as it’s rather busy with cars, pedestrians and cyclists. Yes, cyclists – lots of them. But they don’t seem to be psychotic like Montréal cyclists even though you do have to have your wits about you – you do share the sidewalk with them. I also noticed that they seem to have this sense of pride with their bikes – really colourful, new, mostly mountain bikes (or at least with a heavier frame). It was actually kinda nice to see.

On the bridge to Condado. Sur le pont. Destination: Condado!

I love this Miami-style architecture. J’adore l’architecture style Miami.

Beach access! L’accès à la plage.

Condado green space between hotels. Espace vert entre les hôtels à Condado.

Salem along a rocky part of the beach. Salem posé en avant d’une partie rocheuse de la plage.

Upon later discussion, Ashford avenue felt like a bit of a mix between Ste-Catherine and St-Laurent with a bit of beach added to it. Rather nice.

Ashford Avenue in the evening. L’avenue Ashford en soirée.

Bridge on the walk back to the hotel from Condado. Le pont lors de notre retour de notre sortie à Condado.

We grabbed a coffee and slit a piece of chocolate cake at the Starbucks in the lobby. We were tired so bedtime wasn’t too late – I blame it on the sun and fresh, beach air!

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Puerto Rico – April 2013 – Day 4

The last full day with the team from my husband’s work.

Morning
After the breakfast buffet and a quick meeting for my husband, many people from the Montréal team decided to get together to go and visit Old San Juan. We commandeered a few taxi vans and headed off there en masse. The 10-15 minute taxi ride for about 5 people cost us $24 USD. We broke up into smaller groups as some people had kids and everyone had their own list of things they wanted to see. We were about 6 people to our group. We were all to meet for lunch at Café Puerto Rico near Plaza Colôn.

Our walk wasn’t very structured and we tended to just go where the wind took us. We started down Calle O’Donnel to Tetuan then onto Fortaleza where there are many arts & crafts stores. Looking for outlet stores? Head to Del Cristo for Guess and Coach stores that offer amazing prices. There are more stores but I think most of my readers, who know me personally, are fully aware that I don’t really care about brand names.

Caro, the damn tourist, is ready! Caro, la maudite touriste, est prête!

Calle O’Donnell.

Salem, the port and a battleship in the distance. Salem, le port et un navire de guerre à quelque distance.

Now, please take note! I do not condone alcohol consumption – I think we all know that. That being said, what others do is their own business. And I’m fully aware of what people like to do when they are on vacation. But please, please – if you are going to drink while on vacation, do it responsibly! Going for a day-long walking tour when it’s sunny and about 30+ degrees C plus humidity? Maybe, just maybe, you might not want to down half that 40oz bottle of rhum by 10:30 am. Perhaps you should consider bringing actual water to drink, rather than more straight-up rhum while on your walking tour. I’m just putting this out there for more health-related reasons. I’m not even going to go into a long spiel about altered behaviour while drinking such quantities of alcohol. I think it’s quite clear how I feel about that! 😉 ‘nough said!

Now, back to the fun at hand! after some shopping, we had to rush back to our starting point in order to make it fashionably late to our lunch meetup. What awesomeness did we encounter along the way? FREE HUGS!! Yes, those people that stand around, in large groups, with t-shirts saying “Free hugs!” and actually dispensing them to anyone who happens to pass by and want one. Of course, I stuck to the women, but I must say, it really is fun and quite contageous. Salem wasn’t too keep on the idea but was still suckered into a few. One of his co-workers went a little berserk and started offering some to complete strangers not even part of the group. It was actually quite funny and I think we could all use a little positivity and hugs in our lives.

Old San Juan and its artistic touches. Le vieux San Juan rajoute ses touches artistiques.

Why so serious, Salem? Pourquoi si sérieux, Salem?

FREE HUGS! Des calins GRATUITS!

Pigeons flying around a boy in a plaza. Des pigeons volent alentours d’un garçon dans une plaza.

It’s lunch time!
Café Puerto Rico is a 2-floor, wooden-furniture adorned restaurant that also has a terrace. Our group of about 12 people was seated upstairs. Having read up on local cuisine before we came, I had Salem and I try the mofongo – a typical Puerto Rican dish. Salem’s dish: a shrimp mofongo in a garlic sauce with a cassava (or yukka) base. I ordered the vegetarian one (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower) also in a garlic sauce with a green/sweet plantain base. Comes with salad and rice. The slightly crispy base is hollowed out a bit to make space for the filling. Mine was very good, but Salem’s was AMAZING! With tax and tip, lunch for the 2 of us was $34 USD.

It’s lunch time! C’est l’heure du dîner!

Shrimp mofongo from Café Puerto Rico – THE BEST! Mofongo aux crevettes du Café Puerto Rico; c’est LE meilleur!

Vegetarian mofongo from Café Puerto Rico. Mofongo végétarien du Café Puerto Rico.

Afternoon
We spent the rest of the afternoon doing a bit more shopping and sight seeing.

I’ll take this opportunity to say a few things about San Juan.
1- Wow!
2- Salem and I could easily move there.
3- It made me feel even worse about things in Cuba.

Why? The buildings are (for the majority) well maintained. Of course, there are a few here and there that are a little worse for wear, but you can see that just about anywhere. The architectural style is so nice, the colours are plentiful. The people are nice, you don’t get harassed, you feel safe. I was out in full-on “tourist” mode with my camera around my neck, snapping pictures all over the place, and not once did anyone even get close to me.

What Caro looked like for most of the day. Caro a passé 80% de sa journée dans une position semblable.

Colourful cobblestone road. Rue en pavé en plusieurs teintes de bleu.

Local cats. Les matous du coin.

Lovely, colourful buildings. De jolis édifices de toutes couleurs.

Details, details. Les détails font la photo!

Old buildings, new cars. Vieux édifices, nouvelles voitures.

An example of colour used to highlight architectural detail. Comment utiliser la couleur pour mettre en valeur l’architecture.

It never ends! Ça ne fini pas!

Can you even find tiling like this anymore? Est-il possible de trouver des tuiles de ce genre de nos jours?

Secret garden. Jardin secret.

Iron work can also be light and dainty. Le fer peut aussi prendre une apparence jolie et délicate.

Just enjoy the picture! Chut!

C&S by a seaside old city wall with one of the many symbols of Puerto Rico. C&S en avant d’un mur de la vieille ville et un des symboles les plus reconnus de Puerto Rico.

Yes, we did see a few downtrodden people, again, you’ll encounter that just about anywhere you go. And yes, I am certain that there are lots of destitute people in Puerto Rico and that poverty exists, it’s just been either relegated to non-touristy areas of the country (or less touristic). But, like I said, I felt safe and no one approached me. And here’s where I’m going to come in with Cuba – Salem and I were both saddened by what we saw when we visited Havana. I think Salem may have interpreted it a bit differently than I did given the places he’s been and lived. In one sentence, I’ll sum up about how I see San Juan (or perhaps Puerto Rico) in comparison to Havana (or Cuba):
“San Juan is what Havana could’ve been”
Now, that being said, I could be totally wrong in comparing the 2 – they do have very different recent histories! But, they did have very similar histories up until a certain point and then they both went in 2 different directions. It all boils down to alliances, politics and opportunities. I won’t get into anything political (although I may have already), but I just cannot help but compare one city to the other given their striking similarities and history, but their completely different realities. And while I felt bad after visiting Havana, I felt even worse about the situation in Cuba after having seen Old San Juan.

Yes, poverty does exist. This man was talking to himself and writing something in the sky. I still wonder what he was writing. Oui, la pauvreté existe. Cet homme se parlait et écrivait quelque chose dans le ciel. Je me demande toujours ce qu’il écrivait.

Now, to move onto brighter things…

Salem and a warship – of course! Salem et un navire de guerre… quoi d’autre?

We topped it off with a visit to a place I hard heard about on Pier #2 – Café Cola’o. 2 double espressos and an iced coffee came out to $8 USD. Let me tell you, Puerto Ricans know coffee! My espresso was so strong that I had to add sugar twice and then a bit of my iced coffee to finish it up. Oh, and the iced coffee – that’s not milk! That’s cream! Real cream! What a treat that was.

Double-espresso that will knock your socks off! Un double-espresso qui fesse en ‘ti pépère!

Café Cola’o – how I miss you! Café Cola’o; que tu me manques!

But we couldn’t stay very late as we had the “Goodbye dinner” to get ready for. On our way back, we shared a cab with the CEO of the company and his wife – very nice people!

Evening
What was going to be a beach party turned out to be indoors given to the so-so weather forecast. That’s ok! We still had lots of fun dancing to the live band and eating from the buffet: mixed salad, tomato and boconccini salad, shrimp & crab salad, cheese platter (you know I love cheese), cold cuts (ix-nay!), asparagus salad, jerk chicken, vegetable and soy fried rice, mahi mahi, etc. Good food! And then there was dessert! Chocolate mousse, chocolate cake, pineapple coconut tarts, vanilla cake.

Foooood! C’est le temps de bouffer!

Salem even had a dance-off with a co-worker and we got to enjoy a performance by a traditional Puerto-Rican group. Unfortunately, the party was shut down at 10 pm – just as I was getting into it – and everyone headed off to the lobby bar to continue the party – or so we were told. I guess to some, party = sit and drink. Boring! WE went for a walk outside and ended up doing a 2-person dabké practice on the very windy beach. We went to bed around 1-2 am.

C&S at the dinner party. C&S prêts à faire la fête.

Our trip to Varadero – Days 3 & 4

Tags

Cuba, travel, varadero

Morning
And this is where the fun started – I woke up with a sore throat which I thought was simply due to the air conditioner but soon turned into a full-blown cold (one of the worse I had in a long time). Breakfast was at the buffet and then we decided to make an excursion to Downtown Varadero. Thankfully I have a good looking husband to cheer me up!

He makes me feel so much better! Ce beau gars me fait oublier mon rhume!

Caro posing outside of our room – the grounds are amazing. Caro prends une pose juste à l’extérieur de notre chambre. C’est un très beau terrain.

Downtown Varadero
Varadero is equipped with public buses that cost 5 pesos for the whole day – you can then take the double-decker bus to the city. Sit on the top if you like views but don’t mind the wind. It’s a 40 minute ride with stops made at what seems to be every resort, and then for a good part of the way you have the shore to one side. It’s actually quite an enjoyable ride.

Riding on the double-decker! On se promène au 2e étage!

The coast along the way to Varadero. La côte le long du chemin vers Varadero.

We got off around Caille 52 and proceeded to walk west along their main street. A few words of advice: bring sunscreen, bring cash, be mentally prepared to be honked at every minute or so by taxi drivers, caleche drivers and cocotaxi drivers, as well as being offered a spot at a good restaurant. Go and check out the little arts and craft shops. The artisans will try and chat you up, sell you some of their wares, etc. That’s fine, just be polite and if you find something you like, there’s nothing wrong with bargaining. Now, a word on these arts & crafts – are the people in the stalls really the artists themselves? Darn good question! To this day, I am not so sure myself. I don’t really think the items are imported but perhaps produced in more remote areas of the country and then sold in larger tourist centers. Either way, these people will do what they can to make you a happy customer but also make a living for themselves. Please, don’t bargain too hard though – help stimulate the economy a bit. What we bought: a wooden classic car for my dad, some wooden jewelry and a wooden vase.

An old house in Varadero – people live here, they had plants on the porch! Une vieille cabane à Varadero. Des gens y habitent; il y avait des plantes sur la veranda.

A classic car for Dad! Une auto ancienne pour Dad!

All methods of transportation which love honking at or heckling you while you walk along the main street. Tous les genres de véhicules qui vont vous claxonner après lors de votre promenade.

Can you feel the love between Salem and the CocoTaxi? Ça se voit que Salem aime bien les CocoTaxi.

A note to travelers: While we may not be used to people being so forward, please be polite. Many locals survive on tourism dollars. If someone offers you something you are not interested in, a simple “No, gracias” is enough. Also, people will often ask you where you are from “Where you form, frien’?”. It’s up to you if you want to answer or not. They will try to conversate with you and there is nothing wrong with that, but keep in mind that these people may hope to get you to buy something. We see the same thing here, but I find the way the Cubans go about it is much more interactive. Also, please try not to get into a pissing contest with the locals, it’s just a waste of time – just keep walking and ignore them.

A windy afternoon
We made it back to the hotel just in time to catch the last few minutes of the lunch buffet. By then my pain killer had worn off, my throat was hurting and the sunburn had reached the whole “feels like my skin is paper” stage. Our regular waiter wasn’t there but our waitress was kind enough to get me tea with honey. All spots by the pool were taken when we got out so off to the windy beach we went (which didn’t last long). Thankfully though, Salem was able to find a basketball and got to play for a while (yes, they have a basketball court!). We finally found a spot by the pool later on and swam a bit before freshening up for dinner.

Our first dinner reservations: Sakuro – the Japanese restaurant
Unfortunately, the dinner service started off somewhat badly and it was pretty much the worst experience we had during the trip. For years I have wanted to go to a Japanese restaurant – the type where they cook on a giant grill right in front of you. I had the experience once, while in Germany, many years ago. I had seen pictures of the shows they put on at the restaurant and it looked great but it seemed it was a set menu (which we weren’t shown) and I knew they used lots of alcohol for the flambés. We were more than willing to sit there and watch the show, but all we wanted was to eat sushi. We called over our waitress and told her of the issue and she said she would talk with the chef. We wanted to have this resolved before the chef came because it certainly had nothing to do with him, we didn’t want to insult anyone. After waiting a few minutes and not getting an answer, we asked another waitress and she said she would check. The spots started filling up and I was on the verge of a panic. Finally, Salem called over one last guy, he went over and talked to our waitress and finally they took us to this little sushi-bar area (they had 2 spots) and we ate there, just the 2 of us. I was a bit sad we got to miss the show, but the other chefs in the place took amazing care of us – they actually made our night! While we were made to feel like we were bothering our original waitresses, the chefs were super kind with us. We told one of them (Adolis) what had happened and he told us to forget about it and that he would take care of us. All the chefs that came chatted us up here and there and really made quite an impression on us. One of them, José, stayed with us for a bit. We ended up having mixed sushi, tempura veggies (one had pumpkin and Salem was crazy about it, he even got seconds) and ice cream with papaya for dessert. We tipped the chefs… I guess they weren’t expecting it as they thanked us a lot and even recognized us and chatted us up again a few days later when we saw them working at the buffet. They saved the night! Thankfully the waitress we had while we were seated at the sushi bar was quite nice as well.

Salem is a happy boy when you give him tempura! Salem est instantannément content quand on le nourrit du tempura.

Simple desserts can sometimes be the best. Un dessert si simple, mais si bon.

On our way back to our room, we happened upon Perro. I asked Salem to go ahead to our room to get my pashmina and the second half of a wrap we had bought at the airport. While I waited for him with Perro, we encountered a fellow Canadian and him and I ended up chatting about how animals are being treated in the area. Somehow, we got onto the topic of tipping while staying at all-inclusives – the man was quite disappointed in people not tipping the staff. Turns out he had just dined at the Japanese restaurant as well and out of a table of 8-10, he was the only one to leave a tip. Honestly people! No worries, I’ll stay off of my soapbox since you already got to hear about it once before in this post. We chatted for a few minutes more when Salem came around. Once he left, I fed Perro the leftover lox wrap and we were on our way to watch the “Rock” show.

An amazing concert – now if only they had kept playing longer!
Unfortunately, I do not know their name, but they were great! They had a male and a female lead singer and they played a lot of the more retro Rock songs (AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Guns N Roses, etc). It was great! Even though I was really starting to feel like crap from the cold, I wanted to dance. Thankfully, the audience seemed to really enjoy dancing. I honestly wish they could’ve played for another hour. The energy was great and the singers were really talented as well as the rest of the band. It seems they had won some kind of competition they held in Cuba. I can see why. I really hope they find even more success in the future.

We stocked up on mojitos and pina coladas while in Cuba. Still virgin though – be good! Nous en avons consommé des mojitos et des pina coladas lors de notre visite. Mais sans alcool; il faut être sage!

Amazing band! Ayoye!

Looking suave Habibi! Ah que t’as l’air bon mon homme!

Caro, pooped and ready to hit the hay momentarily. Caro, épuisée et sur le bord de se coucher.

Awwww! I love these little touches. J’adore ce genre de petit extra.

The night ended with a trip to the lobby bar and then off to bed I went – I could barely talk at this point and was shivering under the blankets when falling asleep.

Day 4
A day to relax
Yadrian, our waiter at the buffet, seemed quite worried about me because of my cold. But that’s life! Always nice to get good service though. We basically relaxed by the pool all day – unfortunately, it was very windy on the beach. My throat was better but this cold went into my sinuses. Hello mucus! *sigh*
A note to travelers (an a note to myself): don’t just pack meds for tummy troubles, also pack meds for colds! Duh!
Lunch was at the grill, we had fish – it was very good! Our buddy, Perro, was there too so she had fish as well (shhhhh, don’t tell anyone). But, in my defense, I did not feed her from the table. She would go from table to table, making sad eyes but staying quiet, then she would grow tired of being ignored and would curl up in a corner. I fed her fish on the grass, next to the restaurant. It’s quite interesting to see an animal rely on their instincts – she wouldn’t eat on the open grass, she would rather bring the food to a more secluded spot, usually near bushes and then ear it there.

The fish dish all 3 of us had! Le poisson que nous avons mangé, tous les 3!

Our second dinner reservations: Bamboo – the Asian restaurant
Again, true to itself, the service in Cuba is great, this restaurant was no exception to the rule! We started off with a soup, which I was really happy with. I also really liked the plates simply because they were not the normal round or square variety we often get.

Soup, it’s good for the soul. La soupe, que c’est bon pour le morale.

Waiting in between courses. Entre 2 plats.

Salem ordered a battered fish on seafood and veggies. Yes, the little pyramids you see are fried rice. So cute! I had the chicken with veggies on crispy noodles and rice. Dessert was vanilla ice cream atop pineapple.

Habibi and his meal. Salem et son assiette.

Caro loves this kind of dish! J’adore ce genre de mets!

Bamboo had a nice atmosphere and decor. It was actually quite nice. The walls were all a bamboo tapestry. Le resto Bamboo avait une bonne atmosphère, un bon décor. Les murs était recouverts de bamboo.

Our trip to Varadero – Day 2

Tags

Cuba, travel, varadero

Breakfast
On the morning of day 2, we met the man who would become our main waiter for most of our meals at the buffet (he works the breakfast and lunch services). His name? Yadrian. So, if you ever go to the Paradisus Princesa del Mar in Varadero, sit in his section, give him a smile, chat him up a bit and you will get some of the best service you have ever gotten! He was always smiling, very attentive, found a good table for us, brought us our coffee and asked how we were. The rest of the ladies on his team were really nice too.

Our morning and lunch Buffet buddies. Unfortunately, one lady is missing! This was actually taken on our last day. Nos amis du buffet pour le déjeuner et le dîner. Malheureusement, il y a une dame qui n’y est pas! Cette photo a été prise la dernière journée de notre voyage.

On a side note: These people work so hard to please you so please reciprocate – show your appreciation with tips and just simply by being polite. I cannot believe how many times I saw people being very grumpy with various wait staff and not leaving any form of tip. Also, how often do we tip 10-15-20% in Montréal (or Canada) for crap service? I know it’s an all-inclusive, but considering that these people go above and beyond in order to serve you… to me what is a peso or two? And they share it amongst their team as well. So please, don’t be stingy, you can afford a trip to some sunny destination, while some of these people have to hold down 2-3 jobs to make ends meet.

What can you expect at the buffet? One station had omelets and eggs; another had pancakes and sauces; another had pastries; another had fresh juice along with yogurts, cereals and fresh fruit; there was a bread table (note: go for the bread you slice yourself, not the already sliced bread – it was a bit stale) and one last station with cheeses, meats and fish (hello smoked salmon!). Expect it to be crowded! Order a caffe con leche, bring your soup spoon to serve yourself form the back of trays if you’re like Salem and I.

After breakfast, we went to beach, applied sunscreen and went into the water for a bit. And here’s where I guess I lost my brain. Thinking I would let myself fry off for 5 minutes, I didn’t reapply my sunscreen. I then fell asleep. What felt like 15 minutes (on the front and another on the back), I later found out was closer to 2-2.5 hours! Yes, you guessed it – hello lobster! To this day (we’re now April 1st), I still have a hint of a tan line! Thankfully, Salem got a bit burnt too, just not as much as I did (he was smart, he was under a bit of shade).

A quieter afternoon and evening
Lunch was at the beach grill! Yummy! I had the chicken and Salem had the shrimp along with some virgin mojitos. This is also where we encountered our new friend – Perro. She’s actually a cute female dog, who’s had at least one litter of pups. I consider her like the resident dog of the resort. You’ll spot her here and there.

We all like virgin mojitos! Nous aimons tous les mojitos; sans alcool bien sûr!

Lunch is always nice after a few hours in the sun. Un bon dîner est toujours apprécié après quelques heures passées au soleil.

Our buddy Perro. Notre amie, Perro.

We made our dinner reservations for the week (please do this early as restos book up quickly) and spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool.

Dinner was at the buffet and we ate a lot less this time around.

My dinner consisted mainly of fish and veggies. Lots of selection though! Mon souper était plutôt basé sur le poisson et les légumes. Très bonne sélection!

Salem opted for more shrimp, fish and veggies. Salem a mangé encore d’autres crevettes, du poisson et des légumes.

No need to worry if you have a sweet tooth, Cuba has you covered! Vous avez la dent sucré? Ne vous en faites pas, les cubains ont aussi la dent sucrée!

A sunburnt Caro… 😦 Caro et coup de soleil…

After dinner was a water show in the pool. The things these people can do in such shallow water is amazing!

Aquatic show. Just… WOW! Le superbe spectacle aquatique.

So many costumes! Lots of thongs though… Des costumes émerveillants mais aussi beaucoup de tangas… euh….

Afterwards, we went off to the lobby lounge for some a late-night espresso and another caffe con leche. These guys are so nice! 1 peso tip and it’s all smiles and amazing service. Fine by me!

Salem in the lobby lounge, a little sunburnt too. Salem dans le lobby, aussi avec son petit coup de soleil.

Mmmmmm caffeine!

Happy Birthday Habibi!

Tags

ballon, basketball, birthday, cake, fête, gâteau, Salem

Today is Salem’s birthday. – Happy birthday Love of my life! – He’s turning XX years old and he’s been so-so about his past couple of birthdays. I think he’s just crazy. So it’s my job to do my best to make him happy on his birthday.

For some reason, I got it in my head to try making him some crazy, amazing cake I saw here. Wow!

I’ve never worked with fondant, made my own buttercream (or at least I don’t recall) and I think I never went over 2 layers… So of course I had to go ahead and make him a life-sized basketball cake!

It was hard work, a long day and I hit quite a few bumps in the road (watermelon-flavoured marshmalows for the giant Rice Krispie that makes up the bottom half, colouring the fondant, covering the ball with the fondant without tearing it and getting too many folds – F****CK!!!, and the cat trying to lick the cake). In the end, it was worth seeing the happy and surprised look on his face when I came out with the cake.

Happy Birthday Habibi – I hope to see you this happy for every one of your birthdays.
See pictures after the French post.

C’est la fête à Salem aujourd’hui. Bonne fête à l’amour de ma vie! Il a maintenant XX ans et, depuis quelques années maintenant, il n’est pas trop positif quand à ces fêtes. Je croîs qu’il est fou, quoi, alors c’est à moi de faire de mon mieux pour m’assurer qu’il soit content le jour de sa fête.

Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais je me suis fait l’idée que je devrais lui faire ce gâteau que j’ai trouvé sur ce site. Ayoye!

Je n’ai aucune expérience avec le fondant, n’ai jamais fait mon propre glaçage à la crème au beurre (Du moins, je ne m’en souviens pas) et je ne crois pas avoir fait un gâteau de plus de 2 étages… J’ai alors eu la magnifique idée de lui faire un gâteau en forme de ballon de basket! Maudite folle!

C’était beaucoup de travail, ça a fait une longue journée et il y a eu quelques pépins (guimauves au melon d’eau pour le Rice Krispie géant qui forme la partie du bas, colorer le fondant, placer le fondant sans trop de plis et sans le déchirer – merde!!!!, et la chatte qui a tenté de léché le gâteau). Mais, en fin de compte, ça valait le coup quand j’ai vu à quel point il était content et surpris quand je lui ai présenté son gâteau.

Bonne fête Habibi; j’espère te voir aussi content à chaque année pour ta fête.

My workstation. Have I ever mentioned just how much I can’t wait to get a decent kitchen?

The cake, 5 minutes after completion. It’s not perfect, but I’ll just have to shut up and take it.

The cake from a different angle.

Salem’s 2012 Birthday Cake – yes, it’s the size of a real basketball. No, you cannot go shoot some hoops with it.

Salem and Caro with the cake – Caro is exhausted at this point.

Yes, there’s cake inside!

Eid Mubarak! … and an Alfajores recipe

This post was a while in coming. We were all very busy for the end of Ramadan, Eid and now with life getting back to “normal” for a week, just in time to welcome some guests over to our place for nearly 2 weeks.

I at least wanted to share the recipe for the alfajores I served up when our friends came over a few weeks ago. I’m not too sure how much time I will be able to dedicate to posting when our guests will be over as we are working at our regular jobs and then coming home to entertain our guests in the evening. So, I make no promises but I will try to post a bit more often.

I’m also currently working on a “healthier” version of date squares. My mother-in-law wants to take something to my father (which it seems is customary after a surgery). He loves dates, we want to give him something healthy, and I would like to teach her a recipe for once. I was thinking of making them “raw” but decided not to push it too much. We’ll see if the recipe makes it onto the blog in the next little while. I also have to work on a post for all the food we prepped for when we had my parents over last weekend.

I’m also trying to make up a recipe for lemon-mint bars that are also healthier. My God! The amount of butter and sugar used in most recipes!!!! Holy cannoli! That’s one’s going to be tough.

Without further ado, I present to you a recipe for Alfajores!

Alfajores

Alfajores
Yield = about 15-20 cookie sandwiches
Ingredients
-1 cup corn starch
-1 1/4 cup flour
-1 tspn baking powder
-1/2 tspn baking soda
-1/4 tspn salt
-1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (if semi-salted or salted, omit the salt)
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 egg yolks
-1 Tsbpn water (adjust once you mix)
-1 tspn lemon zest
-1 tspn lemon juice
-1/2 tspn vanilla extract or ground (ground will not be as strong in flavour and will add specs in your cookies)
-dulce de leche (recipe posted below this one)
-coconut shavings

Putting it together:
1- In a medium bowl, sift together corn starch, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg yolks one at a time. Add in water, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. Mix well.
3- On slow speed, add in dry ingredients until a dough forms. Do not overmix.
4- Take dough out of bowl, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5- Preheat stove at 350F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
6- Roll out dough to about 1/4″ thickness. Cut out cookies with a round cookie cutter (about 2 inches in diameter). Place on cookie sheets. Some advise not to roll out the dough more than twice.
7- Bake for 10-15 minutes until bottoms start to brown but the tops are still pale. Transfer gently to cooling rack – the cookies tend to crumble if you’re too rough.
8- Once completely cooled, spread dulce de leche on the bottom of one cookie, top with another. Do not overfill, the dulce de leche will ooze out the sides and make a big mess. Take a bit of extra dulce de leche and spread along the sides of the cookie. Dips this into the coconut shavings to coat.
9- Store in the fridge to prevent the dulce de leche from running. Enjoy!

Dulce de leche
Yield = enough for 2 batches of alfajores, or one batch and leftovers for ice cream or other piggy foods
Ingredients
-1 can of sweetened condensed milk (such as Eagle Brand)

Putting it together:
1- Stand unopened can in a large pot (that will go on the stove). Make sure there are a few inches of space between the top of the can and the top of the pot. Fill the pot with water until there are a few inches of water completely covering the can.
2- Bring water to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to gently simmer. For a thick caramel (good for Alfajores), let simmer for 4 hours. For a thinner caramel (for other things), simmer for 1-3 hours. The longer you simmer the can of milk, the darker and thicker the caramel will be. Make sure that there is always plenty of water covering the can. If water levels drop below the top of the can, the can could explode!!!!
3- Once done, let can cool (unopened) in the pot of water. This may take a few hours.
4- Open and try not to eat the whole can the second you open it.

Other ways to cook up the dulce de leche: open the can, pour it into a shallow oven-proof container, cover in foil and place into a larger oven-proof container. Fill 1/2 way up with water. Bake for a few hours at 425F. You can also pour the can into a microwave-safe container (such as a Pyrex measuring cup) and microwave at 30% for 3 minute increments.

Pekarna Pâtisserie et Café – I’ll pass, thanks!

Rare is it that I will review a restaurant. Even rarer will I find a restaurant that I do not like. Unfortunately, such is the case today!
Recently, one of our favorite (even if slightly overpriced) dessert places within walking distance closed down. We just happened, by chance, to go to Calories on their closing night. I was really sad to hear the news as I like the cakes, beverages and I LOVED the atmosphere of the place. Not to mention that they had a small terrasse, perfect for nice outings with friends on a beautiful night. One lady there told me the owners may open up another place sometime in the future, but no timeline, area or more info was made available. Basically, I’m not holding my breath.
Since then, our only later-evening dessert option has become Pekarna – in the old Forum (corner Ste-Catherine and Atwater). When we first started going, about 2 years ago, it was alright. Even though it was a bit dark, the cakes were good, beverages too and the staff was nice. They renovated a few months back and that seems to have been the point where quality started going down the drain. Salem and I have been back a few times in the past couple of months, each time trying a new cake in hopes of finding something that we enjoy… No such luck.
From the “we’re out of iced coffee…. and x, and y, and z… we have regular coffee though”, to staff not knowing their menu, to not being helpful with suggestions for the customers… Not to mention putting the chairs up on the tables when a good third of the restaurant is still full of customers and more are coming in! Lets not forget their unstable hours! We’ve shown up at 9 pm only to see all tables and chairs on the terrasse have been put away. Some of the chairs and tables inside have also been made off limits. I’ve seen this place close at 9:30, 10:00, 10:30 and 11:00. You cannot rely on the hours posted on their website.
Now, apart from these things, lets get to the really important stuff – the food! I haven’t ordered a sandwich from there so I can’t say anything about that. Ditto for the ice cream. Here are my comments about the many, many, many cakes they have. You know the expression “Jack of all trades, master of none”? In this case, it would be “Jack of all cakes, master of none”. Sounds harsh, I know. The cheesecakes: I’ve tried a few and there is just something off about them… is it the texture? Somewhat gelatin-like, maybe a bit crusty or dry along the edges (how long has this been sitting here for?). Regular cakes: the fondant on the cakes is much too thick! I will always remember what my good friend, Michèle, told me years ago after finishing up her studies in pastry school “you can tell a good baker by how thinly they roll out their fondant”. She made our wedding cake, used fondant, and no one even noticed it because it was so thin. Pekarna… keep practicing your fondant-rolling technique or just get rid of the fondant altogether and go for a light buttercream icing. Tiramisu was a soppy mess, the mousse is alright though.
And now we come to last night’s experience – the “other” types of cakes. Salem and I decided to share a piece of cake. Salem requested something with chocolate. Knowing we wanted to stay away from anything with fondant and cheesecake-based, we decided on the brownie cake. The piece is fairly decent in size – maybe 2-3″ wide at the widest point and about 4″ long. While the batter was very much like a very dense brownie, the icing and ganache were over the top! We couldn’t even finish our shared piece and were very happy that we had coffee to wash it down (no sugar added). It was about 30 minutes later, on our way home and through our prayers that I started feeling nauseated. Yes, I felt sick because this cake was so freaking sweet! Thankfully, it passed but I learned my lesson. NO MORE DESSERTS AT PEKARNA!!!!
I’m sorry, but if you call yourself a “Pâtisserie”, you should at least be good at making cakes. I’ve read so many reviews that are similar to mine. Rather than having 20 (or whatever) different cakes that aren’t all that great, then why not reduce the menu to 5-8 great cakes?
So, I am still looking for a good dessert place, within walking distance, which just happens to be open pst 9 pm… In the meantime, unfortunately, I will keep going to Pekarna from time to time but sticking to a plain coffee and maybe a cookie – at least those are good… Or maybe I’ll just go to the Timmy‘s next door and pay half the price for the same thing.
Here is a link to some Urbanspoon reviews: