Tag Archives: food

Gorgeous Granada

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Uncategorized, Whitney and tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

I wanted to post this yesterday, but our internet was down for a good portion of the day. Sorry for the delay!

Friday afternoon we took the train to Granada for an overnight visit. We had a small 3-car commuter train, but it was really clean and comfortable. The ride was rather pleasant, and the 3-hour trip gave us some lovely views of the Andalusian countryside.

Santa Justa station

We stayed at the Hotel Los Tilos, which was centrally located on the Plaza Bib-Rambla. We really liked the hotel and the location, and the price of our room (55€) included breakfast.

One funny thing was that the bed only had one super long pillow that we had to share. Good thing we aren’t pillow hogs!

the view from our room

After we unpacked, we took a walk over to the Albayzin neighborhood to have a look around. All the guide books say that it can get pretty sketchy at night, so we thought we’d take a peek before the sun went down. There wasn’t a whole lot going on over there anyway, so we hiked to the highest point to check out the great views of the Alhambra. At the top, we stopped for a few minutes at the Plaza de San Nicolás to listen to a flamenco performance by two guitarists. They were obviously busking for tourists but it was a nice backdrop to the beautiful panorama (see the top of this post).

There was a café perched just below the square so we decided to stay for a drink and a coffee.

"Señor Tercera-meter" was with us (it was Friday, after all)

Next, we headed back to the hotel to grab a coat before our nighttime visit of the Alhambra. Granada was pretty warm during the day, but once the sun went down it was freezing since it’s up in the mountains. I’m going to give both Alhambra visits (we went both Friday night and again Saturday morning) their own post tomorrow since there are so many pictures to share.

the view at night

We finished with our visit around 9pm (only the Nasrid Palace is open for evening entrance) and grabbed some dinner. If we hadn’t been so hungry, we would have just gone to a couple of bars since the custom in Granada is for bars to offer free tapas with drinks. We had to turn down some tasty-looking items because we were too full (though I did have some of a baked potato concoction)! We checked out a few bars on the Calle de Elvira, which was pretty packed with college students (the University of Granada is a large presence there) and walked around a bit before heading home so we could get up early for our second Alhambra visit.

the cathedral at night

Plaza Nueva

The next day – after our second Alhambra visit – we are lunch, walked around town some more and then stopped at a churrería for some churros y chocolate. I had been telling Jared that we couldn’t leave without having some, and he kept teasing me that he thought it should be a churro-free trip. I won.

spices and teas for sale outside the cathedral

this was the portion for ONE PERSON.

left to my own devices, I probably would have just drunk the leftover chocolate

As you can see, the portion sizes were huge. Jared took one for the team and ate a churro just to help me out. Once we were full of churros we went back to the hotel to check our email and grab our bags for the walk back to the train station. It was another beautiful day and we could see the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountains  in the distance. It was a gorgeous farewell from Granada after such a fun visit!

the view from the train platform

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Santa Cruz-ing

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Whitney and tagged with , , , , , ,

The first thing that we did to orient ourselves to the city was to walk over to the Santa Cruz neighborhood. Since we’re up in the northwest, we had to walk through the center of town to get to Santa Cruz and it took us through a good cross section of Seville. It was also at the top of Jared’s sightseeing list so…two birds with one stone. I just took pictures of everything I thought was pretty to capture my first impressions of the city, so these are presented without much comment.

On the way home, we stopped by the Central Market below the Metropol Parasol to shop for dinner (we’re going to go up and check out the viewing platform next week). It was so cheap that we got a ton of food for under 15 Euros – including a kilo of strawberries! We’ve been shopping there a lot since, and the quality is excellent! It’s easy to get into the lifestyle here, and our budget is certainly not complaining.

We’re on our way to Granada today so have a great weekend and I have lots to share next week!

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Bon Anniversaire, Jared!

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Whitney and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

For those of you who don’t know, Jared’s birthday was last Friday the 13th (spooky). We had a low-key but fun celebration to round out our month in Nice.

We woke up and ate a hearty breakfast before taking a walk around the “small Cap,” the little arm that juts off of the east side of Cap Ferrat. It wasn’t as involved as our walk around the “large Cap,” but it was no less scenic and it felt nice to get some fresh air.

the birthday boy at the head of the trail

When we got to the end of the trail we walked up the hill to Chapel Saint-Hospice to see the giant bronze statue of the Madonna and Child. She was quite a sight!

I know I'm short, but STILL

After three months I was sorely in need of a haircut, and sadly Jared can’t cut my hair like I can cut his. Since we were already coming into town for dinner, Molly made me an appointment with her hairdresser – who is conveniently located next door to her apartment building. It was challenging to figure out how to talk about hair in French (I didn’t realize how limited my vocab was on that subject until the time came), but in the end I got what I wanted.

she styled it for dinner!

We had some champagne with Molly and Chris at their place and then headed out for a date at Molly’s favorite restaurant, Gaglio.

yes, that's covered in caramel.

Dinner was excellent and we had a really nice waiter who chatted with us about our trip. After dinner we walked around the old town a bit until we were ready to go home (Chris drove us).

The next day we spent packing and cleaning, until at about 7pm the power went out to the whole house! I think it was France telling us to chill out and enjoy our last evening. We couldn’t cook, so we made sandwiches with what we had left and had a candlelit dinner. How romantic. Thankfully the power came back on around 10pm so we were able to finish up packing and didn’t have to get up super early the next day.

Our flight on Sunday wasn’t until 3pm, so Molly came over to help us clean the apartment and get it ready for the next tenants. Then Chris arrived with the kids to drive us to the airport. We got off without any hitches (except for a momentary heart attack when the agent who checked us in couldn’t find in the system that we had pre-purchased an extra bag) and made it to Sevilla in the evening and settled into our cute place. But that’s a post for tomorrow!

We had a wonderful time spending the month with Molly and her family. We were so totally spoiled by them. Plus, we will miss having friends to see on a regular basis! So far, everyone in Spain is really nice even if we can’t understand each other, so we have felt very welcomed here as well.

thanks, guys!

Les Malades

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Whitney and tagged with , , , , , ,

In case you can’t tell, that’s a thermometer in my mouth. Yes, I am sick. We are both sick. With tonsillitis.

Jared started feeling bad last week (so this probably wasn’t helped by NYE but wasn’t cased by it either) and we finally threw in the towel and took him to Molly’s doctor this week (who didn’t find anything but ordered a blood test). I was feeling fine until last night when I spiked a fever, but was feeling better this morning. We got the blood test results that said Jared had some kind of inflammation so we went to an ENT specialist today who finally diagnosed him and ordered antibiotics. I think I’ll have to go back to Molly’s doctor tomorrow and get the same course of prescriptions because by the time we got home, my fever had come back and I had a swollen throat.

Though it really blows to be sick while were away from home, I thank our lucky stars that it happened while we were in France. Not only did we have an inside track to doctors here, but I was actually able to talk to them and explain to Jared what they were saying. It has been highly taxing to speak my dusty French in a medical setting, but I’ve been getting by and Molly has helped to fill in the gaps at the pharmacy and with the lab, etc. In short, we are well taken care of.

It’s highlighted a key difference that we’ve enjoyed here in France: the people are extremely outwardly friendly and helpful. I know that a large part of that is because I am able to communicate with them, but I can’t tell you the number of strangers who have gone out of their way to help us even before they knew I could talk to them (usually when we didn’t need it, but still). In Paris, a man saw us looking for our hotel and stopped to direct us. The other day a man at the bus stop saw us looking at the schedule and approached to offer assistance. When I asked the local butcher if they had rotisserie chicken, he told me to just call him up in the morning and he’d make one for me. Molly’s doctor waived his fee when he heard that we didn’t have insurance (for those who are concerned, we do have insurance, but not the kind that pays for a doctor’s visit). Croatians were friendly too, but it took a lot more to get through that initial shell, and we were frustrated that we weren’t able to make more connections with people when we were there. Here, we feel at home – even Jared who can’t speak French at all. It makes me really sad that we are stuck with being sick during our precious last week. We still have some energy though, so we’re going to try to do everything still on our list for Nice before we leave.

Luckily, when Jared started to feel bad I made a big pot of chicken soup – my first try from scratch, thankyouverymuch – so we’ve had that to comfort us and ease the cooking duties for a few days.

I’ve gotten so used to being able to easily communicate and being familiar with the customs that I fear I have been spoiled. Jared promises I will love Spain though, and I trust him!

Fancy Free In France

Posted by whitneyandjared in Finances, Jared, Travel and tagged with , , , , , , ,

I think Whitney and I feel the exact same way about France: we absolutely love it. If it were a wee bit warmer and we had a little more money, I think we could both be easily persuaded to stay here a lot longer. We have a beautiful apartment that should be well out of our price range, access to great food and wine, and sunny, (sort of) warm days.

I’ve fallen in love with the French culture. Whether it’s the food, the wine, the beautiful, charming buildings or the friendly (yes, friendly) French people themselves, all I can say is that I’ve been utterly charmed. It finally feels like we’re on the trip we wanted to be on when we planned this European adventure.

The only downside to this trip is that we’ve had a bit of a tough month financially. While my job has held steady, every other thing that we were counting on this month to help out with money fell through.

Also, finding a second job has again proven to be elusive (and very frustrating for both of us). It’s been nine months since I started looking for a second gig, and nothing has come through except for the odd small job. I’m feeling a bit restless on that front. While Whitney and I enjoy the time we have to spend together, we are still just barely scraping by. A second job would make this trip easier financially, and would allow us to stop thinking so much about money.

We knew this month was going to be tough, because our apartment was more than double our previous rent. Also, it cost us $800 to get here from Croatia, and we took a trip at the beginning of the month to Split which was $400. And our money is not going very far here in the south of France.

That said, we are only over by around $600 for the month, and since we saved roughly that same amount over the first two months, we’ve basically broken even so far.

So, below is the money breakdown for the month:

Rent: $1430

Travel: $810

Food: $1300

Entertainment: $715

Misc: $870

Next month, we will only pay $1000 for our rent in Sevilla, so we will be able to save some money there, and we should be able to get to Spain for probably about half of what it cost us to get here to France, so hopefully our expenses will be about a grand less than they were here. With a little luck, we should be able to break even.

Joyeux Noël

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Whitney and tagged with , , , , , , ,

Get ready for a lot of pictures, folks.

Though we were far away from friends and family (and missing them greatly), we still had a lovely Niçoise Christmas.

The day before Christmas Eve (so…Christmas Eve Eve) we met up with Molly and Katy and ventured into Vieux Nice to see the live crèche with musical performers and real animals. The streets were far busier than in the previous weeks, and the air was buzzing with the excitement of the holiday. Even the butcher was in the holiday spirit, and a huge line had formed to buy birds for Christmas Eve dinner.

busy butcher

bunnies!

goats

Molly jokingly wondered why Super Mario had been included in the crèche

The next day on Christmas Eve, we had a relaxing morning at home and then went into Nice as it got dark to see the lights with Molly and Katy. We had only been in town in the daytime so far, so we wanted to see everything all lit up before Christmas.We were not disappointed! Place Masséna was decked out and even more impressive than we had expected. It was also a lot more crowded too, but nothing compared to what we were used to in New York. We had a nice spot of champagne and then Katy convinced Molly to go up again on the giant Ferris Wheel (Molly “white knuckled it” the whole time).

Katy and I all spiffed up

cheers!

Katy gets a wee sip for Christmas Eve

Jared goes Byzantine

Santa!!

"Well hello, Pere Noel! I shall kindly request a brand new cravat this Christ-mas."

After that we headed to the apartment of Chris’ parents for more champange and appetizers, and to open some presents. Chris’ mother made me the most beautiful scarf – I was so surprised! I’ll get a better picture for you but it’s a blue and turquoise version of Katy’s below. Molly and Chris got me some fancy body wash and Jared got a giant scratch ticket. Everybody really went out of their way to make sure we felt welcome and included, and we are so touched by their kindness.

Katy's haul

he won 20 Euros!

even Kelly got a stocking

all in pink and ready to hit the road

Katy loves to pose for pictures while Nico actively dives out of the way (lest you think I don’t try to include him). After the presents we went over to Molly and Chris’ for dinner and to give Katy and Nico their gifts from us.

Katy taking a "tour" on the way home

Molly's beautiful table

apparently, we are special enough for the wedding china!

Limoncello!

on the way home, Chris stopped so I could take this picture

The next morning (Christmas Day!) we had some mimosas and breakfast at home and then met up at Molly and Chris’ to drive up to his family’s house in Blausasc, about 20 minutes above Nice. There was a big lively crowd of Chris’ family, and they were really fun to spend the day with. It was nice to be around someone’s family if we couldn’t be with our own! I was also feeling quite at home since I’d been up to the Blausasc house a few times on my previous visits. It was particularly cozy for Christmas Day, though.

the house

the view

gathered at the table

Here, instead of Christmas dinner they do a lunch (which I think is pretty common for Europe), and it is several courses long and paired with wine (OF COURSE). We were so full for the rest of the day that I only ate a yogurt for dinner to help digest! We started out with champagne and sausages, then moved on to homemade fois gras pâté with various breads (Molly brought gluten-free bread for Jared, because we are totally spoiled here). There was a delicious fig bread, but with the pâté my favorite was the gingerbread – I would have never thought to put them together but…wow. Then we moved on to a roast (Molly made stuffed turkey breast for me since I don’t eat beef…like I said, spoiled) accompanied by three potato gratins: regular, asparagus and violet. Then we moved on to salad and cheese – the French eat salad after their main course to aid digestion – and at this point Jared realized what I meant at the beginning of the meal when I said I was going to pace myself. Oy, the cheese! Most of it was local and they were all delicious. After that came dessert. We had a twist on the traditional bûche de Noël and had two bûches, one with lemon and raspberry sorbet and one with hazelnut and vanilla ice cream. THEN we had dried fruits and nougat, which are traditional Christmas foods of Nice. Chris’ mother explained that there are 13 traditional foods…but nobody could quite list them all at once, and I couldn’t remember them even if they did. Lastly, we had various chocolates with coffee, and Jared had to go sit down on the couch and watch some American football with Chris because he could barely move. He did choke down some Limoncello, though.

festive table settings

a souvenir from the bûche

it's amazing they are even awake in this picture

Once Jared could move again we went downstairs to the game room and worked off a few calories with some intense rounds of fooseball. Molly turned on the French 80′s music (the room doubles as the family “disco”) and Nico practiced his ping pong. We had been told there would be a tournament with a cash prize, but I think everyone was too full to make that happen. Probably for the best, as one of Chris’ relatives is some sort of ping pong champion so none of us would have stood a chance!

The shirt and belt we bought Katy - it says "Miss Katy" (we also bought her a skirt but she had ditched it at this point in the day)

Nico in action

BUUUUTTTTT!!!

Since the festivities were early in the day, we got back to our place with a lot of time to relax, digest and Skype with our families. It was really a great day. We are so happy to have been in Nice to celebrate with Molly and Chris and their extended family, and are so thankful for friends like them who make us feel a little closer to home when we are halfway around the world.

Christmas d’Azur

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Whitney and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

We’ve had a few days to explore town, so here’s a bit of a recap before the holiday craziness takes over.

First, a few shots around Saint Jean where we are staying. It’s a small village full of a lot of money, but the mansions tend to be secluded and the residents of them are pretty private so the atmosphere remains rather charming. I’ve had some lovely chats with the butcher (who told me to just call him up in the morning when I want a rotisserie chicken and he’ll get it started for me) and some other shopkeepers, and am feeling very welcomed and at home here. Jared feels that way too, but only after I translate for him. My French is improving and it’s been really rewarding to talk to locals and not feel like a total idiot!

The Côte d’Azur is dotted with small villages like ours, and each one is decorated to the nines for Christmas. They all have their own Nativity scenes (called a crèche which is French for nursery) and Saint Jean even has Christmas music playing on speakers in the village center.

a whale of a bench! har.

orange trees abound in Saint Jean (we even have one!)

crèche in Saint Jean

lights in Saint Jean

We are about a 20 minute bus ride (and two towns over) from Nice but it’s an easy commute with a beautiful view, and the bus stop is just around the corner from our house so it’s simple to get into see Molly and her family. We met up with her a few times last week and checked out the flower market (which is an antiques market on Mondays – more on that tomorrow), the Vieille Ville (Old Town), and the beautiful waterfront promenade. Thursday was a really windy day so I took a video of the waves. You can see from the photos and video why this is called the Côte d’Azur (Azure Coast).

narrow streets in Vieille Ville

chocolate shop window

I love these guys!

in front of the Palais de Justice

Palais de Justice - back

war memorial

flower market

view of the water from the market

promenade

We also walked through the Christmas village in Place Masséna in the center of Nice. The area is full of booths of crafts and treats, an ice skating rink, an enormous Ferris Wheel (more on that tomorrow) and all kinds of games and entertainment. We strolled around for a while checking out the wares, and then gorged ourselves on socca and mulled wine. Socca is a local food made from chickpea flour, olive oil and salt and is cooked in a huge cast iron pan in a wood burning oven. Then you put pepper on it and if you are us, eat it as fast as you can without burning your mouth. It’s so good. Traditionally it’s what the poor residents ate, but now it’s part of the culture of Nice (a delicious part!).

the tram

Christmas market

Jared shows off his socca

mmm, socca and mulled wine!

As much fun as we are having seeing the city, the best part has been spending time with Molly and her family. They have been awesome at getting us set up, giving us directions, suggesting activities and taking us around to fun places in Nice. We really feel like we are on vacation here!

Molly and her dog Kelly

Kelly

It’s sad to be so far away from family at Christmas, but we feel very fortunate to be spending Christmas here with good friends and beautiful surroundings.

Vive La France!

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Whitney and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

We made it to France!

We left Dubrovnik on Tuesday morning and flew to Paris with a quick stop in Zagreb, spent the night in Paris and took the EARLY TGV (high speed train) down to Nice on Wednesday. It seemed like kind of a grueling schedule when we booked it, but it actually wasn’t that bad. I’d tried to mitigate the hassle of carrying around all of our crap and getting up really early by choosing a hotel that was a block from the Gare de Lyon (train station) and taking the Air France bus from the airport that dropped us off AT the Gare de Lyon. My one worry was that the luggage wouldn’t make it to Paris with us, but it was all there shortly after we arrived at baggage claim. All in all it was a surprisingly uneventful journey, which is fine by me! We also saved over $300 by going this route rather than flying directly to Nice – even with the cost of an extra checked bag and all the incidentals, which makes everybody happy.

Leaving Dubrovnik was bittersweet. We were ready to move on, but walking back out to the plane that we had so excitedly disembarked from two months ago made it clear how much our feelings about the place had changed. Once we got to France though, I felt a lot better. I remembered how much I love it here and how nice it was to be in a place that felt somewhat like home. Jared was instantly smitten with Paris, so we will definitely be spending a month there if we can find the money to afford it.

arriving at Charles de Gaulle

our luggage made it!

Frank guards the bags while we wait for the bus

We got caught in some gnarly Paris traffic but we napped through it. Our room was nothing to write home about but it was clean, conveniently located and had a comfortable bed so we were in heaven. The hallway was the tiniest I have ever seen though! We took quick showers and went out for a really tasty dinner in the neighborhood, which was the best meal we’ve eaten so far. We kept saying we were drunk from the food because it was so fresh and satisfying. France already has a huge advantage in winning our undying love.

tiny hallway!

the view from our room - the station is just out of frame to the right

smoked salmon sandwich - YUM

Our train was at 6:49 AM and we were supposed to retrieve our tickets 45 minutes before departure so we arrived at the station at 6 AM. Even that early in the morning, the station was bustling, and it made us realize how much we had missed being in a big city. The energy was great! We’d slept so well that it wasn’t complete torture, and I got to practice my French a bit to get the tickets and some coffee. So far, I’m doing better than I expected after 10 years with almost zero practice. I am hopeful that even more will come back to me, and I’m pretty confident it will after being around fluent speakers for a few days.

the Gare de Lyon at 6 AM

all aboard!

We had sprung for the extra dollar for first class, so we had assigned [spacious] seats in the quiet car. We pretty much slept the whole 5 hours down to Nice – I think we hadn’t been sleeping well in Dubrovnik because we are certainly catching up on our sleep now.

My mom’s friend Molly lives here in Nice and found our apartment for us (and called in some favors for our rent). I’ve known her my entire life and I have been to Nice to visit her twice: once for her wedding 12 years ago (so I know some of her in-laws as well) and again almost exactly 10 years ago when I graduated from high school. We saw her last year when she came out to help with our wedding, so Jared has met her too. We are so excited to be spending Christmas with her and her family (she has a boy and a girl) and she’s been a great guide. She met us at the train station and we had lunch and did some grocery shopping (OH MY GOD, the grocery stores here = heaven) while we waited for her husband Chris to pick us up and take us to Saint Jean. Our apartment is in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat which is two towns over from Nice, but it’s just a short bus ride. Chris is a taxi driver though, so we will get to bum some rides while we are here!

We got to the villa and Molly had gotten us a Christmas tree and decorated the apartment for the holidays! The apartment was already pretty swanky, but it really feels like home.

the house from the street

our patio!

entry and dining area

fireplace

living room (guest bedroom in background)

desk - with tree!

tree!

tree chocolates!

Christmas decor...and wine!

a full kitchen, with oven and dishwasher and everything!

THE MOST COMFORTABLE BED IN THE WORLD

Can you tell we love our place? Oh, we do. We’re pretty spoiled here, and we fully know it. I haven’t even gotten to the view yet.

the doorway between the desk and the couch

behold!

terrace outside the living room

oh hello, bird friends!

Jared keeps wandering around the house saying, “is this heaven?” We also have a guest room and a large bathroom with a tub, of which I availed myself the first evening. Glorious. Even if we stay in crapholes for the rest of the trip, we will have had a pretty luxurious Christmas. I’m sure some of the shine will wear off like it did in Dubrovnik, but things are already a lot easier here than they were there. We have friends, good food and a nice place to stay – what more could we ask for?

Footlong Friday: Tagging Along

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Whitney and tagged with , , , , ,

Mr. Footlong has been busy these days. He’s a bit of a mooch, though. He joined us for Thanksgiving and thoroughly enjoyed himself…

"I'm thankful you're not serving hot dogs"

"chocolate orange pudding - huzzah!"

…but was mysteriously absent when it was time to do the dishes:

"..."

He popped up again just in time to go to tea with us on Wednesday, but his drink order was a little too eccentric:

"Barman! Fetch me a Midnight Train to Shanghai with THREE fingers of gin. You don't know what that is?!?!? hrmph."

Thankfully he was pacified by catching up on his USA Today:

"I far prefer the original newsprint, but this will suffice."

Oh, Frank. You’re difficult, but we love you.

You Say It’s Your Birthday??

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Whitney and tagged with , , , , , , ,

For those of you who don’t know, yesterday was my 29th birthday.  Last week I was a little sad at the prospect of spending the day so far away from friends and family, but Jared made sure we had a really nice time and it ended up being definitely up there on the list of top birthdays.

We had a pretty normal day and then at 4 we went out for some tea and cakes, like fancy ladies.  The Hilton (where our gym is located) has a special service every afternoon in the lounge from 3-7pm with unlimited cakes and coffee/tea for 45 kuna per person (about $8 USD).  We had been wanting to check it out for a while, so we thought my birthday would be the perfect opportunity to indulge.

the Hilton Imperial

the spread

our choices

a nice view of the Fort of St. Lawrence at sundown

It was WELL WORTH the 45 kuna.  The cakes were delicious (the apple strudel was my favorite) and the lounge was the perfect mix of posh and comfortable – just enough to feel special on my b-day.

I am a classy tea-drinking lady.

We came home and to have a little champagne before dinner and our landlady had left a gift at the door!  I could not figure out how she knew it was my birthday – it turns out she had checked the passport copies we sent in advance of our arrival.  Smart woman!

wine!

We had been waiting to try a place called Nishta around the corner from our apartment, so I picked that for my birthday dinner.  It’s a vegetarian restaurant that is one of the only spots Rick Steves recommends in Dubrovnik, and it smells ridiculously good whenever we walk by, so we were pretty psyched to finally be trying it.  Nishta did not disappoint!  The restaurant is delightfully cozy and cheerfully decorated, the music was festive but unobtrusive (more on that later), and the service was very friendly – they even gave me a free glass of champagne when they found out it was my birthday!

the entertaining ladies room

see? friendly!

I had falafel with hummus and Jared had a rice noodle stir-fry, and both were excellent: nothing fancy but really well done.  The real winner was the chocolate fondue we had for dessert that came with a dish of shaved coconut for dipping (brilliant)!

falafel

fondue!

the works

Jared got really into the music they were playing (or maybe it was just a sugar high from the fondue) and performed an impromptu birthday dance for me.  It was really special.

This video is my new favorite thing.  Seriously, if somebody wants to make a gif out of him dancing (or tell me how) I would be forever grateful.

Since it IS Friday, I should mention that Mr. Footlong came along to join in a toast.

huzzah!

We went to our favorite neighborhood bar to cap off the evening and Frank came along.  He had quite the time!

he met Goran Visnjic...

indulged in a bit of honey grappa...

...and engaged in some lively debate with the locals.

Since I’m a completely spoiled wife, I also got a present!  As you know we are very budget-conscious, so Jared and I talked it over and agreed that I could get a piece of traditional Croatian jewelry for my birthday.  The store that had the piece I liked was closed when we stopped by yesterday so we went today on the way back from the gym.  I chose a small bracelet and it was too long so they offered to take the two extra pieces off and make earrings for me.

pardon my post-gym appearance

the set

The staff was really pleasant and while we waited for the jeweler to make my earrings we enjoyed checking out their display of old currency (including a US 2 dollar bill):

now THAT'S inflation

Thanks to the wonders of the internet I had some lovely birthday Skypes with family and an overwhelming number of messages from friends (in addition to being completely spoiled by my sweet husband).  I felt very loved and not all that far away after all.  I am a very lucky girl!

Early tomorrow morning we’re heading to Mostar for an overnight, so I will update you all on Monday.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

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