SN adventures in durham

Nick's pate choux

2010-05-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

About a month and a half ago Nick bought Michael Ruhlman's newest book Ratio. It's all about how a lot of things in cooking are ratios, and if you change one of the parts (fat could be butter or oil or lard) or the ratio itself, it would make something different. Of course, the first thing to come to mind is baking.

Nick's first foray into the book was to make shortbread cookies, which were deliciously sandy and buttery. Afterward he decided his next project would be the pate choux dough. Apparently, the dough can be made into many things including, but not limited to, cream puffs and gnocchi. I had no idea that gnocchi could be made without potatoes.

First, he made cream puffs. I loved how they looked on the silicone mat. I had some from the first batch with pistachio ice cream from Maple View Farms. They were great. The next day, Nick decided to make his own pastry cream, so I had some of the next batch with that. Also delicious. Pastry cream on the left, ice cream on the right.

Lastly, he turned out some new pate choux dough with parmesan cheese. The next day, he squeezed out little tubes of dough and cut them into boiling water. After they cooked, he sauteed them with butter, mushrooms, farmer's market spinach, and cream. It was a rich dish, and it might have been a good idea to serve it with greens and vinaigrette to cut the richness. Instead, we ate the gnocchi with bacon. Still good, right?

City Beverage

2010-05-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, while our respective fiancees were up in DC wreaking bachelor party havoc (and getting wicked paintball bruises), Emily and I had dinner at City Beverage down on 54. Online is has a reputation of being a neighborhood spot, though a bit overpriced and the service a bit slow. Nevertheless, we were lured by the promise of patio dining.

When we got there, the wait for patio seating was about an hour so we opted to sit inside. The interior is an eclectic mix that might be described as "modern tiki bar." To start, we got the homemade potato chips that came with the optional $1 blue cheese dip. We didn't request the sauce but were charged for it...I guess you have to specifically request not to have the sauce.

I ended up ordering the seared tuna tacos. The three tacos came overflowing with lettuce greens, red onions, guacomole, and a spicy, creamy sauce. The salad greens were an interesting touch, but the flavor on a whole was very satisfying.

Emily ordered the veggie burger, which instead of having two buns with a garbanzo bean patty in the middle, turned out to be two garbanzo bean patty "buns" with sprouts, red onion, avocado, and a creamy sauce in the middle. She ate it with a knife and fork and enjoyed it.

We had great conversation while waiting an inordinate amount of time for our check to come and be discharged. I think I prefer the Federal for the food, service, and cost, but City Beverage wasn't a bad experience. I might come back.

Durham's food trucks

2010-05-06T14:02:00.000-07:00

The mobile food scene in Durham and I are friends. Nick and I have already been patrons of the city's taco trucks late at night. They are delicious and totally hit the spot after a trip to the bars with friends. We have also gotten burgers and delicious fries from Only Burger. However, Durham has recently become home to an Indian food truck and a Korean-fusion taco truck, Bulkogi. I think this is a clever riff on the original Korean fusion taco truck, Kogi, in my hometown of LA.

Last week, Nick and I stopped by Sam's Quik Stop to get some food from the Indian food truck. The menu only has about 5 or 6 items on it ranging in prices from $5 to $7. Nick and I ended up getting three of the items: beef curry, samosa chat, and aloo tikki chat.

While waiting for the food to be ready, I walked to the end of the parking lot and spotted Bulkogi in the Wachovia parking lot. We decided since we were already there, we'd sample some tacos ($2). Bulkogi has three kinds: BBQ chicken, spicy pork, and BBQ beef. Other items on the menu included tortas, burritos, and quesadillas.

The tacos were good, but not spicy. We didn't add any of the spicy sauce because I wanted to try them as is the first time. At $2 they are the same price as traditional tacos and over just as quickly. I would stop by for a few tacos as a snack in the future.

When we got home, the smell from the Indian food was teasingly delicious. We opened the containers to massive amounts of food. The aloo tikki and the samosa chat each came with some channa masala. It was so good and spicy. Nick even got his "hot" so he was soon reaching for the milk.

I have a feeling we'll be back to satisfy our Indian food cravings now that Green Leaf has closed. The Indian food truck actually rents the Taqueria Rubio bus so look for the bright red bus. They don't have a twitter so I'll just be counting on them to be at Sam's Quik Stop from now on.

Counter Culture Coffee Cupping

2010-04-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I'm back from a blogging hiatus. The final semester of school has been very busy, with a trip to Singapore, the second year retreat, and significant life decisions. The event that brought me back to blogging is the weekly coffee cupping at Counter Culture Coffee's Durham headquarters.

I've seen Counter Culture blends at various restaurants around Durham and heard about their weekly Friday morning coffee cuppings. At 10am every Friday, they invite everyone to come to their headquarters and learn about the process of tasting coffee. Afterward there is a roastery tour. I've been wanting to go since I moved here, especially since it sounded like wine tasting but I wouldn't get sick afterward.

I asked Hannah to accompany me and we drove 15 minutes to the little brick building on Alston. When we got there, everyone was holding little clipboards with pieces of paper. I picked one up and it had several columns: coffee varietal, fragrance, aroma, break, acidity, taste, mouthfeel, and flavor. Needless to say I was overwhelmed by the terms. Lem, the customer rep, explained the process to us.

Today we tried three coffee varietals, all from different places. I forget where the first one was from, but the second was from Ipanema, Brazil, and the third was from Aceh, Sumatra. First we sniffed the dry grounds (fragrance), then after hot water was poured, we sniffed the wet grounds (aroma). After steeping we broke the "crust" of grounds at the top and inhaled the release of CO2 (break). The grounds were then taken out and we slurped each coffee to determine the last four categories.

At each step, Lem asked us for our thoughts and input on each coffee. He emphasized trying the coffees in order and encouraged reevaluation at each step. At the end of the process he revealed that the three coffees we tried are part of their Espresso Toscana blend and the reasoning behind each coffee's inclusion in the blend. He then made espresso shots for everyone in the room of the Toscana so we could taste the final product. I found out I'm not an espresso drinker. It was bitter and sour to me.

Afterward he took us all on the tour of the roastery and we got to see the small scale of their production here in Durham. They have six other regional centers, but Durham is their world headquarters. It smelled amazing next to the roasters.

I'm actually going to the Science of Coffee event on Sunday at the Museum of Life and Science so I guess I'll get my month's worth of coffee over these two days.

Welcome back.

Winter Break

2010-01-07T20:51:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the break in posting. Will relaxing in 75 degree weather in southern California count as an excuse? I had a great time at home, eating almost every kind of Asian food I could get my hands on. I think the only one I missed on my list was Malaysian food.

I also saw friends, looked at wedding dresses, and adored my nieces. It was jam-packed!

I wanted to spotlight this Vietnamese dish my mom made for me on Christmas day. It's banh beo, which are little disks of rice flour noodle that have been steamed and topped with various delicious things. I prefer the "wet" version, which is bigger than the "dry" and has a topping made with pork, shrimp, shrimp head, fish sauce, and corn starch, accompanied by scallion oil, deep fried shallots, and nuoc cham. Hope you enjoy the following photos as much as I enjoyed eating the banh beo!

First, the meat filling, in all its raw glory. The shrimp heads lend flavor and color.

Deep frying the shallots.

Steaming the rice flour mixture.

The assembled product. YUM!

Breathtaking dance

2009-12-11T13:56:00.001-08:00

I just watched this routine from So you think you can dance. It's beautiful, amazing stuff.

Thanksgiving break

2009-12-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

Nick and I spent a nice Thanksgiving with our friend Carmen. We made lots of food, watched concerts on TV (yeah Michael Jackson!) and played some wii. After she left Friday morning Nick and I relaxed together for the next three days. It was wonderful.

On Friday we watched Ratatouille, played Lego Star Wars on the wii, and did some Black Friday shopping at Target and Ross. Nick got the Flight of the Conchords 2nd season dvd for only $8.99! The we ate leftovers and made turkey pot pie.

On Saturday we had tacos, pozole, a torta, and a pineapple Jarritos at Los Comales. More relaxing. More leftovers.

On Sunday we woke up late and had leftovers. Then we went hiking at William B. Umstead State Park, which was amazing. It was so peaceful. Afterward we stopped at Crabtree Valley mall on our way to The Pit in Raleigh. We had some great food (brisket and pulled pork for Nick, baby back ribs for me) courtesy of Emily and Steve who gave us a gift card months ago. Thanks, guys!

Sunday night we made apricot and strawberry rugelach. They are delicious!
...
On a sad note, though, our hamster Penelope passed away suddenly on Tuesday. It tinged our holiday and I can't quite believe she won't be running around our office anymore. I hope she had a good life with us, even if it was only for three and a half months.

Thankful

2009-11-25T12:41:00.000-08:00

I've been reading a bunch of "I'm thankful for..." posts today so I thought I'd write my own.

I'm thankful for:

1. My family. They all happen to be in CA right now and my mom's side is all together this Thanksgiving except for me. Tear. They give so much support it's crazy. And they're crazy loud when they get together. I'm going to miss it.

2. Nick. He is just awesome. I am so glad we made the journey out east together. Not only is he the nicest person ever, he's also a great baker. He solves many problems with his rice krispy treats, zucchini bread, and chocolate cookies. Can you believe it will be 7 years in January?

3. Annika and Cassidy. They deserve their own mention because they are too cute to be lumped in with everyone else. These pint-sized bundles of joy/stress/love have so many moments of adorableness that when I'm down, I just look at their pictures and feel better.

4. Friends. Friends from all aspects of life that we seem to collect along the way. From the SGV, Davis, and Durham...hopefully many more to come.

5. A roof over my head. I'm so fortunate to be able to afford a place to live. I take this for granted but for so many people this isn't the case.

6. Food. Sometimes I also take food for granted. I'm lucky to be able to eat locally and out whenever I want. I think life would be so boring without the total enjoyment of food.

7. The internet. Yes, this is sort of a silly choice but it does help me communicate with the world, procrastinate, and find really good recipes really easily.

8. The number 8. It's my favorite number in the whole world. This is also sort of silly. However, I desperately wanted to have 8 things on my list. Because, you know, it's my favorite number.

Happy Thanksgiving! Nick and I are going to make a turkey and lots of other food. Will update with pics when we get them.

Piedmont Restaurant

2009-11-22T07:03:00.001-08:00

We're coming into the last stretch for this semester. I'll be glad when December 10th comes around! I can't believe we only have one semester left, too.

I'd like to talk about one of our favorite places. Piedmont is located near the farmer's market so more often than not we eat there for Saturday brunch after getting our produce. Since we generally go after the farmer's market we almost always get the same table. I've taken to calling it "our table."

It's a contemporary space with a loft-like feel. Brunch is simple but sophisticated. I hope to do a brunch post sometime in the future. This post is about a dinner we had back in September that was quite memorable. We don't often do dinner there but I think we were on our way to the theater that night and decided to make a date out of it.

We shared a gnocchi course that was simply amazing. The gnocchi had been seared in butter and had the most delicate flavor, enhanced by the poached egg on top. I love gnocchi but always regret ordering it because the portion sizes are too big for such a rich dish. Here, sharing made for the best enjoyment.

I had a housemade Italian sausage and polenta dish in a tomato broth with broccoli rabe. While this dish hasn't been my favorite out of what I've had there, the execution was solid and the polenta was creamy.

Nick had a fish dish. In fact, I can't remember anything about what was in it except that he really, really liked it. The fish was cooked really well. Oh, I just remembered Piedmont's website has menu archives. Nick's dish was seared NC wahoo with sambuca braised fennel and puttanesca sauce.

We shared a walnut cake with housemade vanilla bean ice cream that was so, so good. I cannot tell you how much I still think about this cake today and wish I had another slice. I was a good friend that night, however, and got a slice to go for a friend that had just taken her first organic chemistry test.

Piedmont is a great place for upscale food in a contemporary setting without the upscale atmosphere. They're laid back because they know their food is great. And that's how I like it.

Tacorriendo Las Delicias

2009-11-13T20:34:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make. Nick and I have not eaten at a midnight taco truck in months. MONTHS. So tonight, after the Duke basketball game we stopped by Tacorriendo Las Delicias on Hillsborough to reunite with our faithful midnight (although it was only 10:30pm) food haunt.

Four tacos: two al pastor, one lengua, and one barbacoa. Not pictured: arroz con leche.

It was as delicious as we remembered. Must come back more often...

Lyndsay, I saw a van at the other end of the parking log advertising tacos de birria y consome. Maybe reason #2478 you should visit Durham??

Halloween

2009-11-11T15:47:00.000-08:00

So Halloween was more than a week ago...oops. I've been pretty busy with school, if that's any excuse. I was Little Red Riding Hood. Friends pictured: Carmen as a gnome, me, Emily as Medusa, and Katy as Smurfette.

Here are Steve and Nick's matching costumes:

They're the red and blue tanks from the Wii Play game. Steve also made his blue tank an Obama tank with campaign stickers. Too bad we didn't have any McCain stickers! (I don't know anybody that does, here) That would have been funny, right? They were throwing ping pong balls at each other all night. =)

The costumes were mainly recycled materials. They got a christmas tree box from target for free, where they bought the red and blue wrapping paper. the cardboard tubes, ping pon balls, plastic cannon ends, and cds were from the Scrap Exchange, a creative reuse center that gets stuff from industry that would otherwise go to the dump. Go Steve and Nick and beign environmentally friendly!

Twisted Noodle

2009-10-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't posted on Twisted Noodle yet. This Thai restaurant is one of our go-tos whenever we don't feel like cooking, or when we feel like having noodles. Sure, it's more expensive than what we would find in CA, but you can't be upset about it when you live in North Carolina.

I have been recovering from a bout of the stomach flu these past few days, and for my first full meal I decided I wanted to eat some favorites at Twisted Noodle. I generally rotate between two things: sauteed glass noodles and teo chew noodles (with soup or "summer style"). I didn't bring a camera yesterday so these photos are from a previous visit.

Nick usually varies his choice. Sometimes he gets drunken twisted noodles, yesterday he got roast duck noodles, and still other times he gets the sauteed cashew stir fry. It's good to note that the roast duck noodles are much better "summer style" than with the soup.

Although we usually get dessert, we didn't last night because I didn't think my stomach would appreciate dairy. We love the rotee with the flaky layers and sweet condensed milk.

Fall Break

2009-10-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

Currently in LA.

Watching lots of tv in HD.

Met up with the Gastronomer and the Astronomer at Blue Cherry. May have found fro-yo that I like! (not too tart) Got to introduce them to my favorite guy. =)

Banh xeo for breakfast. JTYH knife-cut noodles (pan fried and in beef noodle soup) for lunch. Roast duck during dinner. Fosselman's for dessert.

Tomorrow dim sum with Nick's siblings. Pho ga with family for moon festival. Seeing the girls and Connie's new house.

Monday banh cuon or In N Out (or both?). Huntington Chinese garden. Chiu chow garlic crab for dinner.

What a fabulous three day weekend...

Vivace

2009-08-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

This post is not to say to the world how charitable, how caring, or how philanthropic Nick and I are, but to let you know sometimes there are other reasons why we dine at the places we do. I forgot to take the camera, so no pictures this time.

Today we had lunch at Vivace, in North Raleigh. It was about a 40 minute drive, not close by any means, but we had errands to run on our way back so it wasn't too bad. We decided to eat there because the staff was donating 100% of their tips to a very good, but sad cause.

Last Wednesday six-year old Ashley Ramos-Hernandez was hit by a car as she got off the school bus near her house. The 83-year old driver did not see her. Ashley didn't make it.

I'm pretty sure it's against the law to pass a stopped school bus in any direction and it makes me angry that such carelessness caused such a tragedy.

Her parents both work for Urban Food Group which owns Vivace, Coquette Brasserie (whose staff is also donating their tips), and two other restaurants. They decided to do this to help Ashley's parents with the funeral costs and other expenses. More details are found here, on the VarmintBites blog.

So Nick and I found ourselves at Vivace at noon today. The inside is cool and modern, with long banquettes and large cube lanterns overhead. We perused the menu while eating sesame semolina bread with a roasted garlic-white bean spread.

I started with a classic caesar salad and Nick opted for a large bowl of mussels steamed with garlic, butter, and tomatoes. My salad was pretty solid, with fresh romaine and lots of shaved parmesan. Grilled bread accompanied his bowl and I got to soak a piece in the delicious broth. Nick really enjoyed the mussels and the tomatoes.

I chose a scallop risotto with fava beans and corn for my entree and Nick got braised shortribs with mushrooms and polenta. We both thought everything was good, but I was so full after barely eating a quarter of my dish. I think I would have enjoyed it more if we didn't eat so much bread and appetizer. We'll just get to have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

When our bill came, there was a slip of paper explaining that the service staff was donating their tips to the Ramos-Hernandez family. I hope it persuaded every patron to tip a little bit more than they normally would have for this family.

We ended up having a delicious lunch at a place I had not heard of before, along with being able to help a family in the aftermath of such tragedy. I look forward to dining at Vivace again in the future.

Penelope

2009-08-17T19:32:00.000-07:00

This past Friday I fulfilled one of the wishes that I had when I first moved to Durham. I wanted my very own hamster, and I finally took the plunge. She is a cute, gray teddy bear hamster. I'm still getting used to her and I hope eventually she'll get used to me.

I decided to name her Penelope, after the first name I came up with didn't quite fit. I think I'll call her Penny for short. =) She likes to climb the walls of her cage and eat blueberry yogurt treats. Last night she got carrots, celery, and squash for dinner. What a treat!

Elmo's

2009-08-03T19:30:00.000-07:00

The Sunday after Nick's siblings left we decided to have some brunch. Usually I choose a brunch place like Rue Cler or Watts Grocery, but that day Nick decided he wanted to eat at Elmo's. Elmo's is a very popular diner on Ninth Street. It is usually insufferably crowded and the wait on weekend mornings is way too long.

This is when small numbers work to your advantage. The last three times Nick and I ate there, we squeezed into spaces at the counter instead of having to wait 30 minutes for a table. Once, when I ate there alone in November, the guy working told me I was the luckiest person in the place because I got the last open seat at the counter.

I like sitting at the counter and watching the friendly waitstaff go through their frenetic motions as they serve food and dispense beverages for the filled dining room. What can I say? People watching is a sport.

Usually I go for breakfast items but that day I saw a shrimp burger special listed on the board as I walked in, and decided to go for it. A shrimp patty on a kaiser roll with onion and tomato, with coleslaw, remoulade sauce, and fries on the side for $7.50. The patty was pretty greasy, but hit the spot when covered with coleslaw. I decided I prefer thin, crispy fries instead of the thick crinkle-cut fries on the plate.

Nick ended up getting corned beef hash with eggs and toast. He loved it. I had a couple of bites and it was pretty much as I expected: cheesy, salty, and oily. I mean, sometimes you just have to accept diner food as it is.

And that's what they serve at Elmo's: honest, greasy, delicious diner food that sets you up for an afternoon of napping.

Which is precisely what we did.

Nick's siblings visit

2009-08-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

About three weeks ago we welcomed Nick's siblings Peter, Philip, and Yvonne to Durham. They had just been in DC for the weekend and took the train down to visit us. I was really excited because I hadn't seen them for over a year. They arrived on a Tuesday and left on Saturday so we tried to pack as many sights as possible in the short time frame.

Tuesday night we went out for dinner at Sushi Love so they could experience this ubiquitous "buy one get one free" deal that exists at almost every Durham sushi restaurant. Since Emily and Carmen joined us, our sushi selection came on a sushi boat and an extra plate! Afterward we hopped over to get pops at Locopops because that is almost a Durham institution now. Unfortunately, I think the cream in my white chocolate icebox pie pop had gone bad because it was overwhelmingly sour.

On Wednesday Nick and I went to work while they hung around the house. They ate fried rice for lunch that I cooked up the night before. For dinner we had La Vaquita and then headed to Nick's softball game and cheered him on.

On Thursday we headed east to Wilmington to spend the day at Wrightsville Beach. They all got to touch the Atlantic for the first time, which was very exciting. We packed a picnic of sandwiches, mango, cucumber and carrots, tzatziki and pita chips, and coconut pecan cookies. I also brought along some cheerwine (soda of the south!) and water.

After 4.5 glorious hours lounging on the beach, accompanied by the wind sandblasting us, we went to downtown Wilmington to have dinner. We chose a small French bistro and had great food.

Friday was the day for them to take in more of Durham and Duke. We had lunch at Toast where I had the fabulous local egg sandwich again. We then walked around the campus and took pictures at the chapel and introduced them to some of Nick's coworkers. The heat took its toll on us so we relaxed at home instead of heading out to see UNC as originally planned.

For dinner we had to take them to have some southern food so we went to Mama Dips in Chapel Hill. Dinner was deliciously heavy and awesome. And they got our order right this time, too.

We stayed up late that night since it was their last night. I woke up early the next morning to prepare their travel bentos with turkey and cheese sandwiches, PB&J, farmer's market tomatoes, mango, cookies, carrots, and strawberries. We all said goodbye at the airport.

Nick and I were sad, but happy that they came to visit us. There's nothing like seeing family when you are far away.

Pics available on facebook, along with some funny ones where I digitally inserted Nick's oldest brother, Anthony.

Last weekend of summer

2009-08-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know it's only the 1st of August. However, the next few weekends before school starts will be packed. This is the last "I can do anything I want" weekend.

We woke up later than usual, but still early considering we didn't go to sleep til after midnight. I stayed up so late because Nick just got Wii Sports Resort and we were doing our best to paddle a canoe, play table tennis, practice archery, and sky dive. It's pretty awesome.

This morning we stopped at the Durham Farmer's Market where someone commented on my "durham: can you dig it?" shirt which was so cool. It's the fourth time that has happened. We got some peppers, corn, sweet sungold tomatoes, french and wax beans, and a melon.

Afterward we stopped by Piedmont to have brunch. Nick got the farmer's market special with eggs, home fries, bacon, and a biscuit (with ketchup and stawberry-fennel preserves) and I got a chicken, corn, and chorizo soup and a salad with avocado, smoked chicken, cheddar, and a shallot vinaigrette.

Now we are off to the Raleigh flea market. I love me some vintage, cheap stuff. Later tonight, Emily and Steve are coming over for games and the Wii. It's going to be great!

Dirty Dancing?

2009-07-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

I just saw this video and couldn't stop laughing. Dirty Dancing is one of my favorite movies ever. This was just brilliant!

Outdoor concert and Sunday brunch potluck

2009-07-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago we went to an outdoor concert in Cary with Steve and Emily to celebrate Steve's 25th birthday and listen to the NC symphony play selections from music composed for video games over the years.

We packed a picnic of KFC chicken, Vietnamese spring rolls and hoisin-peanut sauce, cheese and crackers, veggies and tzatziki, and soda. It was delicious!

The symphony played from video games such as Super Mario Bros., Final Fantasy, Halo, World of Warcraft, and Legend of Zelda. The screen displayed game play from whatever they were playing at the moment, and also showed members of the orchestra. The conductor would also tell brief histories of each game and who composed the music.

Later on we surprised Steve with a small cake and a gift: a pic of Nick and Steve. And even later on, the sky surprised us with some rain. We waited it out under an awning and ventured close to the stage again when it stopped. Steve used his trusty iphone to ascertain whether or not the rain would stay long.

It was a great evening and not too buggy, either. Happy birthday, Steve!

The next day we went to a Sunday brunch potluck hosted by Joe and Charley. Nick and I made two crab quiches. There were cinnamon rolls, peach pie, two pecan pies, sauteed cauliflower, frittata, fruit, and mimosas and tea. It was great. Afterward they played croquet while I took pictures.

You can check them out on facebook along with more photos from the symphony in the "Summer 2009" album.

Family Visit

2009-07-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

Nick's siblings are here. Expect update soon*. Lots of food and the beach!

*Pester me if it's not up in one week.

Scallop dinner

2009-07-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon Nick and I wandered up and down Ninth Street in Durham after taking pictures downtown for a group project. Looking for refreshment we stopped in at Ox & Rabbit for a dark chocolate milkshake. The place only just opened up in late May of last year. I may be slightly lactose intolerant, but I refuse to give up cheese and ice cream. It was creamy and delicious. After they closed at 5pm (it was Sunday, after all) we made our way to Whole Foods to spoil ourselves.

After perusing the seafood counter, we decided to bring home 6 sea scallops for a cost of $14.50. We normally don't spend this much on seafood but if you think about it, the same portion at a restaurant would cost at least double that.

For dinner Nick seared the scallops with salt and pepper. I checked our Food and Wine 2007 cookbook for instructions. I think it was the first time I opened that thing. We found it on one of our travels in northern California for only a dollar...and it was still 2007!

I made some oven-baked polenta from our trusty "Great Food Fast" cookbook (thanks, Martha Stewart!). You just pop it in the oven for 30 minutes, no stirring necessary, and you still get creamy results. I then roasted up some asparagus we had lying around in the fridge that we needed to use. Nice and easy.

Our end result?

Eaten while watching Sunday night television. A nice summer evening, I'd say.

Allen and Son

2009-07-05T20:39:00.001-07:00

On Friday night Nick and I pondered our dinner plans. We had spent the whole day lazing around, when we were supposed to take advantage of our day off and explore the area. Instead, we opted to do that during dinner and ventured off to the outskirts of Chapel Hill to eat some Carolina BBQ at Allen and Son.

Over the past year I've heard a lot about this small establishment in the middle of nowhere, from tv reports, the internet, and family friends (thanks, Don & Carol). We tried to go a few weeks ago for Nick's birthday, but they close at 5pm from Monday to Thursday. This time, we headed over at 6:40, with lots of time to spare before their Friday 8pm closing time.

It really is a small little house, with mismatched chairs and green-checkered tablecloths. We were told to choose a seat wherever, so we plopped down at a table watched over by the preserved head of a deer.

I ordered the barbecue sandwich with coleslaw and hushpuppies, while Nick chose the barbecue platter with coleslaw, hush puppies, and fries. He even ordered a side of fried okra. I decided to go with the flow and get some sweet tea. I'm glad I did, because the water had a metallic tang to it. Our waitress later brought over a whole pitcher for us to share.

The barbecue pork on my sandwich was good, but completely soaked the bottom bun, so I had to eat my sandwich with a fork. Did I ever feel like an out-of-towner! Nick and I agreed the hushpuppies were the best we'd ever had. Just the right amount of crispiness to warm insides.

The vinegary, buttery barbecue sauce was used by Nick, but I avoided it. I don't think Carolina barbecue is right for me. This is blasphemy, I know, but I prefer the thick, gloppy sweet sauce found in Kansas City or Memphis any day.

We ended up getting a slice of sweet potato pie to go. We wanted the peanut butter pie, but apparently it's served frozen so it would have melted on us. I'm glad we went, but I'm not sure I'll have a hankering for NC barbecue any time soon.

Triangle happenings

2009-06-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

Back from hiatus, I hope. I need to have another blog post before it gets left in the wayside of a lazy summer. I was waiting on pictures to be uploaded but it's been a while since I did that. My birthday was awesome, as evidenced by pictures on facebook. Being on the east coast is getting better and better every day. Nick and I are finally getting into a niche here, especially now that I have more time to enjoy things in the summer.

I'm recovering from injuries sustained in softball last week. As I was running to first base, I fell and ended up scraping my face, hip, and knee. I now have awesome scabs on my face that are fortunately covered up by my bangs so that strangers on the street don't give me weird looks. The swelling has gone down, too. I was gonna post a pic for you guys but I decided you should be spared the grossness of it. Nick laughs because I say my face is busted, which he says it isn't. He's so sweet.

The upside of the story is that I was apparently safe due to an error and my pinch runner scored the first of our 10 runs that inning. It led to a comeback from a score of 2 - 11 to our win at 16 - 13. It's got to be my best sports story of all time, considering me and sports don't mix. I guess I can tell my future kids about my great time in softball giving me the scars on my face.

Another highlight of last week was the Best of the Triangle party thrown by the Independent, celebrating all the great restaurants in Durham, with art and music. Nick and I had a great time sampling free food, listening to music, and checking out local art along with a few Nick schoolers we saw there. I even bought two pieces of art for a grand total of $45. One is a shirt with a screenprint of a mixed media piece of the West Village repurposed building in downtown. I got to choose the shirt and the art piece. The second piece is a tiny, about 2x3," abstract contemporary acrylic print painted on the back of an old library catalog card by an artist whose work I've seen around town.

The last great thing about this area we just checked out is the Carrboro farmer's market. It's much bigger than its Durham counterpart. There were lots of great farms there, with meat options Nick and I were interested in and lots of beautiful flowers. We ended up getting green and wax beans, basil, cucumbers, and green bell peppers. We even bumped into a fellow Nick schooler who was having his last hurrah before moving to DC.

Talk to you guys soon in the next post (hopefully) with pictures!

Magnolia Grill

2009-05-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

In March our friends Winnie and Jerry sent us a gift card to Magnolia Grill, which was #1 on my list of restaurants to try in Durham. Nick and I decided to redeem it at the beginning of May to celebrate his new job and my being done with my first year of graduate school. Apparently you have to make reservations a month in advance so we decided to try our luck with a walk in right as they opened.

We each ordered an appetizer and an entree. Nick ordered the special app which was a red snapper sashimi in a hot crab broth and the lamb entree with a local spinach salad and some polenta that was very delicious. I got the pork belly appetizer with a butterbean fondue and some pickled turnips that cut the richness of the pork belly. My NC triggerfish entree came with israeli couscous and squid. There was a great interplay between all the textures on the plate. It was a great meal.

The best part came when we ordered dessert. Nick's banana pudding cheesecake and oven roasted bananas came with a candle on it to celebrate his new job. It was a sweet surprise and a great end to a great meal.

The service was excellent, attentive but not too fussy. We were able to catch glimpses of the dinner service from our table, which was very fascinating. There was a chef in particular who was so tall his head grazed the pots in the rack hanging overhead.

Thank you, Winnie and Jerry, for a fabulous dinner experience! We really appreciated it.

Tacomentary and Watts late night

2009-05-30T12:11:00.001-07:00

Since I promised this post while I was gone, I want to tell you all about the Tacomentary I went to with Nick, Emily K, Tali, and Gina. I misplaced the pics, though, so none this entry. Some Carpe Durham contributors made a documentary about taco trucks in Durham. On May 1 they held a screening party at Pinhook, complete with Benito's taco truck parked right outside.

We made it there around 7pm, waited in line for an hour, got our tacos and made it inside for the viewing. It was a pretty cool experience, especially since I love taco trucks. Listening to the proprietors with their hope for the future and the pride in their tacos was heartwarming.

Nick and I got some pastor, barbacoa, and lengua tacos. They were delicious and greasy. Unfortunately for Tali and Gina, the taco truck had run out of vegetarian tacos long before we got there, so they were pretty hungry. We headed over to Broad street cafe to listen to some music and have some beer to wait for Watts Grocery late night at 10:30pm.

Tali had the pimiento grilled cheese with fries, Gina had a salad, I had the asparagus bisque and shared a red velvet cupcake with Nick. Emily wanted to have an ice cream sandwich, but they didn't have any so they gave her some ice cream for free. The bisque was intensely asparagus-y while the cupcake disappointed. I had high hopes after my brown butter cupcake there months ago. For one, there was no cream cheese icing! The texture wasn't as creamy as I'd like, either. I think I'll stick to lunch and brunch at Watts Grocery next time.

Start of summer!

2009-05-15T22:15:00.001-07:00

I am now terribly behind on posting. I meant to do it while I was at home in CA, but I've forgotten my camera cable and I don't think the posts are as exciting without pictures. So, it'll be some long overdue posts when I get back to NC.

Right now I'm in sunny CA after having just been in Boston. I was visiting Sylvia there and it was great to enjoy the weather and wander the city for miles and miles. Boston is definitely a walking city!

Posts you have to look forward to:
Tacomentary and Watts Grocery late night
Magnolia Grill
Boston
California
and a bunch more from NC food that I can't remember.

This past Saturday I worked the trash and compost duty at the Nicholas School graduation. I was asked by my boss to help with "greening" graduation but apparently this just meant taking care of the trash and compost. It was really disheartening to see how many people did not understand the difference between trash and compost, even if the bins are right next to each other and there are clear signs posted. I mean, these people are related to environmentalists!

Therefore, my fellow volunteers and I had to sort through the trash and put it in the compost bags. Without gloves. Deep down, we all knew that the compost and trash bags were probably going to the same place after Duke sanitation picked them up, because Duke itself doesn't have a compost pile.

Things like this are pretty discouraging when the school is supposed to be all about the environment. Maybe I'm just being cynical, but sometimes I feel like it's just for show. The students are genuine but sometimes I'm not sure if the school is, with all the extraneous packaging and wastefulness.
...
In other news, Nick got a job at Duke! He started this past week and I think he's really enjoying it. It signals a big change in our lives and I'm pretty excited about it. Talk to you guys when I get back to NC!

Saigon Grill

2009-05-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

During the last week of classes, I decided again that I was homesick and only some good Vietnamese food would do the trick. It seems like that's my homesickness cure now! We decided to go to Saigon Grill, which just opened a few weeks ago. We had been there once before while they were still working out service issues. The servers were literally running from the table to the kitchen and back again, and the kitchen was slow to churn out orders. We liked the place but agreed to give them some time to get in the groove.

So, this time service was much more streamlined and our food came out in a reasonable amount of time. We ordered goi cuon (spring rolls) to start. Nick got the pho dac biet (deluxe beef noodle soup) and I got bun thit nuong tom cha gio (vermicelli with charbroiled pork, shrimp, and egg roll).

Their rendition of goi cuon was pretty good, but it's pretty easy to make delicious. Nick thought the pho was decent, but needed more flavor. Maybe more star anise or cinnamon which is the opposite of Pho 9N9's version which was way too cinnamony.

I liked my bun but I was sad that they only gave me one cha gio. The shrimp was the best part! There was a good ratio of noodle to vegetation and meat, which is key in the dish. I also liked that they included mint in the lettuce, bean sprout, and cucumber mixture.

As we were paying our bill, I found out that the owner and his family came from Sacramento! Go California! We were pretty dang excited about that. We'll probably be back many times in the future.

Sugarland

2009-05-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

On the last day of our classes at UNC, my fellow Robertson Scholar bus riders from the Nicholas School and I walked down Franklin Street to Sugarland Bakery. The bakery specializes in cupcakes, wedding cakes, and gelato. It also features coffee and a full bar, and is open until midnight daily. How's that for variety?

The interior is super cute and whimsical, with turquoise blue walls, bright accessories, and displays of beautifully swirled gelato and delightful cupcakes.

I made each of my companions promise to let me take pictures of their cupcakes before they ate them. I was pretty satisfied with the quality of the pictures. Everyone was a great hand model!

Erin's chocolate chip

Gina's banana nutella

Matt's blood orange and pina colada gelato

A trio of cupcakes for Matt, Matt's wife Brittany, and me (clockwise from top): chocolate malt, carrot cake, and vanilla latte

Andrew's chocolate malt, complete with some non-verbal commentary. =)

I asked him not to hold his up since he was the only one that got a cool plate, and Andrew was playfully offended that I didn't ask him to be a hand model.

I liked my cupcake a whole lot. The frosting was light and not too sugary, while the cake was moist and full of vanilla flavor. The only beef I had was that the cupcakes were in a refrigerated case, so when served the cake was cold and the frosting a dense lump. I insisted on letting mine warm up to room temperature, which again got me some flack from Andrew. It was worth it though, when my vanilla late cupcake was subsequently the most awesome dessert in the world.

I'll be back to try the mini cone gelato sampler this summer!

Maple View Farms

2009-04-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

After watching the award ceremony, I decided it was too nice outside to spend it inside the computer lab at school. I wanted to go on a hike, but Nick hurt his knee during ultimate that morning so we decided to drive 15 miles into farmland in Chapel Hill to visit the country store of Maple View Farm. They are a dairy and the store features homemade ice cream, milk, chocolate milk, butter, buttermilk, eggs, beef, and gifts.

The store was buzzing with activity by the time we arrivedat 3pm. With rocking chairs on the porch, picnic tables, and a beautiful view of farmland, why wouldn't there be a crowd? There is even a hitching post for people who come on horses.

To start, Nick got strawberry ice cream on a sugar cone and I got butter pecan on a cake cone. We figured we'd try our favorite flavors first then branch out some other time.

Delicious.

The scoops were extra generous, almost overwhelming the small circumference of the cones. In fact, when Nick was in the process of licking his ice cream, the whole scoop fell off the cone! Luckily he was able to catch it in his hand. He was pretty happy that he caught it, but sad that the heat of his hand caused his ice cream to melt faster. My butter pecan was extra creamy with toasted pecans studded throughout.

We sat in rocking chairs licking our ice cream cones while looking out on beautiful green farmland and rolling hills. It was very relaxing. Afterward we decided to buy a few things to make the drive out worth it. We ended up getting a quart of chocolate whole milk, a dozen eggs, a pint of butter pecan ice cream, and an empty small milk bottle with the Maple View Farms logo. I have a slight obsession with glass bottles.

So imagine my delight when I saw this:

It's a collection of milk bottles from dairies across the country! If you look closely you might be able to make out Nick's profile in the reflection of the glass. =)

Washington Duke Inn and Robert Redford

2009-04-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I walked to the Washington Duke Inn across the street from campus to attend a lunch for Robert Redford and the Board of Visitors for the Nicholas School. Redford was in town to accept the inaugural Duke LEAF award. I was boycotting the award ceremony because I think it's total crap (and they shafted the students because of it) but I'm willing to overlook my principles for some free lunch. =) I also wanted to see what the inside of the fancy hotel looked like.

The lunch was buffet-style: caesar salad, sesame green beans, cheese ravioli, grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, shrimp and corn chowder, and bread with butter. I had a picture of my plate, but it turned out blurry because of the dim lighting. When we sat at our seats in the ballroom, a cream and fruit tart was waiting, along with water and unsweetened iced tea.

I thought the food was pretty good, especially for being mass-produced at a hotel. It probably also helped that it was free! Some of my dining companions were not impressed, however. The chicken was a bit overcooked and the ravioli a bit plain, but everything else was great.

Robert Redford sat at the tabel next to mine, and I kept trying to surreptitiously take photos of him. Here's the best one:

Afterward, we all lined up to meet him, but Dean Bill Chameides cut it off after the kids of some Board of Visitors got to meet him and shake his hand. I think he should at least have let Redford acknowledge the students with a wave! Little things like that make me wonder how much the administration really cares about its students, as opposed to the big donors.

Nick and I watched the award ceremony online, and Robert Redford's speech was the best one. All of the other ones just fawned over him, which gets tiring after a while. I am happy for him, but I'm sad that a long-standing student tradition such as Field Day had to be canceled for it.

Sushi and more theater

2009-04-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

Edit: Apparently I forgot to upload the pictures!

On Thursday Nick and I went to a production of Pride and Prejudice on the UNC campus, which was an adventure (not all of it good). Beforehand, we stopped at Akai Hana for sushi in Carrboro, a town in which I have not had much experience. After getting confused by the street numbering, we finally found a little sushi restaurant which only had a few diners because it was just a little before 6pm.

I ordered the chicken teriyaki combination which came with chicken teriyaki, mixed tempura, rice, vegetables, a California roll, and salad and miso soup. Nick got the chirashi bowl. Then we decided to order two rolls: a spider roll and a salmon skin roll. Needless to say, it was a lot of food.

My combo was pretty solid if not outstanding. My friend Lyndsay judges Japanese places by the quality of their miso soup, and Akai Hana's version was pretty good. Nothing next to Zen Toro, but that's to be expected.

Nick enjoyed his chirashi but commented that there was way too much rice for the relatively small amount of fish he was given. This is coming from a guy who loves his rice. I thought the piped wasabi was a nice design touch.

Our rolls were mediocre based on texture and the variety of flavor presented. I decided I will only get salmon skin hand rolls from now on.

...
The Pride and Prejudice performance was marred by confusion of seating. They let people sit in our ticketed seats because we arrived at exactly 8pm (after getting lost) while people were still being seated and the performance had not yet started. They told us we could get our seats back at intermission, which meant awkwardly kicking out the people who had been in our seats during the first act.

I also had issues with casting and off-portrayal of characters. I don't mind if they set the play in a new era or have fun with the text. But I don't think you should totally change the essence of the character. I doubt Elizabeth Bennet would really be that weepy or Mrs. Gardiner really that silly. That is wholly reserved for Mrs. Bennet, thank you very much. Also, there was no chemistry between Mr. Darcy and Miss Bingley. You didn't even get the feeling that she was desperate for him. Where's the fun in that?

Toast and a musical

2009-04-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

I think I've mentioned Toast before in this blog but it's high time for a legitimate post. I've been there twice before, liking the place but not really liking my sandwich choice all that much. I take the blame for that in choosing badly for myself because Toast's quality is top-notch.

Nick and I ate here for dinner before watching Legally Blonde at the Durham Performing Arts Center back on Tuesday. I just hit the end of a bad week and the Tax Day special meant we could go for $15 each. Score!

At Toast, I finally hit on a great sandwich choice for myself: the rapini, Italian sausage, roasted garlic, and asiago fresca. It was full of different textures and flavors that all worked together really well. I also got a salad on the side.

Nick ordered the prosciutto, tomato, and mozzarella sandwich that he really liked. He also ordered the soup of the day which was a minestrone with pasta, garbanzo beans, asparagus, and parmesan. It was light and good.

The performance was excellent and lighthearted. It was a night of fun and not a lot of thinking which was what I needed. DPAC is amazing, thought the gradation of the seats are a bit steep. Here's our view from our top row of the balcony seats:

Some home cooking

2009-04-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

In the beginning of April Nick and I took time to make something new at home during the horrific two weeks I just had. Inspired by a picture of katsu curry on Gastronomy, I decided I wanted to make it. Nick is already skilled in making katsu and we happened to have a block of Japanese curry sitting in the pantry so it seemed like a perfect fit. After researching on a good side dish, we made a shredded cabbage salad with a custom ginger-miso dressing.

It took a while, but Nick made the katsu perfectly while I did the curry with ground beef, carrots, and onions and made up the salad and dressing. I think I'm getting the hang of the homemade dressing now!

Here's our dinner on April 5th:

Looked delicious and tasted delicious, too.

Spring banquet

2009-04-04T08:59:00.000-07:00

I decided to keep posting while I have a small amount of free time on my hands. Last night Nick and I attended the Nicholas School's spring banquet at the Durham Hilton. We had awards presentations, a slideshow, a cocktail hour, and a 3-course dinner with a salad, entree (choice of vegetarian or chicken) and caramel apple pie. It was a lot of fun to see everyone dressed up and dancing the night away after a stressful week. I'm posting a few preview pictures, but you can see the whole album here. Some of the pictures were blurry because of the dim lighting. =(

Pho 9N9

2009-04-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I was extremely homesick and decided that even though I was extremely busy, we'd have to remedy it somehow or I'd never get anything done. So, Nick and I headed over to RTP to have dinner at the best (out of a whopping total of three) Vietnamese restaurant in Durham, Pho 9N9. Apparently the name stems from the fact that the restaurant used to be open from 9am to 9pm.

We ordered goi cuon (spring rolls), bun bo hue (spicy beef noodle soup) for me, pho dac biet for Nick, and some com cha thit nuong to go for lunch tomorrow. It was all decent, and hit the spot, especially the goi cuon. My mom used to make them for me after school sometimes. I am thinking I will try to make them myself when the weather gets warmer and I have some free time.

At the end of the meal the owner's daughter took a liking to me and showed me her teddy bears. She proceeded to diagnose and fix their ailments while I dutifully held the doctor's bag and concurred with her recommendations. Nick was pretty amused by the whole thing.

It was a good way to cure the homesickness. By the way, my lunch the next day was excellent.

Polka cover of Katy Perry's Hot n Cold

2009-03-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Admitted students weekend

2009-03-29T06:59:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was Admitted Students weekend here at the Nicholas School. I had signed up for several events and also to host a student because I had such a fun time last year. That weekend helped me decide to move all the way across the country!

Thursday night we all went to Satty's and semi-watched Duke blow it against Villanova. Friday morning I went to school to do some work, had lunch with Emily A. at the Refectory, then had another lunch with the prospectives. Afterward I did the program area information session for the best concentration in the whole program, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Health. We only had one student, but it was cool.

We had practice MP sessions with the 2nd years. Emily K was awesome and ordered pizza, which made it a lot more casual. I had to jet off after Kara's presentation because I had signed up for the student panel at the end of the day. There were a lot of good questions asked, and I think we all did a great job answering them.

After dinner with a bunch of people from the program and their prospectives at Toast, Nick, Emily A. and I took our prosps to Francesca's for gelato, dessert, tea and coffee. That place might be my favorite place to hang out in Durham. We then split up before heading over to the Duke Forest for the FOREM bonfire. The bonfire (more like a camp fire) was a great time, with socializing, s'more-making, and eating. My car got stuck in the mud because it had been raining, but lots of people helped us push our car out. =)

The next day I dropped my prosp off early for the morning events while I tried to do some work. The PicNic for lunch was a good event, with catered food (hamburgers and veggie dogs), egg-tossing, and fellow student Mike Roth's band Cobalt and the Hired Guns. I think all in all the weekend was a success. I definitely think the social events sell the program more than the information sessions. I hope that I helped someone feel better about their grad school decision, even if they choose not to come to Duke.

Alivia's

2009-03-22T09:47:00.001-07:00

Nick and I had a very busy Saturday, so we didn't have lunch until 3pm. I made red rice from leftover rice from the fridge and leftover spaghetti sauce, fried some eggs, and threw together a quick salad with carrots, celery, onion, and mushroom and a balsamic vinaigrette.

That night we had dinner at Alivia's in the Brightleaf area of Durham. It's a non-smoking bar/restaurant with what is supposed to be the best patio in Durham. The environmental law clinic was having a fundraiser there for a campaign against a cement plant that is going to be built along the coast of North Carolina.

Nick, Emily, and I shared a table with Emily A. and her parents. It was cool to talk to her parents about blogging and food. I even showed them the pics I took at Mama Dip's the night before.

Nick and I ended up ordering crabcakes and calamari (with pico de gallo and marinara sauce) for appetizers. Apparently calamari with marinara sauce is a regular thing around here. I prefer my calamari with aioli, but that might be a west coast thing. The pico de gallo was extraneous because it never stayed on the calamari. The crabcakes were pretty good and so was the salad that came with them, but they didn't really seem to go together. The slices of bell pepper were a little difficult to eat with the mixed greens because of size.

I got the portabella sandwich with greens and roasted red peppers and a cup of their chicken vegetable soup. The bottom piece of bread was soggy by the time I picked it up to eat my sandwich. Nick got the Alivia's burger with fries. He really likes the crispy fries and he said the burger was pretty good.

We'll probably be back sometime, but it's not on my list of favorites just yet. I liked my lentil burger at the Federal better, but Alivia's is nonsmoking so it might have to trump once in a while.

Mama Dip's

2009-03-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Nick and I attended the kickoff party for Nickipedia. At 5:30, we got there too late for food. We only got small bites of what was left, but while there we kept hearing about a good Southern food place in Chapel Hill called Mama Dip's. The more I heard about it, the more I wanted to eat there. I'm all about immediate gratification, so I suggested to Nick and Emily during the FOREM keg that we stop by for a later dinner. By 7:30pm we were on our way to Chapel Hill.

Looking at the menu, we could tell the place was going to be awesome. They have lots of good food and even more decadent desserts. At first, we were ambitious and planned on ordering TONS of food, including three desserts.

We ended up ordering hush puppies and sweet potato biscuits to start. These sounded really good but never actually came out, so I can't tell you how they are. I think our waiter completely forgot about that part of our order.

I got country fried chicken (dark meat, please) with mac and cheese, turnip greens, and cornbread. Emily ordered the chicken and dumplings with mac and cheese, coleslaw, and cornbread. Nick got the smothered pork chops, fried okra, mashed potatoes, and biscuits. Everything was good but the turnip greens could have been better.

Country Fried Chicken

Chicken and Dumplings

Smothered Pork Chops

We were too full to get dessert (pecan pie, bread pudding, and cobbler) but I will be back. And I will be stuffing my face with food.

Postsecret, etc

2009-03-19T20:19:00.001-07:00

Nick and I went to the Postsecret event last night at Duke. I've been reading the Postsecret blog for a long time, and had always wanted to see Frank Warren in person. The event met my expectations. Frank was funny, poignant, and supportive. I think he knows how to talk to college students, to make them feel comfortable in his presence. He comes across as genuinely interested in how we are doing. This is more than I can say for a lot of adults, especially those running the administrations of school institutions across the US (my view of the high school administration is probably enough material for another post).

Emily and Tali joined us because I had four free tickets. I think they enjoyed themselves, even if they aren't avid readers of the blog. =) At the end of the talk, people were able to come up and share their secrets. There were heartbreaking, angry, empowering, and funny secrets shared.

I think I will try to attend more community events here in Durham. I am really starting to enjoy living in this city. I just bought my first Durham-themed shirt (it supported a charity). Moving to a new city and finding your bearings is an incredible experience. I'm glad Nick is along for the ride.

Tomorrow we will be attending a kickoff BBQ for Nickipedia. I'm hoping to contribute to the food pages, since I never edited any of the restaurant pages on the daviswiki like I should have. Keep asking me about it so that I have someone to check up on me, okay?

Before I forget: GO DUKE! I have never had a team to follow in this March Madness thing. It's exciting!

Zaytinya - Washington DC

2009-03-19T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I know this post has been long-delayed. I really haven't had the time to devote to it, and I still don't now. I decided I would make it up to you by doing short entry interspersed by a series of photos. Sorry for the blurriness (dim lighting). Zaytinya was recommended to me by a grad school friend, Tali, who went to Georgetown for undergrad. I must say that he has very good taste. Lucky for him, because it would have been sad bump in our friendship if the restaurant sucked. =) Thanks, Tali!

Zaytinya is a mezze restaurant. A shorthand way to describe that would be to say it's the Mediterranean version of Spanish tapas. However, it's so much more than that. The flavors are very thoughtful together. There are a lot of influences present in each dish, as well.

Coming from an Asian family, eating family style is very close to my heart. The principles here are quite different though: small plates and beautiful presentation meant to invite sharing and discussion of tastes are quite different from huge platters of home cooked, messy you-too-skinny-let-me-put-more-food-on your-plate Chinese family dinners. I must say I love both.

Nick, Emily, and I walked over from our awesome hotel. The interior of Zaytinya is cool, hip, modern, and intimate. We each ordered three dishes that came out in groups of three. The kitchen thoughtfully grouped them together into a three course dinner that worked. This was amazing because we each have different tastes. They also served us unlimited puffy, warm pita with Greek olive oil and pomegranate (a twist on the olive oil and balsamic). The pita probably had me declaring my love for the place alone. Emily and Nick both ordered dessert while I had tea.

Course one:
Santorini fava (yellow split pea) soup (S)
Kolokithokeftedes - zucchini and cheese patties, caper-yogurt sauce (E)
Cretan Snails Skordalia - sautéed snails, garlic broth, ouzo, parsley, potato puree (N)

Course two:
Octopus Santorini - grilled baby octopus, marinated onions, capers, yellow split pea puree (S)
Fish special with really great cabbage that I cannot remember (E)
Spanakopita - house made phyllo, spinach, feta cheese (N)

Course three:
Moroccan Couscous Tagine - portobello mushroom, chick peas, sultans radish, harissa broth (S)
Chicken Melanzano - slow cooked chicken breast, zatar pomegranate, charred eggplant puree (E)
Short Rib Kapama - braised boneless short ribs, tomato-cinnamon stew (N)

Dessert:

Hand Crafted Blooming Tea - white tea with marigold and jasmine (S)

Chocolate Visne - milk chocolate cream with cherry sorbet and three caramels (E)
Turkish Coffee Chocolate - warm chocolate cake, bittersweet chocolate flan, and cardamom espuma finished with espresso syrup (N)

We each declared our favorites of each course. I would say the soup, octopus, and short ribs were clear winners. Debating the merits of each dish made the dinner very enjoyable. However, there were some clunkers. I would not recommend the spanakopita. It looked like a giant eggroll.

I look forward to returning sometime with friends that enjoy food. Emily and Nick were excellent dinner companions. It was nice to enjoy this place because I hadn't had a nice, moderately upscale dinner in a while. If you're ever in the DC area, make sure to stop by this gem of a restaurant.

End of spring break

2009-03-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

Oh, where do I even begin? Spring break was good. I had a good time in California shopping, babysitting, and eating. I got to hit all the food spots I wanted to in the SGV. These include:

Mien Nghia for Chiu Chow noodles
Ba Le for banh mi
Tin Tin Seafood for Peking spare ribs, steamed fish, and lobster
Bollini's for neapolitan pizza
Luscious Dumplings for dumplings and beef stew noodles
Fosselman's for ice cream
Vietnam for hu tieu noodles
the seven courses of beef place whose name I can't remember
Top Island for dim sum...twice
Lollicup for black tea with lychee jelly
Yong Dung Tofu House for Korean BBQ
Various incarnations of bun with my dad

I also acquired: two pairs of skinny jeans, fabulous boots, two sweaters, a cloche hat, and a skinny belt.

I think it was a good trip, in all. Even though I didn't go anywhere tropical for spring break, it was nice to sleep in late, eat good food (especially my mom's food), and see my nieces. I even visited my old high school and got ego boosts from the students and my old teachers.

However, I didn't write the Zaytinya post. I'm thinking it might never get written at the pace I'm going. How about a photo post?

p.s. Happy Ides of March!

Internet shout out

2009-03-01T19:17:00.000-08:00

Have horrible craving for banh mi, or Vietnamese sandwiches. Will probably dream of them tonight...

It is all due to this post on the gastronomy blog. I am so excited by the shout out! Yeah for banh mi ba le!

2009-02-28T15:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, new plan. I hope to write the Zaytinya post during spring break, because there is no way in hell I'll be able to write it in this next week. I guess when you're on the semester system, the week right before spring break is when the professors pile on the work. I don't know what I like better: finals hell before spring break or a bunch of random crazy assignments before spring break.

I made it through the hell of last week and slept a lot. The rest of the week was really a blur. Yesterday I traveled to the coast of NC for a class project. It was nice to get out of Durham for a while. At the Dock Street Oyster Bar I had a crab sandwich that was basically hot crab dip with bacon and lettuce on top. It was awesome, but took wayyy too long to come out, especially when compared to the 10 minutes I took to inhale it.

During the 2.5 hour ride home I developed a craving for southern food. Upon arriving home I googled "Durham southern food" and basically found out that no one considers any good southern food to reside in Durham. This was really depressing, considering Nick and I had excellent southern food during our road trip out here.

So, Nick and I ended up at Cracker Barrel in Durham. On a Friday night. It was packed, but we were the only people our age in there. I mean, obviously the only two asian people...but no representation of the 20somethings. I had country fried steak with turnip greens, corn, and mashed potatoes. Nick had the meatloaf with turnip greens, fried okra, and hash brown casserole. It was awesome. I love satisfying cravings.

Update

2009-02-23T08:37:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posting, especially the long-delayed Zaytinya post. I am in the middle of grad school hell right now. Five classes is completely overwhelming. I really don't know how I'm going to make it through to tomorrow, when I get a momentary (it will feel like 5 seconds) break.

My gmail away messages have detailed my progression:

not looking forward to chem fate
chem fate is death
is about to cry
is crying because chem fate is insane
feels horrible
wonders why she's in grad school

Not included in that are highlights of the weekend:

Watching a crazy modern dance performance inspired by the music of a composer who died in the Holocaust on Friday night with a friend while Nick had his own Wii date with the bf of said friend
Cheering Nick on at his ultimate frisbee tournament on Saturday where they made it to the next round
Eating semi-decent Vietnamese food
Spending 10 hours in the computer lab on Sunday doing GIS, ending with
Dinner with friends at a Thai restaurant, followed by
4 hours agonizing over chem fate, interspersed with various nervous breakdowns

And now here I am. I've got a lab report to bang out and a crazy insane midterm to complete. Cross your fingers that I survive this storm.

P.S. Nick is doing great.

Just a quick one

2009-02-11T07:37:00.001-08:00

I am in need of some intense relaxation therapy for all the crap grad school is putting me through right now. So, I'm procrastinating by writing a quick blog post. I just wanted to say:

WHAT THE HELL, CHRIS BROWN???

I really liked you. Your dance moves got me. But now you are accused of assaulting Rihanna, your girlfriend. That's not cool, man, even if she did toss the keys to your lamborghini out the window. You officially suck.

...
In other matters, tonight is the Duke vs UNC men's basketball game. We haven't won since 2006. Not only did we have to stay awake for three days just to get the chance to buy the tickets, but ticket holders had to get in line yesterday to get in. I'll be watching from the comfort of my house or the neighborhood bar.

GO DUKE! LET'S GO DEVILS!!

Washington DC

2009-02-08T12:15:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Nick and I traveled north to Washington DC. It's about a 4 hour trip. My grad program had organized a joint career fair with a similar program at Yale. You know, the one I didn't get into. I'm not bitter. I mean, it is freezing up there right now, right? I'm typing on the back deck in 70 degree weather currently, so Yale can suck it. =)

We drove up Thursday night with Emily. Nick made us rice krispy treats and turkey-muenster-bacon sandwiches for dinner. We spent the night in a double room at the conference hotel at Gallaudet University (where I almost attempted to communicate in my 6th grade-learned sign language) in a cozy arrangement with four other people.

The career fair wasn't that great, so as soon as I could, I left the fair and took the metro from Union Station to meet Nick at the National Mall. Navigating the metro was simple since I had experience with the subway system in New York. I randomly put in $3.90 on my fare because there was this guy creeping me out so I punched in numbers as fast as I could. Nick and I met at the Smithsonian and he told me about his adventure that morning:

Since he couldn't take the shuttle to get to Union Station, he ended up getting onto some random bus at the stop outside Gallaudet and rode it until he had the US Capitol building in sight. The he got off and figured out he was on the opposite side of the Capitol from the mall. So he walked around the capitol to the Washington Monument.

I told him he was damn lucky that the bus he happened to take went anywhere near the Capitol. Really. Damn lucky.

We had an outrageously priced lunch at the National Air and Space Museum and looked at all the exhibits. We lamented the loss of Pluto as a planet. We played a virtual air-mail game. We pondered space necessities. Then, we went through a checklist of requirements for a 1950s air hostess:

1. between 5'2" and 5'6" - check
2. between the ages of 21-26 - check
3. under 135 pounds - check
4. single, never married or divorced, no kids - check
5. white - damn it, nope
6. beautiful, as in "just under Hollywood standards" - not even gonna go there

Guess I wouldn't have made it. Seems like a pretty stringent list, and full of political incorrectness.

Afterward I left Nick to his sightseeing (he ended up walking to the Lincoln memorial, the Vietnam War memorial, and the White House) and went to check into the hotel we had booked for the night. I got a great rate on the Grand Hyatt and its location couldn't be beat.

That night we had dinner at Zaytinya, a Mediterranean mezze restaurant, as recommended by Tali, a fellow Nicholas student. The interior is a study in modern, hip design, but it was warm and inviting too. The food was amazing. Review will follow because the experience merits a post of its own.

The next day we woke up late and had lunch at Full Kee in the tiny Chinatown area. I had wonton mein and Nick had roast duck mein. It was good, but not great. I really needed a noodle fix though, so it hit the spot.

Afterward we checked out the National Portrait Gallery. The Presidential gallery was very interesting and made me realize that I had no idea what some of these presidents looked like. My favorites included an abstract piece of JFK and the Norman Rockwell painting of Nixon. I also had to take a picture in front of the Obama street art poster that is now world famous:

Washington DC definitely merits another visit, but only when I can afford it. =)

Photo update

2009-02-03T17:59:00.000-08:00

I needed to update but I'm super busy so I thought I'd do a photo post. I went through my camera and picked out some photos I'd like to share with you from the past few weeks. Enjoy!

This is a picture of Duke University on the day that it snowed. It was really exciting, and the Gothic campus was beautiful under the layer of snow.

Here is a pic of a team at the Beer Olympics party we attended two weekends ago. Some people went all out and dressed in themes for their teams. They were an '80s hair band. There were teams competing in beer pong, flip cup, quarters, and modified cornhole.

Finally, here is a great shot of some cookies Nick made this past weekend. On Friday he made chocolate chip cookies for me and my girlfriends. Then on Sunday we made rugelach cookies which have a cream cheese dough base. The crescents have apricot jam in them and the rolls have pecans, cinnamon sugar, and maple syrup in them.

Hope everyone has a good week! We are heading to DC this weekend.

Happy anniversary

2009-01-23T20:46:00.000-08:00

Nick and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary with dinner at Piedmont and a performance of Rent at the new Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC). We had reservations for dinner at 5:30pm, which was when the restaurant opened, and we were the first customers that night. It soon filled up with theater patrons, however.

On theater nights Piedmont has the option of a prix-fixe meal of three courses for $30. I opted out because I was more interested in other things on the regular menu. I ordered the maple-glazed pork belly with sweet potato puree and crispy shallots as my first course and black pepper tagliatelle with parsnips, roasted garlic, and local greens as my entree.

Nick, of course, opted to go with the prix-fixe. He had housemade country pate with dijon, pickled vegetables, and grilled bread for his first course. His entree was a crispy leg of duck confit with potatoes lyonnaise and braised kale, and for dessert he picked the ricotta cheesecake with fig and cherry compote.

I have to say that the maple pork belly was worth the $10 it cost for a tiny portion. The maple glaze was delicious and everything worked really well together. I was less than impressed with my black pepper tagliatelle, though. It was very bland and the black pepper did not go well with the parsnips.

One of Nick's favorite things to eat is pate so his first plate was totally cleaned. I really enjoyed the pickled vegetables, and I'm sure they went well with the pate. I think it's funny how I hate American dill pickles but love just about any other kind of pickled vegetables, especially Japanese tsukemono and Taiwanese pickles.

The crispy skin of the duck confit and the braise kale were the highlights of his entree. The two small bites I had were more than enough to convince me that I should have ordered a meat-centric entree. I think meat is the strength of the kitchen at Piedmont.

He enjoyed his dense ricotta cheesecake while I had one of the better cups of decaf coffee in Durham. We then drove a few minutes to the brand new DPAC and its shiny glass facade. Our seats for Rent were less than ideal because they were at the very top row. It is set up as stadium seating so it was a very steep view to the stage which made me feel woozy.

Aside from that the performance was really enjoyable. This current tour of Rent includes two original cast members in the roles that made them famous. I thought the singing was great and the set worked well for what they were trying to accomplish. I feel that DPAC needs to be more inclusive to the student population of the Triangle area. We were spoiled by the Mondavi Performing Arts Center and their dirt-cheap tickets for students in the orchestra section...

I miss Davis.

Restaurants are my happy dance

2009-01-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

I wrote this post back on Monday, but was too busy to add pictures to it until now. Enjoy!
...
I should really be working on my chemistry homework but I decided instead to update the blog...for all of my readers. =) I am excited because I have gotten to eat at two places in Durham that were on my list (although one was #6).

After a hard first full week where I was at school for 8-12 hours every day, I decided I was in need of an end-of-the-week reward. I already had to give myself chocolate cookies Tuesday through Thursday to make it through (they are from Francesca's and cost $1 each and are awesomely delicious). I knew that these fancy restaurants I couldn't quite afford going to for dinner had great deals during lunch. After looking through all my choices I decided that Nick and I would eat lunch at Watt's Grocery, a champion of local food and recipient of lots of glowing reviews.

We made it there around 12:30 and waited in the packed restaurant. I had no idea that reservations were helpful for lunch on a weekday. We were seated at the table closest to the door, which made for a cold lunch since it was 20 degrees outside. Nick and I (well, really me) ordered a whole bunch of food: a bowl of the sweet potato bisque, a catfish po' boy with salad (me), the housemade bratwurst on pretzel roll (Nick), a side of deviled eggs, and for dessert: a butter pecan rum cupcake.

The sweet potato bisque was my favorite part of the meal. It was creamy and a little spicy and perfect for the frigid weather.

Our sandwiches were also delicious. I decided that I really enjoy fish sandwiches. The salad was a little overdressed. Nick enjoyed his bratwurst and the fries even more.

The presentation of the deviled eggs was cute. They were good, but I wondered how I ever ate so many in one sitting as a kid.

We shared this cupcake at the end. It was really, really good. The cream cheese frosting balanced nicely with the cupcake, but the cake itself was my favorite part. It was studded with pecans and had a really good mouthfeel.
...

On Saturday I watched Duke beat Georgetown. It was a pretty exciting game. I did not fully realize how short our team is until I saw the really tall guys on the Georgetown team. Cameron stadium is super small, and every point we had to cheer or boo or rile up the team. It was really an insane atmosphere in there. I think Gerald Henderson could totally make it in the NBA. He's definitely the best player on the team.
...

On Sunday I dragged Nick, Emily, and Tali with me to Rue Cler (#2 on the list) for a French bistro brunch. I forgot the camera, which really depressed me. Suffice to say, the presentation was great. The main reason I wanted to go for brunch was the tantalizing mention of beignets on the menu.

I ordered a 1/2 dozen beignets for the table ($4) and they were so good I could have eaten all six myself. For brunch I ordered chicken paillard on greens with brie. It was delicious, but the romaine lettuce leaves were cut into long strips that made it difficult to eat. Nick got the Oeufs Rue Cler (sort of the French-style eggs benedict) that he enjoyed. Emily got the French toast made from French bread with bananas. I tried some and they were delicious. Tali ordered the omelette of the day, which was very dainty and came with a salad on the side.

I made a mental note to return some time and check out the Rue Cler bakery next door. I'll be sure to bring my camera!

The start of a new semester

2009-01-13T18:08:00.000-08:00

I've had class for four days now and I think I'm getting back into the swing of things. What's nice about coming back from break is that everyone is happy to see each other again and equally sad about starting classes.

This past weekend was filled with things to do, which was a nice break from home. I like relaxing as much as the next person, but there is something so great about going out with friends and people happy to see you.

Friday night we checked out the new bar in town, called the Pinhook. It's a membership-only club because it doesn't serve any food and it's legally bound to do so. On Friday night they just had us put our names down on a sign-in sheet and voila, we were members. My first impression was that it was a very hipster hang out spot. Red walls, people lounging in tight pants, and old school video games. I liked it. It happened to be a dance party that night, but Emily and I agreed that it would be a cool place to just hang out sometime.

On Saturday Nick and I headed to the mall where we scored some deals. I got a white coat for $19.95 that was originally $100 at Aeropostale and Nick got a cool slate gray heavy cotton shirt from the Converse by John Varvatos for $20 that used to be $225 at Urban Outfitters...insane!

We had to rush home from the mall for a birthday dinner for Emily. Around 20 people showed up and shouted "Surprise!" as she walked in blindfolded with Lisanne. She felt nauseated, poor thing. Afterward we went dancing in Chapel Hill at "The Library" that had a pretty good DJ. And yes, Nick danced! My friends dragged him onto the dance floor.

Now I just need to get through my first full week of class. I've got a pretty heavy schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but at least I made it through my first one!
...
One week from today: 6 years.

Sadly jealous of a 10 year-old

2009-01-09T16:53:00.000-08:00

I used to be a dancer. I was pretty average, and not nearly as good as this 10 year old girl who choreographed a short routine to Britney Spears's "Womanizer" song:

Back in NC

2009-01-07T08:44:00.001-08:00

First day of school with rain: not good. Class at 8:30am and then from 6:00pm to 8:45pm: even worse.

What a nice welcome you have for me, Duke/North Carolina! The only way you can make it up is by having better weather tomorrow and making sure the weekend is awesome.

I just bought tickets to Rent at the Durham Performing Arts Center for our anniversary. We are downscaling from Hawaii last year due to our reduced means, but I think it'll still be awesome. We are planning on having dinner at Piedmont beforehand. The head chef there does his own charcuterie. Did you know he used to be a vegetarian until he worked at the French Laundry under Thomas Keller? Hahaha.

I'm taking it easy during my break today. Plans are for some lunch at our favorite taqueria, La Vaquita, and some market shopping. I'm planning on hitting a new Asian mart in town...new to me anyway.

Here's to 2009!

Last day in California

2009-01-03T13:49:00.000-08:00

I'm procrastinating on packing to go back to North Carolina. Lucky Nick gets two more days. I had dim sum today and it was good. I stocked up on groceries at the Chinese supermarket. Now I have to figure out how to stuff my suitcase so that it doesn't weigh over 50 pounds...I bought a lot of stuff. Let's see how many unique to (or cheaper in) California things I did this break:

1. See/play with my nieces
2. Dim sum with carts
3. Seven courses of beef
4. Hainan chicken
5. Fosselman's ice cream
6. Korean BBQ
7. Passionfruit tea with lychee jelly
8. See the Jellies
9. Izakaya food
10. See my cousins
11. Had homemade banh canh
12. Ikea
13. In-n-Out
14. H&M
15. Forever 21 flagship in Pasadena
16. Bought bento supplies
17. Zara (Old Town Pasadena)
18. Papersource
19. See my grandma and aunts and uncles
20. Watch tv on my dad's HDTV

Not bad. I'm sure there are a million other things I could have done, like see the new library or go to the Getty, but it's a pretty substantial list. Now I think I'm looking forward to being back in Durham, except for the school part. And the freezing.

Thoughts

2008-12-28T16:26:00.000-08:00

I have been looking over my past blogs and thinking about the journey I have taken that is chronicled in them. I guess that is a good reason for updating this one, so I can look back and remember what it was like to experience the east coast and grad school for the first time. I used to mainly write for the comments, but I don't think those will be plenty unless I get a dedicated readership outside of our friends and family. However, I now like to think I'm writing to record my journey and let the people we love know that we're okay.

I've had mixed feelings on returning home. On one hand, I love California and miss it all the time when we're in North Carolina. The food's cheaper, family's here, and there are no due dates to worry about. On the other hand, I miss the excitement of North Carolina and how there always seems to be something to do. I didn't think that would really happen. I guess it's not missing North Carolina per se, but the people and being able to do things on my own. I don't feel as if I'm really taking advantage of being home in California again.

Of course, I think it would be more fun if Nick were here. We always have things to do when we're together and it sucks to only be able to talk to him on the phone. I have resigned myself to looking at pictures on facebook when I miss looking at his face. I feel stalkerish and it's my own freaking boyfriend. =)
...

Last night I watched Mamma Mia! with my mom. I have to confess that I love musicals. I really do. However, musicals in movie form have never been that great for me, with the exception being "The Sound of Music." Nick and I might try to go watch "Rent" for our anniversary in January. Quite a step down from Hawaii (what we did last year) but I think it will be sweet and fun. I can't believe it will be 6 years in less than a month.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T16:16:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone! Nick and I wanted to wish everyone happy holidays and thanks for being such great friends during our 2008 transition. We feel so lucky to know you and want to thank you for your support. This is an open invitation to visit us in North Carolina. Please come!

I hope 2009 is an exciting year filled with lots of good things. =)

Annika's Christmas Program

2008-12-23T11:07:00.001-08:00

Last night I went to watch Annika sing Christmas carols with her preschool class. It was cute. The place was packed with kids. Here are two videos for your enjoyment. Can you spot her? Hint: she's in the front row.

p.s. We have a youtube account now!

Menu for Hope V

2008-12-18T18:01:00.000-08:00

If you're a big food blog follower like me, you've probably heard of Menu for Hope. Started by Pim of Chez Pim, it's where food bloggers come together to raise money for schoolchildren through the UN World Food Programme. Last year they raised $90,000.

What Menu for Hope does is simple: participating blogs from all over the world offer up prizes, ranging from amazing dinners to food kits to chocolate to personalized cooking classes. Each prize will have its own raffle drawing. Now, where we come in: $10 gets you one raffle ticket that you can put toward the prize of your choice. You can donate as much as you want and disperse the tickets among the prizes you want. I donated $60 and chose to put it as one ticket each toward six different prizes.

The donations are collected by FirstGiving, so it doesn't go directly to the pockets of the bloggers. You can see how much has been donated directly, and the instructions are pretty simple.

Each region has a host blog that lists that region's prizes. Some of them are very regional, such as dinner at specific restaurants, but others that are listed by region can be shipped all over. I suggest you guys check out the master list at Chez Pim here although it might be a good idea to check out the regional hosts' list because I've seen some prizes listed there that aren't on the master list. You can also see what Menu for Hope has done for school children in Lesotho in the past here and here.

Happy holidays!

I survived!

2008-12-15T17:17:00.001-08:00

Well, I survived through finals and made it back across the country to LA. It was pretty hard at times, but eventually it didn't seem to be that important to me. I mean, after I finished my massive GIS project, I felt a lot better even though I had two more finals to take. To celebrate, Nick and I did some Christmas shopping and then stopped at Pop's for dinner. If you remember, in one of my previous posts I mentioned it was on the list of places I wanted to try.

I loved the atmosphere and the butternut squash soup I had as an appetizer. My entree, the special, left something to be desired. It was seared sea scallops on a bed of sauteed vegetables, braised cabbage, and thin strips of cured beef. The scallops were overly salted, the vegetables were swimming in butter, and the beef was very salty. It was a very rich dish which had potential, but it needed something acidic and fresh to cut down the richness of the dish.

Nick had the pan-fried grouper with parmigiano-reggiano and stewed tomatoes and he loved it. I'm going to chalk this up to the special not being quite fully developed and stick to the pasta next time. The bread they served us was excellent too. I really like the feel of the place. It felt like a place you would meet good friends after a long day or to celebrate something.

On Saturday Nick dropped me off on Ninth Street to do some shopping while he went to his ultimate frisbee game. I felt bad about not going, but I really needed to get this shopping done. I like shopping locally and the stores on Ninth are very eclectic and cute. I think I found some great things there. Afterward, Emily and I dropped Lisanne off at the airport and made our way over to the mall for some more marathon shopping. I pretty much finished my list and scored a few things for myself, too. =) All in a day's work!

Now I'm home and I've been enjoying the nieces quite a bit. I hope I get adjusted to the time change soon and eat some more great food. Happy holidays, everyone!

Cash or credit?

2008-12-09T20:48:00.000-08:00

I'm dying slowly from finals, but here's a video to make you laugh:

Middle of Finals List Mania

2008-12-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

I am stuck deep in a hell called finals week. I have a massive GIS project due and two crazy finals to study for and I am totally unprepared. I wish it was Christmas break already. I would be back in California, stuffing my face full of all the wonderful food home has to offer. I plan on hitting old favorites and new supercool, blog-worthy restaurants.

I decided, in this high-stress situation, that I needed to make lists. So here they are:

Top 5 Restaurants, ever:
1. Chef Mavro, Honolulu, HI - January 2008
2. The Kitchen, Sacramento, CA - July 2008
3. Auberge du Soleil restaurant, Rutherford, CA - January 2006
4. Redd, Yountville, CA - February 2008
5. The Restaurant at the Getty Los Angeles, CA - June 2006

Top SGV eats:
1. Seven courses of beef
2. Banh cuon
3. Hu tieu noodles at Mien Nghia
4. dim sum
5. pho

Top 5 places I want to try in the Durham area:
1. Magnolia Grill
2. Rue Cler and Bakery
3. Lantern
4. Nana's
5. Pop's

Top 5 restaurants I miss in Davis:
1. Thai Bistro
2. Chuy's
3. Zen Toro
4. Seasons
5. Cafe Mediteranee

As you can see, this has nothing to do with finals. Go me!

Gay Marriage: the Musical!

2008-12-04T08:05:00.000-08:00

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Giving thanks

2008-11-29T09:13:00.000-08:00

Hey, it's been a while since I posted! The week was as crazy as I expected, and it's not going to stop until December 12. At least I was able to give myself a break for Thanksgiving! We had 9 people over, including Syl from Boston and Jerry and Winnie from Davis. It was really awesome to see them because I hadn't seen Syl in a year and Jerry and Winnie since we left Davis in August. Nick and I used to see them almost every week for dinner!

We were also joined by close friends from the Nicholas school and we crowded around the table eating the delicious turkey that Nick made. He worked his ass off the night before and the meat came out moist and nicely flavored. Yay for Alton Brown! He made some great gravy, too. To go with the turkey, I made (with lots of help):

Green bean casserole
Buttermilk caramelized-shallot mashed potatoes
Cornbread stuffing (I made the cornbread from scratch the day before)
Golden-crusted brussel spouts
and Emily made sweet potatoes, and two pies: pumpkin and apple
and Robyn made apple crisp

Pictures from Thanksgiving here.

After dinner we were cleaned out of everything but turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. We played some Wii and Uno and called it a night at around 11ish. It was a really nice way to have our first Thanksgiving away from home.

The night before we had dinner at Rockwood Filling Station. Lyndsay, if you're reading this, the ham and egg pizza with the fried farm egg on top was as delicious as it sounded. I was let down again by their spinach salad, but I've only got one more salad to go before I write off their salads completely.

Yesterday we took Syl to the taco stand La Vaquita, with the cow on top. She had two tacos, I had two tacos and a tamale, and Nick had a burrito. The tamale was my favorite thing, and came wrapped in a banana leaf. It really reminded me of my favorite Vietnamese dish that's also wrapped in banana leaves. Afterward we went to Target, had gelato at Francesca's and checked out the cute stores on Ninth Street. Nick said one store reminded him of Nucleus in Alhambra.

We came back and I got to watch the No Reservations episode on Hawaii that I had been wanting to see for the last 8 months. It was exciting because he went to a couple places that we went to when we were there. Then Nick and I made curry turkey pot pie as our first turkey leftover remake and it was delicious. After dinner and watching Transformers, I packed Syl a travel bento.

It had a mini bagel with cream cheese, leftover turkey meat, mini cucumber slices, fresh-baked (by Nick) banana nut bread, roasted red pepper hummus, and an almond-raspberry jam cookie from Francesca's.

Here's to another 10 years of friendship, Sylvia!

Did you notice I'm wearing my old SGHS sweatshirt??

Finally, it's the weekend

2008-11-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

I got through a horrible week only to prepare myself for the one that's coming up next. This past week I had two papers, a presentation, GIS, and homework due. This next week I have a take-home midterm, GIS, a 6 page single spaced paper, an abstract and press release write-up, and another presentation. All of those things except GIS are due Wednesday. Crazy!

Last night we watched "Rachel Getting Married" with some friends at the Carolina Theater in downtown Durham. The theater was creepily empty and I felt like I was in an ensemble bad horror movie. I don't think I'd be the main character so that means I'd probably come to some grisly end.

The movie proceeded to make me feel nauseated because of the shaky camera movement and quick cuts from shot to shot. I think I would have liked it better without all the movement...but it wouldn't be the same movie. I thought Anne Hathaway was excellent in it. The wedding itself was great in all its quirkiness. Not like any Chinese wedding I've been to...but those are crazy in their own ways.

Today we stayed in because of the rain, but this afternoon we stopped by the post office and small Asian market. There's a Habitat Hand-me-Up store next to the post office. It's a store that people donate things to, which customers can buy. The proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity. They have kitchen wares, books, furniture, and building supplies.

Nick and I were looking for casserole dishes. We missed the ones we left in California, and we needed some for Thanksgiving. This is what we found:

Two covered casseroles and a ceramic loaf pan. All for $16. They look like they'll last a long time, which is great because we are planning on keeping them for a while and not buying new ones and contributing to the downfall of the Earth. I love that they're plain white, too. Yay for secondhand stores! They also had a kitchenaid mixer for $75 that we briefly considered getting. You know, for all the baked goods Nick plans on making. =)

p.s. We might also be hearing good news next week. I'll keep you posted.

The right to marry is about love, not politics or religion

2008-11-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

I am so sad that people I know voted for this ban. Even my own mom. I could only post this now, a week after the result came out, because I was so depressed. I questioned humanity and my beloved home state last Wednesday. I thought that we could be progressive there, as we have been with global warming and eliminating cigarettes from public places. I think it is fear of the unknown and of the lies that the proponents of the ban spread throughout their campaign. It is not taking away the rights of heterosexuals to marry. It's just opening the doors for them to have the same rights as we do.

People use religion as reasoning for all sorts of things. And most of the time, this is their own personal space. But when it is used to oppress a group of people, that's when it makes me angry. It is hard for me to sort out my feelings about whether there is a God and whether the way religion approaches Him is the right way. However, I feel that God, if He is there, loves everyone equally and would not support what Prop 8 denied as a basic right to every human being. I think He is wondering what we are doing to ourselves.

Basketball and dinner

2008-11-09T09:05:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday I scored some tickets for us to watch a Duke basketball exhibition game. They were from campout, where I camped out for 3 days with 6 hours of sleep total and didn't get a ticket. However, my group got some so I reserved two for us and borrowed an ID from one of my half-Asian guy friends for Nick to use. Score for all Asians looking the same here, right?

We ate dinner at Nosh with Emily A. before the game. It reminded me of Pluto's in Davis because it was order at the counter and the menu was full of sandwiches, salads, and pizza. Nick went for a BLT with pasta salad, and Emily got an egg salad sandwich with couscous. I originally was going to get a sandwich as well but I saw a picture of one of their pizzas that had asiago and caramelized onions served with a mesclun salad on top.

The game was against Lenoir-Rhyne which wikipedia tells me is in Hickory, NC and is evangelical-Lutheran affiliated. Needless to say, it was a blowout. 95 to 43, I believe. The thing that was cool about going was that Cameron stadium is tiny. I think it holds 9,000 people total. And the student section is pretty much standing room only. The atmosphere was crazy and I swore I could almost touch the Duke basketball players. I can't imagine what it's like for the big games against Maryland, Georgetown, and of course, UNC. Pictures here.

On Friday night we hosted an impromptu dinner at our house. We didn't eat until really late, 9:30, but it was delicious. Nick made lentil soup with bacon and chicken with garlic, shallots, and herbs. I made sweet potato risotto and salad with the local lettuce we had. Emily made collard greens stir fried with soy sauce and sesame oil, and apple crisp with the apples we had. She even bought me lactose-free vanilla ice cream! They apparently add lactase to the mix.

I was very happy with how the risotto came out. I was a little worried when I started cooking it because I haven't ever made that much before. The arborio rice and sweet potato went together really well. Of course Nick's food was delicious, and Emily's stuff came out really well too. We brought out the last of our parmesan-black pepper bread from Guglhupf and we spread the soft garlic from the chicken on it.

Afterward we talked a lot and got to talking about boy bands of the late '90s. Emily, Lisanne, and I started singing along (and in Lisanne's case, dancing) to old Backstreet Boys videos like "I want it that way" and "Quit playing games with my heart." The guys (Nick, Martin, and Mick) got tired of this and started playing Wii sports. Later we joined them and had lots of fun. Things ended around 1am. Hopefully this bodes well for our Thanksgiving party!

Local Food Challenge

2008-11-04T15:23:00.000-08:00

Nick and I are participating in the Local Food Challenge this week, where we pledge to eat local foods and be mindful of where our food comes from. To help, we ordered a local food box. It came with:

Apples, butternut and acorn squash, a bell pepper, yellow and sweet potatoes, kale, collard greens, lettuces, half a pound of black eyed peas, 1 lb of Chapel Hill Creamery farmer's cheese, two loaves of locally made bread, half a dozen free range eggs, and 1 lb of grass fed ground beef. We also got a free range roaster chicken.

Needless to say, I've been trying out new things just to use all this stuff up. Sunday we made shepherd's pie with the ground beef, potatoes, and cheese and I braised the collard greens with ham hocks for my first southern dish. Yesterday I braised the kale with chicken broth and red pepper flake. Tonight we're roasting the acorn squash. I saw a recipe for sweet potato risotto and we have some Arborio rice so I might make that.

Have any recipe ideas for what i have left? I was thinking of making a black eyed pea salad but I haven't decided yet. Let me know!

Museum and Gardens

2008-11-02T12:47:00.000-08:00

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful day on Saturday by visiting Duke University's Nasher Museum of Art to check out the soon-leaving exhibit entitled "El Greco to Velasquez: Art During the Reign of Philip III." We didn't take any pictures in the exhibit or in the permanent collection, but there were some awesome Spanish and Greek paintings and abstract art exhibitions that we really liked.

Nick and I ate in the museum cafe for a late lunch. Everything served there is from local food sources, from farms to bakeries. They have a Spanish-inspired menu at the moment to go with the current exhibit. Nick ordered a bocadillo with NC free-range chicken, Chapel Hill Creamery mozzarella, and romesco sauce with local greens on the side. I got the butternut squash soup with white beans, marcona almonds, and saffron and a local greens salad with shiitake mushrooms on the side.

Then, we shared a sampler plate of tapas. We chose the braised local greens with turnips, garroxta, and aioli, green lentils with cremini mushrooms, roasted potatoes with chorizo, and a tortilla de espana with onions, peppers, and cheese.

It was delicious, and we ate it on the patio under an umbrella on a beautiful 72-degree weather day.

Afterward, we wandered over to the Sarah P. Duke gardens. It reminded me of the Huntington, but not so distinctly themed. Fall is definitely here.

Halloween

2008-11-02T07:50:00.000-08:00

I have the pics up on facebook. It was insane. Here's a teaser picture of me and Nick:

I will tell you that I can see the weekend is going to be a "Only on Halloween" sort of story for a lot of people in my program. There was some crazy stuff going on!

Nick and I went to a dinner party on Friday and then to house party later on that night. Then Saturday night we went to the official student social group party in the Duke Forest. It was FREEZING. Nick and I were cool and wore different costumes each night. Go us! And he actually danced with me. I can die happy now. =)

More to come on our visit to the Nasher Museum of Art (and its cafe) and the Sarah P. Duke Gardens.

Hotel Cafe Tour

2008-10-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

Simply put, the concert was awesome. We headed over to Chapel Hill last night to catch the Hotel Cafe tour at the famous Cat's Cradle venue. $17 a ticket. The venue itself is pretty small and intimate, which I liked.

Samantha Crain, Thao Nguyen, Erin McCarley, Meiko, and Ingrid Michaelson all rocked it out. They each did two songs before the "break" and then they each did three songs before singing a round called "The Chain" that Ingrid Michaelson wrote.

Meiko, who I went for, was really cool to watch. You know how some performers sound worse live? She didn't. She's also cute as hell. I mean, really. I have a total crush on her.

I really liked Thao Nguyen, who I had never heard of before. She's kind of crazy on stage, but the energy is infectious. One of the highlights of the night happened when she started one of her songs by beatboxing. It was awesome!

Ingrid Michaelson was the unofficial headliner. She's the most well known, and always came on last. She's hilarious in concert and kept us laughing and singing along to her songs. She also rapped the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme song while the band played the music to her "The Way I Am" song. I was amazed at how well it sounded. It was the other highlight of the night.

At the end, I managed to get Meiko to sign my cd. I wish I had brought the camera. She was really down to earth and didn't have many people clamoring to get her autograph, which surprised me. Meeting her was probably the most exciting thing to happen to me all month!

Discouragement

2008-10-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

We did not go to the barbecue festival. It rained this morning, which discouraged us from driving 1.5 hours there and 1.5 hours back. Instead, we got Nick a cheap bow tie, a potato masher, and a probe thermometer, stopped at a local artisanal bakery (where we scored a chocolate brownie cookie, an apple danish, and a loaf of black pepper-parmesan bread), and did some grocery shopping. I got a carton of Mayfield's black walnut ice cream. A classmate from Atlanta told me it was the ice cream brand of the south.

Yesterday, we had dinner at the Honduran place with the homemade tortillas. I had a pupusa con queso and two tacos al pastor. Nick had a torta cubano and one taco lengua. Along with all that we got complimentary salsa, chips, and some pickled cabbage. I got to try my limited Spanish again and we made it out successfully. They were really nice there and seemed anxious for us to like our food. I think I'd go back for the pupusas and posole I saw on the menu, but not for tacos. I'm aiming to try a local taco stand for better tacos.

Lastly, we tried making Indian food and it was a FAIL. Better luck tomorrow with slow-cooker chicken hard shell tacos...

We also attended the theater department's production of Sweeney Todd. They did a great job, which meant I was disturbed all night and couldn't go to sleep. I will never look at a barber's razor the same way again. Or meat pies, for that matter. Nick sometimes had no idea what was going on because they were singing most of the words. It is a musical, after all, hehe.

p.s. I'm procrastinating on my epidemiology midterm. I need to decide what to take next semester. GIS lab is kicking my butt. I would welcome words of encouragement. Maybe some "Get productive, you lazy ass" comments would help as well. =)

Thursday confession

2008-10-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make. I held hands with a guy other than Nick today. Don't worry...he already knows about it. Who is the lucky guy? My fellow classmate Tomer. How did this happen? It's a short story...

In the GIS lab I was working on one of the labs due next week when Tomer took the computer next to mine and remarked that he was going to be working on the same one.

I joked, "That's great! Now we can hold hands while we work through it together."
He was trying to log on so his reaction was, "uh...hold hands..."
I said, "hey, you could be a little happier about the prospect. haha"
So then he said, "You want to hold hands? We could do that." He held out his hand and we clasped hands for about 5 seconds. Then we laughed.

See, this is what grad school has reduced my daily amusement to: feeble jokes and slightly uncomfortable situations.

In other news, upcoming plans include the barbecue festival in Lexington, NC and the Hotel Cafe tour in Chapel Hill. Oh yeah, and Halloween is less than 2 weeks away!

I started to think about making a list of restaurants to try here in Durham, because I was tired of thinking about population densities and map elements. Near the top of the list is a Honduran place called Costa Azul that makes its own tortillas, and a place next to a gas station that has tamales. I learned from Hometown Chinese food in Davis that being connected to a gas station is not necessarily a bad thing.

I'm also adding Rue Cler to the list. A three course prix-fixe Parisian menu for $30? Sounds like a deal to me. The other restaurants on the list for "special occasions" include Magnolia Grill, Lantern, Nana's (a 5-course tasting menu for $50), and Vin Rouge. Note to self: budget is much smaller than when you lived in Davis and had a paying job.

I'm also angling to return to the Rockwood Filling Station because I browsed the menu some more and need to go back for two things: the Ham and Egg Pizza (featuring a sunny-side egg on top) and their custom ice cream sandwiches (your choice of homemade ice cream between two pieces of brioche). It sounds so amazing.

Football and Pizza

2008-10-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

This weekend Nick got to go to his first Duke football game at Wallace Wade stadium. We decided to go because it was homecoming and we knew the stadium would be packed. As we were waiting to park, I bought Nick a scalped ticket for $15. We started laughing when we realized we bought a $10 group ticket that was bought in the name of a local Baptist church. It's kind of ironic, don't you think?

The game against Miami University started off well. Traditionally, Duke football has been bad. Downright sucks, in fact. With our third win this season we have won more games in like the last 5 seasons combined. It's crazy. We answered Miami's touchdowns with some of our own, and even had a 10-point lead at one point. Then...it unraveled. We couldn't convert, we dropped passes, we committed errors. Before long Duke was losing badly so we left. It was quite depressing to lose a homecoming game. At least at UCD it always seemed like we played the worst teams in the league so that we'd be sure to win the homecoming game. By the way, I'm putting up some pics from the day on facebook.

Nick, Emily, and I consoled ourselves by dropping by Rockwood Filling Station for some neapolitan pizza. The wait on a busy Saturday night was long, but after 45 minutes we scored some seats at the bar. I could see the wood oven going on through a window the the kitchen. Emily and I ordered salads to start and each of us got a pizza. Let's just say the salads aren't as great as the pizzas. Emily had a custom pizza with pesto and goat cheese. I had the white pizza which had artichokes, caramelized onions, ricotta, and goat cheese. Nick got the chicken liver pizza that had mozzarella, pancetta, and battered chicken livers on top.

Here are some photos:

Iceberg wedge salad with crispy pancetta and bleu cheese dressing

Custom pesto goat cheese

The White Pizza

Scott's Chicken Liver Pizza

It was all delicious. I'll be returning for their other pizzas and their homemade ice cream. The bartender, Terence, who served us was awesome. He gave Emily some free prosecco that another table decided they didn't want. I also introduced myself to the guy that runs the front of the house, John. I read on some other blogs that he opened the place with Scott Howell, who is the chef and owner of nearby fancier restaurant Nana's restaurant. John even remembered all of our names as he said goodbye on our way out. Bonus points!

The pizza reheated the next day was still great, if you were wondering. I ate it while slaving over my ecotoxicology midterm. I just finished that today and I'm beat. Now Nick and I are off to secure our Halloween costumes at the local thrift store. It's gonna be an exciting week!

update
Nick and i got our costumes and it's going to be awesome! We need a few more pieces, though.

Odds and ends

2008-10-13T10:53:00.001-07:00

Procrastinating a bit by posting again...this might be a bad trend. I sent my mom off with an airplane bento so that she wouldn't have to spend $5 on a bad sandwich or box of processed snacks. In it I put: a mini bagel with cream cheese, cheddar slices with crackers, a lychee jelly, three strawberry gummies, mini oatmeal cookies, and cucumber and carrot sticks. Not pictured are a container full of puffs, goldfish crackers, and pretzels and a Daisy Cakes madeleine.

We found some interesting purple bell peppers at the farmer's market a while ago. Has anyone seen these before?

I just need to get through this week and then we're going to the North Carolina state fair! I'm looking forward to expensive carnival rides and a plethora of fried foods. Deep fried avocado, anyone?

Day 1

2008-10-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

Here's to the new blog of our adventures in Durham, NC! I'll try to update with snippets of what we're up to, what we're eating, and what we're seeing while we're here on the east coast. Since I am a grad student and we all know Nick isn't a blogger...updates might be scarce. I'll try!

Mom's visiting this weekend and she's cooking up a storm. She made us xoi ga, steamed fresh tilapia, homemade (!) shrimp and pork wontons, and among other things, this:

Xoi vo (sticky rice with mung beans)

Nick was so excited that he's making his own che tonight. I'll keep you updated.

After a quick trip to the Durham farmer's market (I'm still pining away for Davis), we stopped by the Daisy Cakes airstream trailer to pick up some cupcakes. Our stash included fresh madeleines and four cupcakes clockwise from the top: a black and white, a s'more, vanilla dream, and a red velvet. Total: $12.50.

We also saw the Dead Sea Scrolls in Raleigh at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, just steps from the state capitol. Let's just say there were a lot of biblical references and exhibits trying not to be religious leading up to 6 fragments of really old leather. The most interesting part was learning about how the curators of the 1950's really messed things up by sticking fragments together with scotch tape...the wonder invention of the era.

There are only a few hours left with Mom and I'm trying to make the most of it. I think there are plans for thit kho later and an airplane bento for tomorrow!

Mom and I with the Duke Chapel tower in the background