Where guac is not extra

Joy and sunshine in Mexico!

Dec 12, 2023

I’m writing from the Puerto Vallarta airport (and the skies) after a few joyful days celebrating Zoe and Ilan! We had such a great time and a sunny destination wedding in December is a great idea.

On Thursday, I have a special treat from Julia and Hillary, my intrepid traveling friends (who make frequent appearances here). They visited Japan in October and put together a very comprehensive guide for you all. I know how much time they spent researching this trip and am so excited they offered to share their tips.

Now, let’s dive in.

Something to cook:

I didn’t really cook this week except for the night before our flight where I made pasta with spaghetti dust (a huge favorite), spinach, and chickpeas. I’ve been topping my pasta with pecorino instead of parm lately and it’s so delicious. Pasta is always comfort food.

I need to do a big grocery run and actually make some lunches! These lentils will be perfect and I’m also craving a big kale salad (this is a good base and this one would be a great desk salad).

Something to order:

Teal was in town and we had dinner with her and Ali at Peasant in Soho. Peasant is a peak cozy restaurant and it was beautifully decorated for the holidays (I always joke that it feels like an inn from Game of Thrones). We shared a bunch of stuff including their spicy vodka rigatoni with broccolini, which deserves more hype, the excellent caesar salad, baked polenta, and honeynut squash.

Pro tip: they have a larger sized pasta for sharing that’s not on the menu, just ask!

A confession: as a vegetarian, I’ve long felt left out of the chicken caesar wrap trend (a wrap with just lettuce and croutons is not a meal). Last week, I had the buffalo cauliflower salad from Just Salad as a wrap and it was really good and made me feel like part of the movement! The salad has cheddar cheese, carrots, romaine, kale, pickles, avocado, cauliflower, and ranch and it’s a great wrap filling.

Celine, Lillie and I used to spend almost 24 hours a day together when we all lived in Guatemala. It was such a special year and it was so magical to reunite on Tuesday at Casetta in the Lower East Side (the restaurant was also hosting a chess hang out which was so cool). It felt like no time had passed and we stayed for hours giggling, sipping wine, eating olives and stratchiatella, and catching up. Friendship is such a gift.

We spent the last few days at the Hilton Puerto Vallarta. The food was good especially the Mexican food and I ate my fill of chilaquiles, pineapple and papaya, and so much guacamole. The wedding was absolutely stunning and included a junk food bar with soft serve and a million toppings, late night chilaquiles and fresh churros ,and a wall of shots with table assignments. It was a real party and such a blast to celebrate Zoe, who I’ve known since 2010, and Ilan, whose entire family was beyond welcoming. We had Mexican snacks waiting for us in our room (cacahuetes japones are my favorite) and the entire trip had such great energy (room service was included which felt so luxurious—we preordered chilaquiles, fruit and coffee for the morning after the wedding which was a great call).