White Citrus Buttercream

When you think of the seasons, what is the first food the comes to your mind?

Summer gets fresh fruits and veggies in all their glory, ice cream on a hot night, and burgers on the grill. 

Fall has the dueling mascots of apple and pumpkin spice. 

Winter boasts warm spices, chocolate and the ever classic candy canes. 

What about spring???

As the weather has started to tease us with warmer temps and the onset of green grass I am excited for the newness of spring. We have extra newness this year as we have moved into our new house we recently built.

While diving into my kitchen this week I wanted to make some items that felt new and fresh like spring. The last few years I have whipped up a homemade carrot cake for easter but that is not for a few more weeks.

So I created something new that fits somewhere after the chocolate of Valentines day but before the peaches and cream of July. 

To start with, I made a basic sugar cookie recipe, but added some lemon zest. If you do not have a good recipe of your own, I posted mine below. I like my sugar cookies soft and gooey so I try to keep the extra flour amount limited. When rolling them out to cut the shape you need to flour the your surface, if your cookies are sticking, try freezing them for a short period of time instead of adding more flour. You can also make these ahead and chill the dough until you are ready to use it. 

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 tablespoon lemon zest 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

2 1/4 cups flour 

Cream the first 6 ingredients together then add dry ingredients. Roll out on a floured surface and cut out any shape you want. I used a large cup to make the size that I needed. 

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To create my spring-flavored frosting I experimented with some simple but rich flavors. After making the frosting (see recipe below) I put it in a ziplock freezer bag and froze it overnight. When I was ready to frost the cookies I put the bag in warm water. You'll want to make sure it is zipped, and fully thawed, so the frosting is smooth without any chunks. Using your hands to smooth it out while the bag is zipped is less messy than trying to mix it inside the bag. When the frosting is smooth, clip the very tip of the bag corner and you are ready to frost fun designs on your cookies. 

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I added orange zest on top for color and an extra burst of flavor. Also these pair well with french press coffee, but then....doesn't every cookie? 

Chrysalis

What I learned in a year I never saw coming

Its been a year and half since we said tearful goodbyes and walked into the biggest step of faith.  A little over 18 months since we loaded up two trailers and three vehicles to drive 2 hours east in record breaking rainfalls.  By the time we got to Archbold roads were starting to shut down because of flooding, quite the welcome. We left everything in the garage at what we thought would be the rental we would evenly move in as soon as renovations were finished. Last year in early July I thought we would move into that rental, start the school year, wait for our dream house to come up for sale and start our life in Ohio. Spoiler alert, none of this really happened. 

July 2015 was a whirlwind of events but one moment stood out to me. One night I was sitting out by the lake by myself and clearly had this feeling come over me. I kept feeling the words "rest, I am calling you to rest" enter my thoughts. I knew God was saying this to me, but I honestly was confused. My train of thought was basically, "I am starting a brand new job, my teaching license is still transferring, I left everything comfortable in Goshen, and we haven't even moved into our house in Archbold...how could I possibly REST?" So I tried, I sat by the water and watched the sunset, I read books, I went for long runs, and I drifted on a raft in them middle of the afternoon. I got close, but always in the back of my head I felt that worry gathering up.

August came with a vacation cut short due to paperwork for my teaching license getting messed up, our rental house falling through resulting in moving everything to another rental house, new teacher orientation, and the start of my new job teaching middle school art. It was all so new and raw and scary. Yet it was also beautiful too. The open house night for school I anticipated a few people stoping in my room, there was a line out the door and down the hall of parents and student to meet me. And that first Friday when the last bell rang and I had made it through the first week, I just walked around the room speechless, it was surreal. 

It was in those moments right before our move that time seemed to jump around. It is a weird feeling that calm before the storm of a move, and now we experience it again. Here we are again on the verge of a move. Playing that guessing game of what can I pack now and what will I need for the next two weeks? Do I wash all the ben linens now or wait 10 days until the new washer is installed? Will I need this, is it worth the move? All these question have been bringing back feelings from that move from Goshen.

 As we get ready to move into the house we have been building for the last 8 months I wanted to reflect on a few things I have learned in our Chrysalis, our time of waiting. 

1. Even if it is hard, like throw your hands up, don't want to leave the couch all night, please don't talk to me for a minute, hard... God is still Good. 

We felt God call us here, his hand was in our first move to Ohio, we have called on him to lead us and show us a clear path. He did, the path was clear but the moments after the move were hard. To be honest it is still hard and we are working on it. Leaving Goshen left a big Michiana size whole in our hearts.  I tried to long to fill it but found there is no way. Those memories, experiences and people will always own a piece of us. Ohio will not fill that but it will give us new memories, moments and people to love. There is this verse that touches me so and I feel it speaks to this. It is in Daniel and the 3 men are to be thrown into the fire. They tell the king, "Yes, our God can save us. Yet even if he does not he is still a Good God and we will serve him."

“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.””
— Daniel 3:16-18

We are still finding life after our move is really hard, but that doesn't mean he led us here for no reason or left us. Even when it feels like we have a long way to go to feel settled I cling to this. God is not making this world perfect for us, but his love for us is. 

2. The things I though were the reasons I wanted to move here were really good reasons. 

At the time we moved I thought I wanted a change in my job and more time spent with family. Turns out I really, really did. There have been so many simple moments I could not imagine giving up. Sitting on my grandparents' porch, trips to the park with our nephew, the amount of growth and happiness I have found with my job, and the chance to build a house together only start the list. We have been blessed with sweet, priceless memories I will hold tight. 

3. Change is ok and it will come

When we moved, even though I asked for it and knew it was coming it was really hard for me. I did not deal well with it and I started to more than fear change, I hated it. Lately I have been trying hard to not only expect change but to embrace it. I felt that change was taking things from me. Every time was something new in my life I despised it because it  meant work and most often than not pain. However after that work and pain comes the growth and that is what I was missing. Just a small amount of that growth, of that learning to be a little bit stronger, better, newer, that is enough to forget how crazy change can be. There is a quote I found before we moved, when I was only hoping to be as open to change as I am now. I will leave you with that. 

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“Here’s to freedom, cheers to art. Here’s to having an excellent adventure and may the stopping never star”
— Jason Mraz

The Last Few Months

You know how a big storm has to start somewhere, either the breeze picks up or a few rain drops fall?  It's not instant but gradual, slowly gaining momentum until it is big, powerful and can change things. Thats how our story started; just a little breeze, a few rain drops, but I could feel the force behind it from the very start. 

Earlier this year I was contacted by my high school art teacher to say she was going to retire. When I received her email I actually read it and dismissed it. I had a sense of guilt, thinking my job and life in Goshen was so good; who was I to want more? However, I felt my heart stings pull a few times and by the time she emailed back to say the middle school teacher would be taking her job opening up the middle school art position I knew I needed to discuss things with Trev. We did the "what if" conversation but it seemed so hard to stomach. There was so much to love about our life in Goshen: our church, friends, jobs, routine and our dream house. It seemed the conversation stopped for a while and I was ready to let the idea of a new job go, but then I had one of those days.  The one where everything piles up so fast you can't fight it off.  The thought that I would have a day or a month like this for the rest of my teaching career was too much. I get that we all have bad days but it came down to this:

My job had become about so many things other than what I loved.

So with that push over the edge I called my older brother who had left an exciting life and job in Idaho to move back to our hometown. He told me to try it and through the process I would know.  This made sense since I hadn't stepped foot in that school since I graduated in 8th grade. I went home and told Trevor the news, I was going for it.  My ever encouraging, sensible husband respond with the line "Ok, but if we are doing this, we are doing it right. You are going to get this job."  With that it was resumes, cover letters, and two interviews later I was offered the job. 

In the mist of this storm of change brewing, I felt a constant sense of peace throughout this process. Not that I would call my faith lacking before this but there was a lack of resistance of anything to really make me question, wonder and look.  This was a push off a cliff in my walk of faith.  This doesn't mean the last few months have been easy, or truly rewarding, or even brag worthy for that matter. These last few months have just been needed by my soul for a long time and I am thankful for the hurt, for the emotions and the movement to get me to this new place in my faith journey. 

The day I moved into my new classroom with my sweet support system. 




What I Ate in the Big Apple

A few months ago, I went on a dream trip with two girlfriends to New York City. It was a quick four day weekend trip filled with laughter, sky scrapers and of course, food! The main goal of our trip was to help my friend Ashley take dreamy engegement photos of a classy couple. Ashley's work and stories of her adventures can be seen here: ashleydru.com. In between broadway shows, subway rides and photo shoots, we fit in a few great places to eat. While I did not document every single bite, here are some of the places we visited while in the City.

1. LIllies Victorian Establishment (Time Square) 

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  • What I ate: Fish and Chips, Shepherd's pie, creme brulee, panna cotta 
  • What it was like: Your English grandmother's over the top estate that got turned into a pub party during the intermission of a broadway show. 
  • Who I would take back with me: Anyone who can appreciate stainglass windows and great desserts. 
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  • What I ate: Black coffee, Macchiato 
  • What it was like: Sex in the city meets your local coffee shop. The location, decor and menu felt oh so Carrie Bradshaw, but the service was store-next-door level. 
  • Who I would take back with me: Girlfriends who know their way around good coffee and tea. 
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  • What I ate: Three cheese pesto grilled cheese and a chia tea latte. 
  • What it was like: A chic terrace with a modern twist. 
  • Who I would take back with me: Artsy friends who would be down for some great soho shopping afterwords. 

4. Bouchan Bakery

  • What I ate: Cheese danish and black coffee. 
  • What it was like: A french bakery with a view of the Today show being filmed. 
  • Who I would take back with me: Anyone who enjoys flakey pastries and the weather from Al Roker. 

5. Shake Shack 

  • What I ate: A Shack burger with everything, a vanilla shake and fries. 
  • What it was like: This classed up version of Steak-N-Shake with glasses of wine and tables made from old bowling alleys in Brooklyn. 
  • Who I would take back with me: My husband's 85 year old grandparents who know their way around a good burger and fries. 

6. Della Rocco's Pizza 

  • What I ate: The Burrata Parma, the Salsiccia and the best Tiramisu of my life. 
  • What it was like: A little slice of cozy Italy on the streets of Brooklyn. 
  • Who I would take back with me: Trev, my pizza loving, husband of course. 
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