Simply Norma

The Modern Churrascaria Restaurant

The Norwegian Star – Excursion to Belize City, Belize

The Norwegian Star – Excursion to Cozumel, Mexico

Paleo Slow Cooked Lamb

Lamb is one of my favorite foods to eat so when my son made slow cooked lamb I was quite excited to taste it. The lamb was served with a peach salad that had a peach cumin dressing. They both turned out very good (even as leftovers later in the week). In addition, we had a butternut squash that was served with tahini. Yum!

For dessert we had paleo cheesecake. Uh, well, kind’ve cheesecake. It had no cheese so the name is a misnomer. The “cake” was good but quite heavy on the stomach, perhaps because it has a cashew nut filling that is blended with other ingredients. The topping was sweet enough as in a “regular” cheesecake.

It is very hard to make a dessert that tastes like “regular” desserts as no sugar, dairy or gluten is used. Kudos to my son for his effort in trying to find us desserts that are palatable while eating paleo and watching our diet.

The Norwegian Star – Trip to Belize

Our second port of call on the Norwegian Cruise LIne was to Belize City, Belize. We did not dock at the port and had to take tenders (small boats) that transported us to the port.

Belize is a country in Central America that is located between Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east. It was a former British colony and is about two hours (flying distance) from the United States.

The country is approximately 8800 square miles. The earliest inhabitants were known to be the Mayans so there are Mayan ruins here just like in Costa Maya, Mexico.

We had decided not to take a paid excursion this time but instead walk around downtown. Unfortunately, the weather was dreary — very very dreary. It seemed like it rained the whole time we were there.

We hired a local driver to show us some of the sights but in the rain we didn’t get to see too many things of interest. I did notice that the houses are painted with bright colors — very similar in style to houses in the Caribbean.

Our driver did stop at a church called St. John’s Cathedral (Church) Â and we were able to step inside and take some pictures. There was a small church service going on so we were careful to be quiet.

St John's Anglican Church — St John’s Anglican Cathedral Church

“The church was built by slaves from bricks brought to Belize as ballast in the hulls of ships sailing from Europe.Â The building took eight years to complete and inside one can find many original architectural touches including intricate stained glass windows, ornate mahogany pews and an antique organ.” Belize It

St. John's Church Altar, Belize — St. John’s Cathedral, Altar, Belize

The architecture in this church is pretty amazing.

St. John's Cathedral Balcony — St. John’s Cathedral, Belize, Balcony

The front door was very intricately done. Beautiful!

St. Johns Cathedral Front Door — St. Johns Cathedral, Belize, Front Door

The stained glass window was also beautiful. I enjoy looking at stained glass windows everywhere I go.

St John's Cathedral, Belize, Stained Glass — St John’s Cathedral, Belize, Stained Glass

Although it rained on us most of the day, we were happy we were able to get off the ship and walk around. Here are a few more pictures I took of the area.

The outdoor pictures above were taken from the tender (small boat) that transported us back to the ship.

I’m sure Belize is a beautiful country — we just didn’t have the best weather while we were there.

Preparing for A Winter Vacation

Gulf of Mexico – Sunsets

Modern Churrascaria Restaurant on the Norwegian Star

The Norwegian Star – Excursion to Costa Maya, Mexico

The Norwegian Star – Excursion to Cozumel, MexicoÂ

Musical Instruments Made from Trash

Man is very creative — especially when he’s very poor (I speak from experience on this.)

I watched this video recently about people who make musical instruments from the trash that’s around them. It was uplifting to me and, of course, reminded me of how God uses human instruments and transforms our stony hearts into hearts of flesh that can feel and share love, mercy and kindness.

Check out the video below. I think you’ll be as inspired as I was.

The Landfill HarmonicÂ

“I will give them an undividedÂ heartÂ and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them theirÂ heartÂ of stone and give them aÂ heartÂ ofÂ flesh.” Â Ezekiel 11:19

Paleo Chicken Soup

I love, love, love soup in the winter! I could have it every day if my husband wouldn’t get sick of it. Of course, normally I’d also have a nice piece of warm bread and butter with it …

No, no, no! Remember — no bread on this new paleo diet we’re trialling.

Actually, I didn’t miss the bread at all. This paleo chicken soup was that good. Period.

My son served the soup with chipotle sweet potatoes on the side. I was in heaven! Well, food heaven, anyway. (laughing)

Later, my son had made some pumpkin scones that were pretty good also. We normally give him a hard time when he makes paleo pastries as the texture is very different from a regular pastry — it’s more soft most of the time. There’s also the palette trying to get used to the taste of almond flour and coconut flour.

I’m not quite “there” yet but my palette is slowly coming around. (Not the best picture of the scone — sorry.)

Oh — on an “up” note, when I saw my doctor recently because of my bronchitis, she took my blood pressure and, guess what? It’s still normal. This paleo diet has brought my blood pressure down. Great news, eh?

I once read that “sugar clogs the system” and I believe it’s true. The body can repair itself if given a fighting chance. There are definite benefits to this diet.

Mama’s 87th Birthday

We headed to Chicago recently to celebrate my Mama’s 87th birthday.

What’s extraordinary about celebrations at Mama’s house is that she won’t allow us to bring any food for the meal. She wants to make it all herself and this time she outdid herself.

What does a Puerto Rican mother make herself for her birthday?

This time we were treated to bistec empanizado, pollo guisau and arroz con gandules. I can link you to some of my recipes but they pale in comparison to Mama’s cooking.

We (the children) were allowed to bring a cake though so my sister ordered a delicious pineapple cake. It was a bit heavy on the frosting (which I didn’t eat) but was good nonetheless. (Yes, I know, I know — cake is not supposed to be eaten on a paleo diet but this was my mother’s 87th birthday! I just knew you’d understand.)

Mama's Birthday Cake — Mama’s Birthday Cake

And, as usual, as I headed out the door, Mama gave me a bag of groceries. That’s my Mama for you!

The Norwegian Star – Excursion to Costa Maya, Mexico

On a recent cruiseÂ (on the Norwegian Cruise Line) that my family and I went on, we chose two (2) paid excursion tours to go on — one in Costa Maya, Mexico and one in Roatan, Honduras. Recommended wear was good walking shoes and, depending on the weather, shorts or long pants. We wore long pants as we were told to take mosquito repellant and I didn’t want to get bitten. (Unfortunately, we were there at the wrong time of the year for the mosquitoes — lucky for us but now we had mosquito repellant that we had to haul home.)

This post will deal with the Costa Maya, Mexico excursion. The cost per person was $84.99 and we chose the tour called “Chacchoben Mayan Ruins” that was approximately four (4) hours long.

This was the first port the ship stopped at after a full day at sea so we were ready to get out and about.

We boarded an old bus which was comfortable and air conditioned. The tour guide spoke throughout our drive to the ruins giving us a lot of information about the area and later about the ruins themselves.

The guide handed out a few samples of things she spoke about. I really liked this part of the tour as I’m a visual person and this helped to put everything she spoke about into perspective.

Chicozapote Chewing Gum (think Chicles chewing gum)

Below is a picture of the fruit of theÂ Corozo Cohune PalmÂ which is a tree that the Mayans made use of for oil, roofing material, etc. and that appears to be prominent in Mayan ruin areas.

The tour guide came with maps and allowed us ample time to take pictures of the Mayan ruins that we saw.

Below are pictures of the ChacchobenÂ Mayan ruins. The guide told us a few stories as we went along. OneÂ story told was of a sacrifice where a person would be rolled from the top to the bottom of the pyramid. (Ouch!) Â Since the person was dead when they got the bottom, their skin would be removed and it would be worn by the Mayan chief.

I took quite a few pictures of the ruins so will let you enjoy them without much comment.

Steps - Chacchoben Mayan Ruins — Steps – Chacchoben Mayan Ruins

One question I had throughout the tour (that I failed to ask) was how they knew in what order to put these Mayan pyramids together. The guide told us that the ruins were hidden for many years under trees and that everything had to be cleared so they could re-construct them. They took each rock off one by one and put them back together. So really, how did they know where each rock went? Perhaps there was labeling done — tedious work.

The guide stood off to the left and told us that baby (child) sacrifices were held at this location. How sad!

Mayan Ruins - Baby Sacrifices — Mayan Ruins – Baby Sacrifices

These steps were very hard to climb as I’m short — well, even tall people had trouble climbing them. I took my time and supported myself by holding onto the step above the one I was on.

(This was the pyramid where the guide told the story about the man being rolled down to his death … )

This trip/tour was well worth the money and the time. It helped that we had an excellent guide and driver. There was a “checkpoint” that we had to pass through where men with rifles stood to check for anyone who might be trying to bring drugs into the country. Â A little spooky to go through a checkpoint for me but it was uneventful.

Our next port of call was in Belize. We didn’t take a tour/excursion there but I’ll post some pictures soon on that port also.

Preparing for a Winter Vacation

Gulf of Mexico – Sunsets

The Moderno Churrascaria Restaurant

The Norwegian Star – Excursion to Belize City, BelizeÂ

Â The Norwegian Star – Excursion to Cozumel, Mexico

Another Paleo Dinner

You may be wondering if I’m still eating a paleo diet since I haven’t posted much lately. The answer is yes.

Unfortunately, I’ve been sick and today I found out I have bronchitis. I thought for sure the cold I caught was going away but it returned with more coughing, chest pain and a low grade fever. The doctor took a chest x-ray which I questioned because I “normally” get bronchitis when I get a bad cold and I already know what they prescribe Â for the cure — antibiotics and prednisone.

Actually, I didn’t see a doctor but a nurse practitioner. Â She explained that the x-ray was needed because of the chest pressure although she didn’t “hear” much in my chest. I kind’ve knew the x-ray would come out negative. Should I have asked her not to give me one or would that have seemed too much like the patient telling the doctor what to do?

Anyway … here is a recent paleo dinner that we had. This salmon with basil pesto and tomatoes was pretty good but I am partial to both salmon and tomatoes and enjoy eating them both.

This was served with a blood orange salad. Have you ever had a blood orange before? This was my first time trying one and although it looked like an orange grapefruit to me, it did not taste that sour.

In addition, we had cumin roasted carrots. The total dinner is displayed below.

Paleo dinners continue to be nice and filling. There is really no need to have dessert afterwards and it hasn’t been missed (too) much.

Well, I guess I better take off and get those medications so I can recuperate from this yearly bout of bronchitis. Hope you are well!

Catching Up

It feels like a long time since I’ve blogged but in reality it’s only been 3 days since I’ve added a new post.

A recent weeklong trip to Seattle to check on a friend who started on hospice a couple of months ago, along with an “almost” weeklong cold has left me feeling quite fatigued and without much momentum.

The cold started slowly with just a little cough. Within a couple of days my sinuses were fully congested, I could hardly hear and my chest started feeling like someone was squeezing it. Â Then the wheezing started and that’s when I became concerned.

I started using my asthma inhaler, albuterol, almost daily which is uncommon for me. Today I’m feeling a little better although my ears are still plugged.

Mornings are worst for me because of the coughing yet I’ve been able to sleep through the night.

What have I done to “cure” myself? Not much really. I use a humidifier at night right next to where I sleep, drink lots of water and eat “right” which is easy to do on a paleo diet and then I get lots and lots of rest.

Next week I should be ready to post again — I have a backlog of things to share.

The Moderno Churrascaria Restaurant

The Moderno Churrascaria Restaurant, which is a specialty restaurant on the Norwegian Star cruise ship, was a pleasant surprise from the usual cruise ship food.Â Both the service and the food were great!

Although reservations are recommended, we didn’t find they were really needed. The cost per person was $20 which I thought was very reasonable considering all the food you have the option of eating, the quality of the food and the service provided.

The meal starts with a trip to the large beautiful salad buffet which includes deli meat and soup. Â Once you finish the salad, the waiter brings small containers of rice, fried sweet plantains (my absolute favorite), garlic mashed potatoes and black beans.

There are “cards on the table that you turn over to let the servers know when you are ready to start your main courses. Red means stop (don’t bring any more food) and green means bring it on! You can pass on any food that you do not want to eat.

The servers, called gauchos, are quite prompt in bringing the selections of food to your table which include lamb chops, filet mignon, beef, chicken, chorizo, etc. Â They will cut as much or as little as you want to eat. Most of the meat arrives on a long metal skewer.

And, of course, I had to have my lamb …

They also brought pineapple on a skewer which was very tender.

For dessert there were three options: Coconut Flan, Mango Rice Pudding and Papaya Cream. Â I had the Mango Rice Pudding which was okay but not great. When I tasted my husband’s Coconut Flan, I wished I had ordered it instead as it was very light and tasteful. I could have changed my dessert but decided to keep what I had.

For me, this was the highlight of the food on the Norwegian cruise ship called the Star. Very good food and excellent service. The best part of this experience was being able to select which foods you wanted to eat and eating at a pace that was just right.

Other posts related to this ship as linked below.

Preparing for A Winter Vacation

Gulf of Mexico – Sunsets