A Few of My Favorite Things (the food version)....

Continuing on in the interactive blogging theme, my next topic request was for a discussion of one of my favorite things in the world....delicious food....Let me start off by saying I thought I was going to lose soooo much weight in GuammyGuam. In New Orleans I had been tempted by delicious crawfish, andouille, boudin, jambalaya, remulade, beingets, etc....I thought I would be safe on Guam and just eating just fruits and some white rice and thats about it. I think back on that assumption now, and I just laugh, and laugh, and laugh!

I thought long and hard about the best way to tackle Ben's request for food descriptions, and couldn't come up with anything, except to just dive in!!! Enjoy!! There is tons of delicious Asian cuisine on Guam, from Thai to Chinese to Filipino to Japanese, Polynesian, Chamorro and on and on. First up-my FAVORITE Thai restaurant on Guam!! Pictured here is some pad thai, fried lumpia (chamorro type spring rolls, but with meat!) thai iced tea, and my personal favorite: pinapple red curry with thai basil. This restaurant is SPI-CY and you order your dishes on a level of 1-10. This curry is about a 4 and is all I can handle!!!

Next up is Mongolian barbecue!! I know this is technically still barbecue and Ben wanted to know about other stuff, but I couldn't help but include this! My favorite restaurant for this is up on a mountain overlooking the port and they have great options like squid and crab and tons of spices and sauces!! Here's pics of the food and the bar next door....
Ok, the final treat for this post is my new favorite dessert-HALO HALO!!!! Halo Halo is a Filipino dessert which means mix mix. There are many different ways to make it, but it usually includes at least the following: fruit salad, sweet beans, langka (jackfruit), shaved ice, pinipig (crunchy rice-kind of like Rice Krispies), ube (purple yam) icecream, macapuno (young coconut), and sweetend milk. This may seem like a totally random and maybe a little gross dessert, but it is DELICIOUS and makes total sense. In the Phillipines it is super hot and many people live in poverty and can't afford expensive desserts. Halo halo can be made with canned friut and beans, canned sweetened milk, rice and shaved ice. So as long as you have some ice and some canned goods, you can make yourself a pretty rockin dessert!! I will try and take some pictures of my halo halo place, but to hold you over, here are some professional halo halo pics!!!

Maritime Adventures

Alicia-Banana, this post is for you!! Your request was for an update on what sorts of fun stuff there is to do in the water here, and I am here to hook you up!!! While on Guam I decided I had to learn how to dive. Guam has some of the best diving in the world, and it is the only place where you can touch a WWI and WWII wreck at the same time on the same dive. I wanted to learn how to dive in Guammyguam rather than in the Noila because all of our "classes" were in beautiful 87 degree water with fishies all around us!!!

Since getting my open water certification, I have been on some really awesome dives and have seen octopus, lion fish, tons and tons of clown fish, barracuda (too big for comfort) a giant skate, and a big sea turtle!! My dive buddy for the turtle dive thought I was officially crazy when I squealed with delight into my regulator upon seeing the turtle, but you my loyal readers will understand how much I love turtles!!!

I am hoping to make it out to Palau before I come home, and it allegedly has the absolute best diving in the world. If I make it out that way I will be sure to post about it!!

There is also a lot of kite-boarding in Guam and lots of tournaments when the trade winds are blowing. I don't have the guts to try it, but my friends who do it really seem to love it, even if they do get pretty banged up on the reef every time they go out!!! Everyone snorkels here. You can pretty much walk out to the reef line anywhere on the island, and see really great stuff. Although I didn't take any of the following pics, they are all representative of some of the cool stuff I've seen on my maritime adventures.....

Out and About!!

Hello Party People!! So I thought it would be fun to post some fun pics of my non-work related adventures here on Guammyguam!! I am going to be going home to the Dirty Jerz next month, and although I am super excited to see all of you again, leaving is going to be tough. Especially in the last few months I have made some really great friends and gone on some really fun adventures!! I even have a friend who loves scandalous rap and dance parties almost as much as I do!! Tough to believe....I know!!! So without further ado, here are some random/awesome pics of my life on Guam!!

Fourth of July with Bad Company

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, but this time I am going to blame it on Ben! I have been diligently trying to fulfill his request of delicious food on Guammyguam, and have been trying to take pics of yummy dishes whenever I go out. Rest assured I have not forgotten about your suggestion, but in the meantime, I hope you all are satisfied with details from 4th of July on Guam!!!
Fourth of July here isn't such a huge deal. This is mainly because the main celebration comes a few weeks later in the form of Liberation Day on July 21st. Guam goes nuts for Liberation Day, as well it should, because it happened much more recently and is much more tangible than Paul Revere. On a side note, I am super super excited for Liberation Day and will dedicate a fun post to that when it happens.
Even though its not such a big deal here, it is a big deal to all the military people, so I headed down to the Navy base to celebrate my favorite holiday with my military friends. MWR (morale, welfare, and recreation-for all you nonmilitary peeps) was sponsoring a 4th of July Extravaganza, and the highlight of the evening was to be a special performance by none other than....BAD COMPANY!!! What!?! Random!?! Of Course!!! But this is Guam. We take what we can get. There was also copious amounts of beer, fireworks, barbecue, and dudes...basically it was awesome. I have tried to capture the greatness that was the evening, but unfortunately for some reason I always feel compelled to make the same picture whenever I have alcohol in my hand, so you all will have to deal with the "sara is excited to be having a drink" pose i insisted on doing!!!
Happy 4th!!
PS-I have no idea what "ring the eggplant" is either. i am just as mystified as you.....

Interactive Blogging!!

Ok, so Jimmy submitted his request first, so here goes!! My clerkship here has been amazing. Intense, but amazing!! I don't know what I thought going into it, but I never thought I would be doing as much work as I do!! There is a career clerk and me, the term clerk, and between us we split up all the criminal, civil, and bankruptcy cases 50/50. She gets all the odd numbered cases and I get all the even numbered cases. For some reason, however, the even numbered gods of the universe have been smiling/frowning upon me, and many of my cases have gone to trial four times. When its all said and done, I think I will have been in trial for a full 1/4 of my clerkship, which is pretty exciting. I have also had a chance to work on almost every type of issue under the sun, including admiralty, title vii, RICO, and a lot of bankruptcy.

The courthouse is across the street from the ocean, and I have a gorgeous view of the Philippine Sea. I finish up here in the end of August, and have a lot of work to do before before the next clerk comes out. I love the people I work with, and consider them my "court family." They, in turn, like to feed me delicious chamorro and filipino food-so it works out well!!!

As far as upcoming travel plans, before I head back to the Dirty Jerz, I have a lot of stuff I want to do. A friend of mine is living in Hong Kong, and I would like to get over there sometime soon for the weekend. I also am trying to go to Yap to go diving with some manta rays. Anyplace with giant stone money and giant rays is high on my list!!

My mom or sister may fly out at the end of August, and we hope to go to Palau and either to Bali again or Australia. Continental is the major carrier out of Guam, and because of gas prices they are suspending their service to HK and Bali soon, so I want to get there while I can. I also want to spend more time exploring Guam, either through hikes, dives, and dive bars...There is a ton to see and do here, even though its just a small island, and I don't want to miss a thing!!

Here are some pics of the view from my office, and some pics from around the island!!

A Fun Idea!!!

As much as I know you all love the current format of my blog, I thought we might switch it up a little and try something new!! I want YOU, my five loyal readers, to decide the topic/question for a post, and I will do my best to answer it. It will be like blog truth or dare, except on the internet, and no dares...so not really like truth or dare at all.... This idea also has the added benefit of perhaps flushing some of the lurkers out of hiding!! Lurkers, you know who you are-stop lurking and start asking questions!!!

Anyway, maybe you have some questions about life on Guam, clerking, travelling in the Pacific, or what scandalous rap song is my favorite this week? (btw-Ludacris, Buck in Here) Maybe you want more travel pics, or pics of Guam boonie dogs or the infamous dive bar where I had my brush with the law! The point is, its up to you! I am officially back to regular blogging and anxiously awaiting your ideas!!

~me

Big Navy.....Eight Months Later

So you may or may not remember the dramz I faced when I first got here concerning my base privileges for the Air Force and Navy bases on island. Base privileges are like GOLD on Guammyguam, not only because gas is about .80 per gallon lower on base, but also because it has delicious and only recently expired fresh fruits and veggies. However, possibly the best part of base privileges are the discounted designer purses (more on that later, for all the ladies out there).

As a federal off-island hire, there should have been zero problem getting my base pass, but long story short, it took me eight months to get it. I will spare you all the gruesome details of the saga, especially since I don't want my hard earned privileges taken away!! Thank you Navy, if you are reading-I truly am grateful!!

Now that I can get on base, I can go to some of the nicest beaches on the island, and some cool restaurants and of course the Single Sailors Sanctuary.....While on base it is imperative that you blend in and look cool-hence the pictures of me acting like a total idiot every time I see a giant anchor!!!