Many asked me if the 12 hour flight from DC to Hawaii really worth it. Well I have to admit it was a pretty loong flight. And if you are going only to Oahu, then its not! But if you choose to hop on to another island like Maui or Kauai then I am pretty sure you will forget the strenous ride.
Why did we choose Kauai over Maui?
Actually no real reason other than I just fell in love with the videos and pictures I saw of NaPali coast and I hadnt seen anything that dramatic in my life. Also I found out Maui has gotten little more commercial in the past few years but Kauai is still rustic and free of tourists for the most part.
How many days should you go?
We are a bit of restless travelers and we like to see everything that the place offers. 7 days is good for 2 islands in my mind but then again its a very subjective decision. Also I think the length of the trip depends on what you want from your vacation. Decide whether you are going as explorers of new cultures and new experiences or to unwind and relax.
Top 10 things to do in Honolulu, Oahu :
1. North Shore Beaches
North Shore beaches are generally less crowded and the drive from Honolulu is a very pretty 1 hour drive with scenic mountains on your sides. Also these beaches are very popular during the winter season for surfing. The famous Pipeline Bonsai wave is in Pupukea Beach.
Turtle Beach: Great beach to snorkel with the turtles.
2. Matsomoto Shave Ice
Awesome place to get your shave ice concoctions in the North Shore. There is a crowd usually waiting in line, so plan for it if you are going on a weekend.
3. See a Polynesian show
We went to Paradise Cove but I think if we had an extra day, we would have gone to the Polynesian Cultural Center to check out the different polynesian villages and their Reve performance at night. Paradise Cove didnt disappoint us as for the show but they made us repeat Aloha & Mahalo 17 times and it got a bit weary.
4. Hike the Diamond Head Crater
You get a 360 panoramic view of Honolulu and its a easy hike of about 45 mins. Start your day early to beat the morning sun glaring on your pictures.
5. Eat breakfast at Liliha Bakery
Most yummiest breakfast, you get to avoid the tourists in Waikiki and eat the original cuisine of Honolulu. Coco Puffs is a must here!
6. Waikiki Beach
To watch the most crowded beach and the sexiest bikinis and to watch the surfers catch their big waves.The roads are lined up with luxury resorts and the Kalahua Avenue is glamorously filled with all the designer stores Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and so many more..
Might be the most cliche to drink a MaiTai, but hey, you need to check that off your list. MaiTai bar in Royal Hawaiian was a good setting to sip on a cocktail and enjoy the sunset on the beach.
7. Malasadas Malasadas Malasadas
This ranks pretty high on my list. Its Portugese Donuts, and the most yummiest kind wth cream filling inside. Leonards Bakery is the place !
8. Cage Diving with the Sharks in North Shore, Oahu
Sun was very disappointed that we didn’t get to do this and we cursed the fact that we didnt book early.
9. Honolulu Chinatown
Every first Friday there is a gallery walk featuring local artists, performances and live music. Trendy bars, Pho, Dim Sum and produce markets make you feel like you are in Asia.
10. Eat at Alan Wongs Restaurant
Alan wong is a renowned chef, winner of many awards, serves up regional Hawaiian cuisine and supposedly one of the best restaurants in Honolulu.
Have I mentioned I love eating, and taking pictures of food! Yes I do. Even though I get many looks when my take my D80 out in a restaurant.
I just like to say, I love to record what I enjoy.
New York City, its probably the biggest small city in the world that has endless options of different cuisines and for most part a real gem in each too. I can definitely attest that for Indian food. Sun and I wanted to go to NYC and check out few places that was either famous for something or got rave reviews. Also we had one night in the city so knowing us, ofcourse we partied out.
I read about this lounge Merkato55, an African restaurant/lounge in the Meatpacking District and the most interesting thing about it was the party atmosphere starting at noon. Are you hungover?, head over here and cure it with a mojito! They even had a velvet rope at the entrance! Music was great and the house made huge glass jars of mojitos get you going throughout the afternoon is Fab-U-Lous-OOH!
Our hotel was a great find in the Tribeca area. I was particular I am not anywhere close to Times Square. Duane Street Hotel was amidst all the boutiques, design stores in Soho/Tribeca area.
Evening Menu:
7:00PM - Tailor, was another place I was dying to try. It has fancy cocktails, innovative concoctions and quirky ambiance. Owned by the mad food scientist and pastry Chef Sam Mason, he also owns Wd-50. Check out his interview with Food & Wine.
Image Copyright: Krieger
Check out the pictures, I assure you it was fabulous and brilliant. its a MUST GO!
Gummy Bear Absinthe
Beet Sangria
Tailor made shots: Biscotti Cognac, Garam Masala Rum, Pumpernickel Raisin Scotch
Solid Cocktails: Absinthe, White Russian Cereals, Bell Pepper Margarita
Seared Red Snapper, Watermelon, Olives and Ramps
9:00PM - Strolled to Little Italy, and Sun caved in for a roadside pizza from the stands, while I wanted to walk it off to be ready for our next place. Kush Lounge!
10:00PM - It was a Morrocan lounge and had a strong party environment. We were ready for some Bollywood cocktails. I wasnt too impressed since the bartender had shaked a martini with garam masala, its a no-no to mix dry spice, which by itself has a strong flavor. I had ordered another Plum Daiquiri which was just ok.
The place was very pretty and they had hookahs and yummy bites of masala crab cakes and beef sliders.
12:30AM - I think we have had enough food and drinx, very tired from all the walking. But then we had one more place in the agenda, to go to Wok to Walk, this was purely to relive our Amsterdam nights. Wok-to-Walk is a fast food chain from Holland, where we had wok all the time when we visited Ams, with the yummiest Indonesian hot sauce. What they have in University Place in Union Sq isnt quite like that but we had memories and didnt mind the taste so much.
ZZZ - Time to sleep!
Sunday -
Went for a birthday party for my adorable nephew Arya and spent the day with my cuz and had the whole spread of Indian food she cooked at home for lunch.
For sunday night dinner, we had plans to go to Anjappar, the most authentic South Indian restaurant in all of US. Atleast I love the place and its in New Brunswick, NJ. Mutton Briyani and King Fish fry is my favorite food of all and repeatedly they have proved they have the best fish.
Appetizer: Mutton Bone Soup
note: Stainless Steel is a typical serving dish in India and I think it adds to the taste!
Chicken Lollipop:
King Fish Fry
Mutton Briyani with Kushka and Yogurt Raita.
Heaven!
8 Simple Ways to Improve Typography In Your Designs
I have been thinking about a project that I want to begin and looking every where for inspiring illustration styles. Below is a sampling of two of the greatest artists.
I lov/
who’s your favorite illustrator?
It was Valentines day and I had planned to cook Sun a big meal. The Entree was Lamb Shank and I am going to blog the recipe for it.
Its so easy even an amateur cook can do it.
Things you need:
Method:
Side:
Mash potatoes
For a slight variation, I had filled the ramekins with mash potatoes, filled with a layer of parmesan cheese and broiled in the oven until it melted and formed a crisp layer on top. Crunchy, golden russett mashed potatoes.
Sauce:
Warm Hollandaise for extra yummies.
XOXO
Second part of my Backpacking in Europe:
We were gonna visit 4 cities in Italy: Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre and Rome. God has been so partial towards this country, it has the best of everything: food, landscapes, history, art, architecture, beaches, canals, mountains.
We took an overnight train from Amsterdam to Venice, reached early in the morning, right about when we were to enter as we were seeing the window landscapes in our train, suddenly a city emerged amidst the sea, the transformation was so seamless. It was superb!!
Venice has no car traffic, no other modes of transport except water taxis, water buses or gondolas. But you can cover the entire city by foot. We took the waterbus to our residence, we chose to stay in an 18th century townhome, Ca Bonvicini, restored and renovated to look exactly the same. It was royal and palatial.
City can also be a very confusing maze with canals and bridges and short streets that lead you to the water or to another very short street. We got lost everytime, thanks to our home attendant, we would call her every night to find our way back.
Its almost like every road leads to the Rialto Bridge and St.Marks Sq. You have clear signs to them at every corner and all you have to do is follow the crowds. There are many roadside shops, masks and glass, are the most famous there to get as souvenirs. And for the fashionistas, it has all the amazing designer stores, jewelry shops and leather stores. I bought handbags there!
We took a 30 minute ride on the water bus and visited the nearby island Burano, its a very cute city with pastel colored houses and it has the best small restaurants with the island favorites. I had the most amazing Sardines and Sun had the freshly caught Sea Bream. Our host also recommended this dessert which he called it a Burano favorite, warm cookies to dip in the dessert wine, so goood, soon followed the home made limonocello. What can i say, life is just beautiful!
It’s definitely one of the most beautiful city you would have ever visited in your life and also considering the fact its sinking slowly, please do yourself a favor by going.
Next on our map is Florence, haven for Italy’s best food. City is bustling with traffic, even though its not a very big city, its the destination city for all the Tuscan regions so you see hoards of tourists.
Here we stayed in a very contemporary loft called Riva Lofts, designed by the architect Claudio Nardi, with all the works: garden, pool and a bicycle to ride in the city.
Big things here are the Florentine art, some of the best renaissance pieces are housed here. Brunelleschi’s dome, Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, Michelangelo’s David, do pay a visit to all of these, it helps if you take a audio tour to appreciate the brilliance.
No camera was allowed inside the Accademia Gallery, where the David is. Get your advance tickets to this one, as the lines could be really long and you have to waste a lot of time. The 17 ft marble statue is so real with such detailed expression, they had to protect it by moving the original here and keeping a replica in the open in Palazzo Vecchio.
Our evening dinner was at Ristorante Noue, supposed to be one of the newest nicest restaurant in town. And we went there in style, in our bike, Sun rode and I sat at the back, it was super funny and also bumpy considering all the streets are cobble stoned. Our dinner was absolutely fab, I had the most delicious pasta with rabbit sauce and kobe steak.
Next day, we rented a car (which was frikkin’ expensive as it was an automatic car) to take a tour of the Tuscany region, where all the good wines and olives hail from. Its just an hour away and you are onto the hills, where Chianti Classico vines are grown. Our first stop was at the Castello Vicchio Maggio, an exquisite Castle, a vineyard, a restaurant and also bed and breakfast.
Chianti wine and good lunch were had. Being on one of the highest point we took pictures of the beautiful landscape and walked around the vineyard. Next we wanted to go to Casaloste, a family owned business, Anthony Bourdain went there when he stayed in Florence. The owner’s wife gave us a complete tour of winemaking, her most famous wines and olives. And I absolutely loved how each of their wine had a personal story behind the name and the label. I was also so moved about one particular one, Inversus, it was named after their son, who has all his internal organs reversed right from his birth but thanfully he’s eight now and is healthy.
We drove another few kilometres to get to the city of San Gimignano, city of beautiful towers rich in history, surrounded by the splendid countryside.
And the night dinner is one of the oldest restaurants in town. Its an osteria ( means a local hangout with bench seating and less service ), named Vecchia Bettola. Had the most famous Pasta with vodka sauce and fried zucchini. Bestesttt!
Florence was an amazing experience, but now we are off to Cinque terre, rugged portion of coast of the Ligurian Riviera to the west of the city of La Spezia, comprising five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. All the towns are connected by trails which run alongside the ocean, also connected by trains which stop at all towns and also by boat. The sea was rough the day we were there so we took the trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola and the rest was done by trains. We stayed in Monterosso, in a boutique hotel, Albergo margerita.
Its breathtaking views cannot be explained, just see pics.
We had dinner at Belvedere, patio facing the seashore, it has some of the best seafood in town. Lobsters cooked in earthen pot and home made tiramisu. YUM!
Next on our itinerary is Rome, the city of all things ancient. City is huge, much like Paris, the vibe is great. We stayed in a townhome, Casa Montani, that was housed in one of the oldest buidlings, in Piazza del Poppolo. Location was great, we walked to Spanish Steps, Trevi fountain and the Pantheon. Its also amidst the fashion centre and some cool restaurants. The owner was a very sweet man and also very hip, Giuseppe Montani, he told us all the great spots to hang out. We had just 2 days and we didnt want to do everything, so we just chose a few and chillaxed in lounges as it was the last destination in our trip.
Went to TAD, a concept store of all things design conceived as a 1,000 sqm home, the store seduces the shopping psyche with fashion, food, fragrances and flowers.
Lunch at Gusto, osteria, pizzeria, formageria, enoteca bar, ristorante and a cooking workshop/bookshop.
Drinks in a relaxed eclectic lounge Etabli, in the lively Piazza navona area.
We had roadside Pizzas and gelatos and ended day one in Rome.
Next day our plan was to hit the Colosseo, weather didn’t play nice and we had to buy those ugly ponchos on the street. Thank god for the Gladiator movie, I sorta knew all the history behind this one!
Lunch was had at AO Rome, evening relaxation at Re cafe.
We finished Rome by going to a Fashion Show, showcasing Romanian culture.
We didn’t get to the see the Sistine Chapel or the Vatican, but I absolutely loved the time we spent in all the cool spots and just relaxing in one of the great cities in the world.
Well, we are not really backpackers, I like my clothes and shoes, so I could say we are large rolling dufflers. Our itinerary was set atleast 2 months before our trip even though there were some last minute additions, I would definitely say its good to book your hotels, visas (yes, the unfortunate few have to get them, even for Europe) well in advance as most hotels have a 7-day cancellation policy, you do have flexibility if you want to change hotels.
We did have an aggressive schedule: Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam had to be covered in a week and the next one week in Italy. Few of the good decisions we made, definitely not my heavy luggage, were deciding to stay in places that had some significance and activating our iphones so we can leave our laptops behind.
First off Paris, we stayed in a boutique hotel called Le Bellechasse, designed by the fashion designer Christian Lacroix. Our room was one of the original room with a tub in the room and design textures all around.
Sightseeing started off with the Louvre Museum, checking out some of my favorite Neo Classical art and Renaissance art. Spent atleast 2 hours there, being as a tour guide to Sun shedding some of my art history knowledge. I was amazed by all the sizes of the canvas, even though I learnt that in my school days, until you see it, you dont really realise it. And then we saw the most hyped up Mona Lisa, for some reason I am not a big fan of her.
We walked around the city, taking in the beauty, crossing the Seine (pronounced Sen) and going into the most cultural buzzling area called St.Michel. here you can find all kinds of food, roadside food stalls, cheap eats and line of bars.
That night being my birthday eve, I followed Sun’s plans of taking me to a fancy dinner. Yay, I am up for that. We went to Les Ombres, famous chef Arno Busquet delighted us with some of his best culinary treats while we saw the Eiffel tower glittering. It was magical!
Next day we took a day trip to Brussels and had all the Belgian favorites, Mussels, waffles, chocolates, beer and frittes. A day was more than enough to cover all this and tour around the town hall/market square.
Back in Paris, although we tried to take the metro, it was kinda ridiculous to spend 3e each, instead we could go anywhere in taxi for less than 10e. So our lazy asses went on taxi everywhere, but we had more day to tour around.
I am gonna skip writing about the usual touristy spots such as Champs, Notre Dame, Eiffel and rather just show you pics. Its wonderful and you must go there but try to do a quickie as there is lot more city you will need to explore.
Few things you shouldn’t miss while you are there: Macarons from Laduree, Crepes from any roadside stand, Baguette Sandwich and roaming around St.Michel, (window) shopping in Champ!
Paris is every woman’s dream, so is mine. I know I will be back very soon.
We leave to Amsterdam next, by Eurail (we got a 8-day pass for unlimited travel). There we stayed in a houseboat in the Rembrandsplien area. It was as central as it could get; all the night clubs, coffee shops are in this area along with the Dam Sq and Red light district within a 15 min walking radius.
Houseboats usually have a 3 nt minimum, but we managed to get one for 2 nts for 500e, although for this price you could have got a more fancier ours had the view, and the location was simply superb.
Amsterdam is definitely one place you should go when you are young.. Enjoy the heart thumping music, drink till 7am and then have the energy to do afterparties till 12pm.. Insane. We did our part by going to Bulldog, Escape, WoktoWalk till 5am.
Went to one of the coolest interactive museum, House of Bols, to discover the world behind genever and liqueurs. Unmask the truth behind taste, aroma and smell in their Hall of taste. We also had some bartending flair lessons and a open bar to taste their flavors. I totally recommend anyone to go here!
Right across from here is the Van Gogh Museum. Although he is a crazy man, absolutely anyone will love his work done while going through some of his tough times.
Here in Holland, you dont have any problems with speaking in English, and you will find that the place is really multi cultural. There are plenty of Indonesian restaurants, as Indonesia was one of the Dutch East Indies. Also mediterranean food aplenty. Funky design stores are all over the place, just step right in and you can buy a small kitchen tool that may or maynot be very useful but will look so cool. Bicycles are the biggest means of transport so if you dont look either side you will be kissing the curb.
Three things you dont miss in Ams: Wok wok and wok.. fast food wok with Indonesian Lombok sauces so yum, works best for hangovers.
With this I conclude three out of four countries here, with a single underlying tourist principle, walk around, eat local specials, talk to strangers and just live the life of locals for a single day and see the city through their eyes. Forget the agenda, skip the lines to these museums, you are here to experience new cultures and keep that as your priority.
It reads GALLERY. What a brilliant use of light and shadow. I am just so amazed. Love it!
56 Leonard St in 3beca NYC by Herzog & de Meuron.
omg I know exactly where.
See more images on designboom (recommended).
I tried to login tumblr today and I was noticing that they have increased their headers font sizes to ~40px, then I started to wonder how does the other social networking sites have their login info and I wanted to do a comparison.
Here are some of the sites I visit everyday.
Personally I like to bump up the font sizes but I think Tumblr has gone little overboard. This is way too big to makes me uncomfortable even and its probably suited for audiences under 8 yrs old.
Ning, uses a simple and straight forward login screen. Two things I would have done it differently, the word “Sign” is repeated for about 6 times in this single page. And the arrow art is used for both a button and as a tab thats not clickable.
Last FM, the site I used to love to return before the redesign. aaah, now its just another music site. Login fields are quietly present in a corner in the homepage, where I think a little more design or a nicer layout could be used. And I wonder why their buttons are so lifeless.
Vimeo, I love everthing the illustrations in this login page. I am sure every designer would too. We dont get to see such rich experiences in a public service site. But I also hope they dont change it out when they become huge and have “business asks”.
Threadless, now this is the kind of login screen I think should be used everywhere. Seamless logins. No getting out of the page, just a rollover on Login and you get the input fields. CLEAN!
JPG, is another service that has seamless login. It has the slick function of input fields appearing in the header when you click Log In. So its a part of the page at all times. WIN!
I think that summarizes my little study on logins today!
Ofcourse I have left out the giants like Yahoo/Google/AOL/Facebook as I wanted to compare only the newer & nicer social networks.