Imersion Blenders are Cool

So Amy and I decided to make soup tonight with the butternut squash we got from the CSA last week. So after looking up a recipe with voice search on my iPhone (Google is really amazing in the pace in which they bring out innovation that makes my life easier). So we stopped at Wegman's in NJ on the way back from babysitting for Zoey last night, to pick up an onion and a couple of the other basics we needed. After simmering the ingredients the recipe called for moving to a food processor to puree. It was while contemplating the idea of pouring very hot, chunky liquid into that relatively small bowl that I remembered our immersion blender in the pantry. It is such a cool device, just plug it in and stick it in the piping hot pot of soup and after a minute or two all the squash and apple was rendered into a delicious and creamy soup that had no cream, so it is rather healthy.

In fact I am looking forward to putting some in a Nalgene, once it cools, to bring to work for lunch tomorrow. A Nalgene you might ask why I need such a heavy duty container. That would be because I am going to ride in tomorrow. In fact I am heading down to the storage unit right now to get my snowboard mittens and headlamp. That last piece of equipment is being added to the list as my return trip home last week was in near pitch black. And for the 7 miles I am on the Wissahickon trail the overhead lights are sporadic at best, resulting in significant sections where I could not see at all, made for an interesting and adrenaline filled ride.

Enjoy the short week ahead, I will be counting the days until I get to fry three turkeys for Amy's family, delicious times.

Snow I missed you!

Driving on the NJ Turnpike yesterday I was very happy to see the first flurries of the year. I now have to drop off my snowboard to REI for a tune-up and dig out that season pass I won for Blue Mountain.

Top things I miss when biking to work

So the top things I miss when I bike into work on a day like today (temperature at 6:30am was 36F) are in no particular order:

• Heated seats, the Mazda has wonderful heated seats, the bike not so much
• No wind on my hands. I had anticipated this, so I bought these fancy new wind stopper bike gloves, which are not nearly substantial enough. My hands were frozen by the Falls River Bridge. Time to break out the snowboard mittens
• Being able to enjoy my travel mug of coffee on the way into work

For balance I guess I should also have a list of the things I miss when I drive to work:

• The great scenery along the Wissahickon, I could technically glance at it while on Lincoln drive but taking your eyes off the road for even a second there is a death defying act
• Stopping at the Valley Green Inn to have a "breakfast" of a frozen Clif bar from my pocket and some very cold water, is really quite enjoyable

The real test is going to come on the way home tonight, it will be much darker than it was this morning and I will be much more tired. The break I took for the couple of weeks before the wedding to avoid the possibility of road rash at the wedding has left me pretty out of shape. Maybe tonight I test the Regional Rail option? You will all have to wait with great suspense to find out my choice.

Advertising in Atlanta airport

While I did not order these they did look delicious.

Impactful store helmet advertising

Some very creative in-store advertising in a local bike shop I saw yesterday. I am a big fan of zombie movies and books so while I did not need a new helmet if I did this might have convinced me to buy. I think there is an employee there that could be a copy writer at an agency. That is better than a lot of the print headlines I have seen from agencies over the years.

Best haircut ever

Saw this little guy while walking from West Philly today. I wonder how much nagging it took to get his Mom to agree to that. You go little Mr. T.

Ecuador Pictures

So below is a link to a select few of the pictures from Ecuador. Check them out, I put all the effort into the captions, so I am not going to repeat that effort here...

From Ecuador

Also in case you are wondering it will be 3-4 more weeks until we have the professional pictures from the wedding. They have lots of shots to go through and process, but the photographer says there are great ones.