Leiha Talks

Sleepless in Seattle: night three

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 18:29:00 +0000

Today we really hit the ground running. We had a full itinerary. Luckily our bodies are on east coast time so it wasn't that hard to get moving and Nancy is good about getting up when she has to.

First stop was the Chateau Ste Michelle winery. Julie is a big fan of their wine and we didn't get to go there the last time she was in town. While checking out their website for what time they opened I saw they had a garden tour Tues and Thur at 11am for only $10. You can do the regular winery tour for free but Nancy and I have already done it and we thought this would be a great way to get in some walking. We really enjoyed the tour, instead of being with a large group of people it was just us 4 and our tour guide Ann who knew so much about the winery and the foliage all around the winery. I was only partly listening but Nancy can tell you all about the trees and bushes all of the winery if you need an informal tour. It really a beautiful and informative tour and we all enjoyed it.

Now my original plan was to buy stuff and do a picnic lunch at the winery since their grounds are so beautiful but just never got around to the store to get some food but Ann came up with a brilliant alternative, lunch at The Barking Frog! It was two minutes away from the winery and the food is fantastic! Since we knew we were going to be eating a lot for dinner we ordered some salads and apps so that we wouldn't get too full. It really was the perfect amount for all of us. They're famous for their grand marnier prawns so of course we had to order them, as well as penn cove mussels (my family goes to penn cove to harvest our own mussels, this is a lot easier), beef tartar, a baby spinach salad and a dungeness crab and bacon prawn cobb. My fave was the cobb salad, oh my goodness it was so good! Only Nancy and I liked the tartar, it was too strong for the other gals (the beef heart tartar at Damn the Weather is much better, that will be a future blog post) and while the mussels were good, I liked the ones at Toulous Petit more. We all walked away sated and satiated and quite happy with our lunch.

To really get the Seattle experience we decided to stay a couple of nights in Seattle, which ended up being a fantastic decision (it was my idea, LOL). We rented a house add on through AirBnB that was 2 blocks from Green Lake. So after lunch we headed to Seattle to get checked in. We were greeted with a bottle of wine, a bottle of perrier and a salted caramel chocolate bar. That's my kind of welcome!

By the time we got settled it was time to get ready for dinner. I know, we just finished lunch! Keep in mind there was travel time to Seattle, 4 girls getting ready in one bathroom and we were making a stop to visit Adam on our way to our event. We checked in to our place at 3:30 and were out the door by 5, that's pretty dang good.

While surfing the web trying to figure out what to do in Seattle while the girls were in town I came across a food event that was happening, Guest Chef Spectacular, a charity event with over 40 local restaurants, wineries and distilleries. Tickets were $85 but I knew my fellow foodies would be as into it as I was and I was correct.

Sorry I don't have pictures of the food, our hands were too full to take pictures. I think the event lasted until 9:30, we tapped out long before then. When you get there they hand you a plate and an empty wine glass and you just proceed to eat. Everything is bite size but it adds up quickly. I was ditching anything non-essential, like bread. Stomach room is precious. Some of the highlights would be pistachio sundaes made with nitrogen, 72 hour braised short ribs, smoked oysters, salmon tartare, loco moco, firecracker shrimp, savory crepes, Japanese cheesecake with passion fruit, crab cake with crab claw on top and more! I didn't even try the sausages which looked good but if I have a choice between seafood or sausage, I'm going seafood!

Next time I do something like this, I would wear more comfortable shoes. I had on flip flops and even tho they were thick, they didn't offer up enough support for hours on my feet. We were all full and exhausted by the time we rolled out of there but we grabbed another pistachio ice cream on our way out, it was so freaking good!

Once we got back to the house, I was ready for bed, it was a late 9pm lol but Julie got us up and motivated so we all changed and went for a 3 mile walk around Green Lake to try and work some of that ice cream off. I would have rather ended the night with a massage but it was a wonderful walk and a great way to end the day.

Sleepless in Seattle: night two

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 05:42:00 +0000

Since I was combining a girlfriend trip with a family trip our first stop on Wed was Kimberly's house. OK, not our first stop, first I had to go to the grocery store. Decided to make lunch for everyone. It's a super simple salad but Sharon said it was one of the best salads she's ever had. Kim says she could eat it every day! Wish I had taken a pic for you but at least I'll tell you how to make it.

As soon as I got to Kim's house I was greeted by these beautiful faces!

The main reason why Kim's house was my first stop. Trying to catch up on precious baby time! When the boys are together it's hard to get them to focus on anyone but each other but at least they would give me hugs and kisses all day. Lily can go from laughing to crying in a minute. She keeps us on our toes! Julie practically tossed her back into Kim's arms as soon as she started crying, what a wuss, LOL.

I don't know why I insist on smooshing my face next to any baby's face. It's not a flattering angle but I had to post this pic because of the look on Lily's face.

While trying to squeeze in baby kisses, I worked on the salad. This is a perfect summer salad using fresh corn on the cob. I buy about 4 or 5 ears of corn, cut the corn off the cob and sauté it in butter and fresh chopped garlic. Finish it off with salt and pepper. Set it aside to cool down some.

Then prepare the rest of the salad. I love adding rotisserie chicken to my salads for protein and it's easy. Julie shredded the chicken and we set it aside so that people can add as much or little chicken into the salad as they want.

The rest of the salad consists of things that I love on a salad, arugula, cucumbers, avocado, red onion, shaved parmesan cheese and salt & pepper flavored slivered almonds (they are amazing on a salad, found in the produce section, a splurge but I buy them when they're on sale). I add the corn and toss all the veggies together and then let people add the amount of almonds and cheese so each salad is customized to personal tastes. I use Ken's light sweet vidalia onion but any dressing you like will work. Try a salad with the corn and your favorite salad fixings and you'll love it!

BTW, if you don't feel like sautéing the corn, you can microwave an ear of corn in it's husk for 2-3 minutes and cut the fat end and squeeze the corn out and voila, easy corn on the cob! Thanks Kim for that tip!

After we left Kim's we went to Lynnwood to hit Olympus Spa. Nancy and I love this place but it's a naked lady spa so hard to get others to go with us. Julie and Sharon don't have that problem, woo hoo! Poor Nancy had to work so she met up with us after work and still got some spa time in. The spa features not only hot tubs and steam rooms, it has different rooms that you go in and relax (I fell asleep in the sand room, my snore woke me up, I should have gone into the nap room). Each room with a different benefit. You can spend hours there going from room to room and hopping into various hot tubs (different temps) but since this was a special occasion we also scheduled treatments. I got a 90 minute massage. Too bad my masseuse didn't know that. After I got out I noticed the time and had to go let them know. They refunded me the rest of my massage but it doesn't make up for the lost time. This is the second time I booked a 90 minute and got a 60 (the other time was at massage envy). That time I let them give me the other 30 minutes and it was awful. From now on, I'll make sure the masseuse knows ahead of time, what I paid for. The other two had fantastic treatments and came out glowing. Luckily Nancy joined me not too long after my massage so we just wandered around the rooms, trying to find empty ones so we could gab.

After spending as long as we could at the spa we had to leave to meet up with Kathy and Jordan for dinner at our favorite all you can eat Korean restaurant, Original Sul Lung Tang which conveniently is right by the spa. Korean is one of my favorite foods and I've taught Jordan to appreciate it. We all ate until we could eat no more. It was awesome! Even though it felt like our belly's were going to explode, we headed out for some frozen yogurt. There's still a tiny bit of room in my belly that the yogurt could fit into. I think only Jordan, Kat and I had yogurt. The rest couldn't hang.

Being the wild and crazy gals that we are, we headed home to prepare for another action packed day!

Sleepless in Seattle

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 03:58:00 +0000

Original title, I know. Sometimes there's no need to re-invent the wheel.

Way back in Jan. Sharon and Julie decided that they wanted to come out to Seattle to go to a Diana Gabaldon event, we love our authors and as an extra bonus, Nancy and I lived there (well 30 minutes north of there). Well fast forward 6 months and I no longer live in WA. As I always say, never write my address in ink. Of course, I didn't want to miss out on any of the fun and I was a huge part of why they were going to Seattle (huge!) so I planned my trip home to visit my family to co-incide the with the girls visit.

Both Julie and Sharon have been out to WA in the last couple of years on separate visits but there's always things we think we should have done, after they left. This time we discussed what they wanted to do ahead of time (they're no help, they were down for anything) so I put together an itinerary, mostly an eating trip (that's what happens when you leave the itinerary up to me).

We landed Tue night and I knew we would be hungry, or at least I would be so we went to Toulouse Petit which has one of the best late night happy hours in the country! I didn't say that, their website says that. We took Dao and Michelle there when they were in town and I loved it but hadn't been back. I was worried that it would be too crowded but we were able to find a booth right away which was awesome! The hard part is for us to stop talking long enough to look at the menu. But somehow we paused in the conversation to order.

In this picture starting at the top left corner, crawfish beignets (I didn't want to order them but they ended up being fantastic) , oysters 3 ways (Sharon loved them so much she had a second order), mussels in saffron sauce (I had this before and was dreaming about them and it was as good as I remembered. I wish I had ordered more.), cajun meatloaf sliders (they were good but I wanted more seafood so I only had a bite) and sinister fried shrimp (fantastic!).

We also ordered barbecued shrimp New Orleans which is their version of shrimp and grits (good, just not as good as the sinister shrimp), manila clams with spanish chorizo (not as good as the mussels) and tuna tartare (I'm a sucker for anything raw. I loved it, didn't realize Julie didn't like fish, let alone raw fish, LOL).

They also make great mixed drinks there, Julie and I weren't drinking so Sharon and Nancy just ordered a drink, I can't remember what it was but it was delicious.

Afterwards we headed to Nancy's house where we proceeded to unwind and even tho we planned on going to bed right away (3 of us were on eastern time and Nancy can sleep whenever), Julie and I gabbed into the night and we could hear Sharon and Nancy chatting in their room. The best part about getting together isn't the eating, which I love, but the times when we're just lounging around talking and being with each other. I already know, the trip is going to to by way too fast!

I've lost all my comments...again!

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 22:19:00 +0000

Sorry when I switched URLs I lost all of my FB comments. This FB app is more trouble then it's worth so I'm back to the normal comments. Unfortunately, that means all of the previous comments are gone until I can figure out how to get them back. I can add some screenshots that will show some of the comments until then.

Eating like an Ox in Portland

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 20:13:00 +0000

Thanksgiving is my second favorite holiday, behind my birthday month, of course! It's an eating holiday where your biggest worry is will there be enough gravy (I like my potatoes and turkey swimming). What better time to talk about a recent eating extravaganza I had in Portland?

Nancy went to Portland for work for a couple of weeks last month. I decided to go down for a few days while she was down there to visit with Linda. OK, Linda lured me with the promise of letting me gather black walnuts at her dad's place but it was the perfect time to go, I hadn't been to Portland since March of last year. I love Portland and I love Linda, that was way too long between visits!

Since Nancy and I had recently had our birthdays (well relatively recently), Linda took us out for a birthday dinner. Did I mention the fact that I loved Linda? She chose to take us to Ox, an Argentinian inspired restaurant and it also happened to be Oregonian's Restaurant of the Year for 2013. Linda has excellent taste (in food as well as friends)!

They stagger the seating for their diners and don't accept reservations. It's a small restaurant but they handle it well. There's a bar next door and seating outside where people wait to get seated. The waiters were so cute that both Nancy and I thought the same thing, are we in Greece? Along with our drinks we also ordered some truffled pistachios. Many of you know I love pistachios but what I love even more is anything truffled. I'm not talking chocolate truffles. I'm talking the wonderfully umami mushroom truffle. I wish I had the super sniffer of the trained dogs or pigs so I could go on my own truffle hunt but until then, I will have to console myself with anything truffled. The truffled pistachios didn't disappoint. Just as we were digging in, our table was ready.

We had a great seat, right in front of the counter where we could watch the chefs at work, not that I did much of that, too busy looking at the food on my table.

They served a complimentary amuse-bouche which always makes me happy. This one was a creamed cauliflower soup and it was divine. I wanted to lick the tiny little tea cup it came in.

One of my favorite things about Argentinian food is chimichurri. It's as common in Argentina as ketchup is. I love this stuff! I was first introduced to it when I lived in Los Angeles, there was this great Argentinian restaurant, Lalas, within walking distance to the last apartment I lived in (I moved a lot). I never knew what it was called until I told Linda about it and she not only told me what it was called but made some for me. Not only is it fabulous as a dip for your bread, it's amazing on top of steak. It's loaded with cilantro, parsley and garlic. How can you go wrong? My dear friend, Analisa, lives in Argentina. She knows of my love for chimichurri and has tried multiple times to mail me some. It never makes it to me. I had to beg her to not try anymore. I hate the waste of money. Luckily there are places like Ox where I can get my fix. The hard part is not getting full dipping my bread into this ambrosia.

Looking at this picture would you guess that this was clam chowder? The presentation had us oohing and aahing, the taste had us drooling. This is one of their signature dishes, a fresh clam chowder with a smoked bone marrow. Is your mouth watering? Mine was and is. The bone marrow added a depth of flavor that truffles do when added to anything. This soup was complex and delicious. Nancy only planned on eating a bite or two and she couldn't resist eating more. One of the best clam chowders I've ever had (and I love me some clam chowder).

As much as I loved the clam chowder I have to say I loved the sauteed mushroom and spinach side almost as much. Why was it so good? See those delicious brown bits on top? That would be foie gras! I had forgotten that there was foie gras in this dish when they delivered it and then I took a bite and did a squeal of happiness. I really did. They didn't skimp on the foie gras either. Color me happy!

Nancy and I split the grill special for two, it came with grilled short ribs, house chorizo, morcilla sausage, skirt steak, sweat breads, fried potatoes and green salad. Sorry I don't have a better pic of the meats. I am always a fan of the short rib, I love my meats fatty. It was nice and chewy and flavorful. Really enjoyed the chorizo. Turns out morcilla sausage is blood sausage. It wasn't bad. I only had a bite, wanted to try it but so much other stuff that I wanted to eat that was better. The skirt steak was my fave. I'd only had sweat breads once before. I really enjoyed them here. The grill added a smokiness to this. It looked like a smoked cauliflower but with a meaty taste. I didn't eat much of the potatoes or salad but they were good.

Linda ordered a filet mignon. It was a special so it's not always on the menu. She got the last one of the night. It's not my favorite cut of meat but hers was incredibly tender. Her greens went perfectly with her steak.

Dessert was a warm hazelnut brown butter torte, honey chamomile ice cream and honeycomb candy. I only ate a bite of it but Nancy says it was delicious and it was our waiter's favorite dessert. I really enjoyed the honeycomb candy tho. I loved the chewiness of it.

What a fantastic eating experience. Portland has some amazing restaurants and this one didn't let me down. I would go back in a heart beat. The service was phenomenal and the food top notch. Just writing about this eating experience makes my mouth salivate and it's been over a month.

Linda has her finger on the pulse of where to go in Portland. One of the reasons I love to go there. When I try to figure out where to eat in Seattle, I never know where to go although I did have an amazing meal at Anchovies and Olives in Seattle. I'll have to see if I can find the pics I took. I might blog on it.

While in Portland Linda also took us to Sunshine Tavern which is run by chef Jenn Louis who was on the most recent edition of Top Chef Masters. She was even working while we were there so that was fun to see since I'm such a fan of the Top Chef series. Jenn Louis went home for her banh mi, which if you don't know, if a Vietnamese sub. It was on her menu. There was no way I was going to order that. To be fair, she had the wrong bread on TC but if you're eating at a Vietnamese restaurant or deli a banh mi runs about $2.50. The most you will pay is $5. If it costs more then that, it's more American then Vietnamese and I won't order it when I can get a banh mi that I love for much less.

I don't normally like to order my fries with anything on them. They get too soggy too quick but the girls wanted to try this and hey, there were 3 of us, so it would be eaten before it had a chance to get soggy. The french fries were covered in gravy and cheese but the gravy was more of a pork gravy. Yes, pork gravy. Yes, it was as good as it sounds.

The oysters were lightly battered then fried. I really enjoyed them. Light and airy and not too big. Not as good as the ones I had at Brennan's in New Orleans but that's understandable.

Linda ordered a sandwich that was thinly sliced ham served with butter, fennel and radish. It was actually very refreshing. Like having a salad on top of your sandwich. Since we had already ordered fries, the waiter brought Linda a spinach salad to replace her fries. How awesome was that?

Nancy's pizza was plum and pork belly with creme fraiche and almonds. She's more experimental with her pizza choices then I am but her choices are always fun. This pizza was actually really good. It reminded me of a bbq chicken pizza that California Pizza Kitchen has but with pork, which is oodles better then chicken in my opinion.

Unless that chicken is fried. I'm a sucker for fried chicken. The first time I heard of fried chicken and waffles was in Los Angeles with Roscoes Chicken and Waffles. I never tried their waffles but their chicken was great. Then I moved to Atlanta and they had Gladys Knight's chicken and waffles. Her chicken is divine and someone else ordered the waffles and they were awesome too. If you do go there, it's well worth it to order the wings. You wait a little longer but so good!

Anyway, having been around chicken and waffles for awhile, it's not unusual to see the combo on a menu. If I could have, I would have just ordered the fried chicken but it wasn't a chicken restaurant so I had to either order this or a chicken sandwich. I went with the waffle instead. It's a yeasted semolina waffle with ham and clover honey. I love honey with chicken. Thanks to KFC! This chicken was served boneless so that made me a little leery. I want my chicken bone in, that's where all the flavor is but they get raves for this dish so I tried and and I have to say, it was juicy, tender and delicious! I am a fan! The waffle did nothing for me but Linda made up for it by making me her soda waffles the next day (crispy on the outside, light and airy on the inside, my favorite!).

I can't wait for my next trip to Portland. Why did I wait so long?

Greece, until we meet again...

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Sun, 22 Sep 2013 08:05:00 +0000

Since we were flying out early the next morning this is our last day in Greece. Su really wanted to do the Delphi tour. I wasn't so into it but it was an all day thing and I'd hate to miss a day with my girls so I agreed. The great thing about traveling with the girls I travel with is if someone wants to do something and someone doesn't, we can go our separate ways. We don't have to do everything together. If you're going to travel with someone you haven't traveled with before, I recommend doing a short stateside trip before you go oversees with them. It will be an expensive and tough lesson to learn in a different country.

From our research, the highlight for many people who went to Greece was renting a personal taxi for the trip to Delphi so I loosened my purse string (which I gladly open for food) and we all chipped in for one. Su shopped around and got us a great deal (I can't stress enough how much money you save going offseason). They say the trip is personalized for you and on your schedule but it's not really. They pretty much have a set route, the only thing that really differs is how long you spend at a place. If you want to stay longer, you can. But while it was a pretty set itinerary, it was still a lot of fun and worth doing. Our driver showed up at 8am, Lina woke up early to go watch the sunrise at the Acropolis. Since we went to bed when the sun was almost coming up, none of the rest of us were doing that.

I think our driver's name was Paul. He was extremely nice and had been a cab driver for 22 years so very knowledgeable of the area. The company we went thru was family owned and he works for his uncle (but his cousin really runs the show, she keeps them all in line). I can't remember the name of the company but Su will know if you need that info in the future. The coolest thing about Paul, he was Brian Williams personal driver for 2 weeks during the Olympics. We showered him with questions about that. Yes, Brian Williams is as cool and funny and down to earth as he comes across.

Since it was early the 3 of us in the back quickly fell asleep as soon as we got out of Athens city limits. Lina sat in the front and her and Paul chatted til we hit our rest stop. They have great rest areas in Greece. You can get food, snacks and drinks. Nothing really appealed to me but Lina bought a dessert for the 4 of us to share and it was my favorite dessert of the entire trip so I had to wax poetic about it.

It had a very small cake like bottom layer, then a chocolate mouse, then a white mousse then more cake, then a frosting and the chocolate that was sprinkled on it was unsweetened which kept the dessert from being too sweet. I dived right into my side as you can see. It took all I had not to eat every one else's portion. I had to take a photo because it was so good.

Once we got back on the road the back seat woke up. We just needed a little power nap to get us going. Actually, they needed a power nap, me, unless I'm driving, I always fall asleep on road trips. My dad used to joke that he could drop us off at the mall and we wouldn't be able to find our way home because we would all fall asleep on the way there. The mall was 15 minutes from our house, LOL. In our defense, we moved cross country a few times and always by car, usually packed to the gils. Sleep was our only refuge. I'm much better then I used to me.

Our next stop was the Monastery of Osiou Louka. Paul gave us some history of the place and then set us free to wander. It was a beautiful place. So serene. I love that it wasn't crowded.

Nancy's favorite spots were the monasteries. She says she could easily spend all day at them. It really was quite beautiful.

Less then half an hour later Paul pulled over so we could take a couple of pics of Arahova, Delphi is on the other side of it. Arahova is a big ski town in the winter and driving thru it definitely feels that way. The buildings were cute, the roads narrow, lots of fun shops that we would have loved to browse in if we had had the time. A very Swiss Chalet feel to the town.

Apparently Delphi is famous for their Oracle. I didn't know that, I hadn't really done much research on it. I like to research where to eat, leave the history to the other gals. Of the 4 of us, only Lina actually saw the Oracle. Su and Nancy forgot to look for it and I had probably turned around at that point.

Su and Nancy ran up the theater steps, I took the pathway up (big surprise, LOL).

The Temple of Apollo is pretty big. If you click on the pic and enlarge it, you'll see the people standing at the base of it. Would have been amazing to see when the building was in its entirety.

While the rest of the girls went all the way to the top, I went back to the cab to rest. We've been living on 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night, I was exhausted. Paul was quote surprised to see me back so soon. He says it normally takes people a couple of hours to go thru. He should see how fast I go thru a museum. I told him to go back to talking with his friends, the other gals will be awhile and I curled up into a ball in the back seat and took a nap.

Once the girls came back we made one more stop at the Temple of one of those A goddesses. I chatted with Paul while the ladies made the trek. Unfortunately my camera battery had died so there are no pics from it. Paul was showing me how the various temples and landmarks made a triangle but from different points in Greece, way before google earth. That was pretty fascinating. I'm amazed at what was accomplished over a thousand years ago without technology.

We stopped at a family owned restaurant for lunch. This was our view with lunch. I don't know what this plant is, some kind of flowering cactus with lots of thorns but they had them in pots all around and they were beautiful. There is water out in the distance in case you can't tell from the image.

Because we've been eating so much seafood lately, we were drawn to the meat platter, well, not Lina, our vegetarian. This was a platter for 2. The three of us couldn't finish it. None of us bothered with the chicken (we're all dark meat gals) but the pork was divine. So juicy but crispy on the edges, loaded in flavor. I also really enjoyed the sausage. We ordered another salad swimming in dressing. We really need to remember to order the dressing on the side! It was a lovely meal tho in a beautiful location.

After lunch it was time to head back. I think we all stayed awake for the ride home, I was refreshed, LOL. They actually grow a lot of cotton there and you can see it all along the sides of the road. Paul said that there are actually people who gather the cotton on the road (that most likely fell from trucks) and sell it. Smart!

Lina found a place for us to go to dinner, once we all finally got ready. 360 Degrees had a great website and awesome reviews. Unfortunately, others had the same idea we did and it was packed. BTW, we were right next to the building and I still asked the cute cops where it was located. It's a good thing I did, we were going to walk right past it. :) Since it was too loud for us inside and too cold for us on the roof we snapped a couple of pictures with the Acropolis behind us and went somewhere else to eat.

We just ate at an outdoor cage in Monastiraki Square. For our last meal there, it was nothing to write home about but I believe the ladies got some wine out of the deal and it wasn't a very expensive meal on our part.

Afterwards we went back to 360 Degrees and it had cleared out so we went to the bar to have a few drinks and enjoy our last night in Greece. They had a passion fruit martini which I totally loved. The bartender is one of those bartenders who takes his job very seriously. Everything is just so. He was very exacting. It was fun to watch him make drinks. I was waiting for him to flip a bottle over his head. We were watching mix up some weird shot concoction and it turns out they were for us, the DJ had bought us a round. Have I mentioned how much I love Greece?

Unfortunately, we had an early flight out and were leaving our apartment at 5am so we only had a couple of drinks and the shot before we called it a night. If we had found this bar earlier, we would have spent more time there. It was a lot of fun, great music and it's a given that the waiters are cute.

I think we got back to our apartment sometime after 1 and needed to leave at 5am. Course we still had to pack. If you're gonna play, you gotta pay. Thank goodness I can sleep on planes!

If you ever get a chance to go to Greece, jump at the opportunity. I've had a lot of wonderful trips in my life but this was by far my favorite one. I loved the people, I loved the food. If you go thru airbnb you can get great deals on apartments and if you don't want to go thru that route, the hotels we stayed at were all extremely reasonable. In the states they don't really notice if you have more then 2 in a room but the places in Europe are so small, you have to tell them so you do pay extra if you have more in your room but you're splitting 4 ways anyway.

The waiters said they knew we were American right away because we smiled. The stigma of the ugly American hasn't reached Greece. I guess because those of us who are in Greece are thrilled to be there.

Pickpocketers do run rampant, but there are signs everywhere, the cops always told us to be careful and on the metro they have announcements telling people to be aware, as long as your mindful of that, you'll be fine. We took the metro at all times of day and never felt uncomfortable. Well, other then the old man who wanted to try and strike up a convo with Su and talk about the end of the world in a crowded train. That was funny, maybe not to Su.

The riots that everyone was worried about are really controlled demonstrations. There are a handful of people who show up to make chaos and that's where all of the news footage comes from. Other then the transportation inconvenience, we'd never know it was happening.

I will definitely be coming back to Greece. I feel like there's so much I missed. It might be a few years and a few more vacations to other destinations but Greece will forever hold a piece of my heart.

Now I end our Greek adventures with the two last pictures taken in Greece which are some of my favorite pictures of the entire trip. Why Su thought she could wrestle with me I have no idea. I know her kryponite, am twice her weight and have 5 brothers.

What I love most is this pic was taken less then a minute later. We are two peas in a pod! Do we look good at 2am or what? Can't wait for our next adventure!

A culinary adventure…even more then normal

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Sun, 22 Sep 2013 05:36:00 +0000

We had a 2pm ferry ride back to Athens, well back to the metro stop that would take us back to Athens. If we had to do it all over again, I would definitely recommend buying a plane ticket versus taking the ferry. While the ferry is a nice ride and more economical when on vacation, time is precious. The ferry ride was longer then I thought it was going to be and even tho we had a 2pm departure we didn't really have time to do much in Mykonos before we left for the ferry. We wanted to go into Mykonos town to do a little more shopping but George advised against it. I did take time to wander around the hotel and take some more pics and work on my tan one last time while the gals returned the ATVs.

I will miss the Paradise View Hotel and George and his staff. We had a wonderful but brief time there. I can't wait to go back!

The blues of Aegean sea are just gorgeous.

By the time we got back to our apartment it was late. Lina found a restaurant that we could walk to from our apartment. It was a Greek style tapas bar. As always we were going out late for dinner but this was even later then normal. Due to the time of night and the time of season, not everything on the menu was available but we still had a culinary experience. Once our waiter found out how adventurous we were he started making suggestions.

Lina ordered a raw zucchini salad. I'm so used to eating zucchini cooked that I was leery but it was actually quite delicious. I really enjoyed it.

I live in the pacific northwest, why I insist on ordering mussels elsewhere is beyond me. But these mussels weren't bad. They are not as good as what we can find here but they weren't the worst we had.

This was a smoked mackerel with dill. We didn't expect it to be a dill salad, LOL. I love the taste of mackerel but it's a very fishy fish, if you don't like that, you won't like mackerel. This was a little dry but the taste was enjoyable.

The fried young calamari was a big hit. While I prefer my squid grilled, these puppies were very light and airy. I just wish they would have a dipping sauce like we're used to in the states. I miss my aioli.

This was probably my favorite thing of the night. They were tiny little fish fried up with tomatoes and peppers and they were sticky and flavorful and all kinds of things yummy. My mouth is watering just thinking about this.

This was an experiment. Our waiter said most people either love it or hate it. I was ambivalent about it. It's not something I would ever order again but was happy that I tried it just for the experience. The above is fish roe that's preserved in wax. On the ends of the plate are halves of apricots to give you and idea. It's served with bread slathered in butter (probably Nancy's favorite part of the meal, it was really good bread). You put the piece of roe on top of the butter to eat it. This was a very salty, fishy, waxy dish. Not really a surprise, LOL. I think I would have liked it if it was less waxy tasting. Apparently this is bottarga, the greek version of caviar.

They didn't call these rocky mountain oysters but that's what these were. They were pan fried bull testicles. I have to say, tastes like chicken fried steak. If you can get past the idea of what you're eating, and obviously I can, it's pretty dang tasty. I think it would have tasted even better with a side of rice.

One of my favorite customs is the free drink or free dessert. This place brought us BOTH! I'm not a fan of this dessert, that was served everywhere, its a super moist grainy cake but this was probably the best one of the ones we were given. We got 2 kinds of liquors. One of them was made only on one island with the sap of a specific tree. Nope, can't remember the drink or the island. I didn't like the drinks but didn't want to be rude so drank them. Luckily these were little bottles. How cute are they?

Our second to last night in Greece, I'm not ready to go home yet!

Paradise by the dashboard lights

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 09:11:00 +0000

People say go to Santorini for beauty and go to Mykonos to party. I have to say, Mykonos is pretty dang beautiful in it's own right. Surrounded by the gorgeous Aegean sea, how can it be anything but beautiful?

We got up and had breakfast provided by the hotel, yes, it had Greek yogurt and it was fabulous. When we checked in, George told us we could rent scooters or ATVs for cheap since it was off season. There's no way I'm driving a scooter, I could barely drive a Segway but I was down with riding an ATV. I originally thought I could drive but then decided against it and so Lina became the driver for us and Su was the driver for her and Nancy. We had to be picked up and taken to the rental place where the girls got driving lessons.

Kudos to Lina and Su for driving. The roads here aren't very wide and they are curvy. I had a great time as a passenger, then again, I wasn't responsible for anyone's life. ATVs are a great and fun way to get around town.

After a quick stop back at our hotel to refresh and orient ourselves we headed to Mykonos town for some shopping. We really haven't done much shopping on our trip but the town is so cute and we needed some souvenirs. Since I can't buy something for someone without buying something for someone else I only shop for myself. Makes life easier.

Remember the sea urchin I was talking about and how they said that you can't fish for them in Mykonos. Walking from the parking lot into town we could see sea urchin all along our walk. The water was so crystal clear it was easy to see. Where I go clamming here in WA there is sea urchin but it's very muddy. Nothing as pretty and clean looking as this. Those black spots on the rocks are the sea urchin.

A closer look.

I loved walking around Mykonos town, it was fun walking around at night but it was just as much fun walking around during the day. It's just so different then what we're used to here. When the ships get into town the streets are teaming with people but we beat the ships which was nice. I was able to get some pics without people in it.

We were looking for new dresses to wear to dinner. As you can see, Zoolander showed up to go shopping with us.

It was a pretty successful shopping trip. I bought a cover up that I was going to use as a shirt (if I had brought the right bottoms I would have worn as a dress, LOL) and a beautiful water color that will always remind me of being in Mykonos. The shops are really small so when you want to try something on, they make do. The full length mirror gets turned sideways and that's the wall you change behind. Sometimes they don't even have a mirror to hide behind. It's a good thing I'm not shy.

We had lunch on the end of town. The food was wonderful. We tried a fish roe salad which is basically a fish dip. It was salty but I enjoyed it. They also gave us free olives and a tomato spread that the girls said was great.

Our fish here was served deboned, was awesome!

After a quick trip back to the hotel to change and drop off our goods we headed out to Super Paradise Beach. There are so many beaches to choose from but since we're always limited on time we went to a close one and it was still a 20 minute ride. By they time we got there, it was, you guessed it, 5pm. The good news is it makes it easy to get a beach chair.

While the day is still warm, the water was a little cool but not as cold as the pool was yesterday. Lina planned on lounging in a chair and relaxing. Nancy was going to join Su and I in the water but she was attacked by a minnow and decided she was safer on the shore (and she was in the middle of a good book).

Su and I spent our time in the water being totally goofy. I can't even remember what we were talking about but there was a lot of Asian cackling. We weren't laughing so much when we were almost run down by a yacht. At first we thought we were safe because they were heading for the dock but they weren't. They were heading strait towards us. Thank goodness they dropped anchor before they got to us because our paddling to get out of the way was very slow. Very very slow, lol. I think Su could have gotten out of the way if she wasn't also pulling me and my spare tire.

Once we got out of the water we thought it would be fun to go on the dock and take pics with my inflatable tire. The others on the beach were entertained by us as we entertained ourselves. Then we got goofy with each other. This was one of the more presentable photos.

Our ATV didn't really have much of a get up and go and the beach was at the bottom of a steep hill. Not a great combination. Lina had to do the rocking motion to get us up. Go partway up the hill, roll back down to get momentum to get up. We got a little bit of momentum that way, I was leaning as far forward as I could to help and chanting I think I can, I think I can. I honestly thought the engine was going to blow, it was straining so hard getting up the hill, but it still beat the alternative of me walking up the hill. Just as we started going again we got passed by a couple on their ATV and he shouted out encouragement, we were trying! Once we made it up the big hill we finally got going and caught up with Nancy and Su who were pulled over waiting for us. Oh and on the ride home we also had to drive around a hobbled horse and his trainer who was just chatting to some guy in the middle of the road. Fun times!

By the time we got ready for the night, Lina was pooped so she stayed in. Good thing we had George there to do a shot of tequila with us. We offered to buy him a shot if he drank with us. At first he said no but we were able to talk him into it and then bonus, the drinks were on him! It's fun to drink with the owner of the hotel.

Since George is Greek he eats Greek food all of the time so one of his favorite restaurants is an Italian place, Pasta Fresca. We have to go with what the local recommends. Nancy being the rockstar navigator that she's been was able to find it in the maze of buildings. They sat us outside under this giant olive tree. It was awesome! I learned the hard way that olives don't taste good until they've been brined (that was a different trip). But I was still tickled to be sitting under the tree. I think one or two even dropped on our table.

For some reason we were extra giggly this night. Maybe it was the wine Nancy and Su were drinking. Maybe it was exhaustion. Maybe it was because we were heading home in a couple of days and it was our last night in Mykonos. I just know we were being stupid and laughing about how stupid we were. Usually it's me laughing at Su and Nancy, LOL.

Something we didn't laugh about was the food. George was a perfect 2 for 2. We had an amazing dinner. We had clams for an appetizer and mushroom ravioli but the show stopper was the seafood platter. This platter is supposed to feed 2, it easily feeds 4 and since we had no idea how huge it was we couldn't finish it. There were 2 kinds of fish, shrimp, squid and octopus. It was a definite food highlight for me.

Course, just because we couldn't finish our food doesn't mean we didn't order dessert. The desserts were a miss but it extended our lovely meal so we weren't complaining.

Ok, this next photo will help explain our goofiness. We saw the waiters give other tables a shot of lemoncello when they brought out the bill. They brought us a carafe. Did I mention our waiters were young and cute? Of course they were cute, we were in Greece after all! Christiano was actually from Albania or as Nancy likes to call it, Armenia. I think the lemoncello kept us there an hour longer because we each had 6 or 7 shots of it. It would be rude not to drink it all. As you can tell, the girls drinking the wine were feeling no pain.

We ended up spending the entire night at the restaurant and it was a blast. We made it back to the bus stop just in time to catch the last bus. Oh funny thing, we stopped into a shop by the bus stop to grab a bottle of water and the cashier came out to chat us up while we were waiting for the bus. He was 16?!?!??! I guess it couldn't hurt for him to try, LOL.

Lina was up by the time we got back, it could have had something to do with the fact I sent her a text, so while Nancy passed out on the bed, Su and Lina chatted the night away while I curled over in a ball moaning. Turns out, my body does no like lemoncello. Lesson learned. Of course, I would still do it again for a night like that.

Mykonos!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 23:02:00 +0000

All week long when we told people we were going to Mykonos, they would ohhh and ahhh. It has a well deserved reputation as a party island. But that is in season, out of season it's not quite so intimidating to us old folks.

Unfortunately, in order to catch our ferry we had to to leave at 5:25am! Gasp, we've been keeping late hours, and the early mornings are a killer but we had a long ferry ride upon which to catch up on our sleep, thank goodness. So we made the trek, a little lighter since Foris, our landlord, let us keep our suitcases at the apartment, we packed just enough for 2 nights and dragged our butts to the metro and down to the ferry. We had to change lines but it wasn't bad getting there. We were a quiet bunch tho.

The ferrys are huge. Unfortunately, we had to walk the docks looking for the right pier because of they way they were marked but we finally found it and decided we didn't like the uncomfortable general admission tickets and splurged the extra 5 euro to sit on more comfy seats and promptly went to sleep. For some reason I thought the ferry ride was 4 hours, it was closer to 6. The good news is we were well rested when we landed in Mykonos!

Our driver Vasili, was waiting for us when we arrived. We weren't sure where to find him so we walked around calling his name. Too bad, we thought George was picking us up so we walked around yelling out George. It was funny when the crew man on the ferry started yelling George with us. Turns out there's an area where all of the van drivers hold up signs of their hotel so George, err, I mean Vasili was easier to find then we expected. Turns out George is the owner of The Paradise View Hotel so while he didn't pick us up at the ferry terminal he was there to greet us and check us in. He also provided us with maps and gave us a layout of the island with recommendations on different beaches for different things as well as restaurant recommendations (very important to me). George was raised on Mykonos so he had answers to any questions that we had.

After a quick change we headed down to Paradise Beach which is a less then 10 minute walk from our hotel, good news is it was downhill, bad news is the walk back was, you guessed it, not downhill. Paradise Beach is one of the main party beaches in Mykonos but since have a habit of getting everywhere late in the day there were plenty of spots for us to catch a seat. The beaches are all public but it costs 4 euro to rent chairs and another 4 if you want an umbrella. First off tho would be food! I didn't really see anything I wanted on the ferry so we were all hungry! They had a cafe where you can just put your food on a tray, I loved it, we could see what we were getting! I tried the moussaka which is the Greek version of lasagna. I wasn't a big fan but figured it was because I was eating at a beach cafe. The shrimp salad was tasty tho and I couldn't pass up on the beans which I thoroughly enjoyed. Lina and Su had stuffed bell peppers and stuffed tomatoes. Those were delish also. Nancy and I split our food so we could try more.

We spent about an hour lounging at the beach. I really wanted a water noodle for the water but they didn't sell them so I bought a spare tire instead. It was a tube floatie with the design of a tire, my spare tire! It was great since it let me just float in the water but inflating and deflating it was a pain, luckily I had Nancy there!

After an hour we were ready to head back to our hotel and spend some quality time lounging in the pool The problem was the water was cold but my floatie kept me mostly out of the water. Yay!

We like to take our time getting ready, I think we headed out to dinner a little after 9pm. Just in time to stop by the bar for a quick drink. Ava was working the bar and so sweet. She also pours a strong drink which is a great way to get the party started! There's a bus that will take us into town right outside the hotel which is perfect.

George took this pic for us while we were waiting. I wish I had looked closer to see it was out of focus but it's still a fun shot.

Then we started taking our own pics while waiting for the bus. If we have a camera we can always keep ourselves entertained.

We decided to eat where George recommended. I think it was either Nick's or Nikos, something like that. After walking the maze that was Myonos town (did you know it was built that way to confuse invaders?) and asking a couple of people we finally found it! It was packed but they were able to get us seated right away. For it to be so busy off season, you know it has to be good!

One of the things I had read was sea urchin was really big in Greece but I hadn't seen it on any menus. So I asked our resident expert George and he was surprised I was asking about it, I guess it's more of a Greek thing then a tourist thing. It took a little while for him to figure out what we were talking about, wish you could have seen Su's charades interpretation of a sea urchin. There are a lot of rules in regards to sea urchin, he says he has to go do different islands if he wants to swim and get his own sea urchin, you can fish for them in Mykonos but we might be able to find it on the menu at Nick's and it was! While this platter is not very appealing looking, when has sea urchin ever looked pretty? Unfortunately, we put a lot of lemon on it (lemon is served with everything!) and sea urchin is so delicate that we tasted more lemon then sea urchin but we were still tickled to get this dish.

The shrimp risotto was also divine! Ever since Lina came into my life, I have become a risotto aficionado and this was amazing. So creamy and delish! I wanted to lick this plate clean. We also ordered some mussels that were great, I wasn't as thrilled by the green bean.

After stuffing ourselves we went looking for the bar George said we should check out. Unfortunately, that place was way too busy so we went to the bar next door. The bar sits right on the water so we had the wave lapping at our feet while we gabbed and enjoyed our drinks. Nancy was feeling no pain, she had been enjoying her mixed drinks all night long, LOL. Other then my drink to start the night, I stuck with coke, it makes me just as happy as alcohol with none of the ugly after effects. Once we left that bar we tried to go to the busy bar again but just couldn't do it. We ended up wandering into another bar that had fun music and danced up a storm. Lina bought us a round of shots to keep our feet dancing but after awhile we decided to leave. We were the young ones in that crowd and while I don't want to be the oldest in a bar, I don't want to be the youngest either. Now if they had played Poison, we would have stayed! We couldn't find another bar we liked so we decided to call it a night. I think I got to sleep around 4am. Is it any wonder my body is still out of whack sleeping wise?

Even fish have to eat!

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 05:52:00 +0000

Though we got to bed late last night we really wanted to tackle the day, we had a lot of sight seeing to do. Well actually, Su and Nancy had a lot of sight seeing to do, I was planning on planting my butt somewhere after the Acropolis to read and relax.

Remember those demonstrations I talked about? Well, apparently they affect the metro system too. The stop we needed to get off at to transfer was closed so we had to get on a different train and go backwards to get to where we needed to go but we eventually got there and at least it didn't put us 2 hours behind. Thanks goodness we were pros at the metro system by now. They really have things mapped out well there (if you're going by metro, not if you're driving).

While waiting in line to get our tickets to the Acropolis this guy in a Segway came to chat us up. He's a football fan and Nancy and I were wearing our Seahawks tshirts. Course he was also selling us on doing a Segway tour. I've never had any interest in riding a Segway but I also have less interest in walking around Athens so I was sold. Actually, when he said we could get some pics we wouldn't otherwise get is when he sold me, that and the discount. :)

But first up was the Acropolis. I used to live in Tennessee and we used to go on field trips to the Parthenon. All I really remember about those trips is freezing my coke the night before so that my soda would be cold at lunch. Guess I've never been a touristy person, which is funny considering how much I love to travel.

That being said, I can still appreciate the beauty and history while walking around the Acropolis.

All of the books say the best time to get there is in the morning, before all of the tours happen, that's really not going to happen with us, LOL. If there are this many people walking around off season, I can't imagine how crazy it is during the summer. When we were going around later in the day there weren't as many people so if you can't make it in the morning, go later in the day. BTW, don't go on a rainy day, even on a sunny day the marble steps are slippery, Nancy almost wiped out.

Once we were done walking around the Acropolis it was time to eat! We never miss a meal if we can help it. We asked the local police where to eat, lol. Hey, anytime I had a chance to talk to them, we did. They said they eat at all of the local places so we just picked one and plopped down. Our waiter was a charmer, he escorted me to and from the restroom. The food wasn't amazing. It wasn't bad but we have been in country for over a week, we know what is ok food and what is touristy food.

Next up was the Segway tour. Before we could go on our tour we had to get trained on riding a Segway. Su went first and she was a natural (she has ridden a Segway once before). Nancy almost fell off as soon as she got on but after that, she was great. And then there was me. A Segway moves based on your body position. If you lean forward you for forward. The further you lean, the faster your go. Gabriela, our super sweet and super awesome tour guide told me to lean forward once I got on. My response was a resounding I don't want to. But I finally, tentatively, slowly leaned forward and started to scream as I went. But with the girls cheering me on off I went. Until my Segway started turning left and running into poles. I kept trying to keep it straight but it kept turning and hitting the pole. Good thing I was only going 1 MPH. Gabriela pointed out it was operator error (in much nicer terms) and not the fault of the Segway. I disagreed because I was trying to go straight. Guess who was right? Not me. LOL.

I wouldn't say I was a natural, or ever really comfortable, my bosy was so tight, my feet hurt but I had a lot of fun on the tour as did the other gals. I was always pulling up the rear but as I told Gabriela, I Segway like I walk…slowly. I would definitely recommend doing this tour but an hour goes by way too fast, splurge for the 3 hour tour, I think it would be worth it. It was to us.

We would have never gotten this shot of the Acropolis behind us if we hadn't taken the tour. If you want to go there on your own and not take the tour, you can get to this spot by going to the observatory.

Spending so much time outside in sandals and at the beach has been hell on our feet so we wanted to have the fish eat the dead skin off. This place is actually called Dr. Fish. We went in search of it. We splurged for the 30 minute package which was 20 euro. They have a 10 minute one but the fish were still busily eating away after a half an hour. I think a full hour is necessary. Nancy acted like a girl, screaming and laughing while the fish nibbled her toes but she calmed down.

I have to say, my feet felt great afterwards. Super soft but that could be because they had been soaking in water. I wish they had given us lotion to put on afterwards and that we didn't have to put on our gross shoes but it was something that was fun to do and I'd probably do it again.

We couldn't stay out any longer, we were waiting for Lina to land and join the party and my phone was dead. Of course, at this time it's about 6pm. The day flies by!

We had planned on eating our goodies from the Central Market last night but none of us were hungry. Such was not the case when we got home tonight. Oh man, this was a feast. These are all things I love. I would rather have a cheese plate over dessert. We sat there feasting and recovering from our day while we were waiting for Lina to join us. We wanted to play the night by ear, depending on how she felt.

Lina, being the rockstar she was was ready to go, even tho she had spent about 24 hours traveling. So off we went back to Keramikos. We knew Lina would love the area. We ended up hitting two of the places we went to the previous night. Hey, I wanted a passion fruit martini and some BBQ chips, LOL.

You want meat, they got meat!

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 03:09:00 +0000

First thing on the agenda today was to get the rental car back. Easier said then done. We got directions from the front desk at the hotel, with our map in hand it sounded pretty simple. Well people have been talking about the demonstrations going on in Greece and this time we were affected. Roads were blocked off so we took an hour to go maybe a mile, probably an hour and a half since it took us almost 2 hours to get the car back. They had roads closed down which we didn't know so we were fighting to go forward between busses, scooters and pedestrians. You know how people here don't really know the road signs? Well scooters, don't really care about roads or lack of them. They would drive between cars or up on sidewalks and in between all of that you had to keep an eye on pedestrians weaving in between cars. With one green light we would be lucky to go forward one car length, usually, we didn't. Once we got out of the circle of hell we had to use the map to figure out where to go. First off, their traffic lights are on the side of the road, not overhead so Nancy wouldn't notice them. The funniest part is when we were turning right and the cars started honking at us. Nancy pfft and said Greek drivers. I was like you ran the red light! Needless to say after that, I told her whenever the light was turning red. Secondly, the street names are written on the buildings and the writing is small. All of us have horrible vision. Not a good combo but we did eventually make it to the care rental place (after we stopped at a gas station for directions, we were close!).

We all breathed a sigh of release once we dropped the car off. Nancy most especially! Honestly, I would have never tried to drive in Greece, I give her major props for that.

We didn't want to lug our bags to the metro stop so we took a cab back to our apartment. Luckily we have a good idea how to get there, none of the cab drivers knew where it was. Even the taxi's GPS drove us in circles. We would just tell them the metro stop and direct them in from there. Since the day was rapidly flying by (2 hours going nowhere) we just took time to refresh ourselves and headed out. I really wanted to hit the Central Market. Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods went there for one of his shows. They have great fresh food. You know food motivates me but also, I thought it would be a great place to take photos.

So we hopped the metro and off we went to Monastiraki, the area where the market was and funnily enough, a couple of blocks away from where we had been trapped earlier in the day. If we'd known that we could have left our stuff in the car and walked over and missed the traffic nightmare. Oh well.

We walked around to get the lay of the land but we were hungry so decided to get some eats before we did some serious wandering. I picked where we were going to eat based on the fact that there were 4 cops eating in there. It's not because of the fact that cops eat at the best local places, it's because all of the cops in Athens are freaking GORGEOUS! Seriously, I would say 90% of the cops we saw, maybe 95% of them were just my type. And we saw a lot of cops while in Athens, I made sure to stop and ask them directions any chance I got, even if we knew where we were going. I'm bummed we didn't get pics with some of them.

The food ended up being really great and only 2 euro for a gyro or souvlaki. Even better! In Europe not everything comes with ice so it's a crap shoot when you order a soda whether you're going to get some or not. I always ask for ice if they don't bring it since I love my soda ice cold. They didn't have ice but the waitress brought us frosted mugs. She got a great tip. She didn't need to bring us the mugs and I always appreciate it when someone goes the extra mile, especially when they are busy.

Before we left the restaurant I had to go to the bathroom. Well this guy followed me up, he heard me ask where it was and was chatting me up while we were on our way. I'm a friendly sort, I'll chat with you. Then he was there when I was washing my hands (separate restrooms but the sink was in the hallway) and chatting some more. He wanted to try and kiss me (last time some stranger tried that move I was in New Orleans) and I wouldn't let him. Then he asked to take a photo with me. I agreed. Then he tried to lean in for a kiss then. I put my hand up to block his face. I should have remembered his move a half an hour later. I made it to the safety of our table unscathed, little did I know what was next.

From everything I've read the said the smell was pretty pungent in the Central Market. They did not lie. Pungent is an understatement. Because we got there so late in the day, they didn't even have the seafood out but you could still smell it. Su practically ran thru the market, I think it might have had something to do from the bloody floors, lol.

As you can see, it wasn't busy at all, so instead of pics of a bustling market, we were the center of attention. People asking where we were from. Trying to say hi to me in Chinese. Calling me over to say how beautiful I am (I shouldn't have put lipstick on after lunch).

I was chatting up a cute guy asking him about his meat (no, that's not him) when another guy came over. He was very aggressive so the other guy walked away, dang it! Well this guy wanted to take a pic with me, since I was walking thru taking pics of them I figure it was only fair. Well turns out the offer to take pics with you is a move in Greece because he tried to kiss me too! I had my hand up in time to block him so he grabbed my boob. I wasn't prepared for that. I think he was just trying to show off to his friends. It was a quick feel. He's lucky he felt me up and not Su, she would have castrated him. I punched him in his chest and then picked up a very big knife. He got the hint and ran off.

Due to all of the distractions in the meat market I didn't get anywhere near the pics I wanted to get so off we went to get some fruit and olives.

This guy let us sample his olives, the best way to get us to buy. We are ruled by our stomachs. We ended up buying three different kinds of olives, kalamatas, pimento stuffed green ones and another that we think was brined in wine. 3 big scoops for 3 euro total. What a score!

As we were walking around we saw this shop. I at first thought it was leather goods hanging from the ceiling. How excited was I when I saw it was meats, olives and cheeses! My mouth was salivating.

We decided we needed some meats and cheeses to go with our olives and grapes. Our guy was great. I wish I made him look at the camera, he was also cute (a theme to Greece). Once he found out how passionate we were about our meats and cheeses he started recommending his favorites. We wanted local cheeses and meats. So even tho the pastrami looked fantastic we got some local ham and a pepper crusted salami. Don't really know what kind of cheeses we got, I know one was a goat and one was very buttery. As soon as he said butter we all reacted. We ended up with 3 kinds of cheese. The funny thing is when they wanted to know how much meat to slice Su quickly did her math and said 9 slices. She decided we would have 3 slices each, it made us and them laugh. He offered to vacuum seal our stuff to take home but we told him we were going to be eating them locally. I'm bummed we didn't make it back to buy some cheese for home. He also told us about a food festival he was working at but we wouldn't be able to make it because we would be in Mykonos at the time. I know, poor us.

The store also had these gorgeous displays of fresh spices. I would go back to Athens just to shop here again.

There's a coffee shop that is always packed right by our metro stop. We decided to stop there before we made the long trek back to our apartment. OK, the girls needed some caffeine. My favorite part was they brought us free food! Why did we only go there once?!?! There was also a cookie on top of the cake slices but Nancy ate it before I could take a photo. She should know better! This was free food, it had to be documented! The bad part is we were still pretty full from lunch so we didn't get to appreciate it as much as we would normally have.

Normally this is the point where we would call it a day but we only had a couple of days in Athens so we had to make the most of our time there. Once we rested up, got caught up on the internet and got ready it was about 10pm. Perfect, that's dinner time for most of Greece. Our concierge, aka, landlord, recommended we go to Keramikos when we asked about local nightlife. It was perfect! As soon as you walk out of the metro stop there are restaurants and bars all around. We walked around to get the lay of the land. There was an outdoor concert going on and they were performing YMCA so of course we walked down the street performing for the locals.

We randomly picked a restaurant to eat at but once we looked at the menu we didn't see a lot we loved so we decided to eat apps and have a drink and restaurant hop. A little trick Barb taught us which we love. It's great when there are a lot of restaurants in walking distance. I have to say passion fruit drinks are my favorite! Of all of the various things we ate that night, this was our favorite, the mushrooms were so meaty tasty that they didn't need the prosciutto on top (and I love prosciutto) and beef carpaccio! While I would never prepare raw meat myself I love it. Serve it with slices of cheese and I'm in heaven.

The next restaurant we stopped at didn't really have a lot we wanted but we still had fun there. We ordered some kind of bean dish and roasted corn.

When we're talking about someone around us we sometimes take a photo so that the person we're looking at doesn't have all of us looking at once. I wanted to show Su what the guys behind her looked like so I had her pose for the camera. I love how this photo turned out!

We ended the night at Soho. I thought it would be funny to eat in Soho. By the time we hit there they had slowed down. We asked a waiter if they were still open and he said no, but the manager said yes, we win. My favorite thing about this place was they serve free bbg chips with our drinks. I loved them! My second favorite thing, they restroom is upstairs and it feels like you're walking across a catwalk while you're walking to it. There was even a little fog. I added a strut to my walk when going to the bathroom.

We felt bad that we were almost the last people there (again, where are the partyers, just cause it was a Tue.) but the manager said that he's up til 5am so take our time and if we wanted to stay past then, they leave the chairs out anyway. I love the people of Greece! BTW, we didn't stay til 5. We were pooped!

The long and winding road

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 06:43:00 +0000

We wanted to get on the road first thing in the morning which means we got on the road about 11am. Pretty much what I expected. I wanted to take a few more pictures of Gerolimenas. Nancy says she was worried she would forget the magic of the place but pictures have a way of bringing us back.

Nancy booked us a room for that night in Athens before we drove off, our apartment was rented out that night so she booked a cheap hotel, just some place to sleep. Course, I didn't really need a place to sleep, I decided to catch up all of my missed sleep in the car that day. I didn't plan it but since Su was in the front seat she was designated navigator and sitting in the back seat made me tired. I used to fall asleep in a car every time I was a passenger. I've gotten better about it but my body takes awhile to adjust to new time zones so I would get anywhere from 3 to 5 hours of sleep a night except the night I took a sleeping pill. I would just wake up and read until the girls got moving.

Sharon sent us an email saying we should check out Gythio. She stopped there the previous day and thought we would like it, so we decided to stop there for lunch. Sharon knows us well. What a cool little fishing village. They even had an open air market but by the time we were done with lunch, I didn't feel like shopping any more.

As a bonus, they had a lighthouse. You know how Su loves her lighthouses. Luckily we didn't have to hike there to see it!

Lunch was pretty good. We ordered a shrimp salad, word or warning, if you order anything other then a Greek salad they will drown your salad in dressing. I'm someone who loves salad dressing and it's too much for me. A lot of what we wanted they didn't have but something the waiter suggested based on our requests was a small fish fry. These suckers were delicious! It was a fishy version of french fries (instead of fish and chips, you can have fishy chips). We all kept diving in, we couldn't get enough. But since we were us, we had ordered a few other things and were full. We seriously debated getting a to go bag for the few that were left but we didn't think soggy fishy chips would be as good. I used to get fried smelt similar to this when I lived in Los Angeles. If you're curious about these delights, look for asian restaurants that aren't Americanized, best places to look would be your version of Chinatown.

Today was a day for Su and Nancy. We were taking the circuitous route back to Athens. They wanted to make a couple of pit stops along the way. So while they navigated their way to Sparti I went back to sleep. The weather had been a dream while we were in Greece so far. The day we decide to hit the road it was grey and gloomy and we finally hit the rain. Kostas says that when it rains it pours. Luckily it didn't get too bad. Nancy was thrilled about the automatic wipers in the car. I've already experienced that before in Karen's Porche, old news to me, LOL.

Once we got to Sparti and the Monastery of Pantanassa I woke up. I saw the wind and rain and that the Monastery was uphill I handed them my camera and decided to stay in the car and read. I was reading the sequel to Deborah Harkness's Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night. I enjoyed the world building but felt like there was little progression in the story. That being said, I'm still looking forward to the last book in the trilogy.

This stop was one of Nancy's favorite stops. She says she could have spent all day there and I believe her. When we go to museums, I want to just look and walk thru, she wants to see and read everything. I usually bring a book with me or send her on without me. The pics are gorgeous!

Next up was a drive to Nafplio. You know what that meant, I went back to sleep. When I was in Amsterdam and we drove to Spain I slept the entire car ride except when it was time to eat. I was catching up on my sleep then too.

Since we needed to get the car back by 9pm instead of hitting the 3 temples that Nafplio had to offer they chose one. I woke up, looked at where we were and decided to read again. Hey, at least I'm consistent! The weather cleared up and they were able to take some beautiful photos.

We were going to be cutting it tight to get the car back to Athens in time but based on our calculations we could still make it. Well, that was before we got lost. We didn't rent a GPS when we rented the car, they were out, so we've been old schooling it and using a map. Kostas also gave us directions on how to get to our two spots. His specific direction for leaving Nafplio was to stop and ask someone how to get to a specific road. Well we stopped, to get a soda and a pastry. We neglected to ask but never fear, Su and Nancy were on it! Well until we had been driving up a windy mountain in the dark that they didn't remember driving down. So one U-turn on the side of a mountain later we were heading back towards Argos. The crazy part is once we hit Argos, we literally had people sending us in the opposite direction of what the person before them told us. Needless to say, we drove around in a circle a couple of times (one way streets are a bitch!).

Finally we got on the right road to Athens so I decided to go back to sleep. Well, not really decided it just happens when I'm in the back seat (and sometimes when I'm in the front). Outside of Athens they pulled over to try and figure out how to get to our hotel since we were running so late the car rental place had closed (not a big deal, except, we knew how to get the car rental back, didn't know how to get to the hotel). Once we got into the city we pulled over to ask directions and turns out we were only a couple of blocks away! That was pure blind luck, I mean, Nancy and Su were just that good. Now what was in theory 2 blocks away ended up being about 6 or 7 blocks away. What we thought was a no right turn sign is a no turn on red sign, well, that's our guess anyway since it seems like no one but us actually reads the signs (seriously, Nancy asked what a sign meant and they shrugged it off, they didn't know either).

After we checked in we went to the rooftop restaurant to get some food. They had a great view of the Acropolis. Too bad they were closing! So we walked down a block and got some food from the souvlaki stand and the 24 hour bakery! I love this town!

Lazy days and Sundays

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 05:06:00 +0000

The day actually started off with a breakfast cooked for us by Kostas and Linda. Kyrimi is a bed and breakfast but you can rent the rooms a little cheaper without the breakfast which was a bad call on our part! Their breakfast was delicious! Greek yogurt, fresh fruit, sausage, cereal, pastries and eggs cooked to order. We ate until we were stuffed and sat around chatting and laughing. It was some kind of holiday and one of their neighbors came by and offered all of us pieces of an olive branch that had been blessed. Really, can this town get any more charming?

Because Sharon had to leave us today (dang her plans to fly to Italy!) we stayed close to home. We decided to lay out on the dock. We were almost in the water, we could feel the spray from the waves. It was amazing. Keep in mind that we move on island time, even tho we weren't on an island. By the time we got out to the dock it was already the afternoon.

Once Sharon finished packing we wandered into town where she was going to meet her bus and had a final coke with her. While it is sad to say goodbye to our gorgeous, wonderful, amazing friend, we were comforted by the fact that we'll meet up again. But for some reason I always get choked up saying goodbye to Sharon. I must say again how lucky I am to have friends who love to travel as much as I do. Sharon lives in FL and I've seen her 3 times this year and who knows, maybe a 4th time before the year is out!

We had plans to go to this local tavern that Kostas had told us about our first night there. It's a very meat oriented place which is why we didn't go there originally. We wanted seafood! But we've been eating so much seafood that we were all craving something bloodier. The only problem was, they were closed! Kostas had no idea they were closed, he had plans to meet friends there for dinner too. At least he let us know before we drove there (a second time). Since Kostas had plans we invited Linda to join us for dinner. The best part of this, besides her wonderful self was Linda took us to a place that only locals go to up in the mountains. I could tell you the name of it but then I'd have to kill you. OK, I couldn't, I don't know the name. It's all Greek to me!

We walked up and you can smell the meat off of the grill. Su felt like she was at home. I think I saw a tear in her eye. We went with the classics, souvlaki, potato wedges (perfectly cooked, crisp on outside, soft inside), greek salad and biftekia (sounds like beef steak-e-a).

One of my favorite greek salads while I was in Greece. That feta was amazing!

Biftekia looks like a hamburger but it has tons of herbs in it and is incredibly flavorful. I loved it with tzakiki. We tried it as a couple of other restaurants while in Greece but none were better then these.

I love when we're given fresh fruit for dessert. They gave us figs and we ate them so quickly they gave us more. You can eat with skin or without, I tried both ways, I prefer not eating the skin.

It was a fun dinner, listening to Linda's stories about life in Greece was fascinating and since Linda also lives in Seattle it was fun to also talk about our lives here. I look forward to catching up with here now that we're all home.

We were the last people to leave, as usual. I don't know what they say about the Greeks partying all night long, they can't hang with us Americans! I guess once it's off season, they decide they can sleep.

Once we got back to the room we got to talking. Our original plan for Monday was to go back to the Temple of the Gods and spend more time at the pool but we realized we were going to be crunched for time in Athens so why not leave a day early and get an extra day in Athens? We're crazy like that!

Since we decided to leave the next day I took some pics when we wandered downtown to get online.

Inside the belly of the beast!

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 16:34:00 +0000

One of the sites the girls really wanted to see while we were down south was the caves of Diros. All of the sightseeing books highly recommended them so off we went.

First we needed a detour to Areopolis which is the unofficial capital of Mani, not a very big town, they had a couple of super markets, which are nothing in comparison to our super markets. We needed to pick up a train ticket to Athens for Sharon who was leaving us the next day (sniff) and go to the bank. We didn't want to carry all of our cash with us so decided before we left the states we'd hit the ATMs a couple of times and pay the $5 service fee versus using our cards where we could (lots of places want cash) because there would be a fee with each purchase.

Now we were off to the caves. I believe it was 8 euros a person. Every site you go to costs money, well except Cape Tenaro. Guess they figure if you're willing to make the hike, no need to pay. There were 5 of us in the boat for the cave tour and the navigator who did not speak English, not convenient when he's talking about the caves. He wasn't very chatty anyway so we weren't missing out on much.

The caves were pretty cool, it felt like we were inside the belly of the beast! Su was in the front and spent the whole time saying heads or left side, right side. I'm 4'11", if I have to duck that tells you how low the ceilings are at some points. We were so close to the walls of the cave we could reach out and touch but I didn't want to get yelled at. He already yelled at me once for leaning too far to take a pic. My big complaint is we went so fast so we didn't get to just sit and enjoy the moment (and some of my pics came out blurry).

My camera had the flash on, Sharon's didn't hence the difference in the colors but I love her photos and want to share them too!

The following pic was taken outside of the caves, walking to the car. Greece is truly beautiful, inside and out.

We decided to go to MarMari for lunch. The best thing about MarMari was the hot waiters. They were super cute and made lunch more enjoyable. Actually, the food here wasn't the greatest but I can't get enough of grilled squid and eat it every chance I get in Greece. I'll skip the aubergine (eggplant) salad.

We're dark in this pic but check out the background to our lunch!

After lunch we hit the beach at MarMari. Linda mentioned it was windy but it was out of control windy. Makes for great waves but I wasn't going in. The entire time we were in Greece we never made it to the beach before 5pm, try as we might (except for the one day we went snorkeling outside our room). I think the water would have been warmer if we made it in sooner.

Nancy and Su braved the waters, Sharon and I read. There was a wedding happening right there on the beach which was fun to watch (as well as the couple making out on the beach). Due to the wind, we only stayed about an hour and decided to go back to the room to relax.

Once we finally got moving, we got dressed up for dinner and our date with our waiter. We went and ate at the restaurant we ate at the first night. Our waiter was doing the big up sell and we were all over it. We're weak when it comes to food. One thing we had that was different that we loved was the giant beans. That's what they're called on the menu and if you google Greek giant beans, there are recipes for it. Nancy and I killed them! What can I say, I'm a fan of the bean.

We were supposed to meet up with our other waiter after dinner but we were 20 minutes late and he got tired of waiting so he went home. We did tell him would meet up with him but as he knows first hand, it takes awhile to get thru dinner. The owner offered us a free drink but since we had plans we said no but we couldn't say no to free dessert. There's a cake-like dessert that was given to us at 3 different restaurants, turns out we don't like it but we don't want to be rude so we try to eat a piece, well most of us anyway (I win!).

Even tho our waiter ditched us, we decided to still go to the Temple of the Gods for a drink. Turns out, we were the only ones with that idea, well, other then the staff. So we only stayed for one drink. We tried to take some pics but they came out too dark. We were going to snag the bartender's phone to take some pics of us for him as a memento but he was smart and picked it up before we could. Drat!

We had an early night, got home about 1am.

Walking to the ends of the Earth

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 05:28:00 +0000

Or Europe at least!

This was the day we decided to go wandering east of Gerolimenas. The hard part was making any progress because we kept stopping to take pictures. I was using Mia's camera for some high quality pics, Sharon was taking gorgeous pics with hers and Su was using my phone so we could have pics for the blog. Nancy had the job of driver.

Our first official stop was in this mostly abandoned town of Vathia. We could walk among the ruins and take lots of pics. I think we spent over an hour there. We have tons of pics of stone but we couldn't stop taking pictures. The buildings here just ooze history.

Doesn't it look like a fairy tale?

Next up was lunch. From the cliffs we saw this beautiful coastal town and we just knew we would have good food there. Course we were hungry so that helped make our decision for us. We went with the restaurant that we could find parking in, as long as they had Internet which they did. We had one of our favorite lunches there, we'd been looking for an octopus dish that wasn't just grilled octopus and found it here. It was an octopus salad. Very tasty. Also enjoyed the sardines, very salty but lots of flavors. We've been ordering the garlic salad everywhere we go. We all love it and since we saw bats flying around at night it will help keep the vampires away.

I totally thought this fish would be dry and I was so wrong. It was the best fish of my entire trip! Perfect char on the outside, moist on the inside. The juices were dripping. Well worth the money!

Next up was Poseidon's Temple. Have to say, it was not that impressive. I expected more for him.

From his temple there is a 45 minute (that's what the books say, took me an hour) hike to Cape Tenaro which is the southernmost point in Europe, not including islands. There's a lighthouse there and Su loves them. I'm not a big hiker but decided to do this since a 45 minute isn't a bad one. I'm from WA state, our hikes consists of lots of trees and shade. There was no shade and the hike was extremely rocky. There was no looking at your surroundings. You were looking down to navigate your way and just in case the rocks weren't fun enough the rocks were lined with thorn like bushes, and I would say 75-80 percent of it was uphill!

Uphill (both ways!)

A mosaic floor of a Roman ruin.

It just gets rockier!

As soon as I saw the lighthouse in the distance I was done. I knew the end point was going to be anti-climatic but Nancy didn't want me to stay behind so I kept going and guess what? It was anti-climatic but I was there with my girls so I can't complain.

At least the walk back was easier since the sun had gone down the other side of the mountain and it was mostly downhill.

We were all so exhausted that we cancelled our date with the waiter (we drove to his restaurant when we got back versus walking the one block, that's how tired we were) and stayed in and had a wonderful dinner of cheese, fruit, olives and some shrimp scampi given to us by our fabulous hosts Linda and Kostas out on our balcony. It was really a perfect way to end the day.

Temple of the Gods

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 12:44:00 +0000

After spending basically 3 days traveling, we decided to stay close to home and just relax. I woke up and read while the girls slept in. Since we had no schedule Su and Nancy slept in while Sharon wandered off to get coffee. Once we were all up and about we ate a breakfast of yogurt, oatmeal (Nancy) and fresh cut up fruit. We bought more then just drinks at the market the previous night. We sat out on our terrace and listened to the sea as we began our day.

The view from our terrace.

Then we decided to go snorkeling. I haven't snorkeled since Maui. I'm not a good swimmer. In Maui they had these ski belts that people used for snorkeling. I loved it. I wanted to buy one to take with me (we brought our snorkel gear, nowhere to rent it here) but I waited too late so I ended up buying a snorkel vest. I don't like it as much as the belt, keeps me too high on the water and floats up to my neck but at least I wasn't going to drown. It's very rocky where we are so under the water is just small columns of rock formations. Pretty cool but not a lot of fish activity like we saw in Maui.

Linda had told us about a place nearby that had three pools. While I love the beauty of the sea, I'm a pool girl at heart. Way more relaxing and you don't have to worry about sand getting where it shouldn't be. We decided to head there for the day, it was a less then 10 minute drive away. I'm awful with names here since the way things are pronounced and spelled are totally different but it turns out this was a resort that you drive halfway up the mountain to get to. The view below is stunning (sorry I took those pics with my other camera). We just called this place The Temple of the Gods.

Since its offseason (by a week or two so weather is still great), the only people at the pool for most of the day was the staff. First order of business was ordering drinks and food. We told them to take their time making it and we got comfortable. Because it was empty, when the waitress was bringing the food, we knew it was for us:)

The salad wasn't much to look at but it was delicious. I was craving a salad that day. Our other favorite dish was the shrimp with orzo.

Once we finished out drinks and lunch I tried to read but was way too lethargic. I pulled my chair under the umbrella and proceeded to take a nap while the others read and played in the pool. When I woke up there was a shot of something tasty the bartender had sent over. It was originally frozen but by the time I got it, it wasn't. I still drank it. Don't know what it was but it was good. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and gabbing with the girls poolside. It gets windy here which helps keep the bugs away and keep it from getting too hot so while it was a warm day it was still comfortable.

When we were ready to eat we headed back to the village. We have been eating family style so that we can try everything. We planned on eating some light tapas and then having dinner around 10pm but when we made that plan it was 5pm and when we got to the restaurant it was 7pm so we decided to eat a full meal. I have to say, this was a disappointing meal, the food wasn't as good and our waiter while at first was funny became a grump. We didn't like him which also soured our meal. A lot of what we wanted they didn't have, the bad part about being offseason.

I was able to get online while at dinner but the rest if the girls couldn't because we had left the other passwords at home. We could get 3 hours Internet time for 1 euro but didn't realize the pw only worked on one device so the girls went back into town to check their emails and such while I took a nap and worked on a blog post. After I finished writing it I headed off to join the girls and post my blog but they were coming back. Su went with me to keep me company while I posted. Since I have to write my posts on my phone I had Su read it for typos and while she was, our waiter from earlier came over and invited us for a drink on him. It would have been rude to say no.

We had thought he didn't like us but turns out his English isn't very good so it was just miscommunication on our part. That means Greece is batting a 100 when it comes to the people and their friendliness. Due to the language difference I think he thinks we wanted him to take us around. We were just asking him where he likes to go. So now we have plans to join him for a drink at the Temple of the Gods after he gets off of work today. How do we get ourselves into these things?

The road to Paradise

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 12:09:00 +0000

Fun Greek fact: the sewage system is so bad here that they don't want you to flush your toilet paper. There's a trash can next to the toilet everywhere you go to throw it away. Ok, let's call that a not so fun fact.

Walking to the Metro.

The first leg of our journey begins in Gerolimenas, which is on the tip of the southern peninsula. It's over 4 hours away from Athens, so we planned on driving and keeping the car for the week while we explored the area. The big hurdle would be driving out of Athens and surviving. Turns out to some people, traffic signals are optional, as we found out when we tried walking across the street. Nancy was our designated driver. I'm not going to lie, both of us were apprehensive about her driving us in the city.

But first we had to get the car! Our rental car was six stops and a transfer over by metro. We thought about taking a cab but if we took the metro we could stop at the bakery that was next to the metro stop. There was no debate there. The bakery was so awesome it deserves its own blog post.

It took awhile to get the car. There was only one guy working and he was also answering phones. Plus, people just do things slower in Greece. If you're an impatient person, you shouldn't be here. The good news is our rental car guy hooked us up with a bigger car, which is nice because try as we might to pack light, 4 people, 4 carry on sized suitcases and 4 loaded carry ons, takes up a lot of space. The other good news is our car was facing the correct direction leaving the rental car agency. Nancy wouldn't have to drive off of the sidewalk (where a lot of their cars were parked) into busy traffic and then make a u-turn. So with fingers crossed we were off and running.

Nancy was doing great. We all breathed a sigh if relief. Then we noticed the guy next to us making some signal at us. Turns out Nancy was driving down the street with her hazard lights on which goes with the fact she was driving below the speed limit. It was a good way to make sure they knew we were tourists!

While ducking and dodging cars, motorcyclists and bicyclists (they are insane riding in the middle lane of all of these crazy drivers) we managed to make it out of town without getting killed. Whew, the drive was cake after that.

Well, except when the exit we wanted suddenly showed up, Nancy hit her brakes and looked at the lane we needed to get over in, she neglected to look behind her, there might have been some squealing brakes and horn honking as we got over.

And except for the fact that we were on a toll road and went to the lane that we thought was cash only. It wasn't. You needed a pass to get thru there and there was no one operating that toll so no way forward. We might have had to turn the hazard lights on again and back up and drive across 5 or 6 lanes to get to the correct lane (not by gradually changing lanes but turning the car and driving straight across those lanes).

Oh and let's not forget driving along a winding road and almost getting side swiped by an oncoming RV. They really don't pay attention to road markings here. You see drivers driving in two lanes, the shoulder or over the center line a lot.

A couple of stops to ask for directions and a stop at Cash and Carry for a bathroom break (when you got to go, you got to go) on an otherwise uneventful trip. The scenery was gorgeous. Olive and fruit trees where everywhere as we drove and if you know me, you know how much that excites me. We also had mountains to drive thru so lots of tunnels. My nephews would have loved that!

Nancy did great for driving in a different country. I know I wouldn't have been brave enough to do it.

We decided to make a pit stop at Mycenae, it was on our way to another stop we wanted to make. Sharon read us the history of the place. I don't remember it and we ran out of time to make our original planned stop.

By the time we got to Gerolimenas we were an hour or so late. I factored in 6 hours for a 4 hour trip (I know us), it took us a little over 7 but it was still light enough to see the beauty of where we were. This isn't a party town, when you get here you get a feeling of peace. It's so quiet and tranquil. Well, it was before we got here. :)

We're staying at Kyrimi bed and breakfast. It's the reason for this trip. My brother Andy does some work for Kostas and Linda the owners. All of the buildings here are stone and the town is right on the water. We're so close to the sea we could probably spit in it from our balcony. We didn't, we are higher class than that, ok maybe not. Gerolimenas is beautiful. We were oohing and ahhing and couldn't believe we were staying here and Kyrimi is a jewel.

After a long days driving, this was definitely a welcome site.

Once we were greeted by Kostas and Linda (so warm and friendly), we unloaded and headed out to the market to get some essentials, water, beer and wine. Before we left for dinner Su poured us all a shot of ouzo. I'm not a fan of black licorice and this has a strong anise taste to it but I've tasted worse (tequila) but the burn, wow, this drink will certainly put hair on your chest. No wonder Greek men are so hairy!

Kostas sent us off to dinner to this wonderful little restaurant at the edge of town. By the way, the town is so small we can walk it in less than 10 minutes and you know how slow I am. I've been wanting to eat octopus since I got to Greece. Everyone says it was a staple to their dining and fabulous. I have to say, I was disappointed. It was very tough to chew. What we did love was the garlic salad. It's actually more of a spread that you scoop up with bread. It's garlic and potatoes puréed together with olive oil and lemon juice. Amazing! We also loved our squid which was stuffed with cheese and tomatoes. I was a little leery of it since cheese and squid didn't sound great but it was!

Ordering a whole fish is very popular here so we also ordered that. We had a Hunter fish. Our waiter said it's only sold a couple of months a year and they rarely get it in. It sort of looked like it was related to a sardine because of the way the bones were. It was grilled to perfection and easy to debone. The meat was incredibly flavorful. To top off our wonderful meal we had excellent service. We will be going back there before we leave.

At night the village looks like a ride thru Disney's It's A Small World. It's just surreal how beautiful and peaceful it is here.

We wandered back to our room fat, happy and looking forward to many more days in paradise.

No sleep til Athens

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Our adventure in Athens has begun, it only took two days in the air. Ok, not quite two days but we left at 12:45pm on Monday and got here at 7pm on Tuesday. I haven't figured out the time difference to give you the exact travel time but it was a lot. Would have been here sooner but just as we were taxing the runway leaving the airport a man had a seizure and when the paramedics came he didn't want to leave the plane. An hour later he did. At least it happened before we got in the air, otherwise we would have had to make an emergency landing in Paris. We also had many doctors on the plane who jumped into action before the flight attendants even got there.

By the time we left WA it was nap time for me anyway so I had no problems sleeping for a couple of hours, then I picked up my kindle to catch up on my reading. I wanted to read my Dianna Love books but because I transferred my books from my old kindle I have to delete then renown load from amazon, not going to happen in the air so I started reading a Shana Abe book. It's YA wish I had known that before I started reading lol, I'm not a big YA person.

In DC Nancy and I met up with Su at a restaurant, we were watching the football game (was a rough start to our fantasy football season) but once Su got there the cackling began and we stopped watching the game. The chatter continued on on the plain but once we took off we stopped being the loud obnoxious (funny in our own mind) travelers and turned on the movies. Best thing about traveling overseas is the free movies. It was a Channing Tatum fest with 21 Jump Street (hilarious) and GI Joe 2 (boring). Then I slept some more. You know who wasn't sleeping. Nancy, which is funny because she usually never has a problem sleeping. She made up for the flight from London to Athens. She was so tired she barely paid attention to all the action with the sick man. I rely on her bionic ears so had to gossip with my neighbors instead.

We finally got to Greece a bit travel worn. A lot of people around us were chattering away excitedly, we were too tired to be excited.It was a loud flight but I did love Aegean air, they gave everyone a piece of candy before take off and Su says the wine was free too. Plus the flight attendants were gorgeous and wore scarves with their beautiful uniforms.

The metro was a bit confusing for us but we figured it out and a Greek man took pity on us and told us he would let us know what exit we were getting off of. We then asked a motorcycle cop how to get to our location, he was no help but Nancy had it mapped out and guided us in.

We are staying in an apartment we rented thru airbnb. Since we are renting a car and heading out tomorrow we just needed a place to sleep. We will be coming back here. We will be using this apt for nights and the total per person is $100, you can't beat the price!

We asked out neighborhood grocer where we should go eat and he pulled out take out menus, lol. We told him we didn't want fast food, turns out a lot of restaurants deliver and it's cheaper then if you eat in. He gave us directions to a neighborhood restaurant. When we asked him the name of it he just shook his head. You can see why.

As soon as Sharon got here (she was in town already and meeting up with us) we headed out to get some food. We hadn't eaten since DC because I didn't want to spend a fortune in London. I had dollars and euros and didn't want to convert any money just for a snack or pay a fee to use my card. Luckily we weren't that hungry but by the time we got here we were starving. The restaurant didn't have an English menu so our cute greek waiter let us know what they had and answered any questions. We were just giddy to be there.

The ladies were ready for a drink!

I was more excited about the olives.

Since their menu was Greek to us we went with the souvlaki. It was pork, so tender and juicy. They also put fries on too.

Totally delicious! Almost as delish as our cute young waiter who was bring pimped out by his co-worker to us.

He was smiling in the pic before this but it didn't turn out. We will have to go back and get another pic. :)

Avocados: A Love Affair

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

I've been mentally working on a different blog post but today while I was making guacamole I decided to do a post on one of my favorite food groups, the lovely, creamy, delicious, avocado. If you check out my pinterest page a good portion of the recipes I've pinned involve avocados.

A salad isn't complete unless it has some avocados in it. I consider lettuce to be a filler in salads so I don't always use it. Nancy is thrilled whenever I make lettuce-less salads. An easy one is avocado, cucumber and red onion with whatever dressing you like. I usually use a blue cheese with this one. Today I mashed avocado with 2 boiled eggs and some salt. Got that idea from one of my pinterest pins. I loved the concept of using avocado instead of mayo for an egg salad. As you can imagine, it was AWESOME!

My favorite way to eat avocados is guacamole! I remember the first time I came across this green lumpy mass, it was in middle school Spanish class. I said a firm no thank you to it. I can't remember the first time I had guacamole but I can say, I can't imagine my life without this delicious food! It's not just for Mexican food. It's great on top of burgers, in sandwiches (instead of mayo) and eaten with Tim's Cascade Jalapeno chips (mmmm, so good!). Of course, it's also fantastic with tortilla chips but that's a given.

A couple of years ago I made a Mexican dinner for a friend and her parents and her parents had never had guacamole! They loved it and I loved turning them on to it. If you've had guacamole that was bought at the store or made table side for you at a restaurant, it just doesn't compare to home made. The store made one is usually bland or very citrusy (in order to preserve the color). As for the table side made ones, guacamole takes time to develop their flavors so having it made and served immediately is just not as good as if it was made an hour earlier.

I have a super simple recipe and one that is almost as simple.

The super simple recipe is 2 large avocados and guacamole mix. Cut your avocados in half, scoop it out and mix with the mix. A fork works best to mash and mix. This is my favorite brand. It can be found in the produce section. Usually stores only carry one brand, I could never find this one in Publix when I lived in FL so I would stock up whenever I went home. Make sure you get the spicy kind. If you get mild, all you will have is mashed avocados. This in itself is quite delicious.

But when I'm feeling more motivated I will jazz up my gauc. Add the mix, diced red onion, chopped cilantro and if you really want to get fancy, a couple of chopped chipotle peppers (you can find them in a little can in adobo sauce in the Mexican food section), seed and rinse off the peppers before you use. It adds a divine smokey taste to your guac. That secret ingredient is courtesy of Linda T. Sometimes I'll even add tomatoes. Whatever I'm feeling at the time. This is a pretty forgiving recipe. The authentic way of making this doesn't include the seasoning packet but quite honestly, it adds so much to the guac. If you don't want to use the packet use some salt, pepper, jalapeno and lime juice.

Since I was making my delayed Cinco de Mayo dinner I also made Sharon's Sensational Salsa but I cheated and didn't use Rotel, nowhere near as good so I gave it away to Edgar who liked it. He doesn't know better. BTW, for those who are having trouble finding the Cilantro Lime Rotel, I found it at Winco.

I also made my version of pico de gallo but since I wasn't putting it in something, it was more a pico de gallo salad. So incredibly fresh tasting and another simple recipe.

Another lettuce-less salad, Nancy was in heaven. She bought these delicious little yellow tomatoes, I think they were called sunbursts, they put the grape tomatoes that were also in there to shame. If you want to use it as a traditional pico de gallo, quarter the tomatoes (I prefer the small varieties) but I sliced them in half for this recipe. I also chopped up a half a bunch of cilantro and red onion (I normally put more red onion in but they've been really strong lately). Sprinkle some salt and pepper and squeeze two limes into it. I made this salad earlier in the day, just before serving I added, you guessed it, avocado. Everything is to your taste. I love cilantro so I always use a lot. Sometimes when I make this I'll throw in cucumbers. Another very forgiving and delicious recipe.

Avocado Tips: A ripe avocado (Haas is the one you want to use, more flavor) is darker and if you squeeze it it will give. Don't squeeze too hard, you don't want to bruise it, just see if it gives. If I'm not using them that day I'll just buy a bunch and let them ripen on my counter. If you're not ready to use when it's ripe, throw it in the fridge.

Instead of peeling the avocado, cut it in half. Slice or cube it inside it's skin and use a spoon to scoop it out. If you're making guac just scoop it all out. I went to a restaurant where they would just cut in half and squeeze out the insides. I tried it but I would always have to scoop it out afterwards so stick to the spoon.

To remove the pit they say use a sharp knife and thrust the sharp side (not the tip) into the pit and twist out the pit. I'm always worried about cutting myself so I just use a spoon to scoop around.

Guacamole will turn brown. Lime juice will prevent it from browning but too much and you have a very limey guac. My Mexican friend used to keep the pits in her guac to prevent the browning but it only helps the area around the pit. What I do is put saran wrap right on the guac. Even if it's in a tupperware bowl, place a piece of saran wrap over the guac until it's directly on top and make sure it's closed around the edges. Then put the lid on. This prevents air from getting on the guac which in turn prevents it from browning.

What about you? Do you have a love affair with avocados like I do? I've heard they make great shakes but as much as I love avocados I'm leery. Have you tried it? What's your favorite avocado recipe? If this was Watch What Happens Life and the word of the night was avocados, you all would be drunk right now!

Spring has sprung and cleaning has begun!

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Actually, the real reason we've been cleaning is because we plan on having a revolving door of guests this summer, which is a wonderful thing! Our first visitors will be here in less then 2 weeks, Julie and her son will be coming in so we've spent the last couple of weekends getting ready. Unfortunately, because we're doing such a thorough cleaning, our living room looks like a tornado went thru it. The good news is the bathrooms and the bedrooms look great!

My room is pretty small which doesn't bother me because I don't need a lot of space but because of the size I've never really done much with it. When I moved to FL I let Kathy use my bed frame and I never took it back because it provides me with a couple of inches of extra space at the foot of my bed where I had my dressers. Kat got a new bed and brought my frame back so I set the bed back up which I love my bed but I do miss my risers, which I used for storage under my bed. Having my bed high makes it feel more regal. While Nancy was working on her room I decided to re-arrange things to make more room. Next thing you know, we took off the sliding doors of my closet, moved a dresser in there and switched out my old school tv with a flat screen tv I borrowed from Nancy's brother.

Once the wheels were in motion, I was inspired. I realized my curtain was filthy and since it's way too long for my window I kept it folded over. So I took that off and Nancy and I made a trip to Joanne's to buy fabric and Kim made a new curtain for me. She's a pro, she sewed most of hers. I'm going to get more fabric so that she can also make me some matching throw pillows, score!

One of the things I hated in my room were my metal shelves. I loved having extra shelves and they were free which makes them more appealing but they were always ugly to me. After a little research I decided I would spray paint them. I honestly never thought about spray painting them due to the fact that they were metal. OMG, as soon as sprayed the first shelf, I was in heaven! I love tiffany blue so much!

Next up, I decided it was time to get a chandelier for my room. I've been wanting one for awhile but you know me, I'd rather spend money on food and travel but it was time. A few years ago I had bought Kim one for her birthday at Ikea and I love it so decided that was the one I wanted. I also found a blog online where someone painted their Ikea chandelier. She even used my color but she used acrylic paints and I went spray paint. Here's her blog in case you would like to do it yourself.

I didn't think about blogging this when I started cleaning my room so I don't have a before of my room or a great before of the chandelier. This is a pic I took in order to remember how the crystals get put back on, the photo didn't help me when it was time to re-assemble.

And now here is the almost finished product. Yes, I still have stuffed animals on my bed, Ethan loves them (and so do I:).

Now I want a new comforter or bed spread. Probably not a tiffany blue one, a white or cream comforter without the pattern. I most likely won't get it before Julie gets here, it's not a high priority. I also spray painted my night stand and Nancy bought some trim that we're going to put around one of the sliding mirrors that used to be my closet door and hang it on my wall. I need to have a mirror in my room.

FYI, if you need a professional painter, don't contact me, it was actually worse then this looks, this was after I used vegetable oil and alcohol to try and get it off. I also had blue legs, blue arms a blue chest and a blue face. Nancy already made the smurf joke.

Once I get everything set the way I want, I'll take a pic or video of the rest of the room. BTW, Nancy is also working hard and we'll be painting her room next weekend. Casa de Leiha (and Nancy) is throwing open her doors. Let us know when we should pencil you in.

Oysters, mussels and clams, oh my!

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 03:46:00 +0000

I just can't get enough of food foraging blogs. There aren't as many as I would like. I've even found myself reading the entire blogs, the less prolific ones, of course. I just love the idea of living off of the land. I'm not a hunter myself and am barely a gatherer. I fantasize about mushrooming and have decided I really want to try cattails. Turns out you can eat them like tiny corn on the cobs. I love the idea!

I thought my fascination with food foraging a relative new thing, over the last couple of years but then I was reading a blog and they mentioned the book, My Side of the Mountain. A story about a kid who ends up living inside of a hollowed up tree and he had to fend for himself. I loved that book when I read it. I also loved The Swiss Family Robinson. Another book about a family living off of the land. These are books I read when I was in elementary school and read many times. It made me realize this is not a new interest but rather, a re-awakening.

A few years ago I decided I wanted to go clamming. I'd never gone. My siblings went when they were younger but I was out of the house by then. Nancy's parents turned me on to a wonderful spot. So wonderful it doesn't even have a name. It's just a spot on the map. While reading up on the area I found out there was a man made oyster bed a mile away. So last time we went, we added oysters into the rotation. The bad part is you have to shuck the oysters on the beach. I prefer my oysters raw so I bring lemons with me. My dad just enjoys the experience so he shucks and then gives them away.

The reason you have to shuck on the beach is new oysters grow on top of old ones. So all of those open shells will soon have more shells on top of them.

Oysters here are super easy to gather, you just walk out into the water and pick up clusters of them.

I go for large clusters, less bending over.

This cluster will have 5 or 6 oysters in them. I got so excited gathering up oysters I forgot to push up my sleeves and soaked them reaching in to get the oysters.

Once I fill my bucket I go sit on a log, shuck and eat. Let me tell you, this is not a clean process. These aren't the oysters you get in the market. You have to work to get these suckers open. I bring my oyster knife, wear gloves and use a towel or wash cloth to hold it while I try and pry them open.

We are allowed 18 of these beauties each trip. After shucking 18 of them, I'm pretty done. I keep telling dad don't go for the large ones, he doesn't listen. The oysters were really briny and salty this day so I didn't eat all of mine.

Once we're done with the oysters we backtrack a mile and go off get our clams and mussels. The clamming is really affected by the tides. One of these days we'll get out there soon enough to get our oysters and hit the tide at the right time. By the time we got there the tide was already coming back in. We won't have a really nice low tide until about May but this spot offers clamming and mussels year round which is pretty cool.

That's dad out there, pretty sad we headed out at the same time from the car. In my defense, he's not as far away as he seems. Do you see where it gets darker at the water line. Those are all mussel shells.

Depending on how low the tide is decides what kind of clams you're going to get and how difficult. If the tide was lower we would have harvested a lot smaller clams as well as more of a variety. This area has many variety of clams, cockles, butter, manila, littleneck, horse (we don't gather them, they're huge although I'd love to get a geoduck!). Clamming consists of shoveling up the dirt and digging thru it to look for clams. If the weather wasn't so cold I would have put my hand in the water and felt around for clams also. Less chance of damaging the shells then.

One thing you have to be careful for while clamming are mudders, they're empty shells full of mud. I always rinse off my clams to make sure it's not a mudder. We're limited 40 clams. I want every one of them to count. Since it was cold and I wasn't getting much in the way of clams, I abandoned clamming and decided to go for the mussels and leave the hard work to my dad (neither one of us got anywhere close to our limit).

To the left of wear I was clamming was this. Those are all mussels. I don't know if you've heard of Penn Cove mussels where you live but they're famous around here. I would say the majority of the mussels served in restaurants here are Penn Cove mussels. Well this is in the same bay, these are the same mussels that are served in restaurants. I learned the hard way, it's better to get your mussels out of the water. They're easier to clean.

So back into the water I went. Like oysters, they are in clusters. Unlike oysters, it's their beard that keeps them together. I try and pick thru the oysters and get the larger ones. The mussels are so plenty I can afford to be choosy. We're allowed 10 lbs a person so I don't bother counting, I get as much as I want. On this trip I got mussels for myself and for Nancy's parents.

Here's what a cluster of mussels looks like.

While easy to gather, they're a pain to clean. The mussels you have in restaurants or buy in the store have been debearded. I use scissors and cut off the beards, it's not as nice as the restaurants but it's FREE!

I let my clams and mussels sit for a day in the salt water from the bay before I cook them. The clams need this more then the mussels. They spit out the sand so if you don't let them do this, you'll end up with a more gritty, sandier clam. My brother and nephew came over to help eat the fruits of my dad and my labor. My stomach was being finicky so I didn't really eat any of them but I was just as excited having the boys eat them. I love the delicious broths used to cook these but I'm lazy. I just steam and serve with lemon juice with salt and pepper. My favorite way to eat sea food.

I'm hoping one day in the future I'll have a blog post about me mushrooming. Ahh, to dream…

After Oscars

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:00:00 +0000

After months of hype and tons of awards show leading up to THE awards show, it's all over, just like that. OK, maybe not just like that, there were hours and hours of arrivals and then hours and hours of the actual show. A lot of people thought the show was boring but I was live blogging on FB so I was having my own Oscar party online. No matter what was happening on the screen, I was having fun.

I only read one review about Seth MacFarlane and it was positive. I felt the same way. On FB it seemed like a lot of people didn't like him but I found him funny, charming and game for anything. I could have done without the William Shatner bit in the opening but I still enjoyed the opening with Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron dancing and then Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Daniel Radcliffe dancing and singing with Seth. It was old/new school Hollywood. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Not many, if any surprise winners. They acted surprised but they were all the front runners for each category they were in. That being said, I loved Daniel Day-Lewis' speech. This was his third Oscar, he could have been blasé about the whole thing, instead he was incredibly moved and his speech was beautiful. I felt like this year, with his Golden Globe and Oscar win he really let his emotion and personality shine thru.

Before the awards season I was a big fan of Anne Hathaway and was totally rooting for her but her speech at the Golden Globes turned me off, it was soooo long and then when Les Mis won she took over the mic to thank an agent she forgot. Really? I'm also not digging this gosh darn, I can't believe I won attitude she's projecting. I just don't believe it.

Now someone I am loving is Jennifer Lawrence. She looks like someone who doesn't play the Hollywood game. She is so genuine in everything that she does that we're even charmed by her falling down to get her Oscar. I love her honesty and freshness. I'm posting a video of her at the end of this post that is just another reason to love her.

Don't boo me, but I didn't think Argo was the best movie of the year. Unlike most years, I've actually seen a lot of the movies that were nominated, Silver Lining Playbook, Les Miserablés, Life of Pi and Argo. I have to say, of all of the movies, I enjoyed Argo the least. I'm not saying that I didn't like it, I did, I just liked the others more. There was an emotional element that was missing from Argo for me. I would have been happier if any of the other movies won. That being said, my favorite speech of the night was Ben Affleck's. Nothing moves my somewhat cynical heart (who am I kidding? I'm mush) more then true emotion. I love how far Ben has come in his career and how appreciative he was about it all and it's pretty cool to see him up there with George Clooney.

The Oscars are really just a reason for people to dress up and for us to judge them for it, so on to the fashion!

I liked a lot of the fashion this year, no real disasters (Helena Bonham Carter is always a disaster, so I don't even bother with her). The top two dresses were my favorite of the night. When I saw them onscreen they took my breath away. The stills don't really convey the beauty of their dresses since part of the magic was in how their dresses moved. I haven't always agreed with Jennifer Hudson's style choices but this dress and the one she wore when she performed Dreamgirls were flawless. Her body looks magnificent in the dress which shimmers and shines when she moves. If you get a chance to see Stacy Keibler (aka George Clooney's gf) in her dress on video, you will see why I love it. On tv, her dress moves and looks like it's made up of a ton of necklaces. There's a metallic look to her dress and it's not a flat material, so it reflects light and adds dimension. Just stunning.

On camera Naomi Watts dress looked more green/bluish but that could be because her dress is so shimmery and glittery that the lights are all reflected. Sparkle was the theme of the night and I was a huge fan. This dress fit Naomi like a dream and it was something new. Nicole Kidman also had on a fitted glittery dress that she looked divine in. What I love about Octavia Spencer is she knows how to dress for her body. I know she's good friends with Melissa McCarthy, she should really give her some tips. Octavia's dress doesn't re-invent the wheel but it's glamorous and romantic at the same time. I'm a sucker for tulle. If I could get away with wearing tulle every day I would.

When I first say this dress by Halle Barry I didn't like it. But then she walked on stage and it was so extremely flattering to her body I revised my opinion. That being said, I'd love the dress whole heartedly if it wasn't for the squared shoulders. But since she has those shoulders she's my transition to the dresses I didn't like.

I know Reese Witherspoon recently had a baby but I'm just not enjoying the fit of this dress. It pooches at her belly and hey, if that's her belly then she could have worn a different dress. I also don't like the two toneness of the dress. Kerry Washington wore a black and white one on Scandal the other day that I loved, this I didn't. She did have my favorite hair style of the night tho. I have admitted to my love of Jennifer Lawrence but I was disappointed in this dress. On tv you can't see the details in the material of the small back draped necklace that she has on. So add a veil and this is a wedding dress. I have loved a lot of what she has worn during the awards season and I can understand wanting to dress like a princess (or in my case a Queen), I just wish she hadn't looked like a bride while doing it.

On my tv Kerry Washington's dress looked red, add to that all of the jewelry at the top of her dress and she just looked like she should be under a Christmas tree. I'm just not a fan of bedazzaled clothes overall. Anne Hathaway was my biggest disappointment of the night. She's very fashion conscious. I expected more out of her. The darts at her nipples drove me crazy. You know I have no problems with nipples but the dress just didn't flatter and the darts were distracting. She said she chose the dress 3 hours before hand. She should have gone with her other choice. Maybe if the dress didn't have a weirdly placed seam at the waistline it would have looked better. I don't know. It just seemed like a hot mess to me.

Speaking of hot messes… This falls into the what was she thinking category? The dress doesn't look like it fits her, it adds 20 lbs to her and her hair doesn't help matters. I am a fan of the Pricilla Presley do, just not here. Melissa McCarthy needs to either hire a stylist or fire one.

All that being said, fashion is subjective. You might like what I hated and vice versa. I would love to hear your thoughts on the Oscars and the Oscar fashion, there were a ton of other great dresses.

But before you weigh in, check out this so cute video. Jennifer Lawrence is interviewing with ABC when Jack Nicholson comes up to compliment/hit on her. Her reaction is priceless and this is why I love Katniss.

Fun Foto Friday - R.E.M.

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 21:48:00 +0000

Working at The Museum of TV & Radio wasn't good for my bank account but what it lacked in pay, it more then made up for in fun experiences. Since we had a working radio booth, one year (sorry I can't remember when) instead of touring different radio stations R.E.M. did all of their radio interviews from the museum. They spent a week there and it was awesome to get to hang out, watch them do sound check, perform (they played for a small audience that I was a part of, squee!), listen to them interact and just soak up the awesomeness of being so close to them.

While stationed in Korea, the only tv option we had was the military one, AFKN (where I worked) so we didn't watch a lot of tv. I used to watch my R.E.M. concert video all of the time. I think I still have it in a box back in the shed.

I didn't say anything to the guys all week about watching their video over and over again until the last day. I just had to get my picture with them (we weren't supposed to bother the talent but rules were meant to be broken, or at least bent) and when I finally told them about how much I loved them, they were like, why didn't you say anything earlier? I was being a professional. The photo of me and Michael Stipe was taken after the very last interview was done, he was exhausted and ready to go home but he stopped to take this pic with me. I love when famous people exceed expectations (maybe next week I'll share a photo of someone who disappointed). I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for these guys.

Girlfriends…good for the soul (part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Prior to my trip to Washington D.C. I was in a little funk. I was stressed, wasn't sleeping and was eating like crap. I wasn't even as excited as I should be about my upcoming trip. But then I hopped on a plane with Nancy who was positively giddy and I started to get excited too. I was going to go see my girlfriends!

Sometime in the year 2000 (insert Conan voice here) while surfing the web for something new to read, I discovered the romance book message board, RBL Romantica. Thru that website I've met people who have become lifelong friends. The last time I was in D.C. I was visiting Michelle, that was 10 years ago and she's one of the main reasons I went back, Michelle is my emotional soul mate, when she cries, I cry. Su has visited every place I've moved to and in the last 10 years (Los Angeles, Portland, Atlanta, Daytona Beach, Everett and Sararosta). Lina is a close second, I don't think she made it to Los Angeles. How can I be alone when my friends are always there for me? When I met Linda I remember thinking she was the coolest woman I've ever met, I still think that. I even flew to Europe and got to spend a fantstic month with Nes! These are just a few of the amazing women who are part of my life thru RBL. Because of the internet, even though we're separated by miles, we're still close and luckily, we all love to travel. We used to meet in Vegas once a year and then began expanding to New Orleans, Jersey Shore (Nes flew in for that!), Charleston, New York, whatever city I'm currently living in and Washington DC. Some of us see each other 2 or 3 times a year, do you know how lucky that makes me?

Now I don't visit RBL as much as I used to, but thru Karen Marie Moning (who I also met on RBL) my world has expanded even more. While I've kept my friends from RBL it's grown and the handful of gals I would meet up with (ok maybe more then a handful, I know and love a lot of women) has grown. Thru the Maniacs, I've met more women that I admire and have enriched my life and they too love to travel. I barely knew Julie but once I invited her to join me and my RBL girlfriends in Vegas she booked a ticket. I knew I was going to love this girl (and Nancy eventually was happy I invited Monica-she could never remember her name, LOL). I learn a lot from all of my friends but Sharon is who I want to be when I grow up. Sally I've only known for a couple of years but I feel like we've known each other forever. There's such a comfortableness with her. Diana is my crazy asian sister and Jenn, well I'm working on trying to bring the crazy out in her. Again, there are many many Maniacs I know and love and are blessed to be friends with. These are just the ones in this pic.

People who know me, know I don't travel alone. I travel to meet up with my girlfriends and I bring them with me wherever I go. It's not even really about the destination, I rarely sight see, I want to spend time with the girls. My favorite thing to do is to sit around and talk. We never get enough of each other in our day to day lives, people are working, have families and we live thousands of miles from each other. So I cherish the time we have together.

This isn't the best picture of us, you can tell we're tired but I love what this pic represents. We can literally sit there and talk and laugh for hours.

I'm always fired up after a visit with the girls. A visit with each other strengthens the bonds that are already there and re-invigorates me. I'm immediately thinking about the next time we can get together, sometimes we even plan this before we leave because we all value our friendship so much.

Since I've come back from D.C. I've been able to sleep again, I no longer feel stressed and joined a gym and am super motivated to get back in shape. All I needed was some time with my girlfriends, they're good for my soul.

Girlfriends…good for the soul (part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Leiha) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Growing up I was surrounded by boys, I did have 5 brothers after all. Then I joined the Army and again I was surrounded by boys (not a bad thing). I've always got along with men and have some great guy friends. While the majority of my friends were men, I've always been blessed with at least one close girl friend wherever I lived (military brat).

Freshman year was Kirsten, we lived in OR, then we moved to IL and Angie became my best friend thru the beginning of my senior year and then I met Nancy when we moved to WA. I was traumatized having to move my senior year but then I met by best friend for life. Well, until I move out of her house at least:)

Julie arrived the day after I arrived in Korea and we became roommates and best friends. We did everything together, including a lot of drinking. A LOT OF DRINKING. And I know it will shock you to find this out but we also did a lot of eating. I still love Korean food. You could buy a bowl of cheese ramen and a stick of beef for a dollar each. Many a late night meal consisted of that. The funny thing is we would never be really drunk at the same time so we took care of each other.

When I was stationed in Ft Meade, MD we didn't have to share rooms. My unit consisted mostly of men, not a lot of female camera people in the Army. For awhile there I was the only one in our unit. I didn't mind either way, I could hold my own with the guys. In the room across the hall from me lived Reine-Marie. I actually first became a friend with her co-worker but her co-worker, I believe her name was Jennifer, found a guy and fell out of the picture but Reine and I stayed friends. We would spend weekends heading to either DC or Baltimore, Ft Meade was ideally located. After I got out of the Army I flew back to be Maid of Honor in her wedding.

Way back then we didn't have internet or cell phones so it was easy to fall out of touch with people. A couple of moves (and I moved a lot) and you've lost contact. Then along came Facebook! While we complain about privacy and how often they change the settings I have to say I love FB because it's allowed me to reconnect with people I've thought gone from my life for good.

While I'm not the greatest at calling often or responding as often as I should to emails, I can keep in contact, at least superficially thru FB and when I travel, if I'm lucky, I get to re-connect with long lost friends. And that was what I did when I went to Washington D.C. I got to spend a couple of hours with both Reine-Marie and Julie. Not nearly enough time but I will take whatever time I can get. It was wonderful to re-connect and re-energize our friendship. I've always considered them friends but now they are a part of my present, as well as my past. We've aged wonderfully, haven't we? My excuse is I'm Asian, I have no idea why they still look so gorgeous.