goodbye 2012

dear 2012,

here we are on your last day and i've been thinking about all the fun we've had. you've been a year full of grand adventures and simple moments and i'll always look back on you fondly. you were a year where i...

....went whale watching at sunrise off the coast of kona...

...rode a taxi in mumbai...

...stuffed my face with delicious food in sao paulo...

...minded my head in beijing...

some of my favorite moments though happened right here at home, like staying warm while watching the falling snow...

...taking the wonder dog for walks around the neighborhood...

...and enjoying a near-record 48 days of sunshiney goodness.

you've been a really great year, 2012. thanks.

<3, 

k.

how can you tell your dog has been up to no good? #1

you come home to find her walking around with a look of innocence on her face and the evidence of her mischief stuck to her paw.

the dog loves trash. she can't help herself. she loves to pull trash out of cans and scatter it about, searching for tasty snacks. she especially loves greeting cards, tissue, and paper towels. she's even been known to eat them off the coffee table.

we try to set her up for success. we use a tall step can in our kitchen and put all room wastebaskets up and out of her reach. 

apparently we left one on the ground, because we came home to find her obliviously sporting a baggage tag on her front paw (thank you british airways for having a really sticky adhesive).

upstairs we found a variety of tags, bags, and wrappers strewn about. and we won't even speculate on what she ate.

pardon the mess...

after a few years of sporadic posts on the blog i shared with my husband, i've decided to get a place of my own here in cyberspace.

i'm packing up my old posts and moving them over here, so please excuse the mess while i get things sorted.

thanks!

merry christmas

the dog graced our holiday cards this year.

while she may look happy to be sporting a bow, trust me when i say she most certainly is not. 

i have what seems like a million other photos to prove it.

{final wonder in tomato from tinyprints.com}

bangalore, india

bangalore (bangaluru) is so different from anywhere i've ever visited. it is a mix of new and old, luxury and austerity, high-tech and developing world.

it has been almost 4 years since my last visit and much of it is just as i remembered.

the traffic was still crazy - all swerving cars and honking horns. thank goodness we had a driver.

i am still amazed at the number of animals that freely- and apparently safely- roam around the streets. if a cow wandered into a market area and parked itself between two cars in seattle, i am sure we'd see it on the news; whereas for bangalore, that's just another ordinary sight.
as all tourist probably do, i visited my fair share of handcraft merchants. while i did buy several lovely pashminas, i refrained from buying a rug, bangalore ruby jewelry, or a carved elephant- much to the dismay of the very energetic sales people.

in my hotel room i was in a little cocoon of comfort. the service at the taj vivanta on mg road is amazing and i felt quite spoiled there. each day, i would find a thoughtful surprise in my room. one day it was a bookmark left on my book, another day it was an arrangement of white roses. watching the presidential election results come in on cnn world, it was hard to believe i was half a world away.

leaving my hotel was always an adventure- an opportunity to see something beautiful or learning something new. 

see this tree- it's a tamarind tree, tamarind paste is made from it's pods. i had no idea.

 

the city is dotted with beautiful temples. some large and colorful, others smaller and less ornate.

at the bangalore palace, they were preparing for the wedding of a local politician's son. the size and extravagance were amazing and a bit overwhelming.

the stark contrast between my quiet room and the vivid sights, sounds and smells outside was most evident on my visit to russell market. from the looks of alarm my colleagues gave me upon hearing of the visit, i'm quite sure it's not a 'standard' tourist stop. 

left: produce stalls lining an alley     right: a seafood stall

  

 cows eating scraps from the market

hawks on the look out - they would dive bomb into the alley as chicken scraps were thrown out

 

left: baby goats at one of the stalls (i am naively hopeful that they a pets and not food)

right: egg delivery

 flowers

at the end of each day, i was quite content to watch the traffic from my balcony.

new york city

whenever people hear that i'm going to new york on a business trip, they immediately assume i'll be in new york city.

"how exciting!"

"will you see any shows?"

"will you get to do any shopping?"

sadly, i must reply that i'll be in a not so exciting place outside of the city, won't see any shows, and will probably not do any shopping.

usually, flying into jfk is as close as i get to the city.

on rare occasions, work requires that i stay the weekend in ny. when this happens, i jump at the opportunity to venture into nyc to do something fun and eat something great.

we spent the afternoon wandering around the east village. the stores here take shopping to another level- this ain't my local mall. no muzak at armani exchange- there's a live dj instead. the girl in the t-shirt and bikini bottoms and the dude with no shirt on standing on the staircase? live models at hollister.

after a revitalization stop at pinkberry and more shopping, we headed to ippudo for ramen (or as my friend/nyc guide says,"michelin starred ramen"). as we approached, we were surprised to see there was no line. we soon found out this was because the restaurant wouldn't open for another 45 minutes.

looking at the closed restaurant, it's hard to miss this sign. my first thought when i saw it was, "seriously?"

obviously this country mouse doesn't understand big city ramen.

we headed out for a quick drink, and when we returned at 4:45, the line stretched down the block. luckily, once we made our way past the ramen bar top and ramen bowl wall to the hostess station we had only to wait about 10 minutes .

we got one of the last tables. people two groups behind us were told they had a 60 minute wait. the cucumber appetizer was cool, light, and delicious. we also got a squid ink appetizer from the specials menu- salty yumminess. i ordered the tori ramen with onsen tamago (poached egg), others got the squid ink ramen special, and we all lapsed into a comfortable silence as we savored our noodles and broth.

city mouse totally gets the sign now. waiting in line, knowing that only slow-eating patrons stood between you and bowl of deliciousness would test the patience of anyone. add to this the crankiness that hunger can bring- i can see why people need to be reminded to be mindful and polite.

 after dinner, we headed to magnolia bakery for dessert.

it's a good thing we did all that walking, because i couldn't decide which cupcake i wanted so i had to eat two.

while i didn't get to see any shows, i had a very fun and delicious day.

hello mt. rainier!

one of my favorite sights has got to be mt. rainier on a clear day. more often than not, it's hidden away, behind the pacific northwest weather- clouds, fog, rain, mist, or the like. so when mt. rainier says hello, it does so on days when the skies are clear, the sun is shining, and the city sparkles. i love those days.

the geek and i enjoyed one of those days as we drove down i-5 towards the airport. for a moment,  we got to fully appreciate the day with an unhindered view of the mountain.

unfortunately, by the time i got my camera out, our view was interrupted by semis and freeway ramps, so i never got a clear shot.

i had a window seat on my flight from seattle to dallas, so i made sure my camera was close at hand. the flight path took us past mt. rainier and i was able to get my picture after all. yay!

snow days

the forecast predicted a weekend of snow...a few inches, a white weekend, yay!

the white weekend, turned into a white week as the snow kept coming.

we haven't been able to leave the neighborhood for a little over a week. we're not complaining though. except for briefly losing power twice and a day or so of no directv, we're doing just fine.

hooray for a stocked freezer and pantry!

shoyu chicken

shoyu is japanese for soy sauce.

growing up in hawaii, shoyu was right up there with ketchup when it came to our tabletop condiments. it was also a common cooking ingredient and my family had both a tabletop bottle and a gallon size bottle to serve each purpose.

i love shoyu. it's salty, it's tasty, it's probably the only reason i liked eating tofu as a child. (tofu, the perfect vehicle for shoyu!)

sadly, the geek does not love shoyu. in fact, he does not like it. he'll go for the miso ramen over the shoyu ramen because he 'really doesn't like that flavor.' when eating a piece sushi off my plate, he won't dip it in shoyu voluntarily.

so imagine my surprise when he hesitantly tried shoyu chicken for the first time and realized he really, really liked it. when shoyu is combined with mirin, brown sugar, garlic and ginger alchemy occurs and the result is a delicious flavor the geek loves.

it's now become one of his favorite meals!

the geek's favorite chili

the other day, i mistakenly opened a can of kidney beans. i mistook them for black beans as i foraged through our pantry. not wanting to waste them, i put them in the fridge and declared the next day a chili day.

for the geek, chili day is a great day. chili is one of his favorite meals and the leftovers taste great the next day.

simple chicken quesadillas

quesadillas make for a quick and easy meal. while these are in no way authentic, they are quite tasty and satisfying. this is more of a suggestion than an actual recipe, so use what you have on hand and enjoy!

serve these as appetizers or as a meal.

happy new year! happy birthday!

since the dog was adopted from an animal shelter, we don't know her actual birthday. the veterinarian lists it as january 1, 1996, so today we ring in the new year and celebrate her sweet 16!

it's hard to believe that this spunky dog is 16 years old. she still spins in circles when it's time to go for a walk and pounces after her toys like a jungle cat.

happy 2012 and happy birthday diggity dog!