Air and Space

Cold War plane. SR 71, known as Blackbird. I'm like a kid in a candy store.

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This is a test

Comings and Goings

Last week, Dan and I had an epic 3 nights, 3 dinners fiesta with our dear friends, Suj and Shamita A. Dinner #1 was grilling, Dinner #2 was home-cooked Indian food, and Dinner #3 was spring foods like prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, citrus salad mix, and zucchini fettuccine. I love the Acharyas. Here's me and Shamita.

Quick jaunt to Washington (the state, not our nation's capital) for another interview for Dan. The Pacific Northwest is really the most beautiful place I could live. Outside of perhaps Lake Tahoe. Totally breathtaking. Too bad it rains so much.

The realtor even humored me during the community tour by showing me the high school where Twilight was filmed. Not going to lie, I totally squealed.

Even got some time to have brunch with one of Dan's old roommates and friends from Chicago, Chris C and his lovely girlfriend, Julie D. Here's Dan waiting at the restaurant in Portland.

Then it was a detour to Memphis (another interview), and finally back in Chicago. 3 airports and 4 flights in 7 days. I missed Chicago. You don't really appreciate it until you see other parts of the country.

Spring is a coy thing in Chicago

Spring arrived in a brief glorious moment two weeks ago in Chicago. Bewitched by the 80+ degree weather, Dan and I joined our fellow Chicagoans in pretending like this wasn't Mother Nature's joke. Hey, here's awesome weather, oh wait. Just kidding. It's back to the 40's and 50's. Haha. Blame the lake effect, right? They blame every bizarre weather pattern on the so-called "lake effect."

Like other cheerful, winter-crazed Midwestern denizens, we engaged in summer-like activities for that one pseudo-summer week.

Dan cut low-hanging branches on the tree in front of our house to prevent me poking my eyes out.

 

We went to Opening Day of the Green City Farmer's Market to look for the first spring vegetables: asparagus!

We walked around the neighborhood admiring the newly installed public art pieces.

Of course, we went to Costco to see what other interesting products they added to their offerings. 53' plush bear, anyone?

Finally, we made delicious spring-based foods: caprese salad from Costco mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes, proscuitto-wrapped blanched asparagus with truffle salt and olive oil, spring mix with cinnamon sugar-toasted walnuts, fuji apples, and nice citrus dressing.

 

I even started putting away winter clothes. Silly me, it's cold again and I need to pull them back out. I don't know what I was thinking. It must be the lake effect.

Weekend of Solving Math Problems...Naked

This past weekend, Dan flew to Los Angeles to spend time with his grandmother. She was recovering from major surgery following a hip fracture, and Dan was worried. The decision was made, tickets were purchased, and off Dan went in short order. Good news: she's recovering nicely.

 Here's grandma at our wedding last year during the Korean bowing (paebeck) ceremony. Isn't she adorable?

I went to the opposite coast to the 25th anniversary of the founding of the my MIT sorority, Alpha Chi Omega. Dan asked, "So what are you doing to do this weekend in Boston?" I automatically responded, "Pillow fights..naked." It's hard for most people to juxtapose their conceptions of "sorority" and "MIT". So I make it easy. Kristie T, my best friend and stalwart sorority leader, had a better answer. "Solving math problems..naked."

Here is Kristie with the MIT fight song.

For those of you not math-inclined, here it goes:

I'm a Beaver, you're a Beaver, we are Beavers all

And when we get together, we do the Beaver call!

E to the U du dx

E to the X dx

Cosine, secant, tangent, sine

3.14159

Integral radical mu dv

Slipstick, slide-rule, MIT!

Yes, we are that AWESOME.  You know what else was in the same category of AWESOME? The interesting (some new, some old) public art that MIT had installed throughout its campus.

In front of the Stratton Student Center:

 Spinning transparent oblong thingies hanging in the Green Building corridor:

 

The beautiful Stata Center is a piece of art in it of itself.

The five of us that showed up from my year (Ariya L., Kristie T., Cat K., Vicki S., me) had a lot of fun reminiscing and making vaguely inappropriate jokes. I'd forgotten how much silliness and unadulterated joy I could have with my girlfriends. And how amazing they were. Among the stories heard: social worker involved in novel financial literacy programs, minister to campus youth promoting cohesion, an active F-16 fighter pilot, grad students in every conceivable discipline, physicians, engineers, housewives, it goes on.

From left to right: Cat, me, Kristie, Ariya, Vicki:

Back to the silliness. We were discussing ways to encourage sisters to donate to the AXO Scholarship Fund. Cat K suggested donations of $69.69 for obvious reasons. Here she is in front of the legendary 69 Smoots mark on Harvard Bridge.

 

A brief foray into the always fascinating MIT Museum found me clutching salt and pepper shaker robots. I WANT.

Other notable details: Deep discussions into the mechanics of vajazzling, taking over a not-yet-opened Cambodian restaurant in Central Square and promptly turning it into an impromptu dance club, running out of alcoholic whip cream, and two-stepping.

I leave you with this picture of Cat trying to fight her way through the aforementioned alcoholic whip cream to the ACTUAL alcohol. Bravo!

p.s. My good friends from b-school also got engaged in Boston this weekend, and I was fortunate enough to attend their (surprise) engagement party. Want to see the ring? Yes, yes you do. You can start forest fires with it, I bet.

"So-Called" Yuppie Life in Costco

When Dan and I were interviewing last weekend in Des Moines Iowa, our realtor and community tour host was an adorably racist Chinese-American mother. She complained loudly that her daughter's husband was white, while simultaneously praising her daughter as God's gift to mankind. We learned more about her daughter's educational accomplishments ("Youngest person ever to enter University of Iowa Medical School!") than about the history of Des Moines. Best yet, her favorite adjective was "so-called".

"This is where the so-called yuppies live. They've built so-called lofts there. There are also so-called Asian food available in that store for purchase." So on and so forth. I was trying so hard not to laugh from the back seat that I almost farted.

Dan and I are the very definition of yuppies. We live in Lincoln Park, neighborhood of the yuppie hyper-competitors. We drive a hybrid. We work in professional industries. We live as "greenly" as possible and recycle diligently. Best yet, we slavishly visit Costco.

In case you are aliens, we are huge fans of Costco foods. Their weekend samples (aka Costco "dim sum") are a mere challenge to us mortals to race around and stuff our faces with grape leaves, tortilla chips w/ salsa, cheese cubes, enchiladas, vegetarian burgers, cream puffs, yogurt samples, flavored vitamin water, chicken nuggets, mixed nuts, Fiber Ones, salted chocolate caramels, burritos, enchiladas, and more. In one visit. Dan and I have really perfected the art of taking as many samples as possible. Layer in "laps", and we've perfected the Costco sampling technique to a science.

We hadn't had our Costco fix for 2-3 weeks since we'd been traveling so much. The first thing we did after Daniel landed from Memphis on Saturday from another interview trip was go to Costco. After sampling, Dan promptly sprawled across the cool watermelons. Apparently, he used to do this as a kid as well.

I had a strange craving for Korean food on Sunday, so we hit up San Soo Gab San, a legendary Korean restaurant in the Chicagoland area. We must have come on a bad day, because the food was barely above mediocre. The ban-chan (Korean side dishes) were the highlight.

Here's Dan in resplendent Korean food glory. Bulgogi for him, Soon dooboo (tofu) for me.

Post-meal: Dan spanked that Korean food so hard it didn't know what to do with itself. ALL GONE.

April bookends: A Summer Teaser & Des Moines

The first April weekend in Chicago had temperatures in the 80's, giving us a brief glimpse of the beautiful summer that Chicago is known for and the sole reason why we endure awful winters.

We broke out our bikes from winter storage and rode south along Lake Michigan, all the way to the Adler Planetarium. We even walked to get passion fruit Italian ice at Annette's, one of our favorite local neighborhood stores.

 

We bookended April with a trip to Des Moines, Iowa for a recruiting trip. These follow similar patterns: I work from the hotel on Fridays while Dan interviews and meets with a variety of physicians and administrators. We then have a formal dinner, usually a steakhouse. Saturday morning is usually spent with a realtor who give us enthusiastic community tours and show us the "nice" neighborhoods where other physicians reside.

My favorite part of Des Moines was all the public art works, especially those at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park. A city that invests in making itself look interesting and beautiful is always a plus in my book.

In the next month, we have lots of work-related travel planned, so look forward to updates from all over!

Scrumptious Home-cooked Meals Pics

This past weekend was the 1st one in a long time where we had no formal plans. We spent almost all Saturday preparing our 2010 tax returns and documents. YAWN. I don't to bore y'all with tax Schedules D, E, and the rest of the alphabet, so here are some pictures of delicious foods we've made at home since January 2011. Let the drooling begin! 

First up: French caramalized onion soup w/ home-brewed beef, chicken, and pork stock. Topped with crusty bread and baked w/ Costco Manchego cheese. Very hearty, and the best part of classic French onion soup (the top). 

Cook's Illustrated's carnitas on top of a buttery-toasted baguette, parsley. Greens tossed in for contrast in color, texture, and flavor.

Costco cod fillet with lemon-butter-caper sauce. I love lemon, so this is overwhelmingly lemon-y.

Lightly fried shrimp tacos with lime-pepper seasoned shredded lettuce, a la Big N' Little. The tortilla is homemade w/ maseca flour, salt, water, and a tortilla press.

Steamed mussels w/ tomato-based red sauce w/ garlic, onions, seasoning.

Homemade (raw) meatballs from Maine mix (given to us in a gift bag in one of the the countless interview trips) w/ ground 80% from Peoria Packing Butcher Shop.

Said meatballs on top of crusty toasted baguette w/ shredded cheese, caramelized onions, red tomato-based sauce, and banana peppers. The banana peppers are the clutch ingredient.

Tacos with Costco whole-roasted chicken (heavenly), raw onions, chopped cilantro, diced cherry tomatoes, homemade guacamole (made with avocados, paprika, cumin, lime juice, onion, cilantro, and lots of salt), lime juice, and Cholula hot sauce.

Chocolate-covered strawberries that Dan made for me for Valentine's Day weekend.

Anyone hungry?

 

Rainy Cherry Blossom Festival in DC

I've been traveling 4 days a week to Washington DC for a client since the end of January. Since this project coincided with the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in DC, I decided to stay one weekend and fly out Daniel from Chicago. Since it's been a couple of crazy workweeks for both of us, I didn't get to the usual researching and planning of tourist recommendations and food establishments.

Dan called on Wed to ask, "So...what are we doing in DC?" I had vague notions of us strolling around Tidal Basin oohing-aahing at cherry blossoms. And eating good food. And maybe visiting a national museum or two. And since we are a couple with priorities, the first thing we did on Sat AM was to visit Good Stuff Eatery, the very popular burger joint by Top Chef Spike. It was crowded, but indeed delicious. We got the burger with bacon and farm fried egg and rosemary fries. Can't tell if it was delish because we were starving or because it was legit. I'd definitely recommend it.

The weather on Saturday was alternately beautiful or downpouring rain/hail. We walked to the waterfront to take advantage of food trucks who were catering to all the cherry blossom festival visitors. Two notes. #1 Majority of the cherry blossoms are not pink. Those of you expecting a riot of pink-ish tones should look to other arboral species. They're white, but still beautiful. #2 It is very crowded. In fact, there were "traffic jams" along many of the walking paths where you had to be careful to avoid being runover by a stroller or over-enthusiastic photographer.

Here is Dan with the Red Hook Lobster Pound food truck. Decent lobster, but overpriced and tiny portions. We're also spoiled by fresh lobsters that we eat annually in Maine. The pink truck in the 2nd picture is a cupcake-mobile. I got an oatmeal raisin cupcake, tasty tasty.

Here is picture of aforementioned NOT PINK cherry blossom.

Here's Dan and me in front of the Washington Monument. See all those white trees? Those are the cherry blossoms.

Dan has this thing for riding bikes in strange cities. Wherever he goes, he'll look to rent a bike in the most cost-effective fashion. It usually takes me a little while to get onboard because it almost always involves sweating profusely. In a city like DC, it totally makes sense. It's very walkable, but pretty spread out. The first day we were there, we ended up walking almost 12 miles on foot. On Sunday, we decided to use the 2-wheel approach to avoid additional blisters. Our friends, Josie and Tim (from Arcadia) happened to fly in Sun AM and we joined up for a late lunch and bike ride to the Lincoln Memorial. Note that Josie and Tim had never urban biked, and probably now think that Dan is a psycho for making them bike through the most congested street traffic they'd ever seen. Since Dan and I are used to biking around Chicago which is full of street traffic and crazy drivers, we were used to squeezing in dubious spaces between cars. They were clearly not. Sorry!

Sadly, Dan had to leave me to go back to Chicago Sunday late afternoon. We did finally make it to the Lincoln Memorial. Other mentionables: Eastern Market, Cherry Blossom Festival fireworks, Maine Fish Market, Air & Space Museum, Santoki (ask Dan), and weird science jokes courtesy of NPR's Science Fridays.

Happy (second) One Year Wedding Anniversary

Daniel and I were married (for the second time) last year on March 27, 2011 in front of 350-odd guests in Hollywood, California. We had a 10-course lavish Chinese dinner with the USC all men's acapella group serenading us for our 1st dance, a traditional Chinese tea ceremony, Korean drummer troupe, Chinese dragon dancing troupe, a Korean bowing marriage ceremony, 550+ cupcakes, and an after party that including 3 pinatas.

For our 1 year wedding anniversary, we took it easy and spent a quiet weekend at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Believe it or not, it snowed while we were there.

I love you more than life, dkwan. Can't wait until our adventures in Year Numero Dos.

We *Heart* Shedd Aquarium

Friends and family know that we love Chicago's museums. Because of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition aka "World's Fair", much of the construction and ideals of public exhibits and spaces permeates Chicago's lakefront area. About 3 years ago, we started buying 1 yr memberships to one select museum to explore to our heart's content. We started with the Museum of Science & Industry close to the University of Chicago, moved onto the Field Museum more north, and are now finishing up our stint at the Shedd Aquarium. And of the 3 museums so far, I think the Shedd Aquarium is the most accessible and easiest museum so far.

Maybe it's because I'm fascinated by sea animals. For example, the (giant) turtle. Here's the stuffed animal version that hangs next to the anaconda exhibit. It's so furry...how can you resist rubbing up against it and getting public cooties? You can't. Their giant turtle, Nickel, had his back flippers permanently injured by an outboard motor off the coast of Florida. He's called Nickel because when he was brought to the Shedd to recover, they found a nickel in his stomach (via X-ray). He paddles around the giant tank with the butt up in the air.

And here is a fish that Dan and I have spent countless minutes staring it, trying to get it to move positions and its color. It's a rockfish that can adapt its skin tone to match its surroundings. Here, it looks like part of the plant it's clinging on to. I've seen lots of visitors pass by this exhibit without even noticing its magic tricks. Their loss.

This is what I affectionately call the "Nemo tank" in the Amazon Reefs special exhibit. It comes right after the floor to ceiling shark tank, and you can hear the cries of "Nemo! Nemo" from children. It's a cutie.

And the beluga whales! There is a whole family of them in the Oceanarium. The baby, Nunivik, is the greyest of them all. Their mouths are shaped such that they look like they have permanent gentle smiles.

And here is Lucy, the male dragon lizard. At least, that's what the trainer said. The Shedd got 2 lizards, one female and one male. They called them Lucy and Ricky, but got the genders mixed up (apparently it is way way hard to figure out which sex you are if you are a lizard). They still call them by their original names.

Shedd Aquarium had a Members' Night where members such as us got a "behind the scenes" experience. The coolest part was being able to go to the top of the prominent Caribbean central tank and peer down at all the animals. We try to be green and take the El (public transportation) there whenever possible. Picture below of us at the North/Clybourn subway stop.

Tangent: When I took Dan's grandma and brother, David, to the Shedd last June, Grandma would point to various fishes and say "How-tze, how-tze". "What's 'how-tze'?", I asked David. Grinning, he said, "It means, delicious." So she was trying to tell me which fishes were tasty to eat. Love it. I look forward to traumatizing our children some day by pointing out which fishes are delicious to eat.