Curry Eaten in a Hurry

Last night, I made beef curry. The recipe suggested that I add water to the curry paste, but because I thought that was weird, I substituted with milk and it was delicious! However, I think next time, I will use some coconut milk and a hint of lemon/lime (as Jeff recommended).

Beef curry with onions, red peppers and zucchini
Photography by Jeff

To compliment the curry, I made naan from scratch. This was easy but took some time (40 minutes for the dough to rise) and muscle (lots of energy to flatten the dough to 1/8in thick ovals with a glass cup haha!). It tasted as good as it looks:

"This bread is win"
Caption and Photography by Jeff

Because we both didn't have much for lunch, we ate all of this very quickly. Needless to say, Indian dinner night was a success!

We are off to San Francisco tonight and have plans to have dinner with friends over the next few nights which means I will take a break from cooking. However, I excitedly went to the Chinese supermarket (called "99 Ranch" and is the sister company to Canada's T&T) this morning because we have a car. The menu for next week is Asian-themed! Stay tuned for dumplings, gỏi cuốn and bánh cuốn.

-ange xx

A Typical Day in SJ

With the exception of this blog entry in the afternoon (a new way of procrastinating?), my weekdays here in San Jose are quite productive. As much as I love being at school, meetings and seminars and extracurricular activities consume too much of my time, leaving very little head space for actual research. I'm sure Maygan understands this better than anyone else! Anyway, SJ has little distractions while Jeff is work, though I've constantly tempted by the Californian sun to step outside! This is a breakdown of my average day (in case you are wondering).

9am: Wake-up to Jeff's alarm clock which plays an assortment of indie-rock music. We usually try to get a couple of more minutes (or an hour) of sleep and press the "snooze" button ;-)

9.45-10am: Breakfast is a choice between waffles, bagels, cereal or oatmeal. Mmm carbs!

10am: Jeff usually bikes to work around this time. [Side Story: Last week, the derailleur hanger of his bike snapped. Fortunately, eBay sells and mails replacement parts so even without the luxury of a car (which we rent only on weekends because Alamo has an amazing $10/day deal), the bike was fixed at home this morning!]

Broken derailleur hanger! Yikes!

Jeff was able to fix his bike with some helpful advice from Youtube!

10am-1pm: I usually spend the first 3o-45 minutes catching up on emails that are sent from the EST morning. Then, I focus on my own work. Last week, this involved organizing my reading committee report. I wrote 30 pages in 3 days. This week, more of the same as well as editing a paper that I previously submitted to a journal (and was subsequently rejected).

1pm: Leftovers for lunch! Yum!

1.30-4.30pm: I continue with work but occasionally sneak away from the computer to read - something I cannot find as much time to do when I'm at home. Or maybe it's because it's much easier to relax and read when you are in a place that looks like this:

The fireplace and comfortable wicker chairs in the apartment complex

... or when you can also get a nice tan while reading by the pool:

My best reading happens here

In fact, in the past two weeks, I have read 3 books and am halfway through my 4th. I'll have to blog about what I've been reading later.

4.30-5pm: I like going for a run in the fitness centre, especially since I eat so much. Plus, I enjoy it because I get to watch the George Lopez Show (haha!)

5pm: I usually talk to my mom and/or dad on Skype. It is the best way to communicate long-distance!

6pm: I start preparing dinner in anticipation of Jeff coming home at around 7pm or later.

7.30pm: Dinner (yum!) in front of the "TV" because it's the NBA playoffs!

After dinner, there is clean-up and unwinding time. We either watch some TV or a movie, or do some reading or work before I pass out at 10.30pm. My severely dry eyes make it hard to stay up any later.

So there you have it... a day in my life in San Jose! Pretty simple but just what I need for now!

-ange xx

"When the moon hits your eye..."

"... like a big pizza pie, that's amore."

Homemade mini-pizza topped with one special pepperoni
Photography by Jeff

Pizza (or "za" as we call it) is Jeff's first love. Fortunately, I understand this and made mini-zas for dinner on Tuesday night. Very easy "recipe" (I think this is my dad's original idea) : just get whatever ingredients you like (pepperoni, mushrooms, zucchini, red peppers, cheese and tomato sauce) and put them on a flour tortilla (no dough required for the thin crust!). Garnish lightly with garlic power and basil, then place in a 375C oven for 12-15 minutes.

In keeping with the theme of Italian cooking, we made another of our favourite meals tonight: pesto pasta with bbq chicken and roasted tomatoes. Again, this is very easy to make: marinate the chicken with lemon juice, soya sauce, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper, for 4-6 hours before bbq-ing. My momma made a suggestion to subsitute lemon with maple syrup or honey - I'll have to try that next time. As for the pasta, simply toss cooked penne and green beans with pesto sauce.

I particularly like having this on a warm night because it's just so fresh! And watermelon for dessert is a perfect accompaniment!

Me in the kitchen also watching the NBA playoffs on my laptop

Photography by Jeff

Summer has arrived with watermelon

Photography by Jeff

Tomorrow, I'm going to try making curry beef and naan bread. Wish me luck!

-ange xx

Santa Cruz

Jeff and I packed a picnic for the beach yesterday in Santa Cruz, about a 40mi drive south from San Jose. Because it is Memorial Day long weekend, the beach was very busy! It took us almost an hour to drive through the (small) city of Santa Cruz and find parking, before we made it to the pier. But when we finally found a comfortable spot on the beach to lounge, it was worth it!

In between eating snacks and napping, we took in the sites around us, which included a mini amusement park and beach volleyball. Also, the seagulls were particularly entertaining because there was one that was quite territorial over his food (garbage). I've always found seagulls overly aggressive and after watching Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" when I was 10 years old, I've even been scared of them. Jeff believes the fear is rooted in me not wanting to get pooed on (who does?) but it's beyond that... they have the power to peck out my eyeballs. Yuck! Sorry...

Anyway, in total contrast to the crazy seagulls, we saw chillaxin' sealions resting on the pier. The debate is up between who has a better life: sealions on this pier or sea turtles in Maui?

Me enjoying the beach
Photography by Jeff

The "Enemy"
Photography by Jeff

-ange xx

Sci-Fi Movie Junkie

Jeff and I LOVE watching movies (except I don't like horror or gore) that we can identify even the least famous actors/actresses who have small roles in films.

In the past week, we went to the theatre twice and watched Star Trek (last Saturday) and Terminator Salvation (yesterday). To my surprise, Star Trek was amazing with time travel and alternate reality themes while Terminator was much better than the critics made it out to be.

I definitely recommend watching both! And I'm starting to think that I prefer geeky movies over chick flicks - must be the engiNerd in me.

-ange xx

P.S. The NBA playoffs this year have been crazy. Last night was no exception: we are all witnesses to King James.

Tonkatsu

My momma is an amazing cook. And this is an understatement. In recent months, I have been her apprentice in the kitchen. She has taught me how to make a whole assortment of meals as part of my "wife-training". So, on this recent visit to San Jose, I decided to put theory into practice.

My first dinner this time was tonkatsu. It's normally not difficult (since I also brought the batter and breadcrumbs from home), but it was a bit challenging with the lack of cooking supplies (typical boy apartment).

How did it turn out? Take a look:

"Tonkatsu looks sooooo good and tastes like heaven."
Caption and Photography Courtesy of Jeff

Happy Jeff = Success!

-ange xx

Welcome

Hello! Welcome to my first blog!

I have to admit that I'm apprehensive about keeping a diary interesting, but I've been convinced that there is no better time to write than in this present. I am in a happy and exciting time in my life: working on my PhD and planning a wedding!

I hope you'll enjoy following me and my "adventures". Thanks for reading my first post.

-ange xx