Daily Photo

The cable car between Chamonix, France and Courmayeur, Italy is very scenic. This is the section between Point Helbronner (3462 m) and Aiguille du Midi (3842 m). The distance between the two endpoints of the cable is 5 km and there is only one pylon supporting the cable between the two ends.

A lake near the West Washmawapta Glacier. One of these days I will actually finish selecting a set of images to put up from Canada and a few sets from Italy. My thesis takes priority though.

The Medici mansion in Rome. Not to be confused with the Medici Restaurant in Hyde Park. Also not to be confused with steak and eggs at Salonica.

It has been a long time since I've updated the daily picture because I've been in Italy and Canada for most of the summer. Eventually I'll get around to posting those pictures but I'm realizing that one of the detriments of the digital age is the amount of time it takes to cull a large number of pictures down to a reasonable number. This picture is of the West Washmawapta Glacier in British Columbia, Canada.

Sand at Ocean Beach.

A road in Wildcat Canyon not too far from my house.

A zucchini cake that I made for Mother's Day from Nigella. Kind of like carrot cake but with zucchini, a lime curd filling, and pistachios on top. Quite tasty.

Some graffiti on a wall at Ocean Beach. The pile of sand came from the hole in the wall. I couldn't tell if it was natural or planned that way. I think it was natural though because there were a number of holes in the wall and the sand pile at the base of each was about the same size and shape which probably would have been difficult to do intentionally. I'm on the beach side of the wall and the sand would blow up onto the sidewalk or road on the other side of the wall and then blow back through the hole. Maybe. Who knows.

The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park.

An archway of flowers on a shrub/tree in Golden Gate Park's nice arboretum.

A big leaf at the Conservatory of Flowers.

Do you ever get a sensation like you're falling? Experimenting with the strobe feature of my camera's built-in flash.

This prickly plant lives next to the door of my house.

We've both been working hard lately.

Anytime we start getting distracted the ghost starts making faces at us. Wouldn't it be nice if we had such a thing to keep us on track?

An Indonesian soup I made out of the Around the World Cookbook. Nice and spicy.

What a delicious appetizer! So delicious that I will share the recipe: Take one avocado that has been in your cupboard for a least a week. It ought to be ripe, shouldn't it? It's been there long enough. Never mind that it is still hard. Cut it open. Find by taste and the look of it that it is in fact not ripe and not as delicious as an avocado should be. Consider throwing it away, but reject that idea as wasteful. Peel it. Try mashing it to make guacamole as planned. Find that it is too hard to mash. Hmmm, how to make it softer? Microwave it with some water for 1:30! Then drain it and mash it. Taste it. Not great, but edible. Add some salt. What could make it better? Nothing other than sweet, sweet mango sauce from your nearest Trader Joe's. Mmm, now it is good. Serve with tortilla chips and sausage (recipe follows).

Dinner: take two sausages. Put them in a small saute pan. Turn on the stove. Turn sausages as needed to avoid burning. When they're mostly done, put two slices of bread in the toaster and toast them. When they are done, put pickle relish on one and mustard on the other piece. Then put the sausage between the two slices and eat it.

A lemon tart/meringue I made using lemon curd Taryn made from lemons that grew on a tree at Maryann's house. The crust and the meringue were from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I should have baked the crust a little longer by itself before putting in the filling and topping it, but oh well, they still tasted good.

This is a cup full of a wonderfully smooth and delicious concoction. Whatever could it be?

Hmm, it seems the previous picture was a bit misleading, as there was a false bottom on the cup. Here is the true bottom of the cup. Whatever could have deformed into such a shape?

Bacon! Mmm bacon.

Prager Casks.

The inside of Prager Winery and Port Works is covered in money. Quite literally. People write on the money and then it is tacked to the wall. "Me likey the port" says one. It is kind of amazing how many different countries have Queen Elizabeth on their money.

A tree-lined highway in Napa that had construction fences and green grass lining both sides. (They took some of it down on the left side).

A Morroccan Serpent Cake from the Around the World Cookbook. Dad helped me make it.

Experimenting with image overlays on my camera. I took the two pictures seperately and then combined them using one of the camera's tools.

Me and my camera.

The pineapple sage.

The vase I made.

Autumnal Birthday Cake. From How to be a Domestic Goddess.

My hand.