Great pictures are not taken with a cell phone camera in a room with a chandelier and sparkling candles.  That’s a fact.  But great memories are made when family and best friends come together.  My baby brother turned 27 on Saturday.  How does time go by that fast?!?! So to celebrate Miss V, CoLo and I all headed to the playground of the stars to celebrate with him for the weekend.  Little did he know Chicago would be surprising him by driving down the day after we got there, too, and boy was he surprised!

So with the gang assembled, it was time to celebrate.  After a birthday breakfast, we drove to the big city to play goofy golf (and be hustled by CoLo), break the basketball game in the arcade and grab lunch at PeiWei before a quick stop to pick up the new Neil Casel photobook from his time in The Cardinals with Ryan Adams.  The drive home was filled with dissecting the chances of Ryan Adam’s returning to music, bad 80s music and naptime.  We arrived back at the parentals just in time to help mom finish up birthday dinner, meatloaf and mashed potatoes (and I took my first bite of meat loaf in 23 years! Let’s just say I had a bad experience.)

After dinner Z opened his gifts which included more pearl-snap button shirts, a GPS for those El Paso adventures, a gift card to expand his vinyl album collection and a knife that every guy would want and only a few should be entrusted to carry. Then before the hour got too late, Miss V packed up and headed east for Cruces, and those who remained capped off the evening with “The Hurt Locker” and Bon Iver’s “For Emma, Forever Ago” on vinyl in the manroom.

While this weekend was nothing like last year’s Zacapalooza with the huge bbq and trek to Texas for Ryan Adams and The Cardinals, for me there was something quaint and heart-warming about spending time with the people who mean the most to you.  I’m pretty sure the birthday boy feels the same way.  Happy birthday, brother.  May you have many more and may those you love be there to share each one!

In a constant obsession to not wind up on the show “Hoarders” (we’ll discuss that later) I found myself digging through my boxes of things previously deemed ‘of great value’ a few weekends back and happened to find a dozen or so cassette tapes that I’ve held on to for at least fifteen and maybe even twenty years.  Most of them were quickly thrown away with the knowledge that I owned the cd or mp3s of that album and didn’t need the cassette anymore.  However, there were three tapes that were more than just the standard cd precursor but had once been a mixtape created at some time in my childhood.  Each in their own way no longer played whether the tape had been torn or stretched or content erased but that didn’t stop me from wondering what treasures each had once held.  Back before the Internet, Napster or even cds, musical life in a small town was not one of abundant options.  But for a while we did have a radio station that tried to play contemporary music and I remember always having a blank tape in the tape deck in case a song I liked and might want to hear again would come on.  And if the tape was really good… you’d share it with your friends or play it in the car.

With the awesomeness of those mixtapes lost in time, my brother provided his own slice of musical gifting in the form of mix cd when I was home for the Super Bowl.  Teary-eyed and not wanting to have to say good-bye and head back to ‘real life’, I graciously accepted the disc he handed me as I was leaving.  He’d previewed bits of it for us as we’d driven around throughout the weekend, but it wasn’t until I was in my office the next the day that I truly got to experience his collection of Winter songs. That was three weeks ago, and I’ve yet to stop listening to his mix since.  It’s now a playlist of each of my iPods (yeah, yeah I have more than one and less than six) and before I share any of the rest of the music I’ve been listening to this past year, you need to hear this modern day mixtape.  With sixteen different artists there’s no expectation that you’ve heard them all, but trust me, the rest of their stuff is as good as the songs in this post.  So if you’re itching for something new and don’t know what to buy, let this be my suggestion list.

P.S. – Thanks, Zac.  You truly are the best musical (and every thing else) brother ever!

Wilco – Jesus, Etc: Go buy Yankee Foxtrot Hotel and then every other album of theirs’ you can find.  Trust me.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Whiskeytown – Sit and Listen To The Rain: My Ryan Adams love knows no bounds especially when it comes to the old Whiskeytown stuff. “Sit around, dream away the place I’m from.  Used to feel so much, now I just feel numb” Yeah, that good.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

TV On The Radio – Wolf Like Me: More likely than not you first heard this song advertising the 2010 Winter Olympics and not from TVOTR’s 2006 Return to Cookie Mountain.  That doesn’t mean you should pick up the latter.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Sun Kil Moon – Carry Me Ohio: I’m pretty sure Zac gave me his beloved disc so that I’d finally listen to this song he’d recommended weeks before.  But somehow in the hubbub of life, I’d lost his recommendation and grown tired of googling to figure out that weirdly named some from that weirdly named band.  And of course, pride would not allow me to ask again.  Luckily, he acted with pity on me and provided this gem and highlight of the album.  My students may have grown tired of it after three weeks of constant play, but you should hear that stuff they force me to listed to.  ::shudders::

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Click To Continue Reading…

I’ve had this blue beauty since I got her for Christmas and am finally having time to put her to good use. First, there was berry crumble last week and then homemade beef stew today.  She’s just perfect for slowcooking a winter’s meal, and this has definitely been a winter.  For quite some time now I’ve wanted and enamel-covered dutch oven and am so glad Lodge (one of my favorite kitchen brands) makes such a gorgeous, kitchen heavy hitter that won’t set you back $300 like others.  So if you need something special for your mom, the chef in your life or even yourself, this is a must have!

Oh Valentine’s day, you are a much different day depending on whether or not a person is single or in a relationship, and I’ve been in a relationship for over a year now… fourteen months and change to be exact   And as sweet as the chocolates and flowers that I received on this special day were, I was more than a bit taken a back at how perfectly suited the other gifts were for me.  Now if I only I could have convinced C to use the mandolin hand guard and not cut the tip of his finger.  Boys.

Red Kitchenaid Mandolin

Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” dvd

Orange-Berry Crumble

• 3 cups oats
• 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 2 Tb
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp of cinnamon
• zest of two oranges
• 2 sticks of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 40 oz of frozen berries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.  In a large bowl, toss together oats, 1/2 cup flour, pecans (I used pecans that were already covered in cinnamon and sugar from a local orchard), brown sugar, 1/2 of the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and zest of 1 of the oranges.  Add butter and gently press with fingers to incorporate into mixture; set aside.
2. Place berries (I used 16 oz of raspberries, 16 oz of blackberries and 8 oz of blueberries) in a 12-inch cast iron skillet.  Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, zest of second orange, and 2 TB of flour and gently toss.  Scatter oat mixture over berries.  Transfer to oven and bake until fruit is bubbly and topping is golden about 35-45 minutes.

(Taken from Country Living magazine and tweaked a bit to my taste.)

Homemade Chicken Potpie

• 2 Tb unsalted butter
• 1/2 medium white onion, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 medium carrots, sliced into 1/4 inch-thick coins
• 2 ribs celery, sliced
• 2 baby Yukon gold potatoes, sliced
• 3 Tb all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 4 cups roasted chicken breast meat
• 3/4 cup of frozen peas and pearl onions
• 1/2 cup of frozen sweet corn
• 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 (9-inch) store-bought pie crust
• 1 egg, beaten
• salt
• pepper

Directions:

1. You have two options for the roasted chicken in this recipe.  The first is to buy a grocery-store roasted chicken and just use all of the meat from it.  However, I roasted my own chicken breasts and LOVED the taste when I made this pot pie.  To do what I did, take 3 large split breasts that still have skin and pat them until they are completely dry.  Generously, salt and pepper, add a pat or two of butter and add a sprig of thyme to each breast under the skin. Drizzle the skin with a tsp of olive oil and roast all three on a jelly roll pan at 400° F for 45 minutes or until chicken is juicy and almost cooked.  Chicken may be 5-10 minutes from being completely cooked but remember that if will finish cooking in the pot pie. Once chicken is cooled, chop into large chunks and set aside.
2. Heat butter in 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat.  Add onion, carrots, celery, potatoes, and garlic and cook until carrots and potatoes begin to soften.  Season generously with salt and pepper from the start.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in flour.  Cook 1 minute. Stir in heavy cream and broth, using a whisk, until combined.  Stir in chicken, peas and onions, corn and 2 thyme sprigs and bring mixture to a boil.  Make sure to taste mixture and season accordingly.Cook mixture on stove until all ingredients are heated thoroughly.  Remove from heat.
4. Gently roll out store-bought pie crust until it reaches 12 inches in diameter.  Place dough atop chicken mixture and brush with egg; cut vents in pastry.  Transfer skillet to over and bake until crust is browned and flaky, about 35 minutes at 400° F.

(Modified from Country Living recipe)

The joy of working with college kids is the crazy stuff they discover on a daily basis and insist on sharing with you. Four student workers and I huddled around my iMac the other day at the insistence on another student to watch this short film. Now that I’ve been subjected to it… I insist you watch it, too!

It shouldn’t be a shock to me that it’s been almost a year since I had the time and focus to spend a few moments contemplating my life or even sharing the details of what I’ve been up to with you, but it is. Part of being the perfectionist that I am means that if I can’t finish a task exactly as I had planned, I just won’t finish it. Case in point, blogging.

Somewhere along the way I came up with this great plan to blog once a day everyday. Yet, when there just wasn’t time to meet that goal, I stopped altogether. But I missed it. I missed sharing about the good times, venting about the bad and evaluating the everyday moments of life. So even though it’s been eleven months since I’ve flexed my fingers and utilized this lil piece of the Internet I call my own, I’m lowering my posts per day standard and finding my way back here again. Hopefully, this time around I’ll grant myself enough mercy to skip a few days here and there.

Meet Leslie, my very first best friend forever, and to be 100% truthful, the only friend I’ve truly had in my life forever. It all began over 27 years ago when Leslie’s family and my parents met at the same small-town Southern Baptist church in Willcox. Leslie was born just 11 months before I was, and to this day, she won’t let me live that little fact down. Even as little girls we were fast friends. We played together, went to each other’s birthday parties, and were in the same Sunday School class year after year.  I truly hope I can say we’re still as close twenty years from now as we are today.