Caught

Pk sent me a photo while we skyped.

I am a little ashamed to say that this was my face when I saw the picture downloaded sideways.

But, I'm right, right?

I Awoke the Dragon

And he made me vom.

The Tail of the Dragon is a stretch of Highway 129 at the border of Tennessee and North Carolina.  Wake the Dragon is a group of about 130 Honda s2000s that get together and drive the Dragon for four days.  My brother drives one of the s's, so I drove to TN to see what this Dragon was all about.

These cool kids showed me around:

(Breakfast at Deal's Gap).

Remnants from crashes.
 This is what I saw before I got on the Dragon, after I'd eaten the breakfast that I would soon sacrifice to the Dragon in the picture above.

Some of Artin's footage of the road:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDtUMAKFCpc&feature=share

Thanks for having me, Mikey. Thanks for chauffeuring, Caddy Mike.

Nuts

My baking exchange performance last week was a little crazy.  I wanted to make something like a pistachio cupcake or cookie, and finally settled on this recipe: http://www.thefoodsection.com/foodsection/2005/03/pistachio_cake.html

(Spoiler: it turned out alright)

I started the baking process at about 8:45 the night before trial.

At 9:16, I saw that of the three eggs I needed, I had one.

Then, without a food processor, I tried to crush the pistachios with a wooden spoon,

and that was a stupid idea.

But then I remembered that my blender is almost as good as a food processor,

and we were back in business.

Cake completed, topped with lemon glaze and whole 'stachios and left to cool just before midnight.

Successful trial, piano lesson, and baking exchange on Tuesday.

And this:

Success.

RVa.

Not only does this city boast the extraordinary Jackie M, but they have hipsters, good food, and dead presidents (the literal kind) - a few of my favorite things.

Hipsters:

(Hip? Just awkward.)

They had my childhood plates!!

Good food:

The "intimate secretary" at Balliceaux - really good: grapefruit vodka, rosemary syrup, lime, club soda.

http://www.milliesdiner.com/

And dead presidents at the Hollywood Cemetery:

James was inside this.

The end of any potential political career.

We thought this might be the crest of the earliest members of the Ca$h Money Millionaire$.

And, turns out not where but who you're with that really matters:

These are the stairs from Gone With the Wind!!

Great season, Rams.

Truth.

Quote of the Day

"I searched through rebellion, drugs, diet, mysticism, religion, intellectualism, and much more, only to find that truth is basically simple and feels good, clear and right."

– Armando "Chick" Corea