umbrella etiquette

I am an Oregonian. I have never owned an umbrella. (that may be a lie... I may have owned an umbrella in the first grade, but only because it was bought for me, and only because it had Strawberry Shortcake on it). So I'll change my intro...

I am an Oregonian. I have never bought an umbrella. I have never used an umbrella. I don't mind getting wet. I'd rather get wet than have an umbrella turn inside out in the wind. I'd rather get wet than poke an innocent person's eye out.

We went to the Farmer's market on Saturday. It was raining. Rather it was borderline POURING. I had a hoodie on, I was fine. What I was not fine with were the many people who carried umbrellas and had no clue that they would run into me. Poke me. Nearly take out an eye (thank goodness for my glasses). WHY don't people realize that when using an umbrella, they take up more space! I don't get it. I could ALMOST tolerate the six year old twirlling his umbrella, spraying water everywhere... but, I will admit I grabbed the umbrella to stop the added water spray.

I hate umbrellas. Get wet, we aren't made of sugar!

Betty Crocker watch out!

Everyone knows, Lucas is the chef of the family. He loves to cook, and he's VERY good. I'm quite spoiled to have such a husband. But MAYBE I'll be the baker of the family.

We took a road trip around Mt. Hood on Saturday. It was a lovely drive, and there is a section called "the fruit loop". Multiple orchards and yummy farms to stop at and buy goodies. We found some of the most delicious apples there. So, of course we bought a lot. We bought extra for our friend Dave who makes great apple pie.

Here I light bulb went off... why can't I make an apple pie? I've never made one, never made homemade crust... maybe this was the perfect opportunity.

I pulled out the "Oshel Family Recipe Book" my mom made for us... French apple pie. (I thought it was Dutch apple pie, but what do I know... I am not Betty Crocker.) I also found the crust recipe. If I was going to do this, I would do it full heartedly... not "cheat" and buy a premade crust.

First I tore the kitchen apart looking for our pie pan. I knew we had one somewhere, a wedding gift from four years ago... but where would I have hidden it. We are chefs, not bakers in this household. Of course, it would be in with the cutting boards.

I then made the crust. I created a nice floury mess... but rolled it out nicely and placed it into the pie plate. (Unfortunately I did not have enough to make the yummy cinnamon treats mom used to make... another day.)

I then took to the apples. Peeled, cut, and sliced them to perfection. Except for one thumb wound, all went well... Which reminded me... I need to buy band-aids.

I piled the apples high into the pie. I covered them with the yummy crumbles that make French apple pie French apple pie.

Into the oven it went. I patiently waited for 50 minutes. OK, I looked at it every five minutes through the little window, watching it turn golden and bubble to perfection. I admit, I talked to it too. If people talk to their plants, I will talk to my pie.

FINALLY it came out, beautiful... but again we had to be patient. If you cut pie too soon, it will fall apart... if you wait you will be rewarded. So, we waited, and waited and waited. Staring at this beautiful pie.

The wait was worth it. It came out in a perfect pie shape. I braced myself for the first bite. Better than I even imagined. The apples still had a little texture ( I hate mushy apples) the crumbly top was sweet, the gooey insides were cinnamon and sugar. It was the best pie I've ever had.

If I can't have chocolate (still unappetizing) at least I can have apple pie. Fresh apple pie, straight from my oven.

Mom told me I was already nesting... I disagree... I think I just wanted a slice of heaven!

a few firsts

Well, pregnancy has definitely given me my share of "firsts", here are a few...

• My first food aversion: I hate chocolate. The smell, the taste, even the thought of makes me nauseous. Buying Halloween candy was difficult... and there's about 10 leftover pieces sitting in the kitchen, just staring at me... taunting me. I may actually have to throw them away. Sure, it makes me sad, I've always loved chocolate... but maybe it's a good thing... it's not THAT good for you.
• My first food craving: KFC. I can't remember the last time I ate at KFC, let alone crave it. And I didn't just crave the mashed potatoes and gravy... no, I craved the 11 secret special spices. No fears, I didn't eat it off the bone, something that still grosses me out... but the chicken strips... they were so tasty. I didn't even use the ranch dressing provided...
  
• My first vomit: I ate a graham cracker. It seemed so innocent. It tasted so good. And it did, going down. I puked so hard to get every crumb of that graham cracker out of my body, I actually got bruising around my eyes... it makes me very thankful that I'm nauseous all the time, but don't actually vomit. (sorry Jill)
• My first ultrasound: We had our first doctor's appointment on Halloween. Everything went great... we got to see the little bugger's heartbeat. It was very cool. As Lucas put it: "I've seen cool things all around the world, but that was by far the neatest thing I've ever seen."