US - Puerto Rico

What beautiful 'wave lines'! 

Some of the coastlines we saw when we were flying to Puerto Rico.

     

We stayed in a hotel in Condado, not bad.

But the next morning, we found that we didn't have a drop of water from the sink, toilet and shower, that was frustrating.

 The hotel main pipe broke and we had to go to the hotel across the street for toilet and shower. 

I complained to the management about how inconvenient this was, and we got a 20% discount for compensation.

If I had not requested to talk directly to the manager, the desk staff just said he couldn't do anything.  

There are two forts in Old San Juan, we took a public bus ($0.75 exactly, coins only, no bills accepted), which stopped at the bus terminal near the fort Castillo San Cristobal.

  

The forts have these cylindrical observation towers, which are the landmark image of the US quarter ($0.25) for Puerto Rico.

After visiting this fort, we took a free trolley to the other fort, which can be seen in the distance in this picture.

This fort is Castillo San Felipe del Morro.

They both are national historic sites in the USA...

...and also are UNESCO world heritage sites.

Puerto Rico (a former Spanish colony) is a United States territory located in the Caribbean Sea. 

Even though their official languages are Spanish and English, many local people couldn't speak English.

We walked around Old San Juan city and took some architecture pictures.  I'll write about those in another post.

That day was our 8th anniversary.

We had Puerto Rican food at a beach-side restaurant.

I tried mofongo, which was good. 

We flew to Vieques island by a small plane (8 seats, but only 3 passengers that day), and stayed there for one night.

Such a beautiful view - a little island in a lake in the jungle?

Just 26 mins to arrive.

The town has a little Fort with a museum, not much for sightseeing. 

  

I found 'heart' shaped little rocks at the beach.

This one was too big to carry back home, so I just have a picture of it.

What's the time now?

We joined a Bio Bay tour ($45 per person) at 6 pm.

A tour guide with his van picked up 10 tourists then headed to the bay, which needed a very skillful to driver to go from the main road to the bay. Very deep bumps, don't try it with a car.

When we arrived at the bay, it was already dark. The guide taught us some basic kayaking skills, then his helpers arranged two persons per kayak.

That night was no moon and full of stars, which was perfect for viewing the bay. When we paddled the water or the fishes swam around, the water glowed blue.

"Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism."

We took a cargo ferry ($2/adult) back to the main island.  Information said it takes 60 to 75 minutes for the trip.  Our ferry took 2 hours. 

It was a 1 hour taxi ride ($65) from Fajardo to Condado.  Our taxi driver, Al, was recommended by someone at our hotel and speaks English.

We asked him to stop at El Yunque National Forest, but he said taxis are not allowed to go there.  He recommended we rent a car, and to avoid traffic, go to El Yunque early in the morning then back to San Juan or on to Arecibo after that.

We walked to the beach, some kids have fun with surfing.

The little shell is cute and the seaweed 'berries' are too.

After walking the beach, we went to a recommended Puerto Rican food restaurant called Orozco's, where Steve had smoked pork chops.  This restaurant had big portions, reasonably priced, and it was tasty.

Because we planned to visit El Yunque and Camuy River Cave Park in one day, and didn't have these 2 places in a day tour package, our best option seemed to be to rent a car.  Steve was very reluctant to drive there, since all road signs are in Spanish. However, he rented a car for a day, starting from 9am. and planned to return it before they closed at 7 pm.  

The entrance is $5/adult, but we have an annual National Parks pass.

I like these leaves.

Walked a trail to the waterfall.

A group of photographers with models were there, so they are in my pictures too.

After that, we drove to Camuy River Cave Park as planned. It was already 4 pm. when we arrived and the gate was closed, We didn't search the information before we went, so wasted about 4 hours driving time and gas. Oh well, Steve felt great relief when he returned the car a little after 6 pm, before they closed.

No kneeling proposal

婚前婚後，確實有不同的，我提供一個例子。
Before and after marriage, definitely is different. I have an example.

每次看到有男士跪下求婚的情景，我就會向Steve說：“你向我求婚時怎麽沒跪的？你要補跪再向我求婚一次！”
他說：“才不，我怕你會說 no。”

你看。婚後他就很會耍賴了。我很後悔。

Every time I saw the scene of the man kneeling to propose, I said to Steve, "Why didn't you kneel to propose? You need to kneel and propose to me again!"
He said, "Nope. I'm afraid you will say no."

You see. He is not doing it for me after we're married. I regret.

Anyway, today is our 8th anniversary. We celebrate in Puerto Rico.
我們來 Puerto Rico 慶祝結婚8週年紀念。

這頁是寫求婚回憶 The link about the propose day memory ：http://lktansinee.blogspot.com/2008/07/butterfly-melody.html

Homemade puff pastry

We have bought frozen puff pastry dough and frozen chocolate croissants many times. I think we shouldn't buy them again, because we found how to make quick puff pastry. The ingredients are simple and with a food processor, it is very easy to make. 

The important thing is the taste is so good. We made little plain and chocolate croissants.
我們找到即簡單材料又快速的 puff 皮之做法。
最重要是口感及味道都很好。吃了自己做的有及無巧克力餡 croissant，我們讚不絕口。

I stir fried chicken and sweet potatoes with curry sauce, and used some of the puff pastry dough to make little chicken curry pies.
我炒了雞塊紅番薯咖喱，用 puff 皮來包這餡。

小小的咖喱卜/咖喱派，太好吃。
So yummy.

Chinese-Malaysian coconut tart

原本我是要找胡椒餅的做法，但上網找不到，卻看到椰撻。想到還有存着椰絲冰涷了很久，不如做有槟城家鄉味的椰撻。

This is a Chinese-Malaysian coconut tart, a little different than other coconut tarts.  These are covered with an almond cookie on top. That means it has three parts: the dough, the filling, and the cookie top. They took a long time to make. 

With Steve's help, it took almost 6 hours to make batch of about 20 tarts. 

Two different kinds of dough go into the tart, which creates a kind of puff pastry, using oil instead of butter.

Each type of dough is divided into 10 pieces.

The dough containing oil is wrapped by the other dough.

Flatten the dough and roll it twice, and it will be like puff pastry.

Mix well the coconut filling ingredients.

Mix the almond cookie dough.

Added almond meal.

Flatten the plain dough and layer the almond dough on top, then roll them like a Swiss roll. 

After chilling the almond cookie dough, slice the roll into 20 cookies.

Shape the puff pastry dough in the mold, then add coconut filling, and cover with almond cookie dough.

Brush with egg before put in oven.

The first 10 turned out well after baking.

They tasted great!

The neutral world

How does a frog sees the world?
青蛙如何看世界？

Thus, I play a frog role.
Answer is: You see the world the way you want to see it.

The world is neutral.

If you see something as ugly, don't point and blame outside.
Instead look deeply into yourself and ask:
Do I love enough?
Do I love unconditionally?

為此，我化成青蛙。
答案是：你看到你想看到的世界。

世界是中性的。

如果你看到惡，不要指向外而抱怨。
不如往内深層看自己，然後問：
我有大愛嗎？
我有無條件的愛嗎？

I am trying to practice it.
我還在修。