Ghana

In the last few weeks, I have gone from sunning myself on a beach in Africa, to bundling up in a polar vortex. I've been to Ghana five times, but the last time I was there was eight years ago. I expected to see a lot of change, but "TIA" (This Is Africa), and not much was new. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed doing a lot of nothing and eating copious amounts of fish and joloff.

Our first few days were pretty mellow which was good, since it took my luggage a few extra days to arrive. We spent some time at the Art Center, and quite a bit of time in traffic (one of the new developments is that there are a ton more cars on the roads). One of the first experiences we had was dining at La Tante. It's a restaurant near the airport that is inside of an old DC-10 plane.





I went with my usual of jollof, but guinea fowl as my protein. It was standard, but not in a bad way.



We spent Christmas afternoon away from the bustle of Accra at the Volta Hotel. The beautiful view, was unfortunately masked by some haze.



After Christmas, we drove to the village for a few days to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday. It was a great time to be with my family and the entire village came to celebrate. Getting to the village was a bit harrowing since our car broke down three times, but we were able to get there and back in one piece, even though it was a little shaky. Here is my grandmother showing everyone she's still got some moves.



This is a cocoa pod. The white part around the seeds is edible and tastes a bit like cheremoya. Don't make the same mistake I did and start chomping on the seeds.



Then we were back in the city for a few days filled with parties, mosquito bites, and visits to Makola Market and Nkrumah Park. On new years day, we jetted off to the Coconut Grove Beach Resort in Elmina for a few more days of blissful relaxation (and overeating).

The bustle of Makola Market



Nkrumah Park



Sunset on the beach in Elmina



Lizard friends



Sleeping crocodiles



Drummers and dancers



It was a great time and nice to escape the cold Chicago weather. I had a blast with family and friends, read a ton, danced a little, and I'm looking forward to the next trip.

Namibia Trip - Swakopmund and Namib Desert

After driving through Etosha for a few days, we spent a few relaxing nights in Swakopmund taking in the quaint, German beach scene. We stayed at the charming Hotel Eberwein just a few blocks from the beach. Since it was Christmas, most businesses were closed, but we still got a feel for the place and at times I felt like I was on a beach in Southern California instead of Africa.









From Swakopmund, we made the very long trek to the Namib desert. After a point, the road is mostly gravel and there isn't much to see. Then all of a sudden, you come across some interesting granite formations in the Tropic of Capricorn.



Eventually we found our way to the Desert Homestead Lodge. Imagine being in Palm Springs in the middle of summer with no air conditioning. The climate was pretty brutal. The next morning (at 5:30), we took a guided tour to Sossuvlei to see the amazing sand dunes.


Entering Sossuvlei at sunrise and there are springboks (again)


Oryx


Ostrich


Dune 45 is quite possibly one of the most photographed sites in all of Namibia

We opted out of climbing Dune 45 part way so we could save our energy for the "Big Daddy" dune. At the base of Big Daddy is Deadvlei and at the top of the dune you can see stunning views from all around. Unfortunately, this is also when my camera battery started to die so some of these pictures are from my cell phone.


Big Daddy


It looks easier than it is


The view

About two-thirds of the way through, my mom and I decided we had had enough of hiking the dune, so we rolled down the hill (no easy feat). We waited for the rest of our group in Deadvlei. This area used to have dunes, but now contains petrified trees from dunes long ago.





With all the hiking, we worked up a monster appetite. Luckily, our tour package included a champagne brunch!



From the desert, we headed back to Windhoek so I could catch my flight(s) back to LA. My sister and mom spent some time in Twyfelfontein and Windhoek for the remainder of the trip. I took many more pictures than what I have shown you. To view my cell phone pictures, click here. To view my ridiculously large (400+ pictures) photo gallery from my entire trip, click here. Namibia is a vast and beautiful country and I feel extremely lucky to have been able to experience it this way. It's not a place I would have ever thought to visit before, but now I can say that I am very glad that I did.

Namibia Trip - Okonjima and Etosha

My mom has settled in to her life in Namibia and the Peace Corps. A few weeks ago, my sister and I packed up our bags and made the (very) long trip to go see her for the holidays. For those that don't know, Namibia is in southern west coast of Africa. It's neighboring countries are South Africa, Botswana, and Angola. Namibia is roughly twice the size of the state of California and actually has a similar landscape. It's the second least populated country behind Mongolia and you can drive for long stretches without seeing other people. Namibia is not known for it's food (salty meat, millet, ketchup and mayonnaise on everything), but what they lack in culinary prowess, they more than make up for in beautiful landscapes and interesting wild life. Since my mom wasn't allowed to leave the country yet, we spent our time driving all over the country and seeing almost everything Namibia has to offer.

To break up the drive between Windhoek and Rundu, we spent one night at the Okonjima Lodge. Okonjima is the home of the Africat Foundation where injured or mislocated cheetahs and leopards are taken to be rehabilitated and reintroduced to the wild. We did a cheetah tracking mission which took us through their vast territory and we managed to get up close and personal with a cheetah that had just made a kill. It was beyond amazing to see.


The cheetahs and leopards are collared and tracked with devices that look like this.




Before you see the cheetah, you see a lot of other wildlife like warthogs (which are everywhere in Namibia), various antelopes, and giraffes.




Score!

After Okonjima, we headed to Rundu a few days. Rundu is where my mom lives and works. There isn't much to do there and I got a cold so those couple of days were spent laying around trying to get better quick (which I did). From Rundu, we made our way to Etosha National Park. We spent one night at the gorgeous Namutoni Lodge and two nights at Okaukeujo. There is a ridiculous amount of wildlife in the park and we spent our days there driving through looking for animals. We saw everything from springboks (which are also all over Namibia) to lions, but sadly, the weather was too warm to see any elephants. We also had a fun (well, not so fun for my mom) moment when our 4x4 got stuck in the mud of the Etosha Pan. Thank goodness for German tourists who got us unstuck!


Zebras


Wildebeast


Ducks


Side-Striped Jackal


The ever present springboks. The blurs in the background are lions!


Giraffes


White Rhino


Sunset at the waterhole in Okuakuejo

After Etosha, we visited Swakopmund and the Namib Desert. Stay tuned to find out more about what we did in each of those places.

Bay Area Weekend

My mom is leaving for the Peace Corps today. The how and why are extensive, but you can read more about it here. The last few months have been a whirlwind of packing, getting affairs in order, and preparing to live in Namibia for the next two years. Last weekend I got to spend a few precious days with her in the Bay Area before she left town to say goodbye to friends and family on the other side of the country. I was not quite prepared to eat as much as we did:

With a few hours to kill and a desire to not have to deal with the traffic getting to the Outside Lands Festival, my sister and I decided to explore the "charming" town of South San Francisco. There really isn't much besides the main drag. On it there are various pizza places, grocery stores, and more nail salons than probably people that live there. We decided to stop for appetizers at Ben Tre. We both ordered the Cha Gio (Crispy Imperial Egg Rolls) that were stuffed with ground pork, carrot, taro, onion, and mushrooms. It was just enough food to power us until the party.



We danced the night away on Saturday night. In order to make up for calories lost, we had a decadent breakfast at an unassuming little spot in Protero Hill called Axis Cafe. Honestly, you would not be able to tell it was a restaurant if you were standing outside since it looks like an industrial warehouse, but the backyard garden was the perfect place to eat and converse. My housemade biscuits with corn gravy, calabrese sausage, fava beans, and scrambled eggs was beyond decadent. I couldn't finish it.



However, I was able to get a bite of my mom's egg-in-a-hole with fennel sausage, hen of the wood mushrooms, and heirloom tomatoes.



My sister also let me sneak a bite of her steak, caramelized onion, spinach and cheddar scramble. I hope to go back the next time I'm in town.



After such a big brunch, I thought I would be full for the rest of the day. But there was more eating to be done. My mom's good friends took us out for an early dinner that ended up last over three hours. Despite living in the area for years, I only ever visited Blackhawk Grille once during high school. I was excited to check out the longstanding restaurant.

We started with crab cakes for everyone.  Perfectly crisp on the outside and full of sweet crab on the inside. I'm glad we didn't have to share.



Boursin cheese fondue with seared beef tips, mushrooms, and brocolini. Hello lover! The beef was so tender and the brocolini helped keep the decadent dish feeling fresh.



My penne with chicken, bacon, and arugula wasn't everything I hoped and dreamed it would be, but by this point, I was so full, I couldn't eat much anyway. Everyone else at the table ordered the paella.



But we still had dessert. Frozen chocolate mousse was a little too frozen and really seemed more like chocolate ice cream with crust, but the crust was fantastic. My mom had the strawberry shortcake.





With all the food and two bottles of Franciscan 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, it was a good thing that we were staying so close. I practically had to be rolled out of the restaurant. It was a wonderful weekend that went by too quickly. I'm going to miss my mom, but perhaps in five months you'll be reading about my adventures after a Namibian vacation.


Ben Tre
219 Grand Ave.
South San Francisco, CA 94080
(650) 952-2243
Website

Axis Cafe
1201 8th St.
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 437-2929
Website

Blackhawk Grille
3540 Blackhawk Plaza Circle
Danville, CA 94506
(925) 736-4295
Website

Holidays 2010

During the past two weeks I visited Chaya, Salt's Cure, Soda Pops, A-Frame, Scoops Westside (twice), Black Cat Bakery, and Tavern. I also stopped at a few places between here and Aptos, CA where I spent Christmas and the Bay Area where I spent a few days after Christmas. It was a great time and I have absolutely nothing to show for it now except a few extra pounds and a bad cold.  I didn't get pictures of everything, but here is some of what I managed to capture.

Brunch at Salt's Cure. They ran out of what I really wanted so I ended up ordering the 2x2x2. Two eggs, two pieces of sausage, and two pieces of bacon. The meats are made/cured in house. I want to go back immediately.



This was the view from our hotel in Seascape.  The suite was amazing and the beach was beautiful in spite of the rain and insane wind on Christmas day.



The crazy rain over the last few weeks also brought about crazy rainbows. Behold.



Upon my return to LA, I immediately visited new "hotspot" A-Frame.  It was a ridiculously good dinner, but unfortunately I got no good pictures of it because of our proximity to the horrible black light under the a-frame. These ribs were one of the highlights though.



After A-Frame, Kris and I went to the new Scoops on the Westside of LA. I had brown bread and pistachio flavors. Both so good and addicting so it wasn't a tough sell to convince me to go back a couple days later for more. This time I had the banana apple pie and honey almond cinnamon.



Partly because I wasn't feeling well and partly because I wasn't in the mood, I didn't end up going out for New Year's Eve. I think this was possibly the first time ever I didn't have plans for that night and yet I was perfectly ok with staying in. I made an amazing dinner which I will share with you soon.

I hope you're all enjoying the new year so far and when I recover from this illness, I'll have new recipes to share soon.

Charleston, South Carolina

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Charleston, South Carolina. Here are the highlights:


I knew this place existed, I just didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes



My first seafood and grits experience! At Magnolias


My first pecan pie. Also at Magnolias


Of course I can't go a weekend without visiting a farmers market. Charleston's was full of Southern flair. These muscadine grapes are weird and definitely a Southern original.


Basket weavers are everywhere


Red, yellow, and green tomatoes...oh my!


The Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge is an architectural wonder.



Quick lunch at Monza. Roasted asparagus and fried eggs are two of my most favorite things in the world! Next time, I definitely want to try the pizza.






Charleston has some interesting history and architecture


This all makes me want to go and re-read Gone With the Wind for the 800th time.