Don't Call It a Comeback

Well, I know the Eldars have been somewhat MIA on the blog, so I thought I'd catch everyone up to date on what has been going on around here lately and what has been filling up the time I might have spent posting on the blog. (I'll try to put it in roughly chronological order.)

1. I started writing lots of telescope control software.
   
2. Band of Brothers (recorded from SpikeTV)
   
3. Christmas, New Years, and the time in between
   
4. I upgraded to Mythbuntu 9.10 and had to reconfigure my MythTV as a result.
   
5. My main computer, Thorondor, began to die.
   
6. I read two Malcom Caldwell books. (I'll get it back to you, Rob.)
   
7. Duck season continued, ended.
   
8. I saw it snow on Broadway.
   
9. Chandra started working at church part-time.
   
10. The neighbors' dog chewed up the wiring on Paul's boat trailer.
    
11. BU men's basketball became relevant.
    
12. I lost my wedding ring in the snow in the back yard.
    
13. Thomas taught us Sunday School.
    
14. I rebuilt Thorondor and renamed it Fëanor.
    
15. I almost ran over a goat on I-35.

I guess that pretty much sums it up. I'll be sure to provide another update around Thanksgiving. Chandra may or may not get around to posting this year...probably not.

How to Make Texan Pasta

Well, technically speaking, the pasta itself is still pretty much what it's always been, but the presentation is definitely sorta Texan. Faced with another Friday night "what do we have on hand" menu decision, I took some inspiration from the awesome Robb Walsh at the Houston Press and mixed and matched something together, as follows.

Take some bbq sausage links and dice it up into discs or chunks (depending on your preference), and pan saute in olive oil with some coarsely chopped garlic cloves (garlic fiend that I am, I used about five cloves). Once the sausage is browned, deglaze the pan with some white wine and reduce by half. Add some generous handfuls of arugula and diced green onion and let those saute for a while. Remove from heat and add some cooked pasta of any shape or size, along with at least a cup of good Parmesan. Finish with some salt and pepper and you're done!

Perfect end of the week comfort food, especially when served with a spicy red wine. Equally perfect as fuel for a night of hanging pictures in your new apartment. :)

Mole-Rubbed Chicken with Avocado Salsa

Before I post the recipe I would like to share an actual conversation from the Warmaths.

"Thomas, if we have a couple girls first you're going to have a lot of children because we'll just have to keep going until we get some boys."

"Ok."

"We could just give the oldest girls to my mom and your mom if the house got too full."

"Or you could trade one for Noah."

"That is a great idea. I should text Amelia..."

This recipe is doubled to make 6 chicken breasts. We usually just make 4 at a time.

4 Tbsp. light brown sugar

3 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper

3 tsp. salt

3 lbs. or 6 skinned and boned chicken breasts

4 limes

4 tsp. honey

2 avocados

1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, quartered

1/2 cup chopped red onion

8 tsp. fresh cilantro

Lime juice

1. Preheat grill to 350 or 400 degrees. Stir together brown sugar, chili powder, cocoa, cumin, pepper, and 1 tsp. salt in small bowl. Rub chicken thoroughly on all sides.

2. Grate zest from limes for 2 Tbsp. (I usually give up on this part way before 2 Tbsp.) Squeeze 4 Tbsp. lime juice (I usually use some from a bottle and whatever I can eek out of the limes I zested.) Whisk together honey, lime zest, and lime juice. Add avocado; toss to coat. Stir in the quartered grape tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, and 1.5 tsp. salt.

3. Grill chicken, covered with grill lid, 5-6 minutes on each side or to 165 degrees. Garnish with salsa.

We like to have corn and sweet potatoes with it for a very colorful/flavorful meal. One of my favorite things about it is that Thomas can do the chicken while I do the salsa so it doesn't take long to prepare. This recipe brought to you by Southern Living. Approved for the blog by Mom and Dad on their Fort Worth visit.

Big CONGRATS to Michelle!

Dee-luxe Apartment

Next week, the Hayseses are moving into the second house (or apartment, if you want to be technical about it) of our young marriage. The decision to leave our current complex and undo all the nesting that we’ve done over the past year was certainly the largest shared decision we’ve made so far. The process of walking and talking through this decision taught us a lot about each other, our priorities, and how we resolve the resulting conflicts between them.

I’ve lived in the Bayou Park complex for almost two years at this point; I moved in with a buddy from church in the summer of 2008, sharing between us a spacious 2-2 and desire to make our respective girlfriends into our fiancées. I moved out just before our wedding into our current home.

After Mich moved in, the place got dramatically more homey and was much better decorated. As we melded our two lives into one, ground zero was the apartment, and our attachment to its charms and quirks grew accordingly. When it felt sufficiently lived in, we began inviting people over for dinner and parties, and our pride in our shared homemaking abilities soared.

So when the time to renew our lease approached, there was a very strong pull to stay where we were. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. However, there were other concerns to consider. Our rent was increasing, in large part due to cosmetic upgrades to the apartment complex that really had no bearing on our quality of life there. We really craved a second bedroom in which to store the Costco purchases and miscellany that cluttered our bedroom and made it feel claustrophobic at times.

After looking at a wide variety of disappointing rental houses and apartments, we were all but resigned to re-upping at Bayou Park. But with a week left before our deadline to decide, a Craigslist posting fell in our lap: 2 bedrooms in a small Heights apartment complex, for almost a hundred dollars less than our projected rent. The new place had its quirks, too. A narrow kitchen and dearth of natural light were among the chief concerns.

The wrestling then began in earnest. Was the extra bedroom really worth the hassle, the time, and the cost of moving? Would leaving our smallish kitchen for one that’s sort of larger in some dimensions but smaller in others be a sacrifice worth making? How many months would we have to live in the new place before the money we saved each month outweighed the money we spent moving and transferring utilities?

Through all of this, I learned how important the concept of home is to Michelle, and how much ownership she takes in the places she lives. I’ve been relatively itinerant since college, living in five different places in the seven years between graduation and matrimony, and I took for granted the stability and comfort that staying in one place affords. To start from square one, even together, is no small task.

After a second visit to the prospective apartment, it had grown on us sufficiently to warrant a positive decision. We grabbed it just hours before another couple put in an offer. Now we’re in boxes in both places, but we’re looking forward to nesting again. Even more than that, we’re looking forward to the money we’re saving being earmarked for a more permanent nest.

As conflict-averse people, making decisions like this are not cause for fireworks or sweeping declarations. There was disagreement at various points, and we often found ourselves exposed to fundamental ways of looking at life that we hadn’t yet discovered in one another. The beautiful epilogue, then, is that by switching houses, our home is stronger and closer than its ever been.

SNOW!

We've had a snow day, and it has been wonderful. It is the most snow I've ever seen in Texas. According to the news, it is a DFW record with 7.9 inches at the airport...and it's still snowing!

Here are some pics















Amy's Car, late morning
















Our House, late morning
















A shot of the neighborhood, late morning
















Narnia! The white witch is back!




















We built a snowman
















Amy and the neighbors' kids with the snowman
















Our lamp, around dinner time

p.s. Wally and Ann, by noon tomorrow it is supposed to be sunny and 45 degrees, so we will see you tomorrow.

Thomas

Marmot

I will like to respond to Michelle's thoughtful and funny post at a later time. For now I will just leave you with this:

French Marmot

(If you are wondering how we came across it, we bought a ski jacket for me today. The brand is Marmot. I asked Thomas to show me what a marmot is and we found the video.)

Break's over.

OK, everyone. The holidays are over and it's time to get back into the swing of things. I got this blog going the first time and I fully intend to do it again right now. And I've got just the topics - one fun question and one meaningful question.

1. Married birthdays.

First off, they're the best hands-down.
Secondly, now that we've all had a married birthday (R and I finally caught up to the newlywed summer babies), share one of your favorite birthday moments - a thoughtful gift or funny story.

Here's mine-

On his way out the door the morning of my birthday (and he hadn't mentioned my birthday, maybe because he forgot?)-
R: "You are bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh." (a common term of endearment from Rob)
M: "Can bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh go get coffee this morning to celebrate her flesh's birthday?"

HA. I don't know why that was so funny to me. Maybe because it was a homerun coffee-scoring morning. :)


Second topic- can you share something practical that your spouse does regularly to care for your spiritual well-being? I realize that's a pretty broad, "church-y", perhaps personal topic. But one of the things I've found most helpful this holiday season was our many conversations about money - how to budget, how to save, how to spend, how to think, how to share, etc. - and I think I would glean equal encouragement and learning from your examples of this. Even if it's just a "normal," "right" answer, I'd be interested to hear your experience with that answer.

I won't go first on this one, primarily because my lunchbreak is over. :)

Thanks for keeping me company and thanks in advance for answering my questions...as I KNOW you ALL WILL... :)

Merry Christmas, Poor Walt didn't get any pigs

It's beginning to look a lot like...home

Following in the footsteps of everyone else, this will be a team blog post from Team Hays.

R: One of the hardest things in the world is surprising Michelle. I was absolutely dumbfounded that I was able to sneak my marriage proposal past her notice in the weeks before the event. Any time that I can surprise her, it's a huge moral victory for me. So when I bought Michelle a Christmas "tree" (complete with ornaments) last weekend without her finding out, I think I actually did a little dance. It's not really a tree, of course: we don't have room for some towering fir in our apartment, nor would a five dollar set of ornaments suffice to cover its surface. Instead of an evergreen, we have a potted rosemary plant, surely a more utilitarian solution in the long run, and just the right size:
(yes, we already had the green table.)

M: Wow, look at those presents under the tree! And it's only December 4! (If your name isn't Peyton, Joshua, Lyla or Walt then you better hope that we've thought of something to get you for Christmas. :) Just kidding.)

I walked into the apartment, exclaimed "oh, a Christmas tree!!!" then Rob said, "and we can cook with it!" At first it seemed a little masochistic (Rob spelled that - I like to give props where due), but I guess it's not much worse than watching it slowly rot in the backyard for a few months and then dragging it to the curb. And it's fun to see how one object can delight people in 2 different ways.

Speaking of my chef husband, Rob made a fabulous dinner tonight of sweet potato gnocchi (that's homemade pasta for you at home) and steak (on a huge sale at Kroger). Here he is in his element -

If it looks like pasta-making and steak preparing uses every dish in the kitchen that's because it definitely does. But it was well, well worth it, right dear?

R: Thanks to some Advil and the rejuvenatory effects of red meat, my back no longer hurts like it did, so I concur that it was worth it. Making pasta from scratch (even a potato-based one, which is kinda cheating) was a little terrifying, and things were so busy in our tiny kitchen that I didn't have time to sample the merchandise before I put it on the table. In my mind, there was a very distinct possibility that I had made mutant dumplings unfit for human consumption and served them to my unwitting and otherwise encouraging spouse.

Fortunately, they were rather good.

In related cooking/family news, Michelle was sidelined for part of this week with a debilitating head cold. Giving the plunging temperatures outside, it was unquestionably soup weather. Here, I'll share the recipe (adapted from an Emeril one on FoodNetwork.com based on the ingredients we had available):

* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 cup chopped onions
* 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
* 1 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
* 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
* 1 tablespoon tomato paste
* 6 cups chicken stock or canned, low-sodium chicken broth
* 1 pound cooked chicken, shredded
* 1 can black beans, drained
* 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
* 6 corn tortillas, cut into 1/4-inch-thick strips
* Vegetable oil, for frying
* 1 avocado, peeled, seeded, and chopped

In a Dutch oven, heat the oil on medium-high heat. Add the onions, garlic, peppers, salt, cumin, and coriander for 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add the chicken and black beans and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the lime juice, and stir well. Remove from the heat and cover to keep warm.

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the tortilla strips in batches and fry until golden and crisp, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Serve soup with tortilla strips, cheese, and avocado.

M: Yum! All my co-workers were jealous when I took leftovers for lunch on Wednesday.

So today, it snowed in Houston!! Not just a few sprinkles but an actual heavy downfall in downtown/Heights from about 11am to 3pm. It made me miss Bloomington dreadfully, but I got out of work at 12:30 and Rob got home about 3:00 so that was a nice start to our weekend! As a jaded "I-lived-in-snow-last-winter" person, I was surprised that companies and schools were shutting down early. But we don't have the number of street salters that old Bloomy does, so it's understandable.

One of our neighbors built a snowman near the entrance to our apartment complex:

And that was with the snow BEFORE 12:30. There was lots more later.

Well, now I'm reflecting on Rob's title of this blog post: home. It's funny because it's my impression that if you put food in the fridge, hang one picture, and buy a throw pillow, boys think it's quite "homey" and decorated. :) Rob has great taste though, and what always surprises me is how encouraging he is to me in my first attempts at homemaking and how must delight and pride he takes in our first home together. The apartment is a beautiful representation of two lives coming together - and I often remind myself that in 20 years, this won't be the case. Everything we'll have in 20 years will probably be stuff WE received at our wedding or furniture we bought as a couple. But how fun to look around now and physically see our messy, separate, eclectic lives combining to make a home; it's a cool picture of what's happening in our marriage, too, I think.

Trip to Columbia

Not really sure what the deal is with the name "Washington, District of Columbia." It's not as if we say "I'm going to the state of Texas." We just say "I'm going to Texas" (or Tejas if you prefer). So with that said, Amy and I are going to post some pics from our trip to Columbia.

Amy here: On Saturday after the wedding we went to see what we could see at night. This picture was taken by Thomas. We had our backs to the Lincoln Memorial (sorry, Abe) and could see the Capitol, the World War II memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Reflection Pool all in a row. We certainly thought of Granddaddy while we were there. Thank you for serving, Granddaddy, and Happy Veterans' Day!

We also saw the Vietnam Memorial and the Korean War Memorial (my favorite, and especially striking at night with the men's faces lit up.)

Thomas: Look at Amy. Isn't she beautiful. The Washington Monument also happens to be behind her.

Thomas: Amy again, with Abraham Lincoln. One way that Amy and I are different is that she is good at reading the quotes at places like this or reading placards at museums. I don't often read the whole thing. She's patient and takes them in.

Thomas: After seeing the monuments we saw the three branches of government, or at least their housing. We did this in the most American way possible, driving a gas sucking car. After seeing the Capitol and a corner of the Supreme Court, we parked at the White House because I wanted to get close. They've got the White House Christmas tree up and were setting up all of the fences for whatever lighting ceremony they're going to have.

Thomas: After getting up close to the White House, 8:45 rolled around and it was time...

Amy: to eat dinner. But we didn't want to eat dinner with just anybody (like the president or Justice Ginsburg.) We wanted to eat with Jenny Oliver. So we called to see if she had eaten. And of course she hadn't because she's teaching herself French and had been busy studying. So we met her at...

Thomas: Ben's Chili Bowl! As you see in the picture above it isn't actually a bowl. Rather, it's a dive of dives on U Street. Ben's has been around for fifty years and is a major institution for the African-American community. Every famous black person, it seemed, has been there, and ol' Ben has their photo on the wall to prove it, from Bill Cosby to Cornell West and James Brown. Ben's really brought out the soul in me, and I had a "half smoke" (big nicely burnt chili dog with onions and mustard). Amy had a chili dog, and we split some chili cheese fries. Sensing my soul, they even threw in some extra grease for free. Ben's hit the spot.

Amy: Yum! Jenny took me here last time I was in DC and while we were there we talked about how fun it would be to bring Thomas there. I had no idea the three of us would be there together that same year!

Amy: As always, it was wonderful to catch up with Jenny. She's as busy as ever but doing well!

Thomas: Ok, now it's time for me to brag. Ben's is in a really hoppin' part of town. Not only was there bumper-to-bumper traffic on U Street at midnight, but all the other streets around it are tightly packed row houses. The cars along the streets are dense, so we had to drive around for about 10 minutes to find a spot that looked as if it would be a tight fit...for Rob's Mini! A tight fit it was, but I pulled off the parallel parking job of the century in our Subaru Impreza (we're not too far into the present century). Impreza'd you should be when you look at these pics. Be sure to click on them so that they open larger in their own window. Notice how close we were in both the back and the front, so close I couldn't even walk between our car and the others.

Back - yes, there is space between our car and the other

Front

Sorry if this post is long, but we've got some more pics that we'll post later.

Amy: One thing more. Happy Belated Birthday to the fifteen-year-old Bailey! I'm guessing her last birthday party was not Barney themed like the first, but fun nonetheless.

The Greatest Generation

This past Wednesday was Veterans Day. Since this is a day when we thank and celebrate our veterans, I called the greatest veteran I know—Granddaddy. Here is the tail end of our conversation, as best I can remember:

me: Well, happy Veterans Day! Thanks for fighting and keeping us free.
him: It was an honor to serve. We just did what we had to do.

I have heard those same words from many interviews and conversations with men and women of that generation. If you ask them, you will, too. I cannot even begin to express the respect and gratitude that I have for them. For that generation sacrificing plans, relationships, comforts, and even life was just “something they had to do”.

There are a couple of items that I think do a good job of highlighting the spirit these men and women had. The first is the Medal of Honor Citations awarded during World War II. Most of these citations read like a dry textualization of a scene from Rambo. The second is the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. Band of Brothers is not for everyone, but it is a phenomenal portrayal of extraordinary valor and courage from that generation of Americans.

As the holidays loom, just take a minute to pray for those who are currently fighting and to praise God for his grace in raising up a whole generation who fought and sacrificed to preserve our freedom.

In Defense of Dates

At my old church, the former youth pastor had a startling yet endearing habit of somtimes referring to his wife as his girlfriend. It emphasized their ongoing romance, but also made for some feet shuffling awkwardness, as when he would introduce the whole family as "my girlfriend and our kids." That sort of humor might play well in Manhattan, but in Katy, he might as well have grown a second head.

That said, it was a stated goal of mine to continue dating Michelle after we got married, that in some sense she would always be my girlfriend as well as my covenant spouse. What this looks like is multi-faceted; it involves pursuing her emotionally, and (as I discovered this week) being deliberate about making time for just the two of us.

Despite my lofty ambitions, I found that we had settled into something of a rut, staying in on the nights when we didn't have some out of the house event taking up our time. We'd find ourselves eating at the coffee table, leaned over my laptop, watching French subtitled episodes of How I Met Your Mother. I know: the sheer romance of this tableau may be making you a little queasy. Put your head between your legs and the feeling will pass.

So, how to restore the oft-hoped, rarely acheived ideal? If I'm going to love my wife the way that Christ loves His Church, then I need to start thinking in a Christ-like way. Normally for me, this means focusing on self-sacrifice and putting Michelle's needs ahead of my own. But in this instance, what I needed to focus on is His unending pursuit of His Bride. Grace chases us down and amazes us in the ways that it provides for our needs, brings healing, and ultimately inspires worship. Similarly, I need to be chasing Michelle down. (Note: not in the Mini. That would be unfair)

We're going on a date tonight. Out of the house, dressed up, with wine and everything. The plans are actually a little nebulous at the moment, owing to an unforseen scheduling snafu, but whatever we do, it's going to be fun and deliberate, an application of Grace to a relationship that needs it constantly and doggedly. I don't bring any of this up to pat myself on the back for being such a great husband (if anything, I've been a neglectful one for quite a while) , but to see what the other dudes are doing to keep their wives feeling special and pursued. You know, like when she was your girlfriend.