Taking a small break

The first picture perfectly captures our first day in Belfast - sitting at a Gaelic football field sipping on a Guinness. Jacob and I decided to take a small break, "mini-retirement" as he likes to call it, and travel around the world. It was kind of a reward for the last two years of hard work with my masters program.

It was a hectic couple of weeks wrapping things in DC, cleaning, packing and getting things ready to sublet our room. The last few days were a little crazy. But I think that we got things in order pretty well, and hopefully our new sublet is enjoying the room as much as we did.

After some flight delays out of Washington, we arrived in Dublin and made our way by bus to Belfast. Our friend, Paul, met us and has been hosting us at his house. The weather's been beautiful ever since we got here. It's almost not like Ireland. Jacob and I last visited in 2002 and toured Southern Ireland where it rained off and on every day of our trip.

Yesterday we were able to take a drive down the coast of Northern Ireland to the Giant's Causeway. It was beautiful. Jacob claimed an island that he found that wasn't on any of our maps. He named it after himself.



You can see the island over Jacob's shoulder in this picture.

The Giants Causeway was awesome! It was perfect weather to walk around. The rock formations were really interesting. They really look manmade rather than natural.



We have a few more days in Belfast. It's a really interesting city and Paul's been telling us a lot of the history. I'll post of the murals that the city is known for next time.

Thanksgiving Menu

I haven't done an all out Thanksgiving meal in a couple of years. Before grad school, I would usually throw an early Thanksgiving party for friends in DC with all of the traditional fixings and then head back NC for a helping of my mom's awesome Vietnamese food. Since grad school started, I haven't had nearly as much time to cook grand meals. These days, it's doctored ramen noodles, take out, and if I'm feeling ambitious, something really simple and by default Vietnamese.

This Thanksgiving, my husband and I will be celebrating in DC with my in-laws coming in on Thursday and some friends who are in town. This is the menu that I have planned for the day:

Lentil and ham soup with kale
Green bean salad with feta
Roasted brussel sprouts with Asian vinaigrette
Butterflied roast turkey
Mushroom, leek and parmesan stuffing
Cranberry and pineapple relish
Buttermilk mashed potatoes
Roasted root vegetables
Pumpkin bread
Pumpkin pie

Here are the items my roommates will cook:

Bread
Avocado eggrolls

And our guests have volunteered to bring:

Vegetarian dressing
Candied sweet potatoes
Greens
Chocolate pecan pie
Assorted Bengali appetizers

Will hopefully post pictures and recipes soon.

Ibrahim

P7090321, originally uploaded by anna.purna.

This is Ibrahim. At the end of the trip, he offered my husband two camels and a house for his sister.

Through the desert on a camel named Sam

P7070268, originally uploaded by anna.purna.

I said that I followed the tourist routes when I went to Morocco. That included a trip through the desert. There were five people in my group. We spent a couple of days in Fez comparing prices and trying to rent an SUV that we could take into the desert. In Morocco, you can get anything you want; you just have to bargain for it, which takes days. And lots of patience. And a lot of tea.

It finally ended up being cheaper to rent a driver and SUV through a service than to try and rent an SUV by ourselves. This was fine, the deal included the driver, car, lodging and meals.

Our driver was this very friendly, really funny guy named Ibrahim who spoke neither English, nor French, nor Spanish, nor Arabic. He knew a small amount of words in each of these languages, just enough to get by. The trip coincided with the end of Ramadan and I think we ended up getting Ibrahim because he was the only one willing to work during that time.

The desert was a great experience. It was beautiful and serene. The sky was so clear you could see all of the stars and the Milky Way to boot. But boy was it cold. We slept in a big with all of our clothes on. In the morning, the Berber guides woke us up, pointed to the nearest sand dune and told us to, "Quick run up there to see the sunrise!" In our dazed state, we did. About 3/4 of the way up that sand dune, I thought my lungs were going to collapse.

But it was a beautiful sunrise. And we were packed on top of our camels to return to civilization after breakfast.

The romantic in me

I thought this site was such a great idea. I can't believe that he actually found her.

Sights and sounds of Morocco

P6290021, originally uploaded by anna.purna.

A few years ago, my husband and I visited Morocco. We went along the usual tourist route, Marrakech, Essaouira, Casablanca, Fez and the desert. But whenever we could, we stayed within the wall of the medinas, the old city centers. You can still find some great bargains tooling around the souks and letting yourself get lost in the labyrinthine passageways.

There's something about the combination of woodsmoke, spices and the slight chill in the air that comes with autumn that brings back tangible memories of that trip.

We partied. There was a robot dj.

Halloween 2007 079, originally uploaded by anna.purna.

Our 6th and probably last Halloween party was a smashing success. My husband built a robot to dj the party and it was the talk of the weekend. There was an unveiling with music and light cues. Everyone was awestruck. Once DJ Evil Robot started to play his set everyone danced until the wee hours of the morning.

The rest of the weekend consisted mainly of recovery. We had some friends in town for the party whom I did not get to hang out with very much. Me, I got stuck at home working. I can't wait till school's over. Other pictures of the revelry can be found here.