five-spice braised short ribs with rice

five-spice has a very distinct flavor. with it's combination of cloves, star anise, cinnamon, fennel, and pepper, it is hard to describe with words.

in fact, i didn't even attempt to describe it to the geek. five-spice is the star ingredient of these luscious ribs, so i just served him some ribs with a big scoop of sticky rice and left them alone to get acquainted.

i think the meeting was a success...kind of. while the geek still cannot identify which part of the overall flavor can be attributed to the five-spice powder, he declares these ribs "very tasty, tender, fall off the bone" and says he "rejoices" whenever we have them for dinner.

roasted shrimp cocktail

shrimp cocktail is one of the simplest appetizers to make. cook some shrimp, pour some cocktail sauce and you're ready to serve!

many recipes call for simmering the shrimp in seasoned water; however, roasting is a simple and tasty alternative.

these shrimp are delicious served warm or cool. the geek eats them without cocktail sauce.

more than anything, these are basic guidelines. the amounts are just suggestions and can be altered to your taste.

the making of our chistmas card

every so often, the dog gets to be the star of our holiday card. 2011 happens to be one of those years.

plan a: take a picture of her in our new home so we can use it as a moving announcement/holiday card.

plan b: use this picture of her from the last time it snowed. hey, it's wintry and seasonal!

we tried to get a shot of her coming out the front door...

the 'i'm blinded by the seattle sunshine' shot...

we tried to get her to sit in front of our new house.

the 'i'd rather be sitting on carpet' shot...

we decided to go in a different direction after she started wandering down the block and the geek had to go after her.

we thought it might be cute to get a shot of her with her 'christmas' toy.

the playful shot...

unfortunately, her 'playing' usually consists of tug of war or thrashing the toy around...not very peaceful and holiday-ish, and very blurry given the indoor lighting.

 we finally just sat her in front of the tree and hoped for the best.

the 'whatever' shot...

the 'i don't want to be here' shot...

the blurry 'i think i see a treat' shot...

and at last, the winning shot...

merry christmas!
(and thank goodness for digital cameras!)

black bean and corn salad

the geek's father was born on december 24. this makes for a doubly festive christmas eve/birthday dinner! for his birthday dinner request, the geek's dad usually goes with either spaghetti & meatballs or enchilladas.

during one enchillada year, i wanted to bring a salady type side to the dinner. a black bean and corn salad sounded like the perfect compliment... a cool and fresh contrast to the warm, saucy goodness of the enchilladas.

lazy sort of won ton soup

there's something very satisfying about won ton soup. i love the broth, the meaty yumminess, and the delicate wonton wrappers. it's not too heavy, not too light; it's just right.

unfortunately, i'm way too lazy to learn how to make won tons right now. as a result, when i want won ton soup, i (or often, the geek) must go out and pick some up. when i saw this recipe in real simple, i thought it would be an easy way to satisfy my craving. afterall, it has all the things i love about won ton soup. brothy goodness- yep; elements of the meaty won ton filling- uh-huh; won ton wrappers- yes. yay!

moving: packing for the road trip

when we decided to drive cross country for our move, the geek made it clear that he did not want the car completely stuffed. that made sense considering we would have to unpack/repack everyday as we moved on to the next hotel. since the dog was coming with us, we also wanted to leave most of the backseat open for her. that basically left us with the trunk and the foot area in the back.

our goal was to bring what we needed for the trip and for our first few days at the new house (just until our stuff arrived). here's what we brought with us...

moving: lessons learned

things i'm glad we did...

• hired professionals to load and unload our pod. it was way cheaper than the quote we received for a full-service move. (despite needing an extra pod...see below)
• ordered our bedroom furniture before we moved. we verified the measurements against the room dimensions prior to ordering and the furniture arrived within our first week in the house.

things i wish i knew before we moved...

• once the dining room table is gone, you will probably walk into the hanging light fixture. it hurts. put a chair under the light fixture to spare yourself the headache.
• hold on to those 'donate' dishes until right before you move...in our overzealous-ness to purge, we gave away our random dishes too early. once our boxes were packed, we had to use paper goods. sorry earth.
• if a large moving pod holds "3 rooms' worth" of stuff, one of those rooms is probably the bathroom. our two bedroom townhouse required about one and a half pods (and that's without the master bedroom furniture).
• pulling out a refrigerator will most likely dent your hardwood floors; put down cardboard first.
• when packing your keurig coffee system, make sure the internal (not just the external) reservoir is empty OR be sure to keep the machine upright during transit or you'll flood the little display screen.
• if you've never owned/maintained a lawn, ask for advice before you mow and do permanent damage to your yard (it's probably a good thing that our yard is tiny).

moving: the dog factor

the decision to drive cross-country came down to this: would the dog be able to travel with us?

when the geek and i got married, i called her my part-time pet because although she primarily stayed with us, officially she was the geek's family's pet. after years of having her with us though, we couldn't imaging moving without her.

we knew that flying would not be an option for the dog...not only is she old, but she's flown cross-country once and it did not go well. we decided to ask the vet for a recommendation. if a cross-country road trip would prove too stressful, the dog would stay with the geek's parents. if the vet deemed her fit for travel, we would drive cross-country.

not only did the vet declare the dog able to travel, the vet recommended the dog move with us. the vet felt it would be more stressful for the dog to be separated from us after living with us for years.

to prepare for the roadtrip, we had to solve the backseat problem. you see, the dog is not a fan of the car's backseat. she doesn't like the leather and she really does not like the shape of it. while it may be contoured for a passenger's behind, it makes for an uneven surface for the dog to lie on. unless we had a towel down, she never seems comfortable- continuously sitting and standing and stomping around.


we ended up getting a doggie car seat cover and strategically placing folded towels to level out the backseat. considering she slept most of the trip, i'd say we successfully solved that problem.

in addition to the seat cover, we also invested in a food vault. this was more to spare us from having to smell the dog's food than from protecting the food from the dog. we kept a sandwich size gladware of food and a small gladware that could be filled with water in the car for in-transit meals. we used larger gladware for food and water in the motel rooms.

prior to leaving, we refilled all the dog's prescriptions and got a copy of her medical file from the vet.

since we planned to stay in economy motels, we got the dog a small travel bed that was machine washable. it was convenient because once folded in half and buckled, it took up a lot less space than the dog's normal poofy, cushy bed. she liked the travel bed enough; however, it could not compete with her normal bed. she was a happy pup when the moving containers arrived with her bed.

here they are, reunited. it doesn't matter that she's in a strange house. or that there are boxes everywhere. she has her bed back, and life is good.

(not sure why the carpet looks pink...)

moving: cross-country roadtrip!

this is our packed car, recently serviced and ready to go. look at how sparkly and clean it is!

the geek, the dog, and i left raleigh, north carolina on a rainy tuesday. six days, 2900 miles, countless tolls, and 4 audiobooks later, we arrived at our new home. 

the dog was probably the most comfortable one in the car. while the geek and i took turns driving, the dog snoozed in the backseat, occasionally waking to eat, drink, or explore a rest stop.

a google map of our trip:

day 1: raleigh to dayton, ohio via west virginia

since we were traveling with the dog, we stayed at pet friendly hotels. while a number of hotels are pet friendly, most charge a fee. having just made a down payment on a house, we decided to stick to places where pets stayed free...motel 6 and red roof inn.

when we arrived at our first motel, we were informed that we would not have any hot water. yay! the ceiling paint was falling down...no problem! the towels were tiny, no biggie, it was $35 a night! we were only on our first day of travel, so we were still optimistic and enthusiastic (and remember, pets stay free!). the geek took pity on me and got me a good bbq dinner from company 7 bbq. it was delicious and left me with an overall positive impression of dayton/englewood, ohio.

day 2: dayton, ohio to madison, wisconsin via indiana and illinois

in indiana, we saw the longest trailer ever. it had police escorts that completely stopped traffic so that it could use multiple lanes to navigate the bends in the road. luckily, we were able to get ahead if it between traffic stops.

illinois = tolls. it felt like every 20 feet, we'd stop to pay another toll. i was afraid we'd run out of coins and small bills before we left the state. 

in madison, we stayed at a red roof inn. dog-wise, the motels worked out well. we were usually able to get rooms with outside entrances, on the first floor, near the ends of buildings. probably not the safest for a single traveler, but ideal for people with a dog like ours.

day 3: madison, wisconsin to fargo, north dakota via minnesota

we stopped in minneapolis for lunch with a friend at joe's garage, a great restaurant that was known for it's dog-friendly atmosphere. unfortunately the dog was not in a friendly mood despite getting her own little water bowl. :( she had to take a time-out in the park. apparently, her little hissy fit tired her out, because as soon as we were back on the road, she zonked out.

day 4: fargo, north dakota to billings, montana

see the smudges in the pictures? those bugs splats are starting to get really noticable. :P

it was pretty bizarre to plot our drive for the day and see that our next turn was in 606 miles. i don't think i've ever driven that far on a single road. we've been stopping every 2.5 to 3 hours to take turns driving. so far that's been working out well. the dog tends to sleep while we drive, so at the rest stops, she gets to run around, eat, drink, and do her business. the most scenic stop on the trip was the painted canyon lookout near the theodore roosevelt national park in north dakota.

best quote of the day (spoken by a girl upon seeing the dog): "Is that a dog or a bear?"

due to the scenery, this was probably the busiest rest stop we visited. as a result, it's the rest stop that the dog got the most pets and love from other travelers.

day 5: billings, montana to spokane, washington

in billings, we stayed in a motel 6 that was directly across the street from a motel 6. who knew there was such a demand for motels in that part of billings!

the dog's least favorite rest stop was in montana. the designated 'pet area' had a bunch of prickly spurs in the grass that poked her paws. :( she typically does not like her paws touched, but she was very sweet and accommodating as we checked them to make sure all the spurs were removed.

day 6: spokane, washington to our new home

this was our shortest day of driving, so we aimed to get on the road by 9. we were so excited though, that by 7:30, we were packed up and heading west. i had forgotten how flat eastern washington was. we drove along fields, reading signs that told us what crop was planted there...alfalfa, corn, sunflowers, potatoes (might have made that one up). the columbia river gorge was even prettier than i remembered it. i was probably annoyingly giddy all day long.

when we arrived at the house, the dog promptly investigated everywhere, decided that she was not a fan of the hardwood floors, found her bed, and went to sleep.

warning: kinda gross picture. this is what the front of our car looked like by the time we reached our final destination. :P 

sorry to the bugs that crossed our path.

moving: getting rid of our stuff

if the geek and i were more planning-type people who were willing to invest some time and energy, we would have probably scheduled a garage sale or two, posted items for sale on craigslist, that kind of thing.

but we're not.

we'd rather just give stuff away.

we gave a bunch of stuff to the geek's family members, in a spirit similar to our annual white elephant gift exchange. the only difference was that i sorted the things according to what i thought people would actually like (not like the set of french language tapes that kept getting handed off one year) :) these included things such as cooking spices, canned goods, paper goods, unopened bath products, cleaning supplies, a hat box, candles, arts and crafts material, and picture frames.

since we didn't want to deal with trying to sell some of the very large/old/still functional stuff we had, we posted it on craigslist as 'free, but you have to come and get it yourself.' amazingly, things were claimed almost immediately.

the geek's method would be to post the item, then once he received a few inquiries, he'd remove it to avoid a barrage of email. in each listing, the geek included pictures and accurate descriptions (e.g. some scratches, dents).

we posted things like a really old 32" tv, a futon bed/couch, a media console, 20+ random terra cotta pots we had in the storage closet from our failed container garden, an enormous and heavy bedroom set that the geek's parents got in the 70s and did not want back. basically, things that our family and friends didn't need or couldn't transport easily.

thanks to the free price tag, no one complained that something was dinged and everyone was happy and thankful for the item. it was fun to see our things go to new homes rather than to a donation center. sure, the people could very well have turned around and sold the item, but at least they hauled it away for us and said thank you :)

i would like to thank the city of raleigh for offering a 'large item pick-up service' that hauled away the things that we didn't think anyone on craigslist would want (e.g. our old mattress, an old cheap rug). to whoever picked through the pile of stuff we left on the curb and adopted our slightly broken patio umbrella, slightly mossy bench, and some other random large things- hope you like our stuff! (and thanks for leaving a few things so the city didn't waste a trip to our place for nothing!)

goodbye sweet tea, goodbye n.c.

dear raleigh-north carolina,

the geek and i have decided to move. we're heading to the pacific northwest. this decision has been years in the making and while we're excited to start this new adventure, i wanted to properly thank you and tell you goodbye.

during my time here, i've learned many things...

• southern hospitality is a real thing
• nc was 'first in flight' and raleigh is the 'city of oaks'
• always buy milk and bread in anticipation of weather events (snow storms, ice storms, hurricanes). 
• the inner and outer beltlines make sense once you learn the exits (otherwise the North/South signs just seem to mock you).
• 'bless your heart' is not as sweet as it sounds.
• the brilliance of pulled pork and brunswick stew

moving back west means that i will have to unlearn a few things...

• driving towards the coast means i'm now going west.
• hellmans=best foods, edys=dreyers, mccormicks=schillings.
• i no longer need to specify 'unsweet tea' when i order; that's usually the only option. 
• bbq sauce is not vinegar based.
• nfl games start at 10am on sundays.

it also means i will have to say goodbye to a few things. goodbye goodberry's, bojangles, eastern and western north carolina bbq, harris teeter, canes hockey, dalat, chick fil-a, the state farmers market and the north carolina museums of art, natural science, and history. rdu terminal 2- although we just met, i will miss you very, very much.

thank you for being my home for many years. you were the backdrop to many events in my life and i will remember you with (mostly) fond memories.

love,
k.

p.s. please tell chapel hill that i will miss a southern season. i'm afraid i won't be able to find a substitution in my new hometown.

p.p.s. i'm including photos of you and some other north carolina locations. we used these as table numbers at our wedding reception so that we could bring a little nc to our guests.

chicken, artichoke and corn soup with puff pastry "croutons"

it's so freaking cold outside that lately, all i want to eat is soup. nice, warm, comforting soup. while perusing soup recipes on food network, i came across a recipe for cream of chicken soup. many of the reviewers thought it tasted like chicken pot pie, which sounded fantastic to me. (although, to be honest, i never thought to myself, "gee, i wish i could drink this chicken pot pie!")

to add a twist to it, i also included corn and artichoke. years ago, i had a chicken, artichoke, corn chowder which was just delicious. the geek declared this soup tasty (although he did leave a couple artichokes in his bowl). he also declared undying love for the puff pastry "croutons".

chocolate zucchini cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

i first met chocolate zucchini cake in college. on my way to my campus job, i'd often stop at a sundry shop to pick up a coffee or grab a soda. while standing in line one day, i picked up the moistest chocolate cake i'd ever seen. it wasn't until it was half-way devoured that i read the label...chocolate zucchini cake. zucchini? i had to read the ingredients to be sure that the zucchini in the name was really the vegetable and not some fancy baking technique. indeed it was! who knew?

not only was the cake moist and delicious, it had a vegetable in it! for a college student with questionable cooking skills and eating habits (24 hour pizza delivery did not help), this qualified as 'eating healthy.'

after college, i got a 'real' job and no longer frequented the university campus. i soon forgot all about chocolate zucchini cake....until last week. i saw it listed on a menu and decided to figure out how to make it at home.