Facts & Figureds: January 2014

The new year snuck up on us. It came out of nowhere, knocked on the door, and then entered with a BANG!

We rang in our first New Years in Music City USA at, you guessed it, a concert! Moon Taxi played at one of our favorite local spots, Marathon Music Works. Its a groovy old warehouse that was converted to a concert venue. I won the tickets for the NYE show when I successfully defeated three other ticket-hungry folks in a battle of Rock-Paper-Scissors and a grand-finale championship round of Thumb Wrestling. Yes, really.

Class is also back in session at Vandy. Here are a few first day snapshots!

(S and I awaiting statistics class.)

(Peabody campus is pretty even when it's 6 degrees outside!)

I successfully finished my first few weeks already and am really excited about my new work, research, and classes this semester!

D is keeping busy doing accounting things. This is the craziest time of year for the accounting staff but hopefully there will be a little break in the numbers soon! His company was also recently bought out by a larger company, so hopefully there are some new job perks on the way!

In his free time, however, he's still whipping up all kinds of FIGUREDs.

We started 2014 with a New Years Day feast, complete with pork, sauerkraut, friends, and football.

(Forgot to photograph the feast. Just trust me, it was as delicious as it looked!)

We used the leftover potatoes and sauerkraut to make perogies. They turned out pretty well, thanks to some last-minute tips from the perogie master herself, K Reed :)

We made our first ever batch of dill pickles too, and they were SO GOOD.

I spent my last day off making broccoli/spinach/leek soup, complete with rye bread croutons (from my earlier failed attempt at rye bread). It was the prettiest color green!

We also concocted a bunch of other meals to be served in bowls. Bowl meals tend to be my favorite this time of year, mostly because the warm bowl keeps my hands warm while I eat, ha.

Braised pork chili with poblano and black beans. It was insanely good, and it made great lunch for the days that followed.

Roasted curried carrots with brown rice and yogurt. Such a good example of a cheap, minimal ingredient dinner. And crazy good!

The always classic pot roast with mushrooms and garlic mashed potatoes.

Toasted farro with pickled carrot and onion, shiitake mushrooms, and an egg. We're obsessed with farro these days, it's so yum.

We are also becoming masters at the asian noodle bowl, thanks to the abundance of insanely cheap ingredients at K&S World Market, (the most magical and plentiful international market around). Here's one made with rice noodles, radish, and an egg. Ramen the real way!

While we're on the asian trend, here is another, carrot and coconut soup served with bok choy stir fry.

We also tried our hand at bahn mi sandwiches with pork meatballs. Next time we're aiming to make the bread ourselves (although I'm notorious for failing at bread recipes...)