Bali 2013 - The Adventure Begins

Well, here we go again.  All packed up with clothing, dishes, toothbrushes, toys, school supplies and gifts to give to our Bali friends and family.  Oh, yes, and clothes, toothbrushes, toiletries, and every electronic gadget and camera we thought we might need for ourselves.  The plan was to have Groome pick us up and take us to the airport, but when I called on Tuesday to confirm our pick-up time for the next morning, I was told they didn't have any drivers.  When my friend Robin said "Didn't you get a confirmation number?", of course I felt like a complete idiot.  Why did I not ask for that?  I usually would.  Oh, well, looks like we're driving to Dulles!

The drive wasn't that bad, and my car easily carried us and all our baggage, and in the end we're saving lots of money.  I'm just dreading the drive home after 20 hours in flight.

Our usual flight pattern with Singapore Air takes us from Richmond to JFK to Frankfurt to Singapore to Bali, with the longest leg being about 11 hours, and the total trip lasting about 30 to 32 hours.  This time we are flying

Korean Air from Dulles to Seoul to Bali, with a total trip time of about 20 hours.  That's the up side.  The down side is that we arrive in Bali at about 12:30 a.m. and depart around 1:00 a.m.  Still, it wasn't a bad flight.  I just wish I could sleep better on the planes.  Maybe one day I'll be able to pay that first-class fare and get a bed for the trip.

I am accustomed to the menus provided by Singapore Air - each meal is set out in detail with descriptions of the entree choices.  Korean Air just brings the cart down the aisle and asks "Chicken or beef?"  Even so, everything was pretty good.  The only thing that really didn't appeal to any of us was the cup of tofu that came with one meal.  There was the entree, a roll, and that big cup of tofu.  I tried it, but I've never been a fan of the stuff, so one small spoon for me and one for Macaela was all we ate.  I was thrilled when shortly after meal service, the flight attendants came along with strawberry cheesecake ice cream.

Arrival in Bali and immigration clearance was easy enough.  It was surprising how many people there were arriving at that time.  Apparently there were at least two planes that arrived at about the same time.  None of our luggage had been marked with that dreaded chalk X that Bali is famous for, so customs clearance went smoothly as well.  I don't know if it was due to the time of day, or if the rules have changed, but we weren't accosted by even one porter.

The changes to the airport area and parking are shocking.  There is a new shopping area right outside the terminal where parking used to be, and there is a huge new terminal being built beside the old one.  I remember back in '95 when the plane landed and they wheeled up a set of stairs so we could disembark.  I know change is inevitable, and can be good, but I'm afraid that, as I read somewhere, "Bali is being loved to death."

**I've been asked to explain the chalk X - when baggage arrives in Bali, they use a piece of chalk to make an X on any bags they want you to open for inspection.  This can take some time, and sometimes they want explanations for things that are normal - like diapers for Jake on our first trip with the kids.  One time they wanted us to explain the clothes we brought with us.  When we told them they were gifts for friends (which they were), they told us we needed to get permission to bring that much for gifts, but they grudgingly let us keep them without having to pay.

Hot Tamale Cafe

Hot Tamale Cafe
13815 Fribble Way
Midlothian, VA 23112
804-595-0138
www.hottamalecafe.com

I recently bought a Groupon for the Hot Tamale Cafe, thinking what better way to try a new place?  I probably never would have gone here if not for the Groupon, simply because of their location.  It isn't a bad neighborhood or anything, it just isn't an area that I typically visit, and also they're kind of hidden behind a couple of other businesses.  But, Groupon in hand, we located the restaurant and went on in.

The decor was nice - typical bright colors and Tex-Mex themed, and the music was enjoyable (at least for our group) classic rock - Eagles, Eric Clapton, etc.  The menu was interesting.  This is the only place I've seen where the various fillings are listed with prices and you choose the way you get them - burrito, chimichanga, quesadilla, pizza (50 cents less), or bowl.  The list of fillings looked delicious, but as Mexican restaurants go, they were a bit overpriced - ranging from $8.25 for beans or vegetables to $12.95 for scallops and shrimp.  They also serve steak, seafood, burgers, and more.  Their menu can be found here.

I opted for one of their taco combos - three tacos with two sides for $8.95-$9.95.  My choice was the Guaca Tacos - Grilled chicken, fresh guacamole, chopped onion, fresh cilantro and white cheese in three soft corn tacos and two sides for $8.95.  I ordered mine in white flour tortillas instead of the soft corn.  I was expecting the typical seasoned shredded chicken, but instead the chicken had been grilled (maybe, it had no grill flavor) and chopped.  It had no seasoning that I could taste and it was overdone.  The tacos were served warm, but not hot enough to melt the shredded cheese.

If you don't specify, the taco combos come with Southwest Rice and Charro Beans.  I had never heard of Charro Beans so I asked how they were prepared.  Our server said they were "pinto beans that have been cooked."  Just cooked?  I think I'll pass.  And since I'm not a big fan of commercially cooked rice of any variety, I chose to get refried beans and pico de gallo as my sides.  Now, I've never heard of pico being served as a "side" - more like a condiment.  But I was served a 4-6 ounce bowl of pico.  The beans were also served in a bowl - no cheese, no sauce, no flavor.  No, I take that back - they tasted like burned coffee.

The kids weren't in the mood for Mexican, so they ordered burgers.  Neither one ate more than half.  Like the chicken, they were overcooked and dry.  Macaela tried to make hers better by adding refried beans.  I guess she didn't taste the beans first.

Lace couldn't decide what she wanted and felt most items were overpriced, so she got a Tex-Mex Combo.  They have a List A and a List B, and you can choose two or three items from A or B for $6.95-$9.25.  This price includes rice and beans, or your choice of two sides.  There was no option for one from each list, so Lace asked if this was possible and was told that would be okay.  She chose the cheese quesadilla and the chile relleno (pronounced rell (like bell)-enno by our server) and asked for refried beans, no rice.  The server asked if she wanted her chile stuffed with cheese or potato, she chose potato.

The quesadilla was slapped on a bare plate alongside another plate with two bowls of beans and a tiny chile relleno.  Seriously tiny, like maybe 3" long.  I've never seen a poblano that small, except baby ones still on the plant.  And everything was served totally plain - no cheese, no sauce, no garnish, no condiments.  And the potato-stuffed chile was full of corn.

I'm not sure how they are cooking - nothing had grill marks, and the quesadilla was white.  We packed up our left-overs to take home to the dog.  He enjoyed it!

As we were leaving, I asked for a menu to take home.  They couldn't find any.  Lace said she didn't give the place long and we all agreed.  Imagine my surprise when I got home and looked up their website and discovered they've been open for eleven years!  How does a restaurant stay open that long serving food that bad?  Was it the chef's night off?  Or should we have been clued in by the fact that there was not a single Hispanic person in sight?

Domino's Pizza

Domino's Pizza

Okay, so I didn't actually go to Domino's - I had it delivered - but I had to write this post.  I've been lusting after one of those beautiful sandwiches they've been advertising on TV lately, and I found myself at work a few minutes early and without dinner.  I just had time to look up the number and call in my order before my shift started.  Now, the sandwich itself did not cost enough to qualify for delivery, so I ordered some of that cheesy bread they've also been advertising heavily.  So my meal, including tax, delivery fee and tip was $15.  As my dinner break approached, I was eagerly anticipating the delivery of my very own beautiful sandwich.


I will never again fall prey to those commercials!!  Yes, I know that the food in commercials has been "styled" and what you get never looks quite the same, but I would expect something at least similar!  My first comment about my sandwich is "Where's the meat?"  I'd say it was 85% bread, 5% cheese, 7% veggies and maybe 3% meat.  The sandwich was dry, and definitely not worth the money I spent.

Here's a picture of my sandwich, although it isn't a good one:

None of what you can see peeking out of the bread is meat.  There are mushrooms, green peppers, and cheese, but no meat.  I really don't think there was even enough meat in the whole sandwich to make one layer across the bread.

Now about that cheesy bread.  Again, too much bread, not enough cheese.   This was supposed to be stuffed (I'm guessing with cheese), but it just seemed to be a big thick pizza dough that had been folded in half and sprinkled with a bit of cheese and herbs and baked.  Like the sandwich, it was dry.  The bottom was heavily dusted with cornmeal, to the extent that I felt like I was eating on the beach.

It has been suggested that I caught Domino's on a bad night, but I won't waste my money trying again.

First Landing State Park

May 18-20, 2012
Virginia Beach, VA
757-412-2300
http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/fir.shtml
http://www.first-landing-state-park.org/


Pros:
Pretty, shady campsites
Good clean bathrooms
Easy access to a nice beach
Hiking and biking trails
Picnic tables are wheelchair accessible

Cons:
Camping area is separated from the rest of the park by a four-lane highway
Late night traffic
Training maneuvers from nearby military training facility are a bit loud
Wimpy showers

Campsite

Tent sites are $24 per night (no water or electric), and the park officials were quite firm that there was a limit of 6 people per site.  Many of the sites were shady, although some were a bit small, and others seemed to be huge.  Our site was one of the ones I would call small, but we had plenty of room to set up three large tents and a canopy over our picnic table, and still be a safe distance from the fire.  This was a Girl Scout outing, and our group had a total of three sites.

Poison Ivy

Since we got such a late start (see What the Girls Say), we arrived shortly before sundown and ended up setting up tents in the dark.  We didn't see the lush poison ivy until the next morning.  Luckily, only one of us ended up with a rash, and it wasn't that bad.  One of the people in the other group we camped with didn't recognize it and did a bit of "pruning" with her bare hands to clear it out of the way.  She was lucky too.  Make sure you know what it looks like!!



On Friday night there was lots of helicopter noise for a while.  This didn't bother me, as it was done before I wanted to go to sleep, but some may not care for the noise.  It was not repeated on Saturday.  Postings around the park explain about the nearby training facility, which is open and operating all year long.  They state that the operations are usually done by 10:00 p.m., but occasionally run later.

Beach

We had planned to hike one of the trails and explore more of the park, but when I'm camping, I like to park the car until it's time to leave.  I wasn't comfortable with crossing the highway on foot to get to the other side of the park, so we scrapped that plan.  We spent most of the day at our site decorating T-shirts, then went down to the beach for a while.  I'm sure that when the weather is warmer, the beach is more crowded, but when we were there, it was wonderfully vacant.



I didn't particularly notice on Friday (maybe because of the helicopters), but on Saturday night, there was a lot of late-night traffic in the park.  I'm guessing that people camp here instead of getting a hotel room, then go out to enjoy the beach nightlife and come back late.  There wasn't a lot of rowdiness, and there were several park rangers out and about to keep order.

I will definitely visit this park again.  I'd like to come back with just my kids, and take more time to explore.

Washington D.C. - School Field Trip

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Amber Asian Cuisine

11501 Busy Street
Richmond, VA 23236
804-897-9288
Sunday-Thursday 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Friday & Saturday 11:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Delivery available


A year or so ago, this very nice, slightly upscale Asian restaurant opened nearby and we decided to check it out.  Everything about this place was right - the decor, the service, the food.  And they had a great menu, offering a wide variety of Chinese, Japanese and Thai dishes.  That was then, this is now.

I had spent the day at work with a splitting headache, and just generally not feeling great, and I wanted something good for dinner.  We hadn't been to Amber in a while, so we decided to treat ourselves.  There were not many diners there ahead of us, but it was a Monday, so light crowds were to be expected.  We were seated immediately, but our waitress seemed more interested in the loudly ringing phone than in us.  Not that she answered it, she just kept looking in that direction.  I'm not sure that anyone ever answered any of the calls that came in that night.  It seemed to me that the phone rang a fair amount, and always more than 3 times per call.

We started by ordering the lettuce wraps and vegetable tempura.  "Oh, we don't have Japanese.  We have teriyaki."  Well then, why is it on your menu?!!  So then we told her we would need more time and to go ahead and put in the order for our appetizer.  She said okay, and asked us what we wanted to order.  It took a moment, but we finally convinced her to go away.  When she came back, I ordered Pad Thai, but not too spicy.  I was told that all Thai food was spicy; that the sauce was already made.  Okay, scratch that.  We need more time.

When she came back again (without our lettuce wraps), Lace and I each ordered soup and fried dumplings.  The kids ordered chicken with broccoli and pork lo mein.  Acutally the lo mein had been ordered way back when we ordered the wraps.  Now, I do understand that the soup comes first, etc., but when you order soup for your dinner, it should come as your entree.  Not here.  We got our soups, then our lettuce wraps.  And she only brought two plates for the wraps.  I asked for more, but never got them.  Unless you consider the plates she brought so everyone could share the dumplings that Lace and I had ordered as our entrees.  You know, to go with our soup . . .

The chicken lettuce wraps came already assembled, and there were only 3 of them.  The filling was mushy, except for the raw slivered almonds on top, and tasted slightly of curry.  Not something I would order again.

The dumpling filling was good, but the dough was quite thick, and the sauce was not right.  They were just like the ones you can get from any of those quick service walk-in Chinese places; I really expected better from this type of restaurant.  The soups were good - standard stuff, nothing unusual.  Macaela's entree (chicken with broccoli) arrived and it looked and smelled wonderful.  Very garlicky.  The sauce was rich and flavorful.  I can definitely recommend this one.  And sometime later, Jake's lo mein arrived - last - way after he ordered it.  I didn't have a chance to taste this dish, but Jake said it was very good (and it did look great) and he ate every bit.

Overall, I can't say I recommend this restaurant.  The service wasn't really bad, but it wasn't great either.  At one point I observed another employee standing behind the bar picking her nose.  That's not something you do where your diners can see you.  The menu still lists a wide variety of dishes, but which of those are still available?  The sushi bar was not open when we were there (granted, it was a Monday).  Oh, and they charged us for the pot of hot Chinese tea, which typically is included with your dinner.  It was not until I grabbed a take-out menu on the way out (for reference only) that I saw the words "new ownership".  I guess that explains everything.

I'm Baaaack

Originally this was supposed to be a travel blog, but I haven't travelled in a while.  I've found over the years that my family visits places that quite often make people say "You went where?," which, of course, is how I came up with the name for this blog.  Yesterday I went back and re-read everything I'd posted since I first started this adventure, and I wish that I hadn't let things get in the way of finishing my posts for the last couple of trips.  There are details here that I had completely forgotten about!  So, I've decided to make this not just about where I've travelled to, but about any place I go that I think might interest someone.  This would include cities, restaurants, stores, theme parks, whatever!  To those who followed me through Bali, thanks for reading!  And for all of you out there, I hope you enjoy my commentary . . .