Tag Archives: Vacation

Where’s the Meat?

When I eat burgers not made with meat I often think back to my childhood and giggle. It was a summer month and I was with my dad vacationing on Nantucket Island visiting my aunt and uncle. My aunt’s sister’s husband prepared us all eggplant burgers. It was the first time that I had ever tried anything with the title burger not consisting of meat. I immediately fell in love with the burger and raved about it to my grandparents once we returned home from vacation. I proudly exclaimed, “I ate a burger, loved it and it wasn’t even made of meat!” I am sure at that point I confused my grandparents with my statement and had to elaborate. Nonetheless, I know whatever they kindly responded with at the time to appease me, they were thrilled that I was open to trying new things and loved my vegetables so much.

These days you cannot keep me away from my vegetables. I try to incorporate as many fresh ingredients into our meals at home during the work week. The weekend…yeahhh..those are more of our cheat nights. Hey! we all need our cheat days to keep sane.

After crazy days of work there isn’t anything more that I look forward to than cooking in our kitchen, just Mr. B and I. I love how creative we get never knowing what concoction we might whip up. I love the moments of when he gets excited to have me try a new sauce he’s made. It takes the edge off the day. Cooking together and being in the kitchen releases tension, worries and stressors that might be plaguing me at the moment. I often think of my in-laws home where everyone always gathers in the kitchen, always such a homey and welcoming environment.

Tonight’s meal I am sure you guessed revolves around a meatless burger, a portobello burger with swiss cheese and caramelized onions sided up nicely with oven roasted crinkle cut sweet potato french fries.

Portobello Swiss Cheese Burgers with Caramelized Onions

Source: Prevention Cookbook

Ingredients:

2 Tsp. olive oil
1 Medium onion, thinly sliced
1 Tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
4 Portobello mushroom caps
⅛ Tsp. salt
¼ Tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 Slices Swiss cheese, for each mushroom
4 Buns of choice

Directions:

In a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 tsp. of oil. Add onion and sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, about 5-6 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from heat.

In a separate bowl, combine vinegar and remaining oil. Brush over mushroom caps and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill, covered, turning occasionally, about 9-11 minutes or until tender. Top each mushroom with slice of cheese and continue to grill about 1-2 minutes or until cheese melts. Transfer to plate and keep warm.

Top off bun with 1 mushroom and caramelized onions. Repeat for dinner guest and eat!

Backpackbees

Guam

I speculate that while on vacation, you are the best possible version of yourself…especially  when you are vacationing in Guam.

I can’t entirely chalk it up being away from work, because let be candid…when are you ever truly “away” and completely disconnected?

I don’t know about you, but for me being on vacation puts me in this at peace vacation state of mind that refreshes my mind and body and reminds me little by little about the things I’ve put on the back-burner but really do love. Thanks Blakley’s!

Backpackbees

Jeju Island Getaway

This past weekend we got the opportunity to again enjoying a brief getaway on the beautiful volcanic island of Jeju, only this time for a low-key friends meet up/ no real game plan kind of weekend.

Summer is officially over and clearly Fall is knocking on the door. Even on the tropical like island of Jeju the much brisk temperatures are starting to settle it. Saturday was dreary and rained, or misted rather, but we made sure we didn’t let the weather stop our fun. We took full advantage of checking out all the places that our group didn’t get to see the first time each of us visited Jeju in the past.

Get ready for some Korean cheesiness. Ready? Jeju Island Teddy Bear Museum….yes… told you.. we are clearly all about the cheesiness here, O’ Sulloc’s tea Plantation, Manjanggul Cave, Cheonjiyeon waterfalls, Jeju Starlight World Park and Planetarium, and Jinjie Cave.

We sipped green tea, coffee, ate some bingsu, ate green tea frozen yogurt, hiked part of the island coast where we got to check out 15 man-made caves ranging 15metres wide and 20metres long leftover from the period of when Korea was under Japanese rule, had the hubby believing that some of the teddies in the teddy bear museum were recovered and came from the Titanic, visited chocolate land where we later discovered we overpaid and were taken on the price of our boxes of chocolate (live and learn), and of course ate the Jeju speciality Jeju Black Pig (heuk-doe-ji). Overall a good time!

So, What were your plans over the weekend?

Feel free to check out photos and follow along on Instagram too!

Backpackbees

Moboal, Philippines

Over Memorial Day we spent a wet and wild weekend on the shores of a wonderful little island of Cebu, in Moalboal, located in the Philippines. The location isn’t very touristy, it was just our style. Most resorts in the area cater to Scuba divers, so entertainment is very laid back and there are next to no night clubs. You can relish in the fact that a cold beer is less than 45 Pesos in most bars, or about 50 cents in US Dollars.

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While Mr. B dove with our friend Chris, I spent most of my time snorkeling, and relaxing on a rather magical porch, sunning, reading and of course…sipping on something fruity and refreshing. Just look at the view! The sea lapping right up to our little porch, pleaseeee take me back!

On the last day of our trip we all went sight-seeing around the island, swam with whale sharks, and experienced a “natural” massage at the Kawasan Falls, and ate halo-halo the Filipino dessert made from UBE (purple yam) . Experiences I will never ever forget!

We are aching to get back to the coast again. I do believe that I am suffering from lack of the sea, sun and sand as we speak. That porch off the ocean solidified that we need to invest in a beach home someday. Ahhhh, Somedayyy. When I am in the office I feel the soft quiet pull of the salty wind and sand. So, so unbelievably ready for the summer in South Korea, how about you?

Backpackbees

Five Guys

Five Guys burgers and french fries is not your typical fast-food burger chain. The beef patties are fresh, the french fries are cut daily at the restaurant, plus there are boxes of free peanuts for you to take and eat while your patties are cooked up on the grill. Oh, and did I mention they have a digital soda machine that allows you to make your own drink creation.  Check out all of those french fries!

Run Around

So far its been a crazy busy week, I cannot believe that we are already on day three of our visit home. I knew once we’d get home the hands on the clock would just spin forward ever so quickly. Today we did all sorts of fun little things. We baked raisin cookies, strolled around Giant, and grabbed a bite to eat at Panera Bread.

After baking cookies, we decided to go for a stroll around Giant. Yes, we are really odd and have enjoyed “strolling” around Wal-Mart, Target, Sam’s Club, Heimbach’s, and no trip would be complete without including our local Giant grocery store. Hmmm maybe we can squeeze in a Wegmans too?

Goodness, endless amounts of decisions and options. The experience was almost overwhelming! I found myself wanting to read every single item in the Organic section. It’s incredible how much we take for granted with the endless amounts of selections and sales on food in the US. We are so lucky to be able to just purchase endless amount of stuff. In the end it always leaves me with the thoughts of, do we really need all of this stuff?

We’ve been Panera Bread enthusiast for quite sometime now. The smell of freshly baked bread, the delicious soups, the free wifi, the bakery-cafe atmosphere. We were absolutely delighted to see that they had opened in our hometown while we had been away. I knew we’d have to stop in and grab some lunch sometime while running around. Today just happened to be that day!

Have you ever ate at Panera Bread? What is your favorite thing to order? I think mine is now the Vegetarian garden vegetable with pesto. In the mood for soup? You’ve got to try it out!

Jellyfish Lake

Our fearless SAMs Tours Dive Guide, Kostas, provided us with excellent history and facts about Jelly Fish Lake. Of course we can’t keep this experience all to ourselves!

“Jellyfish Lake is located on Eli Malk island in the Republic of Palau. Twelve thousand years ago jellyfish became trapped in a natural basin on the island when the ocean receded. The jellyfish had no predators amongst them for thousands of years, this caused them to evolve into a new species without the stinging ability. Not having the stinging ability means that these jelly creatures are virtually harmless to humans”

We Bees had been waiting with much anticipation for Jellyfish lake, not knowing exactly what to expect, or how we’d react to the jelly creature experience.

After docking the boat, we hiked up one steep and jagged limestone side of Eli Malk island and back down the other side until we reached the lake. Whew! Not for the faint of heart folks, however completely worth it! At last, at our feet lay the partially saltwater, partially freshwater lake. Word to the wise, flip-flops really don’t cut it on this climb.

We all geared up with our snorkels, masks, fins, and gently plunged into the lake. What an incredible feeling to be swimming among oodles of stingless jellyfish. They were really unfazed by our presence, they continuously pulsate up and down, business as usual. We took pictures, swam with them, gently touched them, but still they just pulsated up and down unaffected.

We learned that scuba Diving is not allowed at the lake. Unfortunately, lethal levels of Hydrogen Sulfide lay about 4 meters below the surface of the lake. Too bad! What an even better experience that would be, right?

A HUGE thank you to our friend Chris who shared his photos from that day at Jelly Fish Lake. More photos from our camera to come…eventually…we swear! HA HA! making the complete transition to…drum roll please… complete MAC!

Dive, Snorkel, Dive

We Have hundreds of photos and video footage from our trip so far, but no time to upload them. We will take the time after we make it back to reality, otherwise known as Korea. For now we will continue to leave you all with sneak peeks.

So, you want to know what we’ve been spending our days doing thus far? Diving, snorkeling, diving, snorkeling, naturally. We spend the entire day on or near the water. That’s quite alright with me! I feel like I should have been born on a boat! I’m pretty sure Mr. B feels the same way.

We speed through the ocean waves almost everyday to get to our destination. Each day I close my eyes, and deeply inhale the salty sea air. This is truely my place!

We grab a bite to eat from our neatly packed bento boxes or bagged sandwich bags. Each time we get to enjoy lunch on a different remote island location. Twice so far on the island that the television show Survivor (10th season) was filmed on. How neat is that?! Can you tell? They totally have got me, hook line and sinker. Where’s the dotted line to sign for us to move here forever? He-he-he!

The sunsets here in Palau is just breathtaking each time I see it, never gets old. There are no bright shiny blinking street signs or lamps like in Korea, no restaurants or tall buildings everywhere you look, no billboards…well there was this one…

No, Palau is just pure tranquility at its best! I just cannot express all the beautiful colors that the lords canvas paints each morning with the sunrise, and at dusk with the sunset.

Here is a list of our dive and snorkel locations:

Shark City (We both saw and swam with sharks, eek!)
Siaes Corner
Ulong Channel
German Channel (beautiful coral reef)
Clam city (Clams that can grow up to weighing a ton are here)
Chandelier Cave (One of Mr. B’s favorites!)
Blue Corner
SAMs Macro Wall (Located right at SAMs)
Siaes tunnel
Ngerchong
Chuyo Maru Wreck (Mr. B’s night dive = in Complete heaven)
Big drop off

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(Originally viewed on http://www.underwatercolours.com/pmap.html)

Alii Palau!

Alii means HELLO.

Yes, hello indeed, Palau!

You have seriously outdone yourself!

This morning staring starry-eyed from the balcony of our hotel, Sea Passion, we cannot wait to see everything you have to offer us!

It must be a dream…(pinch, pinch) Are we actually here? Truly we can’t believe it!

Yep, still standing here! Ah! It’s finally time to put on that sunhat, those flip-flops and sunglasses, and slather on a heavy dose of sunblock. Yes, yes, we know It’s only 8AM but we can already taste that first refreshing frozen tropical drink on the tip of our tongues.

Wait a minute…Hey! This is a tropical paradise, we’re on vacation.

Don’t judge! Cheers with us!

Palau or Bust!

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Tick-tock….

Tick-tock….

Anxiously counting down the minutes until we Bees have our toes deep in the white sandy beaches of Koror, Palau.

Looking forward to relaxing, diving, snorkeling, and taking in the beauty of the islands.

For now we will leave you with a few of our favorite Korean honeymooner couples traveling. Of course Mr. B now wants matching tee’s….hmm…

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