Pa, reprise

And here we are back in Pennsylvania. This weekend we attended my cousin's wedding at an Amish church in southeastern Pa. This gave us an excuse to enjoy an extended weekend in Pa, doing what we do best: shopping and eating! Eats included stacks of blueberry pancakes, peanut butter pancakes, waffles, veggie omelets, Eggs Benedict (bacon on the side), scrambled eggs with sausage, quiche, apple dumplings with ice cream and corn fritters with maple syrup. And that was just breakfast--lunch and dinner were equally extensive.

As for shopping, we got enough dry goods to weather the apocalypse, which J. anticipates with glee. I swear, we must have a year's supply of rice and beans in our pantry! We also purchased an ice cream maker, the old fashioned bucket kind, so we can try our hand at making ice cream for our next braai on the roof. When I was a kid, I got homemade ice cream at every birthday and beyond--there's nothing as delicious as a Pepsi float (hey, it was the Philippines, no root beer to be had!) made with homemade ice cream.


The wedding itself, on a hot Saturday afternoon, was absolutely beautiful and it was a treat to see my Pennsylvania Dutch relatives. There are always newborn second cousins (my cousins' children) to meet and new gossip to hear, like which of my cousins has started dating. It's a vast family--my father was one of seven children, I have 30+ cousins, and now my cousins have started building their own, large families--and I only see them at family gatherings held at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love their old world way of life: canning produce from the kitchen garden, sewing clothes by hand, baking their own bread. Some days, I wish I lived that way. It would be a respite from my silly urban life where I run hither and thither.

Green Hills of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is one of our favorite spots to visit on a long weekend like Memorial Day. It's green, there's lots of beautiful produce to buy, enormous buffets of farm-style cooking to devour, antiques to peruse, furniture to commission and friends to see.

This is our very favorite place to order furniture, C&S Rustic Furniture, on Route 897. It's a family business, and the Amish guys, as we call them, will make any wooden piece that we dream up. J. is in the market for a new desk, and this fall we have our sights on a kitchen renovation, meaning that we will need lots of wooden cabinets. These days, they are too busy picking strawberries, zucchini and tomatoes to do much carpentry, so we'll have to wait for our pieces. After a long weekend of eating, shopping, and hanging out by the swimming pool we head back to Brooklyn...only to come to a dead stop in traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike. I forget how bad traffic is every year, and every year I say "I'm never going to do that again!" But I do.

I'm not a true Arenophile...

...but I do like colorful sand. I collected sand from the deserts and beaches of eastern and southern Africa--Shela beach on Lama in Kenya, colorful rocky sand from Cape Town, white sand the color of sugar from Cape Vidal, South Africa, etc--and smuggled my collection across every national border in 1 ounce Nalgene bottles. I was reassured by my geologist friend, Meghan, that any microorganisms in the sand would be dead by the time I reached home. Now, I'm home and I can display my sand in glass spice bottles. Here is red sand from Sesreim Dune 45 in Namibia,
and here is yellowish-white sand from Kendwa Rocks, Zanzibar.

Commencement in the rain

Although I finished my classes in December, it's officially commencement! I commenced twice: once with the Mailman School of Public Health event, where Bill Clinton spoke, and once in the rain on the Columbia quad with all of the other schools. This is the public health graduation:

Here I am in my blue regalia with two buddies. Thanks for cheering me on, guys!


And here I am with J. Characteristically, I have a plate of food. J. had more restraint and waited for dinner at Nonna's, also known as "John's Italian grandmother," as in "Let's go to Nonna's. I haven't seen my Italian grandmother in a while."

And here is the next day commencement in the rain on the Columbia quad. All schools are represented, and various schools carry / throw things that are emblematic of their degree. Dental school students carry toothbrushes, business students wave cash, Teacher's College students have red apples, and what do public health students have? Condoms, of course!

I can't overstate what a miserable day this was: bone-chilling cold, windy and spitting rain. J., his parents and my brother Chris stood in the rain for two hours to cheer me on. Are they rock stars or what? The Columbia president, Lee Bollinger, said "Rain on commencement day means that you will have a fantastic life." Hope so!

New York Madness

How did I forget? Life in New York is absolute madness! A mere three days after touching down at JFK, I was back to the grindstone of work at the venerable Columbia U. I have been spoiled by long, languid days of leisurely breakfasts, pleasant game viewing and bird spotting, afternoons reading a novel by the pool and sundowners enjoyed with a glass of wine. I'm not quite ready for the tedium of 9 to 5 work! But here I am, working and trying to cram everything into 24 hours. There's work, running in the park, yoga, parties, film festivals, dinner with friends, interesting public health lectures to attend, errands to run, graduation festivities to plan, all of the various bits and pieces of life in New York. It's such a cliche to say that the pace is dizzying, isn't it?

In addition to my day job, there are also future prospects to consider. Two weeks after returning, I landed an interview with a big fat pharma company smack dab in the center of the city. It went well, and now I have a second interview scheduled for next week. Wish me luck!

Things I have done since I returned include:

1. Tribeca Film Festival! Jackie and I saw "A Brand New Life," about a little girl abandoned at a Korean orphanage. Sounds like a downer, right? It was actually very sweet & sad, an entirely beautiful film.

2. Ordered a spinach and garlic pizza at the best pizza joint in town, San Remo's, which is, luckily, just down the block from me!

3. Ogled the cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden with J.

4. Baked a belated birthday cake for J. Although he got a chocolate brownie with ice cream plus a staff sing-a-long at Spurs restaurant in Kuruman, South Africa, he moaned that he didn't, in fact, get a real birthday cake this year (or, for that matter, the two birthday dinner parties with all of his friends in attendance that he is accustomed to). I thought I would try my hand at a double layer cake to assuage his sorrow. Here it is, a two-layer "Sunshine" cake with raspberry filling and white icing, plus the appropriate amount of candles. I believe in the true amount of candles on every birthday cake, fire alarm be damned!

5. Planted my summer garden. J. and I joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) group this year, so we will be getting boxes of veggies every week, probably more than we can eat. Anticipating the boxes of tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, etc, I planted less veggies this year and more spices. I was happy to see that some spices from last year, including cilantro, catnip, mint, rosemary, oregano and lavender have come back on their own. And my strawberries plants look beautiful!

6. Dined at my favorite restaurant in the world with J., Al di la. It boasts delectable northern Italian cuisine in a friendly, homey setting. Its The only downside is that it's very popular and it does not take reservations, so you have to be prepared to eat dinner at 5:30p!

7. Attended both the Met Opera and the New York City Opera. I've got to say, although I'm a snob at heart, I really do think that City Opera could give the Met a run for its money. The modern production of Handel's Partenope that we saw was fantastic.

8. Spent a late afternoon reading in Sheep's Meadow in Central Park.
9. Put my cat on a diet. I swear, he must have gained three pounds since I left! A pound for every month I was away, perhaps. He's now eating high fiber cat food and he seems lighter already.

Top shots

By special request, here are a few favorite pictures from my trip to Africa.

To start with, have you ever seen a happier pig than this warthog at Mkuze National Park in South Africa?

This is something I have always wanted to see: a giraffe drinking water. Totally awkward and vulnerable to lion attack!

This is the lovely Paternoster, with whitewashed fisherman cottages, in the Western Cape, South Africa.

This is the Sea Point Pavilion, where you can do laps with an ocean view, in Cape Town.


This is the interior courtyard at the lovely Winchester Mansions in Cape Town.


My village, Tsineng.


Petrified forest in Sossusvlei, Namibia (where part of the J. Lo movie "The Cell" was filmed).


Sunrise over the Sesriem dunes, Namibia.

Rock formations, Namibia.

Giraffes at dusk, Etosha, Namibia.

Okavango Delta, Botswana.

Victoria Falls by helicopter.

Victoria Fall, dangling over the edge. I didn't take this picture; instead, my guide took my camera and clambered over rocks until he was barely clinging to the edge. I was like "Dude, the shot is not worth dying for!"

Sunset over the Zambezi

Zanzibar! Now you see why I stayed an extra week.

Lions, Ngorongoro Crater.
Olduvai Gorge, the "Cradle of Humankind."

Baby lion cub, yawning. You know all about its tragic fate.

Antelope, Masai Mara.

Full Moon, Lamu

New York, Reprise

March 31, 2010
Johannesburg, South Africa

On the way to the airport, I had one of many conversations about race in the New South Africa with my driver, an Afrikaaner dude. You know that whatever is to follow "I'm not a racist, but..." is going to be objectionable!

I arrived at the airport early and spent some time having my luggage inspected by the VAT officials. I also considered having my bags shrink-wrapped (it's Johannesburg, after all), but I didn't bother. I won't cry if my rooibos tea, rusks, peri-peri sauce or other silly items are pinched (although J. might!).

As you can see, South Africa is totally excited to host the World Cup; these countdown signs were everywhere in the airport. I hope it goes smoothly and the country makes a bundle from the World Cup, but I'm definitely glad I won't be around. Football fans who smell of vomit are not my favorite peeps!

After a leisurely lunch at Mugg & Bean, I passed through security and submitted my VAT receipts at the office. I got R450 back (60 USD)! Wonderful! Then I realized that I only had an hour to spend my windfall before I had to proceed to my gate. Where can you easily spend R450? Duty Free of, course! I loaded up with Amarula chocolates, Blance de blance and sherry and hightailed it to my gate, where I endured three extra security screenings, a special treat from for all passengers bound for the US.

Seventeen hours later, I landed in New York. JFK, in all its shabby glory, never looked so good! And it is wonderful to be home!