Costa Rica day 3 (continued)

Then Renee and I rent bicycles. I impress Renee with my Spanish skills when speaking to the bike renter guy, only because she has no idea that what I'm saying is completely lacking in syntactical and grammatical accuracy.



We ride the bikes (which have no handle brakes, thank you very much) back to the house, and push them up the mountain we live atop. Everyone is driving ATVs or bicycles or walking (often carrying surf boards). Often you'll see people on 4-wheelers or bikes with scarves wrapped around their faces and sunglasses on to protect their faces from the dirt/dust from the road. Hitchhiking is also common. PS if you like tan chics who drive 4-wheelers, Costa Rica is your spot.

That evening we all go out for a drink. We walk to Il Tomate, a low key Italian place. I get white wine and a monster piece of chocolate souffle - SO good.



Note the sunburn on my chest.

On our walk home, we are accompanied by one of the many dogs that wander freely around the peninsula. We learn that most of the dogs have owners, which would explain why they are very friendly and well-kept.

Costa Rica day 3

Monday morning we have breakfast at Tres, the German-owned cafe at the bottom of our steep hill, where Ben and Renee would take advantage of wireless internet. We loved the food there, basically health food. I loved my pineapple-mint shake, which was mostly just mint.


Renee and Ben are doing more wedding stuff, I stayed in to chill, read and make a pina colada in the blender using some local rum. Later we go to Soda Pedro Del Mar for dinner. Gorgeous view and delicious whole fish!
The view from our table
A handsome German
Laurie, Renee and me
Fish heads, fish heads - eat them up, yum!

Costa Rica day 2

There are roosters living down the hill from us and they like to crow frequently throughout the morning, starting around 4 am I believe. By the end of the week I will have considered committing roostercide but am too chicken (wokka wokka).

Rice and beans for breakfast at Soda Sensorita (sp?) washed down with a banana shake, yum. The 2 ATM machines in town are not working and it's Sunday, which means nobody is in any hurry to get anything done. People needing cash will be SOL until Monday.

Head to the beach and like a dumb white tourist, I got a bit sun burnt my first day in the Central American sun. I will spend the rest of the trip hiding from the sun and later be forced to endure numerous comments about my lack of tan upon return (although I am tan "for me"). Swimming in the waves is a lot of fun.



Renee and I on the balcony at the house: The view from the house:
That night we ate at Mila Repa, the restaurant that will host the after-wedding dinner. Everyone loves the Japanese inspired fare. It rains really hard that night during dinner but that would be the only time, I think. And it turns out rain is helpful in keeping the dust from kicking up into everyone's face along the dirt roads.

Costa Rica: Day 1

(Hotel Brilla Sol in San Jose)
Woke up to the bluest sky I´ve ever seen. It´s probably not even blue anymore but another color only Darcy would be able to name. Breakfast consisted of fresh, sweet pineapple and guava, eggs with rice and beans. The greenery is impressive: big leaves, bright flowers. And it´s so thick that when the wind blows, it sounds like someone is walking through it. By 10:00 am it is hot enough to sweat from just sitting in the sun. Thus, computer break.Birds of Paradise

Met Renee and Ben back at the airport, headed to the ferry via rental car. Not fun waiting for the ferry in the heat/humidity. Arrived to our destination, Santa Teresa, around 11pm Saturday night. A private house atop a crazy steep hill.

Austin

My first time in Austin - finally - did not disappoint. It's about 60-70 miles North, so Nels Nelson and I went up this past Saturday night.

First stop: a restaurant downtown called Lambert's, which, according to their website, serves up inventive BBQ, modern Texas cooking, and carefully prepared cocktails. It was sooooo good. And, to our delight, there was a band playing swing/jazz music and people dancing in the upstairs area where we ate. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it was really cool.



If you've ever traveled with me, you know I love taking food pictures. Shots of our salad (pecans, ricotta cheese, grapes, apple-cider vinaigrette) and what's left of our broiled oysters (topped with Parmesan, tomatoes, smoked bacon). Entrees: I got grouper with shrimp bisque sauce and he got a Yoakum Akaushi Prime Beef Strip, after I persuaded him to, so I could try it too!




Next we went to The Ginger Man, who, according to their website, strives to provide the best selection of fine imported and domestic beer and wine in comfortable surroundings. Indeed. There was a wall of beers on tap, much of it local, including what I got: (512) Pecan Porter. (512) is an Austin-based microbrewery. I didn't know that after I ordered it; they already had me at "pecan."


And here's me on the street downtown with a view of the Texas capitol building behind me. Our final stop was uptown, by UT, to see some bands. The venue, next to the hip Spider House Cafe, only hosts shows occasionally. We saw two great bands for $7 (there were actually 6 bands playing). Size wise, the place was somewhere between the Mercury lounge and the (old?) Knitting Factory main space - in other words, smallish/perfect size. Despite it being an all-ages show, we were definitely surrounded by peers and there was more than enough breathing room.

A super good first impression of Austin. I shall return.

By the way, while the Northeast got hit with a blizzard, here is Nels Nelson on the same weekend walking his dog in a t-shirt.

Over 75,000 square feet of grocery goodness!!!

Central Market: the greatest supermarket on the planet!



I was so worried that I was too spoiled by all the amazing food in NYC to survive living anywhere else. Imagine my delight when I stumbled onto this grocery store my first week in town - it's better than Whole Foods and Trader Joe's combined! I took some pics this weekend - I wanted to take more but I was a little embarrassed.


This guy was playing guitar in the sit-down section of the store Saturday evening.

Look how big the wine section is! I couldn't even fit it all into one picture!


Miles of barbecue sauce!


One guy actually stopped in his tracks in order to let me take my shot of the salts, which I just couldn't pass up, as crazy as I might have looked. 40 varieties of salt on tap!!!

I just found out by looking Central Market up on Wikipedia that it has a culinary school with cooking and wine classes. I'm so checking that out.

The only thing that's more expensive in TX

First non-NYC haircut since 2001. I was nervous but it turned out well. It cost twice as much as my haircuts in Chinatown did, but of course that was absurdly cheap. I went to the trendy Toni & Guy Salon in a big shopping center called La Cantera. The girl who cut my hair (Esmeralda?) was probably 20 and had green streaks in her otherwise black hair.



Overall a good experience, except I will miss the comfortable sinks at Top Cuts Salon in Chinatown, as well as not having to engage in small talk with Kwok.


Course, it will never be that straight again.