Taste of the Marianas

The month of May is one of our favorite times of year in Saipan because The Taste of the Marianas is held every Saturday night!  Taste is a food festival with ethnic food from all around the world.  It is set up each weekend at American Memorial Park, and has live dance performances all night long.  

We love it because many of the resorts and restaurants of Saipan will offer special dishes only for Taste of the Marianas.  Our favorites?  The Capricciosa rice croquette and PIC's chicken curry!

 Me and Amy enjoying the island sunset

Beth and Jake at dinner

 yum PIC curry!

finger lickin good

talented Palauan dancers on stage

 Laura and Joe ate with us

 and so did Matt and Ame

 Brian and I :)

We can't wait for another Taste of the Marianas next weekend!

Obyan Beach

Brian and I on our front porch

 Getting ready to leave for church on Easter Sunday

 Below are some pictures of a Saturday afternoon in March spent at Obyan Beach.  Obyan is at the southern end of the island, near the Saipan Airport.  We had a little cookout and went swimming.

 Pathway leading down to beach.  Obyan is one of the easiest beaches to cross over the reef into the open ocean.  Before, we've used a rope that is permanently attached into the reef to lead ourselves out.  Once out in the open water, you are able to see sea creatures that you can't normally see inside the reef, such as sea turtles, eagle rays, and octopus.  This day, however, the water was too rough to try to go outside the reef.

Alison and Matt cooking hotdogs in the fire we made.

Brian climbing a palm tree to get some coconuts.

 Cuter than cute baby Caleb, my friend Kayla's baby.

Kara and I hanging out

Brian and Nate and the fire.

A great picture of the Woods family- Aaron, Kayla, and Caleb

Our friend Jake brought his two dogs to the beach, and Sam swam with them in the ocean.

The end!

yum yum

 Sam's favorite snack lately:  coconut.  Lately she's been gobbling them up during walks.  What??  I've never heard of a coconut-eating dog... but okay, Sam!

For the Love of Thai Food

Brian and I acquired our love of Thai food in Taiwan, when we lived within walking distance from the best little Thai restaurant.  It was our go-to choice for dinner, and we went there about once a week.

Luckily, Saipan also has quite a few delicious Thai restaurants, our very favorite being Spicy Thai in the Garapan (tourist) area.

Lately we've also been buying some authentic Thai foods from the restaurants, including red curry paste, and this amazing Thai tea.

My friend Laura showing off our lovely tea.

I've become addicted to this tea lately, and have been consuming... very large amounts!  Since it comes loosely inside the bag (not in tea bags), we just run it through the coffee maker and make a bunch at one time.  Then, add some milk and sugar, and put it in a pitcher in the fridge.

 Yummy dinner at Spicy Thai in February.

For Liz and Josh!

A year ago, our friends Elizabeth and Josh taught us how make tamales, which is a Christmas tradition in their family.  We spent a great evening cooking together... and made this little tutorial.  We miss you, Liz and Josh, and all of our fun Saipan cooking parties!

ps. the tamales turned out so delicious.

Taste of the Marianas

Taste of the Marianas is awesome. It happens every Saturday evening during the month of May, and is held on a big field at American Memorial Park. It's similar to Street Market, where local hotels and restaurants open up stands and sell their delicious local food. Lots of bbq'd meat, lots of fresh fish and seafood. Delicious!

When you first arrive, you buy tokens for your meal. Each plate is about 5 to 6 dollars, and has a main entree with some sides. Here, the chef is grilling squid and bbq skewers (a favorite in Saipan).

Another stands with ribs, etc. The stands are all decorated really cool- island style- with tiki torches, palm leaves, and lanterns.

Many of the booths also sell local crafts and jewelry. Below are some hand-made flowers to put in your hair. These are SO popular in Saipan. Girls wear flowers in their hair all the time here- some real, some fake- and it always looks so pretty and natural. These come with a bendable "stem" for you to tuck behind your ear or into your hair.

Taste of the Marianas also has a stage with live performances every Saturday, ranging from pre-school ballerinas to these local dancers. This performance was amazing and the crowd always shouts, whistles, and just gets really into it.

The hula costumes are amazing, especially the headresses

Rice croquettes are one of my faves at Taste of the Marianas- filled with cheese and smothered in hot marinara sauce. This week, Brian decided to try one with squid ink mixed in for flavor (also very popular here, but look gross to me)- he said it really was tasty.

Local vendors selling homemade crafts: handknitted purses, jewelry, hats, lanterns...

Almost happy 3 year anniversary to us!!! (tomorrow)

Delicious fish frying on the grill

These dolls are carved from coconuts

Fifields, Grosenbachs, Kyonkas, Buchers, and us (Brian's taking the pic)

Happy VDay to You

Happy Valentines Day from de island

Valentines Morning: delicious coffee in bed and island flowers.

Brian had plans to take us to the Pacific Island Club for a sunset dinner on the beach, but it was starting to rain, and all the inside seating was taken.

We made our way to another favorite resort here on Saipan, where we also found no more indoor seating- the resorts are popular on Valentines night!

We finally ended up at the perfect place, a simple Thai restaurant that we both loved: quaint, perfectly romantic, and some of the best Thai food ever.

Brian's gift from me- it was really fun to wrap, and I searched all over Saipan for that awesome red ribbon.

Brian continued his 5 year Valentines tradition of playing me a love song on his guitar. This year he improvised a bit with an island ukulele, borrowed from the music department at his school. (SO COOL!)

I can't believe that Brian and I have spent 6 Valentines Days together! Here's to many, many more to come.