California, City-Dwelling, and Cheese

Happy Almost-Thanksgiving, American friends! As soon as the clock hits noon tomorrow, I am free for the rest of the week to eat, drink, and worry about nothing other than spending time with my friends and family. As with every year, I have friends coming into Chicago from all over the place, and (unique to this year) I have a husband coming in from California. I repeat, I have a husband coming in from California!

As of one week ago, Alastair has been living in Napa. The American headquarters of the international company that he works for is there, and they transferred him there without any problems. In about six months, he will make his way to Chicago to live. This means that we can actually live together as husband and wife. I don't even know what that feels like, because I have never had the chance to experience it.

While I could join him in Napa, I am very invested in my program and am going to finish it here no matter what it takes. We also need an urban environment at this time in our lives, so Chicago will be the best place for us.

Speaking of Chicago, I MOVED to Chicago! My friend Goda (who I have mentioned many times on this blog) just bought a 2-bedroom/bathroom condo on the north side of the city, and I'm living there with her until Al and I get our own place next year. I am deliriously happy living there, because it's such a fun and vibrant area. I have my car here, but I never need to drive anywhere since there are buses and trains at my disposal. Gosh, Chicago is such a wonderful city. 

Since Goda just bought her place, she had a "condowarming" wine and cheese party.  Do you remember her wine and cheese party earlier this year?

She had the same creative wine glass labels. 

She worked all day on preparing the food, too. One culinary hit was the pineapple cheese ball with ham. 

There were multi-colored corn chips, guacamole, and chocolate-covered blueberries (those balls were my contribution!). 

As expected, there was also cheese all around us. 

Of course, I made sure to sample everything. 

I think that the Toscano cheese sprinkled with cinnamon was my favorite cheese of the night. It was sweet and tangy and gave a very unexpected but surprisingly delicious touch with the cinnamon topping. 

My other favorite was the Mediterranean bruschetta that had chopped tomatoes, cucumber, olive oil, and feta cheese. This, spooned onto bread, was heavenly. 

We also ate cheese and spinach quiches. Yum! 

As always, Goda's wine and cheese party was a success. I didn't go out afterwards like I did last time (I had to study all of the next day for my nutrition science class), but I did wake up well-rested and ready to learn the following day.

One of the best parts about living with Goda is that I get to sample the left-over cheese from the fridge. Oh man. I really love my life right now. Let's just get my husband to Chicago!

I hope that everybody has a wonderful and safe holiday!