Overall, we had a good 2017, despite anxiety about the political climate. We traveled a good bit. Here’s an overview featuring photos from the year! January In January, we ate some tasty food, went on our usual board game…
Climbing the Tower at the National Cathedral
The National Cathedral in Washington, DC is a grand, beautiful building. It has a lot of cool features, too, like a gargoyle in the shape of Darth Vader. There are tours you can do at the building, and they also…
Delicious Inspiration for Today
“Unmeltable” ice cream at Kanazawa Ice in Kanazawa, Japan. In April of this year, scientists at the Biotherapy Development Research Center stumbled upon a way to make ice cream that stays solid for much longer. They use polyphenols extracted from…
All That Glitters at Kinkaku-ji
We went to a decent number of temples in Japan, and none were as shiny as Kinkaku-ji. This is perhaps not surprising since its popular name (金閣寺) translates as “temple of the golden pavilion.” We visited Kinkaku-ji on one…
Travel Photo: Charleston
A view from the Waterfront Park in Charleston, South Carolina. Where have you been lately?
Delicious Inspiration for Today
Cronuts and a cookie shot from Dominique Ansel Tokyo. The New York City location may still require hours in line for a cronut, but the Tokyo location didn’t have a line at all. The cronuts were very tasty, though I…
Strolling Across the Brooklyn Bridge
When we went to New York City for Fourth of July weekend, it was almost too hot to do anything outside. We still managed to stay fairly active though. One day, we met up with an old coworker of mine…
My Favorite Japanese Sodas
One of the fun things to try in a new country is snacks or sodas. Japan has vending machines absolutely everywhere and a lot of interesting caffeine-free sodas to sample. You’ve likely heard of and maybe even tried ramune, which…
Travel Photo: Miyajima
A line of lanterns near Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima, Japan.

The Best Sushi I’ve Ever Had
Originally, we thought we wanted to go to the tuna auction at Tsukiji Fish Market during our time in Tokyo this September. But the more we read about it, the more we realized we just didn’t want to get up…