Hello.

We've been gone for a little while. Since our last post much has taken place. And now that I'm sick and don't feel like moving far from the couch, it's a good time to play catch up. For starters, we have a new beagle puppy, Ramona Quimby Utter. See below. This is face she made when I told her she wasn't getting any Christmas Cookies. Ben celebrated his 29th birthday last Sunday after a whirlwind weekend in Minnesota saying goodbye to his beloved Grandma Rosell. He also finished up his first full semester as adjunct professor at 2 local community colleges. It's exhausting work but his students seem to dig him. What else has happened since our last post?? Barack Obama won. I have a new running partner. And LOTS of people have had babies! I hope to keep up the blog here and there.

Advent Celebration at the Winters. All the delights of the season including carols and flaming figgy pudding straight out of "A Christmas Carol."

TeamBUBU has temporarily relocated to Bomet,Kenya. We hope to post updates here and there!

OBX

We were graced this weekend with a visit from Ben's dad. We decided to bypass the usual spots for out of town guests and jump into the car for a trip to the Outer Banks. We ended up on Haetteras Island, home to the tree with the only clue from the lost colony of Roanoke as well as to one of several lighthouses. We chose a real motor inn (mostly because they accomodated dogs).
Sophie had a marvelous time at the beach-though I have no pictures, sadly. She went leash free and galloped all over, chasing hermit crabs. She also jumped into the ocean a couple of times. I was so happy to see her happy. It makes me wonder how much greater it would be to see one's children having a wonderful time.
Ben took this shot from a quick stop over in Durham, at Duke. It wins in my book as most aesthetically pleasing college campus. Ever.

Benjamin Utter, MA

Ben's enlivening experience came to a celebratory end last week. Pictured above are brothers Joe and Andy and below are Ben's wonderful classmates--all off to various exotic :) locales including Chapel Hill and Princeton, NJ. We'll be here in Winston, except, hopefully, for the month of August when we will be in Bomet, Kenya, Lord and finances willing.

Travel and Work

We are aiming at a month spent doing the Lord's work here.
We are a bit overwhelmed at the paperwork at the moment.

Lights and Tunnels

This is the stack of books that Ben returned to the WFU library today after successfully defending his Master's Thesis on Thursday. I won't tell you how many of them are past due. The title of his thesis, as I know you are all dying to know so that you can stow it away and someday later buy his book, is " 'A dark rose of sunset between tree and tree': Landscape Imagery in the Arthuriad of Charles Williams".
This is his office which looks empty without all the books. Thankfully, he has hundreds of others in bookshelves all around. So now the only thing that separates Ben from graduation is a few hundred lines from Beowulf to translate from Old English. That shouldn't take much, right?

Around the House

This has been a rather wonderful weekend so far. Sophie started off right with two separate runs on Friday, and spent the rest of the weekend on her favorite perch which has now been marred by a new house that is being built across the street.
I took pictures of things growing around the house. I was so excited about the red tulips that were going to spring up-until I realized that we had bright pink azaelas on either side of the sidewalk. So much for the red contrasting with the black and white house. But the colors are nonetheless bright and brilliant and sing of spring.

I was particularly excited to see the hyacinths growing. They aren't giving off much perfume, which is what I love most about them. Perhaps because this is their first growing season.

This is the beginning of our garden. It includes broccoli, squash, tomatoes, various greens including red leaf lettuce and arugula. I planted a few herbs including tarragon. Some of them are seeds and some were established. I planted marigolds which apparently deter rodents. I'm not sure if 3 will do the trick but I was too cheap to buy more. There are a couple of roots in the way. I decided not to dig them up but rather to leave them in place. They are markers for the planted seeds. They way they project upward reminds me of the rock in the field in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimph. I hope everyone's weekend is blissful.

Easter and Hero Husband

With no family in town, Ben and I were forced :) to spend an Easter meal with other friends without family. So we, the budding Episcopalians, had a splendid meal with our Lutheran and Catholic friends. We seem to mesh pretty well despite our denominational histories. I was sad to have to return to work on Monday after a luxiourious 3 day weekend (3.5 if you count post-call) and didn't have time to shop for the week's groceries before getting home late Monday evening. Ben to the rescue! Home smelled like tropical heaven with his simmering mango chicken. I felt lucky indeed.
Then, after slaving in the kitchen all afternoon, he had to put on his plumbing hat as his dear wife forgets that the garbage disposal is not a magical place where leftovers disappear - especially when those leftovers are artichokes.
I felt very well taken care of this gloomy post-Easter Monday.

Earliest Spring Kitchen Notes

The ingredients of this stew are not particularly spring-ly but it is nearing the end of cold weather and time to squeeze in one more hearty dish before all the delights of spring vegetables make their way into the farmer's market and our plates. (By the way I dreadfully miss the LR farmer's market; we have no river nearby ours and not a single fiddle player). This dish comes straight out of an Italian cookbook called The Silver Spoon. Both the cookbook and the dish were introduced to us by way of one of Ben's fellow grad students. Her endless bottles of Pellegrino have helped us drink less diet cokes; sparkling water is our "transition drink," sadly. The cookbook was recently translated into English and the directions are sometimes rather vague, but the stew is forgiving and worth the guesswork.
Vodka alla Agnollo (lamb with vodka)

Ingredients:
meat stock (I used beef)
1 3/4 lb leg of lamb cut into pieces
12 prunes pitted
2 tbs strained tomatoes
1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove chopped
1 celery heart sliced
bay leaf
paprika
1/4 cup vodka
1 cup arborio rice
Directions:
boil stock. add mutton (lamb) and simmer for 40 minutes. Place prunes in a bowl, add warm water to cover and soak for 30 minutes, then drain. Melt 1 tbs butter in a pot; stir in strained tomatoes, onion, garlic, celery, and a bay leaf. Cook 5 minutes. Pour in vodka, add salt paprika, cook for a few minutes more. Stir constantly. Add hot stock, a little at a time, stir constantly, then add lamb, rice, and prunes. Stir constantly for 20 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Yum! (my addition). Goes well with yeast rolls.