La Penita de Jaltemba - January 3-4, 2015

We are starting the year off with a trip to La Penita de Jaltemba and La Cruz de Haunacaxtle.  La Penita is located bout an hour north of Puerto Vallarta and La Cruz is about 1/2 hour north of Puerto Vallarta.

We landed in PV at about 5 pm on January 3 (Saturday).  We were one of the first through customs and then waited about 45 minutes for our luggage.  Casita de la Penita (our home for 1 week) sent Sugar (our driver) to pick us up - it is a beautiful drive north through the lush jungles.  Bob and Linda Gibbs are the owners and operators of Casita de la Penita - they are from Saskatoon and operate this place for 6 months of the year.  They have a local family who operate it for the other 6 months.  They bought a beaten up ocean front property in the middle of nowhere 15 years ago and have turned it into a great little oasis.  Our room is on the second floor with a great view of the ocean and a winding staircase to get to the second floor - Jan is still negotiating the stairs.  La Penita is authentic Mexico - not touristy as at all.

We were starving (although when aren't we?) - Bob and Linda recommended that we go to Hinde y Jaime's Restaurant (for those interested, "y" is "and" in spanish).  Patty is one of the owners and does everything but cook.  We asked for her best drinks to start - I had a Margarita (Patty won the Annual International Margarita Challenge in 2010 and 2011) and Jan had a Mango Daiquiri - both were amazing.  We had some fresh guacamole, salsa and chips as well as some fresh fish (verracruzanna style) and two large skewers of shrimp.  We were no longer starving.  We did a little grocery shopping on Main Street - La Penita is much bigger than we thought with a main street about 4 blocks long.  We dropped into bed the fell asleep instantly.

On Sunday, we were up about 8 am and sat on our balcony with coffee overlooking the ocean.  We have a great view of the fishing boats and Tortuga (Turtle) Island.  We then ventured to Hinde y Jaime's for breakfast (Why mess with a great thing?).  I had Heuvos Rancheros and it was the best Mexican breakfast ever.   We met several of Hinde's family (Patty runs the place and is one of Hinde's daughters but several other siblings are visiting from St. Louis and Hawaii).

We did a little more shopping (forgot to buy rum) and then headed back to the Casita for the day by the pool - nice and relaxing.  We headed back to Hinde y Jaime's for dinner - WHAT?  You may think that there are no other restaurants in town but they have big screen TV's and Canada was playing Slovakia in the World Junior Semi- Finals … and it was rib night.  All excellent again.  We were joking with Patty about having the best restaurant and that there must be others in town - she was smiling from ear to ear.  She later came back to the table and said there were some other great restaurants and gave us a couple of suggestions (in the next town over!).

Adios.  Mañana.

First Margarita and Daiquiri

Casita de la Penita

Our Beach at Sunset

Stairway to Heaven or ...

Authentic Mexico

Chicago - October 19-22, 2014

Robyn and I spent 4 days in Chicago with our Platinum Mastermind Group.  This is a group of 16 retailers from around North America who meet 3 times a year to discuss issues, help each other solve problems and network.  This is an amazing group.  We stayed at the Omni Hotel on the Magnificent Mile.  While we walked around a bit, we did not get to see much at all because the meetings took up most of our time. We did manage to stop at the outlet mall on the way back out to the airport though!

NYC - August 9, 2014 - Italian, Chinese and Broadway

Late start again which meant no breakfast and straight to lunch at Casa Bella (our favourite restaurant in Little Italy).  We were greeted by Wilson - the smooth talking maitre d.  We got a seat outside by the entrance and Wilson was worth the price of admission with his "forget about it" and "how you doin'" to all the passersby.  A young italian couple sat behind us with 2 kids about 3 and 1 years of age.  The 3 year old was crying and whining and Wilson said to him "Stop it.  You are in my house now!" with a very stern voice - the kid stopped crying instantly.  We had another great meal and then wandered into Chinatown to find the Ice Cream Factory - a famous ice cream joint in NYC.  They had great ice cream (isn't it all though).  We wandered around Chinatown for a while and came across Columbus Park and watched some basketball for awhile while Jan and Kate chatted with a lady with a baby.  We started to walk back to the hotel when a guy in front of us dropped a chinese dumpling in the ground.  Scott and I looked at each other and decided we needed dumplings so across the street to Tasty Dumpling we went.  We ordered dill and pork dumplings and an onion cake.  As we were waiting for our order, a guy came in and bought 5 containers of Kim Chi - he told us that it was the best chinese style Kim Chi in all of NYC and he came from the Upper West Side for it.  We decided we needed some too!  The entire bill was $7.  It was all delicious.  In the evening we ventured to Times Square for dinner at Guy's American and then went to Matilda the Musical on Broadway.  It was really cute.  Home on the subway (which is much quicker than a cab on Saturday night).  Ciao.

NYC - August 7 and 8, 2014 - Diners Drive Ins and Dives and Washington DC

Thursday started with a hearty breakfast at the Landmark - if you missed a previous blog post, we get bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast and coffee for the price of a Starbucks latte. The group split up for the afternoon with Robyn, Kate and Scott going to Central Park for a bike ride and Jan and I wandering around SOHO.  Jan and I ended up at the International Culinary Institute on Broadway in SOHO which is a Hells Kitchen type establishment where the students cook, serve and host.  We had a 3 course lunch with wine pairings and it was fantastic.  Had our obligatory nap and then headed to the Redhead Pub in the East Village - this place was on Diners Drive ins and Dives. We had fried chicken, bacon peanut brittle, burgers and a salad.  Another great choice for a restaurant.  After dinner, we went to Momofuku (aka Milk) for their famous cereal milk ice cream and cake donut holes.  The line up was about 1/2 hour long.  Jan and I sat on the bench while the kids waited in line.  We were speaking with a local couple for quite a while when Kate not so subtlety told Jan that her shirt was almost all the way undone.  Jan then gasped so everybody in the line looked over.  The guy we were speaking with said, "I thought it was just a new style - we are in New York after all".  We walked back to the hotel about 20 blocks (it took us about 40 minutes).

We were up at 5:30 am on Friday so we could be at the tour bus by 6:15 am.  We took a day trip to Washington DC.  Before booking, we did not realize that it was about a 4 hour bus ride there and about 5 hours back because of rush hour.  Regardless, it was great.  We visited 5 States in one day - New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia as well as the District of Columbia.  We had a champions breakfast at a truckstop consisting of Popeyes chicken, Cinnabons, Auntie Anne's pretzels and Starbucks.  We arrived in DC shortly before noon and saw the Pentagon, Arlington Cemetery and Jefferson Memorial from the bus.  We then stopped and visited the Vietnam Memorial (there are 2 of them), the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Memorial, Mirror Lake and the Korean Memorial.  We then hopped  on the bus for ride to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue - the White House!  It is much smaller than you think and you can actually get pretty close to the front.  We visited the Wax Museum which has all of the Presidents and numerous celebrities.  We drove by Ford's Theatre where Lincoln was shot and then stopped at the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian for a short visit.  It was very fascinating and we needed a much longer time there.  We had a quick bite at the museum - from McDonalds - the only restaurant at the Air and Space Museum.  We visited the Capitol building and then hopped on the bus for the 5 hour ride home.  Great but long day.  On our arrival in Times Square, we hopped into cabs and ended up in Little Italy for a late supper.  We love staying in SOHO (and away from Times Square).

NYC - August 6, 2014 - Cronuts and America's Got Talent

We (all of us but Scott) got up at 6 am so we could be in line at Dominique Ansell Bakery at 6:30 am to get cronuts - a combination of croissants and donuts.  The bakery opens at 8 am so we waited for 1.5 hours in line.  We were near the front and there were at lease 100 people behind us.  This happens every day!  The limit is 2 per person.  They were delicious and worth the wait.  We then went back to the hotel for a nap.  We went to Times Square and had lunch at Guy's American - Guy Fieri's restaurant - it was really good!  We then went to line up to get our tickets for Americas Got Talent at 3 pm - our voucher to get the tickets said to lineup at 3:30 pm - when we arrived at 3 pm there were at least 400 people in line ahead of us.  Actually, it went pretty quickly and we got our main floor tickets.  We did a little shopping and had some snacks and beer at HB Burger.  Back to Radio City Music Hall for 7:30 pm - the line was massive - obviously our day of lines.  We got in about 8 pm with the live show to start at 9 pm.  Shortly before 9 pm, Howie Mandel, Mel B, Heidi Klum, Howard Stern and Nick Cannon came out and the live show started.  We were prompted to stand, clap and cheer throughout the show.  It was pretty cool.  After the show, we hopped on the subway (yup Shaundell, we rode the subway in New York at 10:30 pm).  Kate was hungry so we stopped in Little Italy for some pasta and sangria.  We all ate of course even though only Kate was hungry.  Late night - to bed after midnight.

NYC - August 5, 2014

Up late again so we went directly to lunch at Lombardis - a famous pizza place in SOHO. It was delicious and rivaled our favourite pizza place in NYC (Johns). We did a little shopping before Scottand and split away from the girls who continued to shop. Scott and I went to Little Italy before heading back to the hotel for an afternoon nap. In the evening, we went to Times Square to look for a show on Broadway (at a discount). We struck out at Matilda the Musical and Aladdin the Musical before finding tickets to If/Then with Idina Menzel. Amazing voice!  We went to Southern Hospitality restaurant for dinner after the show for a feast of ribs, BBQ chicken, chili, buffalo max and cheese and brisket.

NYC - August 4, 2014

We went for breakfast at The Landmark - a down and dirty NYC style diner with breakfast for $5 - it was great.  We then walked to the Dominique Ansell bakery for a cronut (a combination croissant/donut) only to find out that you need to line up at 7 am for the bakery opening at 8 am to get one.  Kate is determined to have a cronut so we will do this one day.  We then walked downtown to the new World Trade Center building and the memorial.  It is pretty amazing.  They have constructed 2 deep waterfalls/pools on the sites of the original 2 buildings.  We had some lunch and beer at Battery Park before waiting in the sweltering heat for about 1.5 hours to get the ferry to the Statute of Liberty.  It was pretty cool even in the heat.  On our return, we walked to Fraunces Tavern for a beer and some snacks - George Washington actually sat at the bar in this tavern.  We walked to the South Street Seaport and listened to a band for a while and then walked back the 30 or so blocks to our hotel.  Quite the day of walking.  We had a shower and a nap and then headed to Chinatown for dinner.  We ate at 456 Shanghai and it was delicious - we would go back.