Tags
Bali, black and white, Hindu temple, Indonesia, Mount Agung, photo, picture, Southeast Asia, travel
and I am yours.
03 Thursday Nov 2016
Tags
Bali, black and white, Hindu temple, Indonesia, Mount Agung, photo, picture, Southeast Asia, travel
and I am yours.
03 Thursday Nov 2016
Posted entertainment, Photos, Travel
inTags
Bali, costume, Fuku Indah, legong dancer, photo shoot, photos, pictures, Seminyak, travel, Tuban
On my most recent trip to Bali, I decided to dress up as a legong dancer for a photo shoot. Although I was staying in Seminyak and the studio was situated in Tuban, they sent a driver to pick me up in a van an hour prior to my appointment. Upon arrival at the studio, they gave me a photo album showing several different costumes as possibilities. I chose the legong, upon which they quickly did my make-up and dressed me in the elaborate costume. They then led me into another room with several props, where one of the assistants demonstrated several legong poses for me. I emulated them while the photographer snapped away. After changing back into my regular clothes, they gave me the option of either choosing 12 photos myself to be printed and put in a lontar photo album or of having the photographer choose them. I opted to choose them myself. I was also allowed to choose one to be printed and framed in a nice carved wood frame. They then put all 50+ photos on a CD for me. That process took about 40 minutes. I was quite pleased with all of the photos. Afterwards, the driver returned me to my hotel in Seminyak. Depending on the currency exchange rate, the photo shoot costs in the vicinity of USD$45-$50. If you’re interested in doing such a photo shoot yourself while in Bali, contact them via http://www.fukuindah.com.
16 Tuesday Aug 2016
Posted entertainment, Holidays/Special Events, Music, Travel
inTags
Baby Dolls, brass bands, Fauborg Marigny, French Quarter, Jackson Square, Louisiana, New Orleans, photos, pictures, Satchmo Summerfest, Second Line, steppers, travel, Treme
On my most recent trip to New Orleans, I saw/semi-participated in my first authentic Second Line. It was slated to begin at 11:30 a.m. at St. Augustine Church in the Treme, then would end up back in the French Quarter at the Satchmo Summerfest. Never having been far into the Treme before, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The houses in the neighborhood were beautiful, though, and no one paid me any mind. I arrived at the church to find locals and tourists alike sitting on the stoops of the surrounding houses awaiting the end of mass and the beginning of the Second Line. Locals were selling refreshing drinks on the street corner as we waited. The Second Line began about half an hour or more later than scheduled. We knew that when the Baby Dolls exited the church, the start was imminent. There appeared to be various VIPs riding in cars, two or three brass bands, various steppers, the Baby Dolls, a man on stilts and some other man whose costume I couldn’t figure out. We went down the street by the church (NOT Governor Nicholls) and over to Esplanade, turning on to Decatur and back to Jackson Square. Although it was seriously hot and humid, the energy of the participants and onlookers made me feel like dancing. I strutted a little here and there, but was mostly concerned with trying to capture some great photos. Everyone else had the same idea, so it was difficult to dodge all of the other photographers, stay out of the way of the people in the Second Line, then continue to run on ahead and walk backwards in an attempt to get photos. Here are a few of the results:
15 Monday Feb 2016
Posted Food/Restaurants, Friends, Holidays/Special Events, Photos, Travel
inTags
Bottega Louie, Buddy V's, Diamond Head, flight delays, food, Hawaii, Hawaiian Crown Plantation, High Roller, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, macarons, Pann's, Peppermill Restaurant and Fireside Lounge, Pulp Fiction, restaurants, The Cosmopolitan, The Little Door, The Little Next Door, The Venetian, travel, United Airlines, Virgin America
This gallery contains 1 photo.
Well, folks, I know you think I checked out, but… blame it on travel in November and December. I was …
23 Tuesday Jun 2015
Posted Food/Restaurants, Photos, Travel
inTags
Copper Kitchen, food, Ginger Moon, Hujan Locale, Le Isaan, Melting Wok Warung, photos, pictures, restaurants, Siem Reap, Soi Rambuttri, Southeast Asia, Square 24, The Dusty Cafe, travel
For you foodies out there, here’s a little food porn from my trip to Southeast Asia! In all honesty, I found the food in Siem Reap to be a bit bland and very unexciting. Indonesian and Thai food were great, as usual! Love all the fresh juices in Southeast Asia, though, as I seldom feel the urge to drink any sodas there.
27 Friday Mar 2015
Tags
French Quarter, music, musicians, New Orleans, Royal Street, travel, videos, violin
New Orleans is teeming with talented musicians, especially on Royal Street and around Jackson Square. Here are a few of my favorites.
26 Thursday Mar 2015
Posted Food/Restaurants
inTags
Alberto's Wine and Cheese Bistro, Central Grocery, District Donuts & Sliders, Eat Restaurant, Erin Rose Bar, food, Galatoire's, Killer Po' Boys, Kingfish, Mr. B's Bistro, Muriel's, Napoleon House, New Orleans, Petite Amelie, Red Gravy, The Grill, travel, Verti Marte
Any trip to New Orleans includes some fantabulous meals. I tend to go to the same places much of the time, but try to include a new place or two on every trip.
My first meal in New Orleans this time was at Eat Restaurant, half a block from where my French Quarter studio was located. I’d eaten at Eat back in 2009. My dinner had been fried green tomatoes and spaghetti back then. My recollection was that the food was fine, but nothing too memorable. This time I stopped in and ordered the spicy deviled eggs with bacon. There were 5 deviled eggs, which were good, but not particularly spicy. You can also order them with salmon instead of bacon, but y’all know how I feel about salmon! I then ordered a side order of butter beans with shrimp. OMG, Becky! It was smokey, rich and had some nice zing to it. I wasn’t expecting to like it quite that much. I intended to go back a day or two later to get the entrée size, but they were closed 2 (or 3) days, so I didn’t get any more of those incredible butter beans with shrimp. Boo hoo!
One evening I stopped in at Muriel’s for an appetizer of gulf shrimp risotto and a fleur-de-lis, some raspberry cocktail concoction. They were both so tasty!
On Tripadvisor everyone kept going on and on about the muffaletta at Albert’s Cheese and Wine Bistro in the French Market. I went there late morning to get one, but their reputation preceded them. There was already a line and the guy informed me that it would take about 15-20 minutes to get my order. I waited and my order was ready in the allotted amount of time. Unfortunately, I was due for lunch at Mr. B’s Bistro within 20 minutes, so took my muffaletta to go. It ended up in my refrigerator, so it wasn’t fresh when I finally got to chow down. After all the hype, I thought it was average. The one at Napoleon House is better, but my favorite remains the one at Central Grocery. I did, as usual, grab one from Central Grocery for my flight back to San Francisco. Whenever I open that on the flight, you can see the jealousy in everyone’s eyes!!!
Speaking of Mr. B’s Bistro, I finally got their famed BBQ Shrimp. I have a bit of an aversion to ripping heads and legs off of shrimp. I kindly asked the waiter if he could please ask the chef to remove the heads, in which case I’d go ahead and deal with the legs. Request granted! I began my lunch with their classic Gumbo YaYa and a $5.00 Champagne Royale, proceeded with the BBQ Shrimp and a $1.50 Bloody Mary, then ended with the Lemon Icebox Pie with Raspberry Sauce. Everything was divine! The sauce for the BBQ Shrimp was super buttery goodness and the Lemon Icebox Pie was decadent in a way that I never thought pie could be! They put a bib on me for the shrimp, brought a bowl for the shells and legs, and brought a couple of lemon slices and a damp napkin to cleanse my hands/fingers with. Even so, I made a straight-up mess with their white linen napkin! Once again, I have to mention that the service is first-rate. Plus, you’ve gotta’ love those cocktail specials during lunch Monday through Friday.
I also had lunch at Galatoire’s again. They had a 3-course prix fixe for a very reasonable $18, but… I also was craving their Shrimp Remoulade. So I ordered both the prix fixe AND the Shrimp Remoulade. A few bites into the Shrimp Remoulade reminded me why I particularly love theirs – it has a healthy dose of horseradish! For the prix fixe, the first course was duck and Andouille gumbo. It was rich, smokey and slightly gamey. The main course was a Creole shrimp omelette; good. I could only make it halfway through the omelette, though, before giving up. Yet, somehow, when the mocha panna cotta with whipped cream arrived at my table, I managed to finish the entire thing! Luscious! That was my final day in New Orleans, so I didn’t bother having any alcohol for lunch because, after 4 days in New Orleans, who really needs more alcohol?! As with Mr. B’s, the service at Galatoire’s is first-rate; very old school and professional.
One morning I had breakfast at Red Gravy, which is across Canal Street in the CBD. Red Gravy refers to marinara sauce. This restaurant is owned by an East Coast Italian. There have been many complaints about the service, but I decided to try it, anyway. First off, the restaurant is really cute, homey and rather intimate inside. I had no problems with the service because I chose to sit at the bar, where the bartender was quite attentive. I ordered the polpetta omelette, an omelette filled with Italian meatballs and covered with parmesan and marinara, which also came with potatoes and toast. I would say that it was better than average; most certainly, filling. I wouldn’t complain if I had to eat it again.
What else did I eat? Well… another meatloaf po’ boy from Killer Po’ Boys in the back of the Erin Rose Bar, a chicken salad sandwich from The Grill, a grilled shrimp po’ boy from Verti Marte, a (mediocre) portabella sandwich from Petite Amelie, a Vietnamese iced coffee donut from District Donuts & Sliders, some tasteless chicken from Kingfish and a blackberry snowball with some crazy good jamabalaya being sold on the street where the Mardi Gras Indians parade took place. That about covers the culinary part of it. I was eating “light” on this trip, so only gained 5 lbs. this time around. Besides, you must realize that my now oversized okole is currently doing extensive sit-ups and other exercises at home. Once my bedraggled knee heals a bit more, I’m taking my fat self back to the gym!
26 Thursday Mar 2015
Posted Holidays/Special Events, Photos, Travel
inTags
Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras Indians, masking Indian, New Orleans, photos, pictures, St. Joseph's Day, Super Sunday, travel
My main reason for traveling to New Orleans on this trip was to attempt to get some photos of the Mardi Gras Indians. The Mardi Gras Indians are “tribes” of African-Americans who “mask Indian” to pay homage to Native Americans who took them in and/or hid them during the time of slavery. There may be 40 or 50 tribes in New Orleans. The main times that they come out are on Mardi Gras, Super Sunday and St. Joseph’s Day. I don’t see myself dealing with the madness of Mardi Gras any time soon, so opted to book a ticket encompassing Super Sunday.
I arrived on March 13th to some rain, so was waiting for Super Sunday with trepidation. If it happened to rain on Sunday, the Mardi Gras Indians wouldn’t come out, as the rain would ruin their costumes which are composed of beaucoup ostrich feathers in brilliant colors. Luckily, it did NOT rain on Super Sunday, so I got my photos. It was difficult to get photos with hundreds of people around, spy boys and wild men shooing everyone out of the way, and the Mardi Gras Indians themselves turning this way and that. Many of them stopped specifically to pose, but just when one thought they had a clear shot, someone would stick their cell phone right in front of you! Even so, Super Sunday, in my opinion, is a glorious tradition that I’m happy to have finally seen. Who knows? I may attempt to return next year and include St. Joseph’s Day, too!
26 Thursday Mar 2015
Tags
Bourbon Street, injury, knee, Louisiana, New Orleans, parades, St. Patrick's Day weekend, travel
You haven’t heard from me in a minute ’cause I took my happy butt to New Orleans for a long weekend over St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Out of my 15 (?) or so trips there, this was my best by far. I saw FOUR parades, saw someone from there who I’d met pre-Katrina AND had drinks with a friend from L.A. who was in NoLa that Saturday night.
in reality, I rarely spend much time on Bourbon Street these days. That’s what you do the first 2 or 3 times you go there. After that, you venture to other streets and areas to party. I admit to stopping in at Krazy Korner on every trip hoping to catch some live zydeco or R&B band. This time, however, my Air BnB studio was a street above Bourbon and down near the quieter end. Thus, I was crossing Bourbon Street constantly day and night. The St. Joseph’s parade was in the French Quarter that Saturday night. Once it was over, later in the evening, I was dashing across Bourbon and took quite a fall. I’m sure a thud was involved. I could have slipped on paper, plastic, beads, alcohol, whatever… Two Southern gentlemen immediately helped me up. I’d fallen forward in my jeans and slippers causing grievous injury to my right knee. One of the Southern gentlemen proclaimed “There’s so much shi* on this street. I hope you’re ok.” Even though I seriously felt like crying, I assured him that I would be fine and soldiered on. It was probably an hour later, as I was sitting in a bar waiting for someone, that I glanced at my knee to discover that a fair amount of blood had seeped through! That prompted me to rush back to the studio and check on it. My Bourbon Street battle wound was decidedly not pretty! Still, I waited till the next day to pick up some Neosporin and apply it liberally several times daily. I’m still applying that, along with coconut oil. Hope it doesn’t scar!
15 Wednesday Oct 2014
Posted Travel
inTags
Bangkok, Bophut Beach, Fishermans Village, Kama Sutra Restaurant, Koh Samui, Mr. C, photos, Thai massage, Thailand, travel
After an extremely long and (not very) arduous journey, I’ve finally arrived in Thailand. Unlike when I was in Phuket in 2011, the Thai people that I’ve thus far encountered at the Bangkok airport and in Koh Samui are very friendly. It’s restored my faith in the term “Land of Smiles.”
My apartment in Koh Samui is the epitome of zen and peacefulness. It’s beautifully decorated with a prevalent Buddha theme, accented with Thai accessories and Jim Thompson silk pillow cases. In fact, I’ve decided that I could very well be completely happy staying here listening to birdsong and rainfall, playing my August Alsina and J. Holiday playlists on Spotify and reading books on Thai culture and history, as opposed to going out and running around. Waking up with a large Buddha statue next to your bed seems to make my day begin with serenity.
I did venture out for my first (followed by my second) Thai massage. Now I completely understand when people describe Thai massages as “painful.” Being extremely tired due to my travels, I’d managed to pass out for a bit during my first one. What woke me up was when the masseuse grabbed my arms from behind and attempted to rip them out of their sockets! The quick turning movements with my back made me feel as if I was at a chiropractor’s office! Then the putting my legs out straight in front of me while she urged me to touch my toes and applied extra pressure to my back was a bit of a surprise, too. My flexibility is fine, for the most part, considering my age, but still… Serious pressure was applied to my, well, pressure points. My second Thai massage followed the next day and was much the same. I don’t feel like exposing myself to the torture today, however. Although my lower back feels better, my right shoulder is a little sore and my fingers were tingly afterwards.
So I was in a Thai grocery store called Mr. C yesterday; half groceries and half clothing and home supplies. As to be expected, there were plenty of French selections in the deli and boulangerie; Bophut is composed of many French expats. The Thai guy could tell I had no clue as to how the system works in the boulangerie. He politely took my already-bagged puffs and mini croissants out of my cart, then proceeded to weigh and label them. I was tempted to try out the durian cookies, but… NO!!! I had to pass on the Sriracha pineapples, too, beings I haven’t the faintest idea how to cut and core a pineapple. My Heinekens were confiscated from my cart by the cashier with the information that alcohol is not sold after 11:00 a.m. (although it was only 9:30 a.m.).
I wandered down to Fishermans Village yesterday in search of Namcha Samui, a tea house owned by Filipinos. Not being able to find it, I stopped in at Kama Sutra Restaurant for beef with garlic and blak pepper, steamed rice and a Singha; it was alright, nothing special. I also had a glass of sauvignon blanc somewhere. Today I’ll venture further afoot ’cause I’m determined to find Namcha Samui and Coco Tam’s!