Mediterranean Cruise 2009

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Just got back from our western Mediterranean cruise that my mom took us on with my bro, sister-in-law, aunt, and cousin and it didn't disappoint. I was excited for my mom and Ryan to see one of my favorite areas: the South of France and to my delight, they loved it and got a firsthand taste of what made me fall in love with France.

I was a little worried about going back--I wasn't sure if I had overly idealized the South of France in my mind after all these years and I was certain I wouldn't have the same experience as a bona fide tourist as opposed to a student studying there, but the instant we set foot in Villefranche, I was instantly on cloud nine...I mean really happy. Plus it turns out German hasn't ruined my French--I had great interactions that were mostly seamless and even had one instance where I switched between French and German without mixing them up (when both nationalities were present). That separation never happened for my brain.

I've got to retire to the French Riviera or spend another chunk of my life there at some point. I mean, GOD, I'm in my element there. And it's cheaper than San Diego.

WeFollow

WeFollow has usurped most of my internet surfing attention in the last 2 days. It's a directory of Twitter "power" users so it's a lot of celebrity-types and gurus who have gotten on the Web 2.0 train.

It's been interesting to see who's tapped in, but mostly it's boring. The problem with celebrities/experts on twitter is that their feed is 90% @replies to threads you didn't see from the beginning or it's plainly not them (it's their manager or publicist pushing their shows or schwag). The shopping feeds could be potentially useful, though--lots of discounts.

Paula Poundstone has been a great find, though. Probably her own manager or publicist pushed her into Twitter since she's a self-proclaimed luddite, but the luddite factor works to her advantage--she doesn't know how to @reply or include links, so it's just this clean page of her humor (which is why I'd want to follow her in the first place).

If only Eddie Izzard would get on twitter...

Homemade Yogurt

R and I consume a lot of yogurt. So the next logical DIY project seemed to be "Make yogurt" especially after we went on a culinary shopping spree when my uncle was in town and I spotted a yogurt maker.

Here are the results:

Using the Salton YM9 1 Quart Yogurt Maker manual directions yielded:

• Liquid
• Lumps
• That gross watery stuff on the top of yogurt that everyone pours out

Every yogurt-making read emphasizes that there are a billion different variations on how to perfect yogurt to your taste, so I guess it was good to know that 2% milk, mixed with yogurt starter packets, and incubated for 5 hours was basically what I would imagine drinking cancer would be like.

Using the 101 Cookbooks yogurt recipe yielded:

• Very thick
• Tart
• I mean so thick that it's a terrible combination if you're having problems with your mucus membranes
• Great yogurt

Leave it to my new favorite food blog, 101 Cookbooks...this stuff is good especially when you combine it with the homemade muesli recipe and drizzle it with agave nectar. The difference here? 2% milk, milk powder, and incubation for 9 hours. Now I need to figure out how to get the silky factor in...otherwise YU-UM.

When I was your age, we skied.

It only took 3 years, but we finally went skiing at Mountain High in the San Bernardino Mountains this past weekend, after a drive out to Anza Borrego on the Cesar Chavez holiday on Friday (I posted a few pictures from the trip on Petri's blog).

I learned a very important lesson this weekend: I'm old. Among the things that made me feel ancient:

General:

• The "High" in "Mountain High" has nothing to do with altitude.
  
• We were 2 of maybe 5 skiers in the whole resort (the rest were snowboarders).
• We were 2 of maybe 5 people over 30 yrs old. Apparently skis & age are related.
• "Surfer dude" speech exists on the mountains in addition to the beach.
  
• I remember when snow gear was just supposed to keep you warm. Now? I'm pretty sure there's probably a fashion magazine out there solely for snowboarders. My pants were so uncool...as was my North Face jacket (but it blocks the wind!).

Body related:

• When I lifted my leg, I could feel my ligaments/ tendons pull away from my bones, from the weight of the skis. That was a confidence booster...
• I got tired halfway down the first run.
• I'm pretty sure I fell every single run I did.
• I was afraid of going too fast (I mean, what the ****?! Who am I?)
• I didn't want to stay the full 8 hours that I paid for.
  

Cooking Crazy

I went wild cooking this weekend, which, as R will tell you, doesn't happen too often.

This came about from:

• My uncle visiting last weekend and buying us a slew of cool, new kitchen tools (his favorite past-time is cooking so this is our key bonding point
• Feeling fat. I just went to the doc and I'm at the heavier end of my fluctuating 10 pound weight spectrum...sure, roll your eyes, but I have to have a limit to what weight I'll tolerate before I let myself get to the point of no return. So now I'm at my limit and it's time to kick things back into gear.
• Discovering SmittenKitchen and 101 Cookbooks: Both are websites with new food ideas (for me, anyway) that are healthy and have great photos of their creations.
  

Recipes we made this weekend included:

• Huevos rancheros (SK): Now i know what to do with all those leftover corn tortillas when we buy them for one night of enchiladas. It's amazing how much the tortilla and a little mild cheddar will take the taste factor up a notch.


• Honey-toasted Fruit Muesli (101): Breakfast is set for the next week or two. R and I got hooked on the muesli/yogurt combo when we lived in Germany and in a way, muesli is muesli, but when it's homemade? You just can't beat that freshness.
  


• Orange Pan-glazed Tempeh (101): This is similar to another recipe we do over shredded cabbage except for the orange part and it's outstanding. We had some wheatberry salad with dried cranberries and shallots to use up and the citrus flavor went nicely with it. I thought it was going to be a bust because I got navel oranges, but when they boiled down, the juice got a lot sweeter. Can't wait to have this one again.


• Amazing Black Bean Brownies (101): I suspect they put the "amazing" part into its name to convince you it's not going to be sick, because who really wants black beans in their brownie? Well now I do! They're way more fudge-like than cake-like, have a heavy coffee taste, and not a hint of bean. I'm thrilled I can get my chocolate fix and not feel guilty because sugar is replaced with agave nectar as well. And btw, agave nectar is going to change my life.


• Miso Soup (101): This was insanely easy. It literally took all of 5 minutes (without soba noodles) to make and was better than your restaurant miso soups. I suspect I'll probably get sick of this one soon because I'll wind up making it as my new easy meal when I don't feel like cooking (i.e., most of the time).
  

TEDTalks - Elizabeth Gilbert (2009)

For anyone involved in the creaitve process and especially my writing
friends, check out this episode of TEDTalks, "A different way to think
about creative genius" - Elizabeth Gilbert (2009): http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TEDTalks_video/~3/535684943/453

I haven't read Eat, Pray, Love but this makes me want to. Also, if you
haven't seen/heard TEDTalks, these are some of the best podcast
episodes out there.

Sent from my iPhone

Grooveshark

Youtube was my go to for finding songs I was thinking about, but so far Grooveshark has proved pretty good PLUS you can embed a song on your web site. woo.

In celebration of this, here's Coldplay's "Strawberry Swing."