I am lucky. Not because the world is kind, but because you are in it.
You are my North Star. You are a bundle of joy and a light I cannot live without.
Thank you for always being there.
Thank you for the smiles that undo the dark.
Thank you for the laughs that make ordinary mornings feel like a feast in a sunlit court.
Waking up next to you is the one spell that never fails. The room is quiet. The world can wait. For a moment it is only us, and that is enough to make a man believe in magic.
Happy Birthday.
You are the light I come home to, the joy I wake beside, the magic I was given.
The poolsTwo joined lagoon pools with jacuzzis, a shaded swim-up cabana and terrace tables, all sitting on the cliff.
The viewThe coast road runs between the deck and the water. Open Atlantic straight ahead, the beach curving east toward town.
The roadPR-466 is Tabla Salá's road. The Playa Jobos strip on PR-4466. Palo, Sonido del Mar, KAI, Sunrise is the next cluster up the coast.
✦
The itinerary
Thu 27 → Sun 30
Four days. Thursday we start the journey at 10:00. Check-in, Friday brunch at Belamar, Friday dinner at Chef's Garden, and Saturday birthday breakfast at the villa are set — the rest fills in as we book it, and everything below the itinerary is fair game to swap in.
Thursday
August 27
Leave 10LunchArrival
8:30 AMWake up call
8:45 AMShower
9:00 AMHair
9:15 AMPack everything you need
10:00 AMThe journey starts
11:05 AMJoe & Joe · sandwiches + bakery, Hatillo
12:30 PMCheck in at Villas de Costa Dorada
1:00 PMPut the gift in the freezer
Friday
August 28
BrunchDinnerRincón!
10:45 AMBrunch at Belamar
2:00 PMIsla Made · cafe + local goods, Rincón
4:00 PMOut for a cold cocktail · Gylro, Rincón
6:00 PMChef's Garden — tasting menu, 2
TBDReturn to the villa
Saturday
August 29
G'sIsland state of mind
We do what we want when we want.
morn.G's — birthday breakfast feast at the villa
middayPool
lunchMunchies
aft.Beach
eve.A drink
Sunday
August 30
Last dayAu revoir
home.Returning to the mothership
bye.Au revoir
✦
Reserved
3 reserved
Locked in. Friday 10:45 AM brunch at Belamar, Friday 6:00 PM tasting menu at Chef's Garden, and Saturday morning birthday breakfast at G's at the villa.
Chef's Garden
Signature farm-to-table · six-course tasting menu · Chef Josiah
ReservedFri Aug 28 · 6:00 PM · tasting menu · 2 guests
Cuisinart freeze-bowl. Official KitchenAid chocolate is a custard that sits overnight. Skip that.
¾ cupcocoa, sifted (Dutch-process if you have it)
½ cupsugar
⅓ cuppacked dark brown sugar
pinchsalt
1 cupwhole milk
2 cupsheavy cream
1½ tspvanilla
Whisk cocoa, both sugars, and salt. Whisk in the milk until it looks smooth. Stir in cream and vanilla.
If you still feel grit, fridge 1–2 hours. Else pour. Mixer on STIR, then pour, 20–30 min.
Soft-serve out of the bowl. Scoops: shallow container, freezer 2–4 hours.
No. 2
Cookies and cream
No-cook2-qt
KitchenAid official. Fits the 2-qt KSMICM. Under the 46 oz batter cap.
1 cuphalf-and-half
1 cupsugar
1 cupsour cream
2 cupsheavy cream
1 tspvanilla
⅛ tspsalt
14chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos, or Newman-O’s)
Break the cookies. Pulse about a third to crumbs, keep the rest in chunks.
Blend half-and-half and sugar about 1 min until the sugar is gone. Blend in sour cream 30 sec, then cream, vanilla, and salt 30 sec.
Mixer on STIR, bowl already frozen, then pour. Churn until it holds a shape. Cookies in the last 2–3 min.
No blender or sour cream: 1 cup cold whole milk + ½ cup sugar (whisk until dissolved) + 2 cups cold cream + 1 tsp vanilla + 15–20 cookie chunks. That’s King Arthur.
How-to
Attach the bowl
OfficialTilt-head
KitchenAidTV. Freeze bowl 15 hours first. Use it the minute it leaves the freezer.
Mixer off, unplug, tilt the head back. Dasher in the freeze bowl. Bowl on the plate.
Drive assembly, side A toward the shaft. Lower the head. Lock it. Then STIR, then pour.
