Just a few things worth noting

(Hi, this is Alex.) So, a couple of weeks ago Katie put up a very nice post where she briefly mentioned the roquefort honey ice cream that we made with our new ice cream maker.  That night we had Ephraim and Amy and their family over for dinner, and they both partook of the luscious frozen liquid.  We ate it over caramelized walnuts and pears.  It definitely took Eph and Amy bye surprise since we wouldn't tell them what was in it before they tried it, but I think they at least enjoyed the experience, even if they wouldn't necessarily want to repeat it anytime soon.  Katie and I actually quite liked it, and the remaining ice cream didn't last the week.  That being said, the one who liked it the most was Daphne, as demonstrated by the video below:



Like I said, Eph and Amy weren't quite so sure...


Anyway, lest you think that all of the food we make is strange, last Sunday we had this...

...homemade vanilla bean ice cream (from the vanilla we made at Christmastime) and strawberry rhubarb crisp (with rhubarb from our garden).  Both were very good.

Last Tuesday Katie had her last final of her third of vet school.  To celebrate I took Friday and Saturday off from work.  We were going to go camping, but it rained more or less all weekend, so instead we did this...

...weeded, mulched, and made new supports for our blackberry bushes.

We also did this...

...put in our herb garden.  We currently have chives, sage, oregano, thyme, marjoram, parsley, coriander, tarragon, dill, and of course basil.  The last thing we did Saturday afternoon was to build this...

...okay, so it's not quite done, but after a roof and a few cages are added (right now it's on it's side...it's actually about 3'X3'X8'), you are looking at what is the future home for our rabbits.  I'm sure there will be more pictures of this in the future.  Hopefully it will be inhabited by lagomorphs in approximately 3 weeks.  Bet you're all as excited as we are!

Final final

Today was my last final. I survived it. It was for an art class (radiology). The test was all about looking at images and interpreting them. For example, what is this?

A dog and his heart. That is right. Extra points if you can tell that it is a BIG heart.

Here's another one. Name the species.

Horse digit. (The mineralization on the lateral side is not normal).

To celebrate the end of finals, Alex and I had lunch at Dunkin Donuts. We chose that particular location because someone had given me a gift card there. I am not sure why, since I am neither a coffee nor a donut person, but I looked online and saw that they have sandwiches, so away we went.

There were some flatbread sandwiches on the menu that looked mildly interesting. One was turkey sausage and one was veggie. Since I don't particularly care for sausage, I asked what was in the veggie sandwich. "Vegetables." Of course. I got it and it did have a patty that was composed of something that had cooked egg like consistency as well as a few flecks of what were probably spinach and carrots.

Alex got this:

It tasted about how it looks. And we even got to watch the lady take it out of the freezer, unwrap it, and toss it in the microwave. And who says that Americans have lost the connection with where their food comes from? Puh-lease.

The end.

The Purpose of Life

Is having kids.

My life is complete.

More than one kid is preferable. 

Another purpose: good eats.

Daphne's got that part down. She loved the Roquefort Honey Ice Cream (top picture, stealing from dad) almost as much as I did. She also likes Eastered Deviled Eggs. 

Some good sleep is important.

Friends are good, especially when they are good friends, and especially when they bring Heifer cakes to share. 

Then there's family.

I like my family. Especially when they try our weird, cheesy dessert and think its kind of cool.

The rest is just icing on the cake. 

Sorry, I can't get over how cute these little dudes are.


Disclaimer: my life is not really complete yet. Those weren't my kids. The kids belonged to these fine young men, Evan and Griffon:

Khrystos Voskres!

Happy Easter, Everyone!

Today is a very special day, the day that we celebrate the atonement of our Lord, Jesus Christ, culminating in His victory over death, i.e. resurrection. Somehow Easter has been overshadowed in America by Christmas, but this isn't the case in other places in the world. Where I served my mission, the western half of Ukraine, Easter is the major religious holiday. Christmas is celebrated, but not nearly as intensely or universally as Easter. This may be at least in part due to the fact that during the times of the Soviet Union, New Years was THE winter holiday with the tree (yolka in Russian or yalinka in Ukrainian) and presents, etc. centered on that day. But Easter is THE major religious holiday in Ukraine, and rightly so. I had the opportunity to spend two Easters in Ukraine, one in Bila Tserkva, a small city of about 200,000 people, and the other in L'viv, the largest city in Western Ukraine (~750,000 people). Both of these holidays were very memorable, and honestly much more enjoyable than either of the Christmases I had in Ukraine. This is likely due to the fact that it wasn't -20 degrees C outside, as well as to the fact that I prefer green grass and blue sky to grey everything. One can imagine that this plays on the Ukrainian psyches as well.

For this post, I thought I'd share some of my memories of Ukrainian Easter. I should start out by saying that this is my impression of how things were/are, and that I can't guarantee that this is all 100% culturally accurate. If any of my Ukrainian friends ever happen to read this, I hope they will forgive my possibly biased observations. First I should say that the majority of Ukrainians are either Orthodox Christians, or, as in the western tip of Ukraine (i.e. L'viv) they are Catholic, more specifically Greek Catholic. To simplify things greatly, the Greek Catholic church is a melding of orthodox liturgical practices and allegiance to the Pope. There is an interesting article about this here.

Anyway, for all intents and purposes, the outward celebration of Easter for both of these churches is very similar. What will likely come to mind first for anyone thinking of Ukraine is Ukrainian Easter eggs or pysanky. Pysanky are extremely intricately decorated eggs, they can be wooden or the hollowed out shells of chicken or goose eggs (real eggs in my opinion are both more attractive and more impressive). The designs and motifs used have specific meanings and different designs are used in different areas of the country. Below are pictures of some of my favorites from my collection:

See here for some interpretation of symbols.

Of course, I don't want to give the impression that all Easter eggs in Ukraine are elaborately decorated.  They have kits, just like we have here in America.

This is a picture of Sister T'kachova in L'viv with her four children.  My companion and I took part in this decorating extravaganza.  We had purchased some eggs and came with a coloring kit from America.  They were already working on coloring the yellow/orange eggs in the middle (dyed by boiling with yellow onion skins).  The income for this family was based solely on the pyrozhky (dumplings or pies) that Sister T'kachova made and which her husband would sell on the street. Decorating Easter eggs with this family is one of my most precious Easter memories.

After decorating the eggs, Ukrainians head to church with a basket full of the eggs, sausage, paskha (traditinal Easter bread), and even horilka (Ukrainian whiskey). There it will be blessed by a priest.  The food will be taken home and eaten for dinner that evening, along with other foods prepared for the Easter meal.

This is outside one of the largest Greek Catholic churches in L'viv on the day before Easter.  Notice the LONG line outside?  If you look closely you can see the baskets with the goods to be blessed.

Often, the basket will be liked with an embroidered cloth like this:

I purchased this from a lady selling sunflower seeds at a bus stop in Bila Tserkva.  It says "Khrystos Voskres (Christ Resurrected), Voistyny Voskres (Truly he resurrected)." This is the traditional greeting and response used on Easter in Ukraine.  The twigs with willow buds are to represent the palm leaves that were laid before Christ during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem before his Crucifixion.  Traditionally willow buds are brought to the church on Palm Sunday to be blessed by the priest.  The blessed twigs will then be placed in the house for good luck throughout the rest of the year.

The majority of the people I met while serving in Ukraine had sincere and strong belief in Jesus Christ and his resurrection.  The members of the church were especially good examples of living with faith under difficult and constantly trying circumstances.  My faith has been forever changed and enriched by theirs.

This is Elder Jarvi and I serving together in the spring of 2001 in L'viv.  Elder Jarvi now lives in the same city that I do and is participating in the same MD/PhD program that I am.  Small world, ey?  We were great friends on our missions and are great friends now.  You can tell by his smile that he is a good guy.

Translation: Family happiness can be forever.  This is a Russian pass along card, and what it says is true.

"He gave his life, to break the bonds of death." Elder Richard G. Scott

Today

I got to use power tools. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it. But I do have a picture of the cast we put on a cadaver limb as well as what it looked like after we took it off, thanks to Jason's camera phone.

Me in coveralls. Dead leg + cast.

Getting ready to amputate a digit.

Cast - off. Please forgive the cheesy smile.

Jason. He did the dirty work.

I Love Spring!

For many reasons.
1) It is not so cold I have to wear five layers of clothing inside my house to stay warm.
2) I can ride my bike to school.
3) Things grow!

Daffodils are popping up all over the place, including in my yard!

There is a tulip hiding in there.

We got this plant off of Freecycle and we still aren't sure what it is. I am just excited that it is still alive. Anyone have any ideas as to what it is?

Then there is this beautiful thing budding all over the place. This is a peach tree we planted last year. I can already taste all the delicious things that are going to come off of this tree.

Apricot tree.

Plum tree. Alex had to tell me which these all were because I can never remember. Please don't mind that patch of dirt in the background. It is having an identity crises. It isn't sure yet what it wants to be - a weed patch, a mud patch, or maybe grass someday. There are lots of identity crises going on in our yard, but I am not going to blog about them.

Forsooth, forsythia! And a chain link fence.

There are little sticks poking up out of the ground here that you can't see. They are raspberries. They used to be bigger sticks until one day when the dogs decided that they wanted to chew them up, then they were littler sticks.

Grape plant just planted by husband.

This is our future garden. Alex prepared it all while I was gone in Idaho. I swear, if I left town more often, lots of things would get done.

Future space of rabbit cages. Stay tuned for more pictures.

Do you know what this is?

Does this help? It is the belly button of the house. You know, an outie.

Sometimes patios are the dumping grounds for everything that is in a state of flux. Dirt, doors, chairs, random pieces of wood. They all need a forever home. Any takers?

Things are growing inside too!!

I find it so amazing that you can plant seeds and that they grow. Does anyone else think that is incredible, or is it just me?

This just in: Alex wants a dibble. Over and out.