December 02, 2013

travelogue / annapolis

December 02, 2013/ Brittany Jarman

i hope all of you had a happy thanksgiving and a much needed break! our thanksgiving weekend was perfect and entailed lots of food and traveling-our two favorite things! we rented a car for the weekend and explored quite a bit outside of dc, crossing quite a few things off of our list. we spent most of saturday in annapolis, md. it was such a quiet and cozy town- perfect for a day trip. we loved walking around the cute main street, soaking in all of the views of the harbor, learning the history of the city, and eating some local treats.

we started out on main street and walked around all of the cute little antique shops and down to the harbor, hot chocolate in hand. we at lunch at chick and ruth's, famous for it's crabcakes and was on the food channel once (though it wasn't anything amazing in my eyes). we headed over the the maryland state house, which served as the capitol for a few months way back when. it was a beautiful building with an amazing dome and fossils in the marble tiles. then we headed to see the thurgood marshall monument, which jarman was ecstatic about. we also check out the local annapolis bookstore, a quirky place with maritime and used books.

we headed over to the maritime museum, housed in the old mcnasby oyster company building. it was a tiny museum where this adorable old man taught us about the history of oyster-catching in the chesapeake bay. as boring as it sounds, it was actually pretty interesting. in the surrounding areas there were millions of oyster shells that had once been hand-shucked by mcnasby's oysters. we also visited the us naval academy, and ran back to the main street to see the beautiful sunset. annapolis is only 45 minutes away from dc, and is totally worth a day trip. we loved our time in this quaint town.

November 19, 2013

travelogue / philadelphia

November 19, 2013/ Brittany Jarman

we didn't originally plan to spend a weekend in philadelphia because we thought we would get some time there through the school (see this post), but after our small taste we knew we needed to go back. we spent saturday and sunday there, and seriously feel like we needed so much longer! there is so much to do and see. our trip was so fun though and we left with the sorest feet from walking miles and miles.

valley shepherd creamery reading terminal market.jpg

we got there saturday afternoon and went straight to eat, naturally. we headed to the reading terminal market- which competes with borough market for the best food market of all time. and if you remember this post, i love, i love borough market. so this is almost blasphemy. we tried to eat as many different stalls as we could. don't worry, we spread all this food over three different visits.

jarman ate at dinic's last time we were there, and that may have been the best pork sandwich ever. my personal favorite was the valley shepherd creamery. i got a fresh mozzarella and tomato sandwich the first time and it was to die for, their boylan's cream soda is also delicious. however, my second time i got a grilled cheese with mac and cheese and brisket and i didn't love it, though it is their most popular dish.

we also tried a crepe place, which was fine but nothing special. a bratwurst place, which was delicious but a little too spicy- i'm sure if you order the right thing it is amazing. a goat cheese and onion flatbread that was delectable. a smoothie that was spot on. a butter bar that tastes better than it sounds. some amish donuts that were fancier than they sound.

however, the most important thing you need to know if you ever go to the reading terminal market: get an ice cream cone from bassett's ice cream. it was literally the best ice cream i have ever had, and i have eaten a lot of ice cream. i went with the double chocolate and a waffle cone (i'm not really sure what else you would order). i almost couldn't share with jarman it was so good. i was ravenous to say the least.

next we took a really pretty walk from the market up to the eastern state penitentiary. we passed the shakespeare memorial and the city hall. the eastern state penitentiary was pretty awesome, it was one of the first real jails in the state's and reformed the whole system. al capone was housed here for a time (can you guess which swanky cell was his?). jarman loved visiting this place, and i love photographing it- the crumbly walls were killing me!

that evening, after we checked in to the hotel, we headed to the barnes foundation. their philosophy on museums is kind of interesting: they don't believe in signage, they want viewers to just see the works. it was pretty cool- there were some amazing works. renoir was the barnes' favorite artist which kind of drove me crazy, no one needs that much renoir hanging on a wall. we ate at marathon that night, which we thought was very fitting because so many people had come to town that weekend to run a marathon (why, why would they do that?). then we got cookies from insomnia which were crazy good.

the next day we slept in, because why pay for a hotel if you're not going to take advantage of the comfy bed that is way better than our rock hard murphy bed. so worth it. we headed back to the reading market for more deliciousness. then we trekked up to the philadelphia museum of art, which had some amazing works. we did not have nearly enough time there, i could have spent hours! i was most excited about duchamp's fountain that was there. so awesome.

we ended our trip the right way, by going to south philly and getting an original cheesesteak. at first, i didn't think it was that great, but it kind of grew on me and i loved it by my last bite. i really wish we had more time, someday we will be back for you philadelphia!

November 08, 2013

a perfect day in... / siena

November 08, 2013/ Brittany Jarman

today i want to share one of the best cities in italy. i was lucky enough to live there for a few months in 2011, with the nicest grandma and best cook ever. i absolutely loved my time there. i know most people who visit will only be spending a day in the city, and i totally understand: there is so much to see in italy. siena is well worth the visit, even if it is only for a day.

most of you will arrive by bus at the piazza gramsci. i want you to first walk over to my favorite spot in the city. it was my secret when i lived there, but now that i am gone i am happy to share it with you. walk to the basilica san domenico. if you'd like, you can go in, but really it's nothing compared to the cathedral. if you're facing the basilica, walk down the step to your left. there is a little alley and the backs of some shops. there are two benches along the wall where you can sit an soak in the view. this is the best place to view siena. you get a great view of the cathedral, and can see some of the hills that the city was built on. take your time here.

after this, walk back up the stairs and down the street you see right in front of you. i want you to walk down some of the small and windy streets of siena. you will probably get lost and it will be awesome. look out for the flags hanging from the windows, they are symbolic of the 17 contrade (neighborhood/district things). the sienese love their contradas, and have rivals within the city. they hold the palio every year, which is a horserace in the campo. anyways, walk through the streets and head towards the siena cathedral, you should be able to see if from most places.

now go the the cathedral. this is probably the coolest cathedral in all of italy, i love the black and white interior and massive ceilings and beautiful brickwork. make sure you check out the floors too, they are all original and completely marble. at one time there were plans to expand the building to make it more competitive with the florence cathedral, but they got halfway through and ran out of money. however, you can climb up the part that they built and get some really cool views of the city. you can also check out the baptistry underneath the building, it is totally worth it.

now that you have died and gone to catholic heaven, you probably want to eat. (or you can visit the hospital-turned-museum across the street, it is one of the cooler museums you will ever see). you are going to walk to the best panini shop in the world. i am so jealous. from the cathedral walk down the via san pietro. the panini shop is tiny, but i have placed it on the map and the address is 82 via san pietro. i don't even know if it has a name. but trust me, it will be the best italian sandwich of your life.

here is the thing about italian panini's: they are on hard bread that cuts the top of your mouth, they do not toast them, and they generally only have meat and cheese. i'm not saying that they are bad sandwiches, i just want you to know what you are in for. my favorite was a salami with the buffala mozarella. there are so many choices though, and everything will be good. you can ask to have pesto put on your sandwich- they won't like doing it , but they will oblige.

take your panini and eat it on the church steps nearby, or in the park that is just around the corner.

walk back down the via san pietro to the via citta. this is the street with all of the cute little shops- the shopping is great but quite expensive. if you can buy some shoes, i will be infinitely jealous because that is all i ever wanted to do there. once you find the campo, take a look, maybe a picture, and head straight to get some gelato. there are a few gelato places in the city, but super panna is the best. it is on one of the streets right next to the campo (see the map below). don't be an idiot: get a real waffle cone and the panna cotta gelato. you can pair it with any of the other flavors, they are all delicious.

now that you have your gelato you can go back and enjoy the campo. sit down in the sun, eat the best gelato in the world, and delight in one of the best places you will ever visit. it may take a while for you to understand how great this place is, but sit there long enough and you will get it (but don't fall asleep, a police lady might wake you up and yell at you).

once you have spent a good amount of time in the campo, head over to the palazzo publico. make sure you see the allegory of good and bad government by ambrogio lorenzetti, you probably learned about this painting in your art history class. also, check out the maesta by simone martini. look for the jewels that were pasted on the wall, they make the fresco so much more interesting.

these are the main things that you should do. after the palazzo anything else is fair game. you can go behind that building to the piazza mercato and walk back through some pretty fields and wild life. you can visit the oldest bank in the world, or the home of saint catherine. you could head over to the pinacoteca, or walk along the city walls. just as long as you do the things listed above. and you probably need to get gelato as many time as possible. 3 servings a day is not unheard of.

November 01, 2013

10 favorite things to do / oahu

November 01, 2013/ Brittany Jarman

my little sister goes to school in hawaii and i am jealous of her every day. i asked her to share her favorite things to do on the island of oahu, and she has me wanting to find a way to get there more than ever. prepare to drool.

1. Favorite Beaches:

Keikis: This is my favorite beach. It is not a surf spot but it is more for body surfing. This is usually where Clark Little takes his famous wave pictures. The waves are super powerful here and you can get knocked out just by standing on the shore. Most of all they are really fun and so pretty. When the waves get big it is really fun to sit and watch the body surfers catch these humungous waves and have crazy wipe outs. Keikis is right next to sharks cove, which is a short walk away and great for snorkeling.

Rockies: This is a really good surf spot. A lot of California surfers like this spot because these waves are similar to California waves.

2. Bike Ride along the North Shore

There is this new little shop right in between Laie and Kahuku called Rides and Grinds that you can rent bikes from to ride on the North shore bike path. You would still need to drive a little ways down past Turtle bay to get to the bike path, but it is worth the trouble because it is a pretty ride with cute trees curving around the path. You can stop at random along the path and explore all of the little hidden beaches. Don't be afraid to wander around because there are no private beaches along the north shore, so feel free to to check out any that you see.

3. Snorkeling at Shark's Cove

This is the best place on the North Shore to go snorkeling. You can easily see it from the main road you drive on. It is right across the street from the Foodland in Pupukea, right after you drive past Waimea Bay. Bring your own snorkel gear and just go for it. There are cool tunnels you can swim through throughout the entire thing, but definitely have someone take you who knows what they are doing for the tunnels. If you are not a tunnel person you can swim around and look at all the cool fish. You cannot go here though during the winter because the swell is too big, so the best time would be during the summer when the water calm and flat.

4. Rock Jumping at Laie Point

This is the famous cliff from the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall where Jason Segel and Mila Kunis jump off. The only thing is in the movie it shows you can swim back to the beach after jumping off. But since you actually have drive up to the cliff, you have to climb back up it after jumping because it is far away from the beach. Also do this with someone who has experience rock jumping here. There are always people up there jumping off, so feel free to go and watch how they do it. The locals are really friendly and will help you out.

5. Kayaking at Lanikai Beach:

Located on the east side of the island, Lanikai is a popular place for kayaking. It's just a beautiful beach to check out to get away from the high rolling waves of the north shore. Mostly just a beach to relax at. There is an awesome hike right by called Pillboxes and it isn't a hard hike. You just a walk up the mountain and it looks over the entire beach. You can go snorkeling here too, but you can pretty much go snorkeling anywhere.

6. Kahuku Fruit Stand:

You can get the most delicious fruit from here! Literally any fruit you can think of, they have it. They also have these meat shish kabobs that are delicious, and these fried banana things that are only a dollar. You must have cash. They also have coconuts in a cooler and you just have them cut them open for you and they put a straw in it and you have your coconut drink for the day! This is also located literally right across the street from Kawela Bay which is this little secluded cove you can go to. this is also where they filmed the new Hunger Games 2 Catching Fire.

7. Banzai Sushi

Banzai Sushi Bar is located in Haleiwa in the Marketplace. it is kind of hard to find because it is tucked back in a corner. It is outside because hawaii never gets cold. you can either sit at a table or, my favorite, little cushions on the ground. At night they always have a slide show going of surf videos, and sometimes even a live little band playing some reggae favorites. The best time to go is happy hour on wednesday nights when all the rolls are half price. This isn't a place to get a teriyaki bowl or anything because it is strictly sushi and fish.

8. acai bowls

One of the things you have to get while you are here on the north shore is an Acai bowl. They sell them pretty much anywhere, but the best place to get them is Haleiwa Bowls, which is in this little grass shack across the street from the famous Matsumotos Shave Ice. The second place to check out is this little purple Brazilian truck across the street from Pipeline called Crispy Grindz. For those of who don't know what an Acai bowl is, it is basically this smoothie mixture of acai berries, and other berries, topped with granola, bananas, shredded coconut, any other fruits you would want on top with drizzled honey over the whole thing.

9. Hike the Stairway to Heaven:

This is a super cool hike, you should wear shorts and a shirt but bring a jacket because it gets cold up there since you are literally in the clouds. Don't go when it is raining because it is slippery and you are literally climbing a ladder straight up. You have to go at like 2 in the morning because you have to start the hike before the guard gets there. it is actually illegal to hike but everyone does it. You get to the top and you sit in this cement room thing until the sunrise comes up, then you go back down. The guard will sometimes be there when you come back down, but he's super chill and just waves you by.

10. Watch the Sunset:

If you are driving along the north shore as sunset time, you should definitely pull over at the nearest beach and watch it. They never seem to get old to me, they are always so beautiful! There has never been a time since I have lived here when it wasn't a good sunset. Also, if you are willing to get up at 6 in the morning and go to the beach, the sunrises are equally beautiful. There is no such thing as a bad sunrise or sunset in Hawaii.

October 28, 2013

travelogue / new york

October 28, 2013/ Brittany Jarman

our trip to new york was so much fun, i might just have the post vacation blues where i just want to lay in bed all day and recover and wish i were still on vacation. it's a real condition. this trip i actually was a little bit sick of my camera, and did not take a ton of pictures with it, i relied on my iphone a lot. it was kind of liberating. i will probably regret it at some point, but oh well, there will be more trips.

for this trip i really wanted to try and stray from all of the things that we normally do in new york, and experience new things. it was hard: we have so many favorite things to do and eat we never want to stray. we did a lot more exploring in brooklyn and soho, which was our main goal. here is an overview of how we spent our trip!

we took a bus from dc and arrived in the afternoon. the bus was $11 for both of us, how could we pass that up? our first night there we walked through downtown brooklyn and ate at grimaldi's. i had originally told jarman that we could not go to grimaldi's this trip because we had been there every other time, but eventually i caved and i'm so glad i did. it was so delicious. by far our favorite american pizza. then we went to soho and went to a few stores, happened upon a party with a free cheese plate, and got some delicious rice pudding from rice to riches. we walked down to the 9/11 memorial, saw the new world trade center, and visited wall street, all things we had never done before!

on our second day we tried to get tickets to jimmy fallon (my new celeb crush), but failed. so we went to the moma to see the magritte exhibit, which was delightful but nearly ruined by the crowds. there were so many people it was ridiculous. we then ventured through central park, saw a band making a music video (i wish i knew who they were, it looked legit), and then finally found the bethesda terrace! except the cute part that i was so excited to take pictures of was turned in to a haunted house. i guess we will just have to go back. then we went to a chagall exhibit at the jewish museum.

friday evening we explored williamsburg: we ate at pies n' thighs (this may have been our favorite meal- the chicken biscuit and pecan pie are to die for), walked through some cool vintage shops and book stores. we ended the night by seeing the counselor, which i would not recommend to anyone. (ps. this is when i stopped using my real camera, forgive the iphone pics for the rest of the post!)

on saturday we set out to explore soho. we found a few surf shops for jarman, went to a feminist bookstore (which jarman wanted to go to? don't ask), found a market and bought vintage maps of japan and italy. we also set out to find some banksy works. have you guys heard about banksy's new york project for the month of october? every day he does a street work and blogs/instas about it, giving clues to where it is making new york a giant maze. police have been trying to take down the works as fast as possible, so the one that we looked for had been taken away and replaced with a fake. i'm pretty the the 'free cooper the musical' is real through, he did lots of those throughout the city altering previously painted street arts to include 'the musical'.

that evening we ate at eataly, and got some amazing braised short-rib ragu pasta, and a classic italian margherita pizza. i was in heaven. then we went to the opera! we saw a midsummer night's dream. it was so fun to go to the lincoln center and get all dressed up, and as you can see our seats were pretty amazing (not! back row for life!).

on our last day we walked through central park one last time to go visit the met, and the julia margaret cameron exhibit that was going on. then we went down the the chelsea market and had lunch at the milk bar, it was pretty delicious we would definitely go back. we walked through the high line park, which was another place that was almost to crowded to be enjoyable. but don't worry, it was still beautiful. all in all it was a great trip!

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