Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

Photo Friday: Self-Portrait

I don’t shoot portraits much at all, much less self-portraits. For some reason, I like shooting landscapes, buildings and food a lot more than taking pix of people. But this is for Photo Friday’s weekly challenge. This week, it’s Self-Portrait.

Here’s one from our recent trip to Florence, Italy, in September. Our room at the Plaza Hotel Lucchesi along the Arno River had a great view of the river and the Piazza de Michelangelo on a hill across the water. We took a bus up there one day and got some amazing photos of the city skyline. See more pix from our trip at my Flickr site.

Photo Friday: Self-Portrait

Doors of Europe

Years ago, just before we went to Germany to see our first exchange student, Olaf, I saw a print for sale in an art gallery titled “Doors of Williamsburg.” It had 20 shots of, duh, doors in Williamsburg, Va. I loved this idea, so I shot “Doors of Germany.” Those are still on film prints, which I am too lazy to scan, but here are pix from our most recent trip to Europe in September.

Photo Friday: Meditation

In 2005, Dan and Barbara and I took a long-weekend trip to the Grand Canyon. While we were there, we stayed in Sedona, Arizona, and went hiking on a trail to Cathedral Rock. We didn’t know this would be there, too, but we came upon Buddha Beach, a place where people pile up river rocks so they resemble a Buddhist temple. We sat on a large rock on the opposite side of the river, ate a snack and took pictures.

Buddha Beach near Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona

Photo Friday: Best of 2008

I took this photo in May at James River State Park at sunset. I love the way it came out.

No Croutons Required: Split-Pea Soup

No Croutons RequiredWow, check it out – it’s already the 20th of the month. This has been a long, busy month at work, and it’s only getting more so. But it’s a good busy. But it means I haven’t had a lot of energy for blogging. I cook and take pictures, but they don’t always make it into the blogosphere. This one did, though! :-)

This is definitely not one of my favorite dishes, but Dan loves a good split-pea soup when the weather gets cold, so baby, this one’s for you – all of it :wink:

One of our exchange students, Josi from Berlin, gave me Alton Brown’s “I’m Just Here for the Food” for my birthday a couple of years ago. This recipe is from that book, and it’s probably one of the easiest recipes I know of. Here goes:

Alton Brown’s Split-Pea Soup

18 oz. dried split peas
1 finger-sized piece of salt pork (Dan likes porky goodness, but this is optional)
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce
1/2 cup each chopped carrots, onions and celery
2 quarts chicken broth
1-1/2 tbsp. miso paste

Combine all the ingredients in a slow cooker and set it to high. Cook for 6 to 8 hours until the peas have softened. Really, that’s it.

And here’s the delicious (according to Dan) but not real appetizing-looking (to me) result, garnished with a little sliced green onion:

Split Pea Soup

This is my entry in No Croutons Required, hosted by Lisa’s Kitchen.

Travel: Jim Thorpe, PA

Back in May, Dan and I took a trip to Jim Thorpe, PA, a beautifully restored Victorian-era town in the mountains of southeastern Pennsylvania. Dan had been there a couple of times before with friends, to go kayaking on the river, but this was my first time there. Here are a few pix of the trip; one of these days, I’ll get a bunch of them put into an online photo album, but here are some for now:

Overview of the town of Jim Thorpe, PA
Jim Thorpe, PA

This is an overview of the town from the top of a nearby mountain. The mansion in the upper center, with the red roof tiles, is the Asa Packer Mansion, now a museum; to the right of it is his son’s house, the Harry Packer Mansion, which is now a bed and breakfast inn that hosts murder mysteries, and to the right of that, with a cupola on top, is the carriage house, where we stayed.

You gotta read the story of Mary Hannah Packer Cummings (1839-1912), Asa’s daughter. She was a feminist before her time :-)
Read the rest of this entry »

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