Hue

This morning we flew to Hue, which is in central Vietnam near the coast. We walked for a while around the Imperial Citadel where the royal families all lived (pics below). It's much cleaner, quieter, and hotter here in Hue than in either of the northern cities.

Hai Phong colors

We had a great day with M's family from Hai Phong today. The day was grey and foggy, but the colors of this country are incredible.

Hai Phong, Day 1

Hai Phong is where M's aunt and uncle live with their two year old daughter. It's a small port city where there are fewer tourists around - people are constantly staring at us and saying "Hello" - one group of teenagers rode past on their mopeds and shouted "I love you!" which I'm assuming is a cool English phrase that they know. The pictures below are all from the food market in town.

Night Time in Hanoi

Hanoi, Day 2

1. Temple of Literature
2. Hoa Lo prison ("Hanoi Hilton")
3. Temple of Literature, stele dedicated to the Doctors of Philosophy
4. Temple of Literature, graduates celebrating
5. Tran Quoc Pagoda in Ho Tay (West) Lake - Buddhist temple

Happiness in Hanoi

We've been lucky enough to be invited on two big trips with family this year - in June we went to Barcelona with my family and now we are in Vietnam with M's family for the holidays!!

I'll post a few pics here as we travel (the Blogger app is kind of limiting so all of the pics end up at the end of the post and I can't insert text in between, sorry for the poor formatting).

1. Amazing tropical fruit for breakfast (passion fruit and dragon fruit!).
2. Dress shop in the Old Quarter, Hanoi.
3. The view from my friend V's apt in Hanoi, overlooking West Lake.

Leaf peeping weekend

This is the last weekend I have free from work until Thanksgiving, so M and I decided to head outdoors and enjoy the incredible fall weather. We managed to catch the end of a grass-fed beef competition at Wyebrook Farm in Honey Brook, PA, enjoy a housewarming party at a friends' farm in Southwest Philly (complete with marshmallow roasting!) and peep some leaves at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge near the Philadelphia airport.

* Heinz NWR *

 

 

 

 

 

* Heading out to the Farm *

 

* Our jack-o-lantern didn't make it to Halloween :( *

 

* Wyebrook Farm *

Perfect Day

Yesterday was the first day of Fall! M and I spent the day at Highland Orchard, in Westchester PA where we picked a half bushel of apples that I plan to make into pies, butter, and preserves. When we returned we went straight to our friends' house for dinner, which turned out to be a surprise party for me for my 30th birthday! Yup, a perfect day.

 

Another Successful Bramblefest

The fourth annual Berry Weekend has come and gone.  This year we were only four: Emmy, my mom, and my friend KD, all others having weddings or school to attend.  This year, thanks to local Philly blogger and canner Marisa McClellan and her amazing book Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year Round, we really felt like we got into the swing of things are were finally comfortable with the entire process.

We were so comfortable in fact that we ended up making about 8 batches of jam, including peach lavender, peach spice, blueberry vanilla, and of course bramble jam, which was made using the juice from the wild berries that grow on Emmy's property.

It rained most of the weekend, but we still got a chance to do the things we like to do on Berry Weekend other than jam - go antiquing and shoot guns.  And after the rains, we were rewarded with this incredible sunset on Saturday night.

Enjoy the very end of summer, autumn is on its way!

- Erica

P.S. Posts from Bramblefest 2009, and 2010, I didn't document 2011 :(

We Can Has Kittaz!!

In addition to moving to a new place last month, we decided to adopt two kittens. That's right, two. They are brother and sister and they are named Fela Kitty (grey, boy) and Ladybird (striped, girl). To quote M, "They are awesome. They make everything better." Even when they are spilling my plants all over the floor and licking my hair in the mornings.

They also have their own Tumblr, if you're interested - www.erafuz.tumblr.com