Currently - December '15

With only 29 days left in 2015, there's no time to waste on a long introduction. Here's what I am up to currently; thank you as always to Anne and Jenna for hosting (and inspiring me to post each month!)

wishing - this nagging cough would go away! I'm sure everyone around me is as tired of listening to it as I am of having it.

remembering - or trying to remember what things were like this time last year. I was only three months into my new job and Keizo was still playing rugby and living in Japan. A lot has changed since then. I wasn't the new person at work for very long, but my company has been growing ever since and we now occupy the whole 8th floor of our building. Keizo's fiance visa was approved in late August, he arrived stateside on September 3 and we were married on October 23. The second round of paperwork has been submitted, and hopefully he will have permanent residence/permission to work soon.

wrapping - nothing yet. I can think of plenty of ways to spend money on myself, but need to put forth a bit more effort to come up with some thoughtful things for my family members.

baking - something delicious, exact recipe TBD for the office bake-off in two weeks. A fellow co-worker used to work in catering so my odds of winning are fairly slim, but it sure makes for a fun and tasty afternoon snack break.

decorating - for the holidays with a few strands of lights, some of my grandmother's ornaments and a paper chain or two. The wreath I usually hang on the door is over the "bar" this year instead. I like it there, but the front door looks empty :-(

Currently - November '15

I am "currently" behind on most everything, which I fear is becoming my normal. But Anne and Jenna have generously left the link-up open, so please be sure to stop by!

cooking - Omelets have been on the regular breakfast rotation recently, as I have finally figured out how to make one that doesn't stick to the pan (hint:a generous amount of olive oil). And it only took about 8 years of cooking for myself to figure that out.

planning - To run a 5K on December 12. Lately, I've only been running about 1x a week, 2.5 miles at a time. Probably need to step that up a bit so the Ugly Sweater Run is more fun than torture.

smelling - like Bath & Body Works "Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin" lotion. I haven't set foot in a Bath & Body Works in ages, but I won a little tube of lotion at my friend's baby shower for being the first person to finish the baby items word scramble, and it smells yummy!

appreciating - everyone who joined Keizo and me for our low-key wedding celebration towards the end of last month. It was wonderful to be surrounded by friends and family from near and far. We have all of the cards we received lined up on the living room shelves, where they will stay until it's time to decorate for Christmas (which is not until after Thanksgiving!)

anticipating - a balmy Christmas/New Year's vacation at home in Arizona, which begins in less than two months! Keizo found us a pretty good deal on our plane tickets to boot.

Currently - October '15

Why, hello there! A new month (and a completely new season since my last post) means it's time to ease back into blogging with another Currently post, hosted by Anne and Jenna.

eating - If you are able to glean anything from my sporadic and often late blog posts, it's probably that I hate rushing into things. When all things pumpkin start appearing in August, I can't help but say "Hold on! There are still a few weeks of summer left!" I think fall is a wonderful season, and I am a big fan of pumpkin (and squash), but fall also means short days and the beginning of having cold feet for six months, so I see no reason to rush. But now that it's October, pumpkin is perfectly acceptable, and I decided to mark the occasion with the batch of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies above.

exploring - Two weekends ago, I celebrated my one year anniversary in DC and my 30th birthday with friends on a 'bikes-n-beer' tour of local breweries. We did a similar ride last year and revisited two of the same places (Atlas, and Bardo) while also adding a new one, Hellbender. Then yesterday, we biked north and west on the Rock Creek Trail to White Flint. It's not always obvious how to get to the trails around here, but once you find them, you can go pretty far!

wearing - Unseasonably cold weather last week, and working in an office where the air conditioning is still set at summer levels means more layers and scarves that actually provide some warmth. I even wore a pair of tights to a baby shower last weekend, so I guess it's time to store some of the summer clothes and get the sweaters out!

admiring - Anyone who has ever planned a wedding. Keizo arrived in the US on his fiance visa early last month, and we're having our civil ceremony on October 23. My parents and brother are flying in, and we recently learned that Keizo's sister will also be joining us all the way from Japan! While basic accommodations have been arranged,  trying to figure out everything else, even for a very small, informal gathering is completely overwhelming. We're making some progress, but after taking last Thursday night off from planning and really enjoying it, Keizo said, "let's avoid it," and there's certainly a part of me that really wishes we could.

collecting - Now that Keizo and I are sharing a one-bedroom apartment, we're trying to get better at not collecting things. In fact, I need to do the exact opposite and really pare some things down, starting with my closet. It took over a week, but I now have about 4 bags of clothes to take Goodwill!

New Recipes: Summer, Part II

The recipes in Part II all fit into either the salad or vegetable category - perfect for summer.

Clockwise from top left:

Chili-Lime Jicama Salad with Shrimp - My photographs of this recipe do not do it justice; it was flavorful and pretty different from what I usually cook. When I was growing up, my mom used jicama in salads fairly regularly, but this might be the only time I have ever bought one on my own. The original recipe suggests spiralizing the jicama, but cutting it into matchsticks worked pretty well. All of the flavor comes from the dressing, and the combination of lime, chili and shrimp helped me feel like I was near a tropical beach.

Ginger Miso Glazed Eggplant - Since having an eggplant dish for dinner one night during my trip to NYC in July, I've wanted to try my hand at one at home. The only downside of this recipe was having to use the oven - something I prefer not to do in the summer. The results were worth it though, good both warm and cold the next day for lunch.

Greek Zucchini Salad - I won't bother trying a recipe that I don't think will taste good, but this recipe really surprised me with how good it was. It was really easy to put together, and held up in the fridge for a few days allowing me to pack the leftovers for lunch, a huge plus! As much as I love pasta (see next recipe) I'm also a fan of "zoodles" as a medium size zuke makes a ton, and I can enjoy them in vast quantities without feeling like I am carbo-loading for a marathon I will never run.

Basil Pesto - A few weeks ago, one of the stands at the farmer's market had huge basil stalks on sale for $2.50, and I brought one home with me. I give this recipe 4 out 5 stars because it turned out a bit oilier than I would have liked. I will definitely try it again though, since nothing compares to fresh, homemade pesto. My own basil plants are doing pretty well after breaking them up into a couple of different planters, which is exciting since the first one I bought in the spring bit the dust within a week or so.

There are still a few summer-y things I'd like to make before the season ends: bruschetta with fresh tomatoes, a peach cobbler and some of the summer cocktail recipes I have pinned, and I hope the farmer's market continues to have the necessary ingredients on hand for a few more weeks.

What's your favorite summer recipe?

Currently - August '15

It's that time again already! Please go visit the Currently link-up hosts, Anne and Jenna and take a peek at what others have been up to. 

*

As usual, I can hardly believe another month has come and gone, but I am actually glad to see August for a change. Keizo has his visa interview scheduled for the 17th, and after nearly a month of physical therapy I can actually pedal on the stationary bike (I dislocated my right knee cap on July 4th and for weeks could not bend my leg enough for a full rotation) Things are definitely looking up!

creating - a growing pile of half-finished projects. Knitting, blog posts, recipes to try, doodles...you name it, and I've probably started it. I've been finishing up some books instead.

wishlisting - I really should be hunting for a nice belated birthday/fiance-visa celebration gift for Keizo, but I have been dreaming about a new bicycle for a while, and the big 3-0 coming up in September seems like a great time to splurge. Maybe a pair of bikes for epic two-wheeled adventures?

hoping - to be rid of the knee brace I've been wearing pretty much 24/7 for the past month. Sure, it's "breathable mesh" and has flexible hinge so I can bend my leg, but I am starting to get a weird tan and the velcro sometimes gets caught on stuff.

eating - Sitting around for a month certainly hasn't dampened my appetite at all. Lately it's been a lot of smoothies for breakfast (including this Strawberry Mint one) and homemade pesto pasta salad for lunch and dinner.

watching - My forced convalescence has permitted me ample time to study my heroine, Liz Lemon and get drawn into the never-ending intrigue and sabotage of Revenge on Netflix.

*This month's photo: nothing quite says summer like a grilled cheese and a milkshake enjoyed by the side of a highway on a 90+ degree day. Work trips are always much better when they include a stop at the Moo-Thru.

New Recipes: Summer, Part I

Signing on to finish up this post, I noticed the page view count at the bottom has crept above the 10,000 mark! In November this blog will be five years old, and it means a lot that so many people have stumbled across it since it began in Japan almost a half decade ago. Thank you!

I find the 10,000 page views even more remarkable in light of my rather sporadic posts of the past few years. I am still looking for (always will be?) a schedule I can stick to, but in the meantime there have been so many new recipes tried in my kitchen that I've had to break them up into two separate posts.

At the beginning of the summer, I rediscovered the joys of being a public library card holder, and all but two of the recipes here came from a visit back in May.

I checked out a copy of "Eat Your Vegetables: Bold Recipes for the Single Cook" by Joe Yonan. I appreciated his cooking philosophy and the other essays included among the recipes, and liked the recipe for Enfrijoladas (top right photo) so much I made it three times in short succession. It's just as good for breakfast as it is for lunch and dinner. I also tried Black Pepper Tofu (bottom right), Indian Chickpea Salad (top left) and the recipe for Broccoli Couscous Salad (not pictured). The couscous salad included pickled raisins as a topping, which ended up being much more delicious than I was expecting. They're kind of sweet and sour, and go great with all sorts of salads.

That same trip to the library, I sat down with a copy of June's Real Simple magazine and found a recipe for Green Curry. It was simple to make, and had a ton of flavor. Having tried green curry paste, it wasn't much of a stretch to try red curry paste in this Slow Cooker Thai Chicken Soup recipe. My mom, who came to help me out for a week after I dislocated my kneecap, prepared everything while I was at work, and we both enjoyed the results. The soup kept well in the fridge, and I still enjoyed it several servings later.

On the baking front, I tried my hand at homemade brownies for the second or third time ever. While brownies aren't hard to make from scratch, I grew up on the boxed mixes and haven't been able to get my homemade versions anywhere near as moist and gooey. This attempt was also turned out a bit drier than I like my brownies, but it did give me a chance to try chia seeds. The recipe, from an old Better Homes & Gardens seasonal publication, replaced a 1/2 cup of butter with 1 Tbsp of chia seeds that had been soaked overnight in a 1/2 cup of water (bottom left). Previously, my only other experiment with chia seeds was putting them in a smoothie and I definitely liked them better in a baked good. I don't think any of my co-workers noticed the lack of butter in the brownies either, as the pan I took in left quite empty.

More new summer recipes coming soon!

Currently - July '15

A new month means another Currently post, hosted by Anne and Jenna. Please take a moment to go say hello!

craving - Connections. I got a letter from the leasing office asking whether I would be renewing my lease in August, and it doesn't seem possible that my one year anniversary could be so soon! I still feel like a new comer, just starting to put down roots.

grilling -  As an apartment dweller, I am prohibited by city code from having my own grill. But it's not all bad, I just caught a free fireworks show from my balcony!

listening - I am usually all about the upbeat pop to help get me through the more repetitive tasks at work, but the past few days I've been in a more mellow mood and listening to Songza's "Acoustic Versions of Pop Songs" station instead.

planning - My upcoming trip to NYC! This is planning in the loosest sense; I picked up a guidebook at the library, have read bits and pieces and made a mental list of things I'd like to see (Central Park and Times Square are the biggies.) I only have a weekend, and hope to spend a good chunk of time just hanging out and catching up with the wonderful friends that are hosting me.

decorating - Not decorating per se, but I have been getting back into other creative pursuits lately. I picked up a long forgotten knitting project and was inspired to buy a nice sketchbook and some new pens after attending a meet-up of the "Unofficial Hand Lettering Society of Silver Spring" early last month. Both of these things have reminded me how fun and therapeutic having a creative outlet can be.

30 before 30: 18 month report

I just know that the world has been on the edge of its collective seat waiting for my next (and second to last!) report on the progress on my 30 before 30 list. I've spent the last two weeks worried I wouldn't have anything to show, but thankfully my January-self was hyped up on New Year's resolutions and my June-self has been trying to make the most of some abundant alone time (see #23) to check a few things off as well. Those weekly goals though...

Blog
4. Post 1X/week (Jan-June 2015=12/26)

Cooking
8. Try 5 new/unusual foods (4/5 - chipotle chiles in adobo sauce 10/2014, dragon fruit 12/2014, seitan from Whole Foods hot bar 3/2015, chia seeds 6/2015. Not a fan of seitan, and I haven't experimented with chia seeds enough to know whether or not I will be buying more when the bag runs out. They do seem to get stuck in your teeth though, which is kind of annoying.)

9. New recipe 1X/week - (Jan-June 2015=28/26; Keizo gets a big chunk of the credit for this one, with the 9 new recipes he made for us in April alone. I also bought a spiralizer; does it count as a new recipe if the ingredients are in completely new shapes?)

Fitness
11. Run a 10K (St. Patrick's Day 10K; 3/2/2015. There was a lovely winter mix falling from the sky and there were ice pellets stuck to the front of my bib when I finished around the 57 minute mark, but I did it! I would actually consider doing another one too, maybe in early fall?)

13. Try new activity (6 AM Bootcamp; 6/2015. Astoundingly for someone who can barely get out of bed at 7 AM, I have only skipped one class this month, and I am planning to stick with it for a few more months, or at least while it's still light out at 6 AM.)

14. Yoga 1X/week - (Jan-June 2015=9/26; Who's feeling stiff and inflexible these days? This girl.)

Personal Growth
19. Read 12 non-fiction books - (7/12 - Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Bikenomics, Blink, At Home, The Rolodex Network Builder, Walkable City. I am also currently in the middle of Hidden Power about the First Ladies of the 20th Century)


Relationships
22. Get married - (Engaged 8/29/2014; Fiance visa paperwork filed 11/2014; Notice of Action received 6/3/2015. Things are moving ever so slowly in the right direction. After 7 months in the Texas holding center, our paperwork moved to the New Hampshire processing center. The very official letter informing me of the move said I should not contact the processing center about the status of the case for 30 days. Those 30 days end on Friday, and I have my fingers crossed that I get another letter saying the application is en route to Tokyo before the week is up!)

23. Live in same time zone - (We tried it out Feb-May 2015 and I think my face below says it all. Going back to being 8,000 miles apart and relying on facetime has been challenging for both of us.) 

24. Write letter 1X/week - (Jan-June 2015=9/26; I know I am not writing a letter every week, but I am even worse at keeping track of them.)

Travel
27. New York City - (Weekend trip booked for mid-July 2015. It will also be my first trip on Amtrak!)

29. Renew passport - (edited 6/2015. It's hard to believe that the passport I renewed in preparation of studying abroad in Costa Rica my junior year of college is only a few days away from the end of its decade of validity. That one still had plenty of pages left, but I am already excited thinking about getting the first stamp in the new one!)

Currently - June '15

playing - with kettlebells for the first time today during a 6 AM bootcamp fitness class. My goal is to go twice a week for the month of June.

going - on a bike ride once a week.There are some great trails around here once you figure out how to get them!

wearing - mostly skirts and dresses to work; sandals when I can get away with it.

sipping - flavored seltzer in lieu of beer/cocktails at home. It's bathing suit season and I am not feeling it.

reading - a new stack of books from the library. Two mysteries, a graphic novel of unusual DC history, a vegetable cookbook and a non-fiction tome about presidential marriages.

See what others are up to "currently" at Anne in Residence and Gold & Bloom.

New Recipes: April

Keizo and I tried a record breaking number of new recipes in April. While he did most of the cooking, I like to think I pulled my weight with the meal planning and grocery-list making. It seemed to take most of Keizo's nearly three month visit for him to really grasp the concept of planning ahead and buying ingredients for multiple meals at one time. As much as I generally enjoy grocery shopping, it's not something I want to do everyday!

Waiting more than month between trying a recipe and writing it up here has both its pros and cons. In general, it gets harder to remember the details of each one, whether or not the recipe was followed exactly, which substitutions I would make next time etc; but on the other hand, it also gets easier to pick out the winners. 

Spring Pasta with Asparagus and Cherry Tomatoes - Not exactly a winner, but I am sure I will be eating some variation on this theme (pasta + vegetables) several more times over the summer.

"Pizza Chicken" - Given the amount of gooey cheese in the photo, it shouldn't be a surprise that this recipe falls into the "make again" category. Running the oven in the summer is less than ideal though, so it may have to wait until fall.

Cheddar Beer Fondue - Although I was initially concerned we would set off the fire alarm, this ended up being a really fun meal. It was fun to make, fun to eat, and inspired several conversations about future uses for our "new" $8 fondue set. Our dipping items consisted of bread, sausage and roasted vegetables and I had a hard time choosing a favorite. One word of caution, the recipe is labeled as "date night," but contains a whopping 16 servings of cheese. I think next time I will halve it with the hope that we'll be able to get up from our chairs a bit more quickly afterwards.

Eggplant & Chickpea Curry - This is another "make again" recipe with lots of vegetables and chickpeas to give it some more staying power. Not nearly as entertaining as fondue, but definitely worth trying :-)

Bim Bim Bap - Somewhere under all those toppings is some rice and marinated ground turkey(?) I went a bit overboard with the garnishes trying to use up old produce and add on new farmer's market finds (see the pickled yellow beets in the middle? Delicious!) and drowned out the flavors of original recipe. I see more rice bowls in the future though, since the different components can be assembled ahead of time and combined later for a quick meal. Also, they're an excellent base for delectable pickled things from No. 1 Sons.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms - I had high hopes for this recipe based on the photos and several roasted vegetable sandwiches with portobello mushrooms and goat cheese enjoyed over the years. The results weren't quite what I was hoping for, nor was the dish particularly satisfying as Keizo and I both had double servings.

Creamy Chicken Quinoa Casserole - This was one of Keizo's picks, and while creamy and comforting, it was also rather bland. It improved with some hot sauce, but is not one I am likely to make again.

Miso Broth Bowl with Soba - This meal was inspired by the cherry blossoms and our visit to Hana, a small Japanese grocery store located on U Street. I was impressed by their selection, and will definitely be making a return trip when I run out of my favorite Japanese pantry items like miso and okonomiyaki sauce. Now that the weather is warming up, I don't know if I would make this again anytime soon, but it was really tasty.

Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potato Skins - Wrapping up on a high note, these loaded potato skins were tasty and really filling. The chipotle peppers packed some heat, and we were also able to enjoy some of the leftover filling with tortilla chips.

Nine new recipes in a month was quite a lot; the past few weeks I have been relying on some old standbys and trying to use up some things from the freezer. Today, I made gazpacho for the first time, so there will be at least one new recipe in the May round up. When I write it up, however, is bit less certain.

Thank you for reading!

Currently - May '15

How it got to be May of 2015, I am not really sure. My next check-in for my 30 before 30 list is rapidly approaching, and I'd better get busy if I want to cross anything off. In the meantime, there's been plenty of other things keeping me busy. Thanks as always to In Residence and Gold and Bloom for hosting this monthly link-up!

My past few weeks have been consumed by writing and working on the layout for a big report at work. The report itself was supposed to be concise, so we moved a lot of things to the appendices, which are now over 100 pages long. No matter how you divvy it up, it's hard to condense a year's worth of work! Apparently it is also hard to produce a draft without any typos. Several people have reviewed the document several times, and we're still finding typos. At least each revision is getting us closer to the final draft!

All of the mini-adventures, bike rides, delicious dinners and general camaraderie Keizo and I have had over the past three months while he's been here. His departure next weekend and return to communicating via FaceTime are going to be rough, but we're hopeful we'll be hearing good news about his visa soon.

I had (unrealistically) high hopes for a pair of jeans I ordered online to replace one of my favorite worn out pairs, but as with most of my online apparel shopping, they didn't quite work out. Oh well, this just adds to the list of reasons* I need to get myself to NYC post haste: to try on jeans at Uniqlo.

A long weekend out of town with my family at my cousin's wedding next weekend. I am really looking forward to seeing my brother and parents, and weddings are always fun.

Several new local restaurants this past weekend during the "Taste the World in Fenton Village" event. About two dozen local eateries had small tasting menus, and visitors earned a stamp at each restaurant visited. I enjoyed this event for several reasons:

1. We spent most of the afternoon eating, which is one of my favorite things to do.
2. In between eating, we sauntered in the glorious sunshine.
3. We tried several new places I'd never been to/didn't even know about, all within a mile of my apartment. 
4. While well attended, the event/restaurants weren't crowded. Sometimes I feel like I am missing out on cool things by not living in the heart of DC, but not rubbing elbows with strangers next to you at restaurants definitely has its appeal.

* The other very good reasons to visit NYC include visiting friends and crossing an item off of my 30 before 30 list.

New Recipes: March

No, that's not a typo in the title. Yes, I am a whole month behind in posting new recipes. So without further ado, the new recipes I made ate and photographed in March:

Sage polenta bowls with roasted brussel sprouts
This recipe is the least memorable of the bunch.  I am pretty sure it was good, but even with the addition of some shrimp and parmesean cheese, the bowls lacked pizzazz. Lots of fiber from those sprouts, but I don't know if I would make this one again when standard shrimp and grits taste so good.

Glowing skin smoothies
This recipe, on the other hand, has been on repeat! Despite enjoying many a smoothie for breakfast, I have always been wary of adding leafy greens to my first meal of the day (except in omlette or quiche form). I am not quite sure what convinced me to take the plunge, but this recipe has shown me that spinach actually works in a smoothie. I am still skeptical about whether or not I could make spinach taste good in a smoothie without following a recipe, and I don't know that I feel the urge to level up to kale for breakfast anytime soon.

Baked tofu
Another winning recipe from March! Keizo gets all of the credit for putting it together, but he says it was pretty easy and we both enjoyed the results. This meal was all sorts of healthy and was consumed in large quantities without any regrets. I am looking forward to making this again when it's time for another round of tofu (at least once a month around here).

I am going to go get started on April's new recipe post right away. Hopefully it won't take a month for me to finish it!

Currently - April '15

Linking up with In Residence and Dearest Love for this month's quick look at what I've been wearing, sipping, wishlisting, writing and exploring.

All of last week I wore my glasses due to a case of pink eye that started in my right eye and moved to my left one. The last time I had pink eye was probably in elementary school; I didn't think that adults got pink eye! As of yesterday though, I am back in my contacts and I am enjoying having peripheral vision again.

I sipped on eleven different types of beer at Wild Wolf Brewery last weekend on an overnight trip back to Charlottesville. My favorites were Blonde Hunny, which I'd had before and the Strawberry Schwarzcake. Keizo's favorite was the Wee Heavy. I found the rest of the beers in the sampler either too light or strangely reminiscent of other foods like sesame seeds and dashi (broth for dipping cold soba noodles).

We've been looking for a counter height dining table for almost a month now, without much success. The ones we've found are either too big for the space or the budget. There are a few places left to browse, but I'd like to make a decision soon. We also rearranged the living room furniture to create more distinct 'zones.' I like the result, but think the right rug would really help pull it all together.

My work tasks have all been heavy on the writing lately - multiple reports, a monthly newsletter etc. so I haven't been writing much more than a grocery list at home. Letter writing and blogging are two of my on-going goals that I would like to get back into this month.

Two weeks ago, Keizo and I met my friend Scott to watch UVA lose to Michigan State in the second round of March Madness. It was a disappointing two hours, even more so because it was a beautiful day outside. We redeemed the afternoon by jumping on bike share and exploring the Georgetown Waterfront and biking over to the Jefferson Memorial. Bikes are a great way to explore that part of town, and I am already looking forward to more adventures as the weather continues to improve.

New Recipes: February

I am writing this post just before lunch, and it's making me pretty hungry. I hope you can find some delicious inspiration from this month's recipes too.

A 2 for $4 mango special helped inspire these Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa Verde from Cooking Light. I think fish tacos are a great weeknight meal because they come together quickly with minimal effort and are quite satisfying without being heavy. The mango salsa verde was a yummy addition, and I added a bit of sriracha mayo for a little tangy heat.

Making these Peanutty No-Bake Truffles from BH&G was my attempt at making something festive for Valentine's Day. They were not the most beautiful chocolates I have ever seen, but they were rich and tasty. I have some assorted leftover ingredients and have been thinking about making a hybrid peanut butter/chocolate version soon.

Black Bean, Corn & Turkey Soup (link to a similar recipe). This was another meal from the several freezer-crock pot dishes I brought home back in January. In this one, the turkey was pre-cooked, which reduced the cooking time to only 1-2 hours on high instead of all day. The first round was a little bland, but nothing some extra hot sauce couldn't fix. The reheated leftovers the next day were much better. Served with tortilla chips, and gobbled up in its entirety both times without a photo.

I can't take any credit for this last recipe, but it's been a long time since the second betsu bara has been featured on here. Keizo made a batch of Secret Nishiura Family Recipe Pickled Onions this past week, which we enjoyed along with fried rice and as a flavorful addition to my regular lunchtime salads.

I find myself wanting to repeat a lot of old standby recipes lately--maybe it's the cold weather we've been having, or just wanting dinner to come together quickly--but it's going to require a little more effort to find some new things to try in March.

Me + Chocolate = Forever

There really is no time when chocolate is very far from my mind, but Valentine's Day is a wonderful excuse to indulge even more than usual. 

While I would generally refrain from keeping chocolate in my desk at work, I was in a festive mood and decided to pick some up during my usual grocery run last week. I headed to the "seasonal" aisle of my local grocery store, and was very confused when I found a lot of green, yellow and lavender marshmallow animals lined up on the shelves. Seriously, this was almost a week before Valentine's Day and all of the pink and red-wrapped candies had already been consolidated into a smaller section at the front of the store that until recently had been occupied with broken candy canes. 

As if the prominently displayed Easter candy wasn't enough, I also noticed some patio furniture stacked on top of the dairy cases in the back of the store. Considering the temperature has been in the single digits lately, I think the whole store is getting a little too far ahead of the calendar...

Purchasing pre-made chocolate wasn't enough for me this year, so last Friday I decided to try my hand at making some truffles. I went back to the store, where my basket ended up as the picture of health, with Nutter Butters, Oreos, two kinds of chocolate chips, agave syrup, peanut butter and some hazelnut spread (not actually for the truffles, but I had just finished a jar and it fit nicely with the teeth-rotting, flab-inducing theme of my basket).

I followed the "Peanutty" and "Indulgent Chocolate" variations of this No-Bake Truffle recipe with a decent amount of success, if I may say so myself. The crumb setting on my blender did a nice job reducing the cookies to dust, and after that everything else just gets dumped in a bowl and mixed together. 

I didn't have any trouble rolling the mixture into balls, but I did choose to give them a quick rest in the freezer before dipping them in melted chocolate. 

The dipping part was definitely a little messy, and the coatings were far from perfectly smooth. I topped the peanut butter ones with appropriately colored peanut butter M&Ms and stuck them back in the fridge to set.

I packed up a bunch of truffles to take to dinner at a friend's house on Saturday. They made for an indulgent after-dinner treat. At two (or three) bites a piece, these truffles are pretty rich even for this chocoholic. I don't do a very good job of savoring them as I am eating, and then regret it later when I have eaten too many all at once. This is all to say I should be sharing more of the leftovers, but they're so good I just want to hoard them for myself.

Currently - Feb '15

It's time for another Currently link up with Anne and Jenna. 

I've been in a bit of a funk this week, but I am "hearting" that we are one day closer to the weekend! I am also "hearting" the new mattress I finally invested in last month after 3.5 years of sleeping on a futon. The whole experience has been rather similar to when I got glasses in 7th grade -- I had no idea what I'd been missing!

I recently finished the novel, The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides, and started two non-fiction books: How to Win Friends and Influence People and Seabiscuit. The Marriage Plot was a good read, although I did not appreciate the lack of chapter breaks in the prose. Without natural stopping places to guide me, I was able to finish the book much faster overall, but each "session" was much longer than my usual 15-20 minutes before going to sleep.

I picked up my copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People at a used bookstore, and I had no idea how long it has been in circulation! While I am sure the principles still apply today, some of the text is a bit dated. I have set it down at least temporarily after reading a paragraph in which the author explains that he only knows of two people making over $1 million a year, surely a direct result of their incomparable people skills! There might be something to that, but I have moved on to a book that is actually intended to be historical. I've learned a lot about Seabiscuit and the sport of horse racing despite being only about a quarter of the way through the book. I am thankful for the regular breaks in the text and the occasional picture, and in awe of the talent and pure grit exhibited by the main characters.

I only joined Pinterest a few months ago, and will often ignore it during the week. It has been inspirational in helping me get rid of some clutter, and I have recently been pinning images of gallery wall ideas to help add more personality to my otherwise very standard looking apartment.

I rediscovered miso soup this week after picking up some take-out sushi on my way home yesterday. I used to make it pretty regularly as part of my dinner when I lived in Japan, and it's a nice way to warm up on a winter's evening.

On the other end of the temperature spectrum, I have been enjoying Whole Food's house brand gelato as though it were 28*C outside instead of 28*F. I've tried the Salted Caramel and Hazelnut flavors, and I would be hard pressed to choose a favorite between the two.

Keizo will be coming to visit in just two weeks, in what we hope will be his last annual, post-rugby season trip! He's been making these trips since his very first trip to the US in February/March 2010, but I really hope to put an end to the tradition later this year when he gets his visa and can relocate more permanently. I haven't planned much of anything yet, but there are plenty of places in my neighborhood and beyond that I am looking forward to taking him to, as well as spending some quality time hanging out at home in our sweatpants.

Thanks for reading!