day 30: library day

day 29: a few of his favorite things

day 28: Gulley Park

day 27: sorghum gingerbread

day 26: Grammie's glasses

day 25: research

day 24: words I needed

day 23: making time for an old friend

day 22: bringing work home

day 21: the 5th tasting menu

Once a month, the head chefs and I collaborate with the bar on a paired tasting menu. This is one of my favorite tasks at the restaurant, and this menu did not disappoint. Of course, all of the cocktails (this month's theme) were also delicious.

mushroom and shrimp pancake with crème fraîche  and caviar

3 beet salad with arugula pesto, cucumbers, and parmesan

flat-iron steak with béarnaise, chimichurri, artichoke heart, and bacon puree

Mont Blanc

meringue, chocolate and caramel creams, chestnut puree, and a caramel-coated hazelnut

from the 4-year old: thoughts on Beyonce

Liam: Wow. She can sing very, very good.

days 16-20

day 15: 28 is good

I know it's been nearly a week, and I've put off this post long enough, but I've got a not-so-secret blog secret that I have avoided sharing here because it's been both a wonderfully time-consuming change and also a perspective altering one. It's needed time to settle.

This past summer, I became the Executive Pastry Chef at 28 Springs, a new restaurant just blocks from our home in downtown Siloam Springs.

I never thought I'd become a pastry chef. I have no formal training. But it turns out, all of my cookbook-reading, home bread-making, and ingredient-obsessive baking was foundation enough. And my boss thinks it's great that I'm not afraid to disagree with him. Developing and improving desserts and breads is one of my favorite things, the perfect blend of creativity and OCD details. Oh, and my Pastry Sous Chef is my friend and neighbor, Trish Lynn. It's wonderful.

My work schedule flexes around Gabe's school schedule, which means one of us (and sometimes Grammie) is always home with the boys, but I still manage to work 50+ hours a week. It's a lot of late nights, but there's not a moment that I don't love it.

These pretzels for bread service were worth all of the testing and development that it took to get them just right. 

They're ridiculously good. 

Being at 28 has been incredibly empowering for me. I didn't realize just how badly I needed it until I got swept into the kitchen world. 

And being 28 -my birthday was the 15th- also feels really good. For most of my adult life, I've felt like I was trying, and often-pretending, at being a grown-up: our early start at marriage, a house, and kids something to prove. But 28 feels so unashamedly-adult. There's no denying it or pretending: I'm a grown-up, and I like it.

day 14: brotherly play

day 13: he came home a-walkin

Days 11+12: little e's birthday

day 8 - 10: waiting it out

My brother had another surgery on Tuesday. This time it was his ACL (and his PCL, too, it turns out). This knee surgery should complete all of the operations in his immediate future, and his surgeon is pleased with the results.

We're all ready to breathe a collective sigh of relief, but we have to get past the initial pain of recovery and the understandably-grouchy patient living in our upstairs bedroom.

These past 2 weeks, Gabe and Liam have been in California, visiting Grandma and Grandpa Hall. We opted to keep River home since, in the last month, he's had two bleeds that resulted in an ER trip for an infusion, as well as a ruptured ear infection. The poor little guy sure knows how to make the best of things.

As for me, I'm trying something new here. A picture a day for 365 days. So far so good.

I've been struggling with the weight of my world lately. The sad saga of my family's life continues to unfold in tattered ribbons, and it's rough. The days slip past. This is my attempt to mark them.

days 6 + 7

days 4 + 5: tea days for this coffee drinker

day 3: the sweet side of research

day 2: a morning date with River

day 1: black eyed peas for the new year