Post 64 | "Here's To The Mess We Make"

“The walls of the rational, empirical world are famously porous."
Wendell Berry

My favorite scene in oh-so-popular "La La Land" is the emotional climax of the film. A song and moment called "The Audition." If you've seen it, you probably at least got chills too... and if you haven't I won't spoil it for you.

But one of the repeated lines in the sincere serenade is "Here's to..." Here's to the fools who dream, here's to the hearts that ache, that type of thing.

I've found myself both sarcastically and meaningfully using that line as its been stuck in my head the last few weeks. (Like, as I run to the bathroom very urgently the thought crosses my mind "Well HERE'S to coffee!" Or walking through through International Plaza Mall thinking "Here's to double strollers!" I want to high-five every other mom with her kids strapped in too. The little joys. Or buying splurge items with Christmas gift cards: "HERE. IS. TO. GIIIIIFT CARDS!")

So, as I've been toasting my way through life... I have to say: Here's to those of us making life decisions.

UUUUUUUUUUGGGHHHHHHUUUHHH.

Here's!

To!

Us!

Here's to spending two days on Zillow and Craigslist and Trulia (and realizing Trulia is inferior) and going back to Zillow and changing the parameters and scrolling until your wrist is sore.

Here's to calculating how much you spend on rentals and thinking we should just buy and then looking at houses for sale and making a stink-nose at everything "you could afford." Yeah, all the beautiful houses are just one momentarily unreachable notch up, huh?

Here's to asking "So what do you think?" and having him basically detail all the options and asking back "What do you think?" while you reply by saying "I don't know" and listing out all the options in a slightly different way and asking "So what do you think," over and over.

Here's to google wisdom, forums from 2010, and "best places to live in [pick your state/region]." 

Here's to that secret pinboard you start furiously adding to to let off some steam. "This WILL get figured out someday. And when it does, I'm gonna be ready. And probably much richer!"

Here's to those decisions you have to make for yourself. The "fork in the road" life paths, to the left or to the right? Make a choice!

Here's the life decisions someone else makes for you... and you have to wait. Wait for that application to go through. Wait to hear back. Wait to find out. Wait for it to happen. How long should you wait? Don't waste your wait! And don't count your chickens until the eggs have hatched! Be patient! Be productive! Waiting. Here's to bloop-blooping waiting.

Here's to how much you love and care about the people you love and care about. How much it matters to you to make good decisions for and about them.

Here's to that favorite drink in your kitchen that's gonna take the edge off of LIFE.

Here's to being self-employed when trying to prove income, for most government/medical/financial institutions not accepting e-mail copies (and 50/50 on faxes... but guaranteed: if you WANT them to accept a fax, they won't) and for always going to the bank on National Holidays. And for craving Chick-fil-a on Sundays.

Here's to singing.

Here's to balancing what you can afford, what you want, what you really want (like "What I Want My Legacy To Be!" Want), what you have time for, and where all that happens.

Here's to those pros-cons lists. Here's to caring about the well-being of your family, of yourself, of those you love. Here's to trying and making a mess of it.

Here's to the freedom to try.

Here's to s***-sandwiches (It's a good point).

Here's to logging into your bank accounts online. And forgetting the log-in info. And calling the bank and getting it straightened out. And logging into your account online. And looking at the screen out of one eye as the page loads, hoping on a star that maybe there is more in there than you remembered ("Maybe that last check hadn't been deposited the last time I looked..."). (Spoiler Alert: There's not.)

Here's to wondering if you're being selfish or a steward; being brave or crazy; being wise or fearful; being someone who fights through obstacles or is stubbornly bent on their own way even when it's a bad idea.

Here's to making a big, fat, mile-marking, actually changes the course of your life life decision.

Here's to the miracles. 

Here's to physical effects in your body (like an actually warm heart or actually jumpy limbs or eyes that have really doubled in size) when it starts to get exciting. "We might be on to something here! This could be it!"

Here's to wistfulness.

Here's to wit. And all the other qualities you lean on to get through it.

Here's to being in your story.

Here's to giving up some of those things you would really, really, really like for some other things that are really, really, really good and real.

Here's to the music building. The audience guessing. Here's to all the ways the story could go.

Here's to The Author.

And here's to the sun burning at 10,000-50,000 °F, usually sashaying through the living room right before dinner. 

“I see that the life of this place is always emerging beyond expectation or prediction or typicality, that it is unique, given to the world minute by minute, only once, never to be repeated.
And this is when I see that this life is a miracle,
absolutely worth having, absolutely worth saving.

We are alive within mystery, by miracle.” 

(Wendell Berry, Life is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition)

Ps. In our current AirBNB the angle of the house, the position of the house on the land, and the placement of the windows means that every single night *right* before the sun sinks below the horizon line its light *explodes* into the whole living area. The pictures in this post were taken in the same 30 seconds. It goes from normal bright/white to orange burst ocean to darkened shadowy in a snap. It's so magical and beautiful I can't stand it.

Post 63 | Charleston Part 3 | What Else We Did

Sullivan's Island

Story time: When Summer was a month old, the four of us were supposed road trip to Charleston to see one of Caleb's buddies graduate. But last minute (like, last last last minute... like we were in the car and packed and headed down the highway last minute) plans changed! We booked Caleb a flight and he buzzed down to South Carolina himself. This was the first time he's taken a trip away from us. It was not my first choice, but I have to admit... it was pretty cute to hear from him and wait for his phone calls and texts.

One of the free afternoons he had he went to explore Sullivan's Island. As we were planning our trip together he wanted to make sure he could take me back there because he had enjoyed it so much. So one night after dinner he grabbed some treats and a blanket, and raced to the beach so we could see it at "your favorite kind of light."

He had found a little passageway of greenery that led between the sand of the beach and a perfectly groomed plot of grass. (He loves immaculate grass.) He had told me about this spot before, and was very pleased to bring me to it. Needless to say, I had a wonderful evening.

"Our bond is no little economy based on the exchange
of my love and work for yours,
so much for so much of an expendable fund.
We are more together than we know,
how else could we keep on discovering we are more together than we thought?

You are the known way leading always to the unknown,
and you are the known place to which the unknown is always leading me back.
More blessed in you than I know.

Even an hour of love is a moral predicament,
a blessing one may be hard up to be worthy of.
It can only accepted,
as a plant accepts from all the bounty of the light enough to live,
and then accepts the dark, passing unencumbered back to the earth,
as I have fallen time and again from the great strength of my desire,
helpless, into your arms."
Wendell Berry, The Country of Marriage

The Angel Tree

I've seen so many pictures of the famous Angel Tree that I put it on the must-do list for us! Driving to it reminded me of the scene in The Notebook where Ally is leaving Noah's house in tears and almost hits a truck on the road. Pictures don't do these old moss trees justice!! Absolutely incredible!

And then The Angel Tree... it's enchanting. You really do wish you could sit down and ask it a few questions, and hope that it's in the mood to give winding, tangent-filled answers. What a beautiful part of earth (that also isn't done justice in pictures!) Ps. It's free to come into the park and see it!

Magnolia Plantation & Gardens

Our last stop before heading back to the airport was the Magnolia Plantation. We did the basic admission ($15 a person) and spent a couple hours wandering the property, gardens, water ways, and lawns. It was a lovely stop but I'm not sure we'd feel the need to go again. Or if we did, we might really do everything (there is a train ride and a mansion tour and on!). But truly beautiful nonetheless!

And that's a wrap for our Charleston getaway! I hope you go visit yourself sometime, or if you have been... please leave your favorite things to eat/do for me so I can add to my "Next Time List"!

Post 62 | Charleston Part 2 | What We Did

“Travel is like love, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed." 
— Pico Iyer

Though our favorite way to see a city is on bike, we've learned the "hard" way that not all cities are conducive to casual bikers. Charleston was not one of those cities! Yay! So what did we do in Charleston? Basically ate and biked. Most of these pictures were taken on my phone while I shot with one hand and steered the handle bars with the other. I realized very quickly I was going to want to stop every 50 feet to document.

We went up and down King Street, found a few locations from The Notebook (namely The American theater), rolled through Battery Park, past Rainbow Row and weaved in and out of any neighborhood street that looked pretty! The compounded charm as we saw more and more, though it was all similar, was so endearing. A mail carrier on foot delivered letters (Not bills or marketing flyers, I'm almost sure. Handwritten letters.) to white fenced homes. "Disney-like" (I know Charleston came first ;) ) trim and color and happiness in the architecture. Spanish Moss and palm and magnolia trees. Cobblestone roads, cedar doors, salt water in the air, and horse drawn carriages. What a lovely little city, through and through!

Belmond Charleston Place

We stayed in a suite at Belmond Charleston Place. It was truly the lap of luxury... we felt so spoiled! Charleston is one of the few US cities I have a hard time finding true "deals" for when it comes to hotels. It's always on the pricier side to really stay downtown. I'm a die-hard Priceline lover and exclusively use it for hotel booking (this isn't sponsored, by the way. This obsession was passed down from my mom to me! haha). If you don't use Priceline there is so much to learn! And there is a bit of a system to it... but we've saved thousands of dollars over the years. We rarely pay more than $70 for a 3+ star hotel... our best ever was $27 a night ;) We decided to splurge a little bit on this first-time childless anniversary trip. It was about $200 a night... which is more than we paid on our honeymoon! But check this out:

This is the Belmond website's total for August 23-25 for the suite we stayed in (a WHOPPING $1477.26):

And here's a screenshot of our receipt with Priceline for this trip. Just over $400!:

Talk about a thrill! Ha! And, man, the suite did not disappoint. We loved the light, the luxe, the colors, the views, the rooftop. It was marvelous and so special.

Coming Next: Part Three | What We Did Outside The Downtown

Post 61 | Charleston Part 1 | What We Ate

Before this trip I had only been to Charleston once, when I was about 14 years old. We took a roadtrip as a family which became one of my favorite childhood memories. Of all the new places we saw on the east and south coasts, Charleston stole my heart. Our hotel was across the street from the garages where the horses and carriages are kept, so all day we'd watch men in straw hats and white button-ups lead horses and buggies in and out. We walked through the brick and cobblestone roads, wandered the large street market, and happened upon Battery Park at sunset. I loved it then, and ever since I've known Caleb have been trying to go back with him!

It's turned into a little joke because we have had flights booked/trips planned FOUR times and somehow something has always come up! So when we booked flights for an anniversary trip sans kids (our first time ever!) I wanted to make sure we made the most of it. The suspense and anticipation had been building for so long!

It's not secret that food is more than just a need for us... it's a memory, it's an experience, and it's a true joy! I spent lots of nursing sessions and stretches of highway as we traveled making lists and reading reviews about where to eat. And, so, I share with you now...  What We Ate In Charleston!

R Kitchen

"R Kitchen" is, as their website says, "a kitchen, not a restaurant." There are three window slots for dinner almost every night: 6:00 pm, 7:30 pm, and 9:00 pm. You make reservations by calling (but really texting) and you MUST have a reservation. Every night there is a different chef, who makes a custom menu based on what is available in the kitchen and the preferences of the guests. (So make sure you let them know what you like/don't like/are allergic to/etc when you make a reservation. They will literally tailor dishes to your needs and wants!)

The name "R Kitchen" is a play on ideas: R for Ross, the owner, and R for "our kitchen" as a concept. The building it is in is so simple and unmemorable you'd almost miss it. More like a tiny shed or garage. Inside is a commercial kitchen with a butcher block bar and a couple of tall "cocktail tables" with bar stools. We sat at the bar and watched our chef cook every single dish and he served it to us right off the stove with steam still rising and bubbles still bubbling. We agree this was our favorite meal of our lives! The "best" part? It's $30 flat rate per person (plus tip and wine, if you want it!). We thought this was such a reasonable price for such a special meal!

• The first dish was a duck confit gordita topped with pico. This was basically like the best pork taco you could fathom. I think it was my favorite part... except that every dish was better and better. 
• The second was a simple spinach, apple, and cashew salad with a dressing of only sugar, oil, and white vinegar. I've made it again (though mine wasn't as good) because it was truly killer.
• Dish Number Three was an piece of almond-stuffed pork covered in an avocado-mango sauce over a zucchini-potato-corn hash. Good lord, right?
• The next plate was prime rib with a sweet-and-spicy caper sauce of arugula. Once cutting it all up it was basically the best steak salad I've ever had. I could have licked the plate.
• And the last-but-not-least: dessert! A piping hot corn fritter (basically the perfect marriage of a funnel cake and corn dog batter) topped with cold blackberry-mango whipped cream. This will be in heaven.

Hominy Grill

We went almost exclusively for Caleb to try the Charleston Nasty Biscuit... a piece of fried chicken and jalepeno cheese sharing a made-from-scratch biscuit drowned in sausage gravy. WELL THEN. I got fruit and eggs because I'm not the biggest "breakfast food" person and wanted to hold space for other meals later in the day! Ps. *Someone* drank their mimosa a little too quickly... ;)

Wise Buck

• This was probably our least favorite place we ate, but if we lived in the area we would definitely drop in once or twice in the warm seasons. We came in-between lunch and dinner hours so it wasn't busy at all, but the location and atmosphere would be so perfect for a summer night! We biked past it once it was dark and was hopping!
• We got the potato, tomato, and cauliflower salads, brisket and ribs, and street-style corn. Nothing was bad but nothing was memorable... We think it looked more beautiful than it tasted! The meat was probably our favorite part, though!

Xiao Bao Biscuit

• Whoa mama, is this place a food experience or what! From personal reccomendations to everything I was finding online, people said Xiao Bao Biscuit was a "must." Asian Soul Food, here we came! And... everyone was right! 
• This is a random start, but their rice is perfect. Absolutely perfect. The standard has been set for me!
• Based on reviews online, I ordered the "SOM TUM" (from their menu: "Kickass spicy green papaya salad with local veggies.") It was quite spicy but I loved it. Cool, crisp, refreshing, and full of flavor.
• Then, also based on "what everybody said" I ordered the "OKONOMIYAKI." It's a cabbage pancake with pork candy on top. Which sounds and looks so weird but if you like roasted brussels sprouts/broccoli/asparagus and Thai food like pad thai, you'd like this. It's memorable and a unique and better with every bite. I will 100% go back here next time we're in Charleston!

Peace Pie

• Peace Pie is one of our favorites in Cape May, so when we saw a store in Charleston we had to stop! These little guys are cookie outside, with ice cream and pie-filling inside. 
• Our favorite flavor is Caramel Coffee Toffee. No other description needed. 
• Pro Tip: wait about five minutes after buying one to start eating... it helps to let it melt and soften a little bit since it's so big!

Monza

• Photo Credit: Monza's Twitter / I ate mine so fast I didn't take a picture. 
• Monza was fantastic! A really great, solid, delicious wood fire pizza. I feel like we're a little spoiled with pizza places on the east coast, so I don't know if I'd "waste" a meal in Charleston here again... but not because it wasn't amazing. Just because we can get insane pizza so often "back home." But if you're in Charleston and want a good pizza, go here!

Coming Next: Part Two | What We Saw

Post 60 | Freezer Meals

“[Original, in French:] La bonne cuisine est la base du véritable bonheur.
[Translated in English: Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.]”
― Auguste Escoffier

(My dear little Bottomless Pit who starts the day accessorized and clean, and is a ragamuffin by lunch time... and shrieks and claps at the smell of food, acting all dramatic by gnawing her arm if I don't present a meal to her fast enough. Can't get enough of this one.)

Over the years I've eyed and occasionally tried some simple meal-planning (especially freezer meal prep)... but I always get overwhelmed with the blog posts detailing "35 meals for $116 in Four Hours!" I get past the grocery list diagram and need a break. I was in a very "Work With What You Have" household so I can always make something out of anything... but there has always been an interest to figure out a "system" that worked for me that did save money, make life easier, and free up time.

Given that we travel so much, and, let's be honest, I've been sick-pregnant so much, I haven't had a lot of time to indulge myself in this little challenge. But the combination of New Years, a new (spacious, bright, happy!) kitchen in our current AirBNB, and the couple of months to settle in, I was motivated to move.

Inspired by the Carrabba's/Maggiano's style of "Two For One Pasta" (one to eat now for dinner, and another boxed up to take home for "the price of one) I simply made a meal at dinner time... and froze half of it! So at the end of the week, my whole freezer was filled with a week's worth of meals. My thought was that if I could do this system on weeks I know I have the time, I'll always have a meal available when I just have to "throw something on."

For grocery shopping I just went through the recipes I wanted to make, added an item to the list, if I saw a repeat item I noted the quantity I would need (ie: canned tomato sauce was in two recipes, shredded cheese was in three, etc). I ended up buying eight chicken breasts, three pounds of ground beef, and potatoes as the base for the meals. And I went from there!

This worked so nicely because it truly wasn't ever any more work, and there was no "extra time" set aside to do it. If you're browning ground beef, you're browning ground beef. Doesn't matter if you're cooking half a pound or two pounds. It's the same process/mess/time. I stored the extra meat cooked in Ziploc bags in the fridge until I needed to use them for their next recipe.

It was so fun! And I'm excited to do round two next week and add more to the stock!

Shredded Chicken

• Pack of eight chicken breasts (could cook by boiling, grilling, baking, or in the crock-pot -- or even just use rotisserie chicken that's pre-cooked). 
• I shredded the chicken and set aside 1/3 for tortilla soup, 1/3 for me to throw into salads, and 1/3 for teriyaki chicken bowls. 
• Tortilla Soup Recipe (roughly, I always mix and match and add. But this is close.)
• Teriyaki Bowl is basically chicken marinated in Trader Joe's Island Soyaki Sauce atop a mix of sesame oil, coconut oil, tons of lime juice, cilantro, green onions, red peppers, cucumbers, and carrots.

Ground Beef

• 2-3 pounds of ground beef, browned on the stove with onions and salt and pepper
• After cooking 1/2 was set aside for fajita enchiladas, and 1/2 used for ragù sauce.
• Fajita Enchilada Recipe (Again, roughly. Added fajita seasoning and beans to the meat, etc. But worked off this recipe. Caleb loved it! And said it was almost as good as his mom's enchiladas ;)
• Ragù sauce was diced tomatoes, can of marinara, basil, onions, ground beef, a few hot italian sausage links (also used in roast recipe below), garlic, garlic powder, and probably a dash of wine or parsley or something else I can't remember simmered for a few hours.

Potatoes

• Three bags of the "fingerling" style potatoes
• Half-or-so used for Broccoli Cheddar Soup, half-or-so used for chicken bake
• Seared Broccoli Soup Recipe (shocker: added my own twist! Mainly carrots and cream. But this recipe was a huge winner. Searing is the trick!) Served with Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits from a box 'cause mama don't bake from scratch unless it's a holiday. And all the stores are closed.
• Roast Chicken & Sausage Tray Recipe This fellow here is going to be a fall/winter staple for us. SO easy. SO fast. SO full of flavor (new flavor, at that. Have never quite tasted the sauce before and we all loved it.)

Breakfast

• This has nothing to do with freezer meals! Ha! But we're trying to really focus on taking those small steps and awarenesses to take care of ourselves. Our minds, bodies, and energy have the capacity to work so well and are equally able to struggle so hard. As we're learning from life lessons, we're trying keep in mind that everything is better when we're eating well, moving/sweating our bodies, and spending time outside every day. And it's easy for us to both skip breakfast... solution? Make breakfast darn good!

• Also, this is random, but gosh. Have you had Dave's Killer Bread yet?! If you haven't get some immediately. Organic, healthy, whole and so good. This bread is soft when it's supposed to be, but has a good crunch when toasted, and has flavor and it's the only bread I buy now. It's worth the extra money for stuff so great!

Any recipes that are favorites in your meal rotation or must-trys for our next week?! Do you have any time/money saving meal planning and freezing tricks? Do you eat half of the ragù out of the pot with a wooden spoon like I do?

;)