Dispatches from Home | kimberly ah

Jan 25 2022

Hasegawa Tiki Night

We’ve been laying low this month since Covid numbers are up and several close calls have been had. To entertain ourselves last weekend, we had a little tiki night for two. You may remember our Fondue Fun Fest and our Hasegawa Supper Club from 2020–this was like that but so much easier since we took some help from take-out this time!

We re-used decorations and our playlist from a past tiki party. It was pretty low-effort, I admit, but it really did give us something to look forward to. I love party planning and trying new cocktails, which is something I’ve really missed during the whole pandemic.

I got some craft orgeat for Christmas so I’ve been trying to use it up in cocktails I don’t get to make often. (I have made my own orgeat before, but I always end up with lots of leftover ingredients that go to waste.) So, we started out with Mai Tais before we realized that we didn’t have enough rum to make a second round of rum cocktails. (We hardly ever drink rum…we’ve had the same bottles for almost 10 years! Very excited to try something new soon!) I turned to the internet for some other ideas and found this recipe for Inside the Suns. It was as if the internet took a look at the back of my liquor cabinet and threw together some neglected bottles into a very tasty drink.

For our dinner, we made Pioneer Woman’s cashew chicken and we got fried rice and crab rangoon from a local Chinese restaurant. Now, I know what you’re thinking…”Isn’t this just Chinese food with tiki drinks?” I’ll leave you with this fascinating story that explains the connection.

Tagged celebrations, happy hour, tiki drinks, tiki party

Jul 06 2021

2 Comments

adventures, Dispatches from Home, Forest Park, homemaking, some stuff about me

It’s Been Awhile

Hello again! It’s been awhile! I can’t believe we are halfway through 2021! And a lot has happened since my last post on November 24th! The biggest news is–we bought a house! We closed out 2020 (literally, on December 31st) by putting an offer on a house we loved. We closed in February, sold our condo in March, and we moved in March. It was a whirlwind! Pictured above is what our back yard looked like when we closed in February with feet of snow on the ground. Thankfully, by the time we moved in, all of the snow had melted and there were signs on spring in the yard!

The month between closing and moving gave us time to have hardwood floors installed on our second floor (replacing the carpet) and to paint most of the first and second floor. It was nice to have a little cushion. We still want to remodel the kitchen and paint the bathrooms and basement, but all in good time!

And Presley has adjusted like a little champion. We were very nervous since she’s older and deaf, but she is loving sneaking upstairs when she’s had enough of us and having afternoon sun naps (something that wasn’t possible in our condo since we faced east.)

We are still settling in–hanging art is so stressful and figuring out how to use all of our extra storage space is more challenging than I anticipated!–but we’re finding our house groove. Naoto has really embraced mowing the lawn (with our reel lawn mower!) and we have three little garden plots along the side of the house to tend. It was sad giving up our Plot 6 at the community garden but we love just popping out the door to tend to our tomatoes.

That’s the news for today–I hope to come back Thursday and share a little more about the house or the garden. And, now we have a larger lanai (really, a back deck) for happy hours and gatherings which is a total dream come true.

Tagged adventures, forest park, home, moving

Nov 24 2020

1 Comment

Dispatches from Home

Hello again.

Is this thing on?

[Insert long explanation of why I haven’t been posting.]

There is really no excuse. Let’s just say “living through a pandemic and all of its uncertainty and chaos” and call it a day.

This week, Naoto and I are gearing up to have Thanksgiving at home with my parents over Zoom. We’ve adjusted our menu, only cooking a turkey breast and we’re going to try to cut our mashed potato and stuffing recipes in half. (I know there are those of you who could argue that you could never have too many mashed potatoes and stuffing but…I get bored easily. Leftovers are fine, once, maybe twice. After that, I’m ready for something different. Like pizza.)

Oh and with the new stay-at-home request here in Illinois, I’ve started up #spritzerswithpritzker again. It’s a little harder this time because, well, pandemic burn-out and I’m working at the office still (and therefore have to “cheat” with canned sparkling beverages during work days.)

I know a lot has happened since August. (Well, maybe not a LOT, but I do have a few things to share!) Hopefully, I’ll make some time to pop in again this week to share our tiny Thanksgiving and some Christmas preparations. I have my first long Thanksgiving weekend in years coming up (no retail job and no craft show this year) and I’m so looking forward to digging out the Christmas bins and doing a little decorating. But first…I need to clean.

In the meantime, I hope you are well and finding some joy in these strange times.

Tagged on my desk

Jul 31 2020

1 Comment

Dispatches from Home, Simple Summer Suppers, what's for dinner

Dispatches from Home Part 9

This is really just a post about celery toast. It’s not pretty, but it has become my favorite snack over the past few months.

2 slices white bread (We like Pepperidge Farm for this because it’s nice and square and toasts up well.)

Butter

4 ounces Cambozola blue cheese

1 cup celery from the center (Don’t use the outer stalks, you want the inner, tender stuff.)

2 scallions

1 garlic clove

olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper

Slice the celery and the scallion on the bias and as thinly as possible. Mix together in a bowl and grate the garlic into the mixture. Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and until everything is dressed, but not soaked. Toast the bread until golden brown. While the bread is still warm, butter it generously. Slice the cheese into quarter inch wedges and divide on the bread. Top with the celery mixture and a grind of pepper. Cut the toast in half and serve.

Although I *may* have taken to eating this for my entire supper, it really is the perfect snack or appetizer. The acidity of the celery and scallion slaw are so perfect with the creamy blue cheese and butter. Plus it is so easy to double or triple the recipe for a crowd (when it’s safe to have a crowd again…) We’ve started keeping a little notebook of recipes we’ve tried that will be good for entertaining someday. It’s nice to have goals, right?

The original recipe can be found in the New York Times, written by Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune fame. (I learned about her from The Mind of a Chef on PBS…I loved her episode about Garbage.)

Have a good weekend!

Tagged appetizers, Gabrielle Hamilton, New York Times Cooking

Jun 26 2020

Dispatches From Home Part 8

Oops, that was a long break! Presley’s face pretty much sums up this month, which has flown by. I will be back next week with more to share. In the meantime, take care, wear a mask, and wash your hands. 🙂

May 27 2020

1 Comment

Dispatches from Home, gardening

Dispatches From Home Part 7

Still here at home…Presley is thrilled. Illinois is opening up a bit more this week. Outdoor seating at restaurants is going to be allowed soon and while we won’t be partaking, I’m glad for the restaurant owners. We will continue doing carry-out for now. It’s so funny looking at this picture now, us walking in coats! It has been so hot this week that Naoto is anxious to turn on the air conditioner. We probably should, but I feel like we just opened the windows! I got all of the pots on the lanai planted this week. I am so excited about my choices this year…I say that every year I suppose, but I really tried to lean into the part-sun plant options this year so I can hopefully enjoy blooms all season. I’ll share some pictures as soon as I clean up the rest of my potting mess and get the lights strung up this week. It’s not a fully functional lanai without the party lights! I’m behind on reading for the year. I set a goal of thirty books for 2020 and you’d think I’d have finished by now with all this time on my hands, but I haven’t been able to concentrate well enough to really stick with anything. I’ve finished our book club books and that’s about it. I know I owe the blog a book post, but even writing about what I’ve been reading might be too boring to share!Celebrating birthdays and holidays on FaceTime isn’t the same, but it is still nice to see everyone’s faces and to do a proper toast. We celebrated Karen a couple of Sundays ago and I made this little invitation typed on some kaishi-paper and some sparkling wine stickers. And in good mail news, I received my Last Week Tonight stamps and I can’t wait to use them! Are there any other John Oliver fans out there? I just started watching Community (I’d watched the first few episodes back when it aired) and I’d totally forgotten he was on that show!

I think that’s all to report. Next week is our anniversary and I’m trying to coordinate a bedroom painting party this weekend, which means I need to finish cleaning the bedroom. Hopefully I can report next time that we’ve actually painted…it’s been a struggle.

Tagged COVID-19, gardening, home, snail mail

May 14 2020

3 Comments

Dispatches from Home, snail mail, typewriters

Dispatches from Home Part 6

April showers bring May blog posts…eventually. May has been so busy! April flew by, and May is doing the same. Everything is kind of nuts right now. At work, we are finally moving back to our building. It’s still all kind of in flux because permits are taking longer since many offices are still shut down in Illinois, but most likely, we’ll be all moved into our office by the end of the month. It’s SO exciting. We went furniture shopping this week and I got to see the office today! I’m not sure what June will look like, since I’m sure we’ll still be doing a combination of working from home and going into the office, but it will feel so good to finally get settled into my space. National Card & Letter Writing Month went out with a bang–I sent out 37 cards and letters and I am still going strong with letter writing in May. Still poking through my vintage postage collection. These strong women ones are some of my favorites. Naoto brought home two bouquets of peonies this week. The pink ones at the top are just now opening and the coral ones turned white and are almost spent. They motivated me to clean my desk and to work there more so I could enjoy the flowers. It really is the little things… The first weekend in May was so perfect! (It frosted and snowed the following weekend, but we don’t have to talk about that!) We were able to shop for flowers for our lanai and we spent almost all day Saturday outside planting, reading, and playing cards until we couldn’t see anymore. Naoto learned Uno and proceeded to beat me at it all night. Beginner’s luck!

I hope you are doing well! I feel like the longer this goes on, the more lax people are getting… I am happy to stay home because it’s so tiring being out, remembering a mask, remembering not to touch your face, remembering to stay 6 feet away… Plus with Naoto’s job, I still feel like we’re both at risk, or at risk of being carriers, so it’s just best that I stay tucked away for awhile longer.

Tagged card games, COVID-19, lanai, stay home, uno

Apr 20 2020

2 Comments

Dispatches from Home, Forest Park, Forest Park, Oak Park

Dispatches From Home Part 5

How’s everyone doing? I know some places in the US and beyond are opening up a little bit. I can’t imagine how nervous I’m going to feel when that starts happening here. Right now, we’re still staying home with no end in sight. I’m sure a slow opening is coming sometime in May…probably towards the end of May, but hey, what do I know? Last week was kind of a week of treats. We haven’t been dining out much because we’re more than content cooking at home and eating our Trader Joe’s food since groceries are aplenty around here. But on Friday, one of our favorite places, Goldyburgers, re-opened for carry-out and a group of friends decided we should all order from Goldy’s and dine on Zoom together. You guys, it was so fun. I miss dining out so much. Not really because of the food, but because we usually bump into people we know and then the night takes us to unexpected places. Happenstance is really missing from life right now. But a planned dinner together was great, and my homemade Manhattan was delicious and it was good to catch up with everyone. Another treat from last week–we ordered cookies, breakfast sandwiches, and pie from Spilt Milk, our favorite local pie place. Their snickerdoodles are the best I’ve ever had and seriously, just to be able to get a couple familiar treats makes you almost forget about this current situation. I don’t think we need to go out for treats every day, but it felt like such a delicacy to have take-out and cookies after being away from them for so long. I had to go into the office for a bit last week too. I don’t mind going into the office. Some things are impossible to do from home, so it’s good to get caught up when I can. When I work from home, it’s usually from bed (or from the living room) and Presley is monitoring my progress. (She’s such a demanding manager!) I am going to miss sleeping in until 9, but I am looking forward to going back to the office someday…I can’t believe April is two-thirds over. I am so bummed that we won’t get to experience the cherry blossoms again this year. (Last year the cold spring kept them from blooming and we’ve been planning a Chicago hanami ever since!) It’s quite depressing that the weather is finally warming up and our time outside will be limited. I’m trying to make the most of it by planning our garden plot and shopping for plants online, but it’s not the same as visiting the garden shops in person and picking out the perfect plants. I don’t want to end on such a depressing note, so I will say that I’ve been enjoying letter writing and reading again. And I just started season six of 30 Rock and I’m so glad I’m finally watching it! It makes me laugh right before I go to bed and honestly, my dreams have been slightly less weird since I started it. (Have you been having weird dreams, too? Apparently it’s a thing.)

I hope you are staying safe and healthy! Please let me know how things are going in your state or country! It’s been so fascinating writing so many pen pals and learning about their stay-at-home standards.

Tagged COVID-19, social distancing

Apr 07 2020

2 Comments

Dispatches from Home

Dispatches from Home Part 4

How are we doing? Hanging in there? I thought with being home, I’d be on top of blogging but it turns out, I’m not on top of anything really. Ok, I have been on top of my mail for the month…it’s turned out to be a nice distraction. This week I’m trying to get my desk back in order and I’m planning our Easter meal. Naoto has FOUR days off in a row this weekend, so I’m thrilled to be able to plan some fun meals with him and to have him home and safe for a few days. Some other things I’m thankful for:

Schitt’s Creek…This final season has been the balm to my soul.
friends, in town and faraway, who text, call, or send mail
Presley who insists on being a part of my workday. (Though she hasn’t made a zoom meeting appearance yet!)
daily rituals (NPR, coffee, tea, journaling, mail)
zoom happy hours with my parents

How do things look where you are?

P.S. The UGH Bunny is from Migration Goods. Doesn’t he just say it all?

Tagged #allinillinois, migration goods, pandemic life, stay at home