Travelog for: Phex

today I spent some time at my fathers homevillage.. the village is called "Wasserstraße" and it is really small.. the weather wasn't really great, so we mostly sit inside.. but here you can see me in the nature there together with Chris the Cat and Perdita:


and this is Perdita and me in front of the house:

and we played a game with Fynn, the son of my mum:

Hi Mommy I have arrived in Miami already!

My new host said I arrived at perfect timing.  She was on her way out when she checked her mailbox.  When she saw that I had arrived, she went back home to get a camera so I could take pictures already!  How lucky I am to be going places already.

Hmm, with all the palm trees it certainly looks very tropical.  Weather is warm too.



We visited a place called Pinecrest Garden


Wow it looks like we have come to a rainforest!



What is this interesting fern growing up the tree?



There are some turtles resting on the branch!



In the center of the park is a big banyan tree.





This is a beautiful lake.





Hmm, I think I spot something weird over there.



What bird is this?



Wow, a beautiful peacock!  Isn't the color gorgeous?



There is a petting zoo too.



Wow this big piggy sure looks tasty, but I am afraid too big for a little fox like me to handle. So, well, I will just let it sleep.



There is an art & craft fair this weekend so we get to see some interesting arts.







Ahh, food!  Seeing that piggy makes me hungry so I am glad to find the food stalls.  Roasted corn sounds good?

Chinese New Year is coming soon so my host is preparing for it.  She makes special puddings.  There are many varieties of puddings/cakes and traditionally the women make a lot of puddings and give to their friends and relatives.  A good pudding is a source of pride as well as an omen for a good year to come. 

First she takes out the recipe for her favorite, the turnip cake.



She prepares the ingredients: sausage, and dried mushrom and dried shrimp soaking in water to rehydrate.



We chop the sausage into little pieces.  The knife is too big so Tibipanda and I work together.



Next on the chopping board are the shrimps and mushrooms.



We put the cubed ingredients into a bowl and marinate with soy sauce, wine and sugar.



Being a turnip cake, of course it needs lots of turnips.



We peel and cut them in chunks.  Now we set up the food processor to shred it.  My host says that it's great now we have the food processor.  In the olden days we would have to shred it by hands and it's a lot of hard work.



But now we shred all of the turnips in 10 minutes!



Now we stir fry the ingredients.  We add more soy sauce, wine and sugar for seasoning.



Next we cook the turnip shreds.



Everything is mixed together and cook a bit more.



Now the mixture is ready to go into a casserole!



We put the casserole into a steamer.



It will be steamed for 45 minutes.



With the pudding being steamed, we prepare the toasted sesame and cilantro.



Yay, countdown is almost here!



We sprinkle the cilantro and sesame on top.  Now it looks really nice!



We can't wait to try it!  You can add some oyster sauce or hot sauce to it.



This is another flavor, made with coconut milk and sugar.  It is given to us by our host's sister-in-law.



This is another flavor our host made, with water chestnut.  Pieces of water chestnut are added to the pudding to give it a sweet, crunchy flavor.



We slice it and dip it lightly into an egg batter before pan frying it.



Mmmm, everything is so delicious.

Our host gave us some gold coins for the Chinese New Year.  The weird shaped nugget is how the gold nuggets used to look like in ancient China.  But this one is actually candy inside!



Our host also gave us a red packet.  In China, adults give children these red packets during new year.  There is cash inside.  So all children love New Year as they get a lot of candies and money to buy whatever toys they want.  That is, when they are too grown up to buy the adult's tale of "give mommy your money and I will save it in the bank for you".

My host took me toda to Cold Stone Ice Cream.  It's her favorite ice cream place. 

First, you select the flavor of ice cream you like.



Then, the staff put the ice cream on a cold slab of marble and add your "mix in".  Here she is peeling the banana.



She then adds in the chocolate bar and other mix ins we request, and fold them into the ice cream.



Yummy!!!

Today we ride around in the car.  We pass by the port of Miami.  There are a lot of big cruise ships going to the Bahamas.  I wonder if I will get a chance to go on one?



These are some of the houses along the causeway.

Today we go wine tasting! 



South Florida is too warm for grapes but this winery uses local tropical fruits instead.

Like avocado.



Guava.



Passion fruit which has a very nice bouquet.



And lychee.



Hmmm, what wine should we taste?



We are given a glass and a tasting note so we can rate the wine we taste.



Oh, I think it's the first time I drink.  It is very delicious but I am getting dizzy!

Today we go to a beach on an island.  It's called Hobie Beach and is on Virginia Key, a little island that is about 5 miles long by 1.5 miles wide near downtown Miami.  The word Key comes from Spanish Cay, meaning an island.  Many of the islands here are named Key, like Key Biscayne, Key West, Marathon Key, and so on.

You can see the city of Miami as well as the bridge behind me.



There are people out there on kayaks on this beautiful day.



Families come out here.  The adults read or sleep while the children play with the sand or water.



This family even bring their tent!



And their guard dog!! Ugh, let's get going...



Let's sit and relax a bit, like everybody else.



We start collecting the shells.



Looks like someone forgot her sunglasses!



Wow the wind must be really strong during a hurricane!



We are getting thirsty.  I wonder if we can get some coconut juice?



We try climbing the tree but it's too tall.  No coconut but we are rewarded with a beautiful view!

Today we head to Tarpon Springs, a little town on the west coast of Florida.

First we have to drive frm the east coast to the west, through the Everglades National Park.  It may look just like any roadside grass but this is a subtropical marshland designated by UNESCO to be of vital global ecological importance.



This is at the rest area where we stop by for a quick break.



Now we are on the west coast we see the sea again.



We arrive in Tarpon Springs.  This used to be the train station.



The town used to be a sponge fishing village and has the highest percentage of Greek American population in the country.  There is a heavy Greek influence.

This is the St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in downtown.







We also visit this Greek bakery across the street.  They make their own Greek yogurt too.



You can tell you are in Greek territory! Greek Chow Mein anyone?


We sit down for a while ouside a store.  Can you guess what they sell?

Today we visit Craig Park. 



Behind us is a bayou.  During winter time there are manatees but we look and look and can't find any.



This is a cute little palm tree.



And a big palm tree.



Around the bayou there are a lot of old houses like this one.



The trees all have mustache.  My host tells us that they are Spanish moss.  Hanging from the trees, they make the scenery very romantic, or, very spooky, depends on your mood.







Our host wants to gather some moss so we help her.



Oh help me I am all tangled up!



In the park is the Heritage Museum.



Looks like there are people living here from a long, long time ago.



The ancient people used this conch shell to make an axe.



This picture show the sponge dock at its heydays.



These are the sponges and coral.



This is a sponge press used to pack sponges into bags like the one on the right.



There are also pictures showing the Greek community in Tarpon Springs.

Tonight we go to the Sponge Docks.  We saw a picture of it in the old days at the museum.  But now there is hardly any commercial harvest due to cost and water pollution, and the place is more a tourist attraction.



The street is lined with souvenir shops and Greek restaurants, with names like Hellas, Zorba, Mykonos and Santorini. 



Naturally there are a lot of sponges for sale.



And pretty shells too.



We stop by another Greek bakery.  This one has lots of sweet pastries. 



We buy this Greek pastry called diple.  It is a big rolled up sheet of fried dough with honey drizzled over it.  Very delicious we finish it in no time, even though it looks big.

Today we go to the U Pick farm to get some fruit and vegetables.

There are a lot of green tomatoes but we find some nice red ones too.



And these two red peppers look delicious!



Wow look at all these strawberries hiding!