old man winter

This was the scene at my parents' house in northern Virginia this morning.

We had planned to drive there on Friday, but our path through southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia was supposed to get up to 20 inches of snow. I believe it. So yeah, camping out in Lexington (where we're getting some "wintry mix") until it calms down a bit.

Quite exciting for someone who hasn't seen any real snow in years.

fiesta latina de navidad (and stuff about tv, naturally)

Our congregation at church includes a Spanish-speaking group of members, and they hosted a Christmas party last night. We signed up to bring dessert, so I made a tres leches cake (recipe from Vivian's fave Pioneer Woman) and some Aztec chocolate bark (introduced to me by Jane, who was kind enough to share some with the office last year).

I ended up having to make dos tres leches because I forgot about the first one burning in the oven while I was preoccupied swatting moths that have taken up residence in our apartment. The second cake turned out fabulously, though, and the Aztec chocolate went over well with party-goers not wary about foods combining chocolate and spicy ground chile. It's really quite easy to make and addictively tasty—I highly recommend it if you're in the market for a different kind of holiday treat. Not to fear if you don't have a double-boiler in which to melt the chocolate—I don't have one either, so I just melted the chocolate in a stainless steel bowl set over a pot of boiling water.

I was also happy to get my fill of pozole and mole negro at the party. It was delicious.

In a couple of television related notes:

Golden Globe nominations out today (or yesterday, rather, since I am posting this well over midnight). No John Noble? I know that no one watches Fringe, but COME ON! Walter Bishop is one of the most delightful, complex characters on television and John Noble does a crazy good job bringing him to life. Just as one example, in last week's episode, the change that came over Walter when all the parts of his brain were reconnected: holy smokes. I am disappointed, HFP, though I guess it wouldn't be the first time.

Ben Folds, aka my one true hero during my college years: as Stephen Colbert would ask, great reality show judge or greatest reality show judge? He's one of the judges on the new NBC a cappella competition The Sing-Off (HT: Leeshy), and yes, it's weird to see him there, but after all the 'Hofs, Paula Abduls, and Randy Jacksons that have been foisted upon us on other reality shows, it's pretty incredible to hear a knowledgeable musician give spot-on assessments in complete, coherent sentences and not be a jerk about it. Also, so much for a Mormons vs. Beelzebubs final. Heh. Nota for the win!

holiday gift tags winner

 Random.org has spoken, and the winner is . . .

FLEM! So much for that "randomness will never allow #1 to be chosen" stuff. I've already got your mailing address so I'll be sending out your goods tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who participated in my little contest even though I wasn't giving away anything cool (like free Xboxes, for instance). It was entertaining to read about your favorite Christmas gifts, too.

To answer Gretta's question, I created the designs using Adobe Illustrator and printed out the tags on my trusty inkjet printer. Maybe next year I'll have more time and attempt the screenprinting method on my Gocco!

i'm not crying, it's just been raining on my face

Oh man, no third season for the Flight of the Conchords. Sad to see it go, but like Arrested Development, at least the show gets to end while it's still on top.

top chef season 6 finale

We just finished watching the Top Chef finale.

I've been a fan of Kevin and rooting for him all season long—the guy has a heart of gold and how can you argue with his four quickfire wins, five elimination wins, passion for local and sustainable cooking, and not to mention his MAGNIFICENT BIG ASS RED BEARD.  While I'm disappointed that he didn't win the whole thing, I really can't say that Michael wasn't deserving since the Volts really brought it, too. However:

I know it's not a reality show without stupid curveballs (knife-draw for sous chefs, mystery box, and surprise fourth course), but with the caliber of chefs in the top three I would've rather watched them cook the meals of their lives without all of the twists and turns.

About those sous chefs: Bryan got lucky. Poor Kevin was totally screwed the second he pulled out the knife with Preeti's name on it. As TJ said, even he could chop vegetables better and faster than her.

Inviting the moms to the table then giving them the boot after the first course: um, rude? Also weird and awkward.

Padma telling Kevin "you are not Top Chef": seriously, what was the point of that? Unnecessarily cruel and humiliating.

It would've been nice to see Bryan collect some cash since he didn't win any quickfires. Maybe I'm not remembering correctly, but it seemed that the way the finale was edited showed Bryan winning two courses vs. Michael winning one. So there I was trying to recover from Kevin's loss and thinking that it really seemed that Bryan was going to win and feeling that I would be fine with that, too . . . and they give it to Michael? So misleading.

If Kevin doesn't win fan favorite, I will eat my hat.

holiday gift tags + giveaway

When I woke up today I felt inspired to design a set of holiday gift tags to adorn my Christmas packages this year. About six hours into it I was kind of convinced that I was wasting my time because they would probably turn out horribly, but I'm actually really pleased with the result.

TJ says I should sell them, but I think I'll just give them away.

So: up for grabs is a set of 8 holiday gift tags printed on nice and heavy cream-colored paper. All you have to do is tell me about the best gift you've ever gotten for Christmas. Post your answer in the comments by next Sunday evening, and I will choose a random winner using random.org.

(My favorite gift? It's hard to say . . . but last year I got a really nice set of Gingher scissors from TJ's mom. Those things are amazing and I'm not sure how I ever functioned without them.)

Thanks for playing!

new blog banner + lovelydesign

Of course, it's not technically winter nor is it 2010 yet, but it feels like winter (there's a 20% chance of light snow in the morning—say what?!) and I figure we're close enough to the new year . . . so here it is.

The blue, gray, and red pattern that I used comes from the super-talented Sharilyn of the aptly-named Lovely Design blog. You can also find tons of great handmade products for sale at her website—I particularly love, love, love the address files she makes.

Isn't it fantastic? I'd like for it to be not sold out anymore.

what to watch on thursday nights

One word: Fringe. I mean, does The Office have parallel universes? Teleportation? Super soldiers? Exploding heads? Leonard Nimoy!? I think not. (Or maybe it does, but what do I know.)

I adore Fringe so much. It’s always creeping me out, making me laugh, boggling my mind, or breaking my heart (Walter in last night's episode: "I simply missed my son." I'm not sure I'll be able to bear the inevitable confrontation between dad and Pacey, I mean, Peter, over that one).

I don't even care all that much anymore about the show treading on X-Files territory. Early in the first season I’d be all, "Hmm, serial killer who takes his victims' pituitary glands in order to sustain himself—uh, been there, done that. Zzzz." But ever since the show really came into its own midway through the first season and blinded me with its preposterously wacky science, I've been more inclined to react like, "Whoa, this started out kind of like 'Pusher,' but they totally turned it into 'Eve'! CRAZY!!"

Now someone just needs to convince Fox to stop being all stupid network-y and move the show back to Tuesdays so it doesn't get killed in the ratings every week.

oreos from scratch

An unusual thing about TJ is his ability to remain completely unmoved in the presence of delicious sugary treats. He just doesn't seem to respond to cakes, chocolates, pies, cookies, etc. the way the rest of us do—except when it comes to Oreos. For some reason, Oreos are the only sweet things he will actively seek out on his own.

So I thought I'd try to make some homemade Oreos for Halloween. I've seen this recipe floating around on various blogs, and the response to it seemed to be good, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Though it's probably difficult to duplicate the exact taste and texture of Oreos from the store, the homemade version comes pretty close—crisp, fresh, and minus all of the artifical ingredients.

TJ gives it two thumbs up.

because i'm a sucker for good typography

owee (Zowee). The Daily Drop Cap is an ongoing project by illustrator/typographer Jessica Hische. She posts a new decorative initial cap each day, and they're all free for us bloggers to use to beautify the Internet (she even supplies the HTML that we can copy and paste into a blog post). Aren't they wonderful? I had to think of a way to start this post with a "W" because I think it's my favorite one so far—and so Halloween-appropriate! You can find the rest of what she has created so far by clicking on the link above. Looking forward to seeing the full set!

Also, definitely check out Jessica's website and blog. Her designs and illustrations are simply stunning.

colorwheel geese block

I've been arranging my craft room and decided that I need to do something with the loads of fabric scraps I have sitting around the house. Luckily, I found this awesome free foundation pattern and here is the result so far:


I wouldn't say that I enjoy paper piecing (so time conusming), but it's a fairly easy technique and I love the result. Perfect points every time!

I'm thinking of making a throw-sized quilt made up of these blocks. One down, 35 more to go . . .

Of course, my track record for finishing projects in a timely manner is not so good, but if I do a block per day maybe I can have the whole thing done by Christmas.

dear flem,

I bet you thought you'd never see this again.

If you remember, my sewing machine broke right before your baby shower last year. I eventually got a new one, but a bunch of stuff happened. Then I moved. Then I couldn't figure out what happened to half of my sewing stuff on the way from Santa Barbara to Lexington. And when I finally found all of it, I smashed my quilting finger trying to adjust the weightlifting bench at the gym (see what happens when you try to do something good for yourself? Never again.)

Excuses, excuses.

But Meg's quilt is finally done! Since you last saw it, I finished hand quilting the scroll details in the yellow sashing, quilted the borders, sewed on the binding, and appliqued a label on the back. I also sewed corners on the reverse side where you can insert a dowel if you want to hang it on the wall.

I'm sorry it took so long. To try to make up for it, I used some leftover fabric to make a little matching pillow. (For you typeface fans out there, the "M" is set in Futura. Those nice straight lines were perfect for my weak applique skills.)

Anyway, I know you've had a lot of crap to deal with lately, with the super trying to close your kids' school and your stroller getting stolen (what's up with that??)—so I hope this cheers you up a bit!

The package is totally going in the mail this week. Really.

xo
Lauren

sweet potatoes two ways

On Tuesday afternoon we stopped by the Bluegrass Farmers’ Market. It’s just down the road from our place, and it’s the only farmers’ market in Lexington that provides 100% locally grown produce—the vendors sell only what they grow.

As we looked around, I saw someone selling sweet potatoes and knew right away that I needed to buy them so I could make Mark Bittman’s recipe for Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Black Beans and Chili Dressing (spotted in The New York Times, naturally).

When I approached the sweet potatoes, I picked up a hefty one and asked the farmer what kind it was. “That’s a Beauregard,” he said. He proceeded to tell me that it’s a rather popular variety that was developed at Louisiana State and named after P.G.T. Beauregard, the Confederate general who fired the first shot at Fort Sumter in South Carolina, thus starting the American Civil War. It is also lower in sugar and subtler in flavor than other sweet potato varieties. Isn’t that fantastic? You can’t get that kind of info at a supermarket.

I made the sweet potato salad without any modifications and it was unbelievably delicious. So dreamy. The fresh lime and cilantro flavors just match up so well with the heat of the jalapeno and the warm creaminess of the sweet potatoes and black beans. I could eat this dish all day long. I am going to make another batch as soon as I finish posting this.

I used up another sweet potato in a corn chowder recipe I dug up from the July 2005 issue of Gourmet (sniffle . . . rest in peace). I really liked the use of sweet potato in this recipe—a nice twist on an old classic. It was very good, perfect for a cold fall day, and came together quickly, though I’d recommend blending half the soup to make it thicker.

What to do with the rest of my sweet potatoes? Maybe sweet potato ice cream or sweet potato pie. Definitely going to attempt the recipe for sweet potato gnocchi with fried sage and dried chestnuts from the October 2009 Gourmet.

Will someone stop by for a visit to help us eat?

a sad day for foodies

I was scanning the front page of The New York Times as I usually do every morning: new Supreme Court term starts today . . . three Americans share Nobel Prize for Medicine . . . Condé Nast to close Gourmet magazine . . .

Wait. Condé Nast to close Gourmet magazine???

I am utterly and completely shocked and heartbroken. Well, not shocked because everyone knows it's a bad time for the world of glossy magazine publishing and that food blogs are cutting into the readership of food magazines . . . but I would've guessed that if it came down between Condé Nast's two food titles (both to which I faithfully subscribe), Bon Appétit would've been the first on the chopping block. Which would've been unfortunate, but it isn't Gourmet.

I haven't been this sad about a magazine since Condé Nast decided to shut down Domino and MSLO gave Blueprint the ax.

In fact, I am even sadder over Gourmet's demise. I know it must sound crazy to have such an emotional attachment to a food magazine, but it's Gourmet! Sixty-eight years old. A legend in the food world. Great writers that turn out serious food literature month after month. In other words, more than just recipes. What is Ruth Reichl going to do now?

I think I'm going to turn the pages of my remaining issues a little more lovingly when they arrive in the mail.

built to spill at southgate house

On Friday night we drove to Newport, KY, to see Built to Spill at the Southgate House. Newport is right across from Cincinnati on the Ohio River. To get there, we had to cross a bridge into Ohio, then cross another bridge back into Kentucky. After living in the West for the past nine years, I kind of forgot how quickly you can cross state lines like that on this side of the country.

A little about the Southgate House: it's the former home of Richard Southgate, a lawyer, Kentucky state representative, senator, and silk manufacturer. The house was built in 1814 by British prisoners of war from the War of 1812. Before it became a live music venue, it hosted visitors like Abraham Lincoln and the volunteer company led by Captain Sidney Sherman, who went on to join Sam Houston and the Texas army to defeat Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution. Also, the guy who invented the Thompson submachine gun, John T. Thompson, was born there in 1860.

Looks like Halloween came a little early this year, hmm? You wouldn’t think that this place was a music venue or nightclub just by looking it, but I’d say that the ballroom in the back of the house is similar in size to the main stage at Bricks (or whatever it’s called now) in Salt Lake City or the 9:30 Club in DC.

We got there early enough to grab a spot on the floor near the stage, but we’re a couple of old geezers who have done our fair share of rubbing up against the sweaty, head-bobbing masses during our college years, so we decided to park ourselves in a couple of chairs on the balcony.

Opening for Built to Spill was a band called Disco Doom. They are from Switzerland, a magical land filled with delicious chocolate, Roger Federer, and a functioning health care system. I like them a lot and they played a great set. Sort of reminds me of a hybrid of Pavement and Broken Social Scene, and their front woman totally rocked the omnichord! Their stuff is pretty hard to come by (we were lucky enough to purchase their full-length and EP at the show), but they do have a few songs up on their MySpace page—a couple of my favorites are "White Gun Cold Jet" and "The Great Disaster."

Just counting the past five years, we’ve seen Built to Spill twice in SLC, once in DC, twice in LA, once in Long Beach, and now once in Newport. Obviously, I think that seeing them in concert will never get old. It's still hard to believe that more people haven't heard of them considering the fact that they've been on a major label since 1997 and several commercially successful bands (Modest Mouse, The Shins, and Death Cab for Cutie, just to name a few) and tons of up-and-coming indies love to name drop them as a major influence. Maybe if they agree to do commercials for package delivery companies or salad dressing . . . yeah, it'll never happen.

Part of what I love about Built to Spill (besides Doug Martsch’s ability to grow an amazing beard) is that they dress like a bunch of unassuming factory workers and have zero interest in being flashy or pandering to the audience—no matching skinny suits, no pyrotechnics, no fancy light show, no talking about how their new album drops next week (I'll do it for them: There Is No Enemy, which can be streamed in its entirety on their MySpace, is out on October 6). Other than the occasional "thanks for coming out tonight" in between songs, they cut through all the crap and just play great music. At the Newport show, they played one song from their new album ("Hindsight"—awesome) and the rest was a fantastic mix of tracks from their previous albums, including "Carry the Zero," "In the Morning," "Joyride," "Strange," "Sidewalk," and "Traces." (Alas, no "Cortez the Killer.") Also, I think it’s hard for most bands to pull off two guitars, let alone three, without sounding messy—but Built to Spill probably has the most technically clean sound of just about any band I’ve heard live. And because they will never stop touring, ever, I bet that we’ll probably get a chance to see them again sometime next year.

long live the subjunctive

There’s a fantastic feature on the NYT’s Times Topics blog called After Deadline, which explores questions of grammar, usage, and style as encountered by NYT writers and editors.

Today’s topic happens to be one of my favorite: the subjunctive mood.

Corbett writes:

It’s confusing, it’s widely ignored and in most cases it’s indistinguishable from other verb forms. So should we give up on the subjunctive mood? I say, no!

Hear, hear! He then goes on to note a couple of recent missteps by the Times, including:

Google, the leader in Web search services and advertising, argues that if reading news online was closer to the experience of scanning through physical newspapers or magazines, people would read more.

Generally use the subjunctive for a hypothetical condition: “if reading news online were closer.” (Or make it all indicative: “If reading news online IS closer … people WILL read more.)

It seems that pop songs are among the worst offenders when it comes to subjunctive misuse. For instance, take “Don’t Cha” by the Pussycat Dolls. When they say “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me,” what they really mean to say is “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend were hot like me.” As if I needed another reason to hate this song.

The list of abuses goes on:

• What if God was one of us (Joan Osbourne, “One of Us”)
• I wish I was beautiful (Counting Crows, “Mr. Jones”)
• Damn, I wish I was your lover (Sophie B. Hawkins, “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover”)
• I'd like to think if I was I would pass (The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, “The Impression That I Get”)
• I wish I was special (yes, even my beloved Radiohead, “Creep”)
• If only I was sure (The Cure, “Close to Me”)
• If I was to say to you girl we couldn't get much higher (The Doors, “Light My Fire”)

It's just like me to dwell on the negative. Can anyone name a song that actually uses the subjunctive correctly?

Here are some resources for further reading:

Subjunctivitis
Subjunctive (from Garner's Modern American Usage)
Grammar Girl: Subjunctive Verbs

Also, the delightful animal alphabet poster up top comes from Lorena Siminovich at Petit Collage.

forks print

Today I received my limited edition forks print from Julia Rothman, one of my favorite artists.

I love it. It makes our kitchen look so much more cheerful.

Also available in Julia's online shop is a new print depicting a quartet of Louis armchairs. True story: I majored in interior design as a young college freshman and had to learn all about these chairs (and other chairs). Then they killed the program the following semester and that made me really sad.

my pride and joy

We picked this up in July at the Le Creuset outlet in Camarillo. As if we needed to add a huge piece of cast iron to everything else we had to lug across the country, right? But it was a Le Creuset dutch oven! At 40% off and then some. When all was said and done, we were able to snag this 9-qt wonder for less than $200.

Tonight we took it on its maiden culinary voyage and made Red Chile Rice with Shrimp and Bacon from Rick Bayless's cookbook Salsas That Cook. Rick's recipe calls for a batch of Mellow Red Chile Salsa, which I'm sure is fantastic, but we decided to use up some leftover salsa we froze when we made chicken enchiladas a couple weeks ago.


To make this dish, you have to fry up some bacon and then fry the rice IN THE BACON FAT. This is very much in keeping with my new Southern lifestyle. Mmm.

millions of peaches

When we were getting ready to leave Santa Barbara I went through our cupboards and found some old canned vegetables. Western Family. You know, from Utah. From when I lived there five years ago.

I chucked the ancient stuff and decided that I need to try harder to use the other things I have that aren't past their shelf life, such as:


Canned sliced peaches. For some reason I own like 10 cans of this product.

Result:


Southern Peach Cobbler (click on link for how-to). I should probably be wary of the sheer amount of butter in this recipe, but I live in the south now so I'm just gonna roll with it.

Pretty tasty, and the easiest baked treat to put together if you're in a hurry. Or just lazy. Only one bowl! Six ingredients! (The original recipe had five, but I added one teaspoon of cinnamon to my version.)

Does anyone have a favorite canned peach-friendly recipe to share?

ETA: I baked the cobbler in an 8"x8" glass casserole dish and that seemed to work out pretty well.

the h is silent

The best part about moving to a new place? Decorating. Or in my case, dreaming about decorating because I still have tons of unpacking and organizing to do. But as soon as I get my craft room all set up, I'm going to whip up a couple of these babies for the living room:


Gum drop ottomans! OMG I HEART AMY BUTLER.

I'm still trying to figure out which patterns and fabrics to use. Maybe something from Amy's Midwest Modern 2 or Lotus collections? I also like Joel Dewberry's Aviary and Deer Valley (in persimmon because I enjoy the red + blue color combo).

I'm thinking that any of these will go with my new couch, slated for delivery in mid-September (except mine will be a more neutral cappuccino color):


So perfectly sleek, modern, and tufted. I get cartoon hearts and bluebirds floating above my head just by looking at it. THANKS MOM AND MACY'S HOME SALE!

Also, here is a picture of Joel Dewberry, which brings me to the title of this post. Is it just me, or did Eddie Van Blundht totally launch a lucrative career in designing modern and fashionable textiles after his time behind bars? (Those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about can Netflix the X-Files season four episode "Small Potatoes.")

still awake

It’s almost 6:00 in the morning. As long as I don’t have to start working until the West Coast starts working, I’ll never adjust to normal East Coast hours.

I think I have a cold. Woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat and was all ready to surrender myself to the H1N1, but it’s just been five steady days of sore throat and coughing. That’s only two of the eight common flu symptoms listed on the CDC site, so it can’t be the flu, right? Right?

I’ve been intending to embark on a photo shoot of good old smoky Lex to share, but between the sickness and working and trying to fix up our apartment (still) and wanting to avoid hot outdoor humidity at all costs and TJ being on campus all day and reading Marx all night (first day of the 19th grade yesterday—*wipes tear*), and let's face it, being glued to the LLWS and swooning over the second season of Pushing Daisies and basking in the warm glow of reality TV (last week saw the passage of the finale of Top Chef Masters AND the premieres of normal Top Chef and Project Runway), we haven’t really gotten the chance to explore our new city.

We’ll get around to it some day.

spor(t) repor(t)

Usually sports writers are struggling to find things to write about in a non-Olympic summer before football season kicks off. However, the past month has been filled with interesting sports stories and controversies, so I thought I would take some time to comment on some of them.

Naturally, we start in Kentucky, where college basketball is King. Rick Pitino, the head coach of the University of Louisville, is having some PR problems after he admitted to cheating on his wife and paying his mistress $3,000 for an abortion. He would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for said mistress trying to extort millions of dollars of hush money from him. Should Louisville have fired Pitino? Yes, but probably more because of his crappy press defense and inefficient offense.

At the same time, here in Lexington, some are worried about the recent news coming from newly hired John Calipari's former school. The University of Memphis will have to vacate its wins and Final Four appearance from the 2007-2008 season for having someone take the SAT for its star player, Derrick Rose. Even though Calipari's name was not mentioned in the NCAA report, this is the second time a team under his watch had to vacate a Final Four appearance (the first being UMass in 1996). So Calipari gets the full support of the university and governor of Kentucky despite cases of academic fraud and improper benefits to players in his two previous university head coaching jobs, on top of the fact that he depends on a horrible offense that he stole from a corrupt coach from Fresno (not named Tarkanian).

Now to the NFL controversies:

Michael Vick: served about 2 years in prison for his involvement in dog fighting/torturing/killing and will receive an additional 2- to 6-game suspension by the NFL.

Donte Stallworth: served 24 days in prison for DUI manslaughter and will be suspended for the entire NFL season.

Plaxico Burress: received a 2-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to shooting himself in the leg with an unlicensed firearm in a nightclub and will likely not receive any additional punishment from the NFL.

I know that each case above has unique details, but how does the only action that resulted in a death of a human call for merely 24 days in prison? Also, do you think that the NFL should act as a second judge and jury for legal cases by adding additional punishment?

The next story comes from the World Championships in Athletics in Berlin. People are questioning the gender of 18-year-old Caster Semenya, the South African runner who crushed her competition in the women's 800m on Wednesday night. As you might imagine, this is a lot more complicated than investigating to see if there’s a man dressed up as a woman under there. Where do you draw the line between male and female? Should hermaphrodites compete as men or women? What if you have X and Y chromosomes, but no male genitalia? What if you have two X chromosomes, but no female genitalia? I feel bad for Semenya, who was teased for looking like a boy her whole life, and now the whole world is asking questions about her eligibility to race as a woman. What kind of privacy rights should Semenya have in this situation? I also think there is an element of racism as some have mentioned—perhaps this is another example of demeaning Western attitudes towards black Africans? Would people be questioning a white European or American woman who ran a really fast time and looked kind of manly?

And now to Michael Phelps. In the past year, he has: won 8 gold medals in Beijing using the controversial LZR suit made by Speedo; gotten caught with a marijuana bong at a party; and lost to Paul Biedermann at the world championships, who apparently has an even more hi-tech suit than Phelps. Phelps’s coach complained about the use of these new suits and demanded that they be banned. Apparently, any suit that might be better than the one Phelps uses should be banned.

Also, Usain Bolt is fast.

motorcycle helmets and southern rock

As we drove across New Mexico on our way to Lexington, I noticed a few bikers on the freeway riding without helmets. And since we've been in Lexington, we've seen many people riding motorcycles without helmets. Maybe I've just spent too much of my life in California, but this was quite a surprise to me. First, it seems really dumb to go 65 mph on a motorcycle with nothing protecting your head, and second, I didn't really consider that New Mexico and Kentucky wouldn't have laws requiring all motorcycle riders and passengers to wear helmets. I knew that motorcycle helmet laws are fairly modern, but I kind of assumed it caught on nationwide like seat belt laws or raising the drinking age to 21. Can you guess how many states require all motorcycle riders and passengers to wear helmets? Here's a map with the answer.

I also noticed that there's a heavy dose of Creedence Clearwater Revival (and Phil Collins for some reason) on Lexington radio stations. Lauren and I were talking about how that makes sense because CCR is a southern band, right? We couldn't remember exactly where they were from. Louisiana, or maybe Tennessee? So we looked it up when we got home today and it turns out that John Fogerty was not born anywhere near the Bayou but very close to the Bay.

Nevertheless, the South has produced many great bands, including:

Ben Folds Five (Chapel Hill, NC)
Big Star (Memphis, TN)
Elf Power (Athens, GA)
The Flaming Lips (Oklahoma City, OK)
Iron & Wine (Miami, FL/Columbia, SC)
My Morning Jacket (Louisville, KY)
Neutral Milk Hotel (Ruston, LA)
The Olivia Tremor Control (Athens, GA)
Of Montreal (Athens, GA)
Okkervil River (Austin, TX)
R.E.M. (Athens, GA)
Spoon (Austin, TX)
Tripping Daisy (Dallas, TX)

days 3 and 4: oklahoma city to memphis, memphis to lexington

View Larger Map

We're still alive. And finally here in Lexington with an Internet connection!

Total miles traveled: 2,329
Total hours on the road: 35.5

I couldn't blog on the night of the OKC to Memphis leg because Nate and Cami's Internet decided to stop working the day we arrived. So I watched Twilight instead. Was that really Radiohead's "15 Step" that I heard during the end credits? I made it to the end credits? And is Thom Yorke really writing an original song for the sequel? I'm confused.

Memphis was nice. Humid. The ribs at Corky's were excellent—the meat fell right off the bone, the dry rub was really good, and the apple BBQ sauce was amazing. California, you know I love you, but you've got nothing on the South when it comes to BBQ.

And the South's got nothing on California when it comes to Mexican food. We tried a place next to our apartment called Mi Mexico. I get the feeling that the sauces on both our dishes came out of cans. My enchiladas with mole poblano was okay, but the sauce in TJ's camarones a la diabla tasted like sweet and sour sauce with Tabasco mixed in for a little kick.

I'm sure we'll find better, but I almost cried. I think everything just hit me at that moment: the crazy move, the exhausting road trip, the feeling of being in an unfamiliar place in which you're not sure you'll fit, the fact that our new apartment reeks of a smoker who used to live there.

We approached management about the apartment's condition and they're going to use an ozone machine on Monday morning to get rid of the smell. I'm not sure why they didn't think of doing this before we moved in. We're going to have to get a hotel room to stay in on Monday night while the machine does its thing.

We decided to do some work on the apartment ourselves since the housekeeping people won't be available anytime soon and we wanted to do something to improve the cleanliness levels in the meantime. The window blinds were pretty disgusting, so I scrubbed each slat one by one in the bathtub to get rid of the coats of nicotine and cigarette smoke. We've also gotten around to scrubbing the walls and windows in the living room and one of the bedrooms. Annoyance level: high. But once it's clean, the apartment itself will be really nice to live in. Can't wait to hook up that washer and dryer.

I do have some good things to say about Lexington. It's very green, and I can imagine how beautiful it will look in the fall. People so far have been really helpful and friendly to us. We drove through downtown last night to check it out, and it looked lovely. We'll have to go back and explore in the daytime.

day 2: albuquerque to oklahoma city

View Larger Map

Made it to Oklahoma City, and just in time for Top Chef Masters. Rick Bayless (who, coincidentally, is from Oklahoma City) for the win! I know I'm supposed to be talking about our road trip and not food, but I need to mention that Rick has started a blog about his experiences on TCM, and on this blog he's shared his winning tongue taco recipe from episode 3's "offal tasty" elimination challenge. I can't wait to try this.

But back to the subject at hand:

Total miles traveled: 1,426
Total hours on the road: 21.5

Sadly, I was wrong when I wrote last night that it's six hours from Albuquerque to OKC. It's actually eight hours. Still not bad, especially compared to yesterday's leg.

In the Texas panhandle we stopped in Amarillo to fill up. No matter how hard I try to say Am-ah-RILL-o I always find myself pronouncing it Am-ah-REE-o.

About 40 miles east of Amarillo is Groom, TX, pop. 600 and home of the largest cross in the Western hemisphere (or so they say):


Everything really is bigger in Texas.

Major thunderstorms in Oklahoma City, but people here have been so nice to us. At our hotel we ran into a random guy on a business trip who arranged for a discount on our room for no reason at all. The chatty guy at the front desk was great, too—very friendly, very helpful, and very concerned about getting us a VIP coupon to the Italian restaurant down the street. Always nice to have folks looking out for you, especially in unfamiliar places.

Tomorrow: visiting TJ's brother Nate in Memphis. Dry rub pork ribs, here we come. It's a good thing that our apartment complex in Lexington comes with a fitness center.

day 1: santa barbara to albuquerque

View Larger Map

So here we are in Albuquerque.

Miles traveled: 879
Hours on the road: 13.5

Not much to report. We drove by a dust devil in Arizona. Flagstaff is a lot greener than I expected. And there is a lot of road work going on between the Arizona border and Albuquerque. You'd think that I'd have a lot more interesting observations to share after driving through three states today, but traveling always brings out my most irrational fears—so I was probably too worried about careening off bridges or getting crushed by large trucks/planes falling out of the sky to notice much of anything else. I'm very happy to be safely tucked away in our hotel right now.

Six-hour legs from here on out! Tomorrow: Albuquerque to Oklahoma City.

"I'll build the ark, you fetch the animals."

We obviously picked the best week to move to Lexington.

adventures with blueberries

A few weeks ago, on a cool, cloudy Saturday morning, we went blueberry picking at Restoration Oaks Ranch in Gaviota.

Fifteen dollars gets you a full bucket (we filled two) and all the blueberries you can eat while you pick.


What to do with all of those blueberries? Why, turn them into sugary, carbo-loaded treats, of course.

1

I made a batch of blueberry jam so we could have a little piece of the central coast to take with us when we move next month. It was my first time canning anything, so hopefully we won't die of botulism when we crack open one of these jars next year.

2

And then I whipped up some blueberry muffins, the perfect on-the-go breakfast during the work week. I recommend this recipe, which results in muffins that are perfectly light and fluffy. So good right out of the oven.

3

And here we have blueberry pancakes, the perfect breakfast to make at home on the weekend.

4

???

What's your favorite thing to do with fresh blueberries?

RIP MJ

A touching tribute from the Filipino prison famous for their synchronized dance to "Thriller."

hungry?

Why not pull up a chair...


and try some crispy lumpia rolls


a big helping of my mom's delicious pancit


and much much more.

(I recommend halo-halo for dessert, with a scoop of mango ice cream—or ube ice cream, if you're feeling adventurous—on top.)

Also, don't forget to pick up some Asian snacks and groceries on the way out!


Visit my parents' new store:

Pinoy Market and Café

Evergreen Terrace Mall
9675 Liberia Avenue, Suite 106
Manassas, VA 20110
(click for map)

Open Monday through Friday (9:00 am to 8:30 pm), Saturday (8:00 am to 9:00 pm), and Sunday (10:30 am to 7:30 pm).

opening soon

Been neglecting the blog lately—May was a really busy month. Part of the time was spent designing a logo for my parents' Filipino restaurant, slated to open its doors in Manassas, Virginia, later this month. Exact date is TBD, but all you DC area folks should check it out. I'll post more info here once I get the details.

mother's day craft

Made some fabric flowers for my Sunbeams to take home to their moms today (click photo to enlarge). So pretty, and a snap to put together. Adapted from these instructions for do-it-yourself boutonnieres.

fire in the disco

I took this picture of the Jesusita Fire from the high school near our house at about 7:30 tonight. It sounds like it's gotten a lot worse since then. Constantly hearing aircraft and sirens outside, and the local news is reporting that the fire has jumped Hwy 154 and is rapidly moving west towards Goleta.

Below is a very useful Google map showing the affected areas and evacuation zones. We live near the intersection at Hollister and Turnpike, across the 101 from the fire, so other than the smoky air, we're doing fine.

Or not. I just heard the sheriff say that people living south of the freeway to Patterson should be ready to evacuate because there's a strong possibility that this fire could cross the 101. Hmm...time to panic?


View Jesusita Fire map in a larger map

i heart LA

We went to LA for the weekend for the purpose of attending the 2009 Spring Oaxacan Family Festival, which would've been really fun if it weren't cancelled for some unknown reason.

So. . . it's us and a bunch of parking lots. What to do instead?

1. Seek out Oaxaca anyway. We went to a popular Oaxacan restaurant in Koreatown called Guelaguetza (named after an annual celebration known for dancing in costumes). We can attest to its authenticity—there they serve gigantic tlayudas slathered with asiento (essentially liquid pork rinds, very healthy) and dishes covered with a variety of moles. The front of the restaurant has a little shop where you can buy mole paste, chocolate, meats, and cheese. We picked up some of the mole negro paste to cook up at home—very excited about that.
   
   
2. Seek out the motherland. I haven't had Filipino food as often as I'd like since moving away from home, and it's not everyday that I'm surrounded by opportunities for someone else to make it for me. So we dropped by Glendale and had dinner at Max's of Manila (which is actually famous for its fried chicken—eaten with banana ketchup, naturally). I ordered one of my favorite dishes, pinakbet, which usually consists of meat and mixed veggies like eggplant, string beans, squash, okra, and the hard-to-love ampalaya, or bitter melon. I think Max's version of pinakbet is really similar to the kind my mom makes, which is pretty awesome.
   
   We also had a dessert called buko pandan—it's a coconut salad flavored with pandan leaves, which are commonly used in Southeast Asian cooking. This one had a scoop of creamy coconut ice cream on the top. You know that a coconut dessert is good when even TJ eats it and likes it.
   
   Then we went to a Goldilocks bakery to stock up on Filipino bread rolls called pandesal, sweet rolls filled with ube (purple yam) and coconut, and boat tarts.
   
   
3. Do several of the 10-minute yoga/aerobics/ab-strengthening workouts provided for free on the hotel TV.
   
   
4. Attend church in Spanish. I like finding different ways to improve my listening comprehension, so this has become one of my favorite activities.
   
   
5. Stroll the farmer's market at 3rd and Fairfax. Picked up some fresh-churned peanut butter here.
   
   
6. Stop by an Apple Store and drool over the MacPro and cinema display of your dreams. Unfortunately, those items are slightly out of our price range, but we did finally get our AirPort Express so we could wirelessly stream songs from our MacBook to a set of external speakers that previously have been sitting around collecting dust in the closet. Seriously, listening to music just got 100x better. This has also made connecting the laptop to the printer via USB cable everytime we need to print a document a thing of the past. Hooray for wireless!
   

More obligatory food pics:

"a swine time to visit mexico"

I feel really bad for Mexico. How much more negative, unfair PR can that country take?

In the growing hysteria over the swine flu, I appreciated this excellent bit of perspective and advice from Michael Hogan, editor of the Vanity Fair website who also happens to be on vacation in Mexico City this week.

And my personal advice? Stay away from cable news. Here's the CDC's page on the outbreak, along with the World Health Organization's page.

check it out!

Check out my new nerdy basketball blog and the cool banner that Lauren made for it. 

http://inside-the-numbers.blogspot.com/

must be TJ's week

First he gets into his PhD program at UK, then he makes it onto TrueHoop.

pozole party

Lately, I've been obsessed with pozole. For those of you who may not be familiar with this dish, it's a Mexican stew made with hominy and some kind of meat—usually pork— that comes in a number of variations, including verde, rojo, or blanco. It's quite popular as a fiesta food since guests can customize their bowls of pozole with a number of garnishes, including cabbage, radishes, oregano, lime juice, and avocado. Pozole is traditionally eaten with tostada shells rather than tortillas.

A short history

Culinary writer John Thorne noted that the word pozole is derived from the Nahuatl word posolli: a thick, mushy, fermented drink made from maize (or corn, as most of us know it), the staple crop of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations. It was from that ancient food that pozole descended—the main connection being the nixtamalized corn (hominy) that is used as a main ingredient in the dish.

Nixtamal-what?

Here is the skinny on nixtamalization: it refers to a process devised by the Aztecs and Mayans in which whole dried corn is soaked in an alkaline solution to separate the outer hull from the grain, soften it, and increase its dietary value by making niacin nutritionally available. Apparently, the explorers who introduced maize to Europe and beyond were unaware of this trick. So while Mesoamericans could happily subsist on their maize-based diets, malnourishment and vitamin deficiences like pellagra became epidemic among polenta-eating peasants in Italy and people in Africa and other places where corn became a food staple.

How to start from scratch

Nixtamalizing your own dried corn is actually not very complicated. I followed these directions from the San Francisco Chronicle (the accompanying article is quite interesting and informative, too):

1. Soak the dried corn overnight in water to cover. Drain and rinse in a sieve.
2. For each pound of corn, bring 2 quarts water to a boil. Stir in 1 tablespoon calcium hydroxide. [We bought calcium hydroxide from our local Mexican market. It's white and powdery and comes in a small packet labeled "cal lime."]
3. Add the corn and adjust heat to maintain a simmer. The corn will turn bright yellow. Cook 15 minutes, then cover and set aside for 1 hour.
4. Drain and rinse repeatedly, rubbing the corn between your fingers to remove the papery outer skin. Rinse until the corn is white again and no longer feels slippery.
5. Pinch off the tough, dark germ at the base of each kernel. This is a tedious task, but it will allow the corn to open like a flower when it is tender. Recruit a helper to make the job go faster.

One pound dried whole corn yields about 8 cups cooked.

Of course, canned hominy is available and using it would probably save a lot of time. I like preparing the corn the traditional way, but if you must go the canned route, I hear that certain brands sold in the United States, including Juanita and El Mexicano, taste better than others.

Pozole Rojo

To make our pozole, I modified a recipe I found in March 1999 issue of Gourmet magazine.

Traditionally, Mexican cooks start the soup by boiling a pig's head. Personally, that was out of the question for me, so I substituted pork cushion meat and ribs.

Ingredients

1 large head garlic
12 cups water
4 cups chicken broth
2 pounds pork cushion meat
2 pounds pork ribs
dried Mexican oregano, crumbled
1 pound whole dried hominy, prepared for cooking
salt

For the chile purée:

2 large dried ancho chiles
2 large dried guajillo chiles
2 cups boiling-hot water
1 small white onion
4 garlic cloves (set aside from the head of garlic)
salt

To garnish:

shredded cabbage
sliced radishes
quartered limes
avocados
minced white onion
crushed red pepper

Peel garlic cloves and reserve four for chile purée. Slice remaining garlic. In a large pot bring water and broth to a boil with sliced garlic and pork. Skim surface and add a couple teaspoons of oregano. Gently simmer pork, uncovered, until tender, for a couple of hours.

While the pork is cooking, prepare chile purée. Discard stems from the chiles. Cut open and shake out seeds. Toast chiles on a griddle by pressing them against the hot surface with a spatula until fragrant and slightly browned. In a bowl, soak chiles in the 2 cups of boiling-hot water for 30 minutes until softened. Combine chiles, soaking water, white onion, four reserved cloves of garlic, and a couple teaspoons of salt in a blender; puree until smooth.

When the pork is done, lift it out of the pot and transfer it to a cutting board. Shred meat and discard bones from ribs.

To the broth mixture add the chile purée and hominy. (At this point, the broth mixture in my stock pot had reduced quite a bit so I added a few more cups of water). Cover and simmer for about 3 hours until the corn kernels are tender. Return the shredded pork to the pot and season generously with salt.

Ladle into big bowls and add the mix-ins of your choice.

We like to eat the pozole with a spoon in one hand and tostadas smothered with guacamole in the other.

This makes a lot. It will last us for a week.

I think I might try making pozole verde next.

the first annual final four contest award show

photos from oaxaca

We recently returned from our weeklong Mexican adventure. We had been planning the trip for several months, lured by the promise of great food, magnificent architecture, mysterious archaeological ruins, and colorful art and culture.

We weren't disappointed. In Oaxaca, we discovered a vibrant capital city filled with dancing, parades, music, balloons, and friendly people. Buildings painted in candy-colored hues line every street, where vendors sell ice cream cones, hot dogs, and elotes, and indigenous women offer their beautiful crafts—intricately embroidered blouses, woven baskets, and bookmarks.

Attending church in Oaxaca was a particularly lovely experience. Everyone was eager to say hello and welcome us to the ward. The bishop invited us to have lunch with his family; we helped his wife prepare meat and cabbage for the delicious pozole we ate, and we had an interesting conversation with his son, who had just returned from a mission in Hermosillo. He said that the narcos would give the missionaries rides all the time.

While we were able to see a lot of Oaxaca in one week, including the historic sites of Monte Alban, Mitla, and the crafts villages of Teotitlán del Valle and San Bartolo Coyotepec, there still remains much more of this wonderful place to explore. We can't wait to visit again some day.

Below are a ton of slideshows from various parts of our trip. Sorry if you can't see the big play buttons to start the slideshows — I don't know what's up with that, at least in Firefox on our MacBook. But you can click on the slideshows to open up a larger version in Picasa.

Parks



Oaxaca City has many public spaces for people to gather: parks, plazas, and gardens. Here are just a couple of them.

Primavera



In Oaxaca City, you're almost guaranteed to stumble across some kind of celebration. On our first day, we saw a group of kids dressed up in various animal costumes, riding their decorated bikes around Conzatti Park. The parade was part of Primavera festivities, which celebrate the arrival of spring.

Monte Alban



The ruins at Monte Alban, one of the first cities in Mesoamerica. The ancient Zapotec metropolis emerged as the center of political and economic authority in the valley of Oaxaca. It was founded around 500 BC and flourished until AD 750.

Chocolate



Chocolate shops on Mina Street in downtown Oaxaca City, which grind and mix their own chocolate. Each shop offers samples of delicious chocolate in many flavors, including canela, vanilla, leche, nuez, and moka.

Teotitlán del Valle



We visited a workshop in the Zapotec village of Teotitlán del Valle, which is famous for its colorful weavings made with natural dyes such as indigo for blue, pericón flowers for yellow, and cochineal beetles for red.

Mitla



The ruins of Mitla, which served as an important place of burial during Zapotec and Mixtec times. At its height in AD 1350, Mitla reached a population of about 10,000 people. The walls of Mitla's buildings are characterized by distinctive geometric mosaics.

Food, Glorious Food



Oaxaca is well-known for its amazing culinary traditions. We sampled at least five different moles, tlayudas (giant, crispy tortillas covered with cheese and other delicious toppings), tamales, ice cream, the best pizza ever, tacos, chiles rellenos, and chapulines (grasshoppers, a Oaxacan delicacy). Fortunately, our daily feasting was offset by the miles of walking we did everyday.

Markets and shopping



Oaxaca's busy streets and markets are filled with stalls where vendors sell food, clothing, bags, leather goods, and a variety of other items. A favorite place to shop in Oaxaca City is MARO, a store run by native Mexican women artisans dedicated to preserving traditional handicraft techniques.

Iglesia de Santo Domingo



Built mostly between 1570 and 1608, Oaxaca City's Igesia de Santo Domingo is named for the Spanish monk who founded the Dominican order. The massively impressive Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca is housed within the monastery buildings adjoining the church; from the open windows you can get great views of the city and the monastery's garden.

Wedding at Santo Domingo



We were just walking around when we came across a traditional wedding celebration at Santo Domingo church, complete with big band, dancing, dancing giants, and a big balloon with the happy couple's names.

Baseball



We attended a few innings of a Mexican League baseball game between the Oaxaca Guerreros and the Pericos de Puebla. The game was nearly sold out when we got there and we could only get seats beyond the outfield in a section called los jardines. It cost about 10 pesos (or 75 cents) per ticket. We didn't stay for the whole game partly due to the fireworks being launched right behind our seats after each homerun, but Oaxaca ended up winning 8 to 6.

El Tule



In the small town of Santa María del Tule is El Arbol del Tule, a massive cypress that is thought to be at least 2,000 years old.

Around the Zócalo



Views around the zócalo, the primary public gathering place in Oaxaca City. A great place to relax and get your shoes shined. In front of the Oaxaca Cathedral, located in the northwest corner of the zócalo, you can always see children tossing and chasing around their globos (large tube-shaped balloons) in the open space next to the cathedral.

Miscellaneous



Pictures that I couldn't/was too lazy to fit into the categories above.