You call that a break?

December 22 - Close on our house.

December 24 - I leave for NOLA. Bogdan's parents fly in from Ukraine.

Christmas - Dec. 28 - I spend a lot of time with my family and friends enjoying gumbo, beignets, and Canes chicken fingers - and meeting my new nephew and learning way too much about the Disney movie cars. Bogdan and his parents hang out in Maryland.

December 28 - Fly in to DC. Go to Ikea.

December 29 - Bogdan's mom and I spend the entire morning cleaning the new house from top to bottom. Can't remember what the boys were doing, what were you doing?

December 30 - Our third anniversary, spent moving. First load: both armchairs in my mini, and as much junk as we could fit in Bogdan's car. Then spent the entire day loading and unloading the suitcases that we substituted for boxes. I thought it would take us about 4-5 trips back and forth, by the tenth trip that day we were tired...
and not finished.

December 31 - Dropped Bogdan's worn out parents - who got way more than bargained for when they planned a trip to visit us - off at the mall for the day. Bogdan and I finished moving with about 3 more loads. Cleaned out the apartment, turned in the keys. Adios. We cringed as we walked into the house full of stuff everywhere, so spent the evening storing things away and setting up one room to be livable. Furniture - two armchairs, one table/desk, four chairs. Had champagne, went to bed at 9.

January 1 - Took a break from house stuff, went to D.C.

January 2 - Spent the day at the antique stores in Downtown Frederick. Bought a dresser. Found a few other items to put on the "maybe" list.

January 3 - Can't believe it's already Sunday! Ikea once more and trying to remember what it's like to have to be at work every morning.

January 5 - Bogdan's parents fly home. Tonight will be the first night in our new house by ourselves. It will most likely seem really empty.

We looked upon a world unknown

Life for our little family has been pretty interesting since Thanksgiving. You must forgive my prior silence on these topics I am about to share, and realize that this whole time has been a succession of rapidly changing days of uncertainty.

For the past couple of months, Bogdan and I have been contemplating buying a home. I'm not sure where this idea came from exactly, but it was at least partially due to the enticing first time home buyer's tax credit and the simple fact that each weekend that we stay home and wander the streets of Downtown Frederick, we fall in love with it all over again - after 16 months here, we seem to always find something new, something special.

We casually started looking at listings, dropping in on open houses, and scheduling showings. While we saw many charming historic homes, it just so happened that each one had a negative - whether it was the location (meaning not on one of the four streets we love downtown), the size, the lack of parking, the potential problematic nearby developments, etc. And then we saw one listing that had potential. It was in a prime location, it was a bit bigger than the other places we had seen, and it even had a detached garage, which is practically unheard of in the historic district.

The listing agent was out of town when we called to schedule a showing, and so we waited a week to see the place. What happened after that showing was a tumbling whirlwind of often times chaotic events that started with our offer on the house on Black Friday. By the end of that Thanksgiving weekend we had a verbal agreement with the sellers (and a lot off the asking price, plus some closing costs). Naturally, I wanted to shout the news off the rooftops (and/or in this here blog), but Bogdan is a cautious one and he suggested we wait until things were more final.

Well they just never seemed to be final - first the home inspection revealed some needed repairs, so back to the negotiating table. Then the bank's appraisal had to come back at the price we agreed to pay, then the mortgage had to be approved and processed, then ___, then ___, then ___, etc. etc. It was one month-long headache - are we buying this house or not? Every day I searched for the answer and always heard an uncertain answer as a reply.

Until yesterday, when at settlement we signed a bunch of documents and metaphorically got the keys to our first home (it's a metaphor because the key was actually in a lock box, so we got the combination to the lock box, which isn't quite as romantic of a statement).

As you probably have heard by now, we had a "historic" blizzard here this weekend, that dumped nearly two feet of snow in less than 24 hours in a place that is usually unprepared for a 2 inch snowfall. Bogdan and I bundled up a couple of times on Saturday and trudged through the snow during the blizzard with our camera in tow, soaking up the beauty and silence of our surroundings. When we finally scheduled the closing (the day before!), I started thinking about our wedding 3 years ago, which occurred on a bright sunny day in the Colorado mountains, only days after a historic blizzard that the state hadn't seen in the month of December for decades. Momentous occasions in our life together thus far have been marked by historic snow storms.

I've been thinking about the implications of this (beside the obvious thought of giving birth to a child during a blizzard which is not-so-much-romantic) and a blizzard is an interesting phenomena. One aspect of it is that it can be extremely dangerous (ask my dad who drove in that historic Colorado blizzard from a ski resort not able to see his own headlights let alone whether his car was still on the road or precariously hanging off the side of a cliff, in fact all of our wedding guests have similar horror stories, which leaves me very thankful they arrived safely, and humbled by the love of our family and friends and determination to see us married).

But, while the swirling and sometimes blinding snow limits your visibility, it also makes you focus and reflect on that which is right in front of you. The future and the uncertainties that inherently come with it are blocked from your view, and we are forced to focus on the present. Live in the moment. And see what is standing right before our eyes - a lifelong partner, a first home.

The title of this post comes from a line in Whittier's poem Snowbound.

Sweet tooth

To hold you over until I have the time (and/or the will) to write more posts about -aboot-Toronto, about Thanksgiving, and other things going on here in Maryland, I present you a post about pie.

I've made two pies in the last couple of weeks that were both beyond delicious and I wanted to share the recipes and the pictures. But I warn you, there may be some drool involved.

You were warned.

Pie #1 was an Apple Pie. I don't think I've actually ever made an apple pie (except maybe once as a kid I remember an apple pie experiment gone wrong?), and the November issue of Cooking Light had a pretty straightforward recipe so I decided to be all American and bake it.

The result? Fabulous! Will definitely be baking this baby again.

I used the frozen pie crust, but I will give you the link to the full recipe in case your more ambitious than I am (and you actually know where your pie pan is. See, I just found mine a couple days ago, many days after this pie was baked and consumed).

Did I mention that after baking the pie you drizzle caramel sauce all over it? Well you do, and it's heavenly.

So as I was baking pie #1, I realized that the frozen pie crust I had bought really consisted of two frozen pie crusts.

Score!

Which meant I had to find another pie recipe to try.

And on to pie #2. A pecan pie.

My mom makes pecan pie every year for the holidays and for some reason I never eat it (maybe I did a few times, but usually I choose some other dessert). This year as I flipped through my November issues of cooking magazines, every time there was a picture of a pecan pie my heart skipped a beat.

I knew that meant I was ready to try this thing, again.

And since I wasn't going home for Thanksgiving, that meant I had to make it myself. So I did. Except I made a German Chocolate Pecan Pie. Which meant there was chocolate and coconut involved, which meant it was pretty much a guarantee that I would like it.

And I did! And here is the recipe:

German Chocolate Pecan Pie
Rachael Ray Magazine

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (4 ounces) plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1 stick chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup ice water
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 2 1/2 cups (about 10 ounces) pecan halves, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup sweetened flake coconut
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. In a food processor, pulse the flour with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add the chilled butter pieces and pulse until coarse crumbs form, about 5 seconds. Drizzle in the ice water and pulse just until the dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap; flatten to form a disk. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

2. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 12-inch round; transfer to a pie pan. Cut the excess dough to leave a 1/2-inch overhang. Using your fingers, roll the dough edge under and crimp. Prick the bottom of the pie shell with a fork; refrigerate for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400°.

3. Line the shell with foil and pie weights or dried beans; bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and beans, reduce the heat to 375º and bake for another 12 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. In a heavy, medium saucepan, whisk together the remaining 5 tablespoons butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt with the brown sugar and corn syrup over medium heat until melted and smooth. Whisk the sugar mixture into the beaten eggs. Stir in the nuts and coconut.

5. Spread the chocolate chips in the pie shell. Pour in the filling and bake until set, about 25 minutes. Let the pie cool completely before slicing.

Toronto Trip: The Niagara Falls

A few weeks ago, Bogdan had a conference in Toronto, and we decided about a month earlier that I would take a few vacation days and join him. Neither of us had been to Toronto (and my only previous Canadian experience was crossing over from the tip of Michigan into Canada where I spent the whole time scrounging up as many Canadian coins that I could to add to my slowly-growing international coin collection).

We rented a car (it's about an 8-9 hour drive from Frederick) and headed up through Pennsylvania, across New York, and over the Canadian border. The drive was absolutely beautiful-the foliage in Northern Pennsylvania had obviously reached their peak and the small mountains covered with autumnal colors offered the perfect distraction to the long drive.

One main reason for driving was we wanted to stop and see Niagara Falls, and we were told that the Canadian side was the optimal vantage point for viewing. We pulled up to the border agent and despite Bogdan's immediate freezing up and forgetting where we lived, "Maryland!" I reminded him, we got through and were only about 20 minutes from the falls. The surrounding area of Niagara Falls on the Canadian side is absolutely revolting--casinos, high rise hotels, cheesy tourist traps--but once you drive into the "state park" where there's trees, green spaces, a winding road, and amazing views of the falls, all the other stuff fades into the background.

I was halfway expecting that we'd walk up to the falls, look over at them, and utter a "meh." I don't know if that was because when we were recently in NYC it felt like everything was smaller than it seemed it should be, having seen images of central park, times square, the empire state building ad nauseum from basically birth. But no meh's were uttered from these lips. In fact, it was more like "ooh" "ahhh" and "wow!" These falls did not disappoint.

Much like standing at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, you suddenly feel very small, very microscopic, and very very vulnerable. The power of the falls and the rushing water spilling violently over the edge gives you the completely unfounded fear that you will somehow be swept off this concrete viewing platform and slammed down the falls, disappearing in the mist that rises at the base. We viewed the falls for a while with this mix of awe and fear, which interestingly is the biblical way we're supposed to view God. And without fail, when I find myself absorbing nature, God's creation, I really feel like it's an authentic form of worship.

At one point while I was staring at the falls mesmerized by the power, I was snapped back to reality by an Asian man who, in his best English, stuck his thumbs in the air, pointed at the falls and said with a huge grin on his face, "wow!" I smiled, and then suddenly he wrapped his arm around me, motioned for his wife to come over and snap a photo and click, the shot was captured. Then the man took the camera from his wife, gently nudged me aside, grabbed Bogdan, put him next to his wife and snapped another photo. A little confused we both waved goodbye as the man triumphantly walked away with his wife toward their tour bus, camera dangling around his neck.

We spent a few more minutes at the falls, taking some more photos, and then we too walked back to our car, camera dangling around my neck. We then continued our drive to Toronto.

Welcome to the planet, a little story from your crazy Aunt Steph

Back about ten years ago my family went on a cruise through the Caribbean. I was 16, my sister was turning 19. Because we are three years apart, we went through childhood looking like sisters, for sure, but never being mistaken as twins. Until that cruise. It seemed like from the moment we set foot on the ship, so many people assumed we were twin sisters.

I remember being a little puzzled by this. Sure I liked the attention (we were "the twins" of the ship for goodness sake) but what was it about that year, that trip, that made us look suddenly identical to people who didn't know us?

And so this story was the first thing that popped in my head when I saw pictures of my newest nephew, Reece Patrick. Well, first thing after the usual "oooh" and "awww" and "did they really post a picture of him all covered in gook, cord and all" I thought of the cruise.

The reason is that Reece looks so much like his brother Grady did on his birth date. And I even proved this to myself by pulling up pictures of Grady and putting them side by side, which I will present to you now...
Reece is on the left, born November 16, 7 lbs 11 oz. And Grady is on the right, born March 27, 2007. I mean, come on, the nose, the eyes, the shape of the lips, the coy little half open almost Zoolander-ish mouths.

So if 16 years from now these two go on a cruise through the Caribbean, they just might have the same experience their mother had a decade ago.

Either way, welcome to the planet Reece! We're so glad you're here. Hope you enjoy the journey and I hope I'm a big part of it. I love you already!

Veni, Vidi, Vici the Cheesecake

Yikes, I promise I will post about our trip to Toronto (which was like a year ago by now), but right now it's a cold rainy Friday afternoon and I don't feel like writing witty observations about Canucks at the moment, so I will share with you my cheesecake success story.

As I mentioned in the Bogdan Birthday post, my first ever attempt to make a cheesecake was unfortunately unsuccessful. The thing never set. I realized quite quickly that it was because I had not baked it long enough, yet I still felt deflated and invalidated.

Defeat is not a word that I take lightly (being as competitive as I am), so only a few weeks later I found another cheesecake recipe that I would try and that I would conquer. Veni, vidi, vici, (what's latin for "I ate?").

Without further ado, I present to you a before and after shot.


Tiramisu Cheesecake
Rachael Ray Nov. 09

Ingredients:

• One 7-ounce package crisp Italian-style ladyfingers, coarsely chopped
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
• 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup marscapone cheese, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips
• Boiling water

Directions

1. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350°. Wrap the outside of a 9-inch springform pan with foil and line the bottom with parchment paper.
   

2. I don't own a food processor, so I made a simple graham cracker crust instead... Using a food processor, grind the ladyfingers into fine crumbs. Add the butter and espresso and pulse until incorporated. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and press to form a crust halfway up the side of the pan. Bake until set, 8 to 10 minutes; let cool. Lower the oven temperature to 325°.

3. Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese on high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in the sugar at high speed until smooth. Beat in the mascarpone, vanilla and salt. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

4. Set the springform pan in a roasting pan. Pour the mascarpone-chocolate chip mixture into the baked crust, then place the roasting pan in the oven. Pour enough boiling water into the roasting pan to reach halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake until the top is golden and the center is set but still jiggly, about 1 hour. Let cool in the water bath for 15 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Refrigerate for 6 hours or up to 2 days. Remove the cheesecake from the springform pan. In a small, heatproof bowl, melt the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips in the microwave at low power, stirring until smooth. Transfer the chocolate to a resealable plastic bag. Snip a hole in the corner of the bag and drizzle the chocolate over the cake.

Is it Saturday night yet?

I had a dream LSU beat Alabama 98-96.

Not in basketball, in football---a ridiculously high-scoring game, I know.

(Pic by my sis of my adorable nephew...)

Aw, yeah!