The Hostess Predicament

How to entertain a guest in a town locally called 'Melboring'. It can be exhausting trying to make adventure where there is none. For the precise length of time I had company this month, our beaches also had company-- jellyfish and sea lice-- seriously limiting use of our main attraction. I think showing off local attractions, though, can make you proud of your hometown again, and give you the inspiration to finally try the stuff you haven't gotten to. And, of, course, it takes having guests to get the house a good deep clean, as well, which is rewarding.

The Free Sewing Machine

Apparently my grandmother had a sewing machine that she bought several years ago but never used because neither she nor my mother could ever figure out how to use it. My grandfather offered it to me last month, and I accepted and carried it on over across the street and set up shop in my bedroom.

Now, I'm not completely inexperienced with sewing. My mom's got an old Pfaff -- and by old I mean that her dad bought it for her used when she was 9 years old-- that's getting a bit curmudgeon-y in its old age. It really only sews for Mum, or with her supervision at least, and has a tendency to shock people if they don't wear proper footwear. Nonetheless, I've managed to eek out a few T-shirt quilts and sets of curtains on the thing. But that's about it for my sewing experience and it's basically all been a bunch of squares.

So, now that I've got my very own machine, I decided it was time to learn to actually sew... as in, from a pattern. I took myself on down to Hobby Lobby and found the haberdashery corner. When I found the patterns, I just stared. There it was: a tall, 12-drawered filing cabinet labeled with numbers. Oh God, how do I do this? Apparently all the catalogs sitting next to it have pattern numbers next to the pictures. Easy enough.... except then I had to ask how I know how much fabric to buy.... and what needle to use with what fabric. Oh dear. Eventually I made it home with 2 yards of sweet blue cotton fabric, a new set of needles and a pattern to make my most daring project ever.. A BATHROBE. 


Technically, the pattern was for a full pajama set AND bathrobe, and this is what caused me the most confusion-- just figuring out which pieces went with the project I wanted. And then I still had to cut it out. Fortunately, by that time the hard part was done and, aside from a bit of an altercation with my bobbin, the sewing part was easy for me. Every pattern comes with instructions, but the instructions are really for people who already know what they're doing. I think it turned out pretty well :) I sure have been wearing it around the house enough.

Later, I managed to score half a dozen McCall's patterns for 99c a piece and made myself a sundress, as well, complete with pleats, lining, a drawstring a decorative zipper. Advanced stuff for me, folks. Each of the projects has taught me some valuable sewing lesson to put to use in the next. I'm working my way up to some nicer dresses that I really don't want to mess up because I'd quite like to actually wear them to a nice function. One day... To be honest, sewing your own sundresses, etc. isn't really economical, because if you're going to get any kind of decent fabric it'll cost you more than just getting one at the mall on sale, not to mention the pattern, but I've successfully worn the sundress out several times with no embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions or feeling like it looked amateur or home made, and the pride of that is worth it. I wait until I actually get good.

Finally finished! "Easy 2-hour pattern" took me all day.

And of course I had some assistance.

Ohh, one day. But can't turn 'em down for 99c.

The drawstring wasn't in the pattern. It was my idea, and I love it!

The Quick Hop Across the Pond

My parents told me last year that they'd like to give me "an adventure" for graduation, but being that I peaced out pretty much immediately for an internship in Boston, there was no time for planning a roadtrip or cruise with my friends. So I finally decided to cash it in. With the generous purchase of the plane ticket by Mum & Dad, I spent a blissful week of museums, parks and gourmet cupcakes in London with Beth & Marie.

The week was dedicated entirely to fun, as the girls were taking a break from all their hard work on dissertations. It was a mix of revisiting my favorite places from when I lived there a few years ago, being introduced to Beth & Marie's favorite places from their year at LSE, and discovering new adventures all together. A big thanks to these ladies for putting me up and putting up with me for a week! Highlights included:

• Strolling through the gardens at St James', Regents and Holland Parks.
• Picnicking on the Thames bank by Tower Bridge
• Spitalfields, Camden and Portabello Road Markets
• Meeting many of Beth & Marie's charming new friends over coffee and dinner at Addis
• Catching up with Sam, our lovely friend and recent Oxford graduate, and her mother over lunch
• Meeting up for drinks with Nigel, the MP I worked for a few years ago (now very important Deputy Speaker), and some of his esteemed colleagues
• The musical Fela! at the Sadler's Wells theatre in Angel
• Watching the sketchy but comical clientele of The Black Horse out Beth's window
• A day trip to Dover to see the white cliffs, the charming seaside, the Dover Castle and the Wartime Tunnels. There's also an underground hospital and a 1st c AD Roman lighthouse at the castle, and I learned all about the Dunkirk Evacuation. You can even see France across the Channel!
• Shopping on Oxford Street, although I could've done without the crowds. Not as crowded as Christmas time, though.
• A proper afternoon tea at Bea's
• Trying Pimm's for the very first time. Lovely summer drink, I do admit. 

Regents Park strolling to the rose gardens

Afternoon tea

Pimm's, in all its splendour at Borough Market

Out to the Natural History Museum and Harrods Food Hall for lunch

The riots did cause a bit of excitement, but also a bit of concern and certainly affected the plans we were able to make. We regrettably cancelled some plans to catch up with an old friend over drinks, and mostly stayed in at night. We also carefully chose our day trip destination to avoid the angered, car-burning mobs (I was so pulling for Bristol before this... next time.). We saw a few smashed in storefronts on our way out of town and lots of newscasts about the events, but the most evident sign of the unrest was the massive police presence during the week. To be honest, central London was probably safer then than at any point. With all of the unrest in the outer zones, we had little to worry about anyway.

Finally, after arriving home following a somewhat harrowing transatlantic flight, I was given one whole day to recuperate from the jetlag before the dear Miss Caitlin Brown came into town and it's been a whirlwind of beach and culinary delights ever since.  And last night we finally checked off one of our mutual bucket list items: devouring a boat a sushi. This semester is starting out quite nicely, I must say.

The Bucket List of Travel Destinations

After seeing everyone's pictures of summer travel adventures, I resurrected the idea of my travel bucket list. Of course, this is subject to revision as I hear about new and exciting places in this world. Alas, as the saying goes: when you have time, you don't have the money, and when you have the money, you don't have time. I'll have fun chipping away at it slowly, though. Fortunately, I'm not high maintenance, so traveling on the cheap is how I roll and I've always quite enjoyed myself.

- Niagara falls
- the Redwoods, the really big ones that you can walk through
- the tulips in Salt Lake City
- Nawlins, but more for the history and architecture than the Bourbon Street bars
- NYC, I don't feel I got a proper representation in the 2 days I spent there last time
- Nova Scotia, specifically for camping, preferably between the months of April and October
- New Zealand, extreme sports capital of the world
- Espana
- Reykjavik, geothermal pools, whale watching and hiking, what else could I want?
- the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam
- Melbourne, Australia, a completely different feel, I hear, from the quaint, tropical Cairns I love
- The Ribble Valley, I've heard enough about it during my internship, I'd like to see where all these lovely people call home
- Havana, now that it's finally legal, I can't wait till I can see our vecino's beauty for myself, engorge  myself on paella, and maybe pick up a bit more Spanish.

 -Also earning honorable mention: the mountains of North Carolina, the Grand Canyon, Buenos Aires, Chilean wineries, Germany, Sarajevo, Istanbul, Bogota and the US Virgin Islands

Also, not to say that I won't return to Stockholm, Sydney, PR, the Cape, Scotland, or any of the other wondrous places I've already been.

But first up, only one week away, a quick hop back across the pond to visit Beth and Marie in London for 8 glorious days of vay-cay-shun, in which I intend to do nothing more strenuous than strolling through museums and picnicking in parks. Oh man, I am counting the days. Counting. the. days.

The Bucket List

*Subject to revision as I discover more awesome things, people and places in this world

In no particular order:

• Live and work in a major city (for more than a semester at a time, preferably Boston or London again, never NYC or LA if I can help it)
• Speak Spanish at a functional level
• Rock an actual hoop in my pierced nose
• Get SCUBA certified
• Fly first class (just once)
• Run a 5k and not feel like I'm going to have an asthma attack
• Ride on a snowmobile
• See the Northern Lights
• Set foot on each continent (Antarctica negotiable. 4 down, 2 to go)
• Learn to ski
• See Mumford & Sons live
• Gain at least a basic understanding of the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Qur'an
• Make a successful pavlova
• Spray a fire extinguisher 
• Order a sushi boat

...and then there's the travel list, to be saved for another post :)

What's on YOUR bucket list? If I can help you check one of them off, don't be shy!

The Culinary Adventures of Casa Wheeler

Three things a cooking enthusiast longs for: an audience, a gas stove and (within reason) an unlimited grocery budget. Fortunately, these have all come together for me since coming back to Satellite Beach.

The interest in cooking probably started in high school because almost all conventional food contained some form of MSG, dairy, grease, spice or caffeine and made me ill. Then, in the dorms, it was because I hated the dining hall, and in my own apartment because I loved gathering everyone for dinner parties.There are the recipes that I try just because they flat out sound good (macadamia crusted tilapia with sausage-Hawaiian sweetbread stuffing), the ones I approach as a personal challenge (Baked Alaska), and the ones I've tried because they seem like standards that anyone who claims to love to cook should know how to do (the Easter leg of lamb).

One of the small joys I've discovered out of the monotony that is Brevard County is that the library system actually has a decent selection of cookbooks. While Grandpa Fred is perusing the large-print political biographies, I head over to the culinary section and pick out a couple of books every week. The winners so far have been The Big Book of Barbecue Sides, an Old Florida favorites collection (think grilled grapefruit flambe) and The Iraqi Kitchen with a ton of delicious looking pastries full of dates, almonds, coconut and sesame seeds. I've also been using the Supercook website that lets you enter the ingredients you have a home and then comes up with recipes using those. You can even choose to emphasize or blacklist specific ingredients. Pretty neat. And of course there's taste.com.au, my long-time favorite that lets you search recipes by budget, freezer-friendly, cooking for two, lowfat, etc. Couple these with all the awesome recipes Mum already had at home, and I've got plenty of material to work with.

This led to what Dad has deemed our culinary Around the World Tour. Favorites so far include: Picadillo a caballo (picadillo over rice with a fried egg on top), Jamaican curried empanadas, Austrian Goulash, apple strudel, stuffed sweet mini peppers, BBQ pork with sweet potato fries, earthquake cake, Spanakopita, Martha's Vinyard Corn Chowder, cranberry & walnut crusted baked brie, Bubble & Squeak, tandoori chicken, cinnamon buns (the easy, no-yeast recipe) and, of course, good old fashioned spaghetti & meatballs.

There are always going to be the epic failures-- like the petit four fiasco that left every surface of the kitchen sticky with sugar glaze or the burnt-to-a-crisp shrimp because our grill doesn't cook evenly-- but I've made some important strides in my cooking skills. For example, I've learned when just to say 'no' to meringue because it's too humid to whip the egg whites, how to make my own curry set for  Indian recipes even if it takes a dozen different spices and how to properly cook a leg of lamb still on the bone. 

I think I owe a big thanks to my family who is so appreciative of my cooking when it's good and understanding when it's not. But at least it keeps me entertained, inspired and busy. Now all I need is a Cuban mother-in-law to teach me to make paella :)

In the meantime, off to bake some semolina almond squares. Happy weekend!

Stuffed mini sweet peppers- delicious!

The Isla Vieques

 "We remodel the strength of Vieques... decontamination. recovery. development."   -- from the mural on Esperanza's volcanic boulder

Until 2003, the island of Vieques off the east coast of Puerto Rico was used by the United States Navy as a base and a bombing range. Then, they packed up, designated the majority of the bombed area wildlife refuge and peaced out. The relationship, we're told, isn't entirely resentful because the US military did rebuild the schools and water system after a devastating hurricane in the '80s, but they did also leave the island with areas cordoned off by "NO TRESSPASSING, DANGEROUS EXPLOSIVES" signs and have yet to finish cleanup of the island.

Despite all this, in the past decade, the island has begun to attract tourists from all over the world and many of the people who have been vacationing here for decades decided to set up house. So now the island is populated half by Puerto Ricans and half by Cape Codders looking for a place to work the winter months, which conveniently is Vieques' main tourist season. This also means that half of Chatham was in Esperanza the last week of March while we were there and Mum & Dad actually ran into people they knew and hadn't seen "in, like, forever" and were able to reminisce and ask about other mutual friends they hadn't seen in, like, forever. (Please note that this vacation directly followed the first weekend of March's Cape Cod Day in the Tampa area where Floridian Cape Cod expats who haven't seen each other in forever get together and reminisce about when you could still drive out on North Beach and exchange information on other old friends they haven't seen in forever but someone's niece's daughter's best friend is dating their next door neighbor). Cape Air even runs the puddle jumpers that run the service from the Big Island to Vieques.

So what attracts all these tourists and Yankees to a bombed out, half-restricted, possibly-radioactive tiny island? Well, let's start with the fact that if you're from the Cape, you probably know someone who has a house there who has invited you to come escape the cold and visit their tropical island home. And then there's the water. Oh. my. god. the water. It goes from light aqua at the shore to bright turquoise to bright blue to cobalt to nearly purple in the depths. Vieques and its sister island, Culebra, are affectionately known as the "Spanish Virgin Islands" and are very boater friendly. People sail from all over to thaw their northern toes and enjoy the sunshine and fishing. Esperanza even has an unofficial harbor master and valet boat parking, Sharkey, who, if adequately compensated, will make sure your motors are not liberated by the locals in the night. There are also a few pretty good little reef heads off of Esperanza for snorkeling (diving not really necessary, as it's only about 15-20 ft at the deep parts. There's also a sunken mermaid statue somewhere near Blue Tang but were never able to locate it. Vieques is also home to one of only about 7 of the world's really strong areas of bio-luminescence. "Bio Bay" as it's affectionately called, is a perfect storm of natural conditions that breeds phosphorescent dinoflagellates that basically cause the water to glow when disturbed. The island also boasts really impressive beaches from the wide white sand of Blue Beach (Playa de la Chiva) and Sun Bay to the black sand of Black Beach (Playa Negra) and the cliffs in between. And, it's now a haven for generally touristy activities. Companies run kayaking tours out to the lighthouse, locals selling artisan works in the evenings, pontoon boat rides and horseback riding through town. There are a couple of families on the island that own the majority of the horses that run tours, but otherwise leave the horses to roam the island and graze (or get drunk off of fallen mangoes as occasionally the case may be) which gives the island a quaint, wild-west kind of feel.



There is now one real resort on Vieques, the W, on the other side of the island from Esperanza in Isabel II but, for the most part, Vieques is not for the prissy, pampered vacationer. The horses run free; no one keeps their dog on a leash; there are about 4 bars and restaurants along the Malecon, Esperanza's downtown; When you book a tour, the guide picks you up along the Malecon and you all pack into his sandy pickup truck; there are 2 grocery stores in town: one open during the day, one in the evening, and staples like butter are not guaranteed; everyone drives too fast through town with their windows down blasting Black & Yellow; and the island boasts 2 gas stations and 1 ATM, all of which are in Isabel II; and the roosters. oy vey. every 3:30 am.

But, for us, this all added to the charm. We were 2 for 2 with friendly locals, which was a nice surprise. The 3 of us stopped on the way walking home from dinner one night to watch the baseball game and I had a mostly successful conversation in Spanish with a very friendly (very patient) young Viequense woman who didn't speak any English. She told us that baseball is really the only recreation on the island for locals and that they have 3 baseball teams which play against each other on the weekends. (Hmm sounds kind of like Chatham). We also had a bit of a misadventure coming back from Black Beach in which we got lost in the woods trying to find the road and had to barrel our way through heavy brush to get out and ended up walking along the road back to Esperanza hot, tired, scratched up and covered in thorns and stickers, until a nice local man and his dog took pity and invited us to hop in the bed of his truck for the rest of the ride back to town.

We felt like we got the hookup, too, staying with people we knew who took us places and gave us recommendations and insider tips and introduced us to the people we needed to do the fun stuff we wanted to do. Besides, half the fun was just getting to visit with our friends. We stayed with Dad's long-time friend John and his fiancee Valerie, who run a yoga studio and small inn in Esperanza. We were only in Vieques for 5 days, but I'm pretty sure we packed in as much as possible. We went to the beach every day, including Playa Negra, the first black sand beach I've ever seen. The black sand is very fine and seems almost glittery at times and is a great contrast to the light sand that covers most of Vieques (please note that in the beach trips were extensive hammock napping, iced tea drinking and trashy magazine reading, which I felt were essential components of any decent Spring Break). We snorkeled 3 of the 5 days and saw tangs, lion fish, sea cucumbers, conch and lots of other tropical reef fish I used to know the names of, along with lots of brain, fan, and elkhorn coral. We booked Captain Austin for a half-day fishing charter in which we only caught barracuda but had a lot of fun swimming and snorkeling and soaking up the views. Mum, Dad and I got a private kayak tour of Bio Bay with Moses, Austin's friend, who explained why it glowed, the conditions that affect it, etc. as we paddled, and we got out and swam in the middle of the bay as well. It is officially in the top 3 coolest things I've ever seen. The only way I can describe this level of bio-luminescence is that it looked like the Northern Lights all around you in the water and when you pulled your hand out of the water, it still sparkled just for a second. It is also, regrettably, not photographable with my wimpy little digital camera. It was absolutely amazing, though. We also went sailing on a 50' catamaran with a family that John and Valerie know from (surprise) the Cape, and spent the day swimming, snorkeling, sunbaking and feasting on a freshly caught 8 lb lobster. We also did a good bit of indulging in paella and mango sorbet during our time on the island.

We all came home tan, tired, mosquito-bitten and smiling. As Dad and Joe would say, "This doesn't suck."