Saturday, January 19, 2013

EDR - The Food Part 1

You guys overwhelmingly voted for the food as the topic of my next wedding-related post. Ask and you shall receive!!

I've mentioned one of the priorities for our wedding/resort choice was the food. Neither my husband or I wanted average buffet food. El Dorado Royale (and all of the Karisma resorts) bill themselves as Gourmet Inclusive - and that is an accurate statement!!!

So let's take a food tour through EDR. This post includes photos we took while we grazed during our stay:

These dishes were from their Mexican restaurant - Rincon. Admittedly, it wasn't our favorite, but it wasn't bad, just not great.

The starters were good:
Calamari - some of the best I've had!

















Duck confit
















Sweet corn & pepper chowder - this was yummy too!











This was my DH's lunch one day - I think it was a fish quesadilla. This was from Las Olas - which is a little lunch spot in the Casitas 31 buildings. They had yummy wraps, paninis and smoothies too!

















My caprese panini

















My DH's roasted duck panini
















Our absolute favorite restaurant was D'Italia Casitas. here are a few reasons why:
My DH's double portion of seared tuna
















My beef carpaccio (sooo tender!)
















seabass
















osso bucco  (veal shank)
















and my favorite dessert - chocolate surprise and bailey's ice cream. I was happy with just the ice cream!
















we were lucky enough to have a candle light dinner on the beach one night, thanks to our amazing travel agent Pammy!

Aside from the alto sax serenade - to Bohemian Rhapsody no less! - it was really wonderful.

spinach salad w/ mango
















lobster cappuccino - this was amazing!!!
















my DH's crispy skin chicken
















my filet with potatoes au gratin (they were soooo yummy)
















and our lovely dessert
















and another lovely dessert that our favorite waiter at D'Italias Casitas brought us on our last night in Mexico:
















One other neat tidbit - there's a huge greenhouse at EDR and they grow the vegetables (and many fruit) that are used at the Karisma resorts in the area. They are big on going green, which I really loved!

We never expected the food and artistry we saw coming out of those kitchens at a resort. It was one of the factors that sold us on the All Inclusive experience - although EDR has certainly spoiled us with their high quality!!

The next post will highlight the food from our wedding events - the welcome dinner and our reception dinner.

Happy eating!!

Friday, January 4, 2013

Welp. Yeah - here I am!

3 months, a wedding, a hell of a lot of work later, here we are.

The last 3 months haven't really flown by in a blur, they flew by with a lot of craziness and zero creativity. I really think the wedding sucked it all out of me.

I made a bet with my friend Amber (coincidentally, one of the BEST photographers, EVER) that if she tweeted for 5 days in a row, I'd blog again. And since this is a new blog post, you know how this turned out.

I'm an old married hag now, and I will be among the first to tell you that our wedding? It was everything I ever dreamed of, and more. We were surrounded by our family and friends, and threw one hell of a party (with the help of Lomas Weddings and El Dorado Royale Spa Resort).

I figured I'd natter on about some of the details of the wedding. If you're easily bored by that sort of thing, stop reading now and go back to your Twitter feed.

Still here? Ok, settle in, and let's talk a little about planning & details. In March I posted about the details and the progress HERE.  In April, I shared some truths & myths about destination weddings at Big Day for 10K. and in May, I talked about why I wasn't talking about a ton of the details HERE.

Now? 2 months after our big day I'm ready to spill all the beans, starting with the resort itself.

Our choice of the resorts was largely driven by these priorities: 1) food quality, 2) adults only, 3) all inclusive.  Since both of us like GOOD food, we did not want a resort where the main meals are at a buffet. And since neither of us are huge "kid" people, we wanted an adults-only oasis. We also didn't want to be nickel and dime'd to death with a la carte pricing. Early in my research I came across El Dorado Royale and El Dorado Casitas Royale. Trip Advisor had great reviews, and I hadn't heard any huge negatives. We considered a lot of different options, but in the end, EDR was the resort for us.

I can honestly say I've never been to a nicer resort. The photos are so gorgeous, and they don't even do it justice. The fact that it's all inclusive - yes, all of the restaurants, all of your booze (except maybe bottles of wine if that's your thing) - PERFECT. Everything about EDR was amazing. The food is gourmet, the service is 5 star, and the accommodations are dreamy.

here are some photos of the resort:

We had a Casita swim up suite. Boy, it was sweet (see what I did there? HA!). yes, that's a jacuzzi in the corner. we also had an outdoor shower. it was waaay cool!




















our swim up (yes, that's a bed on our patio!)


the fountains outside the main EDR lobby


EDR Lobby



drinks at JoJo's bar


our swim up again - see how close it is to the bar? 



area by building 1 on EDR side, near the Health Bar (newly renovated)


The staff at EDR was AH-mazing. Their motto seems to be "in Mexico, anything is possible". What? you want bacon with that fondue for dinner. NO PROBLEM!

I can't say enough about how wonderful our stay at EDR was. We can't WAIT to go back. And that says a lot - we are big on traveling, and yet, we can't imagine going to another caribbean resort besides EDR. it's spoiled us now.

I know, I raved about the food and then didn't say anything about it. Don't worry, I'll devote a whole post to the food.

Ok, it's your turn to pick the topic. I have so much I can share about the wedding, what do you want to hear about next:
1. The Food dammit!
2. The DIY projects & details
3. The wedding ceremony (I wrote it myself y'all)
4. The par-tay (aka the reception)
5. The par-tay music (cuz our DJ kept me dancing all night!)
6. Just show me the pictures and shut up

Let me know...I'll tally your comments on Monday night (1/7) and the topic with the most (err, any) votes will win.

Enjoy your new year!