We started our 5-day Christmas extravaganza off right this morning with eggs and some of the best coffee I have ever had. Sheri's friend from Seattle sent us some fresh roasted local stuff (it was roasted on December 6) and it is just amazing.

It is from a place called Raven's Brew Coffee and I think it might even be better than my beloved Intelligentsia. (That's saying something too.)

The blend we have is called Deadman's Reach. Its motto is "Served in bed; raises the dead."

I love the Deadman's Reach logo too:



They have it on a t-shirt and I just might have to order one.

We are off to get last minute fondue ingredients for tonight.

I have not mentioned this yet but last weekend we bought a streaming webcam mostly so we could watch Mitch in his cage when we are at work.

We are going to have it on all weekend so you can stop by and watch us try our hand at fondue and a standing rib roast for the first time.

Drop me a line if you want the camera's address and/or our schedule of when we will be fondueing, roasting, etc. (or Mitch's schedule!) Depending on your connection (as well as how many other people are connected, but I am not sure about that yet) it will stream up to 20 frames per second. I received word back that on dial-up it does about 1 frame every 4 seconds.

It is a wireless camera so I can move it anywhere in the house, plug it into an electric socket, and it will immediately make a connection to our wireless router and start streaming whatever it sees.