maryland/dc part 2

Continued from Part 1.  

Sunday was our sightseeing day.  We took the Metro all the way to the National Mall.  No, no, not THAT kind of mall but where the all the national monuments and museums are.  We met up Mark's cousins and saw the Washington Monument and visited the Holocaust museum and really enjoyed (I don't know if that's the best word to use) it.  We learned a lot.  We were pooped after one museum so we headed back to the Metro to go to Chinatown for lunch.  And of course in Chinatown we had Spanish style tapas.  LOL!  We ate at La Tasca and took advantage of their all-you-can-eat/AYCE (this might be a reoccurring theme in my life) tapas menu.  The food was just so-so.  *2 hours of eating later LOL*  Hey.  Don't judge, we walked a lot and were hungry.  Should you visit La Tasca and do AYCE, I'd recommend the beef empanadas, bacon covered dates with blue cheese, and the pork tenderloin.  However, if you live in CA I would HIGHLY recommend you going to Lola Gaspar in Santa Ana and get EVERYTHING.  Dinner was back at in MD at  Ray's the Classics.  We enjoyed a bone-in cowboy-cut ribeye steak with bacon-wrapped jumbo scallops and their crab bisque.  Key lime pie was for dessert and for some reason dessert was on the house!  *shocked face*  I'd say that Ray's was decent but not head and shoulders above some of the steakhouses I've been to in IL.  Good but not great.  

What a good looking guy, huh? :P (go lakers)

This now concludes the MD/DC eating extravaganza tour.  However, at this time I'd like to take a moment to highlight a special friend.  A new friend but a dear one to Mark and me.  In the span of 2.5 days we visited this friend 3 times and loved every single minute.  Our new friend is Bubble Tea Café. Growing up in OC and growing up as an Asian I know boba or bubble tea.  I'm picky, man.  I'm not impressed by just some corner joint that claims to sell good boba.  I say this so that the gravity of my delight in Bubble Tea Café will be rightly appreciated.  They made their black milk tea (the standard drink of any boba place) in ways we had never before seen.  It tasted like the black milk tea we had always dreamed about...strong tea flavor but not bitter, slightly sweet (but not overly sweet) taste, and not a heavy viscosity (meaning it actually felt like tea in our mouth and not syrup).  We took a sip and looked at each other, what was this wonder in our mouths?  Delicious.  We went back three times and each time had the same thing...Black milk tea with lychee jelly.  I'm a believer. 

unsolicited wedding advice wednesdays : bridal shower gift idea

The typical bridal shower gift is lingerie from Victoria's Secret.  It's always fun and funny to see the reaction of the bride and the guests to see crazy lingerie.  It's a great gift to give but I'd like to suggest a different kind of bridal shower gift - a bridal emergency kit.  Almost everyone and their mom told me, as the bride, to prep an emergency kit for the wedding day.  While I totally agreed and wanted and intended to have such a kit it honestly became the last thing on my mind by the time the wedding came and I had no kit on the wedding day.  AND I needed one!  Haha, Murphy's law.

One of the things that kept me from making this kit for myself is because it requires so many separate pieces to be assembled.  How great would it be if a bride could receive an emergency kit as a gift.  You do the leg work for the bride and you could save the day when it comes down to it!

Here's a list that I would've had in my emergency kit:
Safety pins (various sizes)
Q-tips
Lip gloss
Chapstick
Oil blotting paper
Antiperspirant
Tweezer
Band-aids
Bobby pins
Double-sided tape/Hollywood Fashion Tape
Water bottle with sport top or with a straw
Tampon/Pad
Panty liner
Nail clipper
Emory board/nail file
Travel sized stain remover
Sunscreen
Mini can of soda water (to blot stains on the wedding dress)
Hand towel or handkerchief
Pair of flip-flops
Small snacks (like breakfast bars or nuts)
Floss
Antacid tablets
Tissue

Half of this stuff you'd probably already have and the other half you could pick up at the travel section at Target.  Organize it all in a pretty mini tote bag and you've got yourself a pretty great bridal shower gift!

and by monday i meant tuesday

Driving to and from the Maryland/DC area was exhausting.  Mark drove nearly a total of 22 hours roundtrip (I drove a measly 2 hours)....my husband loves me.  We got home Monday afternoon and collapsed (why was I so tired?!?! LOL).

Anyway, those were the bookends of the trip but the middle was really fun and great.  Here's what we learned while driving to the east coast: Maryland is way prettier than IL, Pennsylvania would be gorgeous in the fall, and that Indiana and Ohio have nothing redeeming to offer.  Don't visit these states.  ;P

**Side note: Once we got to MD I was horrified to discover that my little point and shoot camera was out of batteries so the pictures we took were very limited.  :( Dispair and horror!!  I definitely learned my lesson: always bring the charger.  Pictures were taken by Mark with his cell phone.

We were in MD for a wedding but other than wedding responsibilities all we did was eat.   LOL so here is our eating journal...we arrived Friday afternoon in time for the wedding rehearsal and dinner.  This was the first wedding I would participate since my own and I have to say it was a bit weird.  I totally appreciated all the planning and manpower required now because I had been clueless before my own wedding.  The rehearsal dinner was at Smokey Glen Farm where they do "Fridays on the Farm" in the summer time which is an all-you-can-eat (AYCE) BBQ feast on Friday nights.  I mean, the place is literally a farm with rolling hills and a huge barn.  The AYCE buffet includes: steamed crabs, steamed shrimp, BBQ chicken, BBQ ribs, corn, baked beans, mac and cheese, hot dogs, salad bar, cole slaw, potato salad, bread, 4 different pies, and unlimited non-alcoholic drinks!  PHEW!  It was a sight to behold.  We packed our plates and literally ate inside a big wooden barn...it was really fun.



Saturday we slept in and had time to grab lunch before the evening wedding.  After consulting a friend who grew up in the area we headed towards Addie's for lunch.  The restaurant is in a converted home and it's definitely a must-eat for lunch if you're in the area.  Peeking at the dinner prices we felt that the lunch was definitely worth it compared to dinner prices.  The restaurant has a changing menu based on the season and what the local farms are growing....love that.  It's how eating should be done - local and fresh.  We LOVED the soft-shell crab sandwich (which was a special that day) and the Prince Edward Island Mussels (which were part of their regular menu).  Prince Edward Island!!  I love Anne of Green Gables.....but I digress.  For dessert we had a rhubarb tart with buttermilk ice cream that was DE-licious.  Love the tart rhubarb with the sweet and creamy ice cream.... smacking lips.  I thought that the un-sung hero of the lunch was the BREAD.  I'm a certified carbo-holic and I love a good piece of bread and this place had such a perfect baguette that we had 3 baskets worth.  Augh, crusty and soft, flavorful and chewy, spread some delicious butter and sop up the broth from the mussels with it and you're in HEAVEN.  Heaven I say!!  Augh, eat there...take me with you too.

Maryland/DC Part 2 on Thursday...

road trip!

korean fried zucchini

Cooking for two is crazy hard.  How much food do you buy?  How much food do you make?  One of my kitchen pet peeves is throwing away food because it's gone bad before you can eat it.  It feels weird going to the market and only buying one potato, or one tomato, or two zucchinis.  Side note: how hard is it to spell the word, "zucchini"?!

Mark really likes zucchinis...a guy that likes veggies, go figure.  Zucchini (if you keep staring at the word it starts to look spelled wrong, weird) are great raw or cooked but don't make them mushy...it's just gross mushy.  One way any Korean will know how to eat a zucchini is dipped in egg and fried.  

Cut off the ends of the zucchini and slice a washed and dried zucchini in circles.  

I only used one zucchini so keep this in mind for the flour and egg ratios....Next, put a 1/4 cup of flour in a small bowl, add salt and pepper to taste.  Use a fork to combine.  In another small bowl whisk one egg.  

Put the slices of zucchini in the flour and dust off the access flour.  Next dip each floured slice in egg and place in a pre-heated pan (already with heated oil) over medium heat.  Turn the slices once the egg has browned.  Once both sides are browned, remove from the pan and let the zucchini cool on a plate.  Serve with soy sauce and vinegar (ratio 1:1).  

unsolicited wedding advice wednesdays : how to ship

Like I said before I was a moving bride from CA to IL.  Our engagement period was a short 6 months so I basically had half a year to plan a wedding and prepare to move to IL.  If you've ever moved out you'll understand how surprised I felt when I started to realize how much STUFF I actually owned.  I actually flew to IL so I had to ship most of my belongings during our engagement.  The last resort was checking in baggage on the plane because it's expensive and there's a greater chance of damage.  Here's what I did:

1. PURGE.  Give away, throw away, or store away things.  Be ruthless and try not to be too sentimental with your belongings (this was SOO hard for me).

2. ORGANIZE.  Once you've thinned out your stuff and have decided what you're going to move get organized.  Organize by category (clothes, kitchen, books, etc etc) and then by like-size.  If you're using boxes this will help your fill them efficiently.  Fold clothes to similar dimensions so stacking items will be easy.

3. BOX.  I used cardboard boxes that I got from work.  I talked to our warehouse supervisor and asked him to save certain size boxes for me and I began to hoard bubble wrap from like a mad woman.  Wrap fragile items with bubble wrap (newspaper is no good) and eliminate empty space inside your boxes.  If your items have a chance to move around there will be a great chance for breakage.  It's also a good idea to line your box with bubble wrap.  Try to keep fragile items in the same box and heavy items in the same box...try not to mix items.  If you're shipping kitchen items like pots, fill the empty cavity of the pot will smaller items and then cap with the pot top then seal it shut with plastic wrap.  Always mark fragile or heavy boxes as such and draw arrows to indicate which way is up.

4. SHIP.  I have found that UPS was the cheapest option for me because of the large size and heavy boxes I was shipping.  If your boxes are smallish (less than 20" cubed) and are less than 40lbs it might be cheaper to go with USPS media mail.  Both have websites that will let consumers calculate cost before shipping.  If your work will let you ship through your warehouse and pay back the company this is the best option.  Shipping rates for businesses cost substantially less so take advantage of it!

5. TRACK.  Be sure to email yourself the tracking information and cost (if you're paying your company back).  This will help you communicate with whoever will be receiving your shipment and will give you a way to keep track of which shipments you have already paid for.

6. RECYCLE.  Before you recycle your boxes in your new locale maybe check to see if anyone in your new area is moving and is need of boxes.  It's really expensive to move so wouldn't it be nice to give a new friend a helping hand AND your box a second or third life!

convenient garlic trick

Garlic.  Love it?  I sure do.  It gets added to almost any savory dish I make.  I love the flavor and even the aroma of garlic...it's the smell of something delicious cooking in the kitchen.  The thing that is the most annoying about cooking with garlic is peeling it and mincing it.  It's time consuming and a pain to do.  

A minced garlic trick I learned from my aunt really helps out this pesky problem.  In your local grocery store they probably sell pre-peeled garlic in a plastic bag or container.  This is a dream for any home cook but there's still the problem of mincing and quantity.  Mincing is easy enough to do with a knife (although I personally don't like the lingering smell left on my fingers) but the bigger problem I think is that usually the pre-peeled garlic containers are very large.  Unless you have a family of 10 I can't imagine how a person could go through the whole container one or two cloves of garlic at a time without the rest of the bunch going bad.  

My aunt's solution was to pre-mince the pre-peeled garlic and freeze the fresh garlic for later.  Brilliant!  You'll need a blender or food processor.  Mince the fresh garlic by pulsing it in the blender/food processor.  

After you've minced the garlic grab your sandwich sized resealable bags.  Prep the bag by folding back the zip closure so none of the garlic gets stuck in it.  Fill the bags with the minced garlic.  Press the air out and seal close the bag.  

Next, press flat the minced garlic.  Make sure it gets in each bag corner and is evenly flattened.

Grab a chopstick (or you can use the back of a butter knife) and press it in the center of the closed plastic bag.  Then subdivide the two halves to make 4 columns.  Repeat on the other axis.  

It'll look like this when you're done!

Keeping the bag laid flat, stack your bags on top of a tray or plate and place in the freezer.  The garlic will freeze and stay fresh.  When you're ready for a bit of minced garlic just open the bag and snap off a small piece of the frozen block.  The lines we pressed onto the bag will help us break off a small piece of garlic.  Your freezer may smell like garlic but a box of baking soda in the freezer will help with the odor.  I used a large container of pre-peeled garlic and I was able to fill 12 plastic baggies.  Whoa!  I won't have to worry about minced garlic for a while!

the klaus burger

Meet The Klaus Burger at What's UR Favorite in Streamwood, IL.  It's massive.  It's huge.  It's delicious.  It's a 1/3 lb. burger with cheese, topped with an onion ring, with a scoop of chili, bacon, barbecue sauce, repeat steps 1–5, finish with lettuce, pickles, and tomato.  Holy cow!  Definitely not something to eat everyday but it was a really yummy dinner to split with my hubby.

chicago style sport peppers

I don't know why but whenever someone in CA found out that I was moving to Chicago they always said, "Well, at least there'll be really good food there."

I don't know.

Call it my SoCal loyalty, call it my locale arrogance, call it what you will but I think CA fare runs circles around Chicago food (on the whole).  Mexican food?  CA: winner.  Korean food?  CA: winner.  Japanese food?  CA: winner.  Taiwanese food?  CA: winner (especially because I can't FIND a Taiwanese place to eat in Chicago).  Vietnamese food?  Haven't had it yet but Mark says, CA: winner.  (Apparently I eat a lot of Asian food hahaha)  I could go on and on.....

HOWEVER, there are some things that Chicago does well...Hot dog?  Chicago: winner (with the exception of Pink's because what they serve I would call deliciousness on a bun and not just a "hot dog").  I got to admit that in the world of regular hot dogs I prefer a Chicago style one above the rest.  Love that pickle, celery salt, poppy seed bun....  But the key ingredient for me is the Sport Pepper.  It was unlike any pepper that I had had in CA.  Small, narrow, crunchy, great flavor, and good heat but not too much.  No, they're not like the small yellow chillies you get at Tommy's, The Hat, or a hole-in-the-wall burger joint (GOD I'd kill to eat Tommy's right now).  No, it's not a pepperoncini or giardiniera either and don't you dare say a Tabasco Pepper.  It's a sport pepper and unless the jar says, "Chicago style Sport Pepper" it's a fake.  The last time I visited Mark before we were married we scoured the markets in IL for the prized Sport Peppers and we couldn't find it (I tired in CA too and failed miserably).  But 3 weeks ago, while perusing the aisles of Valli Produce Market for the first time we found a jar that specifically said, "SPORT PEPPERS."

YESSSS!!!11!!1!!1  Victory, sweet sweet victory!

Now, what exactly is a 'Sport Pepper'?  I have no idea.  There are thousands of pepper varieties and under the list of ingredients it just said, "Peppers."  LOL, maybe it's a secret because even online I couldn't get a straight answer as to what constituted a genuine "Chicago style Sport Pepper."  I have no idea what it is exactly and why it's so effing hard to find in stores but what I do know is that I love them and I can eat it with nearly everything.  I also have no idea if there's a particular brand that is better than others but I say, "Love the one you're with."

homemade espresso barbecue sauce

Hannah + Time @Home = Lots o' Cooking.  Hahaha it's true, I get up at 6:15AM with my hubby.  I roll out of bed to make his lunch for the day and coffee for the road.  He's out the door by 6:45AM.  After that I'm pretty much left on my own to fill my day with productiveness.  Hee hee

This week one of the things I made is homemade barbecue sauce.  I've used this Michael Chiarello recipe before to make barbecue ribs and Mark and I both really like it.  Originally I got it from the Food Network Favorites cookbook that I have.  However you can get it online on foodnetwork.com, here.  The full recipe as is makes about 4 cups of sauce so I usually make half the recipe.  The sauce is awesome BUT unless you plan on using it within the next 2 weeks there's a good chance that it'll go bad.  Remember it's homemade so there are no preservatives.  Part of what makes this sauce so good is found in its name: espresso.  The espresso coffee gives the barbecue rich deep flavor.  

To make the espresso I used a Cilio porcelain coffe maker.  It was a gift from one of Mark's groomsmen and it's pretty cool!  Not practical for making 12 cups but it was great for making a couple of shots of espresso.

We didn't have any ribs at home but this awesome sauce doesn't just have to be on ribs.  Being rib-less but being hungry for lunch I broke out a burger!  Who doesn't love a barbecue burger for lunch?  Unfortunately this is what I had for lunch and not Mark.  :D  Hahaha, sorry honey!

baby sister

What can I say, my parents are neurotic to the core.  They adopted my brother's Yorkshire Terrier, named Sesame, as their dog number of years back and have completely rearranged their lives for her.

Don't be so dramatic, Hannah.  I'm sure you're just exaggerating.

No, I'm being quite serious.  They don't go out of the house late at night because they think she'll be 'afraid' to be home alone in the dark.  They feed her specially prepared food and feed her by chopsticks special table scraps (not leftovers but the best pieces of meat from dinner).  When they come home they announce, "Baby I'm home!" and begin to hold and kiss her (and no, they're not calling out to me....the REAL baby of the family.  LOL).

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  I've been summoned in the past, nay demanded, to come home early in order to BABYSIT the DOG.  She's just a dog!!  I'd scream at my parents to no avail because in their minds she's my baby sister.  No, I'm serious, they CALL her my 'baby sister' in Korean.  See what I mean by neurotic?!

It's been almost a month since moving to IL and I'm finding that I miss the small comforts of home in CA.  And I guess that would include my baby sister.  

unsolicited wedding advice wednesdays : where to register

As stated in the previous post I certainly am no wedding expert and I can only share what I have personally gone through so here's what I can tell you:

My experience was as a traveling bride, meaning I moved from CA to IL after the wedding so naturally this impacted where and how Mark and I decided to register.  Our criteria was simple: 1. Be easily available for guests in multiple states around the country 2. Have the option to order online and ship to IL  3. Be able to refund gifts for cash  3. Easily add items to the registry online (since I was in CA and Mark in IL).  4.  Have stuff we want.  

For better or worse we decided to register (although in hindsight we probably should not have) with Bed Bath & Beyond (BBB) and Amazon.com.  BBB was a chosen because we were told that we would be able to refund any of our received wedding gifts for cash and we felt that guests that were coming from CA and IL would be able to find a BBB in their respective areas.  Amazon.com was chosen because we wanted to register for specific items that would not be at the same store (such as Apple products and specific kitchenware) and we knew that refunding items would be relatively easy.  

In addition we registered with Crate and Barrel (CB) but kept the registry private because we wanted to only have a maximum of 2 registries public for simplicity sake.  In our price comparisons between BBB and CB we found that CB was actually slightly cheaper and we liked the designs much more however we couldn't get a clear answer whether we could refund received gifts for cash as easily as BBB.  So the private registry served as a list of things we'd probably want to get after the wedding. 

Now that the wedding has come and gone I would have to say that Amazon.com was the easiest to work with.  Keeping track of gift givers was the easiest with Amazon because a convenient list of the gift giver and gift is recorded online.  This was not the case with BBB gifts and we had to hang on to every packing slip from each BBB shipment in order to figure out who had given what to us.  This was annoying because we had several boxes from BBB coming to the new house and each packing slip had to be saved.

We did decide to return some gifts to BBB and we ran in to some issues when we wanted to get cash back.  We eventually did get cash back however we discovered that they were reluctant to do so.  We're not sure if the issue was that the items were purchased online or if it was because we were making the return to a store location that was different from our primary location selection.  The point is that the cash back guarantee didn't exactly go the way it was described.  My advice would be to contact the store you think you may make returns at before you start your registry and talk to the store manager about returns.

One last thing to remember is that after your wedding you will receive discount coupons in the mail from your registry locations (except for Amazon) so wait for these coupons before purchasing items off your registry that you didn't receive.  This was another mistake we made hahaha, we made our purchases (and of course the stores said nothing about the discount) and then a few days later the coupon came in the mail.  FAIL. :P 

what i'm watching on hulu

The Glee Project. The show seems somewhat forced...trying to make a reality show that is pretty much like the TV show with similar personalities but I like how it gives the audience a behind-the-scenes look at how the TV show is made.

Barefoot Contessa. Gotta love Ina and her food.  It's a great show with simple and inspiring recipes and I love her mellow personality, no over the top butter content or bleached hair.

Castle.  Seriously, one of my favorite TV shows right now.  It's on hiatus for the summer like all the other shows but I still like to re-watch the old episodes and keep it playing on the background when I'm working.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  I LOVE what Jamie is all about for this show.  It kind of works me up because this season he's dealing with a lot of red tape but it inspires me to eat better and feed my hubby better food.

The Voice.  I was pleasantly surprised by this show.  I thought it was going to be a total joke but the star judges actually are pretty intelligent with their guidance and it's a fresh take on the stale American Idol idea to finding new stars.

So You Think You Can Dance.  I really don't know anything about dancing but I am just so amazed that the human body can move like it does on the show and I really like the comradery between dancers.

anna shea chocolates & lounge

This past friday the hubby and I had a date night and we started the night off with dessert at Anna Shea Chocolates & Lounge in The Arboretum in South Barrington (a bourgey suburb of Chicago, think Newport Beach if you're from CA).  Anna Shea sells jewel-like chocolates that are made on site, gelato, chocolate based hot and cold drinks (including martinis) and has a lounge that is attached to their store for people to hang out or rent for bigger parties.  We were told that a lot of bridal showers were held here...I could see why.  

We had a free sample of "Heart of the Ocean" which is a dark chocolate ganache with sea salt.  It was actually pretty good.  But we were there for the drinks because we had heard that the hot chocolate was really good.  Mark had the English Toffee Coffee and I had the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate.  Holy cow, after the first sip we were both sold.  Keep in mind that neither of us are chocolate people but this place had come highly recommended.  We also enjoyed a small piece of pistachio and cranberry bark which was really good too.  

After the third or fourth sip of chocolate we were feeling kind of sick...too much chocolate!  We saw some women sharing a tray of fruit and cheese with a bottle of wine which seemed tempting but we wanted something else to cut through the constant sweetness.  Something like a steak or ribs....lol!  But alas there was nothing to save us and we just had to push through the chocolate.  I'd recommend Anna Shea but it's definitely an occasional guilty pleasure.  

healthy chocolate chip cookie?!

Ok, so it's not "healthy" as in "good for you" but healthier than your usual chocolate chip cookie.  Thanks to Mark's wonderful cousin and her fiancé (thank you!) we received the ATK's Healthy Cookbook as a wedding gift.  I know, I know, I'm like a broken record with the America's Test Kitchen bit.  And yes,  I DO own other cookbooks....

Here are the numbers:
Original ATK choco chip cookie:
Calories: 190, Fat 15g, Sat Fat 10g, Cholesterol 55 mg
"Healthy" ATK choco chip cookie:
Calories, 120, Fat 5g, Sat Fat 3.5g, Cholesterol 20mg


They were able to achieve the lower numbers by making a more modestly sized cookie (not a same-size-as-your-face size cookie) and cutting the butter and chocolate content without cutting the taste.  For me personally I totally didn't mind the smaller amount of chocolate because I'm not much of a chocoholic myself.

Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie (ATK Healthy Cookbook)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
5 Tb unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Adjust oven rack to middle position.  Heat oven to 375 degrees.
1. Whisk flour, salt, baking soda together in a bowl.

2. Melt 3 Tb of butter in a skillet over med-high heat until butter is dark golden brown, 3-5 minutes.  Transfer to a large bowl and stir in remaining 2 Tb of butter until completely melted.

3. Whisk brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla into melted butter until incorporated.  Whisk egg until the mixture is smooth with no lumps, about 30 seconds.  Le the mixture stand for 3 min, then whisk vigorously for 30 seconds.  Repeat process of resting and whisking twice more until mixtures is thick, smooth, and shiny.  Stir in flour mixture and 6 Tb of chips until combined

4. Working with 1 heaping Tb of dough at a time, roll the dough into balls and lay them on the parchment lined baking sheets, spaced 2 1/2 inches apart.  Press the remaining 2 Tb of chips into the tops of the cookies.

5. Bake cookies, one sheet at a time until the edges are set and centers are soft and underdone, 8-11 min, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking.

6. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 min, then serve warm or transfer to wire rack and let cool completely.

**Freeze unbaked dough balls for future use.  To bake, arrange frozen cookies on baking sheet and bake as directed, increasing the baking time to 13-16 min.

rolled egg omelette

Here's another comfort food for me: rolled egge omelette.  I have no idea if any other Koreans grew up with this dish but I sure did.  Finely diced carrots, scallions, onions, and cheddar cheese rolled into a sleeping bag of egg is oh so delicious.  Love the melted cheese that oozes out of the eggy goodness.  Sorry, I forgot to take pictures while it was cooking...blasted, what a rookie mistake.


Rolled Egg Omelette
2 eggs beaten
1 small carrot, finely diced
1/4 small onion, finely diced
1 stalk of scallion, finely diced
(you could add any kind of veggies actually, but dice it finely so it'll roll well)
shredded or thin slices of cheddar cheese, optional
salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine everything in a bowl except the cheese.  Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat.

2. Pour a small amount of the egg mixture into the skillet (imagine a crepe) and let it set on the edges but still be a little undone in the center.  Using a spatula roll the thin egg omelette into itself, like you're were rolling a sleeping bag.  Keep in the skillet.

3. Pour another thin layer of the egg mixture making sure it is touching the long edge of the previously rolled egg.  We're connecting the new egg and the old egg so when we roll it again it'll all be like one long piece that was rolled.  Once the edges of the newly pour egg is set and the middle is still a little undone place the cheese inside the middle leaving plenty of room around the edges otherwise the cheese will just ooze out of the omelette.  Begin rolling again in the same fashion as before.  Repeat process until there is no more egg mixture.

4. Place rolled omelette on a cutting board and let it cool for 3 min.  Cut into 1" slices and serve!

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.