500 Restaurants

Last week I celebrated my 500th restaurant review on TripAdvisor: 122 in Chicago alone, reviews in more than 20 countries, probably more than 50 cuisines…

New Orleans

Before I moved to the US I didn't care much about good food.

Everything changed when I moved to a very diverse and high quality food city: Chicago. For 2 years, every weekend we had brunch or lunch in different places.

 Beijing

We explored the city through the restaurants and different cuisines. We went to many neighborhoods because we wanted to have food in a specific restaurant.

White Coffee, Penang

My fav restaurant in Chicago is Ruxbin. There we celebrated our wedding, Rui’s graduation, our wedding anniversaries… All the dates were an excuse to go there! Oh boy, I really missed it!

Yelp and Tripadvisor were our compass. And the smartphones made our task much easier, with little planning we could find a restaurant or a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere.

Tokyo

When we are looking for a restaurant the most important is food quality. I don’t care if the place is a hole-in-the wall or if it has a great view. My target is having great food.

When we are travelling we always want to have food where the locals have it.

Singapore

Last year, in our trip in South East Asia, we had amazing street food experiences. If a food stall is full of locals that’s our call.

Hanoi

In Ho Chi Minh we spent a long time walking and trying to find the famous LunchLady. I ate one of the most delicious meals I ever had in an alley. The crunchiness, mix of flavors and textures and freshness were insane.

The Lunch Lady Ho Chi Minh

My fav food country destination is Japan. When we went there we had 5 meals a day, and I mean something like 3 lunches. All our meals there were pretty amazing and unforgettable.

Fish Market Tokyo

One of my fav dishes is a salad that I ate in Myanmar, tea leaf salad. It’s the national dish. It’s an eclectic mix of flavors and textures. I couldn’t resist, I ate it several times in different cities.

Barbados

I had big expectations about Penang (Malaysia), especially after watchingBourdain’s TV show and I found it very disappointing. It’s one of those cases where tourism changed the essence of the place. Instead of an exciting mix of cultures I found bagel and pizza restaurants.

Ipoh Malasya

I recall a delicious ceviche that I had in Paracas, Peru. The city itself is terrible and this restaurant looked so mediocre but in the end it was perfect.

Ruta de Las Flores, El Salvador

I love South and Central America cuisine, especially Peruvian. During my trips there I can’t recall a bad food experience.

Beans Soup, El Salvador (Gracias, Delmy!!)

I’m already looking forward to 500 more J

BBQ Roadtrip with Friends

We were planning a trip to Texas when my friend Ceci asked me for suggestions for President’s Day weekend. First we talked about the Florida Keys, I’ve been there some time ago and I loved it. But then, we realized that we could travel together. I missed my fav Italian couple so much and this trip would be much more fun with them.

Texas Baby Crew

Our plan was simple: having good food in Texas.

First, we went to Austin. The city is nice but it doesn’t have much to see or do during the day. At night it gets very busy. Tons of restaurants and bars completely crowded.

East Austin

Our next stop was San Antonio. There we could visit some Missions: San Jose and Concepcion. Both are beautiful and very interesting. Don’t miss the tours with the rangers. They are always accurate and very knowledgeable.

San Jose Mission

San Antonio has much more to see and do than Austin. We could visit the city market and buy some Mexican souvenirs and the river walk is a great place to take a walk.

Mi Tierra Cafe, San Antonio downtown

Of course we went to the famous Alamo. But it was so disappointing. The Daughters of Republic of Texas took control of it and there is a huge crappy shop that looks a lot like a Dollar shop. It has more signs announcing the chocolate fudge than historical facts about the site.

The Alamo

In my opinion, the trip highlight was a BBQ place in Luling. Supposedly Luling is renowned for its barbecue. We found a great restaurant on Yelp, the CityMarket, when we were driving back to Houston. It’s very authentic, it has an amazing smokehouse and food is served on paper.

City Market, Smoke House

City Market, Smoke House

City Market, Smoke House

City Market, Smoke House

City Market, Smoke House

We could experience real Texas BBQ.

Pork ribs and sausage

We arrived to the airport 20 minutes before boarding… Yes, we made it! 

America the Beautiful

The first National Park (NP) I visited was the Grand Canyon. It was astonishing. Everything was very well organized (there is a parking lot where you must leave your car and take the park buses) and the landscape was gorgeous, all those amazing colors...

Grand Canyon

In the same trip I visited Zion and I fell in love with the NPs. I'm deeply grateful to all people that contributed to preserve these lands.

Back home, in Europe, rich people own the best spots, they own the land. Even in Canada, we tried to visit the One Thousand Islands NP and it was impossible to reach the lake front, everything was private property. 

Anyways, after the Grand Canyon we started exploring more and more the NP. So far, we already visited more than 60 different units of the National Park System, 14 of which National Parks.

I highly recommend the annual pass. You are helping the NP and you don't need to worry about entrance or parking fees, everything is included.
Some of my fav are:

- Grand Teton 

It's truly amazing. The views are spectacular. So far it's my fav NP.

Grand Teton 

Grand Teton 

Grand Teton 

Grand Teton 

Grand Teton 

- Cumberland island

This island is unique. The ruins of Carnegie's mansion makes it even more special. You can see wild horses and enjoy a white sand beach.

Cumberland Island

Cumberland Island

Cumberland Island

- Zion

It's very diverse. It has waterfalls, red land and tons of trails.

Zion

Zion

Zion

- Glacier (best time to visit it is during summer)

It's really hard to visit it during most part of the year. The weather is very severe and it makes impossible to do treks around.

Glacier

Glacier

Glacier

Glacier

Glacier

- Yellowstone ( I don't recommend the Canyon Lodge and Cabins) 

It's massive and very diverse in landscape and wildlife. You can see geysers, waterfalls and drive next to buffaloes or other animals.

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

- Everglades

Here we could see beautiful birds and some alligators. And I saved some stubborn turtles from being run-over. Once a scout, always a scout.

Everglades

Everglades

- Virgin Islands 

This is paradise. There are small trails to gorgeous beaches, underwater trails (snorkeling) and ruins to visit. I want to move there!!

Virgin Islands

On amazon prime or netflix you can find a very interesting documentary about the NP: America's Best Idea, by Ken Burns. It is really interesting how the preservation movement in the US managed to push the idea of setting aside some of the most beautiful lands of America.

Florida Keys

Some time ago we went to the Keys in order to avoid the freezing weather in the Midwest.

Bahia Honda Park

We flew to Miami and there, we rented a car to go to the Keys. It's a nice but not long drive.
Our hotel, Dove Creek Lodge Ascend Collection, was located in a quiet area with a beautiful front sea view. We could enjoy our breakfast in a balcony with great views. I highly recommend it.

Hotel 

We drove along the Keys and visited national and state parks. 

Some of the parks have a beach area and they rent kayaks. There are also several treks. It's a way to exercise and at same time to explore and enjoy more. I'm a huge fan of the National Parks. The best idea ever! 

Keys

Keys

Keys

Biscayne National Park 

Key West

Key West

During these days We didn't find great seafood, I'm not a fan of deep fried or sauces. I prefer natural flavors. Maybe it has something to do with the place where I came from, it's hard to have fresh and perfectly cooked fish like in Portugal - my country.
Although, on our way back to Miami, we had great BBQ, in Shiver's.
Everglades NP is a must see. We couldn't miss this opportunity to visit it. It's gorgeous, very scenic and lots of fauna: birds, alligators and turtles... Btw, I saved some turtles from being run over. 

Everglades NP

Everglades NP

Everglades NP