Pumpkin Pie Anyone?

Whilst looking up a few recipies for Thanksgiving, my sis and I came across this little article about how some New Zealanders (affectionately known as Kiwi's) feel about Pumpkin Pie. Actually, I probably shouldn't generalize for the whole population, but the article generalizes for Americans so we're even. Read on.


Got Pie?
August 08, 2007 15:02
http://www.critic.co.nz/about/food/18


"Pumpkin pie is a mysterious entity. Celebrated in the states, here pumpkin pie is ignored by both Alison Holst and the Edmonds cookbook – clearly, it is a long way from threatening the pavlova as a kiwi staple. Who would make a sweet pie out of a vegetable anyway? Of course, pumpkin is technically a fruit, so maybe the yanks are right to bake it with a Belgium biscuit type spice combo and serve with cream. The problem with trying to make such an American classic though, is that Americans define ‘home baking’ a little differently from us. If you look up pumpkin pie recipes on the net, they often start with a can of pumpkin purée, to which you add a packet of pumpkin pie spice, then bake in a shell of ready-rolled short pastry. This version is from scratch, and you should be able to make it without buying any special ingredients."



Ha ha. Well, not "all Americans" define the can as making a pumpkin pie "from scratch". No one really wants to smash up a pumpkin unless we have to. But the can is easier if you want a fresh taste without the mess, so, yeah. I laughed.

A lot.

Mindless Thoughts and Thinkings

"Give all your worries and cares to God for he cares about what happens to you." 1 Peter 5:7

I've been trying to live daily with this verse in my heart. It's one of my favorite verses in the Bible and so important for me to remember. For some odd reason, I seem to have forgotten it for the past two years, but God brought it before me again. Through a song on an old CD that I had by Michelle Tumes. It's funny how he uses things. Hmm.

I'm missing home a lot. Family. Friends. Fried Chicken and greens. The ease of things, or so I imagine. Being far away from the familiar tends to lead to false views of what the familiar was like. Hmm...

Tiana and I will be making crafts tomorrow for our upcoming Thanksgiving Day. Construction paper cut-outs of pumpkins, leaves, and Turkeys. Exciting! Although it's Spring in New Zealand, we shall be celebrating the bright fall of Ohio for the next week. Since it's not celebrated in New Zealand, we're pretty much on our own. We had toyed with the idea of having people over and having a fun hang-out and American holiday day with friends, but there's a lot going on this week (Outreach night) and next week( Art show, Tiana's B-day, Induction into our new jobs) that we'll just chill on our own and make a small feast and praise God.

After thanksgiving, we'll put up Christmas decorations, though you will be surprised to know that some people here have had theirs up since October. Good thing we'll be working at the Warehouse (like walmart). We can get discounts on decorations!

That's all for now.

Places we've been in New Zealand

In staying up late last night and wasting time, I decided to mark all of the places where Tiana and I have been in New Zealand thus far. It's quite amazing actually! So far we've only traveled through the North Island:

The big, bright red dot is Hamilton, where we live. The small red dots are the places we've been. Not too shabby if I do say so myself =) New Zealand is small, but not that small. It takes awhile to get from Hamilton to Wellington at the bottom. Like 7 hrs or something. And Hamilton is in the middle of the North Island. We still have Northland to explore (the top)!!

Below is the map of the whole of New Zealand (North & South Islands). As you see, we still have a long way to go these next 6 months. There still the whole South Island!!!

The enemy within

I have been jobless now for over two months. My time is occupied with finding one, contemplating life, getting together an outreach night with my Bible Study group, and working on massive art pieces for church. Stretched doesn't even begin to express the way I feel. But bored does. Weird, I know. I have tons to do but a sort of lifelessness about it.

It's my heart. The heart of my being. My art. It's suffering. My special worship to God is suffering. My confidence is waning. I feel incapable to do any type of art whatsoever. It's a kind of depression. It grabs ahold of my very soul and it sucks the life out of me. It's Spring in New Zealand!! Spring always excites me, yet I feel nothing.

I think a lie must have been whispered into my ear some time back. The lie that I can't do anything good enough. My guard must have been down. I want to paint soooooooo bad, but when I want to do it, my doubt and fear of failure creeps in.

If it wasn't for church, I wouldn't be doing anything. But the work I am doing at church is more of a 3-D thing and more instillation work and found object work than anything else. I am completely unfamiliar with this type of art, but I'm trying to try. And I feel like I'm going to screw everything up, so I'm afraid to try a lot. It's a struggle.


But I really want to paint. My fingers itch for it. I want to be here again, where I was when I wrote this entry last year:

I know how it is, when you're just doing art and feeling in the flow of
creativity. All of a sudden, nothing else matters. The sky darkens and you're
floating in your own paradise of colors.

It's like a certain hunger, burning to let the creativity out. Art, Music, Writing; it's all so important. Time seems to stand still, and there you are, creator and canvas, ink and pen, held in an embrace, dancing, and sharing many intense emotional moments. The music flows throughout and all is well, for you have become one, molded together. And as you pause and gaze into your creation, you can't help but to feel the energy flow through your veins -- for your work has bloomed into a beautiful masterpiece.

I long to be there again.