Wanderlust Wednesdays: Trinidad & Tobago

Welcome to Wanderlust Wednesdays which I co-host with two of my faves - Kerri and Kate - on the 2nd Wednesday of every month so please feel free to share your new and old travel adventures.

Today I wanted to talk about Trinidad & Tobago (which is where I was born and raised for anyone new around here). I've posted about T&T several times before since I go there fairly often for weddings, the holidays, NYE and other big events. I've written about my trips (here and here) but never really focused on the beauty of the two islands and what it has to offer visitors.

Let me explain a little bit. Trinidad and Tobago are two sister islands located in the south eastern Caribbean right above Venezuela. Together they make up one country with one government, economy, legal system, etc. I grew up in the capital of Trinidad which is Port of Spain, but spent countless weekends and holidays over in Tobago since the flight is cheap and only takes 20 minutes. While Trinidad has some beautiful beaches it also has a bustling city life with a solid economy. Tobago on the other hand is the true definition of a laid back island that depends heavily on tourism.

The city of Port of Spain. A lot of the cruise ships arrive here but I don't find there's much to see here other than businesses and buildings. The beauty of Trinidad lies mainly on the other coasts. 

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Macqueripe Bay has a nice and fairly quiet beach as well as a zip-lining facility. I went last year with my extended family to go zip-lining but I was the only one that didn't end up taking the plunge (blame it on my fear of heights). K had a blast though!

The Maracas Lookout which is on the way to Maracas Beach.

Don't ask me why there was an American flag on the beach but it made for a good photo op for K.

Maracas is probably the most popular beach in Trinidad and usually busy on the weekends. We went during the week. There's lots of good food huts to grab lunch or a cold drink.

Sunday stroll around the Queen's Park Savannah and getting some fresh coconut water from the Coconut Truck.

Heading "Down The Islands" with friends. There are several tiny islands off the north coast of Trinidad that have vacation homes which is how I spent most of my childhood weekends. If you don't have access to a vacation house you can also anchor the boat in a quiet bay and hang out for the day. There are several charter boat companies that will take you out for a day around the islands and provide lunch, drinks etc.

The architecture and gardens of Caribbean homes are also a sight to be seen. This house being my late grandmother's which we still have and sometimes stay at when we visit. It's now a rental property for short-term and long-term visitors.

The backyard overlooks the ocean which is perfect for relaxing and watching the sun go down. 

As I mentioned, it's only a quick plane ride to get over to Tobago from Trinidad or you can also go via the Ferry which takes about 2.5 hours but you risk the possibility of sea sickness. 

You land at the airport which is in Crown Point and we sometimes stay at the Crown Point hotel across the street so you walk out of the airport and into the hotel. Otherwise taxis are readily available to take you to your hotel.

We like Crown Point Hotel because it's oceanfront with a nice beach off to the side and gorgeous views. Otherwise there's nothing fancy about the hotel itself which means it's very affordable.





We took a scenic drive to Blue Waters Bay which is breathtaking. There is also a hotel and restaurant in this bay but it's quite far out the way. Definitely worth a day trip.

If you're visiting with a large group, there's tons of beautiful villas you can rent that will accommodate a big party giving you access to a private pool (if it comes with one) and often a housekeeper who will cook and clean. We usually rent a villa around New Years Eve with approximately 5 couples or 10 people. There are tons of beautiful villas such as the one below in the Tobago Plantations and a lot of them are oceanfront with pools and great amenities.

There's SO much more to do and see. I could go on forever but I hope I've given you a good enough idea of what T&T has to offer.

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Easy Fried Rice

We ordered Chinese food the other day while my parents were visiting and had tons of white steamed rice leftover. I usually end up throwing away the white rice but this time I wanted to find a way to create a new dish with it instead of wasting food.

If you've eaten at a Japanese restaurant where they cook on the hibachi grill in front of you, you can see exactly how they make fried rice and all the ingredients that go into it so I wanted to try to recreate that although I switched it up a bit like using coconut oil instead of butter. 

Total cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients: 

3 cups cooked white rice

1 tbsp. coconut oil (or butter)

1 tbsp. sesame oil

4 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce

3 tbsp. water

3 carrots, chopped

1 cup frozen peas

1 tsp. minced garlic

2 eggs (optional)

I had all intentions of adding eggs in this recipe but just forgot to do it.

What To Do:

Heat skillet over medium heat and melt coconut oil with minced garlic. Add chopped carrots and cook covered for approximately 5 minutes stirring occasionally.  Beat the eggs in a small bowl and add to the skillet along with frozen peas, stirring the eggs quickly to scramble. Cook covered for 3 minutes or until peas have thawed fully. Add white rice to the skillet and mix well with carrots and peas mixture. Pour soy sauce, water and sesame oil over rice and mix well (if the rice is still slightly dry you can add more water or soy sauce to moisten). Cover skillet and cook rice on medium-low until fully heated for approx 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

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Another Weekend with the Parents

Hope everyone had a fun yet restful weekend as I did. I kept fairly busy entertaining my parents who are leaving today but also got to catch up on some sleep.

Friday was nice and low key with some dinner at Texas Roadhouse so the guys could get their steak fix. This place always impresses me with how quickly the food comes out and the prices are very reasonable.

On Saturday I got a bunch of cleaning and laundry done before taking my Dad out to Lee & Rick's Oyster Bar which has been around for 65 years in Orlando serving some of the best oysters. The restaurant is the true definition of a hole in the wall but you know it's a staple in the community when you pull up and there's BMW's and fancy cars parked outside even though it's not exactly located in safest part of town.

After lunch we stopped off at Sportstown (another hole in the wall) to hang out for a bit and play some games. The place was a ghost town so we pretty much had access to all the games and K and my dad played a couple rounds of pool. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the UCF game at home and relaxing.

On Saturday night, we picked up my mom from the airport (she was in Puerto Rico for a convention most of the week) and we all headed to Carrabba's Italian Grill for dinner which never disappoints. The sunset was also amazing that night!

The rest of the night was relaxing. K and I watched Dark Places with Charlize Theron which was written by the author of Gone Girl. The movie was quite slow but the plot takes a twist at the end which I thought was quite interesting although K didn't care to watch the rest and fell asleep. The movie has an average viewer rating but that's what you typically get from Redbox.

Sunday was spent shopping all over town with my mom. Seriously, I'm half her age and can't keep up with her shopping agility. I was done after 4 hours...

Back to the grind today!

I enjoyed having my parents here visiting for the past two weekends but it's always nice to get back into the usual routine and also eat out less!!

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Friday Faves

 

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We made it to Friday! Now we just have to make it to 5 o'clock, well 5:30 for me. This week was fairly uneventful with the usual routine although I got zero modules of the online photography class done since we still have visitors. Oh well, everything should get back to normal next week.

I took Monday afternoon off of work so I could spend time with my parents and take them out shopping. Naturally, I had to pick up a few things for myself. Who knew high rise jeggings could be so comfortable? I'm slightly ashamed to admit that but seriously they fit me perfectly and it's not like I'll be wearing a short top to show off the high waist. The tunic blouse and peacock necklace also go perfectly together and have already been worn to work this week.

 

For anyone with a backyard or garden, I love these cute DIY Garden Ideas to spruce it up a bit depending on your style.

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This One Pan Balsamic Chicken & Veggies recipe not only looks healthy and amazing but of course the one pan aspect helps to cut down the clean up time. Who likes washing dishes?

In case you missed it, I reviewed some of my favorite beauty/hair/skin products on Wednesday. Some of these products will probably stay in my rotation for the rest of my life because they're just that good.

This meme reminded how thankful I am no social media existed while growing up (Not sure why the bear looks so sad). It's crazy how social media has changed the transfer of information/gossip/embarrassing photos etc. which I can't even imagine how it affects the younger generations.

Who remembers ICQ? That was my jam.

Joining my fellow Floridan blogger Amanda for her weekly Friday linkup.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Seasonal Fall Beers

Call me a lush but one of my favorite things about Fall is when pumpkin beers hit the shelves. K and I have a little tradition where we pick up a new (to us) beer every Friday to try out over the weekend. Of course some of the favorites stay in the rotation while others come and go. Since pumpkin beer is in season and I've been taste tasting over the past few weekends, I have some faves to share.

I'm no beer connoisseur so there's no description for each one on the flavors and how sweet or tart (or whatever) they are. For me, it's either I like it or I don't. In general, I like pumpkin beers with a hint of flavor and aren't too sweet or overpowering. All of these passed the test with Jack-O Traveler Pumpkin Shandy being my favorite because it's light and refreshing.

Jack-O Traveler Pumpkin Shandy

Samuel Adams Oktoberfest

Leinenkugel's Harvest Patch Shandy

Samuel Adams Pumpkin Batch

Yuengling Oktoberfest

Do you have any pumpkin beer favorites that I should try next?

Beauty Products Worth Trying

I'm always trying new products especially as a blogger who reads lots of reviews and gets tempted to try that new face wash or mascara. Some products are a staple that I've been using for over ten years while others come and go depending if it works for me or not. Here are some products that are in my current rotation.

1.  L'Oreal's Go 360 Clean, Deep Exfoliating Scrub: I love this face scrub and have been using it for about two years. The gentle beads work really well to fully clean your face without damaging your skin. Although I really like how it works, I was open to trying something new so I purchased Garnier's Clean + Balancing Daily Exfoliator which I think works equally well to gently wash and exfoliate your face at the end of the day to remove makeup and oil/dirt.

2. Cetaphil's Gentle Cleansing Bar has been in my rotation for over 10 years and I like to use it in the morning to wash my face before applying moisturizer and makeup to start the day. I know some people might be apprehensive because it is a bar of soap but it actually works really great to moisturize and balance out my combination skin. It doesn't dry out your skin like regular soap would do.

3. d.j.v. MIARAY Fiberwig Mascara: I just purchased this mascara a few weeks ago based on Sarah's recommendation and I think it works really well as a daytime mascara although I think it's equivalent to some more affordable drugstore brands such as Maybelline's Falsies. It doesn't cake up and gives a nice natural look which is great but it's not ideal for creating dramatic eyelashes for going out at night or to weddings etc.

4. The Body Shop's Camomile Gentle Eye Makeup Remover: I've posted about this eye makeup remover before and it's been in my rotation for probably 15 years. I hate oil-based makeup removers that create a mess and leave your face feeling greasy. This one is the opposite to that. It's gentle as the name states and removes makeup quickly and leaves no residue. I've never found anything better so there's no need to try anything new.

5. Nyx Butter Gloss: I love this lip gloss and have it in 4 different colors. I'm not a fan of sticky glosses and this one is the perfect texture which provides shine while also moisturizing your lips. I've also repurchased the Eclair color a few times. It also helps that the price point is very affordable at only $5.

6.  Joico Color Endure Shampoo and Conditioner: This shampoo and conditioner was recommended to me by Kerri and I really like the smell and how it works for color treated hair (the red bottles are specifically for blondes to prevent brassiness). It's still fairly new to me but so far I'm really liking how it works and leaves my hair feeling silky, smelling good and is helping my brassiness go away.

7. Yes To Grapefruit Rejuvenating Facial Wipes: I've probably tried every brand of facial wipes and never found a favorite.  They've all been mediocre but I love the smell of the Grapefruit Yes To wipes and how it works to clean your face without leaving any residue. So far these wipes are probably my favorite.



8. Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Sun Damage Daily Moisturizer: I purchased this moisturizer a few months ago based on Kay's recommendation. I had been using an Oil of Olay face moisturizer for almost 10 years and was ready to try something new. Immediately I preferred the smell and consistency of the Garnier moisturizer compared to Oil of Olay. The lotion is thicker so I feel it provides better coverage while also being very moisturizing and providing daily SPF.

What are some of your favorite hair/skin/beauty products that have been in your rotation?