Category: backstory

onwards and upwards

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wow. When I sat down and agonized figuring out blogger all while wondering if I would fizzle out or actually get better I wasn’t sure I could find my true voice, and if I could, how I would share it and what it would look like. I now think about how far I have come and how I have grown into it and become more fearless and more intrigued by what could be.
The usual New Year’s practice of many is to make resolutions. I don’t really do that but have been thinking about new things and fresh starts. I didn’t make 1/1 but 2/1 and that’s ok because the date holds the significance of Z’s transplant which is about as new start as it gets.

  • I want to work on the blogs beauty…kind of like urbanpantry 2.0. I whiled away my morning figuring out making a new header for the web in Illustrator and tweaking the html code to correctly size it. I want to work towards some new artwork and refinement and better pictures.
  • I have a new series already running through my head to take the place of the burgers called alphabet soup. I have been thinking my way from A-Z and am looking forward to blogging about it.
  • I have a new fascination with pickling and making jams and chutneys that I want to dig into.
  • I am looking forward to an upcoming adventure traveling to Chicago and Michigan that will be an adventure in American cuisine and Brian’s family and am hoping to plan some southern short trips to Atlanta, Charlotte and Savannah and Miami to further investigate southern and Cuban food. Expanding my range, as it were.

It is a good start.

2 from Haiti

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For more than a few years I have heard my friend Linda speak of Haiti. Going to Haiti. Her Haitian would-be brother, Olivier. Her mom cooking masses of food at the orphanage. Holding the kids. Even using my suitcase to fill with old clothes to leave behind. It seemed out of reach to ever have him here. Now, in the midst of the time when most of the world seems to be falling apart at the seams there is also hope. 54 hours after the earthquake rocked Haiti – her brothers are home – the system that had been holding things back tore open. I heard another story like this today at work during devotions, a young girl, on the ground in the states. These stories give hope and reassurance. They are God’s promises in action – never leaving, never forsaking.

For more on this story click here

dirty water

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I have long been a fan of the .50 cent hot dog that translates into a $2.50 cent lunch – 2 dogs, chips and a soft drink – at Ikea. Well, for better or worse this icon of the flat packed and toweringly stacked blue and yellow box that is Ikea has changed. First of all, it changed from $2.50 down to $2. That isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing in itself but the here’s the rub. The dogs are now heated by the dirty water method. They are no longer rolled on the rolly heating element that heated the bit of fat to crisp the outside of the dogs but immersed in a water that becomes tinted with grey and holds a slick of oil topside. While some are fans of the dirty water dog, I felt a disappointment keen enough that would probably drive me upstairs for meatballs and lingonberries.