city

i am going to attempt to describe a difference in life in chicago v. los angeles. i don't know how to label it. it's not necessarily "unity", but i'll just use it for lack of a better term.

first, i want to say that chicago does have major divisions, but i won't get into that here.

so here i go. i have contemplated this question a lot:

Q: what brings the city of LA together?
A: the lakers.

Q: what brings the city of chicago together?
A: downtown, pockets of the city, certain foods (i.e. pizza), the weather and events.

for example, if there is something going on in the city, you can bet that wherever you go, people will be talking about it, and most people will have gone to it. i remember when the taste of chicago was going on. everyone talked about it - at work, church, social gatherings. it was the same when the air show happened, when there was a bad storm, after the marathon, the jazz festival, the u2 concert, the 4th of july fireworks over the lake. there is a way in which it seems the city moves and breathes together.

that is all.

oh sushi

i can't shake this sushi craving i've had all week.

36 more days!

beautiful fall weekend + random

after a couple weeks of cold weather, we had a beautiful fall weekend here in the midwest. the sun was shining and it was warm. i spent most of my time outdoors, walking among the crowds in downtown, and hanging out with friends at maxwell street market where we enjoyed tacos, horchata, coke from a bottle and fresh churros.

on another note, my hair has gotten very long and i'm thinking about chopping it on my trip to LA in december.

friends r and e had their baby about a month ago and i'm so in love with her! i haven't seen her in over a week and i'm getting desperate. a visit is forthcoming.

last month we used our crockpot for the first time and made chili. and then will made chicken soup. the thing is awesome. i need to find more recipes.

i can't get over how much i love chicago. lately i've been realizing that it's been like a dream to live here for the last 10 months. some things i love about it:

work is 2 miles from home, church is 1 mile from home (yes!!!)

friends live close by: caddy corner from us, and 5 blocks away

there are so many cool areas around the city, each with their own personalities

i get to meet people from all over. more than half the people i meet here are not from here

the trees

the way the city comes together (i'll try to expand on this in another post)

also, i'm going to see the nutcracker next month with a friend. i haven't been to the ballet here so i'm looking forward to that.

peace out.

squash

remember i made hobakjuk with kabocha squash? well, last night i tried it with butternut squash. i found that i like it better using kabocha squash. it's fuller and more flavorful.

halloween

i'm going to a halloween party at will's school this weekend. i don't know what to wear! i'm really not a costume person, but i'm sort of looking forward to this party...now if i could only come up with something interesting...

hobakjuk recipe

i don't remember the last time i posted a recipe. or if i ever posted one myself.

i finally made hobakjuk on monday night. although i do have butternut squash, both my mom and will's mom said to use kabocha squash, so i did.

i adapted a recipe from maangchi. you can watch her video if my recipe confuses you.

ingredients:

for the juk -

1 kabocha squash

water

honey to taste

salt to taste

for the dduk -

1 cup sweet rice flour

1/2 cup boiling water

dash of salt

process:

juk -

1. cut the squash into smaller pieces (i cut it in half 3 times lengthwise to make 8 pieces).
2. put squash pieces in a large pot, pour 3 cups of water into it, and steam over medium heat for about 30-40 minutes.
3. when flesh is soft, spoon it out into a pot. throw away the rinds. add water (about 6-8 cups) and boil.
4. add honey and salt to taste.

dduk (optional)-

1. while squash is boiling the first time, make the dduk. boil some water.
2. add 1/2 cup boiling water to the sweet rice flour. mix with a wooden spoon, and then knead with hands into one big piece of dough. wrap in plastic and let sit for 20 minutes.
3. put 2 TBS of sweet rice flour in a bowl. then take pieces of the dough and roll them into little balls (a bit larger than a jellybean). put them in the bowl with the sweet rice flour (so as not to stick to each other). keep the big dough wrapped in plastic so as not to dry it out.
4. after the squash has boiled the second time (without rinds), add the dduk balls. the balls are ready when they have inflated from original size.

a couple of notes:

• we didn't add very much honey or salt because the squash itself is so flavorful.
• the dduk is a bit labor-intensive. i read somewhere that it's easier to just cut up the dduk used in dukbokki and put it in the porridge. i made extra balls and froze them for easier use next time. although it took time to do it, i thought it added a lot to the juk.

good luck!

marathon = done

full disclosure...

first things first. i don't know what my exact time was yet, but it was over 5 hours.

i started off the race great. the first 13 flew by and i felt great. then my legs started hurting. and at 15 i was in major pain. from there i run-walked the rest of the 11.2 miles. yes, it was miserable!

it was really cold. i wore a garbage bag over me and socks on my hands for the first 9 miles (thx rebecca), and i was wearing my tank and long sleeve too. i remember seeing a thermostat at around mile 4 that said 33 degrees. chilly. people on the sidelines would cheer me on by saying "go garbage bag!" or "yeah garbage bag!". haha. that was one of the highlights for me. oh, i also picked up a pair of gloves that had been thrown on the ground because my hands got cold again, around mile 20. i think i should've picked up a sweater too, but there weren't sweaters after mile 13.

i think my legs hurt because they were so stiff from the cold and i didn't stretch enough. looking back, i wish i had worn another sweater and pants instead of shorts. i didn't shed a drop of sweat during the entire run. i had pain in the tendon behind my knee - i never had that pain during training. i didn't feel out-of-breath at all but my legs hurt so bad i toyed with the idea of dropping out at mile 20. in the meantime i was beating myself up over having to walk so much.

will went to mile markers 4, 12, 26 and chinatown to cheer me on but we never saw each other. isn't that sad? but i think if i had seen him during the race i would've ran to him and cried. haha.

at mile 26, i was running and i heard someone call out my name. i saw two friends, rob and mark. they had these huge smiles and they were cheering me on and trying to get photos of me. they were so cute. that helped big time and helped me end strong.

the race did not go the way i'd hoped. as you can tell, i think i'm still trying to get over that. but i'm glad i finished and at 30 years of age i did a full marathon. also, the chicago race course is pretty cool.

thank you all for your support and encouragement on this journey.

EDIT: half - 2:21:59, full - 5:29:05