The Curse of the Ham Bone

For Easter this past Sunday, our family had a traditional ham dinner. As we were cleaning up, I asked my mom if she was going to use the ham bone to make Ham and Bean Soup. She said she wasn't planning on it, but if I wanted to take it, I could. Of course, me loving to cook and try new things you don't make everyday, I took on the challenge.

Well...

I got home to look in my trusty Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook to find the recipe; I found it, but my version included carrots and parsnips (???). Somewhat confused, and determined to get it right, I got grandma's recipe from her cookbook on Monday. But that one was like, super minimalist. Beans, pepper, ham bone, and 1 bay leaf? I can do better than that.

So, I went on an Internet search for Ham and Bean soup. Good thing I didn't find a million, but I did find quite a few, and they were all a little different: Crock pot, canned beans (no thanks, I'm cooking my own), red pepper, carrots (again), etc. Along the way, prompted by this search, I now know everything there is to know about cooking beans, downloaded three pdf cookbooks from some governmental program/agency concerning heart health (American, Mexican, and African American. Yes, you read that right), organized all of my favorite recipe search engines and blogs in my google bookmarks, and who knows what else.

A waste of time? not completely. Could I have used my time better? yes. BUT, I do feel like I now have a philosophy of cooking and eating, as well as a renewed/better understanding of myself and my overall interests and desires to improve on them. What do I want to spend my time doing? What provides the greatest return on my investment of time? I'll tell you what doesn't-searching for recipes.

What does any amount of knowledge do in anything, unless applied? You could own the world's largest collection of cookbooks and still have never made any of them. We have to be active, doing something-that's what matters. I hope that makes sense.

Anyway... the soup, you wonder? How did it turn out? First of all, rest at ease; I decided to follow one recipe and do so precisely. I made it for dinner tonight, and it was really good, except that I think I could have cooked the beans for the shorter amount of time. By the time we (grandma and grandpa came over) ate it, it was more like a stew of sorts- all of the water was gone. But, it was still scrumptious. Next time, I'll either cook it less, or add more water.

With the curse lifted, I am so glad it turned out well. No more nightmares. And no more recipes, for a little while at least :-)

Thank you for riding the... Light Rail.

That's the jingle I made up for the Light Rail. I think it should play every time the doors open. It's swingy, catchy, and easily stuck in your head. I'm sorry you can't hear me singing it right now...

So, with my days in Tempe being numbered, I've been thinking of things I want to do here before I leave. I've titled my adventures "Last days of Tempe", inspired by the "Last Days of Pompeii" celebration in The Music Man. Anyways, as I was mentally forming the list of things I wanted to do in my city, the only thing I could really think of was "ride the light rail". So, my dad and I rode the light rail on Thursday to downtown Phoenix, where we ate at a little deli. It was a nice little trip (the food was pretty good), but I definitely enjoyed spending time with dad the most.

Light rail? not so special. It was just like the bus, and I rode that enough times my first two years at ASU. Hence why I suggest the addition of a jingle. That would bump it up in coolness levels for sure. Nevertheless, I rode the light rail. Check.

Friday night Parks and Rec was showing "Kung Foo Panda" at Kiwanis Park as part of this family movie series. When I read about it a couple of weeks ago in the Tempe news, I thought "I'm definitely going to that". Free movie, picnic at the park, on my incredibly awesome new picnic blanket?-Yes, it was absolutely wonderful. If you haven't seen that movie, please do. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

Hooray for fun things that are free and connect you to your community.

Jessica Week

I know I'm a little late, but oh well...

So, within one wonderful week in march I had my birthday and my Senior violin Recital-both events that were very exciting.

For my birthday, we had a little party at my house the following evening. My roommate Bethany made cupcakes, Dad went and bought me a hand mixer (since "I won't need one- I never bake" was now an invalid statement), and previous-roommate Elise came over and helped make oatmeal cookies. Everything tasted so good.

Now, please notice the large bowl of white...



What is that, you ask? That is enough fruit dip for a third world country. I found a simple fruit dip recipe (consisting of yogurt, cream cheese, and whipped topping) and thought, "3 cups of yogurt? That's not very much... Maybe we should double it." My advice-Don't double the fruit dip. Needless to say, I sent everyone home with a generous amount. I'm not sure why, but I thought it was so funny that we had so much; probably because it was :-)



Don't be too much in awe of my ever-impressive domesticity skills.

So, my birthday on Wednesday, my party on Thursday, and MY RECITAL on Sunday! Like I said, it was so very, very exciting. I felt so blessed by the love and support I felt from all of my wonderful family and friends that were able to come. It was a lot of hard work; SO much hard work. But, it paid off, and I felt really good about it at the end. I really enjoyed it so much; I would do it again in a heartbeat.



I can hardly believe I am here; I can barely believe that I'm almost done!!! It has been such a great semester. I'm so excited to be finished with my classes, to do my student teaching, and step out into the world. It's gonna be great.

Again, small and simple things...

Two posts in a day! I know... I just wanted to separate them since they were not really related.

The scripture that provides the title-of-sorts for this little blog is truly something that always helps me. I'm preparing for my Senior Violin recital, and am very aware of how quickly my performance is approaching. I was feeling ill-prepared, even though I know that that is not the case. My fears were not aligned with reality. The truth is, yes, I have a lot of hard work to do, but I will be prepared, and I will be proud of the finished product because of this hard work. I just have to continue to do the small and simple things-practice smart every day- and great things truly will come to pass.

Such a pattern to live by. Do your best, be diligent, and continue in the small and simple (albeit concentrated, focused, and meaningful) and you will receive your reward.

My joy is overflowing. Life truly is wonderful!

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

Today was an absolutely beautiful day! I wished that I could just take a blanket and sit out on a lawn of green grass and enjoy the sunshine.

I love my neighborhood. I love going on walks around my neighborhood-All of the houses have so much charm and personality, and I thoroughly enjoy their uniqueness as I go on my walks. There is the red brick house with the zen garden (?), the house that looks like a southern plantation, with its large lot of green grass surrounding it, and the house with the twisted trees in the front yard that looks like it is straight out of a fairytale forest. Oh, I love it so much- I don't know what it is about man's choice of dwelling that intrigues me so. All I know is that I really enjoy just looking at things (in this case, houses). One of those little things that make me really happy.

Oh, and in our neighborhood, there are a couple of trees that are blooming with these wonderful purple flowers- I want to say they are lilacs, but I'm not positive. All I know is that they smell heavenly.

Isn't this earth such a wonderfully beautiful place? I'm so grateful that I get to call this glorious creation home. Even with all of the "stuff" that is going on in the world, and in my little corner of it, I can always count on the beauty of this earth to strengthen me, bring me joy, and help me remember what is really important.

Not the Edible Kind

Concerning Blackberries, that is...

I was walking down a hallway in the music building, and posted outside the door of a professor I have never had, there way an article that caught my attention. I stood there, read it, thought it was interesting, and just wanted to share it with you. I'll spare you my thoughts on this topic at this moment, but I'm sure with your comments, we can have quite a conversation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/business/yourmoney/24every.html

Let me know what you think.

West Side Story...

In two ways:

1) The Lyric Opera theatre at ASU performed "West Side Story" this weekend. So, for a joint birthday present, I took Jennifer and Brandon. It was a blast. I love my family so much; they are just so cool. They got to my house in enough time for dinner (which, despite my apologies, they insisted tasted good) and then we headed over to campus. After getting our name put on the wait list for tickets, we took a long walk around campus, as I gave them a little tour. Just walking and talking. One thing that worked out really well was the whole wait-listing for tickets. Not only did we get into a sold out show, but we got AWESOME seats. Row 9, right in the center. I liked being there with my siblings more than the show; I'm glad that we went.

2) A west(ern)-side-of-the-valley story:
So, Jenny and Brandon left, and I'm eating chocolate pudding reading Jane Eyre, when I get a call from my dad. Jenny had a collision with another car just at Rural and the 60. So, of course, I headed over there to see that everything was okay, which everything was. Car accidents are not fun experiences, not matter how small (I think I should know). I'm so glad that they were okay and that nobody was hurt. I guess that could be a happy-almost-birthday Jen (jk) ;-)

Have a great day everybody!