Oneyearaversary

"Dang, this cake is sweet."

"Yeah. I think it was probably better fresh. The mousse is still good."

"Yeah."

"We should have gotten chocolate for the top tier."

"Definitely."

Finally useful

For the past year, I've been hoarding boxes. Working at a school with no textbooks, we went through reams and reams of paper, so it was hard to resist taking advantage of the box supply. I knew we'd be moving sometime. Then, with the wedding, all the gifts came in the mail, in boxes (and sometimes in boxes in boxes), and I saved those as well. The corners of our house were filled with box towers, and for someone with no moving plans, it was getting a little creepy.

However, all that box hoarding will be paying off, in that I now won't have to be scrounging for boxes. We put in an application for new place and got the word back today that they want us. The place is awesome! The only downside is that there isn't a garden or patio. There is a community garden across the street, but I haven't heard back from the coordinator (and it seems like those places always have a waiting list), so I'm going to have to figure out how to do a lot of gardening indoors. We've got a little loft area with a skylight, so I'm thinking I'll get a tall wire rack, so that I can have several tiers of plants. I'll definitely have to document this project.

Happy New Year!

For my grand return after my blog-cation, I'll be doing a meme. Very classy, I know. Blame Alyndabear for finding one that is well suited to year-end reflection.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? I think getting married probably takes the cake on this one, but I also went to Disneyworld (which was my first time in the eastern half of the U.S.).

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Last year I resolved to try a new recipe a week, eat a greater quantity and variety of vegetables, continue to post (on average) every other day, and eat fast food less often. I kept these resolutions for the first half of the year, but I really fell off the wagon towards the end. I don't think I'll be making any resolutions for this year. Would resolving to get pregnant count?

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My sister in-law gave birth to my second nephew on November 4th.

4. Did anyone close to you die? R's uncle recently passed away. Sadly, I never got to meet him.

5. What countries did you visit? None, though I did get to travel down to the nation's wang for the first time.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? A baby.

What? That so counts.

Okay, I'd also like dog. And a bigger garden. More tomatoes. More time to read. And no major injuries.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? August 9th (got married), November 4th (new nephew)... I think that's it. The last day of teaching was also pretty memorable (such relief!), but I don't remember the exact date.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Master's degree.

9. What was your biggest failure? My inability to keep teaching. Sure, this was a voluntary failure, but it still makes me feel like a quitter.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Why yes, I certainly did. (The scar has flattened enough that I can shave over it, thank goodness.)

11. What was the best thing you bought? We bought a new power source for my computer shortly before my old one died. The timing was excellent, and my computer was only out of commission for a couple of hours.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My sister. She went back to school to finish her degree and, thanks to lots of hard work, got three As and one B this past semester. Good job, Wee-est One!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My mom, but we really don't need to get into it.

14. Where did most of your money go? The wedding. So expensive! I did also manage to pay back a good chunk of my student loans.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Disneyworld! We were looking forward to the trip all year.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008? Probably any song we played at the wedding.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
(a) Happier or Sadder? Happier. Less stressed, for sure.
(b) Thinner or Fatter? About the same.
(c) Richer or Poorer? A little richer, and with fewer crazy expenditures on the horizon.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Gardening. I know I did a lot, but I still wanted more veggies.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Freaking out about things outside my control.

20. How did you spend Christmas in 2008? Hanging out with my family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008? I was already in love. :)

22. How many one-night stands? Nil.

23. What was your favorite TV program? The Venture Brothers.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I can't really think of anyone I actually hate.

25. What was the best book you read? Making Money (hilarious and strangely topical), Me & My Brothers (I'm a dork, but it's still funny).

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Taylor Swift's new album.

27. What did you want and get? I wanted a job, and I got one. Yay for income!

28. What did you want and not get? I really would have liked to get pregnant.

29. What was your favorite film of this year? I think the only film we saw was The Dark Night. We're really looking forward to Watchmen.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 24, but I don't actually remember what we did. Something, but it was apparently overshadowed by the wedding.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Babies. I think I might be a bit redundant here.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Jeans & T-shirts, work clothing (for the first time in my life), not wearing hoodie sweatshirts as much.

33. What kept you sane? The knowledge that the school year would end.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Honestly, I can barely even name a public figure, much the less fancy one.

35. What political issue stirred you the most? Prop. 8.

36. Who did you miss? I miss my intern teacher crew. We all used to sit around a few tables and prep. We had a lot of fun.

37. Who was the best new person you met? R's cousins were pretty nice, the people I work with are interesting, but I haven't really made any new friends this year. Luckily, the ones I have are pretty cool.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. Planning makes life better. Also, no one notices the little things at weddings, so it is best not to freak out.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. “You think you're so smart, but I've seen you naked" Blame It On Me, by Barenaked Ladies. It probably isn't the best representation of the year, but it was the song lyric that R and I kept passing back and forth to each other.

40. What are your resolutions for 2009? Babies! Also, to find a nice new place to live. Keep exercising, cooking, and gardening. Finish the blasted thank you notes from the wedding.

Honeymoon musings

There are deterministic, Euro-centric messages at Disney World. I didn't notice this to be a large problem, but it was disturbing nonetheless. Two rides specifically caught my eye: Splash Mountain and It's a Small World.

Now, I'm sure I'm probably not the first person to notice this, but at the end of the ride, when all of the kids of all the nationalities sing together, they're all dressed in white. Only by whitening can everyone come together in peace and harmony. Unsettling, perhaps?

Splash Mountain, though, is the ride with the most palpably creepy dialogue. At the end of the ride, after Brer Rabbit saves himself by tricking Brer Fox into dumping him back into the brier patch he had been trying to escape in the first place, you find Brer Rabbit and the bluebird sitting on the porch of Brer Rabbit's house. Among other things in the sequence of dialogue, the bluebird says (in a very condescending voice), "The brier patch is where you were born, and the brier patch is where you'll stay!" Apparently wanting to explore and move up in life is not a Disney virtue.

... If this is what I think of in Disney World, I think it means I need to get out more. I must have no life.

The triumphant return

Well, perhaps that is a bit of an overstatement. Perhaps it would me more accurate to say "Staggering back to the blogosphere," as after returning home late Thursday night, R and I were then felled by the same cold and have been laying around the house ever since. I got up the energy to make a delicious soup we first sampled on our honeymoon, but not much has been going on otherwise. There is something about sickness that just turns me into a whimpering lump. I'm fine with injuries, but, due to a tendency to only get really sick, I cave to the slightest sore throat.

Anyway, the honeymoon was awesome, but I'm a bit too tired to go into much detail at the moment. Having never been to the southern portion of the country, the cultural differences certainly stood out. Every restaurant and fast food stand seemed to have pulled pork sandwiches. There was plenty of "high, hard hair" (as I have heard it previously described), large bodies, and more tube tops than one should in the course of a year. Everyone seemed to have some sort of accent. Most importantly, everyone was really nice and seemed genuinely friendly. A nice place, though incredibly humid. The camera even fogged up!

(That would be me up there on the balcony, in the pink t-shirt.)

One of our biggest fears when scheduling the honeymoon was hurricanes. Lucky for us, both avoided our area and we only had a couple days of rain to deal with. Of course, thanks to the Internet, one's friends tend to be located in diverse areas, and what seems like a lucky break for you (such as a hurricane not hitting Florida) may not be so lucky for them (the hurricane instead hits Texas). So whether you just missed the hurricane, helped out the evacuees, had to deal with associated weather, or survived the hurricane itself, I'm glad everyone out there seems to be in one piece.

Wedding pictures #2

On with the show! Or, well, ceremony. Much obliged to the friend of mine who took these pictures.

Waiting...

Processional.


And here we go!

In case you can't tell, it was really bright up there. Poor R could hardly see anything. I was but I silhouette against a blinding background.

Moment of truth here. Does it fit?

Aww, we're so happy. I really was just overjoyed throughout the wedding. It all felt so right. There was definitely crying from other parties standing up there, but aside from one little choke, I didn't notice.

Wedding pictures #1

I'm off on vacation right now and won't have Internet access, seeing as it cost $10 a day at our hotel. I may be an Internet junkie, but I can make it 10 days without at that price.

In any case, this seemed like a perfect opportunity to take advantage of Blogger's post scheduling abilities and share some wedding pictures. Here is a bit of the pre-show.

My good friend S and me, studiously avoiding the camera while making the bouquets.

My sister's hair, mid-do. They teased up the middle, but it worked out in the end.

Pre-vacation update

For those of you who have been wondering, here is my slightly-tipsy update on what I've been doing and thinking lately, in list form.

- No matter how tasty, I can't eat an entire batch of smoked oyster risotto on my own, and the stuff is just not appealing the next day (or any day thereafter).

- Ice cream and sorbet is always good, even though some people may think otherwise.

- I know I'm not here to talk politics, but I'm somewhat enthused by McCain's choice of running mate. Really, though, I think either candidate would do better than the current president. That guy is just embarrassing.

So, I am intending to set up some post of wedding photos (borrowed from friends) for during the honeymoon. Hopefully that won't fall by the wayside during the packing tomorrow. Wish us luck (that we won't wind up in a hurricane)!

Like a butterfly

It is strange to watch my new come into being. Mrs. [new last name]. Picked up my marriage license today and then ambled my way over to the social security office.

"Hey," I said, "I'm changing my name."

"Alrighty," said they, "have a new card."

In a few days, I'll head down to the DMV to change the name on my driver's license. After that, I get to talk with various other places and get my passport replaced. The whole process really seems so uncoordinated and arbitrary for something so important and routine.

Recipe Review: Red Wine Risotto

Somehow the extra booze from the wedding (particularly a large open bottle of red wine) and the general lack of fresh groceries combined into a perfect storm of risotto yesterday. After furiously flipping through my well-loved risotto cookbook, I found several recipes which involved red wine, one of which I could in fact make with ingredients I pretty much had on hand. I did have to go out to buy a red onion, but that was okay, as it could sit in the car while I ran my other errands (dropping off the marriage license at the county clerk's office).

Red Wine Risotto
from Risotto: With vegetables, seafood, meat, and more by Maxine Clark (recipe slightly condensed, as I am tired)

- about 6 c. hot chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1 small red onion, finely chopped
- 1 small carrot, finely chopped
- 1 small celery stick, finely chopped
- 3 T. pancetta or prosciutto, finely chopped (optional) (I used bacon)
- 2 1/3 c. risotto rice
- 1 1/4 c. full-bodied red wine
- 1 1/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- salt & pepper
- chopped fresh parsley, to serve

1. Put the broth in a saucepan & keep at a simmer.

2. Melt half the butter in a large saucepan, then add the onion, carrot, and celery and cook until transluscent.

3. Add the pancetta & cook for another 2 minutes. (I just added bacon I cooked separately.)

4. Add rice and stir until well coated & heated through.

5. Pour in wine & boil hard until reduced by half.

6. Add broth a ladle at a time, keeping the rice as a simmer & adding more broth before it dries out. Repeat until rice is creamy but still al dente (15-20 minutes).

7. Season with salt & pepper, then mix in Parmesan and remaining butter. Cover and let rest, then serve sprinkled with parsley.

Needless to say, this risotto was pleasant enough that I wanted to share the recipe with you. As R put it, it was not the very best risotto we ever had, but it was still good.

Recipe Review: Dark Chocolate Sorbet

Ah, August. The time when a girl's fancy turns to ice cream.

Well, that probably has more to do with my new toy than anything else, as today was rather overcast. This wedding was really my opportunity to pimp out my kitchen. Amongst the other cool swag (new pots and pans, culinary torch, that mixer that everyone else has), I received an ice cream maker.

Having been wanting one of these for a while (and having it residing on my gift registry for the last several months), I had started to collect ice cream recipes to try once I acquired said ice cream maker. The first we tried was the dark chocolate sorbet recipe found on Chocolate & Zucchini (though originally from The Perfect Scoop, which I have since ordered). We could almost stop the explorations into ice cream making at that one recipe. It is so good! Rich chocolate flavor, with little chocolate grains throughout - you'd hardly believe it was an incredibly simple recipe. I bought some nice chocolate for this inaugural run, but I bet it would still be good with standard chocolate chips, meaning it wouldn't even require a special trip to the store. We've pretty much decided that, barring new flavors from Haagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry's, we're going to be making our own ice cream from now on. Next up: strawberry stracciatella.

Why having friends is awesome

Multitudes of other reasons aside, they do really awesome things when you get married. Such as doing all sorts of errands, getting my wedding dress steamed so that it looks extra lovely, planning an incredibly fun bridal shower at a cool winery, and generally making me feel like a princess (and my life easier) throughout this whole marathon event. So I want to everyone to know how very grateful to have had a wonderful friend like this ever since the second week of first grade, when I transferred into her class. (She got all teary when she told this to everyone at the bridal shower. Isn't that just adorable?)

I do feel a little jealous that she was partying and getting drunk with my family the night before my bridal shower, but I think I can forgive her. They also love her, so I suppose it is okay that they like to spend time with her whether or not I'm there. At least they took pictures.

After this, sleep

I don't think I actually realized how exhausting and busy this whole "wedding" thing was going to be until my sister and best friend (co-maids of honor) were laying out the schedule for the next few days. Hair trial, bridal shower, flowers, dinners, medical appointments... Madness! That doesn't even include the day of the wedding, which is pretty much nonstop primping prior to the ceremony.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think it's going to be great, but just the thought of what is left to be done leaves me pooped.

The Growing Challenge #11: Sharing

A flock of birds has found my tomato-y paradise. Anything remotely red develops holes. I check the plants throughout the course of the day, each time finding new victims. My only recourse is to eat them anyway. I wash them, cut out the holes, and put them to use. Fried tomatoes and brie on rye toast for breakfast, sliced into veggie wraps for lunch, or pasta sauce for dinner and the freezer. My only challenge is using them that day, as I don't want to put them in the fridge, but I know that their violated skins will lead to spoilage if they sit out. With all the wedding hullabaloo, I'm sure to miss a few in the coming days.

The Growing Challenge #... Umm... 10?

Okay, so it's been a while since I last updated on this topic. [Looks into archives] 3 months. Yeesh.

Well, I may have been so busy with grad school and wedding stuff that I didn't update, but I didn't stop doing the important stuff (namely, watering). Thanks to this continued effort, I've now started to see the payoff. Tomatoes! Peppers! Radishes!

My Thai pepper plant is just dripping with peppers, as you can tell from the photo, but even though the peppers were large they remained green. Finally, they've started to turn red. My bell peppers have started to turn orange, and even my lone poblano chile has taken on a deep green-red hue. I've decided to make some pepper jelly and toss in a few of the Thai peppers, just for added kick.

Even after several failures (dang rabbits. They also ate a bunch of jalapenos), I decided to try planting radishes again. Apparently the planter I planted them in was far enough away from the fence, and the radishes have grown to maturity. I'm pretty sure I've grown the world's cutest radish, but I might be biased.

Just so you know, that tomato is tiny.

I've also planted my centerpieces for my upcoming nuptials. I think they've turned out quite nicely. Plus, one they are finished with that role they will go live in the backyard of a friend of mine (well, I'll probably keep one). Dual purpose!

Progress

I just got my wedding dress back from the tailor. I think I will have to send her a wedding picture in a thank you note, as she did such an incredible job (and for a very reasonable price, too). I've finished nearly all of the items on my to do list, though I abandoned my search for stockings. I'd hate to bleed on them. Tomorrow, I'll figure out something for the table numbers.

The last big thing left is finalizing the ceremony. Earlier this evening, R and I chopped out the soppy bits from the sample officiant speech. We've tasked our roommate with figuring out the opening for the ceremony. Something funny, if possible. Poor guy.

11 days (and counting)

The wedding looms overhead, and I feel like I'm stuck in limbo. I'd like it to be here already, but at the same time we've still got things to do. We're going to be figuring out the ceremony tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up my wedding dress from the tailor today.

Mentally, I think we're feeling the strain. R and I have been having wedding dreams. Something always seems to go wrong.

In R's most recent dream, he and I had gotten the date of the wedding wrong thanks to some quirk of Outlook. Everything was scheduled correctly, the guests arrived, but we weren't ready. We all took a walk on the beach, then decided we would just have to wing the ceremony. As one of our wedding gifts, we were given a tiny box that contained a tiny terrier. It was only a couple of inches long and ran around yapping. R wondered why someone would give us a dog, particularly as we prefer large dogs.

In my most recent dream, way too many people showed up for the wedding. They were jamming people in for the ceremony--it looked like a concert. There were people lining the stairs and people hanging off the nonexistent balcony of the building. I had forgotten my jewelry and my dress was stained and didn't fit right. Finally, the wedding party started walking down the aisle, my sister stumbling in last wearing massively tall shoes and a short white afro wig. I finally walked down the aisle to applause and cheers of "You go, girl!" (For some reason, there were a lot of black people in the crowd, even though I personally don't know many black people.) My roommate then started out the ceremony with an enlightening parable about testicles.

Don't look if you have a weak stomach

So yesterday we were biking down this awesome, fun, incredible bike trail that we just discovered right next to our house. The trail consists of these trails through a tunnel of trees which drop down into a canyon and then climb back out.

At the lowest point in the trail, right were R thought to himself "It would really suck to get injured right here," I hit a rock, my foot slipped off the pedal, and the gear wheel sliced open my leg. I got off my bike, took one look at my leg, and sat down to apply direct pressure and wait for R to come back to get me (and bring the first aid kit).

We then had to walk out of the canyon while our roommate raced home to get the car to pick us up. We then spent several hours in the emergency room. Apparently the place was really freaking busy. Anyway, I got two cute little stitches. My first from things other than surgery. I'm so proud!

We've decided that the garter will need to go on the other leg. Glad I have a long dress!

Recipe Review: Peanut Sesame Noodles

Here I sit, alone, having spent the afternoon and evening working on the final paper for my masters program (and made decent progress, btw). R has been off on a day-long bachelor extravaganza for an acquaintance of ours who is getting married next weekend, leaving me a quiet house (so quiet) in which to work.

Also, much to my delight, I got to try out a recipe R would probably object to: peanut sesame noodles. Any sort of peanut-flavored dish just reminds him of peanut butter, though this one is so savory and delicious and filled with other flavors that the peanut flavor is not overwhelming. I've actually been tasting the leftover sauce all evening, it is so good. I can't wait to try it with soba noodles (I used somen, like in the picture, which was also delicious). Make this recipe!

Well, as long as you aren't allergic to peanuts.

Because I need to write this down somewhere

As the wedding approaches, I keep finding more and more little things to do. I've decided that I need a little check-off list so that I won't forget anything. I can't believe this whole thing is going down in less than a month. So little time to do stuff!

- Figure out music for ceremony
- Finalize music for reception
- Make time line/schedule for the event
- Get dress hemmed and bustled and buttons sewn on top section (has to wait until my petticoat arrives)
- Get R fitted for his tux (should be happening this weekend)
- Get a haircut
- Give R a haircut (2 weeks out)
- Figure out how to decorate patio for ceremony (Do I want an aisle runner?)
- Paint little containers for favor/seating assignment plants
- Buy plants and plant centerpieces and favors (not until closer to the date, so I don't have to water them for too long)
- Buy parakeet grit to cover soil in centerpieces
- Make bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages (day before)
- Find stockings
- Figure out the jewelry situation

Brain... hurts...