No Kitchen Should be Without...

I thought for this next post, I would take you on a little tour of our kitchen, and the tools I just can't seem to live without.   At times, I feel like I'm cooking in a third world country.  I know even if our next kitchen is only the tiniest bit larger, I will appreciate that extra couple of inches that much more.

And so begins the list of most important NYC kitchen items...

(1) A good knife set (errr.. a single knife).  Yes you read that correctly.  We have one knife, and here she is.  Isn't she a beaut?  She can cut through raw chicken, crusty bagels, fruit, vegetables, you name it.  I believe she came from the bottom of the line IKEA collection (circa 1987).

(2) A strong, all-purpose frying pan.  Since we are without a microwave, we use this baby not only for cooking our meals, but also for re-heating just about anything and everything.  Every bite of food that touches our mouths has spent some quality time in this pan.

(3) A well-manufactured, reliable coffeemaker.  Don't judge this book by its cover!  Despite its obvious superficial flaws, this lil guy does a fine job brewing our morning joe.  Not sure what the previous tenant did to make it appear this way....perhaps set it on the stove while cooking?  Which I can actually understand as there is little to no counter space.

(4) A fine large mug for cups of coffee and tay.  This mug actually did not come with the place, but Sean and I picked this set up at our local Bed Bath & Beyond.  Don't have to worry if this set is microwave or dishwasher safe - don't have those bothersome appliances!  Just for comparison - please take note of the size of our coffee maker and the size of our mug.  Mom -- please send more coffee! :)


All sarcasm aside, we have been having a lot of laughs in this kitchen.  Yeah, it's cramped and there's none of our own cooking stuff, but we've managed to whip up some tasty and easy meals.  It makes you appreciate the space and items you do have.  So far these 4 items have really made our lives much better.

Water, Water, everywhere and not a drop....for a shower

Ahhh, sigh. The joys of living in a 38 story high rise apartment building. All was well until this morning. The building was pretty quiet, everyone we met seemed friendly, and there was a nice little gym up on the highest floor with a great view. All was well -- Until this morning.

Feeling a burst of rare motivation, Sean and I both went to the gym this morning, and when I came back, I was really looking forward to a nice hot shower. The water pressure in our shower was notoriously bad, but today things got much, much worse. I got in there, and right after I had lathered enough shampoo in my hair to make a pointy standup-on-its-own mohawk, the water coming out of the shower head just ended. BOOM. Poof. Just like that. All the water dried up.

And there I stood, freezing, soapy, and very, very bitter.

$1500 dollars in rent and I can't even take a warm shower.

So after standing there a few moments I realized that my neighbor was taking a shower at the same time and that there just wasn't enough water to go around. Listening to the water run freely in his/her shower, I was green with envy. I waited 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and finally 15 minutes while they enjoyed the liberal hot water, and I had none. I even banged on the shower wall to bring some attention to the situation. Maybe they just didn't realize I was below them with hypothermia setting in, close to tears. I thought, there are third world countries that get better water pressure in their showers than this. How can this be?!

This was the first time I missed Friendship Ave and the powerful jetstream of hot water I had. Oh, the little things. And to think, I never really appreciated a hot shower with water.

So the rest of today will be spent finding the silver lining of this all. Our water bills will be very, very tiny. That extra soap in my hair gave it some extra volume and bounce. And my plan is to just start showering at 3:30am when nobody else is awake. Until next time.

We have arrived!

Well, at long last, we have arrived in New York City. It is just as beautiful as ever, despite the frigid temperatures. I wanted to write down the adventures we faced getting here before I forgot it all. So let's start the beginning.

On Friday morning, we awoke very early and drove to pick up the UHaul truck. They had run out of the 10 foot size trucks so we were forced to take a 16 foot (read: not small) truck for our journey to Buffalo. We headed back to the house and with the gracious help of Marty and Dawn we packed up in about one hour. It was starting to snow, so we made our goodbyes short and hit the road. I expected the highway outside of Pittsburgh to be pretty bad as it started to snow pretty heavily, and I was correct. Sean very slowly maneuvered the truck on the highway and we proceeded at about 30-40 miles per hour. I figured once we hit NY state, the roads would improve. But oh boy, was I wrong. We crossed the border and the snow that had been falling got about 3 times worse and the wind picked up. We faced some treacherous road conditions and whiteouts at times. A drive that would normally take 3.5 hours in good weather, took us nearly 7 hours. We were elated when we arrived at my parents house. They were so kind to us and helped us unload all of our belongings. We spent the evening hanging out with everyone, including my older brother Eoin, and his girlfriend Maura.

The next morning was another early morning, as we got up and took the truck to its drop off spot in a not-so-nice part of Buffalo. Ok, people, this was the HOOD. We made it out of there safely and it was off to the even sketchier bus station in downtown B-LO. We thought we were just so smart, getting a sweet deal on our bus tickets (only 23 dollars to NYC!). Well, might want to splurge next time....

It was an "experience" to say the least. We got on the packed double decker bus, and were forced to sit next to complete strangers on opposite ends of the bus. I managed to befriend my seat partner and he kindly let Sean sit next to me for most of the ride. We were in seats directly in front of a woman who had brought her infant son on the bus from Toronto, and was headed all the way to Boston. This baby was ridiculously good, but there were still those moments of high pitched shrieks that woke you from the little sleep you managed to achieve. The bus had some temperature regulation issues that caused it to reach about 90 degrees at one point during the ride, but that thankfully got sorted out. The entire ride took about 9 hours, and it was thrilling to finally get our first sights of "the city". We had no trouble at all finding our luggage and a cab, and we set off to the Scholars Residence (I am not tooting my own horn -- this is actually the name of our apartment building).

Upon arrival at our guest studio, Sean was less than thrilled, but it was actually better than I had expected. It is one large room where one wall is our tiny kitchen and we have a nice sized bathroom with two big closets. No complaints here. And for me, I'm just thrilled to actually be here. The view outside of our window is breathtaking -- you can see the East River and the Queensboro bridge, which is all lit up at night.

I really feel excited for our new beginning in this great city. But I also miss the familiarity and comfort in Pittsburgh. Ahhh transition...

Happy New Year!!

Best wishes friends for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2012! 2011 was an amazing year to reflect on -- so many great things happened. We joined many friends as they got married in locations across the country, spent quality time with family, two of my papers got published, and I graduated! It's odd how time starts to really move. I feel like this was the fastest year I have ever experienced.

We are officially 13 days away from the big move! Really starting to pack now and minimize our belongings. That's especially hard for me, being a chronic hoarder. It feels good though to get rid of things that I've accumulated, and to only keep things that we really need and/or want.

We (I) miss the Mole every day -- he is staying on Michael Road with my parents and Brendan, but we know he is in great hands! Lots to look forward to -- next year, we may even brave the celebration in Times Square (seen in the picture!). More updates to follow!

Twin Beds, you guys

So the moving thing is getting real, VERY REAL. We got word from Rockefeller that we would not be making it to the top of the housing wait list until after we move. So they have offered us a furnished studio apartment on campus. This sounds okay right? Well, it doesn't allow Fenways, and it also stipulates that you cannot bring any of your own furniture. This is where it will get complicated.

My parents have so graciously offered to care for Mole until our one bedroom apartment opens, and also to take all of our furniture and belongings and store them in their garage until D-Day.

To add icing to this beautiful cake of transition, we found out today that our new digs will have two twin beds instead of one full or queen sized bed. This news made Sean and I just about lose it with laughter. At least we can still laugh about how we will be building forts or pushing our beds together at night to tell scary ghost stories.

I said, someday, all this moving business will be funny. And we can write about it in our autobiographies. But until then, we will blog.

All Quiet on the Western Front

It's been a while since we have posted but it has been a hectic couple of weeks. Siobhan is now Dr. Siobhan Gregg (congrats!!), and our friends Jon Altman and Beth Warner are now Jon and Beth Altman (congrats!!). But now I think things should calm down before the big move to NYC in a little under 2 months. It's crazy to think of how soon it will be here. Siobhan was going through her stuff and throwing away a bunch of it yesterday and I need to do the same. Now that our trip to Florida is over, we can relax and not worry about stuff for a while, so keep your eyes peeled for more posts.

Delicious, Cheap and Easy dinner!

So the other night we had our friends Jon and Beth stop by for dinner. Beth and I were planning to have a cookie baking fest, as we were donating some of our baked goods for a friend's wedding cookie table. In order to keep our strength up for all that baking, we needed a hearty and delicious meal. This is where Ina Garten's Chicken with Herbed Goat Cheese came in. I bought two whole chickens, cut into pieces, with skin, with bones, the whole shebang. You start by turning your oven onto 375, and washing & patting the bird dry with a papertowel. Next you take a log of goat cheese with garlic and herbs (sold at Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Giant Eagle, NOT Walmart) and slice it into medallions about 1/4 inch thick. Then wrap a basil leaf around the cheese and stick it under the skin of the chicken parts. Lightly oil the outside with olive oil and add course salt and pepper.

For the complete recipe, click on the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-with-herbed-goat-cheese-recipe/index.html

Bake for 45 min to an hour, and voila! Dinner is served.

We made this with some sweet potatoes (my autumnal fav) that we roasted with olive oil, brown sugar and maple syrup. Wern had the brilliant idea to sprinkle some chipotle pepper on at the end and it made for this amazing combination of sweet and savory. I highly recommend.

The chicken and sweet potatoes cooked together in perfect harmony at 375 for about the same length of time. This gave me the opportunity to drink a glass of wine and catch up on Modern Family with Wern. Ahhhh, the perfect evening.

Bon appetit!

In honor of Halloween, Mole wanted to showcase his best possessed look. DEVIL DOG!

Moving

It still hasn't hit completely yet that in two months and some change we will be residents of NYC. It's scary because of the uncertain job market and the slight increase in the cost of living that comes with the move, but its also exciting. It's exciting to have it be just the two of us (and that ne'er do well Mole) and to discover a new city. And not just a new city, but arguably one of the most vibrant, exciting cities in this part of the Horsehead Nebula. I have lived with roommates for the last 7 years, so it's going to be nice to have it just be Siobhan; we both will not have a problem airing our grievances when someone leaves the kitchen a mess or the toilet seat up. I won't need to worry about coming home from work and having a Gerry Egan incident.

We are living in one of the quieter neighborhoods of NYC, but it still has so much more going on than your busiest Pittsburgh neighborhood. It's going to be weird not having a car and walking everywhere, but I think it will be great for our fitness and stress levels. Besides, think of all the amazing pictures we can surreptitiously take of ridiculously outfitted people. Even the food options, which a lot of New York people consider limited are still better than a lot of what you see in Pittsburgh. Being close to Central park will also be cool, at least until those guys from "The Warriors" show up and try to teach us a thing or two.

The Greatest Hot Dog of All Time

So, first welcome to our non-sensical blog! This is an interesting little experiment that Sean and I are trying out to chronicle our transition to the big city. The posts will be on various (read: really random) topics, including food, travel, books, and a special segment I'd like call "Mole And the City".

Since we are in the 'burgh until mid-January we will begin our story there....

Yesterday I finished the last revisions on my thesis and turned it in. This was cause for celebration because I had slaved over that document for 2 solid weeks, turning my life (and Sean's sleep schedule) completely upside down. As a reward for my hard work, Sean offered to take me out for a well deserved meal of food. But where to go....oh the choices are endless in Pittsburgh, the gastronomic capital of Appalachia. And so we settled on one of our favorite places....

SONIC.

Yes, the awesome, drive-up, fast-food joint that lies about 20 miles outside of the city of Pittsburgh. We like to combine these trips with grocery shopping at none other than Wal-Mart. Classy, I know.

I want to share with you my thoughts on my all-time favorite food from Sonic. It's not the fun flavored drinks, or the tater tots that really get me going, but it's actually their Chicago Hot Dog. Ahh-maz-ing. Truly, this thing is so delicious. And I normally hate all hot dogs. I can't stand the ends of hot dogs, so I normally leave those nubbins in my napkin, or feed them to Mole. But this Chicago Hot Dog has changed all of that. I eat every last morsel, and would probably get another if Sean wasn't around to judge me.

What exactly is a Chicago Hot Dog? You may be wondering.....

It is "a water-simmered all beef frankfurter" that is laid down on a soft poppy-seed bun. Those poppy seeds are an essential part of the CHD experience. As for toppings, native Chicagoans have shunned ketchup (or catsup as Sean would say) from their hot dogs. I'm okay with this. They replace that tomato flavor with actual, juicy slices of tomatoes, along with sweet pickle relish, chopped white onions, pickled peppers, and a crunchy dill pickle spear. This is all finished off with a dash of celery salt, just for good measure. Oh, how I'm drooling just thinking of it.

This tradition of the Chicago Hot Dog dates back long before Sonic, to 1893. It was first served up at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The brilliant folks who came up with the CHD were of Jewish ancestry, hence, their pork-free, Kosher awesomeness. I feel like I would have been very good friends with these people, had we all been around together. But the best way for me to pay my respects to them, is with this post. So do yourself a favor. Go to Sonic and eat a Chicago Hot Dog. And if there is no Sonic near you, make one at home. You'll thank me.