New Year's Resolutions

I am not normally one for New Year's resolutions, but here is my list. Share your own if ya got 'em.

Ryan's Lame New Year's resolutions (in no particular order.)

1. Avoid allowing the Ducks or Jazz to get my hopes up.
2. Lose a few pounds. In the immortal words of Cameron Jensen: "I guess I'll have to exercise more, 'cause I don't see me eatin' less."
3. Read more, read better. (Suggestions anyone?)
4. A couple of academic articles in top field journals.
5. Blog more.
6. More frequent temple attendance.
7. Keep driving record clean. (That's right people! I have not had a ticket for (almost) three years. It's just my way of sticking it to The Man.)

Addendum: For the comments to make sense, see this.

New Years

The holiday season for us has been something of a lonely one. We just moved back to California from Utah, and it seems like just as we were getting here, many of the folks we were so excited to be reunited with took off for the holidays to visit their own families in far off places (ok, mostly just to Utah). In any case, it's made for a very quiet time around our apartment, and as New Year's Eve has come up and we realize that we still have no plans, I realized something today that I didn't think I'd ever feel: I miss living in the USU Trailer Court.

I must clarify--I don't miss actually living in a maroon, university-owned, 55 year old trailer (which, as evidenced by the picture, has since been destroyed). I don't miss our 3-foot wide hallway. I don't miss our 2-inch thick walls in January. I don't miss having to tell people I live in a trailer park when they ask for my address.

That said, I miss the neighborhood. When we lived in the trailer court, if we didn't have plans some evening and desired company beyond ourselves, we could simply go for a walk around the neighborhood. There was a kind of "drop on by" attitude that was central to living in the trailer court. The sense of community was at times overwhelming (the trailer court was like 90% LDS and made up our entire ward, so at times it was difficult to distinguish between a "ward activity" and a "neighborhood activity"), but in general it was a great place to live.

As Beatta and I were thinking about what to do this evening, I tried to think of years past and what we did then; more often than not the reality is that we started off with some great plan but ultimately just went over to John and Heidi James' trailer to play board games.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cornmeal Cake.

My culinary experience tends to stay close to the grill - I don't bake and never make desserts. However, I was intrigued by a recipe I saw on TV by the venerable Alton Brown for Pineapple Upside-Down Cornmeal Cake and made it for Christmas. Haven't tasted it yet, but there's nothing in it I don't like. It was easy and turned out exactly the way it was supposed to. You need the requisite 10" cast-iron pan, well-seasoned. Here goes:

3/4 C Whole milk.
1 C coarse-ground cornmeal
4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter ( I used salted and didn't add the salt later)
1 C packed dark brown sugar
6 slices canned pineapple, in heavy syrup, reserve syrup
6 maraschino cherries
1/3 cup chopped, toasted pecans
3 T. reserved pineapple syrup
1 C all-purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
3 whole eggs
1/2 C. canola oil (I used Crisco Oil)
3/4 cup granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a microwave-safe dish, bring the milk to a boil. Stir in the cornmeal and let soak at room temperature for 30 minutes. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a 10" cast-iron skillet over medium. When melted, add the brown sugar and stir until it dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully place one slice of pineapple in the center of the of the pan. Place the other 5 slices around the center in a circle. Place a cherry in the center of each slice. Sprinkle the nuts evenly over the slices. Drizzle the reserved syrup over the top.

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a medium mixing bowl and whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the sugar and whisk to combine. Add the canola oil and whisk. Add the cornmeal mixture to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Add this to the flour and stir until just combined. Pour the batter over the fruit in the skillet and bake for 35-45 minutes or until a cake tester (Toothpick) comes out clean. Let cool for at least 30 minutes and set a platter on top of the skillet and carefully invert the cake.

Ours came right out of the well-seasoned pan and looks really pretty - we'll eat it on Christmas and pass judgment.

Merry Christmas to All!!!

Dad

Christmas Form Letter

I decided to do a Christmas form letter in the form of a photo blog this year. You can check it out here.

Air Filter & Yard Projects!

We received our heating bill for the month of November last week and we were shocked at how much it cost us to heat our home. Having never owned a home, and never having to do any maintenance on the places we have lived, we were, let's say "not in the know" about maintenance issues. We set out to figure out why the bill was double what we thought it should have been. On a good tip from The Boz we checked the air filter on the heater, it was a disaster to say the least. I don't know the last time the filter was changed, but it must have been a while ago because it was full of dust, dirt, and other stuff. We also figured out how to use the ceiling fans to push the warm air down from our high ceilings. We finished putting blinds up on the rest of the windows and are working on sealing up the doorways. The last few days the weather has been really nice here in Norfolk, I am talking high 70's. Alison, Hallie, and I took advantage of the weather and decided we would rake up and bag all the leaves in our yard, since the majority of them have now fallen. Alison did the majority of the raking while I went behind her and bagged them all up. I managed to salvaged a bucket of pecans that we later shelled. It turned into a bigger project than we had originally anticipated. We ended up with 22, 39 gallon bags full of leaves. We were pretty proud of ourselves...until we woke up this morning a little sore from all the work.

One down, Three to go

Tobin finished finals last night....and is still smiling. Now the real craziness begins with our trip to Utah. We will miss our 80 degree weather out here while we head to the land of snow!!!! Happy travels and we look forward to seeing everyone but Scott.....not that we wouldn't look forward to seeing him....we just won't see him. That was worded poorly.....heee heee heee.
Alison

Bookstore opening

ODU had a bookstore opening this past weekend and had some fun events we went to. Friday we went and got a book signed by David Baldacci. I have never been to a book signing and was shocked at the amount of security it entailed. Saturday they had a story time for the kids with Curious George. Hallie and I went with my friend Catherine and her little boy Luke. Saturday night we went to see the lights at the Botanical Gardens. They were amazing.

Alison

The View

All I can say is that ya'll should see the view from my 8th floor office in SoCal. Awesome view of Orange County all the way up to the San Bernardino mountains (or the Los Angeles smog, depending on the day). I'll get pictures when I figure out how to capture the grandeur.

Coloring Contest

What fun things is everyone doing for the holidays? Hallie has been coloring (I confess that I have colored my fair share) the Preston Citizen holiday coloring book. We made snowflake cookies and have been doing a Church Christmas countdown with a song and story. Hallie is very excited for Santa and colored him a picture of what she wants (a bike). I am more excited about the holidays this year than I have been for a long time. It may have something to do with the fact that neither Tobin or I work in retail.....
Merry Christmas....and in Scott's case....merry getting all your stuff to Irvine!
Alison

Back in Irvine

It's been kind of quiet on the family blog of late...Clearly you've all been holding your breath to see if we made it safely to Irvine. Well, feel free to exhale, because we're here. Church was really weird--several people looked at us kind of funny-like, as if they couldn't figure out why they were surprised to see us. Work is really boring so far--just reading case files to get acquainted with what we'll be working on.

Beatta will get some pics of our new apartment up sooner or later, but for now the truck with our stuff still isn't here, though it should be arriving tomorrow.

Carolina Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner today. We were very glad to have Alison, Tobin and Hallie join us. We ate in the late afternoon and took a nice hike (aka walk in the woods) in the morning. Here is an album of nice photos that Tobin took for us.

Nicknames

Beatta and I love Henkka's nickname "Papu" so much that we almost regret not just naming him that to begin with (it means "bean", like green bean, though I like to think of him as Bean from Ender's Game/Shadow). Do Hallie, Ian, and Molly have nicknames? Have they changed much over time?

We may have a winner

I have never been satisfied with the Navy Bean Soup recipe we have - always like the restaurant stuff better. Alison made some the other day and said it wasn't that wonderful either. I ran across a recipe on the net the other day that is much better. Here it is:

1 lb. small white beans - navy or great northern
1 lb. smoked ham hocks ( I used two, wanting more ham)
1/4 cup bacon drippings or olive oil
2 C chopped onion
1 C carrots, diced small
2 T minced garlic
1 14-1/2 oz. can whole tomatoes, chopped
4 fresh thyme sprigs
8 C chicken broth.

Soak the beans in cold water overnight, drain and rinse well.
Simmer the hocks in at least 6 cups water ( to cover) in a saucepan, partially covered for 1 hour, skimming foam as needed. Reserve 4 cups of the cooking liquid.

Heat drippings / oil until hot but not smoking in an 8-quart pot over moderate heat. Cook onions, carrot & garlic , stirring, until the onion softens. Add the tomatoes and thyme and cook 1 minute. Add the beans, broth, hocks and cooking liquid and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally until the beans are tender, about 1 hour.

Remove a cup or so of the beans and mash them or puree in a food processor, and return them to the soup - this thickens the soup. Remove the hocks, shred the meat and return to the soup. Put the soup in the fridge or freezer until he fat can be skimmed off. Season the soup with salt, pepper and a little Tabasco if desired.

Note: I found the soup too thin - next time I'll cut the liquid by at least 2 cups. The recipe also calls for 1 lb. arugula to to be added just before serving. Spinach could be used, too. I didn't use either.

I'd be interested in your reactions.

Happy cooking,
Dad

Fall Leaves

We have been enjoying a wonderful display of fall color. Here are some pictures from our street that Molly and I took yesterday.

Vote for Ryan's personalized plates

Please visit my blog for my students and vote.

Thanks!

Ryan

Historic Moment

Literally moments ago, Beatta announced that an historic event had taken place: She ate, of her own free will and choice, a serving of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. And she didn't hate it. To be honest, I never thought I would see this day--I had resigned myself to the sad reality that it was one of those foods, like peanut butter, root beer, and cherry soda that Beatta would never come to accept as part of a balanced diet.

The magnitude of this event can scarcely be overestated. I have tried for the past six years to get her to enjoy this delicacy of delicacies--indeed, I've slowly worked on her by introducing close substitutes (homemade mac n' cheese), tried different varieties and shapes (Three Cheese, White Cheddar, Spirals, etc...), and on occasion simply tried patience and persuasion.

This guy knows the feeling!

Personally, I feel a major thorn in the side of an otherwise successful marriage has been removed. The clouds have parted and the sun now shines upon our home. We can finally, as a whole family, enjoy a $0.97 yellow dinner together.

Henkka Medley

First some cute photos:

How do you get your kid NOT to smile that weird cheesy smile when you take their picture? He's so funny--smiling like that every time the camera is out, so I can't be annoyed at him. He makes me laugh every day and I'm thankful for such a good boy.

He loves tools and the other day Scott was the most awesome dad ever, and let Henkka play with his tools (Under strict supervision of course).

First trip to the ER:

A few nights ago, Henkka had a a hard time sleeping. He slept ok until we were ready to go to bed at 10:30pm, and he does that often -- wakes up right as we are ready to hit the sack. First I wanted to ignore him, but he was doing his whining noises and those mean that he is not going to fall back asleep unless we go comfort him a little. Scott took the first turn and gave him some painkillers, thinking he was teething.

I took the second shift an hour or two later, when he started whining again. This time he would not go back to sleep, but started having episodes of screaming like he was really hurting. None of our usual comforting tricks worked, so after an hour and a half of constant screaming we took him to the ER at 2:30am. We guessed he had an ear infection and right we were. They put some numbing drops in his ear, gave us some antibiotics and we all got to go back to bed at 4am.
Luckily he slept until 9:30am and after some breakfast made his Buzz Lightyear impression again, which usually means he is up for some fun.

Farewell Sweet Orem

In keeping with the results of the vote staged over the past few weeks, Beatta, Henkka and I are departing our short-lived but well-enjoyed home in Orem for Irvine. We will move around the end of November.

Following in his footsteps

Ian loves to do whatever Ryan does and last Saturday was his dream day. He followed Ryan around mowing the grass the whole time Ryan was mowing. It was adorable to see him yank the chain on his "mower" and adjust the wheel—in fact that was so much fun that every time he passed the tree where Ryan adjusted his wheel, Ian had to stop and adjust the wheel on his mower. A few more photos to enjoy.

Child Abuse

Logan, UT (AP) -A seven-year old boy was at the center of a
Cache County courtroom drama today when he challenged a
court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has
a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge
initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child
custody law and regulation requiring that family unity be
maintained to the highest degree possible. The boy surprised
the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than
his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her.

When the judge then suggested that he live with his
grandparents, the boy cried and said that they also beat him.
After considering the remainder of the immediate family and
learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life
among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing
the boy to propose who should have custody of him. After two
recesses to check legal references and confer with the child
welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the
Utah State Aggies, whom the boy firmly believes are not
capable of beating anyone.