Hola from San Juan!

After a very long flight from Seattle, we arrived in San Juan early afternoon to beautiful, sunny and VERY HOT weather. Our cruise on Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas begins tomorrow, and we arrived a day early as a precaution. We've had a chill day involving lots of great food, some beach time, walking around El Morro and checking out the casinos in our hotel and next door. Taking advantage of the free wifi at the hotel right now, I've uploaded pictures taken from today -- check it out! Tomorrow will be light as we just grab a bite to eat and hopefully have more beach time before heading to the pier to begin the herding-of-the-cows boarding of the cruise ship....but we are really looking forward to it.

Today has been a walk through memory lane -- for those of you that know, my family has a timeshare here and I spent much of my childhood coming here every March. When I grew up, I took advantage of the place and brought a bunch of girlfriends here...and later visited again. It's probably been a good 8 years or so since I was last here and it's been fascinating to see how much the city has grown. Isla Verde, the neighborhood where the timeshare is located as well as our 1-night hotel, is so much bigger than before--there are now many more hotels and eating establishments. That said, it's great to see many of my favorites still standing.

Frozen Custard comes to Seattle!

In Kansas, there is frozen custard EVERYWHERE. I remember this even in high school as the trend started picking up...you couldn't find an ice cream shop except the Baskin-Robbins in the strip mall...but you could find a few frozen custard stores. I'd been wondering if it was just a midwest thing as I never saw such a store on the East Coast or West Coast. Well, about a month ago, after having dinner at Spinasse up the street, Matt and I noticed a sign for a frozen custard place and wondered.........well, it finally opened! Old School Frozen Custard is just up the street---I can't wait to check it out. As part of its grand opening, free cones from 3pm - 10pm this Saturday!

my body hates me

Over the last 24 hours, I got sunburnt over lunch in the sun (just sitting there for 40 minutes in the Microsoft commons!), then attended an intense Circuit Training class at the ProClub and then suddenly had the inspiration to bike 30 miles home around Lake Washington. My body hates me. It feels good but man, my legs are like jello. Here was my route:



In other news:

• My dearest friends, Jigna and Matt, celebrated the birth of their daughter, Kiran, on May 9th---congratulations! I went and visited them on day 2 and she was so precious!
• Another couple we love -- Jessica and John -- got married up in Friday Harbor on May 16th. We had a fabulous weekend in the San Juan Islands, renting a log cabin with Matt & Asayo and also hanging out a bunch with Katy & Lenny. While there, we biked into town, saw a camel and spent a lot of time hanging out with Jessica's relatives from Tennessee! Some picture to check out:
  
  • Weekend in Friday Harbor
  • John & Jessica's Wedding
    

• The weather in Seattle has been unusually warm -- it'll be in the upper 80's today! No wonder I got a sunburn. I'm putting sunblock before going to work....bizarre.
  
• For the 2nd time, Matt and I decided to attend the Secret Film Festival as part of SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival)---I'd love to tell you about the movies we've seen, but...they're secret!
• Remember how I had to replace my tires? Well, one month after getting the new tires, my rear passenger side tire went flat AGAIN! I brought it in and got it replaced for free...but a weird coincidence.
• For Mother's Day, my brother and I secretly flew to Vegas and surprised our mother by sitting in her bedroom until she got home. It was a fun weekend, filled with karaoke, bowling, yummy food, Cirque du Soleil and swimming in the pool together for the first time. Here's the video of us surprising her:



• My favorite quote from the weekend with our mother was when Aaron and I were teaching her how to plays craps in the Palazzo casino. Afterwards, we asked what she learned: "when Aaron rolls, better bet "Don't Pass!"" Ha Ha.
• I'm in love with 2 new recent neighborhood joints: Molly Moon's Ice Cream and Oddfellows Cafe for brunch
• Matt is graduating soon!!! 2 more weeks!
• To celebrate his graduation and our upcoming anniversary, we've recently booked a Caribbean Cruise!!! We're going on RCI's Adventure of the Seas, leaving from San Juan, Puerto Rico and visiting Curacao, Dominica, Aruba and St. Thomas...at the end of June. I've never been on a cruise without my parents and it's probably been a good 10 years since my last cruise...this will be Matt's first. I'm really looking forward to a bunch of relaxation, sitting by the pool with a dacquiri in hand, scuba diving in Curacao and ice skating! Yes, there's a freakin' ice skating rink on this boat.
  

Truffled Gnocchi Goodness

Last night, before heading to the symphony, we got dinner at the Art Restaurant & Lounge in the recently opened Four Seasons Hotel downtown, about 2 blocks away from Benaroya Hall. Overall, great experience---the service was superb as one would expect from the Four Seasons. The ambience and decoration was modern and simplistic, much like the rest of the hotel. The view mostly phenomenal were it not for the huge Public Storage building right in front--it is right on 1st Ave so there are water views aplenty. The menu consisted of food either from the "the counter", which was literally a counter in the middle of the restaurant with a couple of chefs making the food onsite, or a few main entrees. The counter items were appetizer size but could easily be shared for a tapas-style meal. Many of the choices looked appealing and I'd like to return to try more. We opted to get the Truffled Gnocchi and it was absolutely delicious--fairly simple with shaved truffle on top. It was light, fluffy, smelled and tasted delicious.

We then each ordered from the main entrees---Matt got an aged steak and I a lamb steak. I thought the lamb was wonderfully seasoned, and the garnish of mint, yogurt and honey really added to the flavor. Matt's steak was also well seasoned, but not evenly seasoned. Also, while the portion was perfect for me, Matt felt the steak could've been a larger portion. That said, the food was great and the service expediant enough to ensure finishing dinner in an hour for the symphony. We'd love to return, especially to check out the "lounge" part, which has a smaller bar menu, reasonable in price. The chef apparently came from the recently closed Cascadia that was in Belltown. He brought with him Cascadia's famous mini-burgers, which are only offered in the lounge. We'll definitely check it out!

Anyhoo, as if we couldn't have enough, we had made plans to attend a potluck at a friend's place this evening and still hadn't decided what to make until this morning, when we got the idea to try to make truffled gnocchi on our own. At the dinner last night, we had debated about how gnocchi was made exactly and how much potato was in the flour. This was a great opportunity to find out...and we're psyched about the results. Part of the motivation was to have truffle oil be infused in the gnocchi dough itself, rather than being dependent having it be part of the sauce. We used a "Truffled Gnocchi with Peas and Chanterelles" recipe online and it came out great. We were extremely satisfied with the results--below is the recipe as well as added tidbits or changes made, followed by a few pictures of the process:

Truffled Gnocchi with Peas and Chanterelles

SERVES 4

The secret to making these pillow-soft gnocchi (from Boston's Sportello) is to knead the dough as little as possible; if it's overworked, the gnocchi become gluey and tough.

FOR THE GNOCCHI:
1 lb. russet potatoes (about 2), unpeeled
1 1/4 cup flour, plus more for dusting
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 tbsp. truffle oil
1 egg, beaten

FOR THE SAUCE:
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
10 oz. mushrooms, preferably chanterelles, roughly chopped Chanterelles weren't in season when I went to the store, so I substituted with oyster mushrooms which tasted just as great (and are considerably cheaper!)
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup peas, fresh or frozen We used frozen and it was fine
2 tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tbsp. finely chopped chives Got these but forgot to add--it's just garnish so not a necessity

1. Make the gnocchi: Boil potatoes in a 4-qt. saucepan of salted water until tender, about 20 minutes. It's best to boil the potatoes in their skin to prevent water from getting into the potatoes, otherwise, the potatoes will be too watery. I'd also read the advice to put the potatoes in the water before it begins boiling so that the skin doesn't break. Drain the potatoes; let cool slightly and peel. Work potatoes through a food mill or a potato ricer onto a lightly floured surface. We used a potato ricer which worked great. Sprinkle the flour and salt over the potatoes and mix together with your hands. This part will be sticky (take off your rings!) but just mix it enough so that the flour and salt are evenly dispersed. Form a mound and create a well in the center; add truffle oil and egg. Gently knead dough until it just comes together, adding a little more flour if it begins to stick.

2. Lightly flour a parchment paper–lined baking sheet and set aside. Using a rolling pin, roll dough to a 1/2" thickness. Cut into 1/2"-wide strips. I decided not to roll the dough mainly because I tripled this recipe since I was making it for 12-13 people. I just kneaded it to a large ball and then took out chunks to make rolls out of. Roll each strip between your hands and the work surface to form ropes. Cut each rope into 1" segments. Working with one segment at a time, roll it down the back of a small fork so that the tines make ridges on the surface of the dough. This isn't totally necessary--supposedly, the ridges and indentation that is the classic form of gnocchi helps it hold onto sauce better...but this can take more time to do. I did it for about half of the gnocchi I made for the heck of it, but you can certainly skip doing this and the gnocchi will still turn out great. Transfer gnocchi to the prepared baking sheet; cover with a kitchen towel and refrigerate until ready to cook.

3. Make the sauce: Bring a 6-qt. pot of salted water to a boil. Heat oil in a 12" skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms to skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until light brown, about 5 minutes. Raise heat to high; add cream, peas, and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally, until cream reduces by half. It didn't feel like the cream sauce never reduced to half...maybe 20%. Ultimately, when we added it back to the gnocchi, it thickened. We also added just a teensy bit of truffle oil to the sauce--probably less than a teaspoon. Season mushroom sauce with salt and pepper and remove skillet from heat. Boil gnocchi in the salted water until they float, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer gnocchi to mushroom sauce, add chives, and toss to combine.

Rolling gnocchi dough


Cutting up the gnocchi


Gnocchi pillows

got me some tires

so I've mentioned that I've had some bad luck with my car this month---well, in addition to my recent parking spot snafu where I swiped the door and mirror, I'd also been observing a slow leak in my rear passenger wheel. After filling it with air a few times, it would deflate much too quickly...so I brought it in to be looked at it. Turns out: there's a nail in the tire that's awfully close to the sidewall, so a patch wouldn't hold because of its proximity to the sidewall. As a result, I needed to replace the tire. Unsurprisingly, the dealership quoted me something ridiculous for ONE tire---about $300! One tire! So I made an appointment at Discount Tire upon recommendation from a few people (Costco would've been the next choice)....and going there, I was anticipating needing to replace all the tires because I'm around 38,000 miles and have never changed the tires. As I suspected, the tread on all tires was around 4/32" which was getting dangerously low. Figuring I'd need to replace the rest soon eventually, I got 4 new tires. *gulp* So now, with the recent tax bill, the new tires and my pending auto body work, my bank account is not happy.

Until the last couple days, I've never known anything about changing tires on cars---i.e. when to change, what tread depth matters, good sites to shop at, etc. It makes me wonder how dangerously run-down I let the tires on my old Acura Integra go considering I owned the car for 8 years, drove it back and forth between Kansas and Massachusetts for at least 3 of those, and never changed the tires. Ha.

going to Portugal?

I recently learned about a friend going to Portugal and she asked for tips. I know I've written up tidbits for people over the last 3 years (since we went in 2006) but I couldn't find any of the notes I've ever written...so I thought I'd publish what I wrote about our experience for future reference:

We loved it (naturally, since we got engaged there) My husband proposed to me from our hotel in Cascais and we loved much of our stay. We visited in mid-May, so similar time of year--and hence why we didn't go down south to the beaches. Our 2-week itinerary was:

Lisbon - Belem - Sintra - Cascais - Porto - Braga - Douro Valley - Buscaco Forest - Fatima - Ourem - Lisbon

We covered a lot of ground and loved it. The Douro Valley is gorgeous and will feel like a getaway---so glad to hear you're going to head out there since it's true wine country (Porto has all the port wine lodges where you can see the barrels aging, but none of the actual vineyards). I'll go through each city with top things to see and do.

LISBON & BELEM

The heart of Portugal, of course, so there's a lot to do. Get ready to put on good walking shoes as there are lots of hills in this city! Highlights of things to see and do here:

• Listen to Fado singers at Café Luso in the Bairro Alto. There are tons of fado restaurants so you don't necessarily need to go here, but we enjoyed it. We did learn that there tend to be 2 sittings--something like 7pm and 10pm. We went with the later one and were glad we did, because there was a huge group of cruise ship passengers at the earlier show! As a result, we got a much more intimate dinner and show.
• Ride the Tram #28 through the Alfama district
• go to "A Ginjinha" and try ginginha with cherries! It's like a sweet liquer, which is typical of Portugal. I think this bar is in the Rossio district.
• go to the Castelo de Sao Jorge - the views are amazing. This is a must visit.
• if you get a chance, go up one of the Elevadors--like the Elevador Santa Justa for another great view of the city
• take a walk along the Baixa, sit in an outdoor café -- get a croissant mixta and a café com leite while people watching.
• other great neighborhoods to walk around: Bairro Alto (artsy, lots of bars at night) and the Alfama (much older neighborhood, narrow windy streets)
• if you end up liking the glazed tile art (called azulejos), there is a museum of Azulejos located in the Alfama neighborhood
• if you go to Belem (can be done in a few hours):
• visit the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos in Belem--great example of architecture from Portugal's 16th century (and the delicious pasteis of Belem are just steps away)
• along the waterfront, you'll easily see the Torre de Belem and Monument to the Discoveries

SINTRA & CASCAIS

• visit the Palacio Nacional which is in the heart of Sintra and one of the top reasons to visit, Sintra.
• definitely visit the Palacio de Pena which is at the top of this hill with GORGEOUS views. The Palace itself is whimsically decorated and there are lots of beautiful picture opportunities
• I never visited here, but there are old remains of a Moorish castle nearby also that is also popular to visit. If you have limited time, I recommend the national palace and pena palace for sure.
• Cascais is just a cute seaside town, and not much touristy to see. However, it's beautiful since it's along the coast and you can stand there looking out in the ocean. We stayed at and got engaged at this great former fortress called Fortaleza do Guincho (GORGEOUS AND ROMANTIC), which is located next to Guincho Beach, a popular beach for windsurfers.
• go to Cabo da Roca which is just slightly north of Cascais. We visited it when we were driving from Sintra back to Cascais, but you could do it the other way too. The drive there is great. Anyhow, it's considered to be the westernmost point of continental Europe and has a beautiful view of the ocean as well.

PORTO

• we stayed in a hotel along Cais da Ribeira (Pestana Porto---it's really old and it's fun to see old paintings of Oporto that show the hotel), so we stayed primarily in this area
• the main thing to do in Oporto is to cross the bridge over to Vila Nova Gaia where all the port wine lodges are. The view over there is incredible as you'll recognize every brand of port you've probably ever had. Be sure to check on when the wine lodges are open though as there are days when they are not. My opinion is that there isn't much to do in Porto except for this, so I'd limit the stay to 2 days at most....so plan accordingly to be there when all the port wine lodges are open. You'll find that once you go on one tour, all the tours are very similar---so it's up to you if you want to continue taking tours.
• the only other thing we did was walk up to the Cathedral (the Se) where the views were quite beautiful

BRAGA

• we primarily went here, to be honest, because my husband's mother's maiden name is Braga and we wanted to visit...but you can totally skip. We only stayed one night. It's an old Catholic town that's quaint with a couple of pretty sites, but nothing to go out of your way for.
• on your way out to the Douro Valley, highly recommend you stop and visit the Bom Jesus do Monte, which is Portugal's most photographed church with its series of winding steps

DOURO VALLEY

• [sigh] we wished we had stayed out here longer as it was just relaxing and heavenly. We stayed at the Casa de Casal de Loivos, a B&B in Pinhao which was wonderful. The owner, Manuel, is a hoot and the view from here is spectacular. (decently cheap too at 100 euros/night)
• you can go to the vineyards and take tours--many of them offer self-guided walking tours too.
• while we didn't do this, we saw a lot of people take river boat tours. Some people would even leave their cars, take the boat cruise to the Douro Valley, stay a few days and then return. Of course, you're then limited to where you can walk...and the Douro Valley is definitely more of a driving place to get from one point to another.

BUÇACO FOREST

we didn’t actually stay here, but on our way back down south from the Douro Valley, we took a tour and decided to drive through the Buçaco Forest and eventually arrived at the Buçaco Palace which is GOR-GEOUS. If anything, the visit here is worthwhile just to see this palace. We had joked that if we had decided to get married in Portugal, this is where we'd do it because the palace and grounds were really beautiful.

OUREM & FATIMA

We decided to stay in Ourem for a couple of days to rest before heading back to Lisbon. This was probably one of our favorite places we stayed at -- the Casa Alta Royal Lodge. It's literally run by this priest from San Francisco--and while it's very Catholic in nature, they don't impose religion to you whatsoever. The rooms are great with beautiful views and it's a very personal experience.

While there, we got a tour of the area, including going to Fatima, which is fascinating since it's considered, like, one of the most religious places in the world. I mean, there are people here who will crawl on their knees while doing hail mary's. It is famous because the Virgin Mary reportedly appeared before 3 young children, who then confided 3 secrets. If anything, the amazing thing to see here is the Shrine and Basilica of Fatima -- it's HUGE!!! It's one of the largest in the world and thousands of people pilgrimage here yearly.

In the area, we also saw the cathedrals at Batalha and Alcobaca as well as out to Nazare to see the coastline...but these are just bonus places to visit.

credit card checks

You know those pesky checks you get from the credit card companies so that you can transfer a balance or pay something big off? You know, the ones that typically have some low APR? Well, like most of you, I shred those up and throw them away as soon as possible. But this last week, I had something big to pay off.

A few weeks ago, we got a letter from the IRS saying we owe a TON of money. I freaked out at first and thought it must surely be a mistake. But no, after digging around some big, we realized that our tax preparer made some grave mistakes from our 2007 take return and that indeed the IRS was correct. Much to our chagrin, our tax preparer was SUPER LAME and never returned any phone calls or emails about this mistake. At the very least, we just wanted some acknowledgement, an apology and an offer to make an amended tax return to the IRS--this was really reasonable and something almost every tax preparer does. But no, she just completely ignored us---how unprofessional. (her name's Denise Earl of Mobile Taxes---all you Seattlelites, stay away from her!!!) Fortunately, a coworker's mother is an accountant and she most pleasantly offered to help AND without being asked of her, she created the amended tax return we needed. Rock on.

Moral of this story is we ended up having to write a big check, and this was the one time we needed one of those credit card checks so that our bank account wouldn't freak out. The IRS installment plan is lame with huge fees and interest rates, and the opportunity to pay via credit card incurs some sort of 2.49% charge due to a legal ruling that the IRS can't pay for the credit card company charge (although I hear this may've changed this year and that you can deduct the cost of this in your return...note to self for years to come). Anyhow, couldn't find one of those checks and ended up just biting the bullet and writing a check direct from the bank. We dropped the check off Saturday morning....that afternoon, the mail came along with a "special offer from Chase". Ha. What karma.