We arrived in Fairbanks to a sunny, 77F day. This is definitely not what comes to mind when an outsider thinks of the word “Alaska”. 
The Fairbanks airport is small—only six gates—but very modern. We had no trouble finding our cruise shuttle and were soon headed across town to the Westmark hotel that Holland America uses for it’s Alaska Cruisetours. The hotel is no frills and probably could use some modernizing.
Thai House Restaurant
After getting situated in our room, we headed out to look from some dinner. We settled on the Thai House. The food was decent, but definitely not the best Thai food we have had. Hazel commented that her dish was quite oily.
After dinner, we met with our cruise concierge who will be our guide during the land portion of our excursion.
As I write this, it is after 8:30pm here in Fairbanks but the sun is still high in the sky. Very crazy. Luckily, the hotel room has blackout curtains so we should be able to get some sleep.
Our day of activities starts at 8:00am tomorrow.
So, today begins the journey of a lifetime. After months of planning and preparation, Hazel and I are headed north to America’s last frontier—Alaska.
We will be exploring Fairbanks, Denali National Park, and Anchorage, before boarding Holland America’s MS Statendam bound for Vancouver, BC.
Awakening with the alarm at 4:00am, we got ready and headed to the airport. The sun was just rising as we arrived at Sky Harbor. We will be in Fairbanks on the longest day of the year, where the sun will rise at aroud 3:45am and set at 12:45am. It will be interesting to see how the relative lack of darkness will affect our circadian rythym.
Currently, we are inflight from PHX to Seattle. From there we will take an Alaskan Airlines flight to Fairbanks. Other than having to shuffle things from Hazel’s checked bag to mine to meet the 50lb weight limit, things have been going smoothly thus far.
Even though I will be writing at least one new article each day, internet connectivity will be throughout our trip. As such, several updates may be posted at once.
Waiting for the next leg of our journey in Seattle.
Generosity, aside from its innate way of making people feel appreciated, does the exact same thing on the person who gives. Generosity fills our hearts with joy and hope that somehow, we are able to share what we have to those who may or may not even need our help. It’s one way of showing that we can give a part of ourselves to others.
This Thanksgiving, I am happy to say that life has been generous to me, to us. My gratitude is overflowing and my thank you’s, overwhelming.
Too many hearts! Yes, red, glowing 3D hearts were one of the many props that were in Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson The IMMORTAL World Tour in Phoenix, Arizona on December 30th. As usual, Cirque du Soleil did it again! Being connoisseurs of good Cirque shows, our astonishment was beyond belief. They are still the best showmen on Earth, without fail.
Music was what glued this whole show together. With a live band playing accompanying the digitally-crafted scores of MJ, my heart just wanted to jump out off of my chest. Jeff had to restrain me from dancing and rocking, though a lot of people were actually standing and dancing like crazy! I can’t blame them, to be honest. I just couldn’t fathom what kind of cerebrums the creators have to be able come up with a show like this and to magnificently portray the songs of the King of Pop. Ridiculous!
The show started with a typical Cirque-style comedy, this time with four young MJ wannabes attempting MJ’s signature moves. The scene took off with a blast and set the pace for the show.
Smooth Criminal was, of course, very smooth! With the signature Jackson gravity-defying lean and dance steps, not to mention a touch of Cirque-style pyrotechnics and special effects, it was rocking!
Human Nature–which was one of my favorite scenes–was so high tech, and visually fascinating, that I thought I was hallucinating! Man, those LED lights really changed the world! The costumes have integrated Philips LED lights that chang colors in synch with the music! What made it extra special for me was the costume designer for this show is a Filipino. Awesome work by Zaldy Goco!
Thriller made the crowd go wild! It was of course one of the highlights of the show, being one of MJ’s hits. Lots of leaping mummies and mummies harnessed to wires were doing the classic, timeless dance steps which are distinctly Michael’s.
On a slower beat, I Just Can’t Stop Loving You was sensual and sleek in a Cirque kind of way. The pas de deux acrobatics were so flawless (and dangerous). I swear I did not blink for three minutes, to make sure I don’t miss a thing!
The Travis Payne choreographed They Don’t Care About Us was utterly flamboyant. Worth also mentioning is the Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough and Billie Jean Remix again featuring LED equipped costumes. …just blew me away!
There were 22 songs featured in the whole performance and the show was just perfect! US Airways was a good venue and I just couldn’t wrap my mind on how a travelling show, which was given one day to prep, was able to pull this off. The stage was unbelievably sneaky. They make you focus on one part of the stage only to distract you from looking at a ginormous prop that is appearing on another part of the stage. Before you know it, your eyes just played tricks on you. And then you do your typical Cirque du Soleil audience expression; jaw-drop and blurting out, “What in the world just happened?”
So, my verdict? This was the fifth Cirque du Soleil show we’ve seen so far. Having seen other ludicrous performances, I want to say that this my second favorite, next to KA. I am impressed with what this touring show delivered, and the whole crew nailed it! I am for sure seeing this again once it becomes a resident show at The Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. This show made me grin, smile, laugh and cry. Jeff, who was never an MJ fan was impressed that night, and admitted that he, like me worshipped the show.
This show will sting like a bee for a long time and I couldn’t think of a better way to welcome the New Year. Long live the King!
… wishing all our site viewers a very Merry Christmas!
This year — along with cinnamon basil, lemon thyme, and red onions — we grew some Anaheim Chiles in our raised container garden. We do not use additional pesticides or fertilizers on our vegetables and herbs. Our one plant yielded about 20 chiles ranging 3″ to 6″ long. These chiles are relatively mild with a Scoville rating of typically less than 2,500.
Unless you are running a Mexican cantina, your usage of chiles will most likely be a few times a month. One method for preserving your fresh chiles for future use is to roast and then freeze them.
You can roast them over open flame, on a gas grill, or with a chile roaster. Some people have even reported success using a conventional kitchen oven. As I was hoping to infuse a bit of a smokey flavor into the chiles, I chose to do them over an open flame. If you chose this method, be sure to ensure that a “No Burn” day is not in effect for your municipality.
I picked the chiles off the vine and brought them straight to a mesquite-fueled fire I had built in a large terra cotta pot.
You may be tempted to wash the chiles. Don’t. Doing so will wash away many of the distinctive flavorful natural oils.
On top of the terra cotta pot, I placed a small grate designed for a Weber grill. These are available for about $10 at Home Depot or Lowe’s. Your fire should be built so that the tips of the flame just reach the grate as you are attempting to roast the chiles; not incinerate them.
As the chiles cook, they will most likely move and possibly sizzle as the juices inside heat up. When the underside of the chile becomes charred and blistered you can turn them over and let the other side cook. When both sides are cooked, remove the chiles from the grill and head to your prep area.
Moisten a paper towel and wrap the chiles in it. Place the chiles and paper towel into a Ziploc-style bag and seal it. Leave the chiles in the sealed bag for about 20 minutes. This process will steam the blistered skin, loosening it for easy removal.
After the 20 minutes have elapsed, remove the chiles from the bag. If roasting any chile hotter than an Anaheim, wear food-safe nitrile gloves to protect your skin from the capsaicin. Regardless if you choose to wear gloves, do not touch your eyes anytime during the prep process! Using your gloved hands, peel the skins from the chile. These should peel off relatively easily.
Next, cut the stem of the chile off and discard it. Use your knife to cut each chile open and do your best to remove all the seeds. Cut the remaining flesh into 1/4″ wide strips and place these in a marked freezer-bag.
Place the sliced chiles in the freezer for future use. Frozen at 0°F, the chiles should remain usable for the next 12 months.
On the 22nd, Jeff and I ventured to Roosevelt Ave. in Downtown Phoenix for the Annual Phoenix Food Truck Fest. The event which started at 4PM showcased almost 30 food trucks which are all based in Arizona.
However, my anticipation was sucked down the drain. It was not what I have expected. First of all, there were too many people. Too much for a tiny lot to accommodate. And people kept on coming as the hours went by. We arrived at 5PM and there was a long queue of hungry folks.
The $30 per person entrance fee was kinda steep too, especially for minute food samples, not to mention that you have to wait in line to get your share.
On the brighter side, we got to sample whimsically-flavored fruit pops, fittingly named as ZEN, egg rolls from HEY JOE FILIPINO TRUCK, pulled pork sandwiches from TASTE Rite, to name a few.
In fairness to the organizers, this is a pioneer food truck event and for first-timers, there was nothing that screamed “doomed to fail”.
Posted in
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Comments Off on Phoenix Food Truck Festival This is a very inspiring article I read online from the web site www.goinswriter.com
The other night, I had a conversation with a young woman who had a number of decisions ahead of her, one of which was whether she should go to grad school or travel the world.
I told her to travel. Hands down. No excuse. Just go.
She sighed.
“Yeah, but…”
Never were more fatal words spoken.
Continue reading the full article…
Posted in
Adventures |
Comments Off on 3 Reasons To Travel While You’re Young Last Saturday, Hazel and I decided to check out Pizzeria Bianco in Central Phoenix’s Heritage Square. We had heard rumblings about long lines, long waits, and the best pizza in the U.S. In fact major media outlets such as the New York Times and Bon Appétit magazine had bestowed this exact honor upon the establishment.
The pizzeria is housed in the circa 1929 building that was originally the F.S. Baird Machine Shop. This brick industrial building--added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985--is surrounded by several residential dwellings of the same era. These quaint buildings are juxtaposed against the modern facade of the Arizona Science Center and several office towers.
Attempting to beat the lines, we called ahead for reservations. Unfortunately, the pizzeria only accepts them for parties of 6 to 10. When we arrived at around 5:30pm we were told that the wait would be about an hour.
I am of the opinion, that any restaurant that has regular wait times of more than 30 minutes should expand or open another location to serve their obvious customer volume. Regardless, we decided to face the wait. As it was Halloween weekend, there was some Zombie craziness taking place in the Square. This lead to plenty of good “people” watching. I put that in quotes because are the undead truly considered people? Anyway, I digress.
As night fell we were told we could now be seated at the bar. We made our way inside and were seated just inside the door. The restaurant seats 42 but it may be about 12 too many because at times it felt a bit claustrophobic.
The bartender quickly attended to us. Hazel chose the Margherita pizza and added the Agostino Recca Sicilian Anchovies with a Coca-Cola Light—the Mexican version of Diet Coke—to wash it down with. I chose the “Wiseguy” pizza which was a white pizza with roasted onion, smoked mozzarella, and some locally-sourced fennel sausage.
The pizzas were delivered rather quickly. This restaurant is definitely not for Chicago deep dish lovers. The pizzas are thin crusted, much like I faintly recall having when I visited Ventimiglia, Italy about 15 years ago. The wood fire adds an earthy smokiness to the crust. This is less bitter than the coal fired pizza’s you will find at the Grimaldi’s restaurants here in Arizona. The fennel sausage on my pizza was rather flavorful.
During our time at the restaurant, customer traffic never slowed. The wait staff was kept on their feet, sometimes to the point of being forgetful. I had ordered a post-dinner espresso, but the bartender was distracted and forgot it in the 15 feet between us and the coffee machine. Not wanting to cause further confusion, I let it pass, paid the bill and left. There were still several parties waiting to be seated when we exited.
So what’s the final verdict? The prices are reasonable for the size of the pizzas. The pizzas were flavorful and ingredients were fresh. Are the pizzas the best in the U.S.? That one is a bit harder to call. The wait worth it? Not really. I still stand my maximum 30 minute wait time limit. Also, if you are claustrophobic or demophobic you should stay away from this establishment.
Okay, here is the second part of my CB I Hate Perfume Experience Series reviews since I got my second batch of actual, not samples, perfumes from the Christopher Brosius line today. I guess that because I already knew the concept behind this specialty perfumery, my expectations were a lot loftier. The first batch smells awesome and I was craving for more. In all honesty, the second batch delivered a lot of disappointments. Sad, sad.
So this is my honest-to-goodness evaluation, my rants and raves of these 7 scents:
WILD HUNT – This, my dear, is a MAD, MAD scent. Top note is this bitter, rooty smell that reminds me of ginseng. Next comes this earthy, mossy smell which reminds me of the smell of a forest floor. How I knew this is an entirely different story. Let’s just say I actually fell flat on my face on a forest floor. This scent scares me, to say the least. It is dark, evil and primitive. Jeff said it’s not repulsive, and is quite surprised that I don’t like it considering its earthiness.
IN THE LIBRARY – Huge disappointment. This scent was so overrated that It made me buy a 5ml sample thinking that I will be floored. Wrong! If a library smells anything like my grandpa’s pomade then this is spot-on. No hints of leather-bound books, weathered paper and such. Base note is woody but not enough to make me think of a library, at least not in my world.
IN THE SUMMER KITCHEN – Spot-on minestrone. This smells like a chopping board where different kinds of fruits and vegetables were diced, julienned and cut. It does smell like the kitchen, but not nice enough for me to wear. Jeff said it reminded him of celery and leather. Not appetizing at all.
AT THE BEACH 1966 – Okay, this is pretty interesting. Think about Coppertone smeared on your nose, and the smell that you get when you sweat and then take a dip in the ocean. This is exactly how this scent smells like. Not repulsive, just enticing. Reminiscent of summer beach vacations and soaking up the sun.
MR. HULOT’S HOLIDAY – Aquatic. Reminds me of Davidoff’s Cool Water for Men with a woodsy hint. Like a man going on a beach vacation while carrying his leather suitcase. All of those 3 notes in this bottle. Pretty amazing.
Now, I also ordered 2 samples from CB’s ex fragrance line – DEMETER which I was not at all successful in finding in any Sephora store here in the East Valley at least. Oh well.
CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK – Boasts of the actual smell of NYC streets during the Holiday season – chestnuts, egg nog, fir tree and snow. Great holiday scent when combined with CB IHP’s The Fir Tree.
CREME BRULEE – Need I say more? Yummy, yummy! Warm, creamy creme brulee with a hint of liquer. Awesome and is a fave of mine.
So, before I spend all of my money on these expensive decanted niche perfumes, I have to rest my olfactory factories and decide which ones are the bests. I still fall in love with Under the Arbor everytime I smell it and Burning Leaves. I will definitely get more actual Demeter perfumes and start a collection. I was pretty apprehensive at first but I know that they would forever intrigue me.
Scents away!
The Fairbanks airport is small—only six gates—but very modern. We had no trouble finding our cruise shuttle and were soon headed across town to the Westmark hotel that Holland America uses for it’s Alaska Cruisetours. The hotel is no frills and probably could use some modernizing.
