Category: Travel

Bye-bye!

I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to post between now and Thursday when we depart for New Zealand, so I thought I’d say a quick good-bye today.

We’ve been planning this trip for a long time, since last April actually. I’m looking forward to a lot of things: getting a break from the daily grind, meeting new people, and riding bikes every day through a totally foreign landscape.

Speaking of foreign, one of my yoga teachers, George, told me yesterday about a bird native to New Zealand, called a Kea (pictured above). Often referred to as New Zealand’s “cheeky mountain parrot,” they apparently like to attack to the plastic and rubber parts on motor vehicles (e.g. wipers, vinyl and windshield wipers). I’d really like to see some while we’re there; I just hope they don’t have a taste for bike tires and carbon fiber derailleurs.

We’ll be gone for almost three weeks, so I’ll try posting a bit along the way. In the mean time, if you find this site a little slower than usual, it may just be that we have limited access to the Internet...or maybe we’re off bungee jumping...or hiking along the upper reaches of the Franz Joseph glacier...or?

Ah, vacation!

San Francisco Pictures

I finally finished editing all the pictures from the trip Anne and I took to San Francisco in October. (Some of the better ones are online in the image gallery.)

In case you missed the news: I won a Sunset magazine recipe contest earlier this year - grand prize in the holiday beverage category. Sunset flew me and a guest (Anne) to their headquarters in Menlo Park last October to have Thanksgiving dinner with the other category winners and guests.

After dinner they awarded an overall grand-, first-, second- and third-prize to four of the six category winners. My drink - an Herbaltini - won third prize. (Nick and I are now enjoying a monthly shipment of wine from Sunset’s wine club, as a result.)

There are probably a few readers who live outside the Western United States or simply missed picking up a copy of the magazine. If you’re interested, here’s the recipe I submitted to Sunset. The published version is slightly different (modified just a little bit to meet their recipe publishing standards). Cheers!

Herbaltini

No doubt about it, cocktails stimulate good times, animate parties and break the ice. They are especially fun for a holiday gathering, but who wants to miss out on the fun by mixing drinks one by one? We didn’t, so our solution was to create a pre-mixed pitcher of spirited refreshment. The Herbaltini combines fresh herbs that many people have left over after creating other holiday dishes, and leaves you free to enjoy the company of your guests as they arrive.

24 large sprigs mint
12 small sprigs rosemary
3/4 cup superfine sugar
2 oranges, cut into quarters
18 ounces gin
9 ounces lime juice
4 ounces water
12 ounces soda water
mint leaves for garnish

1. No more than 20 minutes before serving (see note) combine mint sprigs, rosemary and sugar in a pitcher that holds at least 60 ounces. Use a long handled muddler or wooden spoon to muddle the mint, rosemary and sugar together. Squeeze orange quarters into pitcher and drop in. Muddle a few strokes to release the oils from the rind. Stir in gin, lime juice, and water. Mix until sugar has dissolved.
2. Can be served immediately or covered and refrigerated until ready to serve. Just before serving, slowly add cold seltzer, tilting the pitcher and pouring onto the pitcher’s side to retain as much effervescence as possible. Stir gently to combine. Divide among 12 chilled martini glasses and float a mint leaf on top of drink.

Note: American writer Waverly Root once said, “It is the destiny of mint to be crushed.” That’s certainly the case when it comes to drinks like Mint Julep, Mojito and the Herbaltini. But the thing to know about mint is that about 20 minutes after it’s crushed, chopped or otherwise abused, its emerald-green color begins to turn an unappetizing dark brownish green. If you’d like to make this drink more than 20 minutes ahead of time, do this: Just before your guests arrive, strain the mixture, tossing out the discolored mint, rosemary and oranges, and add a handful of fresh mint leaves to the pitcher.

San Francisco Carousel

Carousel horse in San Francisco

All of the pictures from Anne’s and my trip to San Francisco are finally off the digital cameras. (When I’ll get around to developing the film roll, I’m not sure.) It’s taking a little longer to edit them than I thought thanks to the LSAT course taking up 12-15 hours a week.

This horse was on a nifty carousel located on Pier 39. Next time you’re in the city, it’s worth a visit. The carousel is covered in intricate carvings of famous San Francisco landmarks: the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, Chinatown, Lombard Street, Alcatraz and the ever-popular California sea lions. According to Internet sources, it was built and hand-painted in Italy and is the only carousel in the country that has artistic renderings of its home city.

Stay tuned for more San Francisco pictures…

Ride Around Washington Slideshow

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At the end of August Nick and I cycled the Washington coast with Cascade Bicycle Club. Overall, it was an interesting contrast to the Oregon and Northern California coasts. The roads didn’t follow the water as much as we anticipated, but they were beautiful nonetheless.

I finished compiling all our pictures into a 4 minute slideshow this morning. It’s set to music by Reckless Kelly (of course). Even if you’re not a country music fan, I think you’ll agree that it goes well with the pictures.

New Zealand or Bust!

Nick and I just booked our next cycling adventure - two weeks of riding in New Zealand’s alps. Whoo-wee! We’ll get to walk on a glacier, hike through rainforest, meet friendly New Zealanders, ride to Mt Cook and stay on a sheep farm! All that and we’ll get to try jet-boating, rafting, and bungy jumping, too!

(Can you tell I’m excited?)

The only bad part is that we have to wait until January...It’s going to be very hard to be patient for that long.

I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me until now, but don’t New Zealander’s drive on the left side of the road?