Rosewood Mayakoba. May 6, 2021. Day 5. The Day We Had to Go Home.
We woke up at 7:30 AM. We had set an alarm because Tzvi was afraid we would oversleep and squander the last few hours of vacation (which has actually happened before).
We made it out of the room by 8:15 AM and went to breakfast. Same pastries and fruit. I don’t think I’ve written about the green juice yet, but Tzvi has been drinking green juice every day. They gave us green juice on the boat ride to our room on day 1 and then he’s gotten it every day at breakfast. I think he likes it so much because it tastes like orange juice but the green makes him think it’s healthy. It’s basically 50% orange juice plus pineapple, celery and spinach. It’s good, but Tzvi is in love with it. He says he’s going to start making green juice when we go home, but I don’t think he realizes how expensive it is or how much work it is.
Anyway, for breakfast today I got the avocado scrambled eggs again and Tzvi had the quesadilla with eggs. We also tried the pancakes today, which were very fluffy.
We sat for a bit and then went out to the pool, where we were able to spend about two hours. We swam for a while and then had our last margarita, a passion fruit one.
At 11:40 AM we left and rode back to the room. We finished packing up, and at noon a golf cart came to take us and our stuff to the lobby.
Our ride to the airport was a hotel escalade. Our driver Abraham – “Avraham in Spanish” – gave us waters and candies and there was also beer that we didn’t drink. He also gave us an iPad and said we could choose the music on Spotify, so I chose the soundtrack to The OC. The ride was about 40 minutes.
When we got to the airport, we were met by Roger, the same person who met us when we came out of the airport on Sunday (except on Sunday he said his name was Rogelio, which I guess is the same). Roger led us into the airport and onto the line for Jet Blue check in. He didn’t actually carry our bags, but he did lead us through the airport all the way up to security and made sure we had the right forms filled out correctly (which we didn’t, so thanks Roger for catching that!). The check in line was pretty long so Tzvi was able to go get his Starbucks mugs while I waited with Roger. He actually stayed with us all the way through check in until we got to security. Great service from Rosewood, start to finish.
After security we explored the entire airport. We found a lounge that we had access to, but there wasn’t much there and we couldn’t figure out how to find the food menu. I think we spent more time checking in with our Priority Pass than we actually spent in the lounge. We ended up getting a veggie burger from the Guy Fieri restaurant (yup, we had to go to Mexico to find flavortown), which wasn’t that bad.
Our flight was a little delayed, which was annoying. We had the bulkhead again, and this time I had the window and Tzvi was in the middle. Tzvi passed out as soon as he was in his seat and slept through take off. He had an older man next to him on the aisle who was much quieter and more well behaved than the kid I had next to me on the way to Mexico. The man kind of reminded us of Bob from Schitt’s Creek (he never removed his mask so who knows what he looked like, but he had the same voice). He kept his mask on the entire flight and even fed himself Cheez-Its by slipping them into his mask from the bottom.
Once again we were first off the plane and thanks to Global Entry we were first to baggage claim. That would’ve been great if we didn’t have to wait a half hour for our bags to come out.
Great vacation.
Rosewood Mayakoba. May 5, 2021. Day 4. The Day We Finally "Left" the Hotel.
We woke up same time today. Early. Ready for our last full day. Before getting dressed we went for a pre-breakfast dip in our plunge pool. The water was kind of cold, but Tzvi enjoyed.
We made it to breakfast around 8:30 and this time we got a bigger table to hold all of our food. We started again with a pastry basket and fruit bowl. Today they also brought a black bean and cheese empanada that I didn’t touch but Tzvi said was good. Today we tried the Belgian waffle, which came with syrup, chocolate sauce, and maple syrup. How bad could that be? Tzvi got huevos rancheros and I got another omelet with asparagus. All delicious.
After breakfast we decided to spend the day at the lobby pool again. This time we tried to lotion better. Not sure it helped. We laid out for hours (under umbrellas) and swam a lot. It was definitely quieter than the previous couple of days. We think a lot of people probably come on Friday and leave Monday or Tuesday, or come on Thursdays for a long weekend, leaving Wednesday as the quietest day of the week. Who knows.
Finally around 130ish we ordered lunch. Today we got chips and guac again, because, you know, we haven’t been eating enough avocado. I got the kids pasta again (still delicious) and Tzvi got the La Ceiba salad with vegetables and burrata cheese, which he loved.
Around 3:00 PM we left the pool and took a golf cart to El Pueblito, which is the little village within the Mayakoba complex. The ride itself is an adventure because about every 50 feet there are stones instead of road and its so bumpy. The place is basically just a single town square with a bunch of shops and restaurants, a kids arcade and, for some reason, a church. They do a temperature check when you arrive, which I’m sure is super accurate. There were only a few people walking around. We got souvenirs for the girls and I got cookies at the Rosewood bakery. Then we rode back.
We decided to spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach pool, but when we got to the beach we were shocked to find that all of the seaweed was gone! It was totally clear. Actually, that’s a bit of an overstatement – the water was still pretty green, but at least it wasn’t full of seaweed. We ended up getting two seats in the sand and ordered cocktails (I got another mudslide). We spent a few minutes in the ocean, but the ground was pretty rocky and painful to walk on, but I get credit for a dunk in the ocean. Then we spent a little while in the adult pool. We laid at the beach until 6:00 PM and both finished the books we had started on Monday, and then went back to the room to pack and get ready for dinner. Pretty good that we both were able to start and finish a book on vacation. I read The Guest List by Lucy Foley and Tzvi read Recursion by Blake Crouch. We each recommend our books.
When we got back to the room I realized I had lost an earring. Tzvi decided to ride all the way back to the beach and search the sand, and of course found nothing. We’re pretty sure I lost it on the chair, so it probably got caught in the towels when they cleaned up our chairs. There’s always a chance they find it in laundry, but I’m not hopeful.
Around 8:15 PM we left to go to dinner at Agave Azul, which is the sushi restaurant here at the hotel. We both got cocktails that had yuzu because I guess that’s Japanese. They brought me a chair for my bag. We shared “edamame loco,” which were like grilled edamame with chili flakes, and “cauliflower al wok,” which was spicy curried cauliflower. Both were really delicious. Then I had a cooked salmon and avocado sushi roll, and Tzvi had a raw tuna sushi roll. For dessert we had a yuzu cake that was shaped like a sushi roll (though we didn’t realize that until we looked at the photos later) and a chocolate mouse with caramel and espresso namelaka, whatever that is.
We walked back to our room, finished packing up and went to bed. Great last day. Sad that we have to go home tomorrow.
Rosewood Mayakoba. May 4, 2021. Day 3. The Day Tzvi Met Danger.
We woke up this morning early again, I guess still struggling to get on Mexico time. Today I opted to start the day with some quick exercise in the room. For anyone familiar with Jess Sims’ 5 minute Family Fit, that is what Tzvi got a video of me doing. They are called monkey jumps and they are flattering.
We got dressed and headed to breakfast. Today we got the French toast (in addition to everything else obviously). While it was sweet – I mean it did come with fruit compote and ice cream – it was good. A different Jewish couple (not the one from the golf cart) sat at a table near us. They got coffee in paper cups, fruit in a paper tray and then the wife went to the kitchen with the chef. I don’t know what she did in there but by the end they were eating eggs and vegetables and some other stuff. [Tzvi: I assume she went to supervise the making of eggs (probably in pans that they brought with them).]
After breakfast we headed to our Covid test!! The test is required in order to board a plane back to America. The hotel offers free rapid tests if you stay at least four nights, or you can pay to get a PCR test. There was also a third option to have a Mayan shaman examine your aura and check for Covid, but the CDC doesn’t recommend that one, so we opted for the rapid test. We were both negativo.
Today we decided to spend the day at the pool by the lobby/breakfast restaurant. It’s so great that the seats are spaced out. We’re not actually near anyone so it’s not like we have to listen to anyone’s conversations (you know, unless we’re actively trying). We spotted the Jewish couple from the golf cart, as well as another older Jewish couple. The Jews are out in full force! We basically spent all day just sitting at the pool. It was great. It was hot. We got burnt. Very burnt. I don’t even know how. I lotioned so much and sat almost exclusively in the shade. At this point I’m pretty sure that the “sunscreen” the hotel gives out is just body lotion.
We saw a bunch of people we had seen yesterday at the other pool. I guess people shifted around as we did. There’s this one family we’ve seen at the pool every day. I think is mom is Mexican and the husband is I don’t know what. He’s from San Francisco, but they live in Amsterdam. They’ve had a hotel babysitter with them every day, and the dad must have ADD or ADHD because he can’t stop moving and he keeps talking to people. Yesterday he started offering to get people drinks, though it was unclear if it meant on his tab or not.
Oh, I should also mention that there is a man who walks around the pool with a hawk to scare off the little black birds. They told us his name but I didn’t catch it. I think it was Danger, but maybe I just want to think that.
For lunch I had pasta with vegetables (from the kids menu) and Tzvi got a Caesar salad with seabass. We also shared a hummus thing with pita. I had a mudslide in the afternoon, among other drinks throughout the day.
Around 4:30 I headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. Tzvi had told me tonight was our special anniversary dinner, but I had no idea what it was. Then, at 6 PM a boat showed up at our dock. The table on the boat was set for dinner and Pedro, our captain, welcomed us aboard. Apparently this was all part of the romance package that Tzvi had booked. He had worked with the celebrations department at the hotel to plan out the whole menu and evening. The only thing he didn’t plan was the music, although it ended up being the perfect playlist. It was all soft covers of pop/rock songs, half of which were definitely used on The OC. So yeah, perfect.
Our first stop was Agave Azul, the restaurant next to the lobby, where we met Freddie, our server for the evening. Tzvi explained that the meal would be three courses, each from a different restaurant. Freddie presented us with two margaritas (the package is supposed to come with a bottle of champagne, but Tzvi subbed that out for the cocktails). Freddie also gave us each our appetizer plate, which had a vegetable sushi roll with jicama, avocado, shitake and veggies and crispy fried samosas filled with potato and edamame and came with a curry-mango chutney. Both were so good, but it was so much food.
We then sailed over to the beach to the Punta Bonita restaurant where we met Freddie again. Freddie served us roasted salmon with mancha manteles mole sauce, smoked carrots & baby beets and lentils pico de gallo style. I was so excited to see salmon. I think it’s only been on one menu (for lunch at Punta Bonita but it was like $50 for a salmon entrée so we didn’t get that). [Tzvi: the original menu they proposed had a different fish, but I told them it had to be salmon.]. Oh, and it was a massive piece.
As we ate, we sailed through the lagoon, seeing the other hotels in Mayakoba, birds, turtles, the golf course and the Rosewood residences you can buy for a reasonable $5 million (which seems fair compared to what’s happening now in Lawrence). We also learned about Pedro, who is from Mexico City. He’s been with Rosewood for six years and his parents just got vaccinated because they’re over 60, but he may not get vaccinated until September. It was all so nice, but at some point we had to facetime Hallie to say goodnight. I’m not sure how, but that devolved (quickly) into her being quite upset about our absence and for the last twenty minutes or so of our ride we couldn’t get off the phone with her. Oh well.
The last stop was at a dock near the spa, where Freddie presented us with a cake. Yes, an entire tres leches cake. The cake had a Happy Anniversary chocolate on it and he lit a big sparkler in the top. It was delicious. It was like a soft spongey vanilla cake with tons of sweet cream. Like the perfect cake to cream ratio. We cut a couple of pieces and then Freddie said he would take the rest back to our suite.
Pedro dropped us off back at our suite. The rest of the cake was waiting for us on our table and we asked Freddie if it could be stored overnight. He made a call and then came back and said he had good news and bad news – “the bad news is they can’t save it, but the good news is you get to eat the rest of it tonight!” After that I had to change because my dress was too tight.
It was still early so we took a walk to the lobby to walk off all of that food. We decided to get drinks and took a table at Zepote Bar. We spent way too long talking to the server trying to figure out what to order, but finally I got a raspberry thing with aquafaba and Tzvi got the Negroni, which they keep on tap. Tzvi was deciding between the negroni, which he had seen on the hotel’s Instagram, and something else and asked the waiter which to get. The waiter said to get the negroni, because he saw it on Instagram and he would be disappointed if he didn’t. That was good advice.
After that we had a golf cart bring us back to our room. On the way back we saw fireworks in the distance. When we got back to our room, we found that our butler, Denisse, had set up a romantic bubble bath with rose petals and candles. We’re still not sure if the candles and rose petals were part of the romance package (usually you have to pay for that), but either way it was really nice.
Great night.
Rosewood Mayakoba. May 3, 2021. Day 2. The Day Tzvi Ate Endangered Fish and Sweet Potato Ice Cream.
I woke up this morning. It was 5:56, which is still only 6:56 AM in NY, so what the hell happened? I don’t know. I’m being punished for something. We stayed in bed for a while, texted to make sure the kids got to school, and got up maybe around 8 AM.
We eventually left for breakfast, which is at a restaurant by the lobby called Casa Del Lago. Our breakfast is included with our room, which apparently means we can have the buffet and order anything on the menu. Not one item from the menu -anything from the menu. As much as we want… uh oh. The buffet is set up really well. Everything is packaged separately, pastries are in their own bags, individual servings of fruit etc. We also ordered some egg avocado chip thing and Tzvi got chilaquiles. There’s a good looking French Toast on the menu, but the server told me not to get it because it’s too sweet. I don’t know, I think I’m going to need to try it.
We biked back to the room to change for the pool and then biked to the pool. Thank God for all this biking. Today we opted for the regular pool by the beach. We sat in a “cabana,” nothing fancy or anything (and no charge), just a shaded structure. Problem was, the ceiling of the cabana was pieces of fabric with some spaces between them, so I got some random patched burns from where the sun poked through. Also, I don’t think the sunscreen they provide is that great. Anyway, the pool was great. There were kids, but it was nice to see families enjoying themselves and not engrossed in chaos. Gives me hope for the future.
At some point while we were in the pool they came around and handed out little bowls of onion rings, which were delicious. They were also handing out these huge coconuts filled with coconut water, and Tzvi kept complaining to me asking why they weren’t bringing one to us. Finally they came over and Tzvi took one for himself and one for me. Well, neither of us liked it very much, but at least he was happy he got it.
We didn’t order lunch until around 3 pm. We had a server come over but Tzvi wasn’t ready to order so he asked him to come back in a minute. Well, 45 minutes later we finally ordered. I had a real Caesar salad (apparently Caesar salad was invented in Mexico by an Italian immigrant), and Tzvi had a salad with sweet potato and coconuts. We also had a pink cocktail. We had to leave at 3:30 to get ready for our massage.
On our way to the spa, we had an incident. My cover-up got caught in the bike gear. I had to pull over and stand there until someone stopped to ask if I needed help. Then when he couldn’t help me he called for backup. It was so hot, and there we were, three Mexicans and myself trying to get some fabric out of a bike. Eventually they were able to take off the gears and free me. Then we headed to the spa.
Unfortunately my dress incident made us about 15 minutes late. We had planned on spending a half hour in the spa facilities before our massage (you have to reserve the entire sauna, steam room, jacuzzi area for 30 minute blocks because of Covid, and we had reserved 4-430), but instead I had a 5 minute dip in a jacuzzi. To get to the massage room we had to walk through the jungle, which was very pretty. Our massage therapists were very nice. The problem is, it’s difficult to understand people through a mask, a face shield, and an accent. The massage was 90 minutes – I think the longest massage we’ve ever had – and it was great. I think we both fell asleep during parts of it, because it didn’t feel like 90 minutes, but we were both very relaxed at the end. We ended the experience with a hibiscus drink in the relaxation area.
After the spa we went back to the room, where we facetimed Hallie and got to experience a few minutes of her nonstop coughing. It’s pleasant. Then we dressed for dinner.
For dinner, we headed off property to the neighboring Andaz hotel (still part of the Mayakoba complex). We took a golf cart to the lobby and then another fancier golf cart to the Andaz. We were joined in the second cart by a very Jewish older couple on the cart (sheitel and all), but they were headed to the Banyan Tree where you can get kosher food.
(notice the hotel worker photobombing us)
We ate at Casa Amate, which I think is supposed to be the nicest restaurant at the Andaz. The hostess took us walking through four rooms of the restaurant – the library, the living room (where a fireplace was lit), the garden where the Amate tree was and the “Mexican room.” Then she told us we could choose to sit in the library or the living room. We chose the less crowded living room. We didn’t realize this until the next day, but the place is called “Casa Amate,” which means House of Amate, so it was like we were being given a tour of the house and all of its rooms. When we sat down the only other couple in the room was an older couple there from San Francisco (both vaccinated in case you’re worried).
We started with delicious rum cocktails (which was nice for a change since we’ve mostly been having tequila and mezcal) and a bread basket. Then we shared some raw tuna salad. Tzvi ate the tuna, I ate some vegetables. Then I got some other vegetable thing that was called “Sweet Potato and Pipian” that came with coconut rice, which was delicious. Tzvi had smoked totoaba fish with plantain (which tasted like banana) and prune and the same rice. Fun fact, apparently totoaba is “critically endangered,” so good job Tzvi. Dessert was the weirdest part of the meal. I had some caramel thing called Alfajor that was basically a cookie with dulce de leche and some kind of coffee ice cream. It was good. Tzvi had something they called “Trompo Dormilon,” which was listed in English on the menu as “Chocolate Spinning Top Toy: Creamy rompope, chongos zamoranos and braised sweet potato ice cream.” Well, it tasted as weird as it sounds. Tzvi actually liked it, but more in a ‘this is very interesting and it doesn’t taste bad and I’m glad I had the experience of eating it’ kind of way. I think “rompope” is eggnog and “chongos zamoranos” are some kind of cheesy Mexican cookie. I just thought it was weird. Ultimately, I admired the artistry of the meal, and I’ll just leave it at that.
We took a golf cart back to our hotel, but this time they took us in through some back entrance to the Rosewood (still had to go through a security checkpoint) and it took maybe half the time to get back. Very confusing.
When we got back to our room we decided to go for a dip in our plunge pool, but then we saw two raccoons walk across the patio and decided to stay inside. Anyway, good day!
Rosewood Mayakoba. May 2, 2021. Day 1. The Day Tzvi Got Corona (beer).
This first day is very long. Sorry about that. The rest of these will not be this long.
You know the end of the movie Argo (spoilers ahead, but who hasn’t seen Argo?) when they’re trying to get out of Iran and they’re on the plane and its pulling away from the gate but no one can take a breath until after they enter Swiss airspace, and then they really know they’re free? That’s kind of how we felt this morning.
I cant believe we’re actually here. Between Covid and the kids, I’m actually amazed that we made it to Mexico. I’m actually amazed we made it anywhere.
We started the day by waking up Hallie at 7am to say goodbye. She was so good, she barely cried. We decided Madeleine would be too traumatized if we woke her up to say goodbye, so we didn’t. Oh, and by the way, the two of them are sick with colds and God knows what else. Hallie has been having allergies for two weeks that have been making her cough and making her eyes irritated. So good luck to my parents who will be watching them for the next four nights.
We Ubered to the airport (our first Uber in over a year), checked in pretty quick, got through security quickly with pre-check and then had almost an hour to kill. We got bagels (there’s an H&H Bagel at Terminal 5 now!) and coffee and magazines, and then got on the plane.
Given this is our anniversary trip, we went all out and splurged for the extra legroom in the bulkhead seats (aisle and middle). When we checked last night, the window seat was still empty, which would’ve meant a whole row to ourselves. Well, just before we got on the plane a woman and a child got on and started to move into our row. Tzvi told them they were in our seats, and the woman said she knew, but she was in the window seat. “But you’re two people,” we said to ourselves and not actually out loud.
A lap infant is a small child under the age of two that can fit on a lap. This kid was a large toddler. There’s no way he was younger than two. Luckily, he slept for 2 hours or so, but whenever he was up he was out of his seat and in my space. Not a pleasant way to start our trip.
On top of that, after everyone was on the plane the flight attendant closed the door and then noticed there was some lever that didn’t go down. It seemed like a simple enough thing to just push down, but I heard the flight attendant say the word “paperwork,” so it seemed they needed to bring maintenance people on to push it down and then have the pilot fill out 30 pages of paperwork. It was about a fifteen-minute delay.
Anyway, the flight was uneventful but a little turbulent, and people were pretty good about masks. At some point toward the end of the flight Tzvi started to get upset that we were so late. We were supposed to land at noon, and it was already 12:15 when the pilot came on and said we would be landing in about a half hour. Tzvi said he couldn’t believe the door thing had delayed us 45 minutes, which was when he looked up the time in Cancun and realized that it’s actually an hour behind New York, meaning it was only 11:15 and we ended up still landing 15 minutes early.
Since we were in the first row, we were second off the plane (the pushy people across from us went first). That was great since we made it to immigration before there was a line, which would’ve been great, except Tzvi didn’t fill out the entire immigration form they handed out during the flight, so we had to go back and fill it out. Luckily they didn’t send us to the back of the line. From there we got our bags and left the airport. I should note that the bathroom in the airport was beautiful. Like nicer than JFK.
On our way out of the airport we were accosted by people yelling “taxi” and trying to get us to buy a timeshare. If that’s all of real Mexico I get to experience, I’m good. Among all of the craziness we found a man with a Rosewood sign. Rogelio took our luggage and led us to our driver who was waiting in a Chevy Suburban. Fernando offered us Cerveza, and we couldn’t say no since it was a Corona. It was actually very refreshing. He also gave us bottled water and a little pill shaped thing that you poured water on and it popped up into a towel. Definitely would have tried to eat it if he hadn’t said anything.
I think we drove on a single road for about forty minutes, past a bunch of hotels and waterparks. Our hotel is in Riviera Maya, which is south of Cancun. Finally, we arrived at Mayakoba where we had to pass a security checkpoint and everyone in the car got a temperature check, except they were taking your temperature from like 3 feet away. Mayakoba is basically a massive gated area with four hotels (our hotel, the Rosewood, as well as the Andaz, the Fairmont and the Banyan Tree). We drove through the jungle and finally got to the Rosewood, where we had to go through another security gate. Don’t think we’ll get kidnapped any time soon.
The hotel is really unlike any other I’ve been to. The lobby area is outside and that’s where you check in. What was the first part of check in? Scheduling our COVID tests to go home of course! Tuesday at 9:45am. Our room wasn’t ready yet so we had lunch at Zapote Bar. We sat on a couch, which always makes for a difficult eating situation. Do you lean over? Pick up your plate? What’s the correct etiquette here? We both had salads and Tzvi got a cocktail, but the real highlight was the Diet Coke. It came with Diet Coke ice cubes. Sorry, but they have Toddy’s Coffee cubes beat.
When our room was ready, our butler Sylvia came to take us to the room. To get to the room you get on a boat that takes your around the property. It stopped to show us some turtles, ducks and birds. You only get the boat at check in, otherwise you get to use golfcarts or bikes! Yep, the property is large and spread out so while you can walk, its much faster to bike. There are no helmets, but we haven’t crashed yet.
look closely and you’ll see a turtle
The boat docked at our suite (yes, our suite has its own dock) and led us up the bath into our private patio which has a table, lounge chairs and a plunge pool. Next Sylvia brought us into our suite and showed us around. The suite is one very large room. Also, the bathroom has a shower and an enormous bathtub that Sylvia said takes 30 minutes to fill, so if we want a bath we should text her in advance and she’ll fill it. We were greeted by chips and guac and a welcome drink that Sylvia made for us. Sylvia has three daughters. She said they are in some Rosewood sponsored school or something. She isn’t vaccinated yet, as it’s only above 50, but she thinks they’ll open it to hotel workers soon.
We decided to spend some time at the adults only pool so we changed and rode over there. We took seats next to the pool since the beach isn’t actually that nice here. There’s tons of seaweed that washes up, and I think they go out and rake it every day, but it’s still too much. We ordered cocktails and tried to relax, while eavesdropping on conversations. There was a woman there, probably in her 40’s, who has an Instagram following of 20k. She was talking about how she gets paid to wear bikinis. Then she started talking about her OnlyFans account. She said she is very high end, only subscription based, and it’s $1,000 a month. Then you have to pay for other things. She said one guy pays her $500 to put socks on her feet, wear them, take them off on video, and then mail them to him. Sounds high end to me. I should mentioned she has 2 teenage boys and a 7 year old girl. Apparently her teenage boys aren’t in love with her profession, but her daughter thinks she’s famous.
ew. seaweed.
We left the pool around 545 and I headed to the gym. They have Pelotons here which is nice. Tzvi stayed in the room and video chatted Hallie, who seemed pretty happy but was still coughing. Then we got ready to go to our first dinner.
Around 8:30 we took a golf cart to Al Fresco, the restaurant at the beach. Our table was in the sand, which takes me back to our meal in the sand in Aruba. Good times. Our waiter made table-side salsa which was delicious and of course came with more chips. I normally don’t like salsa but I guess if it’s made with roasted tomatoes and sautéed onion and garlic (and made in Mexico) it works for me. Everything we’ve eaten so far just tastes so fresh. I don’t usually like cilantro, but I can actually tolerate it here because it actually tastes different. Also, all of the avocados we’ve had have tasted better than avocados we get in New York. Avocados from Mexico really are better when you’re in Mexico (and I guess not shipped for days up to New York).
Next we had this amazing appetizer called a Black Bean Tetela, which was basically tortilla pockets filled with black beans and topped with a green tomato and chile sauce. Tzvi had a dry chile pepper stuffed with oaxhaca cheese that had a bunch of interesting vegetables around it. For the main I had mole with avocado, sweet potato and cauliflower. Mole is apparently a special Mexican sauce that has 25 ingredients and takes hours to make. They take it very seriously here. Tzvi had striped bass wrapped in a corn leaf that was stuffed with shredded onions and topped with avocado and tomatoes. He said it was incredible. Everything was beautifully plated and delicious, but dessert was the best. We had this chocolate tart that had so many layers of flavor – orange, coffee, caramel, I don’t even know – and of course, we also had churros which came with a dulce de leche sauce and ice cream. It was like Disney Mexico, but real.
After dinner we came back to the room and passed out. Good day.
Catskills. February 23, 2021. Kenoza Hall.
It started off like any other Kaplan vacation - postponement, looming cancellations and sickness.
Flashback to last week. Tzvi and I were supposed to go to the Catskills for one night (Wednesday night). On the preceding Sunday we checked the weather and everything looked clear. Then we checked again on Monday and suddenly a big storm system had shifted and the Catskills were slated to get 6-8 inches of snow on Thursday, meaning that while we would make it to the Catskills on Wednesday, we likely wouldn’t make it home on Thursday (which sounded fine to me, honestly). Anyway, Tzvi called the hotel and moved our reservation to Tuesday night of this week, which was supposed to have better weather.
Fast forward back to Tuesday morning. We woke up excited and ready to go on our overnight getaway, which is when we saw this text message from my mother: “Dad went for covid flu tests. 101 in the night.” Oh joy. First of all, my father is two weeks past his second vaccine, so if he does get Covid he’s going to be a medical marvel. But a positive flu test would likely mean that our babysitters would be out of commission, which would be bad. We decided to proceed with packing up anyway, assuming that everything would come back negative and he was likely just suffering from stress induced sickness from the impending sleepover. So we packed up and got ready to go, and thankfully we were right (he was negative on all accounts (physically and mentally)).
We got on the road around 10am, making a quick stop for coffee and avocado toast. The weather was beautiful and sunny when we left, but the weather had turned gloomy and rainy by the time we hit the Mario Cuomo Bridge (formerly the Tappan Zee Bridge, which by the way, looks way too sleek and modern to be named after an oldschool Italian like Cuomo; it would be more fitting as the Anderson Cooper Bridge). By the time we hit Sullivan County there was pretty messy snowfall, but we still made it to our hotel on schedule. The most exciting part of the drive was seeing a billboard for Honors Haven. For those unfamiliar with that “vacation,” let’s just say it was memorable.
Kenoza Hall opened in Summer 2020. The hotel is housed in a grand old house on Kenoza Lake. The house was built in the early 1900s and served as a boarding house/hotel until it was turned into a private residence in the 60s; it was bought by this small upstate hotel group in 2017 and they spent 3 years renovating it. The house is beautifully restored and has a lot of original detail.
We arrived at the hotel around 12:30 and checked in. Our room wasn’t ready but they made us a welcome cocktail and set us up in front of the fire place in the living room area of the lobby. The cocktail was called Be Our Guest and was delicious and had local Catskill rye whiskey and apple cider (among other things). We ordered lunch and then relaxed in front of the fire and played a game of rummikub. We’ve both been off from work all month, but this may have been the first time in four weeks that we actually felt stress-free. Also, I won!
This is Tzvi after he has lost at Rummikub
For lunch I had a niçoise salad and Tzvi had a smoked trout sandwich on really thick sourdough bread. Apparently Sullivan County is the trout capital of the US. Both were great and they brought us the food in the living room, so we didn’t need to move and could continue enjoying our seat and our game.
Our room was ready so we went up and got settled. We had booked a lake-view king which had a huge soaking tub and separate shower.
We unpacked a little and then changed into bathing suits and bathrobes and walked up to the spa, which is in a separate building just up a small hill. The spa has a big relaxation area that was kind of like a huge greenhouse heated by an outdoor fireplace. There was also a hot tub and a sauna. Being in the hot tub while it was snowing was great.
When the bubbles turn off and it’s too cold to walk back to the button.
One thing we didn’t think about was how much more snow they get upstate than on Long Island. When we left home there was still snow on the ground, but we had moved past boots weather, so we didn’t even think to bring our snow boots with us. That was a bit of a mistake since there was a lot more snow and slush on the ground up here. Tzvi actually slipped and fell walking from the car because it was so slushy. That and we’re old now.
After relaxing a bit it was time for massages. Because of Covid and distancing they don’t do couples massages right now, but we went back to back. Our massages were great, but it was a little uncomfortable wearing the mask face down in the table. They also put an extra pillowcase over the headrest as an extra “mask.” No one suffocated and the massage was wonderful. It was like she was so intentional, really finding the bad spots. Or maybe they were just easy to find because there were so many of them.
Around 6pm we went back to our room and got ready for dinner. There’s no TV in the room, which is fine since, when we got bored of each other, we still had our iPhones, iPads and laptops, though it was the first time we stayed somewhere without a TV.
Dinner was in the dining room at 7:30pm. There were only four rooms filled for the night and by the time we got to dinner there were only two other tables and one left quickly after we sat down. It was also a pretty big room and very spaced out. We started by ordering cocktails - Tzvi had a drink with Jamaican rum and I had one with gin and egg white and grated freeze dried raspberry on top. I think it was the first time I’ve had a drink with egg white; it still weirds me out, but it was a very tasty drink. The bartender was very friendly and I felt bad that we didn’t order more drinks, but one was more than enough.
To start I had a caesar salad and Tzvi had an iceberg wedge with smoky blue cheese dressing. For the main, there wasn’t much on the menu that I would eat; the only thing that got close to being edible was the Parisian gnocchi, but that came with scallops and truffles and a mushroom cream sauce. Luckily they made it for me without everything and sautéed in butter and oil. So basically I got 10 pieces of plain Gnocchi, but it was good. Tzvi, on the other hand, had a massive piece of dover sole meunière that looked like a vagina. I actually tried the fish, even though I don’t usually eat sole, and it was actually edible (which is really saying something for me considering I usually won’t touch anything that’s not salmon or tuna). Tzvi loved it and ate almost the whole thing, even though we think it may have been a dish for two. We also got sides of Brussels sprouts and potato puree. The potato ended up being super creamy - like you have to eat it with a spoon because it goes right through the fork creamy - so Tzvi ate the entire thing himself and loved it. They also gave us warm popovers, which had gruyere cheese, though I didn’t taste the cheese. It made me miss the Popover Cafe that was on the UWS and closed years ago. Anyway they were really good.
We were pretty full after that, but we couldn’t decide on which dessert to get so we ordered all three on the menu. Also, because we are shameless. The three desserts were a chocolate mousse, crème brûlée and a crepe soufflé. They were all delicious. My favorite was the mousse - it was thick and rich (yeah, I like my chocolate mouse like I like my men). Tzvi’s favorite was the crepe soufflé, which was warm, fluffy and airy and was bathed in a sweet but tangy mango puree.
After dinner we played several games of tic-tac-toe in the lobby and then went back to the room. One thing about the hotel is that it really is an old house and the walls seem to be pretty thin. It wasn’t too noisy when we were in our room (we did hear people on the steps going by), but walking the hallways you can hear pretty clearly into rooms. As we went back to our room we could hear the people across the hall ‘enjoying each other’s company.’ Once back in our room we took a bath in the soaking tub. Great bathtub.
Good night.
I woke up too early on Wednesday morning. Why? Because my body hates me. I actually got up at 6:58 am. No crying Madeleine or climbing Hallie. Just me. I don’t know what I did to my internal clock to piss it off so much.
Anyway, we stayed in bed for a while and then got up and went to breakfast around 9:30am. We saw the couple from across the hall when we came in (they looked ‘well rested’), but they left soon after that. It’s weird how ‘back in the day,’ one would feel uncomfortable eating in a restaurant alone, but now it’s ideal.
We both had coffee and eggs, and then, because as I already said, we’re shameless, we ordered pancakes “for the table” (which doesn’t mean much when it’s just the two of us at the table). Everything was delicious, especially the pancakes which were crispy and buttery and came with a dollop of apple sauce and a local maple syrup.
We sat for a while and then went back to the room to pack up. Then we loaded the car and left around 11am, stopped at Woodbury Commons, and came home.
Great 24 hours. If you’re looking for a close getaway to just totally relax and unwind, we highly recommend Kenoza Hall.
NYC. December 8th and 9th, 2020. The Beekman.
We took this trip in December when positivity rates were trending upward and things were getting so bad that there was talk about NYC closing indoor dining. We definitely took a little more risk on this trip than we did on the previous one, but I think the fact that we ended up eating outside in 30 degree weather shows that we were still pretty conservative in our Covid protocols.
December 8th, 2020
For my birthday, Tzvi planned a one-night getaway to the city. He got my parents to agree to babysit and then booked a night at a hotel without telling me. He actually told me a couple of days ago, and it was a great surprise.
We left the house around 9:30 and headed into the city. We parked in Midtown and then walked to Bryant Park. Our first stop was to get hot chocolate and macarons at the newly opened Angelina bakery (which we had also visited when we went to Paris). It was just as delicious as I remembered it being in Paris and the shop has the French charm that makes you feel like you’re back in the 7th arrondissement. The hot chocolate is just so thick; there’s a reason they call it “drinking chocolate.”
From there we walked around the Christmas markets in Bryant Park, and then got tuna sandwiches and a box of donuts from the Breads Bakery kiosk. We found a table in the sun next to the ice skating rink and ate our lunch. It was cold, but ok in the sun. The tuna sandwiches were good, and all of the donuts were delicious - almost like being back in Israel for Chanukah.
After lunch we walked to Rockeffeller Center to see the tree. The tree has gotten a lot of flack this year, but all dressed up in lights it actually looks really nice. We then took a walk around the new FAO Schwartz and bough some gifts for the girls. They have a new version of the piano from Big which doesn’t actually make noise so it was kind of lame.
Sign me up for the academy of wonder!
Look at this cute gorilla I found… and this monkey doll was cool too. 😂
We got back in the car and drove all the way downtown to the Beekman Hotel. It’s technically a Hyatt so Tzvi booked a premium suite on points (because you had to go to the top tier suite to get a bathtub). We had to do a temperature check when we walked into the hotel, but those things never work and said we were like 93 degrees.
The hotel is gorgeous and is in an art deco building from the late 1800s. It was originally an office building and has crazy ornate details and an incredible center concourse. It’s all decked out for Christmas and makes you really feel like it’s holiday time. Our room is a corner suite with an outer living room, a separate bedroom and a bathroom with a huge shower and freestanding bathtub.
While driving down to the hotel I decided to take the time to pump, except as soon as I started, I realized that my pump battery was almost dead and I had forgotten a charger. We asked the hotel if they had any kind of chargers and they didn’t, so we decided to set off on an adventure to see if I could buy a new charger. It’s a pretty standard plug, so we though we’d be able to find something. First we tried CVS; they didn’t have anything, but they did have a hand pump (for $50!) so we figured we’d come back for that as a worst case scenario. At CVS they suggested we try the dollar store down the block, but all they had were USB cables. The people there directed us to a hardware store another block away; they said they would usually carry it, but they were out, so they told us to try an electronics store a block back toward the hotel. That store actually did have it, and for only $12 (a price that the woman seemed to make up on the spot), but they were cash only, so Tzvi had to go search for an ATM. Finally we made it back to the hotel and thankfully the charger worked. Tired from our almost hour long journey, Tzvi laid down on the bed, which was when he looked at the night table and realized that the clock radio on the night table used the same charger as my pump. Oy.
We relaxed a little and enjoyed our room. We watched A Little Princess as we got ready for dinner (Tzvi had never seen it and was making snide comments about my love for the movie).
Around 630 we went downstairs and checked out the hotel bar. As per New York guidelines they were running at 50% capacity. Tables were spaced pretty far apart and it looked like a lot of people were wearing masks while sitting. We decided it was probably low risk, so we took a table and ordered drinks, but since New York doesn’t let you drink without food, we also ordered a hummus and crudite appetizer. Tzvi had a gin cocktail with allspice dram that was very wintry and I had a gin drink with cranberry and yuzu. Both were delicious and it was just so nice to be drinking inside at a fancy bar like old times.
After drinks we walked all the way downtown to Water Street, basically across the street from Tzvi’s office. It was the first time he had seen the building in 9 months, which is just crazy. It’s weird how empty eveyrthihng is, but you still feel the holiday magic walking around NYC and seeing it all decorated for the holidays. There are so many Christmas trees everywhere, and we even found a menorah outside the Stock Exchange on Wall Street (hey, wait a minute…).
Tzvi had made a reservation at a restaurant called Ampia Rooftop, which has cool outdoor greenhouses, except when we got there they told us that the rooftop was closed because it was too cold. They said they tried to call us (they didn’t) and said we could have space in the indoor dining room. Thanks, but no thanks.
We set off walking and scrambled to figure out what to do. We realized we were a few blocks from Wall Street Grill, so we called and asked if they had any outdoor tables. They said they had one table, and it was available, but “people usually prefer to eat indoors.” Of course they do. When we got to the restaurant we found it was hoppin’ indoors (maybe this is why Covid numbers are going up?). We were taken to the terrace upstairs, which has one table big enough for four people. There was a heater directly above the table and we were actually pretty warm sitting next to each other. It was great - we had our own private dining space.
We both ordered wine and then shared a fried shredded beef appetizer and a short rib risotto appetizer. For our mains we both ordered the surprise steak special, which was delicious. For dessert we had a chocolate cake that came with some ice cream and whipped cream; the dessert was fine but the weakest part of the meal. We hadn’t been there in a while and we were really pleasantly surprised with how tasty everything was and how nice the experience was.
We walked back to the hotel, pretty exhausted from the day, took a bath and went to bed.
December 9th, 2020
We woke up late, like after 8 am. We didn’t wake up to crying in the middle of the night. We didn’t need to take Hallie to pee at 2 am. I didn’t need to feed a tiny human at 5 o’clock in the morning. In other words, we had a gloriously restful night.
Good morning!
Around 10am we went downstairs and checked out breakfast, which was in the same space where we had drinks. There was no one eating in the restaurant, so we felt pretty okay having breakfast there. I had avocado toast with nuts and seeds and Tzvi had shakshuka that came with a huge piece of saaj bread and a tzatziki sauce. Both were good, but Tzvi’s was so spicy he needed to get a second container of tzatziki.
Restaurant for one.
After breakfast we packed up and then took a walk to the Oculus, which I had never been to before. It’s really huge and cavernous and white and kind of makes you feel like you’ve moved into the afterlife. Kind of weird. We walked around and shopped and then walked underground to Brookfield Place, which is basically a fancy mall. From there we walked back at the hotel, making a stop at Aroma to get an iced Aroma and a tuna sandwich. I think the downtown NYC Aroma is the last one left outside of Miami. It’s definitely not as good as it used to be (and not as good as Israel), but it was still good.
We checked out of the hotel, got in the car and headed home. Nice to get away.
Montauk. October 6th and 7th, 2020. Gurney's.
We took this trip back in October 2020. It was our first trip during Covid and came at a time when positivity rates were pretty low. We were still pretty nervous though so we took as many precautions as possible (including looking for a hotel where we could access our room without needing to go into a building) and didn’t do any indoor dining.
October 6th, 2020
We haven’t traveled anywhere since January (when Tzvi and I took our solo babymoon to Philly) and with positivity trending downward, it seemed like it was finally a good time to get away for a night.
Poor Madeleine. When Hallie was six months old, we took her to the Atlantis in the Bahamas for a week. Madeleine is almost six months old and the best she can get is one night in Montauk. Oh well, at least we can give her that.
We loaded the car and made it out around 10 am. When I say we loaded the car, I literally mean we loaded it with as much stuff as we possible could. We stuck Malka in the third row and filled every inch of trunk and floor space with bags.
We drove straight to Easthampton, which took a little under two hours. We parked and got lunch at a place called the Golden Pear Cafe, and then ate at a table outside the restaurant. Tzvi and I both had tuna sandwiches and Hallie had a bagel with cream cheese. The food was fine - we weren’t being too picky given the circumstances, though I’m not sure why this place is considered a Hamptons institution.
After lunch we walked around Easthampton a bit. I would say mask compliance was near 100%, which is about 85% better than the Five Towns. We stopped in at Jcrew, Dylans Candy Bar and a cute bookstore where Hallie got an Eloise book and Madeleine got a book with a finger puppet of a fox. Then we went to an ice cream shop called Scoop Du Jour where we all got ice cream.
From there we drove about a half hour to Montauk (which is basically the end of Long Island) and finally arrived at Gurney’s. We chose Gurney’s because it seemed like they were doing things well and it was all pretty Covid safe. We checked in and then went to our room, which was accessed from outside. Our room was a two-bedroom suite with a balcony overlooking the ocean. We took the master suite, Malka got the second bedroom, and Hallie and Madeleine shared the living room. The room was beautiful and the view was great.
We walked down to the beach and Hallie ran barefoot in the sand, but it was pretty cold and windy. After Hallie tired out we went back to the room and changed for dinner. We bathed Madeleine in the sink (because it was just easier). I think she was just happy to be away in a new place.
Dinner was a little complicated. Gurney’s has a branch of Scarpetta (with outdoor seating), and even though it’s an Italian restaurant, they don’t have pizza. However, the hotel bar does have pizza, but you can’t get that pizza at Scarpetta. So, since Hallie won’t really eat anything other than pizza, Tzvi took Hallie down to the bar early and got her a pizza, which she ate next to the outdoor fire pit.
Then we went to Scarpetta and ate dinner while Hallie watched Sesame Street on the iPad. It was pretty cold, but still nice to be out to dinner. We shared a few appetizers, including the Hot and Cold Brussels Sprouts, the Roasted Cauliflower and the Rosemary Lentils. For mains, we both got spaghetti, which is always the best thing at Scarpetta.
After dinner we went back to the room and put the girls to bed. We had planned on going back out for a drink, but by the time we were ready to go, Malka had fallen asleep and no matter how much we knocked she didn’t wake up. We felt weird just leaving the girls in the room without letting Malka know what was going on, so I decided to try to get drinks to bring back to the room. I went to the bar, and they first told me I would need to order food (since the New York state rule requires anyone getting a drink at a bar also order food), but then they said that since Tzvi had been there earlier and got Hallie the pizza, it was fine and she could give us a drink. But then it turned out that we had spent so long knocking on Malka’s door, the bartended was gone and it was too late to get a drink. Oh well. We ended up sitting out on the balcony watching the waves.
Nice night.
October 7th, 2020
We woke up early - or rather, the girls woke us up early - and we laid in bed for a while. Eventually we ordered room service breakfast, which came packaged like to go food in a paper bag, and everything in plastic containers with plastic cutlery. They didn’t set anyhtig up for us - just dropped the bag at the door (completely contactless). It was definitely a change from typical room service.
We set up breakfast on the terrace. It was really nice. Hallie had pancakes and Tzvi and I both had avocado toast. It was really good, but after a few bites Tzvi found something in his container that we determined was definitely a peanut. We called room service and they apologized for almost killing my husband and said they would take it off the bill. Tzvi was freaking out a little but he was fine (I don’t think he actually ate anything he shouldn’t have).
After breakfast Tzvi took Hallie down to the beach so she could run around some more. I packed up, and around 11am we said goodbye to the hotel, got in the car and started driving. For some reason the Waze took us on a scenic tour of all of the Hamptons. It definitely felt like it took longer going than coming.
We made a stop at a pumpkin patch that had a great play area for kids and Hallie had a great time running around and climbing on everything. The pumpkin picking was just eh, but how many pumpkins do you really need?
Before getting back on the highway we made a quick stop at a chain bagel store called Goldberg’s Bagels (which may as well have just been called “Jews Eat Bagels”) and got tuna bagels. Then we were back on the road. There was a bit of traffic, but Madeleine slept for a lot of it and Hallie watched Sesame Street on the iPad.
Good trip. It was nice to get away, even if just for a night.
