I love to cook, but it is never more fun then when my husband and I are cooking together.  One of the best meals for dual cooks is any meal that includes risotto.  You say you've cooked risotto and it's not big deal?  Oh my friend, I'm guessing you've made risotto out of the box.  

My love for risotto really became an obsession when I had the best meal of my life, hands down, at a little tiny hotel in England.  Have you ever had one of those meals?  One that was so magical that you measure all other meals against it, and you always tell people, "I once had this risotto....  You just don't know!".  I've been striving to make risotto to rival that one ever since.  I was by myself for 3 months in England, and for a week of that time I was booted out of my normal hotel and was staying by myself in a little tiny hotel in a little tiny town about 10 miles away.  I didn't want to venture out, so I thought I'd brave the hotel restaurant. 

One thing you have to know about England that is a super secret among those who know and love England.... they have really, REALLY good food.  The best place to have an amazing, life-changing meal is a little tiny hotel in the middle of the country.  Everything is fresh, and local.  I sat in the outside courtyard because it was an unusually gorgeous day.  I was the only one there, so I brought a book for company.  I paired my book with a Guinness (which I followed with another shortly thereafter, but I swear that didn't have any baring on my memory of this meal).

  

All I ordered was a mushroom risotto.  That's all it said.  No fancy words to make it sound fancier then it was.  Just a bowl of the most amazing risotto I've had, even to today.  Now whenever I go out and see risotto I order it hoping to be transported to that night in England.  But it never lives up, so I decided to try it on my own.  I've made risotto many times, and the more I make it, the more I appreciate what an art this particular food is.  

For risotto, you have to first brown the arborio rice, then slowly add your broth a fraction at a time, stirring constantly until the liquid is absorbed into the rice, then adding more, stirring, adding...  Until you are out of liquid and the rice has become mushy and creamy.  This takes about a half hour of constant stirring (don't dare walk away!), so the rule is you must always hold your spoon in one hand and a glass of wine in the other.  

We packed up the the tent trailer on Thursday and drove up to the Mogollon Rim to a spot that I have been camping in for my whole life.  It's in the middle of the forest, no electricity, no water hook-ups... just us and a gorgeous view of the valley below.  

One of my favorite things to do when we're camping is to plop myself in a hammock with a book I can't put down.  I drag my pillow out with me, and it was cold enough this weekend that even in the middle of the day I was wearing a thick sweatshirt.  But for the first time, I have a very special hammock to look over the rim from.  This canvas hammock was given by my mother's brother to her when I was a baby.  He passed away when I was about 3, but this hammock grew up with my brother and me.  We used to take turns wrapping ourselves in it while the other one of us flipped us around and around in it.  I'm too big to wrap up inside it now, but it's still the most comfy hammock I've ever taken an afternoon nap in.   

This weekend we also had a brand new (OK, old from an antique store) dutch oven, and we were so brave with it.  We sorta planned almost all our meals in it, so it was bound to go either stellarly, or we were going to starve.  Thankfully, it was a success!  We made chili one night, and I made a cherry cobbler and a peach cake.  Oh, and our friends who have a toy hauler brought ice cream for the top of them!  Mmmm...

On Saturday we took a hike around Woods Canyon Lake.  There were 8 people and 4 dogs in our group, including a Chihuahua!  We were quite the troop on our 5 mile hike.  On the far side of the lake we got a great view of a bald eagle nest.  You can JUST see a fuzzy baby head in this picture.

And of course, the puppies got to play around in the lake.  

It was so cold up there compared to the 105 degrees we left in Phoenix.  It rained every day for about an hour and when the rain cleared away it was gorgeous.  And the afternoon rain was the perfect time for hiding inside and taking a nap.  

And thank goodness for the tent trailer.  I'm camping in luxury with a SHOWER and enough electricity to have a light on at night.  Heaven I tell ya.  I'm living a charmed life.  

But what's this? I need a ramekin? I didn't have any, so I went out and bought some!

So here you go. Possibly the best dessert I've ever eaten, and definitely the best dessert I've ever made.

You put in there butter, brown sugar, peaches (mmmm!), crushed crystalized ginger (this is the key to this dessert), then a buttermilk cake mixture.  It's super easy and it does NOT need ice cream.  Check out the finished product:

Oh, um, what's this you say?  Two people, 4 empty ramekins?  Well, what can I say?  It just wouldn't be as good reheated!  We owed it to the Peach Upside-Down Cake to finish it tonight!  

We left Playa del Carmen and took a drive ALL the way across the Yucatan, through the jungle, on a little tiny, rough road through tiny towns where a lot of the people didn't even speak Spanish, but Maya. We purposely chose to take the back roads to get a better sense for this part of the country, but once we committed to that route, we both admitted that we were scared. Thankfully we only got stopped once by the Mexican military (huge guns much?) and only once by the Mexican police. Yowza.

After 4.5 hours of stressful driving (without a functioning radio no less!), we finally arrived at Uxmal (pronounced 'oosh mal'). Uxmal was the only reason we braved this long drive, and it was worth it.

Uxmal is known for being one of the more beautiful, and amazingly preserved Mayan sites. And, because it's in the middle of nowhere (seriously, jungle and nothing else), there were very few tourists, so we could climb on EVERYTHING.

The only bad part of this trip was a slightly crabby husband (he hates long drives, but he quickly got over it when we saw the amazing ruins) and my stupid inability to adapt to a humid climate. I was so purple in the face by the end of our time here that when we walked out people stopped and were giving me a look like they were trying to decide if they should call an ambulance.

That night we stayed in Merida, the capital of the Yucatan.  This is an appropriate time to mention how scary the drivers are in the Yucatan.  We ran into a guy from Mexico City who told us how 'crazy' the Mayan drivers are.  We were so glad we'd had about 5 days of driving before we had to brave Merida because it was hella scary.  Not to mention, our 'hotel' was impossible to find.  

But, we stuck with it because we had a "Presidential Suite" with a "rooftop terrace" reserved.  For $80!  I know, right?  Not so fast.  Wanna see our "rooftop terrace"?  It was less 'terrace' more 'rooftop'.  

We were so scared when we got there that we almost just drove straight to Chichen Itza.  Boy are we glad we stayed!  Merida is magical at night.  We had amazing food, and even though it was the middle of the week, the people of Merida were out in the parks looking at local crafts, visiting with each other, looking at public art, and enjoying a huge outdoor concert.  It was amazing.  The most hysterical part was that we were the only blondes that we saw all night, no one spoke a lick of English (Merida isn't as much of a tourist destination), and we were taller then everyone by at least a foot.  

Next post (or, you know, whenever I get to it) will be about Chichen Itza (we saw one of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World!), and Cancun (and swimming with the dolphins!).  

Completely unrelated to our vacation, check out my Photo Club assignment photos.  The assignment was Using Light Creatively or something like that.  What do you think?  Just some fun with light.  

(see ghost me and ghost puppies?)

If I haven't mentioned it lately, I love our pres.  I tell ya, he's so endearing and I think he's just what we need right now. 

I mean seriously....

I mean come on, even if you don't like the man's politics, how can you not love this guy?  He just seems like a decent human being and I, for one, am glad we finally have a guy who can string together words to make a coherent sentence.  It's great to finally have someone in the Oval office who gives the US a good face for the rest of the world.  I've traveled abroad enough to know that the US isn't particularly loved in other countries.  I think Obama is a good starting point for changing that perception.  

Oh, have I mentioned that Obama was at my old high school a few months ago?  In Bush's two terms in office, I can only remember him coming to AZ once.  Obama has been in Arizona twice.  He feels accessible and I'm so happy to be an American these days.