Saying Yes!

Although we were surrounded by many of our friends on Saturday night as Stephen proposed to me, there were still many friends and all of our families that weren't able to be with us. Since many people have been asking for the story, and so that I maybe be able to remember the details always, I thought I'd write down the story of our day. 

That Saturday - December 10th, 2016 - started rather late for me, as Yuletide the night before had ended late. I woke up still tired and with a splitting headache; not a great way to feel for the longest day of Yuletide. I spent what little morning I had left cleaning the house, and was unable to get to some of the other things I had wanted to do. 

All of this left me feeling rather cranky by the time I got to Yuletide at 1:30 in the afternoon. After being there for a bit, I noticed that Stephen was acting a little weird, but I thought, "Maybe he's being normal and I'm just extra sensitive to it right now since I'm cranky." So, I dismissed it and moved on. We went for a walk around the perfectly snow-covered streets of the village, and he did his utmost to cheer me up; it took till a little later in the afternoon, but he did succeed in cheering me up!

  Photo credit: Sue Price

 

 Photo credit: Sue Price

Photo credit: Sue Price

Now, to fully appreciate the perfection of the proposal, you must know a little bit about our scene for Yuletide this year. Our scene starts with two girls chatting about the dance, flirting with the tour groups, and lamenting that there aren't enough eligible men in town. Then, one of the girls spills the secret that Nathaniel (Stephen) was going to take Clarice (me) to the apple orchard to propose before we came to the dance. Shortly after Nathaniel and Clarice arrive at the dance, and announce that we are "to be married!"

So, all day, we were going through the motions of "being engaged" and being congratulated, and talking about "wedding details". At one point between tours, a friend (who knew nothing of the plan to propose) mentioned that she really wanted to go to a wedding, and gave Stephen a telling look. At another point during the day, I told a friend that because Stephen and I had been together so long, I realized that engagement could happen at any time but I'd stopped expecting it to happen.

It was a very long day, with twenty-three tours and all of them full to the brim, so it was no surprise when shortly after dinner, the director of special events came over to tell us that they had had a lot of walk-on visitors and needed to add an extra tour at the end of the night. Whatever he may have been feeling, Stephen did a good job of playing up the "I'm so tired, why did they have to add an extra tour?", and I, being in a good mood again, did my best to cheer him up and keep him going. 

The rest of the evening was quite uneventful, counting down the number of tours we had left, playing charades in between scenes, and trying our best to keep up our energy. 

As we got towards the end of the evening, things did get a little odd. In between tours, I nearly always sit in what I call "The Seat of Responsibility", where I can tell if there is a tour in the scene before us, and I can see when they start walking towards us. As we neared the end of the night, I was watching out the window, and saw what had originally been the last tour of the night but was now the second to last tour go into the house before us, and the tour guide took the red-ribbon lantern inside with him, signifying that he was the last tour of the night. I was confused, because there was supposed to be one more tour, but I didn't think much of it - things happen, tours get switched around, and we museum people are experts in flexibility. 

But then, that tour came to us, and the tour guide didn't bring a red-ribbon lantern inside. I was even more confused, but just thought, "Well, I must have been mistaken, I guess we have one more tour."

After that tour left, my good friend Anneliese came over to "watch the last scene" and take picture of my new dress. Really, she was distracting me from watching out the window, in case I should realize that the tour coming towards us was all staff members. She did a good job, because I didn't realize that Stephen was getting a little anxious.

Photo credit: Anneliese Meck

Well, the last tour did come our way; Stephen and I went to the back hallway to wait for our cue, and he started acting silly, mimicing the girls as they went through the scene. When we came into the room, it took me a bit to realize that it was entirely staff on the tour and not really walk-on guests. My first thought was, "Oh, they must have added a staff tour so that we call all see the rest of he show. But, that's not fair - we only get to see the last two scenes!" And now, the best way to continue the story is to show the video. Unfortunately, you can't see much, but you can hear it very well. Everything is the Yuletide scene as normal, until Stephen starts talking about not making it to the apple orchard - that's when I started thinking "Why is he going off script? I know it's an all-staff tour, but now I have to figure out how to ad lib with him!"

 Video credit: Anneliese Meck

Yes, I legitimately had to ask if this was real, because Stephen has fake-proposed to me twice before (not with a ring but with other things), and because I've just been waiting so long! Once I was convinced of the reality, I said "Absolutely!!" because a simple "yes" just didn't cut it.

On a funny side-note, the squeals of "Oh my gosh!" that you hear are actually the other girls in the scene, because only our dance master Rick knew about this ahead of time. I was utterly speechless, as I always am when I'm surprised.

 Photo credit: Anneliese Meck

And, oh, maybe I should actually look at my ring!

 Photo credit: Anneliese Meck

We then waltzed to an absolutely perfect tune, "Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms", played by our friend Colton. Again, you can't see much, but we also have a video of that.

 Video credit: Anneliese Meck

After that, another friend had the forethought to bring a cake, so we all ate, and talked, and laughed. Last thing before we ended the party, our dear friend Amelia asked if she could pray for us, so all our friends gathered around in a big circle, and she and Stephen prayed as we started this new chapter in our life. 

 Photo credit: Anneliese Meck

I really, truly cannot think of a more perfect way to have been proposed to. To be wearing a red dress (that I had just finished!), to be dancing, and to be in the Town Hall, all just like the night that Stephen and I first met, was entirely perfect. To be surrounded by so many of our friends, and to know that many of them had helped to keep the secret and pull this off, was the best feeling. It definitely was a bit of a blur, but I am thankful that I can relive the wonderful, surprising, magical feelings over and over again thanks to the pictures and videos that everyone took, and that it can allow everyone else who wasn't there to share in the magic, too!

And now, as I've been telling myself over and over again for the last several days....

"Holy Cow!!! WE'RE ENGAGED!!!!!!!!" =D

Recent Favorites

Although I've been terrible about keeping up on the blog lately, I've been still been trying lots of new recipes. Here are some favorites from the past few weeks.

First, crock-pot Cuban pork with red cabbage slaw. Possibly my favorite thing about this recipe is that it's so crock-pot friendly! Nothing is better than coming home to a hot meal with very little work ahead of time. The pork has a very mild flavor, with orange being the strongest part of it. Mixing it with the slaw is what really makes it fantastic. The first few days, I ate this as lettuce wraps, but I got juice all over my hands and arms and desk, and eventually resorted to eating it as a salad.

Second are these amazingly delicious bread-sticks made with coconut flour! I served them with spaghetti squash and a meaty tomato sauce for classic Italian, but I've also thought of many other ways that these could be used. They turn out very thin, but soft and airy like regular gluten-y bread. The herbs smell and taste heavenly, and help to hide the flavor of the coconut flour. I think if you were to cut the bread in squares instead of strips, it might be nice for a sandwich/flat bread.

This past week, my breakfast has been this grain free "oatmeal". As with most of the other "no'tmeals" that I've tried, it really doesn't take like oats. However, it has a great texture like oats, and serving it hot with milk and almond butter helps to give the creaminess that I love from oatmeal. Also, it's full of fiber and healthy fats, so it's a great snack or meal!

Lastly, tonight's dinner is this chicken stew with kale and potatoes. I was honestly a little skeptical about this recipe, because it has so few ingredients, but it really amazed me! I did use horseradish mustard instead of dijon, and it gives it a really mild kick. The arrowroot and mustard help make the stew perfectly creamy, and the chunks of chicken, potatoes, and kale make it so hearty. It's especially nice considering that this was my view this afternoon, and it's only been snowing harder since! A lovely dinner for the first snowstorm of the winter.

Flavors of Fall

Oh, food. I love food. It is a wonderful necessity that is wrapped up in every part of my life, and forever linked with my mood and emotions. I'm sorry; did that just get weird? It's true, though.

The changing seasons also affect my food choices, and this fall all I've been craving is macaroni and cheese, and tomato soup with grilled cheese. Seeing a pattern? Cheese.....warm, gooey, tangy cheese! Unfortunately, that's on my no-good list, so I can only enjoy the thought of it!

But, I have been making some very autumnal foods to help fill the void. In fact, as I write I have tomatoes, onions, peppers, and garlic roasting in the oven to make tomato soup; it smells so good and I am so hungry that I hardly know how I'll survive the next 30 minutes. I hope you're glad to know that you're acting as a distraction while I wait for dinner.

Anyways, here are a few of my favorite autumnal inspired foods!

First, a breakfast recipe. Since going grain-free, I've really missed oatmeal, because it used to be a staple breakfast food. I've experimented with several recipes for "n'otmeal" and porridge, and this Pumpkin Porridge is definitely a good option. I tweaked the recipe a little bit, doubling everything except the pumpkin (using only 3/4 cup of that), using coconut milk instead of almond milk, and using maple syrup instead of stevia. Actually, a few times I didn't put any sweetener in it at all, and it was still good. I topped mine with apples and walnuts, but raisins, pecans, or a whole host of other things would be good on top. It's definitely still not oatmeal, but it gives you that same warm, creamy goodness feel.

Second was a recipe that I concocted on my own. It's based off a basic chicken salad recipe, but instead of grapes and celery, I used roasted butternut squash, pears, and walnuts. I used leftover grapefruit vinigrette for my binder, and a little dash of apple cider vinegar. The only thing I think I'd change would be adding a creamier binder - something mayonaise based. I served it with Irish Soda biscuits. Super yummy, and really similar to the wheat version. Only problem was that they got stale really quickly.

Lastly is a chowder that was half recipe, half made up. Last year I made potato corn chowder a lot in the fall, sometimes with sausage and sometimes with bacon. It was so wonderfully creamy and flavorful and delicious, and I was really craving it when the cool weather started coming. Of course, I can't do the traditional milk and flour based chowders, and I also can't do corn, so I started looking around for other options. I stumbled upon this cauliflower soup recipe, and although very skeptical, decided to give it a try. I then added some pre-cooked Italian sausage and potatoes to mimic my old chowder. Wow, did it turn out well! I seriously think that if someone wasn't told they were eating cauliflower, they'd never know. It was the perfect, creamy base to highlight the flavors of the sausage and potatoes. And, super fast to make! I'll definitely be returning to this recipe as a base for many chowders to come.

There you have it - three cheese-less recipes to satisfy your craving for fall foods. Now, please excuse me while I go finish cooking my tomato soup and devour it whole-heartedly.

Beat the Beets

I'm sorry for my recent silence. I was storing up photos in preparation for several posts, and as soon as I got them all collected my internet stopped working. A week and a half later, I'm back up and running, and all ready for several blog posts!

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine gave me a bag full of beets, and mealtimes suddenly became a race to use as many beets as quickly as possible, before they went bad. I've often heard beets referred to as the "candy of the veggie world". Personally, I think roasted broccoli is the vegetable candy (seriously, even my I-don't-like-veggies friend is in love with roasted broccoli!), but beets aren't half-bad. Pickled beets are always a good option, but I wanted to experiment with other ways of cooking them.

The first recipe I tried was from the Whole30 book. It's basically just roasted beets mixed with slivered almonds, served over arugala with a grapefruit-thyme vinagrette. The vinagrette is made from olive oil, grapefruit juice, garlic, mustard powder, salt, pepper, and fresh thyme. The first night I ate them hot, and the second night I ate them cold as the recipe suggested. I actually liked the beets better hot, but the fact that they were acceptable cold makes them a great take-to-work leftover.

I served the beets with a lemon-rosemary chicken. I had an actual recipe to try for it, but I was cooking with a tight time-limit and little attention, so I just made it up on my own. It turned out okay, but I still need to try that recipe sometime.

My next recipe was also a concoction of my own, after a little Pinterest searching. One hot morning I was looking for a smoothie to supplement my meager breakfast, and used what I had on hand - beets, strawberries, and apple juice. Now, if you hate beets, don't get your hopes up; this is full of earthy beet flavor and is NOT a good way to hide beets. But if you're like me and have a love-hate relationship with beets (as in, they don't rank in your top five favorite veggies, but you don't gag at the sight of them), then this IS a good way to mellow out the beet flavor and get more of them into your diet. The nice thing about using beets this way is that you don't have to cook them first - just peel, chop, and blend away!

The last recipe really is a good one for hiding beets! Beet brownies....yum yum! Any time you can get a serving of vegetables while also eating chocolate is a win. Unfortunately, this doesn't *really* count as a serving of veggies, since there's not much beet in them, but it still counts for something, right? You can still taste the beets in these, but it wasn't BEET with chocolate, it was CHOCOLATE with beets. I topped them with this frosting - good, but I'll keep experimenting. Still, though, these were good enough that after taking them to a movie night (which only four people were at), this was all that was left!

Chicken Thigh, Chicken Thigh

Have you ever heard the chicken wing song? No, I hadn't either until a friend's little brother sang it constantly one day that I went to visit. It goes something like this:

Chicken wing, chicken wing,
Hot dog and Baloney
Chicken and macaroni
Chillin with my homie!

It seems there might be more verses, but I'll spare us all. It's one of those songs that are ridiculously simple, and get stuck in your head on repeat All. Day. And for some reason, it's all I could think of when I was trying to come up with a title for this post.

And now it's stuck in my head again. And probably yours, too. I'm sorry.

To make up for it, I do have two recipes for chicken thighs, because sometimes plain ole chicken breasts get boring.

This first recipe reminds me of Australia. Why, you ask? Because the week that I made this, my dinner-time entertainment was a show called The Koala Brothers (yes, I watch kids shows; don't judge). So, whenever I think of this single-skillet chicken thighs with bacon, brussell sprouts, and apple jus, I think of the hot outback desert and small, adorable animals.

That randomness aside, this really was an easy, delicious meal. And it truly was "single-skillet", unlike some other "one-pan" meals which combine all your ingredients into one pan at the end, but in reality have used every single dish in your kitchen. But, if you're cooking for more than two people, you probably want to do this in more than one skillet. I over-crowded my skillet, and my bacon ended up soft and squishy, not the crispy, crunchy bacon we all know and love so well. Also, make sure to defrost your brussell sprouts before cooking, if you decide to use frozen. =P

My second recipe is for paleo pizza chicken. Now, before you get too excited, let me burst your bubble - this doesn't taste as much like pizza as the recipe claims it does. Trust me, I just had a little pizza at a friends birthday party last week, and this aint it! But, it's still a new and yummy way to cook chicken, so don't stop reading now.

The sauce, pepperoni, and seasonings were reminiscent of pizza, and paired well with the chicken. The skin really did get nice and crispy and yummy! I think next time, I'd add a little more pepperoni, since it kind of got lost after baking under the skin, and I might serve it with extra pizza sauce for dipping. My other problem, what side dish do you put with this? I mean, with normal pizza, you get a side of chicken wings (we've already got chicken) or breadsticks (I could make paleo ones, but I need a veggie!!), or potato chips. What are your favorite more-nutritious-includes-a-veggie side dishes for pizza?

The Crazy Days of August

To be honest with ya'll, I was ready for August to be over on July 31st. August is one of the busiest months at work, and just a busy time for "life". I've got a few really fun things happening this month, but other than those I'd be happy if August disappeared.

So, when it's consistently 90 degrees or hotter, and you're working long days to prep for the biggest event of the year at work, and your man is working 12-hour days and always during your times off, and finding energy seems well nigh impossible some days - those are the times when you have to choose joy, and find things to be thankful for.

Things like lovable animals: Tom the horse, and Elevensies, Teatime, and Luncheon the piggies.

Or your favorite meal waiting for you in the crock-pot when you get home from a long day at work. Pulled pork carnitas with avocado mayonaise over baked sweet potato.

A cold drink in the "I love Florida" mug - dreaming of the vacation we're taking to Florida later this year.

Finally starting in on sewing a dress that you've had planned and prepped since the middle of April.

Something to be especially thankful for is a sweet friend who brings you coconut macaroons because, she gets it.

And, Amazing Grace. Especially the Piano Guy's version of it, because sometimes, God's grace is the only thing that keeps me fighting on every day.

How To Tame Your Dragon

Did you know that you have a dragon? A Sugar Dragon, to be exact. Don't worry, I didn't know I had one either until I started the Whole30. Apparently, though, we all have a Sugar Dragon which causes us to love, crave, and sometimes downright obsess over sugar.

Well, meet Freideborg. She's my Sugar Dragon.

Don't let her big eyes and chubby claws fool you. She can be downright vicious if she's not happy. When Freideborg IS happy, she's cute, cuddly, and pleasant to have around. I mean, who doesn't love a nice sweet treat every once in a while?

But, if I feed her TOO much, she'll wreak havoc on me; stomach aches, head aches, mood swings, afternoon crashes, and wacky hormones. And yet, she is so insistent sometimes that I must feed her sugar, and I must feed her now! I didn't feed her at all for the Whole30 month, and I certainly felt better in many ways; but man, she protested loudly and almost committed mutiny a few times.

Since the Whole30, it's been a tough struggle to maintain a balance between a happy, moderately-fed Freideborg, and an out-of-control, raging, over-fed Freideborg. After all, she's absolutely wonderful when I am feeding her.

So, really, how DO you tame your Sugar Dragon?

Beautiful Food

I love color. Actually, I thrive on color. I love to have a multitude of color around me, in all shades and tints.

The same is true for my food. Although I'm not one to plan my meals based on color, I do love it when my food is both delicious and beautiful! With that in mind, here are four recipes for yummy, colorful food.

First are these strawberry covered chocolate brownies. Seriously, these were amazing. I think the brownies would have been amazing by themselves - deep, dark, intense fudgy chocolate. But, the strawberry topping just added that extra punch of fresh flavor and bright color.

Next is a slightly thrown-together meal that was way better than I expected! I made the walnut crusted pork tenderloin from the Whole30 book, which is rubbed with a spice mixture containing mustard powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, and lots of paprika to give it a beautiful red color and slight kick. I then made mashed potatoes, and decided to use my leftover kale to make colcannon. Not familiar with colcannon? It's an old Irish dish of mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage. I chopped the kale into "ribbons", and then 1 inch pieces, and then steamed it while the potatoes were boiling. After mashing the potatoes with some coconut oil and milk, I added the kale. It was SO. GOOD. I like kale, but I really think that this would be a great way to hide it if you didn't. And come on, look at the bright green! How could you not love that?

Breakfast this week is also all about hiding. Hiding my two daily eggs. Because sometimes I get sick of eating eggs every. single. day. So, I'm making coconut flour pancakes, and topping them with bright, beautiful strawberries. These whip up super quickly, and taste pretty good, though I'll admit they're still not as good as fluffy, gluteny, buttermilk pancakes. But, I get my eggs and my good fats all in one. Speaking of good fats, if you decide to cut the recipe in half to make just for yourself, make sure you cut the coconut oil in half, too. Your stomach will thank you. (Yup, I forgot that yesterday.....)

Lastly is dinner this week. This recipe for buffalo chicken casserole was shared with me by my friend Sarah, who rather coincidentally switched to the same diet as me at the same time (yay for buddies to help you get through!). And when she told me how delicious this was, she mean't it! This may be the healthiest junk food around. And by junk food I mean it tastes like you're devouring an entire bucket of buffalo chicken wings loaded with creamy ranch dressing. And by healthy I mean it's packed full of protein, good fats, and a full serving of veggies. Plus it's bright orange. Major win.

So, if you ever crave color like I do, there are four great ways to feed you stomach and your eyes!

Rain, Rain

Today, it rained. Wonderful, glorious beautiful rain, on and off and very heavy for at least an hour or more.

It's been an interesting summer, being in a drought and all. Especially with working at the museum, where I'm much more connected to the earth, and really notice the effects of the weather. Brown, crunchy grass; crops not growing; deer eating anything that is watered; real and true threat from fires.

I've been feeling a bit like I'm living Sarah, Plain and Tall - Skylark. Although I haven't seen that movie in a while, I distinctly remember their desperation for rain and joyous thankfulness when it finally came.

So, in lieu of pictures of today's rain (since my phone camera is kinda pathetic and wouldn't do it justice), I've complied a few of my favorite rain pictures!

 E. H. Shephard

 Rain In The Oak Grove - Ivan Shishkan

 Rain's Rustle - Leonid Afremov

And, because chocolate makes even the best things better.....chocolate chip cookies tonight! This was a last minute recipe choice, after realizing I only had coconut flour, and not almond flour. They are delicious! Yup...there's one missing on that tray =)

Summer Nights

Amazing, breath-taking sunsets in Penn Yan.

"...Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice." - Psalm 65:8b.

Peach muffins and a berry pie for an Independence Day Picnic. Forgot to take pictures, but here are the recipes!
http://cookeatpaleo.com/peach-paleo-muffins/

I used this recipe for the pie, substituting tapioca flour and coconut sugar:
http://tiphero.com/old-glory-berry-pie/

Here's the pie crust - definitely not the flaky, golden crust I'm used to, but still a delicious crust!
https://elanaspantry.com/paleo-pie-crust/

Batavia Muckdogs and a picnic with Stephen's co-workers.

When it's been a terribly hot day full of house-cleaning and sweaty chores, you kick back with a cookie dough milk shake and a favorite movie.

Praying for rain, but it just won't come.........

No More Training Wheels

I started this whole diet-change journey by doing the Whole30. Totally changing your diet can be really overwhelming, so I was incredibly thankful to find that there was a very detailed, here's-everything-you-need-to-know book written just for Whole30. That book was definitely the "training wheels" for my foodie-bike. I could find any meat or vegetable recipe, and they had suggestions for what other recipes to pair it with in order to make it a full meal. Hey presto, a super delicious meal plan, all ready to go.

But, there are only so many recipes in that book; as good as they are, I still need more variety. So, the last few weeks I've begun expanding my horizans and searching for more recipes (thank you, Pinterest!) This week, I really feel like I have been able to shed the training wheels and meal plan all on my own; finding new recipes, combining them with Whole30 recipes, lots of mixing and matching. So, here are some of my meals:

Breakfast this week has been egg burritos. I found a new recipes for paleo flatbread, combined it with an egg, bacon, and veggie filling I had used in the past, and added avocado mayonaise from the Whole30 book. Yum yum! The flatbread was way too salty, but otherwise great! They were a little too small to actually wrap the filling in them, so I opted for open-faced, but it was still nice to have something "bready" to make it more like a burrito than just scrambled eggs.

Lunch this week was meatloaf muffins with sweet potato "frosting" and roasted broccoli. The meatloaf muffins were super tasty, and I loved how quickly they cooked! I'm not sure if I would put the effort into topping them with the sweet potato if I was storing it for lunches again (especially since I had extra sweet potato that just got lumped on the side anyways), but it would be fun if you were serving them that day. The roasted broccoli was a staple from the Whole30 book.

My first dinner for the week was chili-lime chicken, paired with grilled pineapple and roasted peppers and onions from Whole30. I was afraid that this chicken was going to be too spicy, but it was just perfect! I've really grown fond of lime recently.

Mmhmm....and people think I can't eat anything ;-)

The View From Where I Sit

Anniversary Date to Aladdin's Natural Eatery in Pittsford.

My rooster Buddy at Hetchler.

Livingston Gardens - my favorite peaceful place. 

A nice bound edge is a beautiful thing, especially when it means you're almost done with a very, very, very time-consuming project!

The Seminary blackboard, with a lesson on spelling.

The Wardian Case and the sensitive plant - such a fun teaching point with kids.