Here are a few of the best things I ate this holiday.
Caramel, so running and sticky it had to be kept in the fridge; homemade.
Roast beef, larger than my head, embedded with slices of garlic, cooked to perfection, with a dribbling of juices; homemade.
Caesar salad, crisp croutons, with a slight curry seasoning in the dressing. The lettuce was so fresh you could hear it crack as you dished it onto your plate.
Fresh baked brownies, eaten carefully directly out of the pan
Mints wrapped in bright plastic with chocolate mysteriously appearing in the middle
Creamy yellow brie from a small Swiss village, warmed to room temperature and spread on wafer-thin crackers
Swiss Chalet roasted chicken, falling apart like a house of cards under my fork, with lovely side dishes
Home made gravlax, made by a family friend from a 15 pound Coho salmon she caught herself, cured simply with sugar, salt, dill and oil. Aka “lox.”
Lamb chops, broiled until they acquired a varnish of doneness, then left to sit until warm and juicy; sliced and served beside asparagus
London broil beef cubes cooked in hot oil and served with 4 sauces (garlic, curry, pepper, steak); in a word: fondue
Lasagna, Travis’ secret recipe (hint: it involves massive quantities of butter and cream and cheese and meat and tomatoes and pasta and then some more cheese)
“I find myself thinking of a checklist Wozniak wrote a few years ago describing how to become a genius. His advice was straightforward yet strangely terrible: You must clarify your goals, gain knowledge through spaced repetition, preserve health, work steadily, minimize stress, refuse interruption, and never resist sleep when tired. This should lead to radically improved intelligence and creativity. The only cost: turning your back on every convention of social life.”
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.”
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