U.S. Atlantic Seaboard at Night

U.S. Atlantic Seaboard at Night- Pretty cool!

Oh the Places We'll Go: Caribbean 2009

Oh the Places We'll Go! (Click me!)

Michael & I created this wonderful photobook from Pixable.com based on our trip to the Caribbean in 2009 -- We had a LivingSocial deal to create a hard cover 16-page photobook for only $10.

We traveled to Miami, St. Thomas, St. John, Tortolla, Jost Van Dyke, and St. Lucia -- all in one trip. As you can tell from the pictures, we had a wonderful time on our trip scuba diving, snorkeling, laying on the beach, hitchhiking, zip lining in a rain forest, and meeting the locals. Since it was a while ago, the dates on the Jauntlet app below are all just estimates.

Above all, I would highly recommend a trip to Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands for anyone who wants to see the Caribbean that you probably fantasize about. It's such a tiny island without much commercialization. There aren't more than a few places to even stay there. Our stay at Ivan's was completely remote and amazing -- our one room cabin was just what you'd image a beach lifestyle to be. No frills, but everything you need to be comfortable so that you can hear the waves at night and walk 10 steps to the beach in the morning. Ivan's even has an honor bar, where you can make yourself the local Painkiller drink and put it on your own tab.

Keepin' It Legal

After starting this blog, I realized that the posts are much prettier and more interesting when they have associated images or photos. Although I'm sure everyone who reads this blog finds all of my thoughts incredibly interesting... something pretty to look at doesn't hurt, either. :)

Sooner or later, I started to realize that oopsies, I was just getting the images for my posts from searching Google images. Which could mean copyright infringement. After looking around the internet for a bit, I realized that finding free, legal images can actually be a really annoying task. Some websites advertise free use of their images, but only after you pay for a subscription to their site. Excuse me? That does not qualify as "free" to me. So here are three legitimate ones that I have found so far that I really like:

-Free Artistic Photos - the photos are searchable by different categories and are all free for non-commercial use.

-Every Stock Photo - once you find a photo you like, clicking on the "license" tab will give you information on how you can use it. Many of the photos do not even require you to attribute the work to the author.

-Wikimedia Commons - Access to multiple types of media files, with information on the licensing agreement associated with each photo.

Aeri's Kitchen

I have been really impressed with some of the great blogs out there that are dedicated to a specific type of cooking. One of my favorite blogs is Aeri's Kitchen - Aeri does a great job of making Korean cooking accessible for people who have never tried preparing it before. I really like that there are often substitutes for ingredients - like honey instead of Asian pear juice - because otherwise many of the recipes would probably not be feasible for me.

One of my favorites is BiBimBap - a very traditional Korean dish with rice, meat, and vegetables (so it's healthy!). I usually substitute chicken instead of beef, and the marinade always turns out really well. I also just substitute whatever vegetables I happen to have in the fridge for the more exotic ones, and it's great!

My other favorite Korean dish (especially at restaurants) is bulgogi. I really think that the best cooking blogs are the ones that provide step-by-step instructions - and Aeri provides pictures with written instructions as well as video instructions. It doesn't get more comprehensive than that! I don't cook beef dishes too often, but bulgogi is one that I will make an exception for. It's pretty quick to prepare the marinating meat one night and have it ready to cook up quickly the next. Why pay for a cookbook when this is so much better?!