First Separation

So the time has come that my newlywed husband and I must leave each other's sides for more than a day.
I know I know...we knew this day would come, but really it is very bittersweet.  I am leaving for 10 days to travel for work and leaving my sweet Joe and Eliza at home.  And yes, this is sappy and cheesy, but if you have ever been a newlywed I'd like to think you understand.

So in light of a future bonding between my husband and cat, I will leave you with these photos of our child (clearly we are still a little lonely in Charlottesville).  She is our greatest source of entertainment during our frequent mid-week nights in, and I hope she'll forgive me for the exploitation.

Enjoy!

She is very strange...

And very athletic!

This is "Da Bird"... we bought it at a very weird cat store, but it is the  best present we could have
ever gotten our cat and ourselves.. provides hours of entertainment.

Waffles and Devo

As a very newly married couple, I am proud to say we have already established a family tradition: Saturday morning waffles and family devotion.

Since our very first Saturday in our new home, we have been taking advantage of our waffle maker (why, yes it was a wedding present) with an awesome recipe that we tweaked from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything." (which, by the way, is a great cookbook but is even better as a great teaching tool on the basics of cooking.  I am happy to report my husband has made wonderful use of it.)

Our Saturday mornings start out with us getting to use our two favorite appliances.

LOOOVE my Kitchen Aid!

To make the waffles we use this recipe (half of Mark Bittman's original recipe for

 Everyday Buttermilk Waffles with a few variations)

1/2 cup whole wheat all purpose flour

1/2 cup white all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup of yogurt thinned with 1/8 cup of milk

1 egg, separated

2 tablespoons butter

Combine the dry ingrediants in a large bowl.  In another bowl wisk the yogurt with milk and egg yolk.  Stir the butter into this mix. Combine all the ingredients. Then, in a separate bowl, beat the egg white until it holds soft peaks.  Fold these into the batter.

Brush the preheated waffle iron with a neutral oil (we use grapeseed oil).  Pour 1/3 to 1/2 of the batter into the waffle iron. When the iron is finished (3-5 minutes), enjoy soft, golden waffles.

*We divide our batter to make 3 waffles, we learned the hard way not to overfill your waffle iron*

Following our delightful waffles, we settle on the couch (and sometimes our darling cat even joins us) for our Saturday morning devotion. We take turns reading out of Devotional Classics. It is a book comprised of selected readings from well-known theologians and Christian authors.  The selections are beautifully written passages and sermons to lead the reader into "spiritual renewal." So far, we have heard from the likes of C.S. Lewis, Dallas Willard, Jonathan Edwards, Francis de Sales, and Spanish monk John of the Cross.

If you are looking for a deeply spiritual, well-written devotional, I highly recommend this.

Attempt at a family portrait.

We are still working hard on our apartment, so stay tuned!

Hopefully before and after pictures will be up soon!

Wheat Waffles

Yummy Saturday Morning Waffles!

As a very newly married couple, I am proud to say we have already established a family tradition: Saturday morning waffles and family devotion.

Since our very first Saturday in our new home, we have been taking advantage of our waffle maker (why, yes it was a wedding present) with an awesome recipe that we tweaked from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything." (which, by the way, is a great cookbook but is even better as a great teaching tool on the basics of cooking.  I am happy to report my husband has made wonderful use of it.)

Our Saturday mornings start out with us getting to use two of our favorite appliances.

LOOOVE my Kitchen Aid!

Healthy, Yummy, Wheat Waffles

1/2 cup whole wheat all purpose flour

1/2 cup white all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup of yogurt thinned with 1/8 cup of milk

1 egg, separated

2 tablespoons butter

Combine the dry ingrediants in a large bowl.  In another bowl wisk the yogurt with milk and egg yolk.  Stir the butter into this mix. Combine all the ingredients. Then, in a separate bowl, beat the egg white until it holds soft peaks.  Fold these into the batter.

Brush the preheated waffle iron with a neutral oil (we use grapeseed oil).  Pour 1/3 to 1/2 of the batter into the waffle iron. When the iron is finished (3-5 minutes), enjoy soft, golden waffles.

*We divide our batter to make 3 waffles, we learned the hard way not to overfill your waffle iron*

Top Waffles with honey, agave, or just good ole fashioned Maple Syrup!

Bon Appétit!

Dianna Davis