Food, Travel

My cooking class at Moksa

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“Cooking” raw vegan is a labor of love. Many hours pass as you wait for things like coconut crepe sheets (used for spring rolls, wraps, samosas) to be finished in the dehydrator. Some recipes require 36 hours! That’s a lot of time…and electricity. Personally, I’m happy grabbing handfuls of arugula periodically from the fridge. No plate. Straight into mouth. My version of raw vegan.

Nevertheless, I had an unbelievable 5-hour class with the head chef of a raw vegan Ubud restaurant, Moksa. I had such an amazing dinner there that I asked the chef for a lesson, and he agreed. This place makes raw vegan legitimately delicious – gastronomic – not just healthy-tasting, and I want to be able to be able to do the same at home (whenever it is that I’ll get there…and stay there…sigh). I’m thinking of cutting down on meat.

Here’s some stuff Chef Made (pronounced MAH-day) and I made:

  1. Asian Zucchini Noodles (i.e., Heaven)

Asian Zucchini Noodles

Basically, this involves selecting some veggies, massaging them in tamari, onion powder, garlic powder, and lime juice, and then mixing them into “zoodles” (zucchini noodles made from a spiralizer). Top with some spiced cashew crunchiness. La piece de la resistance! (Too lazy to find the accented “e”). Continue reading My cooking class at Moksa →

Life, Travel

Ubud-iful

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My Bali trip has been off and then on and then off and then on again. The first cancellation was to accommodate a job interview in San Francisco. The second booking was avoided due to bad weather. There were a few other mental misfires as well – many Delta search scenarios were run. Finally, the weather looked good, the Skymiles redemption miles looked decent, and it was time to go. Instead of booking to leave immediately, I decided to wait a few days and finish out the week in SF. Such uncharacteristic restraint. I decided to break up the trip with a stopover in Japan. All was set.

The Bali of my memories was beautiful, natural, uninhabited. All 48 hours of it (clearly enough to be an expert). I arrived late at night and was shuttled over to a beautiful resort in Jimbaran Bay. I ventured out a bit to Seminyak and other areas for southern Bali nightlife. The missing pieces in my imagination had been filled with stories from my friends’ past trips, including an over-the-top celebrity Indonesian wedding of a high school friend where the bride and groom had flown some of our friends out to Bali on a private jet from the U.S. I wish I had been invited to that one! Damn. Yes, my view was extremely distorted.

My arrival in Bali this time around was a rude awakening. Continue reading Ubud-iful →

Life, Travel

My happy place

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In February 2012, I visited Bali for the first time. I was visiting a good friend of mine from grad school in Singapore, and I took a few days to visit Bali as a side trip. I didn’t have enough pages left in my passport, so it almost didn’t happen. They wouldn’t let me get on the plane the first time around. But I went to the embassy in Singapore and was able to get on a flight one day later than originally planned. Magic.

I was going through a major transition (well, do we ever really stop that process? So tired, please tell me yes!). I had recently gotten out of an 11-year relationship. I was changing careers and starting a new job the following month. I had moved into an apartment and was living alone for the first time…ever. It was a trip that started a period of independence for me. It was my first solo trip ever, and the first of many since then.

I didn’t know what to expect, and I was completely blown away when I arrived at my palatial suite at the Intercontinental Hotel in the Jimbaran. Seriously, I felt like I was on a honeymoon with myself! From the balcony, I could hear the ocean. It was night, probably around midnight, and I ran down to the beach. I was alone. It was so quiet, and the waves were crashing down. When I think of the happiest moments of my life, this is one of them. Here’s a video:

The thing about recreating memories or returning to places from your past is that it’s often not possible. It was a special time at a special place at a special moment. It is a kind of magic. How do you find magic again? Unfortunately, I don’t think you can. I think it finds you when you’re chilled out and open, not frantically looking for answers.

This trip to Bali has been very different, equally special but certainly different. I’ve experienced the crazy hectic tourism that I missed the first time around. I’m older. My sensibilities have changed. I’m visiting new locations, thinking new thoughts. I haven’t even seen the beach yet. I don’t know why I’m avoiding it.

Travel

Miyajima Island

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Torii Shrine Gates Miyajima

Itsukushima (known as Miyajima) is an island off Japan, approximately an hour from Hiroshima by a combination of train and ferry. To do it justice, I think you need at least a half day there to walk around and go on some mini-hikes. It’s quaint, beautiful, and while there are a fair number of tourists there, it doesn’t feel overrun. It’s best known for the Itsukushima Shrine and the floating shrine gate. It’s actually not floating, but during high tide, it appears like it’s floating in the water. Google image search it. It’s pretty sweet. Alas, I did not make it during high tide or do much hiking. Rushing out the door and trying to look good leads to poor footwear decisions. I saw a ton of deer. Literally, you look around and see deer everywhere. I settled for that and a selfie (I’m the one on the left).

Me at MiyajimaDeer at Miyajima

 

Travel

Hiroshima mon amour

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I was in Hiroshima and Miyajima a few days ago. It’s all been marinating in my head – so many things coming up. I can experience everything all at once, in non-verbal brain language. Writing it in a way that adequately captures my experiences and thoughts is going to be harder. I can’t possibly do it justice. So I’ve been doing what we all do in moments like this and just avoiding it. Rumpling it up and putting it into the top shelf of my brain where it keeps falling over into my consciousness. Procrastinating.

First of all, I had no intention of going to Hiroshima when I woke up that morning, but some combination of FOMO and shame at the idea that I’ve been chowing down on okonomiyakis like it’s nobody’s business, but I can’t get off my lazy ass to see something pretty damn important propelled me to go. OK, and honestly, I had an unlimited Japanese Rail Pass that I hadn’t used enough to have it be worth it. So there were multiple things going on there, as there often are. Continue reading Hiroshima mon amour →

Travel

Osaka, Kuidaore, and Amy

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Dotombori in Namba, OsakaSo apparently it is a thing in Osaka to “eat until you drop,” referred to as kuidaore. I don’t know if this should be taken literally. I can say that I didn’t see anyone passing out from gut-explosion firsthand. Yes, I did look for it.

Whether this is fact or hyperbole, it is still true that Osaka is a down home kind of city famous for good food, particularly street food. It is the birthplace of okonomiyaki, a takoyaki (fried octopus balls)-making machine, and the inventor of such high-class innovations as conveyer belt sushi. The best place to experience all of this is at night wandering around Dotombori, a Times Square-esque area lit up with billboards and concentrated with street food vendors. That’s basically the only thing I did in Osaka other than my other favorite activity. Lay in bed. Thousand-yard stare. Hours pass by. Eventually, I pass out.

While I was on the plane today leaving Osaka, the dissonance between this celebration of (ahem, unhealthy non-Dr. Atkins-approved) food in Japan on the one hand and the unforgiving obsession with appearance and body image on the other just struck me as odd. Continue reading Osaka, Kuidaore, and Amy →

Travel

My day in Kyoto

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Kyoto is a city of temples, greenery, hushed alleyways, and refinement. A holy-feeling city all mixed in with everyday modern life in pockets. It has the air of an old capital. In the spirit of not overdoing it, I actually didn’t see a ton of the city. I didn’t research every temple or shrine. I just tried to pick off a few things and enjoy the experience of being there rather than of knowing it all.

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Some highlights: Continue reading My day in Kyoto →

Food, Travel

Some foods I’ve eaten in Japan (minus the McDonalds cheeseburgers)

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Life, Work

Interviewing blows

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That’s why I’m going to stop doing it. At least for now. Until I’m ready. The best way to stop doing it and to create distance (typically) is to leave the country. Yes, to just run away. The only problem is that now there are things like international plans and with easy internet access, email, and everything cooperating with you other than the time zone, it’s really actually quite easy to interview from afar. I suppose it’s also easier to use the excuse, “I’m sorry I sound like such a dumbass right now. It’s the jet lag.” That works well. Everyone understands jet lag.  Continue reading Interviewing blows →

Food, Travel

Remembering Tokyo

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My 34-ish hours in Tokyo consisted of uneducated meanderings and some down time. I landed at Haneda airport (much closer to the city than Narita) at 10:30pm without a hotel reservation and convinced someone at an airport information desk to call one of the hotels in my Lonely Planet guide. Luckily, I got the last room!

This information desk person then convinced me to navigate the insanity of the Tokyo public transit system instead of taking a taxi. The interesting thing about Japanese people is that they generally don’t give you a flat-out no, but when they pause uncomfortably and look at you askance, you get the feeling that you’re about to make a bad decision. So against all my seemingly sane instincts to take a taxi, I decided to navigate my way by train. Which looks like this crazy mess:

Tokyo subway and rail map (i.e., WTF)
Tokyo subway and rail map (i.e., WTF)

I stayed in a super cute Japanese inn called Kimi Ryokan. Picture a Japanese zen garden with sliding shoji paper doors, tatami flooring all around you, and a comfortable white fluffy bed-like cocoon on the floor. Continue reading Remembering Tokyo →

Life, Travel

2am trip-planning neuroses

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I need to stop waking up at 2am. And if I’m going to wake up at 2am, I should consider doing something other than spending 3 hours agonizing over travel itineraries and scenarios. Some decisions have been made at least. Osaka tonight. Kobe tomorrow night (most likely). Kuta in Bali on Thursday. And then…maybe I’ll stay there and surf or head to Ubud and the Gili Islands, which are less run down by tourists.

Ya think this could have taken me less than 2.5 hours? Continue reading 2am trip-planning neuroses →

Life, Travel

Welcome to my blog!

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Selfie starting my blog in Tokyo at one of my favorite places, Bucky's
Selfie starting my blog in Tokyo at one of my favorite places, Bucky’s

I may even share a link to this to people I know. It’s a big step. Oh, and thank you, Lily.

I’m writing this blog to chronicle some of the randomness and serendipity of my life at this moment, share it with my friends, and hopefully, have it be a structure for expression, meaning, and useful new realizations.

It’s unintentional but somehow fitting that I’m starting this blog my first morning in Tokyo. After two weeks of loafing in San Francisco and a one-day stopover in LA (a sort of hiding out period for me), I’m in Asia. In a way, this feels like a return to the homeland and a reconnection with my roots…it’s close enough without being too close (i.e., it’s not Korea).

Traveling alone is euphoric, freeing, self-affirming, and expansive. Continue reading Welcome to my blog! →