Sunday, February 28, 2010

is offal so awful?

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I don't know about other cities, but Boston restaurants are just carraazyy about pigs! Every part of the pig! I'm seeing pig cheeks, half pig head, pigs tail, pork belly (yum), and cured pork fatback on menus!

Check out these articles:
- Snout to tail is the route chefs are taking with pigs these days - Boston.com
- 5 courses with Phillip Tang of North by Northeast - Stuff Magazine

This post would be a lot more interesting if I had a picture of me eating a pig. But I will tell you that I ate a lamb heart sausage at Craigie on Main for our Valentine's Day dinner. Eating heart! Sooo romantic!

What's the craziest animal part you've ever eaten?

Saturday, February 27, 2010

yul kwon

Cyrus and I went to a Harvard event tonight where this guy was the keynote speaker! It was a lot more substantial than this video might suggest. :)

little accomplishments

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Nine hours later, that cup of regular coffee (I only drank 2/3 of it!) has got me feeling all kinds of funny inside! The inside of my hands feel empty and it feels like there's a hole in the back of my head letting out all of the brainy parts. I think a decaf would have been enough to keep me alert today... :)

Anyway, the retreat was fantastic! I did wish Cyrus were there, but in some ways I was thankful that I had some time to reflect on some things on my own before discussing them with Cyrus. It was pretty great, and a surprisingly unique experience, talking to other married couples and sharing stories and fears and lessons learned. I hope that we have more opportunities like this!

I'll preface this next part by saying that I often congratulate myself on the tiniest little things I've accomplished ("I cleaned the bathroom!" "I didn't spill the flour!"), and so this is one of these things. I was pretty proud that I was able to go to on this couples and families retreat on my own, with a church that I'd only been going to for four months. Of course, it helped that a lot of people in this community have been making a lot of effort to reach out to me and be kind to me, so I can't attribute everything to sheer courage and personableness (new discovery: personability isn't a word!) on my part. But still, high school Ina would've been terrified and would've shuddered in fear when faced with a situation like this. So it's always really rewarding to see how much I've changed in the past (gasp!) 10 years.

Anyway, thanks CCFC for a great retreat! 

I think I might be embarrassed about this post in about 10 minutes...

couples retreat...alone

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This morning I'm off to CCFC's family & couples retreat...by myself. Unfortunately, Cyrus is busy at a conference, so it's just me and myself. I love my new church and all the people, and I figure I have a lot to learn about marriage and family. So here I am taking yet another social risk and showing shy, high school Ina who's boss! Ha! Hiya!

The retreat is only seven hours long, so it probably won't be too bad. I have my annual cup of coffee to keep me going!

umami = flavor

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Have you guys heard of the term umami in your restaurant review reading? I thought it was some kind of Japanese sauce that Craigie on Main was for some reason putting in their burger, but Wikipedia is telling me that it's just a Japanese term for...uh...flavor? To be more specific, it's neither sweet, sour, salty or bitter. It's umami. Other words like brothy, meaty, or savory are other incomplete synonyms of the word, and it's used to describe what gives the oomph in mushrooms, stocks, cheese and protein-heavy food. Interesting, huh? Maybe. But I still don't get it.

When I first realized it was a way to describe food, I first wondered if it had anything to do with the Korean term goo-soh-heh, which is used to describe things that taste rich or nutty, sesame oil possessing the quintessential goo-soh-hehness.

Shrug.

Ooh, here's an interesting NPR article about the discovery and science behind umami. I love NPR.

Friday, February 26, 2010

tj's + ny = ?

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I keep daydreaming about what it would be like for us to live in New York. I mean, I thought Cambridge was urban enough for us! To be honest, I think the most difficult things about leaving Boston to go to New York would be 1) leaving friends and community for the second time in a year and 2) waiting in line to get into the only Trader Joe's in Manhattan.

I've mentioned my love of TJ's in the past (...yesterday), and the Yelp reviews of Trader Joe's in East Village scare me! I did a search for the word "line," and it showed up 63 times in only 40 reviews! Not a good sign.

(Don't get me wrong - I really hope Cyrus gets this clerkship! He deserves it! If he gets the job, I'll have no problem packing up and leaving... it's just a little scary!) 

So can anyone share some things about New York City that a couple homebodies like us might appreciate?

cyrus's biggest interview evar

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Cyrus just left the apartment to go to New York for his biggest interview ever - for a clerkship with a judge. This interview came as a total surprise and we were pretty much settled on staying in Boston for 2010-2011 until we got that phone call. And it totally (sarcasm) helps that New York was/is being hit by yet another snow storm.

What would it be like for the Chungs to live in New York? I think we'd be the only homebodies in a 10-mile radius. j/k?

Anyway, please pray for him and his safety!