Long weekend

Summer has arrived in Columbus, along with festival season.  We ate lunch at the Asian Festival today (chicken adobo - not pictured, chicken on a stick, pad thai, quarter watermelon and patbingsu).  Then we headed over to North Market and got a quart of these strawberries, which were picked at the farm yesterday.  Hope you are enjoying Memorial day weekend.

Mom

 My mom visited us last week and went back to LA on Sunday.  I had such a great time with her.  We got free veggie burgers at Northstar for Earth Day.  Among other things, W, mom and I took a nice walk Saturday morning along the reservoir and discovered some cool new spots that I want to explore more with W.

Franklin Park Conservatory

A few weeks ago we finally went over to the Franklin Park Conservatory, and I got membership, which means I can go anytime and bring a friend along.  It was nice to be among plants and flowers, especially in the middle of winter when there's nothing but snow and bare trees outside.  They have orchids in the winter so we enjoyed that a lot.

Cherbourg Bakery

Today we stopped by Cherbourg Bakery in Bexley after our visit to the Franklin Park Conservatory (more photos on that later).  They have excellent coffee for $2 and we especially enjoyed the rosemary cornbread and ginger carrot muffin.

Tacos

Our favorite tacos and sope in the city, from taco truck, Taco Nazo.  When we first discovered the truck, we breathed a huge sigh of relief and felt like we came home.

Eastern time

Yes, although Ohio is in the Midwest, we are on Eastern time.  It's amazing how significant a 3-hour time difference is compared to a 2-hour time difference.  Like phone calls and jet lag.

Goodies

My aunt brought these over this morning:

Organic eggs straight from the farm.  Some of her friends went to the chicken farm over the weekend to pick up eggs and she requested a carton for me.  I've been loving getting local food here in Columbus.  It's much easier to do so with so many farms nearby.  The asian pear farm I went to last week was actually in the city - about 30 minutes away from where I live.

Some grapes...she's always bringing me things like a few potatoes, cereal and now grapes because it's just her and my uncle but they still buy in bulk, so they share with us.

And last but not least, this belt that she's worn for 30 years.  It's an antique.  She thought I wouldn't like the lion buckle in the front, but I love it, and I love that it's something my aunt has had for so long.  It's definitely a keeper.

Korean Groceries

After some dismal attempts at finding good and cheap Korean groceries, I got a recommendation from my aunt to check out the Korean video store.  We had already checked out 2 regular Korean markets so we thought, what the heck, let's try the video store and see what they got.

Surprisingly, the Korean video store, actually called "Han Kook Video", has the best Korean groceries in town.  It's about the size of our living room and packed with groceries, household items and shelves lined with Korean DVDs.  And nothing has a price tag on it.  We bought a few things and were pleased with our new find.

I learned from my aunt that new goods come every Thursday, so this past Friday I went over there.  The place was swarming with Korean ahjummas and halmunees.  I think about 10 of them.  And there was a lot of good stuff.  I thought it was the funniest thing.

So now I have the inside scoop on Korean groceries in town.

W's Birthday Weekend

Hubby turned 32 this weekend.  My mom sent a package with some gifts for him and this bag for me.  You can fold up the bag real small, button up the eyes, and stick it in your purse.  Thanks Mom!

For W's birthday we went to the zoo.  I had planned on doing a food truck adventure but in the end, being the animal lover that he is, he wanted to see the animals.  My favorite were the penguins:

I must say that we were pretty impressed with the zoo here. Having been to the Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago) in June and the LA Zoo in July, we thought the Columbus Zoo animals were much more lively, and the zoo was set up really well.  We topped it off with dinner at our favorite vegetarian Indian restaurant.

On Sunday we had dinner with his co-worker and her fiance at their home.  It was delicious:

The menu was cous-cous (with lamb, goat cheese and dried cranberries), asparagus, kabocha squash, and a salad we brought.  This salad is becoming one of our favorites.  I had it once at our friend Karen's home back in Chicago. Here's my adapted version:

red leaf lettuce

watercress

beets

garabanzo beans

red onions

anjou pear

avocado

heart of palm

{served with Brianna's poppyseed dressing}

food!

i was pleasantly surprised to learn recently of a thriving (and growing) food truck scene here in columbus.  not only that, but there are taco trucks.  you don't know how excited i am.  chicago only had one food truck that i knew of, and it was a cupcake truck, which to me only partially counts as a food truck.

w's b-day is coming up next week and i'm planning on doing a food truck adventure with him to check them out.  i think he will love it.  shhh...don't tell him.  he doesn't read this blog.

btw, here's another photo of our place.  i love the multi-colored cloth on our coffee table.  when we bought some blankets in korea, the lady threw that in for free.  i think it adds a nice punch of color to the rest of our whites and neutrals.

progress

things accomplished in the last 2 weeks:

• got all household knick knacks such as cleaning supplies, basic foodstuffs, bathroom rug, etc...
• got my ohio drivers license and plates
• signed up for the gym
• got a library card
• got internet set up
• got the boxes and debris from our move picked up
• found some asian grocery stores, marinated bulgogi
• got the place ready for guests

not bad, eh?

btw, those flowers are from our neighbors overgrowing butterfly plant (i think) at the front yard in our yard.  so pretty!