Saturday, February 21, 2009

snowday.






The heavens have once again decided to open up, casting six inches of snow across the city and dropping temperatures into the 20-something degrees.  However, rather than bemoan our current weather fluctuation, I will celebrate with images of a perfect winter day a couple of weeks ago when the snow had receded, and Andrew and I frolicked about the city on one of our newest traditions - date night.  (In this case, date day.)



A walk in the park, the casting of our stilted shadows, a visit to a chocolate shop, a taste of fudge - all in hopes of spring and the joy of one another. 





Thursday, February 19, 2009

what recession?





Immediately following our wedding last April, family members and friends alike were informed of our somewhat risky financial investment.  This twenty-five pound bag of white rice:



More than one person was quick to point out that it would take us a lifetime to consume all this rice.  "Watch out for weevils!" and "Better get an appetite for stir-fry quick!" were the cries of concerned family members.  But thankfully, Andrew and I performed thorough research and consulted with a number of experienced investors prior to our purchase, and the results - despite recent market volatility - have been exceptional.


Pot-roast with rice, stir-fry with rice, french-onion soup and beef-broth rice, beans and rice, even rice pudding have all made it into our daily diet line-up.  I'll leave out some of the more embarrassingly distasteful rice experiments (*a-hem*, rice and fish casserole - yes it was disgusting).   


Amazingly, here we are, ten months into our little recession-proof pantry item, and it looks like we're almost ready to do some dividend re-investing.  I'm considering buying into a more exotic grain of rice, possibly basmati or jasmine...any suggestions?


Pretty market savvy for 2poorgradstudents, don't 'cha think?




Thursday, February 12, 2009

vignettes


A wintery day...I peered through our screened window to try and see something enlightening, and finding nothing, turned inward to our 400-something square-foot apartment to look at the array of stuff we set around and look at and occasionally use.  




A gift in Hebrew, a psychoanalytic book, Grandpa's scarf tossed atop our collegiate dictionary - a somewhat outdated book for 2 twenty-first century grad students, eh? 

Vignettes of our life.  




Monday, February 9, 2009

declaration of granola.




These winter days are growing longer, and in earnest hope for the spring - thanks to recent outrageously sunny mid-winter 60-degree weather here in Chicago - I finally realized my long-time dream of making homemade granola bars (recipe found here).  A shining, honey-and-brown-sugar kind of moment in what has been, at times, a dreary and bleak and long winter.



But as I was toasting and mixing and baking and slicing these delicious morsels of goodness last Saturday afternoon, things seemingly lightened.  Andrew was steadily working on his genogram project for school - an endeavor proving to be a test of his patience and maturity - as he plunges into and sorts through the makings of family.  And I, having just completed my midterms, was enjoying the chance to role up my sleeves, get in the kitchen, and make something happen.



And happen it did!  We celebrated the granola bars and the weather with a much deserved break.  


We headed down the street to Old Town - a quaint little neighborhood a few blocks to the south of us and just enjoyed meandering in and out of shops, finally winding up at the lake shore where the ice and snow had forgivingly melted, revealing something fresh and new and ready to be discovered.  Stark blue water against a sky that reveled in comparison to the manmade empire opposite it.  I breathed it in and thanked my Creator for a new revelation, a fresh reminder that meaning can be found, that true beauty is still relevant.

Thank goodness for homemade granola...