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My friend Emily got married this weekend! It was a surprisingly warm day filled with emotion, wacky dancing, and frosting! I love the trend of having cupcakes instead of a single, multi-tiered cake - so much more accessible! We devoured these over coffee in the late hours of the party. I was amazed to find out that she had individually painted the color onto each one of these cakewalking couples in preparation for her big day. Here's a girl who knows what she wants!
I dragged my camera out today to get at least one good frame of the first day of buds on the trees. A little tricky to do from the passenger seat of my sister's car, but I got one that came out okay and it was even at that great time of night where everything turns slightly pink. Happy Spring!
Bangkok here is breaking all the rules. What a rebel.
Next time I'm here, I'd love to go sailing. This day seemed like a good day to bundle up and enjoy the ocean breezes, and from what I could tell on the drive around and the small window of the flight out, this coastline is a treat to tour. We witnessed these guys pulling out of a protected cove and then snuck into a private marina to check out the fancy boats - the parked ones.
Okay, well, I'm not sure about his choice of partner, but here's Jason, putting his new dancing cleats to the test! We got to do a little sight seeing after dinner and then hurried back to the car, slipping over the slick street plaques as we went. I was excited to find Alex Trebek's star on the boulevard after watching all the Jeopardy parodies I could find last week with my sister... "You'll rue the day you crossed me, Trebek."
Later on, after watching the Red Sox game, we drove around for an hour on (and off) Hollywood Boulevard, looking for parking. But even the more frustrating experiences are nevertheless experiences when you're away from home, and we had fun admiring the enormous store fronts, hopping from awning to awning to avoid the downpour, and laughing about our choice of restaurant, which was right in the heart of a neighborhood that appeared to be a clearinghouse for exotic dancer clothes. Jason called it the "undergarment district."
Later in the afternoon we drove up into the Hollywood Hills to get a glimpse of what all the fuss is about at the top. It was just starting to get dark and the clouds were settling over the city, getting ready for rain. A storm brewing on Mount Olympus... seriously, that's what it's called.
My incessant snapping paid off as we were driving along "the 101" on Sunday. This motorcyclist caught me taking pictures of the overpasses and waved to get my attention. He and his friend then showed off a few flashy stunts for the camera, including this wheelie right alongside our car. The picture came out a bit blurry, but I thought the story was worth the blogging!
This masterpiece of freshness can be found in the town of Manhattan Beach. It's called the Earth Wrap and it was so California I had to do due tourism diligence and eat the thing.
A dalmation peering down from one of the rich houses of the L.A. coastline. He looked like the only resident around that day, and we were happy to see that at least one of these homes was being lived in!
Fancy cars, palm trees, sand, sea, and the Stop sign, typical symptoms of L.A. We drove south to find the beaches... and success! Here we found Manhattan Beach, which features a beautiful promenade walkway that takes you alongside volleyball courts the beach is famed for and modern heavily windowed houses too rich for my blood. While the West coast wasn't quite the warm break I'd expected from the Northeast, it was perfect driving weather - sunny with a good breeze and wide open roads and coastline.
Yum! Swordfish skewers at a restaurant called LaLa's in Hollywood. We went there with two great friends - Rick and Jocelyn - and feasted on a few delightful Argentinian favorites. All together, we sampled both surf and turf - and I washed this course (or most of it) down with a light Argentina beer before hitting Melrose for some strolling, a wee bit of shopping, and an introduction to Galaga at a bar called the Snake Pit - which, incidentally, had the most interesting collection of liquor bottles lining the walls I think I've ever seen.
Personal space - that's what's being sold here. This weekend, we hung out in L.A. and enjoyed the humorous touches of our brightly-clad hotel room - bright green walls, enormous, modern canvas-painting headboards, a squeaky toy frog on the edge of the bathtub, and miniature personal oxygen "tanks" for sale in the bathroom. It would have cost us a pretty penny to crack the seal on this aerosol can of wonder, and curious as we were, we left feeling content to leave its promise of boosted vitality a mystery.
Where's the beef? It's right here! Jason spoiled me with a welcome dinner of hamburgers and wonderfully washed lettuce after two months in India - I could almost feel my iron count climbing! In all honestly, it hasn't been terrible living without red meat; in fact, I even began to prefer the veg cuisine to "non-veg" meals after a while, particularly in Delhi. But I do miss the occasional fast-food fix (especially when it's homemade)!
Alvin Ailey is back in town! I don't have tickets yet, and at this rate - with how hectic it's been since I got back and how steep the prices at the Wang have gotten - I'm not sure I'm going to this season! However, I dug out this picture from last year's show and I'll celebrate the occasion just the same. If you're going this year, enjoy a dance for me!
Here's a boat decorating the shores of the Pondicherry coast in southeast India. The fishing boats here are all painted brilliant colors - bright, but at the same time in harmony with the landscape. We saw them at sunset, which only made it seem more romantic, but see the fish kissing at the base of the vessel. Okay, so I don't really know my boat jargon... what's that called? In the top right corner, you'll see another type of boat, a seemingly makeshift canoe composed of planks lashed together at the furthest points. These must be like little rafts on the water. There were tons of little crabs scuttling in and out of holes in the sand and on the way home, we were hop-scotching around them just to get back to our hotel. They're probably nothing to be scared of, but so quick and spindly that I kept having this feeling they were somehow clambering up my calves as we trundled along.
Here's a delicious south Indian concoction that vaguely resembles a pizza. It's called Utthappam, and it has the consistency of a ricey bread stuffed with all kinds of vegetables and herbs. It's very good with chutneys or yogurts (curds), but better with these accessory foods than on its own in my view. I continue to be amazed at how creative the Indians are with their vegetarian fare. Why oh why can't we get away from soggy salads in the States?
Part of a funky, entirely brass door at the Amber Palace. The money the maharajas put into their homes is inconceivable to me! Then again, while in India I found myself lamenting the fashion of buying the kind of new-age, cheaply manufactured furniture you find in places like Crate and Barrel, IKEA, and Pier 1. Who will be looking at that stuff a hundred years from now and finding a treasured place for it as a beautiful artifact of a past era in their homes? Royalty has at least left us with the legacy of beautifully constructed things, made with the most expensive and unnecessary materials available.
Looking through the geometric grate of a Jaipurian palace window, you can see the manicured green of the courtyard below. I love how everything is so structured at these palaces. You can imagine the most chaotic, wild, and unexpected lifestyles going on inside these painfully symmetrical walls.