He Shall from Time to Time...
The state of the Ko-chan remains strong.
I decided to drive home this year rather than fly, partially due to the high price of airfare this season and also because I'm loony. I did get to do a little endurance driving as a result. Harriet managed to make it all the way from home base to Chiriaco Summit on a single tank of petrol, a trip of 492 miles at just over 37 MPG. I was a bit nervous running that close to empty. Not even the car thought we were gonna make it to the top of that hill.
The holidays went well. Anyone who's seen the Kochan family Christmas feasts knows they are not for those on a diet. I'd already decided to throw mine out the window. When the menu over two days consists of your grandmother's pierogi, Polish sausage (both smoked and not-smoked), walnut bread (I managed to smuggle a loaf back with me), custard French toast made with panettone, deep fried turkey (OMG more on this later), and topped off with your own raspberry cheesecake... well clearly it is not the time for Weight Watchers. Despite all that I found my net weight gain/loss at this morning's weigh-in to be only +2 lbs. Much better than I expected.
The turkey came out very nicely done this year. I am now solidly behind the belief that turkey is best prepared deep fried. Apparently, my Dad has been formulating a new flavor injection strategy which worked out well. We brought the oil up to 350 degrees right when we put in the bird. The immersion brought the temperature down to 325, which is where I kept it until it was done about thirty minutes later. That bird was oozing with juices when we carved into.
The family is doing well overall, although the economic downturn is hitting my sister and her family. I'm hoping they pull through. My Dad got some home theater stuff for Xmas. The man who has up to this point sufficed with a 20-inch television and finds operating a TiVo to be intimidating should by now be enjoying the offerings of high definition television. He managed to find a five year old plasma TV on the cheap from a FOX sports grill that was closing down. He got all the other bits he needed as gifts. The universal remote that works it all? I gifted it to my Mom in a fit of deviousness.
I got home after a week and proceeded to take a vacation from my vacation which turned out to be mostly restful. I still had to do battle with my server which has been falling over with machine check exceptions since the end of November. At this point, the only components that haven't been replaced are the drives and the RAID controller (and technically the case as well, but come on). It's also been a little rough getting back on the regular sleep schedule.
Here's hoping everyone out there had a warm time with family and friends, with best wishes for the year to come.
I decided to drive home this year rather than fly, partially due to the high price of airfare this season and also because I'm loony. I did get to do a little endurance driving as a result. Harriet managed to make it all the way from home base to Chiriaco Summit on a single tank of petrol, a trip of 492 miles at just over 37 MPG. I was a bit nervous running that close to empty. Not even the car thought we were gonna make it to the top of that hill.
The holidays went well. Anyone who's seen the Kochan family Christmas feasts knows they are not for those on a diet. I'd already decided to throw mine out the window. When the menu over two days consists of your grandmother's pierogi, Polish sausage (both smoked and not-smoked), walnut bread (I managed to smuggle a loaf back with me), custard French toast made with panettone, deep fried turkey (OMG more on this later), and topped off with your own raspberry cheesecake... well clearly it is not the time for Weight Watchers. Despite all that I found my net weight gain/loss at this morning's weigh-in to be only +2 lbs. Much better than I expected.
The turkey came out very nicely done this year. I am now solidly behind the belief that turkey is best prepared deep fried. Apparently, my Dad has been formulating a new flavor injection strategy which worked out well. We brought the oil up to 350 degrees right when we put in the bird. The immersion brought the temperature down to 325, which is where I kept it until it was done about thirty minutes later. That bird was oozing with juices when we carved into.
The family is doing well overall, although the economic downturn is hitting my sister and her family. I'm hoping they pull through. My Dad got some home theater stuff for Xmas. The man who has up to this point sufficed with a 20-inch television and finds operating a TiVo to be intimidating should by now be enjoying the offerings of high definition television. He managed to find a five year old plasma TV on the cheap from a FOX sports grill that was closing down. He got all the other bits he needed as gifts. The universal remote that works it all? I gifted it to my Mom in a fit of deviousness.
I got home after a week and proceeded to take a vacation from my vacation which turned out to be mostly restful. I still had to do battle with my server which has been falling over with machine check exceptions since the end of November. At this point, the only components that haven't been replaced are the drives and the RAID controller (and technically the case as well, but come on). It's also been a little rough getting back on the regular sleep schedule.
Here's hoping everyone out there had a warm time with family and friends, with best wishes for the year to come.