I got a new Paula Deen Cookbook yesterday.  It was on a whim, I saw it wanted it, bought it. Normally I don't just jump like that - first I have to read the cover, look through the pages...I might put it in my cart, walk around and decide, 'Oh, I don't need that', then I put it back on the shelf.  I mean who really 'needs' a new cookbook when you have the internet?  Not this time, I left it in my cart.  Paula has been on my mind for days. I have been dreaming of her Lemon Blossoms, I have wanted to make them for over a week, but circumstances have prevented it.  When I saw her cookbook, I started dreaming of all that butter, butter and more butter.   Well to my shock and awe, I found this recipe...can you believe it, NO BUTTER at all

This recipe was very good with just he right kick and it was quite easy to make, even though I have a hard time searing scallops.  I don't know why, but they never turn out 'just right’...I will keep trying. (I thought they were dry enough...)  Also, I could not find sea scallops, so I used small bay scallops.


Seared Scallops with Pineapple-Cucumber Salsa
Adapted from The Deen Family Cookbook

Salsa 
1 cup diced peeled cucumber
1 can diced pineapple
3 TBL chopped cilantro (plus a little extra for garnish)
1 TBL diced red onion 
2 ½ tsp lemon zest
1 large jalapeno diced

Scallops
2 pounds sea scallops
Salt and pepper
2 ½ TBL olive oil

1.        Mix all salsa ingredients together and set aside.
2.        Rinse scallops and pat them very dry, then season them with salt and pepper
3.        Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Sear the scallops, without moving them in the pan until golden – 2-3 minutes on each side.
4.        Put Salsa on a plate, put scallops on top of salsa, sprinkle with fresh cilantro

Paula says to add 1/4 tsp hot sauce to the salsa, but quite honestly, I forgot. It was not missed.

What a great way to end a fantastic vacation!  When we booked this trip, we had no idea we would be here for Songkran.  When we ask what Songkran was, the locals informed us it is the Thai New Year, a day for throwing water on each other!  This is done not only to cool each other off since April is the hottest month in Thailand, but it is a sign of respect; ”The throwing of water originated as a way to pay respect to people, by capturing the water after it had been poured over the Buddha’s for cleansing and then using this "blessed" water to give good fortune to elders and family by gently pouring it on the shoulder."  Over the years, it has been commercialized, as with most holidays today.

For us, 6 American's visiting Thailand during Songkran, it meant a big ass water fight, that was so incredibly fun my kids have decided we need to bring it to America. 

We hopped in a cab and headed down to  Khao San Road to celebrate Songkran with the locals. 

Rewind: let me back up just a little.  This was the day we were leaving to head back to Korea.  I picked out the clothes we were going to wear for the day, these were the same clothes we would be wearing on the airplane.  I thought we would get a *little* wet and our clothes would dry, so I packed the rest of our things. I had no idea the lengths Thai's went to on Songkran to get everyone wet, did I say wet?  I meant drenched. Luckily we had a late checkout since we were on a midnight flight.

OK - back to the cab.  On the way to Khao San Road, we noticed people had water hoses, buckets, BIG water guns, but the most impressive thing people had were huge garbage cans filled with *ICE* water!  While riding in the cab with our windows rolled up, we noticed people in tuk-tuks and people on motorcycles getting soaked!  Then it happened. We were at a stop sign, someone opened the cab door, threw a huge bucket of water on Hubby, slapped some mud type stuff on his face (we heard this is for good luck), said something in Thai, shut the door and off we went.  It was great!

Buying water guns....

This girl is filling up her container - you could pay her 100 baht to fill your water gun, and hope she didn't drench you in the process.

Here we are trying to take a little break from the insanity.

Maybe this should be our Christmas card....

A few more fun shots from Songkran....

Needless to say, we could not wear those clothes to the airport.  We still had a few hours to kill before heading to the airport, so we tried to do a little shopping, but found most things closed because of the holiday. I loved the little bags of drinks here...

After an unsuccessful shopping trip we decide to head back to the hotel and do a little swimming, and it is a good thing we did because  this is the day Boy 2 learn to swim ALL BY HIMSELF! 

Did I mention how much I LOVED this pool?!?!   :-)

This was the perfect end to a magnificent vacation.

Hubby work up early, grabbed Boy 2 and headed out to see the Reclining Buddha.  We decided this would be best, since everyone had such a *grand* time at the Grand Palace (not). 

Wat Pho, or the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, is the oldest and largest Buddhist temple in Bangkok.  It is home to more Buddha images than any other Bangkok temple and it shelters the largest Buddha in Thailand.

The Reclining Buda is MASSIVE & pictures don't do him justice.    

He even has toe prints.

I had to break this blog up into 3 parts because I took over 200 pictures this day, and I 'needed' to share it all with you!  Here we are back at our hotel....our view was amazing.

We did a little shopping....

Picked up some dinner....

Then headed to the 4th floor of our hotel for a little swimming!  The swimming pool area was by far the 'coolest' hotel pool we ever been to.  There was a beach area with sand, cabanas where you could hang out and order drinks, there were chairs in the water...a perfect place to relax after a fun filled day of sightseeing!


Boy 3 playing on the 'beach'.

This is the life.....

I so want a pool like this one!!

After touring the Grand Palace, we headed down to the Chao Phraya River for our tour on a longboat.  We had a great time touring the river and some of the canals.  The poverty was heart wrenching and the palaces were spectacular.  Many times you would see a palace, and right next door would be extreme poverty. This was one of my favorite things we did in Thailand, as no one complained and everyone had a good time.  

This is a picture of a longboat, like the one we were on.

This is a picture of a floating restaurant.

I loved this little girl, she was so pretty.  She was hanging out with her family selling bread to tourist so we could feed the fish.

Here we are buying drinks and souvenirs from this lady’s floating store.

When we were getting off the boat, we saw this guy washing his clothes.

On our way back to the hotel, our driver stopped so we could buy water guns for the Thai New Year, Songkran, which was the next day.  Hubby was going to buy small guns, but the driver insisted he purchase BIG GUNS...when I post Songkran, you will know why... ;)

The Grand Palace served as the offical residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18th century to the turn of the 20th century.  The present King of Thailand; King Rama IX, however does not currently reside there but at the Chitralada Palace, which we did not get to see.

These were 2 of my favorite guys....

The detail on everything here at the Grand Palace was amazing.

The kids were miserably hot!

Day 8 was not exciting at all. It took us pretty much all day to get to Bangkok.  Here we are in the Bangkok Airport.

A couple of pictures while driving to our hotel...

Boy 3 checking in at the hotel...how cute is that?!?!

The view from our room....

The kids were pooped, so we decided to have dinner at the hotel.  We opted to have the buffet, now normally I am not a fan of buffets AT ALL, but this buffet was unlike most buffets, seriously, this was the best buffet I have ever eaten at.  Now Jana, prepare yourself, you might have a heart attack, but for those of you who like this kind of thing, this was a little slice of heaven.  Hubby and I devoured so much of this heavenly sushi and sashimi I thought we might be sick.

Ahhhh, I love this man.  Isn't he handsome?

On our last day in Phuket we did nothing except hang out at the hotel by the pools!  After a very  relaxing morning, the little ones wanted to go to kids club, so hubby, Boy 1 & I headed out to our favorite little restaurant on Karon Beach.  

Here are a few pictures from our last day in Phuket...

Being silly on the way to kids club...they love trying to scare each other!

I found Hubby taking a nap on these cool swings.

A few pictures of the resort...

Hubby and I really wanted to dive on this trip; however having so many little ones sometimes puts a damper on things like diving.  All the really good dive sites were too far to travel without the kids & we couldn't very well leave them on the boat while we went diving.  While we were at Ya-Nui on day 5 we noticed a little dive shop across the street, while this isn't the best spot for diving, it was a good spot for us.  We left the 3 little ones in the kids club in our hotel & Hubby, Boy 1, myself and a couple of our friends headed back to Ya-Nui for a shore dive. 

Dive master Sabastian helping out Boy 1on his first open water.

Visibility was poor, but we still had fun.

Our friend F, this was his first dive.

My second favorite part of diving......the drinks afterwards!  Singha beer was our favorite in Thailand - they were big and cheap.

After diving we headed back to the hotel  picked up the kids and took them to dinner.  On the way to dinner everyone rand so far ahead of me and Boy 3 we couldn't keep up, so I yelled "STOP" and this is what they did....goofballs!!

Fun times at dinner.....

Girl really liked all the dogs in Thailand, so for her, here is a picture of the dog that sat across from us while we ate dinner...

After dinner we hit the streets for a little shopping, but first we had to find the a banana pancake stand!!

OMG these things were good!!! 

After having a few banana pancakes and a bit of shopping we took the kids back to the hotel and put them to bed, (Boy 1 babysat)  and then Hubby and I headed out for more fun, and PAIN.  Look what we did...yes; we felt this place was appropriate.....

Whoever said tattoos don't hurt, well they LIED!!  Mine only lasted 4 minutes, but dear God, I wanted to cry.

Hubby didn't even flinch......

Hubby has been bugging me for 15+ years to get a tattoo with him, I have always refused, but when he came up with this idea, I was game.  He has yin, and I have yang.  We got this tattoo for a couple for reasons, the Korean flag has a form yin & yang in it (so it marks our time in Korean), we were in Thailand for vacation (so it marks our time in Thailand) and it was a small tattoo so I thought I might be able to handle it.  But the main reason I caved and got a tattoo with him is because of the meaning of Yin & Yang.  It totally fits us....I could not exist without him.


Yin-Yang represents the ancient Chinese understanding of how things work. The outer circle represents "everything", while the black and white shapes within the circle represent the interaction of two energies, called "yin" (black) and "yang" (white), which cause everything to happen. They are not completely black or white, just as things in life are not completely black or white, and they cannot exist without each other.

By day 5 we were all pooped, so we decided to do something low key.  Hubby talked to some of the locals and ask which beach we should visit, everyone suggested Ya-Nui Beach, so we jumped in a tuk-tuk and headed out...

Once we arrived at Ya-Nui Beach, we were not disappointed.  The beach was small, the sand did not squeak (the sand on Karon Beach squeaked when you walked on it...it remind me of someone running their nails down a chalk board) and was great for playing in and the water was pretty clear. 

Girl is like a fish in water, and she LOVES to snorkel!

Boy 2 & Girl had a great time catching snails and little crabs....

We had lunch at a great little restaurant, not 20 steps from the beach where the food was good and cheap,  and the beer was COLD!

After lunch we played on the beach a little longer before we got back in our tuk-tuk to head for the hotel.  On the way to our hotel we stopped at  the overlook for Karon & Patong Beaches....

Back at the hotel Boy 1 & Girl tried their hand at scuba diving in the pool.  They both did great....