Story time: I had just gotten out of church and I attempted to run some errands but both places I was running errands at were closed on Sunday. (???) Alright, well, I was feeling like a hamburger so I pulled over and pulled out the trusty G1 (my phone) and searched Google for "best burger in Colorado Springs" I pulled up the site and found the place Conways Red Top. I decided that it sounded interesting so I started looking for where it was located. I saw there was one on the street that I was pulled over on and I was like I wonder if it's East or West from here. Then I looked across the street. It was South. I drove across the street and had lunch. Pretty crazy.

Anyway, the burgers here (a full one) is served on a 6 inch bun. Half (pictured) is half that. The nice thing about these burgers is that the patty is only about half as thick as my pinky. It's not like I sat down to eat half of something that has as much meat as half my fist in thickness. These are more "classic or Old fashioned" hamburgers, not he "gourmet" variety you see in a lot of places these days. For the folks back home it reminded me of a Dick's burger. (Only the meat was better)

Went to a different church today. Interesting... Preaching was great, worship was rocking, there seemed to be lots of people Lisa and I's age... I don't know. Didn't really get any kind of welcome though. And they didn't seem to have an Information booth where I could talk to someone about stuff they have going on. We'll see.

~B.

Labels: food

Dinner time!

Dinner tonight consisted of whatever we could think to put on nachos. I think it went something like this:

Chips, Cheese, Olives, Ground Beef, Garlic, Onions, Jalapeno, Black Beans, Cilantro, Tomato, Avacado and topped off with Salsa.

~B.

Labels: food, pictures

Today was a long day of driving... that could be because we were driving through a lot of mountains and the speed limit jumped from 35 to 75 as we went. Which of course meant more time in the car. (Unlike the past few days where we have been cruising along at 70-80mph and getting places relatively quickly.)

This morning we got up and experienced another "free" breakfast. I didn't bother to partake in the "free-ness" much beyond a banana and quarter of a muffin (consumed later, whilest driving) but Lisa made herself a waffle and covered it with butter and "Swiss-Miss" hot chocolate mix. Create? You bet. Tasty morning food? Perhaps not. (She can weigh in on that one herself...)

We went to Arches National Park this afternoon and spent a couple of hours driving around and marveling at very large sandstone rocks. We went on a few "mini-hikes" and quickly determined that altitude + sun = Ben and Lisa are wimps. We're dragging ourselves a long and it seemed like everyone else was running past us. We saw one of the places where the opening scene in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" was filmed and we hung out under the "double arches" for a bit. (See pictures)

Nothing like a National Park for reminding you of how cool God's creation is.

We took the "back way" back to the freeway from "Arches" and it was a great drive alongside the Colorado river. Slow, and very winding, but it was also very scenic. We got into Grand Junction, CO about 6:30pm. We did some research on the internet and decided to walk across the street to a place called WW Pepper for dinner. It was however a 35-40 minute wait so we hopped in the car and headed west to try and find something. We ended up in downtown Grand Junction at a place called The Winery. (dare I say, "FIRST!") Good food and my thoughts can be found at that link.

Well, here we are now, in Colorado, our new home state. Tomorrow we make the drive from here to Colorado Springs and stay the night with the same generous folks who we staid with last time. (For 1 night) Then Monday we get into our apartment. It all seems to be happening so fast.

Thanks for the prayer support as we make this move! Tomorrow is our last day of traveling and I look forward to trying to settle in a bit and see what life here is going to be like.

*Picture comments: 1. Niko in Arches park, looking very contrasty to all the red. 2. A shot Lisa took looking up at one of the stone arches. 3. Me, standing in front of the "double arches". (No I'm not "trying" to look like a Blue Brother, it just kind of happened.) 4. Lisa reclining under the same arches as in my picture. (The same ones used in Indy)

~B.

Labels: food, pictures, travel

Just wrapped up my TCT going away party. Pizza and Salad was had by all. I will miss Romio's pizza. They realy know how to construct a good pie.

Towards the end of the party we noticed the 7 police cars around the WAMU. Turns out the Greenwood WAMU had an attempted robbery. Looks like the guy didn't get far. Jokes were made about our general manager (who had already left) had gone to get money to cover lunch.

Exciting. I told Taproot that they didn't have to throw a robbery in my honor.

~B.

Labels: food, Funny

Anyone that has read my blog or interacted with me much at all will know that it is almost physically impossible for me to pass up a pun. (Hey, if I don't say it, odds are good I was thinking it.) Thus today's title shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. Now please leave your sharp comments elsewhere, they will be moderated.

For Christmas, or my birthday, this year Lisa gave me 6 credits to a private cooking school in Seattle called, "Bon Vivant". I was a little leery of taking a class at a place I had never been before, so I invited Lisa to come to a class with me. We ended up going to a "Knife Skills" class. (As we seem to spent a lot of our time in the kitchen cutting things.) The class was from 10am to 2:30 on Saturday and we both really enjoyed it.

It was held in someone's house who had a very large and well designed kitchen for things like teaching a class. We listened to a knife lecture for a bit and then then had us get stuff out and actually try cutting things. The nice thing about this was there were only 8 people in the class and so the teacher could afford to come around and personally help everyone improve their knife skills. After we had cut up a bunch of stuff we paired off and started to cook with the stuff we had cut up. Lisa and I made a chicken recipe and I am not 100% certain of this, but I think we made the best dish. Granted we were following the recipe that were given, but I think perhaps us not being afraid to tackle the "meat" dish paid off.

The instructor and the aids, as well as the other students were all really nice people. If any of you, gentle readers, have any interest in learning to cook better I would suggest trying out Bon Vivant. They are great people and you get to eat afterwords. You learn something AND you get food. Didn't get THAT in college. (Unless you went to a cooking school)

This week is Lisa's Birthday (September 10th!) and we plan to party! Dinner out with the folks and the sibs who can make it. This week should be fairly calm otherwise. This weekend we are heading out to Colorado to take a look at Colorado Springs and see what we think of the city and of the job.

Thank you for your continued support in that area and we would appreciate your continued prayers as we see if that is what God wants us to be doing.

~B.

Labels: food, prayer request, travel

Yeah, Sorry about that. It was partially intentional and partially something that just kind of happened. I wanted that last post to stay "on top" for longer so that it wasn't missed by any of you "random" drop-ins.

No real further developments on the job front other than learning a bit about their medical insurance. Sounds just as good and/or better than I have now. (A good sign) Lisa and I have booked tickets to go to Colorado Springs on the 13th of September to check everything out. Other than that I would ask that you continue to pray for us as we make this choice and figure out if "The Spring" is where God wants us to spend a part of our lives. It's could all happen pretty quick if we decided to go that route, so while we can do some prep now, it'll really have to wait until we make the choice after the weekend in Colorado.

Thanks for your continued support. I'll let you know how everything is proceeding.

We spent a lovely weekend on Whidbey Island with some friends who were camping. It was kind of funny, the people without kids (us and another couple staying with us) were staying at Lisa's parent's place and all the people with kids were staying at a camp-ground. We cooked a whole meal over the fire (veggies, steak, chicken, dessert) and they called US adventurous! (We got to sleep on beds that night... without children waking us up every few hours. Not what I would consider adventurous.) However cooking over the fire was pretty interesting. I could see trying that again.

~B.

Labels: food, travel

You know what is better than being a fan of a band and knowing every song they have ever done by heart? Being a partial fan and really enjoying their music and suddenly "finding" a new song. (RE: Jars of Clay "Dig" on the "Furthermore" CD (How did I miss that?))

This weekend update's musical choice is the top 10 "Jars of Clay" songs as per Rhapsody.

Saturday was a great day and the weather was really nice. We started out by going to the farmer's market and picking up some fresh fruit and veggies. (On a sad note, the 1/2 flat of raspberries I had purchased got home and later in the evening discovered that they were probably about 50% moldy. I threw out the bad ones and I juiced the rest and now I have a good 14oz of pure raspberry goodness.) Following the market we swung by the Bellevue Blueberry farm and picked 4 pounds of blueberries, which ended up costing us... 4 bucks. However if last time is any indication it will turn out that the power will go out for 9 days in December.

Following that we went to have lunch with a friend (We got a "hot tip" that a place in Ballard has really good "sliders". (mini-hamburgers)) and then we went to see the 2nd to last performance of "Big River" at Taproot. The place we went for lunch (The Loft) did have pretty great "sliders". They had way more choices on their menu than they had on the website though. I'd go back for seconds. They also had, what I read as "Curly" fries, and later realized, after a more careful reading and a prompting by the waitress, that they were in fact curRy fries. You know, the bright yellow stuff that is synonymous with Indian food? Well, I'm really not a big fan of the stuff, but I got my fingers good and yellow as I ate a good many of these wonderfully seasoned fries*.

The play was really good. We saw the "Technical Dress" rehersal a couple of weeks before the play opened and got a feel for it so we didn't bother to see it until this weekend when we had "nothing else to do". Well, I am sad that I didn't see if sooner so I could encourage more of you to go see it yourself. Another great job by Karen Lund in the directing department, and of course great acting all around. Looking forward to their next one, "Susan and God". I've heard good things... but then I work with all of them.

*My food "adventurousness" has increased exponentially since recovering from cancer treatments. Not wanting food/ not being able to eat has really made me evaluate what I eat. On top of that I am trying to eat "healthier" by consuming more vegetables and less meat. A couple times this past week I haven't even HAD meat at dinner. (I honestly feel better in the mornings when I don't eat meat at night.) Not like I envision myself going vegetarian anytime soon, but I have been eating (and enjoying) pizza that has no meat on it. Crazy... I know. What next? Eating mushrooms? oh wait... I've already done that!

Well, that I think wraps up the weekend update. I am tired and it's raining (YAY) outside. (Not like those two things are any REAL reason I should stop writing...) These next few weeks are bound to be busy...

~B.

Labels: food

What we have here is a blueberry pie in the background and a peach (not apple) pie in the foreground. Lisa made crusts, I made fillings. Results on how they taste sometime before the end of the week.

~B.

Labels: food, pictures

Lisa: "You haven't updated your blog since Tuesday."
Ben: "No, really? Maybe you internet browser is caching the page Hit refresh."
Lisa: "Nope."
Ben: "Hmmmm, twitter must be keeping the commentors at bay..."

My dear reading public. I am sorry I haven't updated. Between my face hurting most of last week and doing a lot of work combined with a short week I have been thrown off a bit. (What day is it?)

Happy 4th of July! Errr... yesterday. A happy 203rd anniversary of the US's 29th birthday! To celebrate yesterday I woke up, did some stuff around the house, and when Lisa woke up 3 hours later we made fruit salad and headed off to our first BBQ. We were there until about 6pm and then we moved to the second one and we got home about 1:30am. Being as we left our house at 12:30 that means we BBQ'ed/ 4th of July partied for 13 hours. It's nice to be able to go out and about. I remember last year we were halfway hoping I would be in the Hospital over the holiday so that we could watch the fireworks from my room overlooking lake union. That didn't happen and I figure we probably spent the day at home, me on the couch. I guess I could always look back at the archives, but I am still trying to work through that mentally.

Today we're taking it easy about the house. I am letting Lisa work on some things for her internship but doing things that need doing around the house. (Laundry, dishes, bathroom cleaning, etc) I figure she did a lot of that stuff on her own last year, I might as well take some of the work off of her so she can do some "professional development".

Medically: I'm doing well. Muscles REALLY need some work. I played Wii baseball yesterday and my arm is pretty sore today. I'm still hovering around 140 weight wise. I'm trying to eat healthier and push myself a little harder and get stronger everyday. Thank you for the continued prayers in that area. I covet your prayers as I continue this summer.

Ok, I think I need to go clean something now. (Oh, the picture is of Niko "helping" me make fruit salad. (Hint: He's not REALLY helping.))


~B.

Labels: food, Funny, health, parties

Saturday I spent a good chunk of the day creating a strawberry sorbet with brownie chunks in it. The first thing I had to do was slice up the strawberries, then I added a little lemon/lime juice (we ran out of lemon half way), then I food processed the whole thing and then strained it through a fire wire mesh. (Which was tricky as the juice was pretty thick and the seeds tended to block the holes.) Following that I merged the berry juice with some simple syrup and let them sit for about an hour. (in the fridge) Then it was in the ice cream machine for some good old fashioned chilled spinning, added in the brownie chunks and then threw it in the freezer.

While it was a lot of hard work it was probably the most "real" strawberry taste I have ever encountered in frozen confection. (And the chocolate chunks in there probably didn't hurt it at all...)

I had to get my strawberries from the store because it's been so cold and cloudy here in the Seattle area. I was told that the berries are 3 weeks behind schedule because of the weather. Thus this turned out to be a "cali-berry" sorbet.

~B.

Labels: food

This morning Lisa and I headed to the farmer's market in search of some sort of berry (straw, black, rasp, or otherwise) for a sorbet I am working on. Due to the lack of sun, however, finding any sort of berry at this point was impossible. (Potato and Onion Sorbet? Topped with bacon bits? While curious to how that would turn out I am going to say no this time around.)

Then we headed over to the library where I had an interesting encounter with a man who, eventually, ended up asking for food and money. Probably the first time someone has ever tried to strike up a conversation with me and after 20 to 30 minutes turned it into a sales pitch. I always feel strange about people asking me for money or food. I mean we live in a fairly well off area and I'm never sure if the "homeless" people in the area around me are simply in the area because we are good "marks" or why exactly. I ended up suppling the man with some food and being as money is so flexible I declined on the cash. I guess, like all things, it is in God's hands. If he was needy, great, if he was using me to somehow get money for drugs or something well I hope God will somehow convict him. All I am called to do is to be a "tool" and let God wield me as He will.

Of course remembering and being open to being used as a Tool is the real struggle.

I'll let you all know how the sorbet ends up...

~B.

Labels: food

This past week a hope of mine from being sick has started to become realized again. I am no longer too weak where I cannot do a full day of work AND come home and do some cooking. Thus since I have gained some strength back (thank you for your prayers) I have been in the kitchen a little more this week.

Last night Lisa and I made a kind of "Asian Chicken" where we breaded the chicken, fried it a bit, then cooked up some onion and peppers and covered it all with a glaze. Good stuff!

Tonight we went "all out" I made steak in our dutch oven (nothing like cast iron to put a really nice "char" on the outside of meat!), and I made up a kind of warm potato salad type thing using red potatoes, sour cream, tapenade, garlic, salt and pepper which turned out pretty good. Lisa went ahead and made a Morrell family favorite, Yorkshire Pudding. She makes it off the recipe my mom gave her and she does it perfectly! (Good stuff) Round that meal out with some peas and you almost have a "Morrell Classic" meal. (Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding)

In (possibly unrelated news) I am up 14 pounds over my "radiation weight"! In fact today someone commented that I looked fat. (I think the idea was fat(ter) than a couple months ago. (Working around actors can lead to some interesting things being said...))

I covet your prayers as June has started. I hope to enjoy this summer a little more than last summer's "lets stay in (a) bed-a-thon." Thank you all for your prayers, I couldn't have gotten this far without them!

~B.

Labels: food, praise

Tonight Lisa and I went adventuring into the Seattle restaurant scene this evening to meet with a couple of friends we hadn't had the opportunity to talk to in a while. The place we went to was within throwing distance of "pill hill" where all the big hospitals are in down town Seattle. Some of the way we drove tonight brought back some memories of last year.

Anyway, aside from trips down C memory lane the place we had food tonight was called Quinns. Most of the food was really good and sometimes they took a fairly big risk and I think it paid off. Case in point, they sliced up some lemon like you would an onion, battered it (the lemon) and then fried it and added some salt. I can imagine that going wrong in SO many different ways. It was, however, excellent and surprising. Not something that I would eat a plateful of, but as a kind of garnish to the plate it worked very well. It was surprising in that when you looked at it it seemed to be a normal onion ring. Upon biting into it though your mouth is at first greeted with the familiar saltiness and grease an onion ring provides, and then this sweet, citrus blend creeps into your mouth. It's a surprise (even when you are expecting it) and when I thought about what I was eating I wondered why it worked, and doubted it would work, but then I would take another bite.

The food wasn't the only great thing about the evening though. The conversation we had with our friends over the course of the 3 hours we spent with them was a lot of fun and we covered all sorts of topics. Thank the Lord for good friends!

Health wise I am doing pretty well. I put in almost a full day at Taproot yesterday and more than a half day at NSB. I continue to pray for strength as I try to work more and more. Thank you all for your continued prayers for healing as Lisa and I continue with our lives and try to figure out what God has for us next!

~B.

Labels: food

I wasn't feeling well this morning and so I staid at home today. No church, no baseball game, no baseball stadium treats. I did however get some marvelous lay-down time here at home. Listened to a sermon from last week, caught up on Stargate SG1, and my father came over and helped figure out some electrical issues here at the condo.

The picture is the "Still life leftovers" of the fruit salad we had with dinner tonight.

Lisa has been keeping herself busy lately with some "deep cleaning" around the house. She came up with an interesting idea as well. Kind of a "work trade". She invited a couple friends over and they help her clean for a bit, and then she has scheduled times with them to go over and help them clean stuff. She, and her friends, have liked it so far because they can chat while they do the cleaning and learn a little bit about each other's cleaning secrets. It takes the boring out of cleaning from the sound of it. I'm pretty proud of her for her innovation and drive to clean.

Tomorrow morning I have my CT scan. Which means no eating starting in about an hour. I've been tired all day. I could use continued prayer for my weight as well. I weighed myself this morning and I have effectively lost weight. (Not good) Thank you for the continued prayers!

~B.

Labels: food, medical

Yesterday I picked Lisa up from work and when we got home she promptly flopped down on the couch. I took this as a sign that maybe now was not the time to ask what was going to be for dinner.

She spent some after work time on the couch while I surfed the internet trying to figure out what I could possibly throw together from the "standard misc." that was available to me in our house.

Ultimately, I went rouge. Armed with an idea and nothing more I grated, shredded, mixed, and I layered my way into a kind of strange piece that I hoped would come out after 20ish minutes in the oven. After a few minutes out of the oven I grabbed a spoon and ladled some of my work onto a plate and tried it. I rolled it around my mouth and was VERY thankful it actually turned out. (After 45 minutes of waiting for dinner the following sentence was not one I was ready to utter; "So, what kind of Pizza do you want to order?")

While it was lacking some of the spicinesses I was trying to imbue in it, it did come out rather tasty. I will not share the recipe here with you however as I really have no idea how much of anything I put in it, and it wasn't exactly the type of dish that would be kind to someone who was looking to trim a few pounds here or there. (Should I make it again I will pay more attention to what I am doing and try to compile that down into something you can make at home on your own.)

Lisa enjoyed it, the bird sampled some and found that he liked it as well, so I think we have a winner and I am a touch more confident that I can put together something "on the fly" out of left-overs and things we have sitting around. It is nice to have the energy and strength to do cooking like this again. I missed that a lot when I was in treatment.

Speaking of which I am getting stronger every day, again. I've decided to try working half days so that I don't wear myself out completely at this point. It allows me to get some work done, build up a little strength and spend some time recovering. Dr.'s appointments next week. I am not looking forward to them at all, but honestly, it's part of what God has for me. If it's back to treatments for me, then so be it, if not, praise the Lord and I'll keep getting stronger and praying that it is all gone. I look forward in some ways to seeing how my life is going to go after next Wednesday. Thanks all for the continual support!

~B.

Labels: food, medical

Today the shingles pain had dialed up another notch so I only put in a few hours at Taproot this morning. I came home and started the process of making "Pasta Salad". (Which as my mother pointed out isn't anything "special" per se, it's more of a "lets put X and X that we have in the fridge into the salad!") I've been craving something like this for a while and honestly I don't think I've eaten as much food as I did tonight in a long time.

The thing I like about Pasta Salad is that it contains all sorts of things, they all taste pretty good together, and it is WONDERFULLY colorful. My version, this time around, contains: Pasta (duh), Italian dressing, mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, pepperoni, garlic, olives, and corn. Combined that with some "Italian Seasoning", garlic powder, touch of salt and pepper and a bit more olive oil. The great thing about this salad is the longer it sits the better it tastes. I have no problem having this for lunches (Breakfasts?) for the next couple of days, in fact I am looking forward to it. (And you carb haters out there will probably freak out when I say that I will probably have a nice slice of bread to go with that as well.)

This of course is not the first time I happen to have spent a little extra time making up this delightful salad.

The next couple days my boss at NSB is going to be gone so I will be "minding the fortress" while he is away. NSB people have a strange way of coming up with strange problems that suddenly and miraculously fix themselves. Thus I am not overly worried about having too many things on my plate while he is gone. (Have fun in Oklahoma Erik...)

Picked up a book on Python programming this afternoon as well. Reminds me of the first time I opened up a programming book with the intent of teaching myself a thing or two. QBasic for Beginners. Yep. Good times... gosh that must have been more than 15 years ago now. I've tried QBasic, C++, Visual Basic, Perl, and now Python. I am hoping that Python will stick and my desire to use it will be such that I actually DO use it. I would go back to trying QBasic, but that has no application in anything other than DOS 6.x... and even then probably not THAT much application.

Thank you all for your continued prayers on my behalf. These shingles aren't making life any easier at the moment, but these too shall pass right?

Night...

~B.

Labels: food, medical, technical

Yesterday evening (Saturday) Lisa and I sorted through some of our music CDs, (Including the domestic version of Mancy A'lan Kane's CD "Paper Moon". (How's THAT for obscure? (She sang with Jars of Clay on the song "World's Apart"))) and then we went to Robinswood park and walked around the pond in the mid-50 degree weather. (Making fun of the ducks most of the way around.) Following that we went to church, and then we went out to dinner at a place in Issaquah called, Pogacha. The atmosphere was very warm and inviting, and the food was really good. Lisa and I would both recommend it to you. (Gentle reader with an appetite)

Tonight we are headed to some friends house for dinner, and the Oscars are on, but not sure if I'll get a chance to watch or not. We shall see. I always think it's fun to see people take themselves WAY to seriously.

Oh, in other news we got a notice in the mail... actually it was in 5 parts. (They mailed me 22 pages of text in 5 separate envelopes... now don't get me wrong but would one envelope at something like 1.50 be cheaper than the 2.25 they cost to send me 5 letters?) Anyway, the notice was for my current standing with Group Health and what last year looked like cost wise. Wanna guess how much 9 months of chemo and a surgery cost? (Radiation was in this year) I can wait... go ahead.

Well if you said 207,000 dollars you would be right! PRAISE GOD for health insurance. At my current rate if we had to pay for that it would have taken me about 11 years (if I paid everything I was making) to pay that off. Either that or we could have sold off our condo and maybe paid for part of it. CrAzY. Thank the Lord for His foresight and wisdom. We only had to pay $2500 of that total amount. Amazing.

Lord willing I won't have to be "paying" for things like that anytime soon again. But as this past year has shown He knows best. Keep praying for recovery!

~B.

Labels: food, praise

Yesterday at work I had to rescue an area of the building from a lack of network connection and in the process ended up wearing myself out doing it. Then last night we had Lisa's sister and her boyfriend over for dinner (I made pulled pork sandwiches) and we played some games. However by the time 10 o'clock rolled around I could barely keep my eyes open. So yesterday was busy, but it was good.

Today we'll be celebrating my sister's 21st birthday and my brother's 24th birthday. Dinner at the folks and Lisa and I are providing the dessert. (Which means our kitchen (at 11am) already smells of cooked goodies.)

I wanted to thank everyone for the support emails and comments I've gotten from my last couple of entries. I've been really tired these past couple of days and have been suffering from some sinus pain on top of it. That and thinking about the upcoming surgery had gotten me down a bit. Thanks for everyone who bolstered my spirits and reminded me about God's work in my life.

I need to get back to washing dishes, there are a lot of them. (Dinner parties and more complex entrees make for some extra dishes in the kitchen.)

Thanks everyone for the continued support!

~B.

Labels: cancer, food

Some of you may remember that back at the start of this year Lisa and I were planning on going to the UK in September. Well several things happened preventing us from going on that trip. The Lord blessed us with the foresight to buy travelers insurance so that when I canceled the plan tickets and $500 was non-refundable we submitted a claim to the travel insurance. Well, after 3 months we heard from them. Last night Lisa and I received a reimbursement check in the mail for the amount that the airlines didn't refund us. We were pretty skeptical that we would ever see the money and that the insurance agency would find some sort of loop hole that would allow them to not pay us for the services we had paid them for. However, even though we were pessimistic, God is good we were surprised by the extra we were given this month. (Which will probably go right into savings so we can save it for our next vacation.)

This time change stuff is really strange. I went to pickup Lisa last night, at the normal time, and it was dark already. 5:15pm and it's dark already. That and the sleep pattern thing is all thrown off by the time as well. My body says, "It's 10pm go to bed!" while my head looks at the clock and says, "Nope, only 9. Gotta stay up and find something to do."

Yesterday for dinner I made "Red Beans and Rice" which is kind of like jambalaya in a couple of parts. It was, I thought, pretty good. (Another creation from the Best Recipe Cookbook) Those Creole dishes can be pretty tasty sometimes. Tonight we'll be keeping it simple with left over soup and Caesar salads.

On the sickness front I am doing well. I am continuing to heal. On Friday when I went to the ER they took a blood sample and it looks like my blood is kind of back to normal. There are still some areas where is is lower than it should be, but platelets are back in the normal range and my white blood cell count is higher than it has been in MONTHS.

I would appreciate your prayers as Lisa and I continue to battle through this together. Still no word on when I will be seeing the surgeon again, but I will keep calling and bugging them about that. Thanks!

~B.

Labels: cancer, food

I realized this morning while I was making fritters that I had chosen the one breakfast item with the most likely possibility to look just like a tumor... on the day that I am going to see the surgeon no less. The sub-conscious is a funny little thing.

~B.

Labels: cancer, food

Well, some good news on the cancer front. Hair has started to grow back on my head. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me. I don't know if I will have more chemo ahead of me, more tests are to be assumed, and at this point I don't know about the surgery either. I do know I have a appointment to talk to the surgeon tomorrow afternoon, so that will be nice to keep moving forwards in regards to my health and healing.

It's been a while now since I have had chemo so I am starting to feel pretty good. I feel like I can actually enjoy doing things that cause me to get a little tired because they aren't going to deplete me of all sorts of energy.

RE: Frying: The other day I mentioned I had a desire to fry something, and as I was searching the internet for a recipe for doughnuts I came across something better that could be fried. An apple fritter. Apple fritters are better for frying and covering in a sugary glaze because they contain apples and are thus healthier for you than regular doughnuts. (Which do not contain apples) Even though eating an apple fritter probably isn't healthier for you than eating an apple and then downing a couple packets of sugar, I enjoy them all rolled together into one (the Apple Fritter) vs separate and optional. (IE: The bags of sugar with your apple)

In the cooking vein Thursday I will also be cooking dinner (yay!) and have settled upon a red beans and rice recipe that I found in the "New Best Recipes" tome cookbook we have. It looks like a good recipe except it seemed a little short on the meat so I'll be dialing that up a bit and hopefully no one will mind. I'll probably say a word or two on how that went along with how the surgeon's visit went.

Also I'd like to give a big shout out to everyone who has brought us meals over the past 6 months. It's been a REALLY big help to us. We've gotten some great food from all of you. A big thanks. It makes me think we should try and invite people over/ eat at other people's houses more often, I think we need to share the joys of a home cooked/ secret recipe meal more often. I think some of you have been hiding your cooking ability. Also all the food that has been provided has helped us realize what a great thing it is and would like to help other people some day when I am feeling better with a similar ministry.

Now I must go and get Lisa. It's one of the fun things of having only 1 car these days, I get to drop Lisa off in the morning and pick her up in the evening.

Thanks for your prayers, I will keep you all informed as to how things are going after I meet with the surgeon tomorrow!

~B.

Labels: cancer, food

"The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest." -Kurt Vonnegut

I think it is with rare exception that people like to travel. Who doesn't enjoy the thrill of seeing something new and wondrous at least some time in their life? Ever since high school I have been bitten by the "travel bug" as it were. I went to Italy, Slovakia, Denmark and Budapest during my Jr. and Sr. year of high school with a select drama group. I am glad that my first experience in Europe wasn't England or some other heavily westernized European state. I think it gave me a much better taste for what some of the "other parts" of the world look and feel like.

Then I got the chance to travel some more in college. First to Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg and Chelny) and then about a week later to Spain. (Toral, Leon, Madrid) Lisa and I had a trip booked to England this fall where we were planning on going from tip to tip in England and spending two weeks seeing some of the places I had only heard about. Of course other things came up (cancer) and we had to cancel our travel plans. Now, As many of you know I enjoy writing. I enjoy putting words about my experience on a page. I've always thought it would be interesting to write about the travel experiences I have had, or will have. With that in mind I put a couple of "travel writing" books in my Amazon.com wish list and thought that maybe someday I'd pick them up and find out a little more about the craft of travel writing. This would also give me a chance to vicariously "get out" and try my hand at not really going somewhere for vacation.

The other day I got a package in the mail from Amazon.com and low and behold it had two of the books I had been looking at in it. It seems that Robb Stanky and his finance Jessie Oberholser had gifted me with thee books. I hope it's because they enjoy my writing and want to see more of it. It has inspired me once again to think, and dream on travel. No matter how small to take enjoyment in the chances I get to see something new. (Which makes me think that I just might write up a "travel" guide for hospitals given the chance later. (aside from peanut gallery: And assuming you remember anything.)) Either way, a big thanks to them for thinking of me and my future. (I'm sure you guys will get a mention in my first couple of books...)

In other news (a popular phrase around here... and I bet you can't guess who can't sleep...) I made a pie yesterday. Peach pie to be exact, fresh. Lisa and I went to th store the other night and picked up all the ingredients and yesterday in a series of up and downs from the couch the pie was made. We consumed part of it when Lisa's folks came over last night to visit. Nothing like fresh cut peach pie with a little bit of glazing on it. (I didn't do my own crust by the by, I didn't have that much energy. Marie Calendar's frozen crust came to the rescue. The real hero was the peaches anyway, the crust, as long as it's not horrible, is just there to hold it all together right?) I think perhaps I'll end up having some for breakfast... odds are good that it probably has less sugar in it than a danish or other such sweet breakfast item. There is nothing wrong with fruit pie for breakfast.

In health news my mouth is starting to be a bit more sore, but other than a general "feeling low" nothing much more. I thank you for your continued prayers in the health department.

~B.

Labels: cancer, food, travel

Lisa and I don't do a lot of what one might consider "health food", so when a 32oz container of plain, fat free, yogurt landed in our refrigerator we really had no idea what one was supposed to DO with plain, unflavored, yogurt. So, we made it our mission to find out what one DOES with plain, flavorless, yogurt.

The answer, we found, was to throw a small dinner party in which every dish somehow contained the plain yogurt. The dinner was attended by Lisa's sister Katie and her boyfriend, Nate, as well as my good friend Ryan. (and of course Lisa and I)

The dinner consisted of the following: We had BBQ Chicken which had been marinated ala "Tandoori" style (We used boneless chicken breasts because they are easier to eat). We had two sides to go with that as well: Pastenik Potatoes and Maast-o Khiar. (Which is a Persian cucumber and yogurt type dip, we had it on pita bread.)

Everyone said they enjoyed the food and everyone ate everything, so I am assuming they liked it. I enjoyed it. The flavors were a touch "exotic" but it was a lot of fun to be making food again. That at least is a blessing from this week. I as able to make the Maast-o Khiar and BBQ the chicken outside. Lisa and I enjoy cooking and trying new recipes, which we would normally do a lot during the summer, so it was very nice to get a chance to do that for the first time this summer.

After dinner 3 more friends came over and we had dessert and sat around talking for a couple of hours. It was a good evening and it was good to be able to hang out with some friends when I had the energy to entertain.

Praise for my week off before the next round of chemo. I haven't gotten anything back yet for the blood work this morning, but at this point admission to Virginia Mason will probably happen on Monday morning. (assuming they don't need to wait for anything else) Praise the Lord for His faithfulness!

Prayer for this next round that it would be lighter than the past 3, for our car situation: the truck probably has a buyer, but he won't be able to look at it until next week, and I was told not to hold it for him if someone else wants to see/ buy it, so I am continuing to show the truck to people who want to see it. (Some people are funny, I'll have to do a post on the truck selling experience sometime) Prayer for buying a new car as well: God has blessed me with some friends who are quite handy at the car dealership and they will be helping us out in that department. And continued prayer for strength for both Lisa and I as we face new challenges each and every day with this chemo. (It's really hard to plan anything for more than a day out when we're never sure what will be happening with me.)

Thanks everyone for the support!

~B.

Labels: cancer, food

Tonight Will and Riva Lee, Lisa's cousins, graced our table from California via a local service called Dinner Delivery Plus. They ordered us some grub from Claim Jumper Restaurant. I felt like Tiny Tim as we laid out the two entees that will provide for at least 2 meals each. I couldn't help but utter the famous line, "God Bless us, every one!" as I sat down at the table.

A big thanks first off to Cheryl Gilbert who has organized a lot of the food and meals we have gotten and then to the Lees and to everyone else that has provided us food as well. The Noltes, the Fitches, the Sotos, the Walters, the Steiners, the Prices and the crews that have chipped in for Dinners Ready. (Greg and Debbie Morrell and the CBC West-side small group.) Not to mention the occasional food from both of our parents. (Paul and Jenifer Morrell and Gary and Nancy Massingill)

A big thanks to all of you for your help! It has been a lessening of time, energy and financial resources to have food provided for us. If you'd like to contact Cheryl about helping out, or just to tell her what a wonderful blessing she's been to us you can contact her at summer665 at yahoo d0t com.

Thank you again, your physical support and prayers have all been a great blessing!

~B.

Labels: cancer, food