On The Water

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Sunrise at the Harbor Lights Motel in Islamorada, Florida

We awake to a perfect morning on the Atlantic Ocean, having stayed at the cozy Harbor Lights Motel in Islamorada. The alarm in our GPS bleeps its quiet tone to stir us from sleep while darkness lingers outside, allowing us to be ready before the sun makes its appearance. Once outdoors, we walk a few steps to the water’s edge and await as the twilight blue-gray sky warms with orange tones, signaling the return of our star. Nearly an hour passes before we move our location for another perspective of the rising sun.

Indian Key Fill near mile marker 79 in the Florida Keys

A few miles south, with the sun only inches above the horizon, we stop on Indian Key Fill for a wide ocean view as the sun continues its ascent. The water is smooth, the wind calm, and the bright golden sun warms the two of us as we bask under the light of what will surely be a perfect day.

Caroline Wise on Indian Key Fill near mile marker 79 on the Florida Keys

A growl of the stomach says it’s time for breakfast at Mangrove Mike’s Cafe back up on Islamorada. It turned out to be a great recommendation from A1A the day before. I had the Mangrove Oscar, a play on eggs benedict, this one featuring sauteed spinach, poached eggs, grilled shrimp, and bearnaise over an English muffin. Caroline had eggs and potatoes – big deal, my breakfast was great.

Sombrero Beach on Marathon Key in southern Florida

With tummies full and eyes satisfied, it was time to treat the body. Further southward we go, this time to take the advice of the other beach the lady at the Marathon visitor center told us of, Sombrero Beach. A perfect scene of serenity and tranquility, a postcard view of what almost anyone might wish for when going for a swim. Unfortunately for me, I have to pass on getting in as I am hurting from some lower back pain that had crept up on me overnight.

Caroline Wise at Sombrero Beach on Marathon Key in southern Florida

Caroline throws on her snorkel and mask and slides into the warm water for a casual swim with the fishies.

Back in the car still moving at vacation speed, we head for Big Pine Key for an appointment we scheduled with Bill Keogh of Big Pine Kayak Adventures. Arriving early, we backtracked to grab a bite at the historic No Name Pub but found the wait too long and had to opt for a quicker solution for lunch. Luckily, we did; at a nearby off-the-main-drag plaza, we spotted a pizza place selling slices. For dessert, they have chocolate-covered key lime pie on a stick from the Key West Key Lime Pie Company.

Caroline Wise in a kayak for a back country tour led by Bill Keogh of Big Pine Kayak Adventures

I nearly had to pass on getting in the kayak for our second adventure on open water. Once again, at Big Pine Kayak, my back was struggling with excruciating spasms, and we were considering canceling or Caroline going out on her own before a nearby couple, hearing our dilemma, offered to demonstrate some back stretching exercises that might alleviate my pain. That couple was Elyse and Leonard, the other two people who were supposed to go kayaking with us. Elyse is a massage therapist when not saving other travelers from disappointment. The exercises helped and allowed us to join the tour as planned.

Big Pine Kayak Adventures in Florida

At 1:30, we left the dock with kayaks and a dog onboard our tour guide Bill Keogh’s boat as he was taking us out for a back-country tour that promised to keep us busy for the next few hours.

Big Pine Kayak Adventures in Florida

This was Caroline’s and my first open sea, close-to-shore kayaking – just yesterday was our first time ever on a kayak. We had the best time and now look forward to more of it. Floating low in the water next to the red mangroves, going noiselessly through tree tunnels, watching barracuda, an upside-down jellyfish, and simply being out here away from any crowds over clear waters was a bit of the proverbial dream come true. If you know nothing of kayaking and would like a wonderful, patient, and knowledgeable guide you cannot go wrong with Bill over at Big Pine Kayak Adventures.

Caroline Wise and John Wise near Big Pine Key in Florida

But wait, there’s more, as we weren’t done yet. We had paddled back to Bill’s boat he’d anchored, and were on our way to destination number two.

Pelicans sitting atop mangrove trees near Big Pine Key in Florida

As you can see, we were approaching sunset as Bill brought us out to a pelican rookery a couple of miles away from where we were kayaking. We quietly drift up to a small island with what appears to be hundreds of pelicans.

Near Big Pine Key in Florida

For the next half hour, we hang out along a mangrove shore, watching birds waiting for the sunset.

Caroline Wise near Big Pine Key in Florida

Not only were winged birds in my gaze, but this one was, too.

Near Big Pine Key in Florida

Seems that we, too, were being watched by these feathered giants.

Sunset in the Florida Keys

Then, as the sky started approaching the horizon, Bill brought us back to Big Pine Key at mile marker 30 so we might all get some well-deserved dinner after such an adventurous day.

The Keys

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Caroline Wise standing in the Atlantic ocean off Islamorada Key in south Florida

The day is beautiful – over here on the leeward side of the Florida Keys. On the windward side, the wind is blustery, and the bay is choppy. Over here on the Atlantic side, the ocean waters are still a little murky from the tropical storm that churned the seas the previous week, but they are warm and inviting.

Islamorada Key in south Florida

The original plan was to pick up two kayaks at 8:00 this morning, but the winds changed that. Due to our inexperience regarding the wind, the behavior of the ocean, and the fact Caroline nor I had ever been on a kayak, we opted to put off kayaking and instead drove south, stopping at Long Key State Park, where an attendant invited us to check out a lake in the park to see if we’d be comfortable canoeing its waters, kayaks were unavailable due to the high winds, and canoeing wasn’t what we were interested in so we continued south to Marathon Key.

Caroline Wise standing in the Atlantic ocean off Islamorada Key in south Florida

At the visitor center, the friendly attendant told us of a nice beach off Coco Plum Drive, and off we went to Coco Plum Beach. We hadn’t picked up our snorkel gear yet, so all we could really do was walk along the shallow beach and view the wildlife.

Islamorada Key in south Florida

A few fish darted about, and a couple of stingrays sped over the sandy bottom.

Islamorada Key in south Florida

Even an incredibly poisonous Man-o-war jellyfish floated by. Then we noticed the wind was easing and decided to return north to Islamorada and check out the kayaks.

Dot at A1A Watersports hooked us up with two sit-on-top kayaks, reassured us how easy this was going to be, showed us where (and how) to put in, gave us two life jackets, and told us she’d watch from the shore and rescue us if we appeared in danger. And so it was that we, for the first time in our lives, paddled off into the deep ocean waters of the great Atlantic.

John Wise kayaking on the Atlantic Ocean in Florida

Below us, somewhere down, there was terra firma, but up here were the two of us bobbing on slivers of plastic, praying not to roll over to be consumed by Triton.

Caroline Wise kayaking on the Atlantic Ocean in Florida

Maybe you hadn’t noticed how tight my jaw was in the photo above, just as well as it wouldn’t have been flattering while Caroline here is obviously having the time of her life.

Sadly, my anxiety might have been for nothing as Dot later told us we could have stood up at any time as the water was maybe hip-deep where we were paddling. Why couldn’t she share that with me beforehand? While Caroline did fine and took to kayaking without a care, it was I who feared going Poseidon Adventure, losing orientation, and falling victim to some freak drowning accident in ankle-deep water. After an hour, I may not have felt like an expert, but this was a great experience that I was looking forward to repeating the next day.

Next up is the jet ski. A1A was our tour guide for this, too. Heidi, the volunteer fireman, was to take us out for our first ride on a jet ski. Like Dot, she assured us we’d have fun and not to worry, just do as I say, go out on the ocean over there and drive this around, and in ten minutes, she’d join us. Here I am, needing to be the brave man before my wife, with my fear of deep water pressing me to bow out, but at the same time needing to man up. Little to do but grin and bear it, and off we went with a light touch on the throttle as I tried to warm up to speed over the ocean on this slightly bigger sliver of plastic powered by a menacingly fast engine. Heidi was fantastic in taking her time getting us up to speed. Our first stop was a reef where there was a chance we would snorkel, but the visibility was poor, so we ditched that and headed over to a sand bar. Off the jet ski, we stood hip-deep in the ocean, surrounded by sharks – I had to sacrifice Caroline to seek the mercy of Neptune.

John Wise and Caroline Wise on the Atlantic Ocean in Florida

Damn, those old waterproof single-use cameras were horrible quality; you should see the action shots Heidi took of the fuzzy blurs on the sea.

John Wise on the Atlantic Ocean in Florida

The first part of the tour took us slowly through a mangrove tunnel and near a pelican rookery getting me used to handling the jet ski before she took us out on the open sea and built up my confidence to go fast, really fast.

Caroline Wise on the Atlantic Ocean in Florida

Now comfortable with how this ocean rocket performed, Heidi took us on a slalom run that, at times, saw us speeding over the surface, slicing the water at over 50 miles per hour. We stopped for a break well away from the shore in what I would have thought was deep water, but instead, we were able to step off the jet ski and stand in the beautifully warm waters of southern Florida.

The face that says, “I’ve had another incredible day doing amazing things I don’t believe I thought I’d ever do.”

One of those rare photos of me that Caroline took and that I really do like.

A bit cold and totally wet it was time to check in the Harbor Lights Motel to put on dry clothes and have some dinner.

40,000 Feet

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Sky Harbor Airport Phoenix, Arizona

Started early this morning at 4:00 a.m. to catch a flight to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida at 7:00 a.m.

Somewhere over the middle of America

The skies across America were clear most of the way, with patchy clouds here and there and some snow-topped mountain peaks in northern New Mexico before the landscape flattened out over Kansas.

Mississippi River near St. Louis, Missouri

A quick stopover in St. Louis, and then we were back in the air for a great view of the Mississippi River on our turn south.

Barkley Lake in Kentucky

About 15 minutes later, I could see where the Ohio River joined the Mississippi, and after a few more minutes, we were approaching the 184-mile-long Berkley Lake in Kentucky that stretches into Tennessee.

Aucilla River emptying into Apalachee Bay, Florida

Our flight continued over Alabama, clipping the southwest corner of Georgia before crossing the panhandle of Florida, then tracing the west coast. This here is the Aucilla River emptying into Apalachee Bay, Florida.

Over the Gulf of Mexico approaching Florida

We were traveling at over 550 miles per hour and were still about an hour from landing and starting our nearly weeklong trip to the Florida Keys. Fetching our rental car took longer than planned, and the rush hour traffic around Miami nixed our plans of watching the sunset in the Everglades National Park. A Comfort Inn in Florida City was where we rested our heads after dinner at an Italian place called the Capri Restaurant. So far, an uneventful beginning to what will hopefully be a thrilling vacation.

Engagement

JWise Photo of the Day

Rachna Patel on the day of her engagement to Niral Patel in Phoenix, Arizona

On Saturday morning we arose early and drove around the block to Suru and Anju Patel’s so I could begin taking photos of their daughter as she prepared for her engagement later in the morning. It was about five years ago we went to our first Hindu wedding when their older daughter Alka was married. Today, though, it was Rachna’s turn at beginning the process of moving towards marriage. The engagement ceremony was held at her fiance’s parent’s home. Dinesh and Panna welcomed about 40 friends and family to witness Niral and Rachna become engaged. Mrs. Rajaguru presided over the formalities, she is Kushbu and Shital’s mom and it was Kushbu who was the second engagement we attended. After the ceremony, we took a short drive to a local clubhouse for a reception with approximately 75 guests invited for this part of the day’s activities. Lunch was catered by a local temple that prepared undhiyu (a favorite of mine), tindoora, rice, puris, and one of my other favorites, shrikhand, for dessert. Sonal’s daughters Kushbu and Hemu performed a dance number with Satchi and Poorvi as a small entertainment moment in between speeches given to honor Rachna and Niral – the two are to be wed next fall.

Farm Update

JWise Photo of the Day

The herb sorrel sprouting at Tonopah Rob's Vegetable Farm in Tonopah, Arizona

A few days after my last plot update I replanted some lettuce, planted a bunch of herbs and fenugreek, transplanted two cauliflower seedlings, and did some thinning. Today’s photo is of sorrel that is now two days old. The cress and Genovese basil have also sprouted, I’m still waiting on parsley, chervil, lime basil, Thai basil, and lettuce leaf basil. The fenugreek started sprouting within a week of dropping it into the soil. It appears I planted the original planting of lettuce too deep, the new crop is already coming up and looks great. Maybe the corn mache was also too deep as it’s been slow to sprout so next to those rows I dropped some southwest greens called quelite and huazontle into the dirt with a thin cover, slowly they are emerging. Other failures in my plot are my golden beets which seem related to the viability of the seed while the red mustard seems to have suffered the same fate of the lettuce with being buried too deep. Now I know that the tiniest of seeds need the shallowest planting. I’ve been thinning cabbage every so many days as I try to choose the most robust plants to take to maturity – sauerkraut here we come. Eleven cloves of garlic have sprouted, every time I go to the farm they are the first things I check on. The plot was seeded on September 21st and my first harvest occurred on October 27th only thirty-six days later. On that day I pulled half a pound of radishes and cut a mix of almost two pounds of arugula, mezuna, and Tokyo bekana – we are still eating salads from those greens. On October 29th I picked a half-pound of radishes and then on the 31st another half pound of radishes along with a half-pound mix of arugula, mezuna, and Tokyo bekana that was all used for a salad shared on the farm for dinner. Yesterday I picked a bit more than a pound of radishes including my first mantanghong “Beauty Heart” radish – my favorite.

Little Rangoon

JWise Food, Photo of the Day

Oil, lemon, onion, chili, and salt are the simple ingredients that make this Burmese salad

Recently we have been frequenting a Burmese restaurant in Scottsdale called Little Rangoon. In short order, we came to know the owners, Alfred and Elizabeth, and probably due to the fact we are eating at their place once or twice a week and on occasion with lunch thrown in, three times a week, we have become very familiar with Little Rangoon. So much so that we are now the recipients of tastings of Burmese food items that are not on the menu. A couple of weeks ago we tried pigs’ ear salad, tonight I will be trying some oxtail curry. Today for lunch though I had an excellent salad, a salad without a name which I was told was typical for the kind of food that a peasant or person of small means might eat on a regular basis. I enjoyed the sample so much that I just had to order a larger portion and asked if I could photograph the salad being made and jot down the recipe. Elizabeth graciously welcomed me into her kitchen and one of the cooks prepared a plate of all the ingredients that were in my Onion Chili Salad (see above). Is that all? While the list of ingredients is indeed small, even simple, the chemistry that occurs as these items are mixed is nothing less than extraordinary. Using about 1/2 cup of thinly sliced red onion, about 2 tbsp of crushed red chile (very spicy and hot), 1 tsp coarse salt, the juice of a wedge of lemon, and 1 to 2 tsp vegetable or canola oil, the mixture is turned over and mixed by hand. There is no need to let this sit, it is eaten right away with a side of steamed rice. The finished dish looks like this:

Onion Chili Salad from Little Rangoon Restaurant in Scottsdale, AZ

The real reason we are so in love with Little Rangoon though is not only the exotic samplings we are offered but the exquisite, complex, and flavorful foods of Burma as served up by Elizabeth and her kitchen staff. I can not choose only one favorite, I would have to be split amongst four items. First is the green tea salad followed by the ginger salad, pork belly curry, and then the falooda for dessert. The green tea salad is like nothing else I have ever had, it is sublime. Elizabeth starts with a number of ingredients imported from Burma including fermented green tea, sesame seeds, crispy garlic, crunchy yellow peas, peanuts, and smoked ground shrimp. She then adds more ingredients purchased locally including tomato, cabbage, and oil. The ginger salad is a variation on this theme with the green tea swapped for a mild fermented ginger. I have enjoyed these two dishes together for lunch or dinner – I am in love with them and feel I could easily eat them two or three times a week. The pork belly curry is quite the indulgence. Just like bluefin tuna belly (also known as Toro in sushi houses), the belly of the pig is tender and slightly fat, but the kitchen does great work trimming a lot of the fat leaving the tender and flavorful chunks of pork that are cooked with a tomato, pepper and onion curry and served on rice. Try it once and you’ll be addicted.

To top off a meal at Little Rangoon I would do backflips for the falooda. On one of our first visits, Alfred and Elizabeth shared some of their semolina cake with durian – not something they would bring out for just anyone, especially considering the smell of durian, but we loved it. However, it was the falooda that locked onto my taste buds. Falooda originates in India but is popular in the Middle East, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and of course Burma (now known as Myanmar). Sometimes it is the complexity that arises from the simple that can make a thing stand out so much further than the otherwise average ingredients would suggest and so it is with falooda. Using vanilla ice cream, milk, tapioca pearls, egg custard, thin spaghetti-like noodles made of agar jelly, and the main ingredient that brings it all together, rose syrup. They offer a small for $3 and a large for $5 – don’t be silly and order the small, go with the large or you’ll just be forced to order a second one.