fish fry season

thank you, catholicism, for bringing the tradition of fish fries into lent. 

i was raised catholic until i was 7. it was during this time i learned lent meant you don't eat meat on fridays. instead, you go to fish fries where you see all your family and your dad drinks beer while you get to spend nickels on the cake wheel. 

when i was 7, my dad married my stepmom and we became southern baptist. then i learned no one is supposed to drink beer or spend money on any kind of wheel, and lent was the time to start shopping for your easter dress... and shoes and purse if you were a teenage girl. 

but oh the days of the fish fries. right smack dab in the middle of my neighborhood sat St. Luke church. all my catholic friends attended school there and most of my aunts and uncles attended church there. my dad and i would walk to St. Luke's on friday nights and hang out for hours. my uncles were frying the fish, my aunts were serving it and all my little friends and cousins were bussing the cafeteria tables. and oooh the fish. a big slab of fried cod on rye bread, a smearing of tartar, french fries floating in a lake of ketchup... mac and cheese, slaw, catholic green beans. "catholic green beans" are a mystery to me. i don't know how they are made, but at every fish fry or catholic church picnic i've ever attended, the green beans always taste the same. they're oniony and slightly sweet. delicious, unique and consistent. is it some kind of secret recipe? i don't know. 

one friday night every lent season, we would break the routine and head down preston hwy. to Guardian Angels for the best "fish fry" fish in louisville. crunchy, a little peppery -- heavenly fish. and they serve freakin' good brats, too. i think one year i had to go there twice b/c my dad went and then my mom came to pick me up for the weekend and she wanted some Guardian Angels fish, too. crazy.

i still love fish fries. these days when i go, i usually just get carry-out. but i love standing in line, giving my order to a couple of 12 year olds, watching moms and dads cook and serve the meals. the cafeteria is full of community in action --  everyone committing to be apart of something important for them and having so much fun in the process. 

since we've moved up here, i've searched for an awesome fish fry and the results have been so-so. i don't recommend St. Thomas in fort thomas. not good at all. however, Mary Queen of Heaven in erlanger is delicious. they have quite a set up over there and it's always packed. they even claim to be home of the "codfather." if anyone knows of any other good ones around here, i'm all ears. i still haven't made it to the west side. 

my mom is coming in town this friday. i asked her to swing by Guardian Angels on her way and bring me some fish and brats. i can't wait. 

i wish crossroads did a fish fry. i would be in charge of the cake wheel. 

have you been waiting?

have you been waiting patiently, or maybe impatiently, for something? do you have a longing in your heart? a longing for a pain to be over, a broken heart to heal, a dream to come true? have you been sensing the next chapter of your life is on the horizon, but it feels like it's taking forever to get here? have you asked, "God, where are you?"

God knows about this waiting and he is coming. whatever you've been going through or longing for, it is not for waste. the Lord is giving you a new song. a new message, a new testimony, a new piece to your journey, a new part to your story -- something you will be excited to share. when it crystalizes and clicks for you, it will be so good, it might feel like more than you can bare. many will see your joy, your change, your song... and they will see the Lord. 

have you waited before and when it was over, you said, "that was worth the wait! thanks, God!"? well, that's the pattern, the promise of what is to come. the Lord is not done with you. your Dad is coming for you, to give you the desires of your heart, to heal you and give you good and perfect gifts. and i don't mean like "someday" or "when we all get to heaven..." i mean, like soon. your job is to believe it and sing. so do you? will you?

Psalm 40
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD...

16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
"The LORD be exalted!"

Here I am, I have come. It is written about me in the scrolls. I will wait, God, and I will sing. 

goodbye hill family

did you know one of the funniest shows in television is in its final season? yes, king of the hill has finally been cancelled after 12 years of hill family funniness. what do you mean you never watch this show? it is hilarious. do you watch The Office? the same guy, greg daniels, is responsible for both shows. and don't you love tom petty? if you think his music is good, you should check out his animated acting skills. 

anyway, i love this show. of all the tv dads i've ever seen, the one most like my own dad is hank hill... sort of.

this scene is one of my favorites -

so long, hill family! good run.

fire safety

i love fire. i love making fire, sitting around fire, cooking over fire, feeding fire... did i tell you what i got for christmas? fire. yep, our once dark and desolate fireplace now boasts a toasty, homey gas fire with the push of a button. not wood-burning, but that's ok. some fire is better than no fire. 

as soon as the weather breaks, we'll be in the backyard almost nightly with our fire pit, roasting marshmallows and watching teenagers roam the alley. after the baby comes, there will be beer and fire. 

but my love for my fire is not unconditional as i recently discovered when we had the fire department over for a visit. i do not love fire when fire shows up uninvited. (some would argue that cooking a pound of bacon on a sideless cookie sheet and allowing the grease to just sort of drip is, indeed, an invitation to fire but that's neither here nor there.)

it was a weeknight like any other. frozen pizza night. (yes, i do sometimes cook.) the oven was preheating, the boys were in the basement. it was about 6 pm. 99% of the time, davidrussell is home at 6 pm, but tonight of all nights, hadn't even left work yet. i noticed the oven was starting to smoke a little. i turned on the stove fan and opened the back door. i started fanning the smoke alarm as a precaution (don't tell me i'm the only cook that occasionally has to wave a towel at the smoke alarm) and called dr. 

"hello?" 

"hi. are you on your way?"

"i'm packing up now." MERMP! MERMP! (enter smoke alarm)

"ok. i gotta go." 

i wave harder. the smoke alarm stops. but i notice the oven is looking a bit chimney-ish. i look in the oven window and see flames. i'm thinking "ok. that's fire. hmm." then the boys come up from the basement.

"mommy, when's dinner? wow, it's smokey." 

"boys, put your shoes on and go on the porch." 

pause: this part is important. we always think we know what we would do if a situation arose, but then when we're actually in it, we don't always do what we thought we would. i should have immediately called 911, but just an ounce of self-doubt will talk you out of a sound decision every time. i was thinking, "well does this count as a real fire? it's only in my oven." i've known many people that hesitated to call 911 b/c it seemed "dramatic" or "silly." i even wondered for a second if it cost money... crazy. 

ok, so i call davidrussell. 

"hello." 

"the oven is on fire. what should i do?"

"ok. look in the cabinet... there's a fire extinguisher. you'll have to read the directions or look at..." 

"i don't have time for this." click. i dialed 911. 

i grabbed the boys' coats and go on the porch. "put your coats on and go to mr. drew's house. tell mr. drew the oven is on fire." they go. and i decide i'd like my shoes. so i run upstairs and grab my sneakers. while i'm upstairs, i hear my neighbor, drew, downstairs calling "kelly? are you ok?" 

"yes. my oven is on fire." 

"ok. i'll get my fire extinguisher." in the distance we hear sirens. i come downstairs.

"ok, thanks." i'm sort of giggling at this point b/c me and my neighbors love action on our street. i knew they would be peeking out and i'd be like "it's me, gang. i called 'em." 

so i'm standing on my porch and drew comes running back with his extinguisher. with him is sweet newlywed neil, another neighbor, with his fire extinguisher. neil says, "david called me." i say, "ah, that was sweet." now the trucks are coming down the street. i ask neil and drew, "can you even use fire extinguishers on a grease fire?" and as the 3 of us contemplate this on my porch, 3 fire trucks, the fire chief's pick-up, 3 police cars and 2 ambulances gather on my block. drew checks my oven and discovers the fire has burned itself out. the fire chief is on my porch, "is it out?" 

"yes. thanks for coming." 

"no problem. we'll do a walk-through, check things out and set up some fans to get rid of this smoke." 

"thank you."

all of the above took place in about 5 minutes. 

now, i'll mention this was one of those days when i went to the gym that morning and never had a chance to shower and change. so here's me with the "pregnant stale gym" look at 6 pm, and as it turns out, all fire-fighters are hot. and apparently, it doesn't matter if they are 25 or 55, they're just hot. i'm just sayin'... can a girl be prepared to receive guests? put on some mascara or something?

drew and neil stood on the sidewalk with me while the fire-fighters went through my house. sweet Iraeli neighbor, miri, comes out on her porch and calls to me in her adorable accent, "Kelleee, are you ok? don't worry, i deed the same theeng. thees ees why i don't cook french fries."

the fans are super industrial and super loud. the boys were in drew's house with his wife, anita, staying warm. later i heard mac came out and asked the fire-fighters, "is my mommy ok?" they were all very professional and kind. as they were leaving, we stopped one and asked about fire extinguishers and grease fires. as it turned out, neither mine nor neil's would have been safe to use and drew's was so old, it didn't even words on it. 

the trucks left, the "smoke cleared" and i went to drew and anita's house to get the boys. we talked for a bit and then here comes davidrussell. he missed the whole thing. we did all get some birthday cake out of it as it was drew's 30th birthday. 

i could sit in embarrassment over my lackadaisical approach to grease in my oven, but i'm not. on the contrary, i feel pretty excited about what happened. it was a learning opportunity for me, my boys and even my neighbors. we were able to see how we handle emergencies and talk about what to do. and i actually did a few things right as i'll be happy to point out below. 

To Put Out a Cooking Fire in Your Kitchen (from firesafety.gov):

• Call the 911 immediately. 
  
• Slide a pan lid over flames to smother a grease or oil fire, then turn off the heat and leave the lid in place until the pan cools. Never carry the pan outside.
  
• Extinguish other food fires with baking soda. Never use water or flour on cooking fires.
  
• Keep the oven door shut and turn off the heat to smother an oven or broiler fire.
  
• Keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. Make sure you have the right type and training. For kitchens, you need Class K.
  
• Keep a working smoke alarm in your home and test in monthly.
  

ok, so all in all, i wasn't a complete idiot. i called 911 semi-immediately. when i saw smoke in the oven, i opened it a couple of times to see if there was fire. i think that might have actually helped fire along. but once i saw flames, i did not open it and i turned off the oven. i didn't bother with the fire extinguisher b/c i didn't feel confident about it and i really felt like it was a bad idea to open the oven door (Spirit thing, for sure). 

some other takeaways:

1. get a cookie sheet with sides (i did).

2. say "no" to self-doubt, especially in emergencies. 

3. never hesitate to call 911. no matter how silly you think it might seem. 

4. if you have Christ, his spirit lives in you. Flesh would have you panic or doubt yourself, but the Spirit will make good decisions. you don't have to have some big conversation inside about what to do. live in the Spirit. 

5. keep making bacon wraps. 

sing it! "be cool about fiiir-ya safety..." 

our new pets

i'm so excited. i've been wanting to do this for months and today - FINALLY! we got our worms! look at them. aren't they sweet and cute and gross? 

back story: i've been attempting to grow tomatoes over the last few summers. while i have actually eaten some of my very own tomatoes, overall the results have been disappointing. but rather than killing my desire to grow vegetables, it has made it stronger! this past summer i created container gardens on my back porch. 

why am i doing this?

a. homegrown tomatoes are so tasty and if you're growing them yourself, they're also very cheap.

b. i'm the only one in my family that eats certain vegetables so why not just grow them instead of spending money on them and having them go bad. 

c. getting the kids involved with growing veggies they like (red and orange peppers) is a great learning experience. 

why on my back porch?

a. with 2 boys, i just can't sacrifice any more space in my already small backyard for gardening. 

b. the dog isn't pooping on them.

c. raccoons, stray cats and strangers in the alley are less likely to mess with them. 

this past summer, i had chives, cucumbers, orange and yellow peppers, and tomatoes... or at least those are the plants i bought at lowe's. my actual crop was less than desired. by mid-summer, the boys were learning "all that hard work i put in with mom was useless and let's just go to kroger." i called my dad, a vegetable-grower and farm boy. his diagnosis was bad soil. ack! bad soil?! is that like bad blood or bad karma? it sounded so final, like some judge had just dropped the gavel - Bad Soil was my conviction. SHE'S GUILTY! you can't make a whole lot of excuses for bad soil in a container garden. however, we do have a problem with cats using flower pots as litter boxes. gross - an excuse with little dignity. 

so anyway, my dad suggested i simply use miracle grow. "well, i don't know, dad. isn't that kind of chemically?" i don't have deep convictions about organic living (yet), however, i did have this picture of pouring miracle-gro vinaigrette over my salad. if i'm going to do this, why not learn how to do it naturally? so i decided summer garden '08 was what it was and i'd try something different in '09. 

enter worms. back when i was in 1st trimester sickland and on the couch 24/7, i discovered a lot of "new" tv. i was watching the bonnie hunt show and learned about indoor composting, or "worm bins." i knew this was my answer! you just throw these guys in with some paper and rotten food and come spring, you've got yummy rich compost for your garden. sweet. i decided i would do this some time between i-feel-awful and baby-is-coming-any-day. 

so today we got our pet worms and made our worm bin. it was fun, easy and definitely something the whole family enjoyed. the boys wanted to name the worms. while we didn't name all 100 of them, we decorated our bin with the names we picked.

here's mac holding "max," "diggy," "wiggly," "dirty" and "slimy."

bode with "bode."

be nice to your new friends. don't eat them.

instead, love them...

the truth is 3 years ago, i would have been content with a single tomato plant and an annual camping trip. but lately i've been dreaming of big compost piles and acres and gardens and sometimes even chickens. sending my kids out to play and not seeing them for hours as they are playing fort in the woods or wading in the creek somewhere on our land. i don't know what the future holds, but at least i know my chances are good for some soil redemption in '09. the next big step will be the harvest. hopefully this works...

want to make your own worm bin? here's some info:

1. read this post from the germinatrix and do what she says. 

2. i got my worms at Petsmart. they sell them as "food" and keep them in the back so you have to ask for them. a container of about 50 sells for $4.25. the germinatrix recommends you get at least 200. you could probably get them cheaper at a bait shop, but i paid for convenience as i got my bins from target and went right next door to petsmart. 

3. if you're in the cincy area, know this: 

- while all petsmarts carry worms, the oakley store told me they're having trouble keeping them in stock b/c of indoor composting. so call before you go. 

 - i did try Whole Foods in Rookwood. they do not carry worms and didn't know what i was talking about. probably the san francisco whole foods carry worms, but not in cincinnati.

- there's a bait shop on Erie Ave. near Edwards called Delamere and Hopkins.

ok, who's ready to get their own wormy worms?

up with love!

for valentine's day, i'm sending you an awesome love song. 

(your iTunes is incomplete without this...) LOVE!!!

more wedding!

finally... more about my wedding. i posted about this a few months ago, but at the time, i still didn't have my professional photos. i finally do and i'm excited to share them with you. check out the slide show to see them all. the one shown here is kind of fun as this is my "i'm a bride with a baby secret" photo. our plan was to tell everyone at the wedding dinner, but i told tine, the photographer, and asked her how we could capture it. this was her answer.  
dora has also posted all about my wedding on her blog. check it out! it was amazing! it's really fun for me to re-live -- it was an incredible day full of love, fun and surprises. (and i especially enjoy the pics these days since i'm now weighing in at about 170. let's all look at me littler!) dr and i are so grateful to erin, the pattersons, the senffs, the valentines and the manuels for loving on us this in this extravagant way. lots of lessons in friendship and receiving...

and, while i'm on the subject, let me say a little more about dora and her blog. dora left a successful career 3 years ago to pursue her dream of becoming a wedding planner. and she did it! she's a superstar! it's only a matter of time before she has her own show on the style channel. anyway, you should visit her blog. really, you can't believe how interesting her wedding and event world is. not only can you read even more about me, but you can also read about how she pulled off a stunning wedding without a hitch during the Hurricane Ike Blackout, or all about the hot trend: wedding dress trashing. 

of course, i had no prior experience as "a bride with a wedding coordinator" so i don't know if all coordinators are like this, but i would tell any bride-to-be "don't get married without dora." yes, she plans and coordinates her tail off and, yes, she's a fashion & style guru, but the best part is she is like a bride's personal love bug for the day. in the midst of pulling off the whole wedding, she still managed to constantly check on me. she told me what to do (i like being told what to do), where to be -- "sit here," "eat this cake," "get in this limo," "hold your flowers like this," "go dance," "come back," -- loved it. she kept up with all my stuff including my big orange bag, she lovingly asked me about my feet and then brought me flip-flops, and she had my car loaded and ready to go at the end of the evening. below is a cool photo of dora and i right before she sent me and my bridesmaids off in the limo. i felt like p. diddy. 

well, that's all the wedding talk for now. but certainly not the last installment. i'm sure to talk about it much more. that's the beauty of having a your very own blog...