Damn right that's a Broncos pumpkin!

Here are the finished pumpkins! Trish was her usual creative and hard-working self (she cleaned 5 on her own!) creating our display for this year. We have a "family" where each of the three of us are represented (Bella is the cute little gapped-tooth one, Trish is the one with the mouth askew, and I'm the gargantuan, funny looking one). And of course a Broncos pumpkin, plus a photo of Bella rocking her Ghostbusters tee!

Hope you all have a safe and sugary Halloween!

I ain't afraid of no ghost!

Pumpkin Patch!!!

Time for the annual visit to the Pumpkin Patch (Schaake's)! A tradition I married into, I've come to love this day as much - well, nearly as much - as my dear wife. Making the day all the more special was that it was Bella's first time out! As usual, Ric and Sophie joined the fun, as well as Jeanne. My parents were also in town, but dad was a but broken from the previous night's festivities, so only mom joined us. Below are the photos from the day. We'll post more carved pumpkin pics soon, as I need the light to fade so I can take some cool night photos. Enjoy!

Me and Bella. Yes, I'm growing a beard. Call it an "interview beard" (ala "playoff beard").

Our little pumpkin! (This was a great photo op, but Bella was WAY more interested in the 50 pumpkins here than looking at the camera)

Three beautiful girls!

Sophie and Bella. So much fun to see how much Sophie has grown over the years; don't bet against her being President some day!

The first of many more photos like this to come! What a time.

The Boy Who Left Home to Find out About the Shivers.

Hey All,

My Fall production goes up next week at Southwest Junior High. It is a delightful show with A LOT of junior high actors and techies. We've also had the wonderful experience of getting the playwright to come visit with us and work with us for several rehearsals. It's a perfect show for Halloween and if you need a cheap date next week it's only $3 to see. There is a haunted castle though so it may be a bit scary for kiddos under 7 or so. Here's the press release, hope you can make it!




Southwest Junior High School Presents, “The Boy Who Left Home to Find out about the Shivers.” Performances will be Wednesday-Friday October 28th, 29th, and 30th at 7:00pm in the Southwest Junior High Auditorium. Tickets are $3 and are available beforehand in the office or at the door.
Shivers is “A charming story adapted from the Brothers Grimm. Boy's quest to discover how to get the shivers leads him to a castle where the Powers of Death haunt every corner. He is visited by a fierce Ghost, wild Cats, a Corpse, and a mysterious, singing Bride. An elegant tale, filled with humor and wisdom, a perfect way to prepare for Halloween”. (summary paraphrased from Mr. Bush’s website.)


Bush, Max. Max Bush. http://usaplays4kids.drury.edu/playwrights/bush/ 20 October, 2009.

Photo by John Douglas.

We could all use a laugh...

"Where you guys been?"

So, it's been a while. To be honest, outside of Bella's ongoing and extreme cuteness, there hasn't been a lot of good news to share lately, so we've had a lack of motivation for blogging. In short, I lost my job (along with other friends), Trish's beloved grandmother, Tucker, died, and our friends Adrianne and Seth experienced great losses of their own. It feels like there was more, but that's all I can or care to remember right now.

Too much "real life" and not enough fun and laughter in our and our friend's lives lately I guess. Fortunately, we're all doing well - as well as can be expected - and are looking forward to more good news which I'm sure is just around the corner, waiting for us (like this!). So, wish me luck in the job search, and keep Tucker and the Jones and Weibel family in your thoughts. They're in mine.

Now for the funny.

A while back I entered a burger contest at The Bay Leaf (one of our favorite stores, with great kitchen gadgets and friends who work there). I was one of four people chosen to compete, Top Chef style, for four local judges (in addition to Trish and Bella there were also other friends and family of the contestants there) in the Bay Leaf kitchen. We had 45 minutes to cook four burgers, and would draw numbers to see whowould go first (Padme was not there, and we drew paper, not knives). I drew numero uno, meaning I'd serve first. I made a buffalo version of my "Neuty Burgers," (recipe follows this post) and thought they turned out great; the judges apparently did not.

They only announced the top two finishers, and I was not among them (one can imagine that I must have come in third). An awesome bloody mary burger won, and an inside out burger took second place. I had no problem with the winning burger, but my burger was clearly better than the second place burger. Oh well. I had a great time, and won got some nice parting gifts from The Bay Leaf. And heck, at least I'd get to see my name in the paper as a local, amateur burger chef!

Or maybe not.

Turns out the reporter, Shawn Hittle, couldn't fit me into the story. Imagine my disappointment when the next morning (a Sunday), we get up to read the paper online, and find out that - in spite of my interview - I am not named! Yeah, I was pretty bummed out.

Trish however...Trish was furious! She immediately called Shawn and left him a Neuteboom-style angry message. Her main point being that he should have at least put my name in the article, and that his omission made it hard for us to enjoy sharing the article with friends and family since my name didn't appear (especially as many excellents chefs as we have in the family - I'm talking published, award winning cooks and authors).

Anyway, I was trying to to tell this whole story to my buddy, Jonesy, one day at work. As a writer/reporter, I thought I could ask him if we were just being unreasonably mad (as if!) because I wasn't named, or if Shawn, the reporter, was just being lazy by leaving my name out (despite taking the time to interview me!). We disagreed on some key points, but really got a kick out of the mindless barroom-style banter. Well, as he had some free time, he decided to "rewrite" the article as it should have appeared. For your enjoyment, I will print it here for the first time.

Suck it, Shawn Hittle.

LOCAL MAN'S BURGER COMES IN 4TH PLACE AS JUDGED BY LOCAL CELEBS

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Eric Neuteboom, of Lawrence, Kan., recently lost a burger-cooking competition judged by such local luminaries as Jayni of "Jayni's Kitchen," Steve the Always High Hippie and Carl, the funny homeless man who used to always wear the "That's my Dillons" T-shirt.

"I'm disappointed that the judges obviously have no taste," Neuteboom said. "But I'm thrilled to see my name in print today, even as the loser of a contest where I had a 1-in-4 chance of winning."

Neuteboom's burger, dubbed "The Neuty Nuclo-Burger," was a blend of ingredients that makes it very special and tasty.

"His burger is delicious," Neuteboom's wife, Trish, said. "And Jayni is even prettier in real life."

Neuteboom says he looks forward to entering more contests in which he'll probably lose. The next one on his plate, he says, is the Jayhawks West Fantasy Football League.

"Just be sure to spell my name right. That's N-E-U-T-E-B-O-O-M."

Neuty Burgers

Neuty Burgers

Submission by: Eric Neuteboom

Ingredients:

1 lb ground chuck buffalo meat
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
½ a medium sized yellow onion, finely diced
1-2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp fresh chopped Rosemary
½ Tbs Fresh chopped Sage
1 egg
½ cup plain Breadcrumbs
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbs black pepper
½ Tbs sea salt

4 slices sharp cheddar cheese

4 onion buns

Lettuce, tomato and onion slices

Directions:

1. Heat vegetable oil in skillet on medium-high heat for five minutes.

2. Add onion to skillet and cook for four minutes.

3. Add garlic to onion and cook for an additional minute; remove mixture from heat and allow to cool.

4. In a large bowl, combine bison, rosemary, sage, egg, breadcrumbs, Worcestershire, black pepper, and salt.

5. Add onion and garlic mixture to bowl and mix ingredients thoroughly with hands.

6. Separate into four equal portions and form four patties with an indentation in the center (this will help the patties cook evenly and not “balloon”).

7. Prepare charcoal grill for direct high-heat grilling. When coals are ashed over, add patties to grill. Cook for about 7 minutes (covered), flipping halfway through, until done. Add cheese to patties and cover grill for about 30 seconds, or until cheese has melted. Remove patties from grill, and add buns to grill. Grill buns uncovered for 30 seconds or until lightly toasted.

8. Serve with fresh lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, mayonnaise, mustard and plenty of ice cold pale ale. Serves four.

2 years and loving it!

Today is our 2nd Anniversary. We had a chance to celebrate this weekend and had an absolute blast. Isabella got to have her first overnight with Nanna and Poppie (my folks) and Eric and I got our first night of uninterrupted sleep! Of course, we both woke up between 5am and 7am and couldn't get back to sleep, but I suppose that is to be expected.

How did we celebrate you might ask. Well we headed out to the Red Lyon to meet up with a lot of our dear friends that joined us in celebration. Everyone there had a part in our wedding and has a huge part in our lives. It was so fun to have them all around to celebrate. Then we headed back to our house where Eric made me a world class dinner of fillet Mignon (10 oz!) an amazing funny word egg/sweet potato thing, and fresh Tomatoes with mozzarella and basil. We also shared a bottle of Yorkville Cabernet. The bottle was special because we bought it on our way out to Jonah and Yuri's wedding last year around the time of our 1st anniversary. We have been saving it to share on our 2nd ( we probably would have tackled it then if I hadn't been pregnant).

It was an exquisite meal and a wonderful night. Thanks to everyone who was able to come out and celebrate with us.

This time two years ago we had one of the best days of my life. Our wedding was so much fun that I still talk about it whenever someone even thinks of the word wedding. So what do I remember from two years ago?

Highlights:

• Waking up to a torrential rainstorm and crawling into bed next to my mom to plot out how to save the day.


• Taking at least 30 minutes and countless attempts to leave an appropriate phone message for our guests to know we were taking it indoors.


• Getting busted by Janelle for having brought a growler of Free State Beer into Liberty Hall to enjoy pre-wedding.


• Dani's New York Mimosa's


• Being surrounded by my best girlfriends from near and far.


• All my favorite people in attendance


• Our Vows


• The Readings


• Our First Dance to Van Morrison's "Moondance"


• Post-Wedding Gossip with my New Hubby.


• A Great Brunch with Lots of Family.


• What a good Party.

Two years has gone by so quickly and it's truly been two of the happiest years of my life. I can still vividly picture Eric shouting "I love Mexico, and Feliz Navidad" down the streets of Cancun. I have never been more impressed and appreciative of my husband as he supported me through the pregnancy and birth of our beautiful baby girl. I love watching Eric master the art of fatherhood as I stumble through learning the ropes of Motherhood. I truly feel that I Love my husband more every single day. And it's easy to get through tough times knowing that no matter what happens, I love my family and we'll always work together to get through it.

So I hope you didn't think I'd let this post go without a cheesy ending. Heck no, It's our anniversary!

To Eric,

I love you more each day, each moment, and with each breathe I take. You are truly my soul mate and I'm even happier today then the day we exchanged our vows. Everything I said then still holds true and I'm loving this great adventure we have begun. Thank you for your continuing support and love. You are the worlds' best Husband, Father, and Best Friend and I cherish our time together. I love thinking about all the fun things we now get to do as a family. Things that were fun just the two of us that will be even better now with Isabella. Mini golf, vacations, walks, trips to the beach, bike rides, picnics. I could go on forever. I love you so much. Thank you for giving me everything I hold most dear. I love you.

~ That's how we put the 2 year BOOM in Neuteboom!

Trish

Update the Blog Neuteboom!

Seriously, It's your turn.


Trish

(hee, hee)