This is part three of my three part series about our trip to Seattle, Alaska, and Vancouver.  As you all know, shopping is a key component of travel for me. I’m not interested in outlet malls, Caribbean jewelry prices (there were tons of these shops in Alaska), tacky souvenirs (except a select few!), or clothes. Nope. I’m looking for “authentic” types of items that I can bring home, which will keep the trip alive for me, and I think Martha does this also. I also have several collections that I try to add to on each trip – bookmarks, sheep, teacups, baskets, and cheap little magnets.

The shopping on this trip was not fantastic, but it wasn’t horrible. Sitka was a good town for shopping. Seattle wasn’t great. Vancouver was good to me – the Granville Market and Gastown were good spots.

I did well on the basket front. The one on the left is from Alaska and is made of smoked grass (and it smells smoky too). The white thing in the middle is carved bone with glass. It has glass beads on the sides. The one on the right is from Vancouver and is made of kelp. It has a barnacle attached to it.  I’m wild about both of these finds! These are exactly the kind of things I hope to find on our trips.

I did not expect to find a sheep on this trip – they aren’t exactly your typical Pacific NW or Alaskan animal! This sheepie is from Vancouver and what makes it incredibly special is that its face is made from a crossword puzzle (and I love doing crosswords), so it combines two things I love. It’s totally unique and fits well into my “flock.”

Another thing I love to bring home from trips is food that I can experiment with at a later date, which will remind me of the trip. On the right is a barley bannock mix, something settlers used to make in British Columbia. On the right is birch syrup, which is supposed to be similar to maple, but is more savory. It came with a few recipes, so I’ll be trying that out.  I’ll also have a freezer full of salmon, from Mr. MarthaAndMe’s and Dude Martha’s fishing trip.

I have too many vases, but that doesn’t stop me from hauling more home. I found this one in the museum store for the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner Washington. There are little gold dots on it which you can’t see very well here.  I love the design on this and it’s very different from other glass pieces I own, so it will be an interesting addition to my collection. It’s also purple which is a departure for me, but a fun one, so I know I will enjoy owning this.

This item is from Made in Washington, the very first shop I went into on our trip, at Pike Place Market. This is made from local, reclaimed glass and shells discarded by the fishing industry. The glass also has some ash from Mt. St. Helens in it (which erupted when I was a kid). The inside of the globe contains sand and the aforementioned shells. I love, love, love this piece. And this proves one my cardinal rules of shopping – when you see something you like, buy it. Don’t dink around thinking you will see it elsewhere for less or something similar that is better. I never saw anything like this anywhere else. Teen Martha almost got burned by ignoring this rule – she did not buy a jade bracelet she saw in Alaska and then we hunted all over Vancouver looking for it – and finally found one!

This birch box is from a Russian store in Sitka, Alaska, which used to be the Russian settlement capital. It’s made of Siberian birch. Not exactly Alaskan, but I liked it so I bought it.

Drumroll, please. This is my most expensive and most exciting purchase. Jade is the state gemstone of Alaska. On our ship, they had these jade bears and I loved them. But I didn’t buy them, thinking I would find something more authentic or cheaper on shore (this again proves my shopping rule mentioned above!). I looked everywhere and never saw one with the pink salmon in its mouth AND all the ones I saw on shore were twice as much. So I ended up buying this onboard the ship and it is a special memento of the trip for me.

Something else I’ve been buying on trips are watercolor prints of the area. The top one is from Seattle and has a cruise ship in it. The bottom one is from Sitka and shows a glacier in the distance. I have a stack of these now from different places and need to get serious about framing them and hanging them somewhere.

Next up is a tacky penwith gold flakes in it I bought to remember our gold panning trip. The leaves are made from real leaves and will join the rest of my leaf collection on my fall tree that stands on my mantel.  They aren’t quite as bright as they appear in this photo!

Lately, I’ve been buying local soaps on our trips that have a scent that reminds me of the area. I like to use bars of soap in the shower and it’s like taking a little vacation when I use one reminiscent of a trip. The tube is devil’s claw lip balm which I haven’t tried yet.

I have a problem. Wherever we go, I end up hauling home jams and jellies. I can’t help myself. I bought these from two little Mennonite girls who were selling them on the sidewalk in Sitka. They had on their dresses, braids and bare feet and talked to me about picking the berries and helping make the jams. How could I not buy them? They have 10 children in their family. The flavors include fireweed and salmonberry, which I can’t wait to try.

I have a huge collection of bookmarks. They are an inexpensive and light weight item to bring home, so I tend to buy too many. The top one has a polar bear on it. The long one is leather and the bottom one is copper. I make groupings of my bookmarks and frame them and hang them on the walls of my office.  I’ll be combining these with the ones from last summer’s trip and hanging them soon hopefully.

This photo shows the Alaskan sourdough starter I bought, as well as my tacky magnets. I try to buy one in each city or region we visit and they go on the front of my file cabinet and make me happy when I see them. The ship ornament is our ship and is for Dude Martha’s vehicle Christmas ornament collection.

I also bought this cookbook, Fishes and Dishes, in Sitka and have not read it yet.

The final purchase has not arrived yet and it a metal sculpture that hangs on a wall and has pine trees, mountains and glaciers. It’s being shipped home and hasn’t arrived yet. I got that in La Conner Washington also.

The kids bought a few things. They each got sweatshirts. Dude Martha got a walrus tooth and a card with the different minerals from Alaska. He also bought an inukshuk and a wallet make from recycled tires.

This is part three of my three part series about our trip to Seattle, Alaska, and Vancouver.  As you all know, shopping is a key component of travel for me. I’m not interested in outlet malls, Caribbean jewelry prices (there were tons of these shops in Alaska), tacky souvenirs (except a select few!), or clothes. … Read more →

This is part two of a three part series about our trip to Seattle, Alaska, and Vancouver.

Things started off in Seattle at Pike Place Market where we had four different types of chowder at Pike Place Chowder. All were excellent. We were also going to order a king crab roll (like a lobster roll), but I noticed people were throwing them away practically uneaten, then a woman walked past us on her way out and said not to order it. We also had crumpets at The Crumpet Shop. I was a bit disappointed there since their jam/jelly selection seemed limited to raspberry, and though  the line was not very long, the service was interminable. The crumpets were ok but not better than the ones I’ve bought frozen and heated up in the toaster oven.

We had dinner at Alki Crab and Fish Co, across the Sound. They were out of Dungeness crab, so we ended up with fish and chips, which were ok, but really greasy. We had shrimp, oysters, cod, and scallops.

On our second day in Seattle we had lunch at Ivar’s Fish House on the

waterfront. That was a great meal. Mr. MarthaAndMe had Dungeness crab. I had some wonderful coho salmon. That night we had dinner at the Icon Grill. Several people recommended this to me and it was a big bust. The decor was amazing. The waiter was annoying. The place was empty and the exterior was under construction. Mr. MarthaAndMe had the meatloaf which is wrapped in bacon and served with a molasses sauce. It is a house special. It was overpoweringly molasses-y and the bacon was practically raw. I had the parmesan lemon sole which sounded light and wonderful, but was deep fried (and the menu did not indicate that!). After the fried food at Alki beach the night before, I could not stomach anything deep fried. We sampled the “ultimate” mac and cheese which was supposed to be wonderful but was just too heavy and rich to eat. Dude Martha had “psghetti and meatballs” which he did not care for. Mr. MarthaAndMe got the hot fudge sundae which was huge enough to feed the entire table. I got the funeral cake which was inedible since it was loaded with rum (and the menu made no mention of rum). I do not recommend them at all!

The next 7 days our meals were almost exclusively on the cruise ship (MS Oosterdam). We quickly learned the buffet did not suit us. One person would have to hold down the table. The other three would wander, gathering food. Then the table holder would get up. We never actually sat with all four of us eating. We were often getting up for seconds or to try something new because we didn’t care for our food. They had Chinese, Italian, pizza, salads, ice cream (which was freezer burned), some desserts, and some classic entrees. There was also a huge hunk of beef being hacked I wanted no part in.

Once we were finally able to get reservations in the dining room, we ate there

and the food was better, but it was not great. In fact, there was only one really fantastic thing there all week – a cold pear and apple soup with ginger ale in it. I loved it.

We went to three different teas on board- Dutch, Indonesian and cupcake. They served the same sandwiches at each. They had Indonesian tea types available at the Indonesian one. Other than that there wasn’t much difference.

Teen Martha and I went to a cooking class led by the captain, Arjen van der Loo. He made Dutch pancakes, which are like crepes. It was a little funny because they passed out the recipe which is included in the Holland America cookbook and then he told us to cross half of it out because that’s not how he makes it. He showed how he makes them plain and serves them just with sugar or puts bacon in them. He also serves with fruit. Apparently he likes to make this while at home. We enjoyed the session, which was also a Q and A with the captain, and got to sample a bite of the pancake at the end. It was ok – not sweet enough.

We went to a special night in the dining room where the menu was designed by the head chef for the cruise line. There were fewer choices, but more courses that night and the dining room staff ran around and acted silly to some music before serving. There were also paper chef hats on the table. Again, the food wasn’t amazing at all. The baked Alaska was barely baked at all- the Martha recipe I made was much better!

On one of the last nights on the ship they had a dessert extravaganza buffet set up around the pool at 10:30 at night. It was beautiful with ice carvings and intricate desserts, but none of it tasted good at all. It was all whipped cream and dry cake. Even the chocolate fondues were watery.

While in Juneau, we went to a “salmon bake” which to me meant it would be like a clam bake – maybe a hole or pit dug or at least a whole salmon cooked all together over a pit. Something authentic, I was hoping. Wrong! It was just a bad buffet set up in a pavilion by a creek. They grilled some salmon fillets there and admittedly that was some of the best salmon I’ve had with a very sweet barbecue sauce. The night was slightly ruined when a sharp nail on the picnic table tore a gigantic hole in

Teen Martha’s Guess jeans, ruining them. The management promised to compensate us and took our information but never followed up (we will be contacting them!).

Teen Martha and I had lunch in Sitka at a little spot called Two Gals. I had a nice halibut sandwich and she had fish and chips. It was all excellent – not just a fast food thing. On the streets in Sitka they were selling reindeer hot dogs and elkburgers. I would have liked to taste them, but didn’t want to shell out just for a bite!

We also ate dinner ashore in Victoria where we found a French bistro. The food was pretty good. Mr. MarthaAndMe had a burger made with chorizo and I had fettucine with smoked chicken, peas, and prosciutto. Teen Martha ordered Chicken Provence, however, the waitress, who did not write down our orders, brought her something else. By the time her meal finally came, we were done and everyone was tired and ready to get back to the ship.

We were forced to eat lunch at Arby’s en route to Vancouver. ‘Nuff said. For dinner in

Vancouver the first night, we had an amazing time at Sanafir. We loved it! They serve “Silk Road Trios”. You order chicken or beef or lamb or seafood and you get a set of three dishes – one Mediterranean, one Indian, and one Asian. We adored everything we had (and I usually do not like Indian food, but this wasn’t too hot for me). Upstairs, they have some tables with cushions on the floor, but they also have leather beds surrounded by drapes. We were there early and they were empty, so our little family ate on one of the beds. They’re clearly meant for romantic encounters, or parties of hip 20 somethings, but we enjoyed it. The kids thought it was really fun. Mr. MarthaAndMe thought it was incredibly uncomfortable!

Our next day in Vancouver we wolfed down bad sandwiches for lunch while at the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Dinner was at Coast, owned by the same group as Sanafir. That was also fantastic. Mr. MarthaAndMe and Teen Martha shared a sushi “tile” they loved. Mr. MarthaAndMe had a smoked

fish chowder. Dude Martha had clam chowder and fried calamari. I had king crab to start (served cold with 3 sauces – it was great!) and then a main dish of grilled sablefish with beurre blanc which was a bit disappointing. The waiter raved about it and said it is as good as butterfish. I didn’t think it was that good – more like halibut. But overall, the food was excellent. For dessert we shared a sampler and a plate of dessert lollipops that were little bites of dessert.

Another interesting item we had in Vancouver were these weird dessert crepes at an Asian mall. There was some confusion because the signs were a little unclear about “custard” – whether they meant soft ice cream or a pudding, but we all had different flavors. They make the crepes in front of you and roll them to be like an ice cream cone (in the display case in the photo they show them partially unrolled so you can see what is in them). They were delicious.

We had a rather sad lunch the next day while at Burnaby Village, then had dinner in a cute town called La Conner, Washington (which our GPS refused to acknowledge existed), at La Conner Prime Rib and Seafood. A saleswoman in a shop recommended it so we tried it. It was gorgeous – right on the water and the food was fantastic. I had fettucine with prawns, scallops, crab and bay shrimp in a garlic cream sauce. It was fantastic. Teen Martha had an artichoke spinach dip. Dude Martha had fish and chips. Mr. MarthaAndMe had clams (which he had been craving all trip) and a nice salad. I loved this town – it had fantastic shops and was so cute. I have to thank the saleswoman who recommended this restaurant – I never would have gone in it.

So, the food on the ship was not great in any way, but at the restaurant (not the buffet line) it wasn’t by any means bad, it just wasn’t great. Their breakfasts were pretty good – we had omelets, pancakes, French toast, etc and it was all good. We had room service breakfast twice and it was served hot but they forgot some items both times. We were also not happy to learn that although the buffet is open until midnight, they only have pizza and ice cream available after 7 pm. We had to order room service one night after getting back from our excursions since the buffet had nothing, but room service took an hour and a half!

I was tired of salmon by the time the trip was over. I also had a lot of halibut. Alaska has a lot of berries, so that is one “cuisine” of the area, but there didn’t seem to be much more, other than crab. I am sure if we had spent more time on the ground we would have discovered more food and some local gems. One local food I found I did not care for is cole slaw – they put raisins in it!

We had little bits and bites throughout the trip – we bought some wild blueberries at Pike Place Market that were the best I’ve ever had. We had ice cream in several different places and you generally can’t go wrong with ice cream. We bought fruit in Vancouver because we were fruit deprived (onboard they apparently only had melon available).

They say you gain one pound per day on a cruise, but I don’t think we did just because the food was not as good as we had hoped. It was wonderful not to cook for 12 days though! I’m looking forward to getting back in the kitchen. My Everyday Food and Living issues are here and I can’t wait to dive in!

This is part two of a three part series about our trip to Seattle, Alaska, and Vancouver. Things started off in Seattle at Pike Place Market where we had four different types of chowder at Pike Place Chowder. All were excellent. We were also going to order a king crab roll (like a lobster roll), … Read more →

Today is the first in a series about our recent family vacation to Seattle, Alaska and Vancouver.

We started off with a day and a half in Seattle. We stayed at the Hyatt Place, a new hotel which was comfortable and modern. The best feature was the free shuttle that would take us anywhere within a mile. The first day we headed to Pike Place Market. This started out as a farmer’s market and has evolved into much more. There are the famous fishmongers who are known for throwing their fish. There are lots of stalls and shops selling souvenirs, jewelry, crafts, and candy.  It was fun to walk around, but it was a really big place that was hard to navigate.  We went to Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, a shop I had read was as much museum as shop but I was disappointed since it was mainly a tacky souvenir shop and not worth the effort.  We rode a water taxi to Alki Beach in West Seattle and it was fun to be out on the water.

The second day we took a ferry to Bainbridge Island, a 30 min trip across the Sound. The island was beautiful with lots of trees and a shoreline that felt much like main. The town was small but had a few interesting shops. We also walked along a trail by the waterfront and saw the wild blackberries growing everywhere.

Later that day we went to the Hiram Chittenden Fish Ladder where we saw salmon swimming upstream to spawn. They have underground windows so you can come eye to eye with the salmon. It was a long taxi ride to get there though. We headed to the Capitol Hill section of town where there are dance

steps set in the concrete  – numbered brass foot plates, so you can actually do the dance on the sidewalk.  I loved that. Then we went to the Museum of the Mysteries. It was a bit weird and not what we expected. It was essentially one room. They had 2 casts of Big Foot footsteps, a strange display about Bruce Lee’s life in Seattle, and photos of the World Fair. They did have a game we could play to test our psychic ability which was fun. Mostly it was just strange. We expected more Big Foot and UFO stuff. We also went to the Experience Music Project and Sci Fi Museum where I had a celebrity sighting – Jane Adams who plays Tanya on HBO’s Hung.

We boarded our cruise ship, the Holland America Line MS Oosterdam (as the captain called her “our beautiful Oosterdam”) on Sunday. This was our first cruise and we weren’t sure what to expect. The accommodations were better than I expected – having 2 adjoining rooms helped. We enjoyed the shows and activities on the ship. We became familiar with some of the crew and enjoyed spotting them. The first full day was a day at sea. The second full day took us into Glacier Bay Alaska, where we saw 4 glaciars, one of them quite close up. We saw and heard it claving and were awed with the National Park Ranger on board said this was the wildest place we would eve visit). The glaciaers are magnificent and humbling. Some of the ice truly is a deep blue. The ocean water up there is a strange turquoise – much like what you see in the Caribbean. We saw whales and porpoises along the way and that night as we were leaving, we passed some bears eating a whale carcass that had washed ashore. The captain actually turned the boat around and went past it a second time so everyone could see it.

It got dark around 9:30 at night and the sun was up by 5 so the days were long which was quite strange.

The next day we went to our first port, Juneau. It was going to be a big day. Mr. MarthaAndMe and Dude Martha were off to a summer dogsled camp. Teen Martha and I were supposed to be heading by helicopter to a dog sled camp on a glacier. Our helicopter was canceled due to fog. Fortunately, I found a guy in a kiosk on the street who was able to squeeze the two of us in on a different summer dogsled camp, so we all got to see the dogs. These are called huskies, but they are actually mutts. We got a chance to pet (and hug and kiss) our team before being pulled in what looked like a golf cart by the team. Then we learned about the history of the Iditarod and dogsledding before we got to hold and pet the puppies. Teen Martha and I were in heaven. Mr. MarthaAndMe and Dude Martha enjoyed their similar experience. I was upset that we did not get the chance to actually stand on and touch a glacier, something I was looking forward to very much.

Later in the day we all went gold panning. What an experience! Our guide took us to a creek and showed us how to shovel up some sediment and pan it in a metal pan. It was hard to do and took longer than expected, but we all did find some gold flakes! After that we went to a salmon bake which I’ll discuss in my food post. At the salmon bake they had two real huskies and these were amazing dogs. First of all, they are huge, with giant paws. They are puffy and furry, but the fur is coarse. They are extremely intelligent and gentle and we could not get enough of them.

Juneau was an unattractive town for the most part with a street full of tacky touristy shops. It didn’t help that it was cool, rainy and foggy. I wasn’t fond of the city in general.

The next day was Sitka and what a day it was. The sun was shining! Sitka is a gorgeous island surrounded by beautiful water and many, many more islands, as well as a silent volcano. Dude Martha and Mr. MarthaAndMe went for a half day of salmon fishing. They had a terrific fishing guide and each caught a fish. Dude Martha’s was a 23 lb king salmon! Mr. MarthaAndMe got a smaller coho salmon. The salmon was frozen and will be arriving here next week. We should have a lot of salmon to enjoy! Whilst the salmon were practically jumping into the boat, Teen Martha and I shopped and saw the sights. Sitka was the Russian capital when the area was owned by Russia, so there is a Russian Orthodox church there which we visited. We also saw some totem poles at a national park and enjoyed the harbor and quaint village. While at the National Park we visited a stream that had so many salmon it that you could walk across it.

That afternoon we all got aboard a boat together for a nature cruise. We saw humpback and gray whales quite closely, as well as a group of sea otters, bald eagles, a bald eagle nest, seals, jellyfish, and jumping fish. Our captain took us to the mouth of Lake Rideau, which is only 6 feet above sea level and empties into the ocean through a small mouth where fish were jumping like crazy. The sun was shining, the water was a brilliant blue, the air smelled fresh, and green mountains around perfectly framed the day. It was a day we will always remember.

The next port was Ketchikan, and after the stunning scenery of the north, it felt like a letdown.  We were only in port for half the day so we got off the ship early and did some shopping first thing (This town had lots of shops and we had almost no time for them). Then we saw a lumberjack show which was really fun. They had sawing contests, tree climbing contests, and yes, even stood and spun on logs. After that we took a very boring trip out to Totem Bight, a park with totem poles. As I told Mr. MarthaAndMe, we could have done that park in 15 minutes, but our bus driver/guide was slow and the rest of the group could not move. It was interminable, although we learned about totem poles and got to go inside a replica of a Tlingit longhouse. Instead of taking us back to town as she was supposed to, the guide instead drove us all through town, pointing out obscure things. We bailed at the first stop and ran to see the part of town I was most interested in – Dolly’s House. Prostitution used to be legal until the 50s in Ketchikan and there is a row of houses up on stilts where the ladies of the evening lived and worked. Dolly’s House was open for a quick tour so we did that and saw the Married Man’s Way – a path behind the houses married men used to be discrete.  Another interesting part of Ketchikan was the stair streets – legal streets that are just huge, tall, wooden staircases. The people who live on those streets have to go up the stairs to get to their houses.

The next day was a long day at sea and then an evening in Victoria, B.C. It’s a pretty little town, but there wasn’t much to do there after 6 pm. We shopped, went to a night market and had dinner. It’s very British there and we had a shuttle driver with a Scottish accent that I enjoyed. Most people visit Butchart Gardens, but we didn’t really care about seeing that.

The next day we landed in Seattle where we got a rental car and drove to Vancouver. Vancouver comes up on you in an unexpected way. You’re in the middle of nowhere then suddenly you see hundreds of skyscrapers.  We stayed at the Cascadia Hotel and Suites, which is a great place if you have young kids since the rooms all have kitchens. We picked it because the price was right. Our first stop was Granville Public Market. Like the market in Seattle this started as a farmer’s market but evolved into an artist’s colony. The shopping there was quite good, but it was a very hot day, so we were feeling the heat.

After that we took a drive and saw Stanley Park, which is a gorgeous, huge, waterfront park with beaches, totem poles, fields, picnic areas, a water park and more. Next we drove over to Kitsilano Beach which had nothing in the way of shopping, but had a nice waterfront park and the biggest in ground pool I’ve ever seen in my life.

That night we went to the Chinatown night market which was not as big as I hoped but was still fun. There were vendors selling all sorts of Asian foods and lots of knock-off merchandise. Driving back from there to our hotel we apparently went through skid row where the street was jam packed with homeless people. There are also a lot of people moving around Vancouver in motorized wheelchairs, something you rarely see at home.

The next day we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. This is a swaying (but completely safe) suspension bridge over a river or creek that is WAAAAY down. It was a little scary to cross, but fun. On the other side is a tree top adventure – you climb stairs to a walkway that is up among the tree tops. There were also some ponds to visit. That was a fun experience.

We drove out to Richmond, a heavily Asian suburb and visited an Asian mall. We also saw the famous Steam Clock in Gastown – a clock powered by steam which whistles the same tune a grandfather clock plays on the hour. That was fun to see and there was some good shopping in that neighborhood.

On our last day, we intended to take the sky tram up to Grouse Mountain where they have wolves and grizzlies in a refuge. However, when we arrived we learned the wolves now live at the bottom of the mountain so we watched them. They were beautiful and sad. These wolves were bred in captivity for use in movies and could not be reintroduced to the wild. There are 3 wolves and the gray one is the alpha wolf. We watched them being fed their breakfast – pieces of cow, hide and all. After seeing the wolves, we opted not to pay over $100 to go to the top of the mountain! We would have liked to see the grizzlies, but it just was too much.

Next we intended to make a quick stop at the Capilano salmon hatchery, but we got a little mixed up by their terrible map and ended up hiking through the woods, over a dam and downhill, then climbing back uphill. We saw salmon and “small fry” but it was not worth it.  We stopped at Lonsdale Quay and did a little shopping (there wasn’t much there). Then we went to the Burnaby Village Museum. We’re suckers for “living history” museums like Williamsburg and the best one we’ve ever seen – Upper Canada Village. I had high hopes for this one since it was set in the 1920s, one of my favorite eras. Apparently the roaring 20s were not big in southwest Canada because there wasn’t much happening. We got to see a printing press, bachelor’s home, blacksmith (who lectured Teen Martha about how girls make good blacksmiths), bank, and the kids rode on a carousel. In general we weren’t impressed though.

After that we took a slow ride down to Seattle and stopped in La Conner, Washington where there was some excellent shopping and a lovely water view. We spent that night in the Seattle airport Doubletree Hotel, which was the best place we stayed the entire time. For a $5 upgrade we got two rooms. It had a pool and wifi and was spacious, attractive and comfortable. And you get free warm cookies when you check in. The price there was the lowest we paid all trip.

So that’s the summary of the big trip. Alsaka knocked me off my feet. I just wish we had been able to see more of it and spend more time on the ground there. Cruising is nice because you can unpack for a week, not worry about where you will eat, and wake up each morning in a new place, but you lose the experience of really seeing and living in the place which I always really enjoy. If I went back to Alaska, I would go further north, stay longer, and go by land (although many places are accessible only by ferry, so driving complicates things).

Today is the first in a series about our recent family vacation to Seattle, Alaska and Vancouver. We started off with a day and a half in Seattle. We stayed at the Hyatt Place, a new hotel which was comfortable and modern. The best feature was the free shuttle that would take us anywhere within … Read more →

Hello dear readers. I’ve just returned from an Alaskan cruise and a few days in Seattle and Vancouver. We had a great trip and I plan to tell you all about it in the coming days. I took lots of pics and will be sharing details about where we went, what we did, what I bought (always important), and what we ate. It’s good to be home, even though I am faced with mounds of work, mail, email and voicemail to dig through. Thanks to all of you who kept reading and commenting in my absence. I cooked like a lunatic before we left in order to have enough posts to get you through, but I also want to say thanks to my wonderful guest bloggers who filled in for me the last few days.

Hello dear readers. I’ve just returned from an Alaskan cruise and a few days in Seattle and Vancouver. We had a great trip and I plan to tell you all about it in the coming days. I took lots of pics and will be sharing details about where we went, what we did, what I … Read more →

Yes, a whole post devoted to shopping. That’s how important shopping is! When we go on vacation, I always want to bring back items that will help me remember the true spirit of the place we visited. I long to buy items made by craftspeople and artisans who live in the place we visit and which are made with local products. Having these souvenirs keeps the trip alive for me and lets me take a piece of the place home. I have many treasured trip souvenirs: a sailor’s valentine from Cape Cod, English bone china from England, sheep from Scotland, a sea grass basket from Charleston, painted tiles with ocean scenes from Maine, a photo of the ocean and a sea turtle from

Hawaii, a lightship basket from Nantucket, as well as bookmarks and Christmas ornaments from many places. Because of this, a vacation is always judged by how good the shopping was!

People say there is good shopping in the Bahamas, but those who say that don’t understand the kind of shopping I crave. Yes, there are tons of t-shirt shops and straw items made in China, as well as jewelry and designer purses that are supposedly sold at good prices in Nassau. I wasn’t interested in any of that. Yes, we visited the Straw Market because you can’t go to Nassau without going there. The Straw Market is in temporary housing under a tent after a fire wiped it out years ago. It’s a tightly filled space with tons and tons of cheap junk for sale.  Interestingly, I have a straw purse my grandmother bought there when she went in the 60s and the items they sell today are identical. We didn’t buy a single thing.

After walking up and down Bay Street in Nassau where all the shops are clustered, I started to worry. I couldn’t find anything to buy! Soon after I discovered a small shop, Uniquely Bahamas, in our hotel that sold items made in the Bahamas. It was the mother lode. They had jewelry made from conch shells. I bought a bracelet and pendant. Teen Martha got earrings and a bracelet there. I also bought a fish carved out of conch and a small print of the ocean.

When we visited Atlantis, we took a walk through the Marina Village, a shopping center placed in a marina. In between gawking at the giant yachts, I managed to find a nice shop called The Plait Lady. This shop sold authentic Bahamian-made straw baskets. They are incredibly heavy and are water tight. I bought one of those as well as a Christmas ornament carved from conch. I also picked up a magnet – I’ve decided to buy a small magnet each place we go and stick them on the file cabinet in my office.

One last shop that I stumbled upon was in the Wyndham hotel, next to our resort (don’t stay there though – it doesn’t compare to the Sheraton – see my previous post). They had some very interesting wire sculptures. I bought one that has a woman sitting on a piece of coral, with a straw basket at her feet, holding a blanket that has the names of the different islands on it.

When we visited Goodfellow Farms for lunch (again, see previous post), I picked up their cookbook, Living Off the Land and Sea. I haven’t had a chance to read it, but it looked very interesting, with lots of recipes for seafood and tropical fruits. I’m thinking I need to start buying cookbooks on trips too!

I was happy that I came home with a few authentic souvenirs, but was surprised they were so hard to find. It was a stark contrast to Hawaii, which was filled with many beautiful shops selling handcrafted, gorgeous items.

Where have you done your best vacation shopping?

Yes, a whole post devoted to shopping. That’s how important shopping is! When we go on vacation, I always want to bring back items that will help me remember the true spirit of the place we visited. I long to buy items made by craftspeople and artisans who live in the place we visit and … Read more →

If you were watching Martha’s show after New Year’s, you got to hear all about her trip to Thailand. She showed the things she bought and photos of places she visited. I thought I would give you a Martha-esque post about our trip to the Bahamas.

We stayed at the Sheraton Beach Resort on Cable Beach on New Providence Island (outside of Nassau). I highly recommend this resort. It was outside of the insanity of Atlantis and Nassau and had a beautiful beach and three pools. The on-site restaurants were actually pretty good and the room was comfortable.

Two great things about the Bahamas: American money is on par and accepted everywhere, so you don’t need to exchange money when you get there.  Secondly, when you come home, customs happens in the Bahamas airport, so you don’t have to go through the nonsense of retrieving your luggage, going through customs, and checking it again when you arrive in the U.S. This is a big plus!

Because it was cold, cloudy and windy, we didn’t spend a lot of time at the beach, unfortunately. We did spend a lot of time eating! One of the specialties of the Bahamas is conch (pronounced ‘conk’). Conch is often served as a tomato based chowder or “cracked”, which means it is pounded and then deep fried (which makes it very tender). It tastes very mild like a shrimp or scallop. We also ate lots and lots of fish. Grouper is served almost everywhere and is often fried. I also had some snapper, shrimp, lobster, and we had some crawfish, which was good, but a little tough. An island specialty is peas ‘n rice, essentially red beans and rice. The classic island dessert is guava duff, a roulade with guava inside it, served with a vanilla cream sauce. Fabulous!

On our last day, we hit upon the perfect lunch spot – Goodfellow Farms. This organic garden is run by a couple who quit their jobs, sailed off to the Bahamas and settled there. They serve lunch every day and all the produce is homegrown. It was amazing and I highly recommend it.  The Poop Deck at Sandyport was our best dinner. I had the Snapper Sandyport and Mr. MarthaAndMe had a trio of lobster – deep fried, broiled, and shredded with a BBQ sauce. The kids enjoyed coconut shrimp and calamari. Heaven! We also dined at Humidor Churrascaria, a Brazilian BBQ. We are always eat at churrascarias wherever we can find them. If you’ve never been to one, it’s an experience you must have! You start by enjoying a lavish salad bar, which is much more than just salad. Then waiters come around with spears of roasted meat and they cut pieces off at the table for you.

We visited Ardastra Gardens, a zoo with a crazy flamingo show. A man marches the flamingos into a show area and shouts commands at them and they (sometimes) listen. Dude Martha got to go stand with the flamingos.

The gardens also has a parrot feeding exhibit. You go into a large cage, hold out a piece of apple in your hand, and parrots land on you and eat it while you hold it. I admit I screamed when one landed on my arm and one landed on

my head! We all got used to it quickly and for the first time I have to say I could understand why people like birds. Their feet were surprisingly soft and they ate rather politely from our hands.

We did spend a few hours at Atlantis, the huge mega-resort on Paradise Island. The prices there are ridiculous. If you want to come and use their pools for the day, it costs $500 for a family of 4. We took a self-guided tour which cost us

$130. We got to see all the aquariums, pools, and lobbies of the buildings, as well as access the shops within the resort. It is interesting and I’m glad I got to see it, but it all felt so artificial – similar to Disney. It’s too man-made and fabricated feeling to me. The food prices there are astronomical. We poked our heads in a cheesy little pizza place – $7 a slice or $38 for a cheese pizza. Considering a pizza is about $12 at home, that was insane. All the restaurant costs in the Bahamas are astronomical, but this one really bothered me. We walked out and found cheaper food elsewhere.

We found some Bahamians to be very friendly – particularly if they were trying to sell you something. Others we found to be downright rude, including the concierge at our hotel, who found our questions amusing and answered with one word responses only.

Although all the books say you don’t need a car, we found it essential. There was no traffic and parking was surprisingly easy. Bahamians drive on the left side of the road, but often have American made cars. We rented cars in Great Britain last summer and this was a little easier since you are at least sitting on the correct side of the car, even if you’re driving on the wrong side! A car gives you the freedom of seeing the entire island. One of our favorite drives was to the eastern end of the island where we gawked at the many mansion, including the one owned by Daniel Craig, who plays James Bond. The name of his mansion? 007.

The island is beautiful, with sandy beaches and aquamarine waters that take your breath away.  Enjoy some of the scenery. Tomorrow I’ll share photos of what I bought and what shopping on the island is like.

If you were watching Martha’s show after New Year’s, you got to hear all about her trip to Thailand. She showed the things she bought and photos of places she visited. I thought I would give you a Martha-esque post about our trip to the Bahamas. We stayed at the Sheraton Beach Resort on Cable … Read more →

On our recent trip to England and Scotland we tried to sample local specialties, because that is what Martha would do. When she travels, she seeks out local specialties and good things that can only be found in the place she is visiting. I thought I would share some of the things we enjoyed with you.

Afternoon tea (generally called Cream Tea in the UK) was at the top of my list of must-haves. Prices in the UK tend to be outrageous and a full cream tea at Harrods or the Ritz will run you at least 40 pounds per person (about $60).  And that’s for something that isn’t even a real meal! I found a great alternative. We had tea at the Orangery in Kensington Gardens. Tea here is a reasonable 14 pounds.

First, the tea. We ordered the standard type of tea and did not deviate (later in Scotland I had some Scottish breakfast tea I liked).

The first course with the tea was cucumber sandwiches, which were served on poppy seed bread. They were good, but as I recall, the bread had lots of butter (we encountered this a lot – an egg salad sandwich

had butter on the bread somewhere else). The sandwiches came with a small sausage roll and a little chicken salad roll, with pineapple on a skewer.

Next up was the scone with clotted cream and

jam. To die for.

After we finished sucking that down, the dessert came. Some of us has Belgian chocolate cake with clotted cream (possibly the best cake I have ever, ever had in my life) while

others had an orange cream cake which was also very, very good.  As you can see, we got a little enthusiastic about this and sampled it before we took the photo!

That was one of our most memorable meals. What about pub food, you might be asking? Well we had that too, even though we aren’t drinkers and were not interested in having ale at the pubs. One of the first nights, we had fish and chips at a pub and it was good, but a bit too greasy for my tastes. I don’t eat a lot of fried food and it was a

bit much for me to handle!

We had another pub meal in London at Porter’s. The fisherman’s pie was good. The steak pie was also good. Teen Martha had a lamb and apricot pie which she enjoyed. The salad dressing in London was abominable though. Almost every salad we had was served with a horrible

vinegary dressing that was practically inedible.  A little oil would go a long way in helping it!

At Porter’s we also had dessert – “pudding” as the Brits call it. We had a fab chocolate pudding (which was like a warm chocolate melted center cake) and the traditional sticky toffee pudding. Both were quite good and had us licking the

plates (once again giving Americans a bad name).

Also in London we had a full English breakfast, which consisted of thick bacon (not crisp), sausages, eggs, mushrooms, and tomato.  We struggled to find normal breakfast food that was beyond a croissant. Pancakes were impossible to find. I couldn’t even find oatmeal on the menu, even in Scotland.

We found that in general, the food improved as we got to Scotland. One of our first meals involved cullen skink, which sounds awful, but is actually a very nice soup made of haddock and potatoes, kind of like a fish chowder. We had a bowl of this at a pub in Edinburgh and enjoyed it a lot. At that same pub we sampled an Arbroath smokie fish cake, a salmon fish cake, and a smoked salmon and prawn sandwich. These were ok, but the skink was the hands down winner at that meal. At another restaurant, Teen Martha had potted shrimp, which grossed her out. I had some grilled smoked salmon, but it proved too salty to eat.

By this point in our journey, we had become tired of chips (fries) and peas served with every meal. We had whole peas, mashed peas, and smashed peas. Don’t these people eat any other vegetables, we wondered?

Well that question was answered at a wonderful pub in Aberfoyle, Scotland.

Mr. MarthaAndMe ordered the steak pie, I had the chicken mushroom pie, and Teen Martha had the Ploughman’s Lunch (Dude Martha had his usual fish and chips which I think he ate

almost every day). Every single thing was wonderful. The photos do not do this meal justice at all. The steak pie was like a wonderful, tender stew. The chicken mushroom

pie was like a fabulous pot pie. The ploughman’s lunch had me in ecstasy over the local cheese, delicious bread and wonderful salad.

A few other memorable items include a fabulous roast chicken with mushroom sauce I had in a tiny spot in Pitlochry Scotland. It tasted like something I would make at home which I desperately needed after about 12 days of restaurant food. At the Mountain Cafe in Aviemore, Scotland, which we went to because it was recommended by our wonderful fly fishing guide Jamie from Rothiemurchus Fishery (whom we failed to tip because we didn’t think of it in advance and had nothing smaller than a 20 pound bill on us – again, giving Americans a bad name), I had the best item of the entire trip. I am still dreaming of this at night. And I didn’t take a photo (smacking myself). It was called a quiche, but really it was like a savory Napoleon. Picture this – sweet potato, caramelized onion and spinach layered with what must have been a very small amount of egg. It had a crust, but was cut into a rectangle and had crust on one short side. It was served with a salad with a nice dijon dressing and cole slaw. I am going to attempt to replicate it because it was the stuff that dreams are made of.

Some other things of interest – we sampled some ginger beer, not realizing it has a small alcohol content. I don’t quite understand ginger beer. Is it meant to be beer or a soft drink? It was always listed under soft drinks on the menu, not alcoholic drinks. Dude Martha enjoyed Irn Bru, an orange soda that is sickeningly sweet and tastes of bubble gum.

Mr.  MarthaAndMe may move to England because they seem to like white chocolate there and it is his favorite. Every rest stop (called “services”) on the thruway (“carriageway”) carried white chocolate ice cream on a stick. He was in heaven.

Almost every restaurant has lasagna on the menu, but they tend to have  a cream sauce and not much cheese. Not typical lasagna like you find here.

All in all, the food was much better than expected. I regret not having a Cornish pasty (which a dear departed friend used to serve at his restaurant in New Orleans) and I was hoping for at least an oatcake in Scotland. The shortbread was superb everywhere I tried it. The only reason we can still fit into our pants is because we burned off so many calories by walking all day, every day.

On our recent trip to England and Scotland we tried to sample local specialties, because that is what Martha would do. When she travels, she seeks out local specialties and good things that can only be found in the place she is visiting. I thought I would share some of the things we enjoyed with … Read more →

Hello dear readers and friends. Hopefully you’ve been enjoying my posts for the past two weeks. I’ve just read through your comments. I was away on a wonderful two week trip to England and Scotland. We saw so much, tasted so much and experienced so much.  It was a very Martha vacation in many ways. We saw the major sites in London, including the changing of the guard, Big Ben, the Globe theatre, a musical on the West End, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London and some museums. We took a tour of Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace.

We also took some day trips from London and went to Stonehenge and Glastonbury.

Other day trips included Bath and Windsor Castle.

The best part of the trip was Scotland though. It is an awe-inspiring place.  We would be driving along (yes, Mr. MarthaAndMe drove on the wrong side of the road) and we would just be knocked over by the view. Unfortunately, the roads are narrow

with no shoulders and no way to stop and take photos! We did get some good shots.

Loch Ness was a beautiful place even if we didn’t see any monsters! We visited the Highland Folk Museum where we got to see what life was like in the Highlands. We went to the Scottish Wool Centre where we saw sheep herding and got to pet sheep. And we tried our hands at fly fishing. Mr. MarthaAndMe caught the only trout.

The food was sometimes good and sometimes bad. We had cream tea at the

Orangery in London and at a cute little tea shop in Edinburgh. As Teen Martha said, we should have tea every day.

We had fish and chips in a pub and also had sausage rolls, an English breakfast, chicken pie, steak pie, mince and tatties, a ploughman’s lunch and smoked salmon. We did not enjoy prawns – tiny little shrimp that Teen Martha said reminded her of bugs. We got tired of chips and peas served with every meal.

It’s good to be home where you can turn on a bathroom light from inside the bathroom (switches in the UK are outside the bathroom), sleep with a top sheet (no top sheets there – only duvet covers), plug everything into regular outlets, recognize the money easily, and get back to life as we know it.

I’ll be posting more about the trip in the coming days. I’ve also got a fun Martha idea we can all do together, so please tune in!

Hello dear readers and friends. Hopefully you’ve been enjoying my posts for the past two weeks. I’ve just read through your comments. I was away on a wonderful two week trip to England and Scotland. We saw so much, tasted so much and experienced so much.  It was a very Martha vacation in many ways. … Read more →

I love the piece in August Martha Stewart Living about Hawaiian quilt-inspired designs. We went to Hawaii last summer and I brought home a quilt and a quilted throw pillow cover. The quilt is the breadfruit pattern. It hangs on a quilt rack with a quilt from my grandmother.  I bought it at an amazing little artisan shop in a village outside of Akaka Falls. The throw pillow usually sits on a chair in my bedroom. I bought the pillow at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Fortunately, my bedroom is in a pastel floral style and these items work well there. I think that Hawaiian quilt patterns are beautiful, but they don’t work in every home.

The article suggests stenciling cushions for an outdoor chaise with this type of pattern and that would be gorgeous I think. Fitting these patterns into other decor is difficult I think. I love that I brought these pieces of the islands home with us and they remind me of our trip there.

I love the piece in August Martha Stewart Living about Hawaiian quilt-inspired designs. We went to Hawaii last summer and I brought home a quilt and a quilted throw pillow cover. The quilt is the breadfruit pattern. It hangs on a quilt rack with a quilt from my grandmother.  I bought it at an amazing … Read more →

While I was away, I thought a bit about Martha. Now obviously, I can’t whisk myself away to a top notch spa or to a private island as Martha has recently, but I did try to approach my time off with some Martha attitude.

One big thing I did was exercise. Usually I see vacation as a time to just sit, but I’ve gotten to the point where I have trouble sleeping if I don’t exercise regularly. On this break, I swam every day for 30 to 45 minutes and it was wonderful. Usually I walk for exercise and it was a nice change. Unfortunately, I did not have a pool boy holding a towel and a cool drink for me when I got out of the pool, but it felt luxurious nonetheless.

Another thing I did that was very Martha was eat out a lot. It sounds like Martha eats in restaurants more than she eats at home, to hear her talk on the show. I love getting away from the kitchen and having someone else cook for me, but unfortunately, I suspect I am a lot like Martha in that I am very, very picky. I can’t stand wasting my time or money on bad food. We had some very good meals in restaurants and others that made me roll my eyes. I did cook a few nights, mostly because there are some things (particularly seafood) I want done absolutely perfectly right. My mother says that if you want to lose weight, eat out a lot and she’s right because you cannot count on getting delicious perfectly made food, even in the most expensive of restaurants.

I was thrilled to be able to shop at a Whole Foods while we were away, since we don’t have any in our area, but disappointed to find that the organic produce was really quite limited.

I did a little shopping and bought a few things for our almost done newly remodeled bathroom.

The March issue of Living was waiting for me when I got home, so I’m all set to dive in!

While I was away, I thought a bit about Martha. Now obviously, I can’t whisk myself away to a top notch spa or to a private island as Martha has recently, but I did try to approach my time off with some Martha attitude. One big thing I did was exercise. Usually I see vacation … Read more →