Providenciales Part 2: Hotel Cooking

The first time I ever stayed in a "condo-style" hotel was when I went to Maui in 2012. Each unit was furnished by its owner and though you were at the mercy of that owner's preferences, it was pretty awesome. We actually lucked out and got a place with a fully stocked kitchen. I'm talking toaster, blender, Foreman grill, even a rice cooker. Last year when we went to Belize, we stayed in similar accommodations and again, we enjoyed every second of it.

Having your own kitchen on vacation isn't everyone's cup of tea because it's likely that if you're on holiday, you won't be keen to cook your own meals. However, if you're like me and you're a frugal traveler, it's a nice way to save money. So, when it came time to plan this year's trip to Providenciales, we booked a room with a kitchen at The Sands.

The kitchen was pretty spacious with a full-size fridge, electric range, microwave, and lots of counter space for prep work. We stocked it with plenty of groceries from Graceway Gourmet - enough to make ourselves breakfast all week, lunch for a few days, and three or four dinners at home (away from home).

We had the loveliest dining area and an outdoor dining space, when we were so inclined (which was never because it was too hot).

For breakfast, I made a quick and easy hash every morning. It was just some diced potatoes, diced onion, some diced kielbasa, tomato sauce or ketchup, and eggs.

Hot sauce is always a must.

On two separate occasions, we had spaghetti and tomato sauce for lunch. This one's a super easy crowd pleaser.

Cheese on top and a side of pickles are mandatory.

For dinner one evening, we had rice pilaf, sirloin steak, and salad tossed in a stock pot,because we didn't have any large bowls. I mean, this is the kind of stuff that I love to eat on vacation. It's filling, but light enough to make me feel comfortable in my swimwear the next morning, and delicious. Makes me feel right at home in a strange place.

For one of our other dinners, we had planned on making some pork chops. We also had some apples leftover from our plane ride snack so I decided to make a quick mashed apple topping for the pork. I mean, pork and apples are a super classic combination.

I just chucked a bunch of peeled and diced apples, a little water, some onion, a small chunk of kielbasa for a smoky, meaty flavor, a drizzle of honey, and some jalapeno slices into a saucepan and heated it up until the apples turned into mush.

The pork chops were simply seasoned with some spicy Montreal steak seasoning (that we'd brought from home) and we ate it with some more salad, rice pilaf, and of course, the apple mash.

On one night when our sweet tooths were especially whiny, we ran out to the store and bought one of those frozen Sara Lee cakes and washed it down with chocolate almond milk.

Oh, and one last snack I want to share is watermelon! Seriously, nothing is more refreshingly appropriate for a beach vacation than fresh cold watermelon.

So that's all I've got to share regarding hotel cooking. I should make mention that we whipped up some ramen one evening. If you're Korean, or if you come from a background with really well-spiced foods, you will relate. Whenever we're on vacation, we need to eat something Korean-spiced to "reset" our palates. I start to really crave Korean food if I haven't had it in a few days and nothing else tastes good until I've quenched that craving. Is it just me?

xoxo.