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Category Archives: travel

Friday o’clock : Japan edition

Written on May 9, 2013 by alyson in friday o'clock, recipes, travel, Uncategorized

My alcohol tolerance has taken an absolute nosedive since I came to Asia. The prevalence of bland rice lagers coupled with the fact that we’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time in Muslim countries (which have crazy-high taxes on alcohol) has meant we haven’t really been doing much drinking. Cue the violins.

After our lager-tour of Vietnam, we had a bit of a reprieve in the booze department when we arrived in Japan. Was it expensive there? Yes. Was I sick with a cold most of the time? Yes. Did we still manage to make some cocktails? Yes, indeed.

We arrived in Tokyo in late March, just as the cherry blossoms (sakura) hit full bloom. The whole country goes a bit sakura crazy. There are special sakura wagashi (little sweets meant to be eaten in traditional matcha tea ceremonies),cherry blossom onigiri, sakura mochi, sakura rice crackers, special sakura sparkling sake, and even sakura doughnuts at Krispy Kreme (no, I did not sample them. They were super pink and I don’t like doughnuts. Sue me).

We also kept seeing these bags of pink cherry blossoms in department store basements and markets. After the fifth time I picked up and put down a package, Steve finally forced me to spend the $3 and buy a package in the Kyoto Nishiki Market.

A little googling told me that I’d need to soak these salt-preseved blossoms before using them any way I wanted. And I wanted a cocktail.

SAKURAMESHU

This cocktail is unashamedly pink, girly, and sweet. Way sweeter that I normally go for, but I’m a dry cocktail-lover, and hell, it was springtime in Japan. Had I had any access to bitters, I would have added them, and have suggested as such here. The cherry blossoms provide a surprising amount of cherry flavor and aroma to the drink, even using only a few of them.

+ three or four preserved cherry blossoms
+ water for soaking
+ umeshu (the cuter the bottle, the better. See below)
+ club soda
+ cherry bitters

Soak your cherry blossoms in ample water for maybe 5 minutes or so. They are crazy salty.

Pour two parts umeshu into a glass. Add a few dashes of bitters if you’ve got them.

Plop in your cherry blossoms, and top with chilled club soda to taste.

Ideally, eat with some sakura mochi.

Not in Japan in the springtime? The internet to the rescue. Get your preserved cherry blossoms here or on Amazon.

What else to do with the cherry blossoms? Like I said, they are crazy salty. I had a thought to maybe grind them with a mortar and pestle and make a pretty interesting salt rim for a margarita (maybe with a dash of sour cherry juice?) They can als be used in cooking and baking — see these posts for more ideas. The cherry blossoms can also be rinsed and then soaked in hot water for a cherry blossom tea.

They are also just fun to look at. Right, Steve?

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Into the crevasse

Written on April 3, 2013 by alyson in travel

Since embarking on the self-employed track three years ago, I’ve never really had a great sense of “time” or “days” or “dates.” That feeling is amplified when you’re traveling around from city to city, and country to country. So unsurprisingly, Steve and I had no idea that we had been traveling for over a month until our friends Pete and Kimra came out to join us for part of our Japan leg.

It simultaneously feels like we’ve been gone forever, and that we just left last week. Vietnam seems like a distant memory, and we were there 12 days ago.

Long-term travel is overall exciting, but transitioning from vacation-mode to traveler/worker mode has proved challenging. When you go on vacation, you make your plans ahead of time, and simply go full-force and soak it all up. Long-term travel means remaining flexible, and making travel plans several times a week. Booking a hotel, booking a flight, booking a train, and deciding where to go next all take time. More time than we anticipated.

Which is a big reason why I haven’t been doing as much arty work as I intended …. yet. I’ve been gathering inspiration everywhere. We’re slowly trying to get into a schedule as much as possible and I hope to be posting some artwork (and other tidbits) soon.

In our first month, we’ve acquired a lot more travel rules, and one of them is to simply stay put for a while. Not only does that let us really experience a city, but we also get to relax a bit. Rushing around from city to city, packing and re-packing, taking new transportation, and figuring out a new place can get exhausting. But I’m not an idiot, and I know how fortunate we are, rushing and stress included.

So for now, we are holed up in Fukuoka, a city in Kyushu, the southern-most main island of Japan. (And a mere hop, skip, and a jump away from South Korea, so all this North Korea business is very exciting. hrmmmm.) We’re spending 10 days here, which every Japanese person we’ve spoken to thinks is hilarious. But it is a great city, with convenient shopping and INSANE food. (This is no surprise if you’re following me on Instagram. Sorry if there is drool on your iPhone). It is ground zero for ramen, specifically tonkotsu ramen — that milky white pork bone broth affair that is the King of Ramen Broths (TM pending). We have been absolutely spoiled by the food here, and I don’t think I’ll enjoy a bowl of ramen in the US in quite the same way again.

After we’ve had our fill of ramen, gyoza, and nihonshu, we’re off to Penang for further food adventures. Stay tuned.

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travel rule: follow the smell of grilling meat

Written on March 5, 2013 by alyson in food, travel, travel rules

After a few short days in Bangkok, we have made our way to Saigon, Vietnam. We’re still getting finding our footing with this new lifestyle, but even less than a week into our journey, we’ve started developing some of our own “travel rules.”

The first came about the other night. After spending a day on a pretty great food tour, complete with breakfast pho, market meanderings, and street food galore, we were pretty exhausted. After a siesta and a shower, we were eventually ready for dinner but didn’t really want to wander too far. There was a somewhat chi-chi restaurant only blocks away, which had garnered rave reviews both on TripAdvisor and from our new favorite Vietnamese chef, Luke Nguyen. It was expensive (for Vietnam) at least, but promised cocktails and a setting in a former opium distribution center. So, we set off.

Minutes later, we walked into a long hallway, dimly lit and lined with elephant statues, with a set of stairs at the end. A sign indicated that Temple Club was on the second floor, and there was another restaurant on the third floor. As we ambled up the stairs, we heard an increasing cacophony of voices, and a delicious aroma of grilling meat. We reached the landing with our intended restaurant to find a quiet, gorgeous looking restaurant. But the smell and voices were clearly coming from farther up. What the hell…. let’s check it out.

And boy am I glad we did. Within moments, the aggressive, but lovely hostess, clad in a San Miguel dress motioned for 4 staff members to carry over a plastic table and two chairs. Before we knew what we were in for, we were seated with enormous beers in our hands. The restaurant was a Vietnamese BBQ joint, on the rooftop of the building. We were there early, around 6:30, and the place was nearly full, mostly from two enormous parties of already drunk revelers. The music was booming and we really had no idea what was going on. Our table had a hot plate-type thing in the middle, and we quickly saw that it was a grill-your-own type place. We glanced around and placed our order.

The food was ridiculous — bo lo lat (ground beef wrapped in betel leaves and caul fat), lemongrass beef, banana flower salad and our standard order of rau muong (morning glory). But the night was awesome mostly from the atmosphere. At one point it started drizzling ever so lightly, and the the giant galvanized metal roof started gliding into place after customers started yelling and pointing. The staff was so incredibly well-oiled; no one in the restuarnt waited for anything, and there was constant scurrying.

And then there was the birthday celebration. The two large party tables were celebrating someone’s birthday. There were raucous cheers every few minutes, with shots of rice wine, beer, and whiskey being downed. About halfway through our meal, the staff started handing out sparklers to the two tables. The lights turned off. Soon after, “Happy Birthday” – in English – was blaring from the speakers. Sparklers were lit.

Two cakes appeared (the birthday boy was turning 28), and then another server came by and put overturned bowls on everyone’s food,and turned off our gas burners. Ummm.. what? About 20 seconds later, all of the staff (about 30 people) ringed themselves around the party tables, and timed precisely with the conclusion of “Happy Birthday”, popped confetti poppers into the air, streaming shiny confetti on everything.

Smart move with those bowls… After a quick cheer, Gangnam Style started. Lots of dancing as you might imagine, even from the adorable 4 year old boy at the family table. Cross cultural madness.

So maybe we would have had better food at Temple Club (though I don’t know how), and definitely would have had a more relaxing evening. But for us, following the smell of grilling meats and the sound of loud happy voices proved to make a most memorable evening. Thus, a new travel rule was born.

Follow the smell of grilling meat and loud voices.

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and we’re off!

Written on February 26, 2013 by alyson in travel

If you’ve been following me on twitter, instagram, or facebook, you’ve likely noticed some references to some serious travel this year. Well, today is the day. Steve and I are on a plane, headed to Bangkok – the first stop in a four month journey.

yes. four. months.

A little crazy, but this is something that we’ve been pondering and semi-planning for for several years. In fact, we were gearing up to take this very trip in early 2011. But in 2010, Drywell Art was accidentally born, and needed my attention.

Now the little business is a toddler and can stand on its own for a bit. While we’re gone, Drywell Art is in the very capable hands of my number one fans, my parents. They’ve been shipping out art like champs, and everything in the two shops will run as usual. Please compliment them on the high level of customer service they are providing, with daily drops to the post office. They are the absolute best.

To say that this trip is a dream would be an understatement. (Bu quite honestly, the stress it has caused in getting tickets, preparing our home for a subletter, and turning over Drywell to the folks has sometimes seemed more like a nightmare.) But now that I’m safely at the airport, with seat assignment in hand and a belly full of ramen and sake, I couldn’t be more excited.

In the upcoming months, our travels will take us throughout Southeast Asia, including Thailand, VIetnam, Malaysia, Laos, Bali, and SIngapore, as well as Japan and then on to Europe for some Croatia, Turkey, Italy, and Belgium action. If you’re headed to any of those places, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line and we can try to meet up. Oh, and suggestions are always welcome. Let ‘em rip.

And as I keep reminding myself, this isn’t a vacation, but rather a journey. As such, I’ll be a busy bee, painting with my travel watercolor set, scheming, and thinking of new ideas for Drywell Art. Oh, and eating an obscene amount of street food. If you want to follow along, I’ll be posting here on this blog, as well as on Instagram, Twitter, and Flickr. So will Steve.

And we’re off.

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Retreat to Move Forward

Written on November 18, 2012 by alyson in my artsy stuff, travel

Took a break from the activities at Camp Mighty this weekend to do a little actual work. But when work involves drinking a Mirror Pond Pale Ale and sketching in the Amigo Room at the Ace, it’s not so bad.

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Bienvenido a Mole!

Written on October 10, 2012 by alyson in travel

Adios muchachos, we’re taking a pre-holiday rush vacation to beautiful, land-locked Oaxaca. No beaches, but there will be plenty of mole (7 varieties, to be exact), mezcal, and mountains. Not to mention the scores of artisan villages in the Oaxacan Valley.

Piñas de mezcal horneadas, photo by Eugenio Fernández Vázquez

Hoping to get some much needed relaxation before the exciting holiday season, which for me this year, includes TWO art shows. (More on those later …) My Spanish is high-school-level-limited, but I know how to ask for tacos and beer, so I think we’re all set.

Oh, and if you want to see some of our adventures, follow me @ilovedrywell or Steve @oddapt on Instagram for what are sure to be jealousy- and drool-inducing snaps.

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turkey bound

Written on May 14, 2012 by alyson in travel

Bosphorus! Photo by Rick Poon of www.alamodejournals.com

No, that’s not a clever new way of trussing poultry. This week I’m taking off to Istanbul for a much-needed vacation. One of my friends and former co-workers is temporarily working out of Istanbul and was kind enough to invite me to come and visit! Free suite and 10 days in Turkey with a fellow food-obsessive? Yes, please. (Our kebab crawl is already booked)

So many spices!! Photo by Rick Poon of www.alamodejournals.com

I haven’t traveled internationally since our honeymoon over 2 years ago and have been getting the wanderlust heavy in recent months. There is something about the novelty of a new country and the anonymity of travel that is not only incredibly inspiring, but even feels necessary to me from time to time.

Professionally, I’ve been feeling in a bit of a rut lately. 2012 has provided numerous opportunities in the way of client work, which is very flattering and interesting, but has honestly made me feel a bit out of balance. There’s been no new art created for Drywell in over 6 months. Insane. So along with my walking sandals and scarf for head-covering while in mosques, I’m also packing my watercolors and sketchbook. Now if I can just befriend a Turkish butcher to teach me Turkish meat parts….

Oh, they might do. Photo by Rick Poon of www.alamodejournals.com

Oh, and the shop will remain open, but any orders placed will not ship until after June 1. Heads up!

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