This blog post will be excessively about me, because for the first time in the trip, there are quite a few photos of myself. Usually, I am the one behind the camera, because lo! the motorcycle has exploded! Eek! the motorcycle has died on the highway! Egads! the motorcycle needs more work! That is when Ben is fixing the motorcycle, so there are plenty of glamor shots with him up to his elbows in, well, elbow grease. Therefore, I feel no shame in producing this Jen-tastic blog post, because I have a substantial number of photos of me looking fairly lovely and I must take advantage of the opportunity to narrate them. This weekend, we decided to get out of Gulu and Tessa's hair--we've been here too long and I am already getting nostalgic for being here, an oxymoron, because we haven't really left yet. This is what happened in Galveston though, and I can just taste Mexico; Gulu and Tessa live less than fifteen minutes from the border, as the crow flies. So we traveled east to Boca Chica State Park, which first required Ben and I finding lots of phone numbers for the Texas State Park folks--Boca Chica is listed on regular maps, but it is unlisted on the Texas State Parks website. It is one of those liminal places where people can go, for free, and camp there, probably forever if they wanted to, in a tent. Not that you would want to do that. There aren't really rules there. Too many people leave trash at the beach, or as we found out, even worse: too many people listen to trashy trance music blasted on their car subwoofers at two in the morning on the beach. Otherwise, it is a beautiful, lunar landscape at night, and a hazy, limitless distance of sand, ocean and blazing sky during the day. On the way to the beach, I was stung by a bee! I had to finally use our designated emergency signal--me patting/smacking Ben repeatedly on the back until he pulled over. This was very effective. Good response time, Ben! We pulled over, I jumped off, and had him pull the stinger out of my wrist. Mom: Good news, I am not allergic to bees. Then with his help, I bandaged myself up with a get-better-you-deserve-it Hello Kitty band-aid:  We got to the beach right as the sun was setting, and we drove up and down the packed sand, until we decided we should park as close to the dunes as possible, to avoid the tide line. We, of course, got stuck. Then with the help of some plastic soda bottles and Yankee ingenuity, we got ourselves unstuck. We headed back to the paved road and parked there, finding ourselves a nice spot where we could see the ocean, the beach, and especially the motorcycle from the front flap of the tent:  The first day we got up before the sun rose. This photo was taken at sunrise, which is why I look out of my mind, and Ben looks ecstatic:
 We spent the first day trying to find clams (there aren't clams in the Gulf, by the way), and then later oysters. We found an oyster bed with helpful advice from a Winter Texan, but all of the oyster shells were filled with mud, but mysteriously still held together. I sunk into the mud at one point up to my knees and had to get Ben to save me by pulling me out. After we were both cut and bleeding and without a single oyster to our name, we decided this was probably a Bad Idea and gave up.
For the rest of our three nights and two days on the beach, we spent a lot of time cooking:
a lot of time catching tiny animals (and setting them free):
a lot of time staring at pelicans: a lot of time getting sunburnt; some time collecting interesting seashells: and only a bit of time contemplating this creepy eyeless, babydoll head on a cross before we decided to leave it, and the two other memorial crosses, to be creepy by themselves:   The babydoll cross is the only thing that trumps availability of multiple photos of myself to strew across this post.
On the second full day, we headed over to Port Isabel, to see the lighthouse, where Ben took some nice photos of me: the lighthouse: of me: a fake pirate galleon that we could see from the top of the lighthouse:  and a series (to be fully uploaded once we get some good Internet access) of ridiculous pictures of him, and me: Later we headed to South Padre Island, to figure out what all the tourist hubbub was about. South Padre Island was uneventful, except for a last minute conversation with two college professors. If you are reading this, hello! Maybe we'll see you in Guatemala, Fernando? They were hilarious, and saved South Padre Island at the last minute from being a charmless, history-less, friendless version of Galveston Island. On the way back to Gulu and Tessa's, we stopped at a barbecue joint and split a brisket sandwich. There we met Joel and his son Tevin, who rides bulls for fun!!! He is maybe three-quarters my size, half my age and already way more badass then I am. Actually, this photo trumps the babydoll photos. Do you see the look on his face? That is the face of a genuine bull rider: Smoking Joe's was just off the side of the road, somewhere between Mission and Brownsville on Route 281. Here is a photo, so when you are going there to eat barbecue, you will know it when you see it:  We also got to take a photo with Smoking Joe himself, in front of huge his carousel smoker: This was a success, as Ben and I had had some lousy barbecue in Kingsville, TX. This redeemed Texas barbecue in Ben's eyes. Mine, too, but I haven't eaten enough barbecue to really know anything about it except that this barbecue was really fantastic and its crossed our minds to "accidentally" end up back on Route 281. So hello! and thanks for the good food, Joel, Tevin and Joe. Whew. If a photo is worth a thousand words, then I must've written a dissertation. Ha, ha. Love, Jen.
As another year falls behind I am feeling exhilarated! I am no where near where I thought I would be a year ago, and I can only speculate where I will be at the end of this year. For me that is as close to perfect as I can get. Feliz Ano Novo the title of this entry is Portuguese and roughly translates to Happy New Year. I am thinking that when this year comes to an end I will be learning a new language and on my way in Brazil where Feliz Ano Novo will be the slogan of the country I travel in.
We are still on track towards Mexico! I find it amazing how many times people have asked me. "So when are you guys going to get started?" Our trip isn't a one shot there and back vacation. This is our life. Traveling, figuring out where we will be next, finding temporary work, making wonderful new friends, we are gone, we cannot go back to where we started. We no longer have a house in New Orleans. Our presence is where we are at the moment, be it Connecticut, or a roadside gas station. Come along for the trip.
Our stay in Connecticut is almost over. My only regret is that my camera wasn't close at hand. The array of pictures would have included the foods we cooked, a sunny winter day in New York City, and a trip to the woods out behind the house. The most important meal we are missing photos of are from that of last night. In one and a half days the family transformed our home into the grounds of a new years eve celebration.
Our New Years eve menu was drafted from timeless favorites and flavors that would culminate this season. Jen and I had learned about mulled wine in New Orleans when the days were short and the cold winds blew in from the north. Experience has shown that a smooth full bodied red wine is better than a cheap Merlot or Cabernet, we used a Spanish Tempranillo. To mull the wine, heat it to around 160 degrees, zest an orange, then cut it up and throw it in along with some lemon juice. Add cranberries dried or fresh as well as cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, ginger, and a pinch of sugar or honey to create the perfect hot drink. We also served our friends and their families hot apple cider and chilly champagne punch. The punch was simply the cheapest champagne, a splash of pomegranate juice, fresh pomegranate seeds, and a little orange juice. The flavors were lite and fresh. A full spread of food including turkey, baby quiches, fresh french bread, cupcakes, a baked brie and many more tasty treats helped us all get through the night.
So here we are moving along again, forward, towards another day on the open road, alongside a hot campfire, an outdoor kitchen, and a little motorcycle maintenance.
-Benjamin
Finding camping/travelling gear is a serious endeavor. There are very few standards to judging gear, online or even in person, and if you think buying jeans online is hard, you haven't spent hours chatting up folks about glorified fancy underwear. I am pretty close to going and buying every single variation of sleeping bags, small plastic containers and base layers to just stop wasting my time looking online for good clothes.  From what I can gather, base layers (the fancy undies), are a relatively new thing. Everyone knows about those funny Union suit long underwear and those cotton waffle long johns, but the new stuff is "High Tech." Now, if you're like me, you thought that the cotton waffle stuff was good or at least sufficient. But if you tell that to a outdoor sports salesperson, they'll tell you that you're crazy and you will freeze to death and die and it is EVEN WORSE THAN JUST WEARING NOTHING AT ALL. And it kinda makes sense--if you've ever sweated through a t-shirt in the summer and then went into icy cold air conditioning, you realize how awfully cold and clammy your cotton t-shirt can be. Therefore, I've been seeking out definitive advice on undergarments and here is what I've figured out: Dressing for the elements is divided into three major layers: the outer layer, the insulating layer and the base layer. You could have more than three layers, especially in the insulating category, but the outer protects against the appropriate weather, the insulator, uh, insulates and the base layer is meant to wick away moisture. But!! The base layer can also be the insulating layer, and that's when you get into this awful conundrum of what makes a good base layer. A lot of real human beings and websites say that there is only scratchy merino wool and a multitude of scratchy, synthetics base layers that have acronyms that aren't pronounceable like: MTC, SNWRW, STE, RKI, &c., &c. (I made most of those up or tried to remember the real ones). But!!! You can also get silk base layer undies! But!!! No one can tell you for sure about how warm they are. Some people say silk makes you cold. Some say it will make you toasty warm when you need to be, and nice and cool when you also need to be. Bamboo and coconut have also been mentioned in the various literature I've found, but it's always in a blend with synthetic fibers or merino wool. It is processed, charred fiber--the logic I've made out of it is that the plant charcoal sucks up odor. So it's not anymore soft (like a hairy, hard coconut) than synthetic fibers. Then there is the handful of double layered long underwear, that usually consists of a cotton or cotton-blend interior with a merino wool or wool blend outer layer. This obviously negates the first rule of not using cotton against your skin, but who am I to say what works? Then all the variations: Your base layer can be your only layer, your base layer could be transparent, so you should have a layer underneath your base layer, your insulating layer can also be your base layer (but you should then still be wearing a base layer because your insulating layer won't necessarily wick away moisture), your outer layer can just be a shell or it can be an insulating layer itself. And then everything is some level of elastic-y tightness that swears their interlocking flat design is the best and will not chafe (despite that they are all made out of stuff that is so itchy you don't want to move). &c., &c. The red butt flap onesie looks very appealing, doesn't it? So. If you have anything to offer on the base layer debacle, feel free to put in your two cents. Love, Jennifer
 I don't know a lot about a lot, but what I do know about is how to make good food. Ben and I are working on our gourmet cookery over a camp stove because otherwise we would be eating those weird dehydrated foods that you find at your local camping store. They are gross and expensive! Don't do it! And when you instead turn to the cookbook selection, skip those, too. They tend to either require weird dehydrated unprepared food and Bisquick. Just say no and use common sense. So on one camera happy morning while we were still in Lake Fausse Pointe State Park in Louisiana (outside of St. Martinville), we took a lot of photos of our meal and the set up. This is obviously not for the intrepid hiker climbing Mt. Everest, but we can go about three days without needing supplies, provided that we can carry enough water and go prepared, rather than willy-nilly, although the latter is usually the case.
 This is me probably not preparing food, but probably preparing to eat it. I am only really competent enough in the morning to be a sous chef at best. But this is the best photo regarding layout. You can see here (from right to left):
-Our little Costa Rican coffee filter
-The top of our thermos
-Milk
-The handle to the pot
-The French Toast cooking
-The honey behind it
-The butter
-The coffee thermos
You wouldn't think it, but contrary to what your mother told you, it is ok to eat dairy and eggs well after they've been sitting out overnight. We've been blessed/tormented with some cold weather lately, and that has been helping us keep our dairy and eggs, too. Ben actually likes his cheese to sit out a bit. It gets stinkier and he likes that. I live with it, but when it starts to sweat, I'd rather cook it up, just because the texture tends to have a weird mouthfeel. Don't knock it 'til you try it. Butter is especially long lasting--it will stay for just about forever. And unlike oil, it is more versatile, tastes better and tends to leak less, because unless it is a hot, hot summer, it will probably be solid or semi-solid in a sealed, water-tight container. When we buy animal products to eat, we tend to eat them up fast. A half dozen eggs becomes part of a meal of French Toast, usually with a loaf of bread we've been carrying around too long and the milk leftover from coffee. The leftover eggs make for hard-boiled eggs (uck), egg salad (ok), fried egg sandwiches (good) or omelettes (my preferred method).
 First we cut up a bunch of fruit into bite-sized pieces. This time it was plums and apples. Berries, stone fruit, bananas or whatever you've got on hand would be delicious. Cranberries are in season right now and they tend to cook a bit different from other fruits: you can stew them down into a delicious mess that is somewhere between a compote and a freshly made jam. Oranges or any other citrus fruit would be good, too. Or, consider zesting a bit of orange (nothing fancy, just scrape your pocket knife, serrated or straight, or use a metal fork and make do) into cranberries or any fruit that would benefit from a bit of citrus. We saute the fruit in a little butter until they're tender, but not overcooked. There is a spectrum of sauteing fruit: delicious apple pie-styled apples, gross apple mush and smooth applesauce. Aim for either end, and don't get stuck in the mushy baby food middle. We throw this when it's done into a little tinfoil because we don't have anywhere else to stick it. From there, we mix together three eggs, a couple splashes of milk and our sweet spice mix of cinnamon, cloves and allspice into our big pot. This gets beat with a fork until it is well mixed and a bit frothy. Low on eggs or on milk? Sub in a bit more of the other to even it out. You could probably even thin it all out with a bit of water if you're trying to stretch what you've got.
 This is made in the "saute" pan (i.e. the shallower pan). Slick it up with a bit of butter and get cooking. Make sure to cook it all the way through, you can turn down the heat or put on the lid to assure that you don't get a soggy middle. This is especially important when you've been carrying your dairy and eggs for several days because you don't want to mess with salmonella in the middle of the woods.
We then take the finished toast and put a few scoopfuls of fruit on top, and we pour on the honey. You can use maple syrup, agave nectar or throw in some brown or white sugar into the fruit right before taking it off the heat. Add water if it needs to be more syrupy. Fold up the sides and eat it taco style to avoid knives and forks and a much greater than necessary mess. This fills the both of us up pretty well, adjust accordingly for the number of your party.
Love, Jen
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