chopped salad, parmesan rosemary biscotti, chai-spiced chocolate ice cream

This week, we made a hefty chopped salad for dinner. I know, a salad for a vegetarian and a mostly vegetarian, right? Lame. But this is a really good salad. The recipe is from the Smitten Kitchen, and instead of salami, we used Italian veggie sausage. The only other changed I'd make in the future is to use half the salt called for in the recipe. 

To go with the salad, I made parmesan rosemary biscotti, from My Name is Yeh. I made these when Drew wasn't home and they were so good that I shamelessly ate two right away.

I also made chai-spiced chocolate ice cream, from Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones, whose authors opened up the Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco. Drew and I stopped there on our road trip from California to Wisconsin and loved the place. 

paella

Don't laugh, but the first time I had paella was in Shanghai. Drew's friend got a promotion and he wanted to celebrate at this fancy tapas restaurant. So we gorged on paella (well, me and Drew's friend since Drew's a vegetarian) and tapas and it was one of the best meals ever.

The second time I ate paella was at La Tasca in Washington, D.C. a couple months ago. I don't remember how it compared to the paella I ate in Shanghai, but it was really good and I loved the sangria.

Drew had never eaten paella, so we made it the other day. The recipe is from the Candle 79 cookbook, which  is a legendary vegan restaurant in New York City. Drew and I ate there a couple years ago, and while it was very good and we'd eat there again, all I remember is that we ate this amazing smoked paprika hummus. 

I cannot articulate how much we enjoyed this paella. This is a meal that you could make for special occasions or for guests, but it's so easy to make that you could easily make it on a weeknight. 

salted caramel brownies

Caramel is my nemesis, and I get it right only about 50% of the time. Yet, I keep at it, hoping to perfect it and also because sometimes I have a hankering for caramel brownies and just can't bring myself to make them with store bought caramels or caramel sauce (though I will confess that I had a moment of weakness and desperation and almost caved and bought the Ghirardelli caramel turtle brownie mix). 

Anyway, I made salted caramel brownies, from the Smitten Kitchen blog. As expected, I messed up the caramel before getting it right. Turns out that it needs your undivided attention and you can't multitask and make granola at the same time. 

I'm so glad I didn't cave and buy the mix. These brownies are super good, and while I kind of wish I could share them with you, I kind of like having them (almost) all to myself (I do have to share with Drew).

days 5, 6, 7: Portland to Green Bay

After a nice rest in Portland, we hauled ass to the middle of Montana, where we spent the night at my cousin's house. And then we drove through North Dakota and spent the night in Bismarck, which was quite an experience. First off, let me say that driving through North Dakota was not nearly as painful as I'd anticipated. I thought it would be incredibly boring, but it wasn't. From the highway, we saw the world's largest metal sculpture and the world's largest Holstein cow. We also saw signs directing people to the world's largest sand crane and the world's largest...hmmm, I can't remember and neither can Drew. 

Anyway, in Bismarck, we ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Now, having just spent a year in China, Drew got into the habit (and even enjoys it) of eating authentic Chinese food the authentic Chinese way, which involves seasoning your food with vinegar. So, he asks our server for some vinegar, and while she goes to get it, I say "You know she's going to come back with white vinegar, right?" But Drew is optimistic and even though we are at an American Chinese restaurant in the midwest, he maintains hope that she'll come back with table vinegar. She didn't, and I totally called it because she returned with white vinegar.

After our short stay in Bismarck, we continued on to Minnesota and went to my grandparents' house, where we spent the night and saw my parents and aunts and uncles. Finally, we headed to Green Bay, and even thought we were thwarted by a flat tire about 25 miles away, we made it!

days 3 and 4: Portland

From the looks of it, it seems like we got stuck in Portland and never left, but we did, and in fact, we've been Green Bay residents now for a little over a week. It's just that I didn't have internet access for a while, and then we we got it, I didn't have time to update my blog.

We spent a couple days in Portland, hanging out with Drew's friends. We went on a nice hike, ate awesome vegan bbq at the Homegrown Smoker, had a vegan brunch at the Hungry Tiger, drank craft beer, browsed at Powell's Books, and ate donuts at Blue Star Donuts and Voodoo Doughnut (in case you're wondering, Blue Star beats Voodoo). Basically, we fell in love with Portland and weren't sure if we wanted to leave.  

day 3: redding to portland

There's no turning back now. This is really happening. 

It was not until the third day that moving to Green Bay felt real. Up until this point, it felt like we were on vacation and that we would eventually turn around and head back home because it is not unreasonable to drive from Irvine to Redding (I know this because my friend is from Redding and her mom just did it). 

We learned that the last In-N-Out on the 5 is in Redding, so we stopped there before heading out to Portland.  

Having driven almost the entire length of California, I will say that it is a beautiful state. Northern California looked and felt so different from Southern California, or at least Orange County. I didn't realize how diverse California was, both culturally and topographically, until we drove through it.   

We could not believe how rural it was in northern California, and more than once, we commented that with all the farmland, it felt like we were in Virginia or Minnesota (except with hills). 

You can barely see it, but that signs says "Oregon welcomes you." 

Drew has a couple friends in Portland, so we are taking a couple days to eat vegan food and donuts. 

day 2: gilroy and san francisco

We left Monterey for Gilroy, which is famous for its annual garlic festival. We missed the festival by a few days, but we stopped anyway and bought some garlic and smoked garlic olives. 

From there, we headed up to San Francisco, where we took a break and ate some ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery, which I recently saw on this list of 27 ice cream places in the world that you have to visit. It was well worth the stop and it was quite possibly the best ice cream I'd ever eaten in my life, which I guess is why it was on this list anyway.

After our break, we wove our way through the streets of San Francisco to the Golden Gate bridge. 

 

Before driving across it, we stopped at the viewing area to first walk across part of it. 

It was really windy, and I will admit that it was cold and we were underdressed.

  

We saw fewer palm trees in central and northern California, and instead, we saw a lot of these trees:

After San Francisco, we headed north to Redding to stay the night. 

day 1: california to wisconsin

A few months ago, when Drew and I were planning our route from California to Wisconsin, we said to each other "Hey, do you know what would make a 2100 mile cross country road trip even better? Driving up the California coast, some of which will be on a two lane highway that's full of twists and turns so that we'll only be able to drive about 30 mph, and adding about 500 miles to the trip!" I'm kidding. It was more like "Sooooo, I know we already have a long distance to drive, but everyone talks about how driving up the coast is a thing to do and it's really pretty and this is probably our only chance to do it, so what do you say?" 

We said yes.

And I'm glad we did.

We started off on the 405 and took it to LA, where we then got on the 101 and drove through Ventura and Santa Barbara, and then we got on the 1 (also known as the Pacific Coast Highway, or the PCH) in San Luis Obispo (gawd, I sounded sooo Californian right there). Then Drew took the wheel because I hate twists and turns and curves in the road, even more so than bumper to bumper traffic and crazy drivers who almost merge into us twice, and I got to enjoy the view.    

We have to hand it to the state park system and the CA Department of Transportation or whoever because there were several places to stop along the PCH to take pictures and enjoy the view.

Some of the birds had no fear. That's Drew's hand there. Maybe he put it there for scale? 

We also drove through Big Sur, which is well known because it's really beautiful, but I've heard of it because of its grueling marathon that takes place every April. The halfway point is the Bixby Bridge, and there is a pianist who plays Chariots of Fire in the middle of it. 

It is unlikely that I will ever run across the Bixby Bridge, but my friend Sam did a couple years ago. 

We made it up to Monterey at the end of day one.  

goodbye uci

On the day before we left for Wisconsin, Drew and I walked around UCI and snapped some pictures. Our first stop was to the Anthill Pub for one last pint of beer. I must have been looking professorial because I think it was the first time that I didn't get carded. 

We walked through Aldrich Park, which is in the center of campus, on our way home. It is a really nice park, and back in the way when we had more time to linger over lunch, we would have picnics outside. 

Even though time became more scarce, I sometimes headed to the park to read or to have a quick walk.  

UCI's mascot is Peter the anteater, so Drew and I stopped by the bookstore to pick one up.

 We also stopped by Social Science Plaza for a quick picture by the fountain.

One of the first apartments I lived in was in Palo Verde, one of the housing communities for graduate students. Every day for nearly five years, I crossed this bridge to get to campus.  

On a clear day, you can see the mountains off in the distance from the bridge. 

When I first arrived at UCI, I thought the number of years that it would take to get a Ph.D. felt like an eternity. Older graduate students told me that the time would go fast, and at first, I didn't believe them. But, just like many other things, they were right. The time goes by so fast. One minute it feels like graduation is so, so far away and the next minute, you're packing up all your stuff and saying goodbye.  

leaving california

Drew and I are leaving California for Green Bay tomorrow morning. I don't think it's sunk in yet. I've waited so long time for this moment and while I'm happy to leave this place, at the same time, I'm also a little sad. I lived here for nearly eight years, so in some respects, it's hard to say good bye.

  

A dear friend from graduate school recently moved to Minnesota (interestingly, there are a few of us making the move from California to either Minnesota or Wisconsin). In her farewell to California facebook post, she began by saying something about how she came to California as an adult but grew up here. I can relate. I was 26 when I started graduate school, and I grew up a lot here. 

I wonder what I will miss about Southern California. Most of what I think I'll miss revolves around food. Lately, I've been asking myself such questions like: Why didn't I eat more California burritos? Why didn't I eat at In-n-Out more often? Why did I wait until my last year in California to discover banh mi? How come I didn't make it my mission to find the best fish taco? Why didn't I eat more dumplings? And so on. But then I remind myself that I just didn't have the time and that the reason I came out to California was to earn a Ph.D. and not eat my way through Orange County. In my state of food-related panic, I've been eating my weight in avocados, and I made two trips to In-n-Out in the past couple of weeks, which is more times than the past few years.  

 

Sometimes, I wonder if I'll miss the beach. Other times, I'm not so sure. I see the ocean a lot as I'm driving by or when I'm running, but I don't get to the beach too often anymore. Whenever I feel like having a beach day, it's when everyone else feels like going to the beach too, and dealing with the traffic, crowds, and parking is just too much of a hassle for me. 

I know I will miss the palm trees. I never get tired of seeing them. 

I recently showed Drew what I think is the most fantastic palm tree I've ever seen. It's just in this neighborhood in Irvine, and I discovered it on the way to get dumplings. 

On our last night in Irvine, we ate dinner at Royal Thai, got gelato at Gelato Paradiso, and had a nice walk on Laguna Beach, just enjoying the sand between our toes and the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach. I don't know how this tradition started, but anytime one of us (usually Drew) leaves for a significant period of time, this is what we do. So when we contemplated how we'd spend our last night in California, it wasn't at all difficult to decide what to do. After Laguna Beach, we headed home and went to one of our favorite spots near campus, the adirondack chairs at the top of University Hills. From there, we could just barely see the Disneyland fireworks. They go off every night at 9:30, and I can hear them from my apartment. It is odd to think that soon, my evenings will be silent.