Food critice - Curious Karibella

2024-03-212024-03-22

Yayyyy! We made it!

Wow! We made it to Switzerland!

After the most chaotic day of travel I have ever had in all my years of travel, I actually made it to my destination, which is pretty impressive to me! I will write more about that when I have more time, but for now, let me tell you about the Swiss airport and Swissair.

When we got onto the Swiss airplane, they welcomed us and celebrated with us that we actually made it and we went to go find our seats. When I sat down in my seat, I just sat there laughing, but almost half crying because I could hardly believe that we made it.

The service was very good and we got great food even in economy! Sleeping was not so good for me, but I made it through the night OK. When the plane started descending, they handed out Swiss chocolates which was quite the treat because it’s very hard to get European chocolate in America unless you go to special stores.

Going through customs in the Zurich airport was the smoothest customs ever! It took us about five minutes and we didn’t have to get our checked bags and re check them! We just showed them our passports and moved right through. It was very nice.

We stopped for a moment to catch a breath and find out whete to go. It turned out that we had time before our next flight so we wnet to get some chocolate.

I have very good memories of swiss chocolate from when I was little. When my mom did her masters program she did it out of Lausanne Switzerland, right on lake Geneva. We lived in Lausanne for about two months when mom had to do in person parts of her program. Me, my siblings, and my dad had many adventures in and around lake Geneva.

We bought two chocolate items. One was a bar of raspberry chocolate and the other was a box of real looking fruits that we thought were chocolate. We were most exited about the fruits but when I bit into a strawberry it was not chocolate. I thought it was cake but we google translated the ingredients and found out that it was mascarpone, which is sugar. It was…. Interesting. It tasted ( no joke) like play-dough! I think most kids know the taste of play-Doh. Honestly, it smells so good! When you’re like five years old and making little play-dough pizza it is really hard not to just try a little bit!

Now as I write I am sitting and waiting to go to the next gate. The next flight will be like 45 minutes. Stay tuned for more updates on my Europe trip!

P.s Here is a funny joke about switzerland.

Border Agent: What is your favorite thing about Switzerland?

Traveler: I don’t know, but the flag is a big plus! 🇨🇭

Wasabi Plant Moment

At lunch I had a plate with carrots, sweet potatoes, onions, green onions, and micro greens. The micro greens were the last on my plate and I usually eat them plane. I started munching on a little pile of them and about 3 seconds in…. Ahhhh I was so surprised!! These were no micro greens!! It was like wasabi in a plant!! I was not polite enough to finish eating them because they were the second most unpleasant plant that I have ever eaten.

My Lunch. The green stuff is the Wasabi Plant like thing. ( It’s not really a wasabi plant)

2023-01-292023-02-11

A Day Zip Lining on Waiheke

Bright Orange Fungus Growing on on the side of a tree on waiheke

When I woke up this morning, I did not know what we would do or if we would do anything. I went downstairs, and Mom and Dad were talking about some place we could go. I soon figured out that we could go zip lining on an island that Mom really wanted to visit. I remember our last zip-lining experience in Mexico with some very good friends. Me Zeb, B, Mom, and Dad were in the car and off to Waiheke! Dad said we had to leave in fifteen minutes, and I was still eating breakfast! Fifteen minutes is plenty of time to get out the door if you are not going slow.

The Ferry

You usually take a ferry to get to an island by a car. Thankfully our car could transform init a boat, so we did not have to deal with the annoying discomforts of a ferry. I’m completely joking! I don’t think any machine can transform the way I was talking about. We did take the ferry, and it was very comfortable sitting in our car for forty-five minutes. 🙂

Batch vineyard and Restaurant

For lunch, we went to Batch Restaurant. It was also a vineyard, but we did not taste wine. The Venue was super pretty, and the service and food were terrific. It was a restaurant where you ordered a couple of shared plates. We got Duck and short ribs. In my opinion, the Duck leg was way better, and it tasted like a holiday. We had a Gluten Free red velvet doughnut and Hokey Pokey Ice Cream. Hokey Pokey Ice Cream is Vanilla Ice Cream with honeycomb toffee in it. It is so good, and I would highly recommend it! We went to the Zipline after lunch and waited for a little before the adventure.

Eco Zip Zip Lining

Hills of Jungle and vineyards surrounded Eco Zip, there were only three Zip-lines, but they were still really fun. The first line was called Vineyard cruise. It was a very creative name, given that you cruised over a vineyard. The second line was called Jungle Cruise because you were cruising over Jungle. These people were very creative with names. The third one was the biggest and longest, so it was named shorty. I’m joking, it was called…. I don’t remember, but from now on, it is named Shorty.

After we flew through thick air ( I don’t know why people call air thin if you are not at high altitude, it is rather thick near sea level) we took a long walk through the Jungle. We saw 400-year-old trees and a one thousand and something-year-old tree. Near the end of the hike, we came to a tree about two feet wide and fifty or so feet tall. Our guide told us it was a tree that the Maori used to build canoes, and at its oldest, it grew to eight meters wide and so tall that I can’t remember the number! After we saw the big tree, we came across a large pile of rocks. We all thought it was a grave marker of somebody who had died while ziplining, but it was just a pile of stones that people had made. It was not very interesting. The exciting thing was a palm tree. I am not pulling your leg here; these palm trees were OLD. A baby one that had not even formed an actual trunk was TEN years old and only to my knees. About two and a half feet tall. There were lots of these palm trees, and they were all so old. Older than cars and even the united states. It’s a little funny when you think about it, one of the trees was about six hundred feet tall. When it was about 200 just trying to stay alive and grow, meanwhile some hotheaded blokes got a crazy idea to start their own country.

“All alone, across the sea, when your people say they hate you, don’t come crawling back to me.”
-King George, Hamilton Broadway play

After ziplining, we took a rocket to the moon (we took the ferry back home). Zip lining was fun, the ferry was excellent, and New Zealand was Rainy! It was fun, but my other adventures that you can read about in New Zealand Update were totally tubular! For all who love Zip Lining, the BEST zip lining is in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It is called Vallarta Adventures, and it is a once (or 100) in a lifetime experience; every person should do it.

Mom and dad coming off of Shorty the zip line

2022-11-082022-11-08

Analysis of The Asian Pear

I am writing a post about Asian Pear’s because the first time i ate one (yesterday) was eye opening. What i thought were asian pears are actually brown pears. We bought some Asian Pears at a Whole Foods somewhere between Raleigh NC and Chicago. I was skeptical about the taste of it because in truth it did not smell at all good. When i bit into it i was so surprised! It was Sweet but not too sweet and not sour. There not like apples at all because apples are very hard and these are not as hard as apples nor squishy. When you bit into it you get a burst of flavors and it is super juicy but not juicy enough to drip all over you like a peach. Colleuges

The smell is the same as the taste and the outside is just as good as the inside. Unlike pears are these amazing fruits and you never feel like there is too much. There the perfect size and great for the car (this is proven) and at home.

Please Buy these they are the best and if you have kids they will Love them! you can find them at whole foods and possibly at other grocery stores or just by them on Amazon (where everything comes from). Thank You for reading this Random post and Have a lovely and great day, night, mourning, or Afternoon or Evening!

2022-10-032023-10-01

My Last Day in South Africa

Starting Off with Signal Hill Paragliding

I woke up sad, not feeling ready to leave Africa. In addition to packing, we were all getting ready for paragliding. I was not going to participate in the activity because I was too scared, but I was happy for my siblings and parents to do it.

First, we drove to the top of Signal Hill. At the top, the wind wasn’t right for launching the paragliding, so we got some rooibos tea and waited. When the wind was good, I got in a car to be driven down to the bottom and my family got geared up to fly. I talked to the driver all the way down and when I got to the bottom, I arrive just in time to see mom land. The landings were so smooth! You just floated right to the ground and stood up.

In hindsight I wish I had done the paragliding now that I know that it is fun and safe to do. I just get timid sometimes about new experiences that sound scary, like running as fast as you can towards a cliff overlooking the city and jumping off of it (which is what you do to launch paragliding off Signal Hill). Sounds very safe, right? Next time though, I think I will be up for it.

Before Africa I did not really have a favorite place in the world. Before Africa I was sure that Africa would be the last place our family went and we would all be bitten by snakes. Just FYI we did not see a single snake besides the snakes in the museum. I have decided that Africa is my Favorite Place in the international world! The people are amazing, the food is great, the climate does not completely kill you and it is an amazing continent!

Heading Off the Gluten Path

After Paragliding we started walking back to the house we had rented, but then mom remembered that there was a gluten free bakery nearby called Off the Gluten Path. It was a little far to walk, so we got an Uber, but when we arrived at the place, it was just an apartment complex. We figured out that the location on Google Maps was outdated and the real bakery location was on the opposite side of Cape Town, about a 30 minute drive away. When we arrived, it was not an apartment complex – it was heaven! I kept asking “is that gonna be gluten free?” because I wasn’t used to things like croissants, French bread, donuts, cupcakes and cake being gluten free.

For lunch I shared some pizza with Zeb and Bardez. I also got a slice of the red velvet cake. Me and Bardez were allowed to get some little things for the plane ride later that day, so I got a carrot muffin and a croissant. When we had to go, we were all sad, but I really did have to pack, so I was kind of glad to go.

Leaving for the Cape Town Airport

After getting back to the house from our Gluten Free adventures, I finished packing my bags. We had a lot to try and stuff in to our bags, and several boxes of souvenirs we had collected along our journeys in Africa. Dad got the boxes taped up and then it was time for goodbyes and calling an Uber.

It was sad to say goodbye to my dad and older brother and sister, who were going to stay for another week in Africa, but I was also kind of excited to have a break from them and go on an adventure with just mom and Bardez. We were heading back and going all the way to my grandparents vineyard in Oregon to help with the grape harvest which had just started.

22 Hours of Flying: Cape Town to Newark, Newark to Portland

Once we got to the airport and checked our bags and boxes we headed through security and into the airport. My mom was able to take us in to the British Airways lounge even though we were flying on United Airlines back to the US. The lounge was very nice and it was a great place to have a break before the long flight. They even had macaroons, delicious brie cheese, and Appletizers. You might be asking, what is an “Appletizer”? Good question. In the US we would call it sparkling apple juice. It’s like Martinelli’s. But, these come in convenient cans and are extra tasty. I was sad to say goodbye to Africa and Appletizers.

When it was time we boarded the plane for our flight to America. We were flying United Airlines this time, not Delta. The plane was great, but the flight attendants were not very nice. They were downright mean, as if they hated that there were customers on the flight. I did not like that. If I am ever a flight attendant, I would like to be a nice one. Maybe they were just having a bad day, or maybe they should not be working on a 16 hour long flight if they can’t be polite to their customers. Hopefully United Airlines will figure out how to get its staff to be happier, like Delta Airlines staff usually are.

Finally, Arriving at Zenith Vineyard in Oregon

After flying for 16 hours from Cape Town to Newark and then 6 hours from Newark to Portland we finally arrived to Oregon! We got in our car and drive to Zenith Vineyard. My mom said we had to stay awake until 7pm so we would not jet lag too badly. I tried my best, and made it just barely to 7. Tomorrow, it’s harvest time!