Cuba March 2012

I realized that I'd promised to bore you with my vacation pictures, but that I hadn't done it yet. I started to go through them and just couldn't narrow them down to less than 50, so I'll split this into two posts.  Everyone has seen a pool and a beach so I'm going to try to focus on the other things that we experienced.

We stayed at the Sol Cayo Guillermo on Cayo Guillermo (duh), a tiny island above Cayo Coco.  I chose the hotel because people couldn't stop talking about how beautiful the beach was and the friendliness of the staff.  Many people return there year after year.  And the property was everything advertised.  Gorgeous pool, fantastic room, and there wasn't a staff member unwilling to help you. 

This was our room. Check out that vaulted ceiling. The wood was stained brown and then had a light whitewash over it. Spectacular.

We had to wait about 3 hours for our room to be ready - since the buffet wasn't open, we spent that time in the bar.  Maybe 3 hours was a bit too long because this was taken about 5 minutes after we got into our room.  Such a party animal. 

The bathroom was pretty cool.  The shower had a rustic ladder in the corner to hold our towels.  I want one of those in our bathroom at home.

We became friends with one of the gardeners and he would leave me a handmade gift every day.  Like this coconut and flower.

The coconut had a grasshopper on top.  A grasshopper woven from palm leaves. 

 Apparently he was an angry grasshopper.

The gardener also made a fish for me. It was on a long thin piece of palm leaf that looked like a fishing line.  He stuck it in the door lock and when I opened the door in the morning it swung towards me. Scared the crap out of me. Nevertheless it was a sweet gesture.

He also made a hat for Tom.  

We came back from an excursion and found this gift from the maid.

So we had to try it out ourselves.

I do have to show off the beach a bit - since it's the crowning glory of the area.  I gave you a taste with my previous post but just drink these in.  This is a beach north of our hotel called Playa Pilar.

Yep, I'm hot, I know. ;-)

This is the pier at the hotel next door.  During the day the tide goes out and it's so shallow that people would take their chairs far out into the water. We met some cute Canadian kids fishing at the end of the pier.

Amazing isn't it?  

That's probably enough for now. Next time I'll share with you the towns that we visited and horseback riding along the beach. Plus introduce you to some of the people we had the pleasure to meet.

Cherry Cheesecake & Oreo Dirt Cake

This year, Easter dinner was held at my aunt's house on Friday.  Invites went out at 3pm on Thursday.  Since I wanted to bring something, it had to be fast.  But I still had to go shopping. Did you go to the grocery store on Thursday night?  It was cah-razy.  Does everyone wait until the last minute?

I decided on single-serving no-bake cherry cheesecake and Oreo dirt cake. 

I always like to offer a choice.

Both recipes are incredibly simple.  

Plus I found these adorable plastic dishes at the store - 4 for $2.

Want the recipes?

For the cheesecake you'll need:

Crust:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup margarine, softened
1/4 cup sugar

Filling:
1 8oz package cream cheese
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup Cool Whip
1 can cherry pie filling (or other filling of your choice)

Mix graham crackers, margarine & sugar together until completely combined. Firmly press the mixture into the bottom of the dish. I then put the dishes into the fridge while I made the cream cheese filling though it isn't strictly necessary.

For the filling, beat the cream cheese, icing sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Add the Cool Whip and stir in completely. Spoon the mixture over the graham cracker crust and refrigerate again if you'd like. Spread the cherry pie filling over the top of the cream cheese mixture.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the Oreo dirt cake you'll need:

1 package Oreo cookies
2 boxes vanilla instant pudding
3 cups milk
2 cups Cool Whip
1 cup icing sugar
1 8oz package cream cheese

Put the Oreos in a plastic bag and crush them using a rolling pin. Super fast and easy. Mix the pudding, milk, Cool Whip, and cream cheese together until smooth.  Slowly add the sugar and mix again.

Put a layer of the crushed Oreos in the bottom of the cup.  Then alternate layers of the cream cheese mixture and crushed Oreos, ending with a sprinkling of crushed Oreos on the top.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Both desserts were a huge hit at the party.  

(this one has graham cracker crumbs added because I was short on Oreos)

Yum!

~~~~~

I'm linking to these parties this week!

Longing...

The beautiful weather is making me sad.  Yes, it's true.  Maybe not so much sad as just longing for the past. We moved into town 3 years ago to be closer to our jobs. 

This was our backyard before:

This is our backyard now:

Our front yard before:

Our front yard now (just the right-hand side - the left is the neighbour's):

Do you see what I'm getting at?  I'm longing for space. Breathing room. And tranquility.  The dogs go stir-crazy without enough room to run, and I get angry listening to my neighbour's rap music turned up to maximum volume every weekend. I feel bad for Tom (and me) because there is nowhere to work on projects except the tiny garage. 

But it's not as easy as buying another house.  It's nearly impossible to find houses in our area that have any sort of land attached to them. Other than the multi-million dollar mansions, space just doesn't exist anymore.

I never considered myself a country girl, but right now I'd give up all our conveniences to swing in the hammock just once without banging into the neighbour's fence.