ABOUT THE BLOGGERS

Danielle and Rory are newlyweds living in Philadelphia, where they moved from their native Minnesota. They came to Philly for law school at Drexel University, but currently only Danielle has remained strong in her quest. She recently reached the end of her first year, and is now a legal rock star! For the summer she is interning at Philadelphia VIP (see post of February 26, "Spotlight: Philadelphia VIP"). Rory dropped out and is now working for a federal contractor as a writer. Check out the blog, where these happily-married white kids post about their adventures in food, a little travel, and then some more well-earned food. Sometimes, when Rory is asleep, Danielle even throws in some posts about crafts and other boring things, if you're into that.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Spotlight: Philadelphia VIP

I am very pleased and excited to announce to all our blog readers that I recently accepted a summer internship position with Philadelphia VIP. While this means that we will not be back in Minnesota for the summer, it is a huge burden off my shoulders to have our summer plans at least half figured out.


In honor of my impending internship, and because I already have a spotlight segment on the blog, today's post will shine a spotlight on the work of Philadelphia VIP.
Philadelphia VIP stands for the Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program. You are all probably much smarter than me, but just in case you also did not know what Indigent meant (I just learned it earlier this school year), here is the definition from dictionary.com:  Experiencing want or need; impoverished (as an adjective);  A needy or destitute person (as a noun).


The organization carries out its mission of  "promot[ing] equal justice for the poor by providing civil legal services not otherwise available, collaborating with other legal services organizations and promoting a culture of volunteerism by educating and exposing attorneys and law students to issues of poverty." Basically, this means that Philly VIP accepts referrals from a couple of the area legal aid services; determines if the client's issues are legal; and if the issue is best resolved through the legal process, facilitates the handling of the case by a private or public lawyer in need of a pro bono project. All lawyers are required to continue doing pro bono hours after practice because the American Bar Association (ABA) wants lawyers to give back to the community.


Throughout the process, Philadelphia VIP is responsible for the initial prep work, follow up with both the client and the lawyer on the case, and providing any educational materials the lawyer or client may need on the issue. The types of cases fall into four general categories: 1) Supporting Family Stability; 2) Preventing Homelessness; 3) Maintaining Family Income; and 4) Promoting Community Economic Development. The specific issues within these categories range from child custody to mortgage foreclosure to small business or nonprofit organization and everything in between. 


Another important aspect of the work, besides promoting volunteerism within the legal community, is the educational aspect. This takes two forms. First, Philadelphia VIP helps train lawyers on the specific issues facing the clients to better prepare the lawyers to take on the cases pro bono. Second, Philadelphia VIP prepares educational materials for the clients themselves if the issue is one which may be settled pro se (that is if the client can represent him/herself in the matter). 


Finally, the organization has an understanding that not all issues are best solved through the legal process. Therefore, if the specific client issue is best pursued through non-legal avenues,  Philadelphia VIP works with the client to find and refer out to other nonprofit service providers that are not legal in nature.


So, you may be wondering what all of this means for me and what my position will look like this summer. Well, the variety of experiences I expect to gain from this position is the biggest reason I decided to take the position. I will get to work on a minimal amount of direct client interaction through the intake process (my Spanish skills may come in useful at this stage!). Then, a lot of my work will be doing the initial preparation on client cases - meaning that I will be responsible for doing the initial research to see if the issue is best resolved legally or non-legally, and if legally what are the major issues involved in the case and the next steps. If the client will be pro se in a case, or there is a type of issue that comes up often, I will be responsible for developing the client educational pieces around these issues. Additionally, Philadelphia VIP works hard to structure the internship so that the interns can get out of the office and into the community - going to other nonprofits, court hearings, re-entry programs, lawyer meetings, etc. They really want to get the interns exposed to many different areas and fields and be making connections within the community.


Anyways, I think Philadelphia VIP is doing some great work in the community and I am very excited to be a part of it this summer!


Cheers,
Danielle

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

In New York

Salutations! Danielle and I recently returned from a stupendous weekend getaway to New York and would like to share our stories with you! It was a quick trip, but hey: it's New York, so the stories are never in short supply.

Our adventure began on Saturday, when we took the 11:30am Bolt Bus from Philly to Manhattan. We had, erm, slept in a little, so we were rushed getting to the bus. I was thus cranky from not having any coffee, and we hadn't eaten anything by the time we got off the bus at 1:30pm. SO I made a stop at Dunkin Donuts, and we stopped to share a slice of New York pepperoni and ricotta pizza, which was super duper delicious. With our refreshments in hand, and my headache fading, we began a walk up to Central Park. We had tickets to see Chicago at the Ambassador Theater at 8pm, so we had decided to spend our time before the show walking Central Park. We also stopped at a pharmacy to pick up some batteries for the camera. Finally, about 15 blocks later, we made it to the park. It was a beautiful, bright day, and pretty warm for February. We didn't even bring jackets!

Danielle with the NY Pizza at Times Square (plus one of our favorite T.V. shows is in the background).

Rory in front of a sweet tree bridge at Central Park.

No idea what this building is, but thought it looked cool through the trees at Central Park.

Danielle in front of the large lake at Central Park (and there is a wedding party taking pictures in the background :).

After walking through some of the park, we made our way west to 9th Ave, home of our favorite NY hang-out: Empanada Mama! Empanada Mama serves, obviously, delicious empanadas and great pitchers of red wine sangria for decent prices. The place is tiny and crowded, but absolutely worth the experience. We timed our date at Empanada Mama poorly, so by the time we had paid we still had plenty of time before the show. We decided to check out Times Square, where we (Danielle) did some shopping at Forever 21, Swatch, and Fossil. I will admit that it was a success: Danielle found a sexy yellow dress :) FOR CHEAP :D We also saw a dude walking an awesome goat with a NY stocking hat on.

Finally, it was time for our show. Chicago is a fun musical if you can get past the adult content. I remember enjoying the movie several years ago, but I would guess any musical is better live (at least if it is live on Broadway). We had a blast, and I've been singing "All That Jazz" for three days! I won't get into detail about the show, but I should mention that our seats were third row from the back of the theater in the balcony, but once the show started I forgot all about that. It was wonderful.
Sorry it's blurry! In front of Chicago Poster.
If you can't tell, the red sign in the background is for Chicago


Inside the Ambassador.











After Chicago, we went to Dave and Buster's near Times Square: we didn't get a hotel room, and our bus back to Philly was scheduled to leave at 6:30am on Sunday, so we needed to burn a few hours. We had also looked up movie theaters in the area and wanted to see Safe House at 12:50am...long story short, the wait at D&B was ridonculous, so we played a few games, got ripped off on tickets (meaning we didn't do well), and then left after buying two $10 bacardi/cokes. Instead of continuing to wait, we grabbed a table right away at Applebee's, ate quickly, and then just barely made the end of the previews before Safe House. I thought the movie was pretty good. Danielle and I are Ryan Reynolds fans, and throw in Denzel and it's like forget about it! Unfortunately for us, the movie let out a little before 3am, so we still had a while before our bus came.

A couple police officers on the corner outside the movie theater pointed us to an all-night diner a few blocks away, so we headed over there. I have to say that I have never eaten as slowly as I did at that diner. It was surprisingly packed, and we did not want to have to find another place to go. We stretched out Danielle's cheesecake and my eggs and pastrami for over two hours. Finally, we decided it was time to leave and headed to the bus station. We found a few pharmacies to hang around, and read magazines until the Megabus finally arrived. Once in our comfy seats in the second level of the double decker, we both crashed, not waking up again until our stop.

What a crazy trip! New York is a fun city, though, and totally worth it. After we got home and slept it off, Sunday evening it was back to real life, and again back to same old same old with school:( So that's all for now, folks. Happy Lent starting tomorrow, and be kind.

-Rory and Danielle

Monday, February 20, 2012

The Soup

Just in case anyone is interested in having the soup recipe from our Valentine's Day Dinner because Rory and I loved it so much, here it is: http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/rlentil.htm


Red Lentil and Apricot Soup
Description: Please To The Table CookbookThis is one of my favorite fall soup recipes. It's easy to make and tastes great.
I found it in a cookbook called Please to the Table that specializes in Russian Food.
This soup is great on it's own, but I like to use it as a sauce for pumpkin raviolis that are available at my neighborhood pasta store only at this time of year.
Reluctant Gourmet’s Tips :
Using a hand blender to puree the soup in step 4 is easier than transferring to food processor.
Red Lentil and Apricot Soup
makes 6 servings
INGREDIENTS
  • Description: red lentil soup recipe3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped
  • 1-1/2 cup dried split red lentils, rinsed
  • 5 cups of homemade chicken stock
  • 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 3 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
PREP WORK
Chop the garlic & onions.
Chop the apricots.
Rince the red lentils being sure to remove any small pebbles.
Peel, seed & chop the plum tomatoes
You are ready to start cooking this wonderful soup.
HOW TO MAKE AT HOME
1. In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and dried apricots. Sauté until the onion is translucent, about 12 minutes.
2. Add the lentils to the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.
3. Stir in tomatoes, cumin, thyme, and salt and pepper. Simmer, covered for another 10 minutes.
4. Remove half the soup and puree it in a food processor or blender. Return the puree to the pot and season with the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for another 2 to three minutes and serve.


Tuesday, February 14, 2012

A Birthday Valentine

Hello Everyone!

We are currently celebrating many happy occasions - this time in February has always been a big time for us.

Last week marked the 5 year point in our relationship. Wow - 5 years! That is more than 1/5 of our entire lives now spent together.

This week we celebrated Rory's 24th birthday and I thank God that I've had one more whole year with the love of my life! I tried very hard to make Rory feel like a special birthday guy even though it was a Monday and we had to be in school. I let him pick anything he wanted for dinner, and he picked two types of Suddenly Salad and sandwiches. It was a very good choice, and very Rory-ish. Then, I let him take a birthday nap. And, he got to open all the cards and gifts that people sent him. So, thank you to our parents, Auntie Kathy and Uncle Mike, and Auntie Debbie and Dale for sending cards. Here are some pictures of the event:


 
Then, today and tonight we celebrated Valentine's Day!  I only have one class on Tuesdays, so rather than go out and spend lots of money Rory let me plan a fancy dinner to make at our apartment. I skipped home after class with a smile on my face as I made a few last minute purchases (bread and a rose). Once home, I got busy turning the table into a fancy restaurant scene. Complete with centerpiece (hence the rose) and a fancy table setting. Check it out:

I took a piece of pretty scrapbook paper and put it in this silver frame, then I put the rose on top of it, sprinkled paper hearts that I had punched out of red paper, and finished it off by placing candles at each edge of the picture frame. I even took out some of our fancy dinner plates to make a two-toned effect to the place settings. I love this stuff!

Next, I got busy with the meal preparation. I would not do this every day but, for every once in a while, it was a very pleasant way to spend 3.5 hours. I turned on some tunes and got busy. I wanted it to be just like if we had gone out to a fancy restaurant and spent lots of money. So, I decided that 4 courses would do the trick, all of which were accompanied by freshly made italian garlic bread (thank you day old Jimmy John's bread).
Course 1: Red Lentil Apricot soup (which in our case ended up being split yellow pea apricot soup because the grocery store didn't have split red lentils). This was the first time I made the soup - I found the recipe online and looked for a pureed type of soup. We thought it was very good, and Rory even told me to make sure I "hold on to that recipe."
Course 2: A classic caesar salad, but with a Danielle twist. It had the romaine, some italian cheese, and the dressing like normal. I just punched it up with some red onion and carrot - I love when my food is colorful (makes me feel healthier)!
Course 3: Main entree! New York style pork chop (so a wine based marinade/sauce with onions, thyme, garlic, and parsley) over a white/wild rice mix served with a side of asparagus topped with bearnaise sauce.














Course 4: The to-die-for course; dessert of course! Honest to goodness, homemade from scratch CHOCOLATE MOUSSE! I had made imitation mousse in the Magic Bullet before, but this was the real deal - the actual rich, delicious mousse that you get when you go out. This was served in a martini glass with a strawberry on top.

After all that food, we retired to the living room to sit on the couch, drink some after dinner coffee, and write this post while our food settled.

And, as Rory's Valentine's gift to me, he is going to do the dishes while I watch Glee! Then we can both watch New Girl together.  After that it will be bed time, and back to the normal drone of school. (At least we have New York and Broadway to look forward to this weekend- look for a post on Sunday or Monday of that adventure!) But, for now we will just relax and relish in the romance for a little longer.

Hope you all are having as "sweet" a Valentine's Day as we are.

Sending you all our love, hugs, and kisses-
Danielle, and Rory

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Law Student Life

I don't usually like to poach people's ideas, and I am also anti-cheesy jokes and "memes" (hopefully that's the proper usage: we just learned that word), but one of our classmates posted this picture on Facebook and we thought it was pretty accurate, had to share:


Saturday, February 11, 2012

Second Weekend in February

What up Blog fans!? I hope this post finds you all well and in good spirits. Spring is around the corner, the days are getting longer, and the 2012 political race is getting exciting! So you have nothing to frown about:)

Life has been par for the course the last couple weeks: not too much to report. Last Saturday Danielle spent her first day volunteering at the Migrant Farmworkers Tax Clinic in Kennett Square, PA. I actually started writing this post from my phone, waiting in the car for D to get done. Today we are back in Kennett Square and I am GOING TO FINISH THIS POST! Even though there is very little to talk about, I have been too busy during the weeks to post. Right now I am actually at the local library typing on my computer, so that is easier than on the phone, too, so...double motivation, I guess- weekend + computer. Hopefully Danielle can provide us all with an update of how the tax clinic is going, but I do know that she has enjoyed that she is actually scheduled as a Spanish INTERPRETER! Very exciting. So she gets double skills in Spanish and taxes. Which reminds me that big news in our life is that our taxes and FAFSAs are completed, so that's cool. Granted Danielle and her dad did like all the work for that, and my parents had to gather up and send out all of my documents, but it was stressful for me to watch all the people I love working so hard to make me money.

Besides that, the Superbowl was last Sunday, and I watched it with a couple of friends since Danielle felt sick. Not too exciting. I didn't even see a single one of the commercials. I guess I was too busy talking and eating. So that was okay...

Then this week Danielle had an interview for a summer position at Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent, which is an organization that provides legal services for low-income members of the community.  Maybe she can write a "Spotlight" on VIP if she gets the job. She can write about that and her tax clinic.

Also, it is finally snowing today! We have had snow I guess a couple other times this year, but this is probably the realest one, where the snow is sort of accumulating. It was definitely messy driving out to Kennett Square because it is still warm enough to be melty, but everything is white and beautiful and fluffy...just like me!

Also also, last night after school Danielle and I drove out to Shamong, NJ, for a tour and wine tasting at Valenzano Winery's newest facility. It was a fun event that we heard about through Groupon, and besides the wine and tour they had live music, a cheese/goodies plate for each guest, and a FREE BOTTLE OF WINE! Woohoo! Double excitement, because the free bottle was a 2008 Cabernet/Merlot, which Danielle is not a fan of, so that's two for Big R!

Finally, unless I am forgetting something else, a little over a week ago Danielle and I went out with another couple (what up Sammy and Ben Peterson!) for Philadelphia's "Center City Restaurant Week," an event in which downtown fancy-pants restaurants offer 3-course dinners for $35. If you can get a reservation, there are tons of restaurants that participate, presumably all are amazing. We went to Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse, featuring, besides amazing food, an awesome wine rack that can sort of be viewed in the photo on the left. The wine rack is the three-story column with a spiral staircase in the middle of the building, which apparently used to be a big 'ol bank. That place is so fancy, they even have bathroom attendants who dispense the soap, give you towels, and offer you samples of cologne. I didn't get offered any cologne, but Ben said he did. The counter around the sinks is like a convenience store! I don't even want to know how much something like a bottle of cologne would cost there. It's way different than my life experience, where things you buy in a bathroom are generally discounted.

Well I guess that is all friends. Be kind and take care of yourselves.

Love,
Rory and Danielle