The hubby has taken up a hobby. He has taken up interest in photography. Three years ago, I bought a fancy DLSR camera for our trip to Europe. But between frantically preparing for the trip and making sure everything at home is taken cared of, I never got the chance to explore the camera’s bells and whistles. Needless to say, I have devolved the Sony Alpha into a very bulky point-and-shoot.
Now that the hubby is into photography and mastered the camera’s many talents, all he needs is a subject. He toyed with the idea of pet portraits but Cookie and Mochi do not believe in animal labor wanted none of it. Here’s exhibit A of their uncooperativeness.
This is Cookie playing with his duck, as captured by continuous shots, because he is too good to sit still…
So he turned to the more cooperative and less treats-motivated subject, Mother Nature.
It was a good day for a drive—a statement that is rarely true in Texas summer. But today was not nearly as scorching and sky was very clear and blue, so I would say it’s good enough. Unlike our dogs, I believe in supporting family members’ hobbies. So i agreed to have the top down on Turbey and took one the Hill Country’s loveliest trails, Willow City Loop.
This is just from our driveway. The day is promising!
FYI, all photos I use in my blog, unless water stamped with D’Napoli Studios, are taken by me and my trusty iPhone. D’Napoli Studios is his website where he posts all his fancy pics.
In exchange for the sacrifice of the hours basking in the sun, D agreed to drive up to a highly acclaimed restaurant in the middle of nowhere called Hilltop Cafe. It is Greek and Cajun Fusion cuisine (whaaaaat?) and is also very popular for it’s musical performers. This would be a good place to fuel up our energy for the day.
The building used to be a gas station in the 1950’s. Don’t be fooled by the exterior because they have pretty serious eats inside.For appetizers, we had mushrooms stuffed with blue crab and blue cheeseI had shrimp mytilini —- it is sautéed shrimp in abed of wild Greek rice. Mytilini is a place in Greece where they grow amazing olives. This dish is sautéed with those olives.D had open-faced grilled chicken with the most amazing sweet potato friesAfter that sumptuous lunch, we are off!!!The trail was filled with little creeks like these……and semi dried up riverbanks.From my “artistic” perspective….
Nobody really asks me for advise on lasting relationships. But if someone would, I would say “respect, support and (lots of) compromise”. Those three are love in itself. Hobbies are ways to express creativity in world where monotony abounds. And there is nothing better than to have loved ones beside you in your creative adventure. That’s what make people want to stay together. Of course, having to pay off two mortgages doesn’t hurt either…haha. But I would rather file that under “shared dreams”….
My family and I spent a glorious vacation in America’s Last Frontier—Alaska! This was a long planned vacation for for me and my sister’s family, plus Mom. I had a patient from Alaska who told me to NEVER eat salmon over there. I was puzzled. Why? Don’t they have the best salmon in the world? And that is exactly the reason, she said. Once you’ve tasted Alaskan salmon, you will never like salmon from anywhere else again…. Ugh!
Naturally, I Googled all our restaurant itineraries. I’ve always marveled how I ate during travel before the advent of internet. Do I keep walking till I get so hungry and just follow my nose? I do remember having great eating adventures back then so I must say my nose was pretty darn good…
Word of warning, this is kinda lengthy because it features two cities in Alaska that we had absolutely amazing eating experience: Anchorage and Ketchikan. Not that Juneau and Skagway don’t have amazing eats. We actually had too short a stay and there were just just so many things to do and see. Now, if this were a travel blog, you would need half a day to finish reading all this.
We were staying in Anchorage for two days before embarking on to the cruise, not nearly enough to go to Denali National Park. But my sister and her family are hikers, so they have no problem killing those two days hiking around; there were so many interesting trails, or so I was told. I, on the other hand, am on vacation. These Prada sneakers ain’t made for hiking. Luckily I came across this Beer Tour. BigSwig Tour. Now this is my kind of hike!
I love in-your-face business names.
The website was catchy and oh-so-true
Naturally, I booked a tour. This is a treat for the hubby. He loves these craft beers.
As promised in the website, the tours are as much about the history of Alaskan beers, the masters who brew them and the locals who drink them, as they are about tasting the beers themselves. First stop was at Midnight Sun Brewery and Co. Anchorage’s oldest brewery, Midnight Sun has medaled at both the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup. Tastes like victory.
Tour guide explains how beers are made and the different kind of grains they make it withAnd here is a variety of craft beers according to grade. Yup, chugged them all.After all the drinks, I’ve totally forgotten what these are. But they were good, I’m sure of that
Second stop is at King’s Street Brewery. This is a fairly new brewery but are really good at their craft. It’s one of the few Alaskan beers that you can get outside of Alaska.
Pretty serious, huh? I wasn’t as valiant as the previous tasting, and yup, I was getting tipsy so I didn’t chug all theseThey had a pretty interesting beer keg that we got to try too.
Last stop was Chilkoot Charlie’s. It’s impossible to talk Alaskan beer history without visiting world famous Chilkoot Charlie’s. This is Anchorage’s premier “night spot”. In a nutshell, it’s a beer garden with 7 nights a week of entertainment. It’s a huge venue divided into several areas so at any given time, there would be 5-7 bands simultaneously playing. One can go from one area to another at a whim.
This is the front, which is deceivingly small. But it goes all the way to the back, occupying more than a block.Each area had a full bar that showcases local beers
In a way, I was kinda glad that we dropped in early and there wasn’t any “action” yet. Not only are my ears too old for loud music, I was getting a bad headache from the beer I had. Beer always does that to me. Wine, I can drink till the cows come home. Beer tells my head it’s time to go home.
We decided to grab dinner before my head explodes so we headed towards Glacier Brewhouse. At that point, I would have been happy never to see beer for the rest of my life.
No such luck. It’s not called a brewhouse for nothing. They did have some soda, so that’s what i hadFor appetizers, we had Bering Sea King Crab Cakes…and Bering Sea King Crab Legs.Throwing caution to the wind, Alaskan Alder Grilled Sockeye Salmon. And yes, it was absolutely delicious!It comes in different sides and veggies. There are no words to describe the moistness and flakiness of this fish
And with that we called it a day in Anchorage, Alaska. tomorrow we will be heading towards some Nature Park my sister has planned. Food-for- the-eyes kind of thing. That’s her specialty.
Ketchikan is another harbor city in Alaska. It’s very quaint but filled with amusing little corners. Cities like that usually have hole-in-the-wall restaurants that are amazing.
After seeing some ancient tottempoles and shopping at Creek Street, we were cold and hungry. My sister is still very energetic for more shopping so we split and I followed my nose to some comfort food. It led me to Annabelle’s Keg and Chowder House.
It has an extensive bar, and lucky for us, despite its strategic location being so near the ports, it wasn’t at all busy.
I had their Three Chowder Sampler — Clam, Smoked Salmon and Seafood. That was all I needed to warm up my body!!!D had his usual Beer Sampler.
To sum up my Alaskan Food Experience, its beer, beer and more beer. And some amazing salmon here and there. Oh and crab legs. Just when you think that’s a lot of seafood, wait till I feature my cruise dining experience. As soon as I gather up my pics, you will want to book reservations right away! Alaskan Cruises are known for having the best food among all cruises.
In between all the drinking and eating are the happy smiles. A great reminder why we work hard—so that we vacation hard too!
