This past year has been a real whirlwind, but a beautiful one. Within a one month period, I got married, moved to a different continent, started a new job, and found out I was pregnant. There have been many new adjustments to our new life--adjusting to living with a partner, after spending 8 years living by myself, adjusting to a new culture and a language that is not my mother tongue, adjusting to new functions at work, and adjusting to changes in my body.
We have also made new friends here--a big difference between Geneva and New York is that it is easier to make friends here. Perhaps because there are a lot of others in my situation--young women who are recently married, and who are pregnant or recently had children. I have found the people that I met, mostly expats, to be welcoming.
Nevertheless, I was really homesick for the first month here--though I have traveled, lived, and worked outside of the US before, this is my first time leaving the US with no plan of returning. I missed many basic things--such as being able to read websites in English. Most of the websites I use are in French, which I can understand, but not with the same ease. I really missed the food in the US, and realized quite quickly that I would never be able to access good Asian food in restaurants here--or at least, not as easily as in New York. I have found Korean and Chinese food to be satisfactory, but not to the standard that I am used to.
I am proud of myself because I have been focusing on learning how to make good Asian food at home, and realized that it is quite possible and with time, maybe even easy. I made soondubu, Korean soft tofu stew, and chicken satay today. Whole chicken was on sale, so we bought two whole chickens. Gordon Ramsey has a video on how to process a whole chicken, which David followed. I realize that I have been making a mistake buying separate chicken parts this whole time. You can do so much with a whole chicken that you break down yourself! First, you take the bone from the carcass and make chicken soup. I did not know that we could make such a flavorful chicken soup, like how my mom would make growing up, with only chicken bones! We then used the drumsticks and thighs to make chicken satay. I found a thai spice store, and I bought a chicken satay marinade. Instead of skewering the chicken, I wrapped it in foil, and baked in the oven at 200 degrees celcius for 30 minutes, then unwrapped and broiled for another 10 minutes. The result was chicken that was juicy, tender, and packed with flavor.
The breast and chicken wings we are saving for tomorrow. I found a recipe for baked chicken nuggets.
As for the soondubu, I followed a recipe online. The kimchi tasted great, but stank up our entire kitchen. We were keeping it on our balcony for a while, until I got an airtight container that I put the bag in.
I'm feeling more confident that we can make a life here in Geneva, since I'm starting to be able to cook my favorite foods.
We also bought a Christmas tree today. It is my first time having an actual tree, instead of an artificial one. Now I understand the fresh pine smell that people talk about--As we unwrapped the tree from the netting, the scent filled our living room. This morning, we had awoken to a soft blanket of snow over the city--we did not see any snow last night, so it was an unexpected and welcomed surprise.
We took our dogs for a hike on the mountain nearby, and they were ecstatic. A fellow dog owner at the park said, "all dogs are crazy for the snow--big or small, they all love it". I guess he has never met a chihuahua, but our two dogs do enjoy it. The snow was so fragile that by noon, it had all melted. It was a brief moment of magic.
We have also made new friends here--a big difference between Geneva and New York is that it is easier to make friends here. Perhaps because there are a lot of others in my situation--young women who are recently married, and who are pregnant or recently had children. I have found the people that I met, mostly expats, to be welcoming.
Nevertheless, I was really homesick for the first month here--though I have traveled, lived, and worked outside of the US before, this is my first time leaving the US with no plan of returning. I missed many basic things--such as being able to read websites in English. Most of the websites I use are in French, which I can understand, but not with the same ease. I really missed the food in the US, and realized quite quickly that I would never be able to access good Asian food in restaurants here--or at least, not as easily as in New York. I have found Korean and Chinese food to be satisfactory, but not to the standard that I am used to.
I am proud of myself because I have been focusing on learning how to make good Asian food at home, and realized that it is quite possible and with time, maybe even easy. I made soondubu, Korean soft tofu stew, and chicken satay today. Whole chicken was on sale, so we bought two whole chickens. Gordon Ramsey has a video on how to process a whole chicken, which David followed. I realize that I have been making a mistake buying separate chicken parts this whole time. You can do so much with a whole chicken that you break down yourself! First, you take the bone from the carcass and make chicken soup. I did not know that we could make such a flavorful chicken soup, like how my mom would make growing up, with only chicken bones! We then used the drumsticks and thighs to make chicken satay. I found a thai spice store, and I bought a chicken satay marinade. Instead of skewering the chicken, I wrapped it in foil, and baked in the oven at 200 degrees celcius for 30 minutes, then unwrapped and broiled for another 10 minutes. The result was chicken that was juicy, tender, and packed with flavor.
The breast and chicken wings we are saving for tomorrow. I found a recipe for baked chicken nuggets.
As for the soondubu, I followed a recipe online. The kimchi tasted great, but stank up our entire kitchen. We were keeping it on our balcony for a while, until I got an airtight container that I put the bag in.
I'm feeling more confident that we can make a life here in Geneva, since I'm starting to be able to cook my favorite foods.
We also bought a Christmas tree today. It is my first time having an actual tree, instead of an artificial one. Now I understand the fresh pine smell that people talk about--As we unwrapped the tree from the netting, the scent filled our living room. This morning, we had awoken to a soft blanket of snow over the city--we did not see any snow last night, so it was an unexpected and welcomed surprise.
We took our dogs for a hike on the mountain nearby, and they were ecstatic. A fellow dog owner at the park said, "all dogs are crazy for the snow--big or small, they all love it". I guess he has never met a chihuahua, but our two dogs do enjoy it. The snow was so fragile that by noon, it had all melted. It was a brief moment of magic.
