The Amazing Adventures of Valerie, Adam & the Doog

Christmas in Miami

2008-12-28T12:56:00.008-05:00

Valerie: We headed to Miami for the Holidays and had a warm and fun Christmas. The weather in Miami all week was excellent (much better than the weather we left behind in New York). Adam spent Christmas eve cooking "el lechon."

Adam: In Cuban families, tradition dictates that christmas eve -- "noche buena" is the center of the celebration, and at the center of noche buena is always a lechon -- a pig, marinated in mojo (sour orange, garlic and oregano) and roasted all day long until the skin is crispy. Valerie's family had talked for a long time about me cooking the pig (always as a joke -- I don't eat pork). But this year I figured it would be fun to try to cook it, even if i didn't eat it -- and I would thow a few chickens in.

Valerie: The first step in this process is to marinate the pig. My parents bought an 86 pound pig from a farm in Hialeah.

Adam: First, you take a few bags of sour oranges, juice them, and add a few heads of garlic, a salt brine, and oregano. You mix this all together, and then take a syringe and inject it into the pig flesh. It's a messy process, and as you can see below, the pig was huge, so it was very difficult. But we managed to get it all in there.

Adam and the marinated pig ready to be placed inside the caja china.

Valerie: We let the pig marinate overnight -- out on the dining room table in my parents' house (since there wasn't a refrigerator large enough). Probably not the most hygenic means of storing the pig (nb: if you have a refrigerator that big, put the pig in it -- otherwise, the house can start to smell).

Adam: Early on Wednesday morning, I got up and began preparing to cook the pig. A lechon is traditionally cooked in a big hole dug in the ground and covered with palm leaves. However, the Cubans have devised something called a "caja china" or "chinese box" which makes the process somewhat easier. Apparently, the contraption has nothing to do with China -- but in many caribbean cultures, to call something "chinese" is to imply that it has magical powers.

The first step is to put the pig inside the caja china, split in half so it lays flat.

Adam and Valerie's uncle transferring the pig into the caja china.

Adam: Then you put a lot of charcoal on top. A lot of charcoal -- 35 pounds in this case. The fire gets really hot, and as the day continues on, you continue adding charcoal.

Adam and Molly watching the pig cook.

Adam: The temperature inside the caja china gets really high -- Valerie's family had told me that this would take 8 hours, but the pig was ready at 12 noon -- and dinner was at 8. Oh no!

A peek inside while the pig is roasting - look how done it gets in 3 hours!

Adam: So we basically let the pig rest under a few coals to keep it warm, and then flipped it and cooked it for another 45 minutes to crisp up the skin, which I'm told is the tastiest part.

The finished pig ready to cut and serve.

Adam: After the pig, I cooked a few chickens for us non-pork-eaters. They ended up pretty tasty as well. Overall, the great caja china experiment was very successful, and surprisingly easy to use. If I had a balcony, I might even consider getting one in New York -- for parties, it does produce a lot of meat with minimal effort.

Valerie: Right before dinner, we took the annual christmas picture.

La familia.

Next: Valerie and her sister try camping out for the first time, Adam meets the world's largest mosquito in the everglades.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2008-12-22T16:05:00.002-05:00

We are off to Miami tonight to spend the holidays with Valerie's family and to rescue Molly, who has been enjoying the warm weather since the wedding. We'll be back in a week and we'll recap Adam's first time cooking lechon in a "caja china" for noche buena. Valerie's parents picked up the pig yesterday and it weighed in at 82 lbs. It is currently in Valerie's parent's freezer waiting for Adam to marinate it. More on this to come.

Also, after the holidays, Valerie is going to recap all the wedding details and post some pictures from the fun-filled night! In the meantime, here is a sneak peek:

[pre-ceremony at the Loews Miami Beach]

Valerie makes paper. Adam bakes. No change.

2008-12-14T23:12:00.009-05:00

December 14, 2008

Adam: We haven't posted in two weeks, but we have been busy at work.

Valerie: Since the last time we updated the blog, I joined a holiday card swap via Brooklyn Bride. I swapped handmade holiday cards with four others who also read the blog.

[Valerie's card (front view)]

[card from the back: snowman sticker sealed the envelope]

Adam: This week, we had a small get-together at our new apartment. We styled it a dessert party, so Valerie and I got to work baking.

Valerie: Adam's first crack at making chocolate cupcakes didn't turn out so well. Adam substituted whole wheat flour for regular flour and the cupcakes tasted less like chocolate and more like whole wheat bread. But then he tried again - and the second batch was very yummy!

Adam: In addition to the better triple-chocolate cupcakes, we also made lemon cupcakes, carrot cake cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies, gingerbread cookies, chocolate truffles (flavored with curry powder and salt caramel), miniature apple pies and candied nuts.

[chocolate chip cookies]

[truffles]

[carrot cake cupcakes]

[apple pies]

[candied nuts]
[lemon cupcakes]

[adam cooking]

Unfortunately, no pictures from the wild, wild party (where we met our friends' newest addition, Hektor) -- but we promise better stuff next week!

Up Next: Adam's work holiday party on Monday. Bela Fleck concert at the Blue Note on Wednesday. Headed to Miami on Sunday to rescue Molly!

Turkey Weekend

2008-11-30T21:38:00.013-05:00

Sunday, November 30

Adam: This week, we begin with thanksgiving. On Wednesday afternoon, Valerie and I made our annual trek down to Olney, Maryland to spend Thanksgiving with my family.

First, a side note about zipcar. We have been using zipcar for transportation for almost a year now. It has been a very mixed experience, and this weekend illustrates why. Despite the fact that we paid $99 per day (plus tax) for a car, this car could not be described as in "working condition." The defroster barely worked, the oil hadn't been changed in over 20,000 miles, and at times, it sounded as if the car wouldn't ever start again. At least the car had a valid registration and up-to-date plates -- unlike the previous cars we rented. The truth is that zipcar isn't all bad -- they're much more convenient than rental cars, and the fact that they all have EZPass is nice. But at this point, zipcar -- billed frequently as the solution to increasing traffic -- has convinced us that purchasing a car would be a better idea.

Valerie: We spent Thanksgiving day playing Wii (golf and baseball) and eating.

(Adam, Adam's brother, David, and Elliot, Adam's cousin playing Wii baseball)

Valerie: After the boys finished their game of baseball, I joined them in golf and beat them all. Best round of golf I've ever played!

Adam: Who knew? Valerie has many mysterious talents. After playing virtual sports, Valerie and I took a drive around various neighborhoods in D.C., just to explore the city a bit more. Valerie hasn't spent much time in D.C. proper, and she really took a shine to Dupont Circle.

Valerie: After our drive, we had a fabulous meal -- turkey and all the trimmings.

Our Butterball turkey (very yummy)

Adam: Black Friday -- for those of you who are unaware, a morning of unbridled capitalism with a 4:00 am wake up call -- led to mixed results for us. We snagged a 19" TV -- but online. We then tried to wake up to go to the sales anyways, but "missed the alarm" several times. Nevertheless, we made it out to circuit city, staples and target, and scored a number of dvds and an office chair. Cool!

Valerie: After shopping we headed to Adam's dad's house in western Maryland. We made it out to Washington Monument State Park on Saturday. Apparently, there are two Washington Monuments: one in DC and one in Boonsboro, Maryland. The one in Boonsboro is the original Washington Monument, built in 1827 by the citizens of Boonsboro. The monument sits smack in the middle of the Appalachian trial.

Adam in front of the "looks-like-a-beehive" monument

[Us at the base of the monument]

Adam: Apart from obscure monuments, the Boonsboro-Keedysville metropolitan area is also a center for Mennonites, the Pennsylvania religious sect that my father's family traces its heritage back to. They are also bakers of some excellent, excellent donuts!

[the box of donuts after breakfast]

Adam: On Saturday night, I went to my 10th-year high school reunion. It was a bit bizarre -- I saw a lot of people who I haven't seen since graduation day. But everyone was basically still the same -- most people still had hair, nobody became obscenely large. Valerie pointed out that I went to one of the nerdiest high schools around (true). She also pointed out the obscene number of my friends who are doing MD-PhDs (also true). Makes us feel like underachievers!

Valerie: We woke up at 4am on Sunday to drive back to New York. After beating the rain and traffic, we arrived in Brooklyn and went out in search of a Christmas tree. We found one on Court street.

[Decorating our tree]

[The finished tree. ]

Adam: I admit it -- I consented to the channukah bush / christmas tree. I have to admit -- decorating it was fun.

Next week: Pictures of the new furniture arriving in our apartment!

Painting and cookies

2008-11-23T18:16:00.011-05:00

This weekend was rather quiet. Adam had to work on Saturday (boo!) and Valerie didn't do much apart from going to her trapeze class. We recently moved to Brooklyn and decided to paint our living room on Sunday. We opted for an "accent" wall in a "lazy sunday" blue (or for those Sex and the City fans, its a similar blue to the one used in Carrie's remodeled apartment in the movie). The color looks fantastic and definitely beats out our yellow wall from our 23rd street apartment.

(Valerie painting - our great view of Brooklyn in the background)

(Adam and the finished wall. The Giants game on the TV. Giants beat the Cardinals!)

We're still waiting for our new furniture to be delivered. We'll post an updated picture once we get the living room all squared away but for now you can see our TV and new white TV console. We're going with a modern decorating scheme and bought the white console to go with a matching white wall shelf to sit above the TV, a black rug and a black/white sofa.

After dinner we made these cookies. The cookies turned out pretty good and the recipe was easy to follow -- except that Adam added too much pumpkin and we think the cookies are more cake-like than they should be. But otherwise they are tasty and we recommend giving the recipe a shot.

The finished cookies cooling on the rack.

(Adam taking a bite of the cookies)

Organic Eats . . .

2008-11-19T19:36:00.008-05:00

Despite having no yard, no soil, no grass, and living in a tiny NYC apartment, Adam was able to grow vegetables (at least for a short time) in our apartment last winter. I was doubtful at first but plenty of sunlight and water led to some tasty lettuce, snap peas, broccoli, and basil.

[Snap pea from the garden]

[ home grown basil ]

[Lettuce from the garden]

[Adam enjoying the fruits of his labor. You can see the garden in the background.]

Our window sill turned out to be too cold in the winter and eventually everything died. Growing the veggies for a while turned me into a believer of growing what you eat. If we lived in a warmer climate and had a yard, I would definitely be into growing our own produce like this family .

The Blog is Back!

2008-11-18T22:03:00.027-05:00

Adam: We've decided to start the blog again. Since our last episode:

- We returned to New York from Asia. We went to Miami to rescue the Potato and moved into our new apartment in Chelsea.

- We attended the wedding of our good friends Monica and James at the
River Cafe. It was a blast!

[Valerie looks beautiful. Adam looks like he's part of the band!]

[Judge, Kim, Tom, Adam]

- We started planning our wedding. First, we were going to have it at the Wolfsonian museum . . .
. . . and then at Villa Woodbine . . .

. . . nope! Back to the Wolfsonian . . .

. . . oops! Too small. So on to the National Hotel. But more on that later.

- Valerie developed a roaring addiction to paper. She is currently in recovery. (editors note: as I was typing this, she told me about something called a "stamping class." I am not making this up.)

- Adam was sucked into the black hole of work assignments. He was not seen at home for a number of weeks.

[No picture]

- Adam and Valerie went with their friends to a house in the Catskills for the weekend.

[Best steak ever, cooked in a fireplace!]

- Valerie's bridesmaids came to New York to do some sort of shopping-related activity. Maybe it's related to dresses for the wedding?

- The Giants won the superbowl. Valerie got so excited, she slammed her engagement ring down onto a glass, shattering it -- no joke. Then she went to the parade. Adam watched from his office.

- Happy Valentines Day 2008!

[Top of the Rock]

[Kumquat Cupcakes]

- Mets Game!

- Valerie met Eli Manning. To be specific, she stalked him while waiting outside of the mens bathroom.

- Valerie learned to bake cookies with Adam's mom.

- Molly made a number of appearances.

- Adam's brother David graduated from Georgetown law, and Adam bought a seersucker suit!
- Adam, Valerie and the Doog went to Montauk!

- Adam started a farm in their 500 square foot apartment.
- Valerie convinced Adam to wait all night long to purchase an iPhone.
- Our first anniversary: Jets v. Giants

More in the next post!

Hong Kong

2007-09-26T06:59:00.000-04:00

September 19 - 23, 2007; Hong Kong

Wednesday, September 19

Valerie: We arrived in Hong Kong on Wednesday morning after spending all night on a train from Yangshuo. Riding the train was a neat experience. We bought a sleeper cabin, with four bunks and had the very tiny space all to ourselves. It was a good thing we decided to buy the extra two beds because there would have been no room for our luggage otherwise. (Our suitcases shared the top bunks.)

(Adam and our very narrow sleeping compartment.)

Thursday, September 20

Valerie: We decided to hike Victoria Peak today -- the highest point on Hong Kong island (although not the highest mountain in the territory). You can take a cable car to an observation deck (and shopping center) which is advertised as a "the peak" but isn't really because the actual peak is still about a 30-minute hike away. I thought the trail to the summit would have been relatively busy but to our surprise it was empty -- we were the only ones around. Apparently everyone opts for the easy cable car ride to the observation deck and back. The trail (which was basically a road for cars) was very steep although by now we are used to China's steep climbs. After a quick 30-minute hike we made it to the actual peak -- a small hilltop with several radio telecommunications towers. The views from here were very good, and would probably have been spectacular had it not been for the haze.

(View from the observation deck at Victoria Peak. Although we visited the peak during the day, we came back again because the views are even better at night.)

Adam: Victoria Peak is nice. The tram was constructed back in the late 19th century - at the time, it was considered a bit of a rich man's folly - but has since survived and become a way for HK's plebians to come and see the enormous mansions on the hill. The tram itself is a bit of an experience - in some sections, it goes up at a 45 or 50 degree angle. This is quite comfortable if you are seated, but as we discovered on our second trip down, very difficult if you are standing. I had to hold onto a brass railing for dear life, lest I fall on top of the people standing behind of me!

Valerie: Hong Kong's public transportation system is exceptional. The subways are completely air-conditioned and are very modern. As in DC, there are steep fines for eating or drinking on the train. Along with the subways, the city also operates numerous trams (see picture below). The trams have been operating since 1904, making it one of the oldest tramways in the world and Hong Kong's earliest mode of public transportation. The tram is similar to a very narrow bus, but it is electric and runs on a track. Hong Kong is one of only 3 cities in the world to operate a double-decker tram (but I believe it is the oldest running of the three). The picture may not show it, but the trams are very narrow -- only 3 seats across.

Adam: One of the coolest features of HK's public transport system is that it is still largely anchored by ferries. HK is actually a series of islands - Hong Kong Island being the largest, but also Lantau, Lamma, Cheung Chau, and a whole bunch of others. So there are ferry terminals all over the city which are pretty efficiently connected to the subways and buses.

Valerie: We later visited Kowloon (via a very nice ferry ride) and saw some impressive views of the Hong Kong skyline.

(Us on the pier. The Hong Kong skyline and Victoria Peak in the background.)

Adam: Kowloon is to Hong Kong (island) what Brooklyn is to Manhattan. HK island is polished with lots of expensive shops; it's clean, touristy, and considered the power center of Hong Kong - but in some areas of the city, you'd hardly know you were in Asia. Kowloon is bustling and chaotic, a real large Asian city. Although we didn't spend a lot of time over on this side of Hong Kong, it had some of the best food around (served on plastic chairs at the Temple Street night market).

Valerie: Our final stop was the Graham street market. This was just one of many of China's open-air street markets. With only a few exceptions, every city we've visited has had at least one street market.

(A food stall in the Graham street market.)

Adam: This market shows you Hong Kong's obsession with freshness. All around, there are live fish, frogs, shrimp, etc., which people pick out and which are slaughtered and cleaned in front of you. Unfortunately, the HK government finds it all a bit unseemly, and they're trying to shut the street markets down (when we went, the market was still packed at 6:00 pm on a Friday - so it's clearly not on economic grounds). Valerie and I registered our opinions by buying "Save Street Markets" shirts from a local designer.

Friday, September 21

Adam: On Friday, we got up early in the morning and took the ferry over to Mui Wo on Lantau island, where we started the Lantu trail, which traverses the entire island. We had planned on doing the first three stages of the trail, which cover two of Hong Kong's biggest mountains - Sunset Peak (~857 m) and Lantau Peak (~940 m). We had been told that this hike would only take five hours - but this can only be accomplished by a person who was running the entire thing. After six hours, we had covered only Sunset Peak, and we were exhausted. As with other trails in China, the concept of "switch-backs" hasn't quite come around, and the trail was a series of steps straight up the mountain. If you can imagine hiking up the staircase of a building three times the size of the Empire State Building, you get a sense of what this was like.

Valerie: The hike was grueling, although not as bad for me as hiking the Great Wall. It was a very different experience from our prior hikes in China. Here, there are no Chinese woman trying to sell you water. Ironically, however, when we actually needed them (because we didn't pack enough water) they were not around. There were also not a lot of tourists. On the entire hike, we ran into only 3 people - two foreigners and one local who said he hikes to the peak once a month!

(Valerie on the trail at the start of the hike. The mountain in the distance is our destination.)

Saturday, September 22

Valerie: By this point on our trip we were both a bit tired of sightseeing so on Saturday we hit the shops instead. After all, Hong Kong's number one tourist attraction is its shops. The city did not disappoint. Because of all that we bought (it is all so cheap here) we ended up needing to buy an extra suitcase and an extra duffel bag. Before we hit the streets, however, we finally had some dim sum. Very tasty although quite expensive.

Adam: We ate the dim sum at this cavernous restaurant on the second floor of City Hall, which is supposed to be the best dim sum in the city - and we don't disagree. Between the shrimp dumplings, the vegetable buns, and the BBQ pork biscuits, we had a parade of hits which did not disappoint. As for the stores in HK, we particularly appreciated some of the HK designer boutiques - HK has got a real sense of style, and we enjoyed stores like Goods of Desire and A Bathing Ape - although we couldn't really afford to purchase anything in the latter store ($100 t-shirts!)

Valerie: Our shopping extravaganza led us right by the Man Mo Temple.

(The incense coils hanging from the roof of the Temple.)

Sunday, September 23

Valerie: Our last sightseeing destination this vacation was a visit to the Tian Tian Buddha -- the largest bronze seated buddha in the world.

(It's a big buddha)

Adam: This trip was hilarious. We got up on Sunday morning determined to make the Buddha our last sight on the trip. We took a train out to Tung Chung on Lantau, which is about a 45 minute ride. We then got on a bus to the Buddha which is a half hour ride through some pretty scary looking curves, all navigated by a driver with a speed obsession and - we think - suicidal tendencies. When you arrive at the top of the 500 m mountain on which the Buddha is perched, you climb 256 steps to the base of the Buddha. By the time we finally got to the top, it was drizzling and threatening to rain a lot more, so we took 15 minutes worth of pictures, and did the entire trip in reverse. Total travel time: 3 hours -- but it was worth it.

Up Next: The big move to New York. The doog continues to chill in Miami.

"Is there a chinese woman following me?"

2007-09-17T05:00:00.000-04:00

September 17, 2007, Yangshuo, China

Adam: The answer to the question above, posed to us by a man running down the steps at Moon Hill, was yes. In fact, one of the many women at moon hill who were trying feverishly to sell us water, coke, or postcards, was chasing after this man even as he fled from her insistent demand that he buy "just one." Amazingly, in this communist country we have found some of the most persistent capitalists around.

Valerie: We arrived in Yangshuo yesterday afternoon after a brief morning flight from Shanghai. Yangshuo, a small city in southwest China, is very picturesque, mostly because of the limestone peaks that surround the town. Today we rented some bikes and went for a ride out of town to Moon Hill. The climb up to moon hill was a bit challenging after a two-hour bike ride. We climbed 1,281 steps to the top -- this is why the Chinese are so "slim" -- they have "steps" everywhere.

(Us in front of "Moon Hill.")

Adam: It is true that the Chinese are big fans of steps. Some of the most impressive scenery we've seen in this country has been from steps. But the views from our bike ride were quite nice as well. At one point, we were riding up along the Yulong River and we stopped to take this picture in the valley created by the Karst formations.

Valerie: After our morning bike ride we went down to the docks and rented a bamboo raft for a relaxing ride down the Li River. Admittedly, at first I was worried we would not make it back, the bamboo raft did not look that "seaworthy" and much bigger cruise ships were passing us along on the river, creating large waves that rocked our little ship. But the ride was well worth it.

(View of the Karst formations from the Li River.)

(Our transportation down the river)

Adam: Afterwards we walked along the river through some pomelo plantations. One of the food highlights of Yangshuo is a dish best translated as "beer fish." It is made of river fish, beer, chilies, ginger, onions, and tomatoes, and is quite tasty. Tomorrow Valerie and I will go to a cooking course where we get to learn how to cook some of the other regional specialties.

Up Next: Back to Hong Kong via overnight train.

Slumming in Shanghai; Hanging out in Hangzhou

2007-09-15T04:05:00.000-04:00

September 12-15, 2007; Shanghai, Hangzhou

September 12th

Valerie: For my birthday we visited the Jinmao Tower -- the tallest building in China. The observation floor is on the 88th floor -- probably because the Chinese believe the number 8 is lucky. The views were pretty great and we were even able to send postcards from the post office at the top. Pretty cool.

Adam: For Valerie's birthday, the Chinese people got confused, and gave me a gift instead: a really terrible chest cold. Thanks guys (or as they say here, xie xie!) It wasn't so bad on the twelfth, so we saw a decent amount of Shanghai before I retired to our so-called "king size room." Seriously, it was two double beds pushed together. I know we're getting the room for free, but come on people!

Valerie: For dinner we decided to splurge. We ate at one of Shanghai's swankiest restaurants -- New Heights. The restaurant is at the top of No. 3 on the Bund and offers spectacular views of the Bund as well as of Pudong. In exchange for having an early dinner, we had the best table in the house -- outside terrace with unobstructed views.

(Valerie's birthday cake. Cool sparkler!)

(Us at dinner)

(The Bund, from New Heights)

Valerie: Although Adam had been "ragging" on the Intercontinental all week - the hotel we were staying at for free because of his points - they nonetheless remembered my birthday and surprised us that night with a free cake and nice card.

(Second birthday cake of the day. Go me!)

Adam: This was nice, and it partially made up for the fact that the housekeeping staff repeatedly ignored the "do-not-disturb" sign at 8:30 in the morning and tried to make up our room while I was prancing about in my boxers. In any case, after Valerie's birthday dinner (and cake), my cold came on full strength, so the next day (Thursday, September 13), I was in bed. All day. Luckily, I managed to keep Valerie from taking too many pictures, as she is instinctively inclined to do.

Valerie: No worries, the hotel had a gym.

Fast Forward to September 14th

Valerie: After a day of bed rest, and because we couldn't book the hotel for another night, we packed up and headed to Hangzhou -- a town famous for its lake. Woo-hoo, a lake!

Adam: The lake - XiHu, or "West Lake," is a really famous tourist destination in China, despite the fact that it is an artificial lake - well, sort of - it was a swamp, which was dredged around 800 C.E. (A.D.) by an emperor who wanted a vacation spot. It retains some of that character today - despite having a population of about 6 million, Hangzhou feels like a really small town. We really enjoyed our time walking around on the wide sidewalks (whose value should never be underestimated) and eating some delicious Singaporean food.

Valerie: The best meal I've had in China so far, at Prima Taste -- a Singaporean restaurant -- and it wasn't even Chinese food. We liked it so much we went back for lunch on Saturday.

September 15th

Valerie: We had envisioned waking up early to watch the sunrise on the lake. We even set the alarm clock for 5:30am. Needless to say, we didn't wake up till 7am. We ate breakfast and headed for a leisurely stroll around the lake. We walked for about 3 1/2 hours and didn't even make it half way around the lake. It was actually smart that we ended up sleeping in because it was far too foggy to get a decent view of the sun.

(Four women on a bench by the lake)

Adam: However, getting up at 7 did allow us to avoid the hordes of tourists that had descended upon the lake by 10. So we finished walking around, ate, and headed off to the train station. Those Chinese - practical jokers they are - sold us (for the same price as a regular ticket) a standing-room ticket - leaving us on foot for the 1 1/4 hour trip back to Shanghai. They sure got us good this time!

Next: Yangshuo, and then the great smelly port (or Hong Kong, which translates to "fragrant harbor").

Shanghai'd!

2007-09-11T06:22:00.000-04:00

September 11, 2007, Shanghai, China

Adam: We've now been in Shanghai for two and a half days, and we've enjoyed most of our time here. We flew from Xian into Pudong International Airport, from which we took the maglev train into town. This is one of the fastest trains in the world, peaking out at 430 km/h (about 266 mph) .

Valerie: After a brief subway ride into town (the Maglev drops you off about 25 minutes from the city center), we checked into the nicest hotel either of us have stayed at -- Le Royal Meridien. It was very swanky -- plasma tv, soft bed, amazing views of Nanjing East Road (the main shopping street in Shanghai), and a rain shower.

(View from our hotel room - wow!)

Adam: Thankfully, we were not paying for it - kudos to Valerie's starwood points account! After scoping out the hotel, we walked up and down Nanjing Rd. Besides a lot of interesting shops, food stands, etc., there are some of the most persistent touts around the world - the multiple employees of the Shanghai "Watch-Shoes-DVD" Company. These guys follow you for a block, whispering in your ear "Watch? Shoes? DVD? You want to buy Rolex? Prada? Come look, my store." Something tells me that their goods are not 100% authentic.

Valerie: On Monday we visited the French Concession -- a very picturesque part of town with tree-lined streets and European architecture.

Adam: The name "French Concession" (not to be confused with the excellent movie, the French Connection) comes from the days when Shanghai was divided into various European zones, including a French and a British zone. In fact, there is an infamous park here (Huangpu park) which used to restrict from entry "no dogs or chinese."

Valerie: For dinner we stopped in at Spice Market. It was great Indian food, and the best service I've probably ever had (the chef even came out to meet us), but the restaurant was surprisingly empty -- only us and another party inside the restaurant during dinner time.

Adam: Undoubtedly, the food highlight of this city has been the delightful (and elusive) vegetarian steamed buns served by the Wu Tan Xidi restaurant (recognizable by the orange awning with the picture of the grandmother). The buns, which are filled with a mixture of spinach, mushrooms, and tofu, are excellent - but hard to find. Every time we go, we ask for "su cai bao zi" (vegetarian buns), but this has produced results only twice. Who knows, maybe Shanghai is swearing off pork - but I doubt it.

Valerie: Today we visited the Old City, including the Yu Gardens -- Shanghai's #1 tourist destination. The gardens are a nice oasis from the bustling city -- with rivers, trees, various pagodas, and ponds to see. Once you leave the gardens, however, you'll find yourself in the Yu Bazaar -- a very hectic and busy shopping center.

(Valerie and Adam at the Yu Gardens)

Adam: Valerie uses the term "shopping center" loosely. Basically, it is stalls selling the same collection of teapots, chops, chopsticks, and Chairman Mao alarm clocks that are sold all over China, albeit in a more "Chinese" looking surrounding (i.e. for the tourists). We were not impressed, so we walked over to the Bund (the area lining the Huangpu river) and hopped on a cruise boat for an hour.

Valerie: We had originally planned on taking a much longer 3-hour trip but it was probably best that we settled on the 1-hour version instead. The boat basically took us in a circle between the Bund and the Pudong side of the river. On one side you can see the historic "old" Shanghai buildings (i.e., the original customs house, the first HSBC bank building etc) and on the other side of the river is the new Shanghai skyline (i.e., the Jinmao tower -- the tallest building in China).

Adam: The "new Shanghai," also known as Pudong, is quite new. As you can see in the pictures, it is filled with incredibly tall and futuristic buildings. In 1990, it was all farmland. These guys can be efficient (when they want to).

(The Bund at sunset)

Valerie: After the cruise, we walked along the Bund and stopped in at the New Heights bar. The restaurant here is considered one of the best in the city, and the views are spectacular. We'll report on the food later -- we'll be eating here tomorrow for my birthday.

(View of Pudong from the New Heights Bar.)

Next: More of Shanghai and Hangzhou - home to the West Lake and tea plantations.

Goodbye Beijing, Hello Xi'An (or "How I learned to become an environmentalist")

2007-09-08T06:51:00.000-04:00

September 6-8, 2007; Beijing & Xi'an, China.

Thursday, September 6

Valerie: Thursday was our last day in Beijing. We visited the Summer Palace in the morning and the Temple of Heaven Park in the afternoon. The Summer Palace was basically the emperors' version of the Hamptons -- a summer getaway from the heat and hectic city life.

(View of the Summer Palace from the lake.)

Adam: This is a really beautiful site, and I suppose it was probably a nice respite for the emperor - but for us, it was tons of crowds and a lot of sun. That being said, Valerie's picture is really beautiful.

Valerie: As surprising as this may sound, it wasn't until Thursday that we finally found some dumplings in China. This small restaurant (Niegu Jiaozi) specializes in dumplings (it's all they serve) and they are made fresh to order.

Adam: Very tasty! My favorites were the Peking Duck; Valerie's favorites were the mushroom and cabbage.

Valerie: After lunch we quickly stopped in at the Temple of Heaven Park.

(Temple of Heaven Park.)

Adam: The Temple of Heaven is where the Emperor would come to pray for a good harvest. It is shaped like a square with a dome on the top -- apparently, round shapes represent heaven, and square shapes represent earth. This is also a park where people come to practice Tai Chi and and an instrument which sounds like a cat being tortured.

Friday, September 7

Valerie: We took an early morning flight to Xi'an -- the ancient capital of China. Xi'an was the capital of China for 6 dynasties. We were warned that Xi'an is more polluted than Beijing which is hard to believe given the level of pollution in Beijing. Despite the warning, nothing prepares you for exactly how polluted the city is. It hits you like a brick. There is so much smog you can't see the buildings. Visibility here has to be around zero all the time.

Adam: On the way over, the smoke was so bad that I began to cough quite a bit. Everything is grey, and there are smoke-belching factories all around. Seriously, if I ever had any doubts about the need to fix our environment, I no longer have them. That being said, I think both Valerie and I are enjoying Xian more than Beijing. Despite the air pollution, it is a very walkable city, and there are some really nice spots in town to visit.

(The Bell Tower, downtown Xi'an.)

Valerie: One of my favorite sites so far is the Great Mosque -- a Muslim mosque in downtown Xi'an. The mosque is still functioning and it has not been overly restored like a lot of other sites in Beijing. The mosque is enclosed in a large area and there are several pagodas, including one where worshipers wash up before entering the main temple. The entire complex is very peaceful.

Adam: Afterwards, we visited the "Islamic Street" which is half Chinese market, half souk selling all sorts of dried fruits.

Saturday, September 8

Valerie: On Saturday morning we did something we've never done before -- we joined a tour group! It was, as we expected, a mistake. We signed up for the tour because that's the easiest way to see the"famous" terra cotta warriors -- Xians claim to fame. Apparently the warriors are the eighth wonder of the world. I thought there were only seven wonders?

Adam: Although we were gone for nearly nine hours, we only spent two hours at the warriors themselves. This is because the "tour" included a temple ("The Big Goose," the name says it all), a "historic village" (lots of unintelligible dirt) and a "factory" for terra cotta warriors (the China garden gnome factory). We also had lunch, which included, bizarrely, potatoes fried in sugar. Weird.

Valerie: The warriors themselves were very impressive. There are three "pits" of warriors. The first pit has approximately 6,000 of them.

Adam: The warriors were constructed during the Qin dynasty, around 200 BC. An emperor who thought quite highly of himself as a general decided that he wanted to command an army in the afterlife, so he had his minions construct, at last count, over 7000 soldiers. Unfortunately for the emperor, stone soldiers do not fight as well as live ones, and his dynasty was overthrown shortly after his death, many of the stone warriors being destroyed in the process. Overall, it turns out, the warriors were the only sight that was not a "pit" all day (uproarious laughter)! In the end, Valerie and I decided that we were tired of Xian and the smog, so, ditching our earlier plans, we decided to "bolt" and spontaneously bought earlier plane tickets for Shanghai. We'll let you know in a later post how our efforts to "return" our later plane tickets go. Expect lots of angry gesturing.

Up Next: Shanghai: boom or bust?

The Great Wall of China in Photos

2007-09-05T21:12:00.001-04:00

Here are some photos from our hike through the Great Wall of China. For text, see our last post.

(The Great Wall at Simatai courtesy of my telephoto lens.)

(Us on the Great Wall.)

(One of the 30 watchtowers on the hike.)

The Great Stairmaster of China

2007-09-05T09:50:00.000-04:00

September 5, 2007; Beijing, China

Valerie: Today we visited the Great Wall of China. Our trip got off to a rocky start. Although we were told that the bus (with 2 other couples from our guesthouse) would be picking us up at 6:40am, we didn't actually leave for the Great Wall until 9:30am because the trip was overbooked and we all had to wait for a second bus. Ugh.

Adam: Nevertheless, we made it out to Jinshanling in Hebei province by 11:30 to start the climb. This was not a guided tour -- our driver just showed us a map and told us to get moving so we could be down off the wall by 4.

Valerie: The hike itself was only 10km (approximately 6 miles). They tell you it takes about 4.5 - 5 hours to hike the entire trail, which includes 30 different watchtowers. At the start of the hike, you were given the option of taking a cable car to the first watchtower. We, of course, decided to take the trail instead. Go us!

Adam: And thus began the epic lumber up the wall. For those of you not in the know, the wall is not what you might think it is - it is a series of very steep walls, often reaching inclines of 60-70 degrees. Although the views are fabulous, you get pretty winded after doing a few stretches.

Valerie: The first leg of the hike (until about tower #10) was the hardest, with one section including 130 steps. Each step was about 2-3 feet high. Despite the effort it takes to reach these towers, at almost every single one there were a group of Chinese women trying to sell you water, coke, and beer. I needed 2 cokes after the 130 steps!

Adam: After the first ten towers, the hike became easier - more a series of rolling ups and downs (with a few surprise drops and jumps in between). Valerie took a ton of pictures - as she always does - and a lot of them came out really well.

Valerie: Although the hike became easier, this was still the most strenuous hike either of us had been on. But the views were so impressive that the hard work was well worth it. We hiked up with a German, Canadian, and Danish couple. We beat them all and made it to the bottom in 4 hours! We now have buns of steel.

Adam: Which became regular old buns after a dinner at the Donghuamen night market. The market is clearly geared towards tourists - but we had a good time anyways. I had a pancake filled with beef and onions, some vegetable dumplings, and a skewer of fruit that had been dipped in sugar!

Because of our slow Internet connection, we'll upload photos tomorrow.

Up Next: We visit the Summer Palace.

Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square

2007-09-03T04:32:00.000-04:00

September 3, 2007; Beijing, China.

Adam: After getting a decent night of sleep (well, at least I did) we went out looking for breakfast.

Valerie: We stopped at a hole in the wall a few blocks from our hotel. Adam had fried dough; I had steamed dumplings and buns for breakfast. This is not a cereal eating city.

(Adam at Breakfast)

Valerie: We started our walking tour at the Heavenly Gate (home to Mao's portrait). The gate is one of many that lead into the Forbidden City -- home to many Chinese Emperors.

Adam: This is also the gate across from Tiananmen square - "Tiananmen" means "Heavenly Gate."

(Valerie in front of the Heavenly Gate.)

Valerie: Across the street is the actual square -- the largest public square in the world. On one side of the square is the China National Museum and on the other is the Great Hall of the People (home to the Chinese legislature). In the middle is Mao's Mausoleum and in front of it is the Heroes' Monument.

(Mao's Mausoleum and the Heroes' Monument)

Adam: Afterwards, we climbed up another gate - Zhengyang Men, also known as the "Front Gate." This is one of the other gates leading into Tiananmen square, and inside, is basically a giant tourist shop.

(Adam and Valerie at Zhengyang Men)

Valerie: The walking tour then proceeded to the Foreign Legation Quarter. This is where many of the foreign delegations were located in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Adam: At this point, we were pretty tired. So we walked up to one of Beijing's main shopping areas and found a restaurant called Goubuli - it specializes in steamed buns, or baozi in Chinese. We ordered some very tasty sucai bazoi - vegetarian buns.

(The buns)

Valerie: After lunch we headed to the Forbidden City. The City itself is much larger than I expected.

Adam: It is surrounded by a moat, which we walked along for a while, until we found the entrance.

(The moat -- it kept the commoners out.)

Valerie: Some of the buildings have artifacts and exhibitions from the various Chinese dynasties.

(Us at the entrance to the Palace Museum -- the museum inside the Forbidden City.)

Adam: But the most amazing thing about the city is its overwhelmingly large size and ornate decoration. Almost every building has gargoyles, and they're all connected by a series of marble balustrades.

(One of the many pagodas inside the Forbidden City.)

Valerie: At one end of the Forbidden City was a nice outdoor garden. The garden was peaceful and a nice place to relax after so much walking.

Up Next: More of Beijing - the Lama Temple, Behai Park, etc.

Welcome to China

2007-09-02T08:58:00.000-04:00

September 2, 2007 -- Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Beijing

Adam: Valerie and I began our trip to China last Friday (which seems very far away now - we haven't slept much with the jet lag) at LaGuardia airport. We took a brief flight to Chicago, and then boarded our fifteen-hour behemoth to Hong Kong.

Valerie: The flight felt shorter than I expected. Perhaps because we had plenty of space -- we were sitting in the economy plus section which was much roomier than the standard economy section.

(Us waiting at LaGuardia for our flight to Chicago to board.)

(The plane. As you can tell, it's the size of a boat with wings.)

Adam: We got to Hong Kong in the late afternoon, and quickly discovered the perils of trying to pack three weeks of clothing into a backpack: it is quite heavy. Valerie turned purple =)

Valerie: Backpacks are overrated.

Adam: We went to the Temple Street night market, which is one of the cleanest Asian street markets I've ever seen. The aisle between the stalls was about 1.5 meters, and everything looked nicely maintained - nevertheless, we figured we wouldn't buy anything.

Valerie: The market was OK, but I thought they would be selling more arts and crafts (i.e., handmade or local-type items). Instead, everything was stuff you'd find at the dollar store in the States. The food, though, was very yummy and cheap.

(A picture of the food stall with outdoor seating we ate at.)

Adam: On Sunday morning, we got up early (5 am - jet lag sucks), loaded up all of our stuff into the packs, and took a train to the China Ferry terminal to get our ferry to Shenzhen. Sadly, I had misread the instructions, and it turns out that the ferry was not leaving from the China Ferry Terminal.

Valerie: We took a taxi and made it to the right station in time. Apparently we were late and it seemed like they were holding the boat for us, but when we boarded it was practically empty.

Adam: We then had about seven hours to kill in Shenzhen airport. We decided to fly from Shenzhen - one of China's special economic zones - because it is about half the price of Hong Kong. We very quickly discovered that, unlike in American airports, there is very little to do in the Shenzhen airport. So we read, we slept, we explored the entire airport (luckily, they had a branch of Aji Ichiban, my favorite Asian candy store).

Valerie: Surprisingly, they had a McDonalds, KFC, and Starbucks. It's as if we were still in the States.

(Adam in Hong Kong in front of a 7-Eleven.)

Adam: Beijing has been nice so far - dinner was tasty, and it is significantly less humid than Hong Kong, which is really sweltering.

Up Next: Five days in Beijing. We hike up the great wall, see the forbidden city, and buy suitcases.

Previously: Before heading to China, Adam, the Doog, and I took a road trip from Columbus, Ohio to Miami, Florida. It was long but fun and there are plenty of pictures from the trip which we'll upload and write about when we're back in the States.

Surprise!

2007-08-23T23:03:00.001-04:00

August 23, 2007: Big news. Adam proposes. Valerie says yes. The Doog was present.

Valerie: After spending a couple of days at home, and before heading off to China, Adam came to Columbus. He arrived this afternoon.

Adam: I had been planning a big proposal for some time. I was originally going to propose to Valerie on a scenic overlook (or, as my mom put it, "a scenic overpass") on our drive down I-75 to Miami. However, I discovered that no such scenic overlook existed. So I instead told Valerie that when I arrived in Columbus, I wanted to take some pictures with the doog in the park.

Valerie: I must admit, I thought the picture idea was a bit odd, and it's been really hot here all day. But, because I love taking pictures, I didn't object. We picked up the doog and headed to Schiller Park in German Village.

Adam: I picked a nice spot in front of some purple flowers, and told Valerie that I would set up the camera. While I was setting up the camera, I grabbed the ring box out of my shorts pocket, where I had stored it for the flight over. I set up the camera to take a picture on timer, walked over, and got down on my knee. I took out the box, and promptly dropped it. Then I picked it up, and asked Valerie to marry me. She was, to say the least, surprised.

(The proposal caught on camera.)

Valerie: Shocked is more like it. I was definitely not expecting it. Adam did a great job with the ring (as you can tell from the pictures). It's exactly what I would have picked out. Afterwards, we took some pictures and headed to dinner at my favorite Columbus restaurant, The Northstar Cafe. After dinner we met up with some clerks at Novak's for happy hour and $1 beers.

Adam: I'm very excited to have Valerie as my fiancee. She's everything I always wanted, plus the doog gets thrown in for free. Two for one!

(The three of us after the proposal.)

(The ring -- oooh -- sparkly)

Next: The two lovebirds and the doog travel down I-75, eating some BBQ, and debating which "scenic overpass" Adam would have picked for the proposal.

Clerk's Night Out

2007-08-20T21:45:00.001-04:00

August 16, 2007; Columbus, Ohio

Last Thursday my co-clerks and I went out one last time. Allison and David were done on Friday and me and Barney have only 2 more weeks before our clerkships are over. It was a great time. We started with dinner at Marcella's -- a new Italian restaurant in the Short North area of Columbus. The food was tasty and cheap -- definitely worthwhile to eat here if you're in town. Afterwards we headed to Spice for drinks. Spice has a nice outdoor seating area and we were lucky enough to find a free cabana. All and all it was lots of fun.

(David, Me, Allison and Barney at dinner)

(The four of us after dinner -- at Spice)

The Other Cape

2007-08-14T20:55:00.001-04:00

August 10-12, 2007; Essex, Massachusetts

Valerie: My visit to Essex (on Cape Ann) two weekends ago was reminiscent of my trip to Chicago in June. My trip started with a delayed flight -- a very delayed flight thanks to a meltdown at JFK. Needless to say, the flight was originally supposed to leave Columbus for JFK at 2:40pm. Actual time of departure: 8:30pm. I arrived in New York only to discover that my connecting flight to Boston was also delayed. Original time of departure: 10:30pm. Actual departure time: 1:15am. I ended up arriving in Boston around 2:45am.

Adam: Believe it or not, I actually arrived in Boston only 10 minutes late. So I went and got the rental car and hung out in Logan airport for two hours. It turns out that when a lot of JetBlue flights are late, there are a lot of people there....

Valerie: On Saturday Adam and I, along with Adam's brother, David, and his girlfriend, Lindsay, headed to the beach for a kayak ride.

Adam: We went around Hog Island, which is right near Crane's beach. For you movie buffs, this is where "The Crucible," starring Winona Ryder, was filmed.

(Adam and Me in the water)

Adam: We spent Saturday afternoon riding around downtown Essex and going in and out of some old antique shops. I use the word antique very loosely - this was some real junk (our favorite kind of antique shop).

(View from the beach in Essex)

Valerie: On Saturday night, we all enjoyed a lobster cookout. Lobsters were bought (live) and boiled in the backyard.

Adam: Meet chompy:

(Adam and his lobster.)

(Adam; Adam's Dad, Mark; Anne, Adam's Stepmom; and a lobster facing death.)

(The lobsters in the boiling water.)

(The finished product)

On Sunday, we slept in, and then went over to Gloucester. Gloucester is a picturesque old town. It is still a big fishing community; as you walk along the dock, you see ice packing plants and fishing boats. This was the town featured in the book and movie "The Perfect Storm," and the portrayal of it is pretty true. But it's got a nice old main street, and some fun used bookstores.

(Adam's family from left: David, Lindsay, Adam's Stepmom, Adam's Dad, Adam and Me.)

(Us in Gloucester.)

I go to El Yunque too much!

2007-08-07T17:44:00.000-04:00

Hey all! I've been moving around quite a bit, so I haven't updated the blog much recently. But here's a brief recap of the past few weeks.

July 25, 2007: ELA Constitution Day and a trip to El Yunque

It was constitution day here in the ELA (Estado Libre Asociado, or "commonwealth"), and we had the day off of work. So, as a good law clerk does, I took two of our summer interns for a trip up to El Yunque! First, I have to say that our interns this summer were awesome. They are a bunch of brilliant women (plus Josh, who is bright, but not a woman) who really helped us to get our chambers in order.

[the gang]

So as a reward, we figured that we'd put together a quick "summer outing" to one of Puerto Rico's most famous sites: El Yunque (also known as Caribbean National Forest).

Going to El Yunque on a weekend is usually a bit of a challenge - the parking situation is not great, and the tables at El Yuquiyu - the best burgers in the forest - are usually packed. Nothing prepared us for this voyage though: not a single parking space was to be found at the normal trailhead! So instead, we decided to take the Mount Britton Spur to El Yunque, a trail which was quite a bit steeper initially, but ultimately much shorter. However, we made it to the summit, and look at these views:

[Gia & Montse]

After coming down the mountain, we discovered that there were no tables or parking spaces to be found at Yuquiyu. So instead, we went to El Hamburguer, a shack right off of Nozagaray in Old San Juan, which in addition to serving up some really great burgers, also happens to be the only place I have found in PR to serve root beer - amazing!

July 27-30, 2007: Drew visits and . . . a trip to El Yunque!

My friend Drew - also my college roomate (go G-dubs!) visited this weekend, which was also my last weekend in the apartment. It was a really great weekend - some tasty food, good beers, and we also saw The Simpsons movie, which turns out to be just a really long Simpsons episode (~ 65 minutes). Still, not bad. We also made it out to - wait for it - El Yunque! The weather (and traffic) for this trip were really good, and we managed to hike the main El Yunque trail. When we made it up to the rock outcropping right before the summit, this guy told us that there was an even more interesting rock to climb a bit further. So after coming to the road at the end of the trail, we turned left, and took the La Roca trail. It was pretty off the beaten path - it did not look like anybody had hiked it for some time, but it was pretty cool. Check out this picture:

[Adam & Drew]

Later that night, we took a kayak tour of the bioluminescent bay at Fajardo. It's a really cool experience - these tiny microorganisms in the bay (dynoflagellates) start glowing when the water is agitated at night (a little like a firefly glow, but blue instead of yellow). It basically makes it look like you have neon glitter on you. Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to capture on film . . .

Also this weekend, my roomate for the past 2 months - the pigeon - hatched her chicks. Congratulations to the pigeon!

[roommate pigeon + chick]

July 31: I say farewell to Condominium Condado del Mar

Today, I began the first step of leaving Puerto Rico, as I had movers come and pack all of my stuff up so that I could move out of my apartment. For all of you who did not get a chance to see my beautiful apartment (with some very scary elevators), here is a picture of the view:

[View from Adam's Balcony]

August 3-6, 2007: Amy visits and . . . you guessed it - Adam goes to El Yunque!

Amy, one of my great friends from Law School came to visit this past weekend. It was honestly one of the most relaxing weekends I've had in PR yet (which is good, because it was my last weekend in PR). On Saturday, we got up at around 10, and drove to El Yunque. This was probably the best traffic out of the past three visits, but the worst weather. It was misty the entire time; the summit was not visible from the bottom. Nevertheless, we trekked on, and took some fun pictures in the mist:

[Amy on El Yunque]

Later that night, we went to a gathering of all of the PR law clerks who were leaving. It was a fun party, but a bit bittersweet - a lot of these people have been my close friends for the past year, and I'll be sad to leave them behind.

[Ivan, Lory, Adam]

[Karen and Adam]

And then finally, yesterday, I sold the green monster: my enormous 1994 Ford Explorer, who hadn't been looking so well recently:

[now in better hands]

That's all folks! Next weekend, Valerie and I will be posting (or at least planning to post) from Essex, MA where we join much of my father's family for a weekend at the beach.

All about the Doog

2007-08-03T21:24:00.000-04:00

August 3, 2007; Columbus, Ohio

I recently discovered that some of our blog's readers enjoy hearing about the doog. So here is a post dedicated to our four-legged friend.

Molly is doing well. She recently visited the vet and received a clean bill of health. I'm happy to report that Molly's couch-potato year in Ohio has not led to her gaining weight -- Molly still weighs in at a healthy 8 1/2 pounds.

I was scrapbooking this week -- I'm working on a scrapbook of Molly -- and have compiled a few good pictures of the Doog:

She is either yawning or trying to look intimidating. Your guess is as good as mine.

Adam and Molly (aka "the Potato") in Columbus.

Molly looking very cute

Up Next: On Sunday Valerie is headed to the Ohio State Fair -- a true midwest experience. The Doog hangs at home -- we think she's plotting against us. Adam is in Puerto Rico with Amy, a good friend of ours from law school.

Last Visit to Cinci

2007-07-27T21:38:00.001-04:00

Cincinatti, Ohio; July 25-27, 2007

On Wednesday I traveled to Cincinnati for the last time during my clerkship (so sad). Our last sitting was loads of fun. On Wednesday night my co-clerks and I joined the Judge and Angy for dinner at The Precinct -- a Jeff Ruby steakhouse just outside downtown Cincinnati. The restaurant is actually an old police precinct. The food was unbelievable and I would recommend eating there if you're ever in town.

After dinner David, Allison, Barney and I headed to the new bar that just opened across from the courthouse -- Cadillac Ranch. This was a great place: cheap drinks, good music (plus a dance floor), outdoor seating, and best of all, a mechanical bull! After some prodding from my co-clerks, I rode the bull and, surprisingly, had tons of fun. I actually hung on for quite some time. It's much harder than it seems and your legs and arms get sore pretty quickly. Adam was shocked I had agreed to ride the bull.

My co-clerk David also rode the bull. He spoke to the bull operator and we learned the trick to staying on is to not taunt the bull. One of our friends, Mike, taunted the bull and paid the price. He flew head first off the bull.

On Thursday night we joined another group of great clerks for dinner at Beluga -- a sushi restaurant near Hyde Square in Cincinnati. The food was great and afterwards we headed to Rock Bottom Brewery for some post-dinner drinks on our last night in town. All and all I had a great time during my last visit to Cinci.

Pictures from my visit to Cinci, including my bull ride, will be posted later this week.

In case you're wondering about the Doog, she got a haircut on Saturday. I always think they cut her hair too short, leaving her looking a bit like a "rat dog." I'll post some pictures of her swimming later this week.

A wedding, a 250 foot plunge, a concert, a visa....

2007-07-25T22:10:00.000-04:00

The past few weeks have been exciting for Valerie and I, which has been why our blog has been pretty quiet. But here's a quick recap:

7/14: Kim's wedding!

My lovely co-clerk Kim got married on the beach in Pinones on July 14, also known as Bastille Day. Our Boston-based clerk Tom came down for the event, which was a ton of fun.

[Tom, Kell, Kim, Monica, Adam]

The after-reception was held at the Soleil Beach Club, which is a delightful little place right on the beach in Pinones.

[Tom, Kim, Adam, Monica]

7/15: The next day, my law school roommate Dave came in at 1:00 AM. We returned to my apartment for three hours of sleep, and at 5:00 AM, Tom, Dave and I joined Monica, James, and JP for an amazing trip. We went with Aventuras PR to the Cuevas de Camuy (Camuy Caves). But instead of taking the little tram down into the dry cave for a 15 minute explanation by a tour guide, as most people do, we hooked ourselves into a zip-line and careened across the sinkhole. Then we strapped on harnesses and rappelled down a 250 foot cliff -- pretty cool! Dave, Tom nd I captured a few pictures of this:

[Tom]

[Dave]

[Adam]

But the fun hadn't even started at this point. Our guides then led us into the mouth of the wet cave - a cave which has the river Camuy running through it. We spent the next five hours swimming, jumping, climbing, and sliding through the cave. Unfortunately, my camera could not take pictures (although some may be forthcoming soon from JP), so I'll try to do it justice:

Much of the way, you're crawling up and down rocks in near darkness, the only light being provided by your miners lamp. Above your head, bats are flying all around, and as you look around on the cave walls, you notice spiders about the size of my foot (which is pretty big). At one point, we came to a cliff with a 10-15 foot drop into the water; at this point, we checked that our life vests were securely on, and jumped in, and floated on down the river. In some places, the passages were so narrow that only a few inches separated your nose from the cave roof. At various points, the guides would point out giant stalactites (those things hanging from the roof) and stalagmites (those things coming up from the ground). These are humongous - in some of the bigger rooms, they could be measured in building stories! Anyways, the hike took about 5-6 hours (we think - you lose all sense of time inside) and we traversed about 2 miles, reaching points about 400 feet underground (or so our guides told us). If you are in PR for a few days and have some extra time, I would definitely try this out. It's a bit pricey, but it's worth every penny of it - it is really an unforgettable experience.

My friend Dave stayed with me for a few more days, which was a lot of fun - we had some time to catch up and watch Arrested Development, a fantastic show which was just too funny for TV (and thus was cancelled only after three seasons).

7/19: Valerie and I met in Philadelphia (our fair city) to see the Police reunion tour. We visited alot of our old haunts - Capogiro (purveyors of the best gelato around), the Miran Korean restaurant (a fantastic Korean place on Chestnut between 20th & 21st), DiBruno Brothers (excellent for cheese), and finally, Capriccio - the place where Valerie and I had our first date nearly four years ago:

The Police were amazing in concert. I had suspected that Sting had mellowed out over the years, but he can play a mean guitar! Unfortunately, we decided not to bring a camera to the concert, so no pictures.

7/20: The next morning, after a quick waffle and coffee at Bonte, we hopped the train to New York and went and got Chinese visas, spending our lunch hour at Lombardi's pizza - in our opinion, the best pizza in Manhattan (although certainly not in New York). It really hit our pizza craving - unfortunately, neither the Caribbean nor Ohio are well known for their pizza cultures. We picked up our visas and then went to Northface to get Valerie a backpack for China.

7/21: We picked up our copies of the new Harry Potter (it's great!) and enjoyed some of New York's best food treats: the Union Square Farmer's market!

7/22: The next day, Valerie and I said our goodbyes, and headed off to the sun. We're going to be on our own for the next few weeks, until we meet again in Boston on August 10.

Up next: Valerie parties in Cincinatti. Adam parties with Drew in PR. The doog parties in Columbus.

Isla del Encanto

2007-07-09T20:59:00.000-04:00

July 3-8; Puerto Rico

Valerie: I took advantage of the Fourth of July holiday to visit Adam in Puerto Rico. We were able to hike El Yunque, something we had tried to do on my prior visit to the island but failed. This time we woke up early and started the hike before the afternoon storms hit. Because it's the rainy season and El Yunque is a rainforest, it pretty much rains there everyday around the middle of the day (we got soaked on our hike down the mountain). The hike was not too bad and once at the top, the views were well worth the effort.

(View from El Yunque. You can see the ocean in the distance.)

(Us at the top. You really can't see behind us, because of the clouds, but as the clouds cleared away, from here you could see the rest of the rainforest and views of the ocean, as well as Fajardo (the nearest big city). At the top it feels as if you're amidst the clouds.).

Adam: This was my fourth trek to the top of El Yunque. Although we did reach the actual "summit", these views are from a point about 200 feet below. The summit itself is a whole bunch of radio towers and a concrete platform/tower that looks like it might have had a military application at some point. The hike is really great, and once you get to the top, the wind kicks up so it no longer feels so much like you are in the rainforest!

Valerie: I also visited Old San Juan and was able to see where Adam spends his days:

(Adam's home from Mon thru Friday -- The Federal Courthouse in Old San Juan)

Adam: This building is a beautiful old courthouse. On the second floor, there is a really nice balcony where we eat lunch many days. The view from my desk is also spectacular:

(View from Adam's window - notice the Colombian and Brazilian ships)

Valerie: We also did some walking around Old San Juan.

(Valerie on Calle Nozagaray, overlooking the Atlantic)

(It was pretty hot and both of us had already seen El Morro so we didn't actually visit it again. Instead, we made it to the park leading to El Morro. You can see it in the distance.)

(view from the city walls, just beyond Paseo de la Princesa)

Valerie: Adam's apartment is right on the beach. One night we decided to eat at Pamela's a restaurant on the beach just a short walk from Adam's place. The sunset was so pretty we started taking pictures. These are two of the many shots I got before the sun went down:

(Us on the beach in front of Pamela's - a little blurry because of the wind)

(Us on the beach in front of Adam's apartment)

Adam: On Friday night, we went out for dinner with some of my friends, all of whom were clamoring to meet Valerie. As always, we met at the Great Taste chinese restaurant in Condado - one of my favorites in the San Juan area, given their relatively decent chinese food (i.e. no plantains involved).

(from Left: Ivan, Lymarie, Charles, Montse, Adam, Valerie, Doraliz, Lory, Marianne, Kim, Kell)

Adam: It was a really fun weekend, and it was Valerie's last trip to PR this year =(

Up next: Kim and Kell's wedding. Adam scales down a cliff. Valerie goes shopping. The doog looks out the window.

2007-07-05T09:36:00.000-04:00

June 30 - July 2: Adam in LA (Pasadena, really)!

I took a brief trip out to LA this past week to take care of some business, and to visit my good friend Ana, who is working out there. For those of you who have never looked at a map, Pasadena is very far away from Puerto Rico. To get there, I took a flight to Houston, then to LA, about 8 hours in total flying time. To get back, I flew to San Francisco, then to Washington, D.C., and then back to Puerto Rico, about 11 hours in total.

[Adam's Trapezoidal Trip]

Pasadena is a lovely city - it is surrounded by mountains:

[Pasadena with mountains in back]

. . . but is mostly a flat city, with a really neat downtown that has a lot of art deco buildings. It sort of has a Miami Beach feel to it, sans the beach:

[Colorado Ave., downtown Pasadena]

[the Pasadena courthouse]

While I was out there, we saw the new Die Hard movie, which was largely filmed in Pasadena, although most of the movie took place in Washington D.C. I suppose the movie was either filmed on a low budget, or the producers have no idea what downtown Washington D.C. actually looks like.

[note: Washington D.C. architecture is mostly granite - it is rare to see so much glass in the city]

On Sunday, we drove out to Santa Monica to eat at this place called "The Counter" - sort of a make-your-own-burger type joint. It was pretty tasty, and we got a chance to hang out with my friend Zach, my stepsister Julia, and my friend Jimmy and his girlfriend (not pictured below)

[Zach, Adam, Ana]

[Zach, Adam, Julia]

Monday was a workday, and after seven hours of interviews, I was on my way back. I flew out of the Burbank Airport, a tiny little airport near Pasadena, which happens to be where Casablanca was filmed. I didn't get many good pictures from inside the one-room terminal, but I did manage to snap this shot of the sun setting over the runway:

[Pasadena Airport]

Up Next: Valerie visits Adam in Puerto Rico, the Doog wonders "what are my owners up to?"