Harland has an address

Okay - so Harland has an address finally! Whee!

People are asking me what they can send, what he wants/needs and so forth. He is in a tiny little outpost. He does not have a shopette (so he can't buy any snacks, magazines, etc) and will only get water every 5 days to shower. He is really out there! So what this means to you, is that anything he gets he will be so happy! He will also love to get things to read, so don't feel you have to send a package - letters or postcards or clips from the newspaper or child drawings or well, anything, will make his day as well.

I'm not going to post his favorite food items on here, because if I list 3 things, he will only get those three things. Variety is the spice of life...especially when you're in a hellhole. So think to yourself, "if I was in the middle of the desert, what would I want someone to send me?" And that is what you can send. haha.

Although, there are a few things you can not send:
1. Porn (it's illegal there)
2. Alcohol (ditto)
3. Olives (he really doesn't like olives, so put that jar down!)
4. Baked goods - the mail is unreliable and they can spoil in the heat easily
5. Chocolate or other easily melted items
6. Anything big and bulky that isn't edible. He does have limited space. (small books or games might be welcome - entertainment is limited - I hear the ping pong table there is where it is at).

And if you want to send him something and I forgot to e-mail you his address, please let me know in an e-mail or phone call and I shall remedy that.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentines Day, Everyone!

Harland is traveling today, so likely I won't hear from him today. But, sweet as he is, I did get a Valentine's Day present from him. When we were in Hawaii, coming back from S. Korea, the hotel we stayed at had Aveda bathsalts, and I really love them. So he kindly sent me some, and they arrived on the big day, so he did good!

Today I'm watching a bunch of tragic love stories. First up is Love Story. Then Romeo and Juliet. It's going to be great. Sure beats folding laundry without a movie. :)

Oh my goodness, flowers just came. How sweet! Here is a picture, so you can share the joy! Haha.(ignore my messy table).



I hope you are enjoying your weekend, when Harland gets where he is going... I'll let you know. Hopefully he'll learn his mailing address soon.

And on the third class she created skies...

Here are some pictures of my watercolor sketches from class last night. We learned how to make different kinds of skies and clouds.





Oh and some new watercolor pics...
We were learning how to make skies!

a 4 days pass.

Okay.... Harland is in Kuwait now, in a few days he'll be moving wherever he is going to next.

Last week I had a precious 4 days to spend with Harland.
We stayed at a really nice Bed and Breakfast - Cedars and Beeches. If you need to go to New Jersey, then you should pamper yourself by staying here. The breakfasts were good, and the Saturday breakfast was amazing. Harland had some kind of stuffed french toast with caramelized bananas and I had some "eggs on a cloud" which was eggs on a baked meringue faboo! The innkeeper, Esther, was really sweet.

Here is the outside.

Here is our room.

We also ate at some really great restaurants...

The Bistro at Red Bank

and

Zebu Forno

And of course Harland made us stop at Five Guys.

So it was really a wonderful time together. We didn't do a whole lot... we did go see the beach. It was snowed on! Brrr. Doesn't that make you feel cold just looking at it?


We also looked at some old mansions on the campus of Manmouth University. I took some pictures, but I haven't done any research as to what these buildings were or who lived in them. Maybe I'll post some pictures another day.

Water Color Painting

Some of you know I decided to take a watercolor class while Harland is away.

I thought, although these are not the best in the world, to share the 1st weeks paintings with you.

1st - here is the project from class I felt rather rushed since we had limited time at the end to try and do all of these. Also the lighthouse picture is very blurry.... which makes it look even worse.


Then today I decided I wanted to retry the boats and also try something new from a picture.
The boats came out boat-loads better!

The picture was taken when I was in Jeju-do, South Korea. Jeju-do is like a Korean Hawaii (so they say). It is of a lamp that is on a famous bridge, called Seonimgyo Bridge (seven nymphs). The bridge itself is beautiful and something I'm sure I couldn't paint with my beginning skills. Here's a wikipedia article if you want to learn more about the bridge and see it's red glory (click here).


The day we went it was raining (we went during rainy season). So my picture isn't very cheery.


In other news - i've had a really bad week. Looks like Harland will be a platoon leader - not an office guy when he leaves. I didn't take the news well... but I'm getting more used to the idea.

Also - I've erased the running blog since I never post to it. I have been running. Although I'm waiting until tomorrow to run... today it a bit too chilly! It was 3 when I woke up!

Longwood Gardens

One day after Christmas we went to Longwood Gardens. If you haven't been there before, you should go if you're ever in the Philly area. I love the Gardens in any season, and they always have something new each time, so it never gets boring. Harland and I took a lot of pictures, but I had to only select a few to show here.

Here is my mom and me in front of the DuPonts' house.


These pictures are all from the biggest building on the grounds.
The orchid room is my favorite room. I love orchids, and I miss mine that I had in Florida.


Here are my darling parents!


Some bonzai!


Here is me and a little wooden friend in their treehouse. He was wearing his very own scarf, I'm not loaning him one.

At night they had the fountains lit up and they were changing to some beautiful Christmas Carols and some classical music.




They decorated the topiary...



And of course, they also use Christmas lights to light up a lot of trees (over 70% are led lights!).

The food post

Okay - Here is the post on food that I promised. It's earlier than expected because I got bored tonight! I will talk about 2 wonderfully delicious things. Dumplings and soup.

1st - Chinese dumplings

So you may or may not know that dumplings are traditionally made for the New Year (Chinese New Year this year is January 26th, if you want to note that on your calendar and make some for celebration). There are probably as many dumpling recipes as there are Chinese Families. Everyone has a different way of folding the dumplings too. Harland's mom knows that dumplings are Harland's favorite food item. She also knows that his previously favorite brand of dumpling has CHANGED IT'S RECIPE to the detriment of the dumplings. So she decided to teach me how to make them so I can make them for her son.

For her filling she uses green cabbage, ground pork, soy sauce and some Chinese leeks if she has them or onions if not. This time it was onion. Now there are many recipes out there for fillings. I like a teensy bit of ginger and sesame oil in mine too. I will have to keep messing with the filling until I get it perfect to my likings (fully knowing it will change with H's opinion when he returns, haha).

If you want to read up on Chinese Dumplings - here is a great NPR Article. It also has a recipe attached. Although, they fold theirs a little more elaborately.

Here are the main steps (ignore my chipped nail polish please, I didn't realize my hands would become so prominent over the holiday weekend).

1. Put filling in the middle

2. Fold and pinch together in the middle

3. Fold the ends in, then pinch again and fold and pinch again.

This is the hard part. It took me a lot of tries to do this right. There are a few videos on YouTube if you want to try this on your own (look for "folding Chinese dumplings"). Otherwise, I suggest you come over to visit me and we can make them together and I'll show you. I'd love to make these on my own but you do end up with a lot of them, and I'm not sure what I'll do with all of them!

Then you're finished! Cook and eat!
You'll also note that there are a few wontons in the middle too. I was also given good instruction on how to make these, but I kept ripping the skins. Harland's dad got in trouble for buying the wrong brand of wonton skins, but at least I have the knowledge in my brain somewhere, even if I was less than successful in that venture.

2nd - I want to talk about the soup I made. OMG. This soup is to die for. It has no business being as tasty as it is. I mean, it has what, 6 mundane ingredients? Leeks, potatoes, water, salt, pepper and butter? That's it! It is remarkably good. I had two big bowls earlier. I also froze some to see how it will keep. There is also a small amount left in the fridge. This is - hands down - the very best soup I have tasted. I swear. And I make and eat a lot of soup. I love it. I may go nuts and make it every week. Here it is in its glory cooking (I threw the potatoes in after the leeks, it made a nice little leek circle there, hahaha).


(a few side notes 1.I'll likely lessen the salt a little bit next time 2. I used my potato masher to mash the soup like Julia Powell suggests in her book 3. for the allergic-to-dairy readers: it is okay without the butter, you will still like it.)

A note for people who are dieting and don't want to add the butter... If you can eat butter, you should throw it in, because it is just so much more WITH it. I tasted it both ways - and I know a lot of people omit butter because it is fat, but... Dudes, add it in this. Dunk your bread in your soup instead of buttering it, you totally will not regret it.)

Here's the recipe again - Julia Child's Potato Leek Soup (Potage Parmentier).

Go out to the store and buy some leeks and potatoes NOW. Make this soup! And it is relatively fast! 45 minutes cooking time! And look how pretty it is!