sinai, day one

dek & i just got back from our vacation in sinai, egypt and i thought it would be fun to give you guys a day-by-day play on what we did while there. we were there from tuesday-friday and we had a blast to say the least...and it would be a shame not to share the amazing photos we have  :)

first off, let me start by saying that we ended up booking our stay at the movenpick resort in taba.

it was between that and hilton taba and we're glad we ended up going with movenpick because they offered all-inclusive (3 meals a day + snacks + soft drinks and alcohol) so it was very convienient, plus movenpick's grounds were much bigger and their private beach proved to be nicer and more spacious than hilton's. the only "down side" to the resort was the lack of night entertainment, like at night there was really nothing fun to do, no dancing, no exciting shows and also the quality of the food buffets was relatively low, but dek & i are not that picky and we found something to eat at each meal and we had books to read in the evenings, so we got over it, but those would be my only complaints.

ok....so...we got up early tuesday morning (early = 4:30AM) and set out on the 5-hour roadtrip to eilat (where you cross the border into egypt), we had to get to the border cross by noon because it was a holiday eve and they were shutting down early. anyways, so we parked our car there in eilat at a public parking lot and walked across the border from israel into egypt, going through multiple security and passport checks along the way. it was it's still so weird to me that you literally just walk through some buildings and security points and *poof* you are in another country.

from the border cross, you can walk to the resort and we ended up arriving and checking in at movenpick around noon. we headed down to the lunch buffet and then immediatly switched into our bathing suits to dip in the red sea. the weather was hot and the water was cool, making it perfect to layout and then dip in and cool off when you felt the need. we kept a beer in one hand, a book in the other and had smiles on our faces the entire time!

making a pitstop at the dead sea, which was about the half-way point of our roadtrip

 welcome to egypt!

 lunch on day one: rice, chickpeas, potatos, veggies and salad and bread with tahini

 enjoying (maybe a little too much!) the 1st cocktail of the trip

a concoction of orange juice, gin, grenadine and diet pepsi

 the view of the jordanian mountains & the red sea from our room

the red sea + a parasailer in the background!

 our room (standing at the front door)

 our room (standing at the balcony door)

we strolled barefoot along the beach in the evening

stay tuned for "sinai, day two" on the blog tomorrow!!

ps- it's the holiday sukkot here tonight so happy holiday!!  :)

brb

dek & i booked our stay in taba, egypt and we leave bright & early at 4 am tomorrow morning.

we ended up switching our reservation from hilton taba to a resort right next door called movenpick because get this...hilton taba does not offer 'all-inclusive' to guests from israel! i couldnt even believe that when i heard it...but whatever. movenpick is supposed to be more modern and we got it for a better price :)

we plan to lounge pool/beachside 24/7 for the next three days with drink-in-hand, of course.

we will be sure to take a gazillion photos to share on the blog upon return :)

be back friday!

bits & pieces

a book i picked up simply because of the cool cover...

 plus i cant wait to read a murder mystery!

underwater cover for dek's camera for our upcoming trip to sinai

  snacks for the long roadtrip down south

 bikini options...

i think ill take them all  :)

ramen on steroids

it all started two weeks ago with a severe craving for ramen noodle soup.

they don't have the brand 'ramen' here in israel, but i did find a small package of beef-flavored noodle soup at the grocery store near our house, so i got one and after devouring it had a "ah-ha moment," where i was like "i could SO make this!" so i did.

i mentioned here that dek and i were becoming vegan, but turns out its very hard to quit everything at once, meat and all animal by-products. so since making that declaration, i need to make a revision. we have stopped eating meat (& we're not even missing it!) and really tried to cut back on animal by-products, like cheese and egg products. we dont stock eggs at the house and we consume only soy or rice milk.

anyways, since becoming vegeterian everyone is asking us "so...what do you eat?" and were like "ummmm, everything but meat." so i thought i would share a delishious vegeterian meal i have been making a couple times a week, in different variations. were taking this to dinner tonight at dekel's parents house because i brought it last weekend for the jewish new year meal and dek's brother loved it  :)

so, you will need some veggies (i used carrots, mushrooms & brocolli, but peas and/or corn would be great in this, too!), chicken-flavored soup broth, vegetable noodles (i used spinach & tomato) or regular noodles, spices of your choice (i used garlic powder & sweet paprika) and a little bit of butter & olive oil

1. wash your veggies, peel your carrots and steam your broc

2. chop the carrots and mushrooms into medium size pieces, they will shrink a little when cooked

3. heat up one tsp butter and about 1 tbs of olive oil & add veggies to cook

4. generously season the veggies with your seasonings of choice

5. take 2 tbs of chicken broth and add to boiling pot of water & whisk around to make sure there are no clumps 

 6. add your noodles when the water is boiling

7. the noodles should cook in boiling water for about 5 minutes, but taste to make sure they are cooked. when cooked thouroughly, strain them and then immediatly pour into cool water to "shock" the noodles & strain again

8. cut up your steamed and cooked brocolli

 9. add your veggies to your noodles & voila!

a delishious vegeterial meal that people will be asking the recipe for  :)

dek & i dont have any plans for tomorrow, but getting out of the house for a little bit is a must so im sure we will come up with something fun  :)

what are you doing this weekend?

lunching, shopping & sinai

yesterday dek & i went for a late breakfast/ early lunch at our favorite place, cafe cafe. we get a discount there of 50 shekels off, so our entire meal (which is huge!) comes out to $15 bucks, which is fairly cheap here in israel. we ordered the usual 'breakfast for two' which comes with juice of your choice (i got red graprefruit & dek paid a little extra and got blended mint lemonade) & i skipped on the eggs and got double salad. the breakfast is also served with bread and tons of toppings, like guacamole, cheeses, olive/garlic spread, jam and butter...yum!

after filling our bellies we walked around the shopping center in nazareth & dek found a super soft zip-up sweater from fox and i took home a really pretty, very unique-looking top which i plan to wear on our upcoming trip to sinai.

i forgot to even talk about our upcoming trip on the blog!

in one week from now, we will be headed south to sinai, which is across the border of israel into egypt.

we will be staying at the hilton taba for 3 nights, at an all-inclusive resort where we plan to scuba dive, jet ski and have dinner on a boat out in the red sea. we could not be more excited, to say the least!!


we are going to celebrate finishing school and earning our second degree, but since my birthday is in 9 days, ive convinced myself it's my bday trip  :)

 wearing: gifted dress from a friend (thanks shanna, if you are reading this!), necklace & wedges from target

 i purchased a little something special to wear on our trip!

you will see how pretty it is in a week!

all cleaned up

yesterday dek & i washed our car and cleaned our house. we were worn out to say the least!

we always divide duties when cleaning the house, so that we stay out of each others way cause i tend to get cranky when cleaning- ha! i usually mop, dust and windex the windows and dek vaccuums, does the bathroom and other little things. and we get the job done under an hour. we hate cleaning so we like to get in and get out.

anyways, after our washing the car (interior & exterior!) and cleaning the entire house, we took a nap.

then i had a date with my friend, basmat. we met at a cute little restaurant called lala where we shared a bottle of chardonnay and spent four hours catching up and cracking up. she's so sweet and even though i dont see her very often, when we get together we can talk about everything and anything :)

 isnt she gorgeous?!

basmat had a friend who worked there & he was so sweet and brought us a chocolate ball covered in espresso to share

today is still a holiday here, so dek has off work & we plan to go out for breakfast and then see where the day takes us...

off to the right start

dek & i took full advantage of the still-really-hot-for-being-the-middle-of-spetember weather (& not to mention, the holiday!) and fled to the beach this afternoon. seriously no one was there, we had the ocean to ourselves and we loved it. the water was so nice, clear and calm. we ate, drank and relaxed and then came home to wash up (you would be amazed at the places the sand gets from the beach!) & head to dek's parents house where we had an amazing rosh ha'shana (jewish new year) dinner with his family.

dek has tomorrow off work because of the holiday, so we plan to clean the house & then im meeting up with a friend for a cup of coffee glass of wine. excited!

 mish-mish flavored popsicles after a hot beach day

plain & simple

i kept it plain & simple sporting a plain white tee, some jeans & an updo to celebrate dekel's dad's 56th birthday. we went over to his parent's house, where his brother, geva, had put together a video with pictures of the whole family and little clips of everyone wishing him happy birthday, it was really nice.

we had cake and coffee & we are going back over to his parent's house tomorrow night to celebrate the jewish new year holiday. in hebrew its called "rosh hashana" and you are supposed to eat apples with honey to ensure you have a sweet new year  :)

tomorrow afternoon dekel & i are heading to the beach with some friends & then around 6 or 7 pm i have a skype date with my sister, mirelle. yay!

this is a little neighborhood kitty & he's my absolute favorite, he's long-haired and orange and freaking adorable!

can you tell i love him?