Monday, July 14, 2014

Back In The Nest

I'm going to state something really obvious: Moving to a foreign country is a lot of work. Moving in itself is exhausting, but when your new home lies thousands of miles away and includes a language barrier, things get a lot more daunting. 
With our plane departing in 23 days, we are in the thick of it right now. 


We've miraculously been able to pare down our things into a small stack of relatively manageable boxes for packing and shipping. Whatever doesn't make it into our suitcases now will stay in storage or arrive on our doorstep in a couple month's time. It's remarkable how, even when trying to live a minimalist lifestyle, stuff accumulates so fast. Packing is always fun until I get to the inevitable last smattering of miscellaneous stuff that I don't want but can't throw out. 

Read more at Where You Wander!

Monday, July 7, 2014

Introducing Where You Wander!

In the meantime, I am thrilled to launch my new website, Where You Wander. Where You Wander is a mix of all the things I love, and love to share: travel, food, and good stories. Bookmark this page, and check back regularly (daily!) for news, blog posts, travel tips, featured stories, and recipes. 



For those of you who followed our blog back when Jacob and I were traveling, this site is the snazzy revamped version for our new adventure. What is that new adventure you ask?

Jacob and I are moving to Vienna, Austria!

As of August 6th, Jacob and I will be leaving California to continue our life adventure as we move to Vienna, Austria. Throughout our 6 months of travel in Europe we had "scouted" for a place we may want to settle down (for however long). Though we stayed in Vienna for the shortest time of any place we visited, the city instantly made an impression on both of us - one we haven't been able to shake in the two years since. 

Enter your email address as well to sign up for email updates whenever a new post is published. Also make sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @wywander for daily Travel Tip tweets and photos from our day to day in Vienna. I am looking forward to sharing our experiences and stories with you, and hope you will join us for what promises to be an incredible journey!  

Sunday, July 6, 2014

A New Adventure

Hello world!

It's been a long silence, and many of you are probably wondering what in the world Jacob and I are up to. Well - I'm happy to announce that big things are very, very close on the horizon! The big announcement is coming tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM, PST.

In the meantime, mosey on over to my new site, Where You Wander, for news, travel tips, stories, and recipes. This blog will still get it's updates, but Where You Wander will be the home of all the action.

The big announcement is coming tomorrow, so hang on tight!


Monday, March 17, 2014

Recipe: Baked Eggs with Poblano Pepper and Crab

Growing up, our refrigerator was always half empty.

It wasn't empty for lack of food, but rather for the lack of easily accessible prepared foods that could be eaten at a moment's notice. My siblings and I would help my mom unpack her latest haul from Costco, only to see it disappear into the freezer or pantry, hardly seeming to make a dent.

"I don't buy food, I buy ingredients," my mom would quip when we whined about the lack of junky snack options. Of course she was right - there was always plenty to eat, but finding it required creativity. For my mother, and subsequently, me, cooking from an "empty" refrigerator is a favorite game.

This past Saturday morning I played the game again, landing on a Poblano pepper, goat cheese, and some crab meat (left over from Jacob's birthday dinner) as the inspiration for an elegant brunch dish. If only I'd had the supplies for Mimosa's as well!

   

Baked Eggs with Poblano Pepper and Crab


2 Eggs
1 Poblano Pepper, washed, seeded, and halved lengthwise 
1/3 cup Yellow Onion, diced
1/2 cup Crab Meat
1.5 oz. Goat Cheese, crumbled
1/4 tsp. Chili Powder
1 Tbs. Mayonnaise 
Pinch of Herbs de Provence
Salt
Pepper

Set oven to Broil on "high", positioning a rack in the top third of the oven. Place the peppers on a baking sheet, cut-side down, and broil until skin is bubbly and seared, about 5 minutes. Remove peppers from oven and peel off any large spots of charred skin from peppers. 

Sauté the diced onion in a small skillet with a bit of butter, until onion is softened. In a bowl, stir together the onion, mayonnaise, chili powder, and herbs de Provence. Add the goat cheese and crab meat to the bowl, picking through the crab meat to remove any small pieces of shell that remain. Fold all ingredients together, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. 

To assemble: place one half of the roasted pepper, skin-side down, in a 4-inch ovenproof ramekin. Fill the ramekin with half of the crab mixture, using your thumb to form a slight well in the center of the crab meat. Crack an egg into the ramekin, ensuring not to break the yolk (the well in the crab will help to keep the egg centered). Sprinkle with additional goat cheese crumbles and any fresh herbs that catch your fancy (I used thyme). 

Repeat assembly process with the second ramekin. 

With the oven still set to Broil, bake the eggs for 5-7 minutes, until the top of the eggs are set and the cheese is golden-brown. Turn off the broiler and allow the eggs to set in the residual heat for another 2 minutes. (This step can be adjusted depending, on how runny you like your eggs). 

Serve warm with an english muffin, and a Mimosa! Serves 2. 



http://www.whereyouwander.com/baked-eggs-with-poblano-pepper-and-crab

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Resurrection of a Blog

By the time our grand 6-month adventure ended in January 2013, I had fallen in love with writing.

I used to love writing as a little girl, spending long afternoons penning sappy poems about magical ponies. As I grew older my attention shifted away from poetry and towards fairytales. Then, as a teenager, my family moved across country to San Diego. Somehow, in a new world of hot concrete and palm trees, all the words slipped out and disappeared. I began taking pictures instead.

My last year in college I began my Senior Art Thesis in photography, and quickly found that I had been lying to myself. I didn't love photography the way that my peers did. I never "just had to photograph something". For me, photography only served a purpose as an effective way to tell a story - but if that same story could be better told in words, or theater, or sculpture, then that was just as good.

Why am I tell you all of this? Well, I want to set the stage for something new.

This blog was started with the goal sharing our travels and stories, but it morphed into a much larger endeavor. It awoke my passion for writing once more. Jacob and I may be stateside for the time being, but I want to continue telling those stories. I want to be a author. A travel and memoir writer, to be specific.

There. I said it.

I've written a book. (Which apparently you have LOVED! How incredible is that?? I've been bowled over the reviews I've received. It is truly humbling.) My first (of many, I hope) articles has been published in Converge Magazine.

I wanted to tell you, in no uncertain terms, that this blog will continue. That is my vow to you, and I hope you join me on this adventure!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Sneak Peak!

 How it starts...


  For two hours we watched endless flat vistas of trees and lakes go by. Our line ended in the middle of nowhere, a train station surrounded by wilderness. A cheerful man holding a little girl with blonde ringlets and no shoes greeted us. His name was Tomas, she was PJ – half of the family we would be spending our next month with.

We had never met this family before – only sporadic emails in the months leading up to our departure. We had been connected through a website that provided work-abroad opportunities to volunteers. Jacob and I wanted to go to Sweden, and this family needed help around their house. It was a risk, but one we were excited to take.  

Upon arriving in Sweden, our first priority was to buy ice cream. According to Tomas, Swedes love their ice cream, and it was the only proper way to welcome us to the country. Twenty minutes later, even deeper into forested countryside, we arrived at their home, a 100 year old, 25 room converted schoolhouse. I say schoolhouse - but think of it more as the Bennett’s house from Pride and Prejudice: grand in it’s expansiveness, but drafty and worn down. 

The house was tucked away from the road, surrounded by trees, with a river edging the backyard. One side of the yard had been transformed into an impressively productive vegetable garden, while the other side had overgrown into masses of raspberry bushes.
The house smelled like raw wood and yeast. Everything inside was recycled, homespun, and appeared to be undergoing constant renovation. Somehow, however, it was all remarkably pretty. Reindeer moss and curious little blue rocks decorated windowsills and bedside tables. Doors were painted with swirling flower designs and homemade art adorned the walls. 

Shortly after arriving we were called to eat. Dinner was made up of vegetables picked from the garden, fish caught from the river in the backyard, and homemade bread, all laid out on a trestle table underneath a tree. The evening air was warm and the grass was soft beneath our feet.

Jacob and I were experiencing a bit of shock. Just 24 hours earlier we had left San Diego, our bags packed with everything we could need for our 6-month journey. On paper we had been preparing for this trip for months, but in reality this trip was years in the making. Even before Jacob and I met and fell in love we knew we wanted to travel. We knew we wanted to travel with someone we loved, and we knew that this, only months after our wedding, was potentially the only time we could pick up our lives and leave without a care. 

I have the fortune of being born into dual citizenship, with an American father and French mother. Jacob likewise has dual citizenship, with an American mother and Swiss father. This afforded us an opportunity not available to many – we were free to travel as citizens of the EU, having family and friends scattered throughout Europe. As such, we could spend longer in Europe than most Americans are allowed, and hop from country to country, throwing ourselves on the hospitality of friends and family. Mid-air to Europe we had switched our passports, leaving as Americans and arriving as Europeans. In a way we felt like we had dropped off the map. As far as America would know, Jacob and I had simply vanished in thin air. 

Our destination in Sweden didn’t just feel like another country however, it felt like entering a storybook. From palm trees and sun-bleached concrete we found ourselves among cool pines and creaky wooden stairs.  


To be continued in the book...







Friday, July 26, 2013

Art Show

Hello friends! 

At long last, a new post on the blog! 

Many of you were recently blasted with announcements of the two Art Shows I held in San Diego. I exhibited 20 prints, as well as custom made stationary designed by a talented friend and artist, Chris Wright. (For a peek at his work and some awesome design freebies, check out his website: http://creativewright.com/)

The shows went incredibly well - better than I could have hoped. Thank you once again to all of my dear friends who showed me such support and love! 

For those of you not in the area, I wanted to share the photographs there were exhibited, as well as open up the opportunity to order prints. The descriptions, sizing and pricing accompanies each image below. I am happy to take custom-size orders as well. Please let me know if anything catches your eye! 

Feel free to email me directly at white.chelsea@gmail.com if you have any questions or requests. :) 

Keep an eye out as well, as the book is in it's final stages! I will be releasing sneak-peaks in the near future, with plans of having it printed in the fall. It has been wonderful to see everything come together!

Thanks again, my friends, for your overwhelming support! I am so grateful for you and your encouragement with these projects. It honestly would never have happened without that encouragement. 

Thank you!!







In summer, the trees in the South of France are filled with fruit. A walk
down almost any road will take you past trees laden with plums, apricots,
cherries, and figs. These figs were pulled off a tree during an evening walk,
paired with strong Bleu cheese, and homemade liquor given to us by an
elderly neighbor.


8 x 8 in. print, $15






This forest path was in the “Valley of the Snakes” the most fairytale-like
place we saw in all of our travels. The area was designated as an old growth
forest – left untouched for hundreds or thousands of years. The result was
a patch of forest that felt almost magical, like at any turn you could find a
gnome popping up from behind a moss covered rock.

8 x 10 in. print, $20






In a little village up in the mountains of coastal Turkey, we passed by a
weaver’s shop, with the wares displayed on a wall. The whole scene was
such a picture of Turkey: the warmth, the vibrant colors, the dust, and the
sun – but also somehow peaceful, free from the usual masses of people
while out on the streets of Turkey.


8 x 10 in. print, $20






Located on the Rhine, this town is a classic example of a medieval Swiss
town. The picture was taken from an ancient fortress that once surveyed
the surroundings for approaching danger. The rolling hills and deep green
of the landscape is typical in that area of Switzerland, even in the midst of
winter.

8 x 10 in. print, $20






While in Sweden, our neighbor invited us to come and harvest the currant
bushes in his yard. It took 8 people almost 4 hours to pick the currant
bushes clean. We walked home pulling wheelbarrows overflowing with 80
pounds of red, black, and white currants.

8 x 10 in. print, $20






Umbrellas set up on small local beaches on the edge of the Aegean Sea.
We arrived in a small town named Ozdere just as it began to shut down
after the holiday season. Even in November the water was clear and warm,
the air was hot, and everything was perfect for long lazy days spent on the
water.

8 x 10 in. print, $20


Cappadocia is an incredible, surreal landscape, rich with Christian
history. We woke in the morning to a sound like waves crashing on the
shore. Walking out to our hotel terrace, we saw the hot air balloons rising
just as dawn was breaking over the horizon.

10 x 15 in. print, $25






Ancient Roman canals in Nimes, France. The canals cut through the city,
culminating in the Jardins de Fontaine, a Roman Bath in the city center.
Along with the baths, Nimes is well known for its Coliseum, a source of
great pride for the locals. While the Coliseum in Rome is open only for
visiting, the Coliseum in Nimes still regularly hosts music festivals and bull
fights.


10 x 15 in. print, $25






The lake of Lucerne, in Switzerland, just as night was falling. Our day had
been alternately snowy and rainy – until the evening, as the lights of the
city were just beginning to appear. The clouds and fog parted and we had
our first glimpse of the Alps, visible for the first time across the lake.


10 x 15 in. print, $25






The canals of Ghent, Belgium. Many cities in western Belgium are striped
with canals, often studded with boats and that sail in and out of the
waterways. Ghent is a vibrant University City, and home to an incredible
amount of cathedrals – we came across four while walking down just one
street.


10 x 15 in. print, $25






On the upper terrace of the castle overlooking Bamberg, Germany. The
view spans over the entire city, also known as the “Venice of Germany”.
Bamberg is known as the “Venice of Germany”, a quaint University City
where the buildings are all painted bright colors and decorated with ornate
carvings.

10 x 15 in. print, $25






A streetscape in Brussels, in the heart of the city. The old town city square
is a mass of ornate buildings, flecked with gold accents that catch the light
of the sun. The architecture reflects the blend of cultures that make up
Belgium – Dutch sensibility and French panache.


11 x 14 in. print, $30






The canals in Brugge, an idyllic town in Belgium. The town feels like a place
from a story book - perfect little scenes of a quaint life. Peaceful waterscapes,
manicured gardens, old fashioned Dutch houses, and a quiet little convent
make up the sleepy little town.


11 x 14 in. print, $30






A Wishing Tree in Cappadocia, Turkey. People come to the tree and write
their wishes (often for love) on a scrap of fabric and tie it to the tree.
Tradition states that once the fabric falls off the tree, that person’s wish will
be granted.


11 x 14 in. print, $30






Looking down into the water in Sweden. Our area of Sweden was filled
with hundreds of lakes – every walk down a new road eventually led to a
lake more beautiful than the last. As much as we enjoyed the beauty and
our afternoons relaxing on the docks, we only ever braved swimming in
the cold waters once.


11 x 14 in. print, $30






The old courthouse in Bamberg, Germany, dating from the early 1400s.
The building is built in the midst of a bridge, straddling a river, hanging
over the edge of the water. Bamberg is known as the “Venice of Germany”,
a quaint University City where the buildings are all painted bright colors
and decorated with ornate carvings.

12 x 18 in. print, $35






Overlooking a valley in Cappadocia, a surreal landscape formed by porous
volcanic rock eroded down over thousands of years. Ancient Christians
built their homes and churches into the caves of this landscape, even going
so far as to dig underground cities during times of persecution.


12 x 18 in. print, $35






Ancient Roman canals in Nimes, France. The canals cut through the city,
culminating in the Jardins de Fontaine, a Roman Bath in the city center.
Along with the baths, Nimes is well known for its Coliseum, a source of
great pride for the locals. While the Coliseum in Rome is open only for
visiting, the Coliseum in Nimes still regularly hosts music festivals and bull
fights.


12 x 18 in. print, $35






Cappadocia is an incredible, surreal landscape, rich with Christian
history. We woke in the morning to a sound like waves crashing on the
shore. Walking out to our hotel terrace, we saw the hot air balloons rising
just as dawn was breaking over the horizon.


12 x 18 in. print, $35