Business as Usual

I am dedicating this week to the doing of responsible adult things, like getting my ID renewed and dealing with my bank accounts. I've had a checking account with Bank of America since I left for school, and while I've never had any trouble dealing with them, I've been getting increasingly fed up with the crap they pull on their customer base. And now that I'm more or less settled in the area for the near future, it seemed like a good time to switch over to a local bank or a credit union, because seriously, fuck big banking. So my dad offered to take me around while we were out grocery shopping this afternoon, and now I have an account with the Bank of Albuquerque, and as soon as I get my debit card and make sure everything is working right, I'm going to transfer the rest of my money and close the other account. I also split some money off and put it into a 14-month CD - it won't be a huge return, but it still makes me feel weirdly grown-up to even have it.

This link from the Move Your Money project, incidentally, was really helpful in figuring out what I needed to do to get everything sorted out in changing banks.

I also have a recipe to share today! The weather here has been cold and grey and nasty (not as bad as the east coast, of course, but still pretty ugly for us, and we almost got snow last night!), so I've been experimenting with lots of spicy, hearty dishes to warm things up - I am really developing my braising, stewing, and curry skills a lot. This is a kind of amalgamation of a few different recipes I found for daeji bulgogi, using this recipe as a base. Don't be intimidated by how much chili paste it calls for! It's pretty spicy, but the pork is so rich you are only eating a little bit at a time, so it's not as hot as you'd think.

Braised Daeji Bulgogi

( tasty food under the cut )

Now that that's done with, I have opera to listen to. Thank you, livecast stream from the Met!