Wanderlust and a Thirst for Local Knowledge

One Woman's Quest for her CTA (the acronym more traveled) -

Today, Brooke received her official certificate of designation as an official Houston CTA. For those unfamiliar, a CTA is a Certified Tourism Ambassador. I have lived here in Houston for nearly 38 years and Brooke knows more about her adopted city than I will probably ever know. Congratulations Brooke! 

Each day now, Brooke will start several conversations with the seemingly innocuous, "Did you know ___________ about Houston?" Or, "I do not think you know just how significant <insert year> was to the history of Houston?" Which of course I do not know of such significance, but regardless, I act impressed and amazed by her fountain of information. My former most popular response to her, "Yes dear!" has been replaced by the famous phrase coined by the late Johnny Carson, "I did not know that?"

When you are an AirBnB Super Host this certification comes in quite handy when asked uncommon questions like, "Where is the closest grocery store?" or, "Is the water safe to drink?" Seriously, we actually get that question quite frequently and I always quickly hide my Scooby Doo look for fear of offending a guest. Now, if this was <insert year>, that would be an excellent question to ask.

All joking aside, the vast amount of things that Brooke knows about Houston is mind-boggling. She is versed and knowledgeable in truly interesting historical facts that have changed the attitudes (towards Houston) in the minds of nearly every guest that we have had the privilege to host. Houston is richer for her enthusiasm for this great city.

Brooke Candelaria - Houston CTA

Are you curious about any Houston detail? Ask Brooke! Rumor has it that she has taught Alexa and Siri everything they know! She would make the Allen brothers proud. For more information check out VisitHouston.com. 

Pin It Now!

A day for the souk

"Isss no problem, no problem. Madame, please, you come see this. No, come. You like!"

This is the typical hawker line in the souks in 'old Dubai' - aka The Creek. Here is where they try to move as much money as possible from your pocket into theirs.

A souk is the Arab term for open-air market or bazaar. At The Creek, which is the oldest part of Dubai and the location for the city's port, you are immediately lost in a maze of winding, jumbled alleyways and streets overflowing with musky smells of frankincense, myrrh and sandalwood, mixed with pungent spices that permeate your senses - the cardamom pods, cinnamon bark, curry mixes, paprika, cloves, peppercorns, ginger, garlic and more.

The souks here are famous for three main categories of goods: gold, textiles and spices. Sure, there are the odd plastic floatie things for poolside fun, and the pots big enough to cook a stew for 500 people, but generally they stick with the ancient trading items. I've never seen so much gold in my life. Oh. My. Goodness. It was pretty amazing to see shop after shop with gorgeous pieces in the windows, many individual pieces far outweighing my entire gold inventory.

The textiles are mostly cloth from India to Italy, with every vendor trying to sell you the same scarves and shawls. The spices were the most special to me, not just because of my love of food, but how interesting they looked! I mean, black limes, really? Wow.

The shops are all run by men, and each one competes for your attention. It's a nonstop vocal assault as you take less than five steps before they grab you, and they promise you the best goods you'll get in Dubai if you just follow them.

"Watches, t-shirts, shoes, handbags - Rolex, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vitton, Fendi, Chanel, you come, come, come with me!"

You enter a small building, climb up a narrow staircase and land in a diminutive yet packed 'showroom' featuring all the designer knock-offs. 

Greg encouraged me to just follow a few of these shopkeepers for fun ... and it was. We never intended to buy any knockoffs, but it was great to see their "no problem" skills hard at work, talking about the first sale of the day, and how they can do a great price. They take out the oversized calculator and punch the keys, making it look like they are performing a mathematical miracle while we try not to giggle at the tactics. 

But then we found something we wanted to buy - a lovely Indian dress. And so we engaged in one of the most ancient and greatest sports of all time: haggling. Greg started his bid at 20% of the asking price. It took nearly 40 minutes to wear the guy down to the point where we knew we paid a fair price while giving the shopkeeper profit - and allowing him to pay a small commission to the "friend" who led us there.

In that time, however, I was offered the amazing opportunity to marry a man who spoke little English, except to say, "You must get me a visa to live in Texas."

Uh, no thanks. I know you can have up to four wives here, but I'm good with my one husband. He might be goofy but he's awesome. All set.

To get between some of the souks, you have to take the water taxi, which is called an abra. The abra is a simple boat used on Dubai Creek - you hop on, give the pilot one dirham, and off you go. You bob in the waves and cough a bit from the noxious exhaust, but it's GREAT. And one dirham is 27 cents, so that was quite the bargain.

Since this is a port, the other type of boat you see a lot is the dhow, a traditional wooden boat built for transport or more recently for sport racing. The dhows we saw in the port were carrying everything from fruit to fridges to Fiats. They're tres cool.

This adventure reminded me that it's important to immerse yourself in the local culture without fear. Just do it!

Pin It Now!

Holding a torch ... for the 2012 Olympics

Olympic countdown, Trafalgar Sq.

A rather large event is coming up in the UK called the London 2012 Olympic games. Most people here are pretty excited about it, and this island which size-wise fits twice inside of Texas will be groaning beyond capacity with the demands of millions of visitors from around the world.

Thanks to my Mom, my sister and I are HUGE fans of the Olympics. We grew up eagerly following the sports, the drama, the back stories. So, this week, when we found out that the official Olympic Countdown Clock was live in Trafalgar Square, let's just say that NOTHING was stopping me from hot-footing it over there. I was even wearing my London 2012 t-shirt from Greg.  

While the photo opp was as fleeting as the seconds ticking away above my head, I measure it in my heart as a lasting memory going forward for my family life and upbringing. Mom, Dad and Melissa, this one's for you!  

P.S., the torch relay stories are really interesting too. The relay is bringing the Olympics within one hour of 95% of the UK population. How cool is that? 

P.P.S. here is a pic from one of the torch relay parades. Corey, this one's for you!

   

Pin It Now!

Everyone loves a parade, but art cars are special

Peeling out: Mayor Parker is in the blue shirt

As we say ad nauseam, Houston is a vastly underrated city. This tends to be perpetuated by national media, and for some odd reason our citizens don't seem to provide a sufficiently vocal or eloquent riposte to such unfounded parries. 

On the other hand, we somehow can whip out some in-yo-face rebuttals of the VISUAL sort. Like the Art Car Parade. 

It's the largest of its kind, the only one of its kind, and, well, just plain WEIRD. 

We love it, we love Houston for it, and we are proud that it makes its serpentine path through our neighborhood each May.

Need I say more?

Big mouth!

This year, the grand parade celebrated its 25th anniversary. It's about human-powered and motorized vehicles with whimsical, artistic, political, educational and even racy themes. It's about all forms of expression and connection.

This man was a fit, smiling senior

One of the original art cars!

'Vanadu'

The Orange Show float (curator of the parade)

A sock monkey car is a must

For us, the fun of it was being able to hang out with friends, and host three friends who have never seen the Art Car parade. They LOVED it. So did the other 300,000 spectators and like 20,000 dogs. As they say, everyone loves a parade. We're happy to host and we are a one-block walk from one of the best vantage points!

Pin It Now!

On being a localist ...

Russian Spring event at Discovery Green

Unless you've been under a rock for the past few years, you're well aware of the massive locavore movement to live, sight-see, eat, shop, play, consume, grow, breathe and what-have-you anything local. It used to be just about food sourcing. But now, anything that's grown, designed, fabricated or pulled from the ground less than 100 miles away (ideally, a leisurely bike ride away) is hip. 

A decade ago, few people knew what CSA meant. Now it's common to overhear conversation about CSA shares or half-shares and the fab mushrooms and killer zucchini delivered last week. The more progressive we seem, the more we look to the past (think of your average medieval market town!).

I've long been a fan of all things local because there's a certain pride of association with the great things we have right where we live. You might say I'm a localist (my made-up word) - an expansion of the locavore term. And we had a fantastic localist weekend in H'town. 

It started with dinner on Friday at REEF - one of our fave Gulf coast seafood spots courtesy of Bryan Caswell and Bill Floyd. It was my first experience with tile fish - I'm hooked! We all tried new things.

Zodiac heads in the Chinese astrology tradition

Saturday brought about stunning weather, and everyone was out enjoying it. We hit Hermann Park to check out the fascinating Zodiac Heads exhibit by Ai Weiwei. These monsters weigh more than 800 pounds each!

We topped off the day with visits to a few of the 100-plus galleries participating in the biennial Fotofest photography exhibit. Houston hosts the country's largest and oldest such exhibit; the theme for 2012 is Russian contemporary photography. 

Sunday delivered incredible weather again. And everyone came out again. With the temp in the 80s, it was a perfect day for playing in Discovery Green. 

And, for a stop in at the MKT Bar at Phoenicia. Love their fresh, house-made selections. 

Gelato at MKT Bar - the Apple & Blue Cheese is next to the mint chocolate

Everything we did was fewer than five miles from our home.  How cool is that?

Pin It Now!