Baja 2012

Only a few photos, there are alot on Picasa, from the older Olympus 1030Sw and the new Nikon D700. There's also a separate folder of everything I took while whale watching. They are pretty much in chronological order in this post.

Trip was me and Sara, my brother, and 2 botanist friends. We went to see the Bishop pines near Erendira, ate as many fish tacos as possible, hung out near Catavina, looked at the lichen growing on the boojums towards the Pacific coast, then finished up at Laguna Ojo de Liebre, the lagoon just south of Guerrero Negro where the grey whales come to give birth.

The whale watching setup at the lagoon is amazing. 5$/car to get in. The visitor's center is small but nice. The restaurant wasn't bad at all. Prices were a little inflated but considering you can watch whales spouting from your table... There are palapas at each campsite, the palapas with electric lighting are 5$/night, all others are free! At night when the wind stops you can hear the whales spouting, the whooosh sound to me sounded like gorillas calling to eachother in the jungle. Amazing. Whale watching was 40$/person in the panga boats. I touched a whale.

baby Bishop pine

lichen on boojum

love the colors from the D700!

boojum hillside

backlit ocotillo east of El Arco

vulture near our camp east of El Arco

hazy focus, but gotta show the camping quesadilla set up....

lettuce was a nice addition

sunset, Laguna Ojo de Liebre

sittin' on the dock of the bay

ballena gris

Lea Thompson / OnionAV

mighty fine reading

First Aid Kit

I'm finally going through all of the NPR I missed while in Baja. They did a short little story about First Aid Kit, a band consisting of 2 sisters from Sweden. Love it, cd ordered. OnionAV has a link to a video which I quite liked, too.

Cauliflower+Broccoli Stuffed Shells

A Jamie Oliver recipe, from Jamie at Home. Good, even though we really whacked back the cheese. Would be amazing with the right amount of cheese ;)

1 lb broccoli
1 lb cauliflower
7 cloves garlic
3 dried chilies
fresh thyme
1 tin anchovy fillets
3c milk, butter, flour
2c red sauce sauce
splash red wine vinegar
box of jumbo shells
2 cups fresh Parmesan - finely grated
8 oz provolone

Chop the broc/cauli florets and stems, put in boiling water for 6 min, drain, save water for cooking the shells
Boil shells for whatever it says on the box
Saute garlic, add chilies, anchovies w/ their oil, thyme.
Add drained broc/cauli, cook for 20min until really soft. Mash.
Make a bechamel sauce with the butter/flour/milk. I forget the proportions. It would be good to add some cheese to it.
Put red sauce and a little vinegar in a 13x9 pyrex
Stuff the shells with the mashed veggies, put on red sauce
Pour over bechamel and put on some provolone and parmesan (amounts in the recipe are what you are supposed to have used)
375, 30min uncovered

Random Food Pics

last night, thai green curry w/ delicata squash, purple potato, russet potato, cauliflower, a little ground beef

while ago, brussels sprouts and ground beef, vietnamese-style w/ nuoc cham on the side


boring looking, but tasty indian. green split peas as the dal, with eggplant chutney and cilantro chutney
dilla, with a brown rice GF tortilla, not bad at all, actually.

Grandma Grace Memorial Service

I didn't go to this as it coincided with our long-planned Baja trip. Lame excuse. Luckily my cousin Breanna made a really nice video of it.

Pollan's Food Rules, Illustrated

"Food Rules" by Michael Pollan - RSA/Nominet Trust competition from Marija Jacimovic on Vimeo.

Green Bronx Machine

Questions of Science...

Bon Iver / SPIN

This is old, but came to my attention cause they did an interview with him after the Grammy's and linked to it. Good, and the video at the end about the house/studio he has was interesting.

Bon Iver + the Roots

good

Etta James

This story played right before we went to Baja. Sorry she's gone but the music is great.

Bon Joviver

epic

UCSB stuff

Cool little blurb about installing bike repair stands, I dig it.