the Overmiller ladies take over New England

This past fall, Micki's annual eye appointment at the Boston Foundation for Sight turned into an Overmiller ladies vacation, and we had so much fun hosting Ian's mom, grandma, and two aunts! Can you tell they're related?

During the week, we'd meet up with them for dinner at exciting and iconic places, like the Omni-Parker House for the original Boston cream pie and the North End for mouthwatering pasta. And of course we had to visit Grandma Judy's friend; he is still as quiet and solid as when they first met four years ago.

But the highlight of their week in Boston was a day trip to Cape Cod. Ian and I had never been, so it was fun to share a new experience together. The weather was glorious, and we took the whole day to drive to the very tip of the Cape, stopping at mom and pop shops filled with beachy trinkets, a local "purveyor of distinctive victuals and spirits" for piles and piles of seafood, and as many ocean views and beach walks as possible. I also brought along my Ricefield Collective Fingerwarmers, to start creating entries for the RC photo contest. The six of us had a blast helping Fingerwarmers make the most of their time on the Cape. (The first photos of many, and I even ended up winning the contest!)

By late afternoon we arrived at Race Point Beach, dipping our toes into the frigid Atlantic before turning around and heading back to Boston.








We ended the trip with a visit to the SoWa Markets, mostly for the food trucks. You can't visit us in Boston without the chance to have your grilled cheese world turned upside down by Roxy's.



Grandma Judy, Micki, Patti, Linda — thank you so much for making the trip out to see us. We had a blast, and hope you come back soon!

See all our photos from our week with the Overmillers on Flickr.

thankful list | January 2014

01. not getting stuck in the airport.
02. a day off after getting back from the holidays (hooray for New Year's).
03. YNAB. ($6 off with our refer-a-friend link!)
04. a quiet first day back at work after vacation.
05. the ability to work from home during the year's first crazy snowstorm.
06. time over the weekend to finally catch up from vacation.
07. afternoon tea at L'Espalier for a belated anniversary celebration.
08. new iPhones (because it was time).
09. friends hosting community group (continuing our cleaning procrastination).
10. catching up on my TV shows while Ian was at a guys' night.
11. watching nationals figure skating (on TV) all weekend.
12. a surprise birthday party for a dear friend.
13. going to the Smuckers Skating Spectacular and seeing the entire Olympic team skate.
14. going to my first live figure skating event, finally, as a lifelong fan.
15. coconut.
16. community group.
17. my new navy velvet dot pants: 75% off, plus I feel like a star.
18. an amazing sunset.
19. my Sseko bag (thanks for the perfect cause-related Christmas present, Ian!).

20. the classical violinist at the Copley station.
21. a solid win for the Wildcats.
22. Sundays at [REUNION].
23. toasted walnut green tea at David's tea.
24. the sunset.
25. my L.L. Bean boots, especially when the high for the week is in the teens.
26. yoga at work over lunch.
27. Cook's Illustrated recommendations.
28. space heaters and blankets.
29. Ian making it safely home from a business trip.
30. community group ladies night.
31. blankets and snuggles when it's cold outside.
32. catching up with friends while watching the K-State game (even if it was a loss).
33. our new Filipino cookbook, The Adobo Road.
34. crunchy sweet banana nut rolls from said new cookbook.
35. an awesome group to help with setup at [REUNION].
36. a sweet baby shower for a friend.
37. a productive evening cleaning and laundering.
38. unexpectedly bumping into a friend on the bus to work.
39. watching The Prince of Egypt at community group.
40. new pots for our kitchen using just our Discover cashback bonus.
41. feeling like a pro putting together a whole stack of contracts at work.
42. spontaneous date night at Tasty Burger (and the rise and shine burger).
43. dinner with friends who share our love of ATC, to help us break in our new pots.
44. catching up on my favorite TV shows.

chopping, dicing, and mincing at Stir

Ian loves to cook, while I find it simply a functional task. I do the minimum to eat something acceptably pleasant, while Ian spends hours (at least sometimes) putting together a spectacular meal that is beautiful, delicious, and interesting. We used to bicker about this difference. He wanted me to cook more, I wanted him to stop "helping" me cook and to be happy he usually doesn't have to clean the kitchen. We've found more of a balance as of late, but part of working towards that balance was signing up for a knife skills class and investing in our tools (which he loves to use, and I love to clean, stack, and maintain).

After considering free classes at kitchenware stores, we worried we would end up with a biased recommendation for our impending chef's knife purchase (stores sell gigantic sets of a bazillion different knives, when you only really need three to six).

Enter one of Ian's culinary heroes, Barbara Lynch. Her demonstration kitchen, Stir, offers knife skills classes on a fairly regular basis. The classes are not cheap, but we're so happy we forked over (pun intended).

Our instructor was Jason Tom, who specializes in Asian cuisine. It was one of his last classes at Stir before moving on to his next culinary adventure. We chatted with him until all seven students arrived, then stepped up to the cutting boards. I had been a little nervous that everyone else would be there to hone (pun!) already impressive knife skills, but thankfully we didn't feel out of our league.

Jason started with the basics of how to hold and work with a knife using the dependable and cheap potato. (Start by cutting the vegetable into a block; this provides stability, which equals safety plus an aesthetically pleasing final product.) We then learned a few fancy cuts and helpful tricks. (To chop carrots so the pieces cook evenly, cut at a 45 degree angle, and give the carrot a quarter turn after each cut, adjusting the length of the next piece so they all end up with roughly the same mass.)

By the end of the class, we both had a good grasp of how to safely and effectively cut just about everything except our fingers. We also both enjoyed using the lightweight Japanese-style chef's knife (gyutou). We had been casually testing out knives in various stores the entire month before our class, and knew we had found our winner. (We definitely recommend in-store trial runs  before investing: "The wand chooses the wizard.") The very next day, we were proud owners of the Misono UX-10 chef's knife (8.2 inches), and new fans of KitchenWares on Newbury.

I'm so glad we took this class together. I feel more confident in the kitchen, and am more willing to serve as Ian's sous chef (though I still wash his dishes before starting prep work). I'm also amazed at how much more enjoyable the kitchen is with effective tools. And effective does not always equal expensive: I love our $3 vegetable peeler and $30 ladle as much as our knife and cutting board investments. The right tool makes all the difference.

Here's to lots of happy cooking (and cleaning) in our kitchen!

concrete aspirations 2014

I took some time to come up with my list for 2014. Here goes nothing!

1. complete a Bible reading plan.
2. use the crock pot once a week for a month.
3. bake something once a month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12)
4. be able to have basic conversations in French — find a partner.
5. take a Spanish class before the DR trip.
6. declutter the apartment again — leave nothing in our to-Craigslist pile.
7. make Grandma’s cinnamon rolls.
8. make Grandma's potato sausage.
9. clean out my email inbox, and keep it streamlined (don't let emails languish).
10. talk to an ELP about our plan for buying a home.
11. call/e-mail a long-distance friend each month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12)
12. video chat/call family twice a month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12)
13. go on a creative date with Ian each month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12)
14. write for “Riding with Charlie” once a month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12)

More details on my progress are in related posts.

concrete aspirations 2013 in summary

After completely missing the mark on my concrete aspirations in 2012, 2013 could only get better! I didn't knock everything off the list, but I think I didn't do too bad.

1. Build and stick to a schedule that includes regular bible study, exercise (yoga and running), meal planning, and budget tracking. While bible study and meal planning is still not as regular as I would like, I nailed exercise with a twice a week yoga class at work and running during the summer (I'll pick back up this year when the weather is nice again). Budget tracking is the biggest success, thanks to You Need A Budget. If you check it out and want to purchase, click here for 10% off (full disclosure, we get a small commission, but we love YNAB so much we sing it's praises for free!)
2. Go through my French textbooks and Rosetta Stone to be functional again by May (for our planned trip to Paris!). I was semi-functional for our trip (multiple simple yet successful conversations), but I hope to continue my efforts to get back to my previous fluency level.
3. Write for “Riding with Charlie” once a month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12) Fail, but I'm not beating myself up about it.
4. Organize and clean up photos in iPhoto. It's fairly organized, but I could cull more.
5. Declutter the apartment again. This seems to be a never ending effort. We did a good job in 2013, but I want to do this again in 2014.
6. Make grandma’s cinnamon rolls, angel food cake, and potato sausage. I declare 2014 the year of potato sausage and cinnamon rolls.
7. Call/e-mail a long-distance friend each month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12) Not great, but I'm motivated for 2014.
8. Video chat with (or call) family twice a month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12) Not perfect, but more often than last year, and I plan to continue the trend!
9. Go on a creative date with Ian each month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12) Again, not perfect, but I plan to continue this in 2014.
10. Make plans in real life with friends each month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12)
11. Design and order a bookplate stamp or embosser. We ended up purchasing a few letterpress S stamps at the Paris Flea Market, which we've been using in our books. I love the history and story of them!
12. Research how to advance my copy editing skills. In the spring, I completed Emerson College's copyediting program!

More details on my progress are in related posts.