wAnderjunkie

It's been more than a year and I have a good excuse. How about I show you why...


I was spending some quality time with my folks in Bryce Canyon, Utah...













...and losing my luggage and camera, and getting an impromptu kiss from a Hungarian man in Budapest...










...having the world's largest wienerschnitzel in Vienna...

...where I also hooked up with Becky and her hubby Miguel...










...doing action shots at the gardens behind the Schloss Charlottenburg in Berlin...














...catching my breath after a looooong stroll in Paris...













... oh and the dog ate my homework.

The Laundromat

My favorite artist, W., sent me a link to his nephew's short film on ifilm. It's a good one!

Check it out!


THE LAUNDROMAT...

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2722655?pg=latest&htv=12

The Birth of Wander Woman

My friend who prefers to be referred to by her 'superheroine' title -- Wander Woman -- is one of the most voracious travellers I have known. A year cannot go by without her itchy hammertoed feet scuttling off into some exotic corner of the world or going on an international shopping rampage or to just return to her self-proclaimed primordial roots which is Paris (which to me is ridiculous because her totally Oriental looks belie her blood ties to the French). She is totally depressed if she checks "1-2" on those travel surveys that ask how many times that year you have travelled. How does one get to be like that? When did Wander Woman start wanting to wander?

The answer lies in a childhood passion. Wander Woman was a philatelist I have discovered. A passion of hers that has long since died after new passions have taken over. A few days ago, after finally finding the time to sort out her enormous travel guide collection, she stumbles upon her old stamp books. She brought it to me the other day with a pride that only a true collector can understand.

I totally get it. After all, in my youth, I had been a numismatist myself. And I think this love for travel is shared by all collectors.

Looking over her books, I saw how wonderful stamps could be. Colorful and artistic, each country with a character of its own. Kind of like an international beauty pageant but with a more quiet intelligence about it. When you see how different and colorful one country is from another, one's curiosity is totally ignited and you feel an ache to go out there and take a look at that place for yourself. And that is why Wander Woman wanders with impunity.

I can't wait to get my next postcard from Wander Woman. Oh yeah, I, by the way, am a postcard collector :)

Discovering Evanescence, Rediscovering Sergio Mendes

It's not that I can't make up my mind. My taste for movies depends on my mood. I could be hankering for a light Chris Guest comedy one day then raring to immerse in some heavy french melodrama the next. On a hostile day, I'd be up for a bloody shaolin fistfight or a flighty broadway musical type if I get a whole 8-hours of sleep. So why can't my music taste be as eclectic?

Bought 3 new albums for the weekend. Beyonce's Check On It, Sergio Mendes' Timeless, and Evanescence's Fallen.

Check On It --- who doesn't like Beyonce?! It was a sad moment when Destiny's Child called it quits but I'm glad we will still be able to hear them on the airwaves as solo artists. I just like having Beyonce wake me up with my CD alarm clock every morning to try to get my fanny off the bed and my feet into my running shoes for some exercise before the day really starts rolling.

Timeless --- samba rules. but samba with a twist? it rocks! old sergio mendes classics get updated and upbeat with the Black Eyed Peas, Erykah Badu, Stevie Wonder, even Q-tip. I never thought brazillian music and hip hop can co-exist. As my Colombian friend, Monix, would say, "GUAO!"

Fallen --- ok I must admit, I wouldn't have wandered into the gothic rock section if I hadn't heard Evanescence's most ubiquitous song, "Bring Me To Life" while watching the movie, Daredevil. But hey, thank God for small favors. Going Under, Taking Over Me, My Immortal...the only song in that album that didn't call to me was the last one. In one of the reviews for this album, it was said that the lead vocal's voice can cause weeks of insomia. I gotta start slicing some cucumbers for these eyebags then.

WJ's Travel Tips: Airport Express Coupon for Travellers to HK on Cathay Pacific!

If you are travelling to Hong Kong via cathay pacific, there's a downloadable coupon on the CX website for a discount on Roundtrip Airport Express tickets. That's the train you take from the airport to the city. Save your money for shopping and download this coupon and other restaurant and shopping offers at the CX website!

How WONDERful is that!

Eggie In A Basket

The Wachowski brothers' new film V for Vendetta was a great ride. But the part about the movie that I couldn't get out of my mind was that little dish V made for Evey. He called it Eggie In a Basket. Apparently, it's not as English a dish as I thought. Because I get nothing but blank stares from my English friends whenever I mention it.

After an exhaustive search for the elusive recipe, I finally found it, where else, but on the web. From a flikr page by a man named Matt Newton (www.mattnewton.com). He also had a hankering for it after he saw the movie and remembered that he could make it. So he did, took a picture of it, and posted it on his flikr page. I then brazenly harrassed Mr. Newton for the recipe. So for anybody aching to know how to make it, look no further...

I give you...EGGIE IN A BASKET


It's an easy recipe... Just take a piece of bread and butter both sides. take a small glass and punch out the center of the bread. Put it in a skillet and drop an egg into the center. Flip after the egg has cooked at the bottom. After the egg is cooked you're done. Add syrup and you're good to go.


I ran out of syrup so I used a jar of caramel au beurre sale from that Parisian landmark called Laduree that's been sitting on my shelf for the better part of this century. And it was fan-freakin'-tastic! This dish is easy, delicious, and fun to make! Bon appetit!

Healing Stone

Today, I finally got to use my friend, John's, Christmas present. A trip to the spa for a "healing stone" massage. I've seen the photos on glossy fashion mags. Svelte models with these dark grayish black stones, like the ones you find on zen gardens, lined up in a row on their backs. I sort of knew that these stones would be hot (if they weren't then anybody with a zen garden or a backyard grotto can do it), but it doesn't really hit you until you do it yourself. And boy,did they hit me! Those things are hot, dagnamit!

It was okay at first when they do the massage thing with it. Rolling them up and down your back. Nice and toasty. But when they leave it idling on your coccyx...that's when this cat hits the roof. Yao-za! Those things are nasty! Then the lady rolls them up and down again and everything is all rosy again, lulling you to complacency...then bam! Hhssssss...

The whole time you are teetering between nirvana and the inquisition. And what's with the putting of miniature versions of these things between the toes part? The masseuse was lucky that I was too tired and too inflexible to bend and shoot those hot little pebbly things like an uzi back at her. Those were totally scathing, I tell you!

So just when you are about to yell 'kato!kato!kato!' to the masseuse, your 90-minutes are up. And you say, hmmm that wasn't so bad. A person has to try this at least once in their lives. Then you dazedly amble out of the spa, all relaxed and oily. Unaware of this big red dot on your back...branded by a nasty little oval stone the masseuse left loitering on your shoulder blades just a little too long...ouch.

Wonder--wha?

In the words of a fellow wonderjunkie, a certain "Comrade Yulo" (pronounced yuh-llow like a drunken russkie): THOSE WHO ARE EASIEST TO PLEASE ARE HAPPIEST IN THIS WORLD.

Anybody can be a wonder junkie. If you are one of the few silly souls who's mission in life is to find beauty and pleasure in even the simplest of things...a perfect shot of espresso, a movie that leaves you pensive and silent when you leave the cinema, a thousand year-old redwood tree in the middle of a quiet forest, a sleepy little rustic hamlet in provence, a word that seems so detached from its meaning the more you say it out loud...then I say...welcome, wonder junkie! It's a beautiful world out there! Let's go out there and take a peek!