Cooking at home, Caroline and I eat a vegetarian diet; Caroline maintains a vegetarian diet at all times, while when we eat out, I remain a meatatarian. So, cooking at home can be a challenge as I do not want to resort to steamed carrots and lettuce.

Besides the Indian, Thai, Italian, Greek, Chinese, and various Asian influences on our cooking, I look for just about any tip from cookbooks and online sources that point me in the direction of savory, full-flavored meals that bring excitement to veggies, lentils, beans, and the occasional soy product.

Tonight’s dinner of Asparagus with Lemon Risotto is given extra punch with the addition of goat cheese. Unfortunately, I picked up a run-of-the-mill soft goat cheese made in America that can’t hold a stick to one of those pungent French goat cheeses that probably make ordinary people’s toes curl. The recipe comes from Linda McCartney’s “World of Vegetarian Cooking.”

After much toiling, the order for a 12×16 inch Deluxe Photo Book was ordered this evening from MyPublisher.com. We whittled the more than 4500 photos taken over three vacations during 2000, 2003, and 2005 down to 130. These photos had to be color-corrected, resized and laid out. We are presenting the book to my mother-in-law’s granddaughter Katharina about her grandma’s travels in America.

This is the first book we are printing with an online book publishing service. While the basic service is reasonable, we quickly surpassed the number of pages allowed and started adding many more, driving up the cost of the book. If the book turns out in good quality and we have it in time before my mother-in-law’s departure, then all will be well. I will post in-depth details regarding the entire process as soon as we see the results from MyPublisher.com.

Giant Robot magazine is a favorite for both Caroline and me. Sadly, it only comes out about four times a year. They have a store in Los Angeles that we have been wanting to visit for years but have yet to stop by; there is even a restaurant now.

GR features reviews on interesting Asian films, interviews with Asian directors and actors, artists, and musicians, toymakers, an odd recipe here and there, and some useful, even entertaining information on Asian culture in every zine. Matter of fact, visit their website right now to read a short story about Stephen Chow in America for the premiere of Kung Fu Hustle.

We ordered personalized stamps from www.estamps.com before leaving for vacation, but printing didn’t occur until after May 17th. These stamps are great; ours are for my mother-in-law’s visit to send postcards to Germany. They are a bit expensive but well worth the time and coolness factor.