Birch Bay

Birch Bay is a little boring... but with our day trips into Canada, we spiced up the vacation.

Here's something I would recommend in Washington. A little oyster farm! Best ones I've had in a while!

Night Market - Can't wait to go to Asia!

One of these days, I'm going to go to Asia and enjoy the real stuff. All the food we had seemed pretty authentic. OR, it was just so amazingly creative.. that it won me over anyway. If you ever get a chance to go to a Night Market, you definitely should. If I had Canadian money on hand, I probably also would have done some shopping. I mean, if you need color contacts, iphone cases, cell phone charms, random electronics... We did skip out on the deep fried oreos and twinkies (thank god, gag).

At the very beginning..we started when it was still light outside.

"hurricane" potato w/ korean hot sauce (saw it before: http://www.thisiswhyyourefat.com/?p=1185)

it was 2/$5. of course we got two of them. the other one is white cheddar.

BBQ octopus and deep fried tofu

TAKOYAKI - they make this in japan.. I think. it's like a gooey fish-ball

a close-up shot. =)

SUMO BITES - rice burgers. yes, rice burgers.

see it?! rice patties. amaaaazing.

Seattle

As I've been telling whoever I've talked to so far.. all I've been doing is eating. There was no exception on our way to our timeshare in Washington. We stopped in Seattle for Pike's Market. It was definitely busy for a weekday and the seafood restaurant (Lowells) was overpriced/overrated, but we picked up some yummy food for dinner. I'll just let your imagination fill in the rest. Hard Rock Cafe. Cheesecake! Starbucks. Sashimiii.

One of the famous signs for the Public Market in Seattle

As Seen on the Food Network - on an episode of the Best Cheeses

Mexican Chocolate, Lemon, White Chocolate Raspberry, Quadruple Chocolate. DROOL.

Inside the very first STARBUCKS! ever.

We had to get some coffee, of course. <3

Pike's Place Fish Market (where they throw fish when you order)

The tempting display of crabs....

OUR DINNER. sooooo good. fresh salmon and albacore from the market.

Canadian Border

this post will be short and sweet.

day 1: everything was fine.. they checked our passports and we left the USA and came back w/o any problems.

day 2: we left the USA easily, but on the way back.. we got stuck in "commuter" traffic... why people would commute over the border... i have no idea. anyway... we were stuck in a line of cars for TWO HOURS. i took a really long nap. it was very unnecessary.. lol

day 3 (last night): again, entering Canada was just fine. on the way home (after eating at a Night Market in Richmond, BC - so fun), we got STOPPED at border control. we had to get out of our car while our van was inspected.... he made me turn off my itouch bc he told me there were no phones allowed... x_x AND they told us there were no bathrooms. lameeeeeee.

anyway, we'll see if there's a day 4. and hopefully we can look less suspicious.

VOODOO Donuts

I swear, I should just work for the Food Network. (this place was featured on Amazing Race.. and something else)

It was quite an experience heading down to downtown Portland for some donuts. It was located in an area that reminded me of the Tenderloin in SF and Berkeley. Mostly because of the theater showing hentai one end of the block and an oyster bar on the other. Strange location..

We waited in line for about 30 minutes and chatted with the friendly family behind us. When we finally got inside, we realized how small the bakery was. It was pretty much a counter with a ton of those pink boxes that remind me of Chinatown.

This was our collection of donuts that we ate.....

I think my favorite one was the Maple Bar with Bacon.. well, it's the most unique, anyway.

and this photo, was taken in the store only. SOMEONE failed to order it. it's a voodoo donut! the pretzel is for stabbing..good thing I'm not an angry, revenge-seeking person. I'm too lazy.

STILL FULL.

The non-stop eating has slowed down.. finally. I probably gained 5 pounds in less than a week. After waking up at 330am last Saturday, we headed straight up to Portland, OR.

For lunch, we stopped at this random hole-in-the-wall hamburger joint. Mostly, for our uncle and his banana milkshake. The hamburgers were alright.. but after seeing everyone leave with ice cream cones, I had to have one. Peppermint. =) They even offer 4 scoops on a cone, but I settled for less.. just two. 

Nona Emilia's for dinner. I almost died. They gave us portions equivalent of Bucca di Bepo only everything tasted 5x better! Check out the size of this meatball and pizza.. (that's my cousin, Keeley) Needless to say... we had a lot of leftovers. 

The next morning... I couldn't eat anything. just coffee (which i haven't managed to stay away from). not much for lunch either. but dinner was delicious! We stayed in for a HUGE dinner. prime rib, risotto, cheesy veggies, ribs, sushi. yummmmmm. and my favorite, the drinks! CHEEEEERS! i love being 21.

Canada

As usual, I'm looking forward to my vacation. Even though it's just Oregon, Washington and Canada.. (Eventually, I will make it around the world..) It will be nice to relax a little and be with nature..? I'm bringing eat, pray, love and dear john. might have to buy the girl who kicked the hornet nest.. bc the suspense is killing me.
I decided to do a little research before my trip (like 5 minutes) and i found a place i really want to go. The sad thing is, adult admission is $35. Maybe, I can convince my parents to let me go inside by myself and I can pretend I'm 17 and pay like $15. Anyway, it's Butchart Gardens.

I was on their website.. and they have 5 SEASONS. spring, summer, autumn, winter.... and CHRISTMAS. lolll at first, i wondered why they sell a season pass, but if i lived there. i think i would get one. for at least one year...

omg. they know why i want to go. "No matter the season, you'll find it filled with exciting colours and the sliding photo window allows you to take great, glare free images." LOL heaveeeeen. i hate glare.

WOWWWWW. if i don't go... somewhere BETTER take me to the botanical garden in berkeley. OR i'm dragging you to SF for the japanese tea garden.

Urge to Blog (and my love for good food)

Some days I'm really inspired to blog.. and other days, well... not so much.

Today, at work, I've realized how much I love to travel. Good. and Bad. On the positive side, I'm hoping new experiences will make me a more well-rounded person. I always like to try new things and esp. foods, so I'm grateful for that (love love love spices). HOWEVER, i feel like my love for traveling makes me a dreamer. Always thinking about where I want to go, what I could be doing right now, etc. At the end of this year (in May), it's welcome to the real world. where i will have NO money and NO time. lameeee. definitely not looking forward to it.

Anyway, thought I'd update about San Diego. We didn't have time, or much desire, to go to places where I would normally go w my family. (No Cafe 222 or giant pizza on Coronado Island) BUT, I did get to try the infamous carne asada fries and soft tofu stew.

so we went to some restaurant (by a wooden rollercoaster?) and got VIP parking. and the carne asada fries were pretty bomb. ESP. combined with HORCHATA! yum. it's like nachos... on fries. but MY GOD, there's no way you can eat them all. it's like a heart attack. so good thing i was with helen so that we could split. i still had a major food coma afterwards.

Adele also took us for some tofu stew. flashback to freshman year, where i also ate in Convoy, at the very same restaurant. I was overly excited about the korean appetizers... AND my gyoza tofu stew, with 2 eggs, and purple rice. yeeeee!

Alsoooooo, I finally had the honor of eating at Boiling Crab. The wait is CRAZY. The place opens at 12.. and we got there at 1130.. and there was already a line. Thankfully, we got seated in the first wave of customers (so we waited 30 min, instead of an hour and 30min...)

Anyway, that place is also a heart attack in a bag. You have a choice of seafood.. then sauce (which is the killer) It's something like.. 1. lemon pepper 2. garlic butter 3. cajun 4. the whole SHA-BANG (all of the above) So, the sauce was AMAZING. I ordered mine a little too spicy, but I just drank lots of water to compensate. Overall, good experience. But, I decided it's a once a year adventure... it's too much work for me. At least we got BIBS!

It also reminded me of when I was in Southern Spain and we cooked shrimp that was DELICIOUS. just olive oil.. and yummmmmm. and so much cheaper (like $5/lb)!

SAN DIEGO

hahahaha I JUST remembered I'm going to San Diego this weekend to reunite w/ MBS (my big sis..)

I got this email from her: Dear Little, please don't forget your huge camera. Love, YBS EOM

loll hopefully, i don't forget and I'll have some content for a new post.

The US is def. not Europe

First of all, EXTREMELY jealous of those who went to Pamploma for the Running of the Bulls (these pics are AWESOMEEE. http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/07/the_festival_of_san_fermin_201.html) AND VIVA ESPANAAAAA. world cup soccer. beautiful soccer players. i wish i was in madrid... but anyway.

I've been back for a while now and I miss having to update my blog w all the exciting things I used to do on the weekends. My life is back to "normal." I find myself listening to a lot of Spanish music trying to practice listening and understanding the words. I've realized that I changed the settings on my blogger to Spanish.. and I think I might leave it that way. Ver blog. Publicar Entrada. Guardar Ahora. I have to say, even though I miss the nights out in Europe, I think I'm way happier at home w all the ethnic, affordable, authetic food I can get. In the first month I've been back (prob sooner than that), I've had sushi (many times), chinese, vietnamese, thai, mexican, bbq, jamaican, brazilian, burgers, etc. I'm still missing out on Indian and Korean, if i have any takers. loll

However, I do have to say, American are fat bc we eat so much. It's not the food we eat, it's how MUCH of it. Spaniards eat bread every day. They're stick-thin. They also smoke too, but I'm just saying.....

Over the past month and a half, I've been sorting pictures for my family, for me, for my senora. and all I gotta say is STUDY ABROAD if you can. for sure. Things change when you're gone, but if they change then it wasn't meant to be anyway. I still have the same friends (mostly) lol

I know that Berkeley is going to kick my butt next semester, but at least I sort of have an intercambio. A girl is coming to Berk from the same school I studied at in Spain. I get to take her around a little and she said she'd help me w Spanish. yeeee.

Anyway, I'm gonna fix this blog up next week and use it as an online journal for my travels (not just Spain), so look out for my next vacations. I would travel all my life if i could. and if I didn't eventually want a stable life and family. haha

Sooo I'll be back. I'm heading up to Oregon, Washington, and Canada from August 7th to the 17th. Hope they at least have good food. I'm bringing books in case I get bored.... Suggetions are welcome. lol

botanical garden in madrid

took a break from studying to practice some shots with my camera.

just wanted to share.

Mallorca

Eat, Sleep, and Drink.

That was pretty much the theme of our trip.

We pretty much went from white, red, to brown. Well, I’m still recovering from the mild sunburns that I earned from our little vacation. I went with Antoinette to the island of Mallorca, which is off the Eastern Coast of Spain. Amazing and probably some of the most relaxing days of my life.

I have mixed feelings about Mallorca. Mostly, because the beaches are amazing, but the people were speaking mostly… Dutch? German? I can’t even tell you. All the restaurants had menus in 3 or 4 different languages. Even the tv channels were in random languages. It was just sad that my last few days in Spain didn’t feel like Spain. 

but, it was beautiful =)

Morocco

So this is pretty sad, because I’m currently on a bus tour of Southern Spain and a little bit of Portugal and every hotel has a different policy for the internet… which means, I only have internet when it’s free. Therefore, I’m writing this post for a word doc… and I’ll try my best to add pictures later.

I need to catch up (which is the story of my life) and so here’s my recap of Morocco, AFRICAAAA! So we booked a round-trip flight to Tangier before reading the description that Tangier is like the Tijuana of Mexico. Fail.

It’s okay though, because I still had a wonderful time, and Morocco leaves me wanting more.

We basically stayed in Tangier for the weekend and made a day trip to the beach town, Asilah. We didn’t actually SEE much, but it was definitely a huge culture shock.

You know you’re in Morocco when you notice a change in:

1. The language. They speak mostly French and Arabic and understand very little English and Spanish… It was pretty funny getting around bc we had to write down prices and make sure we had the exact change, etc.

2. The food. There was flavor and a little bit of spice. Ah, heaven.

3. The demographics. I was pretty much scared for my life traveling with three other girls. We dressed conservatively, but still got attention. Most women were covered from head to toe or just weren’t outside at all. There were men EVERYWHERE. It was like women don’t exist…

Reasons why I would go back (aka who wants to go with me Spring Break 2011?):

1. Exchange rate (they use dirham). We ate a full course, seafood meal for 5 euros… I bought a magnet for like $.20

2. My AMAZING hostel/palace. We chose a place from hostelworld and the family was soooooooo nice. After we arrived, we heard another knock at our door, and we were pretty much scared out of our minds. We peeked through the door (with the chains still on) and it was the mom with a GIANT plate of couscous. Later in the trip, she brought us fruit and MINT TEA (sigh, so good). The family even drove us back to the airport for free!! (This experience leads me to believe that Moroccans are friendly once you get to know them).

3.  My henna! Although this lady was pushy, I still liked it. =)

4.  Most importantly, I still need to ride a camel.

arabic.

asilah

mint tea and our henna

in my palace (our hostel/apartment)

BULLFIGHT

or they call it the CORRIDA de TOROS.

surprisingly, i was able to stay for about 75% of the show. the fights started to look the same.. which is the reason why we decided to leave.

after searching for tickets all day.. we took a chance and decided to buy them at the stadium instead. we got to the ticket counter and we told them we wanted the cheapest seats they had. he laughed at us and told us it was 11euros. i was confused bc i thought they had seats for cheaper than 5 euros. we asked him exactly what we were buying.. and he told us it was the TOTAL for five people.... LOL so we asked him for the next cheapest seats and ended up paying about 3.50euros per person. the seats were pretty high in the stands, but it was better bc we couldn't see the blood and gore.

Every CORRIDA de TOROS has 3 bullfighters that each kill 2 bulls. Each fight takes about 20-30 minutes. So the entire thing is about 2-3 hours and 6 bulls are killed. I didn't realize at first, but it's sad bc it's such an unfair fight..

The first round includes a man and horse in armor. The man stabs the bull with a spear between the shoulder blades.

The second round has a few men with shorter spears with some sort of decorations. They run up to the bull and stab it in the same place. The decorations dangle off the bull for the rest of the "fight."

The matedor finally comes out and places his hat on the ground to dedicate the fight to someone. This part is really interesting bc he uses his cape to distract the bull.. and the bull just goes in circles around him following the cape. Bulls are colorblind.. so they're really only following the movement of the cape. After a few passes, the main bullfighter takes a sword and stabs him between the shoulder blades. Once he hits the right spot, the bull staggers and falls. It's pretty surreal.

The worst part of the CORRIDA is when they bring out horses to drag the bull away. It usually leaves streaks of blood.... My pictures are like a million times zoom... so I couldn't actually see all the blood... lol or else, i might have fainted.