Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Cellar No 8
At the Wine and Beer Haus enjoying a new Merlot! I'm drifting away from Merlots being one of my favorites. This one ranges from $8 to $10, and is from Cali. It's pretty good, not a fav, but okay for the price. I think I'm going to be posting new beer and wines I'm trying. The thing is that I'm really not pro, my opinion I just my opinion.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Indian Videos
Above is our preview/trailer video of our Indian Adventure.
Below is the full length video.
My Italian Vacation
Wow it's been a while. I'd like to share some of my pictures from this last summer. I took an end of the school year vacation to Italy. It was so beautiful but also a bit hectic since I was traveling by myself.
Check it out!
I started out by flying into Naples and staying there for a while.
Above is a great view of the whole city with the volcano in the background. Vesuvius, the volcano, is mainland
Europe's only active volcano.
I didn't do too much shopping, but it was nice seeing what the city had to offer.
Since it was so hot it was great stopping by the ice cream shops and testing out their flavors. In the picture below I stopped by a shop that specialized in chocolate ice cream. I had the white chocolate and it tasted amazing!
Pizza!!! The pizza is so different from American pizza but it is very good. I got the simple tomato, mozzarella, basil Margarita pizza and that was all I needed. It was simplistic but tasty. Compared to American pizzas, Italian pizza is very thin, but the quality level of the ingredients I think is what makes it so yummy.
Next I made my way to Herculaneum by trian. The ride was only about 40 minutes. See the picture below to get an idea of location.
Rick Steves' can better explain some of the background on Herculaneum: It's smaller, less ruined, and less crowded than its famous sister, Pompeii. It
offers a closer look at ancient Roman life. Caked and baked by the same eruption
in A.D. 79, Herculaneum is a small community of intact buildings with plenty
of surviving detail.
After exploring Herculaneum for the day, I hopped on the train again and made my way to Sorrento. Sorrento doesn't have much to do there, so I made sure to stay only for one night. It was a rich looking tourist town, but, it was so beautiful. I'm glad I went there for the day and a half. Below are some pictures.
After Sorrento, I made my way by trian to southern Italy, Praja. I loved Praja because it wasn't so touristy and it was like paradise. I got plenty of sun and relaxation time. After a busy city like Naples and all the train travel I really needed the lazy time spent on the beach.
The water was so warm and clear. Beautiful.
Second time visiting Rome! Below is the Colosseum.
After being in Rome for a few days I ended up flying back home to Prague.
Monday, May 16, 2011
India Slideshow
Sorry the quality sucks, as soon as I have time I'll fix it and upload a better slideshow.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Cocktail Recipes and Tips
So I'm still in India, hanging out with our friend Rohun having an easy relaxing day. I did however run across something very interesting, well interesting to me anyway. I found a book on India's nightlife that has a section with tips and recipes. Score!
So here's some tips I found very helpful:
-Do chill the glass before serving the cocktail. Place it in the freezer half an hour before use.
-To give the glass a sugar-frosted look, dampen the rim of the pre-chilled glass with a slice of lemon and lip the rim into sugar.
Caribbean Dawn
Ingredients:
-60ml pineapple juice
-5ml lime juice
-10ml grenadine
-sprite and soda for topping
-10ml orange squash
Method:
Top the glass with ice.
Pour the grenadine first, then orange squash, then lime.
Pour pineapple juice and top with Sprite and soda.
Suggested: You can drop in lime slices and cherries.
Apple Pie Mojito
Ingredients:
-45ml spiced rum
-6 lime wedges
-4/5 slice of apple
-10ml cinnamon syrup
-10 mint leaves
-bubbly apple soda/juice
-2 cinnamon sticks
Method:
Squeeze and drop the lime wedges into the glass.
Tear mint leaves over the lime and cinnamon. Muddle.
Fill the glass with crushed ice.
Add spiced rum, cinnamon syrup and stir.
Top with more crushed ice and top with the apple soda.
Garnish with Apples.
Blond Sangria
Ingredients:
-Cut fruits (litchi, kiwi, pineapple, strawberries, apples)
-375ml chilled white wine
-75ml citrus vodka (to soak fruits)
-sprite and apple soda or juice
Method:
Soak all the fruit in citrus vodka overnight.
Add the soaked fruit and ice into a pitcher.
Fill with white wine and top it with sprite and apple juice half and half.
Enjoy! I can't wait to try these...
So here's some tips I found very helpful:
-Do chill the glass before serving the cocktail. Place it in the freezer half an hour before use.
-To give the glass a sugar-frosted look, dampen the rim of the pre-chilled glass with a slice of lemon and lip the rim into sugar.
Caribbean Dawn
Ingredients:
-60ml pineapple juice
-5ml lime juice
-10ml grenadine
-sprite and soda for topping
-10ml orange squash
Method:
Top the glass with ice.
Pour the grenadine first, then orange squash, then lime.
Pour pineapple juice and top with Sprite and soda.
Suggested: You can drop in lime slices and cherries.
Apple Pie Mojito
Ingredients:
-45ml spiced rum
-6 lime wedges
-4/5 slice of apple
-10ml cinnamon syrup
-10 mint leaves
-bubbly apple soda/juice
-2 cinnamon sticks
Method:
Squeeze and drop the lime wedges into the glass.
Tear mint leaves over the lime and cinnamon. Muddle.
Fill the glass with crushed ice.
Add spiced rum, cinnamon syrup and stir.
Top with more crushed ice and top with the apple soda.
Garnish with Apples.
Blond Sangria
Ingredients:
-Cut fruits (litchi, kiwi, pineapple, strawberries, apples)
-375ml chilled white wine
-75ml citrus vodka (to soak fruits)
-sprite and apple soda or juice
Method:
Soak all the fruit in citrus vodka overnight.
Add the soaked fruit and ice into a pitcher.
Fill with white wine and top it with sprite and apple juice half and half.
Enjoy! I can't wait to try these...
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Relaxing in Udaipur
It's about 3pm right now and David and I are just hanging out and relaxing in our hotel. It's been pretty hot here in the Rajasthan region. Today I think it's supposed to get up to 105 degrees. It feels really great to have made it to our hotel after the 7 hour no AC bus trip from Jodhpur. It was quite an experience. Along with the heat we had to experience gusts of dust every so often because all the windows were open and we kept driving into these small villages with no pavement. By the time I got off the bus I was coated with a thick layer of dirt. The dirt was everywhere, in my hair, on my clothes, and all over my skin.
Through most of the trip I kept a eye out the window and observed everything. It was almost like an Indian village safari! I got to see so much over those 7 hours. Whenever we stopped for a break I would peep out the window and get so many stares back. Everyone LOVES to stare at us. I don't mean a causal stare or a 5-10 second stare, I mean a full blown 1-2-3-4-5 minute stare. I can't do anything without being watched here! Sometimes I smile at them or wave and they then realize that they are staring and usually smile or laugh back.
Everyone seems to be really friendly here though. We've come across many people (adults and kids)that politely say hello and ask what our names are and where were from. Many of the locals also love to take pictures of us with them. They always bust out their cameras and take pictures. The funniest is when they don't ask and try to secretly take a picture. Hmmm, let's see, is it really not going to be obvious when trying to snap a picture of someone? It's always SO obvious what they're doing! lol! It's better to ask for the picture because then it's not so awkward. I mean I understand where they're coming from, I take pictures of them so why not take some us strange white people. :)
So when we hopped off the bus (finally) it was 8:30pm and we rushed to the hotel.
We needed to get a hold of the bank right away because for the whole weekend we were stuck without being able to withdraw any money. I guess what happened way the bank changed something with the card providers and some people's cards were affected. And of course there had to be a problem with ours... and on a weekend. We seriously had $20 in our pocket hoping everything would work out... luckily it did.
So far Udaipur seem really nice. It's less hectic then Mumbai, Dehli, and Jaipur (at least in the older historic center area). I checked out some of the shops but they seemed too touristy for me. I really wish I could have done some shopping in Jodhpur because they had neat little markets that all the locals shopped at but that was where we didn't have a bank card working. Some of the cool things I've seen are journals, pictures of the gods, colorful clothing, scarves, bangles, stone necklaces, statues, wood carvings, spices, and so much more. So far I've only bought myself one outfit, some cheap jewelery, and a pair of flats. I need to smooth out the leather on the flats though because when I wore them they were rubbing my skin badly. :(
Ok well this is all for now... I have so much to say but little time to write!
Through most of the trip I kept a eye out the window and observed everything. It was almost like an Indian village safari! I got to see so much over those 7 hours. Whenever we stopped for a break I would peep out the window and get so many stares back. Everyone LOVES to stare at us. I don't mean a causal stare or a 5-10 second stare, I mean a full blown 1-2-3-4-5 minute stare. I can't do anything without being watched here! Sometimes I smile at them or wave and they then realize that they are staring and usually smile or laugh back.
Everyone seems to be really friendly here though. We've come across many people (adults and kids)that politely say hello and ask what our names are and where were from. Many of the locals also love to take pictures of us with them. They always bust out their cameras and take pictures. The funniest is when they don't ask and try to secretly take a picture. Hmmm, let's see, is it really not going to be obvious when trying to snap a picture of someone? It's always SO obvious what they're doing! lol! It's better to ask for the picture because then it's not so awkward. I mean I understand where they're coming from, I take pictures of them so why not take some us strange white people. :)
So when we hopped off the bus (finally) it was 8:30pm and we rushed to the hotel.
We needed to get a hold of the bank right away because for the whole weekend we were stuck without being able to withdraw any money. I guess what happened way the bank changed something with the card providers and some people's cards were affected. And of course there had to be a problem with ours... and on a weekend. We seriously had $20 in our pocket hoping everything would work out... luckily it did.
So far Udaipur seem really nice. It's less hectic then Mumbai, Dehli, and Jaipur (at least in the older historic center area). I checked out some of the shops but they seemed too touristy for me. I really wish I could have done some shopping in Jodhpur because they had neat little markets that all the locals shopped at but that was where we didn't have a bank card working. Some of the cool things I've seen are journals, pictures of the gods, colorful clothing, scarves, bangles, stone necklaces, statues, wood carvings, spices, and so much more. So far I've only bought myself one outfit, some cheap jewelery, and a pair of flats. I need to smooth out the leather on the flats though because when I wore them they were rubbing my skin badly. :(
Ok well this is all for now... I have so much to say but little time to write!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Hello Mumbai!
So David and I made it safely to Mumbai and currently we are resting at our friend Rohun's place.
The airplane trip was not that great but we survived it. Since we were feeling pretty sick right before we left we medicated the night before we left and actually were able to fall asleep for a while. We woke up and were ready to go feeling somewhat ok (definitely better not worse), but after the first flight from Prague to Istanbul David and I both started to feel worse. It didn't exactly help that we were delayed for about an hour and half with Turkish Airlines. I was tired and my throat was killing me... Once we made it on the airline though we were able to relax. I tried to sleep but that didn't happen.
When we got through all the customs and picked up our bag, we headed outside where there were crowds of people hovering outside. Luckily the airport put railing around so there was a circle area where people coming out of the airport could situate themselves. The heat when we landed was not that bad. I was wearing my jeans and I was sweating just a tiny bit. I think what gets me is the humidity. Since Mumbai is so near the water it has this muggy heat to it.
We found Rohun right away and made our way to his car. It's great seeing him. He actually just got a job right before we came working as an assistant manager within some Bollywood film company. I guess it's supposed to be a really great job so he couldn't turn it down when they offered it. :) We also met his parents and grandmother, they are all such nice people! I'm excited to talk with them. Since Rohun has to work almost every day, his mom has offered to take us out once in a while too if we'd like. I took her up on her offer and later today we're going to go shopping. I'm very excited to go and find some sweet clothes! I believe it's fairly inexpensive here. I literally didn't have anything in my wardrobe for such heat (the same situation can up in Egypt), I mean when in Prague or on the Oregon Coast will it get up to 100 degrees, nearly never!
By the way, they can make a mean cup of Indian chai over here.... MMMMMmmmm!
The airplane trip was not that great but we survived it. Since we were feeling pretty sick right before we left we medicated the night before we left and actually were able to fall asleep for a while. We woke up and were ready to go feeling somewhat ok (definitely better not worse), but after the first flight from Prague to Istanbul David and I both started to feel worse. It didn't exactly help that we were delayed for about an hour and half with Turkish Airlines. I was tired and my throat was killing me... Once we made it on the airline though we were able to relax. I tried to sleep but that didn't happen.
When we got through all the customs and picked up our bag, we headed outside where there were crowds of people hovering outside. Luckily the airport put railing around so there was a circle area where people coming out of the airport could situate themselves. The heat when we landed was not that bad. I was wearing my jeans and I was sweating just a tiny bit. I think what gets me is the humidity. Since Mumbai is so near the water it has this muggy heat to it.
We found Rohun right away and made our way to his car. It's great seeing him. He actually just got a job right before we came working as an assistant manager within some Bollywood film company. I guess it's supposed to be a really great job so he couldn't turn it down when they offered it. :) We also met his parents and grandmother, they are all such nice people! I'm excited to talk with them. Since Rohun has to work almost every day, his mom has offered to take us out once in a while too if we'd like. I took her up on her offer and later today we're going to go shopping. I'm very excited to go and find some sweet clothes! I believe it's fairly inexpensive here. I literally didn't have anything in my wardrobe for such heat (the same situation can up in Egypt), I mean when in Prague or on the Oregon Coast will it get up to 100 degrees, nearly never!
By the way, they can make a mean cup of Indian chai over here.... MMMMMmmmm!
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