24 Hours in Old San Juan

For Lavender Linda and Captain von Trapp

A few weeks ago we were taking a cruise that 

departed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.  We

decided to arrive a day before the cruise so we

could spend some time in Old San Juan.

We stayed at the boutique hotel in Old San Juan

called the Casablanca Hotel.  When I was on the

cruise a few days later I had breakfast with a chef

from the Ritz Carlton in San Juan, when I told her

where I had stayed while in town she looked at me

and exclaimed, "that's where you stayed?  That's a 

great hotel, it's a boutique hotel, it's a really cool

place!"  Yep, my travel street cred went up a few

notches...

You've got to love a hotel that plays Casablanca 

in the lobby 24 hours a day.

By this time we were very hungry since we hadn't

eaten since we arrived at the airport in the wee

hours of the morning.  Walking along a street a

woman walked across the street to give me a 

postcard and tell me that the cafe she worked at

was having happy hour.  I asked her how long

happy hour was and she said until 7pm.  I said,

"That's more like Happy Day!"  I looked at Mr.

Wonderful and said, "Well, we are on vacation, 

let's go to happy hour!"  The place was called the 

Blessed Cafe and it was owned by a Jamaican

Rastafarian who wanted all his guests to have

a wonderful experience.  It was a small place

with a bar and another room with a few tables

and all the decor was related to Bob Marley

and the Wailers.  We ordered  a few drinks and

settled back in vacation mode.

Our taxi driver who drove us in from the airport

told us not to miss trying mofongo while in town.

It was on the menu so of course we had to try it.

It is mashed plantains with a pork mixture on top.

It was delicious!

After the Blessed Cafe we walked off our

lunch and popped into antique stores and 

small artisan boutiques.

We headed back to our hotel for a siesta.

The room was small since the building is old

but everything was very nice.  We had upgraded 

to a room with a balcony thinking we would have

one overlooking a quaint street but the balcony is

really just the walkway to your room, don't bother

getting this upgrade because...

...upstairs is a lovely rooftop terrace with large

soaking tubs.  Bring your favorite beverage and

enjoy stargazing while soaking in your tub.

When we awoke from our siesta, we were hungry 

again and it was time to hit the streets.  I wanted to see

the big church and hiked up the hill but the church was

locked up but just across the square I spotted a little tapas

place called Rosa de Triana.  Our plan was to stop into a

few places for a small dish and a drink.

We sat in the cozy courtyard filled with plants 

and fairy lights.  The cafe is known for it's 

Sangria so we had to sample it.  Since there

were no cruise ships in port, the town was quiet 

and we dined with all locals.  It was the type of

place where you nod and say buenas noches to

your fellow diners.

We ordered two tapas plates and the servings 

were so large we knew our plan for visiting a few

places that evening was going to have to become 

Plan B.  So we lingered over our food and drinks

and fell into slow down vacation mode.  At the end

of the meal the waitress served us complimentary

glasses of a local apple liqueur that was delicious.

I wish I had brought a bottle home with us.

Leaving the restaurant we walked down the street 

and through San Juan gate and walked along the

Paseo de la Princesa, the old city walls are on one 

side of the walkway and San Juan Bay is on the other.

It was an enjoyable stroll and we came upon an area 

filled with food vendors and artists selling jewelry.

The food and drinks looked great but we were far too

full to sample anything but we did pick up some cookies 

to eat in bed once we got back to our room.

We watched a bit of Casablanca in the lobby back at

the hotel and then headed up to bed.  I would suggest

to anyone who will be staying at the Casablanca to

bring along a DVD of the movie or download it to one

of your devices and bring along an HDMI cord so you 

can watch the movie in bed.

Mr. Wonderful was up at the crack of dawn

and ready to find a cafe for a coffee.  For myself,

I prefer to laze around in bed when I get the chance

and since all we had to do that day was eat something

and head to the ship, I opted for waking up slowly.

Opening the wooden shutters and looking out these

windows I felt like I could be meeting Papa Hemingway

for lunch.

When I finally got myself moving we hunted around 

for a new restaurant called Melt.  I saw a photo of

their food on instagram and wanted to go there.  When

we finally found it there was no Hemingway but we did 

sit next to the owner of the hotel in which it is located

and got a lesson in Puerto Rican history and politics.

Then it was time to head to the ship to set sail

for parts unknown.

A great 24 hours!

Choose Love

While gardening today I found this heart 

shaped rock, I took it as a sign.

 My heart goes out to all the loved ones of 

the victims of the terrible massacre in Orlando.

 Hatred in all forms must stop. Make a conscious

 effort to spread more love around ~ to your family, 

your community, your country, our world...

The Little Fox

Every time I visit my family in Grand Haven, Michigan

I buy one of these etched wooden utensils.  I do this for

a variety of reasons:

1. I like wooden utensils.

2. I like to support small businesses.

3. I love the folky, funky designs.

The reason I purchased this particular utensil was based

on something that had happened to me the day before I

was in Grand Haven.  I was driving along a road near the

area where I hike and I thought I saw a baby kitten in the

grass on someone's lawn.  Then I realized, that wasn't a 

cat!  It was a baby fox!  I reversed the car and went back 

to the spot but I could only see the spot in the lawn that

must be the "foxhole".  The baby was no longer sticking 

its head out.  I figured I better not go investigate because

Mommy or Daddy fox might not like that.

Now I will think of that little fox whenever I use this

wooden utensil.

Silver Haul!

It's that time of year when the garage sales start up and 

I'm always ready to go treasure hunting.  A church near 

my house was having a rummage sale and I stopped in to

look around.  I saw this bag of silverware marked $5.

The first thing I noticed was this server that was

sitting on top of all the other items.  I thought the

rest of the bag was probably filled with assorted

forks, knives and spoons but I was interested in the

server.  In an antique store this item alone would 

probably cost at least $15 so I figured $5 was a 

good deal.

When I got to the car I looked in the bag and laughed.

I guess someone else likes butter knives as much as

I do!  I use butter knives often and not just for butter,

when I serve triple cream brie or other soft cheeses

or dips, I like to give each person their own knife.

When I was a little girl I always liked to use the butter

knife from my Mum's silver set ~ it just made the meal

more special.

While watching a movie this afternoon I got them all

polished and looking beautiful.

They are mostly silverplate but I did find some 

sterling.  There are even a few that match

 ~ not that that matters...

I love the little shields on this set of 6, perhaps I

should have them engraved with our initial.

These two will go to someone I know with the

initial B.

There was even one M ~ made just for us!

Mid-Century Atomic Snowflake

While I was out treasure hunting recently, I came

across this Mid-Century Meat Platter by Inland Glass.

I took a photo and sent it to Kate saying, "too bad you 

are a vegetarian, this would have been perfect for you."

She asked, "would I have to use it for meat?"  I figured,

no, you could serve anything on it so I got it for her.

This is not just a perfect find because she likes this sort

of style but also if you notice the edging is in black and

gold and Kate is a proud Purdue graduate and those

Boilmakers are wild about their school colors.  This

pattern is known as the Atomic Snowflake which I

find wildly amusing.  It is so Mid-Century.  I'm (luckily)

too young to have had A Bomb drills in my childhood

classrooms, we only had firedrills.  But I remember my

siblings talking about air raid drills where they were 

told to get under their desks.  Ah ~ the good old days!

It also came with a stand so you could keep your

dinner warm with candles under the platter.  I guess

it's good Kate is a vegetarian since our modern tea 

light candles don't fit...

Elle's Kitchen: Cinnamon Toast

I was out of state this week and yesterday I got

home in the afternoon, played with the puppy dog,

headed down to the big city with Trishie for a lecture

 by Frank Abagnale at the IMA and then we met Kate

 for a very late dinner before heading home to an end of

 day telephone call with Mr. Wonderful and off to bed!

This morning I woke up and let's just say, the cupboard

was bare,  nothing for breakfast...  there were a few pieces

of bread so I went old school and made cinnamon toast.

This is a favorite of mine from when I was a child but I

haven't had it in years.  It is so simple and most people 

have everything they need in their kitchen.  

Toast the bread until it is light brown, spread with butter

and let it melt a bit then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon

and gently mix the butter, sugar and cinnamon together.

This is something my Mum often made for me when I was

a child.  When I was old enough to make it myself I 

remember we had a spice jar with the sugar and cinnamon 

already mixed together ~ I don't remember if this was a

commercial product or just something my Mum mixed up 

herself to make it easier for me.  

It was still delicious!

Quiltmaker's 1000 Blocks Book Mystery

A while back someone had told me I was a 

part of this book but I had not heard from

the publisher so I wasn't sure.  A few weeks

ago I visited Lolly's Fabrics in Shipshewanna,

Indiana and noticed they had the book so I

took a peek.

On one of the opening pages showing some

of the blocks, there was one of mine.  It's the

top row, second from the left.  I checked the

index and my name and two page numbers 

were listed but when I visited those pages,  my

blocks were not there.  I thought maybe it is not

the page number but the block number ~ tried

that and nope, that didn't work either.

So when I got home I contacted the publisher 

and found out I am indeed in the book but there

was an editing problem with the page numbers

which will be corrected in future issues.

Here is one of the blocks called Dutch Treat,

it says it is on page 85 but it's really on 87.

This is my other block called Felicity, it says 

it is on page 77 but it is on page 79.

This is the quilt I made using the Dutch Treat

block, I call it Going Dutch.

This is the quilt I made using the Felicity block,

I call it Felicidad.

If your guild or shop would be interested in a class

for either of these quilts, send me an email:

ellen.americanhomestead@gmail.com