Monday, December 31, 2012
2012
Happy New Year everyone!! 2012 has easily been on of the best in my life. So many amazing experiences, travel opportunities and new friends. I am a blessed girl. Looking forward to 2013 and all the new adventures! Stay safe everyone!
Monday, December 24, 2012
Christmas in Paris
I've been in Paris for almost 2 weeks now- I can't believe how time flies! Today is Christmas Eve and I am nursing myself back to health by sitting on the couch reading while Erik goes out to buy all the food for Christmas dinner. I've been a little sick the past few days but (un)surprisingly I feel much better today, after a late night out. We didn't get home until 4am last night! I swear this is the latest we've stayed out since our unfortunate Barcelona incident...at any rate- it was fun! We met up with some girls from home and had dinner and then some drinks. It's amazing the things some people go through that you would never know...
Anyway, Paris has been beautiful. Obviously. It's been raining a lot but Paris is one of those cities that is breathtaking no matter the weather.
Erik and I have been to one really good dinner so far, and then another nice dinner. We've had Kangaroo, which was like beef but tougher and escargot. Escargot...is usually cooked in lots of butter with herbs, parsley in our case. So it really tasted like butter and parsley! I've been telling everyone that escargot is a sea snail but it's NOT! It is a land snail. I don't understand why people think it's gross. Factory farmed animals are gross (and tragic) not a snail!
We were supposed to go to Alan Ducasse's seafood restaurant but I was too sick. I feel really bad because I know Erik really likes him!! But oh well. Dinner for New Years at his Eiffel Tower restaurant is €800! Which makes it...$1,058 USD. Ha! Must be nice eh?
What else to say about Paris? What can you even say? It's just as stereotypically beautiful as you might imagine. The Louvre is incredible. There was an ancient Islam section that I really enjoyed. The Mona Lisa was as anticlimactic as usual. Maybe I am just terribly uncultured? But I just don't get it.
What else...we rode in the big Ferris Wheel that overlooks the Louvre etc. it was super pretty. We drank hot wine (delicious) and ate chocolate crepes while walking through the Tuileries Garden, which is a lovely little park in front of the Louvre. A sort of "front garden" if you will. They an area set up with a bunch of mini trampolines for children. European kids have it so good. I swear.
That's about it little friends. I hope you are all having amazing holidays!
Anyway, Paris has been beautiful. Obviously. It's been raining a lot but Paris is one of those cities that is breathtaking no matter the weather.
Erik and I have been to one really good dinner so far, and then another nice dinner. We've had Kangaroo, which was like beef but tougher and escargot. Escargot...is usually cooked in lots of butter with herbs, parsley in our case. So it really tasted like butter and parsley! I've been telling everyone that escargot is a sea snail but it's NOT! It is a land snail. I don't understand why people think it's gross. Factory farmed animals are gross (and tragic) not a snail!
We were supposed to go to Alan Ducasse's seafood restaurant but I was too sick. I feel really bad because I know Erik really likes him!! But oh well. Dinner for New Years at his Eiffel Tower restaurant is €800! Which makes it...$1,058 USD. Ha! Must be nice eh?
What else to say about Paris? What can you even say? It's just as stereotypically beautiful as you might imagine. The Louvre is incredible. There was an ancient Islam section that I really enjoyed. The Mona Lisa was as anticlimactic as usual. Maybe I am just terribly uncultured? But I just don't get it.
What else...we rode in the big Ferris Wheel that overlooks the Louvre etc. it was super pretty. We drank hot wine (delicious) and ate chocolate crepes while walking through the Tuileries Garden, which is a lovely little park in front of the Louvre. A sort of "front garden" if you will. They an area set up with a bunch of mini trampolines for children. European kids have it so good. I swear.
That's about it little friends. I hope you are all having amazing holidays!
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Barcelona
Arrived in Barcelona on Monday. It's really a spectacularly beautiful city. Checked out La Sagrada Familia Monday afternoon. It's really difficult to explain. It's been in the works for over one hundred years. It's a Cathedral but unlike anything I've ever seen! I really can't even explain it.
At any rate- Barcelona is fabulous. It's young, fast, artsy and seaside. What more could you ask for?
Spent most of our time here wandering around the city on foot. One day we walked to top of one of the mountain peaks surrounding the city. Truly phenomenal views. I would add a picture but that is not possible via my phone. Speaking of which, I know these updates could be much more in depth; but on an iPhone, who has the time? Typing on these little screens. Furthermore, a written description won't REALLY do much justice to a city like Barcelona. Much of its architecture was done by Gaudi- check him out.
That is all for now little friends- hope you are enjoying yourselves!
At any rate- Barcelona is fabulous. It's young, fast, artsy and seaside. What more could you ask for?
Spent most of our time here wandering around the city on foot. One day we walked to top of one of the mountain peaks surrounding the city. Truly phenomenal views. I would add a picture but that is not possible via my phone. Speaking of which, I know these updates could be much more in depth; but on an iPhone, who has the time? Typing on these little screens. Furthermore, a written description won't REALLY do much justice to a city like Barcelona. Much of its architecture was done by Gaudi- check him out.
That is all for now little friends- hope you are enjoying yourselves!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Lisboa
It's Monday morning and after 4 wonderful days we are leaving Madrid. We flew out of Portugal Thursday afternoon, we'd spent the last few days with a really wonderful couple, Hugo and Manuela, who live in Lisbon. Hugo is a chef and a photographer and Manuela is a fashion editor/stylist for a magazine in Lisbon. Hugo owns a cooking school which is attached to their beautiful home, right at the start of barrio alto in Lisbon. We spent 3 days with them and it was so nice. They are both big into food, so Erik and I learned A LOT. They are also well traveled and gave us all sorts of tips about our trip! One night Erik went to one of Hugo's classes (this one was featuring a well known chef from Alentejo) and I went with
Manuela to a fashion-y exhibition. It was for a new tailoring company based out of Porto. Their thing is high quality custom hand made suits. Everything they make they make for that client, there is no basic suit that gets altered. Pretty interesting stuff. They had little booklets of fabric laid out on the table to show examples of what type of suit you could make. Lots of cashmere and animal pelt (which was sad). Interesting though. There was champagne and a dj but it was still pretty mellow.
The rest of the time Erik and I walked around Lisbon and checked out the sights. Lots of castles and old architecture. Lisbon I really like. I wasn't too thrilled about Portugal at first, but I would like to check it out again-in the summer.
Manuela to a fashion-y exhibition. It was for a new tailoring company based out of Porto. Their thing is high quality custom hand made suits. Everything they make they make for that client, there is no basic suit that gets altered. Pretty interesting stuff. They had little booklets of fabric laid out on the table to show examples of what type of suit you could make. Lots of cashmere and animal pelt (which was sad). Interesting though. There was champagne and a dj but it was still pretty mellow.
The rest of the time Erik and I walked around Lisbon and checked out the sights. Lots of castles and old architecture. Lisbon I really like. I wasn't too thrilled about Portugal at first, but I would like to check it out again-in the summer.
¡Madrid!
Again! My entire post just got deleted!!! Oh this is so sad. I have to write these on my phone and it takes so long! Oh well. I am on a train ride from Madrid to Barcelona right now so it's not like I have something better to be doing!
Well lets see, Erik and I arrived in Madrid on Thursday afternoon. Spent a ridiculous amount of money on the taxi to our hostal. For to the hostal and realized it was more cheap motel than "funky boutique hotel". Erik freaked out a little- very amusing. We left and tried to walk around to find some food- haha good joke! No food between like 3&7 thanks to the country wide siesta. So we walked around in the freezing cold unsure of where we were (although in reality we were right in the heart of the city, between Plaza Mayor and Plaza Sol). I tried to ask someone a question and couldn't understand them and proceeded to feel bad for myself and my horrible Spanish until we finally found a pub and got some drinks.
That night we got home and realized the room next door had one baby, who liked to scream, and also a toddler. That was pleasant.
On Saturday we walked over to el parque buen retiro, which is a huge beautiful park in the middle of the city. Erik said its similar to Central Park but more manicured. We walked through some beautiful gardens and little forests. There was a big lake with little boats that you can peddle around in, you know? Lots of big statues and buildings. Also two palaces, pretty little things, nothing spectacular.
After our jaunt through the woods we went to my favorite museum in the whole world, El Prado. It has my favorite painting , which Las Meninas by Velasquez. If I wasn't on my phone, I would post a picture of it. Go look it up! We got to see that, and a lot more Velasquez paintings which was cool. There was an exhibit about young Antoine Van Dyck. He studied under Reuben, who also had a lot of paintings in El Prado. I enjoyed Reuben too. Also "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by El Bosco. This was my other favorite painting. It's really a trip, you should look at that too! I bet you will like it more than Las Meninas. El Bosco does a lot of interesting stuff. I don't even know how to explain it.
After El Prado, we went to the Ritz for some hot chocolate and churros. Caliente chocolate y churros. SUCH a thing. It was so nice! The Ritz was pretty, old money, very fancy. Our hot chocolate was phenomenal, it's traditionally really thick and not overly sweet. It's like melted chocolate with a little bit of milk. It was especially good because Madrid is freezing. Like 40 degrees freezing. After the Ritz we went to see The Life of Pi.
Overindulged in popcorn as per usually I never read The Life of Pi and I really didn't like the ending. It was depressing.
Our hostal didn't have a kitchen so we had to eat out most meals out. Because our popcorn binge didn't curb our appetites, we went to a little Bodega and got some jamón y queso viejo, also a bottle of Ribera. Good stuff. Saturday we spent the first half of the day running around getting our Eurail passes.
We also went to the Museu Del Jamón which is like a chain butcher shop focusing on pork, with a little pork museum on top. At any rate, they make these little sandwiches called bocadillos which are ham (proscuitto) and cheese on baguettes. So delicious. SO delicious. And they are like 2€ which is even better since Europe is SO expensive. Seriously eating them is like the highlight of my day. Anyway, Saturday night we went to The Palace Hotel for a fancy dinner date. To start we shared a bottle of Cava and a meat plate. For dinner I had shrimp in curry sauce with tempura prawns and basmati rice. Erik had slow roasted suckling pig with a tasty cranberry gravy and some sort of mashed potato situation.
Dessert was grand marnier foam with triple chocolate cake and hazelnut ice cream. They also brought us little chocolate truffles. So tasty.
Sunday was fun. Erik and I went to a big market, El Rastro. Apparently it's the biggest flea market in Europe. I got a skeleton key! I love them and I want one from every country we go to. Although I didn't get one from Portugal.
After that we went to Mercado San Miguel which is a market inside a big old building that is open every day from 10am to 2am. There are lots of stalls with fish and vegetables. Also lots of little shops that sell tapas and wine. Erik and I walked around drinking wine and looking at all the nice snacks to buy. Afterwards, we went to another market, called San Anton. This one was also inside but it was more farmers market-y. Unfortunately we got there a little late so most stuff was closed There was a restaurant on the rooftop where we sat outside and had a glass of wine while looking over Madrid. After that we went to El Corte Ingles, which is like a Macy's. The top floor, the 9th floor, is "gourmet express". Lots of foodie stuff, as well as restaurants. We sat outside and looked at Plaza Del Sol with some Cava. For dinner we went to a burger place (ha!) and got a burger. I had the Japanese burger which was veal with wasabi and soy sauce. Erik had a Kobe beef burger. They had so many ketchups! All house made. Spicy BBQ, goat cheese, honey mustard, devil spicy, mayonesa, curry...it was phenomenal! Now we are on a train to Barcelona, where we will spend the next 5 days before heading to San Sebastián for some more culinary delights!
Well lets see, Erik and I arrived in Madrid on Thursday afternoon. Spent a ridiculous amount of money on the taxi to our hostal. For to the hostal and realized it was more cheap motel than "funky boutique hotel". Erik freaked out a little- very amusing. We left and tried to walk around to find some food- haha good joke! No food between like 3&7 thanks to the country wide siesta. So we walked around in the freezing cold unsure of where we were (although in reality we were right in the heart of the city, between Plaza Mayor and Plaza Sol). I tried to ask someone a question and couldn't understand them and proceeded to feel bad for myself and my horrible Spanish until we finally found a pub and got some drinks.
That night we got home and realized the room next door had one baby, who liked to scream, and also a toddler. That was pleasant.
On Saturday we walked over to el parque buen retiro, which is a huge beautiful park in the middle of the city. Erik said its similar to Central Park but more manicured. We walked through some beautiful gardens and little forests. There was a big lake with little boats that you can peddle around in, you know? Lots of big statues and buildings. Also two palaces, pretty little things, nothing spectacular.
After our jaunt through the woods we went to my favorite museum in the whole world, El Prado. It has my favorite painting , which Las Meninas by Velasquez. If I wasn't on my phone, I would post a picture of it. Go look it up! We got to see that, and a lot more Velasquez paintings which was cool. There was an exhibit about young Antoine Van Dyck. He studied under Reuben, who also had a lot of paintings in El Prado. I enjoyed Reuben too. Also "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by El Bosco. This was my other favorite painting. It's really a trip, you should look at that too! I bet you will like it more than Las Meninas. El Bosco does a lot of interesting stuff. I don't even know how to explain it.
After El Prado, we went to the Ritz for some hot chocolate and churros. Caliente chocolate y churros. SUCH a thing. It was so nice! The Ritz was pretty, old money, very fancy. Our hot chocolate was phenomenal, it's traditionally really thick and not overly sweet. It's like melted chocolate with a little bit of milk. It was especially good because Madrid is freezing. Like 40 degrees freezing. After the Ritz we went to see The Life of Pi.
Overindulged in popcorn as per usually I never read The Life of Pi and I really didn't like the ending. It was depressing.
Our hostal didn't have a kitchen so we had to eat out most meals out. Because our popcorn binge didn't curb our appetites, we went to a little Bodega and got some jamón y queso viejo, also a bottle of Ribera. Good stuff. Saturday we spent the first half of the day running around getting our Eurail passes.
We also went to the Museu Del Jamón which is like a chain butcher shop focusing on pork, with a little pork museum on top. At any rate, they make these little sandwiches called bocadillos which are ham (proscuitto) and cheese on baguettes. So delicious. SO delicious. And they are like 2€ which is even better since Europe is SO expensive. Seriously eating them is like the highlight of my day. Anyway, Saturday night we went to The Palace Hotel for a fancy dinner date. To start we shared a bottle of Cava and a meat plate. For dinner I had shrimp in curry sauce with tempura prawns and basmati rice. Erik had slow roasted suckling pig with a tasty cranberry gravy and some sort of mashed potato situation.
Dessert was grand marnier foam with triple chocolate cake and hazelnut ice cream. They also brought us little chocolate truffles. So tasty.
Sunday was fun. Erik and I went to a big market, El Rastro. Apparently it's the biggest flea market in Europe. I got a skeleton key! I love them and I want one from every country we go to. Although I didn't get one from Portugal.
After that we went to Mercado San Miguel which is a market inside a big old building that is open every day from 10am to 2am. There are lots of stalls with fish and vegetables. Also lots of little shops that sell tapas and wine. Erik and I walked around drinking wine and looking at all the nice snacks to buy. Afterwards, we went to another market, called San Anton. This one was also inside but it was more farmers market-y. Unfortunately we got there a little late so most stuff was closed There was a restaurant on the rooftop where we sat outside and had a glass of wine while looking over Madrid. After that we went to El Corte Ingles, which is like a Macy's. The top floor, the 9th floor, is "gourmet express". Lots of foodie stuff, as well as restaurants. We sat outside and looked at Plaza Del Sol with some Cava. For dinner we went to a burger place (ha!) and got a burger. I had the Japanese burger which was veal with wasabi and soy sauce. Erik had a Kobe beef burger. They had so many ketchups! All house made. Spicy BBQ, goat cheese, honey mustard, devil spicy, mayonesa, curry...it was phenomenal! Now we are on a train to Barcelona, where we will spend the next 5 days before heading to San Sebastián for some more culinary delights!
Monday, November 26, 2012
Portugal
I just wrote such a long post and it got deleted!!! In short, the first two weeks in Portugal were very very mellow. Yesterday we went out to a great lunch with Erik's parents' friends at a nice restaurant named Tosca do Joel. We had our own private room and there were like 30 of us. 4 courses and who knows how many bottles of wine later, we drank 95 year old Port! We stayed there all afternoon as then drove to another town called Cartaxo for dinner! More good food, lots of appetizers and then a traditional Portuguese steak with a fried egg on top! After that we went to a bar and drank more and ate Mussels. THEN to a discotec! I got very drunk it was very embarrassing.
Today we are bumming around on the couch at Joāo Paulo's house. Literally we have done nothing it has been spectacular! Joāo Paulo is Erik's family friend. He is really really kind. His wife, Ardina is a beautiful tall blonde woman from Holland. He has two daughters, Oris and Vivienne who are both very sweet girls. Also there house is incredible. It's being featured in a magazine this month, 13 pages long! We will be here for a few days and then it is off to Lisbon and Friday we will be in Madrid!! I CANNOT wait!
Today we are bumming around on the couch at Joāo Paulo's house. Literally we have done nothing it has been spectacular! Joāo Paulo is Erik's family friend. He is really really kind. His wife, Ardina is a beautiful tall blonde woman from Holland. He has two daughters, Oris and Vivienne who are both very sweet girls. Also there house is incredible. It's being featured in a magazine this month, 13 pages long! We will be here for a few days and then it is off to Lisbon and Friday we will be in Madrid!! I CANNOT wait!
Friday, November 9, 2012
leaving TOMORROW
I am sorry I have not been writing little interweb friends. It has been a BUSY two weeks. Erik's best girlfriend from the East Coast came to visit and we pretty much bourgeois-ed the entire time. Erik made a DELICIOUS duck and gnocchi dish at one point. In my opinion, it is the most fabulous dish he has ever made. Really phenomenal stuff. We have also been running around like crazy people trying to figure out which visas, if any, we need for our European peregrination. We leave tomorrow at 9am! So exciting!
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