4A Represent!

I'm so excited to announce that I am headed to Eagle Pass, TX in a few weeks to represent the Nebraska Synod ELCA (4A) and the ELCA World Hunger Committee at the Region 4 Consult meeting about Global Mission and World Hunger!

For those of you who don't know, I'm pretty passionate about hunger issues and have been on the ELCA World Hunger Committee here in Nebraska for 3 years now. Just yesterday morning we had a meeting and I met several of our new committee members and am so excited for the direction we are taking. Hunger is a terrible thing and although I'm not naïve enough to think that we will solve all the problems, even a little something is a start!

I'm excited to network and connect with other hunger advocates in the central US and also to worship with a congregation in Piedras Negras, a city in Coahuila, Mexico. I have no doubt that the trip will be quite the learning experience and also an adventure! Here goes nothing! :)

Omaha Restaurant Week

Flatiron Cafe: seared scallop with
diced cucumbers and roma tomatoes

My favorite week of the whole year is here (and very sadly ending). Omaha Restaurant Week! This year 56 restaurants participated...each place comes up with a 3 course menu that is $20, $30 or $40. And then you can go to several places and get delicious food and love your life even more. It's especially nice for the places that are generally $100-200 bills for two people, but that you want to try because they are the most delicious places in the whole wide world (I'm looking at you Grey Plume). Well anyway, I went a little crazy this year and have gone to 5 places in the past 10 days. FIVE places. I never eat out that frequently! Oh well, my tummy and my soul are so so happy about it! (Bonus... part of the proceeds go to fight hunger in the Omaha area!) Here are the results...

Flatiron Cafe: Tahitian vanilla bean creme brulee

Flatiron Cafe: seared salmon with basil and edamame risotto

Modern Love: watermelon beet salad

Modern Love: panko crusted fried green tomato

Modern Love: polenta romesco with brussel sprouts

Modern Love: farroto with apple sausages
and roasted root vegetables

Modern Love: blueberry cheesecake

Modern Love: peach raspberry pie
with vanilla bean ice cream

The Grey Plume: first bite--orange mouse with
shaved fennel and fennel gel and roasted walnut

The Grey Plume: potato soup--crème fraîche,
truffle oil and potato salpicon

The Grey Plume: potato soup--adding the base

The Grey Plume: steelhead trout with summer succotash and fried okra

The Grey Plume: earl grey pot de crème with chocolate and cookie crumbles

Louie's Wine Dive: sweet and spicy fried catfish
with grits and pickled vegetables
**not pictured: margarita flatbread**

Louie's Wine Dive: 4 pork gnocchi
**not pictured: steak poutine**

Louie's Wine Bar: apple cobbler

Louie's Wine Dive: flourless chocolate cake

Taita: seafood platter--tuna tartar, smoked bluefish, salmon rillettes,
tofu with salmon ju, mushrooms and pickled eggplant

Taita: brown butter scallop with edamame

Taita: crab and seafood mousse tortellin

Taita: chocolate paxé

Working Gal!

Who's got two thumbs and is gainfully employed?

This gal!

Yay me! I'm going to work at a local YMCA doing preschool. It's going to be pretty fabulous. I'll have 2s, 3s, 4s and some 5s that didn't make the birthday cut for schools. It's going to be awesome and filled with lots of laughter at the weird things that kids do.

Perhaps later today (when class doesn't start in 15 minutes), I'll write about my birthday extravaganza weekend. Perhaps. Hope all is well!

Emergency Preparedness

I figured since I'm in public health now, I should write about public health things. Okay...you caught me. I've been writing about public health things since the get-go. Why didn't one of you suggest I do public health sooner!?! I digress...

September is National Preparedness Month! This means making a plan, getting supplies and having conversations with your family. Theoretically you should have enough supplies to last you and your family for at least 72 hours. According to a news release earlier this week from Governor Heineman, these things should be in your emergency kit:

• battery-powered or crank radio
• weather alert radio
• extra batteries
• first aid kit
• sanitary wipes
• dust mask
• water for drinking and sanitation
• water purification tablets
• waterproof matches and/or butane lighter
• crank flashlight
• plastic sheeting
• non-perishable food for at least three days
• disinfectants and medications.
• medical information for entire family, including details about dosages of required medications and a list of known health issues
• warm clothes and sleeping bags for winter
• extra hydration and bug-repellant for summer/fall

In addition to the kit, an emergency plan should be drafted for the family so everyone can be on the same page if something happens to the house or the family gets separated. Here is one that you can just fill in the blanks!

Make sure your kits are easily accessible and movable, if necessary! You can find more information on the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency's website: http://www.nema.ne.gov/index.shtml. 

Stay safe friends! You never know when fire, tornadoes or floods will hit! 

Christmas Spectacular

Soooooo...exciting news! The Rockettes (as in the legs for days, kicklines for hours Rockettes) were in town tonight and put on a master class! So I got to be a Rockette for precisely one hour. Which is super lucky because you actually have to be 5'6"-5'10" to make it usually...

We danced. It was fabulous. We learned the kickline from the video below (obviously it looked just like that when I did it too! The kickline starts at about 3:10). I kicked higher or just as high as all of the girls in my group, which isn't bad for my old lady legs who haven't stretched since June! ( :/ ...oops!).

Oh and school is happening too. I really love it and this week I'm already writing two papers! Labor Day weekend was great fun as well. Surprised Uncle Pat with a birthday party and spent lots of time with family. All in all, a grand old time!

And now, I plan to soak my sore muscles in a hot bath!

And proof! I'm in the second row on the right; the Rockette teaching us is on the far left!