Organized Chaos

Organized Chaos

Posted by Brit

Less organized, more chaos - my father's kitchen is stocked full of cooking materials.  There is a cupboard full of pots and pans, and another for baking dishes.  There is a drawer for wooden spoons and drawer for knives and two drawers for flatware.  And a drawer for sauce packets and seasonings.  And an island full of seasonings.  More cups and plates and bowls than one man needs (and more frying pans, there are a whole hell of a lot of frying pans).  I asked him why today, why all the frying pans?  He replied with, "I'm a cook."  And then he chuckled and said, "naw really I just hate doing dishes."  He does hate dishes but he really is a cook.  A very good one at that.

Today I learned how to make his homemade ham gravy.  I don't even like gravy but today's was especially good.  I guess I never really realized that my father rarely follows a recipe.  He put the fatty ham juice in a sauce pan and boiled it.  He then threw in a mixture of milk and flour and almost instantly knew the proportions weren't right.  He quickly poured some more milk in and threw in some more flour and it was perfect.  I need to learn to cook like that.  I am methodical and by the book in almost everything.  Cooking is easy when you follow the plan already laid out for you, but cooking like my father cooks is something to aspire to. 

My contribution to the Thanksgiving feast was two pies.  I made one pumpkin and one cherry - my brother and my father's favorites.  They turned out very well, however pies are one of my favorite things to bake even though I don't enjoy eating them all too much.

Pumpkin Pie Crust

Finished Pumpkin Pie

Not Yet Baked Cherry Pie

A while

A while

Posted by Brit

It's been a while.  I've been out of town the last two weekends and working in between.  And attempting to stay warm.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Denver.  I witnessed more love and friendship and family in one weekend in one place than I've probably ever witnessed before.  I don't get tear-y eyed too often but I did that Saturday night.  I was elated to be a part of something so whole and good.  I also had a damn good time shaking my butt all night long!

Last weekend I went with some friends to visit our friend Darren in Hays.  We were able to see his art show and had an opportunity to purchase some art at the Fort Hays art sale.  I came away with a ceramic bowl and a piece of Darren's art.  We missed our dear friend Ashley who is out in D.C. but other than that the group was back together after a long time a part.  It's funny how people change but some things stay the same.  It's also weird that I've known Joshua for eight years.  The rest I got to know sometime shortly thereafter.  We've all grown and changed in a lot of ways.  We're making separate lives when our lives used to be so intertwined.  The nice thing is we can always come back and pick up where we left off, even after not speaking for months.

Work is going well.  I have excellent days and some days of frustration.  I'm learning though, and continue to be given the opportunity to further my education (for free)!

I am saving for a trip to Germany with Brandon.  We hope to go in the Spring sometime.  I also have to save up PTO hours so that I can take two weeks off and hopefully still have a day or two built up just in case.  Here's to hoping I don't get ill this winter.  The money is the larger part of it though.

Speaking of money I received my first student loan bill this week.  I can't believe it's been six months since I've finished school. 

I'll make a food or photo post sometime soon.