5Spokes

Multimedia message

2010-05-11T17:45:00.001-07:00

Rabbits got into my beans last night! They try again, it's rabbit stew! New fence may just save their furry little lives.

Multimedia message

2010-04-28T05:59:00.001-07:00

Almost everything sprouted!

Multimedia message

2010-04-19T16:34:00.001-07:00

All the seeds tucked in there beds and ready to grow!

Multimedia message

2010-04-18T17:19:00.001-07:00

Getting the sq ft garden ready to go. Putting up netting this year to hel with the beans!

Multimedia message

2010-03-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

This years bumper crop of flowers!

Spring is in the air!

2010-03-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

Started the seedlings for our flower beds. Snapdragons, wave petunias, impatients, and pastel daisy's. The girls and I will be starting a plot in the community garden at Oaklandon Christian Church again this year. Our plot did not produce as much as I wanted it to last year due to us not visiting it as much as we needed to. But this year we will do alot more work in it. I am going to also try growing melons on a trelis in the home garden. Still staying organic in both plots.

I am really growing quite irritated at all the chemicals we use in our daily lives. Really it has to start moving the other way. I have a couple of ideas of how I can make a difference with this at least at the local Indianapolis level. Stay tuned!

On a good note! I started a huge step towards my New Years Resolution of reading more. I am signed up for a program that tracks your progress and helps you read through the entire Bible in 1 year. I learned of the website Christianity.com from a new couple in our life group this evening. Thanks for that tip!

Random Thought......in the book of Genisis it says "let us make man in our image, in our likeness" Was the Mrs. there with him? Or is this the Father Son Holy Spirit "our"....

A man and his Truck

2010-02-17T06:54:00.000-08:00

I have the overwhelming urge to get the biggest, gas guzzling, completely unneccesary truck I can find. I need it for all the things I dont have....a boat, a dog, etc. Even a dually would be nice! But the ideal truck is a GMC Stepside Crew Cab 4x4. I particularly like the the late 90 model! Marroon.

2009-06-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

Here is the garden on june 22nd. Starting to get yellow squash and zuchini.

Closeup of the garden layout

2009-05-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

Fresh veggies on the way!!!!!!!!

Garden is planted

2009-05-04T17:47:00.000-07:00

Finally had enough time and persuasion from Alisha to get the garden planted. I am so excited to see the results. We (Isabella, Ava and I) planted corn, peas, heirloom tomatos, jalapenos, watermelon, zuchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots, onions, basil, cilantro, rosemary. I think that is it. I am still curious as to how all of that is going to fit in this space?

We planted the watermelon, zuchini and squash around the edge so that they could flow out of the rasied bed if needed.

Moved the operation indoors

2009-04-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

Just to make Alisha happy I decided to bring the seedlings inside. She was thrilled. But hey at least the stand I built is made out of the same flooring as our kitchen. It matches! My only worry was that the cats love to get into stuf like this. Sure enough they did. This pictur is from a couple of weeks ago. I now have corn, tomatoes , beans, peas, lettuce and onion seedlings that are much bigger. I will take a picture soon and post. The last frost is supposed to be around April 28th so that is when I will move these outside. Isabella, Ava and I also planted a flat of Snapdragons. We love the colors and they are fun to play with. We grew a ton of them in Cincinnati. Hopefully they will do well here as well.

Cold Frame Newbie

2009-03-20T09:05:00.001-07:00

So I checked the temperature of the soil under the plasitc and it was up to 70. I am worried that it will get to hot during the middle of the day so I started to open the corners. But by the time I got home last night there was already some frost on the cover. It was light so i hope the seeds are ok. I am not expecting much from the seeds this year, I am sure I will be buying transplants for my garden, but I just wanted to give it a shot. It gets me out in the yard which is my favorite place at home!

Green Thumb?

2009-03-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

Isabella and I planted our seeds in the trays and tucked them in to the raised bed today. We are trying to start some seeds before the last frost date and then transplant them into the garden. We (translate, Steve) cant wait until the last frost so we are trying this out. At least this year I dont have them on a kitchen stool in front of the back door window. Alisha did not like me turning the kitchen into a plant nursery last year. So I got some plastic and spread it over the empty raised bed and voila!!!! A dave ramsey worthy green house. Only spent 1.89 on the plastic! We worked on the flower beds today, cutting back all of the dead vegetation and trying to remember what was planted where. I need to draw a map out this year. It was a beautiful day here in Indy today.

My Garden has begun!!!!!

2009-03-09T18:14:00.000-07:00

Here is the raised bed sqaure foot garden. It still needs the soil added. The girls and I built this today. It was easy to build and much cheaper than buying one. Today the weather was great, you can see the girls in the background on cushions under blankets as they supervised me. We are picking out the spring vegetables that we are going to plant. If we do well, i will build another box before summer to get a bigger summer harvest. You plant a different plant in each box, or multiples of that plant in each one if they are small (like carrots). Then you have zero weeds, have to water less, and never need to fertilize because you make the soil mix perfect and organic before you plant. Sounds to good to be true. Well you can follow me along the journey to growing my own vegetables!

Authentic

2009-02-23T19:16:00.000-08:00

If there is one thing I strive to be, it is to be remembered as authentic. Being trustworthy and genuine in my efforts no matter if it be parenting, cooking, freindship or partner. Am I that way? Not as much as I would like, but working on it. I think that it is important to be comfortable in your own skin, and not try to be something that you are not. So that brings the question, if your personality is not of a certain character can you learn to be authentic at being trustworhty, or polite, or fun? I sure hope so, because I am not as kind, thoughtful, etc as I would like to be. Can you teach others to change? A person can only change so much before you look at them and see right through it....or there can be life changing events that happen to change a person. I do believe that, but it has to be tramatic I would think.

Enough of this babble. Reading about Indian food makes me look at cooking again with fresh eyes! Kind of like when I first started to read La Rousse Gastronomique or Escoffier or Jaques Pepin for that matter. I understand the method, but the style and technique is amazing and so simple. I am geting more and more cynical of overhyped, overthought food and wanting simple and honest food. I still get blown away by chefs that amaze me with clever combinations that I would never have thought of....its just not what I want to do. Does not feel genuine or authentic to me.

Valentines Day

2009-02-17T20:26:00.000-08:00

WOW, did we get blasted at work on Valentines Day. I am still in a daze and can hear the ticket machine churning away with no signs of stopping!!!! There was a point where I looked up from the line (pasta was getting pounded and I jumped in to help) and my sous chef Will had this glazed over look on his face and a 1/2 inch stack of tickets in his hand with the rail full and I just thought to myself.....THIS IS AWESOME!!!!! Nothing like testing the limits of your team and kitchen. I am so proud of the guys in the kitchen and the entire restaurant for pulling off such a great record breaking day.

I am now researching Indian cuisine. I love love love the spices and combinations that are so rich and powerful and silky smooth at the same time. I will be directing any and all eating out at any local Indian restaurants. My family will be so thrilled, yeah right.

Slumdog was great!

2009-02-09T06:29:00.000-08:00

Saw the movie and I thought it was really good. Did not feel that the money was wasted, which is how I usually feel after actually going out to a movie. It just had a refreshing angle from the director. I loved the fact that I did not know one of these actors and fell into the plot right from the begining. The characters were almost like superheroes, pushing through great obsticles that most would find impossible from an affluent american viewpoint. It seems like our poverty is nowhere near as extensive as an India...what a wakeup call to how great your own life is. You will come away from this movie feeling like a "millionaire" compared to what you thought you were "suffering" before.

I love good soup

2009-01-25T17:42:00.000-08:00

I need to eat more soup. Nothing better than a well made soup. Alisha made some Tortilla soup today and it was outstanding! I always think about opening up a soup kitchen with a made to order salad bar. Someday maybe. The snow was really pretty snow today. Fell very slowly with fluffy flakes!

I just want to go fishing

2009-01-13T23:37:00.000-08:00

Man what I would do to have a pole in the water and a shiner bock in my hand. Doesnt take much to make me happy. But zero degree weather is not on that list. I cant stand the cold!!! My girls make fun of me because I wear "Long Johns" anytime it gets below 30. And if I put on ear muffs.....forget it...I am the laughing stock of this household....No respect I tell ya. Thats ok, when I get them into 3 weeks of over 100 degrees down in Texas again someday, well see who is laughing then. Hahahahahahahahaaaaahahahahahaahahahahahaaa.

No Snow

2009-01-11T16:56:00.000-08:00

I was looking forward to some snow this new year. Its good that it did not come because it always kills business at work, but the kids and I love to go out and play. There is still lots of time. Had a great workout today, I am trying to alternate full body, cardio, etc so I dont get to bored. I am very A.D.D when it comes to exercising. I am thinking about getting into indoor soccer again, but this time with old folks so I dont tear up my knee again.

We are planning a family beach vacation to Myrtle Beach this year. I have never been so i am very excited. But you could put me on just about any beach and I am fine with it.

Debt Freeeeeeeeee here we come

2009-01-05T18:04:00.000-08:00

We are officially on the Dave Ramsey program. I feel energized and ready to be debt free. Started shredding credit cards today! A little scary but liberating at the same time. We are going to be living on Beans and Rice for a while but thats ok. I think we have spoiled ourselves pretty good and this will be a nice trip back to reality.

Work is going well. Sales are still pretty good, thank God!

Staying on track with weight loss goal and should be back in the 180's by Jan 23 when I turn 38....Holy Moly I am getting old!!!!!! (just the fact that I just typed Holy Moly shows how old I am) haha....

Allergies

2008-12-10T21:08:00.000-08:00

We had about 15 allergies at work tonight. So many people with food allergies, why? Isnt it alarming that we are becoming more and more allergic as a society to what we put in our bodies. I have a theory that we are becoming to sanitized as a society. I always say that I feed my kids a little dirt each day to help their bodies learn how to fight off infection. I think that there might actually be something to that. I am not discounting the real pain that people feel due to allergies, I truly am compasionate about them now. I used to lump them in with vegetarians ( who I have come to respect through personal growth) as a group who I had no real interest in helping. But I look at it entirely differently now. Just to see the joy that a person has that can actually eat a decent meal without fear is enough to give me a passion for it. I have learned a great deal about cooking and flavors by having to substitute or completely omit ingredients in classic preparations.

I digress from my original thought of why we are becoming more allergic. I was talking to some of my guys and they said there is hardly any allergies in Mexico. They say that if you get a rash or something there, people think that the cooking was bad. They think we complain to much. We should be happy to have such a wide variety of food. I agree. I MAKE my kids taste everything I cook at home. They may say they dont like it the first 4-5 times they try it but eventually they come around to at least tolerating it. I dont let them off that easy with "I dont like it!" I cant stand when they say something is disgusting, when it is not, perhaps they dont care for it but it is not like its a pile of steaming guts!!!!! Thats disgusting.

Great day

2008-12-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

Just got back from spending the day out shopping and eating with the family. Alisha reminded me today just how important it is to just be silly with the family. We played around with the kids just soaking in the giggles and laughter. Thanks Alisha for reminding me to not miss out on this part of our kids growing up. I know one day they wont want to just be silly and play like we did today.

On another note, did I mention how upset I was that the cowboys lost??????

Cowboys are killing me

2008-12-07T21:59:00.000-08:00

I wanted to beat the steelers so bad!

New coat today!

2008-12-02T17:49:00.000-08:00

I very rarely buy clothes and when I do its usually some rag off the clearance rack at a discount store. Usually one leg is longer than the other, or it falls apart after one or two washes...anyway,
Alisha is breaking me of this bad habit. I now only buy good brands but it kills me to spend the money. I just bought a columbia parka and I LOVE IT! but I cant wear it to work because it will end up smelling like garlic and fish and herbs......not that there is anything wrong with that. But I want to keep this looking good. Speaking of smelling like food, I think its a good thing. I think that long after I am dead and gone my kids will think of me anytime they walk into a good smelling restaurant or when they cook at home! Makes me smile inside.

Back into the blog

2008-12-01T16:22:00.000-08:00

I am going to pick this thing up again I think. Things are going well, we are starting to get a little busier at work which is much needed. Still looks pretty bad out there, restaurants closing every few weeks or so. I have started to get interested in cooking the dishes that I grew up with. I can tell you this, I make them no where near as good as my mother did. It is making me angry, I should be able to cook these. Calabazita con Pollo, tortillas, Arroz, Fideo, etc. I am making it a point to cook at least one of these once a week and make my kids eat this great stuff. I am still exercising and eating better (except for the once a week tortillas etc) after my doctor said I have borderline high cholesterol and if it is not down in 3 months I go on medicine. I am only 37!!! I cant be on high cholestorol medication!

So its bust my butt in the gym and eat like an almost vegetarian, which I have come to appreciate in my maturation. I dont even call them celery suckers anymore. In fact I am studying some vegetarian cooking alla Charlie Trotter recipes. Amazing stuff.

I busted

2008-08-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

I am just not feeling the 180 lbs anymore. I am more interested in getting stronger and building some. I dont know, just cant bring myself to not eat. I will try the other way of exercising harder to burn more.

Planning a new garden. Raised beds, Potager style (mix of edible flowers and vegetables)
I am feeling the itch of getting a new car as well, But the little strawberry neon needs to get me through 1 more year. Then I think it might be a mercedes.

I am thinking of starting a foundation for disadvantaged kids. I have a cooking class for kids that does very well and I am thinking of putting all of the proceeds and see if my company will match it towards a fund for the kids. It breaks my heart to see how some kids, through no fault of their own, are getting shafted with the opportunities they recieve.

I also like working with kids with disabilities, whether its mental or physical. I feel a need to do something. I will post more as I get it solidified.

OOOPS made a U turn

2008-05-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

Lost my momentum and went backwards on my way to 180. I am re-focusing with a new goal in mind. One that motivates me more! I will be down my fighting weight soon.

Moving in the right direction

2008-04-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

I am down 3 lbs in 3 days. But I can usually do that pretty easily, its when I get to 5 lbs that it gets hard to keep going. I am using a calorie counter online that makes it pretty interesting to see how much weight you can loose by controlling your daily calories. Well I have to go and watch some TV with isabella.

180 or Bust

2008-04-24T19:50:00.000-07:00

I am laying it out for the world to see. I will hit 180 lbs by July. No more eating late, I might even start eating vegetables.....Ick. I really do think that as a chef I should be able to create good tasting, healthy food. I am really focused this time and who knows, maybe a great idea for a restaurant will come out of it. I always mess around with ideas for different restaurants and wonder if they will ever take off. Maybe a small made to order organic or close to it type place. It would work well with the Green movement. Use as much local produce and such as possible to reduce the carbon footprint. I have been toying with an ultra-effecient setup, Chef/Host, Bartender/Glass dishwasher. Waiter/Pantry, Prep/Line Cook, Dishwasher/FOH Cleaner. No fancy equipment, just a regular oven, Regular Broiler, No dish machine, just old fashioned pot sinks, Dish sinks. Keep overhead to an absolute minimum and spend the money on good people. Pay more than average and treat them well. It would be fun. Now to flash out the menu.

I just read back over that and it seems confusing. Oh well, its whats in my head.

The day at the Zoo with Isabella was Fantastic. She is such a beatiful girl and I am really proud of her. I keep reminding myself that our time together is precious and to not take it for granted. Hard to do when she is in her typical negative mood, but when she does smile at me, it melts my heart. I am such a freakin softie when it comes to my girls. I will be a blubbering mess if either of them so much as wins a trophy or worse, gets married. Gotta go. I dont enjoy spell checking my posts so they are going up as is.

Golden retriever research

2008-04-22T18:52:00.001-07:00

Isabella and I researched my favorite dog tonight. I learned that they are a cross of an extinct tweed water dog, Irish setter, and some bloodhound mixed in there as well. Did not know that. They were bred to be a sporting dog with a loving nature, confidence, loyal, and love water. After we looked up the history, we looked at rescuing some retrievers. I am a little apprehensive just because with a 2 - 4 year old, you don't know what bad habits they have been taught. Although Golden's are very smart an eager to please so it shouldn't be to hard re-train them. Plus you don't have to get up in the middle of the night to let them out to pee every 3 hours. But there is still just something about raising your dog from a pup that cant be beaten.

Worked for another day in the yard planting. It is going to rock out in the backyard this summer. I just wish I could lay the patio this year, but I don't think we have it in the budget to get done that soon.

Going to the Zoo with Isabellas class on Thursday, that should be a lot of fun. I really mean it, i look forward to running around looking at animals with crazy 5 year olds all hopped up on frozen lemonade!!!!! I am going to try and post some pics of what our yard looked like last year, then take a few to compare it.

Great Day!!

2008-04-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

Warm and sunny day perfect for working out in the yard. Put down about 4 yards of black mulch and made the flower beds bigger with longer curves in them. I can not wait for tomorrow, I will go and get some more plants and lights. I am also looking forward to over seeding the lawn again this fall. It looks great after last years over seeding. I put down some crabgrass prevent er this year, and that stops grass seed from germinating as well. I did see that they are now making a crabgrass preventer that will let you still seed. Next year I can seed 2x!!!! Its great to see the tulips, crocus, and other bulbs I put in last fall, coming up.

On another topic, I got to wear makeup today! I went in to a photo-shoot for a magazine that my company advertises in and they powdered my greasy face before the shoot. Kinda weird, but not like wearing lipstick or something. The magazine is called Indianapolis Cuisine and it features about 25 chefs from around the city. They put it in all the fancy hotels and it sells on local new stands.

While I was there I started talking to another chef and his wife about rescuing dogs. It was sad, but I take it as another sign that a dog is coming soon! I get excited thinking about it, the girls would love it. Well all of the girls except Mama. She gets stuck taking care of the animals when I am not here. So I have to make the decision that this will be my dog and I will take on the responsibility of taking care of him. Only needing help when I am not here. So I will continue to think about how this would impact my time. It is already tight enough when I get home with the kids. The kids will just have to help me with the dog.

I don't understand why moods can change so quickly. One minute I feel fine, then the next I am crabby. Wish I could just know when I am going to say something dumb and stop myself. I am going into a personal area that I don't think I need to air out to the net. Ok time to cut off today's entry. I will try to get more focused and come to the blog with a subject in mind and just write on that. Hmmmmm lets think of a subject...... Ok Dogs see you next time.

Green Spoke

2008-04-20T21:09:00.000-07:00

I love working in the yard. I guess it is a creative outlet when you are designing flower beds or even planting grass. Today I was able to work for a while on some landscaping. JD was out also and that always makes me want to make our house look better. I look at something he has done and then change it up a bit and make it my own. Tommorow the mulch will be here and I am looking forward to spreading it around. I need to get some lanterns and other low-voltage lighting to finish off the lighting project I started a couple of days back. It would be nice to have a greenhouse or even just a bench to work on gardening. I need to get a great smelling rose bush this year. I should try and write when I am not so tired (usually after I get home from work). I just read what I wrote and it seems to ramble. Not so eloquent. Not feeling it tonite but I am going to make myself write some before I check email. That way I can get into the habbit of doing it. I think it will be good to get my thoughts out. Man, now I need to remember some of my thoughts. I will be better tomorow I hope. Not feeling on top of the world.

Our Starblazers

2008-04-19T23:31:00.000-07:00

Anyone remember that show? It was total greatness. Just a thought I wanted to put down before I went to bed.

I want a dog!

2008-04-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

Thats it, we went walking our neighbors dogs tonite and it just made me really want to have a dog again. He has a German Shepard, English Mastif and some sissy dog. Funny thing is the other day I was trying to put down some fertilizer in JD's (neighbor mentioned earlier) and the German Shepard came out and bit me! I should not have been in his yard without coming through the house so I dont blame the dog. Anyway, I just really miss having a real dog. No minaiture anything, Ideally another beautiful Golden Retriever. There is a young female golden that runs around the nieghborhood and she is really a good looking dog. I used to have a dog named Jake, we had some great times, running through the woods, catching the frisbee, swimming and fishing. I miss him. He spent his later years at the ranch down in the valley where my parents live. He had a great time I know and I am glad that he got to spend his retirement eating oranges off of the trees and chasing rabbits.

I need to take my daughters fishing. Or just go by myself, I know Alisha is not into hanging out with stinky bait and staring at the water. But there is something about sitting out in the sun, waiting for that bite! I think of that Brad Paisley fishing song. I am going to add it to my playlist.

I cooked alot at work today and it felt good to get into the recipes and make sure that we were making them right. I need to make sure that I am cooking at least 2 hours a day. Should not be that hard when you work a 10 hour day at the minimum. It just goes by so fast while I am there. Gotta go, kids are next door playing JD's and Ellens Wii and it is time for them to come home.

My spokes hurt

2008-03-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

What are 5Spokes? That would be the name given to our hands by a chef that I trained under during my apprenticeship. He would tell me, "use your 5Spokes to mix that" or "Take care of your 5spokes, you need them to do all sorts of useful things" He was right! Right now they are hurting from my millionth time of teaching myself to play the guitar. I am working on a song to seranade Alisha. Kieth Urbans "Making memories of us" I just bought the guitar for myself for my Bday and love to play it! It just gets frustrating that I dont sound that good yet. Oh well, have to keep practicing. I decided not to buy an expensive guitar just yet. I was looking at the seagull line, but could not shell out $350 for a guitar. Not yet anyway, maybe in a year or so. So I purchased an Ibenez cheap intro guitar that is not that bad. It buzzes a little, but I have been researching on how to put some better strings on it and maybe take it to be "setup" by a proffesional. The only setting up that has happened so far is various family members setting it up after a cat knocks it over. I better learn how to take better care of this axe. My dream would be to be able to play classical and flamenco guitar, I just think that sound is so cool. I remember my older brother Danny playing Andre Segovia albums and just getting sucked in to the incredible sounds. I still have to get some Segovia in my collection. Alisha has music on her blog so I will try to get some of the influences I hope to be able to site one day as the inspiration to my mediocore guitar playing. Off to try and add music.