My wife’s aunt has a fairly successful business. One of her associates gave her a gift from a place called “Taste of Texas” Basically they sent her a styrofoam box, via FedEx, filled with dry ice and tenderloin steaks. It’s a nice thought. And the aunt was nice enough to let us have the steaks. I had conveniently brought my sous-vide machine with me so we were able to cook them very well.
However, I have some observations about “Taste of Texas” now.
The rub they provided wasn’t very flavorful; the steaks were… okay; the biggest thrill were the engraved steak knives. Frankly, I’ve gotten better tenderloin at Costco, and the Montreal steak spice there is very flavorful.
What I found most interesting was that a price list was also included in the package. Now we know how much everything cost, included the overpriced steak knives.
So my hypothesis is this: People use “Taste of Texas” to send corporate gifts where they subtlety want the recipient to know how much was paid. As such, the quality is not important.
[2020-12-25 20:28]

So for Christmas, I flew to Houston to visit my wife and her family. I am not proud of this; there is a global pandemic going on. This is dangerous behavior. But there are a few factors that made me decide to risk it.
First, I have a lot of vacation time, so quarantining was actually possible.
Second, their house is huge and it is possible to quarantine for the minimum number of days without interacting with people. And since they have a Covid test, I was able to get checked after five days.
Third, we have zero plans to go out. So we have minimal interactions with the natives.
Fourth, I am well aware of the dangers and am not afraid to mask up.
Things didn’t go perfectly. Too late I realized that I forgot hand-sanitizer, but I picked up an outrageously overpriced bottle from the gift shops (along with a bottle of water.) I was not able to get a direct flight from Vancouver to Houston. Airlines only seem to have short flights these days. So I ended up having a layover in San Francisco. (Unfortunately, I didn’t see the Golden Gate Bridge as it was foggy.) It was short enough to not be stressful and I was able to buy a lunch.
For the flights, I wore a KN95 mask almost the entire time. I also included goggles in case the virus found a way to land on my eyes. I only took my mask off, briefly, to drink, and I staggered the time so I had it well after drink service for everyone else. I was also lucky that my rows on both flights were empty of other people. I didn’t witness any acts of civil disobedience. Everyone was trying to be safe.
The airplanes smell of harsh cleaner. Which is a good sign.
I wasn’t really able to sleep on the plane. For the previous three nights I had had poor night’s sleep so I was hoping to catch up, but that eluded me. I rested, but not well. In the end, I watched the “Scoob!” movie, which was better than expected; it was a good homage to the source material.
[2020-12-24 16:10]