in need of some ideas....

things are moving at porridge papers these days...this is the first real job i printed on. it's for a new coffee shop in town. we're excited b/c christopher (the owner) put some of his stuff up on the internet to sell and he's been quite successful so far. so if any one has cool quotes that would make a good card, designs, ideas, etc. please PLEASE please pass them along b/c he's looking to me for ideas. (and i'm looking to you!)

happy birthday bumma

thank you for reminding me, elizabeth. i do miss her.
i remember in the last years she would say to something "oh my goodness" and then say "no it's not my goodness, it's the Lord's goodness". so maybe that is what we can remember today - the Lord's goodness...the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end...they are new every morning...great is thy faithfulness....

Okra Strut

Here's the other recipe that we made last night. A very yummy way to eat your vegetables! I included the whole page of recipes because I also want to try the Gingery Creamed Kale and Cabbage too.

a chicken recipe. . .

Here's the recipe for the Braised Chicken Tarragon from Sara Foster's cookbook. It really is a good one to own (the cookbook, that is). We made her Barbequed Brisket last night and it was amazing. Unfortunately, I had already stuffed myself on a Broiled Sweet Potato and Okra salad that I made from a Food&Wine recipe (also very good!). So Abby, I hear you on the helium!! I'll try to post the salad recipe too -- it was very good and very healthy.

it's a little lumpy but it rings

we finally got the internet back in our apartment. i've been listening to the new benkweller album a lot lately. lindsay and paul, have you heard it? it actually came out in september but it's really good. we've been really busy at work lately which is good for money but bad for sanity. charlie and lynne came over to watch "heroes" tonight since i had the latest episode on the tivo and we ordered some chinese/japanese food. i feel like someone inflated a helium balloon inside my stomach right now. i probably eat sushi once a week on average and i am still blown away at how full it makes me. i haven't used my gift certificate yet. i might save it until brandon is in town next because both he and charlie said that they would love to try some really interesting recipes. i don't think seafood @ west main has too many exotic fish choices and i don't know just how adventurous i would end up being but it would be fun to try it! alright, i need to go to bed. love you all.

goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, don't try to stop me horace, please...

mini cooper, where are you?

John and Elizabeth, we would love to see a picture of the mini cooper. Have you given it a name?

"mouse proficiency"

well, the first week of classes has gone well. i ended up dropping my computer applications class so that i can try and test out of it. considering that the pre-reqs for the class are having a 20 wpm and "mouse proficiency" (straight from the syllabus, i'm not even lying) i think i can probably do it :)

work is going well but i might change up my schedule a little. right now i have class and then work (or work and then a night class) every day except tuesday night so i might take tuesdays off and then pick up another weekend shift. it's nice having saturday nights to go out but i don't really actually go out on saturday nights anyway and i could always just ask off if i had something i needed to do. so we'll see.

i finally got youtube to let my upload videos but the video of the show is too big and i don't know how to edit it so it might be awhile still. sorry.

i'm trying to figure out what i want to do once my lease ends at the end of june so if anyone has any good ideas, let me know! if i stay here, i can bartend at timberwood (i move out the day after i turn 21) but part of my is getting a little antsy to move on. so again, we'll see.

savings...

world market has a printable coupon on their website: 40% OFF any non-sale item, even furniture: one coupon per person per day. but you can print as many as you like until february 7th.

One Week Down

Hey Lindsay, I'm sorry that I didn't get back to you yesterday. I ended up sleeping most of the way home from Philly and then having a mini-nervous breakdown once we were home thinking about the upcoming weeks and everything that needs to be done. But I do want to hear about how your first week at the letterpress went. Can you post your thoughts on week one? I'm still so jealous that you are getting to do that.

A picture

Here is a funny picture from a little hike Elizabeth and I took when we were living in Manhattan, KS. It was in the Konza Prairie, a protected area just outside of town.

Pies and Weddings

Hello everybody! It's Elizabeth and John. I (Elizabeth) just looked at the blog for the first time yesterday (I'm completely computer illiterate... I didn't know where to find it!) and it looks great! I thought maybe John could put some pictures up too... there are some great ones we have on our camera from Christmas in Virginia. There's also a pie recipe from the New York Times that we've had for a year and a half and love. We made it again last night, and it's perfect with a good cup of coffee... especially one that pairs well with lemon. I'll add it at the end of this post.

Some fun news: Lisa Norbury (a friend from KU that some of you know) is engaged and has booked the Simpson House for her reception like we did! I think the wedding is this summer.

Here's the recipe. We prefer this pie after it has been in the refrigerator over night. Cold or at room temperature is best in our opinion. It will separate into two layers: a lemon custard-like layer on bottom and a light cake-y top. There was a whole article that came with it with further instructions so if you want a copy, we'll send you one.

Buttermilk Pie
Adapted from Robert Stehling (from the Hominy Grill in Charleston, SC)
The New York Times (08.15.05)
Time: About 1 hour

6 T unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c sugar
2 large eggs, SEPARATED
3 T all-purpose flour
1 T lemon juice, more to taste
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 c buttermilk, at room temperature
1 8-inch deep-dish pie crust, blind-baked until very lightly browned

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine butter and sugar until well blended. Add egg yolks and mix well. Add flour, lemon juice, nutmeg, and salt. Add buttermilk in a thin stream until blended. Set aside.
2. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until they form soft peaks. Pour about 1/4 cup buttermilk mixture into egg whites and fold gently by hand to combine. Pour egg white mixture into buttermilk mixture and fold gently until just combined. Mixture will be somewhat lumpy.
3. Pour filling into baked pie shell. Bake in middle of oven until filling is lightly browned and barely moves when pie is jiggled, 45 to 50 minutes. If you have added more than one tablespoon of lemon juice, it may take longer for pie to brown, so bake 5 to 10 minutes longer, if desired. If edge of crust browns too quickly, cover with foil. Cool on a rack and serve warm or at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers.

I can't see you!

Some more shamelessly gratuitous pictures of Hunter!

new computer

jack and i are just figuring out how to use this new computer linds and i bought. he is quite savvy at these sort of things. kids these days know so much about technology.

-paul and jack

what would you do if i sang out of tune?

here are a couple pictures from the show last night. i tried to load a video onto youtube but it wouldn't let me so once i figure that out, i'll post the video. mom came which was really fun. the show went well even though my voice was pretty hoarse. brandon is the one in the black and charlie is in the gray. it was really nice having brandon in town but he was only in town for about 12 hours (6pm to 6am) so we had to do a couple songs for the first time up on stage!

today was the first day of classes for me at piedmont! they all went well but i'm going to try and test out of one class. my humanities class is basically just a combo of my philosophy, western civ and english lit classes so i've already covered most of the material before. i'm taking biology too which should be fairly easy but i don't want to jinx myself!

Braised Chicken Tarragon

I love all the pictures that are being posted, so I'm going to keep it going! Jamie just came in and helped me cook my usual Wednesday lunch for everyone at work. We (mostly "he") made the Braised Chicken Tarragon dish out of Sara Foster's Fresh Every Day cookbook. It is a recipe that we made last weekend at Mom and Dad's too. It is delicious, and everyone loved it, despite the fact that Jamie added way too much salt. If you ever see that cookbook in a used-book bookstore or at a yard sale, snatch it up! It is fabulous!

Here's a picture of him whipping something up in our kitchen a few weeks ago (I think it was John's pizza dough).

letterpress apprenticeship

tomorrow marks my first day hitting the presses at porridge papers. i'm going to be working tuesday and thursday afternoons...learning all there is to know about how to clean, oil, operate and maintain the printing press. i'm going to start out on some small in-house projects such as their business cards. i'll keep you guys updated. to check out pictures of their goods and the store/work area look online at http://www.flickr.com/photos/41648252@N00/

Well, currently our second snowfall for the winter is falling outside of my office windows. That we've only had two snowfalls this season is surprising for the Northeast. But I'll take it. My office window looks out over our retention pond, which currently is an informal ice-skating rink, and the woods that shield our building from the road. It's a nice view. Sometime I'll have to post it here.

Jamie and his friends, Ben and Dave, went backpacking this weekend on the AT near Charlottesville. I think they had a pretty good time. I stayed with Mom and Dad and had a great time, even with Hannah coming down with a stomach bug and having to leave early. I finally made it to Basil, the Meditteranean restaurant that is Abby's current fav. . and for good reason. Mom and I also hit the Goodwill stores where I found a bedside table to refinish (Lindsay, you've inspired me!) and a few articles of clothing. We also showed Ben around downtown Charlottesville and Jamie got to visit the running store that he'd been wanting to see. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's most of the highlights.

Hope you all had a great weekend, too!

(picture from www.stolaf.edu/people/ludvigso/Snowfall%203.jpg)

congratulations to john!

Elizabeth talked to Dad last night and John has accepted a position overseeing the test kitchen for Original Juan! John, we are so happy for you!

cold

quite cold here in NE. i just got back into town a few hours ago. we were in MN, IL, and IN this weekend. it was a pretty good tour. most of the shows were pretty small but we had fun. my friend jake started touring with us this past week as our sound guy so that has been fun. anyway, linds and i are just sitting here in the living room listening to some music and eating some popcorn. love you guys.

paul

they think of everything...

tonight after sharing a popcorn snack with foxy, i looked online to make sure popcorn and dogs mixed well. i stumbled upon this genius marketing idea...come on girls..we can think of these things...

( a 12 pack sells for $15.99 on target.com and the following flavors are available: filet mignon, pepperoni, cheese, chicken, peanut butter and bacon)

I hesitate to post, since I don't want to knock Hunter off the top spot. Lindsay, tell us what you are doing in St. Louis. Tell Lou we all said 'hello'.

Mr. Greybeard

When the IT guy here at work heard that I didn't have a digital camera, he "loaned" me one of the company's nice-but-hard-to-use digital cameras. So I've been having fun snapping goofy pictures around the house. It is so old though, that I can take about two pictures before the rechargeable batteries run out. So quantity is a little limited.

But anyways, Hunter asked me to let you all know that he is really bored these days and would love some company. Any sort of adventure would do -- especially if he can bring his "precious" (see photo) along. Otherwise he makes no promises of good behavior when left alone. I can vouch for that, as he has gotten into several food items that we've inadvertently left on the counter.

Well, I'm sitting here in my super-clean apartment, much to the help of Mom and Dad today. Dad brought over a dresser from the house and then Mom helped me clean out my closet and rearrange my room a little. I got into a cleaning mood on Friday because it was so nice out (high 60s, low 70s! woohoo!!) so I cleaned the living room and starting attacking the massive amounts of laundry on my floor. I love having my apartment clean (contrary to what you all might think after living with me for 20 years!) so it has definitely helped my mood to have a clean start to 2007.

Tomorrow (Sunday) after work, Charlie and I are going to Richmond to see one of his friends from Roanoke play a show which will be a nice break. I've been needing to get out of Charlottesville (besides going day-after-Christmas shopping at Short Pump) lately so I'm excited about that. We are playing with our friend Brandon on the 16th so we've been trying to get our set polished off. We didn't play much over the holidays so last night's first practice was a little rusty! Lynne said that she would try to take some video with my camera and I'll try to post it on here after the show.

I would like to say that there is a definite absence from the Walker/Cook side of the family on this thing by the way. I wish I had some cute pictures of my tiny pet/bum husband but I am pictureless for the time being. Love you all...

Abby

she's gotten even smaller!

foxy lady sporting her new (oversized) christmas sweater... she was groomed while we were gone.

hiddy ho, off to school i go?

Well, I registered for a few classes today at Piedmont (the community college here in Charlottesville). I even paid for the classes which is a step further than I got last semester! I'm taking a Computer Applications class and a Humanities class right now although I'm trying to get into a Biology class too. I'll only have an orientation class and one more Humanities after that and I'll be done with my Associates degree.

I have to run off to work but I loved having everyone in town! I miss you all.

i am impressed

i don't check the blog for a few days and suddenly we have a whole novel here. i am enjoying this. for new years, i had some of my friends from denver over for dinner who were stuck in town because of the snow. we were supposed to be in iowa for a show but it was canceled becuase of snow. i played guitar with one of the guys for about 2 hours and then we made it over to this new years party my sister barb was having. we barely got there in time for the new year. (about 11:57)

at midnight, i had to kiss my sister barb because little lindsay still living it up in charlottesville. (i did give linds a call at midnight to wake her up)

anyway, i have been just sitting around my house the last few days since i don't have a car. i probably played at least 10 solid hours of guitar in the last day and a half.


in other news, i also saw that movie with sean penn last night. it was pretty good. i liked sean penns accent. it took me a while to get used to hearing people talk like that. anyway, i love you guys. it was great seeing everyone last week.

paul

new years eve... charlottesville style

First Night VA was a great way to bring in the new year. i really enjoyed a local husband/wife band, the jan smith duo (listen online at http://www.honeybirdmusic.com/) great folk harmonies, orignal songs and mandolin solos.

how did you spend your new year's eve?

Normally Dad and I would be in bed at the usual 10pm or before, but we had tickets with Lindsay to First Night Virginia. It was a lot of fun. We went to three performances at various locations near the downtown mall. A highlight for Dad was Abbey Road which was 5 men playing Beatles songs. It was held at the Omni Hotel and so there was a big dance floor and it was fun to watch dancers of all ages! There was 30 minutes between the one hour performances so we were darting about in the rain with umbrellas to find the next one. It actually went from 2:30pm to midnight with lots of different options, but we were only there from about 5pm to 10pm. I would love to hear what everyone else did!