I'm Here for the Food

Eric and I are still in Krabi.  The small town is known as a short stop before heading to the islands, but it has proven to be an easy place to stay for a while.  There are many reasons for this, including cheap accommodation and a lively expat community, but I have to admit that the food is a major reason I'm happy to stick around.  I know, I know — the food all over Thailand is delicious, so why should Krabi stand out?  Let me show you.

Noodle soup with sliced pork and dumplings from a woman's street stall

No Really, It's a Vacation

I spent yesterday reading an entire book and it felt wonderful.  It wasn't War and Peace or any other six hundred page novel; I'm not trying to sound impressive.  The act of sitting with a book all day instead of working or being otherwise productive felt great.  Weekends often end up being times when I do the things that I couldn't do during the week — buying groceries, doing laundry, cleaning the apartment, writing blog posts, etc.  By the time it's Sunday night, I'm wishing for an extra day not just because I don't like waking up early on Mondays, but because I need some more down time.  

In this way, weekends are not that different from vacations.  When you travel, you go somewhere in order to see or do specific things.  What's the point of going to France if you sit in your hotel room all day reading a book in English?  If you're in Paris, you should be seeing the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe and walking along the Seine and eating crepes.  If you're in Montana, you should be hiking up a mountain at Glacier National Park (location of my 2003 family reunion) and trying to look at a deer without spooking it and drinking huckleberry lemonade.  It's what you're there to do.

Olympic National Park in Washington
Beautiful location of our 2008 Family Reunion

Cheers to Wine

For many years I've had a very specific vision of what my life would look like after I graduated from college.  I would get a good job - that part was always vague - in a major city.  I would have a well-decorated apartment that was often filled with sunlight.  I would wear professional, fashionable outfits and adorable shoes, which would be miraculously comfortable, and I'd walk around the city wearing cool trench coats and pea coats as the weather permitted.  After work, I'd either go out to a wine bar and have a drink or two with my equally successful and fashionable friends or I'd go home and whip up a nutritiously well-balanced meal that looked like it came from the pages of Gourmet.  Since graduating, I've learned that this is harder to do than I'd thought.  For one thing, decorating an apartment to make it look like a Crate & Barrel catalog is extremely expensive.  But still, I've slowly started on the path towards my Sophisticated Urban Working Girl dream.  

Kind of like Kate Beckett from Castle, though I'm not tough enough to be a cop.

The Perfect Monday Night Out on the Town

As the end of the semester approaches, I have found myself buried under work and lacking the time to write interesting blog posts. Today's is shorter, but hopefully still informative!

My roommates and I are big fans of good deals. Though I enjoy splurging on fancy food and drinks, I also don't have the cash to do so on a regular basis. Luckily, Ann Arbor bars and restaurants have some pretty great happy hours. My roommates and I have planned out a Monday night to hit as many as we can (Monday because some deals are exclusive to that evening). I suggest you get a group together to try it out!

Here's the list, organized by start time:

4:00-6:00 PM: Vinology - Happy hour, deals on wine

4:00-7:00 PM: The Melting Pot - half-priced cheese fondues, $2 off glasses of wine

7:00-11:00 PM: Cafe Felix - Half-priced martinis (I recommend the Honey Pot or Orangini-tini. Yes, even I feel a little girly ordering an Orangini-tini, but it's delicious and has a splash of Orangina, so you can't go wrong.) *Monday night only

8:00-11:00 PM - Cafe Habana - $8 pitchers of sangria (regularly $11) (Though the best sangria in town is still at Dominick's, in my opinion)

9:00-11:00 PM - The Melting Pot - half-priced dessert fondues and $2 off glasses of wine

If you decide to forgo Cafe Felix on Monday nights, they have a deal on Wednesdays for half off bottles of wine.

Or, Thursday through Saturday, the Black Pearl has a late night menu that is $3-$4 off select martinis, including my favorite, the Nutty Alexander: Amaretto, Frangelico, Bailey's, and Kahlua with cream and nutmeg - delicious and does not taste like alcohol. Probably James Bond would make fun of me for not drinking straight vodka, but hey, I'm happy drinking super sweet martinis.

Friday and Saturdays, if you wanted to wander away from Main Street towards State Street, Red Hawk Bar and Grill also has an amazing happy hour from 10:00 PM until 1:00 AM - half off all drinks. Their well liquor is also what you have to request specially at most college bars, so it's a great deal.

There are probably other great happy hours that I don't know about - feel free to let me know! I have roughly seven more Mondays to try out the 6:00-11:00 PM Monday Happy Hour Extravaganza, so I've got my fingers crossed that I can drag some people out to try it.