New Orleans: French Quarter

It's why we all go to New Orleans, and with good reason.  The architecture, colors and vibe of the place all mix up into a magical experience.  And I think that's all that really needs to be said.

Saint Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square

Windows in the Louisiana State Museum in Jackson Square

Just a few pretty buildings from around the French Quarter

Part of the band in Jackson Square, music is sort of ever-present there

Some of the great iron work

And, the always useful, hitching post

One tip; Grandma says Royal St. is the pretty street and that Bourbon St. is well, you know.  I'd have to agree, scantily clad women giving the come hither look to my grandpa at 7:30 p.m. made me want to leave that street A.S.A.P.

New Orleans: Food

Here's a quick food rundown for our trip to New Orleans this fall.  As you can see, we ate our way through the town.

Cafe du Monde beignets, Gumbo Shop chicken and andouille sausage gumbo, Dorignac's grocery store for Creole Cream Cheese and Nectar Syrup along with other New Orleans classics, Mondo is a Susan Spicer restaurant where we had a fabulous meal, New Orleans School of Cooking pralines being made, Afternoon tea at Windsor Court Hotel with the salmon and caviar upgrade.

Places not pictured: Refuel has the best grits in town and the friendliest owner ever, Camelia Grill is a classic for breakfast and we heard that they have the best creme pies, Deanie's has nectar cream sodas and great boiled and fried seafood, Acme Oyster House has great oysters, if you're into that, but I just had a wonderful piece of fish.

Photo-a-day

On our way home from New Orleans, we stopped at Nottaway plantation to see a bit of the Old South.

This is some of playful wickerwork from a ladies' parlor.

Photo-a-day

Today, we went to Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 in the Garden District.  I really wanted to see all of the raised graves.  It might be the best place to play hide and seek in all of creation.

Then we headed over to the French Quarter to see the Old Ursuline Convent.  The oldest building in the Mississippi River Valley.  This is a picture of the door to the adjacent church, it was built later, in the 1800's.

We leave tomorrow, so much left to see, but I'll be glad to get back to San Antonio.

Photo-a-day

Another day in New Orleans.  This pic is from day 2 of the WWII Museum, yesterday was the movie, today was the exhibit.  Grandpa has thoroughly enjoyed both days.

A knot that was displayed on the Higgins Boat.

And here's a pic of my awesome Grandpa, he was a medic in the war.

Photo-a-day

Today was a full day in New Orleans.  Afternoon tea, WWII Museum, walking around the French Quarter, the Gumbo Shop and pecan pie.  I couldn't pick just one picture, but I judiciously kept it to two.

We saw this Mardi-Gras costumed man near Jackson Square.

And this was the underside of The Royal Praline Company's porch.  Fairly iconic of New Orleans, in my opinion.

Photo-a-day

Day 1 in New Orleans.  Here's a shot of Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter.

I can't wait to see it all during the day.

Seattle: Part 1

I just spent a fabulous week in Seattle.  My mom flew in for the visit as well and we stayed with a friend in Capitol Hill, which is, in my opinion, the best neighborhood.  The trip was mostly about friends, running and food (at glorious Seattle restaurants).

We were picked up by Ben downtown and headed to Fish Fry for dinner.  After plenty of fried halibut and fried asparagus it was time to go and settle in at Pauline's place.

Day 2 was Pauline's birthday and started off with a trip to Bainbridge.

First, we had Green Eggs at Streamliner Diner, 

all of the food comes on Fiestaware!

Then, we shopped for fabric at Esther's 

an example of some quilting they had on display.

 And followed that up with yarn shopping at Churchmouse 

Mom bought some amazing yarn that she will be making into a tank for moi.

We rounded out the day with ice cream at Mora and the return trip on the ferry.

The Birthday Girl!

Some Bainbridge tips:

• know your ferry times, there's nothing more frustrating than just missing the ferry
• get to Streamliner first, it's a tiny place and one of the first stops on the main road, so it fills up fast, and they close from 2:30-5:00
• when ordering at Mora, you will be in flavor overload, they keep 48 on hand, just try a bunch and know that any scoop can be split into two flavors
• we didn't on this trip, but riding a bike around Bainbridge is awesome, bikes get to enter and exit the ferry first and you feel like you're about to ride into Puget sound when you get on, it's a fabulous feeling, you can spend a whole day riding around the island and hang out on a beach or two, if you like

For dinner, I took Mom and Pauline out for their June Birthdays.  We went to Olivar in Capitol Hill.  It is a smallish place in what was originally a Russian restaurant.  The space was built in 1931 and the murals and stained glass are original and fantastic.  They were restored once, about 12 years ago, according to the waitress.

Olivar is fantastic!  The menu is made up of small and large plates, but the small plates are a bit larger than one might expect.  We started with a cured meat plate and some grilled asparagus.  Then it was gnocchi time, Pauline had been raving about it for days.  Their gnocchi is seasonal, light and delicate.  Our version had smoked trout, pea vines and fried capers.

Next up was the special of the night, duck confit served over lentils.  The duck fell apart with the lightest touch and the lentils were perfect.

For dessert, it was flourless chocolate cake with creme anglaise and berries.  Always a favorite.

Yay!  Getting to celebrate birthdays!

Are you sensing a theme here?  I was in Seattle to run the marathon, and you can bet I was going to make up for those burned calories.

Traveling: Philippines (Part 2)

Next up was a flight to Cebu.  Now for a side note; everyone in line to board the flight got a pat down.  There was a women's line and a men's line, you stood on a little platform and got patted down, back of the hand under the boob and all.  It wasn't a big deal and Americans need to quit whining.

Cool machinery

We headed to factories straight from the airport and by the end of the day I was ready to crash at my hotel.  Luckily it was pretty great, it was a resort on Mactan Island and I was greeted by a girl in a pretty dress with some yummy fruit beverage and sent up to my room.

View from my room

The next day had a lot of factory tours and the beginning of me being sick.  I have never loved proper sewage/water treatment more than when I came back from this trip.  Let's just say I was very familiar with the hotel clinic by the end of the trip.

Another factory

The next day I had a fairly free day, and it was super unfortunate that I wasn't 100%, but I did get to snorkel, and lay by the beach and the pool for a couple of hours.

 The beach at the hotel, white sand, warm water, amazing!

Remote control picture at the beach in the morning

 Wow, check out that awesome cell phone self portrait, yeah sunny squinty face with random lines on my face from snorkel gear, rock it.

What the hell is this thing?  They put a child inside, inflate it and have a handler walk them around on a string so they can play around in a hamster ball.  Has anyone seen this before?

Then I went to my room and after laying in bed for a while I rallied enough to walk to a nearby plaza.  I was determined to see something outside of my hotel.

 There was a lovely tower in the center

 A beach with some locals hanging out

 An abandoned boat on the shore

 And some place that I assume is used for festive occasions

Nice

And if I ever get my underwater camera pics developed from the snorkeling I'll put those up.  But that was pretty much it for the Philippines.  The next day I hung out on a delayed plane for a few hours praying that I wouldn't miss the flight from Manila to LAX.  Luckily (?) the plane with the engine problems that was flying from Cebu to Manila was the same plane going from Manila to LAX, so they couldn't leave without me.

Traveling: Philippines (Part 1)

Mabuhay! (That is the only tagalog I was able to pick up, and it's a very formal version of  'welcome'.)

Back in October I was sent to the Philippines to check out some furniture manufacturers (not a bad gig).  All I can say is that it was quite an experience.  It's the poorest country I've ever been to, and the traffic is unimaginable to me, even though I live in Los Angeles, but there is some lush, tropical beauty as well and the people are as nice as can be.

It started off with a 13 hour flight over there, oh and there was a typhoon happening while I was flying over, but it was fairly cleared up by the time I landed.  Needless to say, parents were calling and telling me to cancel my trip.  I left late Sunday night from LAX and arrived early Tuesday morning in Manila.  It was grey and rainy, but the worst of the storm had subsided, so I just crashed at my hotel room until I had to meet our buying agent later in the afternoon.

Views from my hotel room in Manila

Afterwards I went to the furniture show (Manila FAME show, meh) and met up with our buying agent so that we could go around and meet some of the manufacturers.

Then we headed to a showroom in Manila, it was in an old house and the courtyard was fantastic.

The lush greens and that blue door slay me, I was so in love.

The next day we headed north to some of the factories, and I got a full of idea of just how crazy traffic in Manila can be.

 Lanes are completely an option

 And there are so many modes of transportation: horse and carriage...

 Trikes (motorcycles with a sidecar, up to 6 people can be on these, I swear I saw it)...

The jeepneys, are old American jeeps that are elongated and turned into a jitney, Philippines style...

 And, of course people just walking around amongst the cars, motorcycles, bikes, trikes, jeepneys, and...

The funniest looking armored car I've ever seen.  This thing seriously looked like it was made in someone's backyard metal shop, but it gets the job done.

Then I saw some countryside on the way out to the factories, it was pretty and tropical, but slightly flooded from the typhoon in places.

One of the manufacturers took me out to dinner with another buyer (might have been where I got sick, but oh well) and I had the best drink in the world.  It was some sort of cucumber, celery, apple, parsley and a-bunch-of-other-green-things drink and it was amazing.  It wasn't thick like a smoothie, it was juice-like and I wish I could replicate it.

The next day we saw more of the furniture show in the morning and then I had a massage, body scrub and facial that evening at the hotel.  It was fantastic, and though not cheap because I was at a nice hotel, it was totally within my price range and I went for it.

Then I flew to Cebu (on a Cebu Pacifc flight, the ones who created this, but I sadly didn't get to see it), and I got to stay at a beach resort.  Stay tuned.