We were supposed to go to San Diego, but #covid, we stayed in town instead and explored ~all that the northern Virginia region had to offer~ starting on Election Day Tuesday.
We went to out to a fancy restaurant in the city on a weeknight, discovered new coffee shops, ate inadvisable amounts of pastries for breakfast, walked a lot and biked all over. AKA just like a regular vacation except we didn’t pay for transportation and got to sleep in our own bed. Best idea ever, and a tradition I hope we keep up with 🙂 Next time, without the specter of work imminently hanging over my head, please.
Monday night, Convivial in DC, cause we’re starting off with a bang.
On Tuesday, as we headed to Purcellville I got a phone call from work about a project that had come in unexpectedly. Did I care? Yes… Was I available? No……..
Cause the Merlees had reservations for tastings at Catoctin! Whiskey for Mer, brandy for Lee 😉
And a backseat pupusa picnic to boot
Adroit Theory brewery — excellent beers in a business park
Wednesday, I was anticipating getting called in again, so we decided to stay close. Arlington exploration day! Getting our white girl fall on with a PSL from Starbucks. #treatyoself.
Modelin’
A heart-shaped rose petal I found on our walk back from the library! “Little pieces of hope.” “And beauty!” in this time of stress and uncertainty.
In a stroke of true genius, we ordered in Sweetgreen — a true treat for us cause not only do we never get these delicious but overpriced salads but we also got them DELIVERED. Talk about staycationing.
Thursday morning, which began with a long and very involved dream about me getting called into work. In reality I never did get that call and we biked to Falls Church instead.
Rare Bird coffee and Bakeshop pastries for bfast!!!
And ramen from Santouka, Tysons, cause ramen is a travel essential for the Markling.
We capped off the day with 2 Silos in Manassas, where I had the Virginia Cream Ale that was so good I remembered its full name.
Friday in Philly! We drove up to Philly to visit H & Z — where we had the most incredible homemade hot pot, courtesy of Mama Lai.
In February when COVID-19 was a thing of elsewhere and the Pacific Northwest wasn’t yet an epicenter, Mark and I got to visit Portland, OR, for a publishing conference for me. We stayed at a Hilton — basic, yet luxurious — and ate so much fancy food on the recommendations of a proper gourmand. It was only a little over a month ago, but looking back on these pictures makes me feel like a lifetime has passed. Restaurants are struggling to survive. Hotels are on the brink of declaring bankruptcies. People don’t travel anymore.
Here’s to hopes for a quick recovery — return — to normalcy. To roses in the summer that will be enjoyed by many, to fancy croissants — which, no matter how fancy I get with my baking, I will still probably never make at home — to beers that make Mark gasp in awe. To spending money and time on leisure activities, and to taking the presence of people all around, for granted once again.
Portland, city of roses ❤
visiting the International Rose Test Garden
tapas at Ataula! This salmon thingy was The Best Thing Mark Ate on This Trip
&& paella
croissants at Nuvrei. these were remarkable.
❤
rose flavor! for someone who DOESN’T love rose-flavored things, this was truly a feat of flavors. sweet, floral, but delightful and not sickly. and look at that color!
Multnomah Falls, just about half an hour outside the city, and completely worth the rental car and drive
hej PNW, we like you
Vista House near Multnomah. it’s probably lovely up there, but we couldn’t tell because the conditions we visited under were incompatible with life — I literally almost got blown away off the top of this hill cause of those gusty winds that day.
…but I persevered to snap this pic. like I said, probably lovely under better conditions
and then we drove over to TILLAMOOK, Oregon’s dairy capital. I just make up that moniker, but they can have it.
mooooooo
😀
in our opinions, much superior ice cream here to Salt & Straw in the city
@ a lil bay nearby, getting our salty air fix
and a cat cafe, for our kitty fix. there was a chubs here who was so grumpy that he wouldn’t let a nearby kitty sneeze without growling
@Afuri Ramen — the home of the yuzu broth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best Ramen I’ve Ever Had
view from our hotel
Ken’s Artisan Bakery
and a quick downtown lunch in between sessions! this was probs my favorite meal, and a complete surprise since we didn’t research the heck out of this and just happened to choose it among the many food trucks. hand-pulled nudels @ Hand Stretched Noodles
Best Meal of the Trip?? eaten on the counter off the side of a food truck, sweat beads falling down our necks
powell’s delivery!
nightwalk views
I was fantastically grumpy for this meal, waiting outside on the list for Piazza Italia. but what a gem — I think everyone who works there is family or family friends — and they speak Italian to their regulars in Italian, no pretense or presumption. and the pasta! mmm
and DESCHUTES, yet ANOTHER highlight. Mark discovered a specialty IPA here that made him, actually, s w o o n in a way our wedding day didn’t even inspire. HAHA. for real the man loves his beers.
❤
early cherry blossoms in the PNW
“can we live life back home as if we’re traveling? why don’t we look for more pastry places near home, why”
sushi train lunch 🙂 another unplanned gem @Sushi Ichiban
and our final dinner! at Pok Pok. we went there for a menu item that no longer existed, but weren’t disappointed by the meal, the noodles, the
Yeah we came for the pho, but left with so much more–Vietnam is a beautiful country full of crazy, chaotic cities, lovely countrysides, amazing natural beauty all up and down the coast, awesome food, and friendly people who aren’t yet jaded by tourists so they still like it when you try to speak their language. ❤ Oh yeah, and did I mention the pho though? $2 a bowl, $3 if you get extra meat. Take me back.
Bullet list of our trip:
We decided on our first day there that we’d try to eat noodles every single day, and very easily succeeded. Noodles are EVERYWHERE, in all forms, colors, broth accompaniment.
Coffee, also every day — there’s egg coffee, yogurt coffee, fruit smoothie coffee, or just good ole Vietnamese coffee (ca phe sua da), sweetened and condensed and milky and iced. But as we learned more, we realized that the “innovation” really was born out of need. The condensed milk coffee (and even the egg coffee, which is espresso + an egg yolk whipped like crazy with a bit of condensed milk) was born of an era when wartime shortages meant that there wasn’t much fresh milk to go around. And then the culture grew out of that lack. ❤
Crossing the streets is crazy. We found many travel blogs advising that you just go ahead and start walking to cross, cause if you wait for an actual break in traffic, you’ll never make it to the other side. This was true. We held hands, sweated between our two palms, and walked across many a city street weaving between motorbikes and cars and buses and also wooden carts laden high with fruit, which made us feel better cause clearly those are bigger and slower than us, but ain’t nobody care.
After much wondering about how there aren’t traffic accidents CONSTANTLY, we realized that it’s precisely because of the insanity that there aren’t as many accidents…because everyone is expecting everyone else to be everywhere, so people drive (and jaywalk) slowly and defensively and attentively. The crazy begets the “calm.”
Relatedly, in Hanoi, we saw a grandma pushing along her bicycle loaded with a mountain of empty plastic bottles (apparently they can get money for collecting recyclables), losing her balance, and falling slowly down along with her bicycle and plastic mountain. We helped her and her mountain back up, and she, unfussed, smiled at us, and just resumed walking slowly through the traffic, kinda like Mulan’s grandma when she was testing the lucky cricket.
Two groups of tourists we saw a LOT of, unexpectedly: Israelis (everywhere) and Koreans (Hoi An). Apparently Hoi An is a huge destination for Koreans, who come to spend their wons after just a short and direct flight to Da Nang, and apparently Israelis take the month of September as like, their vacation month cause a lot of holidays happen to line up in a row.
An interesting thing happens when you travel through a country with super cheap prices relative to your home’s economy. At first you are bewildered by the confusing unit of conversion for your “dollar” (20,000 VND), and can’t keep track of all the zeros that people are talking in and spend a bunch of time after every transaction wondering if you got massively ripped off. Then, you get used to translating everything in your head and spend hundreds of thousands of dongs in one fell swoop(s) cause “it’s only 5 bucks!!” Then, too quickly, you readjust your standards to the market prices and balk when pho costs more than 3 US dollars’ equivalent.
Relatedly, if you straddle two cultures, you could benefit from faking one or the other. I realized halfway through our trip that if I begin a haggling transaction in Korean-sounding English, the prices for the exact same item at different stores start LOWER than when I start out in my American-accent English. FASCINATING. Also sad. Also useful! For a very small fraction of people.
Weird things we saw being transported between two bodies on motorbikes:
an entire window frame
a large ornamental tree in its pot
a humongo suitcase, precarious
a Circle K storefront sign
an actual windshield for a car
an entire butchered pig, just two halves hung over the seat like it was straddlin
several moving boxes, stacked about 3 or 4 high, and on top of them all, a man. sitting. #efficiency
Vietnam is DIRTY. Rats and cockroaches roam the streets with a brazen freedom I haven’t seen in some HUMANS. I wonder if this is why, but for some reason, I noticed that a lot of public (and private) spaces are overly scented. It’s weird, and those people complaining about office cube neighbors using too much perfume would not do well here.
Relatedly, one thing we kept saying was that our families could not travel in Vietnam — at least not eating the streetfood, walking all day among the rats and the motorbikes as we did. They could maybe do the luxe version of Vietnam where they stay in nice hotels the whole time and only eat at said hotels. And so every time we saw old (usually white) people doing the whole traveling-like-normals thing, I was awed and inspired. Can we be old people like that when we grow gray-haired?
Relatedly, to hair, I GOT A VIETNAM HAIRCUT. Best $11 haircut I’ve ever seen.
airport dropoff service by none other than the Baldwin herself. thank you ❤
ANA airplane food is weird. I don’t care what you say, Mark.
MILLIONAIRES IN VND, YAWL
first mornin, still adjusting to the humidity
BREAKFAST PHO AT PHO NGOC. our goal became to have noodles at least once a day, and this turned out too be 2ez.
we stood around, not knowing what to do, until the ladies sat us down and pointed to an option on their menu. we nodded yes, resulting in the best pho we found in Vietnam
coconuts by the cartful
Saigon traffic
City Hall
and for lunch, ramen. cauuuse, Markling
finding respite in a park, just moments before the sky poured on us our first rainy-season downpour
pineapple smoothie coffee! which DOESN’T sound like it’d be good, but BOY would you be wrong to assume that. creamy, fruity, bittersweet deliciousness
and egg coffee (ca phe trung) for Mark! they whip an egg yolk with condensed milk and set the foamy gloriousness atop a brew of strong coffee
first Vietkitty sighting, *gasp*
Saigon Opera House, a la francaise
dchang joined us for this leg! first stop, coffee
“but wait, Madison, there’s one too many cups for the three of you” — I present to you, David Orders-Two-of-Everything-Just-to-Try Chang (a man after my own heart)
Independence Palace, where the Southern Vietnamese President lived and ruled from, eventually was pushed out of.
banh mi stop at a rolly cart on the street ❤
coffee stop #2 of the day. it’s so hot, you need those midday breaks
outside Ben Thanh Market, proudly displaying his purchase
airbnb chillin
food tour with Saigon StreetEats
banh xeo, which is named for the crispy sounds it makes when being cooked (and eated)
and the fearless David went for a BALUT, too. apparently “much more delicious” than the Philippino version. ooh-kay.
one of our fave stops! streetfood seafood
grilled scallops, gotta eat them straight off the shell and scrape your teeth ever so slightly against the charred deliciousness of the shell
Mark and BInh!
emphasis on the FRESH, people. Vietnamese food is often accompanied by fresh herbs and greens
COFFEE WITH YOGURT. Binh looked at me funny when I ordered it at our dessert stop, but I swear it’s tangy, sweet, coffeey in the best way, delicious.
monsoon season travellers
started the next leg of our trip to Da Lat, with some AIRPORT PHO YESSS
🙂 hey Da Lat!
the land of agriculture, coffee plantations, eternal spring weather (aka strawberry fields forever)
there were NO stop lights in this entire place. they all survive around traffic circles!
Chicken Village, which we visited on our motorbike tour with Bin and Vu at Rew Rew EasyRiders! one of our best tours — we got to see the countryside, hear local stories/histories, see a little slice of local life and economy
traditional weaving at Chicken Village — 8 meters of work per day?
mushroom farming ladies!
the way they harvest these mushrooms is fascinating and slightly gross — basically they grow in packed tubes of sawdust.
“my favorite photos are ones that look natural but aren’t”
photocred: Bin
CASUAL COWS
Lady Buddha! the largest in the region (?)
shy monkey at the temple
Happy Buddha, under construction
we got lunch at a local family-style restaurant, where we learned that every business pays two kinds of taxes — one to the government and another to the local gangs. “yeah, like this one, a small family business like this, probably just a few hundred US dollars a month….” WHAT?!
silk farm! those are WERMS
and their cocoons and oh HELLO, SILK KITTY
crisped crickets at the “happy water” place where Bin told us a raucous story about bestiality
next stop: COFFEE FARM!!! look at these beanz
and the weasels that eat and poop those expensive coffee beans. poor lil things were pacing back and forth all restless in there so we did not buy the sad weasel coffee
but man the views were beautiful
❤ thanks for the cool respite, Da Lat. the only city where we wore jeans haha
selfie with the tour guide bros
one last “natural” pic
ah, and flowers! Da Lat produces the majority of Vietnam’s flowers
motorbike riding in action
our hotel in Da Lat! it was as lovely as it looks
Da Lat by night — we wanted to explore the night market more but were DEAD after our early morning flight
so instead, got up early for some local pancakes. they’re these crispy eggy pancakes made with rice flour (I think), and dunked in fish sauce to your liking. the best part, though, was the gaggle of students who were sitting around and eating until like 10 am just chatting and laughing and like, never leaving to go to school even though they all had their backpacks
Crazy House in Da Lat! a kooky architect started building this house just to unleash her own creativity, much to many people’s dismay. but then it became a huge tourist destination and now there are flocks of Russian and Korean tourists who come to visit in guided groups. you can also stay the night in its many rooms, named things like “Ant” and “Bear” and “Honeymoon”
also, some casual DURIANS growing on site
we JUST escaped a torrential downpour by coming in here for some Da Lat Salat! someone recommended for us to have some salad while we were here since the produce is so fresh (and it was just okay haha).
coffeeshop break to escape the rain for a few hours
Da Lat specialty? noodles made of tapioca + meatballs. the soup was really good but I was sorta grossed out by the texture of these unctuous-looking nudels. but. we ended up enjoying this meal GREATLY for the show that we got at 5 pm when…
the school across the street unleashed all its schoolchildren and ALL the parents who had been waiting, lined up along the road on their motorbikes, started their commute home with their kiddos on the backs. what an exodus.
Da Lat and a Markling
FIRST BFAST AT LALUNA, HOI AN. this was the fancy leg of our trip where we stayed at a 4-star hotel and ate too much delicious food for breakfast every day
MANGOSTEENS at the MARKET
Old Town Hoi An is a UNESCO Heritage Site, and it’s beautifully ancient looking, to warrant the designation. one of the most beautiful things we saw here, though, was at this gallery where this French photographer who set out to capture the photos of all the different ethnic groups in Vietnam. there are 54 of them, and I think he’s gotten to 49. this gallery is a collection of their traditional dresses, their photos, their stories. we spent hours here just poring of the stories — amazing!
TEMPLE DOGGOS
and a temple pup who enjoyed eating fragrant flowers
second food tour, with Nancy! she took us to the best spots for banh mi and cao lau, all the while telling us the stories behind the families that own these shops. she says that the place that Anthony Bourdain went to (yep, it’s in Hoi An!) is too Westernized now… 😛
this lady sells 9,000 bowls of cao lau per DAY. mostly to locals. chewy noodles made specially by the alkaline waters near Hoi An, with spiced pork and crispy noodle squares to top it :9
xi mi, a lil bowl of sweet sesame soup to aid your digestion in the middle of a walking food tour
last stop was this lady’s home, where she prepared for us spring rolls and another…pancake thingy. she’d studied English in school, she said, and spoke super impressive English. I told her it was almost better than my mom’s, and she’d lived in America since 2000 😛
a river runs right along Old Town Hoi An, and at night it lights up with Korean tourists and paper lanterns
the aforementioned Korean tourists — SO MANY OF THEM, MAN
so many people were taking so many staged pretty photos so I guess I wanted to make a small statement
after the A O production!! it’s like Stomp + acrobatics + Vietnamese culture. no photos allowed during, so I just snapped this pic to remember the evening by
the “dragon’s breath” ice cream thing which was neither ice nor cream. such disappointment, contrary to what this fun photo displays
biking to the Vegetable Village! I haggled down our bike rental prices, cause apparently you can do that in Vietnam
An Bang Beach! where we were hassled endlessly to go paragliding and drink smoothies and sit in some sunchairs. no thank you no thank you no thank you, we just walked along the beach and swam in the water
and PHO, Hoi An style. this was super interesting — sweet and topped with peanuts?! not our fave, but different and worth trying
next morning was our tour to Monkey Mountain and Marble Mountain. on the checklist: a monkey sighting — check, thanks to Trash Monkey (look at that gleam in his eyes as he uncovers his treasure)
Hell Cave in Monkey (Marble? jeesh) Mountain. the cave itself is natural, but then people came in and started building into it, to display all the different kinds of hell for different kinds of sinners. with special emphases on disobedient children and adulterers
a temple on Marble Mountain — they make these mosaics with brokens bits of teacups, our guide said
my kwang!!!!! turmeric-colored noodles, so delish
and then for our last round through Hoi An we decided to visit the temple pups again tehehe
oh hey
pho in Hanoi — the supposed birthplace of pho!
Train Street in Hanoi! apparently this is going to be closed because too many tourists have ruined everything for everyone. just a few days after we left, they had an incident where tourists didn’t move out of the way of the train in time and caused it to have to change course. this is why we cannot have nice things.
coconut coffee! another specialty here. it’s like a frappuccino but with coconut milk so somehow…lighter and less cloyingly creamy? delish.
under the watchful eye of Lenin, @Lenin Park, Hanoi
we just wanted a selfie with Mr. Lein
Train Street and vendors
what sidewalk?
BUN CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. where, again, the show was better than the food. this is where I encountered the biggest rat of my LIFE, just scurrying down the wall of the bathroom. we named him Binh (cause honestly everyone seems to be named Bin(h) on this trip) and spent the rest of the trip creating a story of Binh’s adventures fit for a children’s book, involving cape-wearing rats and laundry and an underground rat mafia.
interesting cheep flavors abroad. the nori flavor was the one we tried and it was ever so slightly nori-y, yes
this is the narrow space between buildings where entire neighborhoods exist in Hanoi (and I imagine in other large cities in Vietnam). like literally, our airbnb entrance instructions were like ‘enter this restaurant. to the right you will see an alley. follow this alley and turn right and then left and then left and right and left, don’t worry you are almost there turn right.”
drinking our dehydration away after a long day of walking and sweating
oh and this. HAHA. our first real mishap, I would say, of this trip. Vietnamese people tend to ship a lot of boxes and containers and sometimes just straight up coolers full of food wrapped in layers and layers of duct tape. well. on our flight from Da Nang to Hanoi, our back must’ve been on top of (or under) one such a box, leaking none other than….FISH SAUCE. good thing Vietnamese bathrooms are wet bathrooms equipped with showerheads. we soaped and washed that smelly wet spot on the back of our suitcase about 7 times before the smell was only a faint memory on the cloth. while all our stuff waited to be repacked, strewn all over the bed.
convenience store haul, approx. $0.67.
c o e x i s t
look at that fancy welcome drink! we were handed these as we stepped onto our cruise ship going to Halong Bay and were sipping them slowly as to save and savor them. little did we know that they would be cleared away while we checked into our rooms. after that, we always downed the welcome drinks RIGHT AWAY.
HA LONG BAY GLORY
kayakkin on the first day!
just a couple of novices trying not to paddle in circles. at least we weren’t like those two dopes who flipped and sank their boat in the Pearl Farm. woof
CRUiSE SHIP DINNERS
visiting a fishing village where we saw WAY more dogs than we did fish!!!!!! like, every floating boathouse had a dog.
trying to lure them toward me, failing
here a dog
there a dog
and some casual swimming in Halong Bay, jumping off the side of our boat with just another couple, cause apparently no one else had opted for the 2-night cruise. the 2-night cruise was worth it if ONLY for this activity. ahhh ❤
cavepeople
contemplating a cave
SUMPTUOUS
sunsets in Halong Bay ❤ ❤ ❤ I don't care how touristy it is
weak but cold
a bully monkey on this one island, where lots of tourists visit the Surprise Cave in Halong Bay. apparently all the locals hate this guy cause he breaks their stuff and throws fits, but they can’t really do anything about him.
Hanoi pho again ❤
exploring beer street, where all the stores put out tiny plastic tables and chairs and people drink the night away but in the chilllessttt way. the fight for customers, though, is the furthest from chill. young guys stand outside of shops, trying to (sometimes physically) pull people into their stores, all selling the same beers, for the same prices.
we picked this one because of this sleepy puppy, who was clearly being used as a marketing ploy, for which I immediately fell. and then afterward, I worried about his growth and development cause he cannot be getting any quality sleep in that environment, with all the people and the loud music and all.
one of our most memorable meals, Hanoi. cause I’d been griping all trip that we hadn’t gotten to eat at those places with no English menu where all the locals are sitting on the sidewalk, on those tiny plastic kindergarten tables and chairs. we saw this place selling bun bo hue and bun bo nam bo and bravely…stood around until the broth lady noticed us and had one of her table ladies usher us into a…STAIRCASE? where there was one empty table. after much pointing and body language, we successfully ordered what we each wanted — both DELISH. and then, when we stepped up to the broth lady to pay, the man in front of us dropped a pile of his bills straight into the broth. everyone paused. then, the broth lady, unflappable, just fished out the money and kept on keeping on. #Vietnam
then we spent our last full day in Hanoi visiting some museums, all of which are basically government propaganda. but…that’s not to say fascinating! we went to the Ho Chi Minh Museum and left wondering if the man ever did any wrong at all (like really, we have no idea what HCM did aside from what we were educated with at the museum, so I went to my handy dandy library app and placed a hold for a biography later that day.)
artwork in praise of HCM
Uncle Ho, praise be
Lotteria dinner cause (even) we were in need of some variety in our culinary lives. I think we got a combo deal for a burger, 3 pieces of chicken, a pepsi, and fries for like $4. asian-sized burger, yes, but still!
casual chickens
Maison Centrale aka Hanoi Hilton! this is the prison where…uh….a LOT of different groups of prisoners were held, depending on who happened to be in control of government at the time. our (least) favorite part was the room detailing the holding of US POWs (John McCain among them) and how well they were treated by their prison guards. “And here the US prisoners are decorating their Christmas tree with much cheer”
a quick stop by the post office to mail a postcard to la mia amica in italia
an embarrassing photo at the Temple of Literature, which used to be a real deal university in the olden days
aaaaaaand we had forgotten to eat noodles that day, but whew! saved by the airport lounge in Hanoi. I even showered here. and then declared that this was my favorite airport lounge so far. too bad it’s so, so far away.
LAST DAY IN VIETNAM! we were back in Saigon and rushed over to Pho Ngoc, our officially declared Fave Pho Place in Vietnam, only to realize that we had arrived too late. the gatekeeper lady said “sorry…. tomorrow?” because this is a true BREAKFAST PHO INSTITUTION, GUYS. they RUN OUT OF PHO EVERY MORNING AND CLOSE SHOP. and we stood around, sweating from our powerwalk, annoyed and at a loss for what to do next. maybe it was the standing around, maybe it was the sweating. maybe it was the at-a-loss-ness, but the lady took pity on us and scraped together two last bowls for us, and we were able to close the pho chapter, full circle. first and last Vietnam breakfasts at Pho Ngoc ❤
mission accomplished
then, we headed over and under some alleys to discover Truoc’s snail stall, of Netflix moderate fame. basically, she was featured in the Ho Chi Minh City episode of the Netflix show Streetfood, and we found it, with a little help from Reddit.
they’re not actual snails, that’s just the general name they use for lots of different crustaceans. this plate we got was amplified with a dollop of margarine and so much garlic
again, the meal enhanced by the show. in this case, thanks to this little guy who was working as Truoc’s little helper. he brings the menu (now in English, thanks to all the Netflix pilgrimagers, I’m sure), has you point to things and tell him how many servings of each. he helps cook a lil, but mostly is a waiter. in our case, he was also our personal snail-eating guide, because he could tell that we were noobs and would’ve eaten parts of the shell if left to our own devices. he showed us how to eat everything, and glanced our way once in a while to keep checking that we weren’t making fools of ourselves. afterwards, as we were leaving, he allowed us to take this photo he didn’t feel super enthused about, but it’s okay because the focus is on the real star, Truoc, in the background anyways.
aaand we’re off — to Japan! we had a 9-hour layover here and — even with a drizzle in the morning — made the most of it
bruh. so happy to be back in his soul homeland
secondhand bookstore! where we looked in vain for a book, but still fun
CONVEYOR BELT SUSHI
so, so happy
made a killing with just about $24 for all dese
and finally got his matcha soft serve fix at a mall in Narita
aaaand skip ahead many more hours of flying on a plane where we had gross teeth the whole time cause we had forgotten to pack toothbrushes on the carry-on. home to this face, which didn’t seem like it missed us too much. typical.
Our good friend David lives in Seattle. But only for a few weeks longer! So we visited him in order to accomplish our tandem bucketlist goal of visiting this Navy guy every new place he lives in. It was my second time there (and Mark’s third), so the goal was not to tourist it up. Just to see this boop and boop around his current city a lil. ❤
DCHANGSTA — what a happy reunion!
We had second dinner, at like 11 pm for our EST bodies. BUT GLORIOUS WAS THIS MEAL. LOOK AT THAT LOBSTAH GNOCCHI
…and the flake on dat fish!!
David is serious about his coffee.
Also his pastries. First breakfast in Seattle! And I knew this was a good decision.
Cake for breakfast, yes, yes a thousand times yes.
Making us a delish cup of joe.
aloha, Seattle
Sage advice for anyone, rly.
Casual tourist-ing at Pike’s Place Market.
TULIPS ❤
THEN David took us to the Starbucks Reserve ROASTERY. Like a brewery…but for Starbucks. With like, sweaters and coasters you can buy.
Sounds kitschy, yes, but, they actually had some egggggcellent menu items.
Mark got a whiskey-y coffee and I got a fizzy lemony one. The former was deeeeeLECTAble; the latter slightly reminiscent of a seafood pasta.
This is Mark’s “wut the, I may be in love with this edible item” face
❤
SAMMICHES at Un Buen, which was un gem.
And then we went winery-ing! Didn’t know the Pacific NW was a hub of wine, didja? I don’t actually think it is, except this one valley place where Chateau Ste. Michelle has their vineyards.
Went to a camera store cause David le Hipster is into cameras now. Mark sheepishly asked the store person if he could “just hold” the Leica. “This is the most expensive thing I’ve ever held in my hands. Except you.” Which he meant 100% unromantically cause he was talking about my engagement + wedding rings.
The view from Kerry Park! No tears this time but still good. Ya, still good.
FRENDS.
LUVERS.
OR NUTHINGGG (JM, anyone?)
Salt & Straw even though we were full, cause it’s not a real vacation without gratuitous ice cream.
Or ramen. When you travel with the Markling.
This is Vancouver! Capillano Suspension Bridge Park
Where Mark overcame his fear of heights once again in the name of tourism
And was rewarded heartily with a piggy back ride.
🙂
The hot pot that destroyed us.
So spicy I had the first pepto bismol experience of my lyf.
Pastries for bfast again. This might’ve been my favorite food experience of the trip
cause look at those POUFS
AND THE JELLS GAH
Steamtown Clock Thing! #tourists
That time we decided to try out a tandem bike and regretted it.
But! Came to the conclusion that tandem biking is a little like mawwiage. In many ways awkward and unwieldy, especially at first, but once you get the hang of it, easier to pedal together in the long run. #cheese
High tea with Daveee
Look at this big guy with all this tiny food. Pahaha
And our final meal! Humble but hearty, and warm to the max. It’s moments like these that made me think, “If I were David’s mom, I wouldn’t worry about him.” THE MAN MAKES MYULCHI WITH ROASTED ALMONDS, LADIES. #catch
Tried HOOkah for the first time! I wanted to like it more than I did but too smoky for me. Which…duh. Yeah yeah.
He dropped us off at the airport! Cementing ever firmer my belief that the best way to travel is to visit friends. Thank you for having us, David. Can’t wait to see you in your new SE Asia digs. ❤ Till then, my fellow TSwift fan.
We got to go to San Francisco over the holidays this year. We fell hopelessly in love, never looking back, and dream of returning someday.
SF is the land of all the hipster trends — example number 1: THE SUCCULENTS
Marko and the Painted Ladies. “why are these famous again?”
Marko in Japantown. naturally our first destination.
the unforgettable udon! we came here on a whim after finding out that the ramen place waitlist was CLOSED. but what a gift of a second choice this was.
Booey and the cereals
Boo enjoyed his SF life, too. so many window sills to sit on, so little time.
Hillsong SF! this was their Christmas extravaganza event, which sorta turned us off, what with the appearance of Santa and the giving out of the head pastor’s books… 😛 but to each his own.
Christmas everywhere! this was honestly one of my favorite things about being in SF in the timeframe we were there. all the trees! the lights! made the experience that much more magical.
first foray into Chinatown, and we were not disappointed
at Chongqing Xiao Mian, which made us blush every time we said the name because it always felt slightly racist (but it’s not! it’s the name of a city in China!)
:9 truly delicious
Burma Love, a must-eat restaurant located just a couple blocks from our dig in Hayes Valley
facetiming with the grampie and the grammie to say happy christmas from afar
SF trolley life
Saturday market!
JADE PLANTS EVERYWHERE
topsy turvy Lombard Street!
fried stuff at Fisherman’s Wharf
the thing about SF’s hilly streets that makes walking really interesting is that you can look to your left and right at any given moment and have a view like this. there is, also, the whole walking up and down impossible hills.
fancy date at the renowned A16!
shhh. we thought Cville’s Lampo was better.
Ghirardelli Square! where we ran into some chocolate samples.
CLIU! he’s loving the SF life.
SF Palace of Fine Arts
it’s like a dream
Went up to Twin Peaks, braving the winds, to see the glorious view that is OUR STREEET! Market Street, represent
oh the croissant days
and the casual pop-bys into taquerias in the Mission!
on a foggy day’s walk toward the Golden Gate Bridge
Christmas cakey
much research was done for the purchase of this cake
Christmas Eve Cat Cafe, where we were pegged as tourists for our lack of Apple Watches
this one took a special liking to Mark — good taste, kitty!
Pixel Tactics on a quiet evening over the holidays — I actually WON this one
Christmas Eve dinner! we cooked up a moderate storm, had Claire over, ate a bunch.
aaaand Christmas cake #2.
“can we have Chinese food on Christmas just to say that we did?”
at the famed Z & Y, where Pres Obama ate
hai
SF ExplOratorium! the coolest hands-on science museum ever.
the Gills visited us! putting that accidental second bedroom to good use, yawl.
drivin to Napa with the top down
Robert Mondavi Winery — who knew he’d change our lives forever
the wine tasting that made a wine man out of Mark (and JT)
casual citrus everywhere!
❤
“it’s freezing, but let’s drive with the top down cause WHEN ELSE WILL WE HAVE A BMW CONVERTIBLE IN NAPA VALLEY”
gifts from lil sis! she helped make our temporary home extra cozy
Muir Woods! home of the super skinnies.
Sausalito!
hi Booey
happy new year! we celebrated EST NYE and called it a night *fireworks emoji*
the botanical garden was free on New Year’s Day, so here we are
RAWR, prehistoric monstrosities
2-hour wait for this ramen was…decidedly not worth it! @Japantown
ddukgook a la Markling! he always feels a call toward the motherland on New Year’s Day.
our minimalist closet for five weeks. + Booey’s playhouse
PORCHETTA! yaas
hanging out with Gerald for Friday night drinks
exploring our neighborhood cafes, of which there were many
our very own alcohol tour day! starting out with Magnolia Brewery, which Mark was really impressed by.
San Tung, renowned Chinese dry-fried wings place, which really turned out to be a Korean-Chinese jajangmyun house. BUT, great jjambbong.
indeed!
trekked to this sake-ery in the rain, where we were greeted by a surprised lady who wondered what we were doing there, soaked to the bone. “just wanted to visit, yep!”
the rainy day when Markling hung out at Everlane with me for 45 minutes while I tried on a million pairs of jeans and settled on the ones I’d decided on online.
croissants for dayz
so many rainy days called for as many bath days ~
well said, Mr. Mondavi, well said.
our first Blue Apron trial! shoutout to Sam for the coupon — whoop whoop. the final verdict is that we find it too expensive to use it long-term and that it doesn’t seem useful or innovative enough to subscribe to. probs more useful for those who detest grocery shopping or fear unguided cooking.
Bi-Rite Creamery, also in our hood.
Chururarruarscuria with Gerald and Don! bring on the meatz.
Blue Apron 2. This was surprisingly…disappointing. I love thick noodles, but these were just a little too…thicc.
Alcatraz on a lucky sunny Saturday!
it was a fascinating place, full of interesting history and awesome greenery
bai Alcatraz! on the ferry ride back to SF
In-N-Out with Cliu!
tramping around the beaches of the western coast — this is one of Cliu’s fave spots, with the beach chairs overlooking the water
🙂
got crashed upon by the sneaky waves here, hehe
dinner with the Liu’s! it’s a feeding train — Alex fed by Gloria fed by Chris, a train of love
BIKING!!!! This was hands down my fave SF activity. the electric bikes are magical and make you feel superhuman — with every pedal push, you get a lil boost that helps you conquer the hills without breaking a sweat.
we biked through the Presidio, which was the most beautiful, sparkle-filled experience ever. thank you for this beauty, SF ❤
the saga of the Smartcar… we had tried to rent a car through Turo, all excited about our first Smartcar experience. but this was a major fiasco that ended with us on the phone with customer service for 2 hours, sitting in this rust bucket of a car, and finally renting a different car through a different company to just make it out to Napa Valley for our evening spa date, in the nick of time. I know, I know…first world problems FOR SURE.
mud baths! Mark says he’s do it again. Me, not so sure, cause I couldn’t stop thinking about all the sloughed off skin cells of all the other people who had probably used these muds before us.
Pancho Villa’s for the best salsa bar around!
Marko in his happy place
Tartine! These cost about as much as a dinner would have. #SF
but…this banana tarte was totally worth it.
DINNER AT ZUNI CAFE! the beautiful restaurant I walked by every day on my commute to and from work and covetously looked into. it was a lovely, lovely dinner.
this is my COCKTAIL NUMBER TWO face
chicken-to-share with my chicken-sharing buddy
contemplative cause it’s our last couple days in SF.
contemplative cat.
clear-out-the-fridge dinners. oh the last week in SF.
full-circle dinner at the udon place. #neverchange
cutie with the matcha soft serves
last Friday night at Anchor Brewing! we finally made it out there. this is SUCH an old brewery — a historic SF brewery since 1896, they say.
saying goodbye to the shoes we wore out in SF. goodbye shoes, goodbye SF shoe dirt. we’ll miss you.
We’d been wanting to visit Maine for a while — for the nature, for the hikes, for the lobstahs. After much hemming and hawing and lack of planning, what was supposed to be our wedding anniversary trip became a honeymoon anniversary trip instead, and the beautiful beginning of a tradition may have been born!
welcome to Maine!
blueberry wine — DELISH
first hike! this was a mistake.
started out too late in the day, with no map,
and as the sun slowly left us, so did my sense of humor :<
night ice cream, though, to smooth out the angries
the next morning, we started out early to see THIS — sunrise from the easternmost point in the continental US, or so they said
hey there!
but duck lips because in my haste to wake up for said sunrise, I ran smack into a wall in our hotel room and busted my lip. whoops.
but I pressed forth and ate ALL the things, true to form. these were the best BBQ chips I’ve ever had, ever.
hello
hi
we drove around Acadia and hiked and photographed beautiful things and ate sammiches
look at these weird, bulbous trees. we thought they were slightly obscene.
the world is OURS
sammich break! feelin a little european with our fancy bread and charcuterie and cheese
the meal where we decided that lobster by the pound is sorta not worth it. too expensive, not enough meat, a huge reliance on the butter to stave off the blandness. meh!
but the MAINE BLUEBERRIES, now, were a different story. they are smaller and sweeter, and BEAUTIFUL in this pie a la mode.
the most intense hike of our collective lives.
all the rock scrambling brought out our inner smeagols for sure
made it!
🙂
rainy day means drive down to Portland, ME, the original Portland
stopped by what might have been the most Portland experience — a kombucha-ery
Duckfat, where we had poutine with pulled duck
drool
made a pit stop at the LL Bean outlet, cause, Markling
when the tide is low here, this sand bridge comes forth from the water and you can walk to the island across the way, feeling all Moses and the Red Sea-like
savage
we got into a fight on our last morning here! hah. I think this was at the beginning, when we were still trying to make the best of my grumpiness and Mark was trying to make me laff. typical.
Charlottesville, VA, full of our dating (and wedding day!) memories, all overlaid atop our (individual) college moments. It’s such a special place, and it keeps evolving every time we’re down there because it’s always growing. This is a good and a sad thing — we get to experience new bits amid all the old.
first stop, LAMPO — we’ve had many an expensive pizza in many a city, but Lampo still tops the list
something I appreciate about Cville is the lively restaurant scene and how its members support each other — there’s always a friendly crowd around the bar at Lampo, oftentimes other restauranters.
❤
poked around here to see if we could find me a nice bike. we didn’t, but it’s a cute lil coop shop where you can pop by and fix your bike whenever you need
hej
friday night concerts on the downtown mall… the name of which I am totally blanking on
brewery stop 1! three notched is all grown up now — their new space at IX park is cool but also has a kiddy space, which we were seated right next to — tipsy parents + scrambly kiddos = hilarity
we bought an entire cake from albemarle baking co and tried to eat as much of it as we could this weekend, stuffing the remainder into the tiny fridge in our airbnb.
tacos at the saturday market!
drove by my parents’ old place for a sneaky sneak peek
Bodo’s date with PIJ and the fam
they have this cool study/chill space on the corner!
full of dreamy pothos plants and sunshine
UVA
hej! there was a wedding going on this weekend, #tbt
We got to go NEW ORLEANS for a conference of mine! (PePCon 2018 brouhaha!). Mark has always been a skeptic of Nola and how fun it could be, but I set him straight all right.
Walkin about dat Bourbon Street! What a cutie boo.
First stop, WILLIE’S FRIED CHICKEN. Cause I was strangely starving ever since the airport (the first one) and there were signs for Willie’s literally EVERYWHERE. Perhaps because of my starvation, it did NOT disappoint.
#nolaisclassy
This was the view from our Fawncy Upgraded Hotel Room (they were all out of the ones I had originally booked). It actually wasn’t that nice for being called a KING EXCEPTIONAL ROYAL SUITE or whatever it was called, but the river view was nice. (Hey, Mississippi River!)
World Renowned Eclair. We admitted that it was good, well-executed in all the ways. But world-renowned? Ehhh hmm
Marko in relief. (Actually Marko working from hotel. Not relieved.)
jeeepers
We were on the 47th floor. HOW DID YOU CLIMB ALL THE WAY UP.
Requisite brewery stop.
Pho real.
Walkin’ aboot the Garden District, which was full of beautiful, old, huuuuge mansions.
Dranks
It was a dinner and a show!
Snuck out of the conference for lunch at the Butcher! Mark had a pink-in-the-middle Big Mac rip-off, but we were like “These guys know what they’re doing, I’m sure it’s fine.” Thankfully, our assumption was correct.
CHARBROILED (CHARGRILLED?? I kept getting them mixed up) OYSTERS. Basically oysters drenched in a butter/garlic/salt/herb/cheese mix and grilled over FLAMEZ.
The place we ended up at for our ghost tour. Which was surprisingly informative and unscary!
Literally INCHES of powdered sugar. Funny how things are so relative. When you imagine spooning an inch of powdered sugar into your mouth, it makes you cringe a lil, but when it’s atop a pillowy piece of fried dough, you’re ever so careful not to knock any of it off on its way to your agape mouth.
Alligator bites. Like chicken, just real dry.
Scoot scoot scooty scoot scooted to Cafe du Monde, for the requisite beignets.
Italian place near Frenchmen Street, home of the ocean sauce.
“The artsy people are ARTSIER here…”
I ordered an entire rack of lamb and somehow ate almost all of it. And Mark uttered words I never thought I’d hear him say — “This might be too much meat for me.”
The place we stopped by for jazz listening, where we were practically heckled for tips. It was the end of a long, tipless night for these old guys and they was tired in a cute cranky old people kinda way.
Best pina colada of the short tenure that has been my drinking life.
Curious voodoo knick knacks.
Oldest tree in America (wait…in New Orleans?) near the epicenter of the slaves’ voodoo activity just outside the city walls.
One of those things that the guide on our ghost tour mentioned that we ran into after the fact.
A concert we randomly ran into as we were walking to kill time gifted to us by our flight’s delay! Kid wasn’t actually playing, but was KILLIN it nonetheless.
Full circle, sentimental trip style. This was one of the best lil trips in a WHILE! So much to see, explore, imbibe, soak in… At the end of it, Mark admitted that I had been right and that Nola was awesome. So take that!
mmmmmoves 
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