In which we move to Colorado and almost die on a mountain

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When Ken and Cara moved from Brooklyn to Colorado, all they wanted was a change of pace, to trade the grind of long commutes and a dysfunctional city for fresh air and a slower pace of life. Maybe a little adventure. What they couldn’t have known was that just over two months after moving, they’d be trapped on a mountainside, tears freezing to their faces as they shivered, staring at their useless cellphones, the last light of day leaking out of the thin air.

Man. I should totally write one of those pieces for an outdoor magazine, shouldn’t I.

The biggest problem with this story is we didn’t die. Didn’t come close to it. Maybe if you ask Cara, she might tell you differently. She’ll tell you that, once again, I went out of my way to kill her. And the worst part might have been the indignity of it all. The scuba lessons I signed her up for came with about six hundred things that could go wrong and kill her. Swimming with sharks? Well, duh. They’re sharks. Glacier hiking in Iceland was a day of extremely high winds, crevasses and deadly ice caves.

But snowshoeing? You don’t die while snowshoeing. Hell, we’d been snowshoeing a couple of times before. It was a fun way to spend a day.

Outside Magazine writer: The two were about to make a number of rookie mistakes that often cause trouble for those new to winter sports, well-meaning people whose enthusiasm far outstrips their skills.

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Why I Won’t Chuck My Canned Peas

emergency_pyramidVia Instapundit, I came across two pieces advising the home cook on the things they should excommunicate from the kitchen. One is from Mark Bitman (surprise the wife didn’t see this one first) at The New York Times, the other from Megan McArdle at The Atlantic. Both are well worth a read and I have to agree with most of their lists.

But I’m not going to be tossing out canned vegetables or the bottled water just yet. I would never ever use canned red beans to make red beans and rice (perhaps I’ll share that recipe soon), but they do come in handy for chili (another recipe I might share). Further, as a kid who grew up on canned, tender young sweet peas (yes, even in Louisiana), I can’t quite bring myself around to the flavor of frozen peas. Bottled water, I can take or leave in terms of flavor. As McArdle points out, bottle water IS tap water in many cases (Aquafina, for example). And New York City tap water actually beats most bottled water in taste tests.

But I’m holding on to canned goods and bottle water for one good reason: emergencies.

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