Make like a local

Eating local fruits and veggies that are in season while on travel is a sure-fire way to take advantage of the geography and climate you are visiting. One of our favorite ways of capitalizing on the local ambiance is spending time at Farmer's Markets. Besides the obvious opportunity to pick up ripe and fresh produce, flowers, and baked goods, the people watching is always entertaining.

Most Farmer's Markets are high tech these days and it's fairly easy to Google the city you are visiting and 'farmer's market' to get a list of the days, times, and locations where you can find the vendors set up and selling an array of tasty delights. The challenge is to buy only what you need while on vacation. It's easy to get caught up in the colors and smells and over purchase. Remember, you're on vacation and need to stay flexible - or have a really good plan on how you are going to eat and enjoy all the stuff buy.







Kari On and Keep Traveling

Timeshare kitchen equipment

If you're going to travel a la 'a timeshare' property, it helps to know the basic equipment that usually comes standard in the kitchen. On our recent vacation we stayed at a Marriott Vacation Resort Timeshare. We've found that most of the Marriott kitchens are fairly well stocked with the following:

Knife block (steak knives, bread knife, paring knife, carving knife, kitchen shears)
Cutting board
Tea kettle
Storage containers (usually the 'medium' size)
Blender (usually one that is great for making frozen drinks!)
Salad bowl with serving fork and spoon
Glass bowl with lid (medium size)
Glasses (wine, water, and juice size) - 6
Plastic glasses - 6
Plates, bowls, and coffee cups - 6
Serving platter
Serving bowl (medium size)
Cutlery
Pots (small, medium, and large)
Pans (medium size frying pan, and slightly larger pan)
Baking dish (Pyrex 'casserole' size)
Mixing bowl
Mixing cup
Colander
Serving utensils
Measuring spoons
Peeler
Can opener
Pizza cutter
Bottle opener
Whisk
Wooden spoon
Spatula
Toaster
Coffee pot
Pot holders

We've learned to bring from home the following:

Griddle - makes pancake cooking much faster!
Coffee grinder - we love fresh ground beans
Ziploc bags - all sizes
Tin foil - for leftovers, the BBQ, etc.
Plastic wrap - for leftovers (yeah...we could just use the tin foil)

On our last trip I discovered our kitchen was without a cookie sheet. I called the front desk to see if it was missing or just not part of the standard equipment. As it turns out, the units do not come with cookie sheets; however, the manager offered to check with housekeeping... and like magic, a brand new cookie sheet was delivered it to our room within 20 minutes. (Kudos Marriott!!!)

We like to think of cooking as a hobby not a chore and the timeshare makes cooking in a great option when we're on vacation.

























Kari On and Keep Traveling

Plan now, relax later

A little planning can make a big difference – and save lots of time and money on vacation. Our goal is to keep it simple, but still have tasty and somewhat healthy meals. The key is figuring out what to bring from home and what to buy locally. Of course it makes a big difference if you are flying or driving. And if you are driving, it is important to factor in how long the trip will take (hours vs. days) on what you will want to pack. I find it easier to navigate my neighborhood store: I know where things are, I’m familiar with the prices, I can factor in sales and specials, so the more I can do in advance the better.

For our SoCal trip we created a menu and activity plan. The boys each brought a friend - which means we were planning food for 4 very active growing boys and 2 adults. The boys gave us ideas on what type of food they thought would be fun on vacation. Graham and I have been exercising a lot so we opted for high protein meals. After all the input, here’s our plan:







Once the plan was in place, we worked out what we could bring from home:



And then I tried to anticipate what I would need to get locally:




It might seem like a lot of planning up front, but it pays off when you can sit back and relax. According to Preston’s friend, it must have had some positive impact because he said, “my favorite part of the trip was everyone eating dinner together!”

Kari On and Keep Traveling

Resist Vacation Conformity

There are those that insist vacation means eating every meal out – not me! I do love going out to eat, experiencing new flavors, tastes, smells, and soaking up the ambiance. However, I quickly slip in to overload if I have to do it every day for every meal.

We keep learning great ways to make dining in on vacation easier, healthier, and by all means fun. On our recent vacation I cut up chicken, poured on some Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki, tossed it all in to a freezer bag – and froze it solid! I also cut up all the veggies we had in the refrigerator the morning we were leaving, put them in a separate freezer bag with some more of the Soy Vay, and sealed it tight. The key was remembering to pack it up and put it in the cooler before we left the house. On our 6 hour drive the frozen chicken was perfect for helping keep the veggies and rest of our perishables cool.

My kids love arriving at new destinations and getting the ‘lay of the land’ as soon as we will set them free. As long as the boys help us unload the car and put their stuff in their room, they can go discover while we get dinner ready. We love this time settling in to our new ‘home away from home’ and shifting in to vacation mode.

Keeping dinner easy, chicken and veggie skewers, (we also made some rice-a-roni – boys eat a lot!!!!) was the perfect way start to a great week in Southern California.


Prepped at home!


Yum!

Kari On and Keep Traveling

No Leaving until the Sheets are Changed

We have this crazy rule in our house that everything needs to be spic and span before we go on vacation. Without a doubt, I’m completely neurotic in the hours leading up to our walking out the door and transitioning in to vacation mode. Pre departure always starts out with the feeling of plenty of time to change the sheets, vacuum the floors, take out the trash, clean the refrigerator, rotate the laundry, empty the dishwasher, fluff the pillows, water the plants, and deodorize the toilets.

Ha! So much easier said than done.

On departure day we always wake up early, skip the coffee in bed, strip off the sheets and start a load of laundry. Those first 20 minutes we feel like we could conquer the world. We are so productive! We are cleaning and organizing machines! We are making great time! Somewhere after this initial 20 minutes of brilliance and 2 hours later we are at each others throats wondering why in the world we waited up NOW to clean the entire house. It’s not even like our house is dirty, but I have this uncontrollable need to make sure EVERYTHING is done before we go. I become obsessed with thinking we have time to do more – should we quickly clean the windows? Touch up the paint? Re-grout the tile?

The kids have learned to stay out of the way the final 20 minutes before we lock up and shove off. They know absolutely NO using the bathroom if the toilet is sparkly clean with blue-tinted water and no final snack that might leave a crumb on the counter.

You may think I’m crazy to go through such extremes when the goal is to chill out and slip in to vacation bliss as quickly as possible – and I completely understand that. But for me, after a fun-filled vacation I find returning home, walking in to a clean house and climbing in to my own bed with crisp clean sheets is the best way to top off time away from home.

Kari On and Keep Traveling

Coffee can turn a good morning in to a great morning!

Home or on travel, we start every morning with coffee. My ritual is the first cup in bed while I read the news and my favorite blogs. This is the one time of day when my husband truly spoils me – he gladly gets up first, makes the coffee, and delivers the piping hot cup to me bedside. I am loved! When it’s time for my second cup, I’m adequately caffeinated and coherent enough to get vertical and tackle the day.

Finding new coffee roasters is a travel must for us. There is something about the coffee house culture that defines a neighborhood and instantly makes us feel part of the local community. As an added bonus, most of the coffee roasters we visit usually have a delicious array of pastries from a local bakery – it’s fantastic, we get two local treats with one stop. Best of all, coffee joints attract the full spectrum of humanity and we never know what interesting characters we’ll run across sitting at a table (or outside on the curb) sipping a ‘cuppa joe’. The baristas are usually very friendly and happy to share their favorite local spots for surfing, shopping, eating, and hanging out.

It might seem silly at first, but packing our coffee grinder on trips is a must for us. Freshly ground coffee beans are definitely one of my top 10 favorite smells and catching a whiff of those aromatic grinds instantly perks me up. The minimal amount of space the coffee grinder takes in the suitcase is worth its weight in the pure caffeine bliss we experience with every cup of locally roasted deliciousness.





Kari On and Keep Traveling

The Hardest Part of Travel...

Without a doubt, the BIGGEST challenge of all for us when traveling is leaving our dog. Magnum will be 14 in June and we know (sniff sniff) he won't be with us forever. We've had Magnum since he was 8 weeks old and our boys have never known life without him. Although Magnum sleeps a lot these days, he still has his moments when he acts like a puppy: chasing the tennis ball, trying to catch his tail, and going absolutely insane with excitement when he sees his lead and knows he's going on a walk. The walks these days are short, but the bliss Magnum exudes when he goes to the bus stop and back makes me pause to appreciate how even the briefest of outings can bring him such joy.

For such an old dog, Magnum is still naughty as can be. Lately Mag has developed a craving for toilet paper. If all the bathroom doors aren't closed, Magnum will sneak down the hallway, position himself right in front of the toilet paper holder, grab an edge of the toilet paper, and start eating asfastashecan! This isn't an occasional event, if there is a chance for Magnum to go unnoticed in the bathroom, he'll capitalize and have a tp snack EVERY day. Crazy old boy!

We love Magnum and all agree the hardest part of travel is leaving him behind.


What a trooper to tolerate the bunny ears!



Kari On and Keep Traveling