Author: melisajohnson

Day one of Morocco

It was a fairly uneventful trip to Madrid.  I flew standby up to Miami and had to run to the Apple store to get a new iphone on the 30th.  I took a sim card up that had not been activated by Lime and I figured that there is no way it would work, but I slide it in the phone and it worked perfect! 
The flight to Madrid was smooth and I got about 4-5 hours of sleep.  Arrived in Madrid took a nice hot shower and relaxed until my flight to Marrakesh. 

Unfortunately from carrying my bag I ended up with a nasty bruise on my arm…  at least that is the only thing I think could have caused it. 

We got to the hotel and it was beautiful and peaceful…  just what you want after a long day of travel.  We were greeted with a fresh glass of orange juice.  We then relaxed on the terrace followed by a lovely salad in the garden.    Not bad for a first day!
by Categories: Morocco Leave a comment

Thankful

This morning I had to go to the Crisis Centre to drop off some items and as I saw a little kid playing on the computer.  I don’t know how his mother ended up at the Crisis Centre or what hell they had been trough before they arrive, but It reminded me how lucky we all are.

Just remember no matter how bad you think your day is, remember there is always something to be thankful for.

by Categories: Random Thoughts Leave a comment

A sad day

I am starting to get food prepped for when I go to morocco for Richard.

And today is a sad day as the last of our Italian olive oil was used to make some fresh pesto sauce…

I hope Richard enjoys it while I am gone! 

by Categories: Food Leave a comment

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made another batch of gluten and dairy free chocolate chip cookies and I think they turned out much better.  Here is the adjusted recipe.

2 C. Sorghum Flour
1t. Banking Soda
1/4 t. Salt
2/3 C. Coconut Oil (melted)
1 1/4 C. Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 Egg Yolk
1T. Vanilla
3/4 C. Dairy Free Chocolate Chips (I use Enjoy Life)
Sea Salt to sprinkle (I used a burgundy flavored sea salt, but any will work)
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.  In a bowl whisk together flour, baking soda and salt (set aside)
3.  In a bowl with an electric mixer beat together coconut oil and brown sugar until smooth.  Add in eggs, vanilla and beat until creamy.
4.  Add in flour mixture and mix on a low speed until just combined.  Slowly add in chocolate chips.
5.  Roll dough into 2″ balls and place on cookie sheet leaving 2 inches apart.  Bake 8-11 minutes or until the edges just begin to turn brown.  Do not over bake (I did this)!  
6.  Remove from oven and let cool at least 5 minutes minutes on the baking sheet.  The cookies need to set and are very fragile at first.  Once the cookies have harden a bit you can transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. 
After they cool I wrap them individually and keep them in the fridge so they are easy to throw in with  our lunches when we pack them.  
by Categories: Food Leave a comment

Cooking class

Last night we went to Haven’s Kitchen for a cooking class!  Here is what was on the menu:

Now you know I do not like Mexican food- but this was all so fresh and there wasn’t anything I didn’t love about it.  the Esquifas (sweet corn) and the Tomabella Salsa were probably my favorite items we made- but really it was all so good.
This evening was of course in honor of Jo’s birthday-  
Here is Jo making some corn tortilla from scratch. 
Paulette working on our corn dish
I was the official photographer for the night and had a few glasses of wine!
Finally after all our work we sat down to a beautiful table and enjoyed all the amazon food we made. 

by Categories: Food, New York Leave a comment

Start of travel day

I have had a good start to the travel day so far.

The day started off with me being able to wake up Avery- she wasn’t the in the best mood, but I figure it is only fair as she wakes me up most mornings.  Got off to the airport and the flight was on time and although it was fairly full- the boarding didn’t take too long.

After arriving in Miami I cleared immigration and customs only to run into Elena next!  A very pleasant surprise.  Then I was really still hungry for breakfast, but I figure at 10:30 surely they would still be serving…  nope they stop at 10 am.  Who eats lunch at 10 in the morning?   However the guys at ClubhouseONE were great and said I could order the “add on” eggs- so I ordered two eggs scrambled.  However they then told me in order get an “add on” I had to order a full meal, but eventually they did let me!  Then I found on the side menu sweet potato fries and all I needed was some bacon.  I found some on the morning mojito…  so I figured I should order a drink!

It is off to work now…

by Categories: Travel Photos Leave a comment