One of my favorite places to go biking is along the Stevens Creek Trail here in Mountain View. Most of the route is on bike trails so I don’t have to worry about people in cars trying to murder me and I avoid the loss of momentum that comes with intersections. Plus, it’s pretty! Here are some recent photos: Continue reading
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
I’ve gotten close to perfecting my garlic mashed potato recipe. It occurred to me the other day that when I simply add minced garlic the flavor tends to come in short bursts. Instead, this time I incorporated the butter, cream, and garlic before mixing them into the potatoes. I’ve followed a few recipes recently that called for steeping things in warm cream to bring out the flavor so I thought, “why not do that with garlic?”. Here’s what I did:
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Hiking in the Foothills
Last weekend Katie came down from Sacramento and the three of us (yup, Dave and the Katies) went hiking around the Foothills. We let the GPS do the thinking, which first led us to the Palo Alto Foothills Park, where we were turned away because we are not Palo Alto residents. The park ranger pointed us in the direction of the the Pearson-Arastradero Preserve that is open to the public. I got some pretty sweet scenic shots on the way there and while hiking:
Murghi Korma (Chicken in Saffron-Almond Sauce)
At our wedding almost two years ago I was overjoyed to have Raghavan Iyer in charge of the dinner for our reception. I still hear from friends about how much they loved the food in the buffet so I was excited, when going through my recipes, to find instructions for each of the dishes we had at the tasting with Raghavan.
So far I’ve only made one of these dishes, but it was one of my favorites. It was surprisingly easy and turned out well both times I’ve made it. I accidentally bought sliced almonds instead of blanched almond slivers, but it turned out great nevertheless. The following recipe is from Raghavan’s book The Turmeric Trail: Continue reading
Warming up to Trader Joe’s
The first couple times I went to Trader Joe’s I really didn’t get what all the fuss was about. I found it crowded, difficult to find things, and didn’t really see much I wanted that I couldn’t get somewhere else, in some cases for the same price or cheaper.
Sarah pointed out that it’s a good place if you’re looking for something very particular that is hard to find elsewhere. Also, that those particular items, which would normally be terribly expensive because they are hard to find, are actually reasonably priced. This coupled with the glowing recommendation from Chef Nanci Wokas who presented the cooking class I took Monday night (and who also apparently drove her RV to NOLA to cook for people after Katrina) convinced me to give it another shot.
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Why I Hated Samurai Champloo
It was rated 4.3 stars on Netflix which is pretty rare so I decided to give it a shot. Not only did I wonder why it had been rated so highly, I hated it. Really really hated it.
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Photos in the Bathroom
Behold, my favorite shot this week:
Taken in the bathroom at Orchard Valley Coffee in Campbell. They have a mirror on each wall facing each other creating an infinitival effect.
This is one of those rare cases in which the graininess of my little point and shoot came in handy. I increased the contrast and sharpened it up to show off the grains and the punchy color of each. I’m sure there’s some fancy name for this. Maybe I’ll look it up and add it here later so I sound smart.
Rick Rolling and Pop Up Video
Today I learned about Rick Rolling. I was minding my own business when out of nowhere Dave links to the xkcd comic as he so often does. After I give in and add it to my RSS reader, Dave tells me to check out the xkcd blog where there is a link to the music in the comic. A quick Google Yahoo search of Rick Rolling reveals the official link. (haha, got you again.) The comments are priceless although most of them are just, “damn”.
So the funny thing is, I actually really like the song! Shut up, seriously. Never mind the catchy tune, check out that sexy deep voice! A couple months ago I stumbled upon the VH1 Pop-up video version of Never Gonna Give You Up which I now embed here so you can all remember the joy of Rick Astley and Pop-Up Video:
I’m glad that when people on the internet have nothing better to do, they do things that make me laugh.
Update: Thanks for the link to the Family Guy version, Hackel!
Feeling Left Out?
I finally replied to a comment on a post I made almost two years ago right before our wedding. Well, the comment was actually left relatively recently, which has reinforced for me the affect this particular post has had on a lot of people. As much as I felt it was a downer to write it at the time, I’m glad I did. Apparently, people can relate and it’s important, when you’re feeling down, to read an honest conveyance that other people feel the way you do sometimes.
After writing the reply, I decided that it really merited its own post not only because it was terribly long for a comment, but also because I felt it contains some useful advice that shouldn’t just be tucked away in a comment. Hopefully, Matt won’t mind me highlighting his comment in a post of its own.
“Yeah, i found this on a google search, and im only a 15 yr old boy and i also hate it when my friends blatantly make plans in front of me and leave me out. I dont feel like the people i used to hang out with are my friends anymore and its really depressing.”
Snapping Shots Around the San Francisco Bay
I went for a leisurely ride on a trail around the bay the other day and got a few decent shots that serve as extra motivation to save up for an SLR. I had a lot of opportunities for some beautiful shots, but am appalled by the graininess I got. Nevertheless, some turned out ok and I’ve got a couple fun ones: Continue reading
A little bit of wisdom 
