Ecuador: Quilotoa Loop, Guest post

It's our meet-a-versary.  Three years ago today, James and I met. Which brought us to some of our best memories, including our first BIG trip. We went to Ecuador!

There was one part worth noting: The Quilotoa Loop

If you're going to Ecuador and backpacking, this is the route for you.

James:

The Quilotoa Loop is a little off the beaten path.  Some choose to hike the whole loop, while others take buses or hitch rides with locals.  We chose to start by bus from Latacunga.  The road curves around switchbacks up and down the edges of mountain sides for what felt like an eternity.  The views are incredible for nearly the entire ride.

We hopped off the bus at Chugchilan in search of the Black Sheep Inn.  After realizing that the town of Chugchilan was not very large, we strolled around and decided that it wasn't worth the price.  We booked a room at Mama Hilda's for nearly 1/6th the price of Black Sheep Inn, and the cost included breakfast and dinner (both of which were really good).  It was cold that night, but there were plenty of blankets to stay warm under.

After breakfast, we ended up getting a ride from a local up to the top of the Quilotoa Crater.  What a view!  The crater descends a little over 900 feet (280-meters) to a beautiful lake.  Once a massive volcano, it has remained dormant for a long time.  We forgot to reserve mules to ride back to the top before heading down, but it ended up being alright as there was a lady stationed at the bottom who literally yelled up the crater for people to send down mules for us.  I ended up hiking out and got to the top just before the mules arrived with April and the others we met during the hike.

We hopped back into the pickup truck to continue around the loop to Posada de Tigua - a bed and breakfast / farm.

The family who runs this place was extremely friendly and giving.  The second we walked in we were given a bowl of amazing quinoa soup.  After settling into a room, we spent the rest of the day walking around the grounds taking in the scenery, watching children round up the sheep and bring them back from the pastures, watched llamas and the family dogs and cats play with each other.

I learned how to milk cows and then, for some reason... I drank that milk immediately after milking it!  In retrospect, that was quite a dumb decision but luckily I didn't get any crazy sickness. They actually use the milk to make all sorts of foods, such as fresh cheese, cream, yogurt, butter and caramel.

The next day we caught a ride up the 2-kilometer driveway from Posada de Tigua  out to the main road and waited until a bus came, which we eventually took back to Latacunga.  It was a great two day adventure full of good food, wild rides, and amazing views.

"What comes after G?" a welcome back to school post

School started.

Meeting new students is always nerve racking.  I  was having teacher nightmares, you know, the one where my alarm doesn't go off and there's a room full of students and no teacher and I get a phone call asking me where I am and if I know what time it is.  Sigh.

However, this year has already shown some real hurdles. For example, when labeling papers from A-Z, one student stopped at G. I told her to continue and she said, "I don't know what comes next"
I told her "H".  
She stared at me.  I said it again, "H".  
More staring.  
Then I said, "hache"
Finally, she wrote down an H.

I am supposed to get this girl to pass a NY state science regents exam.  The same exam you and I would take in high school.  It isn't fair.  But guess what?  
I already got this girl to pass the regents.
She's just in my class again because she failed my class.

I started the year off with an activity I did with my Sci-Ed group.  The Marshmallow Challenge!
Here's the Marshmallow Challenge TED Talk. It's a real thing! Thousands of people have done it!

I give instructions through a prezi  and have the kids build the tallest structure they can out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, 1 yard of tape, 1 yard of string, and it must have a marshmallow sitting on top.

When I tried it, I wanted to snap all the spaghetti sticks and throw them across the room.  
Compared to me and my rage filled angst against marshmallows during this activity, my kids did rather well.  
The time constraint did not faze them at all.  
The time constraint made me go nuts.

It's hard to say how this year will go.  
I am trying to keep my kids terrified for now.
I'm just kidding.  
Sort of.
My little nephew is helping me keep my game face on.  
Look at his face. This kid is not having it.

I think its true what they say, don't smile until January.  

It's still summer. Thank god.

Today I had brunch with my sister and Christina.  It was a gorgeous day!

We went to Jacob's Pickles in the upper west side.  The portions make me want to do lunges as I eat. I didn't eat the grits.  There was a helluva lot of cheddar in the grits and that freaked me out.

I also didn't eat the bacon, but I repurposed them in my dinner. (farmers market tomatoes, basil and bacon with ricotta arugula ravioli). I can't believe my basil plant is still alive.

We went through a street fair afterward and stopped at a thrift store.  Apparently, buying everything in 3's really helps save money.  Plus my sister haggled with the vendors since she is still in Egypt mode. We bought three lockets and three dresses!

After my sister left, Christina and I proceeded to have real talk. This is where I basically give her advice she didn't ask for.  I give her advice because I know how tough it is to be in your mid-twenties.  I'm so glad my tumultuous 20's are almost over. 

Although, I'm quite fond of 29.  Maybe my thirties can wait. 

If anyone knows me, they know my cousins too.  After all, I'm Amy's maid of honor and she's mine. 

Our families all came to this country together and weekends and holidays were always jam packed with family.  We might be all separated now, but we keep in touch. We call for advice. We tell each other everything. We listen. It's nice. 

Here's an old picture of me and Amy.  Victor and Christina are there too. Apparently, we are having a blast.

I don't know if we were friends at this age  (age 7?).  I think our parents put us together in a room and hoped for the best.

James is on some hiking trip.  He is carrying everything he needs for two days on this back and hiking up mountains.  I wasn't invited and that's totally okay with me.  I'm not good with inclines.

Life in Washington State and Oregon

New York City had a heat wave while I was away. HA!
I was away in Washington State and Oregon for 3 weeks.

Two weeks was spent in the drier side of Washington State, Richland.  I was selected to participate in a science teacher enrichment program called Siemens Teachers as Researchers (STARs).

The program was pretty amazing.  I even received a small stipend for school supplies! Teachers get to pair up with scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and work on research projects. For two weeks, I got to work alongside a environmental geologist who is working on a way to store supercritical carbon dioxide deep in underground aquifers. Other teachers had similar project goals with their mentors but instead of hiding CO2 underground they were working on making molecules that absorb CO2.  Another super cool project was storing hazardous waste in glass a process called vitrification.  

Everything was ridiculously technical and the multimillion dollar equipment was highly complex. I kept thinking to myself, "Holy crap, these scientists are so smart. Or I must be kind of stupid. Wait no, I'm normal and these people are crazy smart."

Everything was paid for: lodging, food, and tours!  Tours such as the first nuclear reactor and the Wild Horse Wind Farm and Solar Facility.  I didn't think the wind farm would be all that interesting but it was!  I took some cool videos and got to learn more about how they work! FYI, they make you wear helmets and goggles on the tour, hence the geeky photo.

The hotel was right next to a lovely lake with a great running trail.  I ran almost every day at sunset!

I left dry and hot Richland for Portland, Oregon.  My roommate from the program, Amanda, was nice enough to drive me all the way there!  I met James, Amy, and Chris in Portland. James and I were on a mission: engagement photos for Amy and Chris!  James mostly photographs places and nature (on his website) but I think these turned out really spectacular.  Here's one of my favorites, an impromptu shot at the famous Multnomah Falls:

First of all, Portland was warm during the day but cold at night. It was July and I was freezing.  I was not prepared!
We enjoyed delicious meals and beer  flights at Andina (peruvian tapas), Deschutes (brewery), and Rogue (brewery), and the green machine roll with albacore at Bamboo Sushi (sustainable fish!).

We also waited in line for VooDoo donuts. (worth the wait!)

James and I eventually took off for Washington State but first stopped at Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park.  Its weird to go to a beach in July and be cold. The views were gorgeous and worth the stop!

Then to Olympic National Park for some hiking. This park has mountains, rainforests, beaches, and lakes!

We took the Mt. Storm King trail to get a view of Crescent Lake.  This trail was trying to end me. 
2.2 miles each way on a relentless steep incline. GAHHHH.  I can't believe James didn't freak out on me. I was being such a whiner on the way up.

"Whyyyy?"
"I can't move anymore"
"Make it stop!"
"I don't even want to see the view anymore!"
"I can't feel my legs"

We eventually got to sit and eat lunch overlooking Crescent Lake. Needless to say, I would not recommend this trail unless you like hiking on steep trails that hurt your legs.

Next stop, Seattle!  My friend Fauna moved to Seattle recently and has become an expert on it overnight!  We had the best food, the best being a urban Korean restaurant called Revel (carrot cumin pancake with roasted lemon yogurt and green curry dumplings!) and brunch at Portage Bay (get the french toast with breakfast bar and load up on fresh berries!).

Eat like you give a damn!

We got to spend time walking to different parks and neighborhoods. It's really green out west (literally, lots of trees but also lots of green people composting, recycling everything, banning plastic bags, and using reusable bags!)

Some park with astroturf!

Gasworks Park with Fauna!

I had a rough transition back to NYC. It's always crazy here. 
But I think this is where I belong. 

I have news.

According to my dad, July 4th is America's birthday. 

Why not celebrate with a shiny, shiny ring?

I'm engaged!!!

On July 4th, two years ago, James and I packed a picnic and headed to Central Park.  

We laid around, ate food, watched people pass by. The weather was warm and sunny.

He turned to me and said, "I love you" for the first time.

It was a nice moment.

We left to meet up with friends and watch the fireworks over the Hudson River, holding hands.

This July 4th was particularly hot, but James insisted on a picnic.  We woke up, drank our iced coffee and prepared a tortellini salad and baguette sandwiches.

We talked about our favorite memories, traveling through Ecuador, visiting Asheville, North Carolina, lazy beach days, cooking new foods, seeing amazing concerts, and all the great things we have done together.

Then a ring box appeared and I freaked out.

I said, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?" 

And then said yes.

We swiftly got some macarons at Bouchon Bakery and hopped a cab downtown.  I thought we were going to dinner but instead James booked an amazing corner suite in the Standard Hotel  right on the HighLine in the meatpacking district overlooking the Hudson River.  We had fancy drinks in the hotel roof restaurant, listened to live jazz music, and ate some chocolate covered strawberries (sneakily sent to us from Nasir).

We drank bubbly (brought over by Rachel!) while the fireworks went off.  We could see and hear the fireworks perfectly from our room, in air conditioning. Thank god because was crazy hot outside and I get really irritated when I'm hot. 

The next day we slept in and ordered room service (brioche french toast with candied walnuts and bananas and a pot of coffee). 

We met my cousin Christina the next day in the west village at Davids Tea and we started talking about the ring.

Me: "I would have been okay if you didn't get me a diamond. A sapphire would have been fine.  I don't want anyone to die for a diamond."

James: "Someone probably died for the sapphires too"

Christina: "Well in that case, I'll take TWO diamonds"

Luckily, James bought an eco-friendly, conflict-free diamond with recycled gold from a wonderful NYC based jeweler, Ken & Dana Design. They even donate to non-profit organizations from every engagement ring sold!

They were extremely accommodating when James busted through their door and wanted a ring in a week. Their style is unique and you can even choose the diamond/gemstone you want.  Some of the designs remind me of fairly tales and look like tree roots wrapping around the diamond.  So pretty!  We cannot recommend them enough!

Thanks to everyone to sent us good wishes.  It means a lot.

The Color Run: Cornstarch at its Best

James, Rachel and I decided to wake up on a Sunday before 6 am to trek to Brooklyn and run a 5K.
Totally worth it!

The Before!

The Color Run is quite possibly the easiest 5K to run! Hence, the slogan "Happiest 5K on the planet!" People of all ages (even kids in strollers!)  participate!  No one is timing you!
You know what that means?

 #IM TOTALLY WINNING

Here are some Color Run Tips

1. Wear sunglasses. The volunteers throwing cornstarch at you have no training and will throw it in your face.

2. Run through the color stations TWICE, Rachel ran through the orange station with not a drop of orange on her.  I guess thats what free labor will get you. Which brings me to the next tip.

3. Slow down and tell the color volunteers, "HIT ME!" and they will. Maybe in your face.

4. Don't bother wearing earphones. Don't carry too much, there's no where to hold your stuff unless your VIP.  I know its not the 80's, but a fanny pack would have been nice. Ask your grandma if she has one.  Put everything in a ziploc!

5. We ran during a heat wave.  It WAS HOT HOT HOT.
 SWEAT + BLUE cornstarch= you need to scrub your skin off to get back to regular human color. Your loofah will be your best friend.

6. The Color Run says to save your color packet until the end. But at the end, we were like, "OK, now what?"  The DJ will tell you when to throw the color.  We figured that out three minutes too late.

7. We took the shuttle and the bus but if someone drives bring something to sit on so you don't leave a rainbow butt stain in their car like we did on the subway. FYI, there was lots of parking available in the Brooklyn site.

There some some freebies at the end of the run. Some yogurt ice pops, HonestTea, drink samples, Kind granola bars, etc.  There were tons of runners dancing near the music stage (thats where you wait to throw the color packet).  If you're running with friends, make sure you get different color packets when you pick up your T-shirt and bib.  We got a lot of blue/teal.  We wanted purple! We should've switched them out!

The AFTER!

Lastly, remember to blow your nose when your done. 
...It's not going to look like a rainbow.

Summer. Finally.

Summer finally arrived and school finally ended. 

GAH. FINALLY.

The last few days are kind of depressing.
I proctor exams (BORING) and I clean my classroom (also boring).  My students did well on the regents exams. Even if they do well, I always tell them that they can do better.  My mother always told me, "You can never be number one.  The best you can do is come in second place.  There will always be someone who can beat you." Good advice, I think.  Why bother being number one when someone is always trying to take you down?  I will gladly take second place.

I started my summer seeing some awesome shows. James got us tickets to see a French band called Caravan Palace at Irving Plaza. Think of gypsy music meets electronica/ techno.  The band jumps around the stage while they play music.  And the audience follows.  Lots of sweaty dancing!
James got some good photos of the band in between the jumping. 

   James' dad was in town this week and since he is apart of a gypsy jazz band, the Hot Club of Saratoga, he of course wanted to check out the Django Reinhardt Festival at Birdland. The show was AMAZING. The band was ridiculously talented!  Each player in the band was flown in just to play in the festival and I can see why. They were great!  Check out Anat Cohen, killing it on the clarinet. I now have new respect for the clarinet.  

    I have a busy summer ahead.  A summer program called Siemens STEM STARs in Washington State, then a trip to Portland (Amy!) and Seattle (Fauna!), and a wedding in New Hampshire with stops in Saratoga Springs and Boston.  I want to get some camping in too.  James and I got to camp for one night this summer at Little Pond campground.  It was nice to sit by a fire and eat perfectly melty smores. It was pretty cold at night but hopefully, the next time we camp, it will be warm and we will get to kayak!

   

Storm King

You know, if you name a sculpture park a badass name like, STORM KING, people will go.
James and I recently went to Storm King with our good friends, Tom and Pooja. It was such a beautiful day. Too bad New York has become a rainforest since.

(FYI, storm king give discounts to zipcar members!)

We had a picnic in view of the sculptures and drank ice coffee while seeing the exhibits.So fancy.

















But the best part?
A plain black wall.

Highly recommended. You can even rent bikes here! Although, I think they have like, three bikes. 

Classy Pasta and Soaking Wet Socks

Where do I begin?
Oh right, I spent a day in the rain. 
At an all-day concert called Governors Ball

 There was more mud than you could imagine.  It rained all day. Seriously, non-stop.  I spent the day cold and wet.  There is only so much a rain jacket can do. We heard the music mostly, because umbrellas covered the view and the mud was sucking you into the ground. Eating was impossible (hello rain drenched sandwiches!) and drinking beer meant long lines at the scary dark port-a-potties.
AND James destroyed his new pair of socks. 

FUN TIMES at the GOVERNORS BALL. 


 We're planning on going next year.

       In better, drier news, I am getting closer to becoming the ultimate fighting ravioli champion.  James and I took another pasta class at Brooklyn Kitchen.  They have all sorts of classes, like vietnamese street food, dumpling making, bagel making, and vegetarian dinners.
        Our instructor, Kat, was super nice.  I think she tried to talk too fast, it was a little confusing at times but in the end, our pasta turned out way better than our first try a few weeks ago.  Kat taught us a way to make pasta that was easier and cleaner than the Sur La Table pasta class method.  

Take a look at these herbed ricotta raviolis in brown butter sage sauce. Let the drooling commence!

Student-to-student advice

Student 1: (frowns at her partner) Finish the paper.

Student 2: ... uh, I didn't bring a pencil today

Student 1: (sighs) What were you thinking? 
                 You came to school, not a party

Fried Rice with Kale and other stuff

I have about ten students who leave my class early to go to lacrosse practice.  
Today, I had them stay for a few minutes to get the worksheets. And this conversation ensued.

Student 1: "Miss, I don't know why they have to miss class.  All they do is lose."
Student 2: "Yeah, they haven't won a single game all season"
Student 3: "They lose all the time, by a lot of points."

Me: (grabs the plastic tyrannosaurus rex and points it to the class)  Hey now! We are all winners at heart! 

Silence....

Student 1: "They may be winners at heart, but definitely not winners in lacrosse"
__________________________________________________

Anyways, after a long day of teaching and night class, I went home and decided to make fried rice for dinner.

Recipe: Fried Rice with Kale and other stuff

Keep in mind, I am totally making up these proportions.  
I didn't measure anything.

Makes 1.5 servings or 1 hungry person serving

2 cups leftover white rice
2 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine
1 tsp sugar or agave
1/2 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp oyster sauce

1 egg + 1 tsp water (scrambled with dash salt, garlic,  and pepper)

Diced vegetables
Kale, onion, carrots, broccoli, scallions, frozen peas

Optional stuff to add in
pineapple, cilantro, kimchi (not both, that might be weird, wait no, maybe both, do what you want)

1. Cook egg first, like an omelette. 
2. Take out of pan and let cool.
3. Saute veggies (onions, carrot, broccoli, scallions) in vegetable oil for a few minutes. Add kale last. 
4. Turn up the heat and add the rice.  Saute for a few minutes with the veggies.
5. Add the soy sauce mixture. Really stir it around. 
6. Roll up the egg, chop it up and add it to the rice. Stir.
7. Finish by adding frozen peas and cilantro. Turn off stove, the peas will lose color if you cook them too much.

I ate the fried rice with kimchi on the side. 
Mama O's kimchi.  YUM.

I forgot to use butter. I wanted to use butter because I see all the hibachi chefs add butter when they are working their fancy grill. But I forgot.  
I guess I'm no hibachi chef.  Just a girl with a pot and a yellow spatula.

Volunteer week

It's volunteer week!  I am the school chaperone for all NYCares volunteer events so I spent my Saturday with my students fixing up Jackie Robinson Park, which is super easy to get to for me. But for my students, not so much.

The phone calls and texts ensued Saturday morning:

Student 1: "Miss, I'm lost. I'm in Central Park. I think I missed my stop"  

Student 2: "Miss, I'm lost. I'm in St. Nicholas Park"

Student 3&4: "Miss, we're lost.  We're on Broadway and all we see is a McDonalds"

Student 5: "Miss, I'm lost. I see a sign that says Lenox.  Do you know where I am?"

Student 6 & 7: Miss, we're lost.  People keep telling us the wrong directions.  It's okay miss, we'll use our GSP"

Oh my. GSP.
I give them props for even trying to make it to the volunteer event.  Also worth noting, the directions I gave them, with very clear instructions on how to get to the site, might as well have been in chinese.

We were assigned to paint the lines in the basketball courts.  Here's the before and after.

14 students participated.  For a Saturday morning, I'm surprised anyone showed up.  They all did a great job!

Lastly, I wonder if cutting out meat in my diet will only make me eat more sweets. Let's me think about this as we look at these hostess cupcake style cookies I made. 

 I got a little frosting happy. The last cookie was a tester.  It was ugly, but I ate it anyways. I might have overcooked some of them because they were a little dry but I ate them too. Frosting very easily covers that right up.  The recipe is here.

Carbo-loading

Recently, a good friend, Sharon, planned a NYC pizza tour! I was only able to hang out for half of it, but I left really full so I'm not sure how long I would have lasted anyways.  I still have a few pizza joints to try in New York, but summer vacation is coming soon.  Good time to carbo-load.

Behold!   Artichoke Pizza and plain slice at  Joe's Pizza in Greenwich village.  FYI, the artichoke pizza is super filling and tastes like spinach artichoke dip on bread. 

We continued to Motorino Pizza in the East Village.  Check out the ramps pizza with fior di latte and the seriously amazing brussel sprout pizza (we omitted the pancetta and it was still good!)

I still have yet to try Krescendo and Di Fara in Brooklyn!  Both are supposed to be awesome.

After eating at three pizza joints, we went to the Tompkins Sq. park to, of course, eat cupcakes from Molly's cupcakes, west village.

Holler to the chocolate frosted chocolate cupcake I ate. 

We spent the rest of the weekend at the Brooklyn Flea.  It was super crowded.  We had other food, but it was forgettable.I bought a really cute shirt and this also very adorable lobster roll from Red Hook Lobster.  We got to eat by the water and enjoy the view!

James and I took a class at the Brooklyn Kitchen called "Mystery Basket."  It was a gift from my cousin Amy and her boyfriend Chris.  Best present ever! That whole place is super cool and the store area has interesting products like DIY mozzarella kits.    The instructor was really nice and we had a great time.  We were split into two teams and given two different baskets.  The mystery ingredients were...

BARLEY MISO!
DRIED APPLES!
WHOLE FREE RANGE CHICKEN!

The pantry had random stuff from the brooklyn kitchen store, like brussel sprouts, organic flour, meyer lemons, and chicken broth.
The other basket had some sort of sliced ham, rainbow chard, and habanero peppers.  They made this kickass habanero cornbread.  We seared and roasted our chicken with miso and made an apple miso jus to drizzle over it, roasted brussels sprouts and sunchokes with agave syrup glaze, and some chili polenta squares with dried apples.  I think we're going back to take another class about pasta.  Because, you know, my goal in life is to one day be the ultimate ravioli lady....

That doesn't sound cool.  I need to rethink this title.

Spring break: Keeping Texas Weird

I spent spring break in Austin, Texas.  And came back to a whole LOT of stress. Seriously, I freaked out. My poor students.  I get crazy with them when I'm stressed.  

Austin felt like a suburban mix of hipsters and real life people. I wish I went to SXSW, but then again, it was nice to be able to SEE Austin instead of maneuvering through the people.

Why Texas?  Well, I've always wanted to go and we needed to pick a place. It was a cousins trip! We got to eat, drink, and go to the zoo!

 Don't worry, the turtle is not dead.  Life's hard.

This peacock was showing off. Strutting her stuff at the zoo without a cage!

I hope you get to visit Austin one day because the food truck scene is AMAZING.  It makes me want to quit my job and start a food truck.  

Patika coffee truck!

 Austin has a cool saying, "Keep Austin Weird."  And it is weird. Because everyone is super nice.  And that was weird.

 I enjoy coming back to the city though, we have a few food truck gems too.  Such as the Wafels and Dinges truck. Which smears fresh, hot wafels with a spekuloos creme, thats like some sort of highly addictive cookie butter. See below.  

Drool. I'm not even on twitter and I follow the tweets from the wafels and dinges truck.

     James and I are trying out a pescatarian diet this month. We couldn't give up sushi, but meat we can do.   I look forward to some of the new recipes I will try. Stay tuned!