Vitamix v. Blendtec

After almost two decades, we finally decided it was time to retire our good ol' Osterizer blender.  We talked with friends and did our online research before deciding to upgrade to a higher-end Vitamix 5300 or Blendtec Total Blender.  Thanks to our Costco membership, we decided to test both. 

We ran three side-by-side tests to make hummus, banana yogurt smoothies, and shaved ice.  At the end of the day, the Vitamix edged out the Blendtec, primarily due to its more intuitive controls and slightly quieter operation.  But we were impressed by the design of the Blendtec container, which produced a superior vortex, didn't have as much of a problem with food getting stuck underneath the blades, and was easier to clean.  We were also attracted -- and almost swayed -- by the substantially lower price of the Blendtec.

Details and pictures from the tests follow.

1.  The Hummus Test

Our family loves Middle Eastern food, and a huge part of our decision to retire our Osterizer arose from its inability to make hummus without needing extra liquid.  Appropriately, our first experiment with the power blenders was the production of hummus with just the amount of liquid indicated by the recipe.  Both blenders easily pureed the chickpeas, lemon juice, salt, and tahini into a yummy paste, no extra liquid required.

The Blendtec was easy to use with a pre-programmed setting for sauces and dips, among other common blender creations.  After loading in the ingredients, one simple push of the button made quick work of the chickpeas.  Of course, it was a good thing that only a single push of the button was required, since you immediately needed both hands to cover your ears!  The hummus itself was a little too smooth for my tastes -- I like my hummus a little thicker -- but the rest of the family preferred the smoother version.  The Blendtec does allow you to blend ingredients without using the presets, but blending speed is adjusted by pressing up and down buttons, which is somewhat unwieldy.  In contrast to the blender controls, the Blendtec "WildSide" jar was well designed.  No chickpeas escaped the vortex, and it was easy to get at the hummus underneath the blades, both for getting to that last spoonful of hummus and for cleaning the pitcher afterwards.  And the fact that the blades were dull made washing safer as well.  Like most blenders, you can also clean the jar by running soapy water in the blender, but hummus is particularly sticky, and we waited until after lunch to empty the pitchers, by which point some of the hummus specks had gotten pretty dry.

The Vitamix required slightly more work, since it lacked pre-programmed settings.  However, the greater control allowed me to blend the hummus to my desired thickness -- and everyone preferred the lower decibel level.  I did notice a couple of large chickpea chunks that escaped the vortex, but those could probably have been remedied by a slightly longer blending time.  I was less fond of the pitcher, since we lost a few spoonfuls of hummus to the space underneath the blades.  But since both the Vitamix and the Blendtec can be cleaned by running soapy water in the blender promptly after you're done, cleaning the Vitamix pitcher shouldn't be substantially harder.

2.  The Smoothie Test

Most people buy blenders to make smoothies, and replacing our Jamba Juice runs with cheaper, healthier, homemade smoothies was part of the appeal for us as well.

As in the hummus test, neither blender had any problems with transforming the ice, bananas, yogurt, and honey into frozen deliciousness.  Also as before, the Blendtec's smoothie setting was an easy -- albeit loud -- one-touch solution.

Blendtec, slightly overblended 

Vitamix, tamper recommended

For the Vitamix, however, we had to break out the included tamper, since the vortex created by the Vitamix seemed to need a little help.  While using the tamper was an additional step, it wasn't a huge burden, and I could see how the tamper would be useful in certain situations.  The Blendtec has a superior vortex, but to my knowledge there is no tamper for the WildSide jar, so the option of using a tamper to push food down isn't even on the table.

In final analysis, both machines sailed through the smoothie test.  We generally preferred the consistency of the Vitamix smoothie, although we did find some chunks of unblended ice.  These could have been eliminated by additional blending -- or better tamping.  The Blendtec did a better job of producing a smoother puree without unblended chunks of ice, but the default smoothie setting generated a slushier smoothie than we liked.  The result may have been different had we used different ingredients or made a larger volume of smoothie, but this underscores the limitations of the Blendtec's pre-programmed blending cycles.

3.  The Shaved Ice Test

The shaved ice test was the mother of all tests that separated the men blenders from the boy blenders.  For this test we put ice cubes from our freezer straight into each blender with no liquid to mediate the blending process.  The results highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of each blender that we saw in the prior tests.

The ice crush mode on the Blendtec really did a phenomenal job of quickly pulverizing the ice cubes into a uniform consistency.  Unfortunately, the final product reminded me of the snow in West Virginia the first time I went skiing -- it was thoroughly crushed, but the snow had a gritty texture.

The Vitamix produced a less consistent final product -- we found a few chunks of  partially crushed ice in our shaved ice.  In addition, the tamper was absolutely necessary; when we tried this test without the tamper the partially-crushed ice got stuck on the sides and nothing fell into the blending vortex.  But the majority of the snow that was generated reminded me of the powder you'd find in Lake Tahoe.  It had the same tendency to clump that you'd expect from fresh-fallen snow you're smashing into a snowball.  And when paired with condensed milk and sweetened red bean (because what else do you put on shaved ice?), it rivaled what you'd find at a fancy Asian dessert place. 

Conclusion

Both machines impressed and demonstrated why consumers are willing to pay a premium over your typical Osterizer.  The ideal machine would somehow match the Vitamix's controls, finer ice crushing ability, tamper option, and lower noise level with the Blendtec's jar design and much lower price tag.  Short of that, however, we opted for the Vitamix.  But if you enjoy hummus, smoothies, and shaved ice, I doubt you could go wrong with either machine -- unless you don't like having a jet engine go off in your kitchen, in which case you should go with the Vitamix.

Why I like Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon (guest blogger)

[We recently returned from a family trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.  In lieu of writing about the trip myself, I thought I'd post some pics and ask a guest blogger to do the honors.  Enjoy!]


1. The Palms Hotel has a great view of Las Vegas.

2. I love the water show at the Bellagio.

3. The Eiffel Tower is very cool. 

4. Grand Canyon’s view is awesome.

5. I got a junior ranger badge.

6. I was lucky enough to have a very close hotel from The Grand Canyon.

7. The Astronomy was awesome but cold.

8. Climbing on the rocks was very fun.

9. Food from Palms was very good. [Parent comment -- NOT TRUE!!!]

10. The show of Atlantis was scary.

11. The english muffin taste was very good.

12. The Wicked Spoon has very good food. [Parent comment -- ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!!!]

13. We got coupons on the airplane to Las Vegas.

14. There are lots of wildlife at the Grand Canyon. [Parent comment -- lots of mule dung]

15. Playing the Company game was very fun.

16. All the activities were fun. [Parent comment -- like that trip to the Hoover Dam!]

17. The car picture was very cool.

18. The Paris and Rome theme looked real.

19. The Status Sphere very tall and fun.

20. Luxors light shoots into the sky and it looks very cool.  [But creates lots of light pollution!]

A Eulogy for Stuart

One of my best friends, Stuart Teng, passed away Friday, April 25, after a yearlong fight with brain cancer.

I've spent much of the last week thinking about Stuart, about his life, and about how much I valued his friendship. In remembering the man he was, a few characteristics came up again and again -- his insightfulness, generosity, contentedness, independence, and reliability.

Insightfulness 

Over the years, one thing I really grew to appreciate about Stuart was his insightfulness. While I've had the privilege of getting to know a lot of smart people over the years, I can still say that Stuart was one of the smartest.

I was fortunate to attend law school with Stuart and then work with him at both Google and at Fenwick & West. At Fenwick and Google, Stuart was usually the first person I would approach to talk over an issue, and I could rely on him to identify the important points in any situation and suggest ways to resolve them. 

Stuart had an uncanny ability to make complex issues simple. One of his many talents was taking long legal documents and making them much shorter -- a skill greatly underappreciated by the general population. Many of us lawyers often said that Stuart would be the person they'd call if they needed a business lawyer. In fact, no less than Andy Rubin, the mastermind behind the Android operating system and a man not known to be the easiest client at Google, for years trusted only Stuart for legal advice. Rumor has it that when Stuart moved on to the greener pastures of the Chrome team, the legal rep was suspiciously left off the calendar invite for meetings of Andy's inner circle.

I'll miss Stuart's business savvy. But he was also insightful when it came to personal matters. I remember many late night conversations with Stuart about life and love when he surprised me with his wit and his keen insight into human behavior. I asked him once why he didn't speak up more in social situations, since he had so much to add. His response still makes me smile. He said that, in his mind, he did speak up and participate fully in the conversation. It was only after the conversation ended that he realized that he hadn't actually opened his mouth.

An old saying tells us that still waters run deep; that was definitely true when it came to Stuart.

Generosity
Beyond his insightfulness, I remember how Stuart was always extremely generous with his time and attention. This was true whether I was getting his advice on legal matters, tax matters -- no offense to the tax lawyers in the room, but I found Stuart's tax advice to be the most relevant -- or personal matters, or if I was calling him at 10 o'clock at night to get a fourth person to play mahjong or Halo.

They say that you know who your real friends are when you need a ride to the airport. For years, Stuart was on our short list of friends who could be counted on for an airport ride. This continued to be the case even when our family got to be the size when a "simple" ride to the airport meant he had to first drive to our house, sit in a cramped seat of our minivan holding luggage surrounded by surly kids all the way to the airport, and then drive our minivan back to our house -- all before repeating the process upon our return.

Not surprisingly, Stuart always attended our kids' full month and birthday parties, even though there were more fun things for an eligible bachelor to be doing with his time. (We finally got the hint, after years of subjecting Stuart to kid party craziness.)

Many of you remember Stuart's trip to New Zealand a few years ago. He had never been to that part of the world, and he was hitting a good number of sites in a short period of time. As a result, he was traveling light; he wasn't technically backpacking it, but the mentality wasn't that dissimilar. Those of you who know Stuart well also know that he had a soft spot for stuffed animals. Many of you have seen his stuffed Alf critter; I only found out recently that he actually stole that animal from Cheryl. Anyhow, when he journeyed throughout New Zealand, Stuart made room in his limited luggage to bring back stuffed animals for our kids -- a sheep for Bethany and a kiwi bird for Jonathan. Bethany still refers to "Sheepie" as one of her favorite stuffed animals.

Contentedness
Hand in hand with Stuart's generous spirit was a sense of contentedness that he possessed. No matter the circumstances, Stuart always seemed satisfied with what he had.

At work, he never complained about his pay or position and stayed out of office politics. Thinking back to the stressful months following the dot-com bust in 2001, more than a little negativity pervaded the office. Seemingly entire classes of associates were being laid off, and it would be an understatement that morale was low. My wife Deborah has often remarked that she has never hung out with a group of more depressed people than when we got together for dinner with other associates from the law firm.

Stuart, however, never succumbed to this negativity. I asked him how he could remain so unaffected, and he told me about the summer he spent as a civil engineering intern with the Arizona Department of Transportation. His primary job was loading rocks onto some kind of sorting machine that would then vibrate, causing rocks to segregate into different groups. He noted that, compared to the summer he spent sifting rocks, he had nothing to complain about.

In his personal life, Stuart lived simply and said there was little he would change, even if he won the lottery. Even after he was diagnosed with cancer, Stuart continued to be positive and focused on making the most of the time he had left. He took a long-awaited trip to finally see Europe. He drank coke and ate a lot of fast food just because he could. In his last weeks he took pleasure in simply having Cheryl, his extended family, and his friends around. I remember one lunch when a bunch of us came by for a visit. Stuart was awake and following us with his eyes, but he didn't have the strength to really participate in the conversation, which became increasingly loud and raucous. We realized how loud it was getting and asked Erlinda, Stuart's favorite caretaker in his final months, if we were disturbing Stuart. She walked to Stuart's side and explained that Stuart was happy that we were there and enjoyed just having us present. I looked over at Stuart, and I'm pretty sure he was smiling.

Independence
Stuart always marched to the beat of his own drummer, and I appreciated his willingness and courageousness to do things his way.

I remember months in law school when Stuart decided to stop using an alarm clock and instead sleep when his body told him to. He was soon on a 25-hour-day schedule, which was fine at first, but became more out of sync with the rest of the world with each passing day. Before long, Stuart was getting up in the evening and going to bed around sunrise. But Stuart stuck with his schedule, and waited until he had gone the full cycle to rejoin the rest of us. Deb, on her visits to HLS, said Stuart always looked like he just woke up.

He showed his courage again when he left a lucrative law firm gig to open an online pet supplies company, Post Modern Pets. Having tried the entrepreneurship thing myself, I can attest to the fact that it's not easy. But Stuart showed no fear, and with the help of his sister and his head of PR, Phil Kerosene (a pseudonym Stuart used when speaking with customers and media), Stuart created a successful business.

Many people dream of reinventing themselves, but find that it's difficult to break out of their habits and assert a new identity. But Stuart did just that a handful of years ago when he underwent the transformation that created what his friends jokingly called Stuart 2.0. Stuart changed his wardrobe -- adopting the set of cool graphic tees that he became known for -- changed his accessories -- including the shocking but stylish addition of $800, orange-accented classes, and even changed his personality -- becoming more outspoken and a little edgier (albeit in a still very nice way). The fact that Stuart was able to do this in his mid-30s and pretty much on his own is a testament to his force of will and courageousness. And, to be clear, the makeover worked -- Stuart became more social and his personal life blossomed.

Reliability
But there was one characteristic of both the original Stuart and Stuart 2.0 that I found myself coming back to. More than anything else, Stuart was reliable.

Thinking back on the last two decades, Stuart was a ubiquitous presence, someone I could always count on for advice, for assistance, for friendship -- someone I could always count on to be there when it mattered.

Stuart often told the story of how he missed his original flight from LA to Atlanta to attend our wedding, so he rushed to get to Atlanta on a later flight. If you know Stuart, you probably know how he felt about public bathrooms -- that they're not the cleanest places in the world. So you can imagine his horror at having to change into his suit at the airport bathroom in order to make it to the wedding on time. He was carefully balancing on top of his shoes to avoid touching the bathroom floor, when he slipped and fell, causing him to rip his pants. He desperately drove around looking for a safety pin, and arrived just in time for post-wedding pictures. But arrive he did -- as always, Stuart made the extra effort to be there for his friends.

Conclusion
I always thought the next wedding I would attend would be Stuart's. Perhaps that fact, more than any other, makes me particularly sad today, a day after many of his family and friends gathered together to celebrate his life and mourn the reality that he's left us way too soon. But I'm glad and honored to have had him as one of my best friends. For nearly 20 years, my life was better because of Stuart's friendship.

So when I think of the legacy that Stuart leaves behind, I can't help but think about the people -- including all those who attended Stuart's funeral Saturday -- whose lives are better because of Stuart's presence. I think of the constant stream of visitors he had during his last year, and the reservoir of warmth and concern that welled up around him. And I think of a man who was smart and generous, humble and reliable; who would never say this on his own, but who made the world a better place for his being here.

There's a verse from the book of Micah that says, "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you? But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." Stuart wasn't a particularly religious person. But if this is the mark of a good person -- to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly -- I can think of few individuals who better fit that bill than Stuart.

Stuart, you will be missed.

Happy 2d Birthday, Danielle!

[I can't believe my last blog post was before Danielle was born!  Oops.]

Happy birthday to Danielle, who may only have two years under her belt, but has already shown herself to be:

• Daddy's girl, who
• Adores her older brother and sister (and often comforts them with a hug when they're sad) 
• Never gives up going after what she wants (and is pretty fearless)
• Imagines that she's seven (her brother is seven and her four-year-old sister thinks she's seven too)
• Enunciates in toddler Cantonese interspersed with some Mandarin and English (but understands all three)
• Likes to do everything herself
• Lollygags
• Engages regularly in acts of daring, particularly involving climbing (whether in the playground -- or the kitchen!)

We love you lots and couldn't imagine life without you!  Happy Birthday!

Opening Gifts

We left for Texas on Christmas day, so we opened gifts with the kids on Christmas Eve.  Here's the video.

2010 Christmas Card

2010 has been a year of changes for our family, despite a fairly normal beginning.  We celebrated New Year's in North Carolina, and we made our annual trip to Hong Kong in early May -- this time with my mom, who proved herself an intrepid traveler on her first visit to the "Fragrant Harbor".  Upon our return, and after long soul-searching, we decided to leave our church of eight years.  While we're not completely settled, we currently attend Open Door Church in Mountain View.  In September, we moved from our home of eight years to our new house in Palo Alto.  We plan some major remodeling, so we're still living out of boxes, but we love the location; Deb is even looking forward to biking to work once rainy season is over!

Around the time of our move, we were shocked when Deb's dad was diagnosed with stage IV cancer.  In early October, we traveled to Dallas to help Deb's parents move to her sister Caroline's house.  So far, we are blessed that he has been responding well to the treatment.  We spent Thanksgiving in Raleigh with my parents, and despite being sick with the flu for much of our visit, had a great time and even caught up with a few old friends.  We're looking forward to spending Christmas in Dallas with Deb's family -- and reuniting the dynamic duo of Jonathan and his cousin Noah.

We're amazed by how much Jonathan and Bethany have grown over 2010; it's hard to believe that Jonathan will be starting kindergarten in the fall!  We love how their personalities are developing and how they watch out for each other (sometimes).  We're also wrestling with the reality that life is too short. We would appreciate your prayers for Deb's dad -- and for my dad, who may have to start dialysis next year.  Thanks for your friendship in 2010. We hope you have a merry Christmas and a blessed 2011!

Happy New Year!

A few Christmases ago, we stopped by the new house of some good friends of ours to find the halls decked to the nines. Our hosts explained that they wanted to create family traditions for the kids -- so, among other things, the kids would want to spend the holidays with their parents when they grew up.

We really liked the idea of creating our own family holiday traditions, but we weren't sure how to implement the idea, since we rarely spend the holidays at home. Christmas and Thanksgiving are usually celebrated either on the East Coast, with our parents, or in Hong Kong, with Deb's extended family. In fact, in the 10 years since we moved to California, we've only spent one Christmas in the state!

That's why we really wanted to do something for this year's Lunar New Year, which fortuitously fell on a long weekend for both of us. However, with various work, church, and social obligations, we found ourselves struggling to get our new year dinner together for Sunday night. Fortunately, with the help of some phone calls to our parents and the gracious labor of our dinner guests, we were able to throw a decent lunar new year meal together in about two hours.

Dumplings are the cornerstone of the lunar new year meal in northern China, since dumplings are associated with prosperity; they resemble a Chinese tael and stuffing dumplings has been likened to imparting good fortune. For many families, part of the tradition is sitting together to wrap the dumplings. While we didn't have time to do that for our dinner, we did enjoy some delicious potstickers -- courtesy of the frozen Ling Ling chicken and vegetable dumplings from Costco.

Nian gao, or sliced rice cake, is the new year food choice in most of southern China. "Nian nian gao" is a homophone for "each year more prosperous than the last". Deb cooked (on her first try!) a delicious savory nian gao stir fry that included sliced nian gao, diced chicken, napa cabbage, and mustard greens.

Fish is another traditional new year food, since the word for fish, "yu", is a homophone for "surpluses". 99 Ranch supplied two fried fish -- tilapia and ocean perch -- to which we added our own sauce. 99 Ranch also supplied two freshly-steamed Dungeness crab -- currently on sale at $3.69/lb. -- adding a touch of extravagance to the meal. Rounding out the meal was roasted asparagus -- not a very Asian preparation, but we did buy the asparagus at 99 Ranch, and no new year meal is complete without something fresh and green.

Something else necessary to complete the Chinese American new year meal is dessert, and nian gao came into play once more. We bought two cakes of sweet nian gao from 99 Ranch -- one regular, one with red bean -- sliced them, dipped them in egg, pan fried them, and dusted them with powdered sugar.

Beyond the food, the kids got red envelopes of money. While our kids have certainly gotten these before -- and these aren't only given during the new year celebrations -- we're starting to teach J more about money, and we introduced him to his first piggy bank (which had been sitting in its box in J's room for a year).

So that was our lunar new year. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a great family tradition; after all, it's the single biggest holiday in east Asia. Happy new year, everyone!