Christmas Cheer

Even in Vancouver with no snow, no kids, no egg nog, we have still found a measure of our own Christmas Cheer. True, it might sometimes be confused with the Olympic Spirit, or Spirits generally, we are still happy to have it.

You can view full size photos here at

http://picasaweb.google.com/Mrs.Kitty.Kate/ChristmasCheer#

Wishing you and yours very happy holidays.

Things we acquired on our trip....

We were self-limited to things we could carry home, mostly (although we did send a box by sea-mail from Bali, which took about three months). We have really developed a taste for textiles lately, mostly because our house is pretty full of everything else. And jewelery of course... a girl can't have too much of that, and it's easily carried.

So nice to luxuriate in everything hand-made....

 

Our new buddy PACO

Here's our new little buddy, Perro Pachez Gonzales Holmez. You may call him "PACO". He's a 4-1/2 year old Springer Spaniel. He's a very good boy so far!

Waiting for further input:

We've only had him one day, and he's settling in so well, it's amazing. He likes to nap in his cozy crate right beside my desk while I blog in the morning.... how cute is he?!

Berries Berries Everywhere

Bottom Line: 24 pounds of Strawberries is MORE than ENOUGH for two people!



We decided to "u-pick" some fresh juicy ripe local BC Strawberries on Saturday morning. We even went out in the rain, though luckily it had stopped by the time we arrived in Langley. We each brought a bucket and down the rows we went. I guess we were done within an hour and it seemed like enough, but I might have known when I saw the raised eyebrows on the lady cashing us out.

We had a nice lunch in Fort Langley, picked up some dried Cranberries from the chatty Cranberry Lady like we always do, and a hat for Kate (like I almost always do!).

Yesterday, it was Strawberry Central on Haro Street! On the menu:
- Strawberry Smoothies
- Strawberry Spinach Salad
- Cheese and Bread with Strawberry Jam (for dinner!!)
- Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
- Trays and trays of frozen berries for future delight

If I start growing seeds in my pores, would you let me know?

Sadly, the home stretch....

We are leaving Turkey tomorrow. We had one last day for sightseeing and a little shopping at the Grand Bazaar, and happily, are shopped out.

Tomorrow we will arrive in Amsterdam, but for a relatively short three night visit. Unfortunately, the weather forecast is not at all good for the next few days, but our fingers and toes are crossed. If it's not good, we may have to stick with the cafe.s and the Amstel Experience Beer Museum. :-)

We leave Saturday afternoon and arrive, Saturday afternoon in Vancouver. I did finally get Michael to admit he was sort of looking forward to being at home again.

Cheers,
Kate

Plenty to do in Istanbul

Istanbul for 6 nights is by no means too long. This city has been around for about 25 centuries, has a population of about 12.6 million (and growing by 1,000 per day), so there's lots to see and do here.

We keep passing artifacts that seem to originate from below ground level, by sometimes ten feet or more. I continually point out that that used to be the ground level, and now this is the new ground level ten feet up. Today we visited the archaeology museum and I can see that I hit the nail on the head: In fact, some 100 generations have constantly been building and re-building new over old. If you excavate, you come across a new century every meter you dig! Crazy. It's a very complicated archaeology and it must be frustrating for developers.

I have plenty of new photos in my Turkey album. They range back to our visit to Cappadocia two weeks ago, right up to our visit to the spice market this afternoon. Sorry, no time for captioning. This will have to do for now.

I hope you will be happy with these.. I assure you, I've spent more time uploading photos and blogging for your amusement, than I ever would have if I sent you a personal postcard. Obviously, you're not getting a postcard. ;-)

You can view the slideshow by clicking below:

Speaking of Turkish

I have some urgent questions surrounding a delicate topic... I hope you don't object..

If you haven't travelled much, then you may not have had the opportunity to try a so-called Turkish Toilet. It's basically a hole in the ground, with some sort of in-ground toilet apparatus, usually porcelaine, similar to this:

You put your feet on the textured part, squat down, and the rest is your business. In Asia and Turkey where we've been the last few weeks, usually there is no flusher, but a bucket of water is nearby, and you "flush" your business down the drain by washing it down with the water. Often you have to bring your own toilet paper too.

So, my questions are

1. How the heck did Turkey get saddled with this naming? Did they really invent this toilet? Somehow I doubt it!
2. In public places in Turkey there is usually both a Western sit down toilet and a Turkish model. My question is, "who would actually choose the turkish model over the Western". Is anybody still using this, if given the chance?

In one of our hotels, there was a label on the toilet graphically showing how one is NOT to squat on the Western toilet. Very amusing indeed.

Anyway, all is well, I'm not sure why this is on my mind! haha.

We have arrived in Istanbul and our bathroom is very swank indeed. We are staying at the Witt
http://www.wittistanbul.com/eng/ It seems rather lovely, and is well located near everything. We are just about to head out and see what's what. Don't know if we're going to go uphill, or downhill just yet. We can eat dinner in Europe OR Asia tonight, that's still up in the air.

Cheers!

Turkey anyone?

Turkey is fabulous. The weather is just incredible. A beatiful 25 to 30 degrees, all dry and sunny with a lovely breeze coming off the Mediterranean all the time. We have travelled along the south coast, along the Med, and we are now resting in Bodrum, a larger seaside village with two harbours and a big castle. Lots of tourist shopping, ice cream and kebabs all around.

Today we are going to head out in the car and see what beaches we can find in the area. Being a spoiled child, I've usually shunned the European style beaches... sometimes you have to pay for a lounger or a cushion and umbrella, and lord only knows what the drinks will cost, but I think we're going to go in for a try. The water is cool, but very swimmable for us Canucks.

The new slideshow at right has a few random shots. One day I'll have time for captioning, in the meantime you'll have to use your imagination.

Sick of eating out yet ?

We went to this restaurant that Frommers says will feed you the "best meal in Turkey". It's right in our town; who are we to pass up such an opportunity?


After getting our meal, we wonder if we read it wrong and it said, "the biggest meal in Turkey"... have a look! (Yes, this meat is just for Mike.... thank the LORD I didn't order this dish, described as "Leg of Lamb"... we didn't know it was the WHOLE leg!!!)



We said good night to the restaurauter at the end, and Mike commented that perhaps the meals were a bit on the large size. The cheecky French owner just looked at Mike blankly and said, "well, I have two dogs to feed....". Hahahaa

The Crazy Part

So, they do this parasailing thing over the beach at Oludeniz, near Fethiye in Antalia, the coast of Turkey. They drive 45 minutes up a big hill over the beach, some 1500 metres or something, don big protective suits, helmets, sensible shoes and take a few steps off the mountain. Half an hour later, it's practically raining paragliders down onto a big runway running down the beach.

It costs only maybe $100 or so to go, and seriously, I hadn't ruled it out, except we were visiting that beach only for the day, and I had the convenient excuse of my bruised toe to justify the consolation activity of a ringside, beachside table at a comfy restaurant with a burger and beer instead.

I was still half considering it, but would you beleive that in the two hours we were in town, we saw not one, but TWO crash landings? These were not tandem rides like you get from an experienced "pilot" supposedly, but perhaps more inexperienced riders. But who knows, who tells the tourist observer anything? All I know is that I saw two of these parachuters come down on top of buildings/awnings/overhangs just nearly missing coming down into a table of restaurant guests!

Maybe next time....

Crazy, Colourful

The Mediterranean is impossibly blue right now. Indescribable.

How's this for a try....colourful enough for you?

Sensible Shoes

I have always belittled, berated, ridiculed those who hike wearing sandals. We see it all the time in Vancouver... silly tourists who don't know any better walking on trails with roots and rocks in their little flip flops, or worse, high heels. I can't say why, but I've just always felt it was not right, not respectable, not well, the Canadian way for goodness sakes. What person in their right mind would do that?

Now I can justify my critical view..... this was not even a hike! Just a little walk in some ruins off the beach...

I'm just trying to keep it up a bit between walks.... it's just bruised, don't worry!

Patience and Networking

When you're in a foreign country, the webpages of international sites tend to load in the local language. It can be difficult to find your way around, to say the least. In some languages read right to left, the site may also be mirrored, so you can't rely on you hand memory to find the right button!

I've just spend half hour trying to update my facebook profile photo to the touristy pyramid shot I have, to no avail. It's a sunny day on the Mediterranean, so that will be the total of my effort for now. Better things to do!

Cheers,
K

Egypt - some touristy shots

Quiet Time

I've always loved this part of the day. All is quiet, the sun is rising over my left shoulder and is already sending it's warm glow my way. Just me and the birds, tapping and chirping. My balcony overlooks a quiet bay ringed with small greek islands close to the Turkey coast. It's going to be another beautiful day!

Happy Friday!

It's HOT in Egypt! And hard to keep up with ourselves with jet lag in the middle of a hot dessert, but we have enjoyed our quick trip to Cairo and Luxor nonetheless. 37 degrees in Luxor today, and that's in the shade. Throw in a sleeper (not!) train and bad food, with some jet lag and you can try and imagine for yourself what that felt like.

Saw some pretty incredible sights and am blown away with the whole King Tut excesses. The smog and traffic in Cairo is amazing, proving yet again what a lucky kitty I am to live in such a clean and lovely country. Aaahhhh....

Still, pretty fun altogether. Unlike Bali where all the people addressed us by name and we were really the monarchs of our hotel, no one in Cairo seemed to know us, except they were certainly all wanting to meet us and talk to us when we went to the Bazaar last night!! hahaha. We got out in one piece through and had time to spend in a pretty cool Egyptian restaurant last night for a better feel of the local culture. Not that much time for it in our quick trip, but we had some great enthusiastic and knowlegeable guides who were also fun to spend time with, so we are satisfied. We stayed in two former 19th century palaces while in Cairo, so were well accommodated.

We are at the airport now waiting for our flight to Istanbul. By cocktail hour this evening, we will be in Cappadocia, staying at a cave hotel, Yunak.com. Looks better than it sounds! We are there three nights. I'll try and post some photos or tell you more, when I can.

Starting to miss Vancouver, but I think it is mainly because of the hot, dry, smoggy, and sandy air. Otherwise, we are still happy to be on vacation.

Cheerio!
Kate

Justification

Why we didn't leave Komeneka Basmi:

1. The infinity pool: 2. The Breakfasts: 3. The Room

4. The Balcony overlooking the Rice Padi

5. The designer-y Lobby

6. Did I mention the infinity pool?

Spontaneity and Middle Age

So we are like 45 minutes away from packing up to move to our next destination. Now the weather has cleared up and we are having a swim in the MOST beautiful infinity pool EVER, and Mike begins questioning the whole need to move at all. We have been in Ubud now for 6 nights and we have four more in Bali. I think these Komeneka hotels have brainwashed us or something. He goes to the front desk and because the hotel is woefully under occupied at present, they continue to offer this outrageously inexpensive rate so we can stay longer. The coast looked good, but it's very BASIC and honestly, I don't know who could resist staying.

What I've learned is that you don't need a beach to enjoy hot weather and a pool. I'll post photos soon to prove it to you, and you'll see why.

I'm worried we might be getting too lazy, and this is surely a sign of middle age, but I'll think about it again after our afternoon nap.

Ciao,
Kate

Moving Day

We have decided to spend our last few nights on Bali on the East Coast in a little fishing village called Amed. The cost is steep and filled with little coves, one after another, each with a different sort of sand. Apparently the diving and snorkelling is good and there is a big shipwreck close to shore to explore.

Here's where we're staying... http://www.apakabarvillas.com/accom.html Doesn't it look charming?

Four more nights on Bali then we are off to Cairo. I think that contrast may be a bit jarring. The people here are so warm and lovely and friendly and sweet. Not to pre-judge or anything, but every single source warns in Cairo that that City, the tenth biggest in the world, is full of theives and shysters. Our weather here is HUMID and there it will be bone DRY. Anyway, I'll let you know when I can how the diving went. I don't know when we'll have internet next.

Miss you all! Hope the Vancouverites amongst you will be okay without the Canucks.
Kate

Rained out!

It's too early on a nice morning to muck around with cameras, cards, card readers or cords, so you'll have to see the photographic evidence later. Take my word for it that we were justified in calling it quits in the middle of our road trip yesterday. We arranged for a driver for the day and started off with a visite to an "original" Bali village where time has stood still. We were with the local guide at his house (looking at the weavings and crafts he wanted to sell us) when it started raining. And RAINING, like mad. Luckily he found umbrellas and we sloshed back through the muddy gravel road to the car. We drove on and the rain lightened so we were encouraged, but at the next temple the rain found us again. We stopped at the big roofed meeting place there and by the time we found courage to cross the road in the rain, the water was up to our ankles.

We decided to pack it in, because one of the main purposes of the trip was a scenic road with beautiful rice paddies, but this wasn't going to work out. On the way back we could see first hand how asphalt is lifted by gushing water. Water was lifting up right through the sidewalks, becuase it is carried underneath the sidewalks and the sewer was full. Ironically, the worst areas, repeatedly, were bridges... They were always a low point, and no one had thought of putting a few drainage holes at the curb.

Anyway, it was a quiet afternoon and evening in our palatial hotel room. Mike hasn't downloaded those photos either! Amazing how a long holiday takes the weather pressure off a particular day though! Today has dawned sunny and we are wearing our swimsuits to breakfast.

K

The price of martinis

... In Indonesia is horrific! For some illogical reason, there is a 200% tax on imported liquor so we checked at a local retail outlet and a bottle of Absolute Vodka is a whopping $75! Makes for expensive drinks in the restaurants, especially when contrasted with the ridiculously cheap meals and handmade merchandise here.

Thought you'd like to know.

Right Place at the Right Time

Boy have we lucked out. We've been staying at a DELIGHTFUL hotel (see previous post) but they're full tomorrow and beyond. So we drag our feet, pout, plead and generally stay put until they offer us their sister hotel accommodationts for the same price, even though the rate is twice what we're paying here.... check it out.

http://www.komaneka.com/special/bisma/ The photos on there don't do it too much justice, suffice to say I'm rather excited and we're not leaving Ubud anytime soon.

Tonight is full moon. Our guide from the other day has offered to take us with hin to the holy water temple shortly to see the ceremony and hindu bathing rites which will be taking place in honour of the moon.

Should be interesting! We came across an AMAZING temple ceremony the other day and they were kind enough to let spectators in. For sure we have hundreds of photos to sort through which is why you don't see them up yet!

See you later!
Kate

The Benfits of Limes

Limes
Diet Nutrition
All citrus fruits are rich in vitamin C as well as other micro-nutrients, certain phyto-chemicals and fiber. Citrus fruits also protect against infection and cancer. They are an essential element in any healthy diet.
Limes are the most acidic of all citrus fruits and are best used in cooking. They are rich in vitamin C and bioflavonoids. Pure lime juice has powerful anti-bacterial properties and is an effective treatment when applied directly to spots and cold sores.

Morning Activity

Besides the consumption of the BEST EVER French Toast, the morning so far has consisted of watching the rice planting in the adjacent field. The resort, as many do, is bordered directly on some rice fields. The Balinese people ar so very proud of their tasty rice and efficient farming. They all know the price of rice and exactly how many kilos PER DAY their family eats. They eat rice three times a day, it forming the bulk of thier whole diet. A family of 6 or 8 probably eats about 2 kilos per day:


Have a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIrD7w5-2_0

There are some new photos too: if you click on my little slideshows to the right, you'll go to my Picasa photo album where you can see them larger. Of course, Mike's photo blog will have the best photos, when we get around to that. this is just a teaser!

Ciao! (Hugs) Kate

What kind of hotel does this?????

We are staying at a mid-range nice little hotel in central Ubub, Bali. It's called Komeneka for credit. Really, what kind of hotel gives you a freshly laundered and pressed bedshirt every night? The kind that will drop you off to your dinner reservation and pick you up again later just because you asked; the kind where every staff knows your room number, and the kind that when you go for breakfast, they dash in and make up your room so it's always fresh and never inconvenient?!!

This kind:

(Yes, they're rose petals and frangipani)

Oh, and I almost forgot! All you can eat cookies in your room every day. Luxury! Delight!

Life in Bali is gooooood!

Postcard from Ubud, Bali

Jasmine aroma at night, lemongrass flavours by day. Bali is lovely, if a tad hot for us.

Villa Natalie has forever spoiled us! Three people taking care of us, another three taking care of the property. Very relaxing.

Mike is just uploading some new photos of Singapore to fanphare, and I think we'll use this on-line time to find a place to stay next week. Right now we are in Ubud waiting for our lunch.\- my nasi goreng is starting to smell pretty good! We are staying here: http://www.santimandalavilla.com/Home.asp

Did I mention it is hot here? This morning we decided to take a walk through the neighbourhood which is leafy and green and borders on a river, which our hotel straddles. All the hotel staff we mentioned it too looked at us like we have three heads (each!). Walking is just not done. There are no sidewalks to speak of, and the driving is horrendous. So, I guess it's a bit too hot and too dangerous really, so there's no need to build sidewalks because no one is walking anyway. Well we did have a great walk through a traditional village atmosphere well south of the main town of Ubud. However, down the road about 45 minutes we met a fellow with a van who just happened to be going to our hotel to pick up a fare and he offered a ride back. We accepted. ;-)

We have a nice two level room overlooking rice padi's in our hotel. The most amazing thing about it is the absolute chorus of frogs at bedtime. Unbeleivable. And, it's about a km from the zoo and you wouldn't beleive the cacophany from that place at sunset. I assume it's feeding time or the zookeepers are going around murdering the inmates. The ruckus!

We loved staying in Canggu because it's not too touristy and we really didn't get the attraction to Seminyak as the touristy areas have been ruined by tourists and cars. The aforementioned lack of sidewalks makes that town a joke. They say it's a swanky high end area, but you're better off at the beach which is really lovely. We'll put up some more pics soon.

xoxoxo

Kate

on our way....

Good Morning!  I have a few extra minutes with an iMac here at the Singapore Airlines lounge in Singapore on the way to Bali this morning.  

Singapore was good, but super hot.  We are just NOT accustomed to 35 degrees with 80% humidity, are we!?  Especially us tender Vancouverites.  But we survived it, and managed to close our suitcases again, even with all that laundry.  

Have managed to avoid shopping all together so far, which is an amazing feat because as we discovered, that's what one does in Singapore when one is not eating!!  It's just mall after mall after mall.  The mall in our hotel had three or four floors of fantastic shopping which equalled in my estimation more than what one can find in all of downtown Vancouver, and that Mall is not even on the map.  Crazy.  Luckily our suitcases are already full and therefore we had quite a bit of spare time for lounging about.     On Saturday we hopped on the hop-on-off bus across the street from the hotel and took the whole circle route around the city.  We stopped off at the Botanical Gardens which included an amazing Orchid garden and I tell you, we are thinking of publishing a book on it, we have so many photos between us!  It might be better if we knew the name of any of them though.... ;-)    

I think I already mentioned the Night Safari which was a hoot.  Really it's a big zoo - tourist attraction, but quite cleverly staged and delightful.  I've never been two inches from a leopard before, but there he was right the other side of the pane of glass....   There's a tram you take around through the dark jungly scenes, and here and there are dimly lit fields or ponds with various deer, hippos, rhinoceros, elephants, tigers, lions, etc. all doing their thing at night.  You can get off and take a walk through areas with jungle cats, flying squirrels and BATS THE SIZE OF CATS.  Seriously!  Egads.  Those things are more than a bit creepy.  Definitely bigger than some of the dogs I've seen recently in doggie strollers the West End.   ;-)   

Well, I may not have too much news for a while.  We are on our way to Bali and have every intention of kicking back.  We have some duty free tequila and some Bailey's in our carryon luggage already.  If there are no limes for our margaritas, we'll have to improvise with mangoes or papaya or something....   

If you don't hear from us for a while, don't worry... this will explain everything: 

http://www.villanat.com/ 

Have a good yesterday!  

K 

Video of Harajuku

if you like people watching, Tokyo is an excellent place to visit.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x-ZXeaLtGQ

New Photos

Morning! We had a good sleep after our Night Safari last night. We saw lions and tigers and bears and elephants, tapirs, leopards and more in the special nocturnal zoo here in Singapore. Cool indeed. It's bloody hot here so most of yesterday was spent sweating from snack to snack. Everything they say about the food here is true.

Be sure to check out my small slideshows here on the right side, which will show you some of my shots from Tokyo, plus some food shots. Be careful not to confuse the real food with the photos of plastic food... can you tell the difference? They have the BEST plastic food in Tokyo. Ever.

Kate

Saturday in Singapore

So I used the hotel computers for that last entry, and now everything has turned into japanese characters, except they're all SQUARE. Most Japanese seem kind of square too if truth be told. All black suits, all serious, except of course when they are a little freaky. There are quite a few girls for example who dress up like little bo-peeps complete with crinolines, frills, ringlets in their hair, all thick make up and fake eyelashes.... what can that be all about?? There's a picture of one of these Harajuku girls in Mike's photo site being uploaded now.

We flew in this huge A380 aircraft, executive class of course, which seems to give all the boys a big hard-on, but personally, other than the maybe 4' wide seat, and the big 17" personal TV screen and all you can drink Singapore Slings, I didn't see the big deal :-)

We are staying at the really lovely Fairmont Hotel. We're on the business floor so enjoy a nice big room an executive lounge with a great breakfast we have just finished. It's going to be 34 with 80% humidity today, and I'm not interested in knowing the humidex for that. We're going to try the hop-on-hop off bus thing today and cab back for a swim if need be.

Later!
Kate

Airborne - finally

So she's not gonna be too happy with me posting randomly to her blog, but I'm the one with the point-and-shoot-and-post camera.

Two shots;
Kitty in her K-Pod, as in seat 4K, happy as a princess - awaiting her mimosa. Moments later she was toasting Missy and Dave as we launched over their backyard.

The second photo is quite simply, a first "Japanese" meal since its description on the menu intrigued me. Splash a dash of Bond, James Bond in there and you know what? We're jet setting!

Mike Holmes
Sent from an exotic location far, far away

An overload of geekdom

Here we are, Kate & me, sitting not 3 feet apart at YVR and we're sending emails to each other. But there is a higher purpose - UAT, or, User Acceptance Testing in system development speak.
I am testing a wi-f i blackberry connection (and thumb-typing) and Kitty is checking how the blog reacts.
Here goes...

Mike Holmes
Sent from an exotic location far, far away

Fw: Horoscope for the week -- good news!

Our weekly horoscope is sooo good that I you NEED to read them:

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)

You're gonna love the next six weeks. This is the only time all year when the Sun is at high noon in your chart acting like a spotlight on you. (Ever met a piece of chocolate you didn't like?) This great lighting makes others think you're fabulous. In particular, bosses, parents, teachers and VIPs. They love you! Obviously, you can milk this for all it's worth. Present your plan. Make your pitch. Go out in full dazzle. Travel plans look great. Publishing, the media, higher education, medicine and the law are also blessed. On Friday the 24th, write down your career objectives for the next five years. Just broad strokes. (Success has three s's.)

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

You're sure coming out on top in the next month. (Yay, me!) It's party city for Capricorns. Take a vacation if possible. (Again?) Enjoy sports, the theatre, the performance arts, social soirees and playful times with kids. This window of fun and frivolity is also fabulous time for love affairs and romance. Kiss-kiss, hug-hug. One of the reasons why you want to escape somewhere with fabulous room service is because increased conflict and chaos at home are maddening. (Quite likely due to renovations and redecorating.) But hey, when you start to look like your passport photo, you need some R&R!

Kate is entering the blogosphere...

Hi Everybody. I don't know exacly how much time I'm going to spend making a nice BLOG for you to read while we are away, but I'm going to give it a shot. Who needs Facebook when you can BLOG? You can check in here from time to time to see if I have any food photos to share, misadventures or TALL tales to share from our biggest Road Trip Ever!

Four More Sleeps finds me frantically researching the mediterranian cost of turkey (looking up the spelling of Mediterraniean while I'm at it), setting up last minute playlists for DJ Kitty, and setting up a blog. Yes, I do fear I may have MAC withdrawl while I am away, but hey, you can see what I've learned about blogging in just a couple of days! Ain't "retirement" grand?

While we are away, you can check out this blog at http://kittysbigadventure.blogspot.com/ I hope it all works!

and don't forget to see our (Mike's) most excellent Photo Blog at http://albums.phanfare.com/4891033/3575401#imageID=64395359

I'd love to get your feedback, don't be shy!

Kate

I'm checking out what it takes to post photos on this blog to see if it might be a good way to share some tidbits while I am away.   Personally, I can't imagine wanting to spend any time on a computer while "travelling the world" but who knows?  I've never been away for 8 weeks at a stretch.  

For sure, there will be lots to see, share and photograph while away.  Probably some Airshots like this one which I took south of Vancouver flying back to Victoria in February this year. 

This is a test, and only a test.  If this was a real blog post about my vacation, or my new life, it would probably have a picture of food attached to it.