from the desk of tara hope…

here is another favorite memory from our christmas cruise:

when we docked in cozumel, before we went on our excursion, we walked around the shopping center with mom and dad to take some pictures…

matt and i decided to have a little “date” in cozumel so we chose a cooking class as our excursion on that island. it was SO much fun! we went to this little beach resort and had the class, ate our creations for lunch, and then afterwards we had about an hour to enjoy the beach facilities. it was pretty perfect!

here we are, ready to cook!

the view from the classroom was BEAUTIFUL!

first we grilled our own tortillas and made tortas for appetizers!

these were AWESOME! tortillas, refried beans, lettuce, cheese, potatoes and chorizo. yum!

then we made our main course… fish (or in my case, chicken) veracruz with tomatoes and olives, wrapped and steamed in a banana leaf…

then we made dessert! this was SO fun to learn! they taught us how to make rice pudding from scratch, and then we learned how to decorate our plates like a real chef!

finally we got to eat our finished products! we ate lunch overlooking the beach and i was IN LOVE with the view…

our masterpieces!

i REALLY liked matts stick figures 🙂

and our yummy dessert! it all tasted great! i was so proud of us!

after our delicious lunch we beelined out to the beach and took naps in the sun…

i loved these giant board games! ive seen giant checkers alot, but ive never seen giant connect 4! thats my favorite game!

when we got back to the dock(? pier? what is it called when its so big?) we went shopping at one of the little markets

i loved the little shopping area because they not only had a huge beautiful tropical Christmas tree, but they also had a nativity scene in the middle of all the stores! i feel like that would never happen in the US!

at the market we bought some hot sauce and vanilla extract…we sadly did not bring these beauties home though!