Jenny B's Blog

Key West - For Kids or Not?

We got back from Key West last week with the family.  This was our third vacation with Michael - and they are definitely getting more managable.  We picked Key West because I thought it would be a great place where we could enjoy the outdoors with Michael: the beach, the pool, walks around town etc.  We stayed at the Key West Marriott Beachside Resort.  Definitely had a nice pool but was a little far out from all the action of Duval Street. 

First a few things about us. We are frequent travelers and use Trip Advisor extensively to select accommodations for personal travel. This was our third vacation with our 13 month old son. I selected Marriott Beachside because they offered one bedroom suites with a kitchen and they were well rated on Trip Advisor. The hotel was lovely, the staff attentive and the pool was very enjoyable. Overall, I found the accommodations to be fabulous. However, I have a couple comments that I didn't read in others reviews that I think are noteworthy:
1. This hotel is at the intersection of Rt 1 and N Roosevelt. This is a very busy intersection...and consequently, fairly loud from a street noise standpoint. If you are in Building 2, which is directly next to S. Roosevelt, it can get kind of loud, especially if you are in a room closer to the lobby. However, you don't hear the road noise from the room, only from the balcony. I was kind of surprised that this had not really been mentioned in any of the other reviews (that I read).
2. The rooms are beautiful and have marble floors. The marble floors look nice, but are kind of dangerous from a toddler standpoint - we had a couple faceplants and head knocks that resulted in some bumps and bruises. The minute you spill anything on the floors they become very trecherous and slippery. They are also impossible to keep clean. I found myself wearing socks because the floors were rather gritty. Housekeeping would clean them everyday, but it seemed as if as soon as they cleaned them, they were gritty again.

3. If you have ever been to Key West, then you understand that the most fun part is Duval Street. And well, Duval Street is not quite as much fun when you have your 13 month old son with you.  It was nice to go down there, shop around, but to get the most out of it, you really need to go to Hogsbreath, setup at a table for a few hours and have a few beers?  You know? 

4.  Beaches.  We did go to Smathers Beach and Bahia Honda Beach up on Big Pine Key.  I think Bahia Honda was the nicest, although the Keys are just not known for the beaches.  It would have been nice if we could have setup with an umbrella and chairs - you would think someone would be renting them.  No dice.  The water was beautiful and the weather was lovely.  Michael had a great time in the sand. 

swaddle designs

one thing i've learned as a new mommy is that swaddling is the key to sleep.  at least it is the key for michael to sleep.  my friend jessica introduced us to swaddle designs swaddle blankets - quite possibly the best swaddle blankets EVER.  they have a product called the "Ultimate Receiving Blanket" and it is awesome.  the key to it is that it is bigger than any other receiving blanket you can get - so it makes it much easier to "make the burrito" as we say. 

trumpettes...my favorite baby socks

so my friend beth got me some baby socks called trumpettes back when we found out i was prego.  they are quite possibly the BEST baby socks ever!  plus they come in the cutest patterns...LOVE THEM.  here are a couple pics and a link to where you can go get some.

introducing MICHAEL DOMINICK

ok folks.  its been a century since i've posted on the blog, but no time like the present to get back into the groove of things.  since i last posted, i got pregnant and had a baby!  michael dominick berarducci arrived on march 26, 2009 and is the light of our lives.  here is a picture of michael and mommy. 

Roy's Hawaiian - Baltimore Restaurant Week

 This week is Baltimore's Restaurant Week.  All the participating restaurants have pre fixe menus that include an appetizer, entree and dessert for $30...pretty good deal especially for the higher end restaurants.  We have two reservations this week - one at Roy's Hawaiian, and Asian Fusion seafood place and then tomorrow night we are going to Flemings, a Baltimore steakhouse. 

Roy's was absolutely incredible.  I had a Pacific Blue Marlin called Kajiki and it was just amazing.  I am not a fish person and this fish was phenomenal.  It was a white fish and very mild.  It was served with this green "jade" sauce with some stir fry vegetables and rice. 

Tomorrow night we'll wait and see if Flemings is just as yummy!

delicious roasted red pepper cream sauce

tonight i made roasted red pepper cream sauce.  it took awhile, but it was worth it.  we had it with some fresh tortellini.  it was fabulous.  here is the recipe:

1.  roast 3 red peppers.  they roast better if you quarter them.  let the peppers cool in a bag and then take the skin off.
2.  chop up the red peppers and cook with 3 TB EVOO, 2 TB chopped garlic and 1/4 c fresh basil.  let this simmer for 10 minutes - it should smell delish.
3.  take this concoction and process it in the food processor until it is good and blended.
4.  return it to the skillet and stir in 2 c of half/half and a 1/4 c of romano.
5.  add in 4 TB butter.  melt butter and simmer for about 5 min.

serve over tortellini, ravioli or any type of pasta.  it was way good.  sorry, it was gone before i thought to take a pic.

green thumb that hopefully will turn red soon

inspired by my parents tomato plants, tony and i decided to start up a couple of our own.  we have been watering faithfully and have several tomatoes but they are all still green.  hopefully in a couple more weeks we'll have some tasty red ones for our salads and sauces :)

the boat parade

while we were waiting for the fireworks...lots of boats passed by on the Potomac on their way to the show.  here are a couple that we thought were interesting...

We had front row seats!

4th of July in DC

For the 4th of July, Tony and I went down to DC to watch the fireworks from Bolling Air Force base.  There was hardly anyone there!  Here are some pics we took of the show.  It was fabulous - although the weather wasn't cooperating.  We got rained on a couple of times - but it was worth it!

calla lily in bloom

a colleague and friend of ours bought us some calla lily bulbs as a housewarming gift.  they are blooming and beautiful! 

4th of July

in honor of our independence we bought and hung a flag. 

dog sitting

this week we are dogsitting my brother-in-law's boxer, sammy.  i think that once you have two dogs, adding more isn't that big of a deal.  but it is a big difference to have a 70-80 lb boxer bounding around - compared to newman and riley she definitely is a little bigger.  but she is really sweet.  here a a few pics of her, newman and riley clowing around.

our little love nuggets

 Newman relaxing in his bed.  This is his typical pose

 Tony's little boy, Riley.

sailing on kent island

on saturday a colleague of mine had a boat party at his marina to celebrate his birthday.  it was hot, but as soon as the sun went down the combination of beers, boats and blue sky was great.

a little slice of americana in ellicott city, md

tony and i decided to head down to main street ellicott city, md on saturday.  man, it was hot.  but we didn't want to sit in the house all day.  ellicott city is definitely what main street america is all about.  we scouted some potential cupcake shop locations - but weren't sure about it.  the traffic was ok - the shopkeepers told us that traffic was low because of the heat. there was only one other bakery that had cupcakes - and they only had two flavors.  it was a nice afternoon. 

my turkish carpet

while kath and i were in kusadasi turkey, i picked up a kayseri carpet.  kayseri is a region in central turkey.  the carpet that i bought was a 6x9 wool on wool with a beautiful blended medallion pattern.  i was super nervous about bringing it back into the states, because i had to go through customs and pay duty on it.  i decided to bring it home with me instead of shipping it.  anyway, i just love it and now i think i might be addicted to these types of carpets...not so good for my wallet.  this one is semi-old and the carpet man, hakan from Design Carpet Gallery http://www.designcarpetgallery.com.  hakan said the carpet was around 40 years old, putting it on the younger side of semi-old, but still in the vicinity.  it was really unusual because it had very light sage green and muted blue in the pattern -- which we could hardly find anywhere! 

before we visited, i had some some preliminary research on the types of carpets and the regions - but we got a fantastic education at the grand bazaar in istanbul.  we used istanbul as our test drive.  we heard from several people that buying in kusadasi was better b/c it was smaller and easier to diget.  we were also told that it was somewhat less espensive than istanbul.  i was really glad that we did our research in istanbul...we must have visited 5 or 6 different shops. 

yummy delicious cupcakes

I have had a cupcake fascination lately.  i really want to start my own cupcake business.  tony volunteered to taste test every cupcake i make...isn't he sweet? honestly though it just seems like it would be a really fun business to have. and i think the ellicott city/columbia area would be perfect. that and i love to bake. i think the only dilemma would be that i would have to work like a dog to make it work...although, i already work like a dog, so it is not like i would be changing much. but at least the end product would be sweet and edible instead of, well, not sweet and edible. i have been following a few blogs recently:

52 Cupcakes - This lady actually lives in the DC area too!  She is a blogging maniac. 

Sometimes I wonder how everyone finds so much time to blog.  I mean, I get home and after dinner and doing more work, all I want to do is vegetate in front of the Food Network. 

Cupcakes Take the Cake - This is a blog all about cupcake shops.  How cute!

Delleicious in DC - This is a blog dedicated to DC area cupcake shops!  I need to study this.

Tony says I need a business plan, but really what i think i need is to START BAKING!  No time like the present. 

kathy & jenny's european tour

kathy and i went on a mediteranean cruise a few weeks ago...here are some pics from our exploits..

Jenny in Capri

Jenny at St. Peters in Vatican City

Kathy & Jenny at the Acropolis

Jenny in Pisa

Jenny in Mykonos

Kathy&Jenny at the Colosseum in Rome

Jenny in Mykonos

AFRICA!

Here is a picture of me with the camp staff in at the Linyanti camp in Botswana.

Elephants swimming at Chobe.

Wild Dogs in the Linyanti.

Bull elephant making a rukus in the road.

Chobe elephants enjoying a mid-day splash.

A walking safari in Selinda area.

A BIG hippo. 

On Safari in the truck.

Me and our safari vehicle.

Leopard and Impala kill in tree

Male lion in the Linyanti.

Same lion.

Young elephants.

Tent at Pom Pom Camp.

Self portrait in Selinda.

Elephant at sunset in Selinda.

Tony with bull elephant in Linyanti.

Victoria Falls, Zambia

Beautiful Victoria Falls

Elephant bones in Savute Channel.

kathy's 30th birthday

for kath's birthday we went to the spanish tapas restaurant jaleo in arlington.  it was yummy.