Random shots

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is to get outside with my camera and take a long walk, shooting photos of anything that sparks my interest along the way. I would like to start sharing more of those photos - here's a start! Or check out more of my photos on flickr.







Each time you finish reading a story, please click here! With just one click every day, you'll be helping my blog ranking. Thank you!!

Baking time

I made muffins! Feta zucchini muffins, actually. I found the recipe in a great cookbook, 500 Cupcakes, which includes not only many ideas for amazing cupcakes but also a number of muffin recipes. Since zucchini is in season - and in abundance at the farmers market - I thought I would give this recipe a try. Very simple - and a perfect muffin to take on a nice summer picnic!



Each time you finish reading a story, please click here! With just one click every day, you'll be helping my blog ranking. Thank you!!

cafe sweets

I admit that I'm still a Starbucks addict. At the beginning, Starbucks offered something special, a real experience beyond just the coffee. Unfortunately - and I hate to say this - Starbucks has evolved and I don't always feel like it's the treat that it once was.

And it's not just Starbucks - I often feel like that special cafe experience is hard to find around here. That's why I love going to Japan - independent cafes, bakeries, and pastry shops are all over, each offering a unique experience.

One of the best ways to learn about what's out there is with cafe sweets magazine. Each month's issue features a new collection of cafes - one month it might be those with the most amazing cake decorations, another month those offering the best traditional sweets. I can't pretend to understand all of it (reading Kanji is not my strong suit), but the pictures speak a thousand words. Carefully handcrafted lattes served on a cozy deck overlooking the ocean, cups of fine tea served at a sleek counter - whatever the setting may be, cafe sweets captures some of the best cafe experiences in Japan.



Image @ http://www.shibatashoten.jp

Each time you finish reading a story, please click here! With just one click every day, you'll be helping my blog ranking. Thank you!!

Here I am again

It's been awhile!

Don't ask me where the time went. I'd prefer just to pick up where I left off, sharing stories about some of the little things that make me happy - visiting cafes, exploring new places, spending time with interesting people.

So here we go...

Each time you finish reading a story, please click here! With just one click every day, you'll be helping my blog ranking. Thank you!!

Classic dinners

Cusco had good night life and lots of restaurants to choose from around the Plaza de Armas. Each night as we walked around the plaza, touts from the restaurants would rush up to us with menus and fliers, offering us traditional Peruvian food and free pisco sours. Even with the specials, these restaurants were inevitably more expensive than the average local place - but I guess it's all part of the experience.

Located right on the plaza, Yaku Mama's is one restaurant that offered a nice ambience, especially if you are lucky enough to snag one of the two balcony tables. We tried papa rallena, a fried potato stuffed with tiny pieces of ground beef, onions, and carrots. We also tried an alpaca filet (well, I couldn't really bring myself to eat the alpaca...), which was served with fries (of course) and steamed vegetables. The portions were big enough to share - in fact, we could have ordered one entree and been more than satisfied. But we enjoyed our meal at a slow pace, taking in the spectacular views of the heart of Cusco.

A few nights later, we chose Los Faroles de Dukes, not far up Plateros from the plaza. Since this restaurant was not right on the plaza, it was less expensive and less crowded - so we had no problem getting a table on the balcony. By this time, we knew enough about dining in Peru to ask for the cena touristica, a multi-course menu offered at a special price. For S/10, we got to choose from a list of five soups, seven entrees, and several beverages. We selected sopa a la ciolla (a noodle soup with meat), spaghetti a la Carbonada (OK, so it wasn't exactly Peruvian, but we wanted to see how pasta would be prepared here), and coca tea. The service was fairly slow, but that's not surprising for Peru. And it was actually a good thing we were there for awhile. When our food was finally served, live music started up - and so we moved inside to listen during our meal. Not a bad way to end another busy day in Peru!

Each time you finish reading a story, please click here! With just one click every day, you'll be helping my blog ranking. Thank you!!

Oh what a night

While Wicked continues its strong run at the Oriental Theater, Jersey Boys is the latest Broadway show to capture the spotlight in Chicago. The story of musical icon Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Jersey Boys has been drawing big crowds since its Chicago debut back in October. And after weeks of seeing the ads for it on the sides of buses and hearing about it on the radio, I finally saw this Tony Award-winning musical last night - from the front row.

Each morning at 10 AM, rush tickets go on sale at the LaSalle Bank Theater box office. Ten front row tickets are available daily, and additional seats throughout the theater may be available from time to time. I didn't know how early I needed to arrive to have a shot at the tickets - but I didn't think I could tolerate standing in the cold for long anyway. I decided to get there around 9:30, figuring if there was already a crowd by that time, then I wasn't meant to have the tickets anyway. But luck was on my side - I was the fourth person in line, which allowed me to buy tickets front row center.

They weren't kidding when they called it the front row - our seats were literally at the edge of the stage. Because of the proximity, we had to crane our necks to see - and we missed out on a little of the action toward the back of the stage. But that didn't matter with a show like Jersey Boys, a story that revolves around the music much more than the visual effects. And being so close, we got to see fine details on the faces of performers which added a new dimension to the show - the fleeting looks of exhaustion after the high energy rendition of December, 1963 (Oh What a Night), the glow of appreciation for the wild applause after the act-closing songs Walk Like a Man and Who Loves You - and Jarrod Spector practically channeling Frankie Valli in the number that brought down the house, Can't Take My Eyes Off You. From the front row, we felt like part of the action, as the story took us from the discovery of Frankie and his trademark falsetto all the way through the group's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A day later, the songs are still in my head.

Each time you finish reading a story, please click here! With just one click every day, you'll be helping my blog ranking. Thank you!!

The city that's a puma

According to Inca tradition, Cusco is a city shaped like a puma. The connection is not obvious to a person wandering around town, but apparantly city planners long ago strategically placed sanctuaries and roads to work in line with Saqsaywaman, a hilltop fortress that represents the head of the puma.

Our first afternoon in the city, before altitude sickness completely knocked me out, we visited Hatunrumiyoc, a narrow cobblestone alley lined with a wall featuring the 12-sided stone of the same name. The puma has a presence here as well, as a series of stones together make up the head, paws, and tail of this sacred animal. Honestly, I couldn't see the resemblance, but snapped photos nevertheless.

What I remember more than the wall are all the children at Hatunrumiyoc chatting up tourists, telling the puma story in hopes of earning a tip. I tried to stay oblivious and enjoy the site on my own, but the kids were persistent. We got a personal tour without even meaning to!

Each time you finish reading a story, please click here! With just one click every day, you'll be helping my blog ranking. Thank you!!

Welcome to the team

Spring training is underway for the Chicago Cubs and buzz surrounds the team trying to end a century long championship drought. In the spotlight early is Japanese import Kosuke Fukudome, the hard-hitting rightfielder from the Chunichi Dragons. Since games have not started yet, the Chicago media has been reporting the human-interest stories on the team - and Fukudome's arrival in America is one of the most interesting



To ensure Fukudome would receive a warm welcome, the Cubs issued a Japanese 101 cheat sheet to the media and team members, with basic phrases like おはようございます (good morning) and ようこそ (welcome). It was funny to see some of them try out these phrases - and a nice gesture so that he wouldn't feel the pressure of trying to understand English all the time on top of trying to get ready for a big season with a new team. Can't wait to see how it goes!

Photo @ http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com


Each time you finish reading a story, please click here! With just one click every day, you'll be helping my blog ranking. Thank you!!

Cusco's Japanese scene

Visiting Peru, we definitely wanted to try as much Peruvian food as possible. But we also thought it would be fun to see what Peru's international cuisine was like. Each country we have visited seems to have its own take on foriegn food. Chinese food is the US is different from the Chinese food in Germany - and both are different from the food in China. You get the idea.

Our first night in Cusco, we went to Kin Taro, a Japanese restaurant not far from the Plaza de Armas. Suffering from altitude sickness, I was in no condition to eat much - so I just stuck with tea. But others in my party tried sashimi, which is probably the last thing I would have wanted to eat in a mountain city hundreds of miles from the ocean. But I learned that the fish served in that particular dish, Sashimi de Trucha y Palta Con Arroz, actually came from Lake Titicaca. The taste and the look of the food were nothing like we had ever seen in Japan, but we were impressed to see extremely Japanese-looking bowls, teacups, and chopsticks. And I was entertained by the Japanese style and food magazines that other travelers had left there. If I couldn't be in Japan, Kin Taro was not a bad place to be instead!

Each time you finish reading a story, please click here! With just one click every day, you'll be helping my blog ranking. Thank you!!

Cafe con leche

Café con leche was one of my favorite things to order in Peruvian restaurants and cafes, especially in the Cusco area – and it was never served the same way twice. I ordered my first café con leche at Keros, a small sidewalk café in Aguas Calienes. The waitress brought three pitchers to my table – two small ones filled with strong, sludgy coffee and thick, creamy milk, along with a large one filled with hot water. This setup allowed me to craft my drink to suit my tastes.

One of my most memorable orders of café con leche was at a tiny, no-name restaurant in Ollyantaytambo. Here, I received a huge ceramic mug of warm milk, a tiny glass pitcher of strong coffee, and a large container of sugar. With so much milk, this version of café con leche was extremely filling – but also comforting on that cool morning, as we enjoyed our breakfast outdoors at a heavy wooden table next to the dusty road.


Back in Cusco, the classy café La Bondiet provided a more sophisticated café con leche, which fit right in with the classical music, soft lights, and impressive display case of French and Peruvian pastries. A delicate cup and saucer held warm, fresh milk, and it was accompanied by a pitcher of frothy coffee. This drink was a perfect complement to the plate of tiny handmade pastries like pinonitos (vanilla sponge cake with sweet condensed milk and coconut) and cachitos (puff pastry cones filled with Peruvian sweet milk) we ordered with it.

I think I was spoiled by all the great café con leche I sampled in the Cusco area – so imagine my disappointment when all I could find throughout the rest of our trip was Nescafe…

Each time you finish reading a story, please click here! With just one click every day, you'll be helping my blog ranking. Thank you!!