Home

We made it back home from the beaches of Alabama on Sunday. I forget how much I miss the ocean until I am right there where we can look out the window and see it, or open the door and hear it.

Missy asked about pictures in a comment; the not-so-secret truth is that I am great at bringing my camera with me, but awful at actually remembering to take pictures. So here are a few that I did manage to take.

One of the days on the trip, we drove to New Orleans through Biloxi and Waveland, Mississippi. It was my first visit to Louisiana and Mississippi. I must say, I was very taken by the Mississippi Welcome Center along I-10. The Welcome Center was built to embody the idea of Southern Hospitality; inside, the center is decorated in a style I would call "Historical Southern." The floors and walls were bricks, and the rooms inside the center were decorated with magnolias and antique furniture. But the seal-the-deal element of hospitality was the free water, coffee, and soft drinks the friendly ladies behind the counter offered to anyone who came within a soft-voice length. The cynical may say it is just a marketing tool, but I left with pleasant thoughts about Mississippi--and I didn't even take a beverage.

As we were on the way to New Orleans, we drove through Biloxi and Waveland and saw the damage done by Hurricane Katrina. The damage is unbelievable in many ways. In Mississippi, there were some buildings that were still standing and obviously had been damaged by the storm. In other places, the debris had been cleared up, and I had to imagine the buildings that had stood along the coast but were no longer there.

New Orleans was also incredible, both as a city and as a damaged city. We drove through the French Quarter--slowly, because of narrow, crowded roads--and through part of the Ninth Ward. Each time was unlike anything I had expected. Even now, I feel at a loss for words to describe the city.

Our last night in Alabama, we visited Lambert's a meat-and-three kind of place with restaurants in Sikeston, Missouri; Ozarks, Arkansas; and Foley, Alabama. We had tried to go to the Lambert's in Sikeston this summer when we were in Paducah, Kentucky, but the timing was off, and we didn't get a chance to eat there. I'm glad we got a second chance in Alabama. Lambert's claims to be the home of "throwed rolls," and is the kind of place you should go into starving. In addition to the food you can order--anything from meatloaf and fried catfish to chicken livers and how jowls--they bring around bowls of black eyed peas, fried okra, fried potatoes, and mac and tomatoes that you can add to your plate. And, at least at the Lambert's in Alabama, they don't understand the meaning of "just a small bit." They also bring around huge rolls that they toss to you while you sit at your table, hence the "throwed rolls" byline. In the second picture, Clint and I are pointing to the menu items we ordered: fried catfish for him, and chicken and dumplings for me. It was all very yummy.

Merry Christmas from Alabama

This year, our version of a white Christmas is white sand beaches on
Alabama's Gulf Coast.

A fantastic recipe--Black Bean Burrito Bake

I found this recipe on Cheap, Healthy, Good a week or so ago and put it on my list to try. We got around to it Monday night and I have to say, I am a fan. Totally converted to this recipe. We put it together in about 15 minutes, maybe less, and pulled it out of the oven half an hour later (we probably could have gotten away with 20 minutes.) The chilies are spicy (Clint made the mistake of popping a whole one into his mouth) and I might use less than a whole one next time. But as a whole, this is a recipe we will be making again, and soon. I highly recommend trying it. If you do, come back and let me know what you think of it.

Black Bean Burrito Bake
* 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce
* 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
* 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed, drained, and divided
* 1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
* 4 (8-inch) flour tortillas
* Cooking spray
* 1 cup bottled salsa
* 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Remove one chile from can. Chop chile. Reserve remaining adobo sauce and chiles for another use. Combine sour cream and chile in a medium bowl; let stand 10 minutes. Place half of beans in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Add chopped beans, remaining beans, and corn to sour cream mixture. Spoon 1/2 cup bean mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas; place, seam side down, in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread salsa over tortillas; sprinkle with cheese. Cover and bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Holiday recipe--Toffee bars

We just got back from a holiday gathering with friends from our days in Athens. The food was delicious and the fellowship was heart warming. I had a few requests for the recipe I brought, so I am sharing it here.

Toffee Bars
* 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
* 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
* 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
* 1 egg, slightly beaten
* 2 cups (12-oz pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
* 1 cup coarsely chopped nuts
* 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
* 1-3/4 cups (10-oz. Pkg.) toffee bits, divided

Directions:
Heat oven to 350F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Combine flour and brown sugar in large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg; mix well. Stir in 1-1/2 cups chocolate chips and nuts; set aside 1-1/2 cups mixture. Press remaining crumb mixture onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 10 minutes. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over hot crust; top with 1-1/2 cups toffee bits. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture and remaining 1/2 cup chips over top. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup toffee bits. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. About 48 bars.

Happy Birthday, Clint

Happy Birthday to my dear, wonderful husband.

I'm not always confident in my ability to craft words and say how grateful I am for Clint and our relationship. He is my favorite travel buddy, my dear husband, and my best friend.

I love you, Clint. I hope you have a wonderful birthday and a great year.

Deck the halls, trim the tree

I'm feeling a Christmas itch this year that I haven't felt in a while. I want decorations up and Christmas music on. (If you have suggestions for Christmas albums, please let me know. I love my Christmas music, but I want more! more! more!)



This year (and last) I struggled a little with where to put some of the decorations. I finally figured things out for this year and I'm pleased with the way things turned out.

The theme this year appears to be stockings and snowflakes. And yes, there are more stockings than people in the house. And we actually aren't planning on filling them. I just wanted to display the ones I made.





The tree just has our Alaska ornaments. It's a small tree, so rather than overwhelm it, I only chose to use a few.

We started looking for a nativity set our first Christmas, and couldn't find one that we liked. I grew up with a full ceramic and full olive wood set, and I always imagined that I would have sets like those. We looked and looked that first Christmas and couldn't find anything like either of those until we were in Arizona with my family. This set was on sale at Deseret Book, and we gladly brought it home.

The dining room. I made the table runner last New Years. I really like the snowflakes hanging off of the light fixture.






Front room shelf. There is a glass nativity on the second shelf down on the far right. My family bought the set for my great-grandmother, and my sister has a matching set. When my great-grandmother passed away, the set went back to my mom who knew about our drama to find a set we liked, and sent it to us.

Do you ever ....

Do you ever have one of those mornings when you wake up with a song in your head that won't go away? For me, often that song is random-- something I haven't thought of for a while. The song for today is The Alaska State Song. Random, huh? I don't think I've had a reason to sing that song, or heard it sung, since I was in school. The song repeats a musical phrase several times, which makes of hard for me to always remember all the words.

I went through a phase earlier in my time working for the Civil Rights Digital Library when one of the songs from the videos was my morning songs. The song was "Woke up this morning with my mind on freedom,"
which has a refrain of "Oh, freedom!" A bit odd, but it happened so often that any time I have a morning song in my head, the next song "Woke up this morning with my mind on freedom."

(I feel like I've talked about this before, but I can't remember when...sorry if this seems like a repeat to you.)

(I just remembered a helpful tip to get random songs out of your head-- do math problems. It works! Give it a try sometime.)

Home at last

After four and a half hours of delays, we landed in Atlanta to find the train between terminals had shut down for the night and we had to walk and walk and walk ...

Long story short, we are home and going to sleep. Morning comes early when it is already 3:30 ...

Delayed

The airline has called us twice already, each time to tell us our flight has been pushed back two hours. It is going to be a long night.

Last day

Safely back in Vegas after driving through Southern Utah and Zions National Park. It was amazing and beautiful and I am so glad we did. We're just here for the evening--we fly home tomorrow, so that doesn't
really count in my mind. It has been a great trip.

Tonight, we are staying at a hotel on the strip. What you can't see is that one of the bright lights in the picture is a Ross. Vegas is a strange town.

Southern Utah

We're on our way backto Las Vegas, taking the scenic route through Southern Utah. We started this morning in Provo and took US-89 through Manti, Salina, and Richfield. Then we took the scenic route through
Dixie National Forest to Escalante and ending up in Cannonville just about dark. We'll stay there tonight and tour more tomorrow.

The drive has been all sorts of beautiful, and we filled the camera with pictures of scenery. Here's one that I've doctored up a bit. We were near a marker for Nielsen's Mill, although I don't remember the name of the town.

National Day of Listening

StoryCorps has declared today the first annual National Day of Listening. I got started listening to StoryCorps features during my drives to the job I had in Commerce, Georgia. I have fond memories of dark, early mornings, listening to the stories of every day Americans. Once I started working at the University of Georgia, my schedule didn't let me listen to the StoryCorps stories as often, and I missed it. Now, any time I have the chance, I enjoy the opportunity.

Our travels and visits to family this week have been all about listening. The last few days with Grandma Jones have been especially full as we have looked at old pictures and introduced Clint to the old farm and new family. I haven't been able to record all the stories we have heard and shared. Maybe I'll be able to take some time and take some notes later. If you are still spending the day with friends and family, I encourage you to share stories and take notes. Because, as StoryCorps asserts, listening is the greatest gift.

A Happy Thanksgiving

Spent the day at Uncle Roger and Aunt Gwen's cabin outside of Heber. Between the Jones cousins and my cousins in-laws we were twenty-one for dinner. The day was full of games, family, and food.

At one point, I caught GrandmaJones holding my cousin's baby and hadto take this picture.

This Thankful Thursday, I am thankful for good food, friends and family, and the chance to be in Utah to enjoy it this year. I'm grateful for the time to spend with Grandma this holiday.

At the old Jones farm

Grandma's house isn't really at a farm any more, but growing up, there was a heard of Holsteins just beyond the backyard.

This is Clint's first visit to the area, and his first time seeing the life-sized, plush cow in the living room. The cow was a gift to Grandpa Jones when he retired from his job in Michigan and moved back to Utah to run the farm in the mid-1980s. To me, it is one of the familiar things that makes Grandma's house a home away from home.

A very happy birthday

Including

- birthday wishes from friends and family far and near
- Jamba Juice--an old favorite from my BYU days
- my first visit to the Salt Lake Temple
- dinner with the rest of the Utah Willis family and meeting cousin Finn for the first time
- night at Grandma Jones's home and a chance for Clint to meet more family tomorrow

Ah, Provo

Spent today doing Provo things--a visit to my old job at the library, lunch with my former roommate and her family, and dinner with Katie, Reed, and Jimmy. I'm learning that you can't go back--too many things change. I'm grateful for memories and friends and family who love me in spite of and through the changes.

Cousins

Tonight we are in Provo. Katie and Reed arranged a delicious dinner with the BYU Willis cousins and after getting everyone's update and Katie's famous chocolate cake, we shared stories and laughter. Growing up in all parts of the country, we didn't have the chance to see each other often. We've been lucky enough to have the chance to get to know each other in the last few years, especially when we've been at BYU.

Thanks, Katie and Reed, for arranging this evening. Thanks cousins for taking time to come visit.

Vegas, baby

There are slot machines in the airport terminal. And in the pharmacy.

Love Clint being Avis Preferred. The car was waiting for us in the lot, we got in and got on the way.

Loved seeing Keith and Janelle and Lily and celebrating her first birthday. Happy coincidence that we were here on her day. Can't believe we forgot to take a picture of all of us together.

Loved Red Rock and the scenic drive through the canyon.

Love traveling with Clint. He's great at finding fun things to see and do and great places to stay.

Not much of a fan of the strip. Crazy sensory overload.

So far, a great trip. Looking forward to the next week.

Not a fan of the DDS

My drivers license expires on my birthday. The Dept. of Driver Services sent me a renewal that I returned, with a check, in September. I didn't think anything of it until two weeks ago, when I realized I hadn't received my new license hadn't arrived yet. So I called the DDS to find out what was going on. The woman I spoke to said there had been a glich, and said she fixed it. So I waited some more, and still, no license. So today I took a field trip to the DDS office to try and figure things out. I was met by a woman who made a snarky comment about renewing by mail. Not very helpful. After an hour and talking to three people, I got to pay the fee for a second time,
have an awful picture taken, and finally walk out with a new drivers license. Nice, huh? I'm trying to look on the bright side and apreciate that I don't have to go through this again for ten years, but I'm not looking forward to fighting to get my money back. And then there's the picture I'm stuck with.

Moral of the story? In Georgia, just go to the DDS to renew and only pay once.

Thankful Thursday

Today, I am grateful for minimal traffic on my commute.

I am grateful that for most of the month I can work from home.

I am grateful for a wonderful husband, a beautiful home, and good friends.

Another post about the Bond movie

If you're planning on seeing the new Bond movie but haven't yet, I give you permission to not read this blog post until after you've seen it. I'm not planning on including any spoilers in this post, but I don't want my opinion to color your view of the movie. After you've seen the movie, please come back and read this post and leave a comment and let me know if you agree or disagree with my assessment.

Okay, now for the analysis:

Overall, Clint and I enjoyed the movie. But one of our big complaints with the movie was that it seemed to skip over a lot of the development of the plot and of the character that we were expecting. Mostly, the movie skipped the kind of thing that is fairly standard in spy-type movies--things like how the spy finds the bad man, the spy's recovery when he is injured, how the spy discovers and deals with the traitor inside the agency. On the one hand, we as viewers are familiar enough with the genre--and especially with the Bond franchise--that we don't actually need the details. We know how MI6 works, and we know how Bond works, so unless he is doing something outside of the ordinary, we don't need that part of the story retold.

On the other hand, their is a reason we like franchise movies. We like predictability. We like stories to follow patterns, and we like knowing what those points of the patterns will be. Some variation within the pattern is accepted and expected, but if a story plays too much with the pattern, we are likely to be dissatisfied and impatient with it and with the experience.

So it was with Quantum of Solace, at least for the two of us. For a movie running well under two hours, a few more minutes of plot and character development for the sake of the audience while technically unnecessary for the story, would have been an improvement.

A random fact--until last year, I had never seen a Bond movie. Casino Royal was my first. Since then, I've seen parts of some of the older Bond movies when Clint's watched them. But for the most part, my knowledge of spy movies come more from the Bourne and Mission Impossible franchises than from 007.

So who cleans up?

Yesterday, Clint and I enjoyed a lunch date--lunch and a movie; we saw Quantum of Solace. I had never seen a Bond movie until last year when we watched Casino Royal.

It wasn't a bad movie. But as I watched the destruction om the screen, I couldn't help but wonder who cleans up the mess after the fight. Yes, it's an odd thing to think about; I don't know when I started wondering such things. I thought about it a lot during Hancock, and while I liked that movie, too, I wish some movie would address the after of fights, even in a humorous way.

I mean, those fancy fight scenes can cause big messes, with overturned cars, broken glass every where, and even burned out buildings. Or what about the scenes where two assassins meet in a strangers house, duke it out, and then leave. What does the poor librarian think, when she comes home from work and finds her shelves of Dewey Decimalized books in piles in the floor? And how does the accountant get home from work after his car is smashed in the high speed car chase through the
parking lot at work?

Book reviews: The Blood of Flowers and Prep

Have you ever read a story that just seems off to you? Not something poorly written or a bad story. I'm thinking about the kind of off in which while you can see the character's motivation and to a degree understand some of the character's action, the thought process remains foreign to you and you just can't relate?

One of the times in my past that I most remember feeling this way wasn't with a book; it was with a musical. In high school, I saw the Phantom of the Opera. I went knowing some of the hype but none of the story to speak of. My experience with musicals was limited to the things I had seen in movies, like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and My Fair Lady and the plays I had seen or had been a cast member in back home, like Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Annie, and The Sound of Music. The Phantom of the Opera was very well done, and I enjoyed the production. But something about the story was just ... off ... and I left the play feeling unsettled. I just didn't get it. I couldn't say why then, and I'm not sure I can now.

I had a similar feeling recently when reading Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. My sister-in-law Jennifer and I recently swapped books, and this was one that she passed on to me. Prep is the fictitious account of a Midwestern girl attending an elite Eastern boarding high school. Sittenfeld portrays the angst of being in high school wrapped in an extra layer of isolation and other-ness for good measure.

On the one hand, I understood some of the insecurities of Lee, the main character. I have had my own internal discussions and rules for interacting when I am uncomfortable or feel new. On the other hand, the degree of her self-absorption and self-imposed restrictions was too much for me. It may have been in part the degree of teenage thought that overwhelmed me; while there were adults in the story, the characters seemed to be much less influenced by grown-ups than I remember being as a teenager. It may also have been the difference in the time away from home; I strongly associate the feeling of on my own with my time in college, which is apparently worlds away from that of high school.

The other book that is leaving me with that foreign feeling is The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani. This book was one voted on by the Real Simple No Obligation Book Club, and while it wasn't selected as the book for November, I was intrigued by the description of the book, which tells the story of a poor girl in 17th century Persia who who weaves rugs and tries to care for her mother and better their lives. I'm only about forty pages into the book, but so far I am getting that foreign feeling, and I don't think it is just because of the location or time period. I'll try and post a more complete review when I have finished the book.

My favorite hymn

Last Sunday, our ward conducted a "Music and the Spoken Word"-like service. Several members were asked to share their favorite hymn with the congregation and then we sang the song. I was impressed with the thoughts and hymns selected.

The program got me thinking about my favorite hymn. I realized I don't feel as strongly about the music as I have in the past, especially when my church assignment is to plan hymns for the services. If I had been asked about my favorite hymn, I would have pulled this story from my past:

On Saturday night, the January of my senior year of high school, my family was in the family room when my dad started teasing us kids. He said, "If I were to get a new church assignment, what do you think it would be?" We had various guesses and played around for a while before the conversation ended and we eventually made our way to bed.

The next day at church, I sat on the stand to conduct the hymns for church. A friend who was getting ready to leave on a mission spoke as did several members of his family. The meeting time was almost over when the Stake President stood up and announced a change in the ward leadership. My dad was called as Bishop of the ward; my heart sunk. My dad had been bishop for eighteen months several years earlier, and I knew how busy he would be with his new assignment. The Stake President had the old Bishop speak and then had my dad speak. My dad was wearing his customary blue shirt, sports coat, and bow tie. As he stood up, he said, "It feels hot in here. Does it feel hot to anyone else?" And with that, he took off his coat. And then he took off his bow tie. And then he started unbuttoning his shirt. I nearly died of embarrassment. I could not imagine what my dad was thinking. Under my dad's shirt, he had on his white shirt and a tie. He used the costume change as an object lesson to speak of his commitment to make the changes necessary to serve the ward.

And after all of that, I had to stand in front of the congregation and lead the closing hymn. The hymn I had selected was "Be Still My Soul." I had been comforted by the lyrics before, but as I stood trying to sing amid the tears, the words touched my heart.

Fast forward three years. Another January, this time in Utah. I am again in charge of the music at church, this time in my student ward at BYU. We sing "Be Still My Soul" and I think of the day my dad was called to be bishop. That evening when I chat with my family, I find out that my dad was released from being bishop earlier that day. My heart was touched again by the connections in our lives and especially the words of hope in my favorite hymn.

Below is a link to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "Be Still My Soul."

Another batch of applesauce

Tonight, after dinner, I pulled out the three largest pots we have to
finish this years batch of applesauce. The bushel plus of apples we
had left made five plus quarts of sauce. Not bad for the end of a
Saturday evening.

Date night

Clint and I had a date night tonight. Thanks, Katie, for the gift
certificate. It was delicious!

Thankful Thursday

Nicole has been posting Thankful Thursday posts for a few months now. I've been inspired by her gratitude and have enjoyed the glimpse it gives me into their lives. I believe gratitude is a good emotion, one we should cultivate and express more. So to start off, thank you, Nicole, for being the example of Thankful Thursday, way before November or Thanksgiving.

Here's my list for today:

* I am thankful for rain. I've said it before, and it still feels odd to me to say it, but I do appreciate any rain we get. Georgia is still experiencing its record-breaking drought, so I was pleased when I went outside this morning and saw the wet pavement.

* I am thankful for book groups. It ended up that both of the book groups I am in are meeting this week, one last night and one tonight. It makes for busy evenings after work, but on the other hand, it is a nice reprieve after work. Sometimes I get lonely working from home all by myself, and it is nice to get out and be social. It is also nice to read a variety of things and to talk about them with other women.

* I am thankful to work at home. My corner of the office is set up so I have a perfect view of our backyard. Our backyard is full of trees and backs up to the tennis courts, which are also surrounded by trees. The leaves are in full changing mode and throughout the process are all shades of beautiful. This afternoon, I caught a squirrel running along the top of our fence. The fence is scalloped, and the squirrel almost appeared to be on a roller coaster. He paused at each post before running down the valley and up to the next post. The small things that help me smile. (I'll try to post a picture of the fence in the near future.)

* I am thankful for telephones with cheap long-distance, email, blogs, and the many ways technology helps us stay in touch with friends and family. I am thankful for friends and family making the effort to stay in touch.

* I am thankful for my wonderful husband. As I was finishing work, I realized today marks three and a half years of married life. If I had realized it earlier, I might have had a cute list ready for this occasion like I did last year. Clint is my best friend, my support, my partner in projects big and small, and the love of my life. I am grateful for the adventures of the past forty-two months and look forward to the next forty-two years and beyond.

I love you, Clint.

Nothing to say

Of course, the day after I promise to post every day of the month, my mind goes blank, and I'm struggling to think of what to write.

I feel like I am back in college and have a paper to write. It is getting later and later and later, and I don't know what to write, and the deadline is looming larger and larger.

Clint suggested that I blog about politics. I tend to be fairly private with my political feelings--to the point that I don't even share as much with Clint as he would like. Mostly, I'm glad the most recent election is over. I was pretty tired of it all by the end.

Does this count as a blog post? I'll try and come up with something more interesting for tomorrow.

Some introspection, or commitment

Although I've received encouragement to commit to the NaBloPoMo challenge, I've hesitated to do so. And in my hesitation, I've been faced with a weakness I thought I had overcome.

I am afraid to commit.

I am afraid of commitment.

I spent most of my years at BYU aware to some degree of my reluctance to commit. My poor roommates were probably more aware of that than I was. It was something I worked to overcome, something I thought I had conquered. After all, a happily married woman can't be afraid of commitment, can she? Apparently, I can.

In thinking about my fear, I've recognized a couple of ways it is manifest in my life. When we go out to eat, I hate being the one deciding on our location because I don't want to commit to a decision, leading to meandering conversations that include a variety of options that sometimes seems to go on forever. When asked if I'll help with a project, I'll often say "I'll try" because in my mind, it gives me the all-important escape hatch.

Or maybe this isn't a fear of commitment. Maybe it is a fear of the potential of disappointing people. I can make commitments and do a fairly good job of following through when it is just me commiting to myself.

Either way, I am going to (gulp!) take the step and commit to NaBloPoMo. I may fail, but at least I will commit to try.

A quiet day and a dessert recipe

I have a couple of ideas for posts, but they are both introspective and revealing pieces. Tonight, I feel quiet, pensive, and reserved. Not quiet the right mood for writing and sharing deep personal thoughts. Maybe another night. Instead, here's a bonus recipe for a perfect November dessert. The ladies from Canterwood #1 may recognize this recipe from our friend Marshall.

Pumpkin Dessert
* 1 Yellow Cake Mix (save 1 cup)
* 1/2 Cup Melted Butter or Margarine
* 1 Egg
* 3 Cups Pumpkin
* 1/2 Cup Sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon Salt
* 2 Eggs--beaten
* 2/3 Cup canned evaporated milk
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
* 2 tablespoons Butter

Directions:
Mix cake mix (minus 1 cup), butter, and egg and press into 9x13 pan. In the same bowl, mix the pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, eggs, and milk. Pour over the cake-crust. Mix the remaining cake mix with the sugar, cinnamon and butter and crumb it over the whole thing. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Dinner tag, part 5--Sarah's Favorite Chicken

I don't know the real name for this recipe. It was my favorite all growing up. I think my mom got the recipe from my Aunt Lynn, but that's about all I know about it. We used to put the sauce on broccoli, slices of apples, and baked potatoes.

Sarah's Favorite Chicken and Sauce
* 6 chicken cutlets (about 1 1/4 lbs.)
* 1/3 cups mayonnaise
* Corn Flake crumbs (about 3/4 cups)

Directions:
Brush with mayonnaise. Coat with Corn Flake crumbs. Place in a greased baking pan. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes. Serve with sauce.

Sauce
* 1 cup mayonnaise
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/2 cup shredded cheese

Directions:
Stir milk into mayonnaise; add cheese. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly, 10 minutes or until the cheese melts. (The sauce is also great on vegetables.) Serves 4 to 6.

Dinner tag, part 4--Pumpkin and black bean soup

I found this recipe sometime in the first six months of our marriage. My mom and sister had gotten on a Rachel Ray kick and how through perusing the Food Network site, I found this recipe. I've mentioned before my love of all things pumpkin, so this is a great recipe for me.

Pumpkin and black bean soup
from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/pumpkin-and-black-bean-soup-recipe/index.html
* 2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
* 1 medium onion, finely chopped
* 3 cups canned or packaged vegetable stock, found on soup aisle
* 1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes in juice
* 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained
* 2 cans (15 ounces) pumpkin puree (found often on the baking aisle)
* 1 cup heavy cream
* 1 tablespoon curry powder, 1 palm full
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1/2 palm full
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, eyeball it in the palm of your hand
* Coarse salt
* 20 blades fresh chives, chopped or snipped, for garnish

Directions:
Heat a soup pot over medium heat. Add oil. When oil is hot, add onion. Saute onions 5 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes, black beans and pumpkin puree. Stir to combine ingredients and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and stir in cream, curry, cumin, cayenne and salt, to taste. Simmer 5 minutes, adjust seasonings and serve garnished with chopped chives.

Dinner tag, part 3--Spinach Chicken Parmesan

My mom recommended this recipe to me and we've enjoyed it several times. I've never added the pimento peppers, although it would probably be good that way, too.

Spinach Chicken Parmesan
From: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spinach-Chicken-Parmesan/Detail.aspx
* 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
* 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
* 1/4 cup chopped green onions
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup skim milk
* 1/2 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
* 1 tablespoon chopped pimento peppers

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a small bowl combine cheese and seasoning. Roll chicken pieces in cheese mixture to coat lightly. Set remaining cheese mixture aside. Arrange coated chicken pieces in an 8x8x2 inch baking dish. In a small saucepan, saute green onion in butter/margarine until tender. Stir in flour, then add milk all at once. Simmer, stirring, until bubbly. Stir in drained spinach and pimiento and mix together. Spoon spinach mixture over chicken and sprinkle with remaining cheese mixture. Bake uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes or until tender and chicken juices run clear.

Dinner tag, part 2--Roasted Italian Sausages with Tomatoes and White Beans

Day two of the 5-recipe tag. Here's one I found in the USA Today Newspaper supliment and tried a few months ago. It features white beans again and is a perfect fall comfort food meal. And it smells so, so, so wonderful while cooking! The balsamic vinegar, garlic, and onion all do wonderful things while roasting. If you can find the turkey sausage, I recommend using that instead of the pork. I don't think this is a crock pot recipe, but it is a lot of dump and forget about it.

Roasted Italian Sausages with Tomatoes and White Beans
* 2 ½ lbs sweet Italian sausage links (pork or turkey), cut into 2- or 3-inch pieces
* 3 pints cherry tomatoes
* 1 medium-large onion, cut into 1 ½-inch chunks
* 4 garlic cloves, sliced
* 3 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 ½ TBS balsamic vinegar
* 2 tsps tried thyme leaves
* 3 whole bay leaves
* Salt and pepper
* 3 16 oz cans white beans, such as cannellini, drained, with ½ cup of liquid from the beans reserved

Directions:
Adjust oven rack to lowest position and, 5 minutes before you are ready to put the food in, turn the oven on to 425 degrees.
Mix everything but beans and their reserved liquid in a roasting pan. Set pan in oven. Roast until sausages are brown and tomatoes have reduced to a thick sauce, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven, stir in beans and reserved liquid, and continue cooking until casserole has heated through, about 10 minutes longer. Remove bay leaves and transfer serve.

Dinner tag, part 1--White bean chili

Tara tagged me with a 5-recipe tag. And my sister-in-law Jennifer asked about crock pot recipes. So I'm going to post five of my favorite recipes, with a few focusing on the crockpot. Actually, I haven't decided which recipes I'll post, but I have decided to spread them out over five posts so no post gets to be too long. And to help me with the NaBloPoMo. Which I haven't yet decided if I'll commit to or not ...

I'll start with my recipe for white bean chili. I got this recipe from my friends mother-in-law, Linda Jensen, my last semester at BYU. Linda got the recipe from her daughter-in-law's family (also in Utah). It is a great recipe and always makes a good impression.

White Bean Chili
* 3 cans canalini white kidney beans or great northern beans, drained (or dump them in whole and reduce the amount of chicken broth)
* 2 chopped onions
* 48oz chicken broth
* 4 cups diced cooked chicken
* 1 7oz can diced green chilies
* 2 tsp oregano
* 4 tsp cumin
* 1 ½ tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste) (I usually ignore the cayenne pepper, but I don't do well with hot)
* 6-8 garlic cloves minced
* 1 cup sour cream
* 3 cups monteray jack cheese (shredded)

Stove-top directions: Add all ingredients except sour cream and monteray jack cheese. Cook for at least 1 hour. Add sour cream and cheese five mintues before serving.
Crock pot directions: Add all ingredients, except sour cream and monteray jack cheese. Cook for desired time, add sour cream and cheese before serving.
Sarah's extra tip: I saute the onion and chicken together before adding it to the crock pot because I think the flavor is better that way.

Tomato Garnish
Make this several hours before serving the chili. When serving the chili, top with the tomato garnish. If you have added cayenne pepper, the garnish will cool the chili a bit.
* ½ c sugar
* ¼ c cider vinegar
* juice of one lemon
*1 tsp dried onion powder
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 tsp paprika
* 2 tsp celery seed
* 1/3 c veg. oil
* a lot of chopped tomatoes
* fresh parsley

Directions: In sauce pan combine sugar and vinegar, boil until sugar is disintegrated. Add rest of ingredients. Cool and add tomatoes and parsley. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Happy Birthday, Katie!

Every year, at least since I left home, I have spent my sister's birthday remembering the day of her birth. I was almost seven at the time, so I have a lot of memories from that day that I don't have with my brother. I remember that for several days before the birth we watched the weather reports and kept bags packed so my brother and I could spend the night with friends while my parents were at the hospital. The day my mom went into labor, the weather report called for rain the next day. We spent the afternoon with one family and that evening I spent the night with my best friend from school. I remember thinking it was so cool to spend the night on a school night.

I remember waking up the next morning and talking to my mom on the telephone before school. I was so excited to hear about my new baby sister. My friend, the youngest of three and the only girl, was jealous that I had a sister. We went to school where instead of rain there was snow, and my cute purple rain coat with the white pin stripes just couldn't keep me warm enough at recess. Standing there in the cold, probably exhausted from staying up too late with my friend, I started crying. Some of the girls in the grade older than me came over and put their arms around me to make sure everything was alright. I have always appreciated their kindness.

After school, my dad picked me up in the old, white, 2-door Honda Civic that our family drove. Dad, my brother, and I drove to the hospital where we saw my mom and met my beautiful sister. I remember how she smelled and how small she was.


A few weeks ago, Clint and I had the chance to stay with our niece Abby while her sister, Libby was born. As we played with Abby and took her to the hospital to meet her sister, I thought of Katie's birth. Years from now, Abby won't remember waking up from her nap and putting her dress on inside out and her jeans on backwards as she tried to get ready to go meet Baby Libby. She won't remember climbing on her mom's bed and seeing her sister for the first time. Abby and Libby will have a different relationship than I have with my sister. But they are sisters, and they will love each other and take care of each other like Katie and I do. I am grateful they have each other, and I am very grateful for my beautiful, all-grown-up, baby sister.

Applesauce

A few years ago, Clint introduced me to the beauty of homemade applesauce. Since then, part of our yearly trip to the North Georgia mountains has been getting plenty of apples to make plenty of applesauce. This year, I decided to try canning some of the applesauce. My first little experiment consists of four pint-size jars. So far so good. They are now "curing" (or whatever the proper term is) for the next 24 hours. After that, we'll see if everything took just fine. I'm hoping the answer is yes. I've only used about a sixth of the apples we bought this weekend ...

A new assignment

I've been given a new assignment at church. After a year in my current assignment, I've been moved from teaching the 10-year-olds in Primary, the children's program, to teaching the 12- and 13-year-olds in Sunday School. In some ways, it will be a big change; in the kids I teach, in the way the program is run, in my relationship to the program. In other ways, it isn't that big of a change; the kids aren't that much older than the ones I've been teaching and the basics of the curriculum are the same.

Next Sunday is my last week in Primary. I've enjoyed my calling and working with the kids (at least most of the time.) Here's hoping Sunday School goes at least as well.

A blog-o-versary

Last year I did my own version of NaBloPoMo and posted on the blog every day through the month of November. It took me a little while to feel brave enough to let friends and family know about the blog. A year later, am grateful when I think of the friends I have reconnected with through blogging. Blogging friends cover every time zone, except Hawaii, and at least 12 states.

I haven't decided if I am going to NaBloPoMo this year or not. The month is looking a little busy for us, and I haven't been very good at posting the last few months. Either way, I figured I should say something today so I didn't start out behind.
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Clint and I enjoyed a quiet evening last night. We're not really Halloween people. Instead, today we took our annual fall trip to the North Georgia mountains to buy fresh apples and enjoy the scenery. The weather was beautiful and the trees were decked out in red, yellow, and orange leaves. Just beautiful. On the way home, a few trees caught the last of the sunlight and lit up as if they were on fire.

Since moving to the South, fall has become my favorite season. Growing up, fall was just dark and wet. Here, fall temperatures are about what it is in the summer in Alaska, with the addition of leaves and pumpkins and apples. Delicious.

Happy Halloween!

A few Flashback Friday pictures for your Halloween fun. I don't have many pictures from Clint's childhood, so please forgive the Willis bias.
Halloween in Utah, probably October 1983, the year before we moved to Alaska.

That's me in the clown costume and Reed as the cowboy, either 1986 or 1987. My mom made our costumes--I think she did a great job.



I remember washing all of that red out of my crimped hair and off of my face ... it felt like took forever.

The three Willis kids. For some reason, this is the hardest year for me to place. Maybe 1993 or 1994?

Worth the wait

I waited in line for three hours to vote last night. All week, the news has been reporting lines at least that long in the metro Atlanta area and in other parts of the county. It wasn't until after I arrived at the polling location that I wished for a camera to record the line that stretched half-way around the parking lot filled with cars, with more parked down the street in both directions.

Most people in line made the best of it, joking with one another and holding spaces for people who needed to run to their cars to get coats as the night got colder or who needed to find a bathroom. Two people even thought they recognized me or knew my family, although I'm pretty sure I didn't know them. A couple of entrepreneurs sold candy, bottles of water, mugs of self-heating coffee and hot chocolate, and even slices of pizza for prices approaching that of ball park concession stands. Several people had their children with them, and the kids ran around the park adjacent to the parking lot.

One of my regrets from this election is that so much focus has been on the presidential race that I didn't give myself as much time as I should have to research the other candidates and issues on the ballot. I suppose it is to be expected, especially in such a heated presidential election.

I'll be interested to see how Tuesday goes, both for the lines and for the results.

Yesterday's accomplishment

Some times it is just the small things, isn't it?

Yesterday I tossed an empty soap bottle from inside the fogged shower into the garbage can on the first try. And all without the aid of glasses or contacts.

I didn't see the swoosh, but it still makes me smile.

Some thoughts on writing

I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately. I've gotten in another one of those ruts where I've done a lot of composing in my head, but haven't put those thoughts down in bits and bites. I'll try and be better.
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In the last few weeks, I've had two opportunities to hear from authors. Our Relief Society book group won a contest where a publisher sent us ten copies of an autographed book and arranged for us to speak with the author. The book was Chosen Forever by Susan Richards, a memoir about her experience in getting her first memoir published and the work promoting it. Richards had a rough childhood and as an adult found healing through working with a horse; she wrote about her experience in her first memoir, Chosen by a Horse. After her first book was published, she did promotional work all throughout New England. As she did book tours and readings, she reconnected with family members and old friends. And, in her home town, she re-met the man she purchased her home from twenty years earlier and found love.

Ms. Richards spoke to our book group by phone and told us some more of her experience in writing and promoting her works. She also outlined the plots of three unpublished novels she is shopping around for a publisher. I was most intrigued by her description of motivations for writing her novels. Ms. Richards has also worked as a social worker, and told us she is fascinated by the way people move past the trauma in their lives. Listening to her talk about "the walking wounded" was interesting after reading about her experience healing and finding peace in her life.
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Last week Clint and I went to a lecture at Emory University by Umberto Eco, a modern author and philosopher. Eco spoke about the difference between fiction and reality. He explained that in fiction, we accept the world that the author creates as true. In life, we are aware that we may not always know the whole story. The history we accept as fact may turn out to be not true in any number of degrees or any number of ways. He built this argument through several other points and conclusions, but I found his central premise the most fascinating.
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Just a few thoughts about literature and the process of writing. In a way, it is refreshing and exhilarating to be thinking about books and words again. As a literature major during my undergrad days, my life was reading and thinking about books. I read one of Eco's books, The Name of the Rose, in my post-modern literature class at BYU. My life has gone on since then, but every now and then it is nice to stretch those old muscles and remember who I was in my old life.

Try this recipe

We've done this fajita recipe twice recently and it is pretty darn good. For folks lowering their meat consumption, the marinade works great on mushrooms, too.

Fajitas

Adapted from Alton Brown's recipe.

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 scallions, washed and cut in half
2 large cloves garlic
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons dark-brown sugar or Mexican brown sugar
2 pounds inside skirt steak, cut into 3 equal pieces
2 red bell peppers, cut into strips
2 green bell peppers, cut into strips
1 large white onion, cut into strips
Olive oil
Salt
Sour cream
Fajita-size flour tortillas

Procedure

1. Place all marinade ingredients in a blender and puree. Put pieces of skirt steak in a large ziplock bag and pour marinade all over. Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible and allow the steak to marinate for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

2. Heat 1 chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and start grilling the steak immediately, while the fire is at its hottest. Grill on each side 3-5 minutes. Remove the steak from the grill and wrap in tin foil and allow to rest 10-15 mins.

3. While the steak is resting, toss the peppers and onion with some olive oil and a pinch of salt. Place a cast iron skillet directly on the hot coals in the grill, and when heated, add in the peppers and onions. Continue to cook until they are soft and nicely browned.

4. Heat the tortillas on the grill or in the oven until soft. Assemble fajitas with the vegetables, steak, and a bit of sour cream.

A new color in the family room

When Katie was here she helped us pick out a new color for the family room. I finally got around to painting it. I'm really happy with the way it has turned out. The second picture shows more of the true color of the room. We still haven't put anything back on the walls, but that should happen soon.

The color is Lowe's Antique Moss. I especially love it with the bright white of the trim and fire place (which probably took the most time to paint!)

I still need to sew some pillow covers to bring some more color into the room. And I am planning on putting the slip covers back on the couch, although I am waiting until this weekend when we are hosting a dinner group from church.

A recent sewing project

A few years ago I picked up a white linen skirt from Old Navy on sale. It's been one of my favorite summertime skirts. It was a sad day when I *ahem* outgrew it. Earlier this summer, I decided I needed a new version of my old favorite. So I laid the skirt out on some wrapping paper and traced out a pattern. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out and it has been great to wear the last few weeks of summer. I know school has started for most of the country, but here in the South, it is still a bit warmish for this Alaska girl.

Family visitors

We had visitors from both sides of the family stay with us in August. Chris, Jennifer, and Abby spent a weekend with us in the first half of the month. We mostly took it easy while they were here, visiting the pool, and eating ice cream. It was fun to have visitors and to play with Miss Abby.

(Thanks to Jennifer for posting these pictures on her blog. Sorry--no pictures of the camera keeper Jennifer. I'll try to fix that next time.)

Then in the second half of the month, my sister, Katie, came to visit before heading back to BYU. Her trip was filled with yummy food and shopping. We introduced her to sushi, although I think she got away without eating any of the raw rolls.


Thanks again for a fun visit, Katie. Good luck with the upcoming semester.

Two recipes

Have I mentioned before that I have a Real Simple habit? Yes, the magazine is neither real nor simple, but it is my guilty pleasure and sometimes even has some good things. Like this month's collection of whole-grain recipes. We've tried two this week and I'm very happy with the way they've turned out. My favorite was the Zucchini with Quinoa Suffing and Clint's favorite is Wheat Berry Salad with Bacon. Both will be added to our rotation.

The weather this week has been trying to transition into fall--cool, damp mornings with dryer, warmer afternoons. These grain recipes, in my mind, were a perfect complement to the weather. The grains hinting at cold-weather comfort food without being too heavy for days that still get over 80 degrees.

Happy birthday, Dad!

My dad, 1955 or 1956. Wasn't he cute?

In the Congaree National Park in South Carolina in 2003.
May 13, 2005, Atlanta, Georgia.

Happy birthday, Dad. We love you.