Food
Food is one of my great passions in life. From time to time, I'll try to add favorite recipes and restaurant reviews to this section.Restaurant Guide
Recipes
Cars
Although I wasn't a gearhead growing up, Age, my college roomate, managed to turn me into one in the 2 years we lived together. When Micaela and I lived in California in 2000, I got my first vintage car -- a 1974 Alfa Romeo Spider (pictured below) -- and I was hooked. Alas, with Maggie on the way, I sold the Alfa in the summer of 2005 to a guy that would have time to enjoy it. Someday I'll replace it with a 1963 Ferrari GTO[1].
Until then, I'll have to be happy with my daily driver, a 2003 VW Jetta TDI. Other that an coolant heater and a big biodiesel sticker on the back, it's bone stock. With my commute, the mileage (46 mpg lifetime) is hard to beat, and thanks to biodiesel, I've put over 6000 petroleum free miles on it.
[1] Yeah right. Unless Micaela becomes an interventional cardiologist or I win a Nobel, it isn't gonna happen. But hey, a guy can dream.
Biodiesel/Renewable Energy
As noted in the section above, I also have a strong interest in renewable energy. My parents remember the time I was 14 and tried to build a methane digester in my bedroom (it didn't work - the nitrogen/carbon ratio was off).Well, times have changed - my friend Rush and I have a Appleseed Biodiesel Reactor we built out my old water heater. Per batch, it can make about 22 gallons of biodiesel for my Jetta or Rush's van. Pretty cool stuff. I've hosted a how-to get together (GTG) for the guys at tdiclub.com and I ran a workshop for 8 AP Environmental Science teachers last summer.