Back in October, Susan took a trip out to California. You may have read a quick summary about it a few posts ago, but one thing Susan didn't tell you about was her layover. The best layover ever! "What?! How can a layover actually be a GOOD thing??" That might be what you're wondering, but it's true. And if you look at the following photo, you might see why.

Have you ever had a layover in Memphis? This was Susan's first time and she sincerely hopes it's not her last. The minute you step out of the jet way into the airport your senses are accosted by one of the most delicious smells in the entire world. BBQ. Not just any BBQ, but FANTASTIC BBQ. She asked one of the locals which restaurant in the airport had the best BBQ and it seems there are two competing restaurants (fast food chains, really). The "best" (according to one local) didn't have a restaurant in our terminal, so Susan settled for "2nd best": Jim Neely's Interstate BBQ. As far as we're concerned, it IS the best. Well, truly, Deb and Gavin took Susan to a BBQ place somewhere on the road to the Omaha airport and that was probably better. And there's the Bodacious BBQ place in Ventura that was also really good, but hey, when it comes to airport food it doesn't get any better than Memphis BBQ.

Look out Memphis, we'll be back!

Labels: Food, Quick Trip

On Monday night we had some friends from church over for dinner. Susan cooked a modified version of Quick Chicken Divan and our guests, Chris and Christina, brought an amazing Italian Fruit Salad Cake. Chris is Italian and he used to work at the bakery that makes this fabulous cake. Generally we don't eat very much dessert, but we each enjoyed TWO slices of this fabulous cake!

The cake has a base of angel food cake (about one inch thick) topped with banana pudding with loads of fresh fruit on top (strawberries, bananas, and peaches). The fresh fruit is what makes up the majority of the height of the cake (and it's weight - this is one heavy cake!) and it's all iced with a heavy cream-based "frosting". The fruit certainly makes it healthier, so we only felt a little guilty when going for seconds. The angel food cake is so light and fluffy that it doesn't seem too unhealthy. Only the rich cream topping makes you think you're really eating dessert. So, we're officially big fans of this cake and Susan is wondering if there's a way she can make a healthy version of it that we could eat more regularly.

Labels: Food, NY

Another Monday. Another snowy day. Thankfully, another day for Susan to stay inside where it's warm and cozy :) As we were driving to church yesterday (it was snowing) we commented on how less peaceful the snow looks in person than on the postcards. What was worse, was that by the time we got home from church it had stopped snowing and, instead of a beautiful white blanket covering the ground, the roads and sidewalks had all gotten mucky from people travelling on them. Yuck. We don't really get that much snow at once - maybe an inch - but since it's snowing pretty much every night (and sometimes during the day, too) it's staying fairly white outside.

Our landlord and most of the neighbors do a very good job keeping the sidewalks in front of their houses shoveled. Our immediate next door neighbor doesn't, however, so it seems quite out of place - walking down the sidewalk keeping your feet relatively dry on freshly swept (yes, if it hasn't iced over, they use a broom to clean the sidewalks rather than a shovel) and then you get to our neighbor's sidewalk where there's a couple inches of snow to trudge through until you get to the next clear spot on the driveway. "Pictures?" You say? "Pictures!" Man, I just can't win with you guys. First, you bug us about updating our website ("It's not October anymore...") and now you want pictures? Okay. I'm a push over, what can I say? I found my camera and all the cables necessary, but, alas, both batteries have been drained. So I'm charging a battery now. Although I really don't know what's so exciting about seeing a photo of our lazy neighbor's sidewalk :) [Update: Now you can see the photo of our lazy neighbor's sidewalk] Once the battery is charged maybe I'll even get around to posting some photos from our Europe trip (yeah, it was in July/August and we *still* haven't posted photos). But it's likely that most of the photos will be posted on Facebook, rather than on this website, so if you aren't on Facebook - too bad. Well, I might post a link that is at least temporarily available to non-Facebook users.

So, that's our Monday. Not very exciting, eh? Now do you wonder why you were so eager for us to start posting about our lives again? Yeah - I wonder too.

Okay, you want a bone of something that is really interesting? Enchiladas. Oh yes, you heard/read me correctly. Enchiladas. "What's so interesting about enchiladas?" you wonder. Well, I'll tell you. Susan *loves* Mexican food (granted, she has wimpy tastebuds and can't stand spicy food, but she loves tacos, burritos, fajita, and, yes, even enchiladas. We're having a Bible Study meet at our house after church on Sundays and so we prepare some cheap, easy lunch for the group. Last week, as we were driving home from church we passed the Taco Bell. Usually we don't pay attention to it, but last week it caught Susan's attention and she had a sudden craving for Mexican food. Ivan, like the good husband he is, offered that we stop there on the way home and buy something for Susan, but we had Crock Pot Chicken (the recipe that Jessica and Jane made for us when we got home from our honeymoon - also quite yummy, but not very Mexican-y) waiting for us at home, so we decided not to stop. However, that set the menu for the following week (ie, yesterday): Enchiladas, Corn, and Black Beans. Yum. It's not as common out here as it is in California. A classic illustration of that was when we served it we announced that they were chicken enchiladas and one member of the group, after tasting it commented on how much her husband would enjoy it and asked "What do you call these again?" How many Californias do you know who, when presented with enchiladas, wouldn't know what they are? Clearly we need more Mexican food out here.

They were really good - with all the fixings: lettuce, olives, sour cream, salsa, extra cheese (beans and corn, I already mentioned). Not that Susan makes the best enchiladas in the world by any means, but she sure does enjoy Mexican food. Can you tell she's looking forward to having left overs for lunch today? Oh, yum. Speaking of which... I think it's lunch time :)

Labels: Food, NY

Well, we're all up-to-date now. And now that we've found all of the paraphernalia related to our camera, hopefully future posts will include photos. January is already 1/2 way over and it seems like we were just in CA last week. How time does fly. We've been keeping ourselves busy with a small group that we're hosting at our house each week. There are 3 other couples and we're going through the books The Excellent Wife (for the ladies) and The Exemplary Husband (for the men). We're encouraged by the opportunities for service that our new church affords and will be under consideration for membership in the members meeting later this month. It's still snowing here on a regular basis (for example, yesterday) and it's nice to see the clean freshness after a night of snow (although we try not to go outside more than necessary - poor Ivan still walks to the train station every day).

On Saturday night (after a full day of snowing) we went out with some friends to a pizza place in Long Island which, we were told, has the best pizza on Long Island. The pizza was surely delicious and the company was great - although we all decided that probably the drive wasn't worth it considering the weather conditions. But we had a great night and only "lost control" on the road twice. (I put "lost control" in quotes, because the second time our friend was driving and he looked to be in complete control even though we were sliding into the intersection.) Thankfully, no damage was done and we had a great time.

Labels: NY

December was another whirlwind month (are you seeing a pattern here?). The first weekend was spent in Washington, D.C. where we stayed with great friends from CHBC. On Sunday after church we went out to lunch with Christine & Will at a great Mexican restaurant in VA where several presidents have enjoyed the food (and it was great). Monday we went to Michelle & Damien's for dinner and had a great time catching up with them. Tuesday, Susan's Dad arrived in town with our beloved Malibu in tow. The plan was for him to drive our car (towed behind the trusty motorhome) to us and take Claire's car back to CA with him. He made really good time and it worked out well for him to rendezvous with us in VA, rather than having to drive all the way to NY with it.

Now, the whole purpose of our trip to DC was because Ivan PASSED the DC bar exam (Hurrah!) and was sworn in on Monday followed by a mandatory ethics class on Tuesday. We were both very excited that Ivan's hard work (while Susan was in Russia) payed off and he can officially call himself a lawyer now :)

On Friday of the following week (the 19th) we had our first major snow storm. And I mean major. It also happened to be the day we had booked our flight to CA for Christmas. How nice it was to be leaving the winter wonderland of NY heading off towards the sunny beaches of So Cal. Of course, it was a bit of a nail biter as to whether our flight would be one of the 400+ cancelled due to the weather. Thankfully, it wasn't - although it was delayed for about 3hr - between waiting for the weather window and getting de-iced. Also thankfully, we had a non-stop flight, so we weren't worried about missing any connections along the way. We landed in balmy LAX sometime after midnight - completely exhausted, but glad to be back in CA.

We were able to spend a lazy 8 days in CA, without a care in the world, enjoying a true vacation. On Sunday evening (the 28th) we took a red eye home. Ivan went straight to work (poor guy) and Susan took the train home. Unfortunately, she was pretty exhausted and somehow managed to fall asleep just long enough to miss her stop. As a result, she had to wait out in the cold for an additional 20 minutes to catch the train going in the other direction, but the conductor had pity on her and didn't make her pay for the one stop trip back home.

It took the rest of December for us to recover for the jet-lag and tiredness caused by the red-eye flight, but we're up in the air about whether it was worth it or not. Would we do the same again in the future? Who knows.

Labels: Summary