A Feast of Ice and Fire

This will be a quick post (compared to my usual length). I want to celebrate my housemate, Beth!
About a week and a half ago she accomplished a difficult personal goal. I imagine it was something like climbing a mountain all by yourself, but without all the fresh air and beautiful views.

Because she is awesome, (and probably because she's unaccustomed to being lazy), she decided to devote all her new found free-time last weekend to preparing a big meal for all of us!

Pictured: Elaborate Meal, Beth's Arms, My Stained Oven-Mitts

She chose all of her recipes from a cookbook we've had for a while, but haven't used nearly often enough: A Feast of Ice and Fire. It contains historically researched medieval recipes inspired by the "Song of Ice and Fire" book series by George R.R. Martin; which became the TV series "Game of Thrones".

My husband  Shane got the book as a gift from my folks. We later learned that one of the authors grew up with our housemate, Kira. What a small world! The book started with a blog: The Inn at the Crossroads which still posts new dishes regularly. Author Chelsea Monroe-Cassel also blogs about Westerosi* Beers at Game of Brews, and posts recipes from other works of fiction at Food Through the Pages. Author Sariann Lehrer blogs about her "culinary exploits" at Chopped Ginger.

Shane and Beth love these stories. I know Shane has been through the books several times. Housemate Kate and I have been watching the show with them too. That leaves out Kira, but she enjoyed the food just fine without knowing the background fandom. :)

Beth made Cornish hens with apple-raisin stuffing, mashed potatoes and a delicious pearl onion sauce. 

For desert there were amazing glazed lemon cookies and beautiful stuffed baked apples. We devoured our chicken and potatoes before the broadcast, and then finished off the wine and cider with cookies while we watched the new episode together.

We were too full for the apples. So we had them the next day with ice cream. While ice cream is decidedly not medieval, it was delicious! Three cheers for Beth!! She's definitely the kind of gal you want around when winter is coming.

*Westeros is the country where most of the action in Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire takes place.

Trust God: Make a Blog

Hello there! Haven't see you in a while. Hope things are going well for you. I'd like share a little bit of what I've been up to while I've been gone. I started another blog! No worries though, this one's not for me. It's for my friend LuAnn.

LuAnn is a super sweet lady who moved to Pittsburgh with her husband, Sam, just a couple of years ago. They found our church, and were soon pitching in all over the place! They both spend a ridiculous amount of time and energy helping people, and are a blessing wherever they go.

Last fall, LuAnn was leading a women's bible study. (I must admit, I never attended.) In early December, she decided to stop teaching and start writing devotional reflections. She started by sending almost-daily emails to the contact list from the study. In just a few short months, her list has grown to nearly 100 women and men!

I asked LuAnn last week if I could help her reach even more people by setting up a blog for her. She said yes, and here is the result: trust4god.wordpress.com

It's simple, but I'm pretty proud of it! Now the whole world can access LuAnn's messages of hope, courage, and perseverance. I named it "Trust God" because it seems like she's always saying that in one way or another. It's something I need to be reminded to do often myself. In her fourth ever message she says:

"Trusting God is one of the hardest things I’ll ever do in life. Mike talked today in his sermon about waiting. Waiting isn't fun. Sometimes we want the answer right away and it isn't going to come for some time. Trusting God is hard but worth it in the end.

I know some of you are struggling with issues in your life and I’m praying for you. I don’t know what is troubling some of you but I’m here if you need a listening ear. Many times we just have to listen and in my case, share.

These devotionals are a reminder for me as well. I don’t have all the answers."

Two days before that she said:

Put today in the hands of the Lord who loves you and wants what’s best for you. He won’t let you down even when others do. Find something you can do for someone else and it WILL brighten your day.

That right there is LuAnn in a nut-shell! I guess I took her advice; because making a blog for her sure did brighten my life a wee bit. So please, check out the archive. It goes all the way back to the start in December. And if you like what you see, you can sign up for the email list just like that tiny women's group last fall. (The internet is awesome!)

Friends Are Like Stars

I made a thing! I did it because Jenny Lawson said something hilarious, and one of my housemates told me it needed to be a poster. You can (and should) read the whole funny story here:

http://thebloggess.com/2012/12/astronomy-classes-ruined-my-sense-of-romance/ 

I'm no graphic designer, but I like the results. It reminds me of old science classroom posters.

Version 1:

High Resolution

Version 2:

High Resolution

These beautiful photos were found at Wired.