Within moments, drinks in hand, the two of you emerge from the café and hurry across 3rd Avenue to Saint Mark’s Place. The light has fallen further and the pace of foot traffic has picked up, the energetic hum of a Saturday night in New York City setting in.

“I need cigarettes,” Alisa says as she leads the way into a mini-mart halfway down the block; you understand the compulsion, familiar by now with her nicotine urges. You watch as she marches up to the counter, sets down her drink to pull out her wallet, and requests her particular brand of cancer sticks. Meanwhile, your hands cup the warmth of your own coffee and you mill around the small store, eyeballing the miscellany that fills the narrow shelves and wondering if perhaps they might carry Mallomars, one of your particularly favorite East Coast treats.

With the chiming of bells over the doorway, a large, bald, leather-chapped man hunkers into the mini-mart and heads to the back of the store. You glance at him curiously then resume idly scanning the shelves. Out of the corner of your eye, you see the leather-clad man grab a malt beverage from the refrigerators and lumber up to the front of the store.

Having reentered your periphery, you follow him more closely. He plunks his drink down on the counter, directly between your friend and her resting beverage. Alisa glances at him quizzically, as a kind of a message to him that he has invaded her space, pausing in that oh-so-Alisa kind of way where you can practically see the gears working in her mind deciding whether or not to say something quick and cutting.

For a brief moment, time has stopped. You wait, frozen in the gulf between what has just happened and what is about to happen. Alisa breaks the silence by saying nothing; she shoots you a telepathic look and resumes paying for her cigarettes. The big, bald, biker guy leans in even closer to her, pauses for dramatic effect, and says, “You looking for a job??”

In the few seconds in which it has taken this random Hell’s Angel to lean over and offer your dear friend a job, time has turned from a trickle, to a slow crawl, and now surpasses it’s previous speed of normalcy. Everything happens in brief fractions of seconds and nothing is attached to thought or conscious reaction, instead falling into place like so many toppled dominoes. There are no subsequent moments of Alisa-like pauses, only a mumbled “No” and a couple of deadpanned blinks of the eyes from you, snatching her coffee off the counter in front of the large man with your right hand, grabbing her arm with your left hand, and together beating a hasty retreat, dropping money and/or loose cigarettes in your wake.

The door chimes behind you in welcome relief as you rush down the steps of the mini-mart and embrace the cool night air with deep laughing gulps. The two of you clutch each other’s arms and hurry out into the evening, turning your minds to dinner plans, friends coming over, and where you will find yourselves after. Before crossing the heavy green doorway of her apartment, though, you catch Alisa’s eye and, staring at each other, query “You looking for a job???”

Jen recently went to the San Francisco Underground Market, which I’ve been dying to do since I first heard about it. She generously agreed to share her (drool-worthy) experience here:

Every food enthusiast loves a good farmer’s market, mostly because farmer’s markets bring the diversity and goodness of fresh local produce to our convenient urban enclaves. In a similar spirit, underground markets like the ones hosted by ForageSF, bring the goodness of home cooking to market. I attended a recent ForageSF market on a Saturday evening in Oakland.

In order to attend the event you have to become a member of ForageSF, this is because the health department doesn’t inspect the foods being served and sold at the markets and the vendors don’t carry licenses. In order to get around this technicality, ForageSF hosts the events as private parties so only members can attend. I was happy to sign up to become a member and pay the small entry fee for the event.

Once inside the gates I had to maneuver my way through the dense crowd. There were a lot of people in attendance, probably close to 1,500 people and what looked like close to 50 vendors. I didn’t want to miss any of the vendors so I started at one end of the event space and worked my way around the room, giving myself a chance to sample each vendor’s goods and chat with them about their creations. I had wonderful tamales, cheesecakes, liquor cakes, chocolates, jambalaya, deep fried ravioli, hand-pressed sunflower seed oil, sugar cane juice, vegan sausage,  jams, five different varieties of honey and so much more! It was a lot of fun to hop from one table to the next as each vendor had a unique recipe, story, and motivation behind participating in the underground market. For some it’s just about sharing a recipe, others are hobbyists who aspire to turn their specialties into side businesses and sought out the underground market as an inexpensive way to seek exposure and feedback from potential future customers.

I spoke with other attendees, many of them were equally enthusiastic about the event and felt good about the fact that they could enjoy all of the delectable treats while supporting local cooks. The event was inexpensive to attend, a great place to socialize, and a fun way to try something new – I would encourage anyone who has not already attended to check out a future underground market, whether it be one hosted by ForageSF or not, you’ll be happy you did!

Now, here’s a shot of our yummy lunch:

Bacon mac and cheese and dijon vinaigrette salad, with chai blondies and Noe Valley Bakery cupcakes for dessert! Lilly made the blondies and they were delicious – butterscotch chips, coconut, and macadamia nuts in a tasty spiced blondie base. She’s promised to send the recipe, so I’ll be sure to share that soon. The cupcakes were also great. NVB makes these awesome classed-up Hostess cupcake knock-offs called Mostess cupcakes. Mmm, so good! Heaven!

The salad was a nice combo of crispy cabbage, tender greens, and crunchy carrots, cucumbers and apples. Perfect alongside the richness of the bacon mac and cheese.

The macaroni recipe is a spruced up version of the basic Joy of Cooking baked macaroni and cheese recipe. I’ve made it so many times, I have it memorized (though the bacon was a new addition).

Bacon Macaroni and Cheese

8 ounces of your preferred style of macaroni noodles (I like rotini because they hold the cheese nicely but orechietti or elbows would also work well)

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

1/2 onion, diced

1 bay leaf

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/2 to 3/4 cup frozen peas

2 and 1/4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (Or more, if you like cheese! Also, consider trying different kinds of cheese to add new flavors. I added some Manchego I had on hand this time, but other hard or semi-soft cheese are delicious, too!)

salt & pepper to taste

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs

5 slices of cooked bacon (this lends a smokey flavor, I think pancetta would do well if you want the saltiness without the smoke), diced

Bring 6 cups water and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt to rolling boil in medium saucepan. Add pasta and cook until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in large saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking constantly, about 3 minutes. This will be the thickener for your sauce. Gradually whisk in milk. Stir in onion, bay leaf and paprika. Simmer gently, stirring often, for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in 1 1/2 cups cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove bay leaf. Stir in frozen peas, cooked bacon, and prepared noodles. Pour half of mixture into greased, deep 9″x9″ baking dish and sprinkle with half of remaining cheese. Top with remaining noodles and remaining cheese.

Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in small skillet over medium heat. Add bread crumbs and toss to coat. Sprinkle buttered crumbs over top of macaroni. Bake at 350F. until bread crumbs are lightly browned, about 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Yum!

Now for the obligatory photo of my ridiculously cute niece in her Halloween costume. Adorbz!

And feel free to admire the fanciest Halloween pumpkins my crew has ever carved. I made the bat on the end. I didn’t get the cat memo, apparently. Oh well, at least they rhyme. :)

Cheerios® is giving you the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, your ultimate family vacation. As part of a paid promotion for their “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, Cheerios® is sponsoring my post today about what my ultimate family vacation would be. Read mine, Enter the Sweepstakes for a chance to actually win your own fantasy family trip or one of a bunch of other great prizes.

For me, the question of the Ultimate Family Vacation is a hard one. As a kid, I grew up traveling all over the world with my family. I took my first plane ride before the age of one, had been to another country by five, and visited five of the seven continents by the time I graduated from high school. Travel was a big priority for my parents and I had a very lucky childhood getting to go all over the U.S. and the world. From epic cross-country road trips to enlightening visits to dramatically different cultures on the other side of the globe, everything I saw inspired a love of travel and family vacations.

Understandably, my ultimate family vacation has big shoes to fill. Partly because I’ve been on so many awesome family vacations already and partly because there are even more places I want to go and things I want to see. I also have a list of favorite places that I’ve been to on my own that I’d love to share with my family – including my adorable little baby niece (have I mentioned my adorable niece before? :). To keep things simple, my ideal family vacation spot would have to involve a lot of relaxation and eating – two things my family is good at.

I think my ultimate family vacation is a week-long getaway to somewhere beautiful, relaxing, and tasty – a villa in the Italian countryside! My brother and sister-in-law (and, really, the whole family) would love all the yummy Italian food, my mom could geek out over the classical art museums, my dad and I could practice our Italian, and we could all go hiking and exploring, take cooking classes, and just unwind for a while. I’m sure my niece’s favorite part would be all the soft, sweet gelato she could get her hands on, since she loves ice cream. Pretty sure I could convince my mom and SIL to hit up the high end fashion outlets in Tuscany, too. Bonus that we wouldn’t have to move around much with the baby. Family vacay to an Italian villa? Yes, please! Eating, shopping, exploring, and relaxing together, what could be better?

What’s your Ultimate Family Vacation? Where would you go, what would you do, and who would you take with you?

Don’t forget to enter the “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, for a chance to win your own ultimate family vacation. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

The fountain at Lincoln Center:

© 2010 Ana Cruz

© 2010 Ana Cruz

Strolling in the Financial District:

© 2010 Ana Cruz

The Brooklyn Bridge:

© 2010 Ana Cruz

© 2010 Ana Cruz

What a gorgeous, photogenic weekend!

Not a bad view to work from, right?

So, our networking was really interesting. We went to Sun (& got to hear interesting insights into the Oracle merger), VMWare, Chevron, Adobe (they’re undergoing some intense shifts right now, too), LinkedIn, and Ubisoft. The hiring market right now is tough, but I think our trip was helpful for inspiring my search.

Of course, it wasn’t all work. I got to see several friends and even squeezed in a trip to Napa! I’m posting a couple of photos from the week.

This was a storefront in Oakland. I still have no idea what kind of business this is, I just thought it was funny. My friends and I discovered it on our way home from an awesome dinner at Dona Tomas. Killer carnitas…highly recommended. This wasn’t the end of the oddness on the walk home, though…we also discovered some sort of nerdom medieval sword play going on in the Rockridge BART parking lot. Only in California!

And this is from Napa. It was an absolutely gorgeous day…the kind of day that makes you not want to leave! We had lunch at Mustards (good, but didn’t live up to the hype) and tasted at Cosentino, Sawyer, Elizabeth Spencer, and Alpha Omega (not including the link for that one, because it wasn’t good). I’d been to Sawyer before and it lived up to memory, but the other three were new to me. Had a great rose at Elizabeth Spencer, would’ve been tempted if it wasn’t so darn hard to get wine into Massachusetts. BUT, I did manage to pack two jars of my favorite jam into my luggage (strawberry chipotle jam from Tierra Vegetables at the SF Ferry Building Farmers Market). Yum!!

Just thinking about this week makes me miss California already. Good thing Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

I head back to Boston in less than three weeks and there is an astonishing amount of stuff to do between now and then, both personally and professionally. For starters, I’ve got a couple of big events at work for the projects that I’ve been working on this summer. Should be fun, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t stress out between now and then! I’ve got a to-do list a mile long and really want to knock out as much stuff as I can before I leave the fun/hectic/tasty environs of my internship.

In addition, a very close friend of mine is getting MARRIED the day before I fly back, which is tremendously exciting and adding to the busy-ness, as well. I’m a bridesmaid…thank goodness she’s a dream bride, super relaxed and easy. It must be love. :)

More later….hopefully *before* the summer is over. It’s a whirlwind kind of day and my Chinese takeout just showed up!

You can read it here.

9:27 am – Arrive at work after catching the late bus.
9:28 – Check email for the second time this morning (first time was from iPhone while waiting for said late bus)
9:32 – Rinse mug and make tea, while doing the “no whammies” chant that I won’t have to be the one to replace the water cooler bottle
9:37 – Chat with co-worker about her day out of the office yesterday
9:38 – Resume email reading – specifically a social media newsletter for businesses
9:45 – Check company twitter feed, RT interesting post, post a news article related to work project
9:55 – Re-read latest company newsletter, which went out yesterday
10:00 – Email web designer to fix a typo on one of our microsites brought to our attention after newsletter went out
10:05 – Check local news website
10:12 – Post wine article to twitter
10:14 – Read more wine articles
10:21 – Login to Facebook, check friend’s updates, join employer network, adjust privacy settings
10:38 – Decide that our user groups need updating, forming plan for doing so…
10:40 – Boss stops by desk to ask us to write copy for some new wine labels
10:46 – finally figure out where the tasting notes are for the wines we’re supposed to write about
10:50 – Commence wine label writing. Desirous of second cup of tea.
11:12 – Consult with other intern re: label style. We both have writers block after proofing a million labels yesterday.
11:15 – Nuke frozen burrito. Still undecided if this is brunch or lunch.
11:27 – Tweet a bit
11:29 – Play Mafia Wars – Underboss level, baby!
11:30 – Resume wine label writing
11:43 – Eat a boatload of almond M&Ms. Immediately both regret it and crave more.
12:03 – Chat with fellow intern about friends & family & chick lit, complain re: M&M overload.
12:15 – Send finished labels to boss for proofing
12:20 – Update my summer wine journal with tasting notes from yesterday’s restaurant meeting
12:40 – Respond to long, multi-part email from potential client
1:03 – Something smells weird in here. Who’s eating eggs??
1:05 – Edit fellow intern’s label copy
1:08 – Respond to wine peeps tweets
1:24 – Update personal twitter & FB feeds to mention BU blog guest post
1:26 – Update work FB groups and tweet about program updates
1:37 – G-chat with friend from school re: evening plans
1:48 – More tweeting (yes, I’m addicted and by default the twitter expert around here…supposed to give someone a tutorial later this week)
1:56 – Chat with another co-worker/friend about life & weekend plans
2:08 – Run to nearby sandwich joint for a Cobb salad after much discussion of bacon on twitter
2:25 – Back at my desk, re-visiting social networking sites while eating my lunch
2:27 – Overheard in the next cube cirle over: CW1: “Karl Malden died!” CW2: “Who’s Karl Malden?” CW1: “Oh my god, I just dated myself.” CW3: “You dated Karl Malden?”
2:35 – Read articles about wine: new shipping laws, food pairings; post to twitter
2:41 – Continue previous afternoon’s work on a volunteer application form
3:15 – Send application form to co-worker for ideas. Result = nada.
3:20 – Send application form to boss for proofing.
3:28 – Work on researching wine bloggers to have post our quiz widget on their sites
3:53 – Time for TicTacs…just noticed that the little box is cracked…guess I’m gonna have to finish them all now
4:12 – Trip down the hall to the SFIAD student lounge to raid their soda machine while feigning nonchalance.
4:18 – More M&Ms.
4:26 – Brief chat with fellow intern, who’s bailing b/c she’s tired. Take another big swig of caffeine (it was a late night last night and apparently the upstairs neighbor thought everyone in the building should get up at 5am when he got up).
4:30 – More blogger research
4:56 – Follow twitter link to adorable coin purse, brief bout of online shopping
5:00 – More blogger research, think I’ve just about found enough
5:16 – Check twitter, nothing interesting to post about or RT
5:19 – Still full from morning burrito/M&Ms/Cobb salad extravaganza of junk
5:20 – Call & leave VM for friend in Boston
5:37 – Pack up my stuff & get ready to head out…gotta get downtown to meet my school peeps for happy hour!

Notice the Fall colors!

I was lucky enough to be on the banks when my personal favorite team went by. Can you guess who? The big “C”s on their chests should be a clue.

And, before I headed in from the cold, I caught this little guy trying to adjust to the change in weather, too.

This is from Boston’s Pumpkin Festival last weekend, which I didn’t get to go to because I was too busy. But, I did happen to wander through Government Center afterward and got to see all the thousands of jack’o'lanterns lit up. Pretty, no? This was after a delicious dinner in the North End, which is essentially the North Beach of Boston with tons of great Italian food. Mmm…

Here are the leaves changing! (I took this while waiting for the train to class.)

And here is the view out the window of the library. Notice the cool architecture and the Charles River in the background!

More rooftops… (yes, I spend most of my days inside!)

And finally, the “T” home after a long day:

I didn’t really get to debrief after my trip, since I launched into a whirlwind of activity pretty much the minute I landed back at SFO (yay, Lair and visits with friends!). All in all, I had an awesome time. Jen was a fabulous travel partner and I learned that traveling alone isn’t as much fun as it sounds. I definitely need a partner in crime to crack all my sarcastic jokes to.

Thailand was my favorite part of the trip, I think. The beaches on Ko Samui were breathtaking and I loved every minute of our time down there. Snorkeling, amazing food on the beach, dry weather lightening… what more could you ask for? I also liked Bangkok, despite the fact that so many of my friends were not big fans of the city. Getting to spend a little extra time there really gave me a better perspective of the area than just the 24 hour Khao San Road experience that so many tourists have. And, of course, Chiang Mai in the north was just as cool as everyone promised.

As for Laos, my perspective was definitely influenced by our harrowing Mekong trip and the subsequent sickness (evil river water). What we saw, however, was still interesting and beautiful. I got to see real rice paddies, farm workers in triangle hats, butterflies as big as birds (gorgeous!), and some of the more traditional aspects of life in rural Southeast Asia. It was frustrating and funny that nothing could be accomplished without lots of dialog between locals and the occasional backtracking. Vietnam, too, had its own flavor, and I’d love to go back with a more thought-out itinerary and more time. Hanoi was cool, but I’d love to see Halong Bay, Hoi An, the beaches in central and southern Vietnam, and remnants of the American War in the areas around Saigon (I think I can skip the Mekong Delta).

I still don’t have all my pictures off my camera, but when I get to that I’ll try to figure out a way to post them (either by linking to a photo hosting site or putting them up here). I think I joked to someone that I’d try to have them up by Christmas. I was only halfway kidding. Seriously, the next couple of weeks (and months) are going to be insane. I can’t wait! If you’re in the Boston area in the next week and are handy with an Allen wrench, give me a buzz… I’m going to have lots of IKEA furniture to assemble very soon.

I’ve spent this weekend in Hanoi, which is pretty crazy.It’s a melting pot of Vietnamese and French influences, along with some of the Indochina minorities and a little flavor of China. In other words, tons of pagodas and croissants.

On the food front, today was a three soda day. Which means it was really freaking hot, since I usually try to refrain from drinking soda back home. I also had authentic pho yesterday for dinner and finally got my much-desired bahn mi for dinner today. Tasty, but it actually has me craving American Vietnamese food! Well, that and Mexican food, Indian food, and just about everything else I’ve forgone for the last three weeks. Like ice. Mmm…ice. Frozen water never sounded so good.

Anyway, as I sweat here at the computer in my questionable hotel in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, I realize that after a day of sightseeing (including Ho Chi Minh’s actual dead, preserved body) I am sorely in need of a shower. Perhaps I should have apologized to my seatmates at the water puppets theater just now, but the least I can do now is hit the showers and look forward to a day and a half in the no-man’s land of international airports starting tomorrow. Mmm…. so close to being able to have ice. See ya soon!

Jen and I both ended up getting sick a couple of days after we got to Luang Prabang. My assumption is that some water from the evil Mekong got in our mouths during the aforementioned boat ride from hell and the parasites started going to work on our bodies. Anyway, it hit me first and then Jen 24 hours later. We spent the following few days sweating profusely in our rock hard beds, fighting stomach ailments, fever, headache, and body aches. Good times. Finally, at the advice of my mother (of course), we started taking antibiotics. Fortunately, because of my particular drug allergies, I’d brought my own antibiotics from home. However, for Jen, we found some amoxicillin at the local “pharmacy” (a.k.a. a soda/chips/shampoo shop that also had supposedly prescription drugs behind the counter in little packets).

After we started feeling better, we headed out to see the waterfalls that the region is famous for. We went to Kuang Si waterfalls, where we also saw a moon bear sanctuary, played with some puppies, and got misted and wet from the surprisingly cool water. (It was actually too cold to swim in, which is distinct because it’s so hot here.) Unfortunately, we never did get to see the Pak Ou buddah caves. Our trip out there got called off at the point the road was washed out from all the rain and mud.

All in all, Luang Prabang was very cute and pretty and also pretty torturous for us. Remember, if you go, skip the speedboat!

On Tuesday, we finally caught our flight back to Bangkok for Jen to return home to California and me to work on getting my visa to Vietnam (long story). By then, Jen’s drugs had stopped working and the poor thing was a hot mess. She did get to visit the Boots pharmacy in the Bangkok airport, however, and they gave her new antibiotics that apparently started working some time mid-flight.

Now, I’m in Bangkok and have had the time to do some of the stuff I didn’t get to do the first time around. Yesterday, I went and worshipped at the city’s modern temples – the ultra sleek high-rise shopping malls. Very cool. Then, this morning, I got up early and took a tour out to the famous floating market. Kind of a snooze because it’s not used much for actual trading anymore, but still interesting. Tonight, I may go see an authentic Thai boxing match as a last hurrah for my time here in Thailand.

Tomorrow, I fly to Hanoi. I’m not sure how long I’ll actually stay in Vietnam, as my list of to-dos back home is ever growing and I’m realizing that I’m not going to have enough time to see the country properly anyway, so I will definitely have to come back! Any takers?

Here is Jen hijacking a tuk-tuk outside of a temple in Chiang Mai.

Here is where we went snorkeling off of Ko Samui (Ang Thong National Marine Park).

This is from Maenam Beach on Ko Samui…paradise!

The title of this post might as well read “Hello from Laos, or I’m just happy to be alive!” Seriously, Jen and I unknowingly took our lives into our own hands (or rather some non-English speaking boat driver’s hands) yesterday in order to get into Laos. All because it’s a big Buddhist holiday right now and flights to Luang Prabang were sold out until Saturday (in retrospect, not such a bad option).

But, to back up a bit, our time in Chiang Mai was pleasant. It rained a lot and we wandered the city aimlessly for hours at a time with umbrellas and slippery flip flops. We tried to plan ahead this time and purchase airplane tickets to Laos two whole days in advance, only to find out (as mentioned above) about the holiday and lack of free seats. Flying into Laos is the easiest way to get here, as the notoriously particular immigration authorities will approve visas immediately for air passengers. (The country itself has only been open to tourists for ten years.) Other options include driving to the Thai/Laos border closest to Chiang Mai, but at a crossing that requires a visa prepared four business days in advance, or driving overnight to a farther border crossing that can get visas within a few hours and then taking either a 2 day slow boat up the Mekong River or a 6 hour speedboat up the Mekong. Being somewhat strapped for time, since Jen is due to fly home on Tuesday (we already bought that connecting flight, thank goodness!), we opted for the fastest visa time and the fastest boat trip. Stupid, stupid us.

We booked our trip, then spent our last day in Thailand doing a little shopping and then attending a cooking class for dinner. (Even with help, our food didn’t compare to the street vendors’!) We were picked up from our guest house for the “bus” (i.e. van) trip at 8:30 pm and were told that we’d arrive at the border at 5am, the immigration office would open for us and we’d be on a speedboat by 9am, landing in Luang Prabang at 3pm. Ha ha. Our van tooled around Chiang Mai for a bit, picking more and more passengers, then to their company headquarters where we put in our visa requests. We left Chiang Mai at 10pm and drove on the windiest, pot-hole ridden “highway” I’ve ever been on. One lane in either direction in many spots, with craters that looked leftover from land mines.

(By the way, American gas station bathrooms will be no problem now. You haven’t seen a roadside restroom until you’ve had to squat over a hole in the middle of the night, swatting away bugs.)

We arrived, without sleep, at the Thai border at 3am. Conveniently enough, at a guest house that offered to sell us rooms until 7am wake up to go get our visas. After a couple of the grungiest boys in the van came rushing back from being shown the rooms with looks of horror on their faces, we opted, like them, to try napping on the wooden tables out front. Not so restful, yet only marginally harder than the Thai mattresses! :)

The included breakfast was in an area crawling with red ants and swarming with bees, so Jen and I grabbed our toast and opted to wait by the driveway until it was time to go. Finally, at 8am, we were driven to the border crossing, where we stood in the rain to have our passports stamped by Thai officials. We were then ferried (what dock?) across the river to the Lao side, where the immigration waiting room was an open air restaurant. With all our Lao papers in order, we were taken by bus to the speedboat landing upriver, where we had to wait for another hour.

Our speedboats finally prepped, we climbed down the mud-soaked mountainside to the landing, where we were handed crash helmets (with small visors, fortunately) and life vests. The “speedboats” were glorified wooden canoes with Toyota automobile engines strapped to the back of them. Our seats were two per row, in a little wooden box that was maybe three feet across by two feet deep and had a tiny little cushion for our butts, which in reality, along with our legs, just sat in puddles of muddy water at the bottom of the boat. We crammed six to a boat and had our packs strapped to the front. We also wore rain ponchos, which at the time I figured would keep us dry, but ended up realizing they just helped to minimize the stinging of the driving rain and river water.

For six hours (six!!!), we hurtled down (or was it up? hard to tell when the current is coming from all directions) the Mekong. We were soaking wet from the splashing waves and the pouring rain, freezing from the wind, hungry, tired, forced into a cross-legged position, no more than four inches above the water line (I accidentally stuck my hand in it when adjusting my poncho, that’s how shallow our boat was). Miserable is a generous term. I alternated between trying to gauge which bank was closer for when our boat inevitably capsized and/or hit something and splintered into a million pieces and i would need to brave the swirling whirlpools and rushing current to swim to shore, and trying to distract myself from the likelihood of sudden death by making mental lists of things and pretending that we weren’t actually about to die. You may think I’m exaggerating, but you would be wrong. I wouldn’t wish a speedboat down the Mekong on my worst enemy.

Finally in Luang Prabang, we found a guest house with a spare room and a hot shower and agreed without even asking the price (which, turns out is just over $9 per night). We indulged in pizza and soda for dinner, with slices of cake for dessert….we earned it.

This is long, so I’ll write more later about Luang Prabang, which is a neat little city.

Me: That must suck-suck.

(I crack myself up.)

Chiang Mai is best known for its markets and we’ve already been to two in the two nights we’ve been here (it’s almost midnight right now). Also, it seems like there are multiple wats (temples) on every block. Each is slightly different and all are open to public exploration. Lots of monks in orange robes walking around. It’s marginally cooler in the North, but far more mosquito ridden. I started taking my malaria pills yesterday finally and they’re already making me sick. Hopefully, that will wear off soon.

Tomorrow, Jen and I are going to see about purchasing out tickets to Luang Prabang in Laos. Apparently, there are only three flights per week, so we need to be on top of our travel plans with that trip. We’re also going to visit a big wat outside of the city and one of the closer hill tribes. I’m hoping for clear weather (it’s been pretty rainy so far up here), because the sunset from one of the hills is supposed to be amazing.

Incidentally, our guest house is right next to a fun little alley with a bunch of tiny bars in it, all with live music. It’s like a simultaneous battle of the bands around here (right now I can hear at least three different songs). Mostly reggae and American rock and roll. Fortunately, we’re both tired enough (and equipped with ear plugs), so sleeping through it hasn’t been a problem. The bartender at the place we went tonight, Babylon, says it’s all to be bulldozed in a couple of months…too bad.

The weather continues to be hot, but it’s been sunny and clear since our first afternoon here. Perfect for swimming in the clear, turquoise ocean! Yesterday, Jen and I were total beach bums. We did visit more than one beach, though, so I consider that our accomplishment for the day. We also swam for hours in the ocean and in our hotel’s pool. And, of course, drank lots of cokes and fruit shakes (so far banana is still my favorite, but watermelon is nice and refreshing!).

Today, we went to Ang Thong National Marine Park via speedboat and went snorkeling and kayaking. Snorkeling was amazing…it was like swimming in a giant tropical fish tank, so many varieties and colors of fish and coral. My favorite was a big fat neon rainbow fish that I couldn’t help but think “must be tasty” when I saw it. I literally swam through schools of tropical fish and even saw a couple of “nemo” (clown) fish in a giant sea anemone. Also saw big (big!) spiny purple sea urchins, angel fish, and many more that I couldn’t begin to name.

Kayaking was a comedy of errors. Jen and I can each row just fine on our own, but when rowing together we just spun around in circles. Got to kayak through some barnacle crusted caves, which was neat. But, we were glad to hand our oars over when our time was up. As a part of the tour we were on, we also went to an elephant “sanctuary” at the end of the day, which left both Jen and I feeling sad for the big lugs, as they were tethered with chains and following commands. I told her I’m sending twenty bucks to an animal rescue charity as soon as I get home.

Now, we’re off to find dinner. The restaurant we ate at last night was the first one we’ve been at that’s been official enough to charge sales tax and have waiters other than the cooks. Of course, the pad thai wasn’t half as good as the plate of it I’d eaten on the beach earlier for lunch. So, I assume we’ll go back to our usual of finding a little hole in the wall (or cove on the beach). Mmm…can’t wait. My stomach is grumbling just thinking about it.

PS: Thanks for the emails and thanks for reading!

We’ve been enjoying our meals from street vendors and got a chance to have the much recommended fruit shakes at our guest house this morning. Banana milkshake for breakfast? Yes, please!

Last night, we went to a night bazaar that turned out to be just a junk market for locals. For some reason, I didn’t feel compelled to load up on knock off Levis. But, there was the coolest flower market nearby. It was gorgeous…piles and piles of fresh flowers, including citrus blossoms, roses, orchids, etc. Then, on the way home (after ice cold Singha beers at a bar in the tourist area), we ran into a couple of guys walking a baby elephant around. Welcome to Thailand!

Today, we went to the Grand Palace. Very beautiful with lots of ornate detail work and many buddahs. Now, we’re on our way to the islands. It’s been raining today, but I won’t mind it when I’m standing on the beach.

Bangkok is big and busy and smoggy, just like most large cities. Everything is really cheap, though. When we finally got up, we had lunch/breakfast at a little corner restaurant where they were cooking up front in a big wok. I had fried rice with pork and it was fantastic! Mmm… We also walked along one of the little rivers and then hopped on (literally) a boat down the big river. Names are irrelevant at this point, since I can’t pronounce or understand any of them! I’ve got down “hello” and “thank you”, which is good enough for now. At least I’m getting the gender part down right.

Tomorrow, we fly to Ko Samui, which is the biggest in a chain of islands. We’re only staying there one night, though, since it’s supposed to be pretty touristy and we’d rather spend out time on one of the smaller, quieter islands. I am so looking forward to coconut milkshakes on the beach! More updates from there…

Upon our arrival, the hostesses and waitstaff were, indeed, incredibly friendly (though I only spotted one tattoo amongst the eight, or so, waiters) and made my companion and I feel very welcomed. The menus are printed daily, presumably to allow the chefs to tinker with the menu as necessary based on local produce and seasonal catches, and offer numerous courses in the traditional Italian fashion. Between the two of us, we shared three appetizers – two that we had chosen for ourselves and one that was chosen by our waitress. My companion had a green garlic soup that was absolutely fantastic; I was only bequeathed one taste of it, if that’s any indication of how much he enjoyed it. I had the “insalata del campo”, a mixed green salad with pancetta, walnuts, plenty of fresh parmesan, and a balsamic vinaigrette. It was simple and light. The third dish was fresh-cured anchovies in a garlic-pepper olive oil with cucumber salad – something that would most likely not have been ordered if it hadn’t been chosen for us. We gamely gave it a try, though, and managed to make a decent dent in it. Perhaps these things are best left to true anchovy lovers, however, as I don’t think we were able to enjoy some of the aspects of the dish that others might.

For our entrees, my companion ordered the Niman Ranch flatiron steak with french fries and I had grilled local halibut with artichokes and potatoes. It was with some jealousy that I took regular swipes at his french fries, as I believe he ordered the better of the two dishes. My halibut, while perfectly prepared, was impaired somewhat by the seasonings used in the artichoke potato dish. Where it should have been all garlic and basil, there was an odd note of mint or something that made it all slightly off. I was more than happy, however, with the bites of the steak that I tried (very tasty) and perhaps the best french fries I’ve ever eaten. The were so good, the perfect combination of thin saltiness that one finds with fast food fries and the natural potato-ness that you get with high quality french fries. While still full from our already complete meal, my companion and I managed to do damage to three separate desserts (hey, anything in the name of the review!). He ordered the peach sorbetto (I believe it was topped with toasted almonds or hazelnuts or something), I ordered the “bittersweet Scharffen Berger chocolate cake with creme Anglaise”, and we split the panna cotta with fresh raspberries. Whle his sorbet was definitely good, I did get the better end of the deal with the desserts. My Scharffen Berger cake was more of a hot gooey torte that mixed divinely with the creme Anglaise, and the panna cotta, which we split, was delicious (particularly the raspberries – so sweet!). By the end (it would have been a shame to waste any of it!), we were both ridiculously full. The last word on the meal: Delfina is best at the things that typify the restaurant in general – simple, California, fresh. P.S. Don’t forget to order dessert!

Went to dinner at Habana the other night. We had reservations for four at 8:00, but we got stuck in the dreaded Bay Bridge traffic and at 7:30 I could forsee us being very late for our dinner. Fortunately, I’d made reservations through OpenTable and had printed out a confirmation which had the restaurant’s phone number on it, so I called them to see if we could delay our reservation. They were very gracious, saved our table for us for an extra half hour, and were extremely friendly to us when we finally arrived.

Our evening began with a round of drinks. One of the other members of our party and I both got mojitos, which came with plenty of mint and a fresh stick of sugar cane, while another ordered a Hemingway cocktail, and the fourth person ordered a rum and coke. The rum was apparently very good, non-abrasive, and tasty. Drinks were served with fresh french bread and a really great pesto garlic tapenade. Very garlicky, but fortunately we were all eating it. For appetizers, I had one of the day’s special salads, which was so good I duplicated it at home the following night. It was a bed of baby greens (not sure exactly what kind, but I used spinach and red leaf lettuce when I made it), with slices of really sweet grapefruit, avocados, crumbled goat cheese, and sliced toasted almonds, topped with a lime vinegarette. So good and refreshing, I’m sure I’ll be having this salad more than a few times this summer. Someone else in our party ordered a Caesar salad, which arrived, like a lot of trendy restaurants like to serve their Caesars, with entact heads of romaine lettuce. I’m personally against this method of presentation, as it makes eating the salad a complete disaster and doesn’t put the dressing everywhere you want it to be. Also, the salad came with three whole anchovies laid over it. Needless to say, no one wanted anything to do with them.

The entrees were tasty and varied. I usually order fish dishes when they’re offered, but for some reason had a hankering for the stuffed chicken as soon as I read about it. It didn’t disappoint. It was a large breast of chicken, skin on, stuffed with goat cheese and basil, and served on a bed of spaghetti squash with fried plantain rounds and an “angry orange” sauce. Perhaps it was the feistiness that drew me to it. It was all very tasty; not divine, but definitely good. The other members of our party ordered halibut over some sort of lentil salad, salmon with spiced green beans and a mango-mustard sauce, and marinated skirt steak with mashed sweet potatoes. I tasted the skirt steak and it was quite good. I would say that it falls into the same category as my chicken, a stepped up version of really good comfort food. Apparently the fish dishes were also good. By the time we’d finished our respective entrees, we were so full that we decided to forgo dessert (despite a scrumptious looking chocolate strawberry mousse that was delivered to a neighboring table), however one person did order a tequilla shot to cap off his meal. He ordered a shot of Patron tequilla (not cheap), but said that when he drank it, it was very harsh and probably not what he’d ordered. Not sure if that was an intentional move by the bartender or an error. Guess you should always order your shots at the bar, where you can see what’s going on.
Anyway, the final word is: tasty food, worth a trip if you’re craving mojitoes and some Cuban hospitality.

Since the menu at Cortez is organized around the small plates trend, we ordered six different plates, one pick for each person and two general picks. We had: 1) “house made ricotta ravioli with fresh peas, mint, preserved grapefruit & brown butter emulsion”, 2) “roasted natural chicken breast with white asparagus ragu , parmesan fava pur�e & braised lardons”, 3) “pan roasted Hanger steak, creamy swiss chard & spice dusted crispy onions”, 4) “braised beef shortribs with smoked fingerling potatoes and vanilla scented glazed baby turnips”, 5) “prawns a la plancha with basque pimentos, lemon garlic butter & creamy crab rice”, and 6) a variation on the halibut which appears on their sample menu. The fish items came first and ended up being my favorites. The prawns were slightly different than described here, but were large and flavorfully grilled to a perfect salty tenderness and served atop a really delicious crab/coconut risotto. The halibut was melt-in-you-mouth tender, so lovely and fresh and served with avocado and clover sprouts or some such thing. The chicken was, in my opinion, a little boring, so I won’t discuss it here, but the ravioli were tasty and light with a nice complexity to them. The beef dishes were both prepared very well, particularly the Hanger steak, which was my favorite of the two. For dessert, we ordered the sorbet trio, which included strawberry, rhubarb, and mango sorbets (rhubarb was best), and the hot chocolate tart with espresso ice cream. Mmm, what a way to end a meal. Altogether, the meal was wonderful, the standout dishes more than made up for the couple of “good, but okay” things, and our food coma (induced by deliciousness rather than being overstuffed) helped us forget the initial confusion at the hostess’s station. The last word: If you’re looking for somewhere to celebrate a special occasion and don’t mind your date’s fork stealing over to your plate, be sure to try Cortez.