#11 Visit my parents in Alabama

You know those moments in life where you're just so frickin' happy?  You're sitting around a table (or in this instance, a bar), looking at the faces of people you LOVE, laughing and talking, and you're just grinning from ear to ear... and you want that moment to go on forever?  Yeah.  I had that moment when I visited my parents in Alabama (#11).

Alabama means so much to me... it's the place I grew up, went to school, learned how to drive (not stick shift, though ;)), survived tornadoes, fell in love, had my heart broken, and finally, left... Huntsville reminds me of simpler times, when you walk barefoot across thick, green grass to a small garden and pluck a juicy, ripe, sun-warmed red tomato right off the vine, and take a giant, juicy bite.

And while I have these amazing memories, I have not been back to Bama in a while, so I wanted to make sure I visited.  And, I had a good reason - my sister's baby shower!!  If you want to check out her version of the weekend, it's here :)

My gorgeous sister!!

A few of my best friends also wanted to visit Alabama, so they came with us... and we had an incredible trip, charming my parents, being charmed by my parents, drinking vino, eating Mom's home cooking, visiting the local sites, and just enjoying LIFE. It was fabulous.

Mom, Dad, Ellie and Katrin around the downstairs bar :)

Mom's infamous pineapple upside down cake... FRICKIN AMAZING

Cheese?  Cheese!!!!

One of the omelets, hash brown casserole and biscuits, ever...

At the US Space & Rocket Center

The first astronauts to be on the moon wrote a book - a signed copy is at the US Space and Rocket Center's museum

Dad and Dave trying to land a plane :)

Katrin, looking over Dave's shoulder :)

Astronauts in the making?!?!

Us girls, posing in front of the rockets...

Diego, me and Dave on "SPACESHOT".  We rode it about ten times in a row :)

Me in front of the big plane :)

Visiting one of the places where I used to work - Applebee's!!!!

Baby shower food - Southern chicken salad, of course :)

I think the chair is the perfect size for Ellie :)

My favorite baby shower gift - "I drink til I pass out" :)

The above pics were just a few from the weekend - but they highlight some of the best memories... great food, a visit to the US Space & Rocket Center, great wine, lots of laughter, lots of family and great friends.  Simply perfect! :)

Pork Tenderloin with Figs and Shallots

I subscribe to many fitness magazines, not necessarily for the workouts... but for the healthy recipes... that's where I get a ton of ideas on what to cook next.

The September 2012 edition of Shape magazine featured figs.  No real recipes, but mentioned how figs are healthy for you ("Rich in iron, calcium, and fiber..."), and how, since they are savory in flavor, go well with shallots and pork.

Since I had never cooked with figs, I needed some guidance, and thus googled "recipe for pork and figs".  I found this recipe, I cooked it, and it was good.

Start by browning your pork tenderloin on all sides, then transfer to oven for further cooking:

Dice up a few shallots, add to pan.  Then, quarter figs and finely chop some rosemary.

After the shallots are done caramelizing, add some balsamic vinegar and a bit of sugar...

Then, add the figs and rosemary...

Add a squeeze or three of fresh lemon:

Remove pork from oven, letting rest a few minutes, then slice...

And top with the shallot, fig and rosemary mixture...

And devour.  This was sooooo yummy.  I love caramelized onions, and combining that with the freshness of the rosemary and the sweet/savory of the fig was just an outstanding flavor combination.  One of which I highly recommend.

Unfortunately, fresh figs are only in season in late summer and early fall... so I'll add this to my "To Cook" list for next September.  You can use packaged California Mission Figs, and they cooked just nicely...

Updates: Check five, Rafa, and Sandy

Hey all... as you may have noticed, I've been a bit... MIA... sorry about that.  I'm coming back :)  I've had a lot going on in the past few months, and blogging, as much as I love it, takes a lot of effort... so it's fallen a bit on the priority list...

But that doesn't mean I haven't been working on my challenge, or that other crazy things haven't happened.  This post updates you on three big things:
1. I knocked five things off my "30 now that I'm 30" list
2. I became an auntie :)
3. I survived Hurricane Sandy.

Knocking five things off my list:

# 4 Dress like a superhero for Halloween - I've ALWAYS wanted to be Wonder Woman, but for some reason I never felt fit or fabulous enough. And while I definitely don't feel as fit as I would want to be to best represent the amazing superhero, I decided to say "F&*K it", and I ordered the costume.  Voila:

Red Bull gives Wonder Woman her wings :)

# 11 Visit my parents in Alabama - this was very special for me, as not only did I get to hang out with my parents, but I got to attend my sister's baby shower AND three of my bestest friends made the trip with me! I got to show them where I grew up, where I worked, where I went to school.  It ended up being one of the most amazing trips ever... great home cooking, nine bottles of wine, and quality time with friends and family... who could want more?   Look for a blog post detailing the awesomeness soon :)

#14 Go to a concert - I actually went to TWO concerts... one was with my friend Elizabeth.  We attended the Mixtape Festival in Hershey, PA, which is a weekend extravaganza featuring tons of amazing artists: The Wanted, Kelly Clarkson, LL Cool J, NKOTBSB, Carly Rae Jepsen, and many many more...  The second concert was with some great college buddies - Knotwell, Cage (now known as Justin) and Jess... and it was great to grill out, chill out, and hang out...

I'm at the bottom left, and LL Cool J is performing on stage... mmmm yummy!

Jimmy Buffet concert!

#21 See "The Book of Mormon" on Broadway - it's VERY HARD to get tickets to this show, as it's a smash hit that won tons of awards... and it was very very funny... I count myself fortunate that I was able to get tickets, even as far in advance as I did!


#26 See "Fuerza Bruta" - Fuerza Bruta is an incredibly unique experience... it is a performance art show, but there are no seats... so you, as the audience, are standing and moving as the set changes.  You get to interact with the actors, and it's a very cool experience. There also water... you get wet (the amount of wet depends on where you're standing... so you can be spritzed or soaked!), and it turns in to a dance party at the very end.  Here are a few images...

Guy running on a treadmill... he crashed through a "wall" of cardboard boxes filled with what looks like toilet paper

Four girls playing in water... this happened right above you...

So there we have it, I knocked a few items off my list.  Some other CRAZY things that happened to me in the past few months...

I became an auntie!

My nephew, Rafa, was born.  My sister was gracious enough to let me witness the birth, and WOW.  She is one tough cookie... my nephew was HUGE - 9 lbs, 12 ounces... 23 inches long... he's a tall baby... and he's sooooo handsome too.  Here I am, cooing at him and sharing words of wisdom (such as don't feel you have to pair red wine with red meat... just drink whatever you like, and screw the pairing):

I survived Hurricane Sandy...

The other thing that happened is just absolutely F***ing cray cray.  That's really the best way to describe it.  Just "f***ing cray cray".  I'm trying not to curse, but this situation warrants it.  My town of Hoboken (and the Jersey Shore and NYC) got attacked by Hurricane/Super Storm Sandy.  I lost power for a week, which meant no heat or hot water.  And I count myself fortunate that I got power back after one week!  Sure, the lobby/garage of my building had three feet of standing water flooding it, but when I look at the pictures of devastation on the shore line, WOW.  I am truly truly lucky.  For the first few days after the storm, I couldn't leave my apartment since my street had turned in to a river.  I took a few cold showers before I caved and begged neighbors to let me use their shower. The past two weeks have just been SOOOO SURREAL... here's a few of the craziest pictures:

A boat. Up on the sidewalk between Hoboken and Weehawken.

A piece of a boat... you can see the sailboat in the distance...

The other side of the boat... someone spray painted "Global Warming is Real" on the side of the boat...

My temporary work location for 2 days... my work office got flooded, so we were displaced for two weeks...

Hoboken was underwater, so many ground floor and basement apartments flooded... so much trash lined the streets....

The day after the storm, there was 3+ feet of water in the streets, which basically means it was a river.  This pic shows two firefighters in a raft, one of which is hanging on to a rope, which is attached to a tractor, as that is the ONLY way they could rescue some people in the building across my street... F***ING CRAY CRAY

And just one week after the Hurricane came through, we got a N'oreaster... it only graced us with a few inches of white snow, which neighbors promptly made in to a snowman :)  OUR SPIRIT IS STRONG!

So that's whats been going on over the past few months.  Some incredible stuff.... amazing, scary... and after it all I just feel incredibly blessed and thankful.

#19 - Travel somewhere else on my bucket list

One of my favorite geographic locations on Earth is the Caribbean.  The island life, the sand, the sun, the palm trees, the turquoise water... I love it all.  I am a Cancer Water baby, and thus, the Caribbean is my "home"...

And I'm lucky enough to have visited many Caribbean islands in my short life span.  But, what might be surprising is that Jamaica is NOT one of those islands...

So, naturally, when a group of friends said they were going to Jamaica for a birthday party weekend, I jumped on the chance to go. And it turned in to one of the most fun vacations EVER.  (Which says a lot considering I had just been to the Galapagos islands, and have done many girls weekends to Miami, Vegas and Key West!!!)

We started our vacation with mimosas at the airport :)

We took a long bus ride to the resort...

Upon arriving at our (all-inclusive) resort, we immediately ordered our first drink...

We dropped our bags off in our hotel rooms, and discovered the mini bar - they restock the bottles every other day...

We immediately changed in to our pool-gear, and took our first group pic :)

And then we took our second drink and went to the beach to relax :)

My view....

We swam in the ocean....

That night, we discovered that we could refill our own wine... from a wine barrel!!!!

The next day, we hung out at the pool...

We got drinks at the swim-up bar at the pool...

And hung out in the jacuzzi... of course, still drinking :)

We played cards at night...

Don't worry, we tried to keep our legs closed....

The next day, we piled on to a bus with Marlon Brando... and the next five hours were the most fun I've had in a long, long time...

After the bus, we boarded a giant catamaran...

We went snorkeling :)

We climbed a waterfall and took many group shots...

We immersed ourselves in cold water...

I tried to look like I was in a tropical forest....

And we had fun....

After climbing the waterfall, we boarded our catamaran and went on a booze cruise...

....where we partied like one percenters...

My girlfriend Katrin is a hottie... and rocked her red bikini :)

After another amazing bus ride singing songs with Marlon Brandon (Rum n Red Bull!), we took a photo with our fellow bus riders... and we kept the party going... SO MUCH FUN!!!!

A great pic of the buffet line :)

We danced to some horribly bad music...

But hey, we tried to have fun...

Later, we went to dip our toes in the ocean...

I hugged the palm tree :)

The last day, we drank coconut juice straight from the source!

This was one of the most fun vacations I've ever had... from good friends to good food, great drinks, an awesome boat ride followed by an awesome bus ride with amazing people having so much fun... it was just epic.

Thanks to Katrin, Dave, Nada, Will, Elianne and Bargav!!!!  I had an amazing time... and I can't wait for the next vacay!!!

Seriously, when is it???  8-)