Just in case it wasn't obvious. I stopped writing on this blog.
But I started writing on a new blog: http://sinceaustin.wordpress.com
So, you can find me there now.
TTFE (Ta Ta ForEVER.)
Sunday, March 14, 2010
New Blog
Posted by hbu at 8:58 PM 0 comments
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Oh How I Love Pumpkins
Yes, Halloween and Thanksgiving are over, but the pumpkin is still here! As I eye the sweet little row of sugar pumpkins on the windowsill in the kitchen, I rejoice! 3-4 months of amazing pumpkin treats are still in our future.
I'm turning 29 next month, and winter squash are brand new to me this year! I had no idea they're so versatile and so goooood. Clay and I originally stocked up on sugar pumpkins, acorn squash and delicata (peanut) squash before our CSA at Garden Treasures ended. Our hope was that by stockpiling squash, we'd reduce the amount of imported vegetables we'd consume this winter...and we'd get to enjoy fresh veggies in the winter months! (Because winter squash keep for several months as long as they're kept cool, dry, and intact.) We were foraying into uncharted territory, having never really eaten a winter squash before, apart from a few spaghetti squash here and there and one attempt at butternut squash soup last year. We have been amazingly surprised by how much we love squash, no matter which way we prepare it or which variety we try.
Yesterday morning was my first attempt at bringing squash to the breakfast table. I was in the mood for pancakes, and our abundance of squash led me to mmm...pumpkin pancakes. So I worked up this little recipe, using 3/4 c. steamed pumpkin with the water squeezed out. Served it with maple syrup, cinnamon whipped cream, and enjoyed the last few days of fall! (Note: when making this recipe again, I'll ditch the chocolate...really good, but overpowers the pumpkin.)
Also, if you're in the mood for a challenge this Christmas, find yourself a sugar (pie) pumpkin, and whip up a pumpkin pie from scratch. Here's the recipe I used to make this beauty for Thanksgiving.
Inviting more winter squash into my life has been a great addition to the fall menu...a cheap and easy way to keep fresh veggies on the table when it's cold outside, and a fun challenge for nightly creativity. Fear not! You are not doomed to months of canned tomatoes and green beans: put some squash on the table tonight.
Happy December!
Posted by hbu at 9:32 PM 1 comments
Monday, November 23, 2009
Daily Bread
As it turns out, I'm becoming passionate about food.
Posted by hbu at 9:53 PM 2 comments
Labels: cooking, creativity
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Reflections from a newly birthed locavore.
For the first time in many months, I was actually inspired to write a blog. It's unfortunate that I just now seized the opportunity, because I've missed an entire summer that I could have shared with you the amazing benefits of belonging to a CSA and the joys of discovering mashed kohlrabi, stuffed zucchini, baked oatmeal, and plenty of other good things you can create if you have Simply in Season and read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.
Posted by hbu at 10:10 PM 2 comments
Labels: cooking, creativity, CSA, products i love and shamelessy endorse
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Coming Soon...
So friends, this blog has generally, over the last two years descended into lameness...such is the fate of oh-so-many blogs out there.
And pretty much the only things I'm still interested in blogging about are things I knit or foods I cook. Our adventure into buying food directly from the farm is an adventure in and of itself, so methinks the blog should head in that direction...I mean seriously, how many people do we know that go to a farm every Thursday to pick up their weekly supply of vegetables and fruit? Not too many...but we do.
And actually, Clay and I have become more interested in the last few months in really cultivating a creative life, so maybe that's a good blog: "Cultivating Creativity." I'm going to sit on that...anyways...I'm still here, and my blog has reduced to twitter. So, you can follow me there until I figure out what to do with this.
Love,
hbu.
Posted by hbu at 3:25 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Glee: Don't Stop Believin'
Every once in awhile Hollywood produces something that reminds me a little bit of my life, but mostly not. Usually, when people in Hollywood get together and try to make something about smalltown midwestern life, it's just a little bit off. Tthe weather's a bit too "sunny all the time," the people are a little bit too pretty and skinny, and the towns are a little bit too fake. I used to watch "Ed," which took place in Stuckyville, Ohio, and I'd constantly complain that no Ohio smalltown had that many beautiful single people in it. I'd also complain that there's no way you could make a fool of yourself in a restaurant without knowing at least one person in that restaurant. In Hollywood smalltowns, people don't run into people they know enough, and the general populace's skin is way too clear.
But last night as I was watching "Glee," I was pretty much glued in from the moment they zoomed in on the Ohio license plate and declared the setting as "William McKinley High School." I say to Clay, "There's a McKinley High School in Canton." Then later in the show when the guy mentions his "long-distance girlfriend in Cleveland," I laugh, saying, "Those towns are only an hour away from each other. hahaha."
Pretty much, there was so much about "Glee" that was reminiscent of my High School Show Choir days. I realized that the only people I know, for the most part, who've been in Show Choir, are other people from Ohio. It make me excitedly speculate that Ohio is the Show Choir capital of the world. I even complained that the show is called "Glee," because we all called it "Show Choir." To which Clay pointed out, "Glee," is a much better name for a show than, "The S.C." True dat.
Anyways, in our high school show choir, we constantly looked up to the "amazing" choirs: St. Clairsville, Marysville, Medina. And we gloated about how we were one of the few groups that still sang in 4-8 parts instead of 1-2.
And being in Show Choir didn't make us cool at all, but we loved it. Loved it.
While certainly the students at William McKinley High are way more talented and stereotyped than any of my "Essence" buddies, I could see enough of us in them to feel like Hollywood finally made a show for me. I laughed a lot. One year we even recruited a few football players to join, and they dropped out two weeks into rehearsal...we got super angry that they couldn't make show choir rehearsals a priority. We got super frustrated that in our high school, everything seemed to revolve around football and cheerleading and no one seemed to give a rip about the music department. This show is so not made up.
After the show, Clay and I turned on "Big River," jumped up on the couch/raft with our poles in hand and sang (Clay as Jim, Me as Huck Finn). Glee definitely increased the level of glee in my life. This morning I listened to "Seasons of Love" on the way to work, remembering how much I loved playing the piano parts for our love set, which included Seasons of Love (Rent), Everlasting Love (Gloria Estafan), Where is Love (Oliver)...
Watch Glee next fall. It's the happiest thing on TV.
Posted by hbu at 10:56 AM 3 comments
Labels: life-changing events, Music, Ohio
Thursday, April 23, 2009
New Things I'm Learning
- How to do a capital campaign. (Plan, Plan, Plan, Ask, Follow Up.)
- How to make mayonnaise from scratch. (egg yolk, other stuff, start blender, drizzle oil...slowly)
- How empathy evokes love and grace. (it just does. put yourself in someone else's shoes, see life through their eyes, and there's so much compassion to be had.)
- How to negotiate with printing companies for good deals. (easy during recession. they ask for chances to outbid other guy.)
- How to wake up before 8am. (inevitable when sun is up at 6am.)
- How to gross out a teenager. (talk about their parents kissing.)
- How to keep a plant alive. (Try, pray, fail, move plant, try again.)
- How to make your bed everyday. (Hire a bed-maker.)
- How to eat well. (buy only things that grow on farms, not things that were created in labs.)
Posted by hbu at 4:02 PM 1 comments
Labels: Ministry, Northwest Life
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Oh yeah! I'm going to be published
I keep forgetting to mention that in a few months, an essay I wrote is going to be published in a real book. It's an essay I wrote called the "Journey Towards Ordination," about the social pressure I experienced in my growing up to become an ordained pastor. The essay is going to be released in an anthology Jesus Girls, which was edited and compiled by my friend and bridesmaid, Hannah.
You can read one of the essays here. As I read Sara's essay, I was like, "Woah...this is way more beautiful than mine." But then I remembered, "Wait, she's been nominated for a national book award. Isn't it awesome you get to be in the same book as her?" and it is.
So stay tuned, and I'll let you know when you can go online and get your copy and be inspired.
Posted by hbu at 3:18 PM 0 comments
Labels: writing
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Third Day v. Radiohead
Seriously? Are you serious? I just read some criticism that U2 ripped off it's newest album cover, but I don't see the relevance as much because it's a rather popular form of Zenlike abstract art...they attribute it to the artwork of Hiroshi Sugimoto, but it reminded me a lot of Mark Rothko. So, it's abstract, simple, Zenlike...easy to replicate...and in all instances it's good...
But Third Day ripping off a Radiohead album cover? I'm not okay with this. Check it out:
Third Day's Revelation
Posted by hbu at 2:03 PM 1 comments
Labels: Music
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Lifestyle Changes
I've decided not to go back to Seminary next quarter, mostly because it was cutting into my knitting time.
It was only a few weeks into this quarter when I realized, "This isn't working. I don't care how much aptitude I have to think critically about theological issues, I want to knit and do yoga. I want to spend Friday afternoons going to the Record Store with my husband, and I want to have space in my life to plan meals and buy groceries."
I realized a long time ago that the things I was good at didn't necessarily correlate to things I was energized by. I remember the first week of Junior Year of High School when I sat down with the Guidance Counselors, telling them that I didn't care how much aptitude I had in Advanced Biology, I hated it. They let me switch into Philosophy and Psychology under the auspices that I would be prevented from being valedictorian due to the heavy weighting the sciences received in determining class rank. But Philosophy class introduced me to writing, and the written word turned out to be a more integral part of my life than the dissection of fetal pigs was ever bound to be. For so many reasons, that was a good decision.
It's taken me just 6 months of taking classes to realize what I couldn't in 7 years of speculating about Grad School: it's not what I want right now. It's so weird, too, because I'm good at school. I can do school well...but I don't like who I become when I'm in school. I get bogged down by the pressure of the deadlines, and there is no space in my life to be the kind of person I want to be: creative, loving, and full of life.
Clay and I were just talking last night and realized that we've allowed our schedule to grow to the point that between the two of us, we have early morning commitments 5 days a week and evening commitments 6 days a week... Some of those are meetings, some of those are church commitments, some of those are weekly scheduled "fun time" with friends or students... Regardless, our schedule is running us, and there's little space for spontaneity. We want this to change, and step one is definitely me stepping out of school for the time being. Step two, three and four are TBA.
I feel like as American Christians we have to constantly traverse against the tide of busyness and clutter towards contemplation and space. In Clay and I's pursuit of the Lord, we need more space in our lives to be filled by Him. We need more space to walk through life together. Thus we move towards it.
Posted by hbu at 2:53 PM 1 comments
Labels: being a Christian in 21st century America, being married, Grad School