Erin's Exquisite Edibles, and Excursions

A New Season

2011-10-31T21:03:00.002-04:00

Because it was in the time of silence on my blog I never mentioned that Asa and I have been married two years! I can hardly believe that two years have come and gone. They have been great years, so far... One of the things I am most grateful for is the way that Asa supports and is enthusiastic at every new meal, dessert and project I start!

However, there's a new project that we both have stepped into. It's something that takes two and complete commitment on each person's part. It's scary and exciting at the same time, and DEFINITELY a first for both of us. Can you guess what this new journey is?

Parenthood!

Yes, Can you believe it? We are actually going to be parents! On September 14th we took one test (later I find out most people take multiple), and got the results that it was true, We're FINALLY going to have one of our own. Over the 4 years of our courtship if there was something I learned it was that everything happens in God's perfect timing. During the past year while I was waiting to have a child, I was once again at peace with the fact that I knew there was something God had in store and He would work all things out in His timing. SO for the past year I have enjoyed endless sewing with my Grandma, I count this as a very special time that would have been a little more difficult with a toddler crawling around.

Every time I tell people we're pregnant there are always a few questions that are first out of their mouths, so I'll try to answer them now :D Baby Kiser is due to arrive sometime in the first half of May. Everyone tells me May is the perfect time to have a baby, so we'll see. I'm hoping I have some extra warmth over the winter that seemingly has already started. We are NOT finding out what we're having... as of now we want the surprise and the joy of telling everyone what we had! AND the other most important question: "Have you been sick?!" I have been tired, but thankfully haven't been sick!!! (I thank my Mom for her good genes)

It has been fun the past months finding out how big the baby is and comparing it to a food that we can relate with. It has gone from the size of a lentil (the week we found out) to the size of a LIME (this week). It has definitely become more real since we got to see the baby on an ultrasound on Friday! I couldn't believe there was actually something in there! The picture was great, I could see it's little nose, mouth, hands, ear, and hear the heartbeat! During the course of the ultrasound the tech. mentioned that we have an active one. Sure enough there it was swimming, kicking and arching it's back! I sat there think, "I should be able to feel that!" but all I felt was the pressure of her ultrasound thing and my full bladder! Asa of course was asking all sorts of questions! It was such a joy to see our active little baby for the first time, even if it was just on a computer screen!

I look forward to keeping you all updated and I am THRILLED to be able to share this news with you!

~Erin

2011-10-25T21:45:00.002-04:00

Wow, it has been MONTHS...and I have missed writing... I hope I haven't lost too many people in the busyness of my summer! There has been so much that has happened... so much that honestly I don't know where to start... DO I start with the garden? OR continue with the India trip? What about telling you about a beautiful friend of mine that has missed all of Summer due to a car accident one Monday morning? Then there's the trips to the Lake, the Fourth of July dessert contest, with many smiles, tears and days of mowing lawns in between!

AND there's MORE news, BUT that shall wait until another inspired post!

I have had all summer to think about this blog, and still I wondering where I want it to go. In June I took a trip to visit a very dear friend and her family. Some of you know her as the writer and amazing crocheting of http://keepyourlidon.blogspot.com/ . While I was out there we spent lots of time gabbing, and being together. I have never felt so close to someone I have never met before and I left feeling as though I was leaving family. One thing we managed in, between talking and iced coffees, was some kitchen adventures! We made delicious pretzel wrapped hot dogs from Willow Bird Baking and some other goodies. One thing that I left thinking about was the how do present spending time in the kitchen to people who read my blog. Do I use recipes that look nice but in reality come across impossible? Or do I present the recipes and tasks in such away that they go away empowered and feeling up to the task of creating something new? These are all musings that have been going through my mind this summer when I've thought about my blog. I don't expect to be famous but if I can encourage one person to get out the mixing bowl, or another person to write their thoughts and ideas down.... then my time here will be well spent.

I want to make a difference.... whether I'm in my kitchen and writing on this blog, or serving donuts to a crowd of people making apple cider in my back yard...

More blogs to come... just want you to know, I'm still here... and I'm still thinking!

~Erin

A New Perspective

2011-05-21T16:56:00.000-04:00

Back a few blogs ago I said, "going to India was like stepping back in time." If you would ask me what I learned in India or how it effected me I would have to say it gave me a new perspective on the Bible. I've been raised in a Christian home where the Bible was talked about and read a lot. However, as we all know it wasn't written in our time or culture so there are things we can read and know about... but until we experience cultures similar to that time period, there's a part of the Bible that I don't feel can be reality to us here in America. Take for example the story of Esther. Esther was taken into the kings house to be prepared to go before him. Ok, so yeah... pretty straight forward, BUT I got a picture of what that might have looked like when we went to India. We got to experience the traditional custom of preparing the bride for her wedding. I couldn't help but wonder if what the bride, in India, went through could possible be similar to that of Esther.

On Tuesday morning we walked into the kitchen and Ritu was there getting something ready. It was an orangish/yellow mixture that she was combining in a pot. Without looking it up I can tell you that it definitely had turmeric in it, lavender oil, and some sort of flour. When we asked what this was we were told that it's the turmeric paste that we would apply to Manisha's, the bride, skin. For days they had been talking about the gathering that would take place that night. Neighbor women and family were all invited to come and we'd put the paste on and feed Manisha sweets, so that she'd be sweet. The entire day we teased Manisha that she couldn't eat ANYTHING except sweets from the night of the party until the wedding. There was a lot of jesting and laughter, it was fun. In the afternoon the men went to little Pakistan to get the food for the celebration. Over there they believe that the muslims/pakistani make the best foods and so it's a big deal to have it at your celebrations. In the preparation we moved the table out of the way, took all the chairs out of the house and got ready for the party. We would be sitting on the floor so that more people could fit into the house. Manisha wore a Sari the color of turmeric and the rest of us dressed up and made sure everything was ready for the preparation.
Let me tell you what, they know how to put on a party. The guests arrived and we all sat around and sang for a while.

Then they started applying the paste on Manisha, and feeding her sweets. Everyone got a chance to put the scrub on her skin, and when a neighbor walked in they would great the bride, apply the paste, and join the rest of us singing, clapping or talking. They also poured oil on her head, which reminded me of the verse, "You anoint my head with oil." NOW how many of you have memorized Psalm 23 and said that verse? Question number two: how many of you actually put oil on your hair? In india they use mustard oil to make their hair healthy and soft.

Those were the two things in the bible that really came alive and gave me a realization of what actually might have gone on or what they were talking about in the scriptures.
After the paste started drying on Manisha we took more oil and carefully massaged it into her skin. (that's what I'm doing in the above picture) You had to be careful though because the paste was very abrasive and was causing slight irritation to her skin. The sweets that we fed her were an interesting combination of textures and flavors. They were made up of some sort of meal or coconut that was SOAKED in corn syrup. When you would bite into it the sweetness would ooze out of the dense meal coating your mouth with sugar syrup. Emily really liked them, but I'd have to say they weren't my favorite, and I didn't like how sticky mine fingers were after eating them. Poor Manisha had AT LEAST 6 sweets shoved in her mouth at once! (upper left picture in collage)

Once the traditional singing and preparation was over we the music started and we all started dancing together! It was SO much fun and it made me wish all my cousins and favorite dancing partners were there to join me. They dance in a different style than we do and I noticed that they use their hands and hand movements a lot. My favorite was with the Aunt was dancing with one of the girls and they were all singing... she would sing and the others would respond. It was so extremely festive! Here's a video for you to enjoy!(sorry they're a little blurry, they're still so much fun!)

The begging "Auntie", isn't she sweet?

We danced a while and then I told them they should put soldier boy on. A few years ago, at my cousin's wedding, my younger cousin taught me part of the dance. I thought it would be fun to dance for them and teach it to them. It was so much fun and they loved it, however part way through the evening they were begging me to dance it again. This one older lady was especially insistent, she claimed her daughter hadn't seen me dance. I said, no because I was seriously sooo overheated... it was a pretty long dance for someone out of shape, like me. But they continued begging and it got to the point where they told me it would be offensive and disrespectful to my "Auntie" if I didn't dance again. SO yup, you guessed it, I danced again. I did better the second time, I wasn't so rusty on all the moves. The memory makes me smile... She was so cute and after I got done she told me she really liked the crisscross thing I did with my feet it was "very beautiful". WE danced until after 11 and then we ate wonderful spicy chicken, rice, and cheese mixture with our hands.

In all this I gained perspective into a new culture a new way of living and celebrating. I seriously LOVED every minute of it! I long to hear them all sing again, even though I have no idea what they are saying! If I remember correctly they said something about the one song being about a bride getting ready and being ready for her husband.

I know this India trip is taking me a long time to post about but I really want to share my experiences with you! I want to thank Mardi for giving me SO much traffic, Julie for being a great help, a wonderful blogger friend, and for featuring one of my cheesecakes on her site! I want to encourage you all to check out, my two wonderful twitter friends and most supportive commenters, BUTTER and Stacey and their creative blogs! I'm still very new at blogging... but I enjoy writing down what I see and think and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences!

Have you ever been to a different wedding with interesting traditions that changed the way you look at the traditional weddings you've been to? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

To market, to market!

2011-04-28T13:41:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone. I’m sorry that this post has been so prolonged in coming to the web. We got a computer that was new to us, and we’ve had some slight problems and technicalities with it. I had written over ½ of this blog post on it when it totally crashed and I haven’t been able to fix it yet to get anything off of it. (Slight disappointment) SO I was feeling extremely discouraged, upset, and not in any mood to blog. BUT now that you know my excuses let’s head to the MARKET!

It was very important for us to go the market one of the first days we were in India, because we need to get ready for the wedding! We needed to get our material for our sari’s so that our tops and under skirts could be “stitched”. I’m getting ahead of myself though, before we head out there are a few things you should know about shopping in India.
#1: NEVER pay the price the person is asking for.

Isn't he charming?

Bartering is just a way of life in India, and in most of the foreign countries I have visited. But what I found most interesting in India was how young they ingrain bartering in the children. Ryan is four and he is the nephew of the family we spent most of our time with. He is extremely charming and is going to an English Christian school where they are teaching him to memorize certain passages of the Bible. His parents wanted him to quote psalms 23 for us. He didn’t really want to so there was some bribery involved; they told him he could have a chocolate if he said the verse. Satisfied, Ryan starts the chapter. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me…” he stops mid sentence holds up two fingers and says, “TWO chocolates!” It was from this moment on that I realized how young the Indians learn to barter!

Me, Angelina, Emily and Rosie

#2 in most situations you should have an Indian with you so that you don’t get ripped off. Often if the sellers saw a white person the price would double and sometimes even triple. And EVEN if you got the price to come down you still were paying much more than you should have. In our case, Angelina, will be our amazing tour guide, and constant barterer. I have NEVER seen anyone be able to haggle a price down like she did. More stories of this to come!

The bangle shop will be our first stop. Make sure you watch out for the trash, and those power lines that are just laying everywhere!

Under the canopy of the bangle tent we start looking at the multitude of colors and designs of bangles. From what I heard, traditionally bangles were only worn by married women, but it’s not as common now, anyone can wear them. In India the women LOVE their bangles. I was talking to Angelina, our chatter box and constant shopping guide, about bangles and I asked her if she wears them to bed. She said, “YES… I like to hear them jingle when I roll over at night!” We needed to find bangles that matched the material we had picked out… so we found them and now let the bartering begin. The first price they are asking for is 1500 rupees which is 33 dollars.

Photo taken by: Emily Walters

Angelina thought that that was an outrageous price and she starts talking a mix of fast English and Hindi all at once. Meanwhile we all just stand and watch her pretending like we know what’s going on until we see her shake her head from side to side (the equivalent of nodding) and hear her say, “TK”. She turns and tells us the final price, “500 rupees (about 11 dollars) for two full sets of bangles”. Now I don’t know about you all but I’m amazed at this girl’s skills… over the course of 5 minutes she managed to pay a THRID of the original price! From now on we're not going shopping without Angelina again!

What’s that? Did one of you say you’re thirsty? Well you’re in luck; right next to our bangle shop is a man making chai!

He has a gas burner and he’s making chai for whoever would like to pay 30 rupees (less than a dollar). The liquid boils up, he takes the pot swirls the chai so it almost sloshes over the edge and then sets it back down on the flame so it boils up again and he repeats the process. When he’s pleased with the caramel color he strains the tea into plastic cups and serves you your chai.
Please don’t be too anxious to drink the chai because it’s VERY hot, and I almost always burn my mouth!

Let’s walk on and enjoy the sights, smells, and people. I’m sure you’ve noticed there are a lot of cars, motorcycles and people everywhere and there’s NEVER a silent moment. Horns are always honking and letting you know when you’re in their way. All around you there are tables full of fruits and veggies.

Emily and our shopper, Angelina.

Over there are some coconuts, yes the green round things are really coconuts! They are the type that they slice open, stick a straw in and you drink the milk. I don’t really enjoy it but everyone here says it’s good for your stomach if it’s upset. They also have other coconuts too but the green ones seem to be much more common.

This face should have been a clue!

Angelina has gotten ahead of us and has
joined a crowd of people standing around this street vender, holding paper bowls and eating something that the man seems to be making for them. In her cheerful voice she tells us that we HAVE to try Panipuris, they’re Max’s favorite and he can eat FIFTY of them! Emily and I decided to be brave and we step up in the circle and join the hungry crowd. I hold my bowl and the man puts this small fried bowl (the size of the mini cream puffs) in my bowl. He places a few cubes of fried egg, adds a red sauce and some cool broth into the fried bowl. Joseph, the man shopping with us, has already gobbled one down so we ask him, “Is it good?” He smiles and says, “yeah kind of”. Well that seemed safe enough so Emily and I decide to dive into the water together, you see because the liquid you have to pop the whole thing into your mouth at once.

Into our mouths the concoction goes and I chomp down. There’s NO way possible to prepare yourself for what was next to come. Water gushes out, filling my mouth, the fried dough turns into crumbles and my cheeks are filled with swirling textures. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do swallow it all or a little bit a time? In the delay of swallowing my gag reflexes kick in, and I almost lose it all. I quickly gain composer and just take 1 huge gulp.

photo borrowed from http://myrecipeflavors.blogspot.com/2009/03/pani-puri.html

You all are cheering and laughing and Emily declares that she “was fine until Erin gagged”. Before we realize it the vender man is filling our plate with bite two. The textures were too much for me, I drained the broth almost completely out and ate the snack that way, but after two I’m finished and ready to move on to our next adventure.

I still feel a little hungry so we find another vender selling something like deep fried grilled cheese with a relish inside. This is MUCH better and I enjoy a whole serving of this!

In this market you can find anything you need or want. One shop is selling small tea cups, plates, and serving dishes. Another vender is selling white material and next to him are the men dying scarves whatever color you need. Men are sitting on low stools putting mehndi on hands and feet for about 200 rupees (4 dollars) and others with little carts selling soda. Something I find very interesting is all the men sitting next to sewing machines altering or sewing new designs. I had to laugh and think about some of the guys at home sitting down to a sewing machine. They think varnishing is “women’s work”, I can’t imagine what they would do if they had to alter or mend their own clothes.

Most of the streets are just repeats of other streets we’ve been down, but it’s fun to see the people, smile at the children, and just experience it all!I can’t help but wonder what it would be like living here… day in and day out, until you know all the venders, and they no longer see the color of our skin.

Let’s hop on a rickshaw and ride home. Rickshaws are bikes in the front and a cart with two wheels on the back. Most times you can fit three people on and the driver will peddle you where ever you’d like to go. A good price from the market is about 30 rupees (less than 1 dollar). I hope you don’t mind the bumping of the uneven streets or the panic of being in the middle of the intersection surrounded by honking horns. Rickshaws are a fun, and cool way to get around and they let you see all the sights of India!

What are some memories of adventures this has brought back to you? Have you even been to India before? I know there are a lot of people who read this blog and I'd LOVE to hear some of your adventures! Don't be shy, I'm waiting to hear from you!

India, the land of Color

2011-04-12T15:01:00.002-04:00

sorry the pic is blurry it's the only one we have :/

photo taken by Emily

I'm back again for day number 2 of our trip! On Saturday night the family told us that we would be going to church Sunday evening after Holi Festival was over. It was too dangerous to be caught anywhere in the city during the midst of the celebration. People flooded the streets in a city wide water/color fight. There was colored flour that would float down from balconies after a flood of water. We enjoyed watching all the festivities from the safety of our balcony! The neighbors loved posing for pictures and at one point they called Emily down and PROMISED they wouldn't put color on her. They greeted her and gave her the special drink that they drink on this day. And even though they didn't COVER her in color they did put some on her forehead. At one point when we were standing on the balcony a group of guys gathered in the ally and we quickly asked, "what are they doing?". It looked as though they had firecrackers and they were going to set them off. WELL to our surprise it wasn't firecrackers. They were tubes filled with colored smoke and when they were lit colored smoke went every where! Floating down the ally and up past the balcony into the, already polluted, New Delhi sky. It smelled the same way sparklers smell on the Fourth Of July. This celebration represents India's colors to me. The flowers in all the parks, the colorful scarves and saris of the women blowing in the breeze, and the colorful characters of the people I have grown to love.

photo taken by Emily

Asa was still full of questions on day # 2 and at this point the family had given him the nickname, Question Mark. It's good to ask questions though.... sometimes you are able to find out interesting facts. In the case of Holi I really felt like none of our questions were answered.

We asked a number of different people what they were celebrating and we seemed to get different answers every time. The lady who owned the hotel we were staying in told us that they were celebrating all the differences around them and how on this one day everyone could come together and be friends. Another person said they were remembering this woman who needed to burn her dead son, but the people who kept the fire wouldn't let her have a flame. She decided to steal some of the fire and in the process she caught her skirt on fire and died with her son. AND yet another person said they were sacrificing to the god of destruction. SO in the end of the day we still didn't know what the country was celebrating or worshiping on that day. All the celebrating something no one seemed 100% sure of really got me thinking just now. I'm wondering if there are things we celebrate that have been passed down generation upon generation, but the true reason of the celebration has somehow been lost in the passing of time. Easter is right around the corner, stores all filled with candy bunnies and Easter grass all ready for baskets. We dye eggs and tell our children that the Easter bunny will be coming... BUT I wonder how many Americans, if asked, would know the reason for the actual celebration of Easter. Do you know? Just some food for thought....

photo taken by Emily

India, the land of Chai

2011-04-11T21:50:00.001-04:00

Hey All! I have been there, back again and now I'm finally sitting down to write. Today is beautiful here in Guilford, the sun is kind of shining and it's 70 degrees! THIS is the weather I was hoping for when I came back from India! Honestly, I've wanted to blog, but I've had some computer problems and I just haven't known what to say. I still don't know how to put into words all that I saw, felt and experienced over there. There were times when I thought I had stepped back centuries into another time period, then someone would walk past me on their cell phone and I would be reminded that I was still in 2011!

photo taken by Emily

I think that for the next few weeks I'll be writing different posts about my time over in India. That way you don't have to sit at the computer reading one HUGE post, you can simply sit down and read it as if it was happening day by day! :) Blogging would have been possible over there, but I really wanted to soak up the experiences while we were there!

The Flight:

The flight was very interesting. Our first flight was from JFK to London. It was a very empty flight, which was wonderful. Asa, Emily, and I all had a row of 5 seats that we stretched out on and attempted to sleep most of the night. Our second stop was in Bahrain. This was the place that caused us most stress before the trip, people were calling us making sure it was safe for us to go and I was really worried. We got through Bahrain safely though it was very oppressive. Emily and I felt naked compared to the women who were COMPLETELY covered there. Another bit of culture shock was when the Prayer time came and their prayers were broadcasted over the loud speakers. It just felt erie to me, and not understanding what they were praying was just a completely different experience.

photo taken by Emily

The total duration of the flight was around 23 hours. However because the time changes we actually lost time and got to India 1 and 1/2 days after we had left JFK. We arrived in India at 7:30 am and promptly went through customs, got our baggage, and headed outside to wait for our ride. We weren't very tired, just extremely happy to be at our destination.

photo taken by Emily

We had our first welcome to India in the airpot. While waiting for Conrad and his future brother inlaw we girls sat on the bench and Asa was wandering around. Pretty soon we noticed a sheik openly staring at us. He was dressed in all white and popping out of his pocket was a very large knife which was, no doubt, sharp and dangerous. His gaze lingered for about 15 minutes until Asa's protective side kicked into gear. Asa stood a little taller, stuck out his chest a little further, and promptly placed himself between the sheik's gaze and Emily and me. WELL the match was on, it was clear that this sheik was not going to let some white boy spoil his view so he moved to a new spot and started his staring once again. Asa quickly stepped up to the plate and intercepted the stare with a look that could kill. The dance between the two went on for a while until the family of the man had gathered and were ready to leave. Meanwhile Emily and I were having FITS that this man was going to get upset and do something serious, as you can imagine our gaze was fixed on the knife in his pocket! :)

The first thing we learned while we were there is how important it is to serve their guests and make them feel as comfortable as possible. The second lesson, Chai is a STAPLE! When you go into a house or even into some stores the first thing that is offered to you is chai. If you decided that you wanted Chai they would scurry off to the kitchen, boil up chai and be back with a tray full of little tea cups to serve you the steaming beverage. The hospitality our dear friends showed us was beyond ANYTHING I have every experienced. You would hardly be in the door and they would ask if you wanted chai or if you were hungry?

photo taken by Emily edited by me

Chai was the ONE thing that I actually learned how to make and that can actually make just about as good as my dear Indian Family!!! If you find some loose tea you should definitley try the recipe out! Since I've been home coffee hasn't tasted good to me, but I still love a good cup of Chai!

One Cup Recipe of Chai:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1 TBS sugar
1TBS loose black tea

Heat water and sugar until boiling and then add the milk and tea. Boil all together until creamy color, strain and ENJOY! (this recipe is for a LARGE cup of chai)

The rest of the first day was spent trying to get adjusted to India time. As you can see when Asa wasn't asking a MILLION questions he was catching up on some much needed sleep!

Tomorrow I will fill you in on The Festival of the colors, also know as Holi.

Best Friends and cousins

2011-02-25T23:58:00.055-05:00

Before we were friends we were enemies. My cousin, Sarah and I use to fight after spending more than one day together. Our older brothers thought it was funny, they thought we were just playing but we weren't. I remember one distinct time we were in the barn going at each other, pulling hair, biting and all the works. Our two older brothers were there cheering and clapping. As the years went by things got a little better. By the time we were in our lower teens we could bear each others presence for two to three days. Then after that, in my mind it, became a competition of who was better what I could do to make her look bad and make people like me more than her. There was and still is something about Sarah, that everyone loves.
Kids are naturally drawn to her and adults can quickly be caught up in talking to her about anything.
During the middle teens and upper teens we became best friends. Sarah came down with cancer when she was 13 going on 14. It was a crazy time in life, for the next few years she battled cancer, I wrote her letters and constantly prayed that God would heal my best friend. After watching her go through many trials, loosing her hair, being sick, spending long amounts of time in the hospital, her time with cancer was over and I saw a beautifully strong girl with an amazing sense of humor emerged from the struggles! Her faith was stronger than ever and she was such an example of faith.

Throughout high school we talked about traveling together and after I graduated we wanted to go to Honduras together, but I had just gone to Peru and so she went without me.

We didn't give up hopes though a few summers later we went on our first adventure together. WE went to Peru, South America. We spent most of our time in Lima, Peru, where we helped out at a Christian school and stayed with friends. We enjoyed walking around Lima and seeing all there was to see. We also spent one weekend traveling to Cusco, Peru were we got to see Machu Picchu and explore Cusco. She was very patient with me when I got sick in Cusco, due to food poisoning! We felt like such great adventurers!!! The most memorable thing about Peru was getting the chance to eat guinea pig. Not something we'd want to try again but it was worth the experience.

The next summer we didn't know if we'd be able to travel, but I was drawing closer to getting engaged and married so we decided it might be our last chance for a little while. Thirty days before we wanted to leave we bought tickets to Guatemala and signed up for two weeks of Spanish school in Antigua, Guatemala. This was a bigger adventure, because in Peru we knew people but in Guatemala we were going out all on our own!

In Antigua we learned Spanish, hiked a active volcano, and visited a little lake set in the midst of towering mountains. We fell in love with Antigua and picked out the houses we would live in, if we ever moved there. We also found a home that nursed malnourished children back to health. We sat and held the babies and fed them milk, from a spoon, ever couple hours!

Our time passed quickly and the night we arrived home I got engaged! She knew it was going to happen and didn't tell me!!!! She was there on the beach when Asa asked me to be his wife. Through the next six weeks Sarah was a VERY supportive bridesmaid and even though she was busy in college she made time to be at my bridal shower and my
wedding

Together down life's road we walk... and all the while, I talk!

I could go on and on of stories, adventures and times together but I'll leave those for another time. Although Sarah and I no longer fight, I'm still jealous of her. I'm jealous of her zeal and commitment to God and the adventures she still has to go on. Sarah has now graduated and started out on an adventure without me. She is now in Cambodia teaching school for the rest of the semester. I wanted to write this blog post because she has been my best friend, through the years, AND I want YOU to check out her blog, Sarah's Adventures, and follow her journey! She's always had an amazing way with words and I know you will be caught up in her adventures as I have! Someday we'll travel together again and I'm so proud of her grit and spirit in all that she goes through!

Do you have someone who you went from enemies to best friends over the years? Since I'm being all cheesy I'd love you to join me, tell me about your special friends!

Peru... Five years ago

2011-02-15T22:46:00.000-05:00

I had this blog post in my head. All about valentines day, and making sushi with my husband. It was a fun day but tonight when I was on the phone with my mom I got another idea... SOOO guess what, you're not going to hear about Sushi, yet. :)

Five years ago, this month, my family and I went on an adventure to Peru. WE had very close friends down there, and we decided that it would be a good experience for us. I went with mixed emotions, I was extremely excited to be traveling to a new country and yet, I was leaving behind my boyfriend and missing his first birthday, as a couple and, more importantly, our first valentines day. However looking back I don't regret a single moment of that month spent with my family. We made some awesome memories and traveling outside of my comfort zone opened my eyes to a whole new world.

WE arrived in Lima Peru and somehow managed to get to the bus station and in the right area, without knowing any Spanish. (this was before I had taken ANY spanish at all so we were CLUELESS) We were meeting our friends in Arequipa but up until that point we were on our own. My dad was great at playing the language barrier game and we were all relieved when we we were on the bus and on our way

.

Arequipa was a busy city and we enjoyed exploring it for a few days, however the real adventure was just around the corner. We got on another bus ride, which deserves a whole blog post to itself, and made our way back to a quant little town, in the mountains, called Velille.

This is where we spent a couple weeks and I was amazed at the culture and the food! In the market they had these venders that sold cheese, From what I can remember the cheese was the highlight of this town, it was what they were known for. They also had alpaca on a stick that you could walk to the market and buy on Sundays and some other days of the week. All these foods were amazing, and though my father thought my sister and I were crazy for eating it, I would eat all the food again in a heartbeat!

The thing that took my mind back to that village, tonight however, was their yogurt. Emily, Jenny, Julie and I would walk through the streets and into the market building to where the ladies would sit, selling their yogurt. The would put it in little plastic bags for us and we'd rip open the one corner and start drinking away! It was so natural tasting and nothing like I had ever had before. Here in the states most of the yogurt we buy is thick, however this yogurt was not thick at all. It was the consistency of thick milk, but not solid, it was runny

So tonight I 'll drink my fresh homemade yogurt from a bag, and remember all the great experiences of Peru!

Buying Milk from the local lady

Where are some places you've traveled, with food you have never experienced before?

Taffy Time!!!

2011-01-26T14:56:00.000-05:00

Most people think of the county or state fairs when they think taffy. Those big machines they have inside the booths pulling various colors of taffy. Sweet scents drift out over the crowd and are mixed with the smell of frying food and popcorn. However, when I think of pulling taffy I think of those wonderful moments when my neighbor taught us how to pull our own taffy.

For DAYS afterwards we’d get our Laura Ingles Wilder books out and find where she fed the pigs taffy and read, laugh and talk about how much fun pulling taffy was.

There were a few things that stood out clearly to me from the instructions Sarah Ann gave us. She would always tell us we’re holding too much taffy in our hands and not letting it slip through our fingers. I also distinctly remember the joy of discovering the “z” formation the taffy made as you pulled it with your taffy

I loved getting my hands in food, even back then ;)

Around the first of the year we were down in NYC visiting my in-laws and we decided that we’d try pulling taffy. It was my sister’s and my first experience branching out and making the taffy on our own. We called Sarah Ann and got the recipe from her and then we set to work making our mixture.

We watched as it boiled and boiled. WE smelled it making sure it had that interesting smell that we still remembered, even after all the years. Taffy is very sensitive, you need to get it at the right temperature and then send it outside to cool.
If you cook it a slight degree hotter for too long it could be disastrous. We tested it in the water and we also had a candy thermometer and it seemed fine… but it needed a little longerWELL somehow in the process of a “little longer” we cooked it a little hotter than we expected. I was not worried though, I thought we had everything under control. ;)

There were almost 20 people there that were going to want a turn at pulling taffy so we decided to make another batch. No one wanted to miss out on the pulling part and so after the first batch had cooled and they started pulling I got started on the second batch. Some people were asking me if I had left the other taffy outside too long because it was VERY solid and inflexibleI assured them it was fine, and that they just needed to get pulling it. Let’s just say, I was wrong, it wasn't ok. Some of the girls pulling the taffy were dragging each other across the floor because it was so tough. I was glad that I had started the second batch.

I decided that the problem with the first batch was, #1 we had boiled it WAY too long and #2 I had left it outside a tad too long. The biggest issue was that it was boiled to such a high temperature that we were actually make hard candy instead of soft taffy.

Surprisingly everyone liked the harder batch better, they thought it had more flavor!

The second batch was much more successful. I made sure that I was boiling it at a little lower temperature than the first batch. WE set it outside and watched it continually. Everyone buttered their hands; we divided the taffy into half and got pulling.

Everyone caught on really well and I found that I was saying the same things my teacher, Sarah Ann, had. “Don’t let the taffy clump at your fingers; you have to let it flow through them.” “You don’t need a lot of butter; the taffy will stick to itself.” Everything went really well and we even moved outside to pull the last bit because it was colder and better for finishing the taffy off.

Emily and I pulled for a while after everyone else was done.

(sorry about the blurry pic it's the only one I have of me pulling the taffyI have always enjoyed pulling taffy however I’m a little more patient about waiting for my turn than I use to be:

Our second batch had a bit of failure towards the end. My husband went out to finish forming the strands and he put too much butter on his hands. Our perfect taffy went to strings and they had to keep pulling it some more. However, it changed the consistency of the taffy. Even though we had some problems the most important part to me is getting together with a group of people and trying something new! WE enjoyed teaching them how to pull taffy and it will definitely be an experience we try again, not only because it is fun but also because of all the memories it holds.

Taffy Recipe:
2 lbs. of sugar
1 pint cream
1 pint Karo
a little parafin (optional, I didn't use this)

Boil together till nearly 240 degrees, or between soft and hard ball,
then add 1 T. unflavored gelatin dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water. Make sure you do this RIGHT before you are ready to use... otherwise it thickens before you pour it into the mixture.
Continue boiling and check temp.once the temperature is between 240 and 242 degrees place it on WELL greased cookie sheets and place in a cold place to cool. After taffy is cool enough to hand you can start pulling the taffy with moderately buttered hands. (my father in law has a video that I will upload ... someday) Make sure you don't let the taffy cool too long. after the taffy has turn to a white color and is no longer sticky you can form it into the right shape and wrap.

2011-01-25T08:49:00.000-05:00

I really am just trying something new out AND also giving you a sneak preview of a fun post still to come!Erin

2011-01-12T08:12:00.000-05:00

I'm seriously considering opening a new blog.... Maybe using wordpress....

Christmas Trees

2010-12-10T08:41:00.000-05:00

There's one thing about Christmas that will always remind me of my Grandparents. Getting the tree. For years while I was growing up they had a Christmas tree farm and when Christmas would come around they would sell Christmas trees to everyone in the towns surrounding ours. People would come from miles away, bundle up and take a wagon ride to the top of the hill to find that perfect tree that would bring cheer to their homes for the holiday. The wagon ride was what everyone looked forward to. Once they would climb into the wagon they'd take their pick on a hay bale and hang on for the journey. Through the snow drifted field, over the bubbling creek, up the slick hill to the top where my Grandpa would drop them off. You all know the next part, the search for the PERFECT tree :) Once they found it they'd cut it down, with the saws provided from my Gramps, and then they'd drag it down the hill, over the walking bridge, through the field back to the house. With rosy cheeks and sparkles in their eyes they would greet and pay my Grandma or the guys working the lot.

As my sister and I got older we'd help out on the lot: greeting people, showing them the trees on the lot, taking their money, and baling their trees. I remember being down at Grams during tree season, she'd have her boots and gloves by the wood stove and as soon as someone would come along she'd be there helping them out.

Sadly however, there aren't many more trees on the hill after all these years. My Grandparents head to Florida now in early November and so we brave the field, creek and hill with our Subaru and search for the perfect tree. I know that when people drive by the hill they remember the good days of finding that perfect tree and the memories that my Grandparents helped them create.

I hold the days with my Grandma close to my heart... not only watching and helping them sell trees, but all the time she's put into teaching me how to quilt, crochet pot holders, and helping me make rugs.

Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa, for all the great memories that you have given us and so many others! <3

The Special Dinner

2010-11-29T21:26:00.001-05:00

I've been working on this blog for a while. Tonight (2:18 am) Asa's trying to help someone who slid off the road and so I decided to make good use of my time and finish the blog while I'm waiting to go back to bed. WE woke up to a car just spinning out over and over again so He took our ashes down there to help him out.

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Ok so I never got around to telling everyone about our exciting adventure in NYC the last time. Asa had done work for this man who had a restaurant in NYC a while ago. While Asa was working for him he put together a lantern and the man paid him for his time. Asa ended up giving him the money back and asked if he could take his wife to Roberto's restaurant.http://www.roberto089.com/index_r.html Roberto thought it was a great idea so we looked forward to the time when we could try out his place.

A couple weeks ago when we went to the city we left here around 5 pm and headed straight for the Bronx. I was totally unprepared for the amazing cuisine that awaited us. We walked into a cozy restaurant, dim lighting, and people chatting. There was only one table that was empty in the entire place and we were ushered to the table. We sat there drinking our water and Asa explained to the waiter that Roberto knew we were coming and that we'd like to say hi. They quickly went and got Roberto. He came out and chatted with Asa, Emily and I for a while. It was pretty funny when he informed Asa that he doesn't look like an "upstater" any more. :) He asked us if there was anything we didn't eat and the proceeded to order our meal . Emily and I just stared in amazing when he just slightly lifted a finger and the waiters were at our side!

I'm not going to remember all the names for the dishes... if Emily would be writing this blog this would know. Somehow she was able to catch all the names, for some reason it was a little harder for me to catch what they were saying at times! The would bring out a dish and then serve each one of us and before leaving our table they would tell us to "enjoy!" :) As soon as we'd finish eating one dish they'd take our plates away, bring out clean plates and comeback with more food. I seriously have NEVER experienced something so amazing! :) Emily and I kept looking at each other giggling and saying, "It's just like in the movies!" I'm not going to lie, I actually felt like royalty! Asa enjoyed seeing us get such a huge kick out of the entire experience!

This was our first appetizer. It was actually pretty funny because before he ordered he asked if there was any food we didn't eat, my mind instantly went to seafood. I try to be open to the stuff but for some reason it's the one food I don't enjoy eating. However this stuff was MELT IN YOUR MOUTH delicious! It was Shrimp and Scallops with a while creamy sauce.

The next appetizer was smoked mozzarella with olives, roasted red peppers and spinach. I had never had smoked mozzarella before and it was very flavorful.

This was probably my most favorite dish out of everything that we ate while we were there. It's a in the restaurant made pasta, with a fresh made sauce! The flavor burst the second it hit your taste-buds! The pasta was also swirled so the juices would get trapped down inside! mmmm I could go for a bowl right now!

This next dish was had a very different and interesting texture. It was risotto with figs and prosciutto. You know when you bite into a fig newton, there's that grainy texture? This dish had that same texture but as a sauce. The most interesting part was that it almost crackled in your mouth, similar to pop rocks. (I know I sound crazy)

Then the main course we each got a plate with veal, tomato and cheese.

The mood lighting was great!!!

And our desserts! I'll let the picture do the talking:

WE all decided to pick different desserts so that we could taste a few different ones. However after asa got his I was wishing the whole time I would have ordered what he had!

Us with Roberto before we left:

2010-11-22T20:26:00.000-05:00

Hey! I just wanted to post some pics of my projects today. I woke up pretty inspired to get things checked off my to-do list! I got two cupboards organized, a pie made,

and bread baked.

The kitchen cleaned... and the only thing left that I really want to do isread my Bible and go to bed! BUT before I do that I want to post a teaser of the wedding we shot this weekend.

Emily took most of the pictures but I got to be with the guys when the were tying their ties and getting ready. IT was fun... they kept me laughing!

2010-11-17T14:34:00.001-05:00

Here are some fun pictures from Visiting my Sister-in-law! She just had a baby about a week ago!

Life's happenings

2010-11-08T20:24:00.000-05:00

This is my last butterfly for this year. It was fun watching it grow from the VERY VERY little catipiller, into it's J, and then getting to see it transform into it's chrysalis, and then on to a very beautiful butterfly! The process amazes me and causes me to stand in wonder of the one who created these creatures!

SO yes, I've decided to be exciting and write a blog post! :) A couple weeks ago Asa and I went to my cousin's house to work on some of his porches. We had a really good time and even though it was crazy getting back in time for work EARLY that Saturday morning it was worth it! Here's a really funny shot of my cousin's cat watching the guys work:

We got back Saturday, I worked, we picked apples andwent to meet some of our friends to press our own apple cider! Our neighbors let us pick applesoff of their trees and from only two trees we got about 8 gallons of cider! Our friends did bring that many apples so we endedup letting them use some of ours. Afterwards they all came back to our house to eat and havea nice time around the camp fire. Unfortunately I just took pictures ofthe pressing cider and nothing else. HOWEVER, I did make AMAZING cakedoughnuts. AND to some of themI added frozen mashed up blueberries and they turned out delicious! (I know, shame on me for not taking pictures!) I really would like to make them again, So I promise I"ll take pictures this next time!

We were only home a few days and we were off to NYC. Asa's family needed to clean out some of their garages. Since Asa enjoys collecting other people's unwanted treasures most of the stuff to be cleaned out was his. SO while he cleaned Emily and I got to be city girls. We met up with some of her friends the first day in the city. It was fun but I was itching to find new places and go shopping. On Friday we went to Brighton Beach, a large Russian area. This is SUCH a FUN place to shop! (and no, I don't have pictures from here either) Emily and I just spent time walking in and out of the unique little shops! We bought Halvah for Asa. If you haven't every tried halvah I highly recommend it. I'd love to describe it to you, but honestly I have a hard time doing that. The first time I had it I didn't like it at all because it didn't taste like I expected it to. It has a rough/pasty texture and it slightly sweet. I bought a sunflower seed one this time and it hasmore of a nutty flavor. It's a very unique treat! On saturday Emily and I got to finally go shopping. We didn't have much luck on the purse shopping in China town, but we did get to try out a cool little tea shop for lunch. http://alicesteacup.com/ go here and on the top pick "chapter one" and you'll see where we went. It was a very cute place and the scones were AMAZING! I have always had a VERY bad impression of scones. Every single scone I've ever had was dry and flavorless, however, this place changed my mind. The scones here MELT in your mouth! (I'll post pictures soon, they're on Emily's camera) I enjoyed this place so much and I highly recommend it for something fun and delicious to try!

TOnight I made homemade maple cream! YUMMMMm it turned out delicious, thanks to Grandma!

Since I've been home I've just been trying to keep busy. It's different now with no gardening, canning, and mowing the lawn. However, there are so many projects I could keep myself busy with. I'm trying to get INSPIRED to be creative with cooking/baking again! Here's a picture of the bottles that I painted

with the lights finally in them. I think they look like fireflies.I'm thinking about selling them... what do you think?

WELLL now that I've caught everyone up on my life maybe next post will be more thoughtful and inspired :D ---Erin

The start of our second year!

2010-10-11T20:09:00.000-04:00

We have now passed the first year mark! Yesterday, 10/10/10 (I just had to get that in) was a wonderful anniversary! WE went to Lancaster County to celebrate over the weekend! I'll let my pictures do the talking!

A nice LONG traffic jam... in PA (what a surprise)

Smelling the beautiful flowers my husband had waiting at the place we stayed at!

The view into the bedroom!

More flowers!

I took Asa to Sight and Sound for his birthday!

Some Amish people working in the fields

SOOOo many horses

The biggest most amazing whoppie pie!

Beautiful quilts!

Our Indian meal!

My definition of relaxation!

Goodbye to the weekend... heading out with my flowers

WE had a great weekend I loved how relaxed it was. We didn't really have any major plans besides going to the Joseph play. Which is something I HIGHLY recommend to anyone! It was so powerful and amazing! If I could I would go watch it again this weekend!

My project for today! I had bought a box of banana peppers for five dollars at a local market. Asa and I eat a lot of pickled banana peppers so I decided to try to can them myself! I hope they turn out well.

2010-10-04T10:48:00.000-04:00

Well I haven't blogged because honestly I don't feel like I've had much to say. First off I want to post a picture for my fellow blogger of something I drew!

So what do you think? is it the same bridge?

Ok so about my life... We're kind of starting to slow down a little bit. The lawn doesn't need to be mowed as often as it use to, which is a wonderful thing. However we're almost at the end of gardening and so there seems to be a bountiful supply of tomatoes for me to take care of. I canned some and made one batch of salsa. I still have a box of tomatoes in my fridge that I need to take care of but I'm kind of debating as what I should do with them. They're the grape tomatoes and so I'm not sure if I want to take the time to peel the skins off of all of them so that I can either can or make salsa with them. I'm really happy with the salsa recipe that I got from my mom though, it tastes great!

I've scrapbooked more since my last post, however, I wasn't able to upload them for some reason... I don't have the flash drive with me today or I would post. I was trying to have a book made for our anniversary of our first year together. It was a nice thought but epic fail! :( I'm still planning on making it but the program that I reallllly want costs a LOT of money so I'm debating as to what I should do!

Our Anniversary is this weekend! I can't believe a year has flown by, it has been a very good one! I look forward to the next year and all the adventures it holds! This next weekend we're taking a trip to Lancaster, PA for our anniversary! WE're pretty excited and hoping for a relaxing weekend.

My friend www.joeandbetsy.com are taking part in this food contest and the last part they had to do was a fancy dinner party! It looked like so much fun it inspired me to have a nice dinner party. SO we'll see maybe I'll do something creative again soon. I haven't done much this summer since I've been keeping busy with outside work and other things :)

Ok well I know this is a pretty boring update but I don't have my camera card here to upload pictures! :) I have some pretty cool caterpillar pictures... COMING SOON!

Have a good week everyone! Have you guys been up to anything creative or exciting lately?!!?

not much

2010-08-06T14:19:00.000-04:00

I made this in honor of my best friend and sister on one of the most important days of my life!

I haven't done much worthy of blogging! I did go to NYC last weekend, but guess what... I think I might have taken one picture the entire time. It wasn't a sight seeing trip and it seems like normal visits miss out on the camera action. I spent most of Saturday washing windows w/ my mother-in-law and that late Saturday night we went into the city to meet up w/ friends. It wasn't as great as we thought it would be... Someone (clearing throat) wanted to go to Applebees for dinner. I laughed at them, I couldn't belieive they were in NYC and wanted to go to Applebees. But after walking down many authentic streets we came back around to Applesbees so that's where we went, unfortunately. A word of advice don't go NEAR this place in NYC. Asa and I got boneless, buffalo chicken wings, and two drinks and our bill was TWENTY EIGHT dollars! I couldn't believe it! I was already frustrated about eating there and then the bill was so Huge on top of it all! (not a very great trip into the city if you couldn't tell)

We got home Sunday night around 10:30 ish and then I started working on Monday. My week has flown by. My boss is gone for two weeks so I'm working for her. I get home make dinner and crash, I literally have no inspiration to do anything. My cucumbers and beans are piling up, that's for sure. However, on Monday I got home and my parents had mowed my entire lawn! It was such a blessing... I have the best neighbors in the world!

I have been attempting digital scrapbooking :) It's pretty fun... :) --I'm hoping to get our first year scrapbooked before my trial subscription is up :D

The longest post ever :)

2010-07-23T22:17:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone! I can't believe how long it's been since I've written. Today I was reading someone's blog and was inspired to write again. Our trip was long but we had a really good time. There were some stretching , there were some moments in which we had to lay down our rights and think of what God would want us to do. Our Bible study lately has been studying the Sermon on the mount. So many times we times we have read this passage however, we don't really think about what we're reading and how we can truely apply it to our lives and live it out. But the moment we start living it out 100 % we start living an abundant live and I think i got a little taste of that on the trip! It was amazing!

Since we got home from the trip we've been so busy with gardens, lawns, and harvesting our beautiful produce. We also made a quick trip to Buffalo to visit my cousins for my one cousin's graduation party. Asa so kindly let me stay longer and spend time w/ my travel buddy! We hadn't see eachother for 9 months so i'm sure you can imagine we had a lot of catching up to do. It's amazing how with some friends, even after long periods of time, you can still pick up right where you left off!!

Today I canned pickles, made refridgerator pickles and froze beans. It's soooo rewarding!!!
Following are the past few weeks in pictures, I'm sure there are some that are missing... but I can add them later! :) Enjoy===

Ready for the long trip of 21 hours one way!

First stop... Indiana... A great Sunday with friends

Traveling hand in hand <3 href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_x1B66H-zPZU/TEpkiKKIpMI/AAAAAAAAAw4/k6nC16vvhqo/s1600/File0434.JPG">

Oklahoma -- another state off my list

SONIC!!!!!!!!! His brother's had never tried Sonic before!

My Sister-in law and her youngest

I love my husband <3>

Family Adventures

A new Neice ... I enjoyed spending time and getting to know my New Neice Leah

A New pet???

An excited Bride....

Our little camper for the week

back to Indiana to visit family.... and friends

My empty buckets ready for wheat

Beautiful Wheat

We made Ice cream on night and our little cousin got the special beater cause she helped me make everything.

Asa and his uncle before we left EARLY in the morning!

We got home and spent a little time until we left for our next trip to camp for the 4th of July-Then we had
Some newly wed visitors <3>

Working in the Garden

We also found a bunch of honey bees building their home in our house! We now have honey bees :) Here are pics of our friends enjoying the smalllll harvest...

We watched Asa while he worked for HOURS transfering the bees to their new home

Everyone wanted a taste!! It was sooo sweet!

The bees hard at work!

Asa in our most favorite place ... the garden!

One week our cucumbers were this small

And the next week we have a five gallon bucket FULLL of cucumbers

Our newest projects are painting glass bottles and old windows and making them into beautiful objects!! It's soo much fun!

Traveling...

2010-06-19T16:21:00.001-04:00

We're finally off... first stop Indiana... second stop MO.... third stop Oklahoma!

I will hopefully check in ... I'll miss reading all your blogs!

Erin

Rhubarb Recipe!!!

2010-06-08T07:55:00.001-04:00

Ok sorry it's taken me so long to post again! So much for being on top of things for posting :) Today is going to be a busy day for me! I'm planning on getting some painting accomlished in my Scrapbooking/Sewing room! I'm super excited and a little nervious that the color will be too bright! We'll just have to see. I'm paint the walls, honey tea and the trim Brilliant Oak. :) It just sounds nice doesn't it? I'll try to take pictures and post them when it's finished. It's going to be a little sad working a lone.. but I'll manage :)

Here's the Rhubarb Coffee cake recipe. I'm going to start by warning you there is a LOT of sugar in it :-/ I couldn't believe as I kept adding sugar to each part, as I made it, how much there was in it! I would also suggest you make it for a crowd becuase it doesn't taste as good after a couple days. I was actually going to ask my mom if you could cut it in half... but I forgot. So if you feel like experimenting go for it!!!

Start with making the Rhubarb filling:

-Cook on med. heat 3 cups rhubarb and 16 oz of sweetened strawberries covered for 5 minutes (I was worried about it burning but it was fine if you make sure it's not on high)

Add to mixture after 5 minutes:

2 TBS lemon juice

1 Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Corn Starch

Cook and stir for 5 minutes until mixture is thick and bubbling. Then set it in the fridge to cool while continuing with the rest of the Cake.

Mix and cut 1 cup of Margarine or butter into :

3 Cups Flour

1 Cup Sugar

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Baking Powder.

Beat together Wet ingredients :

1 Cup buttermilk

2 Slightly Beaten eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and spread 1/2 the mix in a 9X13 pan. Spread cooled rhubarb mix over and put remaining batter in clumps over the top of the rhubarb. Sprinkle top with crumb mixture:

3/4 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup Flour

1/4 Cup Margerine or Butter

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 - 45 minutes!

Then enjoy!!! I made mine the night before we were going to eat it and it tasted AMAZING the next day!!!

Another great rhubarb recipe is to make Rhubarb sauce! It has been an easy favorite of Asa and mine this spring. It's a great way to use up Rhubarb fast. All you do is you cut up the rhubarb into inch sized pieces (I liked mine a little longer). Then you put them in a pot with a LITTLE water and boil covered for a little bit and then uncover and boil it into a sauce.

Add the amount of sugar you want and cool. Or eat it warm over icecream. Once cool cut up oranges in it and enjoy!

It's really easy and tasty. I like it really sweet but Asa liked it sour :) I've also tried freezing it like you would Apple Sauce. I'm not sure how it turned out yet, I'll have to send it in Asa's lunch tomorrow and ask him what he thinks of it :)

Well everyone, have a great week! What are some cooking projects you've been making? Any exciting Summer plans? We're planning a trip to MO for my brother-in-law's wedding. We'll be gone for about 2 weeks!!! :-o

Hope you're enjoying the cooler weather! :)

I have it's given me a break from my even pressing job:

Erin

PS I want to post some gardening pictures soon! Our veggies are all up and look amazing! It's been fun watching them grow soooo fast!

2010-05-10T14:43:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone! Time for a new update....

This weekend was mothers day and we had a very relaxing day with our family, the Waltons, and out new very great friends the Easleys. Saturday though we went to a wedding and had a great time with all the people I use to work with at Garf's! It was nice being all together again!

I made this amazing Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee cake! It was soooo yummy! I started making it after 10 and it took a while to make! I was finally finished with it around 12 am. I kept telling myself that my mom would do something like this for me... SO I kept working at it ;) And it was appreciated by almost everyone! Here's a picture of it!

I thought I'd share my lilac tree picture with all of you! It's soo beautiful this year! I'm so happy with it!

Here's a picture of the black walnut trees we chopped down!

I hope you all have a good week!

Lazy blogger

2010-05-05T20:51:00.000-04:00

I think everyone must have the same blogging illness. It seems like everyone who blogs is saying the same thing, "we just don't feel like blogging". I really haven't been in the mood to blog either. I think that most of my illness is due to lack of comments :D I'm not going to threaten to shut down my blog, and I'm not saying this to get a flood of comments. I merely want to let everyone who comments know how much they are appreciated! NOW for those of you who don't know how or simply don't comment you should realize how much I don't like stalkers ;) I do acknowledge that my blog is not as exciting as others. I'm trying to spice it up... that's why I post some interactive question at the end... but that hasn't even helped you guys come out of your shells! I will try to be a more exciting and frequent blogger!!!

Tonight i am sitting on my porch and enjoy the cool breeze blow over my sun kissed arms! I was mowing all day so it's nice for the little break! THe lawn has just been cut and there's a lilac bush just around the corner. Close your eyes and imagine the smell... it's amazing! I have been realizing more and more how thankful I am that winter is now behind us! The spring has been a very welcomed season and it makes me feel alive!

Asa and I are starting to get our garden planted. we were all ready to plant when we found out that black walnut trees are not helpful in growing gardens. In fact they kill most of the plants we are planting! So Dad took care of our problem but cutting down three trees tonight during dinner! I think he was feeling distructive!

The other weekend we went to NYC... here are some of the random pictures we took! We had such a great time... I love that city! <3

The other weekend we went to NYC...

Some kittens we found...

and then this weekend we were attacked by ants.... that's the pretty quick version of what's happening!

Goodnight all... I'll try to be better at blogging!

Erin

Long time not blogging

2010-04-14T11:49:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I have last updated. My computer is totally crashed and even though I'm working on fixing it it seems to be taking a while. I have been using Asa's for everything but I'm having problems getting pictures on his computer. It's strange!SOOOO my wonderful sister is home for the week and while she's at work she left her computer with me!!! <3>

Our weather in upstate NY has simply been amazing for this time of year... this pictures speaks of a relaxing afternoon in the sun!

These are my toes Em painted :D She's great!!

The sunset on Easter

My little baby sister and I

Saturday was our 6 month anniversary!!! We celebrated by going to this musical that the highschool was putting on. The students did an amazing job! I was thrilled as this is something i was raised listening to ! :)

Here's my dear husband working hard in the garden! I tend to have a very very short attention span!

Here's the yummy food pictures!

Two weeks ago I made shoofly pie! This one turned out ok. However, I made another one this week and the consistancy and flavor was much better

I got hungry for tabouleh the other week!

I decided that this looks like a pretty healthy dinner :) (might have a repeat tonight)

Ok so I have been having fun looking at healthy eating blogs and being inspired. Frog Pond is opened again so YAY for fresh fruits and veggies! My food budget likes the fact that we can get so many delicious things for sooo cheap! Another thing Asa and I have been focusing on is making everyday special and new. I found " the newly-wed project " . This couple is doing something new every day for the first year of their marriage! I was so impressed and wished I had thought of the idea!!! :) I admire them for finding time to do something new every single day. Sometimes we find it hard to even take a few moments to just sit and talk. We aren't taking up their challenge and doing something new every day but it does make us stop and think about things to do together that can be special.

What's something that has causes you all to stop and enjoy the little moments in life?

OKKKK I hope that my computer is fixed soon!

<3>

Challenging contest

2010-04-03T17:11:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone!
The other day as I sorted the mail at my post office job I realized how very few people write personal letters anymore. I remember the days when running to the mailbox was an exciting part of the day. You'd get news from friends and family. However, now we simply hop on facebook, stalk their statuses and move on with our day. Something has been lost in the process of us moving on with technology. I would even go as far to say that writing letters is, in a sense, is a lost art.
About a year ago my uncle found letters that my great, great, uncle, who fought in many wars, had written. These were letters that he had written to my Grandpa and his siblings, what treasures these letters are! When I read them I smiled as I noticed his reactions to the letters the family had sent him overseas. He spoke of the war, inquired of things back home, and gave his advice to the children. Thinking back to these letters makes me wonder, "What are we leaving behind for later generations?" With e-mails and facebook there will be no old letters in the barn for them to discover.
So here's my challenge to all you: Start writing letters once again! From April 12th to May 12th I want to have a letter writing contest. The person who sends the most letters by May 12th will receive a prize, which is still to be disclosed. The honor system will be used to keep track of how many letters are written. Whoever decides to take part will keep track and let me know how many personal letters they have sent over this time period. BILLS DO NOT COUNT! :) Encourage the people you write to write you back and to write others. Letters have a personal touch and it's a great way to let people know you care and help them keep up to date with your life. Please feel free to let me know of any interesting places you decide to write! It'll be fun to see where all the letters go!

I'd like to leave you with something to ponder; is 44¢ too much to let someone know you care?

Let me know if you're interested!

Erin

Sweet Cravings

2010-03-16T21:03:00.000-04:00

Tonight after our walk with Mom and Dad I was craving something sweet. I asked my facebook friends to give me ideas of what I could make but no one came up with anything that really hit the spot. After looking at my newest, favorite blog, http://foodologie.com/, I decided to come up with some little "pies".

I started with instant pudding and a Graham Cracker crust made of crushed Grahams, Agave Nectar, and butter. I cooked that for 4 minutes in my convection toaster oven at 375 degrees! :)

After that I decided to put a little layer of peanut butter. WELL after the squirls got into our first HUGE container of Natural Peanut butter Asa decided to put this bucket in the freezer.

SO when I went to get it it was FROZEN rock solid! So I made shavings of peanut butter and sprinkled them over the crust!

Then I cut up Bananas and put them as the next layer.

Then I drizzled a little bit of chocolate and then put pudding down.

I then added some pudding, little spot of whipped topping, a drizzle of chocolate and some more peanut butter shavings :)

And THIS is my husband waiting for the treat, and doing taxes. WE've been doing taxes for the past two days... NOT too much fun! I think he deserved this! His favorite... bananas and peanut butter! <3

What's some of everyones favorite quick sweet snacks to make?

2010-03-11T22:02:00.001-05:00

Contest details

New Ambitions

2010-03-08T20:08:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted lately. I was reading someone's blog tonight and it inspired me... inspired me to post, eat healthier, and cook! <3>

I took a nice walk today... it's all a part of becoming healthier! Thankfully the weather has been beautiful lately. Compared to two weeks ago when we had our HUGE snowstorm.

My Cozy house:

Hopefully it's the only one for the year. I really loved it though, being snowed in and enjoying two entire days with Mom. I actually worked on a sewing project.

Emily showing off my girly blanket!

This blanket had a bright green material on the other side!

As I was making the blankets I started getting a little hint of baby fever. However, my boss keeps reminding me over and over again that I can't get pregnant until Aug (when she's taking her huge vacation)!

Before the storm we had a lot of visitors at our bird feeder! It was so exciting, there were 6 gold finches all the way around the feeder and two sitting up on the top of the branches... On Saturday we had a purple finch also!

Saturday we had a group of people come up from church for a sledding! We had a great time and got some really good exercise, walking up and down the hill acrossed from the house! I think everyone had a good time. We had popcorn, puppy chow, cookies, and hot chocolate for snacks after everyone was tired of sledding. Our company was so jolly and comfortable. Some of them played games, chatted and worked on my puzzle that I have been neglecting. I realized again how much I truely enjoying spending time with and having people over at my house! It was a blast!

Ok well... Asa's on the phone and I'm going to go make a shopping list for my new baking adventures!

PS. I just found this picture and I can't remember if I posted it... It's of Asa's Birthday dinner!

Valentines day!

2010-02-14T22:13:00.000-05:00

Since today was valentines Day I made a special dinner for Asa last night. We had calzones and watched a movie! It was so cozy and a lot of fun!

This was our table and dinner:

Healthy Dinner

2010-02-04T20:05:00.000-05:00

Tonight was our somewhat healthy and delicious dinner! I ended up having Mom and Dad over for round two. Asa and I had eaten and then mom and dad came over! They loved it! It felt so good to make something everyone could enjoy! I was able to make everything from scratch! Here are some pictures!

Making the Falafels:

The Pita:

The finished Product:

Asa and I have been working on making our bathroom beautiful! I'm so happy it's almost totally finished... after many coats of paint... and he made a platform for our washer to go up on... so I can put the laundry baskets underneath! It's wonderful! Even though he hasn't had work I have kept him BUSY! :)

Here's some pictures!

We took designs from our shower curtain and put together a border!

looking down the LONG wall!

Thanks to everyone who has left me comments! It always brightens my day to see what you all have to think about the daily happenings in my life! Even though Asa needs work it's been really nice to just have him around... working on the house! Our phone line problem is finally fixed!!! The mice had chewed the cord up in the basement! !!!! Crazy mice!

Hope everyone is doing well!

---Erin <3

2010-01-26T19:04:00.000-05:00

Well... It's been a while since I've updated! I guess I've been kept busy with Emily being home. Sadly, however, Emily has gone back to school. So the past few days I've been lamenting the fact that she's gone. Tonight I'm making rice pudding to send with Asa in his lunches. I think it will be a nice treat!

Since I've written last Emily and I have attempted some new creations! We tried making sesame chicken, sweet and sour chicken, as well as veggie lo mein. We had chinese for my dad's bday and from the way he heaped seconds on his plate I think we could all assume he loved our creations! We had a blast and were thrilled to find new recipes that taste sooo delicious!

I received a cake decorating set for Christmas from mom and dad. I had a blast making Emily's birthday cake! She likes funky modern things so I thought a black and white cake was perfect for her. It was a fun confetti cake with a little layer of raspberry filling.

The weekend before Emily's birthday we took a trip to NYC with our friends, the Yoder boys, from NC. They had never been to the city before so we were able to see lots of the typical NYC sights. We also went ice skating in Bryant Park on friday night. That was something new for us, we had a blast!

Since then I haven't been up to much... working at the PO... making bread... and trying out other recipes. I have finally mastered the frappachino!!!! SOOOO amazing! Emily and I enjoy treating ourselves to them once in a while!

Here's a drawing I just started working on... it's a close up of some of my flowers from the wedding... I was bored :)

NEW yummy rolls

2009-12-27T18:05:00.001-05:00

These are some new Cream Cheese, Raspberry, cinnamon rolls that I made! I made three pans to take up to Lake Placid with us this weekend and then I made a little pan for us to test tonight! YUMMY!

This is one of my favorite pictures from Christmas morning!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

2009-12-25T11:26:00.000-05:00

My Family went to Florida for Christmas so here are some pictures to show them the beautiful winter wonderland they're missing!

Finished Product!

2009-12-15T20:10:00.001-05:00

WELL after having our tree for about a week we finally finished all the decorations!

Tis the season....

2009-12-09T19:24:00.000-05:00

Our first Christmas is a very exciting time! I have been wanting a Christmas tree for a few weeks now and last night Asa came home from work we ate dinner and we decided to head out on our great adventure! WE drove down to my grandparents house and up on their hill, in the dark, we found out tree! It was perfect out... the stars were shining and it wasn't cold at all! Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa for the tree! Here are the pictures of our amazing night! We

WE kind of forgot a saw... somehow! So Asa had an old dull hatchet and a blade that you put IN a saw that he ended up using! It was pretty amazing how fast he chopped it down!

Putting the tree on top of the car This is the amazing tree skirt that my Grandma made for me!

The interesting thing about this tree is that it was actually two trees grown into one! I thought it was quite fitting for our first year together <3

This pic is for you grandma!!! Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa for EVERYTHING!!!

2009-12-05T22:41:00.000-05:00

I was just thinking tonight how good old friends are always the best... <3 and then I got thinking about my two childhood buddies who were always there for me... and how on my special day they were there for me... opening the doors and I walked down the isle to meet my husband...

Thanks guys for helping me with every whim and wish! You were my right hand men!

(photo credits go to Jenny Yoder! Thanks for the pics girl!!! They are A-MAZING!!!)

knitting

2009-11-20T12:01:00.000-05:00

So now the deer is ofically all cut up and in the freezer. I am so happy to have it over with! It took three nights to get it completely cut up. We ended up with 18 bags of steaks and a bucket of meet that I still have to can. (Mom's going to help me with that process)

I've started knitting! My boss is an amazing knitter and so I've got a private teacher :D we're starting with a simple hat.

I took some pictures of it because Mom's in Florida with Grandma and they want to see it! I have really enjoyed it a lot. It's pretty relaxing and it's actually fun to be making something other than dishcloths!

Today Emily comes home and my Aunt Sue also arrives in town. They're going to be coming over for dinner tonight and so we should have a nice houseful. I'm hoping we can break out some games... They like dutch blitz so maybe we'll play some of that . I haven't seen them since the wedding and even then I wasn't really able to spend much time with them!

The other night I edited one of my wedding picture... Photo taken by Laura Marks

2009-11-17T17:04:00.001-05:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words....

Weekend joys

2009-11-15T20:55:00.000-05:00

Well Asa and I have been married for one entire month! :) Time really does go by quickly! I made a nice pasta dinner and we got to eat at our bar counter. I would have taken pictures but my camera took a trip to Corning with Emily.

This weekend we had a nice gather... I love having my house full of people that I love! We had a Mexican type dinner it was delicious. The girls got here and helped me get everything ready. I made everyone latte's. I should have taken a picture of the eight steaming cups of deliciousness!

Me waiting for the espresso!

BREAKFAST mmmm

Amazing cinnamon rolls made out of the most interesting recipe

My second attempt at bread went better! Thanks to my mom's bread maker!

2009-11-04T22:04:00.000-05:00

Tonight Asa did some work on the house while I cleaned and made cookies to send to our friend. I've been wanting to make sometime with pumpkin and they turned out great! Here are some pictures :)

And this is my amazing husband and I ... (he looks like a vampire! hehe)

2009-10-31T22:10:00.001-04:00

Here's some visitors from last night-- having fun with Asa

And... some people never grow up!

Tonight my cousins came over... we enjoyed brownie sundaes and games!!! <3

Welcome to married life!

2009-10-29T20:57:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! I'm now officially Erin E Kiser! We've been so busy since we got home from the honey moon! The other day I tried being all wifely and attempted to make bread. If you haven't heard about it yet, I'm surprised. Let's just said my family was happy to be provided with a chuckle over my FLAT success. But other things have worked out for me despite my low rising bread. My biscuits actually weren't hockey pucks! I made them in the toaster over, it was amazing to see them puff up!
I've had fun trying out new recipes. The Stewart family (my previous boss' family from Garf's) gave me this beautiful wooden bowl. It came with a delicious recipe for salad dressing! mmmm
OHHH you probably want a picture of Asa and I ... hehe ... Here's one of us on our honeymoon!:

2009-09-09T19:39:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! Tonight we experienced some wedding preparations... Tonight we cut up 80 pounds of chicken for the reception! Things are rolling right along! Tomorrow it will be a month until I am Mrs. Asa Kiser

Hard work... hehe just kidding... it wasn't hard and it was fun working with mom!
Now the chicken is soaking in the fridge until Friday when I will grill it! :D

Busy Days...

2009-09-03T21:39:00.001-04:00

Hello all! I'm here to let you know that in 38 days I shall become Mrs. Asa Kiser! (I enjoy the way that looks and the way that sounds... ) I got my dress and it fits perfect... can't wait to surprise everyone with it :) Emily's dress shopping day was today! We ended up getting a great deal with a little bit of work ahead of it.
These are all the dresses that Em tried on...

I thought that was a perfect picture of all that we went through for almost the entire day! By the end of the day we were happy and satisfied with everything that happened today!

2009-08-14T18:42:00.000-04:00

HI all... my first week of studying is over! It has been great and I can´t believe I actually know so much spanish. (Micah when I come home you have to talk Spanish to me so I don`t lose it!) My teacher is amazingly patient especially when I mess up the congigations. (I´m not sure that´s spelled right.) Tomorrow Sarah, Joanna (the girl staying w/ us) and I are going to the Volcano and then on Sunday we´re going to a Lake about two hours away. Then it´s back for another week of studying! I honestly can´t believe the first week is already over!

I´m having a great time and LOVE this little town... I told Asa I want to move here!

Ok missing everyone but having a blast!

Erin

2009-08-13T15:36:00.001-04:00

HI from guatemala... miss everyone! Learning losta spanish... Micah I have your teacher and I´m staying with Hilda!!!

Erin

Summer has come

2009-07-31T11:37:00.000-04:00

Well Here I am on the threshold of August and I haven't posted since May! I had thought that once I finished school I would have time! (laugh now) That was kind of
a crazy thought because my summer did not slow down! Right after school ended I was plunged into finishing the house... I wish we would have taken pictures of the transformation as we went. Every downstairs room was painted and had new ceilings and flooring put it. Our house looks so amazing now! This all had to be finished before Emily's graduation so we put in a lot of late hours.

In the beginning of June we went and visited Asa's family in Lake Placid! WE had a nice time holding the newest addition of the family, Leah Kay. While we were there Anna's husband, Rick made a huge bon fire for us. It provided a great backdrop for many fun photos!

<--- Asa and ALL his brothers

I had one more come out as well. Out of five only three hatched. One was eaten by an awful creature and the other simply never hatched. I think these are the most beautiful things God has ever created!

After my cousins were here we had my cousin Jeff's wedding. It was so much fun! I love spending time with family. I think that family is one of the most important things in my life right now. They're always there for you and you know
you can always be yourself around them. It was a beautiful wedding!

The next weekend was Emily's graduation party. I can't believe my baby sister has graduated already!!! We had a lot of family here however, sad to say my Aunt and Uncle couldn't make it becuase my uncle fell out of a tree and fractured his back in three places. Thankfully he was healed only three weeks after the accident!

After Em's graduation party she left to go to NC for ten days and I got my cousin Rachel to stay with me for a week. I worked the entire week but she spent time with me when I wasn't working. We made the most amazing brownies and had a lot of good laughs. For the fourth of July I took a trip out to my grandparents camp. Times at the lake are always fun. This time was a little more interesting though because I got to meet my cousin, Sarah's, boyfriend. THANKFULLY I approve of him! ;)

---------------^ Rachel and me

Sarah-Mikayla-Guillermo-and joel--^

The rest of the summer has pretty much consisted of work and my online class. The online class consumes at least a couple of hours every single day! This past weekend, however, we got the chance to go to NYC. Dan, Asa, Sarah, Guillermo and I went to NYC for two days! It was the best time I've had in a while. We got to see many sites and just chill in Washington Square Park for a while. That is my most favorite park in the city! There is always so much going on...

<---This is the view of the Empire State building from Little Italy. Eating at a Venezuelan restaurant

So that was my weekend in Pictures! It was so much fun! Even if the trip home took 6 hours!

I'll try to be better at updating! In 8 days my cousin, Sarah, and I are going it Antigua Guatemala! We're sooo excited! We'll be gone for two weeks learning Spanish!

Erin

A perfect day...

2009-05-23T20:04:00.000-04:00

Well I must admit this poor blog has been extremely neglected over the past few months. It's not that I haven't thought about everyone reading this it's just my life has been crazy. The last few weeks of school were pretty stressful to say the least. BUT I'm trying not to complain! SOooooo.. Onto the next topic.
I am now a graduate of BCC. Thursday was the perfect day. I was busy all morning and then I went down to The Arena to practice for graduation. This didn't take long and that's when the blissfully relaxing moments came. I walked around and sat but this bridge:

and at my delicious sandwich that they made me at Pine Ridge! (it was great to whomever made it!) I just sat there enjoying the beauty of the day. I watched an interesting thing take place. to the left of the bridge there was a little watter fall type of thing and there were geese swimming towards it. I was interested to see what was going to happen... I didn't know if they would swim over it. Sure enough... the male and the female went over and the little babies followed behind... however it was a struggle for them. The water was going all different ways back and forth and the ducks seemed to just get caught between the currents. I kept watching as they all pulled out except two lil guys... They kept floating further away from me and finally the parents started squawking and they were joined a while later by the two little "pings".

You can kind of see them going over...

After this I walked back to my car and drove off to find a Library. I still had a lot of time before I needed to go to graduation so I drove to the

Library to pick out some books. It was a very small Library however, the book shelves towered above me and the book titles shouted out for me to pick them. I found a few books that looked interesting ...

The next stop is the most important stop... STARBUCKS! I went in there and got some much needed water and an iced coffee with white mocha flavoring! mmmm AMAZING. I chatted with the workers and then headed out to the park.

Taking my things I meanandered down the the river. I sat next to the rushing river for a while enjoying the chatter of people walking along the trail behind me... the rushing water... the sun dancing through the leaves on the trees... my book and coffee!

All was well until some creatures decided to pay me a visit. Needless to say I don't really enjoy tent worms crawling all over me so i relocated to the sunny area of the park with NO trees :) I spent the rest of my afternoon sitting there reading and sipping my coffee. I was joined by Asa for a while and he spralled out on the grass atempting to sleep. We rushed off and parked my car and it was time for graduation! The long awaitied moment... and guess what? MY Camera was dead... even though I charged it it didn't charge right. bummers... (I'll post a picture.... but just disclaimer... My collar was messed us becuase they just give you these little stickers to hold it in place)

It was great... minus some disrespectful, immature students... I'm thankful for my family who was there.... Them being their represented the hours of comforting them provided while I was going through stressful, tearfilled times... I love them and they are amazing!

My evening ended with a BANG! We went to AppleBees to celebrate my dear friends birthday~There were laughter and talks... texts and singing! Great times and it was a perfect end to a simply PERFECT day!

Julie and me

Asa.... He drank so many of these special teas! SO sweet! He is the best boyfriend EVER!

Becka and Her bday Specialty!

Emily eating all the artichoke spinich dip!

:-)

All of Us Girls! I love you girls so much! Thanks

For bringing smiles to my life!

FLORIDA

2009-04-11T10:29:00.000-04:00

hey all!
I know that I don't do much on here anymore... I guess it's because my life has gotten even busier! (I didn't know it could happen... but it has!) I also wonder how many people really read this anymore.
Right now I'm on Spring break and enjoying it... even though it's only the second day! it feels amazing not to do anything at all!
We're visiting my Grandparents in Florida. There is a "florida room" that is perfect! I'm sitting in here now as the brigtness comes flooding in. It's soo warm and there's a warmish breeze swirling in around me. With smells of green grass... water... and warmth! It's amazzing. there's a little pond that the room over looks. Beyond the pond there are some cows grazing. The middle of the pond has a little island in it. Out on the island there are Sand Hill Cranes that come. Right now there is a lone crane in the middle of the pond. My grandma thinks it's one of the babies from last year. When the baby cranes get old enough their parents chase them away. However, my grandma thinks that this is a lil guy that has come back from last year. Besides cranes we also have some other little visitors out on the island. Right now about four boys came trecking in on their bikes. They're all prepared for a day of fishing. They were also here last night too. It's fun to sit out side hearing them chatter. Boys always have such jolly times... I'm glad that I was able to grow up with boys as good friends... I thinkk they have so many more adventures than girls! haha...
OK... well the sun is going to be coming out here soo... and so i think I'm going to go soak up some vitiaman D!!! :) Here's some pictures so far...

Emily trying to get our chow...

We were going to take a picture an hour... but that didn't happen... I wish I could have gotten one of Em sleeping... she was looking so cute in her sleep!

2009-03-06T22:41:00.000-05:00

soooooo tired.....

more to come... some day ...

Erin

Thanks be to God!

2009-01-31T23:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday at 2:30pm I was on my way home from Binghamton where I was ice skating at school. When I was only three miles (at the most) from my house some slush on the roads made me loose control of my car and I headed straight for a tree. When I saw the tree all I could think of was people that I know that died because they ran into a tree. SO I braced my self against the stearing wheel and prayed! (they told me later you should never brace yourself...)

At this point I felt myself flip over and while I was upside down the car was sliding... Honestly I can't tell you what I was feeling or the sound... but I do remember it... the sound of snow scraping on the roof... and I felt like i did when I was a kid and I laid with my head over the side of the couch upside down... When the car stopped moving I unbuckled myself and crumbled to the "floor" (roof) of my car. Nothing seemed broken... the windows were fine and my car was still running. I looked out my driver's side window first and realized it was in the ditch completely covered by snow... this is when I got scared... I sat there and thought "I'm STUCK!"... and then I was like.. .there has got to be a way out! I saw the the passenger window had some light coming through so I rolled it up (because it was upside down so it was actually going up instead of "down"...lol) after that I turned my music off... my car off.. stuck my ipod and keys in my purse and pushed the snow blocking my exit into the car and scooted out into the wonderful large open world...

One problem... my cell was dead... soooo I had to walk for help. I walked about 1/2 a mile in one direction to someones house and up their driveway. I saw a truck so my hopes of them being home were high! However no one came to the door so I ran back down their driving way walked all the way back to my car. The wind was blowing and I kept hoping it was a car instead of just the wind but it wasn't... I walked about another 1/2 mile to the next house and there were people home! THANKFULLY! They let me use their phone. Emily left work early and came and got me... The police came... dad and mom came... and I cried... I cried and cried... I finally was able to rest and I realized all that had just happened... but I felt fine. (except for being sick to my stomach... and scared that everyone would be mad at me...)

They called the ambulence but they never ended up coming so mom took me to the ER where Asa joined me! (I love him...) we were at the ER from 4:30 to 9:30... I was so happy that nothing was wrong w/ me! They did different scans and everything was fine. Everyone told me that I would feel worse today...however the only thing that was sore was my legs... from skating and walking the day before!

Honestly I can't tell you how grateful I am to God for HIS protection. Asa's dad told me that just the other day his mom was praying for my safety driving! I know the He was watching over me... and I know that He has a plan for me... and for that I am so grateful! I can't even use words to tell you how much I am thankful for... but most of all for my God... family and friends and my life!
Here's the picture EMily took of my car!

Praising God!

Erin

25 random facts about me

2009-01-18T00:53:00.000-05:00

I never do these things soo here goes.

25 Random facts about me

1. I can't stand when people whistle
2. I like to drink blue berry green tea with loads of honey. (I mostly eat the honey and then drink the tea)
3. I've attended three different colleges in three years
4. I like the taste of dorito chips with vanilla ice cream
5. I enjoying deep meaningful conversations with my friends
6. I love writing in my journal and re reading old journal
7. Someday my cousin and I are going to write children's books
8. I don't have a favorite color
9. texting in public places w/ ppl around bugs me
10. I don't like when people talk on the phone in a car full of peopl
11. I broke my nose when I was 6
12. My favorite boys name is Giuseppe
13. I like to try out new recipes
14. My family and friends mean the world to me
15. I have an older brother (for some reason everyone misses that fact)
16. I like collecting catapillers and watching them turn into butterflies
17. I love to travel and want to travel to many places....
18. I have never been farther west than Iowa
19. My best pen pal is Erica martin
20. Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday!
21. I like to decorate cakes
22. I like interesting dates ( such as 09-09-09)
23. I want a different than normal wedding
24. I like to climb my tree and watch the sunset!
25. I hate my name when I was 13 and wanted to change it to Elizabeth

WOW that wasn't as hard as I thought it would be... *GRINS*

Selfish

2009-01-14T00:39:00.001-05:00

You know this last while I feel like I have focused too much on myself and MY problems! Until this last while I realized that I need to look around me... besides focusing on my petty problems there is a hurting world... people who have real problems and real issues...

Then today and tonight I was once again upset because of friend issues... People who I want to be my friends that I TRY to love and reach out to and then it seems like they only want me when they have something great to rub in my face... BUT then God showed me someone hurting with DEEP questions and struggles and I realized that I am nothing and my problems are SO pathetic. SO my eyes were open and for that I am grateful... grateful that once again God has been faithful to show me... my place in this world..

I am grateful for the friends I do have.. near and far away... And I'm sorry for how selfish I have been... and how "focused" on my own petty issues... and how I have let it consume me... It's a pretty ugly way to be.. and I'm so sorry!

Love to all!

Erin

NEW YEAR

2009-01-01T01:34:00.000-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I Spent my new year with the most amazing ppl ever! Love you guys! Yup... the wurtz's are considered great friends...

Erin

My Special day....

2008-12-26T19:03:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from my very very special 22nd birthday!! Thanks to my amazing boyfriend who made this day so special! And to my Family who was there to enjoy it!

~MY 22nd Birthday Cake~

Sisters!(we even kind of match)
Me and Dan~ These were the coolest knives...

The man who made the day happen!

I was trying to get the glass flashing....

My beautiful sister!

This is where we ate... I though the picture looked cool!

SMILE!

hmm.... interesting

Ok... i look bad but... I needed a pic w/ my cake!

----------------------------------

Afterwards we went into Brooklyn... for the rest of my birthday and Christmas Eve Day...

We had a great time w/ LOTS of laughs! (thanks asa for all these pics!)

Probably laughing at Giuseppe!

I think this is the card from the wurtz's (just for you my lil friend)

YAY another journal! (you can never have too many)

Telling some sort of story!

My cuties!

Heading into the city for the day! Rebecca... note Asa's hat!

...life moves on...

2008-12-22T23:51:00.000-05:00

Well there are 8 more minutes until my birthday...

...Goodbye 21...

Another year is over... it has proven to be an interesting one

.................................................................................

amazing night

2008-12-21T22:32:00.001-05:00

Wanna know about my amazing night? go here... http://exceedexpectations18.blogspot.com/

INTERESTING

2008-12-18T20:38:00.000-05:00

Everyone should check this out! Cilck on the video feed! It's something the children at my dad's school did... and yesterday i was in helping the teacher from 12-5 pm. it's amazing and so interesting! ENJOY http://www.wbng.com/news/local/36397749.html
Here's some of my pictures!

helllooooo bloggers

2008-11-25T21:24:00.000-05:00

OK... sorry about not posting in ages. My dear little sista has been prodding me for an update! HER of all people knows how busy I am.... OH WELL.

Good news! School is over in about 2 weeks. That's good and bad news because that means major homework the next few weeks. But it's ok!
Happy thanksgiving to all! Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday... I love having my family all together at one place... playing games and making memories. I am thankful for my family. Asa's at his families for thanksgiving... BUT I'm extremely thankful for him this year... there are so many ways that he has helped me out this fall.. (especially w/ all my deer damage)

OK... Well ya'll have to wait til after school for a longer post!

GOODNIGHT
~Erin

?

2008-10-31T23:53:00.000-04:00

Just wondering what God is up to... What is He trying to do... and what does He want ME to do?!

Meal worms...

2008-10-31T01:13:00.000-04:00

ok sooo how many of you have heard of meal worms before? WELL just to let you know they are acutally in almost every thing that is a grain product that you eat! ANYWAY... for my science class at school I have them as pets. I have had them for a while now and it is actually getting pretty tiresome. Thankfully now all I have to do is experiement on them for two more days and then I am FINISHED....

Tonight when I was watching them eat I felt like a border patrol makin sure they wouldn't get out of the box. I've had to starve them for the past day and then I gave them four different kinds of food to see what they perfer. (as if I really care!) So I had all the worms (or so I thought) inside their plastic homes because I was finished and then I counted them... 1.....4....7...10...15...16...16...16... my mind started swirling.. where was number 17?! I know I had 17 worms!!! Heat crawls up into my face and I frantically look all around moving the box...turning on the bright light... counting and re counting... I thought I had check under all the little piles of food in the cardboard box... the horrifying fact faced me... One of the little buggers must have crawled out when I wasn't watching! I decdied to check the food one more time... and PHEW!!! there he was undneath the graham cracker crumbs... I breathed a sigh of relief and then procided to try to get my heart to slow down. I was honestly really really scared and I am so glad that I found that worm because that would have been TROUBLE!

Ok... well I thought you would all like that story... it wasn't funny at the time but I think it's pretty funny now..

(mom if you're reading this I'm sure you're the only one that doesn't think this is very funn! *GRINS*)

Love to all~

Erin

more lake placid!

2008-10-14T21:31:00.001-04:00

I really wanted to see how many comments I could get on a post w/out pics! (JUST KIDDING!) I tried posting through my Microsoft word and it didn't work which was a bummy because I get so tired of uploading pics through blogspot... they should change their uploader thingy!
OK...so here are the real pics! ENJOY!

My man and me (sorry these are a lil out of order)

We climbed to the top of white face mountain

The three some!!

Ok... so I just had to get in the pic! *grins

This was amazing!

Anna and I are being goofy!
SISTA's FOREVER
UriahAsa wonderful mother and me

Us again... (I think we're pretty cute)
Look at the view!
It was so beautiful! You could see soooo far!
I love this pic.. it looks reflective to me...
He was freeking me out!

The road side

Dont blow away!!! (senor pictures)
US :-D
Me...being funny
Me and my buddy!

The end!

Enjoying Lake Placid

2008-10-13T22:03:00.001-04:00

This weekend I was able to spend some wonderful moments with my boyfriend with his family! It was a great and wonderful weekend!

Here are some pictures I hope you enjoy them!

CHEESE! I had to get in the picture!

Climbing White Face Mountain

Me With Asa's wonderful mom!My Man and MAwww love my sistaDon't blow away anna love! Senor Pictures

Fall!

2008-10-01T17:02:00.001-04:00

… I am proud to announce that today was the first day I was able to smell falls!!! I love the crisp smell of fall…

A slight tinge of pumpkins and apples floated in the air as rustling of leaves could be heard.

For some reason fall on a college campus is so inviting! Today was a good day!

sounds...

2008-09-18T22:09:00.000-04:00

You know what sound I like? I like the sound of a toy in a child's hand during show and tell. I first noticed this noise when I was in the school working, a few years ago. Today during one of our circle projects I was reminded of this noise again... I know this is so random but the reason I'm posting this is to see if anyone else out there knows what I am talking about. It's a different sound than when they are playing with the toys.... it's the sound of little hands holding tightly to a prized treasure... maybe I'm crazy but I guess this sound holds good memories of school days... maybe that's why I like it... it has scents of pride and happiness mingled in with it... it's a sound that makes me smile.

OK so take time to notice sounds around you... it's really quite interesting

Erin

miss you...

2008-09-14T23:32:00.000-04:00

Tonight I was out looking at the moon... it was ominous and beautiful out... the wind whipped around causing the outside air a welcome retreat from my stuffy room ... The Dark clouds that floated past were interesting... and something I had never seen before in that light...

...

I had thoughts... and I wrote...

...

I wrote with the pen Geoff gave me... I missed him...

after all these years it still works....

...

I loved him... and I miss him...

but he's in a better place now...

...

Tonight was a beautiful night! A night I'm glad to be alive!

Erin

... sigh

2008-09-13T22:41:00.000-04:00

WELL after a long day of work I am ready to buckle down and do home work for about 1 1/2 hrs... I really need to get it done... I don't like doing school work on sunday SOOOO i have to do this... I'm all ready though so it's ok...

People really haven't been blogging much...what's up with that?!

Erin

Thankful

2008-09-07T23:07:00.001-04:00

Tonight I am once again thankful for my boyfriend...my mom... my sister...my dad... and Summer! Justin was over to soooo i'm thankful for him to. We had a giant bon fire...which my dad mostly just lit and we watched burn a little.
I am working on being thankful and counting my blessings instead of crying over the things I don't have... it's amazing how one minute you can be perfectly content and then someones says one thing and you realize how much you don't have... and how much you miss or desire. So yeah...

Meet my new pets! The first one is a swallow tail... he won't turn into a butterfly until next spring however these little guys on the right are already well on their way to being a monarch butterfly!!

New Program!

2008-09-06T12:11:00.001-04:00

I just wanted to try out this new blogger thing that I got with my computer! I can actually type a blog from my Microsoft office and then it will publish it for me! GRINS! I think that's a pretty cool thing… so I'm just trying it out… J I hope everyone is have a good rainy Saturday I love rainy Saturday's …sigh… but I must go into work! Talk to you later! Erin

life...

2008-09-05T11:27:00.000-04:00

Ok so I'm going to try to type as fast as I can because the sun and pool are calling my name but I feel like have to write before I burst!

Driving to school three times a week gives me so much time to just simply think... and think... I have a lot of thoughts and I actually really enjoy this time...

My science class is really interesting it also get's me thinking about different things... about creation and why I believe what I believe... it tests me because sure I believe that God created the world...and to deny that is like saying a beautiful painting just came to be... a beautiful painting has to have a creator it doesn't just happen... SO yeah... but I want proof... I want facts... I do believe... however... I just want to know more... so Thanks to Harold...he lent me some info to help me out.

Yesterday the highlight of my day was watching a catipiller shed his skin and turn into the fist stage of a crysalis... it was amazing and beautiful and I was so happy I was able to see it.

OK WELL so much for a random post... I haven't been writing in my journal for the past month so my thoughts are all scattered and this is the type of post you get! I don't know who reads my blog but hello to everyone!

OH YEAH I gotta have some political statement... I hear this Sarah Palin is a great person..... I wonder what everyone else in the blogging world thinks of her....

Erin

zzz

2008-08-27T22:38:00.001-04:00

too...too...too tired....

Happy Anniversary

2008-08-20T20:58:00.000-04:00

This is to our three years together!

I love you, Asa! Forever!

Guys...

2008-08-17T22:15:00.001-04:00

I just want to thank God for #1-- Asa... he's the best boyfriend ever...He tells me when I'm wrong and listens to me on my soap box when I think I'm right. He's the sweetest and he found me three of my most favorite catterpillers!!!!
My next shout out goes to one of the only friends we have! He's the best guy AFTER Asa... He's sweet and funny and just a lot of fun! Thanks Harold for always coming over...and just for being funny!

More Pictures

2008-08-15T09:24:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures of a very special family in Peru... I love and miss them so much. Ana came to stay with us over Christmas time. She didn't speak any English but we managed to get by. When I was in Peru I was able to visit and spend time with her entire family and it was such a blessing!

Riding in the car to the beach~

"Pinkey" (long story)

Being Ladies~

SMILE

Dancing...

Kisses for Brian

All of us~

Me with Ana, Stephanie, and her other son

sarah and I with them and extended family!

More food!

enjoying the last days...

2008-08-13T19:19:00.000-04:00

I'm enjoying the last days of summer... school starts in 1.5 weeks... WOW this summer honestly has flown by way way too fast! Today and yesterday I had some time off from work and it has been a blessing after working 6 days in a row. Tonight we're going somewhere with friends and Em wants me to leave so I guess a longer post will still be coming... LATA~

Erin

HEY

2008-08-06T22:02:00.000-04:00

Ok... First things first... YES I took that picture!!! GRINS! I had so many comments asking if I actually took the picture that I want you all to know that the bird and the cat belong to my friend Stephanie!

Now... You must understand that these pictures aren't in order... but that's due to the fact the blogging pictures on here is extremely hard...and a Major pain in fact. SOO Enjoy these pictures of the beautiful Machu Picchu! I loved it and it was so beautiful! The one thing I thought of the whole time was what it would have been like when actual people LIVED here...and children walked along the paths and dogs barked... It was amazing!

This is me--

Here you can see a lot of the city ruins!

I had so many pictures it's hard to pick from... This was just another shot of the buildings
This is going into where they would mummify (is that how you spell it???) bodies

These were some mountain ppl worshiping

Travel buddies FOREVER!

Some of the houses

Can you see the face!?

LOVE THIS PICTURE!

Aren't the mountians breath taking?!

The result of the little green buggers in Peru!

*My bug bites still itch three weeks later~

This is Cusco... Cusco is a four hour train ride from Machu Picchu and it's where we stayed while we were away from Lima for the weekend!

Peru

2008-07-29T13:31:00.000-04:00

Just a photo that I took in Peru that might make you all smile~

2008-07-24T23:27:00.000-04:00

HI... I need to update pictures BUT my camera is in the room with my cousin and she is sleeping.. .I'm having a great time but I am ready to go home to my little girly! XO

Pictures soon~Erin

Peru

2008-07-17T21:34:00.000-04:00

This is At Newark all ready and excited!

MMM... Smoothy time

Me sooooo tired...hehe

I loved taking pictures of the clouds

LAND! The plan ride felt so long (total of 8 hrs)

it was wonderful to see Ana again!!!
Isn't Brian sweet?!--Moises y Brian
Everyone at the table... Two of Moises' siblings came later-mmm We eat Peruvian almost every single meal!

Kelly with Green Rice... (this was the first night)
Our table the first night-
This is me with my food that Ana made! more Good stuff
Riding Peruvian style- aka squashed (thanks em for the quote)

Playing a Spanish game... that I never really got-:-)
Our time here has been wonderful and I love the school and all the children at the school.. I think that I would really enjoy spending some time here teaching... but we'll see what God has for us. Sarah and I leave for cusco very very early Saturday morning!

---Erin

2008-07-14T17:55:00.001-04:00

Hey ya'll ... just a quick note to let ya'll know that I am in PERU!! yay!

Erin

Hello World

2008-07-07T13:04:00.001-04:00

Well Hello Blogging world!

Just this past week I was amazed to find out how many people there are that are tuned in to blogspot.com. I guess it brings me to thinking about all the people who may actually be looking at my site without me having a clue. OH WELL... I like being interested in what other people are doing too... SO this is for all you who I don't know are looking at my site... "HELLO!"

Ok.. now onto what I've been up to... the past few days have been extremely busy. Friday night we went to a friends house in Green and had a wonderful fourth of july party. He set off fire works that were awesome! *especially considering they were illegal!* That whole day was just such a great one. Our whole family was home for most of the day and we girls just swam and tanned while the guys did wood. Asa came later and we just chatted and had a good time...

Saturday I worked all day and then went to Jeremiah's Graduation party. (he's a guy I work with) He's going to be leaving for college soon and I will miss working with him VERY much! After his party I headed over to the Gaiges to join my family... when I got there they were all around the camp fire, roasting marshmellows and chatting. I promtly found some beautiful coals calling my name and so I roasted a lot of marshmellows... mmm they were good. We had a great time being entertained by potatoe guns... and good stories.

Sunday we went to church, ate and then Em, Asa and i came right home.. because last night i was suppose to have everyone from work over for a "Garf's Get-together"... Not everyone showed up though. John, Beth and the kids along with Matt and his girlfriend were the only ones that came.. BUT we had an AWESOME time... playing volley ball, swimming, and eating.. It was so much fun and it makes me want to hvae them over again... Volley Ball was the best! I love the people I work for and with.. they're so special to me. (ok so I'm a sentimentle person...)

WELL it's beautiful out and the sun is calling to me. I leave for Peru on Sunday (I can't believe it... ) So besides wanting to just have a fun week... I have a lot of work to do! Please pray that everything goes well for us. I'm so grateful for all that God has been doing in my life this last while... Even though there are things that are hard to understand He never leaves me alone in them!

Love to all...known and unknown

~*~Erin~*~

traveling buddy....

2008-06-29T00:07:00.000-04:00

This post is in honor of my wonderful traveling partner! In two weeks we leave for our adventures! WOOHOOO... watch out Peru!

random rambles

2008-06-27T21:44:00.000-04:00

I wish I knew where my camera charger was so that I could take some more picutres of my art work... i am so tired tonight... and I miss my evening time with Asa... He's in NYC with Harold... I hope they have a good time but I do admit I'm extremely jealous. In two weeks and one day I will be arriving in Lima... aahhh... the excitment that fills me every time I think of those two weeks! I have been busy these last few days sewing... making skirts... and just working...

Thanks to eveyone who commented on my art work... I do enjoy it very much except... I miss drawing... being in a drawing class pushed me and inspired me to draw... now i just don't do it... maybe I'll go draw now... I wish it wouldn't be dark... I'd love to climb my tree! (you should be here Re)

Love to all~Erin

Peru

2008-06-23T17:16:00.000-04:00

Well since everyone is asking I had better fill you in on the details of my trip to Peru. My cousin Sarah and I are leaving on July 13th and staying there un til July 27th. We are both super excited. I told her that I honestly get more excited with ever day that passes...

There are only like 20 more days from today!!! We are going to spend time with Kelly and Moises... we are also going to visit Moises' mother whom spent time with my family over christmas becuase Kelly and Moises were on their honeymoon. (Heidi, I think you maybe met her? I'm thinking my family brought her into the store when she was here).

ANYWAY!! WE are also going to go to Machu Picchu which Kelly has told me was just named one of the seven wonders of the modern world!!! WELL I work at 9 which means I have 4 minutes to think about breakfast... LOVE TO ALL~ Thanks for the comments! ~~~<3~*~Air~*~<3~~~

Art

2008-06-20T09:19:00.001-04:00

This is My final project from my art class... I still have many more drawings to upload but Asa helped me

take a picture of this one last night... it was hard because it is very big!!!

Peru

2008-06-18T21:24:00.000-04:00

I’m going to PERU!!!

2008-06-09T09:21:00.000-04:00

... I don't know what to say.... I miss school... I miss having friends... (I'm not dissing you blogging friends...but I miss having friends HERE) *sigh* please pray for me... I don't want to be discouraging so just for the record...
I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND!

4.0

2008-05-27T12:46:00.000-04:00

Well... I'm very proud to announce that I have finally acheived my goal of a 4.0!!!
YAY! Pretty excited..... (if you couldn't tell)
Ok well... I have slept until 12:30 today (record for me) and now I have to work in about 40 minutes... (joy) there's a lot going on in my life right now... so I would sencerely appreciate prayer!

Thanks, Erin

Spring

2008-05-16T11:40:00.000-04:00

A wisp of dandilion danced into my car the other day...
long enough to make me smile
and then it was back out the window... on it's way.
Spring time is so beautiful... the trees with their big limp leaves... whenever I see them I think they are so beautiful... but it's like they're waiting for the blood to spread throughout their leaves so that they can be full and not saggin... It was awesome driving home from school yesterday..
windows open..
music blaring!..
smelling the sunshine and spring!

These are the days I thank God I am alive for!

Erin

2008-05-05T09:04:00.000-04:00

I have so many new drawings...but no time to post! Just keep waiting... only two more weeks (four days) and I'll be finished with school... honestly all I do now is sleep, eat, do homework, go to school, and go to work... my days are filled up... I can't wait for a break!\

Air

Skim Board

2008-04-15T19:27:00.001-04:00

This is my newest thing...We're in South Carolina and having an awesome time!

~Sweet~

Looking for the right wave

Skim board in SC

Me and my Sista

An addition

2008-04-03T22:06:00.000-04:00

Here's some more that I added to that project...it's a work in progress! Let me know what you think I should do I'm kind of stuck...