Europa Part Zwei

With the breathing space that a career change provides, I tacked on a week in Berlin and a final weekend in London before heading back stateside.  The three weeks altogether was the longest block of time I'd played tourist in awhile, but Berlin being the city that it is I felt right at home.  I read in a travel magazine once that Berlin is "the city where you don't feel out of place"; I certainly felt that on my first visit, a student backpacking through Europe, and again on this last trip.

It of course helped that I had the luxury of staying with an old Weimar girlfriend (10 year reunion!), but what really made me feel right at home was re-exploring a city overrun by designers and artists.  I'd heard a lot about its gentrification over the years, but it was so interesting to see what that meant for a city when the primary industries there aren't tech and more tech (and the wealth that comes with that).  Enter more open shared grounds, creative re-activation of spaces and good, cheap beer.

Case in point: my visit to Klunkerkranich.  This was a bar / restaurant complete with family-friendly sandpit was on the roof of a very unremarkable shopping mall in Neukölln.  I had to ask for directions at a run down dollar store to confirm that, yes, I should really just go to the top level of the parking lot and just keep walking.  I'm so glad I did!

Prinzessinnengarten was another gem of a space; a sustainably run community farm where you can come and enjoy lunch made from the vegetables grown, have a beer or just chill out.  Busy roads rush all around but you can't hear them once you're nestled in; importantly it was right next to...

...Planet Modulor!  Aka my dream store.  More than just a paper store, it's a comprehensive material store where they sell everything from ropes (above) to foam to cards and stamps and pens and packaging and even neon ribbon from the Netherlands.  I spent half a day there and considered that a huge act in self restraint *cue emoji of winged cash*.

Isn't it always zeit für brot?  Oh German bread how I missed you!  I also can't go this far in a travel post without mention of a good carb.  Not pictured: all of those dark, delicious heavy ryes I had before coming to this new kid on the block.

Succulents playing shoe adornments at Tempelhof Field - once a military base, airport and now a big sprawling mass of land for barbecues, sports and DIY gardens like this one.  The scale of it all was the startling part, it's so rare to be in the middle of a city and then suddenly be walking on broad, flat spans of land.

Obligatory photo of the canal, complete with tiny swan in the center.  What I especially love about walking along here in Berlin is that when the weather is good you see people really enjoying it, climbing over fences and making all efforts to swing their feet off the edge and sit with a beer, that always seems to magically appear when the weather is good.

Oh Berlin!  I hope it isn't another ten years until we meet again.

Some changes - and Europa Part Un!

Hello again, my handful of friends who visit this little pocket of the internet.  It has been a long stretch between posts - a lot has happened since I was last here, the biggest change being that I finally cut the umbilical cord from Mama Goog, and have started working on my own thing (!)  

More on that will come soon, but before that I wanted to share some snippets from a most wonderful European trip with my family.  The bulk of our time was in France, sandwiched between England - Oxford to visit my not-so-little bro and then the requisite overnight in London catching up with friends. Onto some snaps!

My brother's college Magdalen from above - because he's a student there we got extra special access to climb up to the top of the tower - the experience was complete with giant rusty key as big as my arm to open the tower door! 

Small side note here: how did little siblings get so big?  This is a total brag moment but my bro is president of his college, so on top of his PhD he spends his time rallying for things like mandatory consent classes, free pregnancy tests and other important, necessary things for young people that are not easy to pull off.  I'm pretty sure when I was 26  I was just trying to not get fired and my big thing was whether or not I should get a fringe.  So proud of my bro!

Ok, onwards to the rest of Europa -

Palace of Versailles was as incredible as I’d imagined it to be - I couldn’t get over the scale of the gardens, we spent the good bullk of a day there but then when we looked at the map later it was like, jk, you didn’t even cover half of it.  And it was just their summer house?!  I need to find me some friends like that...

Following my instruction to ‘try to look French’ - that bag is from Bio c' Bon which is a hippy WholeFoods-type chain they have, where the milk presumably comes from even happier cows.  If you are thinking there was hummus and cheese in that bag to accompany that baguette, you’d be right.  Not pictured: the additional croissant we had ‘to sustain us’ on way back to our Paris Airbnb.  It was a <5 minute walk.

I was so happy to see so much pixel tile art everywhere!  I remember following the original space invaders in Paris a decade ago (and wherever I saw them) - I don't know if it's still the same artist but they seemed to have blossomed all over the city now.  These invader cum Super Mario flowers cropped up a few times, and I even spotted a Picasso around the corner from the official museum!

A quiet summer fruit snacking session in the afternoon.  Why is it that stone fruit always feels so much more luxurious when you take the time to cut it into segments and eat it with a tiny fork?  Gold rimmed china and being in France also helps.

And now, my parents following my instruction to ‘look French’ - at first I thought mama was defying my request with a blatantly Asian peace sign but apparently that's her pretending to smoke a cigarette ahaha!  This time we were on a little sidewalk in a town in the Loire Valley, in between chateau hopping.  Of course, croissants feature here too.

Back in London: mandatory coffee at Monmouth, Borough Market.  I know that place is a touristy rats nest on a Saturday but I enjoy it so much that I somehow find myself poking in on most visits.  Piles of fruit!  People looking charming in little aprons!  Free samples!

In conclusion: when traveling don't take any pictures of the Eiffel Tower or the London Bridge but *do* demand everyone 'look French' for you and eat lots of croissants and drink coffee.  You're welcome.

Europa Part Zwei in my most adored city coming shortly!  Au revoir until then!

Oh hey, Asunción

Exploring this ol' town for a spell, some snaps from the hood:

Corner store - these are everywhere!  The fresh herbs are for making tereré, and the esky is for housing the ice cream, sandwiches and other treats they sell.

Wait, did you think that just because I'm in another country I would stop taking photos of bourgenvillas?  Of course not.  I passed this rogue, overflowing bundle on the way to lunch the other day.

Piles of fresh bread in the morning sun.  These self-serve bakeries typically have a minimum purchase weight for their breads which, as you can imagine, is both a blessing and a curse for a #yestocarbs lover like me. 

We found this little guy at the farm - not pictured are his five brothers and sisters who were all piled up on top of each other under a pile of timber.  It was like my baby animal Pinterest page IRL!

Even ambulances need their chipa.  Dangerously they are deliciously filled with cheese, and some of the best places have these chipa ladies working for them who will hustle up to your car and deliver them to you hot.

More later on some things I'm working on, but who doesn't like photos of puppies and carbs in the meantime?!  Overandout internet friends  x

Bom dia!

Well, there went February.  

My birthday month also brought a surprise trip to Brazil, which is partly what has kept me out of this internet corner.  The other distracting factors were part work, pretending to go to the gym and general pontificating about my plans for 2015 without actually doing anything about it.  Case in point: one of my vague goals was to spend more time on here.

But, onto Brazil - each of the eleven days I spent there I felt like I was living in a Coke commercial, gorgeous people watching, easy open air bars - and oh the beaches!  Not since Sydney have I been so impressed stretches of golden sand and the clearest water.  We were lucky enough to visit the urban beach shores of Rio (sadly it was raining the day we went to Ipanema, so I could not recreate being the girl from my favourite song - that would have made for some great hashtags on insta) before flying down south to the quieter spots on Florianopolis and around the South.  It must be known that the latter cities are filled with the most beautiful people you will ever see in one place on this planet.  Their skin!  Their glossy hair!  The way they make me think an ankle tattoo is a good idea but really I just want their tanned slender ankles!

Anyway, now I will get to the pictures which of course must begin with the food (and I wonder why I don't have ankles like Alessandra Ambrosio)...

A pastel and my most favourite snack of all: bolinho de bacalhau!  These were little deep fried fish and potato gems of goodness that I could not get enough of.  Serve hot in an open air bar that spills out into the streets with cheap local beer that you don't even notice how bad it tastes because hey, Rio.

From the top of Sugarloaf Mountain - the stuff of postcards!  Not pictured: how much I nearly died of heatstroke that day.

Ah Brazil - where the all the snacks and the bar comes to you!  The days started to blend together at this stage, but I think this is somewhere down South.  Freshly grilled cheese on a stick was purchased shortly after this picture was taken.

There are far more glamorous food shots I could have included here, but this was one of my favourite meals - all the breads!  That big puffy semi circle was a type of tapioca bread that was sort of gummy and delicious, and those four happy little balls were my beloved cheese breads.

You know I had to do it.  What did I tell you about the Coke commercial feeling?  Ahh take me back!

Obrigado por tudo, Brasil!  My tan has faded almost completely now, but even after the few days we had, you forever have a special place in my heart.  That place is called 'countries I am already scheming about revisiting because I've only just scratched the surface and I want mangos right now'.

Oh, hey N'awlins

I've been lax posting here, slowly catching up - first cab off the rank is reporting back on a most wonderful few days in New Orleans.

In an expat effort to get the most out of America, a buddy and I booked a last minute trip to spend three nights there.  Given that 'seeing New Orleans' largely comprises of eating and strolling the streets with a beer in hand, it was the perfect amount of time to cover this little city; and with San Francisco's weak summer, the hard beating heat was a welcome change too.  Some snaps of where our four day adventure took us:

The brass band playing onboard the last remaining authentic Steamboat Natchez (sounds like 'nachos'), a wonderful sunny afternoon floating down the Mississippi.

Mandatory beignets and café au lait at Cafe Du Monde.  I'm not typically a fried sweet pastry fan, but these were powdery puffs of deliciousness!

An uncharacteristically tamer picture of the legendary Bourbon Street - although note that people are still wandering the streets drinking publicly from bar to bar.  Overall, I definitely recommend Frenchmen Street for authentic live jazz and a more local scene, but with the college football on and its proximity to our hotel, we always found ourselves wandering back to this frenetic strip.

Some of the prettiest balconies I'd ever seen!  I couldn't get enough of the pockets of greenery spilling over them, and just imagined how lovely it would be to sit out rocking on one of them, watching passers by - ditto the gorgeous porches which I regrettably have less pictures of.

A Sazerac at The Roosevelt's bar of the same name - apparently what many consider to be the world's first mixed drink.  It was certainly potent, but at least legions away from the Hand Grenade and Hurricane, which definitely did not need to be repeated.

Shrimp po boy from Johnny's Po-Boys in the French Quarter.  The fried oyster po boy was originally recommended to me, but this was a brunch and wasn't sure I could stomach it - this was damn tasty nonetheless!

Not pictured but recommended: catching a streetcar through the beautiful Garden Distrct for aforementioned porch-drooling, dinner at Commanders Palace (including turtle soup), the best meal by far at Cochon (book ahead of time!) - apparently anything that Donald Link does is excellent, the Frenchmen Street Art Market and the above-ground city cemeteries (note the early closing hours, which we didn't).

Another city off the list, and what a fine little one it was.  I have always believed in the kindness of strangers, thanks for your southern hospitality N'awlins.

LA weekend, redux

Visiting a city the second time around is always kind of nice because you can skip some of the classic touristy stuff you've done before and spend more time focussing on friends and lesser adventures, i.e. fulfilling cupcake dreams.  Additional to a 4th of July party that felt like something out of a movie, LA was a perfect escape from the fog, sharing a house with old and new friends.

My other food fantasy fulfilled: finally made it to eggslut and yes it definitely lived up to the hype!  Best scrambled eggs that I ever waited 40 minutes for. 

A stroll around Rodeo Drive, right after I got my cupcake.  Disappointingly put my camera away before I turned the corner to see a woman pushing a pram holding a dog wearing an LV collar.

The view from Griffith Park Observatory made me realise just how huge LA really is - 3.8M compared to San Francisco's 800k.  Right after this we found some friendly star gazers who showed us Saturn through their telescope.

LA - I couldn't live with you but I can't beat your weekend weather.  I'll be back soon!

24 hours in Portland

I mentioned earlier that Portlandia is real - but outside of hipster spotting and fixie bike riding 'seeing' Portland is basically just 'eating your way through' Portland; there are some incredible eats in this city and being the fattie that I am that dictated a lot of our movements.  People really love their food here, the obsession with local produce is all too true, but refreshingly sans the San Francisco price tag.

Here's what we covered over 24 hours:

The famous longstanding Outdoor Store which is basically a man's paradise, selling everything to artisan hand knives to fishing vests.  C bought some cowboy boots from a guy who I think may have actually been a cowboy, and picked the right boots for him in one go just by looking at his feet.

Voodoo doughnuts!  This is 'Portland's official doughnut', perfectly puffed and filled with creamy goodness.  This was also the first of many times that we lined up for a specialty food (not sure whose idea that was... *shifty eyes*). 

We spent a good part of our day cycling around on fixies to explore the city - being very bike-friendly it was relatively easy to get around but do keep in mind that Washington Park is up a hill so if you're like me, get ready for some bike-walking.  This was their famous International Rose Test Garden.

As a part of our cycling around we got lost in Lower Burnside - Amanda was the friendliest local who helped us get on our way.  Lower Burnside = cute rows of vintage stores and galleries, retro side-of-the-road diners.

A specialty roll at Bamboo Sushi: the world's first sustainably certified sushi restaurant and some of the best Japanese fusion food I have ever eaten.  I recommend going to the Northwest location so you can window shop down 23rd Ave then wander back on 21st Ave for a cheeky drink at a bar.

Not pictured but also enjoyed:

Salt and Straw - pear and blue cheese ice cream - this was the second time we lined up for food
Aviary - explore the Alberta district while you're there, a bit of an emerging arts neighborhood
Boogies Burgers and Brew - in Lower Burnside, as a break from browsing vintage shops
Lovejoy Bakers - there's a few of these, if you're road-tripping, grab a flaky pastry for the road here
Stumptown Coffee - excellent coffee!  You'll be cheering to know there are multiple of these too
Voodoo Doughnuts - I know I already said this, but did I mention it's open 24 hours?!  Make an experience of it and line up at the original location on SW 3rd Ave.

Ok I'll stop now.  #nomnomnom

I will never tire of you

New York.

All Coachella'd out, I hopped on a redeye last week to spend a few days over in the city of my obsession.  Seeing all the popcorn trees I realised it was one year exactly since my first visit, although no less magical than the first time.  Some snaps that I took between hurried steps:

Despite some snow, spring was well and truly springing - seasons are totally a thing over here.

Finally made it out to MOMA and this guy, which I completely bypassed the first time.  Good touristy fun.

I ran into this woman at a flea market on 5th.  She asked me if I wanted to take a picture of her ducky hat (yes, obviously) and then insisted on posing with her carton of Sexy.  HONY watch out  :)

A terrible photo, but captures the moment of swinging on a rooftop bar at 1am, cocktail in hand, celebrating that we were all wearing flat shoes for Sleep No More - which, for the record, I 100% recommend but it is definitely not for the faint hearted.  Four cheese and truffle pizza followed shortly after this photo was taken, of course.

Not pictured but no less wonderful: a walk along my beloved High Line, hot dogs in Central Park and Easter breakfasts with old friends.  Making a mental note now to not let a whole year go by before my next visit.  I still love you NY!

Phils, again.

Does two years in a row make a ritual?  Not sure.  But after going every two years up until I was 16 (and then a big break) it does feel nice that the family faces we saw this time around were only a year older from the last.  Again we had a mix of old familiars and new adventures, and this time C even made it in time to ring in the new year.  Some snaps:

Kayaking over Pagsanjan Falls.  And by 'kayaking' I mean it wasn't rainy season and so our superfit guides had to haul our boats over the rocks where there wasn't enough water - they made it look so easy!  A highlight but not pictured was getting pulled through a waterfall on a raft.  Through a waterfall.  Drenched.

Beautifully serene infinity pool at The Farm at San Benito.  This place was amazing!  Think delicious vegan foods and different yoga and workout classes every day.  The perfect post-Christmas cleanse.

Riding tiny horses to the top of Taal Volcano and view of the Lake.  You can see from my attire that health and safety is their #1 priority over here.  There is still a gash on my leg from when my horse - named 'Papa Bear' - ran me into a tree, but the view at the top made it all worthwhile.

This was the cutest, happiest pup I have ever met.  His little tongue!  Found him in the greenhouse at Sonya's Garden where we had lunch while nursing horse-riding wounds.

Our smoky view of the city on New Years Eve, taken from a friend's apartment in Makati.  Most wonderful was having C by my side.  That, and they had a make-your-own-pork-buns at the party - I only have a vague recollection of this but apparently I was at that table all night hehe.

Not a food shot in site I know (?) but I can assure you it was the best way to welcome in the new year. Happy 2014 everyone!

How to beat jet lag?

A most delicious breakfast toast at Bar Jules in Hayes Valley.  It's ok to eat this much because it's organic *ahem*.

I didn't do a very good job adjusting to Pacific time at all and have been a slow, slumbery beast this past week.  Tomorrow, I'm throwing myself into my third timezone in three weeks - thrilled as I am to head back to Sydney for a spell, I definitely want to do a better job of assimilating.  It's a #firstworldproblem I know, but I was frequently a snapping turtle in work meetings (sorry, so sorry for anyone who had to deal with me).

To that end, I'll be giving this how to beat jet-lag method a go, and have squirreled away some nuts leading up to the journey and will fast the way through.  Already looking forward to the big breakfast on the other end.

Happy happy Friday, whatever timezone you're in!  I'll be seeing you again down under.

24 hours in Dublin

Beyond porridge at the office, I had the pleasure of a whole Saturday in Dublin with old friends.  Not sure if this was only owing to the sun, but this city definitely charmed me well beyond my expectations. Unexpectedly delicious meals were had (it wasn't just potatoes and corned beef as I'd feared!) and some really gorgeous architecture - some snapshots of what we were able to squeeze in:

Morning coffee at 3FE, definitively the best flat white in Dublin.

Obligatory photo of brick buildings with brightly coloured doors.  Yellow became our punch-buggied favourite.

Beautiful St Stephen's Green, Ireland's best known Victorian public park - with the sun out there were loads of people about, strolling or even snoozing on the grass.

Learning to pour our own pint at the Guinness factory!  This was good touristy fun.

An amazing shaved pork salad at The Pig's Ear - definitely recommend.  We dined early to catch the three course special, not pictured: goose fat potatoes and an amazing brown bread ice cream with Guinness cake crumbs and honeycomb.  See I can't tell you what I learnt at the Guinness factory but I memorised the menu here.

Necessary visit to the Temple Bar - it isn't actually just this bar but in the words of my newly-Dubliner friend "it's basically this whole area where the roads are covered in stones and it's hard to walk.  Oh and there's live music!"

Was such a good trip, to be sure, to be surrrrrre!  Didn't quite make it to the infamous Coppers, but that's not entirely something I regret.  Till next time, Dubliners!