Val Came to Visit!

Sometimes you just need some girl time. Val needed to get some fresh air, and apparently there's none better than the air your best friend is breathing. So she came to San Antonio, and we did the rounds:

The Cove.

The Alamo.

Cacti behind the Alamo.

The Riverwalk.

An interesting photo opportunity on the Riverwalk.

 

Girl's night in, with snacks and an episode of Star Trek: TNG!

Lounging around on the couch!

Chocolate chip & banana pancakes, and pepper-bacon!

Pizza at Home Slice in Austin!

Meandering around downtown Austin!

Looking pensive!

Much-needed girl time: success. ^_^

Diwali

Rasika invited Brandon and I to a Diwali celebration downtown. I got to meet a bunch of her friends (many I recognized from school already) and hang out on the Riverwalk.

I asked Rasika repeatedly what the significance of Diwali is, and I never got a straight answer. Mostly she said "Oh, there's a big festival and... also food." (I can tell she really has her priorities in the right place.) But she did say eventually that, at the end of the evening, we would be putting floating candles in the river. This is supposed to happen on the day of the month when the moon doesn't show (I don't remember what the word for that is), and the candles are supposed to replace the moonlight. That's the most religious thing I got from her the whole evening. Otherwise it was "Oh, you have to try this food, and this one and this..." Which is right about my speed. Photo time!

I asked Rasika if people would be wearing traditional clothes, and she said yes, so I tried to wear my most Indian looking outfit, which admittedly was not that Indian, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Those of you who know me well will notice I'm wearing pink and sequins, both of which NEVER HAPPEN. I don't even remember where I got this top. I never have an occasion to wear it. Finally, an occasion.

We spent a great deal of our time discussing the food, trying different things and admiring the outfits other people were wearing. I discovered that Indian fashion is pretty much tailor-made for me. Explanation: I like bright colors, bold patterns, long shirts and 3/4-length sleeves, loose/flowy fabrics, shawls and scarves, light/comfortable/soft fabrics, bangles and other adornments. It's PERFECT. Indian fashion is effortlessly feminine, and conservative in its proportions (i.e. no cleavage.) I think I need to get in on this... Rasika? Take me shopping? Please? ^_^

So, after the food there was a dance show. They had a style of dance for each province in India. We sat on a hill under the San Antonio version of the CN tower (I can't remember what it's called) and watched the show. The crowd was pretty big.

I took a video of one of the dances from the province that Rasika is from, but my computer is acting funny. I might be able to load it later.

After the dances, we moved down toward the river to watch people light their candles. I took a billion pictures, it was so pretty. Unfortunately there was just enough of a breeze that the candles kept going out. All the same, it was very impressive.

After a while I sat down and started re-lighting the candles that went out. Rasika sat down next to me and said "You're really popular! Everyone's taking pictures of you!" So, I guess keep an eye out for me on flickr or other San Antonio blogs.

We had a lovely time. Rasika and I keep making plans, then breaking them. So I'm glad something finally worked out. And the candle ceremony was really pretty to watch. I told her that Channukah is also called "The Festival of Lights," but we just light the menorah, not an entire river. She laughed. <3

Fogo de Chao

In April, my dad came to visit and treated Brandon and I to a fancy dinner on our 3-year dating anniversary. The restaurant he took us to is called Fogo de Chao. It's a Brazillian steakhouse. It was amazing, and it's exactly the sort of thing Brandon and I would never be able to afford on our own, except, apparently, during restaurant week.

My friend Rasika from lab told me about restaurant week when it was already about half over. So, Brandon and I looked up the menus of some of the restaurants participating, and decided finally that our money was best spent going back to Fogo de Chao. Christine came along too, and we had a blast.

I had just that week lost barely enough weight that I could squeeze back into my skinny jeans, so I wore them. And yes, those are high heels. Very high, actually. This is a rare event for me, especially since I injured my back.

We didn't get a ton of photos of the actual dinner (we were too busy enjoying it). But here's a blurry Brandon:

Having been there once before, we knew the drill, and we were able to take more advantage of the experience than before. The waiters apparently come over to your table in a specific order, starting with the simplest cuts of meat (chicken and sausage) and ending with the finest (NY strip steak, filet mignon). We advised Christine of this, and we all turned down the first several meats in favor of waiting for the finer cuts of beef. It worked like a charm, and we all got seconds of the filet mignon.

I caught Christine texting at the table.

Deer in headlights.

After dinner, I decided I wanted to have a drink with dessert. I thought this might be a fun occasion to try cognac. We got the waiter's opinion, and I ordered something he said would be relatively mild (also affordable). Brandon took a series of photos that I think he should sell to the restaurant as stock photos for their website:

Christine with her girly cocktail while I test the cognac.

Christine tried a sip of the cognac, and thought it was disgusting. I loved it.

When we left, we got some photos out in front of the restaurant, where you can see the meat cooking in the front window:

It was nice that restaurant week made this adventure affordable. It was still a bit of a splurge, but definitely worth it. The hilarious point of the evening was Christine's reaction. She has made a habit of making fun of me when we go to nice restaurants because I - apparently - make faces when I eat. I tell her I'm just savoring the food, but she insists on making jokes. Well, Christine enjoyed Fogo de Chao so much, she started doing the same thing. So I got a chance to make fun of her and get my revenge. But really, I can't blame her, the food was SO GOOD.
It was definitely an evening well spent.

Gini and Will Visited!

I apologize for the delay. It's been a crazy week. Let me finish telling you about the second half of Gini and Will's visit!

On Saturday, we went to the San Antonio Zoo and the Japanese Tea Gardens. Brandon had our camera at the zoo and took approximately 8 billion photos, so I'm just going to pick a handful here, and I'll consider posting the rest on facebook. But seriously, it's a lot.

Gini and I both used our umbrellas all day. It was so very hot out.

Komodo dragon!

Sea horses are such crazy animals. I stood at this tank and stared at them for a good 10 minutes, just mesmerized.

We spent forever in the reptile house. Brandon turns into an 8-year-old boy around lizards.

There were a ton of photos of lizards and snakes,

... but I'll spare you. If you want to see more, I can post them on Facebook.

Everywhere we went, Gini and Will had to do the "turn your penny into a thing" thing. They apparently collect them. It's a really affordable souvenir that doesn't take up a lot of space!

GIANT HIPPOS! TAKING AN UNDERWATER NAP!

Pictures of people.

Pictures of people.

Gini: "Notice we are in the Africa section of the park, and yet these are Asian elephants!"

Most of the animals were hiding in the shade.

This is an okapi. Gini bought a stuffed version in the gift shop, and named it "Okapi the okapi."

I think the heat robbed the kangaroos of all their boingaboinga.

Quick photo opp by the cacti.

They had fans in the gift shop, so I indulged.

Then, dinner! Mexican food again, of course.

One quick shot of the Japanese Tea Gardens, then our camera ran out of battery.

On Sunday and Monday, we went to Schlitterbahn! We brought a waterproof disposable camera with us and took turns carrying it and taking photos, so we actually got quite a few pictures of everyone:

Picture in front of the castle.

Everybody say "Water sliiiiiide!"

Trying not to fall off the crocodile.

The whole group.

Ready? Set, GOOOOOO!

Super pumped. 

Thumbs up action shot!

 Rawk on action shot!

 

In front of the castle... lots of sun in our eyes.

Honestly, Schlitterbahn was AMAZING. It was exhausting, but super duper fun. Back home, my summer tradition is to go to Cedar Point every summer. I've been going since I was 3. Being that Cedar Point is one of the best roller coaster parks in the world, my new summer tradition had big shoes to fill. Conveniently, Schlitterbahn is less than half an hour away from us, and it happens to be one of the best water parks in the world. So, an apt replacement, to say the least.

Seeing Gini and Will again was really nice. Now they need to tell everyone in Kzoo how much fun San Antonio is, so the rest of you guys will come visit us! ^_^