Perhaps you will find yourself in need of a fire while surfing on a remote island in the South Pacific. I thought this was an interesting survival tip. Using a AA battery and a staple you can use the conductivity of the staple to spark tinder into flame. I suppose if you are the type of person that carries AA batteries and a staple around, you will more than likely have match or lighter…but you never know.
Another slick trick is to saturate cotton balls with Vaseline. The petroleum jelly with light easily and burn long enough to get your tinder started.
I was in Austin this past week providing some Adobe training at the TCEA conference and was invited to eat at Maria Maria Restaurant with some of the Adobe education team. I was thrilled to get the invite, as Adobe always picks some really great places to eat.
Maria Maria was opened by legendary musician Carlos Santana and features “nuevo Mexican cuisine” created by Chef Roberto Santibañez. The Maria Maria web site stated that I should expect “such surprises as slow braised duck tacos covered with a roasted tomato habanero cream sauce; grilled salmon filet served with a sauce that’s both sweet and hot; and savory ancho chiles stuffed with roasted zucchini, red onions, potatoes and wild mushrooms served over melted cheese and a roasted  tomato chipotle sauce.” Em-em…sounds good!
I walked the four short blocks from the Austin Convention center to Maria Maria Restaurant, located on Colorado St. between 4th and 5th street. The first thing I noticed upon entering the restaurant was the decor. The art work is all hand picked by Santana and the walls feature art from artist that have all work for Santana in the past. Santana has also payed special attention to the lighting. Candles and eloborate lighting hang throught the eatery, adding a sense of the exotic and romance to the atmosphere.
On with the food. I started off by sharing an order of Totopas Nachos; Crispy tortillas with black beans baked with house cheese blend, topped with pico de gallo, cured red onions, pickled jalapeños, crema and cotija cheese topped with bite size slices of grilled steak. I have to say, the nachos were simply delicious!
After packing down way too many nachos, I received a large bowl of Tomatillo Tortilla Soup. The soup was a mixture of chicken broth, roasted poblanos, tomatillos, pumkin seeds and cilantro. Floasting in the soup were pieces of panela cheese and crispy tortillas. There were also a few large mushrooms – which I sifted out, as I don’t care for the taste of mushrooms. The soup had an unusual flavor that blended nicely with crispy tortillas chips.
After I finished off my soup my entree appeared. I had a choice between chicken enchiladas, fish tacos, or Braised Short Ribs. I went for the ribs. The ribs were nice slices of boneless slow braised beef shorts topped with poblano peppers and served with blackberry mole sauce.  Thank you Santana!
I finished off my meal with the Santana version of chocolate mousse. This mousse was topped with a layer of chocolate but had a kick to it with some added spice. I really enjoyed it and thought it was the perfect blend of sweet and spicy. However, some people at the table though it was too spicy and refused to eat it.
All-in-all, I enjoyed my dining experience at Maria Maria Restaurant and recommend that next time you are in Austin to drop by and give it a try.
There is now a web site dedicated to crashing on people’s couches…and it could “open a window to the world.”
With the economy in the crapper, expensive hotel rooms may be the last thing you want to spend your hard-earned money on. Fortunately, there are people all across the world willing to let you sleep on their couch…for FREE.
Heck, I know when I travel I spend very little time at the hotel; I try to pack in as many sights as possible. This could be a great way to save some bucks, yet see the world!
You can even signup to become a “couch surfing host” and meet people from all over the world. I recommend paying close attention to people’s profiles and the tips and tricks that the couch surfing web site offers. They will keep you safe and improve your “surfing” experience.
I was in the Houston area on business and decided to take an afternoon and visit Galveston and the Clear Lake area. As you drive south, on 45, you will first notice that just about every billboard has been destroyed. Entering Galveston, I was surprised to see the amount of boats piled up along the freeway. There are huge piles of debris stacked up along Broadway, and just about every other street. In some areas the air is filled with a headache-inducing stench composed of sewage, mold, and disinfectants.
However, I was told that if I had arrived the week before I would have viewed a huge difference. The people are working hard at getting the area back to normal. The destruction inspired me to pull over at a volunteer unit and ask if I could help. I ended up serving food for about two hours to workers, locals, and whoever else needed it. If you have a weekday or weekend I highly recommend headed up there and seeing how you can lend a hand.
The Clear Lake area looked pretty good, however, the houses located on the waterfront took on substantial damage and some were completely destroyed.
When I’m traveling I hate paying $10.00 for Internet access at airports. Usually I only need access to the Internet for about twenty minutes, but you have to pay for 24-hours worth of service…most of which you will never use.
However, CrunchGear recently reported a trick to skirt the sign-up page by appending “?.jpg” to the end of whatever address you are trying to hit. For example, if you wanted to view www.google.com you would type www.google.com/?.jpg .
Pretty darn slick!
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