Pretty Pictures

Flowers

View from my balcony :P

Inspiration needed...

Aaahh, I feel so uninspired -- I can't even blog or sleep! So bogged down by the worries of life... Maybe I should go on a spiritual retreat to here ---> though it wouldn't hurt if they bring me a pound of extra large shrimp, plus Alaskan snow crab legs, Maine lobsters, Maryland blue crabs, a bucket of steamed manilla clams... etc. etc., while I meditate.

Sunrise at Meili Snow Mountain (March 2005)

Spring is here!

After the waffle (see posting below), I promptly went into a planting frenzy in celebration of the arrival of spring. Below are some pics of its aftermath.




More signs of spring from mom and pop's garden...

Say cheese, daisies!

Fuscia stars...

Now I know what Georgia O'Keeffe was thinking about when she did those paintings... hehehe

Waffles... drooool

Lalala...the sun is out, the sky is blue and the birds are chirping ... another beautiful day is upon us!

To start off, a delicious English style Belgian waffle, hmm too many countries in one name.

Two minutes later... puurrrr... the speed at which I devoured the waffle was rather alarming.

Cat doing a Turkish Dance

Sorry about the lack of updates for the past few days, still recovering from a severe case of jet lag and panda eyes.

A friend suggested that I post a pic of myself here. I couldn't find any but did find footage of me doing a Turkish dance a while back, enjoy!

Bye bye Heathrow ... Hello LA!

Aahh! Nightmare, nightmare! What is this ridiculous British rule of no more than one carryone, even if you carry a laptop case plus a teeny weeny itsy bitsy purse. As a result, I've got nothing to hold my passport, wallet, blackberry, cell phone, camera... I had to somehow attach all of those onto my clothes. Oh the humiliation -- how dorky is it to have a blackberry hanging off your jean pocket and a wallet bulging out of the jacket! Enough! Next time I am gonna make my connection at Paris DeGaulle...

Oh, here is a pic of Virgin's upper class lounge at Heathrow... it's nice! I am checking out for stars for you guys at this moment while sipping a gin and tonic and reading Vogue...the Chloe bag looks so good, want one badly but must control myself!

Crisps and Bubblies to start off the flight...

Followed by some crab cakes which sucked (90% potatoes and 10% crabmeat). Note to Virgin -- go get some from Costco's, those are much better.

... and after 11 hours, voila! Home Sweet Home...The urban sprawl known as Los Angeles and the reddish hue above known as smog! EEWW!

Food pics... finally!

By popular demand, food pics at last! But don't hold your breadth, Portugal isn't known as a foodie's paradise. I couldn't really take any pics in restaurants as they were kinda formal and it would've been in bad taste. So these are pics from the hotel... Gotta get ready for flight back to LAX now, see you later!

Creme de Couveflor com trufa preta de Norcia (translation - Cream of cauliflower with Norcia black truffle) Why do people like truffle so much, it didn't taste of anything!

Carpaccio classico do Cipriani (Thinly sliced raw prime beef seasoned with classic Cipriani sauce) I didn't like it too much, was expecting more of a prosciutto type of thing. The coldcuts here are superb. I had the best cured salmon for breakfast this morning... kept going back for seconds!

Fruta exotica e da epoca laminada em xarope de cha verde (Sliced exotic and seasonal fruit with green tea syrup) Now think of it, it didn't come along with any syrup, oh well, it was still pretty good.

Porto Porto Porto! Oh, the Mercedes is a reflection...

I love Lisbon!

I could not have asked for a better day to tour Lisbon. The sky was blue, temperature perfect...Enjoy the pics!

Golden Gate Bridge... Not! But they did indeed use the GGB as a model when the Lisbon Bridge was built.

View from the Castelo de Sao Jorge... notice the town square?

Castelo de Sao Jorge

Entrance to the Castle

Dog and painters in front of the Castle...

Tree in Castle's courtyard

Inside the Castle

Another view of Lisbon

Same View through a Window

Central Plaza

Yet another beautiful view...

Central Square

A Streetcar named San Jorge

Narrow alley near the castle

Neighbors chatting...

Charming store front.

My favorite! Now that is a Cat Nap! The Lisboans love their kitties and many kitties could be seen napping on the windowsills... Oh she stole my heart...