The Two Little Figlets

Greetings folks!

Sorry I've been Missing In Action these past few days... we've been running around. Nonstop.  Literally!! I have so much to catch you guys up on!  Including an amazing Spaghetti Bolognese sauce that me and daddy-o cooked up (more on that later)

First of all, my diet has wreaked havoc on my digestive system :(  I guess meat, pastries, meat and gelato don't go over well in the pooping department. Same goes with sister... except she's a little worse off hahah sucks to be her!

BUT LUCKY FOR US, we've discovered the cure: figs
we've been consuming figs in massive quantities, not only because they're so delicious (I think they may be the local thing around her), but alsoooo for its fiberific benefits.
- dried figs, fresh figs, fig pastries... you named it, we've eaten it.

Check out the next big thing that will FOR SURE be sweeping the nation: FIG NECKLACES!
Yes, we wear them around for easy access.  Don't judge.

Anyways, enough about my innards.  Let's talk about Krka.
Yesterday (Friday), we went on this amazing tour to the old, nearby town of Sibenik.  Not only is the small town filled with cute boutiques and amazing gelato (yes, we sampled.  Obviously), but the Krka National Park is just a quick 20 minutes away. 

Upon arriving at Krka, we stopped for some amazing lunch - two mixed grill platters with pommes frites, two mixed salads, calamari, and octopus salad (that last thing was Dad's idea..... gross)

Guess who's hand that is?

Then we explored the park - known for its waterfalls.  Pictures honestly don't do it justice.  This place looked like it was fairy land or something.  The waterfalls were amazing, the water was this greenish blue and you were surrounded by a gorgeous green forest.

Our favorite part of Krka was probably all the candied nut and fig stands along the way :) These Croatians sure know how to cater to my family's digestive needs.  Sister and I made a mad dash back to our "nut man" and nearly missed the bus because we wanted more figgie poos. hahaha figgie poo... how appropriate.

After a nap in the bus on the way home, we arrived back in our home town :)
And immediately looked for our next eating destination.  We decided to try out a restaurant in the middle of the town square, and we were not disappointed.

We ordered a kilo of mussels in garlic and white wine sauce for an appetizer.

Then sister made all American tourists look bad. 
In an unfortunate mussel-eating incident, she flung a mussel shell across the entire length of the restaurant, landing (and almost smacking) the family sitting a few tables away.  Our cousin, who speaks Croatian, informed us that there were a lot of "those crazy American" phrases being thrown around.... sister needs to get a little more skills before we can take her out in public again. 

For our main course, sister and I split the lasagna specialty, which was a baked lasagna filled with prosciutto, shrimp, zucchini, onions... it was basically the bomb.

We trudged back home and nearly fell into bed...
After a little dessert.

Anyone care to guess what we had??

Till next time,
    The two little figlets :)

Triathlon - Croatian Vacation Style

 Today was one busy, fun-filled day!  You know how usually I post about all the food and naps I get to enjoy on this glorious vacation?  Well, obviously there was a lot of food I enjoyed today... but my naps were MIA!  And I couldn't complain at all, because we had an action-packed day of fun :)

I posted earlier about our morning ritual, which consists of a 5 mile loop around Mt. Marjan.  Usually, we stop at the bakery (which we did, duh) and then we head home, eat, shower, and nap before lunch and nooner activities.  However, Daddy-o wanted to head into town to shop, go to the market, and visit some cool sites - like Jupiter's Temple and that cool necklace place that sister looveess.

Come lunch time, I was famished!
Plus, we needed some fuel for our afternoon activities :)

I made a delish salad topped with cheese, zucchini, beans, and tomatoes

 I also had a piece of pizza, which I ate in like 4 seconds.  You don't need to see a picture of that.  Howeverrrr, you DO need to check out our afternoon snack & our dessert for the evening:
- Cookies & 4 flavored ice cream! Chocolate, Hazlenut, Biscuits, and Orange Creme

We might have potentially made ice cream sandwiches :)

 We headed out after lunch and walked back to Mt. Marjan! We rented bikes and toured the mountain before heading to Bene beach - how gorgeous is that water??

This was the "biking" portion of our triathlon.  Dad made us bike up Death Hill... that jerk.
My legs aren't made of steel.

Bene beach: the swimming part of our triathlon

Dad enjoying the views of Bene beach

 GUYS! This is the view from Mt. Marjan - I get to enjoy this every morning on my run. 
This is probably the only reason I'd get out of bed at 6 am to go running on vacay...

DINNNNNNER:
- We fell in love with this Croatian side dish, Blitva.  It is made of swiss chard and potatoes, seasoned with garlic, salt, and pepper.  SOOOO GOOD!  We've all agreed that this will be a repeat dish.  We're going to the market to pick up more for tomorrow night.. and the night after...

I was in charge of making this :)  I'll share the recipe with yaaa soon

Leftover pizza and bread on the grill

Cevapcici!! Dad grilled this at home

My plate :) plus another Cevap and some pizza!

 Our dessert was a sampling of cookies and ice cream - what else??
Brother actually accused us of eating too many "sweets"... I didn't understand what he was saying?

Right now, sister and I are watching Sleepless in Seattle !
And snacking :) duh

night guys

Breakfast Club

Croatian Breakfast Club:
We're kind of an elite group....
We're hardcore
We do 5-6 mile mountain runs like it's no big deal
We put skinny Croatian soccer boys to shame...

We also eat a lot of food....
Hardcore requires energy.  And pastries.

Cornflakes, "fitness" cereal (Nestle), Blackberries, and Jogurt :)

Meat bourek pie: ground beef and cheese pastry

 Spinach and feta with garlic!

 Chocolate donut filled with chocolate.....
Almond and chocolate swirly-looking thing
Chocolate and coconut liquor type pastry (not our favorite)

They also need frequent naps...
CHECK IN WITCHAAA LATER!

Listen to Your Body

Sorry for being sort of MIA today.  We were a pretty busy family...

Sister and I woke up at 6 to get our usual run up the mountain but strangely, neither one of our bodies felt up for it.  So, she taught me yet another valuable lesson: listen to your body.  Unfortunately, mine seems to be screaming for sleep and pastries.  What's a girl to do?

Compromise - run/walk the 5 miles.  Plus add in some extra walking throughout the day!

Breakfast was an assortment of unpictured pastries :)  They weren't photographed because they were consumed before I stopped to think about breathing in between bites... But basically I had some meat bourek, a bit of healthy donut, some cheese streusel, and some corn flakes!

Lunch:

Amazingly fresh cold cuts!! I could live off this stuff

Bakery bread :) this shop is 5 houses down from our apartment...

Put it all together for some sandies!

And then Dad came up with a cool idea and took some fresh roasted pork we got from the market to create a sort of Croatian pilaf dish with rice, zucchini, beans, and pork.  It was amazing! Leave it to the Asian to make a "fried rice" in a foreign country....

 Dinner:

 I needed a little bit o greeeens for the digestive system... you know how high maintenance it can be.  Stupid intestines have a mind of their own and they tend to give me a hard time

Um... can you say two "maxi" sized pizzas?!

Half prosciutto and half zucchini and cheese

Half shrimp and basil and half "mexican" (peppers and pepperoni)

 We all divided these humongo slices in half and sampled each type of pizza.  My favorite was probably the Mexican pizza because the flavor was intense!

Dessert:
Courtesy of our neighborhood bakery and farmers market :)

Don't know but it looks damn good - chocolate cake?!

BEST watermelon you'll ever taste

After dinner, sister and I met up with our cousin and his friend and went to go so Pirates of the Carribean in 3D, which was really cool!! Croatian subtitles are the new thing...

It was mostly cool because it was located in a gigantic, brand new mall, which I will most certainly be returning to.  Oh! Check out the awesome necklace my sister bought today:  One of a kind!

Off to dream about tomorrow's adventures :)

Food Vs. Bikini Bod...

Okay, knowing that I'd be in a bikini for two weeks, nonstop this summer, I tried my best to behave myself, work out a little more, and eat a little healthier. 

That kind of went to Hell a few days ago.

Nobody - besides maybe Gisele Bundchen and Heidi Klum - seriously enjoys standing around in next-to-nothing bathing suits, while getting their picture taken (Dad!) Obviously sister and I have been a bit self conscious... and then she said some true words of wisdom that I will forever live by:

"There is a time and a place for dieting, and this isn't it"

TRUE DAT SISTAAA!

After a quick siesta upon returning from our morning run/pastry excursion, it was lunch time:

I made a realllyyy fresh salad, topped with a runny egg
& had like 5 sandwiches with cold cuts and cheese :) and obviously we had pastries and cookies

Then we headed to the beach for some gorgeous water & sun action!
This is one of our favorite spots - crystal clear water!

We headed home for more siesta & snack time (unpictured bread, cheese, healthy donut...) and then Dad set about getting dinner prepared.  Pork chops, green beans, potatoes, and zucchini and beets on the grill! Best home cooked meal ever and we weren't even at home

Dessert was a bunch of random snacking on a chocolate croissant, butterscotch pudding oatmeal, cookies, leftover donut.... the works. There will also be gelato in the near future - I'm positive.

In a battle between food and a bikini bod... food will always win.

New Places Call For a New Morning Routine

Guys, I might have to abandon the good ole rise at six, eat your oatmeal, drink your coffee routine in favor of this glorious new vacation routine.

Let me tell you how it goes, then we can take a vote:

Rise at 5:30-6 ish and head downstairs for a little bfast (a fig, a piece of bakery bread and jam)

Head out to Mt. Marjan for a gorgeous run along this 5 mile trail that takes you around the entire mountain along the coast of the Adriatic Sea... You're too distracted by the views to even realize that you just had an awesome cardio workout.  Sister, Dad and I try to keep that balance between gorging ourselves on food and pastries and running...occasionally.  Sister is an expert at this mountain run business - she tackled the trail every morning before the rest of us woke up the last time we were here.

Walking to the mountain

Views from our mountain run

On the way back from Marjan, stop at the local bakery just to take a peek to buy pastries and desserts of all kinds, just to sample.  We only like high quality calories... so obviously we have to taste test every bakery we walk past.  Duh.

Spinach, egg, and cheese pastry

Meet and cheese bourek

"healthy donut" - doughy bread with sugar

"best pop tart ever" raspberry filled pastry

Chocolate and coconut moist cake!!!!

Walk Sprint the 4 ft from the bakery to the apartment and snack on all your goodies while Dad makes some freshly cut bacon! You know its fresh when there is still cartilage attached... mmm :)

Splattering bacon! I took a few hits from the grease

Yoga on the terrace.  Shower.  Rest.

What do we think of the new morning routine?  A keeper?

We Came For A Vacation, But We'll Stay For the Food

Since arriving in Croatia, I've had to come to terms with a few things...
1. People don't deodorize, they like to go natural
2. Taking 5 hour naps in the middle of the day is gunna happen
3. Eating until you can't move... that's gunna happen too
4. Working out will be a little challenging
5. Gelato is now its own food group

We ventured into "town" to hit up the local markets & make a few stops at the grocery store.  We walked away with more than enough food and enough money spent to revive the Croatian economy...

Snacks and B-Fast: Bourek (cheese-stuffed pastry) and a spinach and cheese pastry

Lunch: apparently the best Cevapcici place in the city is located on our street. SCORE.
Cevap is a Croatian dish - ground beef (hamburger-like) shaped into fingers and grilled. SO GOOD.

After a 5 hour nap...
(That's obviously the best way to digest after a huge ass meal)

We met up with the family and friends for a delicious dinner in the square.  Anything with the words pizza in the title, count me in.

Dinner:
- Appetizers: Moules (mussels in garlic and wine sauce) & Shrimp scampi with french fries!

- Main course: Vegetarian pizza and grilled veggies

Dessert(s):
GELATO.  What else? Snickers gelato dipped in chocolate... I also finished Sister's Rocher gelato

Now, we're "digesting" in bed with cookies and a movie. 
I love vacation