Hi Everyone!

Hope everyone is doing well & enjoying the Spring season. I went on vacation late March/early April with the husband and one of our favorite friends/couples. We’ve been planning this trip since 2011, and we had such an amazing time. Like, really. It’s one thing to be friends with a couple, but to travel (for the 1st time) with others is a different story. But I am happy to report the trip was a success and brought us even closer than before. I can go on & on about them, so let’s get back to the vacation. 

Travel Itinerary:

Hong Kong, Macau, Bangkok, Phuket, Shanghai, and Beijing. 

Random thoughts:

1. City Favorites - HK and in particularly Shanghai have been added to my favorite cities in the world. Why? I loved the mixture of east/west, new/old, modern/past traditions. Also of course, the shopping was amazing :) 
2. Paparazzi- I already get a lot of people staring at me in Singapore, it’s more of a polite stare, but it is a stare nonetheless. Different ball game in China, especially in Beijing. So imagine myself (tall, dark girl mixed with a lot of things), my husband (very dark skin), my sister-from-another-mother (tall, gorgeous) and her husband (handsome black man) in a foreign country walking around? Lot’s of stares. Yes. We were getting asked all of the time to be in pictures (most asked, some just took pictures…) In fact I think I now know how Beyonce feels walking out in public….OK not really but one could only hope & imagine these fantasies. Honestly most have never seen African-Americans, or at least in person so they did what most would do, totally understand. But I was getting ready to charge for pictures…..Like a boss.
3. Culture - Asia culture is fascinating. If you can experience it whether via work or personal travel, I highly recommend it. Actually any cultural experience outside of US I highly recommend!
4. French Fries - They are better over here. As an official potato connoisseur, this is true.  Trust me. If I could get these fries to Michigan’s Coney Island I would be on to something.
5. Rice - Same applies as #4. Obvious reasons, right?
6. Great Wall of China - Highly recommend visiting. This is by far one of the best things we humans have created. It will amaze you. Especially when you think of what they used to create it, and how many sacrificed their lives to create it. Honor it, respect it.

Overall, it was the best trip I’ve experienced as an adult. The cities were great, the company was even better, and those experiences will be with me forever.

It is so funny, I’ve seen a lot of things in my young life, and many times I often think “wow, I wish my loved ones were here to experience this with me”..it is often a common theme in my mind. So I’ve included an album to capture some of the things we experienced while traveling in Asia. Although this will never truly capture the essence of seeing it with your own eyes, smelling and touching everything, I hope I can bring all of you a taste of Asia. 

Enjoy.

T

PS - Special thank you to my dear friends T & Ty Sanders for the wonderful time I had during this trip. I can’t even list out how special you guys made this trip, the number of quotes, sayings, and laughs we had during this trip. Love you guys.

Hey Everyone!

I’ve put together a few lessons learned while living here in Asia, please enjoy. I also included a few random pictures taken over the past few weeks too.

Stay tuned, I am getting ready to travel across China & Thailand called the Awesome Asia Adventure with the Mr. and one of our favorite couples. More info & pictures to share soon.

Lessons Learned

• Seek out people with different beliefs and views of the world to yours and get to know their side of the story.
• Get outside and do something with other people. Leave the igornant sterotypes behind.
• Experience is the greatest teacher of all. Stop reading about or watching the world passively and start living it. The only way ever to know is to see if for yourself.
• Making new friends is easy and so is appreciating your close ones (and family).
• The rest of the world isn’t filled with germs.
• You can find the internet almost anywhere.
• People are proud of where they are from.
• Don’t overplan.
• Do stuff that scares the crap out of you (example - thunderstorms/lighting for me)
• People are generally good.

and lastly, but more importantly…

• Stop thinking so much and act!!!!

What are you waiting for? Whatever you are pushing off to do, why? Let’s get it!

Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia!

Greetings my people!

What’s up? I want to share a few things I’ve experienced lately, and they revolve around food! So Singapore is known for a few things (besides shopping, which I do quite well) and food is one of them. It’s very cool because they have a wide assortment of foods. I guess it makes sense because the culture is infused as well. But anyhow, I wanted to share with you a few of the best things I’ve eaten here. My invention of a smell-o-meter would be perfect right now. Adding to my to-do list….

1) Muffin - Yes muffins. You would have never thought right? Me too. But this place called Chocolat n Spice has mastered the recipe, especially the banana & walnut one. Do you know I made my co-worker drive me during lunch to go purchase an 8 pack? Yes, all for me. I also had a 5-minute conversation with The Husband about how good they were, the consistency and almost cried when I finished it. Yep, very proud of that moment folks.

Oh muffin. Please don’t give me your problems. No muffin top for me please, I’ll pass.

2) Carrot Cake - Nope, not what you think it is. It is actually called chai tow kueh (direct translation from Mandarin), and no it is not a dessert with cream cheese frosting. The main components of Singaporean carrot cake are daikon (‘white carrot’) and rice flour dough (‘cake’) fried with egg, garlic, and spices(+chili, black style for me, I like it spicy!). Diced scallions are added at the end. If done just right the result is a savoury dish that’s crispy on the outside but melts in your mouth. What does this remind me of? My parents & brothers homemade breakfast potatoes. Put this with some Detroit-style Coney Island Chili Cheese and I would be winning!!!My co-workers probably think I am weird because it’s all I order when we go to this place (they also sell the muffins too, see my strategy people?!) because its usually a side dish. Given the fact that I gave up meat for Lent I think it serves as a great meal. Nutritious & Delicious! No judgement.

Chili Cheese (Detroit-style) that please?!

3) Desserts - Hands down I’ve have the best desserts being here. Most know I am not even a sweet person (my Sis, Dad & brother are the Sweet Tooth Kings), my mom & I prefer salt. So of course as soon as I got here I began experiencing all of these great desserts, I have switched to the dark side. Or actually I joined forces because I want both. Chocolate Molten cake, Gelato, cheesecake, whatever your heart desires they have it, and much more. I normally satisfy my sweet too with fresh made fruit juice (very common here, very cheap) comprised of green apple + carrot, but sometimes I like to indulge in the sweet desserts too.

Green Apple + Carrot = what I should be drinking all of the time…..

Singapore Gelato - What I have to walk by everyday. I fall victim every time.

Hungry yet?! Good, me too.

I will probably begin to post pictures of food dishes along with scenic views too, because again, Singapore is all about eating, shopping and entertainment. When in Rome……

Peace, T

Hello Folks!

How are ya? I am doing great. Enjoying my life here in Singapore, to the fullest. Recently, my co-worker & I decided to venture out to Singapore’s next door neighbor Malaysia. Based on the recommendation of locals we hopped on a bus to Melaka (which is also spelled Melacca). 2 stops for customs, 3 1/2 hours later we arrived to a very cute city, and immediately wanted to eat….which I have to report I had the best fried rice ever.

We decided to knock out everything we could in two days, and boy we did. We did a lot of sight seeing: churches, temples, China town, stumbled upon an “War is Crime” Exhibition. I bought some unneccessary items (yes, I convinced myself that I and someone else needed a metal back scratcher) ate some great food, go-kart (awesome time!), overall it was a great weekend.

Update - I am mastering the artful skill of street vendor negotiation. I also discovered my new favorite thing - potato on a stick (think potato chips on a stick. Yes, it is as good as it sounds). Pure heaven.

One last thing….we also went to the zoo, where for some reason we kept seeing some of the craziest things…example - did you know animals drink other animals urine?! No this was not a 1x thing, my fellow traveler & I saw this at least 3 times…with different animals. I guess that is the other 1% we have as humans that makes us different.

Enjoy the pictures.

XOXO - T