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My big present from Tom this year is an HD Camcorder. I’ve been editing with Final Cut Pro, but never using my own camera – till now. So far, what’s frustrating is editing HDV footage on my Powerbook G4. The rendering is very sloooooooooooooooooooooow. Plus, you can’t see the HD quality footage on YouTube.

So here’s my first use of the camera. It’s raw and I didn’t have a lot of lights to work with. I’ll have to edit together something shot during the day soon. Enjoy!

Jango and Eileen

Originally uploaded by kerotab.

Dammit….Jango has her eyes closed.

E

Smooth, light and rich. That’s pretty much all that needs to be said about this chocolate. However, that doesn’t really do it justice.

When you take a bite, it’s like slicing butter at room temperature.

There’s just a hint of the champagne to balance out the chocolate packed into this truffle. Inside is a dark chocolate filling that is just as airy and light as the rest of the truffle.

Thanks Charisse!

Rating: 5 cacao beans out of 5

December was a weird month for us. First, Tom & I were sick for most of the month – blah. I don’t know what was going around, but it lingered and sucked. I think I tried almost every over the counter drug possible. I finally knocked it out of my system, but it felt like I was fighting a war with the virus.

Then there was the tragic loss of our friend James Kim. That was a big blow, especially for Tom who worked closely with him. Please keep the family in your prayers.

Now it’s Christmas Day and I feel like it crept up on me. I’ve been working long hours on a new HGTV show and despite what Tom will say, I’m not a scrooge. We just didn’t make the time to get our tree this year, or send out Christmas Cards.

I leave you with this smiley pic of Jango. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about our cool gifts. Happy Holidays!

I can honestly say that Thanksgiving happened in the Rivera-Merritt house.
Somehow I found the energy to go to Trader Joe’s (yesterday) and buy most of the ingredients, including the boxed, boneless Turkey.  I forgot the sage and milk, but Kristin & Dad picked that up this morning.

The only thing I made from scratch was the adobo and the stuffing.  The stuffing ingredients: sausage, bacon and clams.  I think it was a hit with the family.

An hour before the meal, I hit my ceiling and my energy level was zapped.  Luckily Tom & Kristin popped in to finish up the mashed potatoes and the gravy.  Tom pretty much was in charge of the boxed Turkey and did a great job.

I’m glad the day happened, even though I wasn’t truly myself.  Now back to “True Hollywood Story: Friends”.

E

It’s Thanksgiving Eve and I’m sick. Seriously.

But I’m still attempting some kind of feast — by cheating. I’m not big on Turkeys. I made the bird 2 years running, but this year I have no strength for the overnight brine and the all out kitchen war. So I went to Trader Joe’s to get this awesome creation. I don’t think my sister, Dad and Tom will mind.

I’ll let you know if it’s good.

E

For whatever reason, I cannot upload any WP Plugins.

I tried a Flickr album plugin, then I tried this Contact Form.  In fact, aside from the Site Templates, none of the WP-Plugins have ever worked for me.

This is very frustrating and it’s almost 1am.

Goodnight.

-E

I always want to like every chocolate I eat. I even expect to like every chocolate I eat. However, that doesn’t always happen.

This chocolate comes from Venezuela. Inside the wrapper, you find this declaration:

“Venezuelan cacao is the most aromatic and flavorful in the world, period.”

I have tried other Venezuelan chocolate that holds up to this statement. Just not this time.

Its taken me three days to finally put my thoughts on this bar in this blog. It does smell really, really, really good. In the looks department, it’s matte and has a healthy snap. So far, so good, right?

Unfortunately, the good stops there. Maybe I had high expectations, but the taste was just average to me. It’s a little dry and flat. I’ve pretty much tasted this before in a bag of semisweet chocolate chips from Ghiradelli or Nestle. I don’t hate it, but there’s nothing new a revolutionary about it. I won’t say that’s it’s “blah”, but there’s nothing that sets it apart from your average chocolate. It’s a basic dark chocolate and that’s not a bad thing.

Price: $4.95

Rating: 2 out of 5 cacao beans