City of Pitts

Pittsburgh -- don't go unless you have to (I was there for my bro-out-law's graduation). No offense to Pittsburgh readers, but it's called Pittsburgh for a reason -- it's the pits, an entire burgh of pits. I think it may very well be the worst city I've ever visited, probably on par with Staten Island (another wannabe city). I know I am very NYC-centric, but Pittsburgh is really terrible. We were bored with it after a day, everything was closed by 9pm, and it was desolate even when light out. There was plenty of traffic though to slow us down and to remind us that this is a terrible place to live/visit. One thing I will give it is the nice old buildings (the new ones are nothing much). My bro-out-law's 2 bedroom pre-war apartment, with tall ceilings, three fireplaces, and great moulding, takes up half the floor and would probably be beyond the millions if found in Manhattan (or it would be subdivided into at least 2 separate apartments and still be pretty expensive). It, however, like most everything else in Pittsburgh, is in sad shape and in dire need of some fixing up (the bathroom and kitchen were grimy and would do well with some new cabinets and new flooring).

Since we were in the city for the graduation, I thought we could make it into a nice little trip. But every guide that I consulted didn't offer anything truly interesting: zoo (not a fan of animals locked up in cages for my entertainment), conservatory (seen one plant, seen them all), Andy Warhol Museum (closed on Monday, the day we had free, not that I particularly enjoy his work and can you really beat the MOMA's modern art collection?), the Duquesne Incline (huge disappointment -- see below). So surely I thought there would be some good food to redeem this sorry town.

It's a sign when what you're known for is a sandwich (basically bar food) whose signature is a pile of fries (albeit hand-cut) and vinegar coleslaw thrown on top of the meat of your choice. Granted, the sandwich was not bad (but it's very hard to not have me smile after eating BACON!), I just really didn't need to travel so far for a sandwich that I can make myself (plain white bread!).

Bacon sandwich with Pittsburgh Steelers' stadium in background.

As for the incline, it seemed pretty interesting when I read about it, but when we got there, it was basically just an old outdoor elevator. On our way up, I was so scared because it felt like we were floating in mid-space -- only one end of the car is attached to the wire and with your back to it, you don't see anything but the buildings below. It didn't help that I really needed to use the bathroom (we were trying to get rid of our beverages before we boarded the plane, lest it cause trouble on the airport security line) and the cranky man who sold us the tickets said there'd be bathrooms at the top so I was anticipating quick relief. However, he lied! There was not much at the top besides a few display cases of old paraphernalia, a souvenir shop and a viewing platform. We walked around a bit but it was mostly just residential, with a few bars. The place was vastly empty so there was no way to sneak into the bathroom. In the end, I kept my urges at bay and twenty minutes later, we were back at the bottom of the hill. *yawn* I imagine it would be a more interesting ride at night, with all the city lights, but nothing really spectacular during the day.
Pretty nice-looking structure from the outside (note the old, wooden tracks of the incline, much like the Cyclone in Brooklyn, but far less exciting).

View from the (bathroom-less top) -- click to enlarge.

But the entire weekend was not a waste. I finished reading The Kite Runner (mostly while in the airport), I got to sleep for many hours, and the highlight of it all: Fallingwater. That little sidetrip was so wondrous and awe-inspiring that it deserves a post of its own.

On mothering

I am the worst daughter-(out-law) there is. Instead of celebrating my mother this past Sunday, I asked her to help me sand/paint. That didn't happen because she overslept (or did she fake it just to get out of it, like so many others have?). But worse yet, after having a preemptive Mother's Day dim sum brunch on Saturday, I went food shopping with her, where she gave me the list of things I should do as a daughter-in-law (it was a very long shopping outing!):

• Treat my out-laws as my parents... Boy, what would she think if she knew that I refer to them as out-laws, let alone not calling them "mom and dad" (which I still have major issues with and which she really wants me to do). Don't get me wrong, they are nice, kind people, but I see my *occasional* annoyance at them as being as familiar with them as I can get, like when a child will yell back at his mother but if someone says something bad about her, he'll get defensive and say 'Don't talk to my mother like that!'
  
• Visit my out-laws at least once a week... This seems nearly impossible to me -- there are just 2 days in the weekend, TV to watch during the week (haha, j/k on that one), butt-loads of things to clean each week after returning home from work, plus cooking, etc. We barely have time to do all these things, how can we fit this in? And does that mean never visiting my parents lest we miss the weekly visit to the out-laws?
  
• Bring over fruit when visiting my out-laws... Completely outlandish, especially since I haven't done this in such a long time it would be weird to start up again. Plus I was once chastised for buying bad fruit and now when we try, there is this big to-do about how we shouldn't have, how they have so much fruit already, and the fruit is pushed back and forth for at least 15 minutes total that it's easier to just accept the fruit they got us. I know I'm breaking the Chinese code of being super-polite but we have to stop the insanity!
  
• Help my out-laws with chores around the house... Like the fruit thing, I tried in the past but it just doesn't work. I once washed the dishes while my MIL was on the phone (the only way that I could do so) and afterwards there were exclamations of things being done wrong and in the wrong place.
  

But according to my mother, if I do these things, they will think "What a great daughter-in-law I have." Fat chance, they probably hate me already. Sometimes being Chinese is too restricting -- there are too many expectations and enough guilt to coat _____ (fill in blank here, I can't think of a way to finish the metaphor -- the back of a spoon? a couple of macaroons?). And being American, I get the "visit your in-laws once a month but call them every so often" from magazines like "The Nest." Don't they know Chinese people (or at least I do) have issues communicating? I can't imagine picking up the phone and calling.

Anyway, while also at this dim sum gathering, we got our first face-to-face, older generation, "Go have children, produce grandchildren for your parents" thing. As if! I don't think we ever really got the "When are you going to get married" thing from the older generation even though we dated for over 6 years, but 6 months into marriage, we get this crap. Is the sole purpose of marriage to have children? Why is there so much interest in having grandchildren -- to see that the family is not dying out? What peeves me most about the incident was that I hadn't met the woman until 5 minutes before she audaciously questioned Dear. Troubling also is how my MIL shook her head and made a face when the stranger said 'grandchildren,' as if she didn't want any (or am I reading too much into it?).

Quick poll: how often do you visit your in-laws?

No-Knead bread, try 2

I stayed up late last night to make some more bread.

9:18AM, Sunday: I mix the flour, yeast, and water in a bowl (notice the sun streaming through the kitchen so bright and early).

10:23 PM: After doing some housework, going to service, playing some softball, and eating dinner, I return home to my dough. (Notice the lack of natural light at this hour, even though there are so many hours of daylight now.)

10:33 PM: I punch down the dough, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rest.

10:51 PM: The dough has rested and I attempt to form it into a ball. However, the dough is too wet for my novice hands to handle. I barely fold it over onto itself but I think the idea is to stretch out the dough without breaking all the air pockets, which I think I was more successful doing than last time. Because of this inability to fold the dough over, there is hardly a crease in the final product (see below).

12:36 AM, Monday: The second rise -- the dough expanded slightly beyond the Silpat (have I mentioned how I love that thing?!). I'm not sure if this is because I didn't quite form it into a ball or because the dough really got a chance to rise this time (unlike attempt #1).

1:12 AM: The bread was thrown (rather sloppily) into the heated cast iron pot and covered a half hour earlier (I didn't get a picture at this point because I was afraid of losing the heat from the oven). Here it is with the cover removed to brown it. (Dear's modified ragu sauce is cooking beside it.)

1:30 AM: Finished product right out of the oven -- like I said, the dough was thrown in too sloppily and the pot was too hot to handle to clean up the dough on the edges. Unfortunately, it was too late to have fresh bread and I also had issues getting the loaf out (more on that later) so I left it in the pot overnight. The truly foolish thing I did was cover the pot so the next day all the condensation from the trapped heat moistened the crust. :(

10:32 PM: Bread wrapped in plastic after a few slices were taken for a simple sandwich. (Yeah, I know, we have a lot of clutter in the kitchen.)

This bread attempt came out a lot airy-er (see the giant air pockets above) and the inside is nice and soft and moist (but not like Wonder Bread-moist). I think I can get back the crustiness that I so desire by popping it back in the oven.

Some thoughts:
* This cast iron pot needs more seasoning so that the bread can be released more easily when done. Parts of the bread stuck to the bottom of the pot and there are little black specks on the bread's bottom as well. Hey, we all need a little iron right? :P j/k, I've had to cut/scrape/eat around those lovely bits of crust, losing even more of my favorite part. Other than the slight sticking, I like using this pot more than the enameled cast iron because it produces a higher loaf (much like what you would find in the store) and I don't have to worry about the pot handle being able to withstand the high temperature.
* Even though this bread takes little effort, it still takes quite a bit of time. I'm not sure if this is exactly worth it, but worth doing once in a while for fresh bread.
* I used different flour and yeast this time. I'm not sure if this contributed to better results but the Fleischman's yeast did not have as strong of a yeasty odor as the other one I used (forgot the name of that one and I can't find that unfinished packet). The King Arthur flour feels more fine to me than the generic store brand one. Again, not sure that makes a difference.
*I wonder if my dough is still too wet at the point of making it into a ball.
* I'd like to try using some whole wheat or multi-grain flour for a more healthful option next time. In the far off future, I'd also like to try adding some herbs, nuts, or olives.

Unrelated note: I had some Indian food on Friday and that has cured my Indian cravings at least for a while. More on that if I have time later this week.

Hodge podge

Nora Ephron in this Sunday's NY Times Magazine: "Any catastrophe is good material for a writer."

I bought a bunch of used books this weekend (most women can't help themselves when clothes-shopping; Dear can't help himself around pens and kitchenware; I can't help myself around books!). I am looking forward to reading Kite Runner soon.

There is so much to read -- I want to cancel our weekend NY Times. I also have airline miles that are expiring so I ended up getting magazine subscriptions. "Blueprint" is proving to be an interesting read while Lucky magazine is the worst thing out there. It is basically a magazine of advertisements. They recommend so many things to buy each month I really don't know how people don't end up feeling overwhelmed. In just one feature, there are at least 3 different recommendations for a certain color blush -- how is that helpful to anyone (they don't rank which one is best, etc.)?

My mother asked me if I started writing yet, whether I'll be working on material for children or adults. She also was surprised that I don't make my living writing but that I work with websites instead. She wondered whether that was complicated and whether I have the skills for it (I've only been working with websites since I was in college more than seven years ago).

25 really is your body's peak. I never thought I'd get to the day where I realize that it takes me longer to heal from semi-strenuous activity (and longer to complete that activity, at that).

On ironing

An odious household chore (though there are worse ones out there) is ironing. The vast majority of my clothes don't need ironing (especially now that I'm working in a casual environment) but shoo-wee, almost all of Dear's work clothes need ironing. Despite my pleas for him to get wrinkle-free shirts, his closet of wrinkle-full shirts persists. So any way to make the chore go by faster or easier helps.

When looking for an iron to buy, lots of people raved about Rowenta models. One person claimed that it made ironing a pleasure. This I had to see for myself. I chose the Rowenta Focus DZ5080 because it was on sale and the extra-pointy tip seemed to be a useful feature. For days I was actually excited to iron (this is related to my giddiness to start playing with any new toy but the iron is not bad either). We didn't yet have an ironing board (more on that later) so I actually brought my shiny new toy over to the out-laws'.The experience was not as mind-blowing as I thought for several reasons, the main one being that I was living in fear that I would electrocute myself -- the only available outlet at the time (without having to lug the ironing board upstairs) was one of those non-polarized ones that just couldn't hold on to the iron's plug and it hung loosely when standing still and jiggled out of place as I proceeded to iron. (Yikes, see, chores can be hazardous!) So when we finally got the heavy-duty ironing board from Target (I don't know what makes it heavy-duty -- do people need to iron weighty garments?) I was semi-psyched to iron again. Unfortunately that eagerness has died with each ironing task (definitely not a life-altering, nor pleasurable experience -- maybe I just need a maid? :P) though it does make ironing go by a little easier. (Watching TV while ironing helps too :P). My thoughts on the Rowenta Focus, in easy-to-read bullet form:
- The water compartment is pretty sizable (I can iron at least one shirt with one fill) and I like that it closes to prevent spillage.
- I like the handy thin little canister used to fill the water compartment for steam.
- I like the pointy tip (great for getting in between buttons or into corners).
- The stainless steel soleplate has been good so far (no scorch marks).
- I didn't really notice the advantage to having all those extra steam holes on the soleplate but the logic of it works for me (more holes=more steam).
- It is heavy (both a plus and minus). I notice the heaviness less as I use it more often but I think it also helps with getting rid of creases (I have used light irons before and they just suck, plain and simple).
- This no-drip thing really is a fallacy (water and holes -- it's gotta leak sometime), though this iron drips a lot less than other ones that I've used before.
- There are just 3 temperature settings and I never know which one to use for synthetics or blends.
- I'm not sure if there's much difference/use to the three lights that tell you whether the iron is too hot (red), not heated up enough (yellow), or just right (green) but it's cool to have.

Now my other issue -- I need to find a handy place to store both the ironing board and iron. This will require some closet re-arranging (way down on my to-do list).

Taxes are taxing

I finally recovered from tax season to blog about it. It was the first time that we had to file taxes together and our styles of organization (or lack thereof) really showed through. I knew about (and have experienced firsthand) the squabbles/discussions newlyweds get into about chores (check), time spent with family (check), finances (check) but it didn't register with me about which filing status to use and more importantly, that you have to really coordinate to get this onerous task done. It didn't help that we had all sorts of statements and attachments (the co-op was a further complication that we're not familiar with). When all was said and done, our federal return was probably 50 pages thick altogether (state was only about 20 pages) and the checks we had to write were enough to pay for a kid's education in the third world. :(

This year was also different because I usually do my taxes manually (that tradition started years ago with a challenge to myself since I suck at math but it turned out to be quite interesting and educational) but Dear likes to use a program and we opted to go that route since we have all these complicated issues. TaxCut was pretty easy to use and I can see it being very useful if you use it every year (it compares and uses the previous year's info). I also liked how it compares all the different methods of filing (whether to itemize or not, whether to file separately or together) but it also got confusing at times since I entered in my info first thinking that I would go back later to adjust some things but there is no function that I know of to keep track of things that I wanted to return to. There were also times that I wish I could see what the IRS really wanted b/c I don't think I needed to fill out all those forms (TaxCut has this function but it's not very user-friendly). I also didn't like that all the pertinent info was not transferred to the state return and we had to enter all that again. But enough of my complaints, I just wanted to warn newlyweds that you should really set aside time to do taxes together (don't wait until the week before -- see story below) or just get a really good accountant that you can trust (not my preference since I haven't found one yet and I'm not sure it's worth paying so much more for anyway; plus I feel like you really own your fiscal situation instead of being clueless about it).

So as if it weren't apparent enough, it's never good to procrastinate! Here's my tax procrastination anecdote: with the two moves in the past few months, plus the wedding and apt. renovations (leaving me in a more disoriented state than usual), and the gathering of important financial documents for the mortgage while switching jobs, I have no idea where my packet of 2005 tax forms are. I usually have one folder that holds all this information but when I searched the usual spot in my parents' house I had every year but 2005. So I reasoned that it must be at my out-laws' since that's where we were living while applying for the mortgage. I thought it was in one of my bags there but couldn't find it. I then thought my backup copy on my computer would suffice. It did, until I realized that I needed the state forms as well. Unlike the federal forms, NYS' fillable PDFs do not save the information so all I had on my computer was a blank IT-201. So what did I do at 1am on April 16 after I thought the hard part was over? I started filling out the 2005 IT-201 from scratch. I was so frustrated that I saved an image of the form that I filled out, just in case. From there, I could fill in that one field needed for this year's return. grrr! Next year I'm hoping things will be less complicated (or we'll at least get used to it) and maybe I'll get organized in time. *sigh*

Color update

I painted the first coat of a lovely gray in our little entry way. I can't wait to finish the second coat and then begin on the trim. I am hoping that the white trim will really make the gray pop. Funny how the colors I agonized the most over I like least and the ones that I was pretty nonchalant about I enjoy the most.

Some things to do:
- find a color for the main entrance door (I am leaning towards a glossy, primary blue)
- paint the hallway doors (after sanding them down, which looks daunting, with all the curves, ridges, and crevices)
- paint the hallway the same lovely gray as the entry way (I wish I discovered the gray earlier b/c I think I would have used it more throughout)
- get a runner (I saw an interesting idea in Blueprint magazine about connecting several small area rugs together -- I am toying with this idea)