"You Can't Screw It Up": another non-recipe

It's been a while.  Inconsistent blog writing is what I do, apparently.

After Amy died, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with my blog.  It was too hard.  Amy was a talented, passionate blogger and every time I opened my laptop and attempt to write something during the days following that terrible accident, all I would do is cry.

I feel tears in my eyes now, after clicking on Amy's beautifully crafted blog and remembering her.  Every day I think of her, and her dear family, and every day it is still hard.  So, I cling to the hope that I am continuously reminded of (Romans 8:23-25) and say another prayer for her family.

I love following the work of these gals that are part of Amy's group, North Iowa Bloggers: Loni, Jeni, Donna, Val, BethAnn and Katy.  Reading the tributes they wrote about Amy was like pulling energy and strength right out of my computer.  So, it's time to "be okay" with blogging again.

Today, it's all about the crock pot once again.  It took a brief respite during basketball season, but this week I realized how close we're getting to actual spring (not calendar spring.  We've already gotten to calendar spring.  ACTUAL spring is when the weather stops teasing us and becomes consistently warm!).  Cozy, comfort food recipes become less and less appealing as the weather warms up.  So, I made a beef roast. 

I was a little obsessed with making roast this fall, when Tom and I discovered that we had about 1/8 of a steer still lurking in our deep freezer.  We found several 1 1/2 - 2 lb cuts and I had a great time trying out new combinations of flavors and seasonings in the crock pot.  I think we ate it once a week, and I even got to provide a big home-cooked meal for the two boys we had student teaching in our classrooms.

Something I've learned about crock pot meals that involve larger cuts of meat is that it is nearly impossible to screw them up...IF you use the right cooking times and enough liquid.  This is good news for me...I rarely stay true to a recipe.  This particular concoction is definitely another non-recipe experiment.  It's just the stuff I had on hand...and it turned out perfect. 

Start with a 3-lb chuck roast (I got mine at Hy Vee).  Trim off any excess fat, and season with salt and pepper.

  
Are you picky about the salt you use?  I am.

THIS STUFF:

I haven't used table salt for anything other than baking in years.  Kosher is where it's at for cooking.  It sits in this cute little pottery bowl right on my stove.

After you season the meat, brown it in a large skillet with a little olive oil.  Make sure you brown both sides.  I forgot the picture of this, because I got busy with my carrots and onions.  This is a half of a red onion and about 1/3 of a bag of organic baby carrots, hanging out in the crock pot.

After the meat has browned, take it out and set it on top of the onions and carrots in the pot.  Then, the best step: deglaze your skillet with some red wine.  

Important note:  Don't be like me and buy the cheap stuff!  Flip Flop Pinot Noir worked okay for the recipe, but it wasn't the highest quality drinking wine.

After deglazing (I probably dumped in about a half cup), let that wine get all magical and delicious by reducing it for a few minutes.

And drink some of it.  My friend Jaime told me after my other blog post involving a cheap, musty-tasting red from Aldi, which I ended up drinking anyway, "Bad wine is better than no wine."

I didn't have any beef broth, so I dug out some au jus mix.  I added 8 oz of jus plus the red wine reduction to the crock pot...

and decided more wine from the bottle wasn't going to hurt anything.

I crushed some garlic cloves and tossed those in, as well...

and 7.5 hours later, THIS!

It's a bad picture!  LOL!  I didn't take any photos after I plated it because it wasn't the prettiest thing I've ever made.  Also, I didn't want to waste a single second of time.  It was a very rare occasion for Tom and I to have dinner, in our own home, ALONE with no baby.  We waited to eat until Jude had gone to bed.  I think we need to do that more often.  It was wonderful to listen to great music and talk without our sweet lil guy needing us.

By the way...Jude will be ONE YEAR OLD in a few short weeks.  Here are some recent shots with his daddy:

at church...

helping daddy announce at the middle school shoot-off...

and playing a hammer-on.  :)

Anyway, back to the topic at hand...

You may be wondering: Where are the potatoes in that crock pot?  Good question.  We were out of potatoes.  I was a super-classy cook and made some hash browns to pair with it.  Hey, if Tom likes it, I call it a success.

We also had some wonderful sesame bread and a steamed vegetable side.  And now we are looking forward to some French dips as a result of the huge amount of leftovers!

Next post: SodaStream.  Best purchase EVER.

I hope you all have a great week!  :)

Love, Betsy

no.

I've been saying that word constantly, out loud and in my mind, for the past day and a half.  Between fits of tears and long moments of silence, amongst the fake enthusiasm I've shown for my job all day and partial, artificial smiles at co-workers and students passing by my classroom.

My friend died.

No.  It can't be true.  It's got to be a mistake.  IT HAS TO BE A MISTAKE!!  NO!!!

Why?...why?...No.  It has to be a mistake.

No.

Amy.  The daughter of my dear friend and music teaching colleague Deb.  Fellow blogger.  Lover of life, art, travel, food, music, friends, family, her fiance and sweet puppy.

I am heartbroken.

Psalm 34:18  “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Today while scriptures were rolling through my head I said "Lord, your word is written on my heart and I hear you.  I hear you and I know your truth.  But right now we are fighting.  I disagree with this because I DO NOT GET IT.  WHY does it have to be this way?"

He says: MY THOUGHTS ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS; MY WAYS ARE NOT YOUR WAYS.

I type the words into my phone's Bible app.  Yup, there they are, in Isaiah 55.

So I sit.  I wonder, for the thousandth time today, why.  I ask again: WHY?

Just..... why?  Lord, why?  She's gone, why?

And then this:

Psalm 73:26  “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

So I think about that word again, and again.  Forever.

John 14:1-4  “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."

MY THOUGHTS ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS; MY WAYS ARE NOT YOUR WAYS.

So I ponder this.  And I seek more of the word hoping to gain a tiny bit more wisdom through it.

The Casting Crowns song, what are the words?...I am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow...a wave tossed in the ocean, a vapor in the wind...

Not because of who I am, but because of what You've done.

This is not fair.  THIS IS NOT FAIR.  And I think that this feeling, these emotions, this intense sadness, the unexpected terrible sudden "goodbye," is not for us.  We were not created for this kind of despair.  We weren't.  

We were created for God.

We were created to be eternal.  And because Jesus paid the price, we can be eternal.

Because of what You've done.

My friend Amy is with Jesus.  THAT IS AMAZING, PRAISE HIM!!!  Praise Him for her life and praise Him for this amazing gift of salvation!!
  

And suddenly, I'm a fool to be wallowing.  It's that strange war between the flesh and the spirit.  We can't fathom eternity...the human nature we are born into prevents that.  Alone, we have zero chance and zero hope past our pathetic, short, meaningless human lives.

But HE is our hope.

He is Amy's.  He is her strength.  And now she is with Him.

You will be missed, dear girl.

Psalm 119:50  “My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.”

"It's Worth It"

You've heard that phrase thousands of times.  

What are things in your life that get tagged as "worth it?"  Here are mine.  Some are deep and meaningful; some are just for fun.  They are in no particular order.

1.  Going out to eat.

I love to eat at restaurants.  Choosing from a full menu, the anticipation before the food arrives, the way drinks always taste better at restaurants (Have you noticed?  Even water and soda taste better.  Why is this?), not having to clear tables and do dishes...it's worth every penny.  

My two favorite places in Mason City (and my typical orders):

The Quarry
On the tapas menu: the edamame, Lala's mussels, and chicken wings
From the dinner menu: the grilled Caesar salad with salmon, scallops with orange glaze, New Age white.

Chop
Appetizer: the Beef and Bleu Fondue
Entree: Filet Oscar with Greek pasta, cabernet.

Okay, now I am hungry.  Moving on.

2.  Expensive makeup.

I bought Cover Girl and Maybelline for years, with an occasional Clinique splurge whenever it was "bonus time."  Before Tom and I got married, I was introduced to Bare Minerals and I haven't looked back.  I LOVE each and every product I've ever used.  My favorites are the original foundation and the Mineral Veil.

3.  Flying.

To me, there is no better way to travel.  Road trips sound great in theory...but the United States is big.  Before reaching your destination, you have to put up with a lot of boring space between landmarks and cities.  Give me a fast, efficient airplane over a gas-hungry, uncomfortable vehicle any day.

4.  Labor.

18 hours of pain, exhaustion, frustration, and endless waiting...absolutely WORTH IT. 

5.  Professional hair color.

This beautiful friend of mine is Kati.  She is my stylist and she is a genius.  Sometimes I have an idea for color and she'll look at me and say "No."  :)  She's always right and she always, ALWAYS has a great idea for my next hair color.  Right now I have a rainbow of low-lights and I'm excited to get back in there soon for an all-over brightening session for spring/summer!  Love you, Miss Kati.

6.  Top-of-the-line guitars.

When I started playing guitar, I was 17 years old.  My dad and I went shopping at a local music store and I got to pick out a "pretty" instrument of my own.  The shop owner sold me the one I wanted.  There was no discussion of neck width, string spacing, electronics, hardware, action, tone or general fit.  I picked the one that looked prettiest!  HAHA!  Now, 16 years later, it's completely laughable.  When I started playing more seriously I was graduated from college and doing worship music and coffeehouse gigs with a group of friends.  I complained that I couldn't play bar chords, no matter how hard I worked at it.  My friend Jesse looked at my form and said "it's because the neck is way too thick for your hand."  He handed me his Taylor guitar, and I never looked back.  I saved my money, promptly sold that "pretty" Fender and went to Bob's guitars in Cedar Falls where I got to pick out my very own Taylor guitar.  It is, of course, one of my all-time favorite purchases.  The neck is nice and slim, the waist is small, the body is slimmer, I had the action adjusted to fit my fingers, and I can play bar chords effortlessly.  I have my eyes on another Taylor model and I am waiting until my Masters degree is done to buy it!  Exciting!!

Sidebar: The Mohawk girls just WON!  On to their next game, against Ankeny Centennial.  I am at home with my sleeping boy and so, so thankful that KGLO broadcasts the girls' games so I don't have to truly miss any of them.  Tim Fleming is the absolute BEST announcer!  I am so proud of my husband and his team!  Go Mohawks!!  I also saw that the Clear Lake team is on to state...YES!  

So, tell me: what are things that you have found are "worth it?"  I want to know! 

Enjoy the rest of the precious weekend...spring break is almost here!

Betsy

He's nearly 10 months

Baby Jude will be 10 months old on February 17 (!!!) and I can't believe it.  Hand me a tissue and play some sappy music while I have myself a good bawl about my baby turning into a little boy right before our eyes.

I've been teased for being sentimental about Jude growing up so fast, so let me defend myself.  It is more than simple sentiment.  Surely, every mother understands this.

I am not upset about it.  I am thrilled, proud, and excited that he is healthy and thriving, hitting every milestone and growing like a weed.

However...what makes me cry is that his baby days are all I know of him.  I can't see into his future.  What we've lived for 9 and a half months is what I know and treasure.  I love him so dearly and hold the memories so close to my heart that it is--yes, SAD--to see those stages fade away into nothing but photographs.

For 9 months he was a part of my body.  There's a part of me crawling around in the world.  My very heart, out there becoming a little man.

He has a squeaky giggle, and he lights up when Daddy walks into the room.  I can't get enough of his cuddles even at 3 am.  His hair is wild and fuzzy...I refuse to cut it.

Loves: ALL baby food, puffs, popcorn, rice biscuits, milk, and the soft-serve ice cream that Grandpa Rich fed him at the Timberwolves game.  Bathtime, books, his Harrod's teddy bear from London, knocking over towers of blocks, his binky, playing his drum and xylophone. 

Hates: getting out of the bath, the nose bulb syringe, having Mommy walk out of the room... it's hard to think of anything else!  He's a very content and happy baby.

Here are his 9-month pictures, snapped by the always-brilliant Jeanne Hansen:

I love you, baby Jude Thomas.

Accidental Kitchen Success!

Cheers to late Friday nights!  Aka...basketball season...especially away game nights.

I hate going to bed when Tom's not here, so winter brings a lot of late nights for me.  Jude went down at 8:00 which meant a 90s chick flick and some quiet time for me!

So tonight we're discussing what happened at dinner time.

Over Christmas, when we were in Calmar with Tom's family, I made a very simple garlic cheese bread recipe that turned out pretty nice.  It's so easy it's ridiculous.  You can thank my best friend Martha Stewart for the recipe.

1 package cream cheese

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan

4 cloves garlic minced (or microplaned which I prefer)

1 tsp Italian seasoning (or just oregano, and fresh if you can get it)

Mix everything and spread onto thin, diagonally cut baguette slices.  Broil until brown and bubbly.

A few days later, I decided I wanted to make a variation of this recipe for the New Years party at our friends' house.  First I added chopped green and kalamata olives, with some of the lovely brine from the jar of kalamatas.  Then I threw in some roasted red peppers, which made the mixture a pretty shade of pink.  Lastly I decided more parmesan cheese was a good idea.  The result, when broiled to a nice toasty brown on a baguette, was nice.  It was a good punch of salt, tasting really good with a glass of wine.  I might add some fresh rosemary next time and roast the garlic instead of adding it raw.

Fast-forward...I still had the leftover cream cheese mixture in my fridge (I doubled the recipe) with no intent of making more cheesy toasty things with it.  So, I decided to make it into a pasta recipe.  

*Forgive me for having no pictures.  Please take my word for it; it's delicious.*

I used linguini which worked perfectly.  The only other pasta shape I would use for this is farfalle.  Because I love it.  No other reason.

I prepared the pasta.  I always throw in 2 T sea salt and subtract at least 2 minutes off the recommended cooking time, by the way.  I want al dente.  No, I NEED al dente.  Overcooked pasta is worthless and must not be risked.

After it was done I took out some pasta water, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 cup, and kept it on the side.  The leftover cream cheese mixture went into the hot pot, and so did the pasta water and linguini.   I let it melt, then I added some Sauvignon Blanc (1/2 cup maybe?) and turned up the heat for approximately 30 seconds -- or however long it took my weird electric stove to actually convey heat -- and the results were fabulous.  I remarked to my mom and dad, who were there for a short Jude visit, that it could use some shrimp.  Or even better, seared scallops and a sharp hit of lemon.  If it had lobster on the side I might die.  It was good stuff.

I hope you find joy this cold, cold month.  Hang in there and remember these two promises:

1.  Mercies are new every morning.  Look out your window in the early hours.  Winter mornings are beautiful.

2.  Chocolate tastes better in the winter

3.  Spring will come.

That's three, I'm told.  Did you know that I had to re-take freshman algebra?

Have a fantastic weekend!  Love, Betsy

Prettig Kerstfeest!

(Dutch for "Merry Christmas")  :-)

My mom and I have a lovely tradition of assembling Dutch letters during the Christmas season!

Dutch letters are pastry tubes made with an almond filling.  Traditionally they are shaped like a letter S, and this is usually how you will find them at a Dutch bakery.  Since the pastry dough is kind of fragile and thin, my mom and I have had the most success making lowercase Ls :-)

According to the Jaarsma Bakery's website (Jaarsma is in Pella where my sister lives), Dutch letters have been a favorite treat in the Netherlands since the 1800s, and when the children celebrated Sinterklaas on December 6 they would leave the pastries for him.

Mom put the dough and filling together ahead of time for our baking extravaganza.  If I can find the recipe, I'll post it -- it may be on my computer somewhere.  In the meantime, here are some pictures of the assembly process:

Roll out a 2-oz piece of chilled dough...

...until it is 14" long and 4" wide, approximately.  You have to use a ton of flour to keep these babies from sticking to your countertop.  

Grab some of the almond paste mixture (Mom pre-measured it with a cookie scoop)...

...and form it into a snake.

Fold the dough over the top...

...then seal the other side with a bit of water to create the letter. 

Poke the letters with a fork so the steam can escape...

...and brush the tops with beaten egg white.

Lastly, sprinkle a bunch of coarse sugar on the top!  Be generous--the sugar makes a lovely crunchy top.  I use raw sugar from Hy Vee.

They're all ready to bake at this point, at 350 degrees for 20-ish minutes or until golden brown.  Or, put the cookie sheets into the deep freeze, and when the letters are frozen, bundle them up in foil or plastic wrap and they'll keep for several months.  I like to freeze a few dozen and keep them on hand for special gifts.  

My chalkboard.  Translation?  Delicious!  

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with family and friends.  Tom, Jude and I got to travel to his hometown for Christmas Day, and then to Pella to join up with the Neerhof side.  We are glad to be at home now and soaking up the rest of the week off.  This time of year we are always so happy to have our break from school.  From my perspective: concerts are done and I am DONE singing Jingle Bells until next December.  From his perspective: basketball season is crazy, so this is precious time to spend with family and to catch up on sleep.

The rest of the winter will fly right by!  Betty and the Gents will play some fun shows (Valentine's Day at MC Brewing, for one) and we will keep busy with everything else we do.

I always make a Summer Bucket List when March or April rolls around and we get the first glimpse of spring.  Maybe it's time for a Winter Bucket List...

I'm thinking as I type, so these are in no particular order.

- Eat dinner at 1910 Grille.  This time, no pregnancy nausea!

- GO SKIING.  Yes.  I want to SKI for heavens sake.  I haven't been skiing since.... gosh, it must have been 2006 or 07.  That is pathetic.  My family traveled to Colorado every few years when we were growing up and skiing was a huge part of our lives.  Why have I let it slip away?  I don't need a trip to Colorado...don't have the funds...but a weekend in Minnesota would be splendid.  (By the way, Tom doesn't ski and he doesn't want to learn.  Can you please help me convince him that it's the most fun thing in the world?)

- Go to a movie.  I haven't seen one in a theatre since before Jude was born.  It's time.

- Go sledding.  Because it's fun and I like to pretend I'm ten years old again.

- Go ice skating.  Did you know I used to be a figure skater?  True story.

- Make a snow angel.  Because why not?

- Eat more sushi.  Tom and I went to the Mall of America on the first Monday of break and we ate at Crave, which is one of our favorite places in the mall.  I ordered a beautiful sushi platter and it was so good I wanted to roll around in it.  (Weird?  Yeah....sorry)  There is this place in Des Moines I would like to visit, and we can't wait to return to our go-to date night spot in Minneapolis, Seven.

- Decorate my house.  I got some gift cards for Christmas to all of my favorite places, so I can find unique and beautiful decor for our house!  I can't wait to rally my mom and sister sometime, and hit up these stores so I can make this place look like a home.

- Spend more time with family.  Enough said.  Isn't family worth every struggle, every disagreement, every moment of stress and worry?  In the end, it's those people who will love you the most and be there for you.  We need more time together.

- Start lifting again.  Sometimes I feel like finding the time to go for a run or walk is impossible...and lifting weights again is only in my dreams.  I miss it.  It will happen again.  Hopefully soon.  Would it be weird to bring the pack-and-play and set it up in the weight room so Jude could come along?

- Write on my blog.  Ha.  We'll see if this happens past this week :-)

Enjoy the last remaining days of the Christmas season (it's not over yet!) and have a wonderful New Year!

Love, Betsy

the good stuff.

It feels good.

It feels good to have a clean house, thanks to my hero, whom I also call Mom.  I would fall apart if it weren't for her.

It feels good to have had a Friday night last week without a basketball game, so Tom and I could attend a fabulous Christmas party and just relax for the evening.

It feels good to have sore abs and an aching face from laughing so hard at said Christmas party.

It feels good to know that my happy little boy was taken care of while we were away, and not having a single worry about him.  Again--I love my mother.

It feels good to have another grad class done and checked off the list...I will now be endorsed to teach TAG.  How crazy is that?  "Here is our music teacher, and oh yeah--she also can teach TAG if we need her to."  It's laughable, right?  But it is also totally me.  I'm thrilled to carry this "ability" and add it to my credentials.  Gifted learning is so, so often overlooked which is a huge problem.  I am passionate about these talented learners who are, in my opinion, just as entitled to extra time, effort and funding as our special needs kiddos.  They are the ones who have the skills and capabilities to do amazing things in the future...so why are districts shoving TAG programs to the side and focusing so hard on at-risk learners that the gifted ones get forgotten altogether?

Geez...sorry.  Sometimes I create soapboxes without trying sometimes.  And, I realize that I might be controversial.  Moving on.

It feels good to have hosted our first formal dinner party last night with some wonderful people.  We had Italian Night, complete with ingredients that made the trip from Italy with John and Donna (pasta, wine, even olive oil!), gourmet cheese, an AMAZING tiramisu, Prosecco, bruschetta, opera music, and gelato.  Our next dinners will be German (YAY!), then fondue, then Greek (COLOR ME EXCITED!  OH MY GOSH!  I ADORE GREEK FOOD!).  Food, friends, and laughter are my favorite things.  The world needs more relaxed, strung-out meals where guests stay for hours and just enjoy the food and each other.  If you're ever stressed out, please call me and say "let's make dinner."  :)

It feels good to know that we have 8 days of school left before a two-week break.  Ha.le.lu.jah.  You know me -- I love my job.  But if it weren't for our guaranteed breaks, I'd be a crazy person.

It feels good to have my house decorated for Christmas.  The past two years in our shoebox house, we didn't have room to decorate, so we didn't.  No tree, no garlands, nothing.  Tom hung exterior lights but that was all.  This year we've got the tree.  We've got garlands.  We've got wreaths.  We've got sparkly things.  I love it!  I'm realizing quickly how expensive decorating is...so I'm taking it one room at a time.  How fun will it be to pack it away, knowing next year I'll be able to drag it all out again?!  I'm feeling very, very blessed with this gorgeous space.

It feels good to have the Gents back in the rehearsal room upstairs, gear out and tunes flying.  We have a gig on the 20th and it feels like it's still so far away, but it'll be here before we know it.  I sent them a text a few days ago that said "let's practice soon, because I miss my sanity."  :)  There is a part of me that can only be calmed down with music-making.

See?  This is serenity.  Even my arm hair is glowing because I'm so happy.

*Gig is at Mason City Brewing, from 8-11 pm.*

Lastly:  it feels good to sit here and write.  In my perfect world, the day would have more hours so I could do this more.

Goodnight, my dears!
Betsy