Resumes #50 thru ??

 

As the days of August quietly vanish like stars at daybreak, the sense of desperation for finding another job seems to compound exponentially every night after dinner as I sit with my laptop on - where else - my lap, on the couch, next to my husband as he either watches TV or plays video games.

Rather than waiting (impatiently) for job postings on my 3 go-to sites - Archinect, AIALA, and Craigslist - anymore, I've decided to go the proactive route.

I go to the directory of every architect/firm registered with the AIA (American Institute of Architects) and, starting from Z (because I figure other hunters started from A - suckas!), I go to the website of each architect or firm, discover their email address - sometimes they even have actual job opportunities listed, although most don't and just have the generic "we're always looking for talent blah blah don't hesitate to send us your examples of work and resume blah blah" - and write a semi-custom cover letter, attach my resume/ref letter/samples of work, and click "Send".

I have very little criteria for the types of firms I send my resume to - they could specialize in hospitals, schools, restaurant chains, corporate interiors, or houses (hey, I know houses!) They range from one architect working out of his home (hey, what have I got to lose?) to international firms with 6 worldwide offices (fat chance - but, hey, what have I got to lose?).  There have only been 2 places out of the first 23 listings on the directory that I didn't send a resume to - one was a 1-man shop in San Dimas, and the other was a 4-man shopping mall design team in Santa Fe Springs with pictures on their website that looked like they were taken in the 80s.

Having had to work all 5 days last week (I know, poor me!), I had very little time & energy when I got home to job hunt.  So over the weekend, and today, I've been a very busy bee sending out resume after resume - cover letter after cover letter - explaining to this Human Resources Manager and that Office Director how I would be a vital member of their team and hit the ground running with my strong set of technical skills even though I lack practical experience in their firm's specific field of architecture...

Didn't you know I've always wanted to work in Urban Planning/Retail Design/Office Interiors/Waste Management Facility Design/Healthcare Campuses????

Like, since forever!

Mandoo Can-Do

Mandoo is the Korean word for dumpling.

Gun mandoo is pan-fried (or grilled) - think gyoza at a Japanese restaurant.
Mool mandoo (mool means water) is boiled - think wonton soup. 
Jjim mandoo is steamed - like the famous Din Tai Fung dumplings. 
And Tuigim mandoo is deep-fried - like the crumpled-up-napkin-shape wontons you get with American Chinese take-out. 

I hadn't made mandoo since I was a youngster - helping my Grandma, sitting/squatting on newspaper strewn across the kitchen floor, with a giant stainless steel bowl filled with stuffing, what seemed like thousands of lightly-floured mandoo skins, and a bowl of egg wash.  I've always wanted to make mandoo on my own, but always forgot to buy the skins, forgot to buy ground meat, excuses, excuses, excuses.

Finally - all the stars & planets aligned, and I made mandoo for the first time - all by myself - last weekend.

I had gone to the Korean market earlier in the week and bought fresh ground beef & pork (the ground beef was $0.99/pound!), remembered to buy the skins, and picked up some kimchi & super cheap green onions (usually 10 bunches for $1).

When my mom and grandma made mandoo - I don't remember exactly what ingredients (nor in what proportions) they used, but I think I did a pretty good job of eyeballing it.  Here's my ingredient list, to the best of my estimation...


INGREDIENTS:
1/2# ground beef
1/2# ground pork
1 bunch green onions - washed, drained & diced (about 3/4 cup)
1 cup diced kimchi
1 egg
Egg wash (I happened to have just egg whites leftover from a custard recipe - you can use a traditional egg wash of 1 whole egg & some water)
salt
white pepper
oil & water for frying

Step 1:
Mix ground meats, diced green onions, kimchi & 1 whole egg in a bowl.  (The best way to this is by hand - I wore a disposable plastic glove just like Mom.  Grandma always dug in, bare-knuckle.)  Season to taste with salt & pepper. (Warning: Ingestion of raw meat and dairy products is not recommended by the FDA and may cause illness - but my mom does it all the time... just be careful & consider yourself forewarned.)

Step 2:
Prep a cookie tray or baking sheet, lined with wax paper.  Open package of "potsticker/wonton skins" or comparable product (or make your own). Prepare egg wash in a small bowl.

Step 3:
Get into the groove! Peel off a skin, spoon approximately 2/3 Tablespoon of stuffing into the middle of the skin in an oval shape. Dip your finger in the egg wash and moisten edges of half the circumference (2 of 4 sides if using the square skins).  Starting from the middle - join 2 opposite edges and smooth together to make a nice half-moon shape.

Repeat until you've used up all the skins or all the stuffing - whichever comes first!  I had stuffing leftover and made little patties (thinking back, I should have dumped the rest of the egg whites and some flour in too, so they'd stick together better... but they tasted just fine albeit crumbly!)

Step 4:
After heating up a small amount of oil (less than 1 Ts) in a large pan/skillet, I fried the meat patties first.  I did this deliberately to get the pan/oil "dirty" for better coloring on the gun mandoo.

Then I started freaming (this is what I call the method of frying in oil & water at the same time) the mandoo.  With a little bit of oil in the pan, I placed 3-4 mandoo (don't crowd them) in the pan - then added a splash of water and covered with a lid.  Depending on how fatty your mandoo are (and mine were bursting at the seams) - adjust the flame strength and cooking time per side.

I kept my flame on medium-low and cooked each side for 3-4 minutes.

If you start out with a "clean" pan/oil - you don't get that great browning - but rest assured they are just as good!

I fried up 8-9 mandoo for me and the Spouse's brunch.  The rest I stored with layers of wax paper between and froze.  They'll be good pan-fried, dropped in with some ramen, or steamed at a later date.   I think they should definitely keep for up to a month (if not up to 3 months) in the freezer.

For the ones we ate immediately, I whipped up my usual dumpling/jun dipping sauce:

INGREDIENTS:
1 part soy sauce
2/3 part rice vinegar
Splash of mirin
Splash of sesame oil
Sprinkle of sesame seeds
Dash of gochugaru (red chili pepper powder)

Stir briskly together & enjoy!

49 resumes, 4 interviews, 1 part-time job

I know, forty-nine resumes doesn't sound like a lot.  But that's due to the fact that there are probably 5-6 job postings per week. Of those 5-6 postings, I will qualify, barely qualify, or be over-qualified for 0-2 of them.  I have not been gainfully employed for 151 days (21.38 weeks) now.  As I near my 5 month mark, I'd like to share my "Greatest Hits" reel of my job hunt thus far...

Special Moment #15
Realize that, after my first unemployment check, I don't 't seem to be getting another check, or a claims form for another check, in the mail.  Battle with EDD, a.k.a. "Employment Development Department," via phone lines (that no one ever picks up and keeps hanging up on me because all their lines are busy and there's basically no chance in hell I'll talk to someone, but while I'm on hold for 15 minutes before I hear that *click*, the recording is cheerfully telling me - over and over and over again, and at a volume exponentially higher than the elevator music between these announcements - how they've generously extended their hours of service to accommodate the increased volume of calls) and online forms (with a guaranteed 10-day turnaround - oh, you mean 6 days AFTER our rent is due and I won't even need the money anymore because I'll probably be moving back into my parents' house after getting evicted as delinquent tenants? Thanks!) for 2.5 weeks.  Finally get a new claims form 4 weeks later.

Special Moment #31
Realize, just before my first interview in almost 6 years, that my brand new interview suit jacket has sleeves that go down to the first knuckle on my middle fingers, and when I reach out to shake the hand of my interviewer I just give him a handful of scratchy grey Ann Taylor wool gabardine with a warm balmy fingertip poking out. He literally grasps my whole hand (because my thumb didn't have enough room to wrap between his thumb and hand like a normal person when they shake hands - y'know, because it was constricted by my too-long sleeve), has a momentary distance in his eyes as he probably wonders what's wrong with my right hand, and I think to myself - "What a great first impression, Alli! Tally ho!"  (Yes, the voice inside my head is that of a genteel middle-aged British man. What of it?)

Special Moment #97
Walk into an office - think that I've come in the secondary way or back exit somehow (because there were no markings on the door and it seemed like I walked into the corner of a large room with 6-7 cubicles, and not an "official" entrance to a business that would most likely have a waiting area and/or a receptionist with a some sort of sign or nameplate assuring me that I was in the right place).  Walk back out in the hallway, pace to the doors on either side of it - one of them is open and I ask the girl who looks up from her receptionist-type desk where the main entrance to "XYZ" Architects is, and she motions to the door I just walked out of - so I walk back to that door, open it and fully step into the office completely perplexed.  The in-room temperature feels about 82 degrees and I hear talk radio at a barely audible volume in the background.  Then, amid the sea of (I am now realizing mainly empty) cubicles, a lone head pops up - ear to phone - and then a hand gesturing me to come in, then gesturing the number "1" - as in "Give me one second".  Then the head disappears again.  I wait patiently and look around the empty-but-one room as my hopes for this job prospect sink considerably.


Just sent out 2 more resumes tonight... 
wish me luck.

(Oh, and I did get those jacket sleeves altered.)