Christmas

Christmas came and went. My favorite time of the year is over. But I enjoyed every last minute of it. And we're still enjoying the tree :)

The week of Christmas we got a few packages from my parents. One had a couple presents in it, and one was a box of books we left at their house. Thank you so much for sending that! The last was a surprise. Cake pops and chocolate covered pretzels! And a stocking with a bunch of candy in it!

My mom made the cake pops and dipped the pretzels, how cute! And yummy.

Fortunately for us both restaurants (actually, all three) that we work at were closed for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Tom had Saturday through tomorrow off (five whole days!) and I have to go back to work today. Basically, we have had a lot of time to figure how to keep ourselves entertained at the apartment. I keep saying being broke is boring, but I'm enjoying all this time I get to spend at home with Tom.

Christmas Eve wasn't very eventful. It was a beautiful day that started with grocery shopping. Yes, we went shopping on the 24th. That is when we had the money and time to do it. Fred Meyer was a mad house. But we got our staples we needed for Christmas dinner and headed home. Since it was such a nice day we walked Roxy to the dog park before the sun went down. We have a huge dog park about ten blocks away that is wonderful. It is covered in this sandy dirt that doesn't get muddy, and there are always dogs there, no matter what the weather is like.

Then we... sat around. Ha. Christmas Eve dinner consisted of pancakes with honey and/or homemade orange marmalade, sausage, and scrambled eggs. Breakfast for dinner! It was delicious. And I didn't get any pictures :( Except this one of the orange marmalade.

I didn't use it on my pancakes, I've never been a huge orange marmalade fan, and the honey on my pancakes was perfect. But it was delicious, Tom!

Thankfully it was an early night, because we got up at 7 am Christmas morning to Skype with my family! We all opened presents together, it was the perfect way to start the day. My family opened a few presents and then someone said I should open one. We had a few presents under the tree from our parents so I was going to grab one of those. But before I could Tom ran outside and then walked back in with a bike! At first I thought Tom got it for me, but he told me to thank everyone on the computer scene! My parents got me a bike! 

My dad collaborated with Tom to buy one from Craigslist, Tom sneaked around to buy it and go pick it up, I had no idea. Thanks, Mom and Dad :) And Tom, for being sneaky. 

My Mom also got me some beautiful pearl earrings! And we opened these "Redneck Wine Glasses" from my parents on Christmas Eve so we could use them...

How funny is that! I love them. 

Tom's Mom sent us a few presents as well. All Christmas related! A cute blanket, a beer glass and butter knife, Christmas socks, and a headband/ear warmer thing for me that is perfect now that I need to stay warm on my bike! It was so fun having those presents to unwrap. And then Tom brought in a couple more. He got me a gift! I couldn't get him anything, I would have had to use his money, so I figured he wouldn't get me anything either. Momofuku Milk Bar! 

He knew I had my eye on this amazing cookbook, and he went behind my back to order one for me. I have such an amazing boyfriend. Now I just need to get a KitchenAid , a Vita Prep, and an ice cream maker... Really, I can make do with what I have now and put the ice cream maker on my wish list. I can't wait to start baking! 

Tom also got me a helmet for my bike. He doesn't want me to crack my skull, how sweet :)

I told Tom he is going to get random Christmas presents over the course of this year to thank him for how much he has provided for me over the past few months. I love giving gifts, it should be fun!

After presents we started prepping for our breakfast. Tom had already decided on individual quiches and we cooked some sausage patties to go with them. I took several pictures, I love the series of Tom making the crust.

We caramelized some onions and sweat down leeks and cauliflower for the filling.

The finished product was delicious, if you can't tell. Tom made that breakfast sausage from scratch as well. We bought plain ground pork and he added fresh sage, chili flake, garlic, and salt. So good. 

I feel like all we did Christmas day was cook and eat. There was showering in between. And I road my bike around the complex with Roxy chasing me a few times. But that is about it. It was great. Once we started cooking for dinner I asked Tom to take some pictures. I always take them, and I want him to get comfortable with photographing his food. Plus, there are never any pictures of me. These are the results. 

The menu for Christmas dinner was roasted duck, leek bread pudding, braised red kuri squash, potato gratin and gravy. The duck was AMAZING. I love this first shot of the leeks cooking in butter because it smelled so amazing. I love leeks.

Tom took the first two pictures. I love the one of his work space. You get a little glimpse at how much of a perfectionist he is. One of the many qualities that will make him an amazing chef of his own kitchen one day.

I got the bread pudding recipe from SmittenKitchen, who got it from Thomas Keller in Ad Hoc at Home. Unfortunately I had to substitute medium cheddar cheese that we had on hand for the nice cheese that is recommended. And we don't have any whole nutmeg. But it was still delicious! Tom just threw together the other dishes. He doesn't need recipes for most things, and it usually turns out great. Oh, I forgot to mention he made gravy as well. It was a lot so we froze it and we'll get it out later for biscuits and gravy. 

And that was Christmas dinner! We ate ourselves silly and then watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Well, we both fell asleep before finishing it. But it was nice. 

Cooking with Tom is a lot of fun. He pushes me to be better without treating me like a line cook. He has found a good balance of treating me like a girlfriend and student in the kitchen. I've learned so much from him, I'm glad he has the patience to walk me through everything. 

Our first Christmas together was everything I hoped it would be. I missed my family and the traditions we've practiced for years, but Tom and I made new traditions together. Maybe next year we can see our families and have our own special Christmas again as well. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend with your families! 

Here are a couple pictures I took while I was making the Christmas cards last week. I made a few for parents and grandparents since we couldn't send gifts. Or real cards, haha. But I had fun with the glitter! 

One last picture, we need one of Roxy, of course. 

Our Christmas Tree (And I Have a Job!)

Christmas is in three days! I'll say the same thing we all say every year. I can't believe it's here already.

This is my favorite time of the year. Tom doesn't care about it as much. But thankfully he cares about me so he is doing everything he can to make it special. First thing was the tree. He said he would have been fine without a tree. WHAT?! That is my favorite part! No other decorations are needed if I have a tree. (Even though I would have loved to buy materials to make more decorations.) A few days after Thanksgiving we brought a tree and some lights home. For a few days that was all the tree had, but it was still beautiful. Then I made some star ornaments!

I was inspired by this post on Pinterest, but I had to work with what I had. The background of the stars is from the red boxes the Christmas lights came in.

Can you guess from the big "CL" star which old newspaper I used for the front? I love this one with a man holding a guitar. These aren't as cutesie as the pretty ones in the link, but they are unique and I will always have them to remind me of this Christmas.

Next was a Trader Joe bag garland.

Trader Joe's rocks. The patterns on the strips are adorable, but I wanted some color. That's when I broke out the glitter. Our apartment has been covered in glitter for about a week now :)

The finished product! Pretty cute. 

While I was making the garland I found all the shells from my most recent Fripp trip, so I grabbed some with the natural holes in them, added some glitter, and looped through some string. Also, they didn't have any ornament hooks at Fred Meyer so we bought paper clips instead. Pretty much the same thing.

This fabric flower I made hadn't found a home yet so it's a temporary ornament :) Tom's mom sent us two ornaments as well! How funny is the frog on a sled! I love ornaments.  

Finally, Tom and I popped some popcorn to string. (The old fashioned way of course, we don't own a microwave. By choice.) Can you tell what movie we were watching while we worked? :)

Thanks Gee Gee for the sewing kit! I promise this isn't the only thing it's been used for...

Unfortunately we had a few problems with tangled thread, and we didn't make enough strands to wrap around the whole tree. I still haven't popped more to finish it. I will though, because the top of the tree looks ridiculous. 

Thanks to our parents for sending a few gifts! We wouldn't have any presents under the tree if we didn't have such wonderful families. 

This lovely tree is the only thing in our apartment right now that counts as a Christmas decoration. Oh, and this stocking (mitten?) that holds a big bag of peanut M&Ms! Another gift from Tom's mom :) And yes, of course we have already eaten most of the bag. 

There is a whole board on my Pinterest devoted to Christmas DIY projects, but unfortunately my materials are pretty limited and glue and glitter only go so far. I love our tree though, and Tom and I had a lot of fun making the ornaments together. This Christmas has definitely been very different from what I'm used to, but different is good. 

Quick job update before I go. Oh yeah, I HAVE ONE. Yesterday afternoon was devoted to handing out resumes at every restaurant, coffee shop, deli, or shop that served food, on SE Division Street. Wafu is on Division, in a building between two other restaurants. Running into the manager from Wafu was the last thing I wanted to happen after I had just been turned down for the job, but I had to walk by there to hand out a resume next door. He almost ran into me coming out of the restaurant. We talked for a few minutes about my job hunt and he gave me some names of managers and recommended some restaurants to call. He was so friendly and helpful, I ended up feeling great about running into him. 

An hour later he left me a voice mail and sent me an email saying he had a food runner position that unexpectedly opened up! It is only three nights a week, but damn it, it's a job! It's a foot in the door. And I start tomorrow :) I'm still going to keep looking for a second job, maybe a place I only work brunch. Food running is not the serving position I wanted, but I was handing out resumes at coffee shops at this point. With my experience it's highly unlikely that I'll have to stay in that position for long, so I'm okay with it for now. Tom and I are so happy I'm finally going to be contributing! 

Everything happens for a reason, if I hadn't run into him yesterday I probably wouldn't be going to work tomorrow. God is good. 

Merry December 21st! 

Wafu

I didn't get the job at Wafu. He said I performed well but my skills could be better utilized with another concept. Really? Come on. Thankfully he was nice enough to send off my resume to a handful of other restaurants. I'm making a list of places to go by next week. I need to keep trusting that I didn't get that job for a reason.

God is good. He will lead me somewhere better.

Job Hunting

I dropped off resumes to every restaurant I want to work at.

No one is hiring.

And if they are, every job hunting server in the city knows about it and there is a mad scramble. I can't do this to Tom anymore, so I'm going to have to settle. Atlanta made my life easy, I can see that now. Every job I've had was secured before putting in a notice at the current restaurant, so there has never been pressure to find a place. Now I don't have a job, or any money, and Tom has two jobs to support us both. Unfair isn't even the right word to describe it. If it were the other way around he would be working at a fast food restaurant. He would make sure I didn't have to take care of us both.

It's not the end of the world. When one of these coffee shops, sports bars, or Americanized Asian restaurants hires me, I will put me head down and get to work. Make some money so that things are more comfortable around here. Every day off, every chance there is, I will call the restaurants I'm dying to work for. Until then I will keep reading books about wine and beer, cookbooks, and anything else I can do to keep my passion alive.

We need to get past this hump so that we can enjoy Portland. This is the best time of my life, and I can't let money ruin that.

[On a side note. My English and Literature classes have made it so that using the word "I" so much is making me cringe. This is a personal blog, I'm talking about myself. But that isn't an excuse, it needs to be worked on. (Instead of "I need to work on it." See what I did there? Dang it, "what was done there.")]

Okay, so the new plan is to get out there and apply at every place that is hiring. I am also trusting God with this hunt next week. He will take care of me, I need to put my faith in him.

Happy Friday from Roxy!

  

Road Trip: Oregon!

It's the last road trip post! So I know you are all expecting me to say it was beautiful and amazing. I just moved here so I have to say that right? Well it was. And I'm not just saying that because we live here now. Oregon was by far the most beautiful state that we drove through. The Grand Canyon was amazing, but that's different. Oregon is so green, from the rolling hills to the snow capped mountains. Driving through Oregon got us so excited to go out and hike, kayak, ski, drive, ANYTHING in the beauty that is this state. The best part was that my favorite scenery of the day was right outside of Portland. We can drive twenty minutes and be in the Mt. Hood National Forest. Driving along the Columbia River was amazing, and we had a perfect sunny day to enjoy it. I'll stop going on about it, here are the Oregon pictures!

Driving across the river into Oregon!

These cool red plants made it look like the mountain was bleeding...

Mt. Hood

The last four pictures were taken 20-30 minutes outside of Portland. I can't wait to go back :)

We made it to Portland that afternoon and moved our stuff in. We haven't been able to go hiking or anything since we got here unfortunately. It's been pretty cold, or raining. But I just found out today that we are going to the beach in January! The restaurant Tom works at (Grain and Gristle) has been open for a year this week, and to celebrate the chef wants everyone and their significant other to hang out at the beach for a few days! This is the link for where he has rented four houses https://www.happycamphideaway.com/. I'm so happy to have something like this to look forward to. Tom and I spend most of our time at home since we can't go out and spend money, so this will be perfect for us. Also, I haven't really been able to interact with anyone since we got here because I don't have a job and we don't know anyone. Tom went to a couple work parties while I was in Denver, of course. But I haven't met his coworkers yet. Ahhh, I can't wait! 

Okay, so now that I'm done with the road trip I can post about day to day things, the really exciting stuff. Ha. This will include "furnishing"/"decorating" the apartment, cooking, and other crazy things I've been doing at home for the past month. Seriously though, nothing too exciting. It's all exciting for me because I'm in Portland living with Tom, but it's been pretty normal stuff. For example, today I have been making Christmas tree ornaments, cleaned the kitchen (while probably pissing off my neighbors with my music), and writing this. I might get real crazy and watch some more Skins. This post is long enough though so I am going to leave you here. Happy December!