Happy Tofurky Day!
Ok, so we admit it. We are not really in Austin. In fact, we just got back to Nick’s parents house in Cranford, NJ. Yeah, we are two weeks behind or so posting (all this writing and posting pictures is taking way longer than we thought), but we hope you still keep reading even though you know our dirty little secret. We still all of the south and our way up the east coast to tell you about though. Plus, you’ll have to keep on reading for our grand finale, to find out where we decide to move.
Happy thanksgiving y’all (pretend we’re in Texas). And for all those folks back in the NY/NJ area: let’s hang out.
Mo' Videos, Mo' Problems
The Interweb hasn’t been cooperating with us lately, so we’ve been having trouble posting some of our videos. But we’ve got that mostly fixed now…
You can watch us rock out at the Oregon Sand Dunes above, check out a Muscle Beach swinger, listen to sea lions bark, or check out any of our other videos.
We've Gone Carbon Neutral!
Thanks to Em’s mom, we are now driving thousands of miles around the country in a fossil-fuel-powered, pollution-emitting, 4-wheeled vehicle…and not feeling (too) guilty for it. That’s because she bought us a Terrapass to offset all of my car’s carbon dioxide emissions for this trip. That makes our road trip “carbon neutral.” Yay!
Confused yet? Well, here’s how it works:
- When you drive a car (or fly in a plane), the burning of the gasoline releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
- All those cars and planes (plus buildings and powerplants) add up to a whole lot of of extra greenhouse gases in the air, which are a big factor in causing global warming (yes, ALL scientific evidence has shown that the globe is really warming).
- When you buy a Terrapass, or one of the many other carbon credit products (from the nonprofits such as Native Energy or Carbonfund), you are giving money to help support alternative energy production, like solar or wind power.
- Energy created from solar or wind creates power that does not produce any additional carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases.
- So, when you can’t help but driving or flying somewhere, you buy carbon credits to offset all those emissions you are releasing.
- You are now carbon neutral, and can rest easy.
It’s pretty easy, kind of like paying for indulgences to get rid of your sins. So, go out and buy a Terrapass for your car, or book your next flight with a Terrapass through Expedia.com. Or, if you’re not only an environmentalist, but an anti-capitalist as well… go the nonprofit route with Native Energy or Carbonfund.
(Mateo, let me know if I botched all these details).
Bières délicieuses du Québec
A quick aside for those that care (mostly me), some beer tastings! Quebec province is full of breweries, many of them creating excellent belgian-style beers (my favorite). The most popular, which you can find in the States, come from Unibroue, but the rest you’ll have to cross over the hostile Canadian border to find.
- Biere de Noel (Brasserie Breughel – Saint-Germain de Kamouraska, Quebec): An extremely bitter and strong (11% alcohol) dark brown ale. We bought this beer from the fromagerie we visited, but I wasn’t too impressed. The alcohol and bitterness definitely overpowered, and there wasn’t much complexity to back it up. I bet their other beers were better, too bad.
- Brune d’Automne (Les Frères Houblon – Trois-Rivieres, Quebec): I was suckered in by the fact that this beer had a limited edition production of 2,000 bottles. I’m glad we did buy it though… not belgian style, but closer to a really tasty stout or porter. Light enough to drink in the summer (or Fall as the name suggests), but flavored with coffee and chocolate with a nice dark opaque color.
- Ephemere (Unibroue – Chambly, Quebec): This was a light wheat beer, flavored with granny smith apples. We drank this with the yummy salad and pasta that Maude prepared for us. A great summer drink, similar to a dry cider. I think that they have different fruit versions, like peach and cranberry, depending on the season. Yum yum in my tum tum.
- Boreale Rousse (Les Brasseurs du Nord – Blainville, Quebec): Boreale seems to be one of the more popular local beers in Quebec, producing a number of ale-style beers. The rousse is amber-red colored, as the name implies, and was medium-bodied malty and smooth. A nice beer that temporarily filled the Brooklyn Lager-sized hole in my heart.
- Maple Seltzer (Vermont Sweetwater): Not from Canada, not a beer, not even alcoholic (can you even believe we drank it?), but a truly tasty and unique beverage from Vermont. Apparently, sugar maple trees store a bit of water-like sap in their crown, which is given some carbonation and then bottled. Honestly, we think they just add maple syrup to seltzer, but it tastes great so who cares?
Because I am a geek, I did a bit of research into the Canadian beer industry. Apparently, about 96% of the market is controlled by two multinational companies (both of which contribute to right-wing groups), and one Canadian conglomerate (which own’s Unibroue). Despite this, there are still over 100 independent breweries (as many as Belgium!). Read the details.
