Thousand Year Old Pizza

the return to steam buns

2012-02-16T08:30:00.000+08:00

after all kinds of overland travel through Thailand and Laos, our return to China via the golden triangle yielded us a welcomed and trusty culinary tradition: STEAM BUNS!!!

southern Yunnan province's rolling hills were covered with 1 crop: rubber trees. no acre goes unused

it was citrus season in southern China, and we got to eat some of the freshest of our lives (aka it wasn't shipped halfway around the world before we ate it).

mini rooster!! (note his size in comparison with a milk crate)

a fried noodle/rice stand at the corner of the market: Yunnan's version is a little spicier than most in China

a delicious, heaping bowl of donkey noodle soup, catching the afternoon rays

neal's sunflower seed heaven... in brown!

a visit to the park on a Saturday in Kunming means dozens and dozens of performances: people come equipped with their own back-pack PA systems and a handful of string players - every ten yards you find a new performer competing for the crowd.

theatre, too!

a smaller ensemble

in a different city park, it's mahjong day

how many kinds of tofu do you count?

Kunming's own streetside denture artisan

spicy fishies

it takes MSG to please me

Anshun adventure: Guizhou province

2012-02-07T06:50:00.001+08:00

train landscape, headed to Fujian province

Neal finds street nougat

pu'erh cha

corn harvest in southern china

train gorge bridge

it took us a couple of days to figure out why it always smelled like poo in our rented apartment in Anshun: turns out our back yard was full of chickens!

looking over the spiderman cave

outside in...

inside out...

happy water buffalo man

hay harvest and typical Guizhou province landscape

driving past a wedding: the whole village is helping to cook and celebrate

chicken soup!

fermented fish is the name of the game in Laos

2012-02-02T04:59:00.000+08:00

fish fermenting in buckets at the market

pork filled banana leaves and rice roll fixin's

spicy fermenty-fish pho-like Lao soup, one of our favorite meals in Laos, found in a back stall of the market in Luang Prabang

night buffets in Luang Prabang

Neal chose the frog

head, feet, intestines and more!

traditional packaging for most market ingredients

ff salad - delish!

more fish

Hmong papermakin'

Hmong corn grinder

our leachy jungle pick-a-nic

sticky rice row markers

looking out over the golden triangle

wild long beans

village piggy

rubber trees for miles

Luang Prabang's south side just before sundown

sunset on the Mekong

Luang Prabang by slow boat

2012-02-01T06:25:00.002+08:00

Like many Luang-Prabang-bound backpackers and Lao river villagers, we hopped on one of these long boats equipped with up-cycled velour bench seats from the back of a car, some plastic picnic chairs, and bags of rice to sit on.

The two day boat ride took an overnight hiatus in a small village. We sampled soup, salad, and sticky rice.

Every once in a while, the boat would stop at a sandy riverbank to pick

up Lao and their loads bound for Luang Prabang: in this case, dinner.

Day two found us stuck with bags of rice for cushion. But at least we made some new friends.

Our new friend let Neal try some of her on-board snack: bbq mole. Unfortunately, the stink glands had not been removed.

A peaceful, never-ending ride down the Mekong.

Arrival.

Things I lost in the fire of fun

2011-12-12T15:17:00.001+08:00

I lost a few things on our trip:
1 baseball hat
2 bandanas
1 tank top
1 pair shorts
1 pair undergarments
1 pair socks
2 water bottles
1 water bottle satchel
1 rain poncho

I also broke:
1 man purse
1 pair sandals
1 camera
1 water bottle holder
1 backpack zipper
1 suitcase zipper
2 tent poles
1 motorcycle handlebar
1 tea tumbler

Laura lost two shirts and almost lost her purse (with everything from credit cards to passport in it) week two.

yup, more taiwanese food and stuff.

2011-12-07T02:02:00.001+08:00

One of the best snacks we ever ate:

candied peanut and sesame rolls with cilantro inside.

The original coffin bread. This one was actually not as exciting as the spicy pork one we had in Hualien - but we paid our respects to the innovators of this self contained toast/pot pie.

A group of women shucking oysters on the street in Anping, Tainan (Dutch era capitol).

Fisherman's breakfast and a local specialty: milkfish porridge.

Here we have, yes that's right, a truffle filled steam bun.

Here are the jelly figs.

blingo we found a moth!

Taiwanese breakfast sandwich! Inside out!

They like white bread so much, they made it into a filling.

Taiwan is diet-crazed, too. Boo.

Typical buffet includes all sorts of whole fried fishes.

The bottom one is milkfish belly.

OH MY GOD IT'S ALL DIFFERENT FLAVOR SYRUPS FOR BUBBLE TEA!

OH MY GOD JELLIES!

A freshly oxidized pile of fall harvest Dong Fa Mei Ren Cha (Oriental beauty).

The queen declared this tea her favorite, and boy is it good.

More fall harvest... just put out to oxidize.

Last scooter ride, double fisting our last

boba of Taiwan, overlooking the north coast.

NIGHT MARKETS: Where all of the magic happens

2011-12-06T14:36:00.001+08:00

One of the major highlights of Taiwan was the night markets- the crowded insanity, strange fried foods, and endless shopping were perfect at providing enought excitement to offset the serene beauty of the mountains and the coast.

Here are some photos from west coast night markets:

Meat selection for hot pot.

Floating fish balls

Some dessert toppings - boba, beans, and jellies!

@CG: PASTRIES!

Noodle mountain and the fixin's

Cooking molds are pretty popular - for things like cream filled mini cakes,

fried dough balls, and these giant seafood dumpling orbs!

DEEP FRIED CUTTLEFISHES ON STICKS!

This is jelly fig dessert. It's jello, but it's made with the fuzzy seeds of

a fruit containing pectin, instead of horse hooves. It's good with lime!

More frying molds.

Your typical diy hot pot stand.

Scallion pancakes gone pizza style.

Grilled, stuffed rice rolls.

One of my favorites: stew in a mug with puff pastry on top.

More molds: this time it's quail-egg half-orbs!

Night market from afar.

Shrimp on a stick!?

Traditional meat bun baking method.

The ever-present stinky tofu.

One of my fav desserts: A peanut, cilantro, ice cream wrap! Amazing.

the search for lei cha

2011-12-06T13:59:00.001+08:00

After circumnavigating nearly all of Taiwan, we found ourselves in a town in the north west of the island - finally - in front of a wooden bowl full of green tea and nuts, and a large stick with which to pestle it all together. We had finally found Lei Cha: a pounded tea made by Hakka farmers (Hakka= an ethnic Han subgroup originating in northern China; Hakka people have emmigrated to countries all over the world and a large group of them once settled in Taiwan .)

Grinding the tea.

Adding the nuts.

Mochi-like desert to go along

Almost ready to add hot water....

With rice crispies on top! Delish.

Weird Food Update - Everything with Four Legs Except the Table

2011-12-05T19:16:00.001+08:00

Many may have heard of people eating weird things in China. What they haven't heard is that part of the reason for this is that people here endured many periods of starvation, one of which was one of the biggest holocausts of the twentieth century: the Great Chinese Famine in which at least 15 million people died. When bureaucratic oversight and crop production failed to meet the needs of the people, they began to eat everything they could up to and including other people.
We did not eat human meat (to the best of our knowledge), but we did get a chance to consume another legendary component of the Chinese starvation cuisine:

I fed this dog my leftovers.

It's the circle of life.

Twice boiled.

And chewy. There's not much flavor, so they give you a bowl of fresh mint and chillies to dip it in.

Unrelated puppy transporting image.

TIGER STYLE (SAMPOST)

2011-12-04T11:29:00.001+08:00

The emperor's Birch root throne from afar. I had to walk into the next room to take this because it was being photo-guarded.

When the Daoists want to party they break out the puppets, firecrackers, and start lighting hell paper on fire in the streets!

It's a wonder more invaluable historical sites haven't burnt down with all the explosives, flaming lanterns, and cigarettes going around here.

Never trust an English. (this is an ATM)

Taiwan beer for Taiwan Gods.

LOOK I FOUND AN ARROWHEAD

To enter the tiger pagoda you must enter the tiger.

Decoration inside the pagoda.

Here's a Daoist warrior-god with his mount of choice.

The Buddhist god of tigers.

A Taiwanese soda bar with jars of preserved fruit. (probably mostly plum)

Here's Laura extracting a delicious non-plum fruit from her nose called sala. It looks like and tastes like strawberries but with the texture of lychee.

The tiger cliffs of Krabi.

Instead of white protective sheets, the monks use orange.

In order to indicate that the blizzard for sale has not be left out in the hot sun Dairy Queen workers will invert the product. The flavor being tested here is corn.

A hopefully fake tiger claw next to a very likely faked rhino horn.

Catgun has a great tasting mango fruit leather.

Taiwan Series!

Here's a video of the chant that goes on for an entire half inning behind the dugout of whichever team is up to bat. LET'S GO LAMIGO LAMIGO LAMIGOOO!

First Centennial Photo Jumble Contest!

2011-12-03T10:27:00.001+08:00

Dear All! Please join in this fun contest! Be the first person to correctly identify the country in which we took each of these photos with a comment post and win a bag of something weird! (your options for countries are China, Laos, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Each appears once. Limit one comment post per household per day.)
EDIT: CONTEST CLOSED. TYLER MAYO DECLARED WINNER.

Forbidden Chicken / Living the Dream

2011-12-02T13:04:00.001+08:00

Here I am enjoying two very popular things in China: the forbidden palace and KFC. LONG LIVE THE COLONEL! props to Richard Y

This post is also a preview of our as of yet unposted collection of Beijing hijinks. Stay tuned for daily updates.

WOTS IN THE BASKET>>??

2011-12-01T16:48:00.001+08:00

STICKY RICE!

A river of limestone and hot springs

2011-11-30T20:23:00.001+08:00

Here is a bit of the old footage from the hotspring in Taroko Gorge that was carved out of marble.

We obviously are still not over Taiwan.

The Devil's Dictionary (SE Asia Edition)

2011-11-27T22:37:00.001+08:00

Hot Shower: A stream of water too small & too lukewarm to cause hypothermia

Hard Sleeper: A hard bunk for overnight passage with many smoking buddies

Soft Sleeper: A hard bunk for overnight passage with fewer smoking buddies than in a hard sleeper

Traffic Law: The widely understood principle that one should honk one's horn at the sight of an oncoming vehicle, pedestrian, or nonchristian thought

Dog: The most sacred of all animals May they be as abundant as the semiedible filth allows

Thai Massage: A singular testing of the hypothesis of King Thasamlapurtha that one women is not able to rip the flesh from the bones of anyone with her bare hands

English Menu: A curated list of food items that do not contain chili pepper and must contain at least 75% of either pizza, pasta, or burgers

Price: About 1000% of what you could be paying

Tuk Tuk: A fine multipurpose motorvehicle designed for the conveyance of the ignorantly wealthy & large quantities of heroin

Monk: The most profitable & fastest growing occupation

Spicy: Containing at least a trace of bell peppers

Thai Spicy: Containing enough chilis to numb the mouth and face for the rest of the night

Guidebook: An outdated tome of time-sensitive material.

TAIWAN WEST COAST

2011-11-26T17:37:00.001+08:00

TIGER TRASHH

Last day in Taiwan - Jiufen (north of Taipei).

Neal's search for graveyards yielded beuty shots of Taipei 101.

A betel nut girl - equipped with flashing lights.

Tainan graveyard

Kaohsiumg.

Posing in front of a Chinese fighter - flown by a Chinese army pilot to Taiwan for a lifetime of income.

At the dutch Fort Zeelandia: Tainan.

Burning money.

This is a giant puppet of the god of war.

The eunuch who guards the door at the temple of the 5 concubines.

Betel nut farm.


Old tree stump @ Alishan.

Our friend the mannequin.

Overlooking one of the most productive gold mines of imperial Japan.

The ocean in the bay is yellow not with gold, but toxic chemicals.

THIS THING THAT LOOKS LIKE A HUGE GOLD BAR IS A HUGE GOLD BAR

ABOUT 220kg WORTH 3 MIL AND YOU CAN TOUCH IT!

Traffic control at its finest.

For all the smegheads in the world (aka Red Dwarf fans).

Goodbye Taipei.

temples and festivals

2011-11-11T22:20:00.001+08:00

Thai spirit house.

BKK bridge on temple.

BKK - Wat Dan

Getting ready for the festival of lights (Loy Krathong), Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Performing gender, as usual.

Gongs - music for mixing the rice milk.

Chedis.

Dog 1 and dog 2.

Chedi graveyard.

Inner temple wall.

The other longnecks of Thailand.

Ruins. Still Chiang Mai

We made wish boats to put in the river.

Parade.

Lighting....

And letting go.

Letting our worries float down the river. Or at least our boats.

Wish boats, fireworks, and sky lanterns on the Ping river.

White on white.

tata thailand

2011-11-11T21:38:00.001+08:00

WE ARE LEAVING THAILAND TOMORROW HERE ARE SOME PICTURES:

MORE CRABS EVERYWHERE WE GO! @rosie&aaron

View from our beach bungalow, Koh Lanta.

Koh Lanta scooter ride yields many drying fish.

2 bums in hammocks.

Quiet boat landing, Koh Lanta.

The only time I'll ever be caught with good posture on camera.

On our way by longtail boat Rai Leh (overrated beach, underrated boat ride).

Krabi.

Crabs kicking sand around.

Anchor action. Longtail boat.

Bangkok sans flooding.

This was a really difficult taxi ride for me.

Chiang Mai grey.

DR FISH!!!

OH YEAH we also went to Singapore for a day in order to eat lots of food (pictures to come). It was ok. Here are some pictures without food in them:

This is Neal chewing gum on the airplane after landing in Singapore. Is it still illegal if you are on an airplane?

Hindu temple.

View from our bathroom or something.

The best thing about singapore were all the fun, colorful buildings.

Especially after looking at Taiwan's drab concrete for a month.

Weird food update!!!

2011-11-06T00:57:00.000+08:00

Sometimes I feel as though I'm living in a Chevy commercial. At least it seems that way since we have come to Thailand where the people here looooooove their trucks. I guess people loved their trucks in Taiwan too, but at least the trucks there were cute and iconic. They were all either bright blue, small, and twenty-year-old mitsubishis OR they were simply a set of wheels with a flatbed and a three-bar halfshell seat that jutted out impossibly far from the rest of the truck, seemingly offering up its driver to be blindsided when pulling out or crushed when the truck rolled forward over him. Here in Thailand all of the trucks are neoned, metallic rigs with sound systems you normally only find in minivans. I guess over-ornamentation is the norm. Here's a picture of our beloved Taiwanese blue truck:

Oh yeah... the weird food update.
Thailand makes up for its trucks with its food. After all our hard work we have finally found the mecca of all weird food travellers's searches:

BLUEBERRY HAZELNUT PRINGLESSSSSSS!!!!
oh wait nvm. It's really...

GRUBS!!!

We found them deep fried along with crickets and grasshoppers at the Krabi, Thailand night market. They actually don't taste like much (sorta nutty) but with a bit of salt and spice they make a great little snack. The kids love 'em!

With a start like this, I can't wait to see what they are surviving on in Bangkok these days!
As a parting gift, please enjoy this tea in a bag:

Tigers VS Peach Apes for the Championship

2011-10-18T22:50:00.002+08:00

As all of you American viewers get ready to watch the World Series, Laura and I will attending the Taiwanese equivalent, the Taiwan Series. I purchased two row 13 tickets for Game four just three days before the game at a typical neighborhood 7-Eleven for a non-whopping total of thirty us dollars.
Gooooo APES!

TAIWAN PART TWO: Landscapes, skyscapes, and other scapes (but no garlic scapes)

2011-10-18T02:23:00.008+08:00

Taiwan has been rainy. It seems even more rainy because our only mode of transport is by scooter, on which we (and all of our stuff) are regularly exposed to the elements for long hours at a time. Between downpours, generally in hazy conditions, Taiwan has some pretty unreal sights to offer. Here is a very pared down selection.

Kaohsiung

Sun protection and vines. Victorian Tarzan.

Roots scape

yup birds

Motorcycle and tank scape

Neal and Chinese tank prevention beach

Neal in tea bliss

Teletubbie tea scape on 60 stone mtn

drivin'

Mountain on rice paddy in east rift valley.

Rice scape

train on bridge on rice

maybe I should have put this one in the food related post...

Shitiping harbor

Highway 11 after it stopped raining on us

Somewhere in Lishan

Lishan (Pear Mountain)

THE Lishan high mountain tea.

The bottom of Toroko gorge.

It is marble lined and the river is the color of wet cement.

Marble cave hotspring (in Taroko) in cement colored water with Jonas, the Swede.

Ladies who convinced us to go to the hotspring.

They were on a 20 year reunion tour of Toroko.

This is the landslide that caused us to spend 2 extra days driving through the mountains back to Hualien. It was bigger than it looks.

The first wild monkey I ever did see.

More Toroko

And Toroko

Temple roof in Taipei. At this temple, you can go to pray to Buddha, Daoist gods, and Taiwan folk gods all at the same time!

TAIWAN PART ONE: FOODSCAPES

2011-10-18T01:48:00.005+08:00

THERE IS A LOT OF FOOD IN TAIWAN. A LOT OF IT IS GOOD. WE DIDN'T GET PHOTOS OF EVERYTHING CRAZY WE HAVE EATEN (for example, polenta stuffed deep fried cuttlefish with spicy sauce, or steam buns shaped like hot dog buns and stuffed with pork, sweet pickled cabbage, and peanut PowDER), BUT WE DID SOMETIMES REMEMBER TO STOP SHOVING IT IN OUR MOUTHS IN ORDER TO CAPTURE A GREAT FOOD/FOOD RELATED MOMENT.

Here are some of them:

At a highway stop for Buddha's head fruit (custard apple) - deliciouso!

Tiny Tuna! Crazed Neal.

Some sort of crazy roasted chestnut shaped like a moustache!

Good food at a small town restaurant whose owner claimed a new government would be taking over Taiwan with the help of the American army in December.

We'll see about that - but the food was delicious.

This is where they make all the mochi we buy in the US! Yeah mochi!

This is Neal's spit. It is not blood, but the pigment of your saliva for several minutes after chewing a carcinogenic nut called Betel nut that grows in a very tall and straight tropical tree. Many truck drivers, farmers - whoever - chew this in Taiwan for a quick buzz and hotflash.

Farm stand at the top of some mountain we had to scooter over after the landslide prevented our intended exit from Taroko National Park.

Coffin bread at the Hualien night market.

It is what it looks like: french toast filled with spicy, saucy pork.

Your typical frozen section at the supermarket contains fish balls and other items for hot pot.

An aboriginal classic at Wulai: millet (and stuff) cooked in bamboo

Preserved egg covered in dirt. Neal tried to eat the dirt.

Neal drinking seaweed beer.

It was a little weird and very sweet and didn't taste anything like beer.

Our first meal in Taiwan.

Saggy dumplings filled with SOUP (!), sprout salad, and FRESH soymilk. YUM.

SOME PICS FROM CHINA WE SHOULD HAVE PUT UP A LONG TIME AGO

2011-10-18T01:23:00.008+08:00

Hey everyone - we finally got some time/internet to put up some photos (these from China, Taiwan to follow) after almost a month of blog inactivity. These are displayed in reverse chronological order. Enjoyyyyyyyy...

ON OUR WAY TO TAIWAN!!!!

Bunkers in Xiamen (Southeastern China)

Xiamen raised highway/otherworldy lights/plants

wedding (photo) crasher on Xiamen beach

fresh seafood at old town market (Xiamen)

more Xiamen

Huangshan (Yellow Mtns)

Tangkou village entering Huangshan
Shanghai scape

MY ADVENTURE TO SPLASH MOUNTAIN(THE SHOUT OUTS)

2011-10-13T22:23:00.007+08:00

THIS ONE IS FOR MY SISTER WHO HAS CRABS :

This is not just a funny pose though. I am actually crossing from the tropic of non-cancer into the tropic of cancer. Cancer in astrology means crab and now that I have given her this picture as a present, she has crabs as a present.

THIS ONE IS FOR MY FRIEND ELIZABETH WHO LIKES WHISKEY:

In Taipei they have free samples for more than half of the items for sale. This comes in real handy if you are trying to pick out which distinct flavor of expensive single malt scotch you like before you buy it or if you are trying to work up a free buzz before going out into one of the coolest cities in the world.

THIS ONE IS FOR SARAH WHO IS (sorta) MISSING OUT:

It has rained for the last two weeks in Taiwan (the typhoon came late this year). This photo is from the week we tried getting by on $1 ponchos from seven eleven. Due to weather we have been trapped in gorges beyond our control, missed out on the best hotspring/waterfall combo in Taiwan, and have been shut off from accessing the most impressive high elevation monkey-ridden jungle trail around.

THIS ONE IS FOR JUSTIN WHO HASN'T LIVED UNTIL HE HAS HEARD KATY PERRY SUNG BY A FILIPINO BAND IN A HELLO KITTY THEMED CLUB:

THIS ONE IS FOR SAM WHO KNOWS A THING OR TWO ABOUT FINE BEVERAGES:

THIS ONE IS FOR MY MOTHER:

I had a really nice one for my father involving KFC and the Forbidden City, but I lost it.

Stay tuned for a series of cool landscape photos from Laura!

Soundtrack: Roll with the Punches

Food: Coffin Bread!

Mood: Is my shirt getting wetter or dryer? It's hard to tell in this much humidity.

WEIRD FOOD UPDATE

2011-09-23T15:47:00.001+08:00

I ate stewed duck head the other day. It was tasty except for the brain.

Current mood ~ 80 year old man pain from the 5 thousand stairs we walked down yesterday(we are in the Huangshan mountains)

Current soundtrack ~ Bedrock

more hang zhou zhuang shanghai

2011-09-10T22:34:00.005+08:00

hot pot!!!!
lotus flower seed pod!! (these ones were too bitter)
hot pot!!!
misty towers behind yu yuan garden
want!!!
the last photo my camera took before it shit the bed forever (hangzhou hostel)
pink line suberway shanghai
lotus and bridge in yu yuan garden old shanghai
looking out at land from canaltown
overfed fish
buddhist prayer ribbons
old house
more views from zhou zhuang
our first home-cooked by candy meal - lotus root, pepperbeef, g.beans and pork, and eggplant.

All the steamed buns in China, I'm gonna eat 'em up

2011-09-09T11:49:00.003+08:00

We ventured out from the grimy bosom of Shanghai to visit one of the most beautiful places in China: Hangzhou, home of Dragonwell Tea and West Lake.
Upon arriving at our hostel, we attempted to take a picture of the surrounding misty mountainous tea fields and our camera stopped working.
So the photo above is one someone else took.

If the camera had been working we would've had pictures of Qi Shi Haungdi's personal tea field (think misty understory with creek nearby .5mil dollar mountain estates made of granite),
a perfectly landscaped lake area brimming with weeping willows, blossoming lotuses and ornately carved bridges over causeways, and our Gaudi-esque entrance gate to our hostel.

On our first night in town, we set out to see the sunset over the tea fields, but after a long and buggy hike found it obscured by trees and slope. It was still a successful trip for the way we discovered the Dragon Well itself, a popular new beverage (osmanthus tea), and a friendly farmer of the Lung Ching tea. At the top of the hill we rewarded ourselves with a nip of stinky tofu.

The next day we rented bikes and explored the lake and surrounding streets which were shaded with sycamores and broke off into lush green gardens and temples around every turn. We were frustrated upon a couple of occausions by policemen who wouldn't let us go on certain roads though we saw other people come through on bikes from the other direction. We also had to pass through several hot and exhaust filled mountain tunnels that provoked as much as a spiritual expirience as the temple of the thousand cliff carved Buddhas, which we were on our way to.

I was particularly awestruck by a threeheaded carving of the Buddha with weapons coming out of every orifice. Three separate Chinese tourists found our presence as spiritually enlightening as the holy relics around us, and asked our permission to take part in their photo documentation of the place.

Not many other incredulous things happened, except for when I was served sunflower seeds twice.

Mood ~ Am I sweating or liquifying?
Real Soundtrack ~ Deperadoes Under the Eaves
Fake Soundtrack (aaa quality) - Smoke on the Water

Five Dollar Fish??!! ($&*%!!!!!) Zhouzhuang, China

2011-09-03T22:08:00.007+08:00

Cormorants putting on a show.

Neal tries out the concrete boat.

River boats.

Candy at the wish tree.

Boy.

IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PORTLAND

2011-08-24T02:54:00.001+08:00

or so it seems based on my experience here over the last week.

Portland in full bloom

2011-08-17T13:51:00.001+08:00

Now that Sarah is back in Portland, I have no excuse not to visit her and the city. POK POK yum, getting ready for SEasia already - and everyone has flowers!

Minnesota's finest demo derby

2011-08-17T13:45:00.001+08:00

After a week of learning new watersports and competitive gaming with the Yurick family on lake Emily, attending the Mille Lacs County Fair Demolition Derby was the perfect (?) way to unwind before checking out Minneapolis.

WESTWARD HO!

2011-08-07T02:23:00.002+08:00

We've made it to Minnesota, land of one thousand lakes.
I had blueberry wild rice pancakes for breakfest and a gobstopper the size of a grapefruit.
Feeling: Nauseous
Soundtrack: BTO - TCB

2011-08-04T21:12:00.003+08:00

PACKIGN IS FUNNNNNN!

GOT RID OF HAIR TODAY SO I CAN BLEND IN WITH THE LOCALS/STINK LESS!

STUFFING MYSELF SILLY ON THINGS I DON'T EXPECT TO FIND: MILK CHOCOLATE, BELGIAN CULTURED BEVERAGE, AND BEN & JERRYS.