Meet my 朋友！

I forgot to announce that I was given the honor of guest blogging on my fantastic foodie friend's fabulous food forum... (a little too much alliteration?).  A couple weeks ago I filled in for her while she was busy being responsible taking the GRE.

You can check it out here...   and, I highly suggest becoming a follower of "I ate everything".  You won't regret it- the recipes alone are worth it, not to mention you will fall in love with Stephie's charming wit and jovial candor!  Enjoy!

isn't she just scrumptious! 

Art Here... Art There... Art Everywhere!

I have decided to really invest in improving my blogability.  I know I have said this before, but now I’m making a schedule!  I plan to post something once a week... every Sunday evening to be exact.  The reasons are many but mostly just boil down to my need to create… something…anything!  Expression is good for the soul.  Usually, my need for well written, thoroughly processed thoughts has stifled and squelched my freedom to scribble down my life unashamedly.  “Perfectionism is the archnemesis of creativity” (Found Art-71).  SO- through more consistent random thoughts and tangential wanderings, I am hoping to fight back against this villain for freedoms sake!  … here we go… 

Blogging makes me acutely aware of my surroundings.  It makes me think of every experience, every meal, every encounter as a potential post.  Anything has the potential to have significance and meaning.  It makes me actually ponder my experiences and think about connections.  As I was “making art” out of my breakfast this morning, (for the sake of a later post) I was whisked back to my freshman year of college, sitting in my mandatory (aka miserable) writing class – Culture, Art and Technology- learning about what makes art, Art.  The answer: ascribed meaning.  The only thing that makes anything art is the value that someone assigns it.  I had turned my breakfast into art by seeing the beauty in the crimson strawberries and the tasting the nostalgia in the hint of cinnamon… My mind then wandered to the value of connections.  Beautiful personal experience found in foreign spaces. 

I just finished reading a book about one woman’s discovery of beauty in unlikely places.  Her words deeply resonated with me as I saw many of my own thoughts, hurts and experiences mirrored in her unpretentious journalesque writing.  The more I thought about it, I realized that a lot of valued literature is nothing more than the modest scribbles of common experience connected to deeper wonderings.  Julie Powell’s random thoughts on cooking is now a well known book and movie.  A young girl’s personal diary of life during WWII became one of the world’s most widely read books and an inspiration of hope.  These creations of the written word remind me that art is imbedded in our connection with other people’s experiences.  The way that my heart shares space with yours through common memories…. the way reading about your journey can ignite the flame of my own nostalgia… the way reading your hope, pain, love, joy, mourning unite us- world’s apart- through the fragility (and yet strength) of humanity…

The criteria for art is not anything pompous or sophisticated.  It does not have to be universally adored or survive the criticism of others.  It just has to be real.  Honest.  Even vulnerable. We just need to be “willing to strip all the way down to [our] true self and listen and look for God in [our] world.” (Found Art -73).  This is my art.  These are my experiences.  This is me.

Tasty Thai

On our first evening in Phi Phi we ran into an overly informative dive instructor that gave us the lay of the land.  He divulged the hidden gems of island to us, telling us the best places to eat and when to go.  Sadly we only made it to one of his suggestions- the un-named Pad Thai shack boasting the best pad thai on the island.

  Set behind a lively wet market, down a small side alley, this hole in the wall establishment was easily identified by the handwritten accolades dripping from the ceiling and walls.  People from every country imaginable had left notes testifying to the quality of these delicious pan fried noodles.

 

  

The Land of Enchantment was even represented!

One essential ingredient in this tasty Thai dish... garlic. Loads and loads of garlic. 

as we sat savoring our dinner the owner sat peeling clove after clove of garlic in preparation for future orders.  I wonder how many heads of garlic this place goes through a day... 

I made it a habit to try Pad Thai everywhere we went.  My final assessment of this "Best PadThai ever"... B+.

the robust garlic flavor slightly overpowered the sweetness of its sauce, however the chicken was tender and flavorful and the bean sprouts crisp and earthy.  The noodles were perfectly fried, the lime added a bright citrus burst and the peanuts brought a little somethin'somethin' extra to the consistency!  

Best Pad Thai I encountered... Railay Beach (west), Krabi.  ...simply perfect!

Culture = Food!

Last year I learned a valuable and life changing lesson from fantastic foodie friend.  Culture IS Food! Why stick to the touristy "hot spots" and see a bunch of foreigners when you can sit at a wonderful cafe with the locals and really ingest their culture.  

It's true that food is cultural... but there is a difference between “food=culture” and “culture=food.”  In the first, food is just another aspect of a cultural experience like language or architecture.  In the second, the essence of culture boils down to food.  What people eat, how they eat it, where, with whom, when.  What better way to discover the true lives of people than to enter into their culinary culture.  

Night Food market- great people watching and incredible munching

Eating is more than a means of sustenance...Relationships, politics, social structure, can all be understood around a dinner table (or, in Asia, on stools at outdoor market).  It is for this reason that I now LOVE to search out the best and more traditional tastes of the lands I visit.  I am not to the point of fully abandoning the "big sights" altogether, but eating with the locals holds a lot of weight in my travel itinerary!  

Lok Lok in Penang

Cuddle Fish anyone?

Seafood Laksa- Singapore

My favorite place in Singapore!  Lau Pa Sat food market- everything and anything available to eat!

Conflicted Enjoyment

(the first of many posts on my recent escapades around SouthEast Asia)

I just returned from the wonderful opportunity of traveling around Thailand and Cambodia with one of my best friends. It was an incredible experience: standing in awe of breathtaking nature, savoring unique and tantalizing flavors, being adventurous and crazy... However, mingling with my fascination and wonder was burden and heartache.

The sights of SouthEast Asia revolve around its vibrant culture-intimately tied to its ancient spirituality. I spent days visiting Buddhist temples and shrines. They are beautiful. Ornate. Overwhleming. Glimmering with mirrors and colored glass. Enrobed in Gold Leaf and lavished with intricate engravings. While I can stand and appreciate the artistry of these places and be intrigued by the diversity of cultures around the world, I could not help but sit in the weight of hopelessness embodied by these gilded buddhas.

I found it difficult to enjoy the grandeur of my surroundings when they represented empty promises and powerlessness. My heart broke as I stood in the midst of people purchasing and offering sacrifices, prostrating themselves and praying. I understand cultural differences and love the diversity of this world- but being in so many places of worship to false gods burdened my soul for the Truth to be known and His power and abundant life experienced across culures and borders.