See Ya 2009

This was a really big year for me! 
- We got married.
- We went on a honeymoon to a new place for the both of us with snorkeling and horseback riding.
- I ran my first half marathon.
- We visited the west coast and ate 2 burgers at two different restaurants in 1 hour.
- I shed some negative things and people in my life and gained some positive.
- I baked more than I ever imagined with banana bread, biscotti, and pineapple upside down cake.
- I pickled and I jammed.
- I started Twittering.
- My BFF moved to a new city, and I didn't implode.
- I discovered Podcasts and my ipod use will never be the same.
- I ran my first Turkey Trot and just barely made it home.
- I dressed up for Halloween in my most awesome costume Ever!
- We started juicing.
- I held chickens and fed cows.
- We went indoor rock climbing 3 times.
- I shot a gun, but didn't hit my target.  I will next time!
- Two words: Red Mango!  Two more words: No Parking.
- I loved and lost The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  Apparently nobody else did the Love part.
- We tried South Beach in Miami, it was for Suckers!!
- I saw Britney in concert, I love her.

Next year, I hope that I keep trying new things and visiting new places.  There are a whole slew of new experiences that I want to do this year, but if not this year, then it's Ok if they rollover to the following year:
- Run another half marathon and a full marathon.
- Learn how to cook Korean dishes on my own.
- Find a new home with enough space for all our hobbies.
- Adopt a dog.  Any kind of dog, as long as he wants to be loved to death.
- Convince Pinkberry to sell branded goods like tee-shirts and lunchboxes.
- Save Save Save!
- See Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, and Kings of Leon in concert.
- Go back to NYC to experience the little gems of the city.

I hope you all keep goals in mind, even if they're not necessarily resolutions but just things you want to accomplish in the next 365 days. 

Our visit to H Mart

Today we went to the new H Mart in Burlington, MA.  It's a mostly Korean - Asian grocery story with a food court.  It's been open for a little while but we hear it get fantastically busy on the weekends so we opted to wait till we were available on a weekday.  It actually was pretty busy on a Tuesday as well, although it is school vacation week too.

We ate lunch first of course, we just couldn't pass up the chance for more fresh Korean.  I got the mo pa tofu, which is tofu cubes sauteed in a spicey pepper and garlic type sauce with some scallions mixed in with a side of white rice.  It was really filling and delicious, although a little too garlicy for my liking.

Abe got this delightful looking meal.  It's ja jang myun, which is actually a Chinese dish but for some reason you can only find it in Korean restaurants.  The sauce is made of soybean paste, meat, and some vegetables and then poured over some noodles.  We also ate this down in VA, and it was a million times better looking down there and apparently tasting too.  Abe was not very impressed at all, so I wouldn't order this if you happen to go to the foodcourt at H Mart.

We bought lots of great things like Korean pears, a giant container of sesame oil, a sesame seed grinder, tofu, instant miso soup, marinated bulgolgi to put in the freezer, and all sorts of other things that I have no idea how to spell or explain.  It was a really successful trip.  Within the store they even have a whole section dedicated to Hello Kitty!  I was really happy with their prices too, they were really low and made it worth the trip out there.

If you like Korean foods then this is the place for you!  If you have any sort of yellow fever, this is also the place for you.

Now you are a man

The day we arrived in VA, Abe immediately made a new friend.  I had to go upstairs and lay down for a couple hours because my stomach was bothering me so Abe hung out with this little guy.  After my nap it turned out that he only wanted to be held by Abe and nobody else.  This baby is wonderful though, never really cries or fusses, he just wants to smile.

On Christmas Day, Abe's family decided that Abe is now married so he's a man and they taught him how to carve a ham.  I don't think it was too mortifying for him since the women mostly ignored it and started eating all the side dishes, I think everyone was really hungry plus the kids needed to be fed which is a whole other monster of a task.  He did quite well though, and the ham was super good and I hardly ever enjoy it.  We had traditional sides: mashed potatoes, green beans tossed in bacon and onions, corn, and then kim chi and rice.  They have kim chi with pretty much everything!

We also ate a lot of new-to-me Korean food.  Behold: I have no idea what this is called in Korean, but in English let's call it "Korean white oxtail soup".  It's bones that are boiled down and there are onions, noodles, scallions, and beef in the broth.  Once you get the soup, you manually add some salt and pepper flavorings and fresh scallions to your liking.  Also people dump some rice and kim chi in there a little bit.  So the whole idea of slurping on bone soup is kind of unsavory, but this soup was super awesome.  The restaurant we went to was packed and it was open 24 hours a day where the really only specialize in this particular soup.  I can't wait to get it again, it's so light and salty, just don't be scared to try it.  It reminds me of pho where you really just season it till you like it.

I'm so hungry just thinking about this soup, I'm starving...

Two little gems

The best part about family gatherings to me is the bizarre stuff that comes out.  For example, that sometimes Abe's mom likes to buy a block of cheese from Costco that is the size of a brick.  Other than that we learned a few hilarious things from the past, let me enlighten you -

Many many years ago, my father-in-law was on a work assignment in Pakistan.  He arrives at his hotel, and gets his room for the evening.  He briefly speaks to the man at the front desk and he asks for a wake up call for 6:30am so that he can make it to his meeting on time.  While he's walking into his room, he notices a little boy following him into the room.  The little boy just silently followed, so my father-in-law says: I don't need you it's ok, you should just go home.  The little boy is a little upset, he doesn't really understand but finally he leaves.  In the morning, abe's dad wakes up at 7:00 so he's now running late.  This of course makes him so angry, because he specifically asked in person for a wake up call just the night before.  The man at the desk was like: what about that little boy?  He was like: what boy?  Apparently the little boy WAS the alarm clock.  He was going to sit in the corner while abe's dad slept at night and would wake him up at 6:30am sharp...and we're all pretty sure he figured out the time based on the sunrise... 

Another dad story.  My father-in-law had a super important meeting in Palm Springs, so he flew of course and traveled in casual clothing.  Somehow how luggage went missing to Charlottesville airport, which is not in CA.  Of course, this made him angry yet again, but he thought his way out of this one.  He really needed a suit for his meeting but there wasn't any time to shop to buy something that right in time.  He waits and waits and calls the airline and they laugh and say: Oh, your brother's luggage just went missing last week to the same location....woops.  This is before like scanning luggage tags and stuff, I think they just looked at his last name and thought it was an airport code.  This man thinks Really outside the box, so he shows up in a full on tuxedo to the meeting.  I don't think he even explained why until after the meeting was over.  He just kind of let everyone wonder why he was so dressed up.   
 
And this is what I spent my Christmas hoping for more of.  The stories I love, the screaming and meltdowns and the crazy amount of eating I could pass on.

More on Christmas in VA to come...

Goodbye Snow, Hello More Snow!

We're heading to Virginia to visit with Abe's family for a few days, so let me leave you with the cutest water bottle ever.  Have I ever told you that I make a point of drinking 10 glasses of water per day?  I do, and this will make it even more fun - Thanks Tash! 

This is going to be our longest stint staying with Abe's family, and also my first Christmas away from home.  I'm a little nervous because A. I have a Really bad tummy ache, and B. 4 days in VA means 4 days locked indoors together...I mean, I've like never even spent 4 days locked indoors with my own family.  I'm not entirely sure how we're going to entertain ourselves for that amount of time, but it should be interesting.  They also have about 2 feet of snow right now too so getting out and about probably won't happen this trip.  All I can do is hope that the flight gets out and back on time, that would be a big headache reducer, so then we can gear up to go to my family Christmas on Sunday.  We're busy bees this holiday season, there's no time for calorie counting, we're just trying to survive.

Merry Christmas - don't forget to water your trees!


 

New - Coppa

Natasha and I ventured out to try the new Coppa in the South End of Boston - by Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette.  It's in a really nice area, but off the beaten road which was nice instead of in the cluster with all the other south end restaurants.  We were able to find parking even after a snow storm left piles a snow everywhere.  Coppa has a great cocktail selection and we both started with the Romeo Verona: orange vodka, soave, clear creek cranberry, and angostura. - That is what the menu online said, however, I'm positive the recipe varied on the menu at the location instead there was lime and prosecco included and no angostura (bitters).  The cocktail was very nice, at first I was completely blown away with its sweetness but after a couple of sips I really came around to it.  It was very strong though, I could never have more than one.

We started with a traditional style arachini (forgot to photograph it though!) and it was delicious.  This restaurant is best for parties of 2 because you get 2 of most items on the small plate menus.  Next, we had the Meatballs Alforno, which are exceptional meatballs!  So tender, and the sauce is not too much, it's very light. 

Next up we got some duck.  I can't remember what it was, and I don't see it on the online menu but if you see the duck you need to order it.  I might be partial because duck has swiftly become my favorite animal to eat, and Natasha just adores it herself.  The outside was nice and crispy, but the meat really just fell off the bone and was super soft.  The skin was just a real treat.

Our last course was a pizza course.  I got the Parma pizza: tomato, mozzerella, arugula, and prosciutto di parma.  I'm not sure I've ever had such a great pizza combination before.  It was perfect, I wouldn't have changed anything about it.

Natasha got the Pepe Bianco pizza: white clam pizza with bacon and vidalia onion.  I'm not really huge into clams unless there is a lot of garlic involved, but this pizza was much better for having them.  I don't really enjoy too much bacon, but I really enjoyed this pizza and I would order it again.

The star of tonight was the duck to me.  I really thought it was fantastic.  In second place was the Parma pizza.  This place is pretty amazing, but word is going to get out fast.  Get there early, prepare to wait, but order everything!

Coppa    A

Couch Surfing

Do people not do this?  Is this not normal?  Sometimes we like to take our furniture out onto the city sideewalk and just hang out on really cold days and watch the traffic go by.  Also, this is excellent placement because a bus stops right in front of our building.  We like to wait in comfort.

This is the first piece of furniture that we bought together a couple years ago at ikea, it was wonderful until we needed something a little bigger.  Instead of getting rid of it like we should have, we let it sit in our spare bedroom for too long.  Today it found a new home, and it got there via a hilarious bread truck.  It's been really productive around the house today!  I was afraid people would see the place, so I did a quick clean...luckily nobody saw it because the quick clean was not good enough.  Once the couch got out, we were able to reorganize a little and found we have much more space now but still the same amount of stuff.  Like where do people put their lobster pots and panini presses when not in use?  We put them in a spare bedroom.  Anyways, after moving our couch we realized that it was absolutely freezing outside and nobody was going anywhere today: not the store, not the gym, nowhere but the couch watching bad tv.
 

From sweaters to stockings

Today was my work holiday party.  I actually bought a red sweater just for this party because it turns out that I don't own anything either red or green...but how festive do I look?  I look super into the holidays in this outfit, and let me tell you, I'm so far from really feeling it this year.  The party ended up being fun, and the food was great.  My favorite was the eggplant parmesan mmmmm eggplant.  I made it to the gym after and I was home and spending quality time with myself by 3pm.  It felt really good to have no commitments: no dinners to prepare, no presents to buy, no errands to do, no reminders to remind people about, no cards to write, just free and clear time.  Lately, there seems like something is weighing on me at all times.     

This is probably the most pathetic Christmas display that you've ever seen.  This is our way of displaying gifts this year!  It's really sad, kind of depressing, but mostly just an overall Christmas disappointment.  I'll try to make up for it next year.  What could be in all those little packages?  Must remember next year: lots of little gifts = lots of wrapping!

A wacky day off

The holidays can be stressful so we took a day off to try and spend some nice time together.  Sunday night we baked cookies...or actually Abe baked cookies and I just jumped in here and there.  It wasn't until the cookies were done that he said: I've never actually baked cookies before, not even the pre-made kind.  His methods made a lot more sense once he told me that, I just thought he was being a little strange.  I've never seen packed brown suger dropped into a bowl that was that super packed down!  His butter softening methods were also a little different than I've seen most people do.  It was all a little wacky, but they came out just fine just a little on the super sweet side.

He asked me if I wanted to bake more cookies today and I said no.  Wacky cookie baking is fine in moderation...

This morning we woke up with a purpose!  To get out of the house and enjoy our day off.  I'm obviously ready to battle for a good time.  Our first stop was The Friendly Toast in Kendall Square near MIT.  Everything started out so well!  We were seated immediately, the coffee was nice and strong, and they took our orders promptly.  What happened after that was kind of a disaster.  My breakfast was on the cold side, and after three bites I had consumed something crunchy.  On the fourth bite I realized I was eating egg shells and right there in my huevos rancheros were big white broken pieces.  It's not that hard to crack and egg without dropping shell everywhere, but it happens.

After I ate half this moderately Ok breakfast we really had to get going.  We had plans to see "Up in the Air" very soon so we were really trying to get out of there, but nobody would come get our check.  After being ignored for 10 minutes, Abe just got up and gave his credit card with the check to a host there.  Then what happened?  The waitress came back with our credit card and goes "I'll run this when the credit card machine is free."  It was kind of strange, so after 25 minutes of really bizarre behavior, we finally got out of there and got to our movie just barely in time.  I mean it's a Monday late morning, I hate to see how frazzled they get on the weekends.  The food wasn't good enough for me to even consider going there on a busier day.  It actually wasn't even that good to be quite honest.  Today was the first time that we've gone out to breakfast together in at least 1 year so my expectations were probably on the higher side to be fair. 

We go across the street to the movie theater, buy our tickets, and find our seats.  We're thinking how great it is to be there with only 8 other people: mostly people who are retired or singles.  The movie gets started, we're talking like the actual movie, not the previews or anything - and some lady two seats down starts talking on her cell phone!  I mean really now, who would talk on their cell phone in the movies and she's doing it like it's no big thing....so Abe semi-politely asked her to stop.  It was rude with a capital R!  So how was the movie?  It was completely unexpected, I felt that it was not as the previews portrayed at all.  I liked it and I think most other people will like it too, It didn't entertain my pants off but it was a nice movie.  Next up, I really want to see The Road.  I really love movies that depict the end of the world as we know it...there might be something psychologically wrong with me.

We ended our day of adventures by roasting a nice big chicken.  This sucker was awesome, and now Abe is prepping chicken soup for tomorrow night.  Two nights in a row off from cooking!  It feels like I died and went to husband-cooking-heaven.  I don't think that this long weekend was enough to really perk me up tomorrow, but it was nice to sleep till 10:30 today!     
 

Strapped to the car and floppy

The annual Christmas tree hunt and adventure home.  I love seeing trees attached to the roofs of cars, there's something just so fun and comforting about seeing them on every other car during this time of year.  We actually did decide against getting a tree because we'll be in Virginia for 4 days during Christmas so there's just no real point in having one and them coming home to see a completely dead tree.  Instead we helped abe's sister and brother in law pick out their tree since they will be staying around here for the holidays with their crazy work schedules.  I was put in charge of finding a nice tree, and the boys were in charge of making sure it got home safely.  We totally had a great tree and we got in line at Home Depot only to see people in front of us with a better tree, so we had to put the original one back and then found a new one.  There's nothing worse than standing in line behind someone with something better right?  Then everyone was asking us where we got ours, which is always a great sign of an awesome product.  My advice on tree is to spend a little more and get a fir tree, they shed less and have better color!

We weren't able to stay and help them decorate it because we had to go see my parents for dinner.  I'm used to seeing a really big fat over sized tree in my parents house, but this year it was a lot smaller.  Still a nice tree, but not as full as I like to see them.  Usually the angel is touching the ceiling and the branches extend out a foot wider, and then my mom complains that it's taking up the entire room and then my dad trims it back and it's still enormous.

So we may not have a tree of our own this year, but at this point I don't really mind.  I'm not really sure what to expect as I spend my first Christmas away from my family and in Virginia with my husband's family, but I do know it's going to be a world of difference from what I'm accustomed to.  The best part will most likely be having kim chi with rice at the table for Christmas dinner.  I love kim chi!  I wonder if they will play holiday music....omg  I wonder if they will kareoke Christmas caroles...so many unknowns!

A little life lesson

Hold the phone.

I made a new friend tonight at a work happy hour.  We've worked at the same company for the exact same amount of time but in totally different departments so we never really interacted at all.  Her department happened to come out with mine tonight and I was asking about all her plans when she leaves tomorrow for another job.  You know blah blah blah, and then she hits me with a hard one. 

Girl: "I stopped buying stuff for like 2 years or going out drinking and now I have enough to buy a house."
Me:  [total silence] HOLY SHIT!
Girl: "I know!  I didn't really think it was possible, but it happened."

Ok.  I was super good in November and didn't buy anything, or get any haircuts/pedicures/fun gifts for myself/excessive dining out or takeout/no extras/anything at all really, and we saved a lot of money.  We didn't even feel like we were making a great sacrifice.  What does that mean?  It means our previous life was full of over spending on stuff we didn't need to be happy [angel noises].  No Kidding!  We previously made a decision to be better handlers of money and not be so impulsive.  It was going really well until December hit because we had to do our Christmas shopping, and then we bought a PS3!  Yeah, that's not exactly being very good.  We did get $50 off retail price... so we aren't perfect, but it's looking up. 

Mochi Madness

Tonight, Tash and I had a nice warming dinner of french onion soup at Abe & Louie's in Back Bay.  I had a chopped salad with it, and it was nice and light which was perfect since the soup is on the heavier side.  I really enjoy Abe & Louie's, everything is really good there and it has an upscale but laid back atmosphere.  You don't have to get too fancy, but the food is well thought out and dependable.  We were there at about 5:30 and we were swimming in a sea of suits, and it only got more popular by 7pm!  I couldn't believe it, we were literally the only women in there, single ladies this should be your destination for an after work cocktail.

For dessert we had to get over to the brand new Red Mango near Northeastern University.  We have a serious love for tart frozen yogurt.  The location is horrible, there's no parking anywhere around it!  We circled for 10 minutes before finding anything somewhat near it.  I got the original flavor with pineapple and almond slices and it was pretty darn good.  I usually get original flavor with pineapple and mochi...but they didn't have any today!  I mean really, what is a frozen yogurt without the mochi?  Apparently, it's still really good just not as good as I wanted it to be.  We plan on going back in a couple weeks when they do have mochi at the location.   

On my way home, we went through the park and came across these horror shows.  Who decorates the trees in this place?  They look terrible. Honestly, it's embarrassing, it looks like they just threw them up there without any thought at all.  This is also one of the most visited places in the city, the least they could do was put some more time and effort into this.  The holiday spirit in me was mourning the loss of nice tree decoration.  This is also coming from someone who watched their father thoughtfully and painstakingly place each and every bulb into the shrubbery around the house at Christmas.  If you're going to do it, you have to do it right when it comes to things like that! 

who brought the wet blankie?

we are very un-christmasy this year.  honestly, i think it just sucks but neither one of us has the energy to deal with it this time around.  the thought of having to clean up and put things back to where they belong so that we can move furniture around and then bring in a tree is just too consuming.  where do the gifts go this year?  they sit next to our two super lame stockings on our window sill.  they're also wrapped in kind of a pathetic manner, because i'm having a hard time finding the will to care enough to make them pretty.

this year the holidays have become really stressful for me.  i've reverted back to some really bad habits, like chewing and biting at my cuticles until they bleed for example.  currently, my fingers are in a great deal of throbbing pain but it doesn't stop my anxiety from getting the better of me.  i'm also quite sure that i had two desserts tonight: a big peppermint patty from my candy jar (it was definately too old to be eaten), and a healthy serving of raspberry sorbet.  i tend to eat my feelings...it's not even funny, it's true.  thankfully i know it's happening so i won't let it pile up, i'm pretty determined to stay healthy through the holiday season.  i only have 1 holiday party and 2 happy hours scheduled so far plus 2 christmases.

this season i've found emotions that i didn't even know existed.  it's good in that i've finally found an emotional depth that i've always thought i was somehow lacking, but it's bad in that i don't think that they're fun to deal with all the time.  i've become something of a leaky faucet, and that is just not who i am.

i went to the post office today to mail out a book from one of my amazon sales (still going strong!) and i had to wait forever... ok it was only about 20 minutes, but it was the longest 20 minutes ever.  there were three little kids running around in CIRCLES chasing each other through people waiting in line, slamming down mailboxes, throwing around packing supplies, and SCREAMING!  the mother was obviously annoyed and embarrassed at the situation of being totally unable to control two of the kids while she held one.  She tried to stop them a few times, other customers tried to stop them a few times, and if i had not gotten out of there when i did, i certainly would have stopped them by expressing my deep seeded hatred for unruly children who refuse to behave.  luckily for all parties involved, i got out of there in the nick of time and even remembered to buy some holiday stamps.  the last thing i would have wanted was an unproductive visit to hell.

the one saving grace may be that we just got a PS3.  hopefully this will become a nice healthy outlet for my frustration.*  i really want to get grand theft auto so i can let me inner rebel out, the one that breaks the law and scoffs at the idea of having things like values.  i shouldn't talk badly about a game i haven't even played yet, but i'll let you know how it goes...TBC.

*  obviously a video game system will not cure our inability to celebrate christmas properly, the pain in my fingers, or the overall lack of holiday spirit in these parts...along with any other problem that life encounters.

Funny like "ha ha"

I've lived in Boston for 10 years now and I've never seen a gigantic tree in Fanuiel Hall like this.  It's so big that we couldn't even fit it in the photo!  Maybe I just never walked through Fanuiel during the winter time because when temperatures are cold then I hole up in our apartment, but right now it's very unseasonally warm.  I'm still wearing a fall coat and no earmuffs yet it's kind of unsettling.  However, this weather allows me to go out and socialize much more than I normally do.  Tonight we attended the Improv Asylum's No Rest For The Wicked which is 24 hours of improv comedy to benefit Globe Santa.  Our friend Mike came from LA to be a part of the event so we wanted to go see him perform and check it out.  The comedy was good, the interview with Bill Brett a local photographer was fantastic, but it was the auction that was pretty awesome.  They had a bunch of really great things to bid on and a real auctioneer came in to run it.  Abe really wanted to win the chance to throw out a first pitch at fenway park for a Red Sox game.  The bidding started at $1,000 and Abe jumped in at $3,000 but the winner won at $3,500 which is pretty much totally over the amount I was prepared to drop.  That's a lot of money, although it is a once in a lifetime opportunity and all for a good cause too... we have needs too, like finding a new home.  Anyways the comedy show at the Improv in the North End goes a full 24 hours until 7pm on Saturday.  I'm thinking that the comedy will get much funnier as the night goes on!  Check it out if you don't already have plans.