Disaster. Sept 9, 2010
San Bruno Disaster
We live in San Bruno, Ca – about 20 minutes from San Francisco. Nothing much happens here. But it did last night and it will live in our memories forever. As I watered the garden last night at around 6pm, an eerie rumbling sound came over me. It was like a plane was about to land on us. I looked up and saw a huge fire ball erupt in the near distance and I ran inside to meet Mike and the kids and I screamed “fire ball”. I thought it was coming towards us like a nuclear bomb. I thought the world was ending right there. I called 911, but it was busy. And so began a very long night. What they thought was a plane crash was said to be a gas station exploding up the hill – less than a mile from us. But no, it was a gas line. You could hear the gas roaring for hours. The news didnt know what it was for a long time, but they were showing the devastation via helicopters. This was just up the street. We got calls to evacuate.. Then the entire neighborhood lost power. We had a rough night of sleep not knowing what we would awake to find but we knew it wasnt going to be good. And it isnt. Lives have been lost and many homes leveled to the ground. It is surreal and it reminds me of the images from Sept 11, 2001. Except this time it was in my backyard.
We are fine. But our hearts go out to the people of San Bruno who are affected by this nightmare.
LIFE IS PRECIOUS.
Testing my video abilities
With my new iphone 4 and its high def video, I am having fun making videos and editing them in imovie and I love it. But the most challenging thing of all is trying to share these videos. Especially trying to embed video in WordPress. Putting an embed code from You Tube doesn’t work and now I am trying Flickr. What a pain in the ass – this should be easy.
Vita Mix’n
Vita Mix Green Smoothie and Mustache
We were so thrilled when Mike’s Uncle Jim surprised us with the coolest (and hottest) blender in the world. A bad-ass Vita Mix. Vita Mix and BlendTec make these “super blenders” that are so powerful you can grind an Iphone into dust (see the BlendTec video). But we aren’t going to use them for our cell phones. We are going to throw in some raw, whole fruits and veggies and drink them up with all of the fiber and nutritional glory they were meant to have. You can even make soup in the Vita Mix – it cooks it right in the container due to all of the friction from the 2 HP motor. We made our first green smoothie and it was so good – cucumber, spinach, parsley, grapes, orange, and ginger. You just peel and blend. Super healthy way to drink your fruits and vegetables every day. Dont get me wrong, we still need to have some fun – so we are going to make “whole fruit” margaritas on occasion. You literally just toss in the entire peeled lemons/limes with your tequila and ice. Yum!
Our Cute Kombucha Babies
We have a new addition to our family. It is called Kombucha. We will try anything that claims to help fight cancer after a diagnosis of melanoma. It is a drink that originated centuries ago and is made by fermenting sugared black or green tea in a jar for a couple of weeks. But it doesn’t work unless you have a SCOBY which stands for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (also known as a mother). That is the large flesh looking thing. We got our scoby from my mom’s friend but you can order them online or get them on craigslist. We named ours Loogie. Each time we make a new batch, Loogie makes a new “baby”. Then we put the baby in the next batch. We are on our third batch and it gets better each time. It makes a natural carbonation. Kombucha tastes like a vinegar, apple cider and champagne combo. It has billions of probiotics and is high in antioxidants. Yes I know it sounds and looks gross. But it really isn’t. It is really good for you. Try a bottle the next time you are at Whole Foods. At $3 a bottle we are saving money by making our own. Here is a good recipe and we are happy to give you a Loogie baby to start your own batch. http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-Kombucha/
NY Times article on Kombucha (we should have been interviewed for this!) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/fashion/25Tea.html
Mike and our newest Loogie Baby
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