Licuado de Músgo Irlandés ~ Sea Moss Smoothie

As I look outside at the snow-covered hills and gray skies that will be our panorama here for the upcoming weeks, I can’t help but think that just over a month ago, I was far from this scene basking in the rays of tropical sunshine, toes in the sand, taking in the myriad of blues and greens that are so characteristic of the Caribbean Sea.

I have always been one to savor smells, sounds, and tastes as they have the ability to instantly transport you to almost any time and any place. For me, the smell of melted butter is Christmas. The sound of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” takes me to my college job at Bruster’s Ice Cream, and the taste of my Yia Yia’s Greek cookies floods my senses with memories of my childhood. I so love the idea of the sensory-memory connection, that I even purchased a special perfume (Diesel’s Fuel for Life) when I traveled to Mexico for my Fulbright year. Any time I get the slightest hint of that smell, I am transported to the land of late night street tacos and strolls through Chapultepec Park.

A Trip to the Caribbean ~ Un Viaje al Caribe

With these colder temperatures and blustery winds, it’s hard to imagine that just a few weeks ago I was sitting on a white sandy beach looking at turquoise water. Over Christmas break, I traveled to the Caribbean with my whole family! After quite a big fiasco at the Philadelphia airport, that almost resulted in eight of us missing the cruise boat, we finally made it on our ship late in the evening. We departed from beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico and traveled to five incredible islands: St. Thomas, St. Croix, Antigua (pronounced an-TEE-gah by the locals), St. Lucia, and Grenada (pronounced gra-NAY-dah by the locals).