Dinner at Gallo Pinto - we decided on a few appetizers from their menu and these "Mofonguitos" were one of our favorites at the table. Crispy basket made from green plantains stuffed with shredded pork and topped with fresh guacamole, what more could we ask for?!
We spent an entire day touring the "Zona Colonial", known to house the first Cathedral of the Americas, as well being the historic central neighborhood of Santo Domingo, oldest permanent settlement of the New World and has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Pick a cool and breezy day to do this, as the monuments are not air-conditioned and it does get hot in them! Museums and sites each have an entry price of RD$100 (about US$2.50), not bad compared to museums prices in the US go for $10-$20. Tours include an audio set in various languages that guide your walk through the historic buildings.
When it was lunch time during out Zona Colonial walk, we stopped at one of the most popular and most prestigious restaurants not only in the Colonial area, but Santo Domingo. Pat'e Palo Restaurant is nestled in a row of restaurants and bars and stands out for its incredible food. During the month of December, a "Gastrotour Menu" is set up and that's what we tasted. Pictured here is the first course of our tasting menu - house made burrata with a tomato tartar and crostini topped with a white sardine and herbed olive oil.
Think about the Dominican Republic and you might automatically think about RUM. Thankfully, we were invited by Brugal Rum to experience their production and distillation process - from sugar cane fields to the rum in your glass. We'll be sharing a detailed account of this experience as well as some delicious drink recipes soon, so stay tuned!
Lunch at Boca Marina is a must-do when you are in Santo Domingo. About 45 minutes from the bustling capital and tucked in between crystal turquoise colored water and a small town called Boca Chica is Boca Marina, a restaurant literally on the water. The perfect spot to relax on a weekend while sun bathing and enjoying their fresh cuisine.
Sunday lunch at El Cantabrico was a humbling experience. Known for its Spanish cuisine, El Cantabrico does a few things extremely well. They don't boast the latest culinary trends or serve in the most stylish way. What they DO is serve some of the most amazing paella you'll ever have, as well as a suckling pig quarter that will have you licking your fingers and wanting more. The "Paella Valenciana" is colorful and cooked to perfection with chicken, sausage, beef, pork, prawns, lobster, clams, and mussels. The "Cochinillo a la Segoviense" is a quarter of a suckling pig, marinated in garlic and very few other spices; cooked over a fire and obtaining a deliciously crispy crackling and moist meatiness on the inside.
Can you believe this was my first visit to Altos de Chavon and Casa de Campo? Known for its gorgeous villas (where Shakira and other celebrities spend their holidays), it's also the home of the Chavon Ampitheather (see above). "A re-creation of a medieval European village conceived from the imagination of Roberto Copa, a former Paramount Pictures set designer, and Charles Bluhdorn" -Wikipedia. A fantastic day trip about 2 hours from Santo Domingo, with plenty of restaurants to choose from!
Of course we had to stop at Adrian's Tropical Restaurant on El Malecon and have some Mofongo! Made from mashed green plantains, lots of garlic, and crispy pork rinds, it's the perfect side dish to a good steak. Served with a small bowl of sancocho to drizzle over, it's known to revive the dead (or better yet, the hungover souls!)
Our first helicopter ride! This was a few days after a day of deep sea fishing, where I could not even stand I was so sea sick. But oddly enough, this helicopter ride was smooth sailing! Flying over the coast and being able to view the gorgeous beaches from the clouds was a gift unlike any other. So happy to have shared this experience with M!
Our visit to El Sendero del Cacao, an organic cacao farm in San Francisco de Macoris, about 3 hours from the city, was well worth the travel time. We walked through the entire process, from seedling to harvesting and a few tastings in between. A more detailed account to follow on the blog in the next few weeks.
Gorgeous isn't it? We were lucky enough to stare at this unfiltered view for an entire week while staying at the Bavaro Palace Deluxe, recently renovated and completely packed with restaurants, a calming spa, casino, and so much more. One of my favorite resorts in the Dominican Republic, by far!
On our last full day in Santo Domingo, my Mom and I woke up early to make Pasteles en Hoja and seriously guys? I can't wait to share this recipe with you all! I even have a video of my Mom making them step by step! It was my first time making these and it was amazing to be able to have my Mom teach me her ways.
Enter the Rafflecopter form below and be eligible to win the package pictured above. Included in the prize pack:
- 1/2 pound Cafe Santo Domingo
- 1/2 pound Monte Alto Cafe (grown and roasted in Jarabacoa, DR)
- 1 jar of Mango marmalade
- 1 jar of local honey
- 1 bar of Kah Kow, local chocolate
- 1 small pot of cocoa butter
- 1 set of 3 espresso cups with folkloric images
- 1 tin cup with hand-painted Jacaranda tree (iconic to the DR)
- 1 Pilon (wooden mortar and pestle)
- 1 ball of raw cacao from El Sendero del Cacao (not pictured)
10 Easy Steps to Succeed in Your Online Classes
Congratulations Youve made up our minds to pursue your upper schooling, and doing so online is how to pass if you have an interest in a versatile, studentcentered educating manner. Studying online permits you to pursue different pursuits and attend to different responsibilities whilst nonetheless operating your method towards some extent. However, it will now and again imply that its clean to get distracted. Here are 10 clean steps to verify luck on your online categories.
- Connect together with your instructors once conceivable. Even in case you are doing smartly within the category, its extraordinarily vital to increase a rapport together with your trainer. When you do that early on, you temporarily understand what the priorities are within the route, what expectancies the professor has of you and youre going to be motivated to prevail, surer of whats forward and higher ready to do smartly with the impending subject material.
Valuable questions to invite your trainer come with the next
How versatile are you with time limits How versatile are you with grownup freshmen What applied sciences do you employ within the route How to be had are you through e mail and different sorts of verbal exchange How do you put up an internet neighborhood and what are the expectancies for participation in it In addition, since instructors are to be had to lend a hand all over the classes, its all the time just right to have had private touch with the trainer early on. This method, when you wish to have lend a hand, its more straightforward to achieve out and get the help you wish to have.
- Confirm the technical necessities of the route. Online categories can also be very advisable for college kids with busy schedules, however provided that they are able to simply get right of entry to the fabrics. It is vital to obviously perceive what the technical necessities are. So, ahead of the route begins or as quickly thereafter as conceivable, youll want to test that your pc will paintings with the entire online equipment, and that you understand how to navigate them. This will be sure that you dont must spend time all the way through the route attempting to determine the generation.
three. Create a time table and stick with it. Quality online instructors create classes which might be clean to navigate and feature transparent expectancies. Having that roughly easytodealwith framework in position will make learning and succeeding that a lot more straightforward. However, although the framework and necessities of your category arent as transparent, youll create a time table and construction, which is able to very much fortify your probabilities of luck within the route. Using equipment equivalent to Google Calendar is a good way to start out. Knowing how your weeks and months glance and scheduling blocks of analysis time for each and every activity or module will will let you stick with a time table.
four. Ask questionsall the time. When you dont perceive, ask questions. When you do perceive, ask additional questions. Instructors recognize scholars who take part, and if theres a participation or dialogue part a part of the grade, then asking high quality questions is helping guarantee your grade on this space. Even if there isnt a participation part, its all the time helpful to invite inquiries to remember to perceive the fabric and are transparent on what is needed of you.
five. Be arrangedand keep arranged. Students whore taking conventional, campusbased classes most often have a constant time table to observe each and every week, through which study room instruction is adopted through assignments out of doors the category. However, for online classes, scholars will have to search out their very own techniques to stick on most sensible in their paintings. It is crucial that you just be arranged from the start of the semester with the intention to achieve success in an internet route. For instance mark task due dates on your calendar, discover a submitting machine for each online subject material and bodily subject material that is helping you stay monitor of the whole lot simply, and shed light on find out about schedules that duvet sections of the route one by one so youve got an arranged tactic to protecting the semesters subject material as you pass alongside.
- Have a blank, quiet, and constant workspace. One factor online and inclass classes have in not unusual is that scholars all the time want a spot to review or whole assignments this is blank, quiet, and constant. You can select the place that is for youwhether or not its at a espresso store, a college library, a devoted place of business, or at house. Wherever you select to review and whole assignments, you must make it a constant location that doesnt have out of doors distractions. It is basically key that where is quiet and lets you focal point in your paintings with out distractions.
- Do no longer procrastinate. Successful distance freshmen hardly procrastinate. They dont do away with assignments or wait till the final second to write down their papers. Successful online scholars experience freedoms that come with operating at their very own tempo and the facility to finish their paintings in as a lot time because it takes them. On the opposite hand, they know that finishing their assignments is best performed early and on time cramming merely doesnt paintings, and it doesnt will let you retain knowledge longterm. Get began early on getting a success.
eight. Work in your studying comprehension. Successful distance freshmen generally tend to have just right studying comprehension abilities. Most conventional, campusbased scholars concentrate to lectures and take notes, and a few online classes additionally require this. However, the vast majority of distance freshmen are anticipated to grasp subject material thru a large amount of studying. Although far finding out classes be offering video recordings and audio clips, maximum systems require scholars to hide and grasp a considerable amount of written knowledge. If it is a problem for you, it could be very useful to first sign up in a studying comprehension route there are lots of assets online that will help you do that. This ability by myself could make a huge distinction on your luck.
nine. Establish and admire routines that be just right for you. If, for instance, youre employed best within the morning or in brief bursts, then set find out about routines that can help you find out about within the prelunch hours when your mind is contemporary. If, then again, you do best through learning at evening or at the weekends when youll devote nightowl hours or longer blocks in your learning, then make it some degree to take action. Consider how and whilst you paintings best, and enforce a find out about plan that respects the routines that be just right for you.
- Connect together with your friends. Establishing sturdy connections with friends and professors is a very powerful facet of tutorial luck, in addition to skilled development. One of essentially the most rewarding reports in schooling is finding out thru collaboration. Forming significant relationships together with your friends and professors can can help you be told extra, keep motivated, and feature an outlet to specific your personal working out of subject material. So, keep attached thru message forums, chat rooms, e mail, and different digital assets. And take note lots of the other people you meet in faculty shall be conceivable process assets down the road so determine connections and keep in contact
Florida National University gives a wealth of tutorial and professional online classes. Check out the entire choicesyour long run is ready