Hello?

Is there anyone still out there? With the frequency of my blog updating I am guessing this maybe includes 4 people (and I believe that maybe an optimistic estimate). Did everyone have a nice holiday? Does anyone even remember their holidays? I do realize it was sometime ago.

I personally had a great holiday; it consisted of the following:

(1) skiing, skiing and more skiing- except for the day it rained. Oh and the one where the high for the day was 2 F.
(2) eating way too much
(3) drinking just the right amount

(4) seeing my totally awesome friends and family

Personally, I could have used another 3 weeks of that. I suspect that most people would jump on that bandwagon with me.

For Christmas I got a couple of incredibly cool kitchen items, so hopefully, if I remember to start taking pictures again, there will be some more Cook this today and FfNl for your viewing pleasure. What did I get, you ask?

Well this:

The real miracle is that I found a home in my kitchen for the gleaming beast. I also got this:

This nakiri knife is seriously the sharpest blade I've ever used. Thus far I've managed to keep all my fingers intact (knock on wood), much to the relief of my sister.

I also got this really cool cookbook.

Well that is it for my grand return! More to follow in the next few days... but i wouldn't hold your breath just in case I'm a lying liar who lies.

See you soon

Hehehe....

(Did you think I'd fallen off the face of the planet? Well maybe I did for a bit- but I'm clawing my way back, so stay tuned in)

Okay so I read a lot of random blogs. Recently I've started reading some very entertaining blogs about the book industry in general. Did I mention I love reading? I can now say I love reading about the process of how writing becomes the stuff I read. Here are just a couple examples: Nathan Bransford, Bookends and last but certainly not least Pimp my Novel. The last line in today's PMN struck me as very funny:

Tomorrow: Dan Brown kills an entire forest!

Are planning on picking up one of those trees?

Also, you should definitely check this out (thanks Molly):

Bacon Jam ?!?

I've been waiting for the opportunity to show off my sock bacon (above), and thanks to The Pioneer Woman I found this:

Skillet Jam On It

Gotta get some.

And now there is one more blog to follow.

Disconnected

I just finished 72 hrs without internet access. Yes that is right, 3 whole days without email. Without cnn.com. Without blogs. Without all the things I normally waste hours of my life on, say for example, this.

I assume that most of you are quite horrified.

I keep telling myself it is good for me- to get out and see the world. However, I've got to say I do miss it, just a little bit.

Other than that, it was another great weekend here in Brazil. Saturday I stuffed myself silly at a barbeque my hosts, Zeki and Rose, had at their apartment. I couldn't eat for nearly 12 hours afterwards. The food was really good! Then on saturday night I saw free concert at the Feira do Livro, this big 10 day book fair with free concerts. Sunday for lunch I cooked some Indian food for my roommates; they like it, so that was a success.

Oh and I spent some quality time with her:

As if I needed another way to waste hours of time on the internet

I have a confession. Secretly, I am addicted to looking at those slide show galleries that magazines put together for the web. Everyday, I dutifully go to cnn.com and check the headlines. Now, if I were a good person, I would actually read more articles, making myself a well rounded, informed adult (well maybe not well-rounded, but at least nominally informed).

Instead, after a brief perusal of the headlines I cruise to the bottom the page and zero in on Entertainment Weekly's 17 shows for TV "Revirgins" (which reminds me yet again that I should put Freaks & Geeks on my Netflix list) or Money's Ultimate Mutual Funds (I'm not sure why I look at ones like these... to be useful, one would actually have to have money). Now if only they had one of these galleries on the 48 must know secrets of the immune system, I might actually stand a chance of completing my PhD. Let me know if you find one like that.

Anyway, yesterday, following this usual pattern I happened upon Time's 25 Best Blogs of 2009. I'm pretty new at this blogging thing, I just haven't made the time before I started making my own, so I was excited to see the array of what was out there. Maybe you've seen a lot of them? Let me know how you like them. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be adding a good number of these blogs to my daily procrastination routine- but some of them may actually make me a more well rounded, informed person.

Hopefully I'll still have time for a photo gallery or two.