Drinks native to the Dominican Republic

I was introduced to two VERY interesting drinks while in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic: Mamajuana and Caipirinha.

While it is the national drink of Brazil, the guide at our resort told us that Caipirinha is a very popular drink in Punta Cana. This is the one drink I ordered most often (besides beer or wine of course). If you like mojitos you will probably like a Caipirinha. Instead of being mint based, this drink features a lot of limes.

THE drink of the Dominican Republic is Mamajuana. Actually, it is thought to be a strong aphrodisiac and we were warned about that from our guide. It is made by placing a bunch of roots and herbs into a jar and then filling it with rum and wine. It sounds nasty but I assure you it wasn't too bad. We ordered one to taste it and it was very spicy and flavorful. It reminded me of something I would want to drink on a cold winter evening in front of the fire, not on the beach!

Favorites from the Pacific Northwest

The month of May has come and gone in a quick blur. I injured my back and was out of commission for the first half of the month. I had to get better so that I could go on vacation for the second half. I just got back from an Alaskan cruise with additional days in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. It was a really great time.

I was really excited to each Alaskan King Crab Legs right there in Alaska. Our breakfast waiter recommended Twisted Fish Company in Juneau. We went there after our tour and had to wait over an hour. By the time they got seated they told us they were out of crab legs! The only ones they had left were the legs with the claws. We said that was fine with us! They were good but nothing special. In fact, we later found out that all crab legs get frozen immediately so the we ate the same freshness of crab there in Alaska that I do in Chicago or Tampa. But at least we got to say we at crab in Alaska.

Some of my top foodie highlights from my trip:

The June tasting menu at Raincity Grill in Vancouver, which is known for their seasonal local food.

Poached Pot for breakfast to Mosaic Bar & Grille in the Vancouver Hyatt. This consisted of ham, asparagus, spinach, stewed tomatoes and poached eggs.

Noshing at the Granville Island Public Market in Vancouver. My mom got the freshest cherries we had even eaten! I got an amazing beer shrimp salad and a few other things. I really wished I lived there so I could shop and use all the fresh food in my own kitchen.

Fresh oyster's at Twisted Fish in Juneau. They were from local waters and the best I have ever eaten.

Tea time on the cruise ship. I'm very easy to please when you give me cucumber sandwiches and scones.

Fish and chips made with fresh cod at Steamer's in Ketchikan.

Eating spicy Indian food on the balcony at Moxie's in Vancouver.

Ice cream in Butchart Gardens in Victoria. Not that the ice cream was anything special, but it was a beautiful place and pretty hot, so an ice cream cone was perfect.

Wine and Thai peanut legs at Milestone's in Victoria overlooking the harbor.

Buying tea and wandering through the market in Vancouver's Chinatown.

Indulging in the Tasting Menu at CinCin in Vancouver where we spent as much per person and we should have for the entire meal.

I also can back with a The New Alaska Cookbook: Recipes from the Last Frontier's Best Chefs. I can't wait to get back in the kitchen and get cooking!

Where's Anthony Bourdain? In Namibia.

"You'll never get the truly good meals in life
if you don't open yourself out to the bad ones."
I suppose it's pretty pathetic that I have only heard of this country because it is where Angelina Jolie decided to give birth to her child. Thankfully though Anthony Bourdain has decided to explore Namibia on camera to show the wonderful country to us all.

This episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations begins on a boat in Walvis Bay with an oyster farmer. Back on land, they watched as the oysters were processed in the hatchery and Tony commented that they are some of the best oysters he has tried in the entire world. Tony then "rode the dunes" in the exact opposite type of environment - the desert. A snowboard on sand. Wow. It looks hot but thrilling. Tony did a pretty good job and made it all the way down without eating sand.

But the best part was when Tony had breakfast with the bushmen. They made him an ostrich-egg omelette in this neat pit in the ground. The egg is poured right onto the hot sand. Wood is placed to surround the outside and then additional wood is placed on top. The end result is a whole bunch of ash and dirt baked onto of the hardened egg. It looked horrible but it was seen as a special dish to the bushmen because it is not often that they get their hands on some ostrich eggs. I don't see it becoming popular over here in the United States any time soon.

Of course Tony had some of the nasty bits as well. He tried different parts of a warthog including the rectum and brains which he called the worst meal of his life. The bushmen also served him tree beatles which are only found in one certain type of bush. The tribe makes an event of their gathering. Tony had several of them and claimed that they were the single best thing he had eaten all day.

In the city, one of Tony's friend took him to the market. They had all this meat cooking up on a HUGE grill and it looked so tasty. With some other friends while out on a huntin, Tony tried some Namibian truffles. These are not the chocolate truffles, they are from the white truffles that grow wild in the desert. There were no communication problems at this market like he had in Ghana because the national language of Namibia is English.

It was interesting to see Namibia from Tony's perspective. It is a filled with cultures that I can only try to understand. The people are strong survivors and live in the purest sense by living off of the land.

Next Week: Tony visits Russia.

eat, pray, love

I read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert a few months ago (I listen to the audiobook) and I have been thinking about it lately. I loved this book! Maybe it is where I am in my life right now, but I have never been truly been inspired by a book by the way I have with this one. It is a cross between a woman's growth into an independant self that she likes, her travel experiences, and learning about cultures and foods from around the world. The book is separated into three parts. Eat: she is based in Rome and explores Italy. Pray: she is at an ashram in India learning about herself. Love: she is in Bali winding up her adventure and setting her paces for the next step in her life.

I want to listen to it again and maybe I will. The book was different than I thought it would be. I thought it would be more about her travels, not about a woman finding herself. So I kind of tuned out some of the first parts when she was in Italy. But I got completely caught up in her and her experiences once she got to India. She practices meditation and she goes through thinking how tedious some of these practices are and how unrealistic they are in every day life. But then she gets swayed over by her guru. I found her path very interesting.

Some of my favorite parts is how she described her relationships and the people she meets from all over the world. And when she goes to these places she lives there for four months each so we find out what life really is like. The foodie in me absolutly loves the way she describes not only the food but also the culture and why their food is an important part of the culture. The audiobook is read by the author herself and she seems like someone who thinks and feels the same things as me. I want to be her friend :)

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations visits Ghana

Now this is the Anthony Bourdain I know. The one who will eat all the crazy food. He ate a barracuda for crying out loud. And raved about it!

In tonight's episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Tony is visiting The Republic of Ghana in West Africa. This is the type of place I will probably never actually go to. But the secret backpacking wanderer inside me knows this is the type of place I would really love. Wide open markets with people selling their wares. Lots of wonderful colors. Lots of SPICY food.

Honestly, I love watching it all on TV, but I'd be kind of scared to go there. But with the language barrier and the Ghana markets being so crowded, fast-paced and confusing, I'd just get frustrated. And with my red hair I'd stick out like a sore thumb which is as good as having the word 'sucker' written on my forehead. At least that is the problem I always ran into when visiting the Caribbean or Eastern Europe. They see "rich female American" and I always get scammed. But in my dreams I wander around markets like Tony does, touching all the fabrics, watching the local people, listening to the music, smelling the foods cooking and stopping to taste a few different treats.

Once he got out of the city, he went to one of the most amazing places in the world: Ghana's Mole National Park. Over 800 elephants live there and they are just beautiful. Tony's sacrine dialogue voiced over all of this wonderful nature and it was quite funny as he was describing a New Yorker's uncomfortableness around wild animals. He even let his viewers know that "you do not want to be anywhere near a farting elephant."

Ghana is a beautiful country and we got to see it all through Tony's eyes. River villages, national parks, uniformed school children, wild marketplaces, beachside communities, and of course a lot of interesting cultural food.

Next week Tony comes back to the States: Portland, OR in the Pacific Northwest.