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!

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Welcome to a Little Break

Guys, I'm taking a break from social media. Starting around Wednesday, I'll be off all my social media sites for a week or two.

I won't be off forever. I need to let my friends and family know I'm alive somehow. Plus I have a lot of poetry and art projects I want to share (*cough* self promote *cough*).

Painting is a great way to express myself and then share it on Deviant Art of Instagram

I just need a break.

For the past several years, I've had almost non-stop Internet access. My phone is a mini computer which I take everywhere. The few times I've gone without the Internet are rare, the last time being an adventure I had in Washington State where I had zero cell service for 90% of my trip.

It was also wonderful.

I loved being able to just stare out the window of the car, not worrying about what was going on in the world beyond the wilderness. I could just experience what was going on around me and be present. Though it was a little scary being miles from the nearest cell tower just in case anything bad happened, the experience of sleeping in a tent next to a river was worth it.

I'm also not here to bash social media. It's helped me keep in touch with people I might not otherwise still speak to.

Heck, I've posted at least 5 times today on Instagram already.

This adorable face had to be shared. It just had to be.

But that doesn't mean that there are a lot of drawbacks to constantly being connected to people. Between chasing likes, fake news, and a weird voyeuristic feeling when looking at other people's lives without really taking part, it can be tough to handle emotionally and mentally.

So for the next two-ish weeks, there won't be any new blog posts from me (either this blog or my food blog), no updates to my webcomic, and no Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I will still be answering emails (I can't give up the Internet entirely - not in this high speed world).

If you are thinking about taking a break from social media, I say give it a go. You don't have to go cold turkey. Try deleting your apps for a weekend or a week and see how you feel. Social media is still a great way to connect people and share the best your life has to offer. If you find that leaving social media has a good impact on your life, then see if you can deactivate your accounts.

Have a great couple of weeks guys.

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 the Unpredicitable Way of Life

Story time everyone!

Though today was a usual day, there were a few key events that changed how things went. I’m not saying they were extremely significant or changed the course of my life forever. They were just mundane events that turned my day from predictable to delightful.

To start, I locked myself out of my apartment.

I’ve lived in my current place for almost three years and this was the first time I managed to close my front door without my keys in my pocket. Unfortunately, my landlady hadn’t been home at the time to let me back in, though she was thankfully on her way when I texted her. And to add insult to injury, it was raining.

I could have gotten angry over my rotten luck and sheer stupidity, but there didn’t seem to be a point. If things had been worse, I’d have texted all my friends to find one who could take me in like a lost puppy.

So, I sat on my front stoop, a little damp, and played on my phone until my landlady came back. It was nice and a little peaceful. The birds were chirping, and I got to pet a friendly doggie. It was nice to relax for a minute and enjoy the last day of March...even if I did get a little wet.

Fast forward a few hours and I’ve gotten to my favorite hiking spot. It was later than I wanted it to be, but beggars can’t be choosers (especially after they’ve locked themselves out of their apartment for half the morning). I decided to try a new trail, which was very muddy and partially flooded. Not a big deal for me. I don’t mind getting dirty, it’s not for everyone.

That’s when I met another hiker - a visitor from Belgium staying in one of the nearby towns for work and wanted to do something on her one day off. Unfortunately, since she was a visitor, she didn’t know much about the trails.

Fortunately, she ran into me.

She asked if she could join me and I said yes. I took her to some of my favorite spots on the trails that wouldn’t be as muddy, including the lookout peak where you can see New York City on a clear day. We couldn’t see the city, but it was still a nice view and we had a great time talking with each other.

However, neither one of would have met if she had decided to hike earlier and I hadn’t locked myself out of my apartment.

What’s the point of this anecdote?

Well, my aunts would tell me that this is an example of “everything happening for a reason”. Because I locked myself out, I was able to meet someone new. I don’t know how much I believe in that. My feelings on the idea of fate and destiny are mixed at best.

Nah, I think this is one of those times where I didn’t allow an unfortunate incident ruin my day and therefore got to make someone else’s a little better too. I mean I could have stayed home and sulked all afternoon.

Why today’s events happened aren’t as important as learning from them. Like making sure my keys are in my pocket before I close my locked front door.

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 Watching the Stage

One of my goals for the start of this year, was to take advantage of the fact that I live within spitting distance of New York City. I am happy to say that I have been keeping to that goal.

And my favorite reason to go into New York is to see a stage show.

It doesn't matter if it's on or off Broadway, I've been having a lot of fun going to different plays and performances around the city, though I haven't gotten tickets to see Hamilton yet.

There are all types of stage performances. Musicals, dramas, comedies, classics like Shakespeare and the Greek tragedies, operas, and ballets. Each is unique in how they tell stories and convey emotions.

My current favorite play is Come From Away which is about how a small town in Canada took in about 3,000 people during 9/11 when all airplanes were grounded. The music is amazing and the stories are inspiring as well as heart breaking. What's really cool is that all the characters portrayed are based on the actual people who experienced the event.

What's really cool is how the set is designed. There's a rotating stage with fake trees, chairs, a "bar", and beautifully painted backdrop that reminded me of painted drift wood art. The band plays on stage, instead of in a pit and adds to the atmosphere. I hear there's a movie in the works, but no matter how well done the movie is, I don't feel it will have the same feeling as the play.

I'm not sure how to explain this feeling, but there is a big difference seeing a stage play and watching a movie based on that play. Plays rely on suggestion and imagination. When the lights go down and a single spotlight illuminates a solitary character on stage to give a soliloquy, it doesn't have the same effect as a character looking into a camera or giving a voice over to tell the audience what they're thinking.

Don't get me wrong, there are some plays that made the jump onto the big screen with success. West Side Story, Sound of Music, Hairspray, and especially The Rocky Horror Picture Show are all awesome movies (though I admit that I haven't seen them on stage). I even enjoy the 2004 Phantom of the Opera.

However, movies are a different medium from plays. Often scenes are squashed together or cut to make room for run time. Depending on the writers and directors, things can change drastically between stage to screen. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does change the experience.

To see "Phantom of the Opera" on stage is an entirely different experience. There's a reason it's one of the longest running shows on Broadway. The sets are a amazing, the effects are stunning, and to see the actors on stage is magic. I like the "Phantom of the Opera" movie. I love the Broadway show.

And there are a lot of plays in New York. New ones open every year, and there are even a few shorter runs with famous actors and actresses.

This is from the movie.

A few years ago, I saw The Front Page starring Nathan Lane and John Goodman. Yesterday, I saw Hillary and Clinton with Laurie Metcalf and John Lithgow. Both Adam Driver and Danieli Radcliff have recently been in shows that I nearly brought tickets for, while my mom was disappointing that we weren't able to see Jeff Daniels in To Kill a Mockingbird (tickets were about the same price as Hamilton when I finally started looking).

It's cool to see these actors in movies and TV shows. It's stunning to watch them preform live and on stage. Nathan Lane in particular is one of my favorite actors to watch on stage. His stage presence is captivating.

I do wish it wasn't super expensive to see plays though, especially in New York. There are ways to find cheaper tickets, but it's tough and the timing doesn't always work out. There are raffles and buy-same-day tickets, but they are hard to get.

If going to New York is a tough option, then check out what the local high schools or college are putting on. When I was still in high school and college, I'd go to the plays my school put on. I loved seeing Little Shop of Horrors and Thoroughly Modern Millie with my friends.

Some schools even put their performances on YouTube, which is how I saw the "Very Potter Musicals" (not "Cursed Child") and "Once Upon a Mattress".

And don't discount the film adaptations. I know I earlier said that the experiences are different (and they are), but that doesn't mean that that's a bad thing. The Harry Potter movies are very different from the books, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying them. There are tons of movies from the 30s and 40s which were originally plays (see my post on The Front Page for a great adaptation example).`

One of my favorite play adaptations is Angels in America. You can find the whole mini-series on Amazon Prime right now (and possibly HBO GO). It's about the AIDs epidemic in the 1980s. HBO put together a 6 part miniseries back in the early 2000s and if you haven't seen it, I totally recommend it. It is a play (both parts) that I hope to eventually see on stage, but for now, I'm happy re-watching the miniseries when I have the time.

Do you guys have any favorite plays or stage performances?

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it 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

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 the Research Rabbit Hole

By trade (and likely by nature) I am a researcher. All this means is that I am given a question (or one pops into my head) and I dig through any sources at my disposal to answer it.

I love learning these answers.

Researching allows me to satisfy my natural curiosity and love of learning. On my own time, I can spend hours going through documentaries, books, and websites on any number of subjects.

In simple terms: I am a wealth of useless information.


My range of research varies greatly from the mundane (what are good eco-friendly cleaning products to use/buy), to the fan based (at one point I knew way more than I needed to about the Transformers franchise), to the bizarre (I am a proud deathling and learning about what happens after a person dies is really interesting), to the down right depressing (unsolved mysteries are heart breaking).

The need to look anything up typically starts with the phrase: I wonder...?

For example: I wonder why the English language became the garbage disposal of European Languages? This led to an entire afternoon going through a ton of websites on the English language, which led to me reading on several invasions of England that I hadn't previously known about, which led to a "brief" history on the Normandy region in France, which led to me realizing it was dinner time and I had spent half a day on research that I wasn't going to do anything with.


I don't know if you've noticed readers, but there are a lot of run on sentences in this post. Probably because that's my feeling on research. Once I start, I just go until I remember to return to the real world.

My current ear worm question is: would aliens use a different base system than we humans do to do math and are there any examples in science fiction of this happening?

Basically, we use a base 10 system (our number scales are "based" on units of 10) for most of our number systems. Exceptions are the base 12 system we use for our clocks and the base 2 system (also known as binary) used for computers. The main reason human use base 10 as the base for the majority of our number systems is because we have ten toes and ten fingers. So, by that logic, if an alien species say had 8 fingers or toes, would they also have a base 8 math system?

I can't think of any examples of science fiction where this problem arises. Not even in Star Trek or Doctor Who, which are two series I would think would explore this idea. I mean there's one episode of Star Trek where binary is super important to one alien species, but that's not as out there as my previously mentioned base 8 system (or even more arbitrary a base 17 system).

If you guys know of any examples, please let me know.

But to bring this blog back on topic, I can easily get lost doing research. I can't make a decision without first doing research on all my options. If I'm planning a trip or event, I have to look up everything before hand.

The down side is that I can become indecisive or even anxious about my research. Fun fact: there is a point where a lot of research turns into too much research. Instead of writing a good solid story, too much research can cause me to not write a single word or be too afraid of taking literary license as I might get a ton of "um actually..." emails. One of the first tips I got as a writer was to never write about trains because people who do work on trains will call you out on your inaccuracies.

So, what is the balance between just enough research, not enough, and way too much to keep a person sane?

There isn't an answer.

I'm off to discover if any science fiction movies, book, or TV shows ever had aliens use a different number system than us humans. 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.