The conversation started innocuously enough.
Dan: "I'm thinking we need a larger hard drive to store all our media."
Me: "I thought we had sufficient space scattered across our computers."
Dan: "But we're getting more movies and music and will run out of space soon."
Me: "Why don't you spec it out and see how much it will cost."
Dan: (already running off to his computer) "Okay."
(I had already forgotten this conversation in the next 5 minutes. My mind is like a sieve except it's not like the baking ones you use to sift small particles like powdered sugar or flour. No, it looks more like a drunk trunk driver rammed a Mac truck through it. That's my memory.)
We were sitting down to dinner the next day when Dan mentioned casually that he had bought a "two terabyte hard drive for only $100 dollars" and was blissfully dancing about how happy the computer was going to be to get this awesome add-in. 2 terabytes (TB)? 20 TB would hold the text content of the US Library of Congress. 10 of these babies and we'd be able to store most of modern knowledge encapsulated in written form. Hot-diggity-damn.
When the 2 TB disk arrived, you'd think it was Christmas morning in the Kwan-Chang household. Wowzers! "Can you believe it?" Dan would say, smiling and shaking his head. "2 TB for $100!" I, being the lapsed engineer, was equally excited. 2 TB seems like a heck of a lot of space. Like a bottomless well clamoring to be filled with delightful electronic water. The joy was short-lived, however, when Dan began the process of installing the HD into what he affectionately dubs the "entertainment center". I call it the "computer that holds our music and videos and connects to the TV and projector." TomatO, TomAto.
Long story short, the 2 TB hard drive nearly broke the computer, what with all the formatting, and installing, and porting, and whatcha-ma-call-its to make sure that we didn't lose the existing data. It took Dan almost a week's worth of man hours and a living room strewn with computer parts to configure it properly. The living room/bedroom looked like two computers had entered an Ultimate fighting ring and torn each other to pieces. Very sexy stuff. Every night I came home from work and asked, "Is it working yet?" and Dan would reply, "Yes, but...". Poor guy would fix one problem to have another magically appear, like evil fairies.
The moral of the story is that when your husband turns to you and says, "I'm thinking of getting more computer storage", start cleaning out the living room floor. You're going to need the space.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
"All I Need is You and Cheap Mexican Food"
About 2 years into our dating relationship, Daniel took me to a favorite cheap Mexican haunt next to the University of Chicago called Maravillas. This is the kind of place favorited by cheap college kids and starving residents. In short, its Dan's kind of place. If my memory serves me correctly, we ordered approximately 47 tacos and 234 enchiladas. More or less. On the ride back home on Lake Shore Drive, Dan turned to me with the utmost sincerity and uttered, "All I need in life is you, and cheap Mexican food."
Since then, we have been a mission to discover all the hole-in-the-wall taco joints in Chicagoland. No crumbling storefront or suspicious signage can deter us from discovering and devouring delicious cheap tacos. We recently discovered Tierra Caliente, a nondescript tacos restaurant in the middle of a very homey Mexican convenience store. You know a place is good when the patrons are either working-class Mexicans or hipsters.
We also ventured out to Peoria Packing Butcher Shop, which is not in Peoria but in Fulton Market. It's the place I'd vote for as "Best Place to Hang Out on a Humid Chicago Day if You Got No A/C". It's also the vegetarian's version of hell. Meat in all delightful shapes, sizes, and packages fill the rafters. Bacon, pig feet, shanks, sausages, wings, drumsticks, thighs, pork butt, fish, chicken nuggets, short ribs, etc. The smell of clinical carcasses fill the air, and I tend to shiver a lot in the ruthlessly efficient refrigeration. We were there to purchase pork tenderloins for a Sunday dinner we were planning to cook for some of Dan's work colleagues. We also saw some rad-looking devilish fish, like ones you might see in Disney movies.
On Saturday night, we made our way to the Kenmore Live Studio for Argentinian night. A housewife-turned-entrepreneur demonstrated her famous empanadas on Live! Facebook! TV! In addition, she was making alfajores, which is a traditional Argentinian delicacy, kind of like a crumbly, buttery cookie sandwich with dulce de leche caramel and coconut topping. Really outstanding and airy. But the way she was pronouncing "alfajores" sounded like "alpha whores". Dan turned to me amd said, "Isn't that a madam?" At which point I punched him in the arm since the HUSBAND OF THE CHEF was sitting next to us.
We got our comeuppance in the break when an Argentinian dancing duo were demonstrating the tango and invited audience members to participate. Since no one was voluntarily subjecting themselves to the very real specter of public humiliation, the husband pointed at us and said loudly, "THESE TWO WOULD LIKE TO DANCE." Since we have no shame, we jumped up and started dancing very badly to tango music. On Live! Facebook! TV! Y'all, we have never been so famous. As a revenge for calling us out, we stole one of the alfajores that was sitting on the pristine Kenmore countertop.
Sunday was another low-key day that where we strolled around Chicago's Maxwell Street Market stuffing our faces with enchilades, tamales, flavored shaved ice in lime, mango chile, and guava flavors, and many, many tacos. Our friends Lolita and Lee A. were delighted by this enchanting slice of Mexican life in the Midwest. It was a beautiful Chicago day and needless to say, topped off by churros.
Sunday night, we went to Dan's co-worker's apt in Wicker Park to cook a Southern meal complete with cheesy grits, collard greens, pork tenderloin, corn, and pina coladas! I'm not sure if pina coladas count as Southern fare, but I'm sure if alcohol is involved, the South has something to do with it. Martha busted out the blue glasses, and Akilah made sure we were having a good time. Dan's eyes got very big when he learned that there was an old-school Pacman machine in the next room. I'm sure if I hadn't been there he will still be there, playing the game, and yelling at poor Mr.Pacman.
Since then, we have been a mission to discover all the hole-in-the-wall taco joints in Chicagoland. No crumbling storefront or suspicious signage can deter us from discovering and devouring delicious cheap tacos. We recently discovered Tierra Caliente, a nondescript tacos restaurant in the middle of a very homey Mexican convenience store. You know a place is good when the patrons are either working-class Mexicans or hipsters.
We also ventured out to Peoria Packing Butcher Shop, which is not in Peoria but in Fulton Market. It's the place I'd vote for as "Best Place to Hang Out on a Humid Chicago Day if You Got No A/C". It's also the vegetarian's version of hell. Meat in all delightful shapes, sizes, and packages fill the rafters. Bacon, pig feet, shanks, sausages, wings, drumsticks, thighs, pork butt, fish, chicken nuggets, short ribs, etc. The smell of clinical carcasses fill the air, and I tend to shiver a lot in the ruthlessly efficient refrigeration. We were there to purchase pork tenderloins for a Sunday dinner we were planning to cook for some of Dan's work colleagues. We also saw some rad-looking devilish fish, like ones you might see in Disney movies.
On Saturday night, we made our way to the Kenmore Live Studio for Argentinian night. A housewife-turned-entrepreneur demonstrated her famous empanadas on Live! Facebook! TV! In addition, she was making alfajores, which is a traditional Argentinian delicacy, kind of like a crumbly, buttery cookie sandwich with dulce de leche caramel and coconut topping. Really outstanding and airy. But the way she was pronouncing "alfajores" sounded like "alpha whores". Dan turned to me amd said, "Isn't that a madam?" At which point I punched him in the arm since the HUSBAND OF THE CHEF was sitting next to us.
We got our comeuppance in the break when an Argentinian dancing duo were demonstrating the tango and invited audience members to participate. Since no one was voluntarily subjecting themselves to the very real specter of public humiliation, the husband pointed at us and said loudly, "THESE TWO WOULD LIKE TO DANCE." Since we have no shame, we jumped up and started dancing very badly to tango music. On Live! Facebook! TV! Y'all, we have never been so famous. As a revenge for calling us out, we stole one of the alfajores that was sitting on the pristine Kenmore countertop.
Sunday was another low-key day that where we strolled around Chicago's Maxwell Street Market stuffing our faces with enchilades, tamales, flavored shaved ice in lime, mango chile, and guava flavors, and many, many tacos. Our friends Lolita and Lee A. were delighted by this enchanting slice of Mexican life in the Midwest. It was a beautiful Chicago day and needless to say, topped off by churros.
Sunday night, we went to Dan's co-worker's apt in Wicker Park to cook a Southern meal complete with cheesy grits, collard greens, pork tenderloin, corn, and pina coladas! I'm not sure if pina coladas count as Southern fare, but I'm sure if alcohol is involved, the South has something to do with it. Martha busted out the blue glasses, and Akilah made sure we were having a good time. Dan's eyes got very big when he learned that there was an old-school Pacman machine in the next room. I'm sure if I hadn't been there he will still be there, playing the game, and yelling at poor Mr.Pacman.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
It's All About the Food, Full Stop.
By now it should be pretty clear that we are crazy about food. We plan our days around what we're going to eat. Entire vacations have been given over to culinary gluttony (Exhibit A: Napa Valley and Tokyo). We don't like "foodies" to describe ourselves because being a "foodie" implies that we like haute cuisine and trendy restaurants. I think "equal opportunity eater" is more accurate because we are just as likely to enjoy food trucks as we are Michelin-starred restaurants.
Let me give you an example of how we anchor our weekends around our search to source delicious foods. Last Saturday, we made our bi-weekly pilgrimage to the Green City Market. The GCM is one of the largest and well-known farmer's markets in the country, and thousands of people visit every Saturday to enjoy the locally grown (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin) produce and fruits, chef demonstrations, and a host of local bakeries and usually some live music. It is the place to be on Saturdays morning.
We then wended our way, munching on ridiculously flavorful Flaming Fury Peaches from Michigan, through the free Lincoln Park Zoo, the adjoining Lincoln Park Arboretum, and then walking back along Lake Michigan. We had a BBQ to get ready for!
We headed to Oak Park to our friends' Lolita and Lee A.'s house to get ready for a BBQ! Lucky for us, they had bought enough massive sausage from a very special meat vendor to feed a small Third World country. We promised not to divulge their source of this divine meat, but heavens, it was delicious. I believe we did not stop eating from 3pm until around 7pm.
We were so exhausted from all this eating that we fell into a true food coma when we returned home. The next Sunday morning, Daniel decided to make fried chicken from the Zatamaran's box with questionable expiration dates.
Is there a better way to start Sunday morning than homemade fried chicken? Well, maybe if there was a congo line, but incremental added value. We ran some errands and came back home to get ready for the World Cup Finals between Spain and Netherlands. Since we weren't partisan to either country, Daniel wore this shirt to Old Town Social to watch the game in a yuppie crowd of Chicago-ites.
For Sunday dinner, we biked to Takashi, where I was hoping that their noodle brunch would still be available, but didn't. SUCK. Funny enough, we had gone to a restaurant that had been Takashi's predecessor when we first started dating called Scylla. We had not been impressed, but turns out that the chef of Scylla was none other than Stephanie Izard, one of the winners of Top Chef. We tried their homemade tofu (okay), their chicken hot pot (decent), the sweetbread (good), the yellowtail (good), and their chocolate chewy cake (okay). Lucky for us, it rained all the way back and Daniel had to survive me shooting Looks of Death in my rain-soaked dress pedaling furiously in the rain.
Between last weekend and this past Thursday, I was away for business and sadly missed the Green City Market's Chef BBQ, where all the great chefs of Chicago come together for a knock-your-socks-off BBQ in Lincoln Park. You name the restaurant (e.g. Bristol, Lula's Cafe, Peninsula, Rick Bayless, Four Seasons), they were there. Because of weather issues, my flight landed in O'Hare after the event ended, but Daniel managed to smuggle all of the dishes for me to try at home. I'd like to think that his past life as a spy assisted in the food collection efforts. The picture below is that of large glass dining room with EVERY SQUARE INCH covered with food.
I had a bite of each before I passed out from another food coma. Daniel spent the rest of the evening sprawled on the bed complaining "I'm so full! I'm so full" and rubbing his belly. The next morning was still a work day for me (Friday), so Daniel made me a coffee with cinnamon art and a delicious scrambled egg breakfast with a beet salad and capers. Whoever said that Chinese husbands cook well was absolutely right about this stereotype.
Saturday morning, we biked to the Lincoln Park Farmer's Market on Division and Armitage, one we'd never been and were eager to explore. We were fortunate to find some delicious Mirai corn, the kind that are so sweet you can eat them rare. They are nature's candies and we were on a mission to find some. We actually procured some full samples and ate them animal-style while we strolled around the market.
We also bought blueberries, Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, and dried morel mushrooms. Daniel got a few compliments on his threadless t-shirt, but I thought mine was just as clever.
After the farmers market, it was another pilgrimage to the Cheese Warehouse with our friend Lolita A. It was screaming hot this past weekend, so we stopped to get flavored snow cones. Lolita got her favorite, banana, while Dan and I got fruit punch. It made our tongues bright red, and we spent a good 10 minutes sticking our tongues out at each other like teenagers.
It was way too hot during the day to do anything outside, so Dan and I ended up enjoying the creature comforts of AC until the evening, when we made our way to the KenmoreLive studio on Wells Street to eat free samples of ice cream samples from Vosges Chocolat (flavors: chocolate jalapeno, curry, and vanilla bean, chocolate nut), watch Mindy Segal from Bleeding Heart Bakery make a bourbon-caramel and butter-thyme topping for ice cream, and eat endless amounts of free sugar. Legal chemical highs are nice.
Sunday morning, Dan made breakfast again with a knock-out truffle oil infused scrambled egg with chiffon-ed-basil, "bandaged" cheddar, quartered Sun-Gold cherry tomatoes, cheddar sausages, accompanied by a fresh burrata with sea salt, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. It is summer in your mouth. Is your mouth watering yet?
Daniel did some surgical work on a torn part of our couch while we stayed indoors to stay cool. We did run errands to Costco and Target, and it seemed like all of Chicago had descended upon these stores. I definitely do not see signs of lessened consumer spending when I go to these places. For dinner, Dan busted out with Thai basil rice with shrimp. Now you see why I've gained 5 lbs since moving to Chicago? Not that I'm complaining about the food.
Let me give you an example of how we anchor our weekends around our search to source delicious foods. Last Saturday, we made our bi-weekly pilgrimage to the Green City Market. The GCM is one of the largest and well-known farmer's markets in the country, and thousands of people visit every Saturday to enjoy the locally grown (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin) produce and fruits, chef demonstrations, and a host of local bakeries and usually some live music. It is the place to be on Saturdays morning.
We then wended our way, munching on ridiculously flavorful Flaming Fury Peaches from Michigan, through the free Lincoln Park Zoo, the adjoining Lincoln Park Arboretum, and then walking back along Lake Michigan. We had a BBQ to get ready for!
We headed to Oak Park to our friends' Lolita and Lee A.'s house to get ready for a BBQ! Lucky for us, they had bought enough massive sausage from a very special meat vendor to feed a small Third World country. We promised not to divulge their source of this divine meat, but heavens, it was delicious. I believe we did not stop eating from 3pm until around 7pm.
We were so exhausted from all this eating that we fell into a true food coma when we returned home. The next Sunday morning, Daniel decided to make fried chicken from the Zatamaran's box with questionable expiration dates.
Is there a better way to start Sunday morning than homemade fried chicken? Well, maybe if there was a congo line, but incremental added value. We ran some errands and came back home to get ready for the World Cup Finals between Spain and Netherlands. Since we weren't partisan to either country, Daniel wore this shirt to Old Town Social to watch the game in a yuppie crowd of Chicago-ites.
For Sunday dinner, we biked to Takashi, where I was hoping that their noodle brunch would still be available, but didn't. SUCK. Funny enough, we had gone to a restaurant that had been Takashi's predecessor when we first started dating called Scylla. We had not been impressed, but turns out that the chef of Scylla was none other than Stephanie Izard, one of the winners of Top Chef. We tried their homemade tofu (okay), their chicken hot pot (decent), the sweetbread (good), the yellowtail (good), and their chocolate chewy cake (okay). Lucky for us, it rained all the way back and Daniel had to survive me shooting Looks of Death in my rain-soaked dress pedaling furiously in the rain.
Between last weekend and this past Thursday, I was away for business and sadly missed the Green City Market's Chef BBQ, where all the great chefs of Chicago come together for a knock-your-socks-off BBQ in Lincoln Park. You name the restaurant (e.g. Bristol, Lula's Cafe, Peninsula, Rick Bayless, Four Seasons), they were there. Because of weather issues, my flight landed in O'Hare after the event ended, but Daniel managed to smuggle all of the dishes for me to try at home. I'd like to think that his past life as a spy assisted in the food collection efforts. The picture below is that of large glass dining room with EVERY SQUARE INCH covered with food.
I had a bite of each before I passed out from another food coma. Daniel spent the rest of the evening sprawled on the bed complaining "I'm so full! I'm so full" and rubbing his belly. The next morning was still a work day for me (Friday), so Daniel made me a coffee with cinnamon art and a delicious scrambled egg breakfast with a beet salad and capers. Whoever said that Chinese husbands cook well was absolutely right about this stereotype.
Saturday morning, we biked to the Lincoln Park Farmer's Market on Division and Armitage, one we'd never been and were eager to explore. We were fortunate to find some delicious Mirai corn, the kind that are so sweet you can eat them rare. They are nature's candies and we were on a mission to find some. We actually procured some full samples and ate them animal-style while we strolled around the market.
We also bought blueberries, Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, and dried morel mushrooms. Daniel got a few compliments on his threadless t-shirt, but I thought mine was just as clever.
Sunday morning, Dan made breakfast again with a knock-out truffle oil infused scrambled egg with chiffon-ed-basil, "bandaged" cheddar, quartered Sun-Gold cherry tomatoes, cheddar sausages, accompanied by a fresh burrata with sea salt, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. It is summer in your mouth. Is your mouth watering yet?
Monday, July 5, 2010
Carpe El Weekend
I remember an arm of the US armed services had a slogan like "We do more by 7am than most people do all day". Our July 4th weekend could be summed up in "We do more in one weekend than most people do all week." I remember a time one day during our honeymoon in Japan when Dan turned to me, authentically confused, and asked "Why are you tired all the time?" This weekend is an excellent example of why, perhaps, I may be tired all the time!
Friday
A delicious lunch of meatloaf and pork belly sandwiches at Birchwood Kitchen in Wicker Park was followed by a leisurely stroll to the Steppenwolf Theatre where we watched "Parallelogram". It was a darkly comedic play about a woman who believes that her future self has come back to warn her of an impending apocalypse, but she is absolutely powerless to stop it (and convince others that she is not insane). By the end, you're not sure if she's loony or if she possess supernatural powers. Post-play, we ordered Italian ice from our favorite Lincoln Park spot, Annette's. We highly recommend it.
Saturday
Our friend Lolita came over bright and early to devote a a sinfully full day of eating Chicago's finest foods. We hit up the Wine Discount Center and came away feeling like alcoholics with large jugs of wine before noon.
Giles the Cheese Guy was next. This is, like the Willis fka Sears Tower, a great Chicago institution. Giles is a wholesaler and distributor, but opens his very chilly warehouse to the public from 10am-1pm on Saturdays only for free cheese tastings and sales. You are allowed, nay ENCOURAGED, to bring alcoholic libations, which was all the permission we needed to uncork the wine we just bought and have a wine and cheese tasting all by our selves. There is something very special about hanging out on the South Side of Chicago on beautiful Saturday summer morning in a warehouse surrounded by dairy products. It's addicting.
Post-cheese overload, we marched over to our friend's Seema and Dave's place to watch the Paraguay vs. Spain in the World Cup quarterfinal. As if we didn't have enough pizza and cupcakes (you cannot watch soccer without cupcakes), we made the rounds of Xoco (churros), Sushi Samba (yellowtail w/ lemongrass jalapeno sauce), Frontera Grill (ceviche tasting), then Xoco again (goat sandwich specials and a million churros). Needless to say, we are BIG Rick Bayless fans. Well, at least I am.
Sunday
Every year, we pick one of Chicago's great museums, get an annual membership for 2 people, and visit the heck out of it. It's a great way to enjoy all the exhibits in any one place, and you never feel rushed or hurried. Best yet, it's a charitable donation and saves you money. That's how we roll.
This year, we are members of the Shedd Aquarium. After our homemade fried chicken lunch, we enjoyed the Wild Reef exhibit about the Apo Islands in the Philippines. The best part is when you can identify a certain fish that no one else knows. It feels us feel intellectually superior for a nanosecond. The second best part is that you can argue endlessly over whether certain fish would taste more delicious steamed or fried.
We made our way from the Shedd Aquarium to a BBQ all the way up north at an attending's beautiful house in Highland Park, made a game-time decision to buy bikes at Walmart, and watched the Fourth of July fireworks on Lake Michigan from Lake Shore Drive from the sunroof of our car.
Monday
Again, an early start as we pushed off on our first sail of the season from the Belmont Harbor at 10am! We had a jolly crew of friends onboard, the winds were perfect, we were reefing the sails, drinking beers, and eating cheesy Doritos. We are a classy bunch. Dan was captain per usual, and I was the wench. That just means he gives orders like "tighten the boomvang!", I glare at him, and do what he commands.
The weather really was perfect for sailing. The winds were strong but not too strong, the sun was shining but there was enough cloud cover that we weren't getting baked, and the lake was completely deserted. After our 3 hour sail, we trooped over to our friends' Sujeet and Shamita's swank apartment to BBQ (again), eat the requisite 10 lbs of meat each, and then loll around helplessly as our stomachs protested in complaint. We grabbed some delicious watermelon and strawberry Italian lemonade with Lee and Lolita at Mario's Italian Lemonade stand in University Village before heading home.
I am happy to report that most of our weekends are like this. Great feats of culinary and athletic strength! Brought to you by the Kwan-Chang household. Tomorrow, unfortunately, is a work day and Joanne's first day at her new job, so we'll see if we can keep up the pace.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Welcome to Our Blog
Tomorrow is Independence Day, also known as BBQ-sailing-eat-corn day in the Chang-Kwan household. It also happens to mark the day, 3 years ago, when Dan first kissed me and this whole crazy journey started.
Many of our friends have blogs, and it keeps us (well, mostly Joanne) updated on the latest road trip, home improvement projects, and wee stories that keep us feel like we're involved, even if we don't live near them. We decided we wanted to have an online community of friends and family as well.
So here's our blog! It doesn't have a particular theme; we'll try to cover bits and pieces of what it's like to live together. Chronicling our past stories seems Herculean, so we'll try to incorporate them when we (read: Joanne) has some downtime. In the meanwhile, here's a picture of us on our SF trip this past January 2010 to visit our dear friends, Kristie T. and Cat N. We were hoping to go crabbing off the Pacifica Pier, but the waves were crashing so ominously off the pier that the Coast Guard shut it down. To wit, we improvised our own crabbing experience.
Many of our friends have blogs, and it keeps us (well, mostly Joanne) updated on the latest road trip, home improvement projects, and wee stories that keep us feel like we're involved, even if we don't live near them. We decided we wanted to have an online community of friends and family as well.
So here's our blog! It doesn't have a particular theme; we'll try to cover bits and pieces of what it's like to live together. Chronicling our past stories seems Herculean, so we'll try to incorporate them when we (read: Joanne) has some downtime. In the meanwhile, here's a picture of us on our SF trip this past January 2010 to visit our dear friends, Kristie T. and Cat N. We were hoping to go crabbing off the Pacifica Pier, but the waves were crashing so ominously off the pier that the Coast Guard shut it down. To wit, we improvised our own crabbing experience.
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