Sister Sister Crab Day

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Oh my, what a day it's been! Every so often Jess & I get together with our sisters Bekah & Shannon for a Sister Sister Day. This time we decided to stay in and enjoy some food and a few episodes of Scrubs. Wowsers, did we enjoy some food. It started with my special grilled cheese sandwiches, graduated to Bekah's Clove Bean Burritos, then our feast of crab cooked by Jess, and ended with Shannon's Cheese Danish. It was an amazing day spent with amazing people with amazing food. In fact, we're still enjoying each other's company so I'm going to cut this short and just give you some pictures of our crab feast instead.

Pity Party Update

Thursday, March 19, 2009

I just need to quickly update you all that I'm fine, I'm over the pity party, and I'm going strong. After a rather alarmed email from my mom this morning, I realized I maybe should let you all know I'm doing just fine.

I'm not dying, I'm not crying, but I am sighing. The mass of work is flowing quickly towards me. Off to stick my finger in the dike. (Read more children's literature if you don't get that reference)

Really God? Really?

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Ever get to the point where you have so much to do that you don't even know where to start? I passed that 10 miles back and haven't quite circled back to pick up the dropped pieces. To top it off, I just got some news today at work that makes all of this seem like a walk in the park. Instead of just walking, I'm now required to chew gum at the same time. Metaphorically speaking, not an easy task.

A few days ago, I felt like God was telling me that I needed to give him permission to do whatever he wanted in my life. I just needed to trust him. Ok God, I'm yours.

He's giggling right now up in heaven because as soon as he got permission, he threw a wrench that landed with the utmost precision just where I didn't want it. I am generally a very strong person and can handle most any situation that comes my way. God knows my tendencies to not ask for help, even when I desperately need someone to lean on, and decided to cripple me just enough that I'll be soon crying out for help. Or just plain crying.

I'll get to the other side of this just fine. It's going to be a big learning process and one that will make me better both personally and professionally. Only God is going to be able to get me through this one because there is no way that I can do this by my own power. And I know that's why he's doing what he's doing.

But can I mourn these changes just a little bit? Please? I think tonight's just a bit of a pity party in my head. Those of you who know me, know that I will be over it by the morning and ready to tackle this head on. For the moment though, I'm going to dwell in a bit of sorrow. And a bit of fear of the unknown.

It's such an odd thing for me to be consumed with work. I'm used to plenty of extra time to give of myself and have friends over. I've been so busy I don't even know the last time I cooked a meal for someone other than my roommate. That makes me sad. I know it's just this brief period of time, but I hate not being able to gift people like that. I hate that I can't share my home readily with others.

So for those of you who pray, I need some. Badly. I'm ready and willing to do what's being asked of me, but I need strength. God's at work here and there's no way I can do it without relying on him.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Farm Fresh Eggs

Saturday, March 14, 2009

The Farm has a neighbor who sells her organic eggs through them and if they are still there by the time I pick up my produce, I always buy a dozen each week. I just love these eggs. Beautiful colors and all different sizes and tasty beyond belief. Gorgeous. I took some pictures of them for the recipe for Chess Pie but decided that they needed to have their own post. So here you go-- some food porn for your stomach.

Happy Pi Day!

Today is the oft anticipated Pi Day (3.14= March 14)! To celebrate, I decided to make a pie. As in the edible kind. Like a few weeks ago, I had some Meyer lemons to use. I contemplated a lemon meringue pie, but decided it was too much work. I stumbled across a Chess Pie recipe and couldn't decide if I should make it because it just sounded weird. Apparently it's a Southern thing. They do odd things down there. I finally figured I didn't have much to lose, and decided it was a bonus that I didn't have to leave the house to get any ingredients.



Chess Pie is very easy to make. My word, I whipped it up in a matter of minutes! It also was quite tasty. I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted a bit like a lemon bar. Ish. Not an exact match, but it's the easiest thing to equate it to.



By the way, I found some of my pictures being used on the internet without permission, so I'm starting to put the watermark on them now. Ridiculous!


Chess Pie

Ingredients:
For the crust (makes enough for two):
2 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup milk

For the filling:
3 eggs
1 stick of butter (113.4 grams)
1 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of yellow corn meal
1 teaspoon of vanilla
The juice from 1 and 1/2 lemons (about 1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon of lemon zest

Method:
For the crust:
Mix flour and salt. Mix oil and milk. Pour oil and milk into flour and salt and stir until combined into a dough. Can add more milk if dry. Separate into two balls (save one ball for another pie). Roll crust out between two sheets of wax paper, line a pie pan with crust.

For the filling:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Melt the butter.
Mix the sugar in with the butter.
Beat the eggs and add vanilla, corn meal, lemon juice and zest.
Add egg mixture to butter and sugar, and mix well.
Pour filling into an unbaked pie shell and bake at 350 for 50 minutes.
Let cool for 20 minutes (so filling can set).

Filling makes enough for one pie.