Happy Boxing Day from Penang

After 36 hours (apartment doorstep to hotel lobby) we made it to Penang, Malaysia!  It was a nice, smooth ride, for the most part.  The biggest glitch was feeling ill on the flight from NYC to Frankfort, which I will blame on the food served at our beloved Lounge Club.  Figures, I get sick before even leaving the country.

Upon arrival yesterday morning we were met at the airport by my cousin, Christina, and her husband, Kevin (this is the lucky couple that will have their second wedding this weekend).  They took us to the hotel outside of town where the rest of my family is staying (Aunt Mary, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Dee, Uncle Dennis, and my cousins Peter, Nathan, and Eileen).  Seth and I were aching for a run to stretch our legs, and we managed to recruit Peter to join us, even though it was stinking hot (near mid-day), and he had just woken up after having a big night out (apparently running is a good way to burn off excess alcohol).  

We navigated some very busy streets and found our way to an incredibly lush botanic gardens.  I made my third running mishap in less than two months when I ran my forehead right into a rusty metal bar, which knocked me flat on my back.  Peter's first words to me were "It's ok, Michelle, I was the only one that saw that!".  Thanks for the reassurance, Peter.   

Running with Seth and Peter to the Botanic Gardens

The Botanic Gardens, a nice retreat from the city

The bromeliad collection

Cooling off in the bacteria-infested stream (it's ok, being a military guy, Peter had all his shots)

Oh my god, we saw tones of monkeys!

No durian on elevators :o(

We had well-deserved showers and Kevin took us for a mini tour of George Town, the city center.  The streets reminded Seth and me very much of Vietnam, while the more modern culture and cars (instead of mopeds) seemed strangely Australian...

Kevin and his uncle took us to the best cen dol stand in the city.  It is an icy, coconut milky, beany dessert, and absolutely awesome! 

Uncle Dennis wasn't sure about it

Mini cake stand

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire on Christmas day!

The rest of the day was spent lounging at Kevin's mother's condo outside of town.  Eileen, Aunt Dee, and I helped Aunt Mary make her award-winning Swedish meatballs for a traditional Swedish Smorgasbord Christmas dinner.  What a treat that was! Unfortunately I did not get Aunt Mary's secret family recipe...

We had a great time mingling with Kevin's family and my own extended family.  There was much Christmas spirit in the humid, tropical air :o) 

Getting ready to make Christmas dinner

The view from Kevin's mom's place

Meatball masters

The boys making themselves useful :P

The cold dishes portion of the Smorgasbord

Strong Swedish Glogg

The island by night. There is a mosque near here that blares the Muslim call to prayer 5 times a day.

And we're off!

We survived the final weeks of the semester and now we are off on holiday!  We left our apartment this morning and now are spending a few minutes at a swanky Lounge Club in JFK with a buffet serving chicken marsala, salad, fruit, teas, and the works (thanks for the pass, Mom and Dad!).  We will board a plane tonight, Dec. 23rd, and when we get off it will be Christmas--I don't know what will happen to Christmas Eve :o(  Oh yes, and it will be hot and tropical... and there will be a beach.  Maybe next year we will have a white Christmas, with two Christmas Eves!

Hanging out at the Lounge Club at JFK. 

The food on Singapore Airlines was very notable

In "the spirit of Merry Christmas" we were served roast goose (with Tandoori Chicken bell pepper salad)

 

Happy Holidays!

Thanks for all the Christmas love! (Our cards at home MA.)

Hello Winter!

The past few weeks (and months!) have been flying by.  Not because I have necessarily been doing anything interesting, but because this semester has been pretty full on.  Although the end of semesters are typically the most challenging, my workload is actually the lightest now that Thanksgiving has past!  So weird...  Well, here are some of the rare highlights from these past weeks :o)

An eggplant with a face!  It was hard to cook this guy up for our stew.  It was even more disturbing to see his nose in my bowl.  At least it was delicious.

Hiking during the annual Vermont retreat

Mom and Dad flew up Thanksgiving morning from Raleigh.  It was great that they could join us for the dinner that Seth's uncle was hosting.  This was the first time Mom and Dad have ever met any of Seth's family (I'm not going to count the time they met Rich and Linda for 5 minutes in a parking lot years and years ago), so that was really nice.   

Cooking a vegetarian dinner with Mom (go tofu!)

I took advantage of having a very captive audience (ie. my folks were staying with us) and I held a little nutrition activity for one of my classes.  Sammy was nice enough to bring over a couple of his friends so that  I would have an actual group to work with.

This was also Mom's birthday!  Yay!

Post-church brunch at In A Pickle.  It was worth waiting in the long line outside in the (near) freezing cold to get a hold of a buckwheat Belgium waffle (it was hiding under that pile of whipped cream...).

48 hours down South

I spent a quick weekend down in North Carolina to meet with some old buddies at my high school reunion (class of 2002).  It wasn't really well organized (it consisted of one three-hour evening at a loud bar downtown), but it was still fun to catch up with a few people I haven't seen in a while.  Before I went I realized that I have managed to keep in contact with most of my closest friends from school, so there was no real urgent reason to go to the reunion, except for fun, and the hopes that I would bump into more random people.  I only bumped into one long-lost friend.  Regardless, it was still a fun evening, although I got really nervous before entering the bar and would have chickened out had I not been with Danielle. 

The next day was really a treat and made me very happy that I came down for the weekend: I went to the NC State Fair with Meghan!  I hadn't been to the fair since (I believe) junior year of college, when Seth and I took Synni.

 Thankfully not too much has changed, except there had been a noticeable surge in deep-fried creations, and all the weird little freak shows--the world's biggest horse, the snake lady, bear exhibit, etc--had quadrupled in price!  At least I got that stuff out of my system while I was young and it was cheap!

Crazy tree lady

Me as Frog Boy

Meghan getting some roast corn!

The bunny exhibit had some real lookers

If you can imagine it, you can deep fry it

All those turkey legs!

Deep fried brownie, deep fried mac & cheese, and much more!

A great fall day with Meghan!

My favorite part of the afternoon: Me with Mr. Owl (he's giving me the 'stink eye')

Newport, Rhode Island

A little fall retreat was in order so yesterday my favorite traveling partner and I took a day trip to Newport, Rhode Island.  While some sight seeing was definitely a part of the plans, we also got to spend the day with one of Seth's old friends from high school, Sasha. 

We started off with the Cliff Walk, one of Newport's claim to fame.  This was a long path that meandered between the rocky shore and giant, whimsical Gilded Age mansions (aka 'white elephants' to some).  

 

As you might guess, rich people must be a little eccentric

...yeah

An additional Newport attraction is the mysterious Tower in the center of town.  Although the prevailing theory holds that it was a windmill from the mid 1600s, others believe it might have been made by vikings as early as the 1100s, or that it even has some astronomical importance.  What the heck??

 

Sasha, Seth, and me getting some RI seafood to finish off the day.  Yay!

Here's to Fall

Our secret raspberry bushes are slowly drying up, the poison ivy is golden and shriveled, and leaves are falling. I just love this season :o) After a couple crazy weeks, it is time to slow down and finally enjoy my favorite month. It doesn't last long!

Grape pie.  Actually, this was the birthday cake Seth requested.  The amazing grape puree was provided by Melissa's mother (thanks!).  It was pretty runny at first but it did firm up nicely by the next day.

Seth playing at the town's third annual Fall Fest out in front of the public library.  We lucked out that it didn't rain!

Thanks, Prospect Hill Park, for the gift of yet another spectacular autumnal showing!  However, we did have a recent scare when our dog-walking friend was chased by three coyotes.  We now run equipped with pepper spray.  We live adventurous lives.