Month: April 2017

Porpoise Watching in Vancouver

M's Adventures

Actually, it was whale watching. Except that we didn’t see any whales. We saw three orcas, or killer whales. Orcas are the largest member of the porpoise family. But, it was a nice boat ride and Steveston is cute (where they filmed Once Upon a Time).

MEi6-vd6hk0TVaTuD94JumJgWEJLyyg4-T3czPqqD3VGlbU0IUZJdYVud3ClX0qE8w9svbUXK5QaQFPpdqbnwszpDnHAKULnivpkvSFHpjqQM9w4YJEHyQ_o-0j0eXZcW5q0PM193kfXldg0G3zT_IqNIwDBIPG9OcjwyAtbOYRMXJ2dbDTAh_GyS_At 140 Canadian dollars for the five hour boat trip, you can decide if it’s worth it. I enjoyed the rough waves and the bouncy roller coaster ride. We took our own snacks and drinks which helped the time go by. Plus, the waters around Vancouver are beautiful. The photos of the orcas were not very impressive as taken on my iphone. On the other hand, we got closer to some of the other wildlife which was easier to photograph. And a lot smellier.

sCa3r7GJxm2InJm-Ux-6Lp5ZRL1RxcuFJi8ZgrUEoG45dTASi4m1mnOBoUjRONbHP658Zs_-gGN2gruIYo6-I_PQjMz7gQpXQJC4JLiT1_RabNfefHErj2fwqTSftF-Hp9kcKtxb70DZBT9KLcRzvBu7CbcseHN_xrJDetA6PSOCFRs7SvihOWAr93Strangely, the night before, our waiter told us not to go whale watching as she had barely escaped going on one of the boats that tipped over and sank. Why would one share that story?

Canadian Caesar Cocktail

M's Adventures

Down “south of the border” as the Canadians say about the USA, the Bloody Mary is a brunch standard. Up “north” it’s the Caesar or “Bloody Caesar” a drink created in 1969 which is similar to a Bloody Mary but is spicier and includes clam juice. It’s sort of a homage to “pasta a la vongole” or spaghetti with clams (which is one of my favorite dishes).  Supposedly the cocktail is similar to a caesar salad… whatever, it’s delicious. The best so far has been at Edible Canada where they add maple covered bacon — it’s not just decoration because the bacon adds extra contrast to the Caesar. Other places add pickles, cheese, etc.

According to Wikipedia, Canadians consume 350 million annually. Make that 350,000,006… and counting.

Cute Curacao

M's Adventures

Can a place be “cute?” Yes. If it’s Curacao. According to Wikipedia, one of the explanations for the name of Curacao, is that it was an “island of healing” and cute. Okay, it only says stuff about healing. The photo shows some cute cucumbers with a less cute sized cousin.

Curacao is part of the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao) right off the coast of Venezuela. Willemstad, the capital, is like a Caribbean Amsterdam (this was a Dutch colony and one of the official languages is Dutch), pretty buildings, and walking streets. The outer part, the Otrabanda, is a two minute walk across the pedestrian bridge from the downtown, Punda. But, just to show how small this place is, when I asked a shopkeeper in Punda (downtown) about something in the Otrabanda area, he looked at me wide-eyed and said that he didn’t know what it was like over there. Two minutes away…

When I tried to find a local snack place, I kept walking past the street I was looking for, because the blocks are so small. Of course, I did find the snack place. The photo is from my breakfast at the Royal Dutch Cheesery. Please note that the Dutch like to eat sprinkles (two boxes upper left in photo) for breakfast.

Curacao is less cute once you leave downtown, but that’s a different topic. It’s also kind of pricey, being an island and all… but as you can pay in dollars and credit card, you will probably be able to afford the cheese. Oh, and the blue liquor as you leave through your special cruise ship terminal at the airport… I didn’t, so I can’t tell you about that.