it was a caramel-making kind of day

Get ready to salivate.

Seriously. My stomach is in so much pain from the amount of caramel I consumed this afternoon, yet I don’t regret a single taste of it. Or forty.

(99.9% of the photos courtesy of Ms. Jennifer Reaves)

We used Susy’s friend’s grandmother’s recipe for caramels. Barefoot Contessa also has a recipe, so I’ll have to try that one next. (I have this thing with finding the “best” recipe for any given thing… I once made SIX different blueberry muffin recipes one Saturday morning just to figure out which was the best. Results in a nutshell: the recipe I’d been making for the last few years came in dead last, Martha’s came in first [of course her’s would]. Andrew did document that morning in pictures, so perhaps one of these days I’ll share them with you all!)

Anyway, back to the caramels.

Anna, Susy’s daughter, helped the whole time. Here she is getting every last drop of the corn syrup into the measuring cup.

Let the corn syrup, butter and sugar boil for five minutes. And use a wooden spoon. Apparently it’s a requirement.

Here is Susy in her natural state: caffeinated and offering to make her guests an espresso or latte. She loves her espresso machine more than life itself.

Susy and Jennifer have been friends for years. Susy introduced me to Jennifer at Bible study awhile ago and I love her! I love her short hair (finally, someone who understands what “short” really is) and her Southern accent. And her faith in God–such an amazing woman! And, she was our photographer this afternoon, which is nice for me, since I’m not naturally inclined to take photos, yet I love having them and being in them. Note to self: learn to use the timer on Andrew’s camera for times I DON’T have Jennifer around.

Anna and I stirred, and stirred, and stirred, and stirred…

We added two cans of sweetened, condensed milk. You actually add 1.5 cans and use the remaining half to mix (really well!) with 1/2 cup sifted flour, then add that, too. And vanilla. I love the smell of real vanilla extract.

Candy thermometers are a must here. Hmm, I LOVE my candy thermometer at home, yet I’ve never actually used it to make candy… Homemade yogurt, water temperature before making bread–now that we’re moving and Andrew won’t be getting any of Susy’s caramels every time she makes them, guess I need to add making caramels to the list of things I use my candy thermometer for.

Apparently, you test “done-ness” by spooning a tiny bit into a glass of ice water and tasting it. It should be “hard ball,” or relatively solid. We must have tested it five times before it was ready…

Nope, not ready. More stirring, and stirring, and stirring… (and intense gazing).

It started getting darker, which told us it was getting close.

Once it passed the consistency test, we poured it into an oiled dish to cool.

Sprinkled on some sea salt. If I had my way (and probably Susy, too), I’d roll each piece in some coarse sea salt as well. YUM.

We threw the pan in the fridge to speed up the hardening process, then left to do some Goodwill shopping. I scored some BRAND NEW Ann Taylor camis and a pair of dressy, black, knee-length shorts. I’m still on Cloud 9 about trying on size 6’s and 8’s. Never. Been. Happier.

Susy scored the top before it hardened any more, then we popped it back in the fridge.

We finally cut into it and started wrapping. In all honesty, it probably could have stayed in the fridge a bit longer to harder, but we had to get the show on the road!

Picture the stickiest, messiest, greasiest (we oiled our hands to keep them from sticking) scene possible. Then double it.

Finished, wrapped caramels! Andrew will be in heaven when he gets home. Did you know he told me, explicitly, that he WOULD NOT allow me to move to NY until I’d gone to Susy’s and learned how to make caramels? Well, he did. Glad I got that box checked off!

Anna made up banana muffins for lunch. Great photo!

I LOVE Susy’s napkin holder. Does anyone know where I can get one? I’ve been on the lookout for awhile now for a colorful, slightly funky yet simple/traditional napkin holder. And a banana hanger while I’m at it. I have a bamboo one and it’s just so BORING. I am not boring.

And then, because we could, we made salted caramel sauce.

You start with a saucepot and sugar. Turn the heat on.

The sugar will start to melt into what look like clumps. Stir a little, but not too much! (Susy said not to.)

Always time for a photo!

Before long, the sugar looks like this!

Add the butter. It will bubble and sizzle a bit.

Then add the vanilla, cream and a teaspoon or so of salt.

Finished sauce! Yum. I drizzled some on an apple to start, but by the end of the afternoon, we were basically eating it with a spoon. I’m willing myself not to pour the sauce I took home on ice cream tonight…I was in a sugar-stupor all afternoon!

I recovered with a bowl of Ellie Krieger’s Nutty Sweet Potato soup with scallions and peanuts. Healthy! Tonight I plan on packing up all our pantry food and most of my clothes. Wish me luck!

we brought the gym to Thai 9

I am so blessed to have some really great friends. I have Bible study friends, house church friends, neighbor friends and gym friends (and more that I’m forgetting to mention, I’m sure). Tonight, my gym friends and I went to Thai 9. (We probably should have apologized to all the other patrons for our raucous laughter, horrified gasps and random suggestive language…we can be quite a rowdy bunch!)

Here’s the lovely group of ladies, sans myself…I was taking the picture! (A sweet girl came over to take a group shot, but they did not turn out well at all. No, that isn’t code for I-looked-terrible-so-I-won’t-put-it-online, but I will say the way I was hunched over in the photo wasn’t exactly flattering.)

Here’s the group of lovely ladies who sweat it out just about every day here at the local L.A. Fitness:

Here are Nicole (L) and Kelly. Nicole is a homeschooling mom whose children range in age from pre-teen to college. She just ran her first marathon and is one of the most disciplined runners I’ve ever met. Kelly is a mother of two boys whose husband is about to return from a year-long deployment–woo hoo! She’s also incredibly dedicated to her gym routine and has a lost a whopping FIFTY-ONE pounds!

These ladies are two of the funniest around! Mia/Mimi (L) and Kathryn are both commanders’ wives, yet they know how to cut loose…pretty much whenever they want to! Mia is the kind of woman who says exactly what’s on her mind (which may elicit a gasp or two) without a second thought. I wish I could have just a tenth of her confidence. I’ve had such fun with these ladies. Kathryn was in Bible study with Susy and me this past year and started coming to the gym with Mia.

Kathy is also a marathon runner and mother to a daughter in elementary school. She enjoys aerobics and weights as well. Susy and I got to cheer for her in Cincinnati this May when she did the Flying Pig Half-Marathon and Nicole did the full (her first!).

And of course, my dear friend, Susy. She is my running inspiration, a phenomenal friend and an amazing Christian woman who I look up to so much. Knowing her has changed my life forever. I love you, Susy.

Oh, and if anyone is in Dayton with a mind to go to Thai 9, do yourself a favor and order the coconut ice cream with fried banana pieces and honey for dessert. It’s rich and sweet and light and exotic and fruity all at the same time. Other things not to miss: Chicken Spring Rolls with peanut sauce and the Tom Kha Kai soup. You won’t regret either of them!

On how this move started and God’s provision

Things have been moving so fast around here, I don’t even know who knows what about where we are in the moving process. Heck, sometimes I don’t even know what’s going on… All I know is that I have four VERY long lists out on the kitchen table that just seem to keep growing…

What I really want to begin with is just how much this moving stuff has strengthened my walk with God. It all started last summer when I got the itch to move. I was anxious and ready to go! We’d been here five years already and I wanted a change. At the urging of one of my friends (probably Jen), I began to pray both for contentment in my present situation (here in Ohio) and that God would change my heart, if it was His will that we stay awhile, or forever.

I did pray these things, and peace did come. However, I’d already been bitten by the “East Aurora bug,” and so with every visit, my desire to be there grew. I just loved it there. I love the climate, the tall trees, the green grass, the fresh air and slower-paced life, the quaint charm of older homes…and, of course, Andrew’s family. So, when we visited NY on our way up to Quebec in the fall, my interest in EA started right up again.

I started looking online for homes. (Yes, I realize, really premature.) I started talking to Andrew about the possibility of us moving there one day. He was shocked at first that I wanted to go there, and not as excited about it as I was. He felt like he’d worked so hard and gotten away from his hometown–why would he want to go back?

So, I started praying about it. Praying that God would bring us there somewhere down the line, and that if He didn’t, again, that He’d give me contentment and change my heart.

We spent our first Christmas in EA this past December and it was then that Andrew really got excited about the possibility of moving back home. It was the snow and the decorated houses and being with family… We decided maybe it could be our “five-year plan” to move there.

Little did we know that just a month later God would open a door.

Just a week or so after the New Year, Andrew got a call from his father about Moog hiring. Like, right then. As in, send your resume by the end of the month. Yikes. I remember standing in the kitchen in absolute shock. And I distinctly remember not being excited. Not that moment. I thought to myself, “OK God, I asked to go to East Aurora, but I didn’t mean NOW!”

(For those who don’t know, Moog is an engineering company based in East Aurora that is smaller than GE, but still quite large and has offices all over the globe. Andrew’s dad has worked there for the last twenty-plus years and Andrew worked there over the summers during college. Basically, I had to pray that if God didn’t want us to move, He was going to have to do something huge because there was no way Andrew wouldn’t get a job there if he wanted one.)

So, Andrew and I looked at each other, blinked a couple times, and took a few breaths. He started working on his resume immediately. He submitted it by the end of January, had phone interviews in February and an on-site interview in the beginning of March. By the middle of March he had an offer and started working just after Easter. (On a side note, Andrew came up with “The Frozen Pineapple” sometime during the very early stage of applying for the job, and I loved the name. However, because it was kinda tied to the whole “moving to NY” thing, I didn’t start the blog until we knew for sure we were going there.)

I never stopped praying during this whole time, and I have to admit, I’ve never been more at peace about something so uncertain as a move. Even now, for all the transition and unknowns out there, I’m still resting in God’s provision, because, boy, has He provided!

Everywhere I turn there is something so perfect, so divinely timed, about this move that I have to catch my breath. I can’t list them all here, but there are little and big things all over the place that have His hand all over them. Like Heather moving in and keeping me company while Andrew was gone for a month. Like when we got our house on the market (AFTER I dealt with that stupid, leaky window) and providing an awesome neighbor kid who calls ME to ask if he can mow the yard. Selling our house. The fact that Andrew’s parents live in EA, so he’s been able to stay there this whole time, not to mention we’ll have a place to store stuff and forward our mail to once we get there. I could go on and on…

And so, when I went recently for our house-hunting trip, I knew I had to trust that God would also provide both a house and a place to stay in the meantime. Because we’ve sold our house already but don’t have another one lined-up, our stuff will have to go into storage until we can close and move into another house. We’d thought about renting for a year to see what came up on the market, but I really don’t want to move twice. And I truly believe God will provide the right house for us. This summer. I didn’t want to sign a lease and then find “the one” a couple months later.

I didn’t go into the house-hunting trip with any expectations of finding a house, but rather wanted to get our temporary lodging situation worked out. Andrew’s parents have graciously offered for us to stay at their house, and for a couple weeks that would be fine. But because we don’t even have a house yet, we’re looking at two-plus months before we could move in anywhere. And what about the dog??? Who, in their right mind, will rent a furnished place to someone with a Great Dane? Even the most “pet-friendly” places still have weight limits, and they don’t typically exceed 75 pounds…

Well, God came through just like He always does. (I did have plans B and C in my back pocket, just in case.) The Staybridge Suites in West Seneca (about 15-20 minutes away from East Aurora) is welcoming us with open arms. I met with their manager Monday and walked around and toured some of their suites. Hadrian is a good 40 pounds over their weight limit, but they’re excited for him to come stay. We’ll be in a two-bedroom suite, so we get two bedrooms, two bathrooms and two closets (whoo hoo! storage!) and a kitchenette with a living room. And get this–they are putting us on the first floor at the end of the hall RIGHT NEXT TO THE DOOR TO GO OUTSIDE. How cool is that? No having to take Hadrian in an elevator every time he has to go outside! The laundry is free (awesome), they have an awesome daily breakfast and light dinner three times a week, all for free. (It’s all free for us–without saying a ton, Andrew’s relocation package is pretty awesome–just another way God is providing during the move.)

I most exciting part? I prayed for this. My specific prayer was that God would make it ABUNDANTLY clear whether we were supposed to bring Hadrian or not. We had lots of options available (leaving him at “puppy camp” long-term, with a neighbor who offered to watch him, staying with Andrew’s family…), and I was waffling back and forth about whether or not staying in a hotel would be the best thing for him. I didn’t like the idea of leaving him for months at a time, but I also didn’t like the idea of him living in a crate in a hotel, possibly barking and being a pest. Well, God made it so clear that by the time I left the Staybridge that day, I didn’t even feel like I needed to check out any other temporary living options.

So, the three of us will move into the Staybridge the night we get in, and it will be the perfect time to start running with Hadrian in the mornings, and when I go to EA to run errands or visit with Andrew’s family, Hadrian will just tag along. Between being in the hotel with me and hanging out at Andrew’s parents’ house, he’s going to have a blast.

This is already way longer than I’d anticipated… More updates coming soon: how God is/will be (I hope!) providing a job for me in NY, and, hopefully soon, a house!