My Favorite New Year's Traditions

Happy New Year! It's 2020, which still sounds so futuristic. While ringing in the new year with lots of booze and staying up well past midnight may have been fun in the past, this year's celebration was decidedly more low-key. I had a cold and Keizo worked extra hours to cover for a number of people who called out sick.

Instead of getting together with friends, we stayed home, cooked a yummy dinner, and reflected on the year behind and the year ahead. This has become one of my favorite New Year's traditions after finding a set of prompts online a few years ago (similar). Some years, we go though them with friends, others it's just been us. For me, it's a fun way to start thinking about goals for the next year. Here are some of the 2019-2020 highlights:

2019

The best COMPLIMENT this year:
W: Being named an Associate at work.
K: Being nominated for the Anderson Award at work (for the 3rd time!)

The best ACHIEVEMENT this year:
W: Biking across Iowa! And/or biking 1,000+ miles in preparation for biking across Iowa!
K: Same!

The most INSPIRING person this year:
W: Aunt Maggie for growing all of the flower's for Jess' wedding and running what must be a commercial-scale baking operation to make all those cookies she sends around for the holiday.
K: My co-worker Justin for his calm composure while managing our team and solving problems.

The BEST MEAL this year:
W: Keizo's birthday dinner at Momo Yakitori; finally trying Red Hen; sukiyaki on Friday with Linda & Sergio
K: Sukiyaki dinner; Mr. Pork Chop (Iowa); Bruschetta at Pizzeria Paradiso

2020

This year I want to LEARN:
W: Or relearn some Japanese and Spanish
K: Spanish

This year I want to BE MORE:
W: Positive
K: Social

This year I'd like to VISIT:
W: Colorado; Claire in Europe
K: Assateague Island; onsen (hot springs)

This year I want to TRY:
W: Going to yoga classes
K: Mountain biking

Another favorite New Year's tradition is hand-making our nengajo, or New Year's cards. Although celebrated in conjunction with the Western calendar, Japan uses the animals associated with the Chinese Lunar calendar for each year, which makes 2020 the year of the rat/mouse. Since we hand-make our cards, one of the first steps is deciding on a design that can be easily replicated many times over. Sometimes this involves a stencil that we can reuse, other years it's a simple line drawing with a few embellishments. This year, for the first time, we made stamps (out of a potato)!

There was some trial and error and many practice rounds involved before we got them working just right. The mouse stamp had a low point in the center which we balanced out by stamping the cards on a folded kitchen towel; for the year, the towel was laid flat. The final design is on the plain side, but none of the additions I tested out looked quite right.

Wishing everyone a fun, happy, and healthy 2020!

Xmas 2016

Just a short post today, recapping the highlights of hosting our first Christmas! Although my mother was originally rather vocal about not wanting to travel during the holidays, I guess the thought of not spending Christmas as family won out in the end, and both my parents and my brother joined Keizo and me in Takoma Park, MD. 

Not only were they the first guests to sleep in our guest room and on fold out couch, but it was the first major holiday I've ever hosted. Thankfully, they're pretty easy guests, and we all enjoy eating, beer tasting and jigsaw puzzles. We kept a few family traditions alive, including coffee cake for Christmas breakfast and wrapping up "gifts" that are really more odds-n-ends from around the house or essential items like toothbrushes. Sounds pretty terrible, but it wouldn't be Christmas at our house without at least a few of these things.

We had brunch with extended family in northern Virginia, took advantage of the trail close to our house on a bright sunny day, ate extremely well and spent an afternoon in downtown DC at the Natural History Museum and checking out the National Christmas Tree. One of the biggest highlights of their short visit was my brother gifting Keizo a cast iron dutch oven and some bread making lessons, both of which I hope will be used frequently in the new year. 

Happy (almost) 2017!

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.

Summer eats

A few summery things I have enjoyed in the past few weeks:

1. Ice cream for dinner on my drive home to Charlottesville from an interview in Silver Spring, MD.  I was far from being the only person stopped at the Moo Thru on a warm summer evening, and like every other time I've stopped, I was not disappointed.  I relaxed my usual "it must have chocolate" requirement and tried blackberry and cake batter.  Blackberry was quite good, but like most cake batter/cheesecake flavors I didn't care for this one too much after the first couple of bites. 

2. The Fourth of July could not have come at a better time this year.  I was out of the office on Monday, so I only had a three day work week, but there seemed to be an inordinate amount of stuff crammed into those three days.  On the Fourth, the weather was more early fall than middle of summer and my friend Christina was in town for a visit.  We prepared a small backyard dinner with some of our favorite summer dishes: veggie patties, corn on the cob, couscous with tomatoes, basil & mozzarella, and a watermelon, mint & feta salad.  

The first time we made the watermelon salad two summers ago, I was highly skeptical of adding anything to one of my favorite summer fruits.  The dish turned out better than I expected then, and even better than I remembered this summer.  I think we got the ratio of watermelon to mint and feta just right.

Dinner in the backyard was followed by fireworks viewing from the top of Montalto and some s'mores brownies.  I think I did an excellent job of toasting the marshmallows, if I do say so myself. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the graham cracker crust on the bottom, which was mostly graham cracker dust.  The chocolate center was proclaimed "neither cake-y nor fudge-y" and overall, maybe this was not the best dish to eat without utensils.  I later discovered (with plates and silverware at my disposal) that 15 seconds in the microwave made all the difference--the insides became warm and moist and the marshmallows went from stiff to gooey.

3. The first of many ways to use zucchini that will be appearing on here in the coming weeks.  Thankfully, zukes are relatively flavorless and can be added to just about anything, like this shrimp scampi recipe.  There's half of a giant one sitting in my fridge as I type this, and another one needing to be picked, plus two smaller ones in the garden!  Next recipe: stir fry.

Lucky 7's

I've been trying to think of a way to recap the last month or so in a nice, succinct manner.  In honor of spending it with Keizo and his favorite number, I present to you the Top 7 Things from February.

1. Mangoes were on sale the week before Keizo arrived.  I bought one and then forgot about it on the counter for a while.  It was a little on the soft side when I finally remembered it and we cut it up to put on top of our pancakes, but in reality it was perfect.  Super sweet, not the least bit crunchy and really, really good on pancakes with a bit of Greek yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup.  More mangoes have made their way into my shopping cart since, and I enjoyed the same breakfast again this morning.

2.  Keizo made Chicken & Dumplings all by himself one evening while I got in a rare workout.  I think he enjoyed this version more than I did, but any meal I don't have to cook is a treat!

3.  One of our jaunts outside of Charlottesville was another trip to Richmond.  This year we went to the Science Museum of Virginia, and had a great time.  Most of the museum is hands on, so we spent the day racing bowling balls, testing our flexibility and tight-rope walking abilities and watched trained rats play basketball.  We grabbed lunch across the street from the museum at a tiny Jamaican place called the Jerk Pit, which was delicious.  I really enjoyed my chicken sandwich and side of plantains, while Keizo got the stewed chicken special and a side of ribs.

After the Science Museum, we braved the traffic in Short Pump to do some shopping and eat dinner, overall an overwhelming experience I feel no need to repeat.  I did get a knife sharpener (so exciting, I know!) and after a long wait we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  The cheesecake we brought home was both dessert and half of breakfast the next day.

4.  Planning romantic things for Valentine's Day is not my forte.  Like most events these days, Valentine's Day caught me a bit off guard---thankfully Cappellino's Crazy Cakes had plenty of themed cupcakes left when I finished work, so I could still "surprise" Keizo.  From the previous sentences, it should be pretty obvious that we stayed in, but we were both quite content in our sweatpants and certainly didn't miss the crowded restaurant atmosphere.  The day started with Keizo making pancakes for breakfast; he had a bottle of wine and some snacks waiting for me when I got home; we worked together to make one of his favorite dishes (Japanese curry) and demolished all four of the cupcakes I brought home.  

5. It's no secret that Keizo and I eat really well when we are together.  While it wasn't easy to narrow down all of our meals to the few listed here, there was no doubt in my mind that our "homemade" pizza would make the cut.  We bought two tubes of refrigerated pizza crust to make it easy and created two different masterpieces.  The one on the top left had caramelized onions, apples, pepperoni and a combination of brie and cheddar cheese; the one on the right was a more classic combo of pesto, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and Italian seasoning.  Both were tasty, but there was something really irresistible about the classic combination.  It's a small miracle there were any leftovers for me to take for lunch!

6. Keizo was here to experience the biggest snowfall of my 2.5 years in Charlottesville.   I think we got about 18 inches, and I had the day off of work.  We played in the snow with my housemate, sledding and and sculpting the snow beast below. 

7.  Last but not least, it is long past time for me to share one of my guilty pleasures of late.  A friend introduced me to this dangerously good Brownie in a Mug recipe in December.  I have lost count of how many times I have made it since then, but let's just say I don't need to look at the recipe anymore.  Topped with a generous scoop of ice cream it made a lovely dessert for two.

Describing seven things from last month was not nearly as quick as I thought it would be, but when I signed in to start writing this post, 2BB had 7,700 page views.  Clearly, this post was meant to be ;-)

A BIG thank you for reading!  Keizo may pay more attention to the number of pageviews this blog gets than I do, but 7,700 is certainly more than I ever expected.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

..for baking!  And eating dessert after every meal!  Or any time you happen to wander through the kitchen!

There are so many things to love about the holidays.  Some of my favorite activities include wrapping presents, looking at Christmas lights, and holiday baking.  Most people do not need any more sweets around the holidays, but when it comes to simple, homemade gifts I cannot resist giving baked goods.  I get to do something I enjoy, while also assuring I will not be eating an entire batch of cookies by myself!

Last year, I made easy peppermint bark and packed it in recycled glass jars to give as gifts.  With no final presentations to give or papers to write this year, I got a little more ambitious and baked a few of my favorites:

• Foolproof Fudge
• Peanut Butter Blossoms
• Christmas Tree Cookies--> the link goes to a similar, but not exact recipe.  I added green food coloring and shaped the dough into triangles before slicing.  Christmas trees, right?

Collage template from pizap.com

The adorable packaging came from the dollar bins at Michael's, and turned out even cuter that I thought it would be.  The gift tags were cut out from Trader Joe's (2011?) holiday bags and tied on with red yarn. 

Since being home in AZ, I have made another batch of PB blossoms, since they are a family favorite, and baked a quick batch chocolate chip cookies from refrigerated cookie dough.  However, I have not been as good about shopping for gifts as I have been about baking them!  How is it that there are only 4 days left until Christmas?!?!

Holiday classics with a twist

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!  Mine featured plenty of delicious food, spending time with members from both sides of my extended family and truly a lot to be thankful for.  November 28th was also the 3rd anniversary (birthday?) of "Two Betsu Bara," and it couldn't have fallen on a more fitting holiday!

As in previous years, I had two opportunities to try out Thanksgiving recipes.  The first was the potluck at work the week before the actual day; wanting something simple and easy to tote to work on my bicycle, I made homemade cranberry sauce.

The recipe I used (from an old issue of Family Circle magazine; I can't seem to find it online) called for chunks of apple and ginger in addition to cranberries and gelatin.  Everything was boiled together in a sauce pot for while and made my whole apartment smell amazing.  There ended up being an abundance of cranberry sauce at the luncheon, but mine was the only homemade one.  While I enjoyed mine and I liked the different textures and addition of the ginger, I don't think I would go to trouble of making it again if I were also responsible for the rest of the meal.  The canned stuff is pretty good, and one less thing to worry about!


For the actual holiday, I got started the weekend before by cooking down my old Halloween pumpkin.  I had never cooked down a pumpkin before, and was a little intimidated by the prospect.  I followed the instructions from The Pioneer Woman and the process ended up being easier than I thought.  The most difficult part was getting it smooth in my blender.  I am sure a real food processor would make the task even easier.



My pumpkin was about 8" in diameter and cooked down to about 3 cups of pumpkin puree.  I used half of it in the pumpkin cheesecake I brought with me to dinner at my aunt and uncle's house.  I made the same recipe last year, and was afraid I might not be let in the door without it this year!  Using homemade pumpkin puree changed the texture (less firm) and flavor (less pumpkin-y) a little bit--note all the fibrous bits stuck to the mixer above--but this year's cheesecake was also well received.  I have one piece left in my fridge; tomorrow's breakfast perhaps?

My uncle also put a twist on one of his holiday classics:  before filling the crust of one of his pecan pies, he added a layer of chocolate chips.  Probably the best pecan pie I've ever had!

Eggs-tra! Eggs-tra!

Happy day after Easter!

Yesterday I hosted a small potluck for a few of my classmates.  The original plan was to have a picnic in the park, but it rained so people came over to my house instead.  Not only did we stay dry, but I was forced to do a quick clean of the bathroom, kitchen and living room, something that needed to be done and probably will not be get done again until after finals.  Potential house guests have been warned!

My additions to the spread included mimosas (no leftovers), quinoa salad (way too much left over), and these seasonal treats (a decent amount of leftover nests, not enough leftover 'eggs').
 

There are several versions of this "recipe" on the interwebs; I followed the one from "The Art of Dessert," a blog I think I will be visiting again in the near future...

And with that, it's April and high time for some nice weather 'round here.  Please?

Valentine's Day 2013

While I like to blame the absence of a creative Valentine's gift/outing on the fact that I only found out about a week ahead of time that Keizo and I would actually be spending February 14th on the same continent, the reality is I had over a week to come up with something or try and make a reservation somewhere but didn't.

We have had some fantastic Valentine's in the past (see here, and here) and I didn't feel like any of this year's ideas could compare.  Rather than trying to compete, we took a decidedly low-key approach that is summed up by the following:

Source

This blog and its title originated around our love of food, after all!  My regular Thursday class was cancelled last week, giving us the whole day and three square meals together.

Breakfast: Banana pancakes topped with peanut butter and syrup + coffee.  Stick to the ribs fuel for a morning jaunt up the Monticello-Saunders Trail.

Lunch: Quick fish tacos with "fiesta slaw."  Leisurely strolling four miles up and down a mountain with a bunch of retirees works up an appetite.

Dinner: Heart-shaped pasta with "customized" brandy sauce, green salads and wine.  It was V-day, and the romantic pasta shapes I probably bought on sale last February weren't getting any fresher.

Pasta sauce from a jar with sausage, onions, and tomatoes added.

The best wine $3.29 can buy!

After the wine was poured and photos captured, we turned off the overhead lights for some atmosphere.  I only had the one candle lit on the table and initially it felt more like a power outage than a romantic dinner.  Eventually my eyes adjusted, and I no trouble locating my food with my fork and carrying it to my mouth.

Dessert: Red velvet cupcakes from a boxed mix.  I had high hopes, but these did not meet my expectations. 

                           

The frosting in particular was way too buttery; but gee, they do look pretty cute all dressed up!

We shared some with the upstairs neighbors, and somehow managed to finish off the rest of them later in the week.

****

Cooking alone certainly has its perks---only one palette to satisfy, significantly lower grocery bills and fewer dishes when I decide to eat leftovers straight from the container--but cooking with another person, especially one who not only loves you and your food but also offers to do the dishes, is impossible to beat.

I hope everyone got to eat something they love with someone they love on the 14th and has a chance to do it again soon <3

お久しぶり！！

Ohisashiburi means "long time no see" in Japanese.  And oh my goodness gracious, it's been a while.

Summer has long since come and gone, with a string of several days with temperatures in the mid 50's of late.  In between the sweaty-sticky of summer and chilly-brisk of late fall, there were some gorgeous days, enjoyed mostly on my bike ride to and from school, but also during a few hikes I was lucky enough to squeeze in.

Like the change in weather, the change in my daily routine from perhaps one of the nicest summers of my life to a very busy semester has been pretty dramatic.  Only a semester and a little bit to go!  The "little bit" is a mere 2.5 weeks left of classes, chock full of presentations and papers.  I am trying my best to power through, and I am very much looking forward to winter break!

Given the workload of the new few weeks, now doesn't exactly seem like the most opportune time to start blogging again.  However,

1. I've missed it; especially as I struggle to design and populate my own website in Dreamweaver for a class project
2. November is 2BB's anniversary month--2 years!!
3. I can't let this year's 100-Mile Thanksgiving go by with out a post

So without further ado...

Last Saturday, two classmates and I drove out to Heartland Harvest Farm to pick up the turkeys for this Thursday's dinner.  The farmer was extraordinarily friendly, and drove us around a small portion of his 500 acres in his minivan to show us the sights.  He also talked us into buying a half bushel of potatoes for dinner, which is a lot of potatoes (more on them below)!

Our turkeys conveniently came frozen in cardboard boxes.

On Wednesday evening, I cooked up a storm and made two seasonal, mostly local dishes.  My original plan was to make BH&G's Roasted Acorn Squash and Beet Salad, so I painstakingly peeled the squash and let the beets roast with the potatoes in the oven while I whisked together the dressing.

I hadn't planned on making potatoes, but thought I should do my part to make a dent in the half bushel.  I brought home about a dozen, and after doing a quick internet search decided to make vegan, rosemary & garlic twice-baked potatoes.  Almond milk is hardly local, but being sustainable is part of the philosophy behind the 100 Mile Thanksgiving.  I am willing to venture that almonds have a smaller carbon footprint than cows, and by using what I had on hand, I saved a trip to the store.

Thursday evening finally came, and I joined my classmates, faculty, local farmers and friends at a local church for a delicious feast.   Allison, our fearless organizer said a few words and we got in line at the buffet.

I filled up my plate with all sorts of tasty dishes, went back for some dessert and again when the deep fried turkey made its somewhat tardy, but oh-so-yummy appearance.

The meal was a great success, and I am so thankful to have found a graduate program tailored to my interests both in and outside of the classroom.

One year ago: Last year's 100 Mile (which has a much better description of what it's all about!)

Two years ago: Just getting started

Planner's Thanksgiving

Every fall, the students of the Urban and Environmental Planning program at UVA assemble for a special Thanksgiving meal the week before the actual holiday. The department provides money for the turkeys, but the rest of the menu, from vegetables & sides to dessert and drinks, is a potluck. Our collective cooking skills are put to the test by the request that most, if not all of the ingredients be sourced from a 100 mile radius from Charlottesville.

For example, our turkeys came from Polyface Farm in Swoope, VA. Pretty early on in the semester, I signed on to be part of the crew that went out to pick them up. Joel Salatin's farm is only about an hour's drive from C-ville, but feels like a different world entirely. The drive out was gorgeous, with a little bit of fall color still clinging to the trees. We parked near the sales office and wandered around a bit before claiming our birds.

We saw these handsome gals...

...and their mobile summer homes.

Then checked out the four legged animals--piggies...

... and cows.

We hiked up a small hill for the panoramic view, and then went inside the sales office to get the (frozen) turkeys and wrestle them into the coolers we had brought. The largest one was 18 lbs, and the other two were not much smaller!

The trip to the farm occurred last Saturday and since I hadn't volunteered to cook one of the birds, I also stopped at the Charlottesville City Market to pick up the ingredients for my contribution.

I ended up with a large bag full of carrots, raddishes, broccoli, red onion and local cheese, which I turned into broccoli salad Wednesday night. The dressing and raisins sprinkled on the top were not local, but overall I think I did a pretty good job!

Thursday finally rolled around, I packed up my food and headed to school around 9 AM. For once, I was glad it was cold outside. A natural refrigerator for my salad in a cooler in the back of my car! I brought the dressing & cheese in to keep in the fridge, just to be safe, but given that the ice pack in the cooler had barely melted by 6 PM, they probably would have been just fine.

My last class got out early (5:30!) so that everyone could make their way down the street to the church where the dinner was being held. Several second year grad students had turned the empty hall into a lovely dinning room.

I added my salad to the long buffet table in the front, and filled out a label for it.

Soon, it was time to eat! For being loosely organized as to who was bringing what, we had an astounding variety of food in every category. Lots of sweet potatoes and butternut squash based dishes, and I think my salad was one of only about two cold, green dishes. The three turkeys were all there, but no gravy.

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without an overflowing plate (or two)!

There was dessert as well, apple pie being the most popular. I am very impressed with my classmates' culinary skills, and I can't wait for my second Thanksgiving this week!