unsolicited wedding advice wednesdays : to register or not to register

(This post series is brought to you by the inspiration from Nina's recent blog post here.  Although this posting series may eventually end because I will run out of things to say regarding the subject...)


Disclaimer: I don't see myself as a wedding expert or claim to have the best thoughts about weddings but having recently gone through the wedding gauntlet it makes me want to share my lessons learned with others so that they may learn from my experience and benefit from it....or just laugh at my folly.  

From one wedding survivor to one who may be getting married in the future let me give you some unsolicited advice.  If you're moving to another locale like I did, don't register for gifts.  Trust that your wonderful guests will understand your situation and give cash gifts.  My friends April and Paul, photographed beautifully here and here and HERE by Love & Lemonade, who are also moving out of state were smarty pants and did just that.  In fact on their invites they wrote, "The traveling couple has decided not register for gifts" or it was something like that, you get the picture.  Unfortunately their wisdom was not shared with me who was married two weeks before them and unfortunately I DID register for gifts...at TWO different places!  Amazon and Bed Bath and Beyond.  Fail.

Now, don't get me wrong...the gifts are lovely and in fact I should remind you that I registered for those gifts BUT when you're moving and unpacking your own mountain of boxes and suitcases the last thing you want to do is unpack 15 boxes from Amazon.com.  It's an obvious idea but for some reason it escaped me while thinking about the registry.  And if you're like me and you think, "Well if I change my mind and I need to return some gifts I'll just do it all in one trip and it won't be a problem."  WRONG.  The major error in this assumption is that all the gifts will be arriving at the same time and this is not the case.  We've been married for almost two weeks and we're still getting gifts in the mail.  We feel so bad for the UPS guy we want to leave him a bottle of wine.  AND we've been to BBB so many times to return and exchange that the staff greet us at the door by name (no, not really)!

So my unsolicited advice for the traveling couple is DON'T register for gifts.  One caveat: if you know eventually you will need to buy new things it would be a good idea for you and your fiance to build a registry that will be between the two of you (and not made known to guests) so that you'll have an easy go-to list of things to buy when you are at your new locale.  This way you won't be scrambling to figure out what to you two need to buy.

key lime pie

Key Lime is Mark's favorite pie and I myself had never made one before.  The only thing remotely close was lemon bars...the consistency seems similar to me...curd texture made from citrus, right?  The lemon bars I had made from scratch 3 years ago had been a little more involved than I had thought so I never really gave Key Lime pie a second thought even though it's Mark's fav.  But after a couple of days of Mark being desperate for Key Lime pie and looking over a recipe for Sorta Key Lime Pie (uses regular limes versus real key limes) on Pioneer Woman I was feeling much more confident.  

UNFORTUNATELY, I was not able to take a picture of the final product....because we ate it all and taking a picture of my pie was the furthest thing from my mind as I was shoveling it in my mouth.  Seriously.  The pie was honestly SO easy to make and it really was pretty darn good too.  So said Mark with a mouthful saying, "You're going to make me fat if you keep cooking like this."  

Make it...today.  Now.  ESPECIALLY with freshly whipped cream.....gush.  

Speaking of freshly whipped cream....check out my new baby....isn't she beautiful?!  It's been my dream to own one of these puppies for years and I finally got one.  Hee hee, she's so purdy.  

korean comfort food

On my own...just me and the kitchen. No umma (mom in Korean) in Chicago and no decent Korean markets within 30 min of me.  If I want some Korean food well then I'd better make it myself. Luckily my friend Alice gave me some easy to follow recipes for basic Korean side dishes (the kimchee was store bought, I'm not THAT pro yet!).

Korean Soy Bean Sprout:

-ingredient A

wash, rinse and drain1 bag soy bean sprout (12 oz = 3/4 lbs)

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp red ground pepper

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp thinly sliced or chopped scallions

-ingredient B

dash of sesame oil

dash of crushed sesame seeds

dash of soy sauce

Heat the pan on medium -high heat.

Put all the ingredient A as indicated above soybean sprout first on the bottom of the pan, then all the ingredients on the top of the sb sprout. 

Close the lid and cover the pan, then lower the heat to medium -  low heat. Let it simmer for about  2 minutes. 

SP Sprout will become moist and soft, using chop sticks mix it well and following ingredients B as necessary. 

Korean Squash:

-ingredient A

thinly sliced squash (1 lb)

thinly sliced small yellow onion (1/4 lb)

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp minced garlic

-ingredient B

1 tsp thinly sliced or chopped scallions

1 tsp Korean salted shrimp (sae-woo-jut)

1/2 tsp sesame oil

dash of sesame seeds

dash of black ground pepper

dash of kosher salt (if necessary)

On medium- high heated pan, add oil, start with a yellow onion, then squash to saute, and add ingredient A.

When squash starts to become slightly soft, lower the heat to low - medium and add ingredient B. 

modcloth love: random picks

Owl Ring You Up

Made to Measure Bracelet

Professional Picnicker Satchel

Tale of Two Whales Necklace

domestic goddess...or just unemployed

So married life has been great.  I actually like doing things like laundry and cooking but mostly because I'm unemployed and I have nothing better to do than to do domestic kinds of duties....cooking duty.  Dead guy duty. ("Nacho Libre", anyone?!) Not having a car doesn't help (I still have to learn how to drive Mark's stick shift car).  Not that I have any idea how to get to the freaking Target.  Welcome to Chicago, California girl.  Geez....

In my times of domestic bliss I always thank ATK (America's Test Kitchen) for foolproof recipes that I can turn to. Here's my first try at quite possibly the easiest biscuits EVER.

Cream Biscuits (from the ATK Family Cookbook)
makes 8

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for the counter
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.  Stir in cream with wooden spoon until the dough forms, about 30 seconds.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and gather into a ball.  Knead the dough briefly until smooth, about 30 seconds.  (Don't over handle the dough)

3. Pat the dough into a 3/4 inch circle.  Cut biscuits into rounds or 8 wedges if you're like me and don't have a biscuit cutter cut with a knife.  Place the biscuits on lined baking sheet.  Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.


So I think I could've kept my first batch in for a minute or two longer to make them really golden brown but they still came out pretty tasty for not having any butter in them.  The heavy cream really gives it a light almost buttery taste.  I made a second batch and wrapped them in plastic wrap and stuck them in the freezer for a later time.  If you're keeping some in the fridge for immediate – i'll eat them soon consumption reheat in a toaster oven for added crustiness on the outside or in the microwave for a softer biscuit.  Yum!

married life rocks!

I've taken some time off to get married and move to IL but I'm back to say that I survived....the wedding, the aftermath, the move, the unpacking.  AND I lived to tell about it!  The wedding was wonderful and like everyone says...it went so fast.  I feel so grateful to have had so many people help us with the whole day...our friends rock my socks what can I say.  

There are some teaser pictures posted at our photographer's blog.  Nina at Love & Lemonade is a freaking rockstar.  We just loved working with Nina, Howard, and Teresa.  I thought we were going to feel uncomfortable in front of the camera because Mark and I didn't do engagement photos but we felt like we were hanging with friends so everything went so smoothly. 

Life in Chicago is.....different.  What can I say, I'm a Southern California girl.  Anything other than So Cal is weird.  1st impressions of moving to IL: the sounds.  The gusts of wind are so strong that I thought it was raining...no it was just the wind through the trees.  THEN it started raining out of no where.  THEN it stopped.  Second sound, the suck pump.  It's a pump that sucks water so that our basement (yes, we have a basement) doesn't flood.  It's constantly pumping out water and it sounds like the garage door opening.  Third sound, the snoring.  My husband (eeee, I'm married!!) snores and sleeping with someone is weird in itself but sharing a room with someone who snores is....interesting.  Gotta love my ear plugs.  HAHA  I love you hubby! :P

book review: the encyclopedia of sandwiches

Full disclosure I received a free copy of Susan Russo's new book published by Quirk Books, "The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches" in order to do this review.  You can purchase it here.

My first impression of the book was, "Ooohhh, coool."  I really like the look and feel of the book.  It's a smallish book but it was really creatively done (the inside covers look like toasted bread!).  The book is not only a cookbook but it also contains a lot of background and history on each type of sandwich. 

I personally LOVE sandwiches and it's one of my favorite foods.  A perfectly made sandwich is a thing of beauty ... perfect proportions of veggies, protein, and carbs; coupled with the perfect type of bread and the right order of ingredients.  Sometimes the most simple things are the hardest to do well.  These great sandwiches will draw you in with the really great photos inside the book.  The wonderful photos inside were taking by Matt Armendariz.  You'll want to keep the book far away from your cooking area because you'll want to keep each picture pristine and beautiful. 

 

Today I decided to try out something quick, easy, and one of my favorite sandwiches: Egg Salad.  You can actually get the recipe off Susan's blog, here.  

Really easy to make and really satisfying on a Saturday afternoon.  This is definitely one of the books I'll be taking with me when I move from CA to IL.