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Keto Low-Carb Turkey Wraps

Another favorite of mine, turkey wraps are a simple, fast, light meal which is also keto friendly and very low carb.

Ingredients:

Turkey ground (16oz)

Almonds (unsalted, dry toasted)

Pecan (unsalted, dry toasted)

Lettuce leaves

Avocado

Bell peppers (optional)

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Dill

Garlic powder

Coconut aminos (keto soy sauce)

Harrissa (hot chilli…

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KETO PARMESAN EGGPLANT

This is my favorite meatless dish that is absolutely delicious and most amazing of all it is keto friendly! I am usually eyeing the ingredients used in making most of my dishes (must be something related to my Eastern European roots where measuring cups were under appreciated, still are), thus, all the portions below are approximate, for guidance only. This recipe is a good amount for two…

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Having One Child During Social Distancing

In today’s environment when we have to isolate ourselves in our homes for a long period of time with not much socializing with the outer world except via phones or face time, we tend to realize what does the outer world mean to us and how are we living with ourselves without other people. Almost three weeks into the home quarantine with my family, which is mainly my son and myself, I am learning…

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Keto Ground Beef Casserole

This was the best ground beef casserole I have ever had! Please note that all the proportions below are approximate, for guidance only. Feel free to experiment adding or reducing ingredients to suit your own taste. Ingredients: Ground beef- 1 lbs Cauliflower rice – 1 frozen package Mushrooms – 2 handfull Onion – 1 (chopped) Mayo – 1/3 cup Sour Cream – 1/3 cup Yogurt (plain) – 1 cup Mozzarella…

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Irland in Pictures

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Natalia’s Shepherd’s Pie

This was my first time ever making a Shepherd’s Pie. It turned out great (in my husband’s eyes, who has eaten shepherd pies for longer than I did). I usually cook intuitively and rarely use measuring cups. Thus, all the measuring quantities below are optional and for general guidance only. Please adjust it to taste. Ingredients for the meat sauce:

Ground beef (1pound)

Onions (1 chopped)

Chives…

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10 Things I wish I Did More Before Having a Baby

10 Things I wish I Did More Before Having a Baby

Parenthood is a life-changing event. The new moms are going through dramatic changes on ALL levels. Babies take a lot of the new moms day (and night) time. Separating from the little new love you have in your life is almost impossible, especially in the first year of their life when they are so small and needy. The idea of fun is changing and priorities are shifting. It’s a total transformation…

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We travelled to Dominican Republic, the larger of the two countries sharing the Hispaniola Island, last year, during the winter holidays. We visited the Puerto Plata province, which is on the northern side of the country, popular for it’s beaches, surf, and mountain views. We spent there about a week. It was a family reunion type trip. First attempt to get two brothers and their families in the same house for a couple of days. It was great fun combined with surf, sightseeing, swimming in the pool overlooking the ocean, delicious food and even sea urchin stings for most of us.

Here are a few takeaways from our vacation:

Arrival & Departure: The airport serving the Puerto Plata province (the 4th busiest in the country) is fairly small and easy to navigate. When we were getting ready to land (afternoon) we were able to see this beautiful hilly and lash green part of the island. Once landed, we went to pick up our luggage in the cargo area, paid an entrance fee at the border patrol window, as we were getting our passports stamped and were let in with not much delay. The departure was also fairly painless. We filled up the gas tank of our rental car at a gas station right outside the airport and dropped it off right where we picked it up. Someone from the rental agency inspected it visually and off we went to the ticket counter (3min walk). After a short wait in line, we were all hooked up with seats on the planes all the way back to California. The security screening went quick and easy for all of us. Once on the other side of the security lines, there are a few small restaurants where we all had lunch and a last (or a few) cold one in the Caribbean’s.

  Car Rentals: The car rental companies are just outside the border patrol area, which is very convenient if you are carrying a lot of stuff, like we always do. The car rental process can be very slow though. It was actually a bit horrendous for us. We were getting a large SUV for the entire crew arriving on the island (seven adults and one child). Or, so we thought. However, because we arrived a little later than the online car reservation for pick-up stated (maybe one hour later), the lady from the car rental place was scrambling for ideas on how to get us the car we wanted. They gave ‘our’ car away before we got there. The cars are limited there apparently, the, the traveller must make sure the car pick-up time matches the arrival time in order to avoid this type of debacle. She finally hooked us up with a car that was a super small sedan with a busted radio that was playing loud Spanish music and had a non-working air conditioner (in 85F hot and humid weather). It smelled like cigarette smoke inside and it barely had any space for our luggage. This was their temporary solution for us until the next morning, when we could return for an exchange. The rental price for the car by the way was just as much as the cost of the housing for the entire stay (ouch).

  Spanish Command Desirable: Before you go to Dominican Republic, please brush off on your Spanish a little bit if you are willing to communicate with the locals (whether voluntarily or not). Barely anyone speaks any English outside the airport (or maybe not willing to); thus, it can get challenging trying to find your way around or being able to order food at the local tacos shack. We experienced the language barrier as soon as we arrived, while trying to find our way to the hotel. It took us a good couple of hours driving around in our rental car (what normally would take 15 minutes direct route) with a local driver in his car driving ahead of us, trying to help us out. We couldn’t explain him what were the directions given to us by the property manager, nor could he find the address we gave him on a piece of paper. It was getting dark and almost dangerous to keep driving around. At one point we even started to question the driver’s honest desire to help out, I remember. Eventually, we managed to call the property landlord and had him speak with the driver directly, which helped getting us to the right place after all.

  Safety and Security: This is something to have in mind at ALL times while visiting the country. It is considered a high-crime area, particularly popular for tourists’ pick-pocketing, violent crimes and gun robberies. Vigilance is required, especially if you are venturing out during night hours. Almost every hotel or vacation rental community has guards (carrying real guns) at the gate. Most of the compounds designated for tourists are fenced. If it is not fenced and guarded 24/7, perhaps it’s best not to stay there. The place we stayed at had a gate that was locked during the evening and night hours, with a guard on duty at all times. It gave us a little piece of mind. They were patrolling the property-enclosed area multiple times per day and night ensuring that everyone is behaving. If you are leaving your hotel, bring someone with you, just in case. It’s highly recommended not to wonder around alone. Don’t bring expensive things with you and don’t wear flashy jewelry to avoid unnecessary attention. It does feel like you are constantly watched, no matter where you go. Despite a high drop in the poverty rate and “strong economic growth” in the last couple of years, according to worldbank.org, poverty is visibly high in the rural areas. Thus, you can easily encounter some desperate locals hoping to get some “easy” cash.

  Wine & Dine: We had the chance to taste some great local food from our hotel’s surrounding area. One night we went to search for tacos but ended up dining at a sushi place, which to our surprise, was really good (and much cheaper than the sushi in California). Some other time, we had dinner at a hotel restaurant nearby, which had delicious seafood dishes we all enjoyed. ‘Presidente’ is Dominican’s best pilsner in my opinion (ranked 16th highest rated beer brewed in DR by the ratebeer.com), which I highly recommend if you ever visit the area. Rum drinks (made with rum from the Dominican Republic) are their signature beverages though. Plantains are one of the main ingredients on pretty much every menu and it is served in a variety of ways, baked, fried, coated or roasted. Seafood, white rice and refried beans are also amongst the most popular dishes everywhere you go. There are a lot of meat options available as well like chicken, beef or pork. Overall, the local cuisine is well diversified to satisfy every tourist’s taste buds. I would suggest being careful with the food picked up on the streets or even in restaurants due to low sanitation and poor hygiene concerns.

  Surf: One of the primary goals of our trip was to find good surf in the middle of the winter for the young and old surfers of our group. We spent most of our beach time on Playa Encuentro located between Sosua city and Cabarete and 15 minutes from our hotel. The water was really warm and pleasant to swim in (despite this area being bathed in the Atlantic Ocean waters). It was a small and isolated beach that wasn’t too crowded (maybe due to this being the low season time of the year). That beach had a small shack right on the beach (pictured above) selling cervezas and some food, some lounge chairs that were for rent and a number of cabins that were looking vacant at the time. The beach had nice soft sands and a bed of rocks as you go into the water (also pictures above). The rocks that were separating the deep waters from the beach were a nice playground for children and great for collecting shells and colorful small rocks. These rocks were also an attractive environment for sea urchins of all colors and shapes. We learned about their existence the hard way. As soon as one would try to cross the bed of rocks to get into the ocean to go catch some waves (or on the way out) it was almost inevitable stepping on one of those spiky, small, constantly moving creature. That’s why you will see most people on the beach wearing water shoes almost at all times. It is really painful and hard to get those sharp and long urchin spikes out of your feet, by the way. I hope this post will help someone be more prepared than we were at the time.                                                             There were some fun waves for our surfers to play in every day during early mornings or late afternoons. On the same beach there were people doing kite surfing, taking surf lessons or stand up paddle boarding.

Lesson learned during this trip for us was to always try and stay at a hotel/rental property on or walking distance to the beach (if beach is your preferred place) to avoid driving at all costs. Driving around the area was not very easy, nor very safe. If I will ever go back to Dominican Republic (and surf wouldn’t be the main trip aspiration), I would choose the other side of the island, Punta Cana area. From the pictures/stories I see/hear, it has clearer waters, more resorts with easy beach access and pink flamingos running around. I guess I will have to go see it for myself to validate these rumors.

  Resources:

https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/country/dominican-republic/62/

http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/dominicanrepublic/overview

A Family Trip to Dominican Republic We travelled to Dominican Republic, the larger of the two countries sharing the Hispaniola Island, last year, during the winter holidays.

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Irland 2016

Irland in pictures. Beautiful nature, dramatic skies and cold ocean waters.

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We travelled to Portugal during October 2016. This was our very first trip to Portugal. We chose Portugal as our destination mainly due to the great surf during that time of the year but also for its proximity to United Kingdom, where we were living at the time. These are a few takeaways from our few days’ vacation:

Lisbon. The first night of our trip we stayed in Lisbon. As soon as we landed we rented a car at the airport and drove away to find our hotel, which was about 15 minutes drive from the airport. Lisbon seemed fairly small and easy to navigate. The car we rented was manual (as most cars are across Europe). Luckily, my husband drives manuals. The roads in the city are narrow for the most part and there was lots of construction going on. The pathways were paved and un-even, which made the stroller ride a bit challenging. As soon as we checked in our hotel, we got to quickly change in our room and head back out for some sightseeing before dark. We got to walk the streets for a while and to explore the local cuisine at a fun restaurant down the street from our hotel. It was windy and cool, maybe around lower 60s Fahrenheit, typical fall weather in Portugal. There were very few people on the streets. It seemed almost like a deserted town. Not sure whether that was because it was off-season and not many visitors were left in the city or maybe because it was cold and mid-week, so everyone was hiding in their homes. There were a lot of tall buildings in that area of the city. We got lost on our way back to the hotel, which gave us the opportunity to see more of the city. It was a short but fun city venture. Would love to spend more time there during spring or summer time when it’s warmer and more fun to walk around.

Wine & Dine in Portugal. The restaurant where we ended up having dinner on our first night was very nice and cozy. Most of the staff was speaking English to our delight (which is not the case in the rural areas outside Lisbon). We had some delicious shrimp in garlic sauce appetizer and some fish and potatoes entrees we loved. During our dinner we learned some interesting facts about the Portugal wines and dine:

Portugal Wine. Most of the wines on the menu are made in Portugal and are classified by the region where the grapes are grown. Portugal is home to hundreds of types of native wine grapes, apparently. Thus, we were relying heavily on our waiter’s knowledge of grapes and English command when choosing our wines. We were describing the taste we would like to have and he/she would recommend something based on the blend of grapes and region where the wine was made. There are some great wines at affordable rates in Portugal, for sure. Also, Portugal has a wide variety of Port wines (known as vinho do Porto), a fortified wine  that is served often as a dessert drink. It is usually sweet, red, full-bodied and with high level of alcohol. However, it can also be found in a dry and white variety as well. Port wine is coming from the Douro Valley in the northern region of the country. The product coming from this area is the only product that can be labeled “port” around EU and some non-EU countries, according to European Union Protected Designation of Origin rules.

Condiments. We learned the very first night that in Portugal you will be charged for bread and condiments (ex: pate, mayo, butter, olives) if you eat/open them. Restaurant staff will just bring those to the table without you asking for them, however, no one will ever tell you that those have a price tag on them. It is around one Euro per item. After living in California for the last ten years, where those things are mostly free of charge (unless told otherwise), it was a bit of a shocker when we got the bill. It seemed deliberately misleading. It’s a must know if you are visiting Portugal.

Seafood. During our trip we had a lot of seafood, which was very affordable and really good. There are types of fish served (like scabbard fish) that I never heard about but are very good (also very bonny!). Sardines are a big part of Portugal’s culture and diet and are served everywhere in various shapes and forms. The fishing season for sardines is between May and October each year. It makes up for about forty percent of the total fresh fish consumption across the country. The main fishing port is Peniche, where there is an active sardine factory as well. There are at least four summer festivals in Portugal designated specifically to sardines, where one can taste the best sardines in the world.

While in Lisbon during our first night, we had the best sangria of our lives. The lady bartender at the hotel we stayed that night made a delicious fresh sangria mix that we can remember up to this day. Every (or most) restaurants/bars in Portugal will have sangria on their menus.  It can be made with white, red or sparkling wine and any fruit mix of your choice.

No tips are expected to be paid in restaurants or bars as we are so used to in the US. So, unless you desire to leave some tip, you don’t have to feel obligated to do so.

Peniche Peninsula & Surf. On the second day of our trip, we drove about one hour North of Lisbon to Peniche, a small seaside city popular for its great surf and best in the world fishing. We stayed in Peniche for the rest of our vacation. Once arrived in Peniche, we were treated with a wonderful sunny afternoon and lush ocean views. The peninsula is very cliffy and rocky on one side and sandy with wide-open beaches on the other side.

It took us about thirty minutes to drive it across. There were a lot of surfers in the water that day. In fact, that whole region was filled with surfers from across the world, not only because of the great waves, but also due to the World Surf League (WSL) Championship that was coming up. It is the yearly event held on the Supertubos beach in October. That beach is very popular among surfers around the world due to its spectacular tubular waves. There are good waves to surf around the peninsula all year long though. No matter the level of surf skills you have, you will be able to find waves for your likings. It is a surf (and other water sports) heaven. The area became popular due mainly to WSL and the growing surf tourism. The locals are really nice and hospitable. There is barely any English spoken in the area but there is lots of French and some German spoken amongst locals. There was the sense and the feel of fairly low living standards in the region. The local economy is clearly based primarily on seasonal tourism. There are a number of beach bars and seafood places in the area. A large sardine factory is located right in the middle of the peninsula that releases a strong fishy smell that one can’t miss. It’s up in the air no matter how much you would like to get around it. We stayed at a hotel called MH Peniche that we really enjoyed. It is one of the best hotels on the peninsula with modern designs and a number of amenities including an indoor pool and Jacuzzi and relaxant couples massages if asked for at the reception. The restaurant area within the hotel is very large and provides beautiful open views. The hotel is located just minutes walk from the beach and 5 minutes drive from the Supertubos beach.

Isle de Berlenga. Berlengas archipelago is a group of small islands located about six to nine miles away from Peniche. There are a number of boat tour companies providing rides every hour or so from the shore. We visited the main island of Berlenga Grande. The islands are considered a reservation area for local fauna and are visited frequently by scientists. The marine life and the sea birds variety are also abundant. The beach where our boat left us on the main island was very clear and clean with soft golden sands, green waters and large fish swimming close to the shore. There is a good steep hike around the island. It takes some effort to get up the hill from the docking area but the views on top are totally worth it.

During the drive up north to Peniche we saw a beautiful countryside with lots of hills, tall eucalyptus forests and pine trees along the way. The infrastructure was good and the traffic was super light. Every now and then around those hills we could see small villages of mainly white Mediterranean style houses built up close to each other. According to some sources, a third of Portugal’s population is living on farms in rural areas due to its affordability. Although the country has lots to offer in terms of nature, wines, culture, exotic locations and views, it is still in vulnerable state and still in recovery mode from the most recent economic crisis that particularly affected the tourism fueled economies across Europe. Nonetheless, it is a wonderful vacation spot worths consideration!

We travelled to Portugal during October 2016. Here are a few takeaways from our trip We travelled to Portugal during October 2016. This was our very first trip to Portugal. We chose Portugal as our destination mainly due to the great surf during that time of the year but also for its proximity to United Kingdom, where we were living at the time.

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What to Expect When Moving to United Kingdom

What to Expect When Moving to United Kingdom

If you plan on moving to UK for a while (or for good), here are a few things to expect from your new life, as seen through our eyes during our one year and eight months living there: Likes: Great people. Always friendly and willing to help (especially on the country side). We lived in the Midlands, Peterborough area. There we met lots of wonderful people with big hearts. Great food composting…

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Yassa (African Dish)

Ingredients: Veggie Bouillon (4) Tomatoes (3) Sweet Onions (3) Dijon (1/2 jar) Lemons (2) Carrots (6) White Wine (1 cup) Chicken Breasts (3) (*can be made with beef or seafood) Oil (1/4 cup) Vinegar (2 cups) Water (1 cup) Pepper Rosemary Garlic Rice or quinoa (2 cups)                   Instructions: In a large pot, mix all the following ingredients (better if using your hands) and let marinade…

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Nearly 3000 flags raised in remembrance of all the 9/11 victims #911victims (at Pepperdine University 9/11 Memorial)

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Dancing Horses Mexican Siesta          Last night we attended a Mexican party with cool dancing horses (in Los Angeles area). We had no idea what kind of party we were invited to until we pulled up in the host’s driveway.