Thursday, September 23, 2010

These are not my dogs.

I forgot about these pictures because I took them after my computer broke but before we went to Pragurkreece so I'd put them on Joel's computer and then wiped the memory card.  Remembering they were there was like finding $5 in my coat pocket, if that $5 was also adorable.

Before we left we finally got to meet the new additions to Matt and Gillian's family.  Daisy Dog!  Diesel Dog!  Doggies!


Awww, who is a Daisy Dog?


Snugglable puppies!  Just the right size for holding.

Ok and then also, we went camping with Joel's mom and the campsite across the way from us had a German shepherd/border collie puppy that wouldn't shut up, so we went to visit him and snuggle his face.  They asked if we'd be willing to visit him and snuggle his face again the next day, because they were going to the water slides all day and didn't want to leave him alone.

DO WE WANT TO BORROW YOUR DOGGIE!?  That is a silly question.  How much cute can you handle, is more to the point.  This much cute?


THIS much cute?


Baroo.  He was a sweeting puppy who shat on literally every single one of the five walks we took him on.  Joel would be all, Surely he's not going to shit on this walk.  He just shat two hours ago, and that was his third shit today.  But Joel would be WRONG EVERY TIME.  Also, he (the puppy, not Joel) would chew on my arm when he got tired.  Nutty thing.

Other photos from those three days that I forgot I had:

Hee.

HEE!

Awww.

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

New! Camera!

So we got a new camera and it is a Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS and I'm not sure how much of that is the name and how much is just other things that were on the box but ANYWAYS, it is very excellent.  Our old camera was sturdy and fine but it took horrid indoor shots and the flash made everything look flashed and also it couldn't focus up close and then double-also it won't turn on anymore and is stuck like this:



It looks like the Pixar lamp if the Pixar lamp were very sad.  And also a broken camera.

The new one takes excellent indoor shots and the flash mostly does not make things awful and it has a macro mode that works BUT ALSO IT HAS A FISHEYE MODE!  And I'm playing with the settings and Joel is all, You're going to fisheye Koala, aren't you and I wasn't, because I hadn't thought of it yet but BOY HOWDY am I going to now.

Do not die before Thanksgiving, brown beastie.

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Pragurkreece - The Raging Materialist Edition

This post is mostly for my mom, who loves a good shop.

Ok so part of me doesn't want to be all LOOKIT MY THEEEEENGS! because that smacks of...something.  But then most of me loves seeing what people bring back from their vacations, PLUS we just got a new camera (moooooore materialism!) to replace the one that died in Ephesus, and I want to play with it because it. is. bitchin.

Anyways, my things.

I bought this dress in Istanbul so I could walk around Istanbul without feeling uncomfortable.


And then I also bought this dress in Instanbul.


And then also this one.  Istanbul was good for dresses.


We knew Istanbul was going to be cheapest, so we did the bulk of our shopping there.  But it was also earliest, so anything we bought we'd have to lug around for two weeks.  Dresses were a good and useful call, because they doubled as Things I Would Have Packed Anyways If I'd Already Owned them.  Also a good call?  Rings.


And more rings.


And an orange purse, because I've been looking for one for years.


And this lovely, mouldy-looking scarf.  My mirror is clearly very dirty.


And then also, because we like to buy practical things that we will use often and think of our travels, these wikked kebab skewers.


Sooooer Turkish, no?


And then in Cappadoccia I bought a whirling dervish.


He whirls.


And then in Samos I bought this pretty little number.


And then in Athens everything was too expensive so we went to a flea market, and I bought this happy little guy for 2.50 euro


And put him on a chain.


The chain is very long, so he hangs by my navel and when I walk, he flops like a live thing.  He has a secret compartment, where I could keep a secret...or drugs a drug (it is very small).  When it is open he looks like he is yawping delightedly.


And then in Prague I bought these incredibly Communist-looking moccs


And a mug from which to drink Communist beer.


And that is all.  I will be exercising great thrift from here on in.

Thursday, September 02, 2010

Pragurkreece: I Ate Fried Dough In All The Countries

Our little travelling band had many happy commonalitites, one of the most excellent ones being that our favorite part of travel is the eating.  Also, that we are frequently hungry.  Also, that we can never turn down a mixed platter.

It is almost impossible to turn down a mixed meat platter, because there are such varieties of things to eat, and this is like getting a bite of all of Prague's best offerings.  Like bacon dumplings.  And sausage.  And duck.

It is similarly difficult to turn down a mixed kebab platter when it is your first evening in Turkey, and how are you supposed to decide which kebab you want?  You want all of them.


Or when it's your second night in Turkey and the mixed kebab platter can easily feed four people?



And comes with a bread-baby?


Or when the mixed appetizer platter lets you choose which six appies you want?  So obviously you go with baba ganoush and hummus and grilled eggplant salsa and croquettes and fried cheese and sundried tomatoes with pomegranate and mint sauce?


And then are overwhelmingly unhungry for your lamb platter when it arrives?


The mixed meat platter took a haitus mid-trip, only to return with a vengeance (and with a mixed seafood grill) in Samos


as well as in Athens (this was...an obscene amount of meat for two people).


When we weren't eating mixed platters in Turkey we were usually eating burek, which is essentially croissant dough wrapped around spinach, meat and cheese.


One evening on our wanders we passed a churro vendor, and I can never turn down a sugary fried dough product.


It was much denser than the churros I'm used to, and cold, and drenched in honey rather than tossed in sugar, but it was so delicious that we immediately got another one.


The restauranteurs were varying degrees of pushy and welcoming, and the street-donair vendors would always accost you with samples of shaved meats.  It worked on us literally every time.


One cheerful batch of restauranteurs two down from our hostel greeted us so cheerfully and un-aggressively every time we walked by that we ate there thrice.  Our last night there, I was dying for some rice pudding but they were out so the waiter whipped up a kadayif for me instead - 'very special Turkish dessert, my favorite' - which is basically cheese wrapped in fried noodles soaked in honey.


I have eaten fewer more delicious things.

Eating wasn't always a whimsical delight.  Sometimes they would bring you something exorbitantly more expensive than you'd ordered, and then charge you for that instead.  Sometimes a wasp would die a horrible, sticky death in your breakfast.


Sometimes the guy running the hostel was the only guy working at the hostel, so you would get your continental breakfast in shifts - the toast would be much delayed and you'd be giddy from all the coffee on an empty stomach, or the eggs would be late and runny, or the coffee cups would materialize but an hour later there would still be no coffee.  We never left our Samos hostel before noon, and it's not (completely) because we were lazy.

Sometimes the guy at the hostel would have no idea where anything was, and would send you tramping out with restaurant recommendations, the first of which was closed down, and the second of which you'd spend two hours searching for. 

But then sometimes your hostel would serve yogurt, honey and muesli for breakfast, and after your 'hot cheese salad' lunch (it was basically a 3-cheese paste, and you dip bread in it) the restauranteur would bring yogurt, honey and nuts for dessert, and then your hilariously old dinner restauranteur would also bring you complementary yogurt and honey for dessert, and you would eat yogurt and honey thrice in a day and not regret it.

And every meal we ate would literally be the best meal ever, but then these gyros really were the best meal ever.


And then we came back to Prague, where there are no gyros, but where there are crepes with marscapone and cherries, or with raspberries and whipped curd.


And then we had mini-donuts drizzled with chocolate at the zoo and were chased by wasps.


And then we had fried camembert and goulash at the monastary.


And then it got chilly so we put on sweaters and had hot chocolate so thick it was like pudding.


And then we had rum-raisin pancakes with cottage cheese and hazelnuts, or waffles with strawberries.


And the world's most elaborate cafe au lait.


And then, to end it all off, we had ribs and fries and beans with bacon.


And then we rolled ourselves home.