Let's Break it Down

Here are some details about our upcoming trip, which I am quite excited about. Riley may not be so excited about us leaving. She'll be away from her own bed for a looooong time.

6 - flights we are taking (LHR - Singapore, Sing - Langkawi, LGK - Singapore, Sing - Tokyo, Tokyo - SFO, SFO - LHR) Phew! And yes, we are flying around the world in total. Oy.

4 - places we are visiting (Singapore, Langkawi, San Francisco, Napa) 

1 - anniversary we will celebrate while away.

9 - years married (said anniversary). Wow! 9 years!

1 - birthday we will celebrate while away (Dave's, but I won't mention how old he will be. It's shocking.)

1 - wedding we are attending in Napa.

5 - number of blissful days we will spend on the beach in Langkawi. Ahhhhhhh.

98 - probably the percentage of humidity in Singapore. I am expecting my hair to be HUGE.

5,783,910 - calories we will consume while gone. I mean first we have Singapore and you better believe I will be all over the hawker food. Then we have SF, and all the food we so dearly miss. We are definitely hitting up our faves - Thai (even though you can get pretty good Thai here, we still miss our old neighborhood fave, Yukol Thai soooo much), Mexican (given), Taylor's so I can get a really good cobb salad (and I will not call it Gott's as it is now known. I am too used to calling it Taylor's), more Mexican (given), breakfast!!! (oh how I miss good pancakes), more Mexican (given), maybe more Taylor's for another cobb. Then we have Napa and even more Mexican food, awesome sandwiches, more cobbs, and the wedding. Hopefully there will be good cake. Then throw in some ice blended's, maybe some scones from the Cheeseboard, hey, pizza too. We will be eating SO much. Or at least I will, I have no problem admitting it.

1 - wheaten terrier we will meet in Singapore, Dave's friend's dog. Too bad Riley can't meet him, it could be a match made in heaven.

1 - baby born since we were last home. Can't wait to meet her!

0 - more things I can think of to add to this list.

In addition to the beach and food I am obviously very excited to see my family and friends. We were home in April, but that feels like a long time ago, especially since the past four months have flown by and our last trip home now feels like ages ago.

So we're off - to eat our way around the world!

P.S. - Since I won't get around to posting about our Helsinki and Tallinn trips I'll just put up a picture to entice you.

It Hadn't Bothered Me...

Until I just realized that I now have to check a brand new box when answering questionnaires. What am I talking about? My age. I just had a birthday and now that I am one year older I have aged out of my previous demographic that I was a member of for so long, and am now a part of a whole new, scary group. An older group. One that can get the short shrift from marketers, advertisers, companies etc.

When I was just out of college I worked as a media planner on the national Taco Bell account (when it had the talking chihuahua ads, so I'd venture to say during the company's high point). Our main, if not only focus was on the demographic I just left. All advertising was designed to reach that coveted age bracket. Of course not as many older people eat Taco Bell (an assumption on my part, but...) so it is natural for them to try and appeal to an younger age. But really, my previous demographic bracket is the holy grail for many advertisers. People in that age range are hip, spend money, influence trends, follow trends, use social media, willing to try new things. Now that I am in this more "advanced" age bracket, the marketing directed towards me and my fellow members probably leans toward health care, keeping young and taking supplements or something like that, partaking in more mature activities such as bridge and learning how to use that dang internet, all boring things. I didn't realize that checking a new box brings me a whole new identity. I guess I better stop watching reality shows and start watching BBC1. And maybe start taking a calcium supplement. Since you know, I now have to watch out for brittle bones. (But going back to reality shows for a minute - have you seen Geordie Shore Magaluf Madness? Oh my, I felt so dirty after watching that. It. Was. Awful. But I am SO recording it next week while we're gone.)

OK, so now that I have addressed my birthday, I have more I need to write about. I have been soooo lazy this summer, and have been remiss in writing about what I have been up to. So let's see, I owe you posts on:

Our Helsinki trip, including our day trip to Estonia

Our Copenhagen trip (yeah, summer of Scandinavia)

Our Provence trip

Our upcoming Asia trip/around the world adventure/eating bonanza in San Francisco

Maybe something on what Riley has been up to. Poor doggie. She has been spending a LOT of time with her adopted mom, and there is a LOT more to come.

So I guess that's it for now. It's nice to be back after a temporary absence. Even if I am a year older.

We Made a Run for the Border*

Dave probably doesn't want this to get out. Just like he wanted to keep our trip to Indianapolis a secret back in the day. You see, when we lived in Chicago we were (more like he was) craving a certain restaurant that shall remain nameless (it may rhyme with Toffle Taus and specialize in waffles) and we drove three hours to Indianapolis to eat it. Then we spent a few hours in Indianapolis doing nothing, went to the airport to eat La Salsa, and promptly drove back to Chicago. So yes, we were losers back then.

This weekend, after having a serious conversation about what food we'll eat when we're home in September (Mexican, Taylor's aka Gott's, more Mexican, more Taylor's for me so I can get my fill of cobb salads, Thai, Mexican again) I casually mentioned that there is a Taco Bell in the UK. We looked it up online, found out it's in a shopping center outside of London, but within the Oyster Card network, and we decided to go. So yes, we spent our Sunday going to Chafford Hundred (what kind of name is that?) to go to Lakeside shopping center to eat Taco Bell in the food court. And it was awesome. OK, maybe not awesome, but it was pretty good. I haven't had Taco Bell in ages, but it tasted the same. A few differences though.

First of all, you have to specify a double decker supreme, they aren't on the menu (double deckers are, just not DD supremes). And you have to pay 30p extra for the supreme-ness. They didn't supreme mine so I was disappointed, but was too lazy to complain.

Secondly, they have "meal deals" that include either "nachos" (chips with a side of cheese sauce) or chips (i.e. fries). Why does EVERY food here come with the option of chips/fries? Seriously, you can get take-away Chinese and lo and behold, get a side of chips/fries with your chow mein. You want Indian curries? Well have fries with it too why don't you? There is NO need for chips/fries when eating Taco Bell.

Thirdly, the drink came with out ice. So big booooo to that. Who wants warm diet Pepsi when eating Taco Bell? Yuck.

Fourthly, the menu was slightly limited. I was very sad to see they don't offer the Mexican Pizza here, truly one of the greatest Taco Bell creations of all time. It was pretty much limited to tacos, burritos and nachos, so I guess the UK Taco Bell consumers just aren't ready for the more exotic world of chalupas, enchiritos (new to me), taquitos and meximelts.

But overall our trip to the border was successful. We took down our tacos and burritos and got the hell out of there. And we only had to pay 1.40 each way to get there, so it was a steal. I am a cheap date!

Here are some pictures from our Mexican adventure:

The mall. I have no idea what this was. The guy in the ball looked like a hamster. He just sort of flipped around inside it and that was it. And the pool was about as big as a kiddie pool. Really weird, and totally unappealing.

 Our food.

The food court Taco Bell. Totally worth the trip. I'll probably go again, but I won't tell Dave. He'll make fun of me.

The mall again. Got to love Lakeside.

You don't have to love the Chafford Hundred c2c station. It's sandwiched between huge power lines and I think we fried while we waited for the train. You could hear this constant buzzing and I kept telling Dave how much we were absorbing just standing there waiting for the train. Combine that with a Taco Bell lunch and we're doomed.

* I guess that's their old, old ad campaign. I couldn't remember what their ads say now, but then I saw it online. So the correct title of this post should be "We Thought Outside the Bun This Weekend."