Last night Chef Sang came over and gave us some sushi lessons. Awesome!

From Sushi Party

An awesome summer song – Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads will Roll (A-Trak remix)

My 2006 Audi A3 has been leaking coolant for many months now. Usually it had been a slow leak, and I would need to top off the fluids about once a month. This is not standard – in most radiators the anti-freeze should stay level indefinitely.

My problem was that on long road trips, the coolant would disappear at a much higher rate. If I left from Boston at 10am, by the time I hit New Jersey around 3pm, the coolant indicator would be on and the coolant reservoir would be totally empty. This could be very dangerous and cause the engine to overheat, causing permanent damage and more importantly stranding me on the road. That would be a huge pain in the ass.

I’ve been reading around the interwebs and heard nightmare stories – A3′s apparently have a tendency to have leaky head gaskets and / or cracked cylinder heads. It is less than thrilling to have the engine of your 4-year old auto, just off warranty, dismantled and reassembled. The mechanic’s bill would make anyone cry. I was scared for my car.

Well, the resolution was a good one. This radiator was another casualty of I-93 and the shitty job the road crews did to clean up rock chips and asphalt while they resurfaced it last summer. While I worked at LogMeIn, I’d drive up 93, way too fast, on my way to work. For 2-3 months, the road was milled and shaved down, but not repaved. There was an unbelievable amount of debris on the road and my windshield was cracked in 3 places by flying rocks.

Turns out one of the flying rocks destroyed my radiator too.

The radiator. Obvious marks from dried / burnt coolant leaking for a long period of time. It was necessary to remove the radiator to see this damage. Two mechanics looked at it for estimates and couldn’t see the source of the leak.

Point of Impact. Probably a stone chip or bit of flying asphalt.

Wide open for easy access. The radiator is right behind the grille without any protection.

Another casualty of I-93 rocks. I’m going to need a new windshield soon.

We had a romantic date night. I made steaks with a special dry rub, along with Corn, Asparagus, and marinated green peppers, grape tomatoes, and garlic. The dry rub was made with Anecho Chile powder, Paprika, Kosher Salt, Pepper, Cumin, and garlic powder. Smoky and SPICY!

My Sexy Librarian

The Chef