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debububird
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Name: Deborah
Country: United States
State: New Jersey
Birthday: 8/8/1981
Gender: Female
Interests: writing, eating, cooking, singing, and making drugs. the pharmaceutical kind.
Expertise: FOOD! books. grammar. and carcinogens.
Occupation: Medical
Message: message me
Member Since:
7/17/2002
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| I was in a spunky mood last week, and after passing a Quick Chek on my way to choir practice, I decided that their headquarters might be interested to know that my crafty fiance actually proposed to me in the parking lot of one of their convenient stores! After learning from their website that they are a family-owned business, I was even more inspired to conatct them. I filled out a form on their website with the following message:
Name: Deborah
Email: dpan@alum.mit.edu
Address: 317 4th Street, Apt 3
City/State: Jersey City
Comments: My fiance and I have a special attachment to QuickChek! We thought you'd like to know that we got engaged right outside of the QuickChek in Woodbridge, NJ. I've posted the detailed story on our wedding blog: www.theknot.com/ourwedding/deborahpan&bendorner See the tab: The QuickChek Proposal!
And then I received the following reply:
From: SCHANINGER,JOHN
Subject: QUICK CHEK
To: dpan@alum.mit.edu
Date: Saturday, November 7, 2009, 7:30 AM
Good morning Deb,
I apologize for the late response. I was out of town for a few days.
First, congratulations on your engagement and upcoming wedding! Thanks for letting us in on the details. What a great story. (I too met my wife at Quick Chek, so maybe there is something in the coffee!)
We would love to host a a party to offer our congratulations and help the two of you celebrate. Let me know if you would be interested. (We are pretty good at throwing fun parties around here.)
All the best,
John Schaninger
V.P. Sales and Merchandising
Quick Chek
P.O. Box 600
Whitehouse Station, NJ 08889
jschaninger@qchek.com
Get Fresh! Go Fast!
-----------------------------------
Something in the coffee? Maybe. An unforgettable story and one that we'll tell our kids when they ask why the house is filled with Quick Chek paraphranelia? Definitely!
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| How happy is the little stone
That rambles in the road alone,
And doesn't care about careers,
And exigencies never fears;
Whose coat of elemental brown
A passing universe put on;
And independent as the sun,
Associates or glows alone,
Fulfilling absolute decree
In casual simplicity."
— Emily Dickinson
Yesterday, I came across this poem for the first time in many years. I read and re-read the poem many times, moved by the power of these few words in conveying such a wide range of thoughts and feelings. The style of the poem is entirely well suited for the subject matter that it describes – it’s unpretentious and uncomplicated, short and matter of fact. The poem is about an ordinary brown stone, after all.
But even the stone’s ordinariness is unburdened by too much forced thought or analysis – it’s described as “casual simplicity”, which to me is genius – a unlikely pair of words that when paired, seem as though they had always belonged together.
And as you might expect, my favorite line, and the one that unlocked that nugget of writer’s remorse in my heart (need to write more often! and at length!), is this one:
“Whose coat of elemental brown/A passing universe put on”
I picture a run-of-the-mill brown stone, once flecked with color, jagged, and rough - but now, but after millennia of rains, winds, and other casualties of a “passing universe”, worn, uniformly smooth, and brown. “Elemental” is the perfect word here, as it refers to chemical composition but also tinges the poem with shades of its other meanings (according to Merriam-Webster): simple, uncomplicated, inherent, and relating to a great force of nature.
In these two lines, such a wonderfully complex thought evoked by plain, ordinary language.
In these ten lines, a commentary about a nonconformist outlook amidst societal pressures and the beauty of finding contentment in simplicity.
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| With choir back in session, wedding planning underway, and Ben starting his part-time MBA at NYU Stern, it was high time for some bulk cooking! We held the 3rd semi-annual burrito making festival last month – a day full of shopping, chopping, simmering sauces, organizing ingredients, and the grand finale…assembling and freezing!
Keeping with our PPM calculations, we have estimated in the past that each artisan, custom-made burrito was a complete meal and cost about $1.25 in ingredients. This year, I set out to hit the elusive 20 for $20 – but I didn’t want to go through the trouble of calculating prices and pounds at the store. I just bought what I needed, tried to grab some good deals, and figured we’d hope to have enough filling for 20 burritos in the end. I’m always a bit nervous when it looks as though we may not have enough materials to fill all the empty shells.
From the store, I purchased: cilantro (69 cents); tomatoes ($2); boneless, skinless chicken breasts ($4.36); cubanelle peppers ($1); jalapenos (30 cents), 2 blocks of cheese, 1 pepper jack, 1 cheddar (sale price: $4), 2 packages of 10 ‘grande’ burrito shells ($5), low-fat sour cream ($1.25)
From my pantry, I gathered: rice, 3 cups (estimated at $1); 2 cans of corn ($1.30), 2 cans of black beans (super sale price: $1); 2 onions (estimated at $1); ginger and garlic (estimated at 25 cents), 2 cups orange juice (estimated at $0.30), 2 cups of veggie stock ($1), condiments like peanut butter, soy sauce, sugar, chipotle in adobo, rice wine vinegar (negligible).
Ben decided that he wanted to use a Bobby Flay sauce for these chicken burritos – a complex blend of both Asian and Mexican ingredients that is sweet, spicy, smoky, and delicious!
Here are the basic instructions:
Step 1. Slow cook the chicken breasts in the crock pot – saves time and effort! We sauteed ginger, garlic, and an onion, and added it to the stock, orange juice, and chicken. Cook for 4 hours on medium/high.
Step 2: Prepare the sauce. I wasn’t watching that carefully, but I know that the sauce begins with cooking garlic, ginger, onions, tomatoes, and peppers, and adding stock, orange juice, and sugar. It’s made more exotic by the addition of soy sauce, chipotle in adobo, and natural peanut butter. I think Ben cuts it with a little rice wine vinegar or lime juice to add just a touch of tartness. Cook until the flavors are well incorporated, and then blend to meld the softened vegetables, ginger, and garlic into the sauce.
Step 3. Cook rice. Mix corn and onions together with 2 T of rice wine vinegar and a handful of chopped cilantro. Shred both cheeses and set aside.
Step 4. Remove chicken from the crock pot and slice on an angle. Arrange on a platter.
Step 5. Line up your stations: squares of aluminum foil, olive oil spray, burrito shells, sour cream, rice, corn & beans, sliced chicken, sauce, shredded cheeses.
Step 6. (VERY IMPORTANT!) Spray the square of aluminum foil before you lay your burrito shell down. This will prevent the shell from sticking to the foil once it is frozen! Assemble your burritos, one at a time, using the ingredients in the order listed in Step 5.
Step 7. Tuck the sides of the burrito in and roll from top to bottom. Ben is an EXPERT at this and has rolled every burrito we have ever made. Mine are a disaster. Wrap each burrito neatly in the aluminum foil square.
Step 8. Admire your resourcefulness and shuttle your precious meals into a deep freeze!
For those keeping score at home, we did make 20 burritos! Filling the last shell was deeply satisfying as it meant we’d have 20 on-the-go meals at the ready. You can defrost them in the fridge and then microwave (out of the foil, of course!), or place the thawed burrito on a sprayed frying pan for a crispier shell. I think the toaster oven, if we had one, would work quite well too.
Final cost: $24.45/20 = $1.22 per burrito! Not quite the elusive “dollar per meal”, but pretty close, for a delicious, hefty, and super healthy burrito that makes a great dinner for Ben when he's at class or when we're both just too busy to cook a fresh meal. Interestingly, the vegetarian version of (subtracting the $4.36 for the chicken) is an even $1.00 per burrito. 
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| ...but Ben did get on one knee and propose to me last week. It was not in any place that you might expect, but a place even more perfect and romantic than the cities I have listed. It was outside of a QuickChek convenient store in Woodbridge, NJ. A few details for the back story...
About six years ago, I had just moved into my new apartment in Woodbridge before starting work at Merck. Irene, my then-roommate, had already started work, and Priya had not yet moved in. I was alone, standing in a tank top and shorts in the kitchen eating some ramen (how collegiate of me!) when my phone rang. An unfamiliar number popped onto the screen. I hesitated in picking it up, but chose to answer it anyway.
A male voice said, "Is this Deb? This is Ben Dorner...you know, from the intern program." Ben and I had met the summer before (summer of 2002), but had not really known each other well. We had a mutual friend, Jen Lewis, who Irene and I were coincidentally going to visit in New Brunswick that night.
As it turned out, Ben was on his Merck househunting trip and was searching for apartments in nearby areas. He had been attempting to take the NJ Transit train to New Brunswick to attend the dinner at Jen Lewis' apartment, when he got distracted speaking on the phone with his mom and missed the stop. Instead, he got out at Woodbridge. After exchanging a few details, we agreed that I would meet him at the QuickChek convenient store on Rt. 27.
Now those of you who know me well - and maybe even not so well - may recall harrowing stories of my tales on the road. At this point, I was most certainly a terrible driver with an even more terrible sense of direction. Not knowing the area made the situation even worse. But I struck out to find Ben Dorner and happily, I found the QuickChek a few minutes later.
I called his number back. "I'm here!" I said cheerfully. I was, after all, quite proud of myself for navigating the unfamiliar area and finding it so quickly.
"I don't see you."
"But I'm standing outside my car. I'm waving. See me?"
"No."
"I'm definitely here."
"So am I."
"On Rt. 27?"
"Yes."
I sensed some frustration in his voice. Finally, after listing some surroundings it became clear that we were not at the same QuickChek location on Rt. 27. Disgruntled, I got back in my car, and drove up and down the street several more times before realizing that the other location, farther away, was where my dejected acquaintance was standing.
I was so relieved to see him! I ran out of the car, and approached quickly. According to Ben (and I do not recollect this part), I ran up to him and threw my arms around him. And he thought, "Why is she hugging me? I'm all sweaty."
"Were you waiting a long time?" I said, somewhat apologetically.
"I had a couple of beers at the bar next door," he said.
I showed him our apartment and the next day, he rented a unit in the complex with Jen Chen, another fellow MIT alum and Merck newbie. We started doing weekly dinners. We watched copious amounts of TV in Ben and Jen's apartment. And very quickly, we all became close friends.
******
So last Friday, we both got out of work at 3 PM. The plan was for me to pick Ben up at Merck, to go eat an early dinner at Mie Thai (a Thai place near the Woodbridge train station that we frequented when I was at Merck) and then head to the airport. Along the way, Ben says that he wants to stop at TD bank to exchange some dollars for euros. I agree that this is a good idea.
But we drive for what seems like a long time and still no TD bank. I say to him, "Where's the bank?" He says, "A little further." And we keep driving, until we are very close to the Thai restaurant and still no bank. From here on out, the whole thing is a bit fuzzy. I hear the left turn signal go on, and then I hear myself say, "This isn't TD bank...It's QuickChek."
In what seems like an instant, we're out of the car, and Ben is talking about how we're standing at the exact same spot where we were standing 6 years ago when I found him. And that he's grateful that I found him - that this is where our journey together started and here's where the next phase will start as well.
And somewhere in this special moment, I ruined it by bawling, sniffling, and making incomprehensible noises. Then we were in the car and I had a ring on my finger and we were making our way down the NJ turnpike to catch a flight to Paris.
The moment was just like many others have said it would be: surprising and confusing and awkward and teary and funny and beautiful. And it was the perfect place to for us to get engaged: not on the banks of The Seine or in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower - places that are special to us now, but weren't then. Instead, we'll always have that tiny patch of grass in between a local bar and a convenient store, in the shadow of the train tracks and the Thai restaurant that we love so much - an otherwise unremarkable place that will forever be remarkable for how it brought us together in the past and where we stood during this momentous step towards our future. | | |
| A few months ago, we ventured into the "Little India" section of Jersey City, also known as Newark Avenue in Journal Square. This bustling and colorful main street, teeming with saris and sarongs, was perfumed with the oily-crisp scent of parathas, dosas, and samosas from the numerous peddlers and storefronts lining the street. And then there was the heady, pungent, and pervasive cloak of curry that enveloped us from the instant we opened the car door and clung to us for hours after dinner.
The rich, bracingly spicy stuff of Indian restaurants seemed so different from the seemingly light and healthy Indian fare that my colleague, Rutu, brings from home for lunch. A vegetarian, Rutu often has vegetable biriyani, cooked simply with onions, peas, spices, and broth, and a light chickpea or lentil mixture to spoon over the rice. She also brings homemade flat breads made from a mixture of white, whole grain, and chickpea flour, studded with flax seeds or sesame seeds. And she made it sound easy to cook and eat this way every day, even while entertaining and feeding her 2 year old son!
Inspired, Ben bought the cookbook "Indian Home Cooking" by Suvir Saran and Stephanie Lyness. This book deconstructs many dishes cooked in the Indian home, and suggests minor substitutions that make the recipes more amenable to an American kitchen. The book does assume that you will have access to spices such as cardamom pods, coriander seeds, garam masala, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, turmeric, and others that many home cooks do not keep readily available. Thankfully, because we live in the most diverse city in the US, I can get these things in bulk and very cheaply at the local ShopRite in town - and don't even need to make the 5 minute drive to Little India.
Many of the curries we have made from the cookbook have been successful. But last Sunday, after a meat-heavy meal at a Korean BBQ restaurant, we wanted and needed something lighter. We made Cholas (Indian chickpeas) and Matar Paneer (Sweet green peas and Indian cheese in a fragrant tomato sauce).
Where to buy (or how to make) paneer, you may ask? Well, we didn't. One of the secrets that Rutu has taught me is that firm tofu resembles paneer and can be a worthy and healthful substitute. We just browned the tofu in a pan until crisp on both sides, like this.
Meanwhile, for the chickpea dish, we layered flavors with onions, garlic, ginger, and a myriad of spices, until the mixture was caramelized and soft.
The recipe called for mango or pomegranate powder for tartness, but suggested lemon as a substitute. We used lemon and in place of long green chilis, went for the habaneros in our garden (!). They were extremely spicy, so we only used 1 in the entire pot.
For the mattar paneer, we used fresh Jersey tomatoes from the garden, sweet green peas, and a similarly complex array of spices cooked with the trifecta of onion, garlic and ginger. At the last minute, we cubed up the tofu masquerading as paneer, and slid it into the pot.
Here are our plates with both dishes and white rice. And the leftovers it made - some for the fridge, some for the freezer.
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