Life is good.

Have a good rest of the weekend, everyone!

Some of our culinary highlights from South Africa

Hello! Switching gears a little bit...I've been slow in posting South Africa photos and I know that all I've posted were photos from our safaris...so today I decided to focus on food.  South Africa turned out to be a gem for foodies!  As I had mentioned, we didn't have too much time to plan the trip, so I did not do as much food research as I typically would do for a big one like this.  But boy did we get lucky!!!  In the little time that I did have to do food research, I came across a beautifully photographed food blog.  On a whim, I decided to write the author of the blog to ask for advise on where I should eat...I really didn't expect a note back!  But I did.  Oh yes, humanity and super nice people do exist!  What I got was an extensive list of the author's favorite restaurants along the route that I had described and  I was/still am super thankful...and with this list and our guide book in hand, we had an awesome awesome food trip!

During our time at Umlani Bushcamp, the cooks made delicious breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  My favorite meal there was a chicken dish with soy and ginger...ICM's favorite was grilled warthog chops!  And while we were at Kruger National Park, we bbq'ed (braai-ed) a lot - grilled chicken wings, wildebeest steak,  kebabs, ribeyes, corns, and peppers!  And at the picnic stands and restaurants at rest camps, you can't beat the meat pies!!!  SO GOOD.

But it wasn't till we arrived in Cape Town that I really felt our culinary adventures had begun.  Here are some of my favorite places!  Let's dive right in.

Aside from brightly colored buildings, the Bo'Kaap District houses Biesmiellah - a delicious Cape Malay restaurant.   

Evidence that ICM loves his blackberry.

Bobotjie - the national dish of South Africa.  Curry-spiced minced meat with egg topping. It is really good.

Crawfish curry.  Highly recommended.  Words can not describe how deliciously and deeply flavored, rich and seafoody-fresh it is.  I am drooling.

The Noordhoek Farm Village was located not too far away from our place in Cape Town and I was in love when I saw it.  I think I kept screaming "pleaeseee, can we live here, pleaseeeeeeeeeeee?"  It is rustic, unpretentious, and good-food-filled.  We entered Food Barn's deli area and I thought "if I was a writer, then I would sit here all day sipping coffee and eating croissants...how lovely would that be?!"  When it was finally time to leave, ICM had to drag me away...I think I could have stayed a longgggg time.  

"love and food are all you need"...no truer words have ever been spoken...

I wish we had time to sample their tapas menu...but I guess I'll have to wait till next time or my next life time!

Miller's Thumb - This restaurant seems to be an institution in South Africa.  Every guide book featured it and it ranked really high in the list of to-eats by people traveling to South Africa.  I had been stuck on going to Kyoto Sushi (which is right across from Miller's Thumb) and during our second attempt, when Kyoto Sushi was CLOSED AGAIN, we crossed the street to Miller's Thumb.  When we got there, we realized the restaurant wasn't opening for another 45 minutes and we were sad. The waitress and managers noticed us snooping outside and told us they could serve us now because a lunch party was coming soon as well.  They were super friendly and helpful and we were so glad we got to eat there!  The fish dishes were fresh, delicious and perfectly cooked which is hard to find.  ICM's mahi mahi with the malay sauce option was really really good, just a tiny kick of spice, yum!  My kingklip with lychee sauce was great too (I've never had kingklip until now) but a little sweet for my taste.  Best of all though - the seafood stew that they had was the best I've ever had (so far).  

Cafe Milano - Cape Town.  Beautiful and delicious pastries.  Because there were so many places I wanted to go to during this trip, I had to really squeeze places into the schedule!! Cafe Milano was one of those places that we were able to squeeze in between meals and I did not regret it.  Perfect desserts.

What I would give to have something like this in DC!!!

The Noisy Oysters (Paternoster, South Africa) - At some point during our trip, we found ourselves in a small town, Paternoster, on the coast.  That night, we stayed in a hippie-like establishment "the Beach Camp," and in a A-frame hut right on the beach facing the ocean! When we found ourselves on the coast, I was determined to consume copious amounts of delicious seafood and so when we drove by The Noisy Oysters earlier that day, I really wanted to go.  When we got there, the nice hostess asked if we had a reservation...and we didn't :(  Apparently, they take reservations for each table once per night.  That night, they were completely booked full.  But LUCKILY, the waitress agreed to 'double book' one of the tables if we agreed to finish dinner by a certain time.  In the end, we actually had about 2 hours for dinner, the food was great, and we left on time.  The decor and outdoor seating was amazing - beachy, stylish, and comfortable.  ICM had a delicious steak and I had an assortment of appetizers, my calamari with rice was delicious, so were the oysters.  Loved it.  Below - fresh oysters from Saldanha, a small city south of Paternoster.  

My breakfast of choice in South Africa.  I know the picture below isn't great...but that basically was what I ate for breakfast very often during our South Africa trip.  Rasher bacon, grilled tomatoes, eggs, and toast - YES YES YES.

 

Il De Pain - Probably my most favorite place to eat at during our South Africa trip.  We went there three times!  And yes, it became an obsession.  I love bread, I love pretty and delicious coffees, I love pastries, I love desserts...most importantly, I love people who do things they believe in...and Il De Pain is precisely one of those places. 

You  know you are a fatty when you'v just had brunch or lunch and you carry out two to three take out boxes of pastries and desserts with you.  But let me tell you, nothing tastes better than a blueberry tart right after a beautiful but tiring hike.  YUM! 

This is just a short list of our food adventures, more to come....and this won't be the last mentioning of Il De Pain.  Stay tuned!

On being 30...

I've kept this post in my draft box for a while now...I went back and forth about posting it because I don't usually talk about thoughtful stuff...but here it is.

So since the last time I posted here, I turned 30!  I've repeated "I am 30" a couple dozen of times to myself" since then, but every time I hear that, I still am slightly shocked.  Three decades, what?!!! Then my brain churns and I think: Where did the time go?? What have I accomplished?  What have I learned, lost, gained? Has life turned out the way I imagined???  Wait, I can't be the only one asking these questions, right?? Make no mistake..I am not unhappy about turning a year older. Actually, I am quite excited because 30 already seems to be a lot better than being 20.  My friend, Sarvy, once told me that turning 30 is awesome - you kind of pay your dues in terms of making mistakes and being insecure in your 20s...in return, you live your 30s the way YOU want it, the way it makes you happy.  And because I am not self destructive, I was really really looking forward to that.  And I think I am really lucky because I am extremely happy right now and I am able to agree with Sarvy.

On the day of my actual birthday, ICM made me a wonderful breakfast in the morning.  Best banana pancakes ever with my favorite earl grey tea courtesy of Ying Ying.  As I rode the bus to work that day, fulfilled and well-fed, my head went through all the questions I listed above and more.  I thought about the things that were important to me when I was younger, some of the mistakes and some of the good decisions I had made the last ten or so years, the promises I had made to myself when I was a kid, and then I thought about how certain things turned out and why they did or did not.    And as I reflected on the bus and crammed my head full of thoughts, I told myself that I would jot it all down - My own thoughts on being 30. Please don't expect it to be tooo insightful, I don't want to disappoint you. 

On being 30.

I am happy to report that I know what I want in life and how I want to live my life a lot better than I did when I was a 20 year old.  Are there still tons of uncertainty? Yes, definitely...but I more or less know what kind of lifestyle I'd like to lead and what I like and not like to do.  And yeah, that took a long time to figure out! 

I now get that I can't have everything all the time and at the same time...that sometimes, I have to give up something or WAIT, which is hard for an impatient person like me.  I dream and think big still...but I am more realistic now (without being that sad can't-do person). Nothing in life is for free (famous words by my friend Shack), nor does it just fall in your lap- it all requires effort and hard work.  Whoever wants it most and works the hardest usually gets it. 

All relationships require work, including friendships and family-relationships.  Small gestures go a long way and most of the time, it is all it takes to make someone you care about feel special and to let them know that you are thinking about them!  I have been extremely lucky so far in my life to have met a lot of wonderful wonderful people.  Many have helped me become a better person, made me feel loved, and led by example what true friends are really like.  Even though I have been able to keep in touch with a good amount of my close friends, I've also lost many friendships that I wish I could have maintained. The last ten years have taught me that all relationships require honesty, communication, and effort. We all know how little time there is to dedicate to keeping in touch and sometimes we even assume that people know that life is busy but really...if you care, you need to let them know (we are humans and we need to stay connected to feel close), so pick up the phone, send an email, send a letter, send a text...whatever communicates that you care.  I swear it only takes a second :).

I am still extremely risk-averse BUT I also know that sometimes I need to encourage (hmm. push, force) myself to take that leap of faith to accomplish bigger things, seek happiness, to not be scared, and to trust that maybe (just maybe) sometimes I can do more than I think I can. 

I believe more than before that "no man is an island."  Even as much as I enjoy my freedom and independence, I cherish every second with family and friends.  I recognize more so than before that they are my support group and the reason why I am able to make tough decisions and never feel too lost/alone...all because I know they are always there for me.   

And finally, on love.   I still believe in love and you should too.  In my 20s, like many others, I'd say I managed my romantic relationships immaturely and illogically.  A lot of the very bad decisions I made were influenced by my own insecurity...sometimes it was almost as if I didn't love myself enough.  Why else would I stay in a bad relationship, right?  While in relationships I made tons of mistakes too, all caused by insecurity, lack of confidence, lack of faith in my partner, too much stubbornness, too little of thinking where the other person was coming from. Then I think back and remember the times when I thought that life was dramatically hopeless because I lost someone that I had put my faith in.  It is only through all this and seeing what has happened (or continuing to happen) to others around me that has made me see that if you are a good person, you live your life and continue to grow, you seek happiness and am open to love, it will come.  Will it come at the time you want it to come, i.e. now?  No, not always, and you know, the relationship gods are just out to get you!  But will it come?  Yes, I truly truly believe in that.  And when it comes, are you always going to do everything right?  No, but if you treat yourself right, treat your partner right, understand that we all have bad moments once in a while, have fun, forgive, laugh about it...then it should all come out alright! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Meet Tiger, my parents' cat

Hello!!!!  First of all, Happy Lunar New Year (I know it was actually on Monday but I still need to do my greeting!).  I wish you all a prosperous, healthy, and happy year of the Dragon!  ICM and I were in California to spend Lunar New Year with my family - something that I used to do every year religiously till the year I moved East, so it was extra nice to spend time with them during the occasion.  A lot of food was consumed  and mahjong was played - good times!  I spent most of my time trying to make my parents' new cat, Tiger, love me more.  Tiger is the cutest and I am thoroughly convinced that I have the potential to be an old cat lady one day .  After four days at home, I have a ridiculous amount of photos of Tiger and here are some of them :) 

This one is my absolute favorite for obvious reasons I think!

And if you really want to know why I love Tiger, it's because he loves sleep as much as I do!

Anyways, as you can see, I am smitten...and apologies if you thought this post was actually going to be interesting. HA!!!

South Africa: Day 5 and Day 6!

Happy Tuesday!

One of the our favorite things about staying at a private camp before we did our own self drive safaris in Kruger was that we weren't in a hurry anymore.  We got really lucky and actually saw the big 5 (lions, buffalos, elephants, leopards, and rhinos) within the first day and a half that we were at Umlani.  So when we got to Kruger National Park, we weren't chasing (well...except for rhinos)...we drove at our leisure, relaxed, bird watched, and did whatever we wanted!

A gloomy day at the bird blind but oh so peaceful.

Letaba restcamp has a very neat small museum called the "Elephant Hall" and has a cool collection of specimens and great information about the animal.  I've always hated the notion of poaching but seeing the traps and tools people used to poach (in particular - the block of metal with a spike that was dropped directly onto the elephants' heads) made it even sadder :( It is so cruel.

Day 6.

(NOTE:  collage above - it's the first adult male lion we've seen...we saw male cubs earlier in the trip. ICM found the error and said he wants to make sure he keeps me honest.  Blah!)  

Anyways, Day 6 was a special day!  We left Mopani early in the morning to head down to the Olifants rest camp where we would stay two nights.  Late in the afternoon, I saw a warthog and several warthog babies - they were so young that they were still pink!!  At first, I was in awe and for several seconds, I was like "what are those??"  It wasn't until I looked at the adult warthog next to the babies and saw similar features that I realized they were little babies. And because I was staring, I didn't press the shutter fast enough, so I have no photos to show you.  Sorry?! BUT THEY ARE SO CUTE! I love baby warthogs, ahh!!!!

 Viewpoint at Olifants Restcamp

ICM took this photo below!  He was somewhat obsessive with photographing this crocodile...we went back at least twice. hehe.

During our drives within the park, it was so cool to see the changing landscapes and ecosystems.  We'd be on a savannah-ish area one second and the next we might see something like the photo above...yeah, I sound like a nerd.

My eyes are tired and my back is hurting.  Am I getting old?! 

Time for bed, more photos tomorrow!  I mean, I only have 18 days of SA trip to cover...no sweat!

Good night.

South Africa - Day 3 to Day 4

Get ready for some photos from South Africa!!!  Before I keep going I should give more background to what you are seeing.  After our very long flight from DC to Ghana, Ghana to Lagos/Nigeria, Nigeria to Johannesburg, we got our rental car and drove towards the Timabavati Nature Reserve of Kruger National Park.  Upon ICM's friend's recommendation, we had chosen Umlani Bushcamp (a private camp) and after suffering a flat tire within a few hours of landing, we made it to Umlani in time for our afternoon game drive!

Our schedule at Umlani was something like this - wake up knock at 5am, coffee or tea and light snack at around 5:30am, head out on our 3-hr morning drive by 5:45am, at some point later during our game drive we'd get out of the car and get more coffee/hot cocao and another breakfast snack, get back to camp and it's real breakfast time (eggs, grilled tomato slice, toasts, yogurt, fruit, rasher bacon - delish), break time until about 1ish (this was when ICM and I would go to the treehouse), then lunch at 1:30pm, 3-hr afternoon/sunset game drive at 3:00pm, before the game drive ended we'd get out of the car and have a beverage (diet coke for me, double gin and tonic for ICM), get back to camp 6ish 7 and have a cocktail around the bonfire, delicious dinner, and after dinner drink (my favorite was the Umlani coffee, Amarula!) around the bonfire...finally, bed around 9ish.  It was awesome!  We had originally booked for two nights but loved it so much that we extended one more night...worth every penny!

Our tracker, Elvis was super awesome (he's next to ICM in that photo above).  He could look at a bird pretty far away, tell us a page number to his bird guide, and he was right every single time.  One of my favorite things about him was that he loves Tupac, believes that Tupac isn't really dead, and quoted him extensively and correctly.

Decided that it'd be nice to post some bigger photos of wildlife.  Here are some from Day 3.

This is an impala, they were pretty much everywhere.  They look kind of delicate and you'd expect them to have softer voices, but they have this manly grunt, very strange.

Turtles on Mr.Hippo's back, took this when we were in the tree house :)

As you saw on Day 2, hundreds of buffalos came to Marco's Dam (which the tree house overlooks) when we went to the tree house.  The next day while we were there, there were a group of elephants that came to play in the dam and drink water from the spring (below).  

That's a leopard tortoise in the lion cub's mouth!

Day 4!  Woke up with this beautiful red glow from outside and into the mosquito net, went on our last game drive at Umlani and witnessed a pretty cool battle between wild dogs and hyenas with a jackal trying to get some food without getting killed, saw a cool dung beetle (with a passenger on the dung ball who does nothing!) push up hill and demonstrate perseverance, said our goodbyes to the wonderful bush camp and drove towards Letaba - our rest camp for the night within the Kruger National Park.  

Here are some photos of Umlani

 This tree frog is TINY! Our tracker, Elvis found this one while driving...I have no idea how.

 A warhog in Kruger!

Alright, I need to make dinner!!! Good night :)

Happy 2012!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Part of our celebration includes devouring these ice cream sandwiches above!!  yum yum yum.  (The recipe for these monster cookies is at the end of the post!)  As I am celebrating the New Year, I can still hardly believe that  2012 is here already but I am pretty excited.  2011 was super awesome and I know 2012 will be even better.  We had a pretty chill NYE - ate roasted sweet potatoes and a salad instead of the rack of lamb and vegetable curry we had gotten groceries for...all because we were too full from eating hot pot for lunch, HAHA!  We couldn't stay awake till count down time to the New Year and I woke up in the middle of the night super sore from yoga on Friday (pathetic)...BUT 2012 couldn't have started off better because I woke up to homemade waffles! Woot woot! Happy New Year to me! 

I know, I'm so lucky.  I don't take it for granted ;)

It was unusually warm in DC this morning and afternoon, almost 60s and beautifully sunny, so we hopped onto the metro and went to a nearby park with a lake.  I've really missed being outdoors and breathing fresh air ever since we came back from South Africa, so this was just what I wanted.  Vitamin D, wonderful.

Going to spend the rest of January 1 working on some SA photos, watching the House marathon on TV and cooking our lamb.  I hope you are having a good New Year's Day like I am.  Now..time for some resolutions.

My 2012 New Year's Resolution:
Last year I decided not to make any resolutions because I was tired of breaking them, however, with a break, my faith in myself has been restored and I think I will try again, though I will keep it short.

• Exercise more (specific goal - do yoga regularly and work out 3x/week at least)
• Bring my lunch more, thereby save money!
• Swear less.  I have a little post-it note on my desk and I am certain it is working already.
• Work harder to improve my photography and business!

Lastly, here's the recipe for those cookies!

Monster Cookies (Makes 3 dozen):
I've never had monster cookies until ICM told me that those were his favorites and his mom made them often when he was young.  I found some recipes online and made a batch but it wasn't until eating the version that his mom made that I really started loving them.  They are really good cookies - not too sweet, slightly chewy, and filling - really great for hiking - protein and everything.

This recipe is based on a few recipes that I found online, so I take no credit.  This recipe also has a little bit less sugar and less butter than the others, so for those who are sugar/butter-conscious, this should be pretty good.  I think we're going to try to figure out how to substitute more sugar out with agave nectar next time...will keep you posted on how that goes.

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup packed brown or light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 12 oz peanut butter (I did 16 oz and it was good too)
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup M&Ms
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
• 4 and 1/2 cup old fashioned oats

Directions

• Preheat 350 degrees F
• Mix eggs and sugars together.
• Mix in salt, vanilla extract, peanut butter, butter, and baking soda.
• Mix in the rest and stir it all together.
• Take a tablespoon of batter, roll it a little and place it on your cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
• Bake for ~10minutes and let cool!  I always eat one warm though...preferably with ice cream.  
• Note:  I don't usually make all 36 cookies because we can't eat them all.  I'll make 12 and split the left over batter into two portions and put them in the freezer.  Other recipes say to eat them within a month or two. I've had it in for 3 and the cookies tasted fine still. 
• Enjoy

Happy 2012.  I wish you all good health, lots of laughter, lots of good and healthy foods, and lots of adventures :)

South Africa photos later today!

A rainbow made my day, my sister is the best, and the beginning of SA photos

As you can see by the post title, this is going to be a "variety" post.

1) To say that today was a boring day is an under statement.  Most people in the office were still out, trapped inside a cubicle after a fun Christmas was kind of sad...AND it rained pretty much all day.  Got poured on when I left work but when I got off the metro, there was this rainbow...and the best part was you can see the complete arc.  I only had the 50mm with me, so I had to rely on the iphone and later used photoshop to stitch two instagram photos together.  A super boring day turned into a neat one because of the rainbow :)

2) THEN I got the Christmas package that my sister mailed me today. It is the most thoughtful present ever! I love it. Thank you, Yings.  Good luck on your apps!!!

3) All right, so I have been promising photos from South Africa.  I realize that it's going to take a LONG time for me to post all the ones I like and tell you what we did, so I decided to make a highlight collage for each day.  Today I'll do Day 1 and Day 2, we'll see how this goes.  HAHA.

I think I've been productive enough tonight.  Good bye!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  I need to start making a list of resolutions for 2012!