Angelica and Kenzo

The Best Macaron on Earth

2009-08-16T01:34:00.004+09:00

Alright, it doesn't look like much, but behold the Best Macaron on Earth. Clearly not made by me (yet! :D), this Pistachio Macaron can be found at Chez Paul at the Aeroport de Nice. It comes straight out of the refrigerated display and must be eaten right away.

The filling appears to be a white chocolate-based ganache, I believe, and has a smooth, cool taste that isn't overpoweringly sweet. The pistachio biscuit is in perfect harmony with the ganache, crispy, but not crunchy, chewy, but not gummy. And although Chez Paul has a decent selection of other flavours, pistachio rules them all.

The perfect macaron.

Myself and two other french people have called this the best macaron they've ever tasted, and that's after heartily perusing the selection at Paris' Laduree. Oh, Chez Paul. You give me something to strive for.

Fondant au Chocolat

2009-08-15T22:33:00.008+09:00

Tonight I had a craving for fondant au chocolat. The ingredients are easy to find, so I made some for a midnight snack!

Trust me, with the double contrasts of the crisp baked outside and melted chocolate inside, the warmth of the dessert and cool, freshly whipped cream.... it was reaaallly good.

Here's the translated recipe from A Touch of Cuisine.

Makes 2 servings

50g bittersweet chocolate
2 squares of the same bar of chocolate
55g butter
40g sugar
30g flour
1 egg

First, preheat the oven to 220°C. In a bain marie, melt the chocolate. Once it's melted, add the butter and remove to cool as soon as it's blended.

Whip the eggs and sugar until fluffy and pale yellow-white, then mix in the flour using a spatula. Finally, fold in the chocolate mixture.

Butter and flour the ramekins and place a square of chocolate at the bottom of each. Tip: if you use a brush to butter the ramekins, then brushing vertically, from bottom to top lip, helps the fondant (or souffle, whatever you're making) rise straight up.

Divide the batter between the two ramekins, about halfway each. Bake for 15 minutes, then wait 15 minutes before turning them over onto a plate. Serve preferably with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Chocolate Mousse

2009-07-30T19:55:00.007+09:00

Here's an oldie but a goodie. Kenzo's Chocolate Mousse, which he made for my 22nd birthday a few years ago, and many other times after :)

Mousse au Chocolat

Ingredients:

- 4 large eggs or 5 medium eggs

- 200g of dark chocolate

- a rounded tablespoon of creme fraiche (optional)

Instructions:

Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Put the yolks aside to use later. In a large bowl, add the egg whites and a pinch of salt. Now, use either a whisk or electric mixer to whip the egg whites until soft white peaks form. With a strong arm and the right technique, it should take about 5 minutes to obtain the required stiffness.

Next, break the chocolate into pieces and put into a bowl with 2 tablespoons of water. Heat in microwave for 30 seconds or until the chocolate is soft. Use a spoon to stir the chocolate until smooth. If you're using creme fraiche, add it here. It will keep the mixture creamy and keep it from hardening.

Next, stir in the egg yolks. Make sure the chocolate has cooled enough (not too much hotter than room temperature) or else your eggs will cook!

Finally, carefully place your stiffened egg white into the bowl containing the melted chocolate. Do not stir to combine - use sweeping movements, trying to 'envelop' the egg white with the chocolate.

Once the colour looks even, place into the refridgerator for at least 3 hours. Overnight is better!

Bon appetit!

Here's the full photo recipe from Kenzo's photo gallery.

Yakiniku Sauce -　焼肉のたれ

2009-07-07T22:04:00.007+09:00

Today, thinly sliced beef was on sale for ￥298 for a pack of 440g! That's enough to feed both of us dinner and leave us sleepily full. The only problem was, a search for Yakiniku sauce only turned up a couple of results.

This is where learning Japanese comes in handy.

A search for yakiniku no tare (焼肉のたれ) brought us to this Japanese cooking site. More googling and image searching yielded our translation for this Yakiniku Sauce recipe:

Soy sauce - 100ml
Sugar - 4 tbsp
Roasted sesame seeds - 1 tbsp
Sesame oil - 1/2 tsp
Chile bean paste - 1/2 tsp
Minced garlic - 1 clove
Minced ginger - 1 piece about the same size as the garlic glove
Black pepper - pinch
Ishimi Togarishi ~ red pepper flakes- to taste

The instructions? Mix everything together and marinate meat in it. We marinated for about 30 minutes. There's also a note that says it seems like a lot of sugar, but the quantity seems to make the final result quite oishii. We agree.

Note: We made a couple modifications this time because of a lack of ingredients (we omitted the chile bean paste and ishimi togarishi), and our yakiniku still was very tasty. Perhaps we'll try to refine the recipe with more precise measurements in the future.

Orange Givrée for ¥45

2009-06-27T22:24:00.009+09:00

It's getting hotter in Kyoto - and as much as I'd like to go out for matcha ice cream every day, ¥300 a pop gets pricey. So, we decided to make some homemade sherbet! Placed back into the oranges and topped with a mint leaf, we get the very cute Orange Givrée ("Frosted Orange").

At a lack of an ice cream maker, we went the Grade 4 science experiment route: using the ever-useful Ziploc bag.

2 medium-sized oranges (or 100ml orange juice)
3 tbsp sugar
200ml milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
mint leaf (for decoration)

4 tbsp salt (for cooling)
ice cubes
ziploc bag (preferably heavy duty)

Cut the tops off both oranges and scoop out the flesh and juice into a bowl. Avoid breaking the orange peel, but try to empty the orange as much as possible - the emptier it is, the more sherbet you'll be able to fit, and the neater the result will look.

Rinse the emptied-out orange shells under cold water, then place in freezer to keep them frosty. Now, strain the orange flesh to obtain about 100ml of juice.

In a freezer (heavy-duty) ziploc bag, add the juice, milk, lemon juice and sugar. Seal firmly and shake to mix. (Eventually we'd like to get a smaller, sealable metal container to replace the ziploc bag, but for now the ziploc bag works fine.)

Now, put the ice and salt in a big container - this can be a big ziploc bag, but we use a 2L tupperware container because it protects our sensitive hands from the cold and insulates better.

Place the bag of sherbet ingredients in the salt/ice container and seal well. Now, shake for 6-8 minutes, until the sherbet has stiffened sufficiently. Remove the sherbet bag and dry off on a towel.

We usually prepare this before our meal, so I stick the ice cream bag in the freezer while we eat. When dessert time comes, I take out the sherbet and oranges and fill them right before eating. I've tried filling the oranges then putting the oranges in the freezer, but this just creates a giant, sticky mess when the oranges roll around.

Ta-da! Here's to making ice cream quickly and cheaply!

Cost for 2: ¥89

2 Oranges @ 3/¥100.........33 yen

50g Sugar @ 500g/¥100......10 yen

200ml Milk @ 1L/¥100.......20 yen

1/3 Lemon @ 2/¥100.........16 yen

65g cup Salt @ 500g/¥100...10 yen

Risotto for 150 yen/person

2009-06-27T15:46:00.006+09:00

Risotto was one of those dishes that we made only for special occasions back home - mostly because the required type of rice - arborio - was an expensive, specialty rice. Well, it turns out that Japanese rice (aka sushi rice) is a decent substitute for arborio, and we have a 10 kilo sack of the stuff at home. Risotto time!

Here's Kenzo's recipe, modified for ingredients found in Japan.

Makes 2 servings.

1 medium sized onion
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup of Japanese rice (short grain)
1/2 cup of sake
3 cups of chicken stock
3 tbsp butter
a handful of Parmesan cheese*
Cooked toppings: eg. mushrooms, chicken, small pieces of carrot...

1. Dice the onion into small pieces. In a frying pan, sauté them on medium-low heat in olive oil until limp.

2. Add the rice (do NOT wash the rice first) and stir in the pan in order to coat all the grains with the delicious onion-flavored oil. Continue stirring over low-medium heat until the grains start to look translucent (about 2-3 minutes).

3. Next, pour in the sake (this is for flavoring as well as to pick up any caramelized bits of onion from the pan). Continue stirring until most of it has been absorbed.

4. Now, add about 2/3 cups of chicken stock into the pan, and stir until the stock has been mostly absorbed. Do this until all of the chicken stock has been absorbed. It should take about 20 minutes with 3 more additions of chicken stock.

While the rice is cooking, prepare some toppings to flavour the risotto. For example, we just cut some leftover carrot and eggplant and grilled it on the side. You can also just sauté the vegetables in a pan on a second burner, and even add some strips of chicken to make it meat-a-tarian.

5. When you pour the last (4th cup) of stock in the pan, stir in those toppings as well. When all of the chicken stock has been absorbed (warning: the rice should still be wet, with ~1tsp of liquid still visible), turn off the heat.

6. Fold in the butter and Parmesan cheese - it should have a creamy texture. That's it!

Serve immediately to prevent dryness. Bon appetit!

* Here in Kyoto we can only seem to find Kraft Parmesan :( Real stuff would be better, to add a gooey texture, but the powdery kind adds flavour, at least.

Cost for 2: 290 yen

Rice (385g) @ 3000 yen/1kg ................55 yen

Onion (1) @ 100 yen/10 onion ..............10 yen

Olive oil (30ml) @ 250 yen/350ml ..........20 yen

Sake (100ml) @ 100 yen/200ml ..............50 yen

Chicken stock (600ml) @ 250 yen/6300ml ....25 yen

Butter (1/7 stick) @ 350 yen/stick ........50 yen

Parmesan (1/10) @ 400 yen/can .............40 yen

Carrots (1/3) @ 100 yen/3 sticks ..........15 yen

Eggplant (3/4) @ 128 yen/4 ................25 yen

Otsukaresamadesu

2009-04-21T19:37:00.008+09:00

Last week my research lab had a welcome party for the new members, one of them being me! I was a bit apprehensive at first, being the only non Japanese speaking person at the party, but they were awesome hosts.

They walked me over to a Izakaya just a block away from the university, where multiple labs from the Informatics department were having their welcome parties too. Basically, us techies were taking over the place :)

I ended up chatting with some undergrads and a fellow gal named Suzuki-san, who were all super friendly and happy to chat in English, especially after some Asahi ^_^ We all got a little red, and once everyone was comfortable and loosened up (hee) the newcomers introduced themselves. They did it in English, which was great! I tried to say a few words in Japanese and was happy with the response.

Afterwards, we parted ways, upon which I learned a new expression: otsukaresamadesu. It's said to colleagues when saying goodbye and means something like "thanks for all the hard work you have done."

I'm really happy to be in such an active and social lab. Tomorrow is my first lunch meeting with the lab at school. Although I'm breaking my head over kanji and grammar for the moment, it'll be good to start getting accustomed to their lab culture. I can even post the robot photos that Colleen and Luke brought me when they visited us yesterday. Yay cubicle decorations!

Edit: I learned in class yesterday that otsukaresamadesu stems from the same word as tsukareta, which you say when you're tired. So literally I guess the expression means "you have honorably tired yourself out (thanks)"

Yuzu Quest

2009-04-18T19:20:00.002+09:00

After 4 hours of biking, dozens of vending machine checks, 6 convenience stores and 3 markets, we finally found what we were craving. Not hot yuzu drink, not yuzu sake...cold, refreshing yuzu drink a la JAL Skytime. Yay Lawson 100 en store!

My First Bento

2009-04-10T18:14:00.001+09:00

Kenzo makes lovely bentos for lunch and gives a joyful day.

Japanese Cellphones

2009-04-08T08:11:00.001+09:00

This is kenzos cell. It has free TV! I hope this works. Sending from my cell that has no english mode.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em

2009-04-07T10:16:00.004+09:00

Our first day in Kyoto, we realized that pedestrians are the minority. Walking down the sidewalks, we had to accustom ourselves to looking over our shoulder every 30 secs to avoid getting run over by bikes! Especially on the sidewalks around the university, we were lost in a sea of bicycles like I'd never seen before.

So yesterday we bought used bikes for around 6,000 yen each. On the suggestion of a friendly labmate, we leisurely pedaled down alongside Tetsugaku no michi or Philosopher's Walk, a canal lined with cherry blossoms just east of Kyodai.

Beautiful!

And the best part? We didn't have to wait in the snaking line up to get back on a bus afterwards. Hooray bikes!

山内ハウス - Yamauchi House

2009-04-05T06:33:00.003+09:00

Well, Kenzo's computer is out of commission for the next little while because his power adapter doesn't fit into the wall. And my computer is having problems reading the 16 gig memory card. Thus, you'll have to hold out a little bit longer for pictures. Use your imagination for now, kudasai :)

We are pleased to inform you that our accommodations for the next couple months are excellent. For a mere 43,000 yen per month, we have a spacious dorm-style room, a communal shower with electronic temperature control that feels like a spa, a building manager that lets me play his traditional Japanese flute, all a stone's throw away from markets, restaurants, and Lawson's & 7-11 convenience stores.

Just a few small inconveniences:

The door frame to our room must be about 5'3" tall, allowing me to *just* pass underneath, and Kenzo to hit his head if he's not paying attention (once and never again)
I'm sneezing more and more, using up all the free tissues that they hand out as promotional items in the streets. Hopefully it's just a cold, so it will just go away after a few days, but I fear I am allergic to Kyoto.

Yesterday it rained cats and dogs. However, our kind building manager, Hosomi-san, invited us for lunch, and we ended up spending most of the day in his apartment downstairs.

We ate alongside our next-door dorm mate, Kio, who is a Ramen Master. Technically, he is only a master of the soup part of the ramen, after working in a Tokyo ramen-ya for 2 years. I guess that gives you an idea of how specialized the ramen trade is.

What started as a leaf of seaweed boiling in a communal pot of water turned into a never-ending meal of delight. To the seaweed broth we added chicken, pork, enoki mushroom, sweet potato, and two types of greens. Once cooked, we dipped the meat and vegetables in our bowls of yuzu, shoyu and a certain type of japanese 7-spice. Yum.

I thought that was our lunch, but Kio then added his special dark sauce concoction to the broth, and it became our base for shoyu ramen. We added some pre-made ramen noodles and ate heartily. We were then really full, but Hosomi-san continued pouring out hospitality, adding delicious udon noodles to the broth.

For dessert, our host made round dango balls out of a bean powder called kinako (きな粉), and served them in a bowl with brown sugar. All this over the course of 4 hours... we were so full that no one ate dinner that night.

In a mix of Japanese and English, with the aid of an electronic dictionary, we learned that our building manager was both a self-proclaimed hippie and techno fiend. Using his hand-held synthesizer and turntables we turned his dining room into a rockin' mini dance party. I played along with my flute, and we had a swell time.

Alas, we succumbed to evil jetlag early and slept like babies as soon as we returned to our room. Perhaps tomorrow we'll be able to stay up past 8pm.

Our JAL Angel

2009-04-03T06:54:00.000+09:00

As per usual, yesterday's trip to Kyoto was an epic almost-disaster, the kind I usually get into when flying abroad. (cf. The Journey Back and Buy Travel Insurance)

Thankfully this time, Kenzo, who keeps his cool during stressful times, was at my side.

We're not quite sure where we went wrong, but at Tokyo Narita Airport, we had a choice between the green sign "international connnections" and the yellow "domestic connections". Now, perhaps it was because our late flight from Vancouver left us with only 45 minutes to make snap decisions, but we chose "domestic connections". We were flying to Osaka from Tokyo, that's a domestic destination, right?

Well, we continued quickly down that path, showing a whirlwind of people our tickets to confirm our choice, and each pointed further and further down an endless rabbit hole. Osaka, that way, up the stairs, no, down the stairs, this isn't your line... what? why are we at customs? ... no, our bags are checked through... you need that form in triplicate?... but that sign there says connecting from international flights... argh...

Let's just say that it continued like this until we were spurted out onto Level 3 and stopped. In front of us was a long, snaking line into Security. It was 4:10. The boarding time was 4:05.

Um.

We really couldn't miss that flight - my university had booked us a shuttle, and I'd gone through pains to confirm my late check-in time at our guest house in Kyoto. So what do you do?

I tried (not so) cleverly to speak in Japanese to the security guard looking over the line-up, attemping to convey my panic and accidentally saying 'gracias' instead of 'arigatou' (oops).

Kenzo more cleverly tried speaking in English to a JAL representative who became our guardian angel.

We followed our smiling JAL angel through the security crew entrance. She appeared to have been on a track team of some sort, because even with her JAL-certified blue heels and skirt, she glided swiftly through the air with her arms slightly outstretched, with us sweaty gaijin stumbling after her.

I'll never forget her reassuring smile and gracious bow as we thanked her profusely. We boarded as the last passengers on the plane, and the plane wasn't even late!

Amazingly, we arrived at exactly 9:00 pm for our rendez-vous with Hosomi-san, who was about 20 years younger than I'd expected. At 5:00 am our time, we were exhausted, but ravenous, so we dropped off our luggage and started exploring our new home... did I mention we're across the lane from a Ramen Ya? :D

Haha, April fools?

2009-04-02T04:07:00.001+09:00

Arriving 2h45min before our flight , we were greeted with a line 110m long to check-in. Well, at least YVR has wireless!

I <3 Street View

2009-03-16T03:53:00.000+09:00

It took some doing, but after a month of back and forth e-mails, descriptions of how to use Paypal, and even some Google Chat with the building manager, our guesthouse in Kyoto is finally booked. Yatta!

I didn't realize until doing a Street View how close the Yamanouchi house is to Kyoto University! I think I walk about a block and hit the edge of campus. A future labmate also said there's a grocery store and popular Okonomiyaki place nearby too.

It'll just be a short-term thing until we find a more permanent apartment, but until that time, we get to revel in main-activity-proximity.

Kenzo's camera has suffered an injury

2009-01-29T00:52:00.005+09:00

...and is now a Heroes cam (cue opening credits).

Dresses and flashlight keychains

2009-01-29T00:52:00.003+09:00

... are the ultimate travel accessories.

With the first item, when all the other tourists take 5 steps into Misol-Ha's waterfall cave and turn back, I can hike up my dress and plunge hip-deep into the fast-flowing waters.

With the mini flashlight, I can venture into the darkness and see cave fish travelling among the rocks around my legs. And even better, when I reach the grotto, I can notice that the spots among the stalactites are not just dark patches of rock.

They're bats.

Eek!

20 flights for 2000 euros

2009-01-29T00:52:00.001+09:00

At our last hostel we met a French couple doing a World Tour. They hit up Oman, United Arab Emirates, Malasia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, New Caledonia, US, Mexico, and were on their way to Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Toronto.

And then they told us that their plane tickets only cost 2000 euros. Total.

I'm sure it's not news to some, but it sure was news to us! Apparently you can pay 2000 euros for an open-ended plane ticket, valid for up to a year, for up to 20 destinations. There are also some restrictions regarding continents, or number of miles.

They also said that it was cheaper to buy it in the UK than in France; histoire de ne pas devoir payer certains impots, etc. I'm sure a google search would bring up the phone number you need to call to get this deal.

I personally will have to wait until my bank account is happier, but still, it's pretty cool...

Cold is not good

2009-01-24T01:37:00.000+09:00

Well, Kenzo was going to write the anti-climactic end to our overnight bus ride (essentially there had been a line of busses behind us the whole time and we'd been waiting for an accident to clear).

Unfortunately Kenzo has come down with the flu :( and is resting in bed with plenty of tea and fruits. San Cristobal de las Casas is cold, colder than Santa Monica in winter, though the direct sunlight at our current 2000m altitude helps.

Please wish him a speedy recovery!

Bussing at night

2009-01-23T03:19:00.001+09:00

The journey from Oaxaca to San Cristobal de las Casas is a long one of 11 hours, not because of the distance, but because the road is so narrow and windy.

Like many travellers, we decided the 11 hours would be best spent sleeping, and bought 2 tickets for a night bus. First class reclining comfort, a bathroom, and a security pat-down proved that they were indeed "mas comodo, mas seguro". I was sure to get a good night's sleep, I thought to myself as the bus took off with a muted rumble, lulling me to sleep.

At about 2 in the morning, I woke up. The bus was stopped, the engine off. I rubbed my sleepy eyes, wondering if the bus driver was taking a pee stop or if we were at an intermediate terminal taking on more passengers.

All I saw out the window with my myopic eyes was a high wall. Probably a terminal, I thought to myself, and snuggled back into my coat to sleep some more.

I woke up again. We were still stopped. Passengers were whispering in the darkness. What the hell? This time I fumbled into my purse and pulled out my glasses.

Outside my window was not a wall, but a massive cliff rising into the night. Beyond it and high above, hundreds of stars blazed brightly. I frowned. We were in the middle of no where.

"Tumi?" I nudged Kenzo next to me who was also awake and drinking water. "What's happening?"

"I don't know, but we've been stopped for 3 hours."

Crap, I thought, as different scenarios raced through my mind. Did we brake down? Run out of gas again? Did the driver have a heart attack?

And then a small doubt arose amidst my throughts. "Whenever possible, take the bus during the daytime to reduce the chance of robbery," our guidebook on Mexico had warned. Back in Colima, there had been a highway dubbed Ruta de Los Muertes, because of its rampant roadside terrorism. The small doubt in my mind was snowballing.

The words of our former hostel-mate Katja rang in my ears. "I would only take a first class bus to San Cristobal... you know the political climate is still touchy there, with the Zapatistas." I'd seen a Zapatista doll at the market earlier that day. It was a figure sheathed in black garb, carrying an assault rifle.

A pickup truck passing in the other direction briefly illuminated the bus' bare surroundings and the cliff to my left. Words scrawled onto the rock in white paint suddenly became visible. "JOB 33:16" glowed brightly, among several other ghostly bible verses whose book names were unknown to me, surely translated into Spanish.

Kenzo seemed to have the same apprehension as I, as he covered me protectively with his arm in the lonely, dark bus. I slowly pulled out my wallet, removed a card, and slid it into my security belt. Whoever they were out there, they were not getting their hands on my VISA.

To be continued...

Addendum

2009-01-22T08:41:00.001+09:00

Chapulines, anyone?

2009-01-22T07:24:00.001+09:00

While here in Oaxaca, we have been fortunate enough to sample a great many of the region's culinary delights.

As guests at the Hotel Chocolate Posada, we wake up every morning and have homemade hot chocolate, flavoured al gusto; my favourite is moka, Kenzo's chocomiel. Neither of us have tried what has been translated into as "Snake" flavour yet, though.

And being next door to the Market of 20 de Noviembre, we've also been offered numerous times sips of mezcal, tequila's local cousin. As expected, I prefer the mezcal derivatives, such as "sweet sweet mango pudding with alcohol taste added", or you know, mango creme liqueur or whatever they call it. Tasty!

We've even tried the local version of chorizo, bought for us on a late sunday night in the market by a Mexican man named Gregorio, who at first we thought was really friendly but then realized was just really drunk. Why does he keep telling us he's from the Universidad Autonome Benito Juarez de Oaxaca? Isn't that the 3rd time in 30 seconds he's asked us our names and shaken our hands? ...Ohh.

But it was not until only yesterday that we discovered the local snack that had been mentioned in our guidebook numerous times but whose name never appeared on any menu: chapulines.

See, curbside vendors sell everything from combs to pirated DVDs to fruit with chile on top. And near our hotel entrance, bulging sacks of crimson chiles and bead-like beans abound. So at first, our passing, non-descriminant eye told us that the bags overflowing with small, dried red-orange flecks were merely chili peppers of another variety.

But then we noticed the big peppers.

Only they weren't peppers, and had antennae and folded legs. The elderly woman tending her bag of huge, legged chilis took advantage of our double-take and proffered the word that solved our mystery. "Chapulines?"

Grasshoppers. I pointed, Kenzo gawked. We looked like major tourists.

What I didn't know was whether the grasshoppers were sold raw, like many other products in the market, or whether they were ready to eat as-is. So I asked the vendor in hesitant, crappy Spanish:

"Es... posible de comer..." (is it possible to eat)

I wanted to finish with the hypothetical "solo como este?" (as-is?) but she had already understood that I wanted to eat a sample and dropped a grasshopper into each of our hands.

I blinked in surprise then blinked again at Kenzo. That's our secret code for "You first," so he popped it into his mouth. "Mmm! Its not bad!"

I tried. Mmm! It was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, like a french fry! Slight hint of lime, and the lingering smell of olive? chili? oil that wafted though the aftertaste. Kenzo and I nodded approvingly, but our eyes said to each other "one's enough".

We both thanked her and continued on our way, picking legs out of our teeth. Clearly we considered bringing some back for y'all, but really, who likes week-old soggy french fries? Not I.

Rant

2009-01-21T06:09:00.000+09:00

Just a quick note of frustration - typing on the g1 is not all its cracked up to be. Multiple times, four in fact, we have lost lengthy messages in gmail and facebook because of Android browser's inability to "undo". This coupled with the fact that many online mobile interfaces are unwieldy, scrollball super sensitive, with some unknown combination of tiny keys that result in missing paragraphs...

Sigh, frustrating!!

On the other hand, big win yesterday as a laptop carrying Spanish woman (she lisped her c's) at the wifi cafe admired the litheness and portability of the G1 over her notebook.

Close encounters with the animal kind

2009-01-12T05:04:00.001+09:00

Our 4-day viaje in Zihuatanejo proved to be rich in sunshine, beaches, and creatures. As we are whisked away in air-conditioned economico bus luxury to Puerto Escondido via Acapulco, we can't help but reminisce about the animals that made our potentially tourist-ridden stay filled with "awww" and wonder:

* Droves of cormorants dive-bombing into the sea creating an explosion of water with each fishing attempt

* Hostel cats that have mastered the art of rolling into a hammock and taking a 4 hour siesta

* Tiny black chihuahua dogs blinking at you with such high frequency that you feel compelled to look away

* Lion-sized dogs made of pure, gleaming muscle, extremely well-behaved but still make you anxious when he nuzzles your crotch

* A yellow and green parrot that hangs upside-down and laughs at you while you encounter the lion dog

* Sailfish, as long as a 10-yr-old boy is tall, brought in by proud young fisherman ready to be sold and cooked at beachside restaurants

* Trumpet fish with shark-like fins that peek through the waves, which make Angelica panic in her snorkel gear and make Kenzo curious

* No monkeys

* Rooster in a box

* Three rock fish that we catch from the pier using fishing line and water bottles. And big fat blue fish that escape our lures, because they do not like our carne de pollo, solo carne de pescada (according to a local boy).

Thanks Zihua!

We went to the beach...

2009-01-08T13:24:00.001+09:00

And Kenzo dug me a big hole.

I love him.

Tecoman & Tecoman

2009-01-08T13:09:00.001+09:00

Above our hotel room door in Colima hung a crayoned rendition of the seaside town of Tecomán. We took it as a sign. Here is Kenzo enjoying a beer at the real Tecomán.

Kenzo eating/shooting a delicious banana

2009-01-08T13:01:00.001+09:00

One of the yummiest bananas we've ever eaten. Probably helps that it didn't have to be picked green and travel thousands of km.

Our digs in Colima, Colima

2009-01-08T12:59:00.001+09:00

The amazing Hostal Reforma, with A/C, free purified water, cable TV, kitchen, coffee, wifi, computers, and a cute little courtyard perfect for reading a Sci-Fi novel or eating quesadillas. We will miss thee, the cosy and authentic market next door, and the 5 peso churros <3

For other travellers' reference, 150 pesos with shared bathroom or 250 for private. (Ours is the wooden door in the picture.) Just had to stay one more night...and one more night again. :)

Three short chili stories

2009-01-03T11:10:00.001+09:00

Yesterday we ordered roasted chicken and other side dishes in Chapala. Being both really hungry we ate heartily and at one point, Kenzo gulped a full spoon of a green looking soup, before realizing it was in fact some very spicy chili sauce. Kenzo was silent for a few minutes.

While waiting for our bus to Colima we ordered a tortas (sandwich) at the airport-like Nueva Central bus station of Guadalajara. We asked for "sin chili, no picante por favor", which was acknowledged by the vendor repeating what we had just said. Problem is, it was still rather spicy. Communication fail or mandatory minimum mexican chili? I say the latter.

After about an hour on the bus, we're still in sprawling Guadalajara. Everytime we stop, vendors flock around the cars around trying to sell bread loaves, sunglasses, fruits, coconut milk, cleaning windshields, and even playing a quick clown show, asking for money in the middle of the street as cars speed up (yes a driver actually gave a few coins in passing). Even more surprising, once in a while the bus driver would open the doors just for the vendors to peddle their wares in the bus. We succumbed for a big cup full of yummy looking fruits that nearly killed Angelica. That's right. Problem was, Mexicans like sprinkling SALT and CHILI on their fruits. It was so spicy that Angelica literally choked on a piece of watermelon, trying to utter an inaudible "I'm choking". Kenzo stood by holding a container thinking Angelica was just puking from grossness. Fail.

But rest assured, Angelica eventually coughed it out herself. Meanwhile, Kenzo wondered the whole bus trip why his rear was so sore. The culprit: he'd spent the 4-hour long bus ride sitting on the Spanish phrasebooks he'd stowed in his back pockets.

That last story isn't really about chili, but...

Oh hey, we're in Colima!

A couple photos from Lake Chapala

2009-01-02T12:45:00.000+09:00

This and that... and that

2009-01-02T08:15:00.003+09:00

Amidst the plethora of similarities between French and Spanish that we discover each day, we noticed a point of Spanish grammar that paralleled, interestingly enough, Japanese:

In English, we have only the words "this" and "that" to use when pointing to objects. In French, we mostly use "ca" as a pointing word.

In Spanish, there are three words!
1. For an object close to the speaker, one points and says "este/a".
2. For an object away from the speaker and close to the listener, the speaker points and says "ese/a".
3. Finally, for objects far away from both the speaker and listener, one says "aquel/a"

In Japanese, there is also this 3-way differentiation, using kore, sore and are.

Wow!

Communication!

2009-01-02T08:15:00.001+09:00

With our weeks worth of espanol crammed before the trip and plenty of hand gestures, we managed to:

- get the price of a tarjeta SIM or "chip" as its called here
- find out that there was 50 pesos credit with it
- understand that an SMS cost .85 pesos
- figure out that we needed to dial *333 and press 1 to activate our SIM and to get the balance
- assure the girl that we had an unlocked phone that would work (deblocado)

Spanish success!

This is backpacking?

2008-12-31T15:47:00.001+09:00

Safe and sound in Guadalajara. A deal on orbitz landed us at the beautiful and historic El Tapatio Hotel, in a room with a sweeping panoramic view of the city lights. Very luxurious for what we paid (free wifi, breakfast and pool), but starting tomorrow we'll seek out even better bargains in the centro.

Griffith Observatory

2008-12-29T17:23:00.001+09:00

For an inexpensive, memorable evening, head up to LA's Griffith observatory (which looks eerily like l'observatoire de Nice), overlooking downtown. For only $0, enjoy Hollywood-quality entertainment while learning about the vastness of the universe. That's right, it's free! And newly renovated, with a delightful 23-minute film starring the oh-so-loveable Leonard Nimoy. The only regret is not staying long enough to endure the line-up to peer through the 12-inch Carl Zeiss telescope. Must return.

Testing, texting

2008-12-29T10:50:00.001+09:00

123! Off to Guadajara, Mexico on Tuesday but relinquishing our computers tonight! Luckily still have this G1 but my posts may sound oddly like clipped SMSs :)