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September 28, 2005
First Painting!
A collage of Sophie and her friends hard at work, that the folks at daycare were kind enough to let us bring home and scan. She loves that cool table!
Please remember to login as 'family' or 'friend' (username and password are identical) to see the full-sized images!
Posted by Jacob at 10:15 PM | Comments (0)
More New Features!
Just a quick note about some new features on our site. First off, we've temporarily enabled password-protection on our photo album. To see the pics please log in as 'family' or 'friend' (the password is identical to the username.)
Once you've logged in, you'll notice some new symbols (+ and !) over on the left-hand menu: these indicate Updated and New folders so you can find new images more quickly. When viewing photos, you can use the 'Slide show' drop-down menu to automatically progress through the images.
Special thanks to the folks at DAlbum for providing the shareware and helping us sort out the upgrade!
Posted by Jacob at 10:06 PM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2005
Geoff's "A History of Violence" 60 word review
A History of Violence is an engaging little thriller from David Cronenberg, starring Viggo Mortensen & Ed Harris. I found the characters to be interesting and the plot to be compelling. It’s not for the squeamish, and it’s one of those films where the less you know about it (including the trailers) the more you’ll enjoy it.
In limited release. Opens wider 9/30.
- Jonesy
Posted by Jacob at 2:01 PM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2005
Happy Birthday Bilbo & Frodo
I'm a card-carrying member of the Tolkien Society, so calling me a dork at this point is fairly moot. I'll be celebrating this year's Birthdays with as much of the Extended Edition dvds as I can pack in. Special thanks to The Professor and Peter Jackson for providing all the fuel for fantasy.
Posted by Jacob at 7:05 AM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2005
Sophie video
Our main goal in enabling video on the site wasn't to show you more of Eula, fortunately. Tonight I got a bunch of assembled clips from Sophie's 3-6 months timeframe online. It takes a little time to load, but we think it's worth the wait.
Click here to view Sophie's Six Months Video.
Posted by Jacob at 10:52 PM | Comments (1)
September 19, 2005
Now with video!
I'm happy to announce we finally figured out how to enable the slideshow and video features for our photo album software. Here's our inaugural video, taken by our friend Ashleigh, of Eula and Nepali playing on a hike just outside of town:
Click here to see Eula and Nepali playing.
Posted by Jacob at 1:59 PM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2005
CIA Career Discovery
I worked my tail off for the week of August 29th to September 2nd at the Culinary Institute of America's week long baking and pastry career discovery course. I have to admit, it was the most satisfying work that I have done to date. I love getting results and working with the pressure of getting all of the products done on time.
Each day we learned a new method for baking.
Day One - Creaming Method and Introduction to the Professional Pastry Kitchen
I missed this day due to the fact that I was at the ER with Sophie (see Strider post). This seemed like the easiest day from reviewing my lecture notes and the recipes for that day.
The items made were Sour Cream Pound Cake, Lemon Pound Cake, Chocolate Chip Cookies, White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies, Hazelnut Biscotti, Walnut-Butter Shortbread and Pie Crust. I had some of the biscotti the next day and it was wonderful!
Day Two - Foaming Method, Blind Baking, Sponge Cake
This was my first day in the class. I walked in to discover that my instructor was Stephen Durfee, the former pastry chef and co-founder of French Laundry. I was a little star struck. We spent two hours in the class room discussing the previous days work and also reviewing the recipes for the day.
Items on this days schedule were Genoise, Buttermilk Pie, Chocolate Cream Pie, Coconut Cream Pie, Lemon Meringue Pie, Currant Scones, Cheese Scones, Tiramisu and Lady Fingers.
So mainly custards, cooked and baked, and a rubbed dough for the scones which were very tender and crumbly at the same time.
Day Three - Yeast Doughs
This was probably the best smelling day in the kitchen due to all of the breads that were baking. It was also the most physically demanding as most of the recipes yielded around 25 lbs of dough.
On the schedule for that day: Ciabatta, Basic White Sour Dough Bread, Basic Lean Dough (baguettes), Rosemary Bread, Rosemary Olive Bread, Orange Panetone, Challah Bread, Sunflower Sweet Bread, Parker House Rolls.
I was so full at the end of the day from sampling all of the breads it was great! I grabbed a ziplock and brought a slice or two of everything home for Jake.
Day Four - Flatbreads
This day was hectic due to all the different baking methods that we used to make each flat bread.
On the schedule for the day: Lavash which was cooked in a convection oven, Thyme Bread also cooked in a convection oven, Soft Pretzels cooked in a steam injected deck oven, Naan cooked in a Tandoor oven, Focaccia cooked in a brick oven and Pita cooked in the steam injected deck oven.
The strangest discovery from this day was the fact that the pretzels are dipped in Lye in order to give them their deep color.
Day Five - Chocolate
This day was unexpectedly fun for me. I always felt that making chocolates was too fussy, artistic and detail oriented. It ends up being all of those things but the process was very relaxing for me.
On the schedule: Chocolate Ganache Tart, Flourless Chocolate Cake, Souffle Cake, Rochers, Grapefruit Truffles, Honey Truffles, Cointreau Coconut Truffles, Mocha Truffles and Mendiant au Chocolate.
Jake was in heaven this day as I got to bring two of each chocolate home and I also swiped a piece of the flourless chocolate cake.
Posted by Brandie at 6:46 PM | Comments (3)
First Jetlag
Last week we took a belated trip to visit our family in upstate NY. Several days (and many, many Friendly's sundaes later), we returned. The weather was awesome, nearly identical to Northern California this time of year - warm, sunny days and cool, starry nights.
We were actually hoping to see a thunderstorm or two, but managed to get perfect skies the whole time. We were happy to help finish off a good pool season with some swimming in Grandpa George's pool. Sophie finally showed some real enthusiasm for the sport by making motor boat noises and splashing a lot, whereas before she just kept a look of intense concentration on her face.
Sophie also managed her first jetlag like a pro, even with an ear infection and a 13-hour car ride! She was a little quiet the first few days, but was shouting up a storm by the time we left (personally, I think she's starting to take after Uncle Anthony).
Pictures to follow whenever we find our camera, currently MIA.
Posted by Jacob at 12:09 PM | Comments (1)
September 15, 2005
Happy Birthday Tess!
Happy Birthday little sister. Hope you partied like it was 1999! :)
We love and miss you and hope that you had a great birthday. Wish we could have shared it with you.
Posted by Brandie at 2:26 PM | Comments (0)
September 2, 2005
Happy Birthday Dawn!
Hope you celebrated with some yummy chocolate cake and that Lily let you get a bite or two. We miss you and hope you had a wonderful birthday.
Posted by Brandie at 2:23 PM | Comments (0)