Hiking the Ozark Trail VEGAN STYLE

It's my 26th Birthday and Amanda, Layla & I are hitting the trail! Specifically, we are heading to Tom Sauk on the Ozark Trail in southern Mo. We hiked 18 miles and camped out 1 night. Tom Sauk is the highest point in our great state and it's a gorgeous place to hike any time of year. Usually you can look forward to lots of water at Mina Sauk falls, less than a mile from our campsite, but this year we found only a small stream and a few large puddles. Thankfully it was enough to refill our canteens!

Our Vegan/mostly Raw hiking foods included celery, cucumbers, bananas, trail mix, sesame nut honey bars, chunks of energy (kind of like trail mix pulverized & smashed into little cubes. love em.) carrot cake cookies, Vega protein powder (I never travel without it.. or live without it for that matter) and Raw Revolution spirulina dream bars.
Yum. We ate well. It was actually the Perfect amount of food. When your body is working that hard hiking.. you actually don't get that hungry. Its hard for the body to focus on digestion, carrying a heavy pack and hiking up & down hills all day.

Cooking locally-made Tempeh for breakfast before the hike. We planned a big breakfast for the long trail ahead of us. These gorgeous locally-made tempeh steaks marinated overnight in
2parts olive oil
1 part shoyu/tamari
1 part balsamic vinegar
blend of favorite dry herbs

We made some simple "reuben style" breakfast sandwiches on Udi's whole grain Gluten Free bread with saurkraut and hummus. yessssss

Back to MO, Blogging Hiatus & a Business Venture!

 
HOWDY! As many of you already know, I have completed my vegan culinary courses and internships with the Natural Epicurean Academy of Culinary Arts. I am no longer living in Austin,TX.. though it was nearly perfect in every way.. and I have returned home to Columbia, Missouri.

I love Columbia. This is my community. I love the size, the progressive atmosphere, the diversity, being surrounded by colleges &  universities, great music, local farms & food, film festivals, museums, nature & hiking trails.. right smack dab in the middle of the country and an 1.5 hour drive from my family. Gotta love it.

When I started this blog I was leaving Missouri and heading to TX. My food preparation style, diversity of ingredients and overall outlook on food & health has come a long long way since the start of this blogging journey.

Now, I've gone gluten free and eat mainly vegan foods, and my diet includes loads of nutritionally dense "super foods." I've discovered that I'm lactose intolerant and eating more than one egg makes me nauseous. Every once in a while an egg may sneak in but I've discovered more than one way to substitute them from cooking & baking. Same with gluten.. for a very special occasion I may indulge, but for the most part I live without it, and feel great.

The Natural Epicurean, and specifically the group of 11 incredible women I went to school with, had a major impact on my life. I anticipated that it would.. I just wasn't sure how. I think we all took away different lessons and skills, we all advanced our techniques and deepened our knowledge and understanding of our relationship with food. And we formed a community which I will I am eternally grateful for and will cherish always.

So here I am. In Columbia. Some days it feels like I never left. And that's okay. Because I'm home. I may not stay forever, but this is a very good place for me now.

Finally, Im excited to announce that I'm starting a small business. Its called Sorella Natural Foods. Sorella means "sister" in Italian. I've created 20 in-home plant based culinary classes, offer personal chef work, cater small events and will be launching a line of ready-to-eat snacks & meals at local grocery stores. I'll try to post a flyer on here.. but I'm not sure how that works yet haha. If you'd like more information send me an email at sorellanaturalfoods@gmail.com

All Good Things,
Shelly

Growing Microgreens at Home

I am so excited this is happening!! Stay tuned to see the progression as these greens grow. They were added to the soil on Thursday. I should have edible microgreens in a week. I chose to start with Sunflower and Buckwheat seeds. They're inexpensive and nutritional powerhouses. Once I have microgreens, Ill eat them as snacks, on sandwiches, salads, in smoothies and juices and in some energizing raw soups.

To get started you'll need 
3 aluminum pie pans, with a few holes poked in the bottom for drainage
organic potting soil
1/4 c buckwheat, soaked over night & sprouted for 1-2 days
1/4 c sunflower seeds, soaked overnight & sprouted 1-2 days
spray bottle, to mist with water

Sunflower Seeds- buy raw, unsalted, hulled seeds from the bulk department at your local health food store. You'll have to pick through these because there are lots of broken seeds. Broken seeds won't sprout, so you'll need to sort through and pick out all the intact seeds, then sprout those. To sprout, soak the seeds overnight. Rinse them well in the morning and sprout for 1-2 days in your sprouting device. Once a tail forms on most of the seeds, lay them on top of an inch of soil, in the aluminum pie pan, and spread them out so that they aren't piled on top of each other. Mist them well with water.

Buckwheat- buy hulled, un-toasted buckwheat from the bulk department. The soaking water from these seeds gets super thick as they produce a lot of mucous-y fluid when they release their enzyme inhibitors.So just make sure you rinse them reaalllllyyy well. Soak them over night, then sprout for 1-2 days, and set on top of an inch of organic potting soil in an aluminum pie pan. Spread them out and mist them very well with water. You'll notice pretty quickly that the buckwheat sprouts grow little tiny hairs all over them.. it looks like mold, but stay calm.. this is normal :)

Once your sprouts are on the soil, you'll need to stack the pans and keep them in a cool dark place. You stack them so that the sprouts are making contact with the soil. So, I placed an additional empty pie pan on top, with a light weight in it. They'll stay like this for about 3 days until they start to shoot up, then they get sunlight.
STAY TUNED!

Sunflower sprouts in soil Day 1

 

Sunflower sprouts in soil Day 4

 Sunflower Microgreens Day 5

 Sunflower Microgreens Day 6

 Sunflower Microgreens Day 7

Buckwheat sprouts in soil Day 1

Buckwheat sprouts in soil day 4

 Buckwheat Microgreens Day 5

 Buckwheat Microgreens Day 6

Juice Fast

3 Days into the Juice Fast portion of my Spring Cleanse.. and I feel amazing.
Heres the scoop: For 9 days I did the Master Cleanse (see previous post.)
Then I transitioned that immediately into a Juice Fast. Which technically should be called a JUICE FEAST. Check out all these fruits and veggies I'm getting!!
I haven't eaten any food in 11 days.
This is awesome. I felt absolutely stellar at work today, like there is a light at my core, just bursting forth into everything. Like ecstasy. I was a ball of happy energy all day, and since Ive got home, Ive just been bouncing around my apartment.
Its probably not for everybody, but I think I really needed this. Making this commitment has arose a wave of physical, emotional, and spiritual rejuvenation in my life.

Shelly's Kitchen Sink
1/4 head Romaine
Big Handful Spinach
1/4 bunch Parsley
1 Cucumber
2 stalks Celery
4 Orange Carrots + 1 Purple Carrot
1 Pear
1 Apple
1 inch or 2 Ginger
1/4 of a Beet


This is my GO-TO feel GREAT drink any-day, but especialllly when I'm juice fasting. During a juice fast, I can get by on 3 of these a day and feel MARVELOUS.

This is a variation of my favorite juice ever, Main Squeeze's Ring of Fire. The juice that started it all.. my first :) And when I brought my juicer home for the first time, you better believe that I made a huge pitcher of Ring of Fire & drank that whole thing.

Shelly's Light my Fire
3 Jazz apples
1 Valencia orange
1 Navel orange
1 blood mandarin
1 purple carrot
1/4 large beet
ginger
handful of spinach

Master Cleanse

I recently "master cleansed" for 9 days. For those of you who aren't familiar with the concept.. for 9 days, I didn't eat any food. I only drank mineral water and water that had been mixed with lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper.

On day 9 I began incorporating vegetable juice, whatgrass shots and miso broth.

Today is day 10. I'm still juicing, I haven't eaten anything yet, and I feel amazing. I plan to continue for a few more days, then break my fast with a raw salad.

During the fast, I have managed to keep a 40hour work week, volunteer 4 mornings on a farm, and dog-sit an 80lb Weimaraner.

I've been getting 8-9hours of sleep, have only needed 1 mid-day nap and managed to keep good energy all day.

On day 9, in the afternoon, I began to get irritable, and decided to transition from the Master Cleanse to the Juice Fast.
Within an hour I felt completely euphoric. I had a ton of energy all day and even had a hard time falling asleep. In the late evening, when I began to really wind down, I was hit by an intense stream of focused and creative thoughts, which I spent hours cultivating and recording.

I often cleanse with the change of the seasons, but nothing this intense. Usually, on a cleanse I will eat very small and nutrient dense meals. I really enjoyed my experience this time and in the future I plan to do more juice and liquid fasting.
Initially, this experience was meant to make me feel better. At work, I eat a huge variety of foods.. its my job. All I do there is learn, teach and share food knowledge. I eat a lot.
And since we just got through the holiday season, Ive been a little off my healthy game, and maaaaybe drinking a little too frequently. 
This cleanse is a way to reset my body and mind to begin this new season. By only in-taking these liquids I was able to release a lot of toxins from my body and take in a ton of nutrients. Not to mention, my skin and hair look great, I'm much more energetic, happier and I've dropped at least 12lbs.

This turned out to be a very rewarding journey for me. I'm able to reflect more clearly on the role that food plays in my life. I've gained spiritual, mental, emotional and physical reward from making the effort to abstain from food for this long, and I believe, that for the long term, this will be a very impacting experience on my life.

Master Cleanse Drink
2.5 quarts water
1.5 c lemon juice
3/4 c grade B maple syrup
1t cayenne

I made this drink fresh every morning in a big glass jug and brought it to work, and to the farm, with me. This recipe should make 10 8oz servings, which was perfect for me. Some days I drank all of it, other days I had a little leftover.

The lemon juice helps release toxins. People worry about the acidity of the lemon, but in reality lemon juice becomes alkaline inside the body, which means tremendous benefits.
The calories in lemon are 95%carbs and 5% protein.
Lemon contains Vitamins C, A, E, Folate and Choline, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and other trace vitamins and minerals.

The grade B Maple syrup is where I was getting my calories. In 3/4 c maple syrup there is about 630 calories, 159 g of carbs and 159 g of sugar. Its also loaded with the minerals manganese and zinc. It contains vitamins A, B2, B5, B6, Folic acid, niacin and biotin.

Cayenne Pepper coats your throat, giving you a "just finished eating" feeling. It contains vitamins A, E, C, B6, K and manganese.

Scenes from Central Market's Produce Dept

My job isn't so bad. I try foods from all over the world, talk to people all day and share my passion for food. So I can't complain tooo much. Everyday when I get to work the first thing I do is take a lap around produce to see whats new, taste a few things and get inspiration for my next meal




Calabaza and Chayote Squash are popular in Mexican cuisine. The Chayote stays pretty firm when cooked, I like to add it to chili. It has a large edible seed in the middle that is nutty and delicious and looks like a big ole pumpkin seed!
In the fall we have up to 7 or 8 varieties of eggplants! Just look at these beauties! Gorgeous
And in true TexMex style we have at least 30 varieties of fresh/dry peppers in produce.
A great view of the peppers
Some funny looking Trumpet mushrooms and colorful yellow chantrelles that we always have on hand.

Kiwano Horned Melons and Passion Fruit are both slimy green on the inside with seeds. The Kiwano has a flavor or cucumber mixed with kiwi. The Passion Fruit is best enjoyed when super wrinkly and shriveled. The inside is sweet-tart and musky.. and tastes somewhat like guava.


All kinds of good things here! From the top left clockwise are Yucca root, Tamarind pods, Horseradish root, Mung bean sprouts, Tumeric root, Rambutan, and Galangal root. I often wander into produce and eat the tamarind like candy. The pods are filled with seeds and an edible paste that is extremely tart and sweet. I also buy the tumeric often and use it in soups, stews and tea.

Dragon Fruit is so beautiful! Its expensive, but so much fun to eat. The flavor is like a cross between kiwi and pear.. and the inside is whitish pink with lots of tiny black seeds that look like poppy seeds. Medlar apples are pretty uncommon these days, they are usually cooked though you can eat them raw. They are soft on the inside with a winey cinnamony depth of flavor. They're great for preserves and chutneys.

The variegated pink lemons have yellow skins with green stripes and are entirely pink on the inside. The kaffir limes have an exotic flavor that are ideal for thai cuisine.. latelyIve been mixing them with pomegranate juice, gin and tonic. Yuzu citrus is highly sought after in the culinary world & is often used in sauces, marinades and dressings. Its flavor is like a mix of grapefruit and mandarin.
Strange citrus fruits start showing up in November and get more and more diverse through the winter. I get most excited about kumquats, finger limes and bergamot!
MMMmmm over a dozen types of pears.. my very favorite are the Taylor Gold.
In the winter and fall we have over 35 varieties of apples!! Some come in for a few hours and we never see them again! Did you know that you could eat a different apple every day for 18 years?!

It's surprise heirloom beauties like this that bring me the most joy. I become excited like a child when strolling through the produce dept and running into something like this.. baby purple brussel sprouts!

Herb Fest 2011

top row: dill, bay leaves, tarragon, unknown, thyme, chives and chervil
bottom row: spearmint, peppermint, lemon thyme, sage, rosemary, marjoram, oregano & summer savory

chopping up garlic to add to the herb butter
a salad with organic edible flowers

herb & flower butter


Its Herb Fest at work.. which doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot. I mean, it isn't a "festival" like one would imagine. We are just selling more varieties of herbs and products featuring herbs this week. But there was one perk.. I got to bring home all these glorious herbs and find ways to use them!! The Foodies were given several BOXES of herbs to demonstrate uses for, in the store, but we couldn't possibly use them all. Thank goodness.



Herb & Flower Butter
-1 tub Earth Balance Buttery Spread
-tarragon
-dill
-marjoram
-summer savory
-sage
-rosemary
-thyme
-chervil
-chives
-garlic
-lemon juice
-salt

I am going to freeze this in an ice cube tray, or else I'm afraid it will get yucky. I'll thaw out one at a time and use it as needed. You wouldn't friggin believe how good it is. I gave Anna a little bit on a cracker, and the first thing she said was, "you should bottle it and sell it."

LOTS MORE HERB RECIPES COMING SOON

1st CSA Box

CSA- Community Supported Agriculture

A CSA is usually run by a farm, or by a group of farms to bring local people fresh seasonal produce. Members will pay weekly, monthly, or annually depending on the CSA, and recieve a box of whatever is growing that week. Prices range from 25-50$ per box.

I worked for a CSA in Columbia, Missouri, run by the Root Cellar. Chances are there is one or more near you!
Anna and I recently joined Farmhouse Delivery in Austin Texas. YES!!!

The first box included:
4 oranges
1 bag mixed greens
1 bunch purple radishes
1 bunch beets
2 bunches mustard greens
2 bunches kale
1 bunch spinach
asparagus
2 pints strawberries
4 spring onions

Caviar: My Personal Opinion

Its a Racket. It tastes like cold fish juice. For centuries the wealthiest minority has been spending thousands of dollars on... fish eggs.

Today I had the opportunity to sit down for an hour at work and learn about caviar. We tasted 5 different types and learned a bit about its history and lure.

First of all, its only considered "caviar" if it is from a sturgeon. Everything else is just "roe."
The only ingredients are the actual eggs and salt. The eggs are filled with fish oil.
The well known Beluga caviar has been illegal in the US since 2005. And it takes the Sturgeon which produces Beluga caviar 20years to produce this much desired product.
The Caspian Sea has for centuries been the ideal source to procure caviar. But in 2008 US placed an embargo on Iranian imports. Russia still exports some caviar from the Caspian Sea, but due to pollution and serious overfishing the products are rare and extremely expensive.

Which to me, IS CRAZY.

So, this lady who represents the US's most prestigious distributor of caviar, Petrossian, visited Central Market today. Apparently Central Mkt is the only place in Austin that stocks these products.
Her company now sources roe and caviar from farmed fish, which is more sustainable, and has lowered prices. Demand for caviar, as you would imagine, has dropped in the past few years due to the economic downturn. So, it is important that my co-workers and I know how to sell this stuff to the wealthy people shopping in our store this holiday season.

I really truly don't understand. Out of the 5 that I tasted, I must say the $200 caviar tasted much better that the $30 roe. The price is only that high because for centuries rich people have held this product in high regard. Still, it is what it is. Which is, oily, salty fish eggs. Chicken eggs taste much better and are far more versatile.

However, it pairs very nicely with champagne. And metallic spoons offend its flavor. So, it must be eaten off of a pearl or golden spoon. Can't say thats true for chicken eggs.

Finished Products

And for dessert! These. Were. So. Good. The Chef/teacher was unhappy with the way they turned out. Apparently if we'd had time to freeze them overnight, they would had held up better in the boiling water. Some of the filling leaked out. I don't think anyone else noticed. If you ever have a chance to eat fresh chocolate ravioli, TAKE IT.
The seafood ravioli with vodka sauce. This is the first vodka sauce I've ever liked. Making it from scratch makes a huge difference. The ones from the jar usually taste too much like.. vodka.
Sauce:
2T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2c onion minced
1/2t red pepper flakes
3T tomato paste
1/2c vodka
1/2c tomato sauce
1 15oz can tomatoes
1/2c heavy cream
1/4c basil chopped
salt pepper sugar to taste

The pumpkin ravioli was very sweet. No wonder.. it had Amaretti cookies in it (my mom's
favorite)!!
Pumpkin Filling:
1 can packed pumpkin (not pie filling)
2T maple syrup
1/4c crushed amaretti cookies
1/2t nutmeg
1/2c Gruyere
1/4c cream cheese
1 egg
salt & pepper
Sauce:
1c butter (ohmygod)
3T fresh sage chopped
2T dry white wine
salt & pepper
toasted pine nuts to garnish
Now here is the one I made. As you can see, the raviolis take up most of the plate, they were very large, and RICH, meant for an appetizer. The sauce was so easy and so good. There was only 3 ingredients! Butter, Cream, and Gorgonzola!!! ahhh!!!!!!
The Hazelnut Filling:
2c Hazelnuts, roasted and peeled
4oz gorgonzola
3lg cloves garlic minced
8oz mascarpone or cream cheese
1/4c parmesan
2T Romano
3T heavy cream
salt & pepper


**All of these Ravioli Filling & Sauce Recipes are by Sahar Arafat-Ray**
whom instructed my class Oct 23, 2010

Making Ravioli

My new job as Foodie/Demo Cook at Austin's Central Market requires that I take several cooking courses a year. Lucky me. I really can take as many as I want, through Central Market's Cooking School, (in the grocery store) but am required to take 7/year. Tomorrow I am enrolled in the Caviar tasting class!

So, this past weekend I took my first class, a Ravioli Workshop. I had made raviolis before, at Broadway Brewery (Columbia, MO.) but this class was a refresher, and really boosted my pasta-making confidence!

Assembling ravioli is quite easy, once you understand the instructions. I really don't think anyone could figure it out by reading a book (or a blog for that matter).. maybe by watching a video, but really it is best to see how its done first hand.

Making the fresh pasta dough doesn't take much at all. All that goes into 1lb of dough is:
2 1/4 c flour
1 t salt
3 eggs
2T olive oil
water, if needed.
Of course if you wanted to give it color or an added ingredient for flavor, this is the time to add it.
Basically, you build a mound with your dry ingredients, then make a hole in the top, or a "well." (picture a volcano) You place the unbeaten eggs and oil into the well, and gently start incorporating, little by little.

Once your dough is set (must be refrigerated 1 hour) you are ready to "roll it out." Which requires a pasta roller. Pasta Rollers generally have 7-9 settings to flatten the dough. You must start at the thickest one, and move down, notch by notch until your dough is flat, even, and thin.

In the class we broke up into groups and made 4 types of raviolis. Everyone used "ravioli molds" except for my group. We hand-cut them. Using a ravioli mold means you finish 12 raviolis at once and they all look the same, cute, little and nearly perfect.

My group layed a large flat piece of dough down, dropped the filling onto the dough, in Tablespoon size, about 3in apart, layed another piece of dough on top.. and used water as "glue" to hold it all together. Then cut out the raviolis. I loved every second of it.

**All of these Ravioli Filling & Sauce Recipes are by Sahar Arafat-Ray**
whom instructed my class Oct 23, 2010

Ravioli Class

Seafood Ravioli Filling:
1T butter
1 T olive oil
2cloves garlic minced
1 shallot minced
1/2 lb shrimp minced
1/2 lb scallops minced
1/2 lb firm-fleshed white fish (halibut, bass) chopped
3T flour
2T dry vermouth or white wine
juice 1/2 lemon
salt & pepper to taste


Chocolate Ravioli Filling:
1 10oz package frozen raspberries
1/4c sugar
1T liqueur, Frambois or Grande Marnier
1/2t lemon juice
1 1/2c heavy cream
8 oz white chocolate chopped

**All of these Ravioli Filling & Sauce Recipes are by Sahar Arafat-Ray**
whom instructed my class Oct 23, 2010

Vegan Kickstart

Alright.. so I read this article in the Dallas newspaper talking about a local program that people were signing up for. A 21 day vegan diet starting september 6th. The idea was to introduce folks to a healthy and different way to eat.

Everyday they send emails with recipes and encouragement. I think its a great idea. People will learn to introduce way more fresh produce into their diets, protein alternatives, and cheese-free meals. Cheese-free?? Crazy, I know.

So I signed up. And failed on Day 3. Farm fresh eggs were what got me. 4 different colors, laid that morning.. I just couldn't say NO.

Why did I sign up? A lot of the meals I prepare are vegan. I love vegan food. I thought I could do it. In fact, several years ago I really cut back on my cheese consumption. I felt better and dropped a few pounds. Then.. THEN.. I met local cheese. Wonderful, fresh, creamy local cheese. And I met the farmers who produced it! Bam, back on the cheese train. At one point 2 years ago, I had 8 different local cheeses in my fridge. And I was happy. But over time, I realized I was depending on it too heavily for meal preparation. I know, you may be asking... what's wrong with that?!

Bottom line, cheese is great. I love it. In fact, I'm planning on making it myself by early 2011 (one of many food goals I've set for myself). Few things in life are greater than sustainably made cheese from happy animals. In comparison few things are more frightening than highly processed factory farmed cheese (yes, you can taste the difference.) However, culturally we've become far too dependent on it.

So the new challenge to myself if to go cheese-less for a month. I also wont be indulging in any dairy based desserts. So far, so good. Its been 4 days.

Think that sounds difficult? Two friends of mine just committed to only eating Local foods for a year. The majority of their diet with consist of foods grown/raised around Austin, but anything from Texas is allowed. Their only exceptions are vacations, coffee, and alcohol (they're only drinking booze from Mexico and Texas.)

Missin My MO

Dallas is huge. Like really.. really.. HUGE. Way bigger than StL, with more highways, more strip malls, restaurants, and business parks. I'm living in a suburb, and the city of Dallas probably has a lot of cool shit goin on.. but this suburb sucks. I feel the teensiest bit bad saying that because Anna grew up here, but she'd probably agree. And.. well, I haven't been exploring too much, but there really isn't much to explore.
I left the house today to run a couple errands around town. Driving around, I felt mixed feelings of independence, anxiety, and spontaneity. Trying to brush off the anxiety, I looked around for quirky shops, international markets, anything interesting or different. Driving here is hectic, these people drive like they're in LA, and I've never seen so many BMWs Mercedes and Lexus. Needless to say, I didnt find what I was looking for. So, I carried on to my destination... the mall. The dreaded shopping mall. No offense. But I don't like em. They're way too clean, they don't smell like anything, they all look the same, and they bring down "self esteem." Its like being surrounded by commercials. You're fat broke and ugly. That's what those stores were saying. "don't look at that dress because its too expensive, and it wouldn't fit you anyway." And there were mirrors everywhere!! Whats the psychology behind that?
I was headed to a Proactiv Kiosk. Because that shit is like crack. Or heroine. Your face becomes dependent on it, and when you dont have it you'll spend $20 on a bottle of face wash. Well, not today. The kiosk wouldn't accept my debit card.. as a credit card.. and I don't know my pin. Adventure over. Plano, TX, you suck. Thank goodness, I'm flying to beautiful Richmond Virginia tomorrow. And moving to Austin next month. Really really looking forward to Austin. Its gonna be great.
I need to just accept this state I'm in right now. No job, limited funds, too hot to go outside. I have a very nice place to stay, and I'm blessed to be here with her. Its all about the Netflix, the couch, and the food... for now.

Texas so far..

Moving is tough. I had an idea that this statement was true before.. before when I was moving from shitty college apartment to shitty college apartment every year for the last six years. But none of that compares to this move across the country, from (beautiful home)Missouri to (unknown)Texas. One thing is for sure.. I couldn't have done it without Anna, help from my parents, and a few loyal friends. Thanks guys.

When friends would come into our apartment in Columbia they'd usually say things like, "wow, nice place" "its so homey" "you guys have a lot of stuff." I usually just smiled, thanked them, and shrugged off the "lot of stuff" part. Afterall, it was a small apartment, it couldn't be THAT much stuff... right? wrong. so wrong. I had a lot of stuff. And 4 days (including my birthday!) to pack it all. I spent a lot of time in those 4 days just looking around the apartment, not knowing how to organize things. Slowly putting things in boxes, and taking long breaks to get drunk with friends. My mom came down twice to light a fire under my ass, and there is no way I could have got to Texas on schedule without her.



Anyway, we ended up giving a packed carload of items to Goodwill and pitching everything else we didn't need anymore. We finally finished loading the truck by 12:30pm saturday afternoon, Billie bought chinese food and let us use her shower, and we got on the road by 1:45.

After 2 hours of driving we stopped in Osage Beach at a Target to buy Walky-Talkys. Without those and the 1pm shower, we never would have made the 600mile 11 hour car ride to Dallas. She drove in front of me the whole time and we chatted mostly about billboards, bathroom breaks, and weirdos driving next to us. We were both pumped to get there and wide awake at hour 6, but by hour 9 delirium had set in. The last 2 hours seemed to last as long as the first 8. The next day we had planned to move the majority of our belongings into storage, but were exhausted from the move. So we slept til 5pm, got groceries, and talked house rules over drinks and shots of Jameson with Anna's brother John.

We are living in his house in Plano, a wealthy mostly white suburb of Dallas, for the next few months. The plan is to get jobs, save money, visit Austin a few times, find a rental property there, and move in by November. John is cool, and he works in Florida so we rarely see him, except on weekends. He wont be home for the next 3 weeks.

When we finally got around to unloading the truck Monday morning at 7am, it was 90 degrees. And by the afternoon the heat index was 110. Luckily we were finished by 10:45. Then we slept all day, again.

Since then, we've realized that the mold problem in the last apartment was way worse than we thought. All the clothes that we packed were damp and steamy when we got here and smelled like mildew, so we have been doing laundry all day. We threw out our mattress because the smell was so strong, but are holding onto our couches for now. We'll see how they survive the storage, but we'll probably end up having to steam clean them in Austin.

Today we drove to Ft. Worth and had lunch with Kerstin, the Army Chaplain of the 90th Sustainment Brigade, Anna's unit in Iraq. I felt like I knew her already from all the stories Anna has told. She is friggin awesome, and I wish that all of the chaplains in the army were as cool as her. Ok, she is the only one I've ever met.. but she ordered beer (a beer called Priests Collar) and pizza at lunch and we laughed the whole afternoon. I'm so glad Anna has friends like her in the Army.

We have NetFlix through John's PS3.. so, most of our time the past couple days has been spent watching episodes of Lost, (we're starting from the beginning) doing the laundry, (washing ALL our clothes) and formulating resumes (something I've always dreaded and put off.)

Quotes of the Day:

"There is a hole in my stomach the size of a frozen yogurt" -Anna
"If we were at war, I was your prisoner, and your commanding officer told you to kill me... would you do it?" -Shelly