Shaka Brah

Ok, this picture is just clickbait (haha! it worked); sure, ziplining was pretty fun, but I am smiling in surprise at winning my "race" against the guide, who assured me she was not just letting me win.

At any rate, as you can see, I went ziplining (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFIOTEyMT18).  It was kinda rainy, fairly cold, and the helicopter-ride-plus-land-on-a-glacier I thought I had scored that morning was sadly cancelled due to poor visibility.  So, after sitting in the coffee shop for a couple hours wondering what to make of my day off, two friendly coworkers and I decided, what the hell, let's zipline.*

*for free


Yesterday I hiked a semi-arduous path up 1,000 feet in the blustery rain and, after first sweating so much salt stung my eyes, I came home chilled to the bone.  The view was rather foggy, but I happily spotted all kinds of mushrooms, including many rather large specimens.  Like, eight inches across, some concave and filled with nearly a cup of water and forest bits.

Let's see...I'm going to try to make this installment's juicy kitchen tidbit a positive, life-affirming one.  Do you like butter?  Do you like eggs?  Do you wish you could eat like half a stick of butter on top of your eggs?  Make some delicious hollandaise sauce -- it's easy!  Over medium heat, whisk a few egg yolks, a pinch of salt, and a tiny blob of mustard until the mixture feels hot to the touch but the yolks don't scramble into chunks (we're shooting for 110 degrees here).  It will get frothy and thicken.  Remove from heat.  Melt a cup or so of butter, so it's a similar temperature (not scalding, not just room temp).  Now -- SLOWLY is the key -- add a little melted butter to the stuff, whisking constantly and incorporating the oil so it fully emulsifies before adding more butter.  Et voila: magic sauce that is way more delicious than melted butter or warm egg yolk alone, transformed alchemically into orangey gold.  When you make this, think of me eating a fucked up order of eggs Benedict, standing over the trash, sauce dripping off my hands and smeared on my cheek, hoping neither of my bosses will not turn the corner in the next 45 seconds.