Surfing & A Luau.

Joseph booked some surfing lessons for everyone so we drove to the site. It was about (45) minutes from our villa.


The view from the road was gorgeous.

Everyone took lessons, while I soaked up some more sun. Apparently the instructor has given lessons to everyone from Zac Efron to Helen Hunt for that new movie coming out, "Soul Surfer".


Looks like everyone had fun. Joseph thought it was going to be a lot more intense, but since he surfs here in California, it was easy, he said.


Can you guess where we went later that night?!


That's right, a LUAU!


During "happy hour", while everyone settled into their seats and got their drink on, the food cooked.


Yes, underneath that huge pile of dirt was our dinner. These guys had to dig it out of the ground.


It was a PIG. It had been cooking under hot rocks that they covered with dirt all day long.


...patiently waiting our dinner to be served!

We all loved the pig, it reminded me of a Mexican dish called "carnitas".


After dinner, the show began. Honestly, I pictured something else my mind... I thought it was a little boring. The sunset and the music was nice though, and it I guess it was more about the experience.

Towards the end of the show, they picked out people from the crowd to come up and dance. To Austin's luck, they picked him and he had the final dance with the "Hawaiian Princess". They did a little dance together and naturally they fell in love ;)

Sunsets.

How could you not love waking up to this view?!


The next morning, after breakfast, we starting exploring the island a bit. We drove to one end of the island to see lava. None of us realized that all that dark stuff was lava rock, we thought it was dirt!


The rest of the day we spent by the pool, soaking up the sun and sipping on bubbly. It was totally relaxing.


For dinner, we went to Gannon's at the Wailea Golf Course. It is known for "the place" to watch the sunset.


One of our favorite things to do on vacation for dinner is watch the sunset.


Joseph's parents!


The sky was beautiful.


Joseph... snacking on something.

Even though the food wasn't amazing, everything else was!

Welcome to Hawai'i.

I'm finally getting to posting our pictures from Hawai'i... there are SO many, therefore having to look through all of them day-by-day, and picking out the best is really hard. Anyway, here is a start!


We arrived in Hawaii Friday morning (the day after the terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan) and drove to our Villa in Wailea.

We parked our Jeep and grabbed our bags.


Cute plates!


As soon as we entered the villas front desk, we were "lei-d" by the staff.


First things first! They had some local beer in the fridge, so we sat down on our penthouse patio and soaked up the sun.


The view was beautiful, we got to see the sun setting every day!

After our beer, we decided to do a little exploring and walked down to the beach.

Our walk to the beach and out of the villa's property was really lush. There were so many flowers and plants all over the place, it definitely felt like paradise.


Picture time!

We took a little walk along the water. There was a sidewalk that took you from hotel to hotel. We were next to the Grand Wailea Resort and the Four Seasons.

After about an hour of exploring, we walked back to our villa and got ready for lunch.

We went across the street from our villa to the Shops of Wailea (they had a Louis Vuitton... dangerous!). There was a little burger place there across from the Tommy Bahama Restaurant. we ordered some burgers and our first Mai-Tai's of the trip.


Since the rest of Joseph's family wasn't getting into the island until later that night, we did the grocery shopping and of course, bought all of the provisions. Veuve Clicquot -- a must!

Tired from the day, we sat down to a few glasses of champagne and enjoyed the sun set. It was pure bliss.

Semilla Madre.

After our (3) hour lunch... (yes we were at the restaurant for that long... and the funny thing was that so was everyone else that were eating there) we headed over to see Lourdes' good friend Jaz' who has recently opened up a new store! It's in the heart of Playas and it's called:

Semilla Madre.


She used to operate it within her house but she said that became too much, so she rented a little space on the main street in Playas.

She sells organic fruits, veggies, cheeses, meats, and her own art too!


She recently got into this new thing of painting rocks. Someone in Mexico City saw them and asked her to make really big ones for their garden. She is super excited about it.



We spent a couple hours with her here since she didn't close until 7:30 p.m. But even as she was closing, people were still trying to come in and purchase stuff.


Some plants and herbs that she sells outside too.


I loved this horse tail, it is everywhere in California and Mexico.


After we closed shop, we headed to her house.

I loved her place. It has such an artistic flair and is totally calming.

Some artwork she is working on. She sells these all over Mexico and are really popular. She is now trying to break into the L.A. market. After showing us a new massage room in her house, we headed out to a local cafe and enjoyed a bottle of wine before we headed back to San Diego.

It was the perfect little day trip that we needed to get out of the city.

La Querencia.

After exploring the Culinary Art School, we were ready for lunch, not to mention that it was a few days before Lourdes' birthday, so we thought that we would celebrate by going to her good friend's restaurant:

La Querencia
(click here for the full website)

I can usually tell if I am going to like a place by the outside, and I was pretty sure I was going to love it.


We were seated right away, and it was really visual stimulating. The colors, the music, the vibe...really cool. The decor was modern with a interesting twist.... hunting! I guess the Chef loves to hunt, so he has stuffed animal heads and bodies on the walls. I could have done without, but it was still interesting.


LOVED these little centerpieces. I am pretty sure the flower had been dried out and added to the live greens, even if Lourdes disagreed with me ;)


They had a kitchen area as well as a bar/fish area. It looked kind of like a sushi bar, but not.


Everyone received this tray of different sauces that the Chef created. He learned how to make a lot of his recipes from his mom but of course attended Le Cordon Bleu. The sauce varied from mild to incredibly hot... it literally burned my entire mouth. The bread was terrible.... for as amazing his food is, he needs to contact Bread & Cie (San Diego) or La Mie (Des Moines).


Lourdes pretty much took the initiative and ordered everything for us. She told me that I HAD to try this martini. It was a Tamarindo martini...so good!


You order your meal(s) from this chalkboard. I had no idea where to even start, so I let Lourdes take over. We decided on doing "La Gustaccion", which pretty much translates into the "Chef's Tasting". We eat whatever he sends over, and he continues to cook until we tell him that we are done.


First thing's first... an appetizer shot. It was filled with all kinds of fresh fish, tequila, chile, and lime. It was totally different from anything I have ever had.


Next, we have beets that had been reduced in some kind of alcohol and then topped with the most mild blue cheese that I have ever had. Yum!


I'm starting to get full... but I couldn't resist trying more and the next thing was a Lamb-burger. Ugh, my mouth is literally watering right now.

This was the last entree that we had before dessert (which I forgot to take a picture of.... it was a crepe cake) This was a chorizo stuffed prawn with a little lamb leg. It was a little much for me with all the different meats, but still tasty.

After our martini, we enjoyed a nice red wine from a local and prestigious winery in Valle de Guadalupe called Vina de Liceaga (click here for their website)

Thank you Chef! It was delicious.