...and the pie will help.

Sorry about the length of time between posts, but a bunch has been happening recently (i.e. I've been lazy) and I haven't had the chance to get to it (i.e. I've been lazy). I'll do better in the future.

Anyways...

As I look back on the many happy moments of my life, I realize that most of the happiest involve food. Weather it was Thanksgiving, a family reunion or something as simple as a Sunday dinner with family and friends there has always been food. I think I love these particular events due to the fact that those I love the most are present. It becomes an event, not just a meal. The food is just gravy. Mmmmm, gravy!

Maybe that's why I'm fat.

But it's true, I love food. Who doesn't? Food is the one thing that we all have in common. We all need to eat. If we're rich or poor, we all have had an experience with food. It's the great equalizer.

It can also be a great comfort.

When I was growing up, I was lucky enough to have a "stay at home" mom (and I just want to say thank you to all of you stay at home moms for giving so much to your children! There is a special place in heaven for you all) that also happened to be a wonderful cook. Often times, after a difficult day at school, I would come home to the smell of one baked good or other floating through the house. In an instant the horrid events of the day would be gone, replaced by the wonderful taste of homemade brownies or cookies. So, the love affair with food began at home.

Hopefully for most of us it does.

But I think that in this low-carb, sodium free, sugar free, no taste world that we live in we sometimes forget to stop and enjoy, truly enjoy food. Don't get me wrong, though, I think that healthy lifestyle with a balanced diet is a wonderful way to live, and those that know me can assure you that I could use a tad more balance in my life (for instance, I recently discovered that the food pyramid does not consist of bacon, pie, cake and sausage. Go figure. But for the reasons that bacon is so tasty, watch the video below.)



All I'm saying is, we need to sometime slow down, stop counting calories and have a piece of pie!

Which brings us to the topic at hand...

PIE!

Who doesn't love pie? O.k., to both of you out there that don't like pie you can now stop reading and go to a blog about basket weaving or something (here, I even found you a link: http://southeastohiomagazine.blogspot.com/2009/02/exploring-art-of-basketweaving.html). Now we continue with the flaky goodness that is pie!

The older I get, the more I enjoy cooking, and it all started with chicken fried chicken. Chicken battered and fried with country gravy, delicious! I then decided that I wanted to try my hand at pie making. I went online, found a recipe and got to work. My pie of choice: Strawberry Ruhbarb. Heaven in a flaky crust.

Well, I made the dough for the crust, mixed the filling, all from scratch, and baked my little wonder to golden perfection! I thought it turned out perfect, Stephanie thought it was a tad too tart. I really hopes she's liking that basket weaving blog...

Anyways...I was excited at the triumph of my pie making adventure, when my dear friends, Laine and Guy experienced a tragedy.

(I will continue the saga in a while...stay tuned)

An Explosion of Journals

I love journals.

I love the smell.

I love the crinkle, crackle sound when you first open them up.

I love how they feel as I hold one in my hands.

I love thumbing thru the pages, both the blank ones yet to be written upon, and the ones that have had creativity spewed forth upon them.

I even love writing in them...

I am a journal nerd.

I am not quite sure why, but recently, especially in the last year or so, I've really felt a need to keep one. I made the mistake of sharing that information with my wife today. She asked,

"So what's this sudden fascination with journal keeping and blogging?"

"I'm not sure," I replied, "I just feel an urgency to keep a record of my life."

She stopped stirring her tuna to look at me, a shocked and worried look on her face. I replied:

"It's not like I'm planning to die or anything..."

"Nobody PLANS on dying...they just die!"

She's right, I suppose. I guess you can't find a journal entry such as:

July 31, 2009

Today was a great day! I got to eat jelly bellies and peanut butter. Also got to watch the police chase a little person!

Tomorrow I'm going to die...

I honestly don't think that the reason I want to write is because of some revelation that my time in this life is drawing to a close. I just feel that it's an important thing that I need to do.

I guess I shouldn't have used the word "urgent".

But I digress. Back to journals...

My love for journals goes back to when I was a kid, I now have many, as you can tell by the image above. Some are still blank, just waiting to be filled. Others have various doodles and writings, notes from meetings, and sketches of various brain farts. Oddly enough, whether full, empty or somewhere in between, I love each and everyone that I own.

The ones that I love the most however, are the ones that I have made myself. It all started about five years ago...

I was in Salt Lake City at a conference for an LDS religion class that I would be teaching later that year, and I was in Deseret Book looking for a cool handmade journal to begin keeping one. I found a nice one called the "Parley Journal". It was really nice, but, at almost 40 dollars, a tad more than I wanted to spend.

But then I got to thinking...maybe I could make one. The prospect seemed simple enough.

I started my first journal with a roll of brown craft paper, the back on an old notepad and some parchment that I purchased at Staples. It actually didn't turn out half bad. I tore the page edges, sewed all of the signatures, glued them together and created the cover. It took longer that I thought it would, but not bad, and easier than I thought it would be. All in all, not a bad looking journal. Making one wasn't bad, how about 20 or so for my students?

So off I went on a journal making spree, tearing edges, sewing and gluing pages, making covers. All in time for Christmas break,

They were a huge hit with the students.

I was now hooked on journal making.

I was now a journal MAKING nerd.

I have made many journals since those first 21 or so, some with paper covers, some with leather. Some with lined pages, some without; regular paper, parchment paper...you name it. Every journal that I have made have been a delight to do. Each one is unique, and I hope valued by it's owner.

I am a journal nerd.