Category: Life in Indiana

Food, Life in Indiana, Travel, What's On My Plate

What’s On My Plate: Takeout Food and Deviled Eggs

by itsmeganelaineLeave a Comment on What’s On My Plate: Takeout Food and Deviled Eggs

I haven’t been in the kitchen too much these past few weeks. My days have been filled with work, travel, and being present for the ones I love.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t eaten good food, though.

There are a few dishes that have held rich flavors and have brought together good conversation.

The first one being this Chinese food when my Love and I were in Madison, Indiana, last weekend. We drove down to the little river city city for a couple of days to get some R&R post- and pre-busy weeks. We stayed at the lovely new hotel called Fairfield, that was constructed in Madison’s Historic Eagle Cotton Mill. It was right by the river, with a beautiful view of the waterfront and the bridge that connects Indiana to Kentucky. Saturday night, we decided to order take-out and bring it back to the hotel to enjoy the view. And I’m so glad we did, because the food and the view was better than any sit-down returned we could have chosen. We got Chinese taken-out from Hong Kong Kitchen. It was the richest, most delectable Chinese food I’ve ever eaten. I got the Orange Chicken, a favorite of mine. But instead of being a fast-food like glazed, nuggets of fatty chicken, this was chunks of white meat with a thick sauce that was flavored with real orange peels and zest. I also got the fried rice, which wasn’t to oily or yellow. I could tell it was freshly cooked and fried.

My Love and I enjoyed the view while the sunset. We also got a little bit of (overpriced but delish) wine from the hotel’s little kiosk. We delved into good conversation and questions for each other the rest of the night. It was exactly what we needed between bouts of busy life. I can’t wait to go back to Madison again soon. For the food, the views, and more rest and good conversation.

Another place where I’ve had good food is in my Love’s new apartment. After a big day of moving, we sat down around his dinning room table and had Greek’s meatlovers pizza. The pizza crust was delightfully fully and thick (my favorite kind of pizza crust) and, being the Midwestern I am of course, I dipped in it ranch sauce. It was the perfect moving day feast. Earlier that day, I also got the chance to make a wonderful salad, which included chopped Roman lettuce and kale, quinoa, a few grape tomatoes, roasted chickpeas coated in lemon, cumin, sesame seeds, and a lemon dressing.

And finally, Easter. My family had our traditional celebration a few weeks back, because we couldn’t all be together today. We cooked family recipes and enjoyed a lovely easy spring celebration. I contributed two things to the meal: deviled eggs and hot cross buns. Deviled eggs are a holiday staple that we make for almost ever major holiday, but this was the first year I baked hot cross buns. I used a traditional English recipe, but instead of sultanas (I couldn’t find them at any local grocer) I used chocolate chips (because I don’t like raisins). These little buns where warm and decadent. I used an apricot glaze on them, which gave them a wonderful little sheen and melted nicely with with the warmth of the cinnamon and allspice. They were rose to perfection, opening up to be nice and fluffy inside, which made be giddy. I’ve always had trouble proofing bread. Overall, I think my first time making hot cross buns was a success.

I’d also like to mention that my mom made these lovely little confetti cupcakes that just made me so happen when I bit into them. They even had little rainbow sprinkles on top.

For the actual celebration of Easter today, my siblings and Love got together and had a little feast, which one of my siblings provided the food, I brought one dish: deviled eggs. If I could only bring one dish of a family holiday gathering, it would be deviled eggs — forever and always. Although next year, I want to attempt dying the eggs pink first and then deviling them, like this.

Even though I haven’t been in my kitchen much because of busy week on top of busy week, with little a R&R vacay in between, I’m glad to capture these little moments where food had brought together good conversation and memories.

This spring, I’m looking forward to writing more about the local foods I’m picking up as they start to become available. Along with that I want to start a mini garden in my apartment and learning about preserving and pickling, something that I have been wanting to experiment with for a long while.

Beauty, Life in Indiana, Off The Cuff

A force to be reckoned with 

by itsmeganelaineLeave a Comment on A force to be reckoned with 

Growth is exceedingly uncomfortable. I wonder if it is painful for the trees, too. I wonder if creating life at the tips of their branches is hard. Creating, reaching out, and becoming anew amidst rain and strong winds. The purple, white, and pink tulips rise up during the bitter transition of winter into spring. Sometimes they get buried in late-season snow. I wonder if they question themselves: if they are good enough to be blooming, if they’re in the right place, or good enough to bring beauty to an otherwise gray landscape.

There is a house I walk past often with bushes that are currently in bloom, with tiny yellow flowers and dark blue berries. They are a stark contrast to their soundings: muddy lawns, drizzly skies, strong wind, cool temps. Yet they don’t question themselves. Their blooming may come at a painful moment — a mark of becoming when all is uncertain — but they don’t let this harden them. Their delicate petals are an unapologetically bright yellow in a sea of gray. The little blooms hold on tight as gusts of wind rush past them, daring to rip them away from the branches and roots that ground them. They are a force to be reckoned with.

I want to be like them.

Food, Life in Indiana

an impromptue celebration

by itsmeganelaineLeave a Comment on an impromptue celebration

Tonight’s dinner: grilled chicken with fusilli pasta in a creamy herb sauce.

After a busy workday, I realized that last night and into today marks one month of living in my new apartment. For a small impromptu celebration, I grill chicken and cook pasta. I used my favorite copper pot and blue enamel cast iron. I drink a tinge of wine that I’ve had leftover in my fridge. Fresh flowers in autumn colors are in the middle of my kitchen island. I lit a lit candle. Dishes are in the sink. A blue sky is waiting for me to step out and take an evening stroll.

Beauty, Life in Indiana

Starry Night

by itsmeganelaineLeave a Comment on Starry Night

We walked outside at 7:15, the sun had set at 5:30. It was chilly so we laid down blankets and pillows on the grass. You could hear the quiet rustle between the trees.

We laid down under the blankets and our body heat kept us warm. Our eyes adjusted slowly as wel looked up at the stars. They always seemed farther away in the cold.

I was carrying so much tension that day. As soon as I turned my eyes up to the sky with him next to me, the tension started to dissipate. In the middle of November this year, uncertainty is so strong. We had been wanting to go stargazing since the summer, but we made time for it now, as the days have gotten shorter but it wasn’t too cold outside. Looking up at the starry night makes me ask big questions and feel big emotions, most of the time I don’t know the answers to them. This time, it was comforting looking up at something bigger than ourselves. Like we are so small compared to the vastness of the galaxy. Eventually, I could name the feelings of content and wholeness settle over me as I looked at tiny shining specs that were slowly moving across the sky. No matter what happens next week, next month, next year, the stars will still be there every night, a steady reminder that we are small and our creator carries us in His hands. The blackened, starlight night covered us with ease, and I knew everything was going to be okay. I felt at home. This is the wonderful bliss of being alive.

This next morning I woke up and started reading, I came across this quote:

“The sky was enormous, and terribly high. It’s a funny thing, the colder it gets, the farther away the sky seems and the farther off the stars look. The sky was so thick with them it was almost as though it had been snowing stars, and down below us there was a white fog so it seemed as though we were looking out over a great lake. The Milky Way was a river of light…

“We sat there, close, close, and it was as though we could feel the love we had for one another moving through our bodies as we sat there…

“And I prayed, ‘Oh, God, keep us together, please keep us together, please keep us safe and well and together.’”

– Meet the Austins, Madeleine L’Engle

Life in Indiana

An ode to summer

by itsmeganelaine1 Comment on An ode to summer

Labor Day has come and gone. The end days of summer are here and already the approach of fall is upon us. Literally, everywhere I look there are captions and comments of fall in social media posts; Target has brought out their sweaters, long sleeves, and pumpkins in the dollar section; cafes and bakeries are serving pumpkin-flavored coffee and danishes; I noticed that there are a few crumpled brown leaves that have fallen in my driveway. I might have partaken in this joyful arrival of the upcoming season; I mean who wouldn’t? 2020 has been rough, the least we can do is stretch out this wondrous fall and make the most of it. It’s the beginning of the end of a once-in-a-generational year, which also means the beginning of a whole new year is to come soon.

Before getting caught all up in what is to come, I have to acknowledge that this summer was some of the best of times, during some of the worst of times. This summer I was in love with a precious human, my Plus 1. Even during COVID, we did so much within the hot mid-months.  We laid in the shade in our hammock while staring up at the blue sky, reading books we got from the bookshop down the street. There were nights we threw pillows and blankets in the back of his car and drove to the local drive-in to watch The Goonies and Dirty Dancing on the big screen. There were lemon pastries baked in kitchens. Film photos taken of us and animals at the Indianapolis Zoo during the sweltering heat, masks on with happy smiles underneath. There were drives through cornfields, stops at gas stations to get coffee, state parks where we hiked and found gorgeous sites, where we got caught in the rain. On July 1, in the heat of summer, we went out to a sunflower field and picked blooms that left yellow pollen on our figures and counters. There were nights where we just sat with each other and talked until sunset, which was around 9:45 pm. There were nights we watched movies, both scary (his favorite) and sappy (my favorite). There was a night where we both got so into the movie You Got Mail that we yelled and the screen when Joe Fox wouldn’t tell Kathleen Kelly that he was the person she was emailing all along. 

There was the time, when the city started to open back up, where we went out to a fancy restaurant to celebrate the months we’ve spent together so far. We got dressed up and went downtown to eat stake, asparagus in butter, fancy-ass French fries, and a dessert of cheesecake and champagne. 

This summer was a collection of wonderful moments that I dare never to forget, even as we move on to fall and winter. I’m writing about these happy things not because we didn’t have any hardships over the summer, but the joyful moments were found amount all those hardships. Even when things didn’t go as planned, we adjusted and went on. We moved to the beat of the rhythm we found ourselves in and found joy in it. We celebrated and made good memories out of everything that was given to us. 

It is this year that I will never forget, because even though it was some of the oddest of times, it was also the absolute best of times. And I am forever grateful.

This weekend, my family went on a camping trip. It was one of two plans my Plus 1 and I have to close out the summer. I logged off of social media and took each moment as they came, enjoying the time outdoors with family. I slept in a tent, listening to the hum of crickets and bugs throughout the night. The morning was one I’ll always remember, waking up as the sun was coming over the horizon, 7:15 am, drinking coffee to take the sleep out of my eyes, walking through wildflowers patches, and seeing the moon disappear has the day came into being. 

I’m ready for the sweaters and the colors and the chill that fall brings, but before I completely hop on that train, this summer deserved an ode, because these things and even more I haven’t mentioned are wonderful memories, ones I’ll never forget. Happy end-of-summer to you. Here’s to the golden days.

Currently listening to: Golden Days by Whitney