Baked

My new home

2010-10-20T19:58:00.001-07:00

I love my new home.

This was what I saw during dinner the other night:

And this was breakfast on my deck:

I am a lucky girl!

Update

2010-08-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

I've been working for one month now. I've never been more exhausted and I've never worked as hard as I have than at this job. It's extremely dirty work. It's extremely unglamorous, and gritty. I've been bruised, cut, and burned. I've spilled pork fat all over me. I've splashed raw meat juice in my eyeball. I've had someone hand me gloves and say "if you don't want your hands to smell like butthole, you should use these."

I've also learned A LOT. I am getting faster at using a knife. I know how to bone out a duck, skin it, and render it's fat. I can make pork rillette, pate, and head cheese (braised head meats). I ran a kitchen for a week when the chef went on vacation and cooked through lunch rush by myself. I am learning how to cook and serve delicious, beautiful, local and seasonal plates.

Last Sunday Meredith and I cooked for an event called "The Incredible Feast." Chefs paired up with farmers and featured a dish that was distributed among foodies. It was an extremely long week with a lot of additional prep work, and when we were at the function I finally realized how idealized this whole food scene is. This work is hard. This work is dirty. This work can sometimes pay off, but usually it doesn't.

However, when I sit down and eat something that is delicious and beautiful to look at, and I surround myself with friends and feed them, I feel as though there is nothing more I am meant to do in this world. I am beginning to live and breathe wonderful, sustainable, delicious food. Food food food. And I love it. *

*sometimes I do hate it and it makes me want to cry.

new j.o.b.

2010-06-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

hi! I got a new job! I'm going to be working for a farm on Vashon Island called Sea Breeze Farm. They raise their own animals and also have a restaurant in town. I will be the chef's assistant, butcher's assistant and learn about charcuterie, cheese making, wine making, sausage making, and cured meats! I'm going to learn so much! I'm so excited, scared, happy, nervous, pumped, inspired.

I really believe this is a step in the right direction for me. It's an extremely small farm with ten people working there total, and the restaurant is completely grass roots. Everyone loves working there, you can feel it when you're there, and you can see it from the products they make. They are beyond organic, they practice the system of grazing each different type of animal behind the other in order to maximize a fertile environment. They treat their animals so well, and because of that the products come out phenomenal.

For my interview I helped make head cheese and pate with the chef. Then I cut up a pigs head for guanciale (cured pig cheek) with the butcher. It was amazing, and I learned so much in just that one day. Just gaining the knowledge about butchery seems like an important life skill to me, plus my knife skill will get pretty precise. I want to be able to look at a piece of meat one day and say, that's whatever it is, and it's really great quality, or vice versa. I also want to be able to cook an amazing meal for 25 of my favorite people one night, like it ain't no thang, and I think I will be able to after I start working and learning about the art of farm to table.

AHHHHH I'm so excited!

Check them out here:
http://www.seabreezefarm.net

Plus everyday at work we eat lunch together, just something that the chef whips up from the restaurant and we sit outside on the deck and enjoy our meal together. It's so dreamy!

There's so much to learn!

2010-05-28T18:37:00.000-07:00

Today I drew. I was going to upload my drawing, but then I forgot my camera chord when I went to the cafe. I drew my favorite flower that is growing in my garden. Then I squished it in my book so I could keep it forever. Then I noticed a really oniony scent coming from it. Then I wondered if it was edible. Then I took some of it and tasted it. Then I realized it was a chive flower. IMAGINE THAT! My favorite flower in the garden is an edible chive flower! THINGS JUST KEEP GETTING BETTER HERE!!!!!

Foraging

2010-05-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

I foraged for the first time last weekend. I foraged for stinging nettles in the forest next to my house, with gloves on, and then made stinging nettle linguini. It was delicious, hearty, and most of all fresh. I was so excited and happy to do this!

I also have two new neighbors that I see daily. One is a beautiful bright pink and green hummingbird, who I call hummy. I hear him every morning, look out my window and see him flying around and hanging out on all the trees. He is really talkative, and likes to drink the nectar from some of the flowers in my garden. He's a funny one and really has his own personality. My other neighbors are a family of Eagles. I see them daily but less often. Maybe only once a day. They get really close to my porch and I just sit still when they fly so close to me because I don't want them to go away. They are ENORMOUS and so awesome!

I love my new home!

ummmmm

2010-05-08T23:00:00.000-07:00

ummmm i just got an isolated cabin on Vashon Island for the summer that has a view of the puget sound, a terraced garden, and apple trees in the back yard. What?!

Life Goals

2010-01-18T22:32:00.001-08:00

I have three new life goals to add to my list:

1. Buy a camper van and drive around the U.S. for an extended amount of time.
2. Hike the PCT for 5 months.
3. Motorcycle or Scoot down the 101.

crafting

2009-12-10T23:08:00.000-08:00

I WANT AN AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD PUPPY.

Just look at how cute they are, OMGad:

AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD PUPPY > any other puppy or cat

I discovered this when I went over to Azure's to "go out" for her last night in town. We went crrraazzzzzyyyyyy!!!!!! I stayed up until 2:30/3ish, Azure stayed up until 5ish, partying? nope, matting! Wooooooooooooooohooooooo. Fun times!

Actually it was fun, and relaxing, and productive, which I am all for these days.

Azure measures dimensions for photos:

I cut the mat paper with the expensive yet precise mat cutter

Look at how nice the mat looks!

Then Azure went bye bye. Bye Azure! See you and Mike in February! I will miss you guys!

Today, I bought a styrofoam cone

And some feathers:

And made a feather tree! While listening to the fleet foxes!

It really is winter, isn't it?

library

2009-12-07T22:09:00.000-08:00

Who loves the library?! I do!!!!

I borrowed so many gems today from the library. They were all on hold for me. I love making my hold list and picking it up. Today I borrowed:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I've been meaning to read this f.o.r.e.v.e.r. but just haven't really gotten to it. Now I want to read it and then watch the movie.

True Blood Season 1. I've heard it's the best. Now I watch it, for free!!!!!

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. It's sad that this man committed suicide before seeing his work in print. Then it goes on to win the pulitzer.

Dolly My Life and Other Unfinished Business by Dolly Parton. It's for book club at work. Don't judge me.

I love that this was all free. Free! Free! Free! So many hours of entertainment for free!

discovery

2009-12-01T18:51:00.000-08:00

Today at work while I unwrapped 100000000000000 candy canes, for our candy cane ice cream, i discovered something magical. Some of the candy canes have hearts in their center! I thought this was pretty neat.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T12:05:00.001-08:00

I'm thankful for many things this year. My health, my friends, my family, my work, progress, seasons, good food, the pacific northwest, transportation, fires, smartwool socks, pies, cinnabrittle sundaes, chapstick, and oysters. I'm sure there's more, but I can't think straight because there are many different food scents coming from my mom's kitchen.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Nina

2009-11-13T10:21:00.000-08:00

Oh Nina Simone how you make me swoooooon

Falling for fall

2009-11-10T21:01:00.000-08:00

I've seen many inspiring and beautiful things this fall:

like kites

and a harvest party

with a burn pile

or environmentally friendly art installations

and a whimsical show at Chop Suey

downpours

fall leaves on long walks

Abbott

pretty feathers and cute boots

Yay fall! You're so pretty!

Resolutions

2009-11-08T12:37:00.001-08:00

This speaks to me:

No more dilly-dallying.
Accept all offers.
In it to win it.
Fail beautifully.
Try things you don't like.
Seek respect, avoid credit.
Be the thing.
Down hill no breaks.
Go for broke.
Higher highs and lower lows.
Live it out

Thanks Buster Benson!

Fun and Fearless 2010!

2009-10-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

I have a new boyfriend, his name is Flu. We've been seeing each other for about a week now. I'm already tired of his shenanigans. He keeps me up all through the night, distracts and eventually prevents me from any social gatherings, and now he is getting really needy and taking a lot of my energy. It's time to break-up Flu, I just need to move on, you know?

Can't Wait, can't wait!

2009-10-06T10:58:00.000-07:00

Drrreeeaaammmmyyyyy

Happy Equinox!

2009-09-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

But just a couple days later!!

On Equinox I received 6 boxes of 36 lbs of cantaloupe and had to peel, cut, and process each one for our cantaloupe mint sorbet. That was already a large amount of fruit to cut, but on top of that, they were cute little organic cantaloupe, that slowly started to morph into annoying never-ending, why do you have to be so small, cantaloupe. During the whole process I kept thinking that there must be a joke about how cantaloupes can't elope, and how it would go.

After work I went to little home make lanterns. Well, I sat and watched Azure, Aviva and Dave make lanterns, while I ate homemade Thai food and drank champagne. But afterwards we all took a walk around green lake with other equinox celebrators. It was the perfect night, we wore t-shirts, a lot of people were out, and there were so many creative lanterns and costumes.

Cantaloupe x 500

Handmade lanterns

Aviva is pretty and that is a fish

Festive

The Coast

2009-09-10T21:59:00.000-07:00

I went to a three day wedding this weekend.

It was on the coast.

I arrived at the coast with Kailin

and Mathew

This lady and that speaker was the center of many dance parties

It was cold.

They are happy.

It was beautiful out there.

hum hum

2009-08-28T14:35:00.000-07:00

Rum Hee by Shugo Takumaru

makes me feel like I am flying a kite, then I am sitting on the kite, blowing bubbles into the air while fireflies are spinning and dancing around me, then the bubbles transform into GIANT white circular balloons, and I am frolicking through yellow peony fields holding the balloons by a purple string.

Also, I know I am about a decade behind the times, and I know that every time I hear this band playing on the speakers somewhere for the past decade, I always ask who they are. What I don't know is, why I haven't taken the time to ever listen to their whole album. This stuff always drives me crazy. KINGS OF CONVIENENCE are my new favorite bedtime band. Their music is really beautiful, and it makes me feel very nostalgic about the past, happy in the moment, and hopeful for the future.

Poached Nectarines

2009-08-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

So, instead of poached pears, I decided to make poached nectarines. Pears aren't in season now, and I saw a beautiful picture of a poached nectarine in a magazine that inspired me to make it. They are all over the farmers markets, so it was a pretty easy transition.

I just made a test batch and I am so excited to serve this dessert! After poaching the nectarines a layer of skin peels off effortlessly and the fruit reveals an incredibly colorful flesh that exposes soft tones of red and orange. The next step is to taste it and hope that it tastes just as elegant as it looks!

Dodge

2009-08-11T23:36:00.000-07:00

Hi. Today after work I got dinner with my friends Shannon and Paul, then, on my way home, I stopped by to watch a game of street dodge ball at Cal Anderson Park. It was awesome. I love street b games.

This Weekend

2009-08-09T21:35:00.001-07:00

I picked 2 lbs of blueberries!! For $1.25/lb!! I wish I had my camera with me at the time, there were a lot of little jewels around the farm, but I did manage to bring back a little blueberry bouquet for you.

My heirloom tomatoes are also going insane! The heat wave made them really happy, and they are popping up all over the place.

The cucumbers are popping up too, they were made from scratch {seeds}

They have funny ringlets that grab onto anything next to them

Including other ringlets.

AND at work today, I got a bunch of blackberries from Pacific Crest Farms. They were delicious and will probably be just as delicious in ICE CREAM.

Then I went home, and ate a yellow watermelon for the first time. It was sweet and hydrating and filling.

<3s. Many of them.

GUESS WHAT?!

2009-08-06T16:08:00.001-07:00

Guess what I get to do Thursday of next week?

I get to help fillet 60 lbs of salmon at the Loki house! Loki is a local fishing company that practices sustainable harvesting of wild fish. They are supposed to be a top notch fish company, and I get to go to the family's house and fillet fish for them!

That's not it...

I am also in charge of dessert for a fundraising event called Smoked and Pickled.

Here are some details:

Five-course smoked salmon & BBQ dinner to benefit the Vera Project. Featuring wild Alaskan coho salmon from Loki Fish Co., Molly Moon handmade ice cream, and Redhook beer-- come out and enjoy awesome food and drinks to benefit radical All-Ages Music & Art!

Menu:
Spicy Sangrita shooter w/ Ikura, creme fraiche, & chives
Summer grape & feta salad w/ meyer lemon olive oil
Roasted corn w/ chili-lime dressing
Dirty rice & bacon black beans w/ bourbon cornbread
Salmon smoked two ways or Vegetarian BBQ'd Mac n' Cheese
Poached pears w/ Molly Moon Ice Cream

I contacted the person in charge of this dinner, pitched the dessert idea, and now I will be playing with recipes for the poached pears, and hopefully I will find something that is easy and fast since there might be a lot of people at this event. I will make the ice cream at work so half of it is already done. I'm pretty excited about this! Whoooooo!!!!

Heat Wave

2009-08-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

During the record-breaking heat wave I........

Went swimming in a lake
Made hot hot caramel for our salted caramel ice cream at the hottest time of the hottest day ever recorded in Seattle. {There was no A.C.}
Tried not to sweat too much while making ice cream
Ate dinner from an amazing garden
Got a mosquito bite on my toe that inflamed, turned purple, and made it difficult for me to walk on for a couple days

That's all.

The weather

2009-07-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

The other day I saw a lightening and thunderstorm at sunset from afar. All I can say was that it was EPIC, and it would only look this way in Seattle.

YES.

WSSF

2009-05-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

In the winter I had a relationship with a lake. In the spring it was flour. Now it's summer and I'm having a fling with sugar crystals. Most days I feel like a sugar cube at the end of the day. It is sweet.

Croissants

2009-05-06T12:45:00.001-07:00

What do you do on a rainy day? Make croissants!

Yesterday was the perfect day for croissant making because it was raining, so I didn't feel the need to take advantage of the day by being outdoors. Instead, I decided to dedicate the day towards making croissants.

It's funny because the other night I wanted to make croissants for dessert with friends, and I thought I would just whip them up and then we would be able to eat them, but then our friend Kim heard that I was going to make croissants and was like "doesn't it take 8 hours to make?" I responded with "no way! Probably like an hour or two!" Then I looked at the directions and saw that it did in fact, take around 8 hours to make. Oops.

So I had to postpone it for a day, like yesterday, where I could dedicate a day to the croissant.

It actually wasn't that difficult to make, the only thing is that you have to wait for periods of 2 hours at a time, so that the dough can chill and rise and things like that. However, the payoff was huge! Puffy, flakey, doughey, buttery croissants formed in the oven, and when eaten hot and fresh out of the oven, it made every hour worth it.

That's three sticks of butter. That's right, THREE.

Butter square, on top of dough

Butter in an envelope. Want me to ship you some?

Shaping the croissant. Cute! They started to look like crabs to me after awhile.

Before going in the oven

Croissants! I should probably bake less on one sheet next time.

When pulled apart. They were chewy and doughey and oh so good!

pdx

2009-04-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I went to visit my friend Jade in portland. We went to a food cart festival. We ate a lot. Here are some pics of one of the best breakfasts I've had. I will try to re-create these biscuits one day.

Pine State sign

Fried Buttermilk Chicken Sandwich

Biscuits with mushroom gravy

All done!

Sometimes it's hard being a dog. You can't eat a chicken biscuit sandwich when you want to.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I baked two lemon bundt cakes for easter dinner dessert. I stressed a little because I was doubling the recipe, and at times I would forget what I just put in or how much of it because I was talking to other people at the same time. I think this supports the idea that baking is a very solitary hobby. Thank goodness there weren't any errors because the cake came out great! And thank you to the DeMeules' for a great easter dinner!

I used a lot of fresh lemon zest and fresh lemon juice

Eggs

Baking in a beautiful kitchen. Best feeling ever!

Pouring an enormous amount of batter into a bundt pan

Out of the oven

Lemon Bundt Cake with lemon glaze

Serving the cake

Thai Tom 101

2009-04-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

When eating Panang curry from Thai Tom's, never plan on saving some for later. It will only lead to disappointment.

Amy was in town

2009-04-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

My sister came to visit from New York. I always have a good time when she is in town because some of our days go like this:

Wake up, run errands, eat pho, visit a friend, go to oyster happy hour, go to a happy hour party at Capitol Club, go to eat pizza. Best day ever? Perhaps.

We also try to learn a new recipe or two from our mom or grandma. This time we made kimchee and dumplings. I didn't really take pics of our kimchee making, but I took some pics of our dumpling making session. Here they are!

Everything is made from scratch. Even the dough.

Kneading the dough

Rolling out dumpling dough

Making the dumpling

Dumplings...they are a symbol of luck and prosperity. Our family always makes dumplings before someone flies away as a way to wish them a safe and prosperous trip.

We also went to eat at Barrio. The happy hour prices were great, $2 tacos, $3 appetizers, AND a fried egg on nachos?!?!?!??! I might have to go there again in the not.so.distant.future.

Pulled pork and chicken adobo taco

Chorizo w/ egg and druken bean taco

Nachos with fried egg

I miss you mei mei! Move back to Seattle ASAP!

smells like scones

2009-03-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

I love it when I bake something, leave the house, and then come back and it still smells like freshly baked scones. Yummy!

German Chocolate Cake

2009-03-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

Last night was my dad's chinese birthday. I say "chinese" because he goes by the chinese calendar, which always confuses me and is never the same date every year. I guess I can just reference a chinese calendar every year, but sometimes he will also celebrate his american birthday. So I never really know when to expect a birthday celebration until the day before, when he declares it's going to be his birthday the next day.

This year I decided to bake him his favorite cake. German Chocolate. My dad is definitely the kind of person who likes to stick to the same things, so it wasn't a surprise when he said he wanted to get a German Chocolate cake.

This was my first double layered cake that I've ever made. It was pretty easy, but it definitely doesn't have that pretty cake look to it. However, it sure was tasty!

Breaking up some chocolate

Making the topping

German Chocolate Cake!

focaccia

2009-03-19T19:48:00.001-07:00

Last night my friend Kenny and I made two different loaves of focaccia from two different recipe books. The first recipe was from Alice Waters' cookbook, The Art of Simple Food, and the second recipe was from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. We also tried to make focaccia from The Silver Spoon, but we accidentally put twice as much yeast than we should have. Apparently dry and fresh yeast require different portions and that wasn't mentioned in the actual recipe, it was mentioned in the description which was confusing. So the dough smelled really yeasty, and didn't rise at all. We threw that batch away (I know, I hate wasting things), and baked the other two loaves in the oven.

Focaccia is just pizza dough, but instead of rolling it out in a circle, you spread it out in a rectangle pan, let it sit for 30 minutes so it can rise, and then form dimples in the dough with your fingers. However, there are a lot of different variations of pizza dough, so we tried two to start.

Making foccacia was an incredibly time-consuming project. The majority of time was spent waiting for the dough to rise on different occasions. First you would make the dough with yeast, let it sit for 2 hours, or until it doubled in size, then knead the dough, then let it sit for 30 minutes, then spread the dough out on the pan, then let it sit for 20 minutes, then bake it. We decided to top half of our focaccia with thin slices of tomato, parmesan cheese and rosemary. The other half was just cheese and rosemary.

The results were interesting. Mark Bittman's recipe came out more pizza looking, tasted more airy and salty than Waters' recipe. Waters' focaccia came out a lot more dense, I thought the flavor was more complex because rye flour was added to the recipe. Both turned out well, it's just a matter of preference as to what kind of bread you like.

Raw Ingredients

Spreading the dough out

Toppings

Before going in the oven

Bittman's focaccia

Waters' focaccia

MMMMMMMMMMM

Madison Market

2009-03-19T10:41:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to Madison Market to pick up some rye flour. When I was there, my mind totally exploded from all the bulk selection they had. My friends introduced me to the market some time ago, but I never really made it out there to go grocery shopping. I feel like I didn't really appreciate their selection until I realized how difficult it is to get organic rye flour, or organic cake flour. (which they sell as organic pastry flour where you add 2 tsp cornstarch to make cake flour *so awesome!*)

The best part was that I was able to buy 3 servings worth of rye flour for the focaccia recipe for $0.45 (!!!)

I am going to buy pastry flour to make pound cake. It's gonna taste waaaaaay better than baking from a box of gross pilsbury cake flour and probably cost almost the same!

I love bulk! I love Madison Market!

Cornbread

2009-03-16T18:48:00.001-07:00

I think everyone can agree that cornbread is one of those sweet/savory treats that is just great on its own or with a meal. It makes any meal more festive as a side!

Even kids love it!

With honey

Fresh out of the oven

My camera died, so I used my friend Aviva's iphone to document this yummyness. Thank goodness for technology these days! Thanks Aviva!

Just keep baking

2009-03-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

After reading Julie and Julia, I fantasized about performing a project like that on my own.

{Julie is a girl who decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child's Cookbook in a year}

I never did, because of a list of things, like time, money, and thinking it would make me fat...but those are all just silly excuses. Soooooo, I decided to take on a project kind of like Julie and Julia, only I will be baking delicious treats every night insead of cooking meals. I've found it much more economical since I use a lot of the same basic ingredients, and then I can freeze the leftovers or give it easily to friends. I've already accomplished three nights in a row!

As much as I love cooking, I feel like anyone can do it. The secret is salt, cream, garlic, and onion and *poof* you have a mouthwatering meal. But I feel like baking is different. It's a science, it's specific, it's challenging, it's creative, and you really see your results. I feel like I enter a world of concentration, manual labor, and instant gratification once I am able to see my beautiful craftsmanship at the end of the day. It makes me giddy when I peek into the oven and see shapes form, browning on the top of the dough, and then to also be able to taste everything right out of the oven is just a dream come true!

On Monday I decided to make soft pretzels. They turned out so cute! Here are some pics of the process:

Making the dough

Poaching the dough

In the oven

Before going in the oven

Whooo Soft Preztels!

Tuesday I made beer battered cheese bread. My loaf of bread broke apart when I tried to get it out of the pan. I was sad, but then I ate it and didn't feel sad anymore. It was SOOOOO good. I am also going to make cheesy rolls instead of a loaf the next time I make it. I really enjoy the buttery crust, and I think that if I can cover more surface area with the butter crust the world might be a better place.

Since this didn't come out as well as I would have liked, there aren't very many pictures.

Beer-battered cheese bread

and today I made blueberry scones:

Placing blueberries on the dough

Blueberry scones!

I've been really happy with the treats I've made so far. I will update as I go along on my new adventures exploring the wonderful world of baking. Happy eating!

Even Better

2009-02-26T10:11:00.000-08:00

{this american life podcast + walk around green lake + clear blue skies + sun + SNOW} = PERFECTION!

Equation

2009-02-26T10:10:00.001-08:00

{this american life podcast + walk around green lake} = Perfection.

One evening

2008-12-10T19:04:00.000-08:00

When I sharpened these guys:

I got this in return!

What was China like?

2008-12-02T16:27:00.001-08:00

China had Love Birds:

Mao:

A Great Wall:

Man-made lakes for one woman:

A spray-painted dog:

Bubbles!.....

In Fraggle Rock-like places:

2,000 year old ruins:

Seahorses on a stick:

Minnie Mouse fans:

Beijing Crabs:

Cute Garden Kitty:

The Bund at night:

Pretty sunsets:

Farmers collecting grass to feed the water buffalo:

Water Buffalo:

Pretty Mountains near a river:

My favorite part was the countryside. It was the most beautiful and serene. Reed Flute Cave was the most magical. The rock formations were wise, systematic and grande. I couldn't even fathom the amount of history that existed between each centimeter of formation. I guess historical is a good way to describe the whole trip. Yeah, historical.

2008-10-24T05:44:00.001-07:00

Sometimes it's sad to think that all we have from our past are bits and pieces of dreams stored in our minds.

China

2008-09-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

Guess who is going to China?!

Me!

Woooooooooooooooooo!!!!! In October. Wooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

Things I love about Seattle

2008-08-25T22:46:00.000-07:00

Bachelorette Parties
Decatur Island
-Crabbing
-Deer
-Sheep
Psychics
Greenlake
Working Out
Fresh Tomatoes
Woodworking
Little Home
Newborn Babies
Feathers in my hair
Adventure School Parties
Lake Tapps
-Sea Biscuit
Madison Beach
Capitol Hill
Rib Eye BBQ
KEXP
Endless friendships
Abundance
Sun
Rain rain rain
Apple Trees
Thai Tom
Fluffy Plant
Waxing Boats
Volleyball Tryouts

har har har

2008-07-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

last night Rob compared me to a Kobe beef cow.

Razzmatazzy

2008-06-16T05:10:00.000-07:00

WHOA. This trip has been crazy busy and relaxing at the same time. We have lived in Barcelona for three weeks now, and I think we have a pretty good feel for the city. It is starting to get hot here, last night was the summer solstice, and it was crazy over here. People light fireworks all over the city just on the streets, I had to wear ear plugs because some of the fireworks were so loud and would come from nowhere. We went over to one of Giorgos' friends house for a house party, met many people, ate really good food, and then headed down to the beach where all the parties where. The place was packed, and people were shooting fireworks everywhere, you really had to watch where you were going or where people were lighting or you could walk into them.

Highlights of this trip so far have been:

Seeing Radiohead at the Forum!

The Forum was a really great place to see them, and the show was not sold out, so it wasn´t too crowded. You could go to the back and be in open space and still see the band. We made it close to the front side of the stage for awhile and watched them rock out. They had great stage presence, they were dancing and getting down to their songs, Thom Yorke played a lot of different instruments, and the stage design was really impressive.

Going to visit an Okupa up in the mountains.

There is a slightly new movement spreading through Spain where people move into abandoned houses in protest of involving themselves in the capitalization of society. People will often buy multiple houses, abandon some in order to make it more difficult for others to buy from the market and as a result the prices will inflate. The okupas are a result of people protesting this idea, and some are completely self sustaining. The one we went to, grew their own food, had solar energy, and one woman even had a baby a few weeks ago completely naturally at the okupa. We saw the baby, she was so cute! The owners or government can kick these people out, but the last time they tried with the okupa we went to visity, there were human barriers, and one man chained himself to the house. They make good relations with the town, allow people to visit on Sundays, where they make a really big lunch, and sell some of their produce and bread so that the word can spread throughout the city. The lunch we had was SO good. They made veggie paella in a huge pan where two people had to mix the rice at one point, a salad, a veggie puree, and soy yogurt. It was interesting and inspiring to see people actually living off the earth and that it can be done in a functional and efficient manner.

Eating Croquettes.

This was my new favorite food before I got sick. It tastes like really rich chicken cordon bleu only it has ham in it, and is a fried doughey ball of goodness.

Going north to Cadaques with Jade and Nicole.

We went to a beach town near the French border. It was a really small town that Dali used to live in during the summer time. First we took a train and went to the Dali museum, he was a very eccentric man, and his art was a myriad of good and bad. Then we took a bus into town, found a hotel and layed out on the beach. The beach was stoney, but there was sand where the water was. Why is that? The mediterranean was warm and felt really refreshing. We had a big seafood paella dinner, then watched the last part of the shoot-out between Spain and Italy in the street and went home to sleep. We were all so exhausted from the traveling, the museum, the searching for a hostel in really hot weather, then the sunning on the beach. The next day Jade has to leave early to greet Eric in Barcelona, so Nicole and I stayed for the day. We ate a really big breakfast at our hostel, which ended up being really nice with fresh fruit, breads, juice, cereal and yogurt. We walked around and found some really cute LeSportSac bags, bought them and then went to the beach to transfer all our stuff into the bags. This made us really happy. When I travel I try to see what I can live without, and the past three days I have been wearing the same outfit. It makes everything much more simple. But I was carrying a tote, and I've been wanting a light small day pack so this purchase was perfect. I was trying to see how much I could fit into the bag, and it was never ending!!!! I will take it with me to San Sebastion. Then Nicole and I found a wine store that was selling sangria for 1.90 euros/liter. We bought that and pizza bread, went to the beach, made cups with a small water plastic water bottle and drank and ate our lunch on the beach. It was a nice day then we had to go back to Barcelona for the summer solstice. We continued to talk about how cool our bags were and how we could improve them to be more efficient as far as packing goes.

Now Nicole has left, Jade, Eric and I are going to the East of Spain to a beach town called San Sebastian. I am excited to see the landscape. We will take a 8 hour train ride there. Then I will head back to Barcelona so that I can catch my plane on Friday. Eric and Jade will continue to tour Europe.

It's lunch time now!!!!

Pictures make the world go round!

2008-06-10T09:14:00.001-07:00

We live like squatters. It is fun.

Hologram Gaudi gives the thumbs up

HOOKA!!

Best room ever! How can you go wrong with white arcs?

Inside La Pedrera, aka snake vertebrae:

mushroom

Ice Cream!

Jade is silly and that is a 1000 piece simpson´s puzzle we are working on:

being asian

2008-06-10T08:19:00.001-07:00

Travelling abroad with another asian girl has been interesting and frustrating at the same time. I understand that people generalize cultures and race since that is the main distinguishing factor between people of the world, but at times it becomes the only thing that people see and it is not even an accurate presentation of me as a person.

This weekend was a fine example of such things. We met a few people who would ask us where we were from and we would say ¨United States¨ Then they would say ¨But you do not look like it, where is your roots¨ Then I would say ¨I am Chinese¨ Then they say ¨from China?¨ and I would say, ¨No United States¨ Then they would say ¨But why are your eyes that way?¨ Then I would say ¨Because my roots are from China¨ Then they would say ¨But you know English, no?¨ Then I would say ¨Because I am American!¨ It would go on and on for awhile and then explaining that Jade was half-japanese and half polish was a whole different story.

Then they would adopt us for the night and we would go out to eat tapas and drink many different digestifs, and go dancing and find that we had much more in common than they would think. They ask funny questions like ¨San Francisco?! Is it like the movies? Up and down on the train?¨ Or they would find out I am originally from Seattle and they would say ¨Seattle?! Grudge! Nirvana! Soundgarden! Alice n Chains!¨ Then we would talk about music and they find it amusing to hear of some bands they don´t know and amusing to know that we know the same bands and then we would whistle together (for Peter Bjorn and John). At some point in the night one of the locals said ¨We are having a beautiful moment together, music brings cultures together! Salut!¨ And drinks go all around.

Highlights so far have been:

Meeting an international crowd for a night that consisted of two Polish girls, one Japanese girl, one italian girl, a saudi arabian, and a catalan.

Going out dancing until 6am both Saturday and Sunday night, both not on purpose and both equally surprising when we left the club and the sun was out.

Seeing a lot of Gaudi´s art.

Going out with locals to restaurants, eating tapas, drinking wine, frangelica, tallat, and other digestifs.

Hanging out with Giorgos and his friend Julian at the apartment and smoking apple flavored tabacco out of the hooka and discovering Devendra Banhart (why haven´t I listened to him before this?!)

WHAT.

2008-06-05T05:20:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, Barcelona is totally wizard! I have only spent one whole day here, but I really love it already.

Jade and I met up with Nicole at her hostel in Barri Gotic. Nicole suggested we go to the restuarant around the corner that she was curious about. She claimed that it was where all the locals ate which made me really excited. Sitting in that restaurant surrounded by catalan speaking neighbors, where everyone was smoking, where we were drinking wine and ordering tapas, finally made me realize that I was actually in Europe in Barcelona with two great girlfriends. I felt truly happy and lucky to have such an experience.

The next day we set out in the city and had a Gaudi day. We went to his church Sagrada Familia, which is still being built. It was grande and very different from anything I´ve seen before. His art is very Tim Burton-ish (or Tim Burton is Gaudi-ish), a lot of his inspiration comes from nature and it became very apparent when we went to go see La Padrera, a huge building originally designed for rich families back in the day. We went into the museum and the inside of the building was AMAZING. There were brick archways all over, it felt as though we were inside a snake vertebrae. I loved it so much. I took a lot of pictures and I will post soon. The rooftop deck was incredible as well. A lot of crazy mosaic stuctures that also function as water buildings and electrical huts for the whole building. Tall knights that serve as chimneys, it was all so inspiring, i had a field day with pictures. We sat up on the roof and took silly pictures, Nicole drew for a while, Jade and I sat in the sun and people watched.

Later that night we headed out in the neighborhood, Gracia, where Jade and I are staying with our friends Amalia and Giorgos. Both of them are out of town right now but they are incredibly generous people and invited us to stay at their place even though they are not there. I cannot thank them enough for their hospitality. The apartment is really minimalist right now since they just moved in. I am sleeping on a mattress on the floor, and living out of my backpack once again. I really like this kind of lifestyle, it is fun and uncomplicated, easy and continues to prove to me how little I really need to maintain a happy lifestyle. Amalia and Giorgos´ apartment feels very European. Long hallways, tile floors, big windows, sun coming in from all directions of the flat. A nice balcony where we can see a fountain on the corner of the street and pretty apartment buildings all around us.

I am having so much fun right now, Nicole left to go to Morroco, and says that she will be back later in the month. I am excited to hear of her travels, and my mission now is to be able to find some hot spots to take her to when she gets back.

Jade and I are planning on going to Park Guell today, another Gaudi design, but it is cloudy and looks as though it might rain, so plans may change. Maybe we will just hang out and cook some good food and drink some cheap wine.

Fotos coming soon!

multi-city tour

2008-06-03T01:51:00.000-07:00

I am in Portugal right now in the Star Alliance lounge killing time between my lay-over into Barcelona.

These past two weeks have been kind of crazy. I started in Seattle, saw a bunch of friends, saw The Chop play at the Comet tavern (they played so well), then headed over into Phili, stayed in Wilmington, visited Washington D.C., Philidelphia, New York and now I am headed into Barcelona. It has been great seeing all of my loved ones, and spending quality time with all of them. I feel productive in a different way, and at times it is exhausting, but really fun at the same time. Now I am meeting Jade who I have not seen in a long time, and there may be a possibility of seeing my friend Nicole tonight, she is in Barcelona as well right now. How exciting!! I have no expectations for this new city...I haven´t really researched it, all I really know is that it will be raining the majority of time this week.

Thanks to everyone who housed us, showed us around, took us out, Rob and I had a great time, and it was because of everyone involved in our multi-city tour of the U.S.A.!

Updates Part Deux

2008-05-09T15:38:00.001-07:00

So I can officially sing and strum "Anyone but You" by the Moldy Peaches, and "Sea of Change" by Catpower. KEWL!

I had a bake sale at The Chop's show last Friday. I made 72 muy bonita cupcakes {ALL BY MYSELF}. There were about 6 left at the end of the night. I dropped them in my car on the way home, so I never got to eat one :(

I am making fun cards and envelopes out of construction paper. Here are some samples. They are muy linda!

Tonight Rob and I are having our birthday dinner at Kitaro with all our friends. Then we are going to have beach bonfire at Ocean Beach! We were born 7 days apart. Go Taurus!

Rob's bday cake last night:

And yesterday I saw this on my way from biking to get Vietnamese Sandwiches:

This is my baby and my baby daddy in ~15 years from now

Updates

2008-04-24T14:54:00.001-07:00

Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches {with} milk are my current food obsessions. I switch up the jams to keep it fun and interesting.

Kimya Dawson is my current FAVORITE recording artist. I have committed myself into learning some of her songs on the guitar.

I took a motorcycle class and learned how to defensively drive a scooter. I am on my way towards purchasing a YAMAHA VINO, so I can scoot around the city. I stare and admire scooters of all shapes and sizes on the road.

Irises are my new favorite flower. Stargazers used to be, but I've found that they are too high maintenance and smelly. The iris is simple, classy, and contains good color schemes.

My new mantra in life is to find art in every day living. I've found it makes everything much more interesting, fun, and exciting. Plus San Francisco is one of the best places on the earth to start such thing.

Rob wants me to read Catch-22 for his birthday present. I am on page 52. It's picking up.

Barcelona is my new favorite city. I will be heading there with one of my besties, Jade, in JUNE!

Here are some pictures of art in every day life:

Making cupcakes for Shannon's Birthday

I get to see this everytime I bike/walk through the park. It is the best:

BAKE SALE!!!!!! They were raising money so that they could go to six flags. They were so cute and professional. "Would you like a drink with that cookie?" Opens up a cooler and displays all the drinks they have for sale.

Boxed bottomless sake. Coach {that's the owner's name} teaches you how to properly drink from the box. A little salt on the corner and you're ready to go! It felt so counter intuitive, but I loved drinking from the box!

James from The Chop preparing for a show at El Rio.

The Chop's 15 passenger van. It is the kewlest. My favorite part is the quilted leather seating.

USA

2008-03-13T13:31:00.001-07:00

I am back in the states!

And since pictures speak louder than words, here are a bunch of pics from the last leg of my trip:

Playing football in Ipanema

Me, at the beach

Farmers Market

Samba on the train

On top of Rio De Janeiro

Meat on a stick, the Brazilian way

Warriors in Ilha Grande

Ilha Grande

I am sad that my trip is over, but I'm also happy that I'm back in SF. It almost seems as though I never left, and that frightens me at times, but I know that I have grown in many ways, and will continue to do so in different forms and environments. I'll be updating my blog about various events. It'll be a creative outlet for me. I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and that you will come back and visit me!

An old post I forgot to post. It's called FOODIES

2008-03-04T17:11:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite things about Buenos Aires is it's design. Not only do they make great food, I also love the asthetics of a lot of the restaurants and shops here.

A great example is the restaurant Sudestada. I love the whole look of the restaurant, and the food is pretty good as well. The first time I went the food was really spicy, and then the second time it was a little bland.

The lunch menu. You punch holes when you order!

The best dumpling dough I've had after my grandma and mom. It was definitely hand-made and had a good consistency.

Veggie curry. I was excited because I thought MAYBE it would be similar to my favorite Thai restaraunt Thaiger room, but nope, it was bland.

Fried rice. Way more flavor than the veggie curry.

Nice large windows make any room brighter.

Ilha Grande

2008-02-25T11:40:00.000-08:00

We are in Ilha Grande now. It took us 3 hours on a bus, and then 1.5 hours on a boat to reach the island. It is beautiful and isolated. There seems to be only one town, the rest of the island is just beach upon beach upon beach.

Yesterday we went on a 4 hour hike (roundtrip) to the most exotic beach I have been to. There were maybe 10 people on the whole beach, and both sides of the beach had a river that met the ocean. The sand was so fine, the fresh water mixed with the salt water and created the clearest, greenish, bluish, water ever. It was grand and magical. All I could see in the background was a mountain, and lush green trees everywhere. There were times on the hike where we heard really scary noises in the middle of the jungle, that we later found out were monkeys. I felt as though I was in LOST at times.

We had a whole day of playing on the beach, running around on the sand, building a fish bowl out of sand, collecting small fish to put in the fish bowl, rubbing black sand over our bodies in order to look like warriors, climbing a rock and jumping off of it, floating down the river as the currents built up when the ocean met with the river, and then swimming around in the ocean. We left right before a storm started and ended up walking back in a torrential downpour. It was ironic because on the way to the beach we were telling Kenny about our experience at Iguazu and then the exact same thing happened again on our way back. We were soaking wet when we made it back to town, and the town was going crazy due to a soccer game, I think they won because people were screaming and running down the streets.

Time is really moving fast and slow at the same time. My trip is almost over. I have a week left and can´t believe it will all be over so soon. I am excited to get back to SF, there are so many things about America that I took for granted, and as much as I love travelling and exploring new situations and places, I am very happy to get back to what is familiar, to my friends and family, and to a city that I call home. I´m sure that it will be bittersweet, but the good thing is, there will always be more time and places to visit in the future.

OY!

2008-02-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

We are in Rio De Janeiro and it is awesome! We met up with three friends from college, Kenny, Joey, and Ellen who flew in from the states a couple days ago, and we are renting a sweet penthouse apartment in Ipanema. It is great.

Our days have consisted of going to the beach in Ipanema, eating really great food, drinking caprihinas, and wandering around the city. I have found that the brazilians really cater towards making life easier and better on the beach. People are constantly walking by selling cheese on sticks, frozen acai smoothies with granola, biscuits, drinks, jewelry, and sarongs. It´s super. I have been really impressed with the Uruguian sandwich stand that grills all types of meats, and then garnishes the sandwiches with really great salsa/grilled onions.

The people watching on the beach is the best too. I can stay for hours on the beach and just watch everyone walk by, watch people get knocked down by the strong waves in the ocean, and watch the groups of men playing a version of hacky sack, only it´s with a soccer ball. Everyone is really attractive and fit and tan.

Today there is a soccer game. We were going to try to get tickets to watch the game at the stadium, but it´s really hot and it would probably be really unpleasant. Instead we are going to watch the game at a bar, and I bet it will be just as exciting.

SUPER TIMES!

Bomb diggity dogg

2008-02-12T18:55:00.000-08:00

E-young-gee

Stuffed crab shells, THE BOMB!

Sequencia!

One of the many beautiful beaches we went to

A whole leg of lamb

Oyster man

Group pics:

Azure and my 9.5 year anniversary pic

Subway at the mall before watching Juno, a little splash of American culture

Caiprihnia

Risotto Frutos Do Mar

Surfer hair, Vivian says it's natural

Sometimes he would try to jump out the window

Ridin' Dirty

2008-02-11T11:43:00.003-08:00

The bus rides down here haven't been so great. The Brazilian buses are designed differently than the Argentinian buses and only have one level. We were trying to get out of Porto Alegre into Florianopolis and could only find seats on one bus that had three seats left. My seat was located directly across the bathroom. GREAT. Trying not to think about it too much I sat down and admired the lush green fields of banana plants, trees, and animals. The scenery on the way up to Florianopolis was extremely pretty and made the bus ride a little more tolerable.

In the middle of the bus ride a man went to the bathroom. He didn't close the door all the way, and while he was going to the bathroom, the door flung open. We were on a really bumpy road, and the door continued to swing back and forth. He was sitting down on the toilet and couldn't catch the door right away. I really didn't know what to do at that point. I mean, I know that I should have just closed the door for him, but that would have involved me looking directly at him, and I didn't want to do that, so I just stared straight ahead. I was so uncomfortable. A few seconds later, he was able to close the door, finished his business and went back to his seat. About an hour later, the three year old girl sitting in front of me started throwing up ON the aisle next to my feet. I didn't really understand why her mom didn't use a bag for her to vomit into. The aisle in front of me was covered with vomit and that happened twice. The second time the mom passively wiped the floor with a plastic bag that she could have used for the little girl to directly vomit into. I looked at my watch and noticed that there were only 4 more hours left of the bus ride. Yes!

Then, towards the end of the bus ride we were stuck in traffic that made us 2.5 hours late. There were two teens sitting across from me who were continually playing "Ridin Dirty" by Chamillionaire on their telepone speakers. Looking back, I find this very humorous because I was, in a way, "ridin dirty."

Water World

2008-02-10T13:55:00.000-08:00

We are in Florianapolis, and it is R.A.D! We are staying with a Brazilian named Vivian whom we met through couchsurfing. She is a really great host and is the owner of a cockerspaniel named E-yong-gee (i have no idea how to spell his name) who is amazing. He looks like an 80s surfer (for reals), is full of energy, and loves to swim. We went out to the southern part of the island, visited three beaches, a lake, and swam in a pool. It was a very water oriented day. We've also been introduced to many great fried foods, and Sequencia, which is a dish that consists of many types of seafood brought out sequencially. We ate on the beach then went swimming in the ocean and layed out in the sun.

Florianapolis is an incredibly beautiful island. I'm so glad that we've had the opportunity to see it through the eyes of a local, it makes the experience here so much more authentic. Tonight we are going out to Samba on the beach, and then out to Mediterranean food!

Uruguay

2008-02-06T12:48:00.001-08:00

We are in Uruguay.

Last night we stayed in Montevideo, walked around, checked out the boardwalk, and went to a casino. I lost my money, of course, but at least now I can say I have gambled in Montevideo. Mike said that people might mistake that as Monte Carlo, and then I can also say that I have gambled there too (we were there for new years 2006). Everyone here drinks hecka matte, Ive never heard the song, final countdown more times in two days than down here, and the bus drivers are as mike calls them "dudes" They have mullets, sometimes dont button their shirts all the way, place already lit cigarettes in door slots so that they can smoke them when they come back outside, and drive like maniacs.

Right now we are in Punta Del Diablo a very small town on the coast of Uruguay. We found a place, but apparently there will be many mosquitoes at night. Mike and Azure were here in December and Mike was bitten 100 times in one night. I am extremely allergic to mosquito bites, and am a little anxious about tonight, but Im going to DEET up and cover myself as much as I can. We shall see what happens.

Tomorrow we head up towards Florianapolis for a few days, then to Rio De Janeiro for two weeks. Its going to be extremely exciting to experience a new culture and country. I was there for one day with Rob, and enjoyed it then, so Im excited to go back.

GO GIANTS!

2008-02-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

WOOT! What a fun superbowl!

After a day of exploring Palermo, I met up with Azure, Mike, Jim and Penny at Las Cholas. Jim and Penny are Azure´s uncle and aunt from California who are on a cruise through South America. Their last stop was in Buenos Aires, so we were able to see them during their time here.

We were invited to watch the superbowl on their cruise ship, in the theatre, on the big screen, with drinks and refreshments. We took a taxi to the dock and had to go through customs in order to board the ship. When we actually got to the ship, it was GINORMOUS, and super fancy. Jim and Penny took us on a tour and we found out that there were seven floors, an elevator, at least four really nice restaurants, a pool, three hot tubs, a small tennis court, etc., etc. Anyways, it was a really nice ship and felt like a huge fancy mall instead of a ship. We checked out their suite and their balcony, then went down to the theatre to watch the Superbowl.

Unfortunately we did not get any of the commercials, and the commentary was difficult to hear, but the game was really good, Azure and I had many different conversations with Penny, Mike was chatting it up with Jim, and it was a great time.

It was even better that the team I decided to root for won! WOOT!

Few truths to traveling

2008-02-03T10:24:00.000-08:00

I have found only a few truths during my time of traveling:

#1 - I get homesick
I always equate home with food. My staple meal in the states is Neoguri. Neoguri is a type of Korean Top Ramen only it consists of udon noodles and a very spicy seafood broth. It is both delicious and addicting. I have it probably at least once a week.

Last week I started craving it, and thought that it was a sign of me getting homesick (along with the feeling of missing Rob terribly). I vowed to hunt it down once we were back in Buenos Aires.

Within the first few hours of arriving, having not showered for four days (there was no running water in Piramides) I left Tom and Maya´s apartment with a mission to find Neoguri. Conveniently, Chinatown was located just 12 blocks away. The mission wasn´t too difficult, I found it right away thanks to Talya´s advice as to which store to go to for a good ramen selection. I was so excited when I was able to hold that package of ramen near my heart. I shared my glee with Azure, Mike, and Talya by making each of them their very own bowls of Neoguri, so that they too could enjoy and experience the wonders of Neoguri.

#2 - You´re gonna get dirty

I´ve given up on dirt. I´m friends with dirt now. I almost didn´t want to take a shower once I got to Tom and Maya´s since I had already gone a few days without one, but I knew that was socially unacceptable. I wear the same outfits over and over and over and over. My sneakers are covered in dirt. The overnight buses are never guaranteed to be clean. Azure turned on the vent in our car after we were on the dirt roads for a few hours and dirt came spewing into the car. My fingernails constantly have dirt under them. There´s just no point in fighting it.

#4 - Everything seems much more exotic that it really is.

I always felt as though I was missing out on an experience whenever I read about other peoples travel experiences or how great and exotic it must have been. I think I idealize a lot of places and situations. I remember watching a segment about Iguazu Falls on Planet Earth. It looked mystical, grande, and awesome. I was really looking forward to visiting it. When we arrived to the Argentinian side of the falls, it was the most touristy park I´ve ever been to.

Buenes Aires is a great city, but when you´re sitting in the cafe, watching others pass, living their lives, it´s not really any different than being anywhere else. Everyone is just living day by day, and I´m lucky that I´m able to witness some of those days, but I guess that I realized that once you´ve visited an area the mystery is no longer there and it seems much more ¨normal¨ than I had envisioned it.

#4 - There will always be highs and lows

The most positive thing to do is to embrace those times. There have been times when I feel as though I am on top of the world, there is nowhere I would rather be, and nothing else I would rather be doing, I feel as though I am living my life and there is a great feeling of accomplishment, then the next minute I´m on the verge of tears due to frustration.

I am traveling with some of my closest friends and even now after almost ten years of friendship, they cannot read my mind. While communication is not my strongest asset and I continue to struggle with it, I have found many circumstances that have forced me to say what is truly on my mind. It has become therapeutic in many ways, and I honestly don´t know why it´s taken me so long to actually practice this.

I believe our friendships have become stronger because of it and that I have grown a little more. I know that if there is any lesson to take back with me from this experience, it is that openly communicating with others is always the only way to resolve any issue, and an important practice to maintain a happy, healthy and stress-free life.

Puerto Piramides

2008-01-30T06:21:00.000-08:00

Hola Chicos! I'm sorry I've neglected you for so long, but I promise this post will be worth the wait!

We drove up Peninsula Valdes into a small town called Puerto Piramides on Monday, I think. The drive was quick and we had to pay to enter the national park. This park was HUGE, and it felt like we were in desert. We made it to the penguin reserve and watched the penguins waddle, nap, swim, and poop. They were so cute and they were not scared of humans at all. There were many baby penguins shedding their baby fur and feeding with their mothers.

We decided to stay in Piramides for 2 nights. I guess this is a big deal there because there are about 300 people who live there, and the center of town consists of about 5 restaurants all located on the same block.

The next morning we woke up bright and early so that we might be able to spot some orcas. We drove towards Puento Norte where all the sea lions were, and where the orca whales go to feed on the seals. The drive took about 1.5 hours, and we were greeted with so many animals early in the morning. I wanted to practice my stick shift abilities, so I drove the whole day, and I felt as though we were in the middle of the Australian outback. There were only dirt or gravel roads, and dry landscape all around us. We saw llamas, emus, sheep, horses, foxes, armadillos, and even drove right up next to a jack rabbit as it ran it's fastest for about 10 seconds. We found out that jack rabbits can run up to 60kph. Mike had his fancy camera and we were definitely wildlife photographers for a day.

Later that night we went left the town and went onto a dirt road to see the stars. I've never seen the stars so bright in my life. I saw the milky way at it's milkiest, and a crystal clear blue comet. It was amazing. Mike took a bunch of photos of the stars.

Here are some photos from the day:

Llama sighting! We were so excited when we saw our first batch of Llamas, we stopped the car, ran out towards them and took pictures. Little did we know that they would be EVERYWHERE.

PENGUINOS!!!!!

Azure and a very friendly armadillo

Pretty sign

A herd of baby emus have blocked our path. They started out running away from us very quickly, then eventually slowed down, and then many minutes later, figured out that they had to get off the path in order to get away from us. They weren't the brightest of all the animals we met that day:

MONEY SHOT!!!!!
ORCA ATTACKS SEA LIONS!!!!!!

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Ha ha, just kidding, that was a picture of a picture. (don't worry I had permission to take that photo)

This is what we could have seen had we been at the beach we were at in March or April. Bummer.

Puerto Madryn

2008-01-28T04:49:00.000-08:00

We made it into Puerto Madryn a couple of days ago, and have been walking around town, going to the art fairs, and sitting next to the beach eating fried foods and drinking beers. This town reminds me a lot of the beach towns in Los Angeles. It´s a completely different scene here.

We arrived early in the morning, greasy and dirty from the overnight bus. There was poor ventilation on the bus, and I told Azure and Mike when we got of the bus, that I felt really gross. Az responded with ¨Why? Is it because you´re covered in other people´s sweat?¨ I found that really funny and completely accurate. Everything was closed and the town had an eerie feel to it since no one was up and around. We had a hard time finding a vacant room, so Az and I stayed at a cafe while Mike walked around town. I started to panic a little because I was so tired and so dirty, and I really just wanted to sleep. Luckily, Mike came back with the thumbs up, hooked us up with a clean hostel, we passed out for a few hours, then showered and went out to check out the town. It was a completely different scene than when we had left it. Tons of people were out on the beach, music was playing everywhere, cars where driving along the boardwalk, people were walking on the boardwalk, restaurants were open and serving food. I liked it a lot more the second time around.

Today we are renting a car, and going to drive up north to see the penguins and orca whales. I´ve seen a lot of pictures of the whales coming up on shore attacking seals. I think it would be really kewl to see an attack like that, but at the same time it might make me want to throw up. Who knows. I´ll definitely have my camera out in case anything like that happens.

Fun for all

2008-01-27T08:30:00.000-08:00

Mike and I bought bracelets at the art fair:

Food pieces for Azure:

Magestic Mountains

Heart of Plum

Caught in the act

Of buying Helado

Group swim in FREEZING water

skipping rocks

House of deception

Inside house of deception

Road we drove on/learned stick shift

Why do bees suddenly appear.....(music note, music note)

EL FRIO

I am a Latin Sta( j )ion

2008-01-25T09:02:00.000-08:00

Aw man, guess who´s super sore from the hike? Yup. I can hardly walk, I wobble around and there are many little hills in this little town.

Tonight we leave for Porte Madryn. It will be a 16 hour bus ride towards the east coast of Argentina. I´m not sure what it will be like at all, and am looking forward towards the unknown, yet sad about leaving Bariloche because I love it so much.

Last night we had a BBQ on the balcony of the Hostel. Juanny Depp BBQ´d Chorizos and we had Choripan. It was delicious. I´m trying to not eat meat right now, but I couldn´t resist, so now I am going to try to go 3 days at a time, have a little bite of meat, and then go another 3 days or so. It´s difficult to do this in a country that considers vegetarianism as someone who doesn´t eat beef.

I´ve also noticed that this country is obsessed with Jamon. They will put Jamon into anything and everything. On the bus they serve Jamon and Queso sandwiches, then have a slice of Jamon on the side with queso, and then have jamon in the rice, and then have jamon in the salad. There are billboards advertising thick slabs of jamon, and at restaurants they will serve appetizers with the choice of seven different kinds of jamon. They put jamon into raviolis, sauces, pizzas, and probably chocolate. I actually haven´t seen that, but I wouldn´t be surprised.

We´ve had a lot of down time here, just lounging and hanging out, going swimming in the lake, going shopping, and eating. It´s been a vacation from our vacation. I´ve purchased some lama leg warmers (YES!) and am very excited to sport them back in SF when the weather is cold, or maybe even in Tahoe.

The title on this blog is a tribute to our hostel host Juanny Depp. He says many funny things, and once described himself as a Latin Stajion, I guess he meant to say Stallion, but in Argentina, they pronounce ¨ll¨ as ¨j¨

OH MY GAD

2008-01-23T13:06:00.000-08:00

OH MY GAD.....I heart heart heart heart heart to infinity Hostel 1004. It is the best hostel in the universe. Really. It is. The views are amazing, the whole environment is calming, the people staying here are social and intelligent and interesting and fun, it´s clean, has a huge kitchen, and is just great great great great great.

Last night our hostel hosts organized a "full moon splash." Juan, who I also call Juanny Depp, because he looks kind of like Johnny Depp, told us about the event during dinner. As soon as the sun set, which is around 10:30-11pm, we were to head down to the lake, and go for a swim. Sounds good to me! About 20 of us headed down to the lake, and another hostel host, told us that in Bariloche, it is tradition to swim with your friends on the full moon. On the count of three, we all rushed into the water, expecting it to be freezing, but it really wasn´t that bad at all. The night was warm, the full moon out, and everyone was super giddy from the experience. The same night I met Rhonda, a girl from Australia who is taking 3 months off to travel before starting her job as an Environmental Engineer, and Katy, a girl from Portland, who just finished 2 years in Americorps and decided to take time off to travel through Argentina for 3 months as well. Katy was heading up to a Refugio the next day up in Cerro Catedral, and we decided to tag along for 1 of her 3day hike.

The next day we met up at 10am. Dressed in a tshirt and shorts, I was expecting a 3 hour hike from the base of the mountain, and 3 hours back. Should be hot right? I guess I should ask for more information next time, or just pack a sweatshirt since I was carrying a backpack. We caught a bus up to Cerro Catedral, also a ski resort, and were informed that we had to take the ski lift up to the top of the mountain, then start the 3 hour hike to the Refugio. Ok. We bought our tickets, and headed up the mountain. I was enjoying the view and was getting really excited about not having to hike up all this mountain, until I started to realize that we had to take another ski lift to the very top of the mountain. It was then that I started to notice the weather changing a little, the wind started to get colder, vegetation siezed to grow at one point, and rain clouds started forming. Hm. Then I started to get really really cold and noticed that children were yelling "frio! frio!"

We made it to the top of the mountain, I tried to find a sweatshirt shop, there weren´t any, and Rhonda and I decided that we wouldn´t be able to make the hike. Luckily we met some people who were also backpacking and heading in the direction of the Refugio, so Katy parted ways and left with them. Rhonda and I decided to head straight down the mountain. This was also after we decided to go into the lodge and stuff ourselves with potatoes. I had to store up for the cold weather. We rushed down the mountain, the trail was never-ending and 4 hours later we made it to the base of the mountain. Good thing I´m not stubborn, or else I would probably still be up there right now, in pain, in the cold, and dirty. But I´m not, I´m at the internet cafe, all showered and fresh, and about to go make dinner and drink some beers. WOOT!

So guess what...

2008-01-21T10:40:00.000-08:00

our little cabin turned out to be 100 US Dollars, not pesos, and cost us a lot more than we thought it was going to. Azure was really upset, and did a lot of the talking to the man who we spoke to yesterday about the prices. A lot of what was going on was lost in translation to me, and i started to realize how much we, as humans, are affected by words. Since I couldn´t really understand what he was saying, the whole thing didn´t really offend me much, except for the fact that he really should have clarified that it was in US Dollars. It was really deceiving, and i felt really bad, because part of it was my fault, I should have clarified it 100%, but at the same time, we continued to say, really?!!! 100?!!!! 100, really? It seems at that point, if I were him, I would say, well it´s in US dollars you know. No one really quotes in US dollars here, and it was odd that he did. I had a gut feeling that it was too good to be true, and it was. It was a really stupid mistake, and seems so obvious when you look back on it, but when you´re in the moment, things can get carried away. It was a hard lesson to learn, but in the scheme of all things, it could have been worse.

We are back in Bariloche at a great hostel on the 10th floor of a building. Our room has a view of the lake, and costs 120 Pesos, (don´t worry, we were sure to clear that up before we paid anything) We are going to stay at this hostel for 3 nights, which will be a huge luxury, since we have been staying in a different place since we got into Bariloche, and I am looking forward to sleeping in and not having to worry about where I am going to sleep at night.

It´s been over a month since I have been living out of my backpack, and it feels great. Neccessaties have become accessories, I have cleansed myself of a lot of junk, but I am definitely aquiring a few more pieces here and there. It´s nice to be able to live as simply as we do, wear the same outfits, get dirty, take a shower and feel like a new person, or have a nice bed to sleep on. These are all things that I have taken for granted in the U.S. and have a new view on now that I have been hopping from place to place almost every night. Shelter in general is always great, a nice welcome and hospitable people are always icing on the cake.

I love Argentina!

2008-01-19T17:48:00.000-08:00

We just found a small cabin home for 100 pesos that includes a kitchen, small bath, small living room and loft beds. They even included a small boombox and had it tuned to a station that has only played the Eurythmics. YES! Our little car is covered with dust, inside and out, and parked next to our little home and we have settled ourselves for the night. Beets are cooking on the stove and I am watching a small black lab play with a ball in the grassy field from the living room window. Trees and mountains are all I see beyond the samll cabins that surround us.

We drove up north from Bariloche around the seven lakes, and ended up in a small town called Villa La Angostura. I learned how to drive stick shift and drove for about an hour on dirt and paved roads, and drove all the way up to fifth gear! Now I can drive with Rob on long distance trips, and feel kind of embarrassed that I didn´t learn sooner. I guess it´s a little different in San Francisco, we tried once, but I panicked with all the hills.

There was a time today where we were running low on gas and had to coast as often as we could, but we finally made it to the gas station. Our whole trip took about 5 hours of driving, and reminded me a lot of the peninsula in Washington state. We drove through canyons, around mountains and lakes, on dirt and paved roads, stopping once in awhile to absorb the view, take pictures, and see the small towns.

We are planning to head back to Bariloche tomorrow since we have reservations at Hostel 1004, but might come back to this magical land.

El Bolson was cool, but it was really small and there wasn´t a lot to do. We went to the fair, had some waffles, and I bought marketry art. However, we did meet Nadia, a girl who is from L.A. who went to law school, passed the bar exam and then decided to take a year off to travel. She is traveling by herself, so we invited her to come along with us back into Bariloche. We stopped by a lake and I went swimming, Azure went in waist deep, and Mike skipped rocks. The water was really really really cold, but my body adapted and it was really refreshing. Nadia stayed with us one night, and then we parted ways this morning, but we will see her once we´re back in Bariloche.

Argentina has been very good to me so far. She is caring, beautiful, and unique. I love her so much right now.

Bariloche

2008-01-18T17:55:00.000-08:00

We made it into Bariloche after a 21 hour bus ride. I think that is the max for me right now. I really don´t know how I´m going to handle a 40 hour bus ride back from Rio De Janeiro to Buenos Aires in February, but I guess I´ll have to deal with it when the time comes.

Bariloche is awesome. It is a small town in the Andes surrounded by lakes and trees. It really reminds me a lot of Lake Tahoe or the Pacific Northwest. The water is crystal clear, and pretty cold. The weather is a little cooler, the people a little nicer, and the pace a little slower. We stayed in Bariloche last night, then decided to rent a car and head south to El Bolson. The drive was spectacular, the Andes always in the background, evergreen trees all around, and small rivers right below the two lane freeway. Apparently there are no mosquitoes here, but those insects have been replaced with flesh eating bees. We think we encountered some today, but did not allow them to eat our flesh, so maybe they were just innocent flies. I´m not gonna try to find out.

We stopped by a river in the middle of the drive and had a picnic with salads, fruits and nuts and ate on a rock. An hour later, we arrived in El Bolson, a really, really small town. There are a lot of backpackers here who are probably going to camp and climb up the mountains. Tomorrow we are going to go to the craft fair and then to the local lake to see if swimming will be possible, then maybe wine tasting.

@ home base

2008-01-16T07:14:00.000-08:00

I am so spoiled in Buenos Aires. We are staying with Mike's cousins Tom and Maya, who are kind enough to let me stay with them as well. Their place is really nice, and they always give the best recommendations for food. I trust them 100% with their food choices.

The first day we came back, Tom, Maya, and Talya (she is the youngest of their 4 girls who is still in school and living in B.A.) took us out to lunch for some great chicken, pork, and beef skewers. We had great conversation, sat outside, and took our time eating lunch.

Yesterday we went out to a great breakfast at 1861 that consisted of 2 slices of toast, 2 croissants, cream cheese and jelly, fresh squeezed o.j., and a cafe con leche. All for 8.60 pesos which converts to $2.86!!!!! Mike decided to part ways to check out a different cemetery, while Az and I headed over to the National History Museum. The day was really hot and humid and after a long trek over, we were greeted with a sign that said closed for renovation. We decided to go check out the Modern Museum of Art that was a few blocks away, and were greeted with huge viking-like closed wooden doors. We rang the bell, and a man with no shirt answered and said the museum was closed for renovation. This has been occurring a lot here. We have experienced this a lot with restaurants that will be closed for the holiday until mid January. With an hour left until we were supposed to meet Mike, we decided go to an internet cafe. It was so hot in there that I was dripping with sweat. We met up with Mike at the restaurant and had a really good lunch, smoked salmon salad with brie, and fettuccine fungi.

Afterwards we went back to Tom and Maya's, had a siesta, then went out to a pub called Bangalore for Indian food and beers. The air felt really humid and it looked as though a storm was going to start. The sky started lighting up with lightning, it was an electrical storm so there was no thunder. It was really amazing. When we were in the cab on the way home, it started to rain hard, and when we got back to the apartment we sat out on the balcony and watched the crazy light show. It was really incredible. I've never seen an electrical storm before and found it completely mesmerizing. Mike had his fancy camera out, so we took turns trying to capture the storm, it's a lot more difficult than it seems.

Tonight we leave for Bariloche by bus. It's going to be a 20 hour bus ride. I thought that it was the place you go to for wineries, but apparently it's a place the place you go to for chocolate! I guess there are a lot of chocolate factories down there. Fine by me! We are going to stay in Bariloche for however long we want, then head over to Porte Madryn where all the penguins are. I'm excited to see lakes, go swimming, and feel the cooler climate.

Argentinian Side of Iguazu

2008-01-14T14:17:00.001-08:00

The next day we decided to go to the Argentinian side of Iguazu Falls on our own. It was sunny the whole day, we walked through all the trails, and went to the island for a little swim and hike, saw some animals that were cousins to the racoon, then made it back to our hostel for Parilla (Argentinian BBQ), free Caipirinhas, and a Brazilian show.

We are excited that our cameras work the next day:

Views of the falls:

Swimming near the falls:

Right up next to such force:

Back at the hostel:

I am strong, Azure just bit her lip:

Singles scene:

Brazilian Adventure Pics

2008-01-14T14:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of our Brazilian Adventure. Both of our cameras died in the beginning of the expedition due to the downpour. We salvaged what we could. Fortunately, we took our batteries out of our cameras, left them to dry overnight, and they worked again the next day.

Azure posted this, and I am using the same post since we only had a few pictures:

We set out on our full-day Brazilian adventure on a very nice path.

No biking today, the weather is too bad? Ride or walk? The group decides to walk half-way before being picked up.

We set out on the 4.5km walk through the jungle.

Why are you doing this to me?

A little rain makes Autsy happy.

Lots of rain makes Mike pee. Our camera dies immediately after this photo. Good thing Autsy's still works.

You want us to ride now?

Finally, shelter! We can wring out our clothes...the driest we will be all day.

Everyone is wet.

There's food on that boat?

Huddled like penguins- for 60 minutes on the boat. Communication is cut off when Autsy's camera dies immediately after this photo was taken.

Another 4.5 hours without dry clothes and the van finally picks us up to go back to the hostel. What a day!

Iguazu Falls

2008-01-12T10:45:00.000-08:00

We made it to Iguazu Falls after 16 hours on a bus. The private buses down here are really nice, so the trip was not bad at all. We are staying at Hostel Inn and there are many international people here.

Our 2 days here have been completely different from one another. Yesterday we decided to go to the Brazilian side of the falls, joined a tour that included biking, kayaking, and boat rides. We ended up walking in the jungle in a downpour that lasted the whole day. I mean, it was like taking a shower in our clothes. Our tour guide started talking about poisonous spiders that are so small that you can´t feel them bite and then 12 hours later your organs start to rot, and about how you should stay still if you see a jaguar but that if it starts to attack you, you should pray, because basically you´re dead. GREAT. It was then, that I started to walk a little faster, and in the middle of the group.

Covered in mud, we were finally picked up by a jeep, but it was uncovered, so the harsh rain hit our faces and felt as though someone was pelting us. Trying to document this funny, yet miserable event, i took some pictures and then my camera died. I guess it´s not so smart to take pics with a digital in the middle of the jungle in a tropical storm.

We made it to the boat, a covered boat, and started to get really cold. Mike, Az, and I felt it was necessary to group together in a penguin huddle in order to stay warm. Good thing there were three of us, cuz penguins only huddle in groups of three or more. We had to ride the boat up the river, to our kayaks, and had the option to kayak in the rain and lightening and thunder. We said ¨no thanks.¨ Some people did, so we watched them from the boat, in the middle of the river, picked them up down stream, then made it back to land.

A jeep waited for us and took up to a bus station. Our tour guide was leaving, and we had no idea what was going on, so we had to ask them, and they sort of acted like we should have known that we were going to cross the street, catch a bus to the trails to look at the waterfall, then take the bus back and take a boat ride into the waterfalls. DUH. It´s so easy. If there´s anything I learned about this tour, it´s that the Brazilians aren´t very well organized, drive boats and cars in full force, and time doesn´t really mean anything to them.

We hiked the trails a bit saw the Brazilian side of the fall, but couldn´t take any pictures because all of our cameras had died in the downpour. Darn. Then we made it back to take a raft into the falls. This was the best part of the whole day. They were driving the raft through really big rapids, tried to scare us by driving close to the rocks, however, most of the time it was difficult to see what was going on because it was raining, and we had our eyes closed. They took us under the falls, through the falls, and around the falls. It was great. We left the boat soaking wet, but it really didn´t matter since we were already wet.

Day 2 was pretty uneventful. I mean, we went to the Argentina side of the falls, the weather was sunny, and the falls were beautiful. We went swimming next to the falls, got sunburnt, and are back at the hostel.

I´m really happy with my experience here. Sometimes the worst of things can be the best.

Pictures coming soon......

big bright starry night

2008-01-10T08:31:00.000-08:00

Broken Social Scene - Feel Good Lost

On a bus, on our way to Iguazu Falls. Surrounded by wide windows, and friends that are family next to me. I find this album completely fitting at this time. I feel liberated, I actually feel as though my freedom has become tangible, not something that was off in the distance, somewhere in the future, but right here, right now, in this day, at this time, where all I can see is a dark road in front of me, the dim reflection of the horizon around me, and a big bright starry night above me. I am lost and I feel good about it.

It's getting hot in here

2008-01-09T09:32:00.000-08:00

MAN, it's so hot here. The weather has been in the upper 90s to low 100s. Too much to handle sometimes.

We're staying in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires, it seems to be the place where all the good restaurants and shops are. We've established a routine during our time here. We usually get up around 10am, meet up with Az and Mike, go out to a "trainning" breakfast that consists of fruit with an international flag, yogurt and cereal, wheat bread with cream cheese and orange juice or coffee. AND it only costs $5. Afterwards, we decide on what we feel like doing. Sometimes we'll go our separate ways, sometimes we'll stick together. We've gone to flea markets, parks, movies, Recoleta cemetery, and shopping. We'll always work our schedule around breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Argentinians eat dinner very late. Restaurants will close after 4pm-8pm for siesta time. That's when we take our naps, refresh ourselves with a shower, since we're usually so sweaty by that time.

We have our usual restaurants that we go that have been recommended to us by Mike's cousins Tom and Maya who have been living here for 1.5 years. Our favorites have been Los Cholas an Argentinian restaurant and Salgados an Italian restaurant. We've been to both places 3 times in 9 days. The people who work there are really great, and make me feel incredibly comfortable and at home. Except last night at Los Cholas it was so hot that we were sweating profusely and had to ice ourselves periodically in order to maintain some sort of comfort. There was a point where I had to put ice under my headband in order to stay cool, and Azure started rubbing ice on Rob's chest, which I had to reciprocate by rubbing ice on Mike's chest. Hilarity ensued.

Tonight Rob leaves. :( I'm very sad. We've had so much fun, and I'm really not ready for him to leave, but I know that he must, so what else can I say.

Azure, Mike, and I are leaving tonight as well to go to Iguazu Falls by bus. It's going to be an 18 hour bus ride, we'll stay for 3 days, and then bus back, then head south to make friends with the penguins. I'm really excited and ready to leave the city since it's so freakin hot here.

Finally, here are some pics:

Recoleta Cemetery, Eva Peron is here, but we couldn't find her:

Salgados:

Las Cholas, when it was super hot:

Bomba del Tiempo; beer as big as your head for 5 pesos = $1.66 and drums and hippies:

Tigre, we took the train up north, got on a boat thinking it was a boat tour, was asked where we were going, we said, we don't know, then found out it was actually a water taxi dropping people off at their homes or at resorts.

Foodies:

happy new year!

2008-01-04T15:02:00.000-08:00

So I am in Buenos Aires right now and it is great. Here are a few things that I have experienced:

New Year´s was uneventful. The airline did give us champagne with dinner, but that was around 10pm. When midnight came around, nothing happened. Not even an announcement that New Year´s had arrived. We passed through one time zone, around the bahamas, i think, but it was really not a big deal at all.

Rob greeted me in Rio De Janeiro, we went to his apartment that he was renting in Copabana. I was very impressed with his ability to speak portugese while he negotiated the cab fair. We immediately went to the beach. The sand felt like powdery squeaky snow and was really comfortable to lay on. It was really hot, there were lots of people on the beach, and yes the majority of the women on the beach were wearing some kind of version of the thong. Later in the evening we went to a district called Llapa for dinner on the bus which was an adventure by itself. They drive like maniacs down here and don´t care for pedestrians. The city also smelled like pee.

The next day we headed to the airport to get to Buenos Aires. Brazilians really have a way with time. Our flight was supposed to leave at 10:30am, but our flight ended up being 2 hours late because they couldn´t check everyone in on time. The check in line took an excruitating 2 hours.

We made it to Buenos Aires, met up with Azure, Mike, and Ernest. (After 2 hours on a non-airconditioned bus, and then a subway ride. We were drenched in sweat. Best welcome ever. we had no idea it was going to take that long either) We went out to dinner and found a small community of people that we knew all at the same restaurant. Mike´s cousins who live here where there, we went with Aviva´s friend Nathan, who lives here, and then our friend from college Steve was there randomly with a few people from UW as well.

Afterwards, Rob, Ernest, and I went out to Tango night, which was awesome and one of the most beautiful events i have witnessed. There were about 30 couples out on the dance floor dancing the tango, with tables surrounding them, and really good music playing. Rob and I went out even though we didn´t know what we were doing. It was really fun, we made friends with a Brazilian, and went out dancing at a club, then came back around 5am to the hostel.

So far, we´ve had amazing food, for really cheap (about 8-13 US dollars per person for all-out ordering, plus wine, plus dessert, plus coffee) the city is beautiful, the weather was great today, and the people have been very friendly. I am having a great time and will post pictures as soon as i can.

Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T07:29:00.000-08:00

Last night was a great big UW/Seattle reunion and it was so so fun! Amy Barr was in town for New Year's from Washington D.C. so everyone got together for dinner. I haven't seen these people in at least a couple of years, and I miss them so much. We were all so close in college. Kailin, Steven, Sue, Amy Barr, Travis, Aliyah, Nicole Sharkey (!) that was a fun surprise, and a bunch of their Brandeis friends were all there. We headed into Park Slope and had a few drinks at Patio lounge. I had so much fun with them, they are the best kinds of people in the world! I shall love them forever and forever. Then Sam was also there! I met Sam in Seattle at Thanksgiving II dinner, where she hooked us up with people in Patagonia that work on farms. It was all so random, and in New York, and fun times.

Travis Beck:

Steven, Limey Travis, and Aliyah:

Pirate Amy:

UW REPRESENT!

Tonight I fly out from JFK to Rio De Janeiro. Common questions that come after this are:

Q: You're flying out on New Year's Eve? WHY? WHAT ABOUT ALL THE PARTIES?!?!?!
A: Yes, flights were the cheapest around this time of year, plus New Year's Eve is over-rated, I'm so over it.

Q: So what happens when you pass the international time zone? Do you celebrate New Year's twice?
A: I'm not sure. I've never been on the plane during New Year's so I don't really know. I don't think I will hit both in one flight, since Rio is 2 hours ahead...but maybe. I heard a rumor that you get free champagne at midnight though. I'll definitely let you know once I've solved this mystery.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, I'm so excited I could burst into star bits {that taste like honey!!!!!!!!}

2007-12-30T16:04:00.000-08:00

Hello, this is Jennifer's guest blogger, Sue, and I am here to defend my reputation about some "communication" problems we might have had which may or may not have been entirely my fault. First of all, when one sends a text message that says, "Meet me at Shanghai Cafe on Mott St" that does not mean arrive at my house with your heavy backpack in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Right? Right.

Secondly, when you are in line with other fat people to get cupcakes at Magnolia, be sure to buy at least four cupcakes, one slice of red velvet cake, and a flourless brownie because you never know when you might die. However, do not attempt to eat all these things in one night because you WILL get indigestion. This will not feel good, especially if you just caught a cold from a recent guest from the West Coast who brought plenty of holiday spirit with her, but also contagious germs. Thanks, Jennifer!

Also, if you go to the Beer Gardens after drinking 2 bottles of champagne, don't immediately go to the grill and order 12 inches of Kielbasa because this will not feel good, either, and you will most likely end up taking a cab home within an hour of arriving at the bar. Try to avoid causing conflict also by asking really personal questions about lifestyle choices to couples when they are in each other's company. If this should happen, immediately divert the attention away by talking about your own lifestyle choices. Then when you have one member of the couple alone, feel free to interrogate them about the other.

Lastly, when you are a guest blogger on someone else's blog, be sure to upload pictures mostly of yourself and to write only about your own experiences which probably have nothing to do with your host. And because pictures are so much more interesting than words, here are some recent images:

Soup Dumplings at Shanghai Cafe:

Magnolia Bakery:

Ramen at Minca:

Beer Gardens in Brooklyn:

This is a place we visited our first time in NY when we were 23 (!!!):

Hooray to Jennifer for visiting NY! And hooray for this new, exciting chapter of her life. I wish her all the best and hope that she does not end up with any tropical diseases or is kidnapped for ransom in Brazil because Mama Sung would, for once, be right about what to regret and what not to regret. Hooray for traveling!

It's cold over here

2007-12-30T13:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas was great, Rob's family welcomed me with open arms, great food, and presents! I was only there for a few days, and then Kelly and I had to see Ernest and Rob off at Newark airport. They are in Rio DeJaneiro right now. Afterwards Kelly and I drove through Jersey, a state I hate, because their freeways are completely confusing, and don't make any sense at all, causing us to get lost a few times. And yes, it was Jersey's fault, not ours. We finally made it into NYC and then into
Brooklyn. Unfortunately Sue and I were not communicating well, and I ended up having to take my backpack back into NYC on the subway in order to meet up and have dinner. Final lesson: Be explicit about where you are meeting and always double check directions people give you. That's all I have to say about that.

Walk, walk, walking, that's pretty much all I'm doing over here in NYC. Up stairs, down stairs, through tunnels, K-town, Chinatown, SOHO, uptown, downtown, back and
forth tobrooklyn . Eating well, and for cheap, which is great. It kind of sucks that it's winter here, and that there are so many cute things to buy that are on sale, but I must not. I must continue to wear my one winter outfit until I make it to Brazil.

Yesterday was an extremely frustrating day to be in the city. It seems as though the
whole population has doubled overnight. Herds of people claim the sidewalks, and you have to literally push your way through in order to make progress. I've never been here near New Year's, and hope to never have to endure this again.

There have been a few times where I have been a little disgusted with all the commercialization that is going on here. Sometimes I think that New York is only good for buying things, and have felt bored at times because I really can't buy anything right now. I understand that it's a hub of culture and all, but there are SO many stores, so many people, so many people with shopping bags, people yelling at you to buy things, it gets a little overwhelming.

Here are some highlights my trip to NY/The East Coast:

Playing hide and seek with Ernest's boy Dylan. He is in the 90th percentile for height and weight for 17 month olds.

Going to Longwood Gardens

Giving out hand-made bird ornaments to friends and family

Waiting in line for Magnolia cupcakes

Beer Garden in Williamsburg!

P.S. Line breaks on blogger SUCK. Tis not my fault.

Cookie party

2007-12-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

NYC for a few days. I am sick. Ugh. I think I am allergic to cold weather.

However, I did go to Ktown almost every night,

ate at pinkberry,

and drank hot toddies and spent some quality time with my dear friend Sue and my dear sister Amy.

Thank goodness I made it to Delaware where Rob has showered me with some TLC by making me chicken noodle soup {from scratch}, allowed me plenty of rest, and a warm {literal too} environment.

Last night we went over to James' mom's house to make christmas cookies! We had an array of cookie cutters to choose from:

Rolled out our own dough:

Cut out cookies:

used a cookie press:

Iced our cookies.

Tried on costumes

And had plenty of Kafader interaction time. It was fun, it's always nice to see Marge, she is a very interesting and entertaining woman to be around.

Going away partay

2007-12-16T22:54:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who made it out for my going away party, and thanks to everyone who has emailed me wishing me a safe and happy trip. I have the bestest of friends ever! I will miss you all and look forward to seeing you when I get back!

Special thanks to Rob for all his efforts and organizing the whole partay. You're the best!

I have a rought draft of the places I want to go to while I'm in Brazil and Argentina. These places include:

Rio De Janeiro
Iguazu Falls
Buenos AIres
Bariloche
Beaches of Uruguay
Florianapolis
Ilha Grande

It almost seems as though there are too many places to visit. I guess I'll have to see what happens when I actually get down there!

One of my favorite things

2007-12-13T23:34:00.002-08:00

OMGOODNESS....my favorite holiday tree is up!!!!! This deserves a double WOOT WOOT! I love love love this tree so much. Everytime I pass by it, I feel as though my brain is going to explode. I don't know why. Maybe it's because everything about it is gigantic. The tree, the lightbulbs, the train next to it. It's like being in giant land in Mario. Or maybe it because the lights are so big and bright that they always fuzz out into the misty fog. Either way, I just know it makes me happy, and I think it will make you happy too. It's on Stanyan right at the entrance into Golden Gate Park. It's one of my favorite things about SF!

SERVAS

2007-12-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

YAY!

Got back from Hawaii last night, and found my approved Servas paperwork in the mail.

Servas is a non-profit peace organization that believes in one universal family. Travelers can stay with host families around the world in order to actively learn about the different cultures and form friendships in order to build peace and a just society. Servas which means "to serve" in Esperanto, will be of great value to me when I am traveling through Brazil and Argentina.

I am going to go to a Servas dinner tonight, and am very excited to meet other Servas members!

For more info on Servas, go to www.usservas.org

Oh yeah, and shout-out to Kenny who just bought his ticket into Rio. HOLLA!!!!

Turtles are my best friend

2007-12-09T22:52:00.000-08:00

When I went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay I was really excited at the potential of seeing sea turtles. That didn't happen.

BUT TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was swimming on my boogie board at Waikiki beach and saw what looked like debris. Taking a closer look, I thought it was a rock, AND THEN I noticed that it was moving, AND THEN I noticed it was a SEA TURTLE!!!! He was ginormous, {at least 2 feet in diameter} and about 5 feet away from me. He came up for air right in front of me, so close, that I could hear it spout out water and inhale air. His head was half the size of my head. It was exciting and scary at the same time. I was not expecting such as siting in such a commercialized location, but I'm sure glad it happened! Fluttering back, I tried to get my Dad out to look for him again, but we couldn't find him. Oh well. I hope my turtle friend is doing well out there.

H to the A to the WAI'I

2007-12-08T01:13:00.000-08:00

I have been in Hawaii for a week and want to distribute "WOOTS!" to Hawaii for the following:

WOOT! for Waikiki Beach and a Japanese TV crew who decided to film us for one of their comedy shows. The host and his fashionable entourage layed his towel down next to us, fully clothed, and started talking to us. Everyone around us was staring and our neighbors asked us if we were famous. I found this whole experience very entertaining and responded with a "nope!"

WOOT! for the Pearl Harbor Memorial built over USS Arizona. The memorial was built over the sunken ship so you can see it over the water. The building was really pretty, and also designed in a way so that when the sun sets, the building changes colors with the sun.

WOOT! To Hanauma Bay for great snorkeling. It was raining and cloudy in the morning, but we still decided to go and see what would happen. Good thing, the visibilty cleared up and we saw many many different sea creatures.

WOOT! For flying to Maui and driving the Road to Hana. Garden of Eden and rainbows were truly magical.

WOOT! For Waimea and Lanikau beach. I wanted to take the sand aside and say, sand, thanks for being so fine.

Have to go to drop my sister at the airport now!

Juba what?

2007-11-30T00:34:00.000-08:00

JUBILI !!!!!!!

Went to pho with Rob, Jade and Eric. Then Rob and I rode our bikes down to Fillmore while Jade and Eric drove (tsk, tsk) to Jubili for dessert. Going to Jubili was equivalent to watching unicorns dance on clouds. The whole idea is to serve authentic frozen yogurt, like real yogurt, not yummi yogurt yogurt, with fruit or cereal toppings. I decided on pomegranate seeds, blackberries, and mochi. It passed the rigors of my intestinal tract, and I felt great afterwards. Yes, I sure am coming back to Jubili! Thanks Jade and Eric!

Afterwards, I met up with Jenny and played Rummy 500 at Cafe Abir. I didn't know that they shut down for a few months and opened again completely renovated. Where have I been? The new Cafe Abir is still the same but better. We had a great time, and I {finally} won. I used to always beat Jenny, I'm starting to lose my rummy wit, or maybe Jenny's just getting better, but I doubt that! Har har.

Rob and I also stopped by Elbo Room to take photo booth pics for my Servas application. It was a very efficient trip, and we got not 3, but *6* pictures!! WAY better than Annie's Social club, where you also have to wait a gazillion years for your smelly pictures to develop. We were in and out in about 5 minutes. Woot!

Date night!

2007-11-29T16:40:00.000-08:00

Last night Rob and I went to our favorite SF French bistro called Chapeau! If you ever get the chance to eat there, I highly recommend it. The restaurant is small, quaint, and local, with really GOOD food. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I will just have to list the foods that we ate.

Our menu consisted of the following:
Duck salad
Sweetbreads
Scallops
Colonel, green apple and lemon ginger
Prime rib with bone marrow
Warm chocolate cake
Praline Cake

The bone marrow was interesting, but kind of in a bad way. I guess it’s one of those dishes that requires an acquired taste. It was the consistency that made me not want to eat it. Everything else was out of control!!

Did you know that Chapeau means "hat", but with the "!" it means "wow!"

Wow! Indeed.

Chapeau!
1408 Clement St
(between 15th Ave & 16th Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 750-9787

Hi Blog

2007-11-28T15:17:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I have arrived to the blog world.

My first trip after my lay-off was to Seattle. Thanksgiving was great, Part I and II. The weather was cold, and it felt like the holidays. I saw old friends and made new friends, including a 9 week old boxer named Bella.

Everytime I'm in Seattle, there are buildings being built, condos on the rise, and new restaurants opening everywhere. I try to visit my favorite places, and I'm glad they haven't moved or changed much, but the famous block where cha cha's once was and other surrounding bars is closed and going to be demolished for more condos. It saddens and excites me that Seattle is expanding so rapidly.

I am preparing for my trip to Hawaii now! Woot!