FAR EAST MAN

No trip to a new place is complete without having a taste of the regional club sandwich! The Uma Ubud iteration gets my highest markings.

MANGOSTEEN WISHES

Bali mangosteens! The cutest video game fruit of all time. I have to admit I was a little bit skeptical at eating this at first — the inside flesh looks just like garlic cloves! But it has the sweetest, most delicate flavor.

Sweet necklace.

Super super cool Holly Fulton prints at Ermie, who has the best eye for pattern. (That jumpsuit!!)

Bananas jewelry at Erie Basin. That ring. I don’t even like rings!

Speaking of rings that I desperately need to own…

Mark McGuire of Emeralds — who released one of the best records of the year — is coming to Portland for few weeks. He is playing Valentine‘s a week from today and I am CRAZY excited!

Nectarine brown butter buckle? Shit.

I’m a convert to olive oil cakes — this one is next on my list.

Summer Evening, Ed Hopper. Exactly right.

THE RAINFOREST DANCE

These photos hold so much energy for me, still.

Doesn’t that grotto look like a place where really magical things could transpire?

We stumbled upon this grotto buried deep in the Ubud rainforest, sunken deep into the ground, at a place called the ‘monkey forest,’ where thousands of monkeys roamed around, occasionally attacking overeager tourists who bought bundles of bananas from hawkers outside. Personally I was terrified of the monkeys, but I loved watching them from a safe distance. I really felt like I was wandering a lost world populated by chattering animals and silent statuary, rust stained ponds and emerald moss pathways.

[Monkey on a monkey!!!!! Delicious.]

Isn’t she so beautiful and hypnotic? I am the worst dancer in the world but I loved watching her hyper graceful movements.

UBUD BALI: IMAGINARY HOME

Oh my. Bali. BALI! This first set of photos I took right after we checked into our hotel, the Uma Ubud. The photos simply don’t do it justice — this hotel was so serene, romantic, and elegant. It was remarkable. Every morning, I wandered down to Uma’s outdoor dining area and ordered their fresh museli, which was soaked in milk and dotted with passion fruit seeds and strawberries. I thought of you, Sasha, while furtively trying to figure out how to make it on my own.