We're finally back after our two weeks in Hawaii. This was a really nice vacation - a very easy vacation. We started off with a week on the Big Island, touring around and staying in B&B's and cheap motels, mostly being frugal. Then we went to a resort on Kauai for a week to really kick back and lounge around without having to pack, unpack, and ( Read more... )

After a week of circling the Big Island of Hawaii, we're now in Lihue on Kauai. We were doing the Big Island on the cheap, going between B&Bs and cheap motels, experiencing all that the low end of Hawaii had to offer. Kauai is different - we're in a nice place for a week and we're going to do some more relaxing and try out the luxury side of ( Read more... )

There are lots of things that I love about our house but the thing that comes to my mind on these blustery stormy days is how comfortable our house is when it's cold outside ( Read more... )

I'm in Tahoe, and I'm wiped out after two long days of playing in the sun and the (iced over) snow. I'm ready for dinner, a massage, and winning a couple thousand in poker at the casino tonight. (One out of three ain't bad, is it? Oh wait...)

I took some photos on today's 5 mile snowshoe adventure but I don't have the energy to look at them

It's a pretty stormy day here today and it's also storming in Tahoe! I'm going skiing Friday so I'm happy about this! I got out the ski boots and the clothing and started sorting and packing.

Yay snow! Yay skiing! Yay for winter to still being here!

I've been reading Michael Pollan's "In Defense Of Food" for the last week or so and it rails against processed foods and especially refined carbohydrates pretty hard. And so I just spend an afternoon making pasta.

Take That!, insulin regulation system!

I've been working on the vanilla ice cream recipe again and this time I'm adding some lecithin to keep things smooth and creamy. (I don't want to use eggs and I don't like custard-style vanilla) I've never cooked with lecithin before but I picked up a lifetime supply of lecithin granules at Whole Foods and tried to dissolve them in the cooking ( Read more... )

I went to MacWorld yesterday instead of going to work and I had a pretty good time. I took CalTrain up which always makes me feel like I'm on a school field trip or something. Doing something out of the ordinary on a workday when everyone else is doing their normal thing is fun. Being on the train and looking at the back sides of everything is ( Read more... )

We stopped by Bryan and Kathleen's house for New Year's and they introduced us to the home carbonator, as seen here: http://www.sodaclubusa.com/default.htmRead more... )

This is what passes for excitement around here: The utility poles on our street got fumigated this week ( Read more... )