Welcome to Travel Journaling: Final Entry 17-18 November

 I'm combing the last two days since my sister and I are no longer in Antarctica or with our tour group. I didn't get the chance to spend enough time in Santiago and hope to go back soon. 

17 November 2026

Mandarin Oriental 

Santiago, Chile

20:12

C.C. and I slept late and enjoyed breakfast in the club lounge. There was a small miscommunication with our tour, but we started out around 10:20. Our driver, Mo, took us all around the city starting at one of the large parks where we saw black neck swans. Santiago is very clean and well kept with lots of parks. We saw the tallest building in South America called the Gran Torre Santiago. It was hard to miss from anywhere in the city.

Mo told us the history of Santiago - mostly the recent history during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and the growth once Chile returned to a democracy. Roughly a third of Chile's population live in Santiago. They have a thriving financial district and a lot of new architecture.

I think my favorite area was the art district, Barrio Bellavista. An art show was going on outside and its where Pablo Neruda lived. We saw his house (now a museum), but it wasn't open to visit. It sits at the front of San Cristóbal Hill. There is a fine arts school nearby. Plaza Camilo Mori often has music and theater shows outside in the summer. One of the funniest street art displays we saw was a huge Olaf from Frozen on the outside of a ski rental building. 

Mo explained that Pablo Neruda has become a controversial figure in recent years - especially among women - due to his poor treatment of his ill daughter and that he confessed to raping a woman in Sri Lanka. He died at the very beginning of Pinochet's reign.

We passed by the Plaza de Armas and the National Church. We did stop to go inside the church. A service was going on, but we were still allowed to walk around and see the small chapel on the side. They offered virtual candles for 48 hours. 

Mo also told us a bit about Rapa Nui as it's properly called (Easter Island is it's colonized name). The island is now semi autonomous and requires special permits to visit. 

C.C. and I returned to the hotel around 14:20. We had lunch at Senso - the Italian Mediterranean restaurant at the hotel. The pasta was very good, but C.C. wasn't feeling well. We rested in the room after lunch. 

We had tea and desserts in the club lounge, then walked to the huge nearby mall to see the first IKEA in Chile. They have more locations now. C.C. and I walked through and took some pictures. Prices varied on what was or wasn't more expansive than in the U.S. We walked a bit around the mall - it was odd seeing spring and summer clothes out amongst the Christmas decorations. 

We had dinner on the club floor instead of going out. There was plenty of small plate food. We had an early night. C.C. got us a late checkout tomorrow. We plan to leave our bags at the hotel while we visit a few sites around the city. C.C. got us lunch reservations at a place Mo recommended. 

18 November 2026

Chilean International Airport, Signature Lounge

Santiago, Chile

21:05

It took us forever to check-in and get our checked luggage situated. 

We had a lazy morning. I spent an hour by the pool reading. C.C. enjoyed time in the room. C.C. requested a late checkout, so we stayed until our lunch reservations at La Calma at 14:00. Mo said that John Travolta had been there twice on his last visit to Santiago. 

The restaurant was small, but beautiful. We started with scallops and they gave us a ton of bread. C.C. had the king crab pasta while I tried mullet (Lisa), an oiler fish fillet. I also tried their mocktail, La Virgin, while C.C. enjoyed her wine.

Around 15:00 we caught an Uber to see the National Fine Arts Museum. It was celebrating 145 years of operation. It’s not a large museum, but it has a really cool collection of mostly Chilean art. Many of the older works are well produced reproductions, but their contemporary art is out of this world. 

As we entered, we were greeted by the piece Mamita Montana - which was huge. We also saw works by a Chilean woman who grew up in exile with her family in Sweden during Pinochet's reign. There were also multiple art house movies going on in several rooms. I especially liked the videos of letters spelling out "racism" being destroyed. The second floor had pieces from Chile's different art movements. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything precolonial. 

We left the museum and went back to IKEA for C.C. She wanted to buy a Christmas wreath that they aren't selling in the States. We shared a toffee tart cake at the restaurant to kill some time. We also stopped at H&M. C.C. had me buy some nice summer pants and a Jaws shirt to go with my hat. She also got a shirt with a French cafe on it. 

As we left the shopping mall area, we stopped for a hot dog at the fast food place, Doggis in the food court. Santiago has a huge hot dog culture. I got a Dinamico - it has tomatoes, avocado, and major on it. C.C. and I shared the Fanta and fries. It was good. 

Dogs in general seem to be popular in Santiago. People bring them everywhere - including the mall. 

We went back to the hotel to get our luggage and get on an Uber to the airport. There have been people outside the hotel, waiting for a celebrity. Based on outfits and recent performance schedules, we think Oasis was staying at the same hotel as us. Sadly, C.C. had no idea who Oasis was.

At the airport was a huge line to check-in. When C.C. mentioned her status, the crew directed her to a special lounge where we could check-in. It took a while to ensure our bags would make it to the final destinations. I managed to grab a pin for me and a few extra presents before going through security.

We are currently in the lounge having food and drinks. C.C. had a nice shower. I'm about to change into my flight clothes. 

This has been a great adventure and I'm glad I got to share it with my sister.

Until the next post. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like to hear from me.

Welcome to Travel Journaling: Antarctica Entry 16 November

 Only two more blog posts (three more dates) to go. From here, C.C. and I leave the National Geographic tour and go off on our own to explore Santiago, Chile. 

16 November 2026

Mandarin Oriental 

Santiago, Chile

20:32

We said our final goodbyes to everyone at our hotel. Information was shared and exchanged. 

C.C. and I got up really early for us and got to breakfast around 7:30. We sate with K, El, and B. Breakfast was really good. There were eggs, grilled vegetables, sausages, cookies, pastries, tons of bread, yogurt, and very good coffee. They even had lactose free yogurt.

C.C. repacked (I had last night) and I went for a walk. I found the spa area - they have two hot tubs outside and a huge pool area. Unfortunately, it opened at noon and closed at 18:00, so we couldn't try them out.

Before that, C.C. El, K, and I went to the gift shop. Sadly, the art wasn't for sale, but C.C. and I bought a gift for our mom. Our aunts would have loved the hotel - it was in their art style.

D and I took a final "hike" to the beach to take pictures. D told me a bit about Patagonia and plans to come back to hike the area at some point. We got pictures of a bird that didn't fly off right away. Rabbits were everywhere and the hotel didn't mind them at all.

I got back to the hotel in time to get my bags to the shuttle. C.C. and I almost left my neck warmer in the room. I ran back and got it.

With C.C.'s premium status, C.C. we got through check-in quickly. They even checked our carry-ons for us. C.C. had El and K join us for premium check-in. We sat with Da and Mk near the cafe. C.C. bought these Oreo type cookies called Triton. They were so much more flavorful than Oreos. K thought there was hazelnut in it. B also gave me a quarter of his huge ham and cheese sandwich - it had been heated up.

Boarding the plane was delayed a bit. We had to walk out to the plane to board. The airport was small with only one date and one security check point. 

The flight was great. C.C. got us premium seats. The sandwich on this flight was very good and we were given yummy chips too. Getting into Santiago was a little bumpy, but we made it just fine - along with our luggage. 

C.C. was a bit stressed about getting to the hotel, but the Uber worked great. Santiago is a city like I've never seen before. We're in a wreathy area, but there is still poverty. However, it's not as hidden as in Buenos Aires.

The Mandarin Oriental is beautiful. Our room is on the club level and is considered two stories (basically we have to step down into a lounge area). We have a fantastic view of the mountain range. Tomorrow, we have a private tour and then we hope to spend the afternoon at the pool.

We had dinner at one of the hotel restaurants. Matsuri is a Japanese, Peruvian, Chilean fusion restaurant. I got a sushi roll with steak on the outside and avocado, tempura shrimp, and cilantro on the inside of the rice. C.C. chose a pepper steak dish with steamed rice. 

Our server was great. He missed our double order of shumai, so he had C.C. try the house wine - a blend that is only made for the hotel. He told us the peppers in C.C.'s dish were colloquially called a dirty word. C.C. didn't didn't understand why I was cracking up until I explained the translation. I ate one and boy did my sinuses feel good and my mouth tingle. It was just a touch too spicy for me.

I had Peruvian donuts called, picarones, that were mixed with dulce de leche and citrus foam. They were amazing. The manager for the restaurant came over to see how we were doing. He told us that the picarones were one of the sweeter desserts they served. C.C. and I told him we didn't think it was very sweet. He understood why once we said we were Americans - he had worked in Miami and recalled that the desserts there were sugar bombs.

We ended the night by confirming our tour for tomorrow, showers (it was another rain shower), and a call with our mom. 

Until the next post. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like to hear from me.

Welcome to Survival Soup and Bread

Did y’all know that Putin’s grandfather was a cook? I hadn’t. 

Apparently, it is a widely known (and propagandized) fact in Russia. Putin himself noted the fact in early interviews to secure his popularity in a post Soviet Union world. It likely adds a layer of humility for the leader to have come from a family of cooks.

I recently finished Witold Szabłowski’s What’s Cooking in the Kremlin: From Rasputin to Putin, How Russia Built an Empire with a Knife and Fork. Witold (he’s always referred to by his first name while conducting interviews in the narrative) is a Polish reporter whose other works include How to Feed a Dictator and Dancing Bears. The interviews all took place before Russia’s invasion of Ukrainian and my copy contains a preface and afterword about the impacts it has had on the people whose stories are told.

The book is fascinating and hard to put down. Starting with the story of the Czar’s loyal cook dying with the doomed family and ending with the final thoughts of a cook who worked in the Kremlin and Stalin’s favorite dacha, this book covers roughly a century of Russian (and USSR) history through the view points of cooks. Both men and women are represented in the book as well as former Soviet satellite states. Some of the best stories are also some of the emotionally hardest.

Famine happened in the former USSR, mostly intentionally done to starve the targeted population out of existence. The Nazis killed about 1.5 million people in their siege of Leningrad, while Stalin himself instigated the 3 to 7 million deaths during the Ukrainian Great Famine. Witold’s interviewees note that they were able to survive by becoming bakers or cooks for the few institutes that still had resources and if they were too young to work, their mothers did.

Bread and soup were what kept them alive.

There are many instances where bread and soup come up as important food staples in literature. The Hunger Games nearly always points out the different types of bread the Districts bake and Peta is the son of bakers. He even saves Katniss before the games by giving her burnt bread. Jean Valjean is arrested for stealing a loaf of bread early in the narrative of Les Misérables. Plus the Bible references bread multiple times. 

As for soup, one of my dad's favorite stories was that of "Stone Soup" (I wrote a blog post about this several years ago). There are several versions of this tale, but the most common one I know involves soldiers returning from the Napoleonic wars. I also read Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak all the time as a kid. 

What many of these stories have in common is that bread and soup were an important part of comfort and survival. When made with little processing, bread and soup both pack a powerful nutrient punch. Soup typically has some kind of vegetable and protein, while bread should have whole grains with plenty of fiber. Add in a bit of hard cheese and you've got a great comfort meal. 

Soup kitchens are often euphemisms for places that feed the most vulnerable of our communities and bread lines are a term for unemployment (and getting government assistance, especially during the Great Depression). For long journeys (especially at sea), hardtack was often included as a shelf stable supply. Hardtack is dense, long lasting cracker like bread that is softened with hot liquids like coffee, tea, or soup.

I love a nice hot bowl of soup. I made some tonight - butternut squash soup with carrots, honey nut squash, sweet potatoes, red onions, and garlic. I ate it with some apricot bread I picked up at the Farmer's Market yesterday, though I often top it with homemade croutons or a toasted baguette. When I'm really struggling with what to eat for dinner, I often make something I call a "pantry soup". It's whatever I can find in my pantry and refrigerator that could make a good soup. Black beans with onions in whatever broth I have on hand with a bunch of herbs is probably my easiest and favorite (this is the recipe from my food blog - which I haven't updated in a while...I'll get on that).

With the seasons changing to cooler weather and times getting tougher, I won't be surprised if more people start to bake more and share soup recipes. During COVID, bone broth and sourdough starters became wildly popular. I think we'll start seeing this trend again soon.

If you are able to, please pick up a canned good or two for your local food pantry. There are a lot of people out of work right now with the government shutdown and the start of an economic slump. I'm seeing more and more people pan handling on major intersections. 

I'm glad I read Szabłowski’s What’s Cooking in the Kremlin. I learned quite a bit about Soviet history through the lens of food and the people who made it. Without a doubt the saddest story was about the women who cooked for the people trying to stop the Chernobyl melt down in the Fairytale Forest. Many died from radiation poisoning and those who are still alive suffer greatly from all kinds of health problems. Bread and soups feature prominently in the book along side the personal stories. The book even includes a few recipes. 

What is your favorite soup? Do you have a favorite bread? I love a good gazpacho in the summer and an easy chicken noodle in the winter for soups. My favorite bread is probably naan or spoon bread.

Let me know your favorites in the comments. and whether or not you consider chili a soup (I personally do not, but I'm open to changing my mind).

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you like hearing from me.

Until next week. 

Welcome to a Chicago Work Trip

For how much of my life I spent going to Michigan, one might have expected that I had (at some point) taken a side trip to Illinois to see one of the most famous cities on the Great Lakes. After all, it’s not that far from the Mitten State and both my parents often traveled there for one reason or another.

So it might surprise some of you, that this was my first trip to Chicago.

It also might surprise some of you, that I loved it.

Technically, my trip to the Windy City was a work trip. During the first weekend of June, the Chicago convention center is turned into basically Disneyland for Oncologist (minus the rides). I was there working at an information booth in the East Building pretty much all day. I got there at 6:30AM CT and didn’t leave until approximately 6:30PM CT, except for one day where I had a couple of receptions.

That meant that I only had a couple of hours each evening to explore the city.

And I did not waste them.

My hotel was close to Navy Pier, the River Walk, and Millenium Park. I had a great view of the Navy Pier and Lake Michigan from my room. Since it’s summer, the sun stayed up lake enough for me to enjoy the sunsets. It only rained one day.

Truthfully, I barely got a taste of Chicago.

I didn’t have an opportunity to go to any museums, see the aquarium, or take that famous river architecture cruise that everyone at work jokes about (there are multiple types). However, I made it a priority to enjoy my time, see some of the sites, and try the great food famous offerings.

From my understanding, Chicago is famous for three things: the prohibition mob, the unique architecture, and the food. 

I decided to focus on the food and ended up trying my first authentic deep dish pizza (apparently I did right to get it at the Giordano’s on the Navy Pier), my first Chicago hot dog (Detroit Coney dogs are still better, but it was worth the try), and spent an evening at The Dearborn (one of the chef’s is a guy who beat Bobby Flay on Food Network).

In my quest to try all this food, I also took the opportunity to enjoy the local street art, which included the architecture. I caught a glimpse of The Bean (yes, I know that’s not it’s real name; no, I will not call it the proper name because the artist is a massive d*ck). The Blue Cross Blue Shield building had lights lit up that said #ENDALZ (end Alzheimer). The river walk has tons of art displays - some of which are actually play areas for kids. I especially loved the play area in the park behind Millenium park. Each play area was incredibly sensory stimulating, physically challenging (I only walked over a shaky bridge because I’m well over the age of 12, but my inner child was so happy), and incredibly well taken care of. I wish we had more of them in other cities.

Navy Pier was my first stop. That evening, I had the longest amount of time to go out and explore and I could easily see the famous pier from my hotel. Though I didn’t go up to the area with the rides, I did enjoy walking around the area. There’s a combination of indoor and outdoor spaces available to walk around with a Children’s Museum, hotel, shops, and restaurants to go with the ride area. It reminded me a lot of boardwalks along the New Jersey coast, specifically the piers in Wildwood and Ocean City. The only thing that threw me off was the smell. Instead of the salty sea air, it was the scent of city mixed with fresh water of the second largest Great Lake. It wasn’t a bad smell, just different.

There’s still a lot I need to explore in Chicago, so I know I’ll be back (especially since my sister also loves the city and wants to visit during the Christmas markets). I really want to see the art museum and aquarium, and I have to take a ghost tour. I’d also like to see a comedy show or a recording for NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me”. And apparently that architecture cruise is well worth the money.

So there’s only one question that remains.

Is Chicago deep dish pizza better than the famous New York slice?

No, they are both great for different reasons. The truly best slice of pizza (at least in the United States) is Jersey Shore Boardwalk pizza. It’s the oregano, trust me.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to False Spring

 Last week was the solar equinox. 

Spring has "officially" begun in the Northern Hemisphere.

I celebrated the changing of the seasons by spending time outside and planting my balcony garden. I'm hoping to have some tiny tomatoes, lots of herbs, green beans, lettuce, and strawberries. I also included flowers to attract pollinators like butterflies and bees. 

And this weekend I had to bring everything in because Mother Nature decided it needed to go below freezing most of this weekend.

Thanks climate change.

Yes, changing climate is part of this annoyingly inconsistent weather patterns we've been experiencing. It's more of a thorn in my side than a tried and true problem. 

To save my garden from a late frost, all I had to do was move all of the pots inside my apartment. Sure they get less light, but they'll stay warm and eventually go back outside without any problems. It's an inconvenience to move everything, but it's not that difficult of a thing for me to do.

I have a solution for this last hold out of winter. 

But what if I couldn't move my garden? What if I had already planted it right into the ground instead of pots?

Well, a quick Google search would help me find tips to protect my garden from the late frost. There are loads of tips and tricks to protect plants from a sudden frost as it's become an issue to have a short warm spell followed by a cold snap. At worst, I have to replant my garden.

But what if it wasn't a garden? What if I had planted a whole field of crops that I depended on to harvest at the end of the season and I couldn't replant the crops? What if it wasn't just cold snaps I needed to worry about, but extreme heat or droughts? What if there was a biblical event that wiped out everything my livelihood depends on?

Why am I even thinking about these things if all I have going for me is a tiny balcony garden?

My garden is a hobby. I don't depend on it for financial needs or food. It's something nice to have that occupies my time and occasionally lets me add some extra flares to my meals. 

However, the food that I don't personally grow, I get at the store or farmer's market. If I buy my food from the store, that food might come from anywhere in the world. The food's journey from it's origin point to my dinner plate is long and has a lot of points of interest that can add to the costs I spend at checkout. These added points might be customs fees, fuel for transportation, storage costs, and enough money to pay every person who's labor went into growing, packaging, and transporting the food. Each point adds an extra layer to the price you pay at checkout...and then tax is added.

Of course, I might be able to cut out some of the costs and points of interest by getting my food directly from the farmers. Especially since each step in the process to get the food from the grocery store from other countries contributes to higher inflation. There's also less risk of food spoiling on a long journey than to buy it locally.

Except, I'm not hear to argue the virtues of where to buy your apples. 

And boy don't these apples look good!

I'm more pointing out how a cold snap might affect my ability to buy apples from my local farmer. Depending on the circumstances, the price of apples may go up, there might be shortages, or both scenarios might occur. The worst case is that there are no apples and the farm has to close down because they can't pay their bills. That adds to the overall decrease supply of apples that can be bought overall which further drives up price if demand doesn't change.

But importing food should help with supply right? Surely if we can't grow our food locally, we can still find sources to help with supply?

Yes, but there are risks. 

We've seen during the pandemic the problems associated with supply chain issues. Ports were overflowing with cargo that wasn't being unloaded because people weren't able to work. This lead to shortages at the grocery store and eventual higher prices. We're also dealing with higher fuel costs which is also going to drive up prices.

Oh, and now there's a war going on in one of the highest grain producing countries in the world.

All of these things are going to cause food shortages. Add in our good friend climate change and suddenly crops that were once easy to grow in a specific location, can't anymore. In my home state of Virginia, we've been having issues growing tomatoes since the early 2010s because of the changing climate. Will states famous for their tomatoes like New Jersey start having these same issues in the 2020s? 2030s?

The simple solution might be to have farmers change to crops that better suit the new climate.

Except that's not really that simple. We're seeing weather events that are unprecedented, heat waves and droughts that can take out the hardiest of plants - even the ones we're genetically modifying to account for these climate changes (humans have been messing with plant and animal genetics since we started farming - why do you think corn has a husk). 

If crops fail, people starve because demand for food doesn't go away. People need to eat to survive. 

This leads into many other topics (such as human migration, new diseases, and other catastrophes) that I don't have the time (or mental capacity) to get into. 

Needless to say, climate change is here. We have to adapt. I might be annoyed that I had to move all my plants inside because of a sudden cold snap (that are coming later and later into what should be considered Spring), but this annoyance is also tied to a deep fear that one day we might not be able to keep up the food supply with demand.

What will we eat then?

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Until next week. 

Welcome to the Last Post in 2021

 I know a lot of people are thinking it, but when did 2020 become 2021...and how did 2021 pass by so quickly?

This will be my last post in 2021. I spent part of the year without a job, started traveling again, and have continued to worry about COVID (despite the vaccine).

This holiday season is a little different than last year. Though COVID is always at the back of my mind, being vaccinated has given me a little freedom. 

Last weekend I went to a local production of the Nutcracker with a friend. Most of the audience was made of the dancers' family and friends. I (being determined to see any production of the ballet live) really enjoyed myself. Some of the dancers were absolutely tiny and positively adorable. All of the dancers were fantastic. 

I am happy to encourage anyone who has a local theater group or community center to check out any productions they may be putting on. Not only are they fun, but they support your area's artists, dancers, actors, and talent. I'm actually kind of sad I missed a local production of the Dracula ballet (there are actually several versions of the Dracula ballet which can be found on YouTube). 

This weekend, I had a couple of friends over for my first holiday bunch! 

It was so much fun and I may have gone a little overboard while cooking (there are tons of leftovers). The Wassail I made was a particularly big hit, as was the pumpkin cake and mocktail I came up with on the spot (a scoop of cranberry relish, some pomegranates, and pomegranate bubbly water in Champaign glasses - the full thing will be in my food blog). Christmas music played in the background (okay it was the Nutcracker) and I had a roaring fire in the fireplace. Lights are strung up all over and my tiny tree is fully trimmed. 

Yesterday, I spent the whole day cooking and cleaning my apartment. I found the cleaning therapeutic and helped me feel like I was sweeping out the old year. I even took time to wrap up all the presents. It's hard to believe Christmas is in less than a week and New Years is in less than two. 

Over the next couple weeks, things will be quiet. The only major event I'll be attending is a driver through light display. I went last year with my dad and it was the only request he had this year to do during the season. Maybe I'll also take a day trip into DC to see the train display at the outdoor botanical gardens and the Congressional ("People's") tree.

2021 was a long year that somehow felt very short. It was eventful and at the same time very boring. My hope is for some peace and stability. Though I hope to travel again soon, I'd much rather know that people are safe and my cat can curl up on my head whenever she feels like it.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. May you all have a nice rest, a little peace, and lots of fun memories. 

Good bye 2021.

Welcome 2022. 

If you enjoyed this post (or if really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Welcome to Adventure Part 2: Food - All the Best Food

One of the best things about the human experience is eating food. It's a human universal need to eat and how we eat can be influenced by our family, location, and culture. People can eat on the go or sit down for an hours long meal with over 20 courses.

I learned in Hong Kong if you order coffee or tea, you get a whole pot to drink.

How, where, and when people pause for a quick bite can vary for culture to culture. The United States, with all of it's regional cultures, does have a few cultural quirks to our eating habits. We occasionally eat on the go, fast casual restaurants such as Panera have risen in popularity, and dinner is our big meal of the day served around 18:00, whereas lunch is typically smaller and eaten as quickly as possible.

These habits are not as typical outside of the US. When traveling in Europe, I've often eaten dinner well after 20:00 and sometimes as late as 22:00 and the portions are a lot smaller than anything I get at a restaurant back home. In Japan, it's considered rude to walk around eating or drinking. If you buy a drink from a vending machine, you stand there and drink it before continuing on your way.

My favorite part of traveling is trying all of the new foods.

Katsu Udon for Nara is a little different from udon made in Tokyo

There are a lot of different types of food that aren't available in all parts of the United States, and even if they are available, they might not taste the same as where I first had them. A lot of international food that's brought to the United States has been modified for American tastes and the available ingredients. That's not even getting into the many regional differences in food from the original country. Italian food from northern Italy can be very different from the dishes served in southern Italy.

An example of Hong Kong dim sum

This is also true when traveling outside of the United States.

My first memories of going to Japan as a young kid was having pizza the first night for dinner. I was told that the pizza ordered was an "American style pizza". It had corn on it. I have never had corn on pizza in the United States. I didn't even know putting corn on pizza was a popular topping.

The corn on the pizza was yummy. This past trip to Japan I tried corn sushi (again, something I had never heard of). It was not the yummiest thing I had on my trip, but I can safely say I tried.

This is corn sushi...sweet corn, mayo, sushi rice, and nori

Honestly, 99% of the food I try is delicious. It's very rare that I eat something I don't like. Sure, it's scary to take a bite of something I might not know exactly what it is, but I find that it's a risk worth taking.

Takoyaki is so good. I usually don't like octopus, but this was amazing!

Though I do have a couple of dietary restrictions, they aren't life threatening and the foods can be avoided. I will admit that it can be challenging making certain I won't accidentally eat something that will make me sick, especially if the menu I'm looking at isn't available in a language I understand.

For people who do have dietary restrictions that are life threatening, it can be a challenge. Thankfully, a lot of airlines and hotels can help travelers out. I was able to per-order my airline meals to make certain that nothing would make me sick several kilometers in the air. I've also had luck at many of the places I've stayed from hotels, hostels, and even Airbnbs at asking people for good places to eat at that have food safe for me to eat.

Part of the adventure of traveling is trying new things, food especially. If you don't have any food restrictions, I recommend trying anything and everything. You might be surprised at what you end up loving. And end up not enjoying something you try, at least you can say you tried it.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to Adventure Part 1: I Can't Relive the Past

Happy Easter everyone. I spent the day doing some chores and trying to get back into my usual sleep schedule. I got off of a 15 hour flight just before midnight last night and somehow managed to catch the last train home. Though taking the Vomit Comet (as the last train around these parts is occasionally referred to as) wasn't really how I wanted to end my holiday, it was at least entertaining to listen to the drunk people at 2:00 in the morning.

In my last blog post, I wrote about how I was taking a break from social media. Well I lasted exactly as long as I wanted to (a week and a half), just long enough for me to take a trip to Japan and Hong Kong.

If there is one point in my life I wish I could relive, it was my trip to Japan when I was 11 years old. I spent six weeks with my aunt and uncle and it was definitely I major turning point in my life. It was my first major trip overseas and without my parents. There were a lot of good times and of course some drama (when isn't there when with family).

It took me nearly two decades later to return to Japan. A lot had changed, though riding a bike around the small city my uncle lives in brought back a lot of memories.

I remember bits and pieces from my first trip and this second trip was great, but it was very different from the first. It was just me and my uncle this time and he packed in a lot of trips all over the area. I didn't make it to Tokyo, but got to visit Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Nishinomiya, and Hiroshima again. I saw places I remember going to the first time, but most where new locations.

The Osaka aquarium is really cool and has two whale sharks

Kyoto is still one of my favorite cities and Osaka is probably one of the coolest places I've ever been. Part of me wishes I could have spent more time exploring Japan, but I don't have the same amount of free time I did as a kid. Work takes a priority.

One thing I've gotten better at since I was an 11 year old is travel journalling. My trip to Japan was the first time that I kept a travel journal. My grandmother kept one every time she traveled and I wanted to do the same. At first I didn't understand what that meant and my aunt thought my handwriting was awful. So every day my aunt would have me sit at the kitchen table practicing my handwriting and then every few days (when we were out and about) she would have me write in my journal.

Every trip since, I've kept a journal when I travel. Some of my journals have multiple trips recorded. My current journal is brand new (a gift from a Secret Snow Flake exchange) and now filled with the tales of my latest trip.

I also took around 500 photos.

I am not ashamed.

This trip I was in Japan in mid-April, just in time for the end of the sakura (cherry blossom) season. Everywhere I looked there were beautiful pink flowers. I went river rapid ride on traditional-style boats in Kyoto and I was able to see a whole mountain side of the blossoms. It looked like a water color painting.

And since it was cherry blossom season I was able to try sakura mochi. Mochi in Japan is very different than what I can get in America. Mochi is traditionally sweet rice smashed into a smooth bun and stuffed with a sweet paste (usually red bean). Sakura mochi is made from the cherry blossoms, dyeing the mochi pink and wrapped in a leaf soaked in salt water.

You can only get these delicious treats in April, while the cherry blossoms are in bloom.

Japanese food is amazing. It's not like Japanese food you get in America (a lot less salt for one thing). There are mostly mild umami flavors with lots of noodles, fish, and rice. Bento boxes are by far the best way to have lunch and street food in general is amazing.

My uncle some how gets me to try all the different food available, even when I'm a little nervous about what I'm eating. For example, I typically don't like octopus (it's a texture thing - not to mention the suction cups *shivers*), but I tried takoyaki or grilled octopus balls and loved them. They're a specialty in Osaka and I totally recommend trying them.

If you take the boat ride in Kyoto you can try grilled squid cooked right on the side of your boat.

Sushi is also a little different in Japan. Sure you have the usual tuna and shrimp, but there are some that I didn't recognize. By far the oddest was corn sushi. I tried it. I don't have to try it again.

I might not be able to relive the trip I took when I was 11, but I can keep traveling and revisiting the places I've been before. Everything and everyone is always changing. Japan 20 years ago is not the Japan of today and 11 year old me is certainly not the me of today.

And even if the toilets in Japan are super fancy (especially at the train stations - and so clean), there are still a few places where it's just a hole in the ground that you have to squat over.

There will be more about adventures next week. Until then!

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Welcome to St. Patrick's Day

"Everyone is a little Irish on St. Patrick's Day." - many a drunk person on March 17th.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! A day to wear green, get drunk, and feast on corn beef and cabbage...at least if you're in the United States. I can't speak for how the day is celebrated outside of the States.

Last night, I was at a friend's house to celebrate. We had traditional corn beef with potatoes and carrots dowsed in Irish beer and watched classic 80s fantasy movies (which isn't traditional so much as just plain fun).

Honestly, I didn't realize how big of a celebration St. Patrick's Day was until I moved to New Jersey. They take today very seriously. Growing up, St. Patrick's Day wasn't that big of a deal. I just needed to make sure I was wearing some form of green to avoid getting pinched and in college, it was an excuse to buy overpriced beer that was dyed green. Plus it was fun to watch the Disney Channel Original Movie "Luck of the Irish" every year. 

Heck, I got a text from one of my cousins laughing about how they forgot about the celebration - which shows how important St. Patrick's Day is to my family.

The difference from where I grew up and where I live now is likely ancestry. New York and New Jersey have a higher number of people of Irish decent. St. Patrick's Day became a way for the Irish immigrants to keep in touch with their roots. New York has a big parade and there are tons of websites letting people know where to go to get the most out of today's favorite drink: beer.

Though I think it's become more popular over the years with everyone because it's an excuse to party.

This history of St. Patrick's Day is a lot less about partying and more about religion. St. Patrick is the patron Saint of Ireland and March 17th was the day set aside in the catholic calendar as a Feast Day for him. Feast days are days to honor a specific saint's martyrdom for Christianity and, in some regions, for people who were named for that specific saint (in place of a birthday, people celebrated "name" days). 

St. Patrick was a Romano-British missionary to Ireland in the 4th century. He later became the bishop of the Emerald Isle and preformed many miracles in Christ's name, including banishing all snakes from the island. He was also known for using a shamrock as a visual symbol for the Holy Trinity and for having a walking stick which sprouted a living tree.

Though he did a lot of amazing things, partying wasn't one of them. 

So, enjoy the day or weekend and try to fit a few thought in about the real life St. Patrick. New York is an awesome place to celebrate St. Patrick's Day as is Boston and Chicago (I hear they dye the river green there) or find the nearest Irish pub (a few of my cousins swear there's at least one in every major city around the world if you look hard enough).

If you're interested in the Irish experience in America and are in New York City, you might want to check out the Tenement Museum in the East Village. They have a lot of different tours, but a few are specific to the Irish experience.

Erin go bragh!

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to Food World Building Part 5: The Food Desert and Oasis

A few days ago, I got a text from my younger sister. She just moved to Mississippi and was shocked to discover that there weren't any organic supermarkets or farmer's markets in her general location. The nearest Whole Foods was an hour away drive and the closest Trader Joe's, even farther.

I honestly started laughing.

We grew up in an area where there was an abundance of places to buy fresh, organic, and/or healthy food. We also had a large farmer's market where we could go to buy food from local farmers and an International food store for when we needed things that aren't traditionally found in American stores (like enoki mushrooms). The only problem was, that we had to have a car to get anywhere. We didn't even have a convenience store within walking distance of our house, let alone a bus stop.

The need for a car doesn't outweigh the fact that my family could easily buy the food we wanted and needed.

Approximately 23.5 million American families live in areas known as food deserts. Food deserts are defined as "an urban area in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food", but that does't mean that people in urban areas are the only ones affected. 2.3 million families who live in rural areas are also living in food deserts.

This is a serious problem for Americans. When we talk about hunger in America, we usually focus on making sure people have the funds to at least buy food. We rarely talk about the lack of places to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. Being able to go to a grocery store can be a down right luxury for some people.

Having this discussion could also help with the obesity epidemic so many Americans are also facing. Easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables is key for living a healthy life style. People in food deserts are more likely to have access to a McDonald's or other unhealthy fast food options, causing weight gain. Having healthy options can lead to healthier eating habits and eventual weight loss.

Food is very important to me. It connects me to my family and culture. It allows me to experiment and be an artist. I'm able to enjoy many different types of food without worrying about allergies.

It's an opportunity that I often take for granted.

And why I wanted to draw attention to food deserts.

This isn't a problem I can solve on my own. I'm not even a part of the communities that are most affected. I can't speak for them.

But I can raise awareness and do my own research. I can shop at stores that work with local communities, donate to urban gardening projects, and contact my representatives in government.

I can also write about it.

A lot of fiction often reflects the problems found in society. They can be dressed up as metaphors or allegories (like Lupin being a werewolf in Harry Potter being an allegory for people living with HIV or other serious chronic illnesses). They can be shown as a dystopian future or alternative history (like the Hunger Games).

My sister's problem with finding the nearest Whole Foods might seem comical to me, but I can see where it might upset someone else. It really is a first world problem in that my sister is willing to drive an hour for an expensive high end grocery story whereas someone without the same privileged would be content to shop at the local Walmart.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to Food World Building Part 4: Food in Fiction

One of my favorite YouTube channels is Feast of Fiction. It's a YouTube channel entirely dedicated to recreating food found in popular books, movies, TV shows, games, and graphic novels. The two leads, Jimmy and Ashley, have created an awesome show that entertains and teaches viewers about food. A lot of times the food they are making doesn't have a known recipe to follow, so they have to create the recipe.

It takes a lot of creativity and guts to come up with recipes that might sound good on paper, but aren't practical to make. For example, it might be a little hard to make acid pops from Harry Potter as they are known for burning holes in people's tongues. I'm also not too keen on the idea of cockroach clusters.

But it's the inclusion of these odd treats along with descriptions of butterbeer, pumpkin pasties, and sugar quills that add to the Harry Potter universe.

Yes, I've actually tried making pumpkin juice. It turned out alright.

I love it when authors weave in small details about food. They make the world feel more alive and believable.

I've always been curious as to what is in lembas bread that keeps away hunger from Lord of the Rings. I'd love to try Tiana's gumbo and beignets from The Princess and the Frog. And which deity do I have to bribe to bring the creations of Food Wars into existence?

Now, food doesn't have to prominently feature in the narrative. There seems to be an entire section of Amazon and Barnes and Nobel dedicated to food themed mysteries (complete with recipes in the back). Like Water for Chocolate has chapters that start out listing ingredients and describing how to make a dish, then slowly transitions into the plot. Food is used to show wealth and prosperity in Charles Dickens's classic A Christmas Carol, especially once the second spirit shows up. And it's occasionally used as an innuendo in steamy romance novels (Like Water for Chocolate can be used euphemism for sexual tension or passion).

The thing about food in fiction is that it's not always just about the food. Descriptions of decadent meals show off wealth and power, especially when poverty is also heavily described (The Hunger Games series is an excellent example of this). Character's who don't often think about when they'll eat next are more likely to be in a stable environment versus a character who is constantly worrying about where they're next meal is coming from. Does a culture hold a certain animal or plant as sacred? If so they might not be including it in their diet or it could be the most central part of a meal.

How do character's react when they're hungry? Are they irritable or can they manage it no problem? Is that character used to hunger? Do they overeat the first chance they're with in grabbing distance of a good meal? These can be important tiny details that help to define a situation in the narrative.

For example, in the seventh Harry Potter book Harry, Ron, and Hermione are on the run with little food and almost no money. They're hungry and each reacts slightly different to the situation. Harry was used to going hungry after being neglected by his Aunt and Uncle for years. He wasn't happy about being hungry, but otherwise wasn't that affected by it. Ron, however, was used to never going hungry and was irritated and angry the second he missed a meal. Despite growing up poor, his family always had enough to go around and he was always well fed at Hogwarts. Hermione was the middle of the two extremes. She wasn't used to going hungry like Harry was and could be irritated by the lack of a good meal, but she wasn't quite to Ron's level of anger.

The situation was made worse by the fact that they had a cursed object with them, adding to they're already short tempers.

So if you're a writer, I'd recommend incorporating some descriptions of food into your work. Don't over do it though. Describing a meal down to the tiny detail of "the cinnamon garnish carefully floating on the frothy cappuccino milk" is going to make me put down the book and head to the nearest coffee shop.

Also I don't recommend the use of food to describe characters, especially skin color for non-white characters. Describing people this way can be seen as objectifying or down right creepy. If you'd like a blog post on how to describe a person's skin tone without using food, check out this blog post. It's a few years old, but I think it's still a good guide for modern writes who'd like to include a diverse cast (which writers should be doing anyway).

What does a basket of apples, peppers, tomatoes, and peaches say about a character?

So, the moral of this food related post is: include descriptions of food, but don't over do it and don't use food to describe a character's looks.

Until next week!

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to Food World Building Part 3: Herb Lore and Spice Wars

What would my kitchen be without my herbs and spices?

A pretty bland kitchen.

I love using a lot of flavor in my food. Cumin, cinnamon, oregano, basil, rosemary, cayenne, and paprika are all ingredients I swear by. If I could, I'd put cinnamon in everything.

Spices bring out so much in food and are beneficial to living a healthy life. For example, cinnamon has been shown to help with diabetes and ginger helps with stomach aches. Before the advent of modern medicine, a lot of people had gardens where they grew herbs for cooking and medicinal uses.

The difference between herbs and spices are which parts of the plant they come from. Herbs are the leaves, while spices come from the non-leaf parts. A plant can produce herbs and spices, though under different names such as coriander (spice) and cilantro (herb).

Many religions use herbs and spices in ceremonies and ritual practices. Frankincense and myrrh hold special meaning for Christians as they were two  of the three gifts given to Jesus by the Three Kings. Wiccans and those who practice witchcraft use them in their rituals and ceremonies.

Picking up what you need isn't too hard. Most stores have an entire section dedicated to fresh and dried seasonings, some have oil extracts sections, and it's pretty easy to pick up a tea mix. With so much variety and availability, it can be easy to forget that a lot of these herbs and spices weren't always readily available.

The ancient trade highway, The Silk Road, was famous for it's spice trade. Connecting China with Southern Europe, The Silk Road was the only route available for hundred of years for trading in spices and luxury goods. Whoever controlled the road could gain incredible wealth. Today, along the road, there are ruins of the ancient outposts that would protect the traders from bandits and raiders on their journey.

But some weren't satisfied with the slow over land trade routes. For those who lived at one extreme end of the other of The Silk Road and other major trade routes, the demand and, by extension, the prices for exotic spices skyrocketed.

And it help fuel European exploration and imperialism was an interest in obtaining spices. Between the 15th and 17th century, Europeans sought to create and control their own spice trade routes, particularly in India and China. Competition was fierce and hostile take overs of local governments common.

Seasonings are an integral part of human history. Yet, today, herbs and spices are so easy to come by, that it feels like we don't always think about them the same way our ancestors did. Exploration, medicine, and culinary advancements can all be attributed to their existence.

I find that small details, like what kind of herbs and spices are being used, can make or break a fantasy or historical fiction media. Just because seasonings are easy to obtain now, doesn't mean that it would have been on hand 500 years ago. I think that a fantasy setting can seem more believable, yet still otherworldly, if it is established how trade is used in the world building. Often times, I am disappointed to see that these small details are left out entirely.

Incorporating the use of herbs and spices into stories shouldn't be left to the works of fantasy and historical fiction. Science Fiction has a whole spectrum of possibilities for how we might treat them in the future. Imagine what kinds of spices we might find on an alien world, or how explorers might find that they are missing herbal teas from their home world. Will replicators, like those seen in Star Trek,  be able to capture the culinary qualities of seasonings as well as the medicinal? Will new trade wars happen for exotic spices from galaxies far far away?

For more information for hallucinogenic and trans-dimensional properties and trade of spice in Science Fiction please read or watch Dune.

In all seriousness, I can't write about the human relationship with food without bringing up our relationship with herbs and spices. It's amazing how much of an impact on human history these staple kitchen ingredients.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.