Pheace in Phuket

My blog baby is not getting ignored; it's simply a matter of having little to blog on. Since I've arrived in Phuket, I mostly lay around the pool through the day, interspersed with Thai massages for 150 baht per hour (that's right at 5 bucks US). But yesterday I managed to moped taxi down to Nai Harn Beach where I lazed about all day. Surprisingly, the beach umbrella did not stop me from getting a burn down the front of my body. Lesson learned.

The white sand blazingly hot, I was grateful for the food vendors hawking their wares. And, for the record, fresh corn on the cob is EXCELLENT beach food.

Nai Harn Beach

The pool at my hotel. I spend most my days here- it's just more picturesque at night.

Disney World!

As I mentioned in my last post, the reason I visited Disney World was to support two of my friends as they ran in the marathon weekend. Well Ms. G and Ms. N didn't just run the marathon, they ran a half marathon one day and a full marathon the next, known as the Goofy Challenge. Yes, that is 39.3 miles in just 2 days. And they did it. And I am in awe. To brag, Ms. G was only 45 seconds off her personal record for a full marathon.

The day after the full marathon, we visited Magic Kingdom and even got to visit with The Mice. You'll notice that my friends are wearing medals for the Goofy Challenge and even the three-year old is wearing a medal for her 100m race. The day prior all I heard was judgment when the three-year old asked me, "Why you not running the big person race?" As I told people throughout the park, I'M BABYSITTING! Yeah, that's why.

I took the Buzz Lightyear shooting ride very seriously. (I still lost to Ms. G, something like 754,230 to 24,500.)

From 'Car Camping' to This

A couple of days ago I got back from an Orlando, Florida vacation. Disney World. My first visit to any Disney park anywhere in the world (although I drove past Euro Disney once!). The reason for my visit wasn't purely to see The Squeaky One but, rather, to cheer along two of my friends as they ran in the Disney World marathon weekend (next post) and to entertain a 3-year old as her mom was off running for hours upon end. Certainly staying in the Waldorf Astoria was a fringe benefit I was none too sad to experience.

"I stayed in a Waldorf Astoria last night!"

Ms. G let me jump on her bed. I slept on the pull-out sofa bed. Correction, the MEMORY FOAM pull-out sofa. Oh yes.

We heckled golfers from our balcony.

 While the Waldorf is a fine hotel with fabulous morning coffee, and afternoon champagne in the lobby, and a pleasant scent that permeates throughout, and an elevator voice that makes you fall in love with it, it was the food I'll want to remember. The real Waldorf Salad! (Buttermilk, not mayo. Candied walnuts added at the end. Almost julienned apples. A light light salad, unlike how most of us have experienced it.) A corn chowder with caviar. A flaming creme brulee with a base of creamy chocolate. And, ladies and gentlemen, THE LEMON. An original to the Waldorf in Orlando and, it appears from a brief Mr. Google search, unavailable elsewhere. They say it is a 10-hour process of boiling and candying and more. Essentially, it is a candied lemon that retains its shape, then it is filled with a lemon sorbet and a custard- but the fillings are not mixed together, they're more of a pastiche so one bite you get sorbet and the next custard.

Needing a Vacation from my Vacation

Oh, New York. I got there on the 29th of December and I left on the morning of the 3d. Me and two of my very good girlfriends, all of us likely the person when in other groups of friends who pressures everyone to drink more. As it is, I need detox from my six days. But we didn't just drink, we're all foodie sorts too. And NYC is a foodie heaven. We caviar'd, we pate'd, we cheese'd, and pasta'd (not me), and soup'd, we cheese'd (it deserves to be listed twice), we olive'd, we pork'd, lamb'd and beef'd our way through the city. And, of course, we hair of the dog'd too.

S and I lizzing, with the significant other of my friend, G.

G and her man. He always stands like that. ;)