Plans for a New Life

Over the past couple of weeks a clearer view of my future has come to mind.

With Los Angeles proving to be an arid wasteland and New York devoid of so many of the individuals who once made it feel like home for me, not to mention to huge financial burden of moving back to the city, I have decided to move to Boston.

It's not a totally insane move - I have a place to live with a friend and the city has a large Jewish population as well tons of art, culture and history ... so much of what I find lacking in LA.

The basic plans is this:
Work at my current hellhole till the first week of January. And then, joy of joys, I get to quit.
Spend a week recovering and packing and then head to Costa Rica for a week for a friend's wedding. Travel around Costa Rica, do some hiking, ride a horse, see a monkey, try not to get burned by a volcano and eat some tropical fruit.

I get back and within the next week and a half move out to Boston.

It's scary, but I have a plan and I hope for once, it is a good one.

Why I'm A Great Older Sister

Not to brag, but I think I'm a pretty good older sister when push comes to shove.

When one of my brothers was in college, I'd take him out and feed him and invite him to parties where I knew there'd be free booze.

If there is a movie playing that any of my siblings want to see, I buy the tickets and whatever concession treats they want.

And I tend to ask for little in return.
OK, that's a lie. I do ask for some recognition, even just that I'm older than they are and might know a wee bit more about life. I usually never get it. Sometimes I'll just want a "thanks" which I will get on rare occasion.

So I guess I'm just waiting to see what I get over the next 2 weeks. Three of my siblings are having birthdays and knowing from recent experience how much it both sucks and blows when your siblings forget your birthday, I have bought gifts - ranging from a gift tower from Harry and David for the food lover to a bunch of girly stuff from Sephora for my fellow makeup addict sister.

And no matter how much I pride myself on being the cool older sister who'll do such things, I tell you now, if these brats don't even say "Thank You" it's going to be a sad October next year my friends. I mean...I'll sit here and smile benevolently, knowing that even if they don't acknowledge it, I did something nice.

New Music

I've been listening to 2 new or relatively new CD's lately and I want to heartily recommend them.

The first is the CD Plans by Death Cab for Cutie; they sing the addictive song "Soul Meets Body" which is on the radio now. The CD is fairly mellow and while I haven't really listened to the lyrics yet, I'm just really enjoying the music. Plus their name is just so bizarre you have to give them a shot.

The second is the new album from Franz Ferdinand, You Could Have It So Much Better. I didn't know much by them except for their big song last year, "Take me out", which I loved. Then last week I heard on them on the radio during an interview interspersed with acoustic versions of some songs from their new album and I just flipped. The music is sort of jaunty and just really fun, for lack of a better descriptive. And they were very entertaining during the interview, so I thought I should give them a shot.

Trip Diary Part VI - Toulouse

France, 10/2/05 (I messed up the dates here somehow)

We took the train from Souilliac back to Toulouse and checked our luggage into the left luggage section at the station.
Since we didn't really know what we were doing, we did a lot of wandering around the city trying to find a place to have lunch. Again, we were thwarted by the fact that everything was closed at just the right time one would eat lunch. We did find a couple of places, but no one could agree on any one place. Needless to say I was a bit frustrated. FINALLY we sat down at a French version of the London chain of Pizza Express called Pizza Mazanos located in the Capitol square. The food was nothing to write home about, and we had a terrible carafe of sangria. The location was great, but it started to pour. We headed into the restaurant (we'd been sitting outside) and waited for the rain to stop. When it did we headed towards the big church in Toulouse, which was just amazingly gorgeous. Since it had been raining, the sky was still dark but the sun was shining and it just lit up the church spire. Then we walked over a patisserie for our final taste of French pastry. Needless to say, the chocolate eclair I had was better than anything I've had stateside. The whole store was the size of a walkin closet, but had more than 20 different varieties of bread in addition to all the pastries. As soon as we stepped out of the store, it began to rain and I mean RAIN. It continued to pour for another half hour or so, right up until we had to head back to the train station and pick up our luggage.
The latest bus we could take back to the airport was at 7:20 pm. And we got to the station for our luggage at 7:11 pm. We managed to get to the bus at 7:19; the driver wouldn't open the luggage compartments for us and we had to drag our huge suitcases onto the bus. When we got to the airport, our flight was delayed for another 45 minutes, which left ample time to hang out in the tiny duty free shop and try on every perfume they had on display. By the time we got on the plane, I was ready to throw up from the smell. The flight was OK and we managed to hop on a train back to London from Gatwick right before it left.

All in all the trip was wonderful. I ate way too much, saw some amazing things, met a couple of really fantastic people, and got to reconnect with an old friend.
If only I could spend my whole life on vacation....

Trip Diary Part V - Loubressac/Carrenac

France 9/29-30/05

We had to walk through a bit of Loubressac to get to our next destination, Carrenac. However, we were taking the detour to the Geoff di Padirac, a series of underground caves. The walk from the hotel was around an hour and a half.
When we got the caves, Kerrin decided she didn't want to go since is a bit claustrophobic. To get to the caves, you had to take 2 elevators and walk down 2 flights of stairs and down a walkway to a dock. Then you take a big rowboat down an underground river, past stalactites (or stalagmites, whichever come down from the ceiling), all the while hearing some sort of lecture from the French boatman. When we disembarked, we were taken on a tour through the caves, up a series of stairs, past little pools created by calcium deposits and past a huge formation. Since I don't understand French, I kept my own version of the narration in my head. It involved underwear gnomes a la South Park. After the tour we headed back to the boats and to the first dock. God bless the elevators which took us back up because by that time, I was limping nicely.
When we got out, we chucked the lunch the hotel had given us, and got sandwiches at a local cafe. The entire area was catering to the tourists going to the caves. We started on to Carennac and after 10 minutes I realized that I would never make it on the blisters I had. So, yet again, I had to take a cab for the second half of the walk. And again, I couldn't really talk to the cabdriver, so it was another fun ride.
We got to Carennac and I went up to our rooms. Everyone arrived right before Shabbos and after we had all changed and freshened up, we headed down to dinner:
-artichoke hearts stuffed with cheese and bacon and deep fried (Jack had an omelet and Kerrin and Debbie had very pretty salads)
-faux fillet in a wine and shallot sauce with a stuffed tomato and potatoes au gratin (Jack had some sort of fish and Debbie had a whole trout)
-dessert was an apple tartin with vanilla ice cream, probably the best dessert on the trip (the others had profiteroles with ice cream) And we all had infusion tea.
We chatted for a bit in the lounge area and then went up to our rooms to read.
In the morning we had breakfast and when Kerrin decided that she wasn't going to do the circuit walk that day, she and I decided to take a cab to Rocamadour, a nearby city built into a cliff. Jack and Debbie left for the walk and Kerrin and I headed off in our cab.
Rocamadour is actually Roc or Rock Amadour, the rock of St. Amadour who was found there in 1166, his dead body fully preserved. The top of the cliff had the ramparts, with a lift down to the next level where the church was located. The church contained the famed Chappelle de Notre Dame, which contained the apparently famous Black Madonna statue. From the church courtyard, we went down a very long flight of stairs to the main road which was a bit touristy, with lots of little shops selling souvenirs; but they also had several shops selling local food and wine, including a foie gras specialty store. There were also a few stores selling the work of local artisans, and I saw a really amazing grandfather clock made out of one block of wood. Kerrin and I had lunch. Wandered around a bit more, and headed back to the hotel.
When Jack and Debbie came back from their walk, they were wet. It had rained for most of the end of their walk. But they got changed and warmed up enough to go down to dinner:
-terrine de foie gras de canard with sauteed peppers and the normal accoutrements
-duck breast with vegetables
-since it was so good the first night, I had the apple tart again
Everyone else had almost the exact same thing they had the night before; Debbie did have the exact same thing as a matter of fact. We all split a nice Bergerac wine which was my favorite wine of the trip and Kerrin and Debbie had a local dessert wine (which I thought tasted like feet). It was our last dinner together and we had a good time; times things got even funnier when Debbie ate everything else on her plate except for the trout. We all hung out in our room for a while - I packed while everyone else lounged - then we headed off to sleep.
In the morning we started out early, since we got picked up from the hotel at 11 am and taken to Soulliac for the train back to Toulouse.

Trip Diary Part IV - Lespinasse/Loubressac

France, 9/28-29/05

We walked through the village of St. Jean Lespinasse, which had some truly beautiful houses. We deviated from the trip notes a bit and made our own way to the village of Autoire, and had lunch on the outskirts.
Autoire is a beautiful medieval village in the bottom of a valley. The hills surrounding had these great rock formations and the village seemed nestled into its location. Since we arrived between the hours of 12 and 4, almost everywhere was closed. Unlike the US, France believes in the lunch hour, except it's more like a lunch three or four hour. It had gotten a bit chilly and we wanted something hot to drink, so we stopped at the local Auberge for some cake and tea. We had some walnut cake, considering that the entire region was just silly with walnut groves and it seemed like the natural choice. At the Auberge we met up with an elder German couple who were walking the breadth of France. And I could swear we had seen them the previous day as we were leaving Gagnac. As we sat outside on the porch, every few minutes we'd smell something just foul. The woman from the German couple explained that the Auberge didn't seem to have a regular sewage system; that was being installed over the next year. So the moment was slightly ruined.
Because my feet hate me, I had been walking for the past few days on some very hurty blisters and I decided to take a cab to the next hotel and skip the second half of the walk. The cab driver was incredibly sweet, but since I spoke no French and he spoke almost no English it was a bit awkward on the drive. However, the scenery made up for any silence. We were staying that night in Loubressac, a village at the top of a mountain. The hotel we were booked into, the Relais de Castelnau, was at the very top and the view was just breathtaking. It was a very modern hotel and had a dining room that looked out onto the valley. I had only been at the hotel for around an hour when everyone else showed up; it had started raining and they had gotten a ride from an Englishman who now lives in the region and had been kind enough to give them a lift. Of course, he was a bit dodgy it seemed, but a free ride is a free ride.
We eventually made our way to the dining room for dinner:
-started with a Kir Royale, my first and probably last
-a terrine of vegetables
-fillet of sole with roasted tomatoes and pan boiled potatoes
-the cheese board, of course
-some desert of peaches, cookies, and chantilly cream
This was probably the weakest meal of the trip; not bad, just not up to par with the other places we'd been to.
Jack and Kerrin spent most of the meal finishing a crossword puzzle and in general we were all a bit talked out so dinner didn't last the usual 3 or 4 hours it had thus far.
When I woke up this morning, I looked out the floor to ceiling window in the room and marveled at the dense fog that had covered the entire valley. You couldn't see anything that wasn't right in front of the window. Slowly as the sun rose, the fog burned off and the verdant green of the surrounding area could be seen.
We all met for breakfast, this time including cereal into the mix, and talked about the upcoming walk. After breakfast some of us went outside to read by the pool, which had the same amazing views we had from the room. The sun had just started shining and it was a very peaceful place to read for a bit. Since no one seemed in any hurry, Jack and I took a wander around Loubressac. The views were amazing and the buildings were old and beautiful. Everywhere I looked I saw some quaint little building or area. The local church was open and we encountered a very strange man, who I'm convinced kept trying to cop a feel. By the time we got back to the hotel, everyone was - eventually - ready to head out.

Trip Diary Part III - Gagnac/Lespinasse

France, 9/27-28/05

We set off late again from Gagnac because of rain. Right before we left, the owner of the auberge, whose father had been the original owner back in 1954, invited us to have quick drink with him at the bar. We went over to the bar and he pulled out a big jug of raisin wine or rattafia, and poured us each a large glass. Turns out, he made the wine himself; it was a bit too sweet for me, but tasty nonetheless in a homemade wine sorta way. He also had a collection of electronic toys like a Big Mouth Billy Bass and a chicken that clucked the music to the chicken dance and when you strangled it, it made choking noises and its cheeks lit up red. We finally started walking and went through the small hamlet of Gagnac. It was full of "makeshift medieval" stone houses and an small church from 1662.
Next we walked thru Glans, a lovely village where everyone seemed to be part of a large coop of vineyards and everyone made wine. We stopped to admire a really beautiful house and the owner came out to talk to us. Of course I understood not a lick of what he said, but when I got it translated apparently he was explaining the coop situation. After Glans we headed thru a long road flocked by walnut orchards and vineyards. Next we just passed by what seemed like endless herds of cows and finally past a working quarry. After what seemed to me to be too much discussion on the matter, we stopped for lunch. We were at a sort of crossroads a bit off from a lone horse in a field. Our lunch stops were at least an hour, since Debbie and Jack felt the need to take a nap. I just can't sleep on dirt with bugs, too afraid they'll crawl all over me. When we eventually got everyone up, we started our trek to the next hotel, another 2 hours away.
To while away the hours, Kerrin suggested a number of games. The jukebox game consisted of find a number of songs for each letter of the alphabet, in order. I just have this very distinct memory of Jack jumping up and down while singing ABBA's "Dancing Queen" as we wandered through a field of tall grass. Then after a quick bout of "are we lost?", we started playing the name game. This consists of saying the name of a celebrity or fictional character and then the next person had to name another person whose first name starts with the last name of the previous mention: Bob Ross -- Raquel Welch. That lasted a bit longer than the jukebox game did. And after a bit of frustration on my part since one of my walking companions insisted on walking really really slowly and I just wanted to get where we were going, we made it to our next hotel, Les Trois Soliel du Montal in St. Jean Lespinasse.
This was the very nice restaurant we paid extra for and it was worth it. They had an elevator and had taken the luggage to our rooms for us. We all relaxed for a bit and Jack ran out to take a quick swim in their pool, despite the fact that it was no where near warm. Once we were all changed and looking presentable, we went down to dinner at their Michelin starred restaurant. Dinner for me consisted of:
-an amuse bouche of some sort of meat pate flavored with cinnamon (much better than it sounds), mini omlettes with mushrooms on toast, and small yellow cherry tomatoes with fresh herbs
-foie gras de canard, served with pieces of toasted bread, coarse sea salt and pepper, and a sort of sandwich with thin slices of dried pear, a slice of foie gras, and pieces of fresh pear. (Everyone else either had salmon tartar with dill and creme fraiche surrounded by limes)
-roast lamb, which was almost buttery, with assorted roasted vegetables including roasted garlic (which was just begging to be spread on the lamb), 2 different kinds of mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes (the others had either the lamb of whole sea bass served with vegetables)
-the cheese board, where I had some reblochon and some other regional cheeses.
-desert was an upside down lemon tart for me and Jack; Kerrin had dark chocolate leaves with chocolate mousse and bitter orange coulis and Debbie had 3 small creme brulees, one vanilla, one pear, and one fennel
We had gotten a bottle of some local white wine for dinner and that paired with the cocktails we had before dinner sort of kept us from ordering any after dinner drinks. So we all had mint tea and sat for a while, luxuriating in the insanely good food we'd just eaten. During dinner Kerrin introduced a game called Notte-Notto, which was fun till we all got frustrated. I told my special special Ned and Ted joke and surprisingly no one killed me.
After dinner, we went back to our respective rooms and Jack and I sat on our porch, looking at some castle lit with flood lights a bit off in the distance and had a quite serious discussion about religion: why would one believe, why would one choose not to believe, and everything in between. Before I went to sleep I decided not to chance another shower and took the longest bath in my life, which felt very nice after trekking around in nature all day.
All too soon it was morning and we had breakfast. A word about breakfast: every place served at least baguettes, croissant, butter and jam. Some places, like this one served fruit and yogurt as well. The butter in France tasted nothing like the butter here in the US and I must admit we all indulged quite a bit in that heavenly butter. It rained a bit, so we waited around the hotel and Jack went for another swim before we headed off. The water was apparently freezing and Jack went in very very slowly. After I teased him, he jumped in and popped up after a few second and yelled "FUCK IT'S COLD!". And I just laughed and laughed.
Debbie and Kerrin came down the pool with our lunch the hotel had packed, and they were freaking out. The hotel owns some animals, a few donkeys and 2 goats, and one of the goats had "attacked" them and they had to throw one of the sandwiches at it. Little did they know that the goat had followed them to the pool and started running around the pool in a circle. It was funny and bit odd at the same time, and Kerrin was just scared to death of that goat. When we went back inside so Jack could take a shower and we could leave, we told the owner what happened and she just laughed and had the kitchen prepare another sandwich for us. Turns out the goat was always very naughty; it had been lying on a lounge chair by the pool one day and 2 patrons had thought it was just a very hairy man from far off and then another day it ran to the pool and ran around it while some older ladies were swimming. She said that some days she threatens it that if it doesn't behave she'll tell her husband to turn it into pate..
Once Jack had changed and everyone had futzed around for long enough, we headed out of Trois Soliel and toward Loubressac, our next destination.

Trip Diary Part II - Beaulieu and Gagnac

France, 9-26-27/05
The trip down to Beaulieu was...long. We had to get to Gatwick airport, fly to Toulouse and then take a bus to the train station, take a train to Soulliac and then an hour long taxi ride. For a good portion of the day we were arguing with Inntravel (the tour group) over a major misunderstanding about 1 leg of the trip; in the end we paid a bit more and got what we wanted: a night at a very nice hotel with a Michelin starred restaurant.
When we got to Soulliac, the driver who picked us up was a very funny old guy who drove like a madman and critized everyone else on the road. We finally got to Le Manoir de Beaulieu, and went for a 2 1/2 hour walk, which seemed to me to be almost all uphill. We toddled back to the hotel and had a very nice meal:
- smoked duck on a red pepper puree
-goat cheese terrine
-poached sea perch with beans in a coconut sauce
-cheese
-palate cleanser of chocolate mousse and banana puree
-tiramisu with fresh figs
We also had a white wine, which I can't quite remember, I believe it was a Sancerre.
Dinner conversation was fairly amusing since we were all pretty tired. But at one point we were discussing the whole kiss on the cheek bit and Jack was doing some demonstrations for us. We chatted up the maitre d', who was actually from Montreal. There was a bit of a language barrier and at points we had no clue what he was saying, but we laughed at what we assumed were jokes anyway. After dinner we sat by the fire in the lounge for a bit and I had a nice talk with Kerrin.

The next day we didn't start out till very late - Debbie needed medicine and Kerrin needed sunglasses. I took a short walk around the village and walked by the Dordogne river for a bit. Finally at 2:30, we headed out of Beaulieu. The first hour and a half were basically all uphill and my calves felt it later on. Granted the views were gorgeous and we passed by some really pretty houses in some pretty tiny hamlets, but the first part was murder. There are a lot of farms in the region; everywhere we went we saw apple and walnut orchards, pumpkin patches, tomato vines and vast fields. We eventually stopped at the top of the mountain we were climbing and had picnic lunch packed for us by the hotel. We stopped for about an hour. When we started up again, after only a few minutes we ended up in front of a barbed wired fence, which was not supposed to be there. It took around 25 minutes and a conference with a local farmer on his tractor to find out we were on course. Of course we had to trek some nice thick mud to be back on that track. A bit later we started our descent and walked thru parts of a forest that can only be described as "fairy tale spooky", with some dense foliage and it seemed almost nighttime as we walked through. And did I mention the tons of mud and gigantic red slugs? We had seen some the day before and I had hoped that was the last of them. But no, they reappeared in the forest and since they looked just like red leaves you had to be very careful where you stepped.
Just before the sun went down and it got pitch black, we hit the hamlet of Port de Gagnac and headed to our hotel, the Auberge du Vieux Port, Gagnac. As soon as we arrived the owner asked us if we had gotten lost, since the walk is usually only 3 1/2 hours, and chastized us when we told her we just got a late start. Everyone got changed and we went down to dinner, which was quite fantastic:
-tomato surrounded by puff pastry and covered in melted bleu cheese, with a salad with figs and walnuts
-duck breast in some wine sauce, with potatoes and zucchini
-a serving of Cabecou, a goat cheese which struck me as slightly brie-like
-a lovely sorbet trio surrounded by chocolate: strawberry, blackberry and pear
Everyone else had trout almandine and pears with chocolate and whipped cream.
With dinner we had a nice Bordeaux and infusion tea with dessert.
We were all just exhausted after the meal and went to back to our rooms right after we ate. I took my shower before I went to bed and managed to slip and fall, giving myself a gigantic black bruise on my butt that hurt for the next three days.

Trip Diary Part I - London

London - 9/23-25/05

The flight was pretty good considering... I sat next to a very friendly woman named Fiona and we ended up talking for almost half the flight, which was a good thing because the movies sucked big time. She even paid for a couple of drink when we took off, which is always the way to my good side.
I managed to get into London on the Heathrow Express with little stress and Jack picked me up at Paddington Station. We went back out to get some groceries for shabbos and got caught in the driving rain. Just what one needs after sitting on a plane for 10 hours.
Unfortunately, I spent the next 24 hours in a total daze. Weeks of exhaustion and the general tiredness of travel made it impossible for me to really go anywhere on Saturday. Friday night was just me and Jack and we had a very nice shabbos dinner. He made some Brazilian fish dish he had when he was in Brazil earlier this year, something with coconut, very yummy. Saturday Jack had 2 friends over, Jeff and Tanya. Jeff sings in the shul choir with Jack liked many of the same things I do, to the point where I got a bit freaked out. Amadeus was in his top 3 favorite movies of all time and it's my number one. Tanya referred to herself as a "lapsed barrister" and was very funny and friendly. It was so nice to talk to adults my own age again. I really do miss being social.
After trying to figure out what we were to do on Saturday night, we ended up playing it by ear. Went to a hotel near Jack's flat for drinks and lovely view of the London night skyline; then we stopped by somewhere and I had my first official fish and chips and mushy peas. I need to find out what "plaice" is [Still haven't figured that out yet] And then we ventured into town. Despite the loud and rowdy crowd outside, we went to see the late show at the Comedy Store. And weren't we surprised when the comedians turned out to be really funny. We took the night bus back home and apparently encountered the Kurdish Mafia, which seems to be comprised of stupid and drunk potheads. Oh and some guy was waving around his friend's tighty-whiteys, gotta love the night bus.
On Sunday I had plans to see the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy exhibit at the Science Museum with my friend Naomi. But she was too sick and when I got the museum to go on my own the exhibit had been cancelled. I thought I'd catch an IMAX show, but the one I wanted to see had already shown. I ended up wandering aimlessly for a bit and then headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Some amazing stuff there, along with a delicious tuna sandwich for lunch. Then after not finding the tube, I prayed I was going in the right direction and walked from there to Knightsbridge and Harrod's. Luckily, I went the right way and spent over an hour wandering around Harrod's food courts, just lusting after all the various foods. Eventually I dragged myself away and went back to Jack's flat and read at Paddington Green for a bit.
Sunday night I went to St. Mary's Church, which is right down the block from Jack's flat, for a performance that was part of the Little Venice Music Festival (Jack lives in Little Venice). It's a tiny church that seems to have been around since at least the 1820's. They performed an odd mix of music including a Bach violin sonata, a Mozart flute concerto, and some Gershwin and assorted showtunes. Jack's friend from Oxford, Deb joined us. Afterwards, Jack and I went out for a quick bite to eat.

Back to Civilization

I got back from Europe a week ago today, but the combination of exhaustion, holidays, and jet lag have sort of given me excuses for not writing about my trip.

In my defense, I did upload all my pictures and label them.

I kept a fairly detailed trip diary, including the menus for all the amazing 4 course meals we were served. Hopefully, whenever I get awake enough to see straight, I'll get that up here.

Suffice it to say that the trip was incredible. I was in the middle of nowhere, essentially, and surrounded by the vast countryside of an area that I would have never visited otherwise. Though I didn't speak the language, everyone we encountered seemed very friendly and even though the trip involved a great deal of walking, it was immensely relaxing.

I'm thinking of doing a similar trip in Italy at a future date, cuz boy would those dinners be delish.