Adventures in Baking - Baking 101

Inspired by my friend and neighbors fantastic baking skills, and another little something ;) I have decided that it is time to build some baking skills of my own. Growing up, I was never really around anyone who baked on a regular basic. In my adult life, I have made brownies, cakes and cookies from a box or pre-made dough a few times and felt very proud of my baking abilities. My husband brought it to my attention that unless I bake something from scratch, it really isn't baking. Patrick is a fantastic cook, and our house is full of all of the fancy cooking and baking utensils that any fine chef or baker could ask for. I of course have never used any of them.

 So last night I decided that a good start to my baking adventure would be chocolate chip cookies. I didn't have a secret family recipe to go off of, so I just went on-line and did some research. In my search for the best on-line cookie recipe I came across a 5 star rated recipe on allrecipes.com titled The Best, Big Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie, sounds good to me. I have always felt that when you are baking or cooking anything, one of the main secrets is in buying the right brands of ingredients. My thoughts are, its all about the chocolate chips or chunks when it comes to cookies. I went with a chip, but I'm thinking maybe a chunk would have given the cookie a more home made look and taste. My next research was to see how different brands of chocolate chips were rated in some rating panels and I found out that tollhouse chocolate chips are the least desired. In fact, tasters really disliked the chips. It has got to be really difficult to find a chocolate chip that tasted bad. Out of ten different brands, the number one brand was Trader Joe's brand. I love Trader Joe's, but I was not about to venture out to Trader Joe's on a Saturday for chocolate chips, it's a mad house on the weekends.

So Patrick and I went to our local grocery store, with my recipe in hand, to buy all of the ingredients on my recipe list. I have definitely never shopped for flour before and I found it pretty entertaining when I was looking at all of the different brands of flour trying to decide which would be the best, what do I know about flour, nothing. I decided to go with Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips. I knew to avoid tollhouse, and I have never been a big fan of Hershey's. 


After an hour in the grocery store, Patrick and I were finally home and we still had to make dinner. I just wanted to get to baking, but Patrick felt it was important to have dinner first. Well, after we cooked, ate and cleaned up, I was out of energy. I decided that we would wait until morning to bake our cookies. Well about 5 minuets later I changed my mind again as I started to crave a chocolate chip cookie and I had to have one now! Pat thought that it would be best to talk and walk me through the process. He might have been afraid that I was going to burn the house down, or break his fancy mixer. 


We gathered all of our ingredients and followed the instructions on our recipe. Pat ran the mixer, Pat cracked the eggs and I started to find myself being in charge of reading, and reading only. So I bumped him aside like a little kid and said " I want to do it" He watched me closely with the mixer, and gave me lots of tips and may have taken over a couple of times. I think that my favorite part was adding the chocolate chips into the batter. After the cookie dough was complete, Patrick took a seat on the couch and let me form the dough with the ice cream scooper, and get the cookies in the oven. I watched them for the entire 15 minuets and I was so excited to see them grow and form into beautiful cookies. I was so proud. I got a little stressed at take out time. Are they ready, would they be to doughy in the center, if I leave them in a minuet longer will they burn and be hard.  My recipe said to take them out when the edges are lightly toasted. They looked lightly toasted to me so I took them out. 


They had a great homemade look to them, but not as homemade looking as I would have liked, if you know what I mean. Some peoples homemade cookies look so amazing you can taste them before you even put the cookie in your mouth. They are tasty. The edges have a little crunch and they are soft in the center. Much better than pre-made dough, but I still feel like something is missing. That didn't stop me from having cookies for breakfast this morning! Erin, our fantastic, talented, baking neighbor is going to have to be my taste tester. Hopefully she doesn't spit them right out :) I may just have to get my hands on her secret recipe. 

Day 5 - A leisurely Day

Day 5 was our last full day on Mexico. We didn't make any big plans, we just wanted to have a very leisurely and relaxing day. I started off my day with another Amazing massage. It is so nice to just wake up in the morning and walk out onto your patio and receive the most Fantastic massage. This is a luxury that I would definitely love to have every day. As I received my massage Patrick walked with the dogs and went for a swim in the pool. After my massage I met Patrick and my dad poolside and we enjoyed some watermelon. 

After a very peaceful morning, we headed through Tulum on our way to a very beautiful and deserted beach. I loved the drive through Tulum. This was the very eco-friendly/beachy/Hippie part of Tulum with all of the cute cafes, shops, yoga studios and accommodations. As we headed out of town, we entered a road that would become my worst nightmare. I'm not sure that it is a road at all. My dad cruises down this so called road in his jeep with no problems. Well we were in our rental car and it wasn't really working out for us. The holes in the road were larger than any pot hole in Chicago that I have ever seen. My peaceful adventure was momentarily interrupted by what felt like the longest ride down the most awful road followed by a mild panic attack. Finally, we arrived and I have to say it was worth it.

I'm so grateful that we were able to stand on this piece of the earth and see the world from this perspective. I can't imagine that too many people journey down this road, and hike through the jungle to come across this deserted beach. I'm glad that we were some of the lucky few. 

Mexico - Day 4 Continued

After our fantastic snorkeling adventure, we headed back to rinse off and change for our next adventures. After a quick change, we were on our way to Playa Del Carmen for lunch. It is amazing to me how each town is so completely different from the next. Playa Del Carmen is definitely an exciting town full of action. Not the type of place that you may find totally peaceful and relaxing, although their were people getting massages on the deck we were having lunch on. This is definitely more of a people watching, party beach.  If this is what it is like at 3pm I can't image what it is like at 10pm. 

After a wonderful lunch, we were on our way to Xcaret. Xcaret is an eco-archeological park on 12 acres of the Mayan Riviera. Just about anything that you could possibly think about doing or seeing in Mexico is here. We came for the show on the Mayan Culture, but we had a couple of hours to walk around the park before the show began. 

Lovers

Butterfly Garden

Burial Grounds

Cave under burial grounds - that is all wax it was very beautiful

After spending some time walking these impressive grounds, we entered the Colosseum for a wonderful performance by some very talented locals. The performance started with the beginning of the Mayan culture, up to modern day living. My dad and I have always loved to go to performances like this, and this one was another great show. 

We started this day waking up in our beautiful villa at Villas Flamingo on the beach. We spent the morning and early afternoon snorkeling the lagoon in Akumal. We experienced a little taste of the Playa Del Carmen scene, and we explored the beauty of Mexico and it's culture at Xcaret. Now it is time to head back to the jungle and get some rest. Tomorrow is our last full day in Mexico and I am starting the day of with another incredible massage. 

Mexico Day 4 - Yal Ku Lagoon

We had a very leisurely morning at Villas Flamingo. We are checking out around 11am and it will be difficult to leave this beautiful location. We were up to see the sun rise from our bedroom balcony, then we spent some time down at the beach and we went for a swim. My dad met us at the villa and we were in for another lovely treat. Down the road from Villas Flamingo is an amazing lagoon. We got our snorkel gear together and headed down the road to Yal Ku Lagoon. The moment we arrived I was in awe. This land is incredible. 

Before we snorkeled, we took a walk around the property admiring all of the beautiful sculptures.

These sculptures are truly magnificent, and they are scattered throughout the property. I'd say there are around 30.

Snorkeling in the Lagoon was different than any other place I have snorkeled. In fact, I have never snorkeled in a Lagoon. 

 It was a bit crispy out so Pat & I had to wear t-shirts to protect our pale skin from the hot sun.

Mexico - Day 3 Half Moon Bay

We were treated to a big Surprise during our trip. My mom & dad reserved us a villa on the beach at Half Moon Bay at Villas Flamingo. We had our own private villa, pool and beach. It was Amazing! This area of Akumal is full of private multi million dollar homes. Each one is completely different and unique from the last. We picked up the key to our villa around noon and opened the door to a beautiful beach house. 

Our Private Villa at Villas Flamingo

After exploring this beautiful villa and taking it all in, we walked a few steps down to the beach. We snorkeled in the crystal clear water, took a dip in the pool and lounged on our private cabanas. This was the most relaxed that we have both been since Hawaii. 

Patrick Snorkeling

After a fantastic and relaxing day, we meet up with my dad and headed out for an incredible dinner at Lol Ha. 

After dinner Patrick & I headed back to our beach villa for the night. It was just as beautiful at night.

Mexico - Day 2 The Mayan Ruins

Tulum - Mayan Ruins

After massages and kayaking, we headed to Tulum to go see the Mayan Ruins. I do believe that Tulum is my favorite area in Mexico. The ruins are spectacular, but that is not all that Tulum has to offer. The town is adorable. Full of yoga studios and cute restaurants and cafe's. The hotels are not large resorts, they are smaller, more personal, relaxed, unique accommodations on the beach. Today we were not in town, we were at the ruins. If you saw the movie Apocalypto, you would swear you were on set of the filming. Walking around, it is so beautiful that nothing seems real. This is definitely a sight to see. 

Papa & Patrick walking to the Ruins

It was a really really hot day, and we were already a little worn down from kayaking, but this was definitely worth the heat and the crowds. You can definitely feel the sacredness of this space as you walk on this land. The location is out of this world. The ruins were built on a bluff. facing the sunrise overlooking the Caribbean. The beach below is one of the most beautiful beaches that I have ever seen.

We will definitely be returning to this sacred place.

Mexico - Day 2

We are starting off the day today with massages!!! I love when I can be on vacation and have a fantastic massage without having to give any massages for an entire week. Thankfully Papa has found what has to be the greatest massage therapist in Mexico. He is a local Mayan, and he is very gifted! The greatest massages that I have ever had were in Hawaii when I was in Lomi Lomi training. Mayan massage is very similar. It is so wonderful to have the therapist come to you, especially when you are in a beautiful location that you can be massaged outside at. This massage was so good that I scheduled another for Friday morning. I would pay him 5 times his going rate. 

Papa receiving his massage - Notice he is as dark as the local Mayan

My massage - In need of a serious tan

 Patrick could not find it in him to be comfortable with a man massaging him, he is crazy and definitely missed out. He lounged in the pool while we were massaged, which was very relaxing and therapeutic for him. We enjoyed some terrific papaya and we were off to go kayaking. We headed to a beautiful area to kayak. kayaking is one of my favorite things to do. Patrick and I went out on a two seater, which was very entertaining. The water was beautiful. There wasn't anyone else around, and Patrick, Papa and I saw the largest turtle that we have ever seen. I'm talking gigantic! Unfortunately I did not have my camera to photograph that one, but it was big and beautiful. There was not a cloud in the sky and it was getting pretty hot out. We headed in from Kayaking and we were off on our next adventure, the Tulum Mayan Ruins. 

To be continued