Back to the panic of dinner and getting everything else done. I didn't have time to stop at the store to get any additional ingredients or side items. I used what we had. 1 green bell pepper, diced. 1 onion, diced. 2 potatoes, diced. Hash Browns it is! Saute the potatoes in some oil until they begin to take on some color. Season with salt/pepper or your favorite seasoning blend. Add the onions. When your potatoes are nearly tender, add the peppers. Saute until they are tender, but with a tiny crunch. Finish with a small pat of butter for additional flavor is you like.
Completed dinner. The chops were great. Juicy and tender with some good flavor. The marinade doesn't get all the way into the meat when you only give it an hour, but the flavor is there! Next time I pan to do this, I will make the marinade the night before, then the morning I plan to make the chops, add them to the marinade. This will give them a good 8-10 hours of flavor time. The hash browns didn't really "go" with the chops, but they were delicious!
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Ground Fritos with the spices.
Finished chicken strips.
Served with oven fries.
In line for food! So many choices. We wanted to try them all...and we didn't even go all the way down the line...
Souvlaki, Kielbasi and Orzo. The souvlaki (pork skewers) was perfectly tender and full of flavor. The kielbasi were cook with lemon and some other spices. Great! Orzo in tomato sauce (manestra). Funny thing that orzo...it tasted like Chef Boyardee...and I loved it! It wasn't Chef BD, it was fresh and it was delicious. I've done a little web work...sounds like it's just cooked in a some broth and tomato sauce, with parm or romano grated in at the end...which seems like what we had.
We must have treats. Baklava that makes your mouth water. And a funny little cookie...cinnamon butter cookie soaked in honey and topped with walnuts. Interesting...I think the honey was a darker variety, maybe buckwheat (we had that for the past year in the cupboard, it was almost the taste of molasses)...a little too 'dark' tasting for my tastes.
The Sommeliatrix got into a conversation with some of the sweet ladies making Greek coffee. Having tried to make it at home and wasn't successful, the Sommeliatrix was asking questions, when the ladies invited her back to have her make the perfect cup! And it was heaven. Rich, dark, thick and tasty. I want my coffee like that every day. Hmmmm? Might have to invest in one of those little pots and get the right coffee.
I used the green food coloring. Two drops. You can barely notice it. Which is great!
I prefer to line my pans with parchment paper. Makes the clean up easier and the cakes can be removed much easier.
Finished. The cakes came out of the oven with a bit of lift, as they cooled, they settled down and flattened a bit.
I guess over the years I had only had oily, greasy and gummy pound cakes. So nice to have a cake that is perfectly moist with plenty of buttery flavor, but not all that oil!
By following the recipe, the final cake was light and airy with a perfect crumb and plenty of great flavor.
Giant's newer line of groceries; Simply Enjoy. The products are tasty.
Pre-cooked.
Dressed and garnished with freshly grated Parm!
Piña Colada
The pineapple and cream of coconut. Shake that stuff up. The can of coconut will probably be separated and in need of a hardcore shake. I had to spoon and pour the whole thing into the cocktail shaker and spend a few minutes shaking to get the solids and syrup to come together.
A beach near Guayama, P.R., our homebase for this trip.
Same beach. It certainly was breezy. The water was so warm. 
A little bar/restaurant not far from the beach, we had a little snack here. Right on the water.
My first Puerto Rican Pina Colada. We don't know why it's green.
Day two. We returned to the beach from yesterday for lounging and swimming.
My Corona commercial. I threatened to throw cell phones in the ocean. 
I've been drinking...not too much though. See that wall back there? That's where we had to open our beer bottles...we forgot an opener! It was a pain opening the beer and you easily cut yourself...right on your knuckle...open cuts hurt in the salt water.
We drove out into the dark wilderness for dinner. A nice little place. We had some great sangria. Buy some I mean multiple pitchers.
Day three. Ponce, P.R. Museum of Art. It was nice. They had a Rodin exhibit we couldn't take pictures of.
Flaming June! We love this painting and have a print of her in our house. She is so beautiful. I was totally misty when I saw her.
Castillo Serralles. The home of the Serralles family, sugar barons of days of yore. They created the Puerto Rican rum, Don Q. 
More Castillo.
Schnoozberries. I don't know the spelling and can't remember the real name. They look like tiny little limes. You gently bite them open to reveal the light pink, slimy, pulpy inside. You suck that pulp out and eat the pulp and juice, spitting out the hard stone in the middle. They were tasty. Sweet, lightly tart. But really slimy and pulpy. The texture could turn someone running!
Day four. We headed to El Yunque. The Caribbean National Forest.
J-lo and I in the rainforest.
Rainforest.
Mountains and Rainforest. I loved the rainforest. I bit humid, but not very hot. We had a good weather that morning.
After the rainforest, we paid a guy to bring us out to the little island of Icacos. Nothing on the island but sand, rocks and some trees. The mountain in the distance...that's El Yunque. We were up where the clouds are. On the little hill right in front of us, there is a white building on the left side of the little hill. That is the El Conquistador Resort, a fancy pants resort featured in the James Bond film, Goldfinger. Funny thing. That boat...it broke...our boat had to tow them back to Puerto Rico.
Day five. The Bacardi factory. Two free drinks!
Wall o' Bacardi. 
Buildings in Old San Juan.
A water well in Fort San Cristobal.
Atlantic Ocean.
The Old Spanish war flag, Puerto Rican flag and the U.S. flag. Fort San Cristobal.
Quatre-Quarts au Lavande
The Lavender Sugar~~so aromatic. What an amazing scent!
The final cake! I lined my pans with parchment paper, which made for the easiest removal possible.
Big fat slices for dessert.
Garnished with honey sweetened whip cream. We had raspberries as well, but...well...they were in the fridge for too long and turned a little...well...fuzzy!
Start with some bacon that you want to crisp up. Reserve. Pour out some of the fat. Saute the onions.
The onions with the fennel and crushed red pepper. When you have spices, if you can, add them early, in the oil, so they have a chance to release their flavors. The essential flavor compounds in most, if not all spices are soluble in oil. Giving the spices an opportunity to develop their flavor in the oil will yield you a more flavorful final dish.
I used a meat loaf mix (beef, veal, pork). The meat mixed with the onion and spice mix.
After the wine has reduced and the tomato paste added.
With the tomato puree. Simmering over the lowest heat you can. 
Served with orcchiette. Garnish with grated parm.
Tonight we had braised pork chops and grilled potatoes. Delish.
