New Year’s Eve sunset..

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White Mountains for Christmas

Yun and I head up to the White Mountains for Christmas last Thursday evening. We’ve had a lot of fun on this trip, mostly in part to having no particular schedule or plan. We’ve done pretty much nothing but sleep and eat since last Thursday. We rented a really nice cabin in the middle of the woods. It’s quite modern and well equipped.

Today we went to the lake for a bit of a hike. It was beautiful and Scout and Tila had a great time chasing ducks in the water.

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Yucatan 2010

We are sitting in the Houston Airport on our 8-hour layover on our way home, so I am taking this time to go through some of the photos I took over the last weekend.

The picture above is from Uxmal. It was a Mayan temple (Temple of the Magician) that was constructed 3000 years ago. It was an incredible sight. We rented a car after our first day in Merida so as to be able to avoid the tour buses. Also, with the rental we could go much later when most of the tours were already gone. When we arrived, we had the temple above to ourselves.

The rental car was absolute garbage. We paid $50/day for a Tsuru which felt as though it would break down at any moment. Only one headlight worked, the horn (a most necessary tool for driving in Mexico) was not functional, and there was no stereo. Even so, it was really nice to have our own car.

Before getting to Uxmal, we toured an old hacienda that was on the way. It was gargantuan. I love the architectural design, it was an inspiration for when we perhaps have our own one day. Property is extremely cheap in Yucatan.

Yesterday we went to another hacienda where we spent 4 hours touring the home, business, and grounds. We had the chance to meet an elderly man who has lived at the hacienda for nearly a century and had a fascinating history to share. Also at this hacienda was a cenote. We entered by a small stairway that went down into the earth where at the bottom there was a hole. Once through the hole, it opened up to an underground world of caverns and a small lake. We climbed down an additional set of stairs and spent an hour swimming in the luke-warm water. It was a lot of fun, despite the bats flying over our heads.

I have added more photos to the travel journal page linked above.

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Celestun!

We had a great day in Celestun today. We woke early for breakfast at the Hotel Hacienda de Merida to hop on a tour bus headed west to the sea. We saw some beautiful things and some pretty villages. We later got on a boat and toured the mangroves, saw nests of termites and were warned of crocodiles and boas. It was beautiful. We saw the flocks of pink flamingos (do they come in other colors?). We were told how they come to become pink – there is a worm they eat that turns them pink (they begin life white).

Later we headed to the beach. We had fish and shrimp for lunch and then took a walk on the beach. The beaches in Celestun are absolutely beautiful – a sort of mix between San Carlos and Cancun.

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Cirque Sol du Soliel: Alegria

Yun and I had the opportunity to go to Cirque’s Alegria last night with her parents. It was surprisingly a lot of fun and very entertaining. It was amazing to see what the people in the show could do – I would think some of them have had their spinal column surgically removed in order to bend and move like they did. I would definitely recommend going to the show.

We are currently sitting at the Tucson Airport waiting for our plane to arrive and take us to Houston. It’s a bit late, but we have a four hour layover in Houston so I suspect we’ll be fine.

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Thanksgiving weekend…

Yun and I found out last week that we would be able to get a couple days off surrounding Thanksgiving next weekend. As such, we spent many of our nights last week desperately trying to find a place to get away. It was no easy task, because 1] it’s a holiday weekend, and 2] it’s less than a week away.

We run into the same problem every time we try to plan a trip; which is, where do we want to go? We have a number of resources that we use that help find the best deals – travelzoo.com, farecompare.com, cheapotickets.com, etc.

However, after much deliberation (and much frustration) we ended up booking a trip to Merida in the Yucatan. Our friend’s Jeff and Beth have been there in the past and spoke highly of it. There seem to be a lot of fun things to do, so we’re excited.

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San Carlos – October 2010


Yun and I took a trip to San Carlos / Guaymas a few weeks back with her parents and Aunt from Morelia. We left Thursday night after work and arrived late around midnight. It was surprising how hot it still is and how warm the water is as well.

This is the perfect time of year. There beach is empty, the sand is perfect and clean, and the water was just right. We spent a lot of time on the beach relaxing and reading. We also had a chance to do some snorkeling and saw the usual underwater things. Its always fun and exciting.

We had a great time Saturday night in San Carlos at Bonifacio’s. Despite our commitment to our diet, we were still able to eat some incredible meals.

This was a relaxing trip and I look forward to going back as soon as possible. I have added more photos to the Travel Gallery from this trip.

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Cauliflower simulated mashed potatoes

We are on day 9 of Phase I of our South Beach Diet. It has been mostly horrible. That is because everything I love to eat is apparently bad and everything I detest is apparently good.

If I understand our diet correctly, we are not supposed to eat carbohydrates. We eat proteins instead. The problem is, proteins only taste good with carbohydrates. Meat without potatoes is just plain gross.

Last week we ate a lot of eggs, nuts, edamame (or soybeans), peas, beans, fish, steak, and various other meats. I have a really difficult time eating eggs without hashbrowns, so I have been hardboiling two eggs for breakfast each morning.

These meals are getting old quick. There are plenty of interesting ideas online for healthy substitutes, but we generally just don’t have enough time or interest to research these things. I was told at work however, about a substitute to mashed potatoes by using cauliflower. As such, that’s what we made to go with our kielabasa at lunch today.

I have mixed feelings about cauliflower substituting as potatoes. I was told I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Well, that certainly isn’t true. I boiled a head of broccoli, then mixed it in a bowl while adding butter and cheese (also which have no carbohydrates). I mixed for about 10 minutes and found the stuff still too lumpy. So I put in the blender, added some milk, and blended away. That did the trick, but now it was far too creamy. I think if I had not added the milk, it would have been fluffier.

I am willing to try this again at another date out of sheer desperation. The goal is to last at least two weeks in phase 1, but if I am able, I’d like to go longer in hopes to burn off some of this fat.

Below are the pictures of my attempts:

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Saturday night at the park

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We are at the park right now playing with Scout and Tila.

The temperature has dropped greatly and it’s very nice out.

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Northside Wine, Ithaca, NY

Yunuen and I went out to dinner Thursday night last week for her dad’s birthday. We went to Casa de Vicente, a place we’ve been to a few times and like quite a lot. I’ve had the prawns, rabbit, and halibut – all have been excellent. On our first visit years ago, I was recommended a glass of wine by my server. It was a Tempranillo (red) from Spain called Finca La Estracada, which has turned into my all-time favorite wine.

Unfortunately, Vicente’s only sells it by the bottle now (and its not listed on their wine list). We ordered a bottle Thursday and I paid $45. Since this not a wine we can buy locally, I had no idea if this is a reasonable price or not (and given how much I like it, I really didn’t care). However, while enjoying my halibut, I found a wine store in New York that sells the Finca and at a much reduced price (even less when I signed up to be one of their ‘members’).

I was not previously aware that one could buy alcohol over the internet. Other than checking the box to indicate I am over 21 years old, that was all there was to it. I ordered three bottles and found that, outside the shipping, three bottles purchased over the internet was less than one bottle here in town. What a deal!

Here’s the website: Northside Wine

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