Relaxing Days

On all three islands we stayed at the Intercontinental brand of resorts. They were very much first class in service, cleanliness, and activities....


And did I mention the expensive food prices? It wasn't just the Intercontinental alone, mind you. And not just food either. Everything in French Polynesia was pricey. So if you're planning a trip there, do save your pennies.

Nate and I quickly learned the secret to getting by on the cheap for breakfasts and lunches. There was a convenience store that was a very short walk from our resort--across the street from the resort entrance, in fact. We could place an order for fresh bread for mere nickels and dimes (a french baguette, chocolate croissants, etc.) at the convenience store and then go and pick up the bread the next morning. We'd grab some packaged lunch meat and cheeses, yogurt and the like, and walaa, instant meals! We also ventured down the road a bit on foot and visited a small grocery store, where we bought our own alcohol. Note to self: next time, pack booze!

These cool houses built into the hillside were right across the street from our resort.

And on the way to the grocery store, we came across these beautiful pink flowers (bougainvillea, perhaps?) covering this white picket gate, so Nate snapped a picture of me. It was pretty early in the day and already really warm.


Back at the resort, we checkout out the sand and sun. Our first couple days in Moorea were spent relaxing and soaking up the rays. It was always windy, so one would never get too hot....and if so, there was always water nearby!


Prior to the wedding I was always fantasizing about my definition of ultimate relaxation: reading my book on the beach. You can see my vacated lounge chair in the picture above--I was in heaven! It's all about the little things...

As I said, there was plenty of water and beach around the resort, so we had options. Lots of options...





While at the grocery store earlier in the day we purchased some orange juice to go along with our complementary champagne. Nothing like some late afternoon mimosas from our room balcony to add a little spice to the day.

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Sunrise & Breakfast By Canoe

The first morning in Moorea was a gorgeous scene. Since we went to bed at approximately 9 pm the night before, we were up bright and early for the 6 am sunrise. Things are so peaceful at daybreak. The water is calm, the sky is colorful, the birds are friendly...



Once the sun made its appearence, though, the day was upon us. It was bright, sunny and warm!

One of the super cool things that was part of our honeymoon package was our first breakfast delivered by outrigger canoe. Nothing like your breakfast being delivered to you via water on a beautiful Moorea morning.

When we checked in the previous day, they had given us a sheet of paper with breakfast foods listed and we put checkmarks next to each item that interested us for breakfast. Well, the poor man that had to lift our food up to our balcony got quite the workout. I think our eyes were much bigger than our stomachs.


One of the simpliest yet most tasty things we had during this breakfast and on the whole trip was fresh pineapple. You have no idea how good it was... My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I couldn't get enough of it while I was there - heck, give me that for dessert every night and I'll die a happy girl. So much different from the pineapples you can buy in the local grocery stores here in St. Louis!

It was a fabulous way to start the day...and as you can tell, we had plenty of leftovers for lunch! And look at me, not even an hour in the sun and I'm pink!!

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Moorea, The Beginning

We began our first day in Moorea by exploring the hotel. Our room was again half over land half over water, but we had a beautiful view of a towering mountain off to the right, as well as exposure to the sunrise in the morning.

Our room was similar to what we had for the one night in Tahiti. However, it was definitely bigger with a sitting/living room area where we played many a game of Scrabble during our time there, plus our bedroom, a nice large bathroom and a large balcony for ultimate relaxation.


There were a couple of welcome gifts waiting for us at various times that day. When we first arrived, there was a nice bottle of champagne. And later on in the day, we returned to the room and had a lovely tropical flower waiting for us.



Another cool thing about our hotel was that it was home to the Moorea Dolphin Center, and funny enough our room was right next to it. We had a spectacular view of the dolphin center looking off to the left from our balcony. After we had first arrived, we walked over to the center and watched some tourists (likely from one of the cruise ships docked at Moorea for the day) interact with the dolphins in the water. We basically got a show for free. Granted, we didn't get to touch the dolphins or be in water with them like the people we were watching, but we didn't have to shell out $200 each either!!





Our first evening in Moorea, we ventured away from the hotel and went to dinner at a local restaurant. In fact, I think we left the hotel every evening for dinner! It was fun to get out and explore more of the island and try the local cuisine at the local restaurants. For our first dinner, we went to a restaurant called Le Mayflower. French cuisine was typical there....it was French Polynesia, ya know! While we were there, there were several locals eating there as well. Always a sign of a good place, right?

Nate had a piece of mahi mahi with a phenomenal lobster sauce, while I had a healthy option of a steamed mixture of fish (shrimp, scallops, salmon) and veggies. Both were really good dishes. And we finished the meal off with what would become our vice for the rest of the trip.....vanilla bean ice cream! You see, vanilla beans are grown in French Polynesia. And you haven't lived until you've had ice cream made with fresh vanilla beans. Heaven! Just like no creme brulee has compared to the one we had in Paris, I'm afraid no vanilla ice cream will compare to what we had in French Polynesia!

Here's a very blurry picture of us standing in front of the restaurant after dinner. Don't we look like we've just had great ice cream?

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Attention Travelers!

So for those of you out there who like to travel and offer advice, this one's for you! A couple of my college girlfriends and I are looking to plan a girls getaway sometime in April or May. We're currently brainstorming possible locations for our trip.....

This is where you come in. If you have any great suggestions for a fun, relaxing place to go, I'm all ears. We'd like to keep it relatively affordable...certainly no more than $1000 each, but less than that would be better. I'm pretty sure we're flexible on length of time for the trip and it can honestly be anywhere...just has to be within our budget.

I, of course, am doing some of my own research as the three of us are going to come up with our own individual ideas and then put them in a list and pick one. Let me know if anything fantastic comes to mind!

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Photo Contest

Whoa, hello February! Am I crazy or was it just Christmas a few days ago? Time has flown so fast, in fact, that I forgot that way back in November I actually submitted one of our wedding photos for the STLtoday 2008 Travel Photo Contest. The rules were to submit a photo from somewhere you had traveled in 2008, and it had to be outside of counties like St. Louis, St. Charles, etc. I submitted this photo from our honeymoon, as I felt it just captured the spirit of the whole trip.


Wedding Rings in Tahiti

Sure, I could have submitted one of nice scenery or a sunset, but that's too ordinary. If you want to vote for my picture as one of the "best", all you have to do is click on the photo above and submit your name, email and a comment. And no pressure....I'm not expecting to win. It was just a fun way to share a small piece of our wonderful honeymoon!

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Baking Rewind

I'm sure you're all getting a little tired of my posts on baking, but I promise this is the third out of three. I can't end my baking series without sharing with you my new favorite cookie....

Before Christmas, we had a Christmas party at our house for some of Nate's co-workers. As usual, Nate made a ton of food and I decided to contribute by baking a couple of items. Item #1 was eggnog cupcakes, which I regrettably somehow have no pictures of. They were oh so yummy, for you eggnog lovers out there. Item #2 was Chocolate Toffee Cookies. Oh. my. gosh. Can you hear the angels singing? Just saying the name makes my mouth water.

The highlight of mixing these babies up was that I got to use our KitchenAid stand mixer for the first time... Beat batter for 5 minutes? No problem! Stirring in the toffee and nuts at the end did give my arm a bit of a workout, so don't think I got off unscathed.

One warning about this recipe, the dough is a bit sticky. I struggled a bit one the dough had been out of the refrigerator for a couple of batches, so I kept putting it back into the fridge in between. An option that was mentioned on the Smitten Kitchen blog where I got this recipe, was to do these as slice and bake cookies. I may give that a try next time.

The best part about this recipe? Well, besides the toffee, nuts, and chocolate....was that a bit of sea salt was sprinkled on the top of each cookie before baking. And chocolate and salt is a fab combo!

These came out warm and gooey and it was so hard not to immediately bite into one.


The toffee melts inside the cookie when baked and the cookies themselves are so chewy. And the salt on top....heaven!


And, even thought this recipe makes a lot of cookies, I would recommend making the whole batch. You won't be sorry. I had two ladies request the recipe after trying these, so here it is for you:

Just one piece of advice, be ready to exhibit some self control so you don't eat the entire batch!

Chocolate Toffee Cookies

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

5 1.4-ounce chocolate-covered English toffee bars (such as Heath), coarsely chopped

1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped

Flaky sea salt for sprinkling (optional)

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl; whisk to blend. Stir chocolate and butter in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Cool mixture to lukewarm.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla.

Stir in flour mixture, then toffee and nuts. Chill batter until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Drop batter by spoonfuls onto sheets, spacing two inches apart. Sprinkle with a pinch of flaky sea salt, if you’re using it. Bake just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on sheets. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

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Beer? In Cupcakes?

Yep, you read that correctly. I made cupcakes with beer in them. I wasn't sure what to think of it, but in the end I think the beer just added a bit of richness and moisture to the cupcake. There was no hint of bitterness at all....


I had come across this recipe sometime back reading Pinch My Salt, one of the food blogs I read on a regular basis. I was intrigued by the addition of Guinness to the chocolate cupcake recipe, so I bookmarked it for later. Well, with an extra can of Guinness leftover in our refrigerator from who knows what, I decided it was a sign. I was meant to try the cupcakes!

Most things in the recipe were rather normal. There was an addition of yogurt, which I assume was for some extra moisture and a bit of cinnamon, with which one can never go wrong. Basically, in the same process as the banana muffins, I mixed the wet ingredients together, I mixed the dry ingredients together, and I combined the two.

Into the oven they went, and they came out looking lovely.

A bit later after they had cooled, I whipped up the frosting. I thought it was a bit stiff, but in actuality, I think it could have been thicker. I used my new cookie press/decorator and I think it would have worked slightly better had the icing had a more firm consistency. However, after I got through icing a couple of cupcakes, I started to get better...


One of these days I'm going to be a real professional! These cupcakes were scrumptious. They were incredibly moist, with just the perfect amount of richness...and I could taste that tiny hint of cinnamon. And who doesn't love cream cheese frosting? I could have eaten the whole batch, so thankfully I shared them with my co-workers...two of whom commented on how good they were!

If you'd like to give them a shot yourself, here is the recipe. Happy baking!

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup plain, thick yogurt, at room temperature

6 oz. dark stout (I used Guinness), at room temperature

2 t. vanilla extract

1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa powder (I used regular unsweetened cocoa)

1 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with cupcake papers; spray the whole thing, cupcake papers and all, with nonstick spray. Set aside.

3. Melt butter in microwave or on stovetop, then set aside.

4. In a large bowl, preferably with a pouring spout, whisk together eggs and yogurt. Add beer and vanilla whisk until well combined.

5. Sift all the dry ingredients together (cocoa powder, sugar, flour, baking soda, and cinnamon) into a separate bowl.

6. Add about a third of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and using a hand mixer, blend well. Add the rest of the flour mixture, a third at a time, mixing well after each addition. When all ingredients are blended, add the melted butter then continue mixing until very well combined.

7. Pour batter into the twelve cups, filling each only about 3/4 full.

8. Bake on center rack of the preheated 350 degree oven and for approximately 25 minutes.

9. When cupcakes are done (toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake will come out clean), remove the pan to a wire rack. Let cool for ten minutes then remove cupcakes from pan and let them cool completely on wire rack.

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 t. vanilla extract

Seeds from 1/2 a vanilla bean that has been split and scraped

In a medium bowl, blend together cream cheese, butter, vanilla and vanilla bean seeds. Gradually add powdered sugar, mixing well until it’s all incorporated. Use immediately. The frosting will harden in the fridge, so plan on bring it back to room temperature if you must refrigerate it before frosting the cupcakes.

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