My Grandma Lottie was one of my best friends. It's as simple as that. Many of my family memories are very tied to her.
I remember at her old apartment, one time climbing through this set of bars that ran from the living room to the dining room.
I remember her saying to me not to get in trouble or she'd flip me inside out and zip me up.
I remember her singing me all of her Yiddish songs, including the one that always made me look at Macy's a different way.
As I grew up, my brothers and I would spend nights at her apartment. She would always sleep on the couch in the other room so that we'd have the comfort of the bed. We'd go over to her house and she'd make us golden lokshen, salad and a chuck roast - of course she'd constantly be in the kitchen, even when we begged her to come out and eat with us so her food wouldn't get cold! That's just who she was - for the most important people in her life, she wanted everything for them first.
Food is so tied into the way I remember my grandmother - especially her baking. When I was very young, she'd make me these chocolate cookies with green and pink marshmallows in them - they were perfect. Mandel breads, ruggalah, sugar cookies, she did it all. However, none of those even came close to her challahs. It is still my favorite food and she's the reason for it. She always said she didn't have a recipe for it and that's the truth. I was so proud when I got to take her challah in on cultural days at school. Other classmates would end the day jealous that they didn't get to eat it all the time.
As I got older, my grandmother and I developed a special friendship. Although, at times, I let my youth get the better of me. On Friday nights in high school, I was regularly responsible for getting my grandma home. It was special one on one time that I didn't always take advantage of - sometimes even getting upset that I wasn't able to rush off with friends. However, I look back on those times and realize how lucky I was to be able to share that time with her.
In recent years, it's been very tough for my grandmother. And so, I choose to remember her in the way that will always warm my heart and inspire my memories. The ones where I imagine her singing show tunes with her family, going out with Aunt Babe to dance the night away in Miami, her coming home to my grandfather, raising my dad to be the amazing fella he is today, and mostly for being the wonderful Yiddishe mama I always knew.
I'll miss her desperately - it crushes me that I couldn't be at the funeral, but I know she wanted me to have my adventures in life.
A part of me is always built from her. A part that makes me and our family strong.
Yingalah #3, Mikey, Mikaluvichka
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Mapping Out May
May 2011 was traveltastic for Amanda and me. We were very fortunate to take two great trips. Our decision to not come back to the US until the wedding allowed us these extra days, and we made sure to take advantage.
New Zealand
Auckland
We started and ended our trip in Auckland, the city of sails. It's a very beautiful city with a lovely downtown area. What sets it apart from any other city for me was it's closeness to the water and the fact that it's all pretty new. Many of the colonial buildings are less than 150 years old.
While here, we took a bus around the city, went up to the Auckland Sky Tower and visited Rangitoto Volcanic Island. One of my favorite things had nothing to do with sights though. On the second leg of our trip, we went to a local bar and watched the Auckland Blues rugby team on TV. Rugby is definitely the number one sport in that country and seeing their passion for it was great.
Queenstown
The nature in and around Queenstown is truly majestic. The mountains, the lakes, the streams, all of it is jaw dropping.
The camera didn't have to do much work on this trip-the views themselves look like they come out of a picture book. While here, we took a boat ride on Lake Wakatipu, went on a trip to the Milford Sound, and perhaps my favorite, did a Lord of the Rings nature tour. On the LOTR trip, they took us to places where the films were shot, but more importantly, it was just the sensational nature that made it worth it.
The last big thing in Queenstown was the most nerve wrecking - I went bungy jumping! It's supposed to be the home of the original bungy. When I got up there, I was extremely nervous, but kept saying just do it, just do it.
Once the guide told me to wiggle out to the edge (eek), there was basically no other choice. It's hard to describe, the free falling with absolutely no control of your movements. I wanted to grab something but couldn't. It was over in seconds, a short and body busting experience. It will probably be the only time I ever do that, but it was worth it.
Wanaka
Midway through our stay on the south island, we spent two days at a bed and breakfast at Lake Wanaka. Of all the things we did on the trip, this was maybe the one thing I'd change. To be honest, my favorite part was the drive to and from this small lake town. Not that this isn't a great place, it just was a very difficult place without being able to drive. Unfortunately, neither Amanda or I had a valid license for this trip. It would have been great if we were able to just get in a car and drive, see the nature, but alas, we still had a great time taking all forms of public transport.
Bali
About two weeks after New Zealand, we visited Bali, Indonesia. This was one of my Singapore Bucket List places to visit and, well, it wasn't as awesome as I'd expected.
To be fair, it just was different to what we'd built up, and we should have planned in a different way. Bali seems to be a place where you go once, figure out how it all works and then go another time. 
Still, there were some gorgeous sights there including the Tanah Lot Temple, the Uluwatu Temple and the rice fields all over the place. A big thanks goes to my friend Melanie who suggested a nature walk in the town of Ubud. It was a fantastic way to see the rice fields and jungle like environment.
Joplin Tornado
Now on a much more serious note, while I've loved traveling and seeing the awesomeness of the earth, we've all been reminded lately that there is another side to mother nature. Christchurch, Tokyo, Alabama, Oklahoma City, Missouri, Massachusetts, it seems to be one natural disaster after another. The Joplin, Missouri tornado has been the one that has been on my mind the most. This is a city that I've driven through, eaten in and met people from. In a day, the entire city was changed forever. It reminds me that we should always appreciate the good things in our life.
Michael
New Zealand
Auckland
We started and ended our trip in Auckland, the city of sails. It's a very beautiful city with a lovely downtown area. What sets it apart from any other city for me was it's closeness to the water and the fact that it's all pretty new. Many of the colonial buildings are less than 150 years old.
While here, we took a bus around the city, went up to the Auckland Sky Tower and visited Rangitoto Volcanic Island. One of my favorite things had nothing to do with sights though. On the second leg of our trip, we went to a local bar and watched the Auckland Blues rugby team on TV. Rugby is definitely the number one sport in that country and seeing their passion for it was great.
Queenstown
The nature in and around Queenstown is truly majestic. The mountains, the lakes, the streams, all of it is jaw dropping.
The camera didn't have to do much work on this trip-the views themselves look like they come out of a picture book. While here, we took a boat ride on Lake Wakatipu, went on a trip to the Milford Sound, and perhaps my favorite, did a Lord of the Rings nature tour. On the LOTR trip, they took us to places where the films were shot, but more importantly, it was just the sensational nature that made it worth it.The last big thing in Queenstown was the most nerve wrecking - I went bungy jumping! It's supposed to be the home of the original bungy. When I got up there, I was extremely nervous, but kept saying just do it, just do it.
Once the guide told me to wiggle out to the edge (eek), there was basically no other choice. It's hard to describe, the free falling with absolutely no control of your movements. I wanted to grab something but couldn't. It was over in seconds, a short and body busting experience. It will probably be the only time I ever do that, but it was worth it.Wanaka
Midway through our stay on the south island, we spent two days at a bed and breakfast at Lake Wanaka. Of all the things we did on the trip, this was maybe the one thing I'd change. To be honest, my favorite part was the drive to and from this small lake town. Not that this isn't a great place, it just was a very difficult place without being able to drive. Unfortunately, neither Amanda or I had a valid license for this trip. It would have been great if we were able to just get in a car and drive, see the nature, but alas, we still had a great time taking all forms of public transport.
Bali
About two weeks after New Zealand, we visited Bali, Indonesia. This was one of my Singapore Bucket List places to visit and, well, it wasn't as awesome as I'd expected.
To be fair, it just was different to what we'd built up, and we should have planned in a different way. Bali seems to be a place where you go once, figure out how it all works and then go another time. 
Still, there were some gorgeous sights there including the Tanah Lot Temple, the Uluwatu Temple and the rice fields all over the place. A big thanks goes to my friend Melanie who suggested a nature walk in the town of Ubud. It was a fantastic way to see the rice fields and jungle like environment.
Joplin Tornado
Now on a much more serious note, while I've loved traveling and seeing the awesomeness of the earth, we've all been reminded lately that there is another side to mother nature. Christchurch, Tokyo, Alabama, Oklahoma City, Missouri, Massachusetts, it seems to be one natural disaster after another. The Joplin, Missouri tornado has been the one that has been on my mind the most. This is a city that I've driven through, eaten in and met people from. In a day, the entire city was changed forever. It reminds me that we should always appreciate the good things in our life.
Michael
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Fly to Seoul
Last week, we had one of the most "Welcome to Asia" trips so far. Not that the others haven't been special, but traveling around SE Asia is different than going up to South Korea.
Our experience was made much easier by my good buddy Jordan. We went up there to visit him (he teaches at an English school). He has picked up a good amount of the language and was able to get us through some conversations with cabbies, restaurants, etc. This is partly the reason the trip was so different.
We normally go on trips geared for a tourist, staying in the main site seeing areas, restaurants with English menus and the like. This experience had us staying with a friend in a suburb of Seoul, eating at neighborhood restaurants and seeing what living there was like.
Palaces
Easily the coolest tourist thing we saw was Gyeongbokgung Palace. I wont pretend that I looked into the Joseon dynasty before coming here, but man are the palaces beautiful. We noticed right away how calm it was for a tourist spot.
In our previous travels, the main tourist sites were very cramped, not that easy to get around and not nearly as peaceful. Another plus was the beautiful weather, somewhere about 55 degrees with the sun shining.
The immensity of this palace is all around. There are buildings for this and that, and lodging quarters, and on and on. All of them have a very similar style. As I joked, the designer was trying to keep a theme throughout ;)
When Amanda left, I visited the Changdeokgung or East Palace. It had many similar features, but didn't have the same beauty with the water and bridges. Still, let's not be picky here, the architecture is simply gorgeous, as is the attention to detail.
We visited my kind of palace on Sunday afternoon when we went to the Seoul Olympics park and saw all the stadiums used for the 1988 Olympiad. Many of the main venues are in the same area.
Outside the track stadium, there's a little rink set up, where Jordan plays hockey. Walking up to the stadium really gave me chills (or maybe it was the 40 degree weather with sun setting). While waiting for Jordan's game, we went inside the basketball arena. I was pretty impressed, and it was cool that a local team was having a fan appreciation day.
Blend of Modern and New
One of my favorite parts of the city was how the traditional architecture is mixed in with the modern structures.
One of the temples we went to was literally across the street from the large convention center and many a skyscraper. It shows the value in holding onto these heritage sites.
Baseball
The love of baseball in South Korea appears to be immense. Everywhere you go, people are wearing MLB hats (and nice ones too, all fitted New Eras) and clothes. To go even deeper, I went to a spring training game for the SK Wyverns, the defending Korea league champions.
Let me just say, an MLB team would be decently happy with about 500 people showing up for a spring training game in 42 degree weather at 1PM on a Monday! The stadium in Incheon is really modern and nice, with little restaurants inside, and also local stalls.
I loved that people were eating ramen noodles at the game. Who needs peanuts and cracker jacks? Haha, there were snacks like that as well. The game itself was very entertaining, with a 9-8 final scoreline. The baseball level is similar to minor league quality.
Food
The food there is very good, especially the barbeque. Jordan took us to his favorite place in his neighborhood and the beef was excellent. Let's be straight here: meat, fire, awesome sauce equals a winning combination. Plus, surrounding the fire where the meat is cooking, there's also a "scrambled egg" mixed with kimchi type dish forming. That was easily my second favorite part.
We went to many of his favorite places. The best burger place, the best chicken galbi place (very spicy chicken mixed in this cool fry pan), a great snack food restaurant, a "bomb" fried chicken place...definitely not hungry for most of the trip. On the cheeky home front, I stopped in a Sbarro and a Krispy Kreme because we don't have such fine institutions in Singapore. I enjoyed both and am not at all embarrassed to say I ate there in Korea.
Of course, all these are good, but nothing compared to the genius of col-pops.
This is one of the smartest fast food innovations I've ever seen, and I'm shocked a US chain hasn't picked it up. In the same cup, this restaurant puts cola at the bottom of the cup, then puts a lid on it, then puts a pile of chicken poppers on top. It's seriously very smart. You have one hand to hold your food and drink, the other to eat it. Why hasn't KFC in the US done this? I could see the mass marketing now.
All in all, I got exactly what I wanted from the trip. We were able to see many sites and get a good feel for the way people live, plus I got to hang out with one of my best friends.
Anyang-bye bye,
Michael
Our experience was made much easier by my good buddy Jordan. We went up there to visit him (he teaches at an English school). He has picked up a good amount of the language and was able to get us through some conversations with cabbies, restaurants, etc. This is partly the reason the trip was so different.
We normally go on trips geared for a tourist, staying in the main site seeing areas, restaurants with English menus and the like. This experience had us staying with a friend in a suburb of Seoul, eating at neighborhood restaurants and seeing what living there was like.Palaces
Easily the coolest tourist thing we saw was Gyeongbokgung Palace. I wont pretend that I looked into the Joseon dynasty before coming here, but man are the palaces beautiful. We noticed right away how calm it was for a tourist spot.
In our previous travels, the main tourist sites were very cramped, not that easy to get around and not nearly as peaceful. Another plus was the beautiful weather, somewhere about 55 degrees with the sun shining.The immensity of this palace is all around. There are buildings for this and that, and lodging quarters, and on and on. All of them have a very similar style. As I joked, the designer was trying to keep a theme throughout ;)
When Amanda left, I visited the Changdeokgung or East Palace. It had many similar features, but didn't have the same beauty with the water and bridges. Still, let's not be picky here, the architecture is simply gorgeous, as is the attention to detail.
We visited my kind of palace on Sunday afternoon when we went to the Seoul Olympics park and saw all the stadiums used for the 1988 Olympiad. Many of the main venues are in the same area.
Outside the track stadium, there's a little rink set up, where Jordan plays hockey. Walking up to the stadium really gave me chills (or maybe it was the 40 degree weather with sun setting). While waiting for Jordan's game, we went inside the basketball arena. I was pretty impressed, and it was cool that a local team was having a fan appreciation day.Blend of Modern and New
One of my favorite parts of the city was how the traditional architecture is mixed in with the modern structures.
One of the temples we went to was literally across the street from the large convention center and many a skyscraper. It shows the value in holding onto these heritage sites.Baseball
The love of baseball in South Korea appears to be immense. Everywhere you go, people are wearing MLB hats (and nice ones too, all fitted New Eras) and clothes. To go even deeper, I went to a spring training game for the SK Wyverns, the defending Korea league champions.
Let me just say, an MLB team would be decently happy with about 500 people showing up for a spring training game in 42 degree weather at 1PM on a Monday! The stadium in Incheon is really modern and nice, with little restaurants inside, and also local stalls.
I loved that people were eating ramen noodles at the game. Who needs peanuts and cracker jacks? Haha, there were snacks like that as well. The game itself was very entertaining, with a 9-8 final scoreline. The baseball level is similar to minor league quality.Food
The food there is very good, especially the barbeque. Jordan took us to his favorite place in his neighborhood and the beef was excellent. Let's be straight here: meat, fire, awesome sauce equals a winning combination. Plus, surrounding the fire where the meat is cooking, there's also a "scrambled egg" mixed with kimchi type dish forming. That was easily my second favorite part.
We went to many of his favorite places. The best burger place, the best chicken galbi place (very spicy chicken mixed in this cool fry pan), a great snack food restaurant, a "bomb" fried chicken place...definitely not hungry for most of the trip. On the cheeky home front, I stopped in a Sbarro and a Krispy Kreme because we don't have such fine institutions in Singapore. I enjoyed both and am not at all embarrassed to say I ate there in Korea.
Of course, all these are good, but nothing compared to the genius of col-pops.
This is one of the smartest fast food innovations I've ever seen, and I'm shocked a US chain hasn't picked it up. In the same cup, this restaurant puts cola at the bottom of the cup, then puts a lid on it, then puts a pile of chicken poppers on top. It's seriously very smart. You have one hand to hold your food and drink, the other to eat it. Why hasn't KFC in the US done this? I could see the mass marketing now. All in all, I got exactly what I wanted from the trip. We were able to see many sites and get a good feel for the way people live, plus I got to hang out with one of my best friends.
Anyang-bye bye,
Michael
Saturday, February 5, 2011
7 on 6
Lot's to cover in this blog, so we'll jump right to it.
New Year's in Vietnam
Amanda and I celebrated New Year's in Saigon. I had been to the city with my buddy Jordan, but got a totally different experience with Amanda (as I'd expected). On NYE, we went out to a nice restaurant and just walked around the main city area. In the middle of one of the main districts, it felt like Vietnam's Times Square. It was packed with people and motorbikes. There were concerts going on, a food festival, just tons of stuff. We had a really nice time on that trip-explored some of the Mekong River, looked into custom made wedding dresses, and of course, had eating adventures.
Golf Lessons
I started taking golf lessons a couple of weeks ago. Our plan is to be here for a while, and if that is the case, I'd love to play golf out here. The biggest issue is that it's quite expensive. So, my theory is that if I going to being paying a bit to play, I'd like to play well.
So far, I've really enjoyed the lessons. My instructor is an Aussie guy who also teaches Felix. I'm not headed to the PGA tour just yet, but going to the driving range has become more fun.
Lofty Heights
One of the big reasons I wanted to write this blog was because of the cool places we've gone to in the last couple of weeks. Early in the month, our friend had a birthday get together at a bar called Altitude.
It's a roof top bar on the 63rd floor of an office building. The 360-degree view of Singapore is absolutely stellar (Stellar also happens to be the name of their restaurant hahaha). 
Then for another birthday party, we went to a rooftop bar at the Fullerton Bay Hotel. It's a brand new hotel sitting right along Marina Bay. The atmosphere is wonderful and so are the views.
The other day while there, I just couldn't help but think these are places I'd never be going to back at home. Yes, there are places like this in Dallas. I just don't feel we'd go though. Maybe in the future, we'll search these places out. For now, I'm enjoying them (except for the drink prices-they're outrageous).
7 on 6
Today, February 6th, marks seven years since Amanda and I started dating. It always makes me laugh thinking about our first"date."
I never expected asking her out then, would lead me to one day asking her to be my wife.
We were simply too young at the time, however our relationship grew as we grew up.
Here we are seven years later, and I honestly think we are in one of the best periods of our relationship for sure.
That's all,
Michael
New Year's in Vietnam
Amanda and I celebrated New Year's in Saigon. I had been to the city with my buddy Jordan, but got a totally different experience with Amanda (as I'd expected). On NYE, we went out to a nice restaurant and just walked around the main city area. In the middle of one of the main districts, it felt like Vietnam's Times Square. It was packed with people and motorbikes. There were concerts going on, a food festival, just tons of stuff. We had a really nice time on that trip-explored some of the Mekong River, looked into custom made wedding dresses, and of course, had eating adventures.
Golf Lessons
I started taking golf lessons a couple of weeks ago. Our plan is to be here for a while, and if that is the case, I'd love to play golf out here. The biggest issue is that it's quite expensive. So, my theory is that if I going to being paying a bit to play, I'd like to play well.
So far, I've really enjoyed the lessons. My instructor is an Aussie guy who also teaches Felix. I'm not headed to the PGA tour just yet, but going to the driving range has become more fun.
Lofty Heights
One of the big reasons I wanted to write this blog was because of the cool places we've gone to in the last couple of weeks. Early in the month, our friend had a birthday get together at a bar called Altitude.
It's a roof top bar on the 63rd floor of an office building. The 360-degree view of Singapore is absolutely stellar (Stellar also happens to be the name of their restaurant hahaha). 
Then for another birthday party, we went to a rooftop bar at the Fullerton Bay Hotel. It's a brand new hotel sitting right along Marina Bay. The atmosphere is wonderful and so are the views.
The other day while there, I just couldn't help but think these are places I'd never be going to back at home. Yes, there are places like this in Dallas. I just don't feel we'd go though. Maybe in the future, we'll search these places out. For now, I'm enjoying them (except for the drink prices-they're outrageous).
7 on 6
Today, February 6th, marks seven years since Amanda and I started dating. It always makes me laugh thinking about our first"date."
I never expected asking her out then, would lead me to one day asking her to be my wife.
We were simply too young at the time, however our relationship grew as we grew up.
Here we are seven years later, and I honestly think we are in one of the best periods of our relationship for sure.
That's all,
Michael
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