Us in August

1. At Kentaro's company dinner at a fab Italian restaurant in Boca Raton.
2. 2 minutes walk from our place in Pompano, just south of a cute lighthouse.
3. At a Thai temple in Homestead.

Ernesto Shmernesto

Well wouldn't you know. I plan one trip away and the next thing I know there's a hurricane primed to hit my departure point at the exact time of departure.

DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wish me luck.

I knew it wasn't me! (I hoped!)

Kentaro loves to roller blade, and he's damn good at it. I picked up a $25 pair of blades from Target when I got here in an attempt to join him in his hobby, and it was a painful experience every time as he left me wheezing in the dust. Now I haven't skated or bladed since the days of Skate 2000 (over a decade ago) so I expected to be a bit rusty, but nothing prepared me for the asskicking that I suffered every time we went out blading. Last weekend we hit the 5-mile circuit which circumnavigates a big airfield and the Goodyear Blimp base. It was close to midday when we set off, and I immediately started to struggle. Half of the way around and my lungs were threatening to burst out of my chest. Three quarters of the way around and I told Kentaro to give my regards to my mother as my eyeballs filled up with blood and steam billowed from my ears. I then stopped and threw the biggest hissy fit of my life, stripping off my instruments of torture and pegging them as far from me as I could. I told Kentaro to get the car and come pick me up because "THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL I AM PUTTING MY FEET IN THESE @%@#ING PIECES OF #*% EVERY AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!" A lady who had watched me struggling in bemusement came by and commented, "You should try some better blades honey, where'd ya get yers, Target?" The next day we visited Sports Authority and I bought the nicest pair of blades I could find, and the second purchase I've made for myself since coming here (the Target blades being the first). Now I am extremely dangerous, having overnight become a speed demon who can't brake. Kentaro and I spin around the 5-mile circuit like Tassie Devils and whip dust in the faces of everyone wearing blades from Target.

Why do they all start with 'D'?

Last night we had a wee sweet tooth and headed out in the car to track down some fat & sugar. Surely that wouldn't be too hard in this country right? Wrong. Just a little bit of cake and a cappucinno was what we craved, but after driving for half an hour we realised our only options were Denny's, Dunkin Donuts, and Dairy Queen. We actually entered the latter but after hearing one of the customers complaining that her 'Blizzard' was too watery, we decided to head in the other direction where I remembered seeing long lines in front of a roadside icecream stand. Fifteen minutes later we were back at my imagined dessert oasis, only to find that it was another damn Dairy Queen. We thought to hell with it, and joined the back of the line. Two minutes waiting and we decided to abort the operation, afraid that upon consuming the product we would begin to look like the customers, a horrifying prospect. Luckily Publix was right next door, so we dropped in and bought a tub of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie meets Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream and sated our sweet teeth to the maximum.

Pompano and Circumstance

Our new place. :)

Scenes from the road

Driving anywhere around these parts is a visual feast if you're into garbage mountains, shirtless hobos and gorgeous waterways.

Our favourite restaurant

Cabo Blanco, in Hollywood FL, serves up the meanest deep-fried seafood platter you could hope for. Golden chunks of fish, calamari, mussels and octopus underneath a vinegared red onion salad with tartare dipping sauce and we are in seventh heaven. That and their shredded beef with rice, beans and plantains has Kentaro and I heading down there almost every weekend! We wash it down with Inca Cola and Cristal Peruvian beer.

They have a hokey Peruvian band that plays there more often than not and we are consistently the only non-Peruvians in the joint. The waitresses struggle to serve us in English but we all laugh. It is by far the most rewarding cultural experience I have had since coming to South Florida.

We love Cabo Blanco!