Barack Obama - Up Close and Personal

This is a very happening time in Iowa and you can't help but catch a political fever when you are here.
Last night the fever was running high and the only cure was to attend Obama's event at a local middle school.

This was "take II" for Obama. The night before, there was a scheduled Change Rocks! event with India Arie, Kal Penn (actor) and Brandon Routh (the new Superman). To great surprise and disappointment, the event didn't happen. I showed up to a dark and empty parking lot; there were no signs. A friend of mine and I went home to check the venue website, Obama's website, and even called his headquarters in Des Moines. Nada - nobody knew anything about the concert. What were we to do? We ended up going out for martinis instead. (I've got to say that "French Kiss" is probably one of the most delicious alcoholic concoctions out there). On the way out from Dueling Pianos, we dropped by Obama's campaign office. An overworked volunteer was very sorry to inform us that apparently the concert was cancelled and offered to sing one of India Arie's song to us. We politely declined, and went for a second round of martinis.

Thinking that Obama deserves a second chance, and not willing to give up on possibly seeing history made right in front of our eyes, we decided to go and hear him speak last night. I'm not exactly sure what I expected from the event. The school auditorium was packed and buzzing, people were dancing, waving their signs, yelling some Obama cheers and rhymes. It was all very exciting.

And then Obama made his entrance. If you didn't know any better, you would've thought there was a rock star in the house...I almost got the chills. He was passionate, smart, very funny and inspiring. Not to sound naive, but he came off being down to earth, and honest.

A Weekend of Many "Firsts"

I spent a wonderful 4-day weekend with my friend Jenny and her family in Wisconsin! Thanks again to the Smiths for welcoming me to their home and adopting me for the holidays - I had a great time.

As I was driving back to Des Moines yesterday, I was surprised by how many firsts I experienced during the weekend - here's the list:

First time in Wisconsin: Milwaukee, Madison, and the farm

First time I walked a dog. I have went out with a few dogs before, but never walked one :)

First time I saw donkeys up close and personal - on the farm. They were actually somewhat graceful and royal looking. Who would've thought?

First time I tried a pumpkin pie (with whipped cream, of course) - I was surprised that I actually liked it. My fear that the pie would have too much cinnamon luckily did not come true.

Fist time I had eggnog - a bit too rich and creamy for my taste, but it was nice to sip a little bit of it

First time I had cheddar cheese curds - both fresh and deep fried variety. Feel free to guess which kind I liked better.

First time I ate butter burgers at Culver's - home to ButterBurgers and Frozen Custard. That's where I had my first taste of fried cheese curds as well.

First time I listened to music boxes that are 100 years old. Absolutely beautiful and a beautiful sound. Amazing how people could make something that still works 100 years later.

When I was driving from Des Moines to Milwaukee, the weather was acting up, it was extremely foggy for the entire drive, and I could hardly see more than a quarter of a mile ahead. However, on the way back, the sun was out, the sky was blue, and the snow was glistening. A beautiful sight.

Winter Salad

It's a known fact that after spending hours and hours in a professional kitchen, a lot of chefs resort to cereal when it comes to dinner time at home. Apparently, I don't spend enough time in the kitchen, or maybe I don't like cereal enough, because I have yet to eat cereal for dinner.

Last night, wanting a lighter dinner, I opted for this colorful winter salad. Note that I use fresh corn (I am after all in Iowa - if you can't find fresh corn, canned might do the trick).

Salad - toss together roasted butternut squash, corn, sundried tomatoes, red onion, spinach, and yellow pepper with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Eat.

Icy in Iowa

Oh the fun of ice storms...what could be more exciting?

How I miss having a garage! I spent almost half an hour in freezing weather, trying to pry the door of my car open so I could get in. Wonderful upper body strength exercise. The car was literally shot. It was entirely covered with ice ranging from 1/4" to an inch. I spent almost an hour after work, attempting to crack the ice with my plastic scraper (what a joke). Apparently, tapping the ice, rather than scraping it, works better. I stood and tapped, and cracked, to the sounds of shattering glass (I was almost worried that along with breaking the ice off the car, I would accidentally break the glass - luckily, that didn't happen).

This is the second ice storm of the month, and I can only imagine what is to come in the following months of winter. Might need to upgrade my plastic ice scraper.

Where I work

When I first found out that I'll be working at Cuisine for my externship, I imagined large and spacious test kitchens where I will be developing recipes, while wearing a white coat. Well...the white coat did happen. But large and spacious kitchens? Not so much.

I took a few photos on Friday after "deep clean" - our twice-a-month scheduled cleaning, where we scrub the kitchen from top to bottom. Trust me, the kitchen never looks that shiny and clean on a regular day :)

Look at how the stainless steel shines!

Kind of messy

Our shared pantry

Latkes

Sweet potato latkes have become a tradition of mine during Hanukkah season.
This year it was no different. The recipe is pretty basic and can be easily altered.

Grated sweet potatoes, scallions, salt & pepper, beaten egg, paprika, flour.

In terms of the method - latkes are usually fried in oil, on both sides.

With sweet potatoes, the sugar content is very high, and they burn quite easily.

To prevent this, I fried latkes on one side for a few minutes, until the edges started to brown. Then, I flipped them on the other side and placed the entire pan in a preheated 375F oven for 10 minutes. They were delicious.

I had them with sour cream, BBQ sauce (homemade), and chopped cilantro.

Happy holidays.

iowa *IS* cool...well...at least Des Moines is :)

A friend of mine (here's a shout out to you!) sent me an article by Adam Nagourney - the chief political correspondent for The New York Times - that appeared in the Travel section of the paper. Titled Des Moines: In the Spotlight, Ready for Its Close-Up, the article highlights the cool aspects of Des Moines. The article is somewhat lengthy to be posted here in its entirety, so instead, I provide you with a link:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/travel/02journeys.html

I am proud to be living in Des Moines :)