Leaving Iowa - June 2011

Moving away from Iowa was extremely bittersweet which I find ironic considering I never wanted to step foot into the state when I moved there from Chicago 6 years ago.  We have made so many good friends and we don't want to leave them.  Who else is going to share our obnoxious passion for good food and wine?  We're still looking.  I also love my job.  Granted, I got to take it with me and now work from home but I actually like my co-workers enough to want to see them and even hang out outside of work.  We even grew to like the little town of Iowa City.  It only took 20 minutes to get from one side of town to the other, prices on things, especially groceries, were downright cheap and there actually was a ton to do.  I've also since found out that the hospital there was truly state of the art.  I mean, I knew it when we lived there too, but now I KNOW we were spoiled.  I want my shiny and new facitilites back.

In the seemingly short time we were there, three seriously major events took place.   First, on Holy Thursday April 13, 2006, an F2 tornado went through town, literally.  We had just moved into our newly built house a week earlier and happened to live across the street from a tornado siren.  Having grown up in Toledo, I'm no stranger to the siren and sadly, I knew to ignore it.  There was no tornado.  Even in Iowa.  That evening, however, the siren kept going off and by "kept going off", I mean, it was almost non-stop.  It had also turned pitch black outside complete with a major downpour.  Finally Bill and I were like, maybe we should turn on the TV.  Honest to God, we turn it on and the newscaster was saying "the tornado is now passing by Walmart".  We were like, Oh Sh*t!  Walmart was 7 miles from our house and the tornado was coming towards us.  Now, even though I mostly ignored tornado sirens, I knew that you either needed to be in a basement (in the NE corner, right??) or in a room with no exterior walls.  Being the end townhouse in a 4-plex, our only option was our downstairs 3x5 foot bathroom as we had no basement.  We chose option #2 which was breaking into the empty unit next to ours and hiding out in their pantry under the stairs.  Luckily, we knew the builder's garage door codes so we gathered up our cats (no, we wouldn't dare leave them behind), ventured out into the rain with a radio and deck of cards and hid for the next hour or two.  It was the first time the town ever took a direct hit and needless to say, the damage was pretty significant.  Walmart and Menard's roofs didn't make it and Dairy Queen was gone.  A sorority house was completely taken out and miraculously, two girls who decided to run back to their rooms to get homework instead took shelter in the phone closet and didn't die.  A number of downtown stores and restaurants were severly damaged along with university buildings and tons of homes and apartments.  The tornado's trail ended just 3 miles shy of our house.  Sadly, our 134 year old church was also destroyed.  Holy Thursday activites had just ended and there were still a number of people in the church.  The priest said his goodbyes, walked out to his car but decided he didn't like the looks of things.  He went back in and got everyone downstairs moments before the tornado hit. 

He later got a Person of the Year award for saving everyone.  After that, we paid attention when the sirens went off and even got to see one last tornado (on TV) shortly before we moved, moving north of town just a few miles from our house.

The next crazy thing to happen was the big Flood of 2008.  We had had heavy snow and rain in the months preceeding June and starting up in Minnesota and Wisconsin, flooding began and it trickled south.  Think New Orleans and Katrina and I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say the same exact devastation happened in Cedar Rapids - a town about 30 miles north of Iowa City.

All that water came down to Iowa City and literally cut the town in two.  Businesses and the unverisity were forced to shut down.  Bill and I took an afternoon to walk around and take pictures.  These (below) were all taken by ME (after posting these on a social media site, someone insinuated that there was no way I could have taken them but let me assure you, I really did).  I believe when it was all said and done, the water got as high as 12' in some places.  I could post more pictures of other areas in town that were even worse but those I didn't take and I'm afraid of getting in trouble for copyright infringment!  :)

And finally, my beloved Taco Bell.  It was torn down and never rebuilt.  :(  (I did not take this one....tempting fate.)

Finally, the last event occurred in our neighborhood only a quarter of a mile from our house and is extremely, extremly sickening and sad.  My parents were in town and were woken up by sirens passing the house the Monday after Easter 2008.  Later that morning, they called me from the highway as they were heading home to tell me that they just passed a terrible crash that delayed them a bit.  It all ended up being connected.  A guy who lived up the street was charged with embezzling money from the bank where he worked so he decided to take out his family.  He murdered his wife and four adopted children aged 3-10 in their home on Easter and then took to the highway the next morning to purposely crash and kill himself.  It was absolutely awful.  I will never understand men who do stuff like this, especially those who just want out of their marriage.  Every time a story like this comes up I tell Bill - if you ever want a divorce, fine, divorce me, just don't kill me.  (Of course, faithful followers of this blog know that our only grounds for divorce are if either of us become a vegetarian.  Ha!)  But seriously, this story ended up making the national news and news trucks were stationed outside of the house for days.  The guy actually came from a very large extended family in Iowa City that happens to own a lot of businesses so it really rocked the town.  Please say a prayer for those kids.

So far living in Cleveland has been somewhat eventful too - a very sad high school shooting, a man killed his wife and daughter at a Cracker Barrel (see what I mean?!) and 5 crazies tried to blow up a bridge....and this was all in the last 3 months!  Luckily, Cleveland is so big that we live between 20-40 minutes away from where these events took place.  You know you want to come visit!  ;)

My Favorite Food Things (Again)

This post has been around the block a few times but I still love it so I will post it yet again. So, for the third time, here is my post of my favorite food things with a few additions....

If you know me at all, you know I have a slight obsession with all things food. I do, it's true. It's embarrassing actually. I have told co-workers that I think I'm the only one at the gym who runs on the treadmill while watching Food Network. What's worse is that I eat more than most men I know. I've seriously been out to eat with guys who will say "I'll have the lettuce" and I'll, in turn, order one of everything. This really happened a while back but it involved sushi. Ah, sushi. I order 3-4 rolls for myself and that may or may not include the miso soup, salad and complimentary edamame. What you may not know about me is that eating is a hobby. Not some emotional, I eat because I'm not loved, hobby. An actual, I appreciate good food in all its glory, hobby. Now, that's not to say I don't also really appreciate Taco Bell, specifically, the double-decker taco supreme, nachos supreme and bean burritos with no onions. Not only do I appreciate good food, I also really enjoy cooking. There's just something about sipping some amazing red wine, listening to jazz and creating a masterpiece over your gas stove. To say that cooking can be an aphrodisiac is an understatement. Cook me a fabulous dinner and I'm yours. Hell, I'll cook for you, same thing. I decided to write up a list of my favorite food things, not that you care, but I'm using this as a journal of sorts for myself. So here I go in no particular order:

• Ratatouille - the movie not the food, although I have had some killer ratatouille, this is honest to God my favorite movie now. I want Little Chef.
• Wine Lover's Cookbook by Sid Goldstein– aka Bill's best Christmas present to himself. It was for me, of course. Hands down the best cookbook in the world. It revolutionized the way Bill and I eat, cook and drink wine. Fabulous!

• Raw oysters on the half shell with a hint of horseradish in the cocktail sauce
• Hand-packed burgers grilled medium rare. In Iowa City, I recommended Sluggers (RIP Sluggers - victim of Flood 2008). In St. Louis – the best burger I have EVER had is at O'Connell's Pub. Did I mention that it was only $5?
• 8 oz. dry-aged filet mignon cooked medium - always hoping it's slightly medium rare
• Francis Ford Coppola's Sofia Blanc de Blancs – sparkling white wine, slightly sweet, not dry. Can get it in (gasp!) a can for romantic picnics.
• Mashed potatoes - never artificial. Even better if they're made with whole cream and have a touch of garlic.
• Porcini mushrooms
• Portobello mushrooms and their mini-me Crimini mushrooms.
• Rachael Ray's 365 No Repeats cookbook and Just in Time cookbook. Honestly, for anyone who wants to break into the cooking thing and have some really excellent meals. I highly recommend these. This is how I got my start.

• My gas stove. I'll never own an electric range again.
• Balsamic vinegar
• Crusty soft bread paired with a personal dipping bowl of extra-virgin olive oil with parmigiano-reggiano cheese and freshly ground pepper. Thanks to my sister-in-law, an almost nightly event in my house.
• Parmigiano-reggiano
• Seghesio Zinfandel Sonoma County
• Duck breast – I have an amazing recipe from Wine Lover's CB if anyone is interested.
• Lamb chops grilled medium rare – ditto
• Sam's Club because they seem to understand and value my obsession, allowing me to buy all of my favorite foods for a mere fraction of the Hy-Vee price. Not to mention, their wine selection is pretty good.
• Binny's Beverage Depot in my beloved Chicago because they understand my need for quality wine.
• Napa Valley/Sonoma – one of the best vacations ever and I can't wait to go back
• Freshly ground pepper and salt
• Fresh herbs but I love my dried ones just the same
• Shallots – I had no idea what they were until R Ray but I use them all the time now
• Jazz because a meal is never complete without some sweet music
• Bordeaux – a must with a good steak
• Sam Adam's Light
• Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab and no, this is NOT Joe's Crab Shack. That's the one thing I'll get pissy about. I've never been to a restaurant that can do both a great steak AND great seafood but this place has gone above and beyond.
• Stone crab – harvested between October and May of each year, fisherman only take one claw from each crab and throw them back to regenerate. Eaten cold with a yummy mustard sauce. Delish!
• Whole beef tenderloins. We get these from Sam's and carve them ourselves. We usually get 6-7 filets mignons, 1 roast and enough extra meat (called chain meat) to make 2 meals of fajitas or Philly cheesesteaks. Much more economical than buying all of that separately – trust me.
• Toasted walnuts
• Ice cream – best dessert there is. Specifically, pralines and cream. I'll take ice cream over any cake, pie or crème brulee you can throw at me. The best ice cream I've ever had is right here in Iowa City – Heyn's on 1st Ave. If I ever live in a different city, I will pay to have them ship me some in dry ice. I'm not kidding.
• Buttercream icing – the old school kind that is kind of crunchy and is so sweet it makes your teeth hurt. None of this creamy, whipped icing they make today. Blah!
• My cookbook holder. It's my friend.
• Large bamboo cutting boards
• Good knives, especially my Furi Santoku knife
• Iron Chef America and the original
• Good Eats – Alton Brown is goofy but is a genius
• Throwdown with Bobby Flay
• Goat cheese
• Sushi – Oyama is the best in Iowa City followed by Takanami
• Mexican – In Toledo, Ventura's and Magdalena's. For the number of Mexican restaurants in Iowa City, none of them really do it for me.
• Thai food – one of the things I miss most about Chicago, although, Osha in San Francisco is the best ever.
• My mother-in-law's Filipino turon – bananas and cheese wrapped in pastry dough and fried. I think she's appalled at how many I eat when she makes them.
• Cherry cobbler a la mode
• Frushi – fruit sushi at Orange in Chicago
• Peanut sauce
• Mint mojitos – In Iowa City, I recommend Atlas, especially when they use spearmint
• Wendy's fries, and as an honorable mention, Wendy's fries dipped in a Frosty
• General Tso's Chicken - the best is at No. 1 Chinese in Columbus on High St.
• In-N-Out Burger
• Chipotle
• Big breakfasts on the weekend, homemade or at Hamburg Inn in Iowa City
• Seattle’s Best coffeeshops
• Caribou Coffee's specialty drinks – Turtle Tracks and Campfire Mocha are my faves.
• Intelligensia coffee
• Java House in Iowa City - their German Chocolate Mocha latte is like heaven
• Bacon sandwiches – that's it, just bacon on buttered toast.
• Bacon, egg and cheese bagel sandwiches from McDonalds or Bruegger's Bagels. Not necessarily because they are high quality, because they're not, but because they fulfill my breakfast comfort food requirement.
• St. Francis vineyard – my favorite stop in wine country
• Water with a cucumber slice – so much more refreshing than lemon water. You have to try it!
• Anything my mom makes
• Italian sausage
• The McDonald's menu song – you know, Big Mac, McDLT, a Quarter Pounder with some cheese…. I'm mostly just impressed that I can still sing the whole thing. Try me.
• The now defunct Café Luciano's in Chicago – best Italian food paired with live jazz and cigar lounge. What more could you ask for? Has anyone been to their location in Evanston?
• Foie gras - best I've had is at Pangea in Toronto
• Coconut shrimp with an orange remoulade
• Red beans and rice at Remoulade's in New Orleans
• Rain in Toronto - this is the restaurant featured on Food Network HD's Made to Order. The most amazing food experience I've ever had. Too ridiculous to even try to explain.
• After an awesome meal, smoking a great cigar on our patio with port or coffee
• Sour cream
• Tabasco's Habenero or mild Jalapeno sauce
• Caramel sauce
• Chocolate truffles - in Iowa City, Motley Cow makes them on site for dessert. They are awesome!
• Marco's Pizza - headquartered in Toledo and a location up in Cedar Rapids!! - you'd think that I would have found better pizza living in Chicago but not being a deep dish fan, that was not the case. Marco's wins hands down every time. I recommend the crust toppers.
• Fat Tire beer
• Ken's Chunky Blue Cheese dressing - a must with hot wings
• Imo's Pizza in St. Louis
• Skyline Chili from Cincinnati
• The Hummus Yummus omelet from The Local Yolk in Manhattan Beach, CA - sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese, green onions, spicy hummus and diced tomatoes. Sounds weird but it was SO good.

End of the list for now…. I'll keep adding bullets as I think of them. So do I sound like a food snob? Maybe. Do I care? Not really because I know that it's not that I'm a food snob, because trust me I'll eat anything, it's just that I seek out and appreciate good food. It's all subjective, of course, what I like is totally different than the next guy. I have a food motto, I'll try anything once. It kills me when people won't even try a food because they claim not to like it and yet, shocker, they've never even had it. I'm sorry, but you're missing out. Give it one chance and if you don't like it then fine, gloat because you were right, but you just may discover your next favorite food.

Our House in the Middle of Our Street

We live in Iowa. Right in the green to be exact. I actually used to joke that we went from this....

to this.... It's a very stereotypical and unfair representation of Iowa, although I really did take that picture off the deck of our old condo. People here say that the state is confused with Ohio all the time and I find that amusing. Save my years in Chicago, I lived in Ohio my whole life and never once heard of it getting confused with Iowa. You can even buy shirts here that say "Idahohiowa". Unless they've begun selling them in recent years, I've never seen a shirt like that in Ohio. It may be a thing with the western states because a friend of mine used to live in Denver and she said people there always got confused too. Aside from lots of farm fields and Big Ten universities, Ohio is really nothing like Iowa. Maybe it's because Ohio is in the eastern time zone and relates more easily with the eastern states (or at least I did) but I never really thought of Ohio as a big farming state, nor did I really even think about states more west than Indiana, maybe Illinois. Maybe it's just me because we also only ever vacationed on the east coast or Florida and I had only ever been further west than Chicago 4 times in my life before visiting Bill in Iowa. I also think of Ohio as being filled with big cities - Cleveland, Cinncinati, Columbus, Toledo - and lots of people. Toledo, where I'm from, has a metroland population of 650,000. The Iowa City/Coralville population, where we are now, is 86,000. This isn't to say that Iowa doesn't have a million things going for it because it does:

1) We now live in an awesome house that we LOVE. Well, it's a townhouse but it might as well be our palace. We love, love, love, LOVE it. We were able to get in before it was built to customize it. I need to update these pics because we've decorated (very little) since these were taken.


Did I mention that we love it?

We say that when we move, it will be one of the things we miss most because chances are very high that we will not live in a new construction building again until we build our big dream home one day. We also have no idea where we're going to end up. While we say we would move back to a city (Chicago) in a heartbeat, that's not really true. As much as we'd love to, we will most likely have a kid by then and don't want to raise him/her in a concrete jungle. People do it and good for them. It's just not for us. I saw too many women struggle on the el with strollers and that is not for me. Plus, the cost of a private school would be a nightmare. It would also be bittersweet because we would want to live as we did as young, fun, single, not a care in the world, early 20-somethings and life would actually be drastically different. I think that would make me depressed. Plus, we could never afford a place even half the size of our house now that we L.O.V.E.!

2) The Field of Dreams baseball field is in Iowa and about 2 hours from our house. Kevin Costner's band played there a few years back. We've never been though.

3) The Bridges of Madison County are in Iowa about 2.5 hours from our house. Also never been.

4) The German Amana Colonies are pretty cool. Amana appliances were founded here and they have cute little shops and restaurants. AWESOME all-you-can-eat-until-you-have-a-heart-attack breakfast - fruit, coffee, OJ, bacon, sausage, fried eggs, toast, potatoes and pancakes. YUM. Ashton Kutcher is from one of the colonies too.

5) Having a Big Ten university in town is pretty sweet. Iowa State (Big 12) is only a couple hours away.

6) Sales tax is low. We went from something like 10% tax in Chicago to 5%. Can't beat that.

7) It's really pretty and peaceful here. People think Iowa is flat and some parts are, but where we are is kind of hilly and the rolling fields are goregeous in the summer.

8) We have met some truly amazing people, some of whom I love to death and will be our lifelong friends.