The main reason my friend Sara took me to Samovar is because she and I share a love of chai tea. Sara assured me that this place had the best chai tea in the city. Samovar makes their own tea in small batches on site, and the chai certainly did not disappoint. It was a sunny day in the Mission, so we sat outside with Sara’s dogs. (Hooray dog friendly San Francisco!) She opted for the hot chai while I decided to cool down with an iced chai. Let me tell you, it took a lot of restraint not to suck the whole thing down in a couple of quick gulps. It was most certainly some of the best chai I had ever tasted.

For lunch I decided to keep it light. I went for the salmon wasabi salad. You have no idea how excited I was that such a menu item even existed. Spicy salad with fresh fish? Yes please!

Sara ordered a curry egg salad sandwich. I had been debating ordering this myself so I’m glad I got to see how it turned out. Sara said its one of her favorites. So fresh and tasty with just a little kick.

How to find it

Samovar has three locations in San Francisco:

Mission/Castro
498 Sanchez Street
San Francisco, CA 94114

Yerba Buena Gardens
730 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

Zen Valley
Hayes Valley
297 Page Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

1. Local everything

San Franciscans are obsessed with all things local. I love supporting local shops, but when you live in the Midwest, it’s not exactly easy. San Francisco makes it so simple. It seemed like every shop had artwork by local artists, stocked only locally grown produce, and sold only items made right there in San Francisco. I didn’t even mind paying higher prices because I knew the money was going to really great places. I even bought some delicious San Francisco made granola to take home with me.

2. Public transportation

I love public transportation so much. It was one of my absolute favorite things about living in Buenos Aires. Now that I am back in St. Louis, I am once again a slave to my car. San Francisco does not have that problem. I got a CityPASS for my trip, which included a MUNI Passport, allowing me to use all the buses and trolleys for free during my entire trip. It saved me a ton of money, plus it allowed me to get around without bumming rides from the friend I was staying with. Within two days I had figured out some of the subway lines and buses. I was thrilled that two different people stopped and asked me for help and I was able to confidently explain how they could get to where they needed to go.

3. Ice Cream

What better way to win my heart that through ice cream?! San Francisco is jam-packed with artesian ice cream shops. I literally ate ice cream at a new place every single day of my trip. Keep a look out for a separate blog post all about that!

My friend Chris, enjoying some ice cream.

4. Bikes

When my friend Sara suggested we do some bike riding instead of driving or taking public transportation, I was excited. I needed to work in some exercise to counteract all that ice cream I was consuming. I was a little worried though, because I’m not a super fast bicyclist. Living in a not-so-bike-friendly city has also made me weary of riding bikes anywhere near cars. I found that I didn’t have to worry about any of that nonsense in San Francisco. Not only where there bike lanes on almost every street, the motorists were so accustomed to the swarms of bicyclists in the streets that I didn’t feel the least bit unsafe while riding alongside them. I loved feeling the wind on my face and being able to soak up the beautiful scenery.

5. Dogs

This city is incredibly dog friendly. Not only are there doggie water bowls sitting outside almost every shop, most business owners have treats on hand for their favorite four-legged friends. Plus, dogs are welcome into basically any non-food related establishment. I was amazed that shops were equally welcoming to my friend’s tiny chihuahua-terrier mix as they were to her giant pit bull. San Francisco is dog and dog lover’s heaven.

Ollie and Francis were so used to being welcomed everywhere that they figured I wouldn’t mind sharing my bed either.

Oh San Francisco, I miss you already. Stay tuned for more posts all about San Francisco!

In case you didn’t know this, buen provecho is Spanish for bon appetit. Sidenote: isn’t it weird that there is no English phrase for this? As if we’re so lazy that we can’t even come up with “enjoy you meal” or something? I digress.

The point is, buen provecho is something that Spanish speakers say whenever anyone is eating. Actually, while I was living in Argentina, I was almost annoyed by it, because every time I so much as ate a carrot stick at my desk, 10 people would pass by and say “buen provecho!”  Ok, sorry, I’m going on tangents again, but I swear, this ties into a story.

While having a drink with one of Pedro’s former college professors (who is not Puerto Rican) she recalled a time when she said buen provecho to a group of Latinos about to eat. An Argentine woman at the table got oddly offended, claiming that saying such a thing was vulgar as it just drew unnecessary attention to eating and bodily functions.

That girl was loca

I have never met an Argentine in my life that was offended by the phrase buen provecho. Pedro, his little brother, Carmelo, and I found this so humorous that we made it a point to say buen provecho as often as possible for the rest of the trip. So much that, right before Carmelo and I chowed down on the infamous papas supreme, he looked at me and said “Rease, get your buen provecho ready!” 

That sentence was too great to be used only once. So now, as I create a photo essay of traditional Puerto Rican foods for your viewing pleasure, I would like to you ask you to:

Get your buen provecho ready!

I’d like to note that I left alcapurrias, pinchos, and mofongo off the list since they already got their very own articles.

First up, pescado

Seeing as Puerto Rico is an island, the pescado (fish) is delightfully fresh and absolutely incredible.

Colirubia – yellow tail

I honestly can’t remember what kind of fish this was, but it was tasty!

Camarones enchilados – Shrimp

Next up, tostones

I freaking love tostones. Fried plantains? Yes, please! Anyway you fry them up, I am sure to love them.

Batidas

No better way to take advantage of all the fresh fruit on the island than to make a refreshing smoothie out of it! Of course, other countries and cultures drink smoothies, but I still feel this deserves a spot in this post because smoothie stands are everywhere, and the fresh fruit makes them amazing.

Habichuelas

Habichuelas are beans in Puerto Rico (more on all the other words for beans in a later post.) They’ve got pink beans, white beans, red beans, and black beans. Some come with guineo fried up in them. Others have potatoes. Perhaps even some pumpkin. It doesn’t matter to me. If there are beans, I want them. Absurd amounts of them, por favor.

Hungry yet? If you make it to Puerto Rico, get ready to get your buen provecho on, because the food is to die for.

When it comes to tattoos, I’ve had awesome experiences and so-so ones, but I can honestly say I am happy with all my tattoos, even the one I got in a scene from Saw. However, I was especially excited to meet Blen of All Star Tattoo in Ceiba. Blen has done work on a couple of my friends in the past, including Pedro, so I was fairly familiar with work.

Spontaneous tattoo – what to get?

I had wanted a cherry blossom tree on my right foot for some time. I love cherry blossom trees and I think they are a wonderful tribute to my Japanese heritage. I also really loved the idea of having a tree to match the hummingbird I have tattooed on my left foot. (That’s a whole other travel tattoo story) Blen assured me that would be no problem, and said he was psyched to try out a water-color style technique. So, instead of drawing up a draft and putting a stencil on my body, as every other artist I have worked with did, Blen simply smiled and said, “Do you trust me?”

It’s cool if I just freehand this permanent piece of art onto your body, right?

This was my 11th tattoo, so I was far from new to this whole process. While I have let artists freehand little accents and shading to my tattoos, I had never even considered letting an artist take a needle straight to my skin and trust that the tattoo would come out nicely. I hesistated for a second, so Blen showed me some photos of past work he had done. The friend who connected me with Blen also has several huge pieces on his body that I knew Blen had freehanded, so I took a deep breathe and said, “Yeah, I trust you.”

Late night tattoo session.

This is going to hurt.

Anyone that tells you tattoos don’t hurt is a liar. The foot is also one of the most painful parts of your body to get tattooed. Right before we started Blen laughed and said “yeah, this is going to hurt.” He was almost a little too excited about it. However, I appreciate the honestly. He promised to work quickly, so I propped my foot up and steeled myself for the inevitable pain.

Some of that is ink, some of that is blood.

Getting a Tattoo in Puerto Rico = success

As soon as Blen finished my tattoo, I was in love with it. Sure, my foot was swollen and I wasn’t going to be able to wear shoes for at least at week, but who cares? My tattoo turned out beautifully. I will most definitely make sure to meet up with Blen again to get some more work done. And next time, I won’t even hesitate when it asks if I trust him.

So What’s an alcapurria?

An alcapurria is basically a doughy pocket made of guineo, plantains and/or yuca (or other root plants) stuffed with some sort of meat, such as crab or ground beef. The pocket is then fried and eaten by hand. It doesn’t sound too fancy, but the taste is impressive.

How to Make an Alcapurria

I wish I had a video of Pedro’s sweet little grandma explaining this, because she does it so much better. After she fetched me a special “visitors” glass for my water and handed me an alcapurria to chow down on, she took me on a tour of her kitchen and explained the entire process to me.

First, she takes guineo (although you can also use plantains) and grates them. She even showed me her grater that she has been using for the past 50 years. She sometimes adds yuca as well.

After that she adds some spices, such as abobo, and oils. I can’t give you the exact ingredients, I promised not to give away her secrets! I can tell you that most recipes keep it simple with oil or shortening and salt.

She explained that she allows the dough to sit overnight, and swears that this is the key to its deliciousness. Of course, if you don’t have that kind of time or dedication, you can skip the wait and get to the filling.

Pedro’s grandma stuffed her alcapurrias with ground beef, which she fried up and let cool before stuffing the dough. Once the dough is stuffed, you drop them in a pan full of oil and fry them up. Pedro’s grandma laid her alcapurrias out on paper towels to limit the grease, a method you will not likely find when buying an alcapurria on the side of the road.

All that greasy goodness

Like I said, this was one of my favorite dishes. I loved it so much that I forced Pedro to pull onto the side of the road on the way to the airport so I could get one last alcapurria. The roadside alcapurria was greasier than those made by Pedro’s grandma. I found both versions to be quite tasty but, unsurprisingly, grandma’s version was slightly better!

Yep, Puerto Rico

I admired this woman’s ability to openly admit that Puerto Rico has the worst grammar of all of the Spanish speaking countries. Surely she could understand Spanish better than any of the non-native speakers, but when it came to cold-cut grammar, we had her beat.

Pedro and I occasionally share a laugh over the fact that he has a Masters in English, which is my native language, and I have a Bachelors in Spanish, which is his native language. His spoken Spanish beats mine, but I understand the rules of the grammar much better than he does. I may pride myself on my English grammar as well, but, in the end, he could still throughly kick my ass in an English grammar debate.

But Puerto Rican Grammar isn’t always as bad as it seems

Pedro occasionally gets mad at me for teasing him too much about Puerto Rican grammar. Although it is often home-country pride that makes him snap, he’s not always wrong. A textbook may admonish certain words and conjugations, and Google Translate may remain at a loss, but I think “incorrect” can be a bit harsh at times. Perhaps “creative” would be a better term. 

Grammatically correct, but oh-so-wrong

To prove my point, I’d like to take a look at 3 different Puerto Rican-isms: Friquear, Janguear, and Soquear.

The spelling may not give their meanings away, but their pronunciations do. Try to say them outloud: Free-kay-ar, Han-gay-ar, and So-kay-ar. Can you guess the meanings yet?

Freak out, hang out, and to suck

Yes, seriously. I’d like to clarify that “soquear” is not to be used as in, “to suck on a straw,” it actually means “to suck” as in “this movie totally sucks.”

Horrible, yes. Incorrect? Not quite

You see, what makes these words more creative than incorrect is that they follow the rules of Spanish grammar.

Friquear is an AR verb. So if I wanted to say “I freaked out” I would just say “Friqueé.” If I wanted to say, “you are freaking out” I would say “Tú estás frequeando.” It’s that simple.

Similarly, “We hang out” would be “Jangueamos” and “That sucks” would be “Eso soquea.”

So who is to say that Puerto Rican Spanish is wrong?

It may hurt me to hear and even begin to use these bastardizations of Spanish and English, but I have to respect that these made-up terms at least follow the rules of grammar!

Papas Supreme, need I say more?

Well yeah, I probably do need to say more, because even Taco Bell enthusiasts have probably never heard of this magical dish. You see, in the great US of A, we buy into the idea that Taco Bell is “different” from other fast food places. It’s not a burger joint. It’s “mexican.” Of course, that’s all nonsense, but the theme of the restaurant simply does not allow for french fries. But I ask you, my friends, wouldn’t you love some greasy fries with that mystery meat taco?!

Allow Puerto Rico to solve your fast food woes

Puerto Rico, land of Spanglish and blurred cultural lines (Latin America or United States?!) has decided to say screw you, pseudo Mexican menu with absolutely no fries. We shall give the drunken clientel the fries they crave! And you know what? We’re going to top them with some ground beef, tomatoes, and sour cream! Yes, and we shall dub them, PAPAS SUPREME!

It’s all about the novelty

We were in a rush, in a car, and hungry. It was then that I remembered Pedro telling me about these so-called papas supreme, and I requested (or begged) for a stop at the nearest taco bell. I’m a little ashamed to admit how much effort was put into locating a Taco Bell just so I could eat a dish that is basically just crappy nachos with fries instead of chips. But the novelty, people! Nacho-esque fries from a drive thru Taco Bell! In Puerto Rico! 

The Verdict?

They taste better than they look. Especially when the photo is taking in a moving car in the dark, using the flash.

They were fast food french fries (read: underwhelming) with taco-bell quality toppings. But you know what? They were the kind of dish you want from a fast food restaurant. Delightfully unhealthy. Not at all special, yet oddly satisfying.

I think the US locations should consider adding them to the menu. They certainly would sell better than that ridiculous “cheese-roll-up” which is just a quesadilla made in a dirty microwave instead of on a grill. Screw the “Beyond the Border” attitude. I say, let there be fries!

Most people would agree that when it comes to a Christmas holiday, the home of Santa Claus is hard to beat, especially if you have a family.

But trips to Lapland can be so much more than jingling sleigh bells and gift-wrapped toys; even in the coolest months, you can try sports from cross-country skiing to canoeing, learn about the fascinating culture of the Sami people or see the Northern Lights first-hand. Here are just a few reasons to travel further North this winter.

A region spanning not just one but four countries across Northern Europe, Lapland can be accessed from Denmark, Norway, Finland or Sweden and its snowy plains, lakes and pines stretch on for many thousands of miles. Though the wider area is linked by native language and customs rather than being an official country, many people associate Lapland with the northerly Finnish province of Lappi.

Located inside the Arctic Circle, Lapland is blessed with unique light patterns as a result; travel here between October and January and the so-named ‘polar twilight’ casts the land in a beautiful bluish tinge. Add to this the shifting, spectral Northern Lights themselves and Lapland will leave you in no doubt as to why it’s known as such a magical destination.

Photo credit: Wiki Commons User Skeezix.

Activity-wise, the winter season bring myriad opportunities all across the Lapland terrain. Take a snowmobile safari through the forests near Rovaniemi, go dog-sledding with the huskies or try the downhill skiing in Finland’s top ski resorts in the Kuusamo region.

Once you’ve had your fill of the exhilarating outdoors, Lapland also has a world-class reputation for its saunas and the ones at the Yllas resort are particularly worth the trip as they include a soaring gondola ride.

If you’re after a cultural day out, Inari is where you’ll find all you need to know about the native Sami, with a national museum, artefacts and photographs to explore. In fact, the cold weather here is as much about cosying up inside as it is about messing about in the snow and Lapland offers some wonderfully luxurious log-cabin stays, as well as the chance to bunk in one of the famous ice hotels. Those on budget might like the igloos at Kakslauttanen or for something grander, try Kemi Snow Castle in the southern part of Finnish Lapland.

Though it’s clear that the attraction of seeing Father Christmas in his native hideout will never grow old, there’s plenty more fun to be had for both kids and grown-ups and you don’t have to just stick to the festive season. With its natural phenomena, wildlife and fairy-tale atmosphere, this stunning region has captured the imagination of many travellers and once you’ve made it, it might be harder than you think to leave again.

These photos will in no way do the town justice, but I hope they will at least give you a taste. I know just looking at them makes me want to go back!

My first glimpse of Old San Juan

I adore the bright colors of Puerto Rico, whether it’s in nature or on the buildings.

Who could get tired of this view?

I’ll leave you with that relaxing shot of the beautiful town of Old San Juan.

Turns out, it’s just a kabob

Seriously, Puerto Rico? All those crazy slang terms, almost all of which are dirty, and this one is just a bunch of meat on a stick?

I know this post is really about the food, but I do want to stop and discuss the awesome factor of this photo. This plate contains pinchos for several people. We purchased these pinchos late at night in Boquerón, in an area that is just full of bars, pincho stands,  flamboyantly gay people, and just a lot of drunks near the ocean. It’s a pretty awesome. This guy sold me these pinchos, and wanted to be in the photo. How could I deny him?

Okay, back to the question: What is a pincho?

I would call it a kabob without vegetables. It’s basically any sort of grilled meat on a skewer, generally topped with a generous amount of sauce. Pinchos also come with a slice of bread. I imagine the bread is there to help soak up all the tasty sauce. The photo above shows chicken and pork, but you can get all kinds of meats such as shark, shrimp, cod, and beef as well.

Pinchos are the perfect late night snack (or meal), especially if you have been drinking. I wouldn’t recommend more than one though, because they are quite filling.