Memorial Day Eats

When you get a big girl job that takes up your life 8+ hours a day for 5 days a week, with all those Christmas and Spring and Summer breaks taken away, you really appreciate the 3-day weekends when they come. I had been visiting Kevin several weeks in a row for various things -- an interview, Kevin's birthday, Kevin's USC graduation, helping him move -- so I made him promise to visit me for the long weekend.

The weather was finally nice (oh right it is almost June!), though we didn't make that much use of it -- the pool would have been great, but every family of 3 with a screeching toddler beat us to the punch. I didn't even want to think about the traffic over 17, either. We did go to the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose to use the Groupons I got several weeks back for the admission + IMAX for $5 (half off). We ended up parking far away (pretty much where I parked when I went to high school!) because there was an anime convention in downtown SJ as well and all the garages were full; so we did have a nice walk in the sun afterall. The Tech really is looking worse for wear these days. Hubble on IMAX Dome was worth the $5, though.

Of course, Kevin loves visiting me because it means I cook for him. Saturday I made Asparagus Risotto (recipe coming soon):


Sunday I took him to IKEA to browse the showroom for furniture to fill his empty studio. Mostly he wanted to pick out what he wanted, since his tiny coupe wouldn't be able to haul any of it back with him (another U-Haul rental is in his future), though he did get a new laundry hamper and two bar stools. I got replacement bulbs (finally) for my desk lamp; it lit my studies for 4 years before finally burning out the morning of my last final at USC, and I've been meaning to get a new bulb in the year since. That night (after a long nap -- walking around IKEA is tiring business!) we faced the usual, "what do you want to do tonight?"/"I dunno, what do you wanna do?" conversation. I brought up pool, since we hadn't played in a while and he had been teaching me some strategy. He thought it would be nice to make some food together. Somehow, he decided on hamburgers. So I browsed around foodgawker for a fun salad recipe to adapt and accompany our meal, and we made a grocery list.

Kevin thinks I give him the crappy jobs because I always make him cut the veggies (namely, the onions, though he always wears my swim goggles to save his eyes anyway), but I make everything delicious anyway so I don't think he minds too much. In the end, we had delicious cheeseburgers topped with caramelized mushrooms and onions, along with a tangy orzo salad (recipes coming soon) for a late dinner and an easy Memorial Day lunch:

~*~

Take 2

Dear theoretical readers,

So I started a website, and kind of abandoned it. It wasn't very good, and I'm kind of in a funk. I've kind of been in a funk for a while now. I'm working on it, okay?!

I'm not so good at this weblogging thing these last few years, am I? I guess life's got me a little tongue-tied.

I started reading old blog posts of people I miss dearly. I thought, "blogging used to help me feel less lonely," so maybe I'll give it a shot again. Adult life has got me a little robotic, and I hate that. Maybe blogging will help me find my voice again.

I'll be back. Soon. I promise. Or at least I'll try. Really.

~*~

I have lots of Iron Chef Blogger Challenges I have made and photographed, which I may get around to posting at some point. The idea was for them to go on the food page of my website, but we all know how diligent I was with that project.

Let's start with a summary of the high points in life since we last spoke...

Right around the time of my last post, my Mom had a heart+lung transplant...pretty much for Valentine's Day, which I found fitting. It was really intense. I guess I was spending a lot of time with her and my family in the weeks following that. It was a huge success, with pristine donor organs, and she recovered very quickly. My Aunt Elaine came to be her 24/7 caregiver for 3 months, and she moved into a temporary apartment with my parents just about a mile from my apartment, so I visited often. Her progress was so spectacular that they let her move back home after only 1 month, since it was still within 1 hour of Stanford in case anything went wrong. I am still amazed at how strong my Mommy really is:

My Mom with her Stanford heart pillow, 2 weeks after the transplant.
So strong and brave that you can't even tell, can you?

However, much to the dismay of my Mom, I'm trying really hard to get a job in LA right now. It's for many reasons. But mainly it's for a boy. Am I that girl? Apparently I am.

It's funny how much I hated LA when I first moved there, and then when it was time to leave, I was just starting to call it home. Home is where the heart is, right? Well what if your heart is scattered lots of places? A big chunk of it is still in LA. Hopefully, once I can get a job there, moving back will be the defibrillator I need to revive my Sara~ness from this funk I've slunk into since moving away.

So a lot of what I've been up to is applying for jobs. And the endless cycle of work and apartment, windowless office and dull chores. Most weekends I visit or am visited by Kevin -- my boyfriend and bestest friend. Every other trip to LA, I also visit other friends there that I miss so very much. Once I even met up with my old roommate (the best one! miss her so!), Patti. Before going out drinking with a few other friends, we exchanged gifts. She gave me a cute little sake set, which Kevin and I did sake bombs with the following weekend on the floor of my Mountain View apartment:


We also went paintballing that weekend. A few weeks ago we followed up with airsoft for his birthday. Then his graduation. Then last weekend I helped him move into his new studio, of which I am so jealous -- and I hope someday soon we can get a place together.

Okay so I've been up to a lot these last few months. I could have blogged. I could have done a lot of things. I'm a terrible friend, I'm sorry!

I've written down what I call my LA Pledge. It's a list of promises I've made to myself for if/when I get a job and get to move down to LA to be closer to many friends, and of course my Kevin. I won't share what's on that list (maybe I will when it's time to hold up my end of the bargain -- you can help keep me honest!), but I will say this: they're all geared towards me being a better person, and living a better life for myself. Because this funk just won't do! And you deserve better.

Sincerely,
Me.

~*~