I teach the Video Production in Agriculture course at Texas Tech University. Each semester, I write a course pack to help students with editing using Adobe Premier Pro. It’s nothing fancy, and there may be better editing teachers out there. However, several times a year, former students ask if I have a copy of my course pack. I’m happy to share it. If I can help a beginning or struggling editor, it makes my day.

Before you download: This was created foremost for my class. You’ll see details for my editing assignments in here. I’m not going to take the time to remove them, so ignore them. Also, as a class we spent a day shooting video. You’ll need to shoot some video of your own in order to get the most out of these tutorials. These were creating for beginning video editors, and we learn a lot more in my class than video editing. There’s a lot more that Premier can do, but we simply can’t get to in one semester.

So here it is my friends. If it helps you at all, please tell me. It really does make me happy. If you find a typo, I guess tell me, just know that it deflates and allows me to improve all at the same time. Also, if you copy anything out of these or share with a friend please attribute to me. I’m being nice and sharing this; be nice and give me credit for my work.

To go beyond this, I highly recommend Jason Levine and Premiere Gal on YouTube. They’re great teachers, and they’re who I turn to when I need to look up how to do something in Premiere.

That’s it! I don’t have any other stories that I think are funny or anything else to add, other than happy editing!

In 2021, I started keeping up with the books I read, and I reviewed them at the end of the year. I enjoyed the process so much that I’m doing that again. I’m so proud of my reading journey, and I’m happy to say that I crushed the 2022 reading goals I set for myself.

Full disclosure here: I wouldn’t have come close to my ’22 goal if it weren’t for audio books. Half the books I “read” were audio books. I did a lot of driving this year – both cars and tractors – and books filled my time and enriched my brain. Most of my audio books were nonfiction, read by the author, which gave a richness to the storytelling that I wouldn’t have gotten from the printed book. So, thank you to the Lubbock Public Library and the Libby app! If you don’t have this app, you’re missing out. Go get you a library card! It’s one of the many things that makes America great! Lots of other libraries offer this service, so ask your local librarian if you’re not sure. Also, some libraries will give library cards to people that don’t live in their city.

These were my reading goals for 2022:

Read 22 books ✅ (and I completed 24!)
Read more nonfiction than in 2021 (2021 = six; 2022 = 12!) ✅
Review as I go along in Good Reads (Please follow me. I have a very small number of followers and want more bookworm friends. Look me up: Erica Irlbeck) ✅

I enjoyed the non-fiction books more than the non this past year, so I’m going to lead with that. Here are the books I read, listed in favorite to least favorite.

Non-Fiction

The non-fiction books have a tie for first place. I listed the Howards’ book first because they come first in alphabetical order.

The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood & Family by Ron Howard and Clint Howard
I have a lot of nostalgia for Ron Howard. I used to watch reruns of The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days with my grandma. As I grew older, I loved Ron Howard movies (except Willow, it was too weird), especially Far and Away, and somehow I have always know Ron cast his younger brother, Clint, in his movies.
This book is written and read by Ron and Clint (get the audio book, they read it) and it tells the story of their extraordinary life, made to feel completely normal by their down-to-earth parents, Rance and Jean Howard. The stories in this book are so incredible, fun, entertaining, and left a smile on my face. If you are a fan of either Howard brother, get your hands on this book. It was everything I wanted it to be.

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
This is an even tie for my favorite non fiction book of the year, and again, I strongly recommend the audio book. It was fabulous. I’ve had a crush on Matthew since he played Jake Brigance in A Time to Kill (and John Grisham has written two Jake Brigance sequels and a short story. One is in development for a movie – A Time for Mercy – see my review below😁) so I was thrilled to hear about his childhood and climb to stardom, all in his own voice. I love the emphasis he places on certain stories and words, and it was so fun to hear him get cracked up at some of his tales.
I can’t recommend this enough. Even if Matthew isn’t your favorite, he’s a great story teller and narrator.

41: A Portrait of my Father by George W. Bush
The non-fiction category this year was a very tight race, and the Bushes were right there with the Hollywood folks. I’m not a political person, but if you make it to the end of this blog, you’ll probably think I’m a Bush Family super fan since I read Laura’s book this year too. I’m really not, but I do respect the contribution they have made to the United States. I was in junior high and high school when the elder Bush was in office, so I can’t say if I supported his policies or not. But, I feel like I know George Bush now, and I understand his presidency better. He served and loved his country. Like his politics or not, this was a great book to describe an American family.
My goal is to eventually read each president’s and First Lady’s autobiography that has served during my lifetime. George H. W. Bush didn’t write an autobiography, because, as stated in this book by his son, he was too humble to brag about himself for a whole book.

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell
I’m late to the party on this one (like most of the books I read). Malcom helped me figure out why I was always less mature and slower to catch on than my classmates from kindergarten to high school. It’s because of my April birthday! I’ll let you read the book to see for yourself why this matters. I really enjoyed this book simply because of the amount of research that went into it. It’s brilliantly written and so informative.

Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Deliciously hilarious.
Amy gives us a look into her life as a comedian and actress in an efficient and funny fashion. Once again, do the audio book. I love her voice but she also has cameos from other actors and clips from SNL.
It’s the perfect length, perfect attention keeper, and a great way to make a long drive feel short. This book has been out for a while, but it doesn’t matter. It’s still funny.

The Last Days of John Lennon by James Patterson
This book is a nice bounce and forth between The Beatles’ climb and dissolve, and the intricacies inside Mark Chapman’s (Lennon’s murderer) unstable mind. Before I read the book, I totally blamed Yoko for breaking up the band. Now, I think she was a small part of the reason, but in reality, they grew up and apart and wanted to go different directions artistically. After 10 years and 10 albums together, they were naturally ready for something different. This is one of James Patterson’s many collaborative works. The writing and research are good. The story moves quickly and held my attention.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark:  One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
This book is about the Golden State Killer. I vaguely knew about this story, but this book provided so much detail about the killer, as well as the author’s relentless quest to break the case open.
Michelle McNamara wasn’t a detective nor a journalist, but her research into this topic was simply amazing. Finding the killer was a hobby that turned into a passion and it showed in her writing. I really enjoyed how it was a documentation of all the clues found, plus her process. As a qualitative researcher, I was so inspired by her work.

Going There by Katie Couric
I love Katie Couric. She was my inspiration as a college student. I watched her every morning as I learned how to be a journalist. When I became a reporter, I marveled at her calm as the story unfolded on September 11, 2001. I admired her courage when her husband died of cancer, then she decided to used her platform to fight it. But I loved her most when she did a story on my cousin’s fight against cancer and the doctors at MD Anderson working to beat melanoma.
This book helps us to know the woman behind the smile. She compliments the people she liked working with. She makes note of these she didn’t care for (some of them I really like, so that was a bummer). Katie included news clips in the audio book and I liked the texture it added to the stories. A solid four stars, especially if you work in journalism.

Spoken from the Heart by Laura Bush
I like learning about a president’s and First Lady’s service to our country after some time has passed and perspective gained. This book was published in 2010, so only two years after the Bushes left office, and her life there was fresh on her mind. Their entire tenure in the White House was overshadowed by the attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001 and the subsequent war on terrorism in the Middle East. I didn’t know a lot about Mrs. Bush’s service to Afghan women and schools. She traveled to Afghanistan several times when things were very tense in that country. As I was reading, I could hear her sweet, calm voice with its lovely Texas lilt. But her voice is so steady and calming that I fell asleep several times while reading it, so it took me a while to get through this one.

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcom Gladwell
I love Malcom’s writing, his research, and his sense of humor. The way he strings stories together is brilliant. This was the third book of his I read this year. I listened to this after Outliers, which was my favorite. Had I read David and Goliath first, it probably would have gotten five stars. It’s hard to not compare books by the same author, but the Libby app had three of his books available right in a row. I recommend spacing out your Gladwell so you can enjoy his riveting research, the connections he makes, and his superb storytelling.

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff
Excellent. As a qualitative researcher, I have a high appreciation for these types of projects and Garrett Graff nailed it. If I were a history teacher, this would be required listening (it’s an audiobook only because it’s an oral history). This type of project was hours and hours of thorough research. I only wish I had listened in September 2021; it would have impacted me more.
Graff captured hours of stories from some of the most visible people on 9/11 – think Katie Couric and Rudy Guiliani – to the people that simply went to work and were thrown out of their chairs or became sudden heroes. My only critique of this work was that I wish the audio would have been in the interviewees’ own voices. I know Katie Couric’s voice and I found myself paying more attention to the fact that I was listening to a voice actor rather than the content of her story.
In all, though, this is a fascinating way of telling American history. I made my 10 year old son listen and he was captivated as much as I was. Outstanding work.

The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, A Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War by Malcom Gladwell
This was the year of Gladwell. I listened to this book shortly after I finished Outliers, and I couldn’t help but compare.
The book is about the United States’ WWII bombing efforts. I love WWII history and this was one small, but hugely important, piece of war history that helped turn the war in our favor. I loved that it included sound bites from the interview subjects and old WWII Newsreels, some voiced by an young Ronald Reagan. But I kept comparing it to Outliers, which I enjoyed so much more. If you just want a snapshot of the book, Malcom’s podcast, Revisionist History, season 5, episode 4 gives you a concise version.

Fiction

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Excellent. This book blends two time periods and two strong women that would probably have never crossed paths. Story I is set just after my favorite time period to read about: World War II. Story II occurs in an era that I’m sadly less familiar, World War I.
This book changes shines a spotlight on a group of heroes from The Great War: The Alice Network. The network was a group of spies, all women, that are now credited with saving thousands of Allied lives. Some of the characters in the book are fictional, others are real. This book sparked a great curiosity in me and I am now looking for other books that tell the stories of the heroines of World War I. Send me suggestions!!

A Time for Mercy (Jake Brigance #3) by John Grisham
Is it weird that my second favorite fiction book is a sequel to a book that was made into a movie starring Matthew McConaughey, who wrote one of my favorite non-fiction books this year? Too much of a stretch? If you haven’t read Sycamore Row, the second book in this series, you’ll still follow along with this book. They don’t tie together all that much. This is your classic Grisham page turner with captivating characters and a wonderful twist. If you’re a Grisham fan, this is a must-read. IMDB says this is in development, and I fully support that, but there’s nothing about it on Matthew’s page as of today (12/26/22).

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan
DELIGHTFUL!!! Historical fiction is my favorite genre and this sweet novel is set in World War II. The story is about three women that work together in a sewing circle to mend and restore wedding dresses for brides during the war. I didn’t know about these groups, but this book makes me appreciate the women of this era so much more.
The three main characters are written so well that I fell in love with each of them. The story was nicely developed and left me with a smile on my face

Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson
Of course Dolly Parton can write a novel! My hero can do no wrong, and she nails it in this thriller. The characters are extremely well developed- I felt as if I knew them. The plot twist was fun and exciting.
I got through this book fast, and it’s because of the writing powerhouse of Dolly and James. Also I have a cousin named James Patterson. Different person, but I like to read his books just because of the connection.

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
So entertaining! But this is another book that you must listen to, rather than read. I feel weird offering this advice, but it’s all because of the cast narrators.
This is a story of a fictional band in the 70s. It was a great story, told in the style of an oral history. So you hop from head to head, but it was such a clever way to tell this story. I was completely wrapped up in the characters and their struggles. The audio production was so well done. I can’t recommend this book enough. It was a fun summer book and it’s being made into a series starring Riley Keough (a.k.a. Elvis Presley’s granddaughter).

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
This was the year of Taylor Jenkins Reid for me and I loved it! I opened this book thinking it was going to be a tale of an Elizabeth Taylor-type actress. Evelyn Hugo is a beautiful and talented actress with a portfolio of husbands and an Oscar, but that’s where the similarities end. But if I tell you how Evelyn and Elizabeth are different, it will ruin the story, so just take my advice and read it for yourself.
One thing that I found especially clever was that Mick Riva, one of the seven husbands, is the main character’s dad in Malibu Rising. I loved the connection!

Verity by Colleen Hoover
This was mind blowing, and in a good way. I finished this one in about a week, which is a testament to how gripping the plot was. I’m not going to give any info on the plot or characters because I’m afraid I’ll spoil it. Just know that you should read this now.
Verity was the first Colleen Hoover book I read, and I am excited to read more. She’s a tremendous storyteller.

State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny
I picked this up simply to see if Hillary Clinton could write. She can, and she’s quite good at it. This was an excellent plot, great characters, all the things that make a book great, it was a tad too long, but whatever. The thing that bothered me about this book was wondering how much of it was based on the Secretary’s true experience. What if it was true??? It scared me a little.

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Although I enjoyed Daisy Jones more, this was a nice book about a family with unusual circumstances that prevails despite their misfortune. I like the way she structured the story. This was entertaining, easy, and fun. A nice summer book, which was exactly what I was looking for. After three TJR books, I can say with certainty she is a gifted writer. I love her stories, her guts, and the vast differences in her plots. I will be reading more of her in 2023, starting with Carrie Soto is Back, and Carrie is a very minor character in Malibu Rising.

Ford County by John Grisham
This book was slightly different from my favorite author’s typical law thriller. It’s a collection of short stories based on the fictional Ford County, which, if you’re a Grisham fan, you’ll recognize from some of his other books. The stories made me smile, and for short stories, I got invested in some of the characters in a relatively short page count. This was a nice book. Not my favorite Grisham book, but still a nice, quick read.

The Social Graces by Renee Rosen
If you liked The Gilded Age on HBO, you’ll like this book. It follows the Astor and Vanderbilt families and their quest to “rule” New York society. Mostly true, it’s amusing to read about the over the top lengths these women went to to impress their fellow rich people. This was a nice book with a sweet ending. It was well written and VERY well researched.

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Good story, nice plot twist at the end. I enjoyed the book, but I struggled to get through it. I’ll give Margaret Atwood another chance though.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
I read mostly historical fiction, so this one was out there for me. It was strange and stretched my imagination, but not something I loved.

A Farewell to Arms by Earnest Hemmingway
I’m putting Hemmingway last and I’m not sorry about it. The book wasn’t bad, but it was the worst book I read this year. I realize I have just committed blasphemy to American literature, but this book was a snooze fest, especially when I look at the other great novels I read this year. Positives: beautiful writing and a good story. Mr. Hemmingway is a revered novelist for those two reasons. I’ll read other books of his, but it’s going to be a while. This was the first book I read in 2022 and I questioned my ability to read 21 more.

Reading Goals for 2023:

• Read 23 books (At some point I won’t be able to do this, but for now, matching my goal with the year is cute.)
• Find a local book club that meets in person. I don’t want a Zoom/online book club.
• Read one book that is considered a classic
• Read four books that are released this year. I’m almost always behind on books and read them when they’re at least a year or more old. I’m going to be a cool kid this year

This past August, I attended Texas Tech’s Centennial launch event. It was filled with school spirit; it made me excited to have earned two degrees and 16 years of employment here. The event reflected on the university’s early days, and it hit me – my family has been here since the beginning. My mind started working and got me thinking – if the university is going to spend the next year celebrating its centennial, I’m going to celebrate my family’s presence here too.

Our family history at Tech started with my great aunt, Mabel Howell. She was home economics education graduate in the class of 1930 – a time when going to college was a rare privilege for most, and almost unheard of for young women. My great grandparents were very hard working people, and had been buying farms in Knox County, so they were able to send their girls to college. They wanted their kids educated, and they also insisted their girls buy a farm before they could get married. Aunt Mabel worked in the Home Economics Cottage and was a member of the Home Ec Club.

A few years later, her kid sister, Mary (we called her Mimmie), became a Matador. Mary’s calling, like mine and my husband’s, was in journalism. She worked for the yearbook, LaVentana, and the student newspaper, the Toreador, where she interviewed Eleanor Roosevelt. I so wish I could find a photo of this event, and I have looked and asked around, but no luck. She told me many times of this huge moment in her career. She was involved in Student Council and was named to Who’s Who. To the left is a screen shot of her profile in La Ventana. She was involved in a little bit of everything. She graduated in 1936. 

Fast forward to the 60s and 70s – my mom and her two sisters attended Tech, all three from what is now the College of Human Sciences. Mom (1972) and my Aunt Becky (1970) majored in home economics education, and my Aunt Doris (1976) majored in social work. Becky was in the class that did not get their graduation ceremony because of the 1970 tornado in Lubbock. My mom got married at 19 years old, moved to Oklahoma and went to college for a little while there. But she realized her heart was at Texas Tech, so she and Dad moved to Lubbock so that Mom could finish her degree here. Below are the three girls: My mom on the left, Aunt Becky in the middle, and Aunt Doris on the right.

Nearly 40 years ahead of me, my uncle, Clint Jones, got his degree in agricultural education. He graduated in 1974. I couldn’t find him in La Ventana and don’t have a great photo of him as a young guy.

My mother-in-law was also a graduate of the College of Human Sciences, majoring in clothing and textiles (1967). Although they met and dated some in high school, Texas Tech is where she and my father-in-law, Albert (1967), decided they were the perfect match. They got married while she was finishing her degree.

The late 80s hit and my twin sisters-in-law became Red Raiders. Somehow Tori made it into La Ventana twice as a freshman in addition to her panel picture. Tori majored in biochemistry (1992), Tara in early childhood development (1993). Tara’s husband, Brett is also a College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources graduate, agricultural economics, in 1993.

In the fall of 1993, my husband Scott enrolled and became a Saddle Tramp. He rang the victory bells so many times, he took a victory lap. He started working at KAMC and finished his journalism degree in 1998. The picture on the right below is the Saddle Tramps rush recruitment poster from 1995, and it still hangs in our garage. Scott is sort of on the front row, fourth from the right, kind of hiding.

Three Irlbeck cousins attended Texas Tech: Amber (journalism, 2000), Alyssa (ag economics, 2004), and Ben (mechanical engineering, 2008). To my mom’s delight, my cousin Kenzie Knoll found her way to Tech through friends and a debate scholarship. She graduated in 2003 with a degree in English. I could go on with second and third cousins, just know there are a lot of family connections here. Other Irlbeck/Middleton cousins have or are currently attending Texas Tech, two are my fellow College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources faculty members: Marty Middleton and Kelly Lange.

As a recent, proud, loyal, and true Oklahoma State ag communications graduate, I came to Lubbock to work as the ag reporter at KLBK. Scott was the ag reporter at KAMC. He saw me as competition and wanted nothing to do with me. But then the stations merged, and his desk was next to mine. I grew on him, we eventually started dating, and finally got married in 2003. Through a series of jobs, I realized I wanted to make a career change and start working in corporate communications, maybe for Bayer or BASF. But everyone that had those jobs had master’s degrees. Seeing that I needed additional education, I enrolled at Texas Tech in 2006 to pursue my master’s degree and was awarded the very first Master of Science in Agricultural Communications from TTU in 2007. During my master’s program, Cindy Akers asked me to take the lead on the video production class – I loved it. I also liked conducting my own research, so I decided to stick around for a doctorate. I earned my Doctor of Education in Agricultural Education in 2009 and started as an assistant professor three weeks later. I was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2015, then professor in 2020.

When I moved to Lubbock to take that job at KLBK in 1998, I had no idea how much Texas Tech University would mean to me. Yes, I always knew that my mom’s side of the family were alumni, and yes, Scott’s family is a pack of Red Raiders. But when I enrolled here, received my diplomas, taught hundreds of Red Raiders of my own, and forged tight friendships with my co-workers this university became part of me. I seriously love these people that I work with, and they have become another form of family for me.

We are now looking to the next generation of Red Raiders with two nephews, one niece, and several cousins and family friends currently attending. So, let’s do the math. Counting me, there are eight alumni on the Howell/Goss side of the family. We’ll go ahead and assume the nephews and niece will graduate, that’s 12 alums on the Irlbeck side. That’s 20 Red Raiders, y’all.

This institution is my life’s work, my research, my friend base, my family. It has been part of my family for nearly 100 years, and will remain that way for the next 100 years.

Here’s the fancy video I edited:

My grandma would have turned 100 today. I started with a nice little Facebook post, but that post turned into a love letter and I decided 100 years of influence deserved a full blog.

I’ll start with the external. My grandma was beautiful. Always was. She was always so put together. I picked up on two pieces of beauty advice from her. 1. Never miss a hair appointment and 2. Avon has everything you will ever need to make yourself look good. Grandma had a wonderful head of hair, and it still looked good until she died at age 95. I regularly send a thank you up to her for blessing me with the thick hair gene. I order Avon every few months and the only hair appointment I remember missing was because of a throbbing migraine.

Grandma kept me while my mom worked before I started kindergarten. We watched a lot of tv, but every day we read lots of books. Beyond reading to me, I didn’t see her read many books, but she was well read. She read at least one newspaper every day, plus lots of farm publications, Reader’s Digest, Guideposts, TV Guide, and others. She was highly intelligent. I marveled at how quickly she could solve the puzzle when we would watch Wheel of Fortune. One of my earliest memories was watching Princess Diana’s wedding with her.

I miss Grandma’s food so much. She doctored up Kraft macaroni and cheese to gourmet level, made the best pancakes I’ve ever tasted, and fried potatoes that I crave. Nothing fancy, but always wonderful. The key lessons – put a little more sugar in it, salt it more, do not buy low fat anything (especially mayonnaise, sour cream, or salad dressing) and margarine is not fit to eat.

Beyond cooking food, Grandma could also grow food. Asparagus, strawberries, and tomatoes were her specialty. I try so hard to emulate her green thumb, but I just haven’t.

Grandma had a big heart for animals. Maybe too big of one for cats. Especially stray cats. We used to make fun of her, but her attitude was that God put this animals in her care, and she ignored our ribbing about it.

Internally, Grandma’s faith was deep. She didn’t miss church, and she had a specific pew at First Christian in Carmen, OK. I thought it was particularly precious that she was her preacher’s Sunday School teacher.

She didn’t talk a lot about her faith with me, but I learned a lot from her actions. Her sweet, gentle demeanor were always a calming presence. She didn’t speak poorly of others. She loved her family fiercely. She had a respect for her country and its leaders that I have always appreciated. I remember one day I was making fun of our president, and she pointed out, in her gentle way, that I wasn’t very well educated on the subject and even if I didn’t agree, the president still deserved our support. I try to repeat that often.

I miss my grandma so much and have an urge to call her on a regular basis. I miss her pancakes. More than anything I miss that calm support that I knew was always there. If she were here she wouldn’t want us to make a fuss about her 100th birthday. She would probably be irritated with me for putting this on the internet. But the lessons she instilled in us were so important and I just couldn’t let the day pass by without saying happy birthday 💗

I didn’t like my day today. If you live in Lubbock, you may have seen on the news that Lubbock ISD had an active shooter exercise. I volunteered to participate. In the morning, my job was to pretend to be a student, so I channeled my inner 16-year-old, only to have my world shook while someone opened fire in another classroom or the hallway. In the afternoon, I was a parent, pretending to be overwhelmed with anxiety (didn’t have to pretend very hard) while I waited to be reunified with a pretend child .

I didn’t like it, but I learned a lot.

I learned how grateful I am to our school district for addressing this horrible problem and preparing as much as possible for the unthinkable. LISD leadership had this exercise scheduled months ago, they didn’t wait for something awful to happen in our state before they prepared.

Our schools are fairly safe. Are there flaws? Sure. Nothing is fool-proof. But they know they can be better, and this exercise helped them learn how to keep our kids safer. I was so reassured when I spoke to Jett’s principal today, and she told me about the safety measures I didn’t even know they did, and the new plans to go in place in the fall.

Above all, I learned the teachers and administrators in our school district are brave HEROES. They love our kids and will protect them. In one of the drills, the “shooter” was very close to our classroom door. I scrambled to hide behind a desk like the chicken that I am. The teachers in the room crouched near the door, found something to use as a weapon, and stood ready too attack the attacker. They didn’t flinch nor cower. In one classroom, the teacher continued to teach us, offering suggestions for how to handle a real life situation.

I hate that we’re in a world that we have to do these things. I thank God every day that I have not had to sit in an auditorium waiting on my name to be called to be told news about my child. I pray I never do. I pray you never do, that no one else does ever again, and I say this prayer every single day.

My intent in making this post was simply to share the positive things I saw today and hopefully offer some comfort to other LISD parents. Please keep politically motivated and sarcastic comments to yourself – I’ll delete them. This post wasn’t meant to fire up a political debate.

I’ll preface by saying that I am an emotionally charged mama bear, filled with anger, and I have not taken a moment to cool off. I have not conducted research, nor have I done a literature review – these are my reactions to my kid’s emotions.

I wish you could have seen my son last night, a ball of nerves so worked up about the STAAR test today that he threw up twice (and I won’t be surprised if he does it again today during his test). You should have seen him this morning as he tried to calm his anxiety about this test that you have forced upon little kids. I wish you could have been there to assure him that he can, in fact, eat the pancakes that my husband got up early to make, but he was too queasy to do so. I wish you could sit with him and try to explain to him why he must take these tests, because I don’t have a good answer for him.

I get that you need a measure of performance for students, teachers, and schools, but do you really have to put it on the backs of young kids in a high stress environment like this? Surely you can trust a teacher’s judgment to know if a kid is meeting expectations and is ready to move up. Instead, you, the legislature has placed pressure on the Texas Education Agency, which puts financial pressure on our school boards, which puts pressure on our principals, which puts pressure on our teachers. Essentially, you’re saying you know better, and you can’t trust a teacher and principal’s judgment. You claim to be smart, and your voters elected you to do right by our kids. So be smart and come up with something better.

I would like for you try to explain to a nervous 10-year-old that his test score is one simple unit of measure to determine if he can be promoted to 5^th grade. I promise you, dear legislator, he doesn’t believe me nor his teachers when we try to assure him over and over that a poor test score means certain failure. And telling him that if he doesn’t do well, he can retake the test does not soothe him. How would you feel if someone told you that to make up a poor score, you had to sit for another four hours in a sterile room to take another nerve-wracking test? No matter my assurances, he and his friends truly believe that a poor test score equates a repeated year in 4^th grade.

Does it matter to you that he hates school? I know every parent says this, but my kid is truly smart. He got a master score on the STAAR test last year, so he’s plenty capable of doing well on this test. He’s curious about so many things, but the only thing the State of Texas cares about is making sure 4^th graders meet the mark for math and reading. These stupid tests stifle the teachers’ ability to allow him to expand upon his love of history, science, engineering, and other little topics that spark his interests. Instead, they place so much emphasis on the test, and he feels like that’s the only thing important in school. He loves learning, yet he hates school. This is not the teachers’ nor the school’s fault. This is the fault of the State of Texas.

Does it matter to you that my kid and his friends absolutely love their teacher? Does it matter to you that she stays late two days a week to tutor them and help them master the areas where they struggle? No. All that matters is that stupid test score. He thinks that his teacher will get fired if he and his classmates don’t perform. Let me be clear – she does not tell the kids this. Somehow, they have picked up on some insinuation that if they don’t do well, she could lose her job. I don’t know if this is true or not, but how dare you put that guilt on a small kid!

Do you care that his school keeps him safe, has zero tolerance for bullies, and makes him feel loved? Doesn’t that count for something? He learns Spanish at his school, but his Spanish language skills took a back burner because the focus turned to taking your stupid test. I would much rather he be fluent in another language and understand other cultures than do well on a standardized test. I’m not slamming his school here. I love his school, the principal, administrative assistants, teachers, and other staff. They work hard to ensure my kid has a great learning experience, but sometimes their hands are tied because of the State of Texas.

Does it matter to you that these kids are so conditioned to taking this test that as young adults they want to know exactly what to do, how to do it, and get anxious when creativity is suggested? These tests have pushed all the creative thinking and critical problem solving out of our young people’s heads. These tests have created problems far beyond the vomit stain on my carpet, and we’re seeing it in college classrooms and with young people in the workforce.

So as you’re campaigning for the next election, think about my smart, curious, capable 10-year-old boy that you have driven to barf because he’s so nervous about your test. Meanwhile, I’ll be looking for a carpet cleaning service because the last thing he ingested was red Crystal Lite and beef jerky, so now my flooring has a pink hue with light, smoky aroma.  🤢

For 2021, I set a goal for myself that I would actually enjoy: read more.

I haven’t told very many people this, but in 2020 I started a novel and I finished it in November 2021. One of the most consistent pieces of advice for writing a book was to read more books. But how much is more? So, I set a quantified reading goal that I would track:  18 books in 2021, and I wrote down each book in the order that I read them in a notes page in my iPhone. I crushed my goal and read 22 books last year.

Because I think and write and basically do everything chronologically, my first inclination was to list the books in the order I read them. But when I read other book reviews, I don’t care one bit about the order someone read a book; rather, I like to know which books they liked best. So, here are all my books of 2021 (categorized by fiction and nonfiction) from favorite to least favorite.

Fiction

By my long list of fiction and meager list of nonfiction, clearly, I have a type. I prefer historical fiction. In general, I like for books to have some sort of truth to them. The book I wrote is historical fiction, and I started a second book that’s HF.

The Four Winds – Kristin Hannah

I hesitated to put this one first because the end was sad. However, this book brings attention to my little part of the world. The things that people went through during the Dust Bowl on the Great Plains was horrible, and Kristin gives us a look into the grit and determination of one family. If you have not supported this book yet and you live on the High Plains, please do so. This was one of the best pieces of historical fiction I have read in a long time. From the stories I know from this area, the research is accurate, the characters are relatable, the plot is excellent. Just read it, okay.

The Last Picture Show – Larry McMurtry

I don’t know how I have gotten through life without reading this book. I read this the week after Larry McMurtry died, and I would say this is his second-best book (behind Lonesome Dove, of course). McMurtry is a phenomenal storyteller, I was emotionally invested in the characters, his dialogue is excellent. I’ll be reading the second book in this series, Texasville, early in 2022.  Also, watching the movie doesn’t count here. The book was way better!

The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop – Fannie Flagg

In a word, delightful. I loved this book. If you’ve read or seen Fried Green Tomatoes, you’ll like this, and you don’t need to read the prequel to understand this book (I would at least watch the movie, though). This story follows Buddy, the little boy in Fried Green Tomatoes. He’s an old man now, and he goes back to Whistle Stop and runs into a beloved character from the original story.

The Push – Ashley Audrain

Smack me in the face! A page turner. So much of a page turner, that I would read this book on my phone at any free moment I had – grocery store, red lights, anything. Super suspenseful, great – but different – writing. This isn’t the type of book I would normally pick up, but the GMA Book Club raved about it, so I downloaded the sample from Apple Books and couldn’t put it down. I think it took me four days to get through, and I’m a slow reader, it was that good.  

News of the World – Paulette Jiles

Great storytelling, but I don’t care for Paulette Jiles’ writing. Please Ms. Jiles, consider using quotation marks. However, her storytelling abilities far surpass my opinions about her writing mechanics. I had no idea about this little slice of history, but I may start using this bit of information in some of my agricultural communications classes. I finished the book, then watched the movie the next day. Both were excellent in their own way, the movie deviates from the book quite a bit, but it was still wonderful. Read the book and watch the movie.

The Color Purple – Alice Walker

Another one of those “why did I wait until now to read this” books. This is a timeless classic. If you saw the movie and haven’t read the book, go ahead and read the book.

Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng

This book was good, but it wasn’t as awesome as I thought it would be. The story moves quickly and kept me captivated, though. Worth a read.

Bridgerton – Julia Quinn

I caved to the hype following the Netflix show. It was a fun little read, but not quite as steamy as the show. I think I read it after I finished The Tattooist of Auschwitz, so it was something easy and fun following something heavy.

The Edge of Nowhere – C.H. Armstrong

You probably have not heard of this book, nor this writer, but this book was really good. C.H. Armstrong is also a literary agent, and I learned about her during a writers’ conference I attended. The book is set during the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma, so she hits two of my interests: history and my home state. It reminded me a little of The Four Winds. Great writing, nice story telling. I found it through Apple Books.

Memory Man – David Baldacci

I have not read anything by David Baldacci until this book. He is a great storyteller, and this is the first in a series about a character named Amos Decker, a man that suffered a football injury and then can’t forget anything. I’ll be reading more by this author. Also, I subscribe to Master Class and have taken both Baldacci’s and James Patterson’s classes, so now maybe I can say that I am trained by these two guys?

The Beach House – James Patterson

I’ve read James Patterson off and on through the years, mostly Alex Cross stories. This was the first thing I’ve read outside of one of his series. It kept my interest, the story moved quickly, and it surprised me a few times.

Lost Girls of Paris – Pam Jenoff

I have purposefully tried to get away from World War II era books this year. I kind of overloaded myself on that genre in previous years. This story is about a group of women who are spies for the British during the war. It was well researched, but for some reason, I wasn’t as captivated by it as I had hoped to be. But, I’ll give this author another try.

The Divide – Nicholas Evans

Nicholas Evans wrote The Horse Whisperer. I have liked some of his other books, and I liked this book, but I can’t say that I loved it. Even so, it was good storytelling, good characters, and the plot moved nicely.

The Guest Book – Sarah Blake

I got this recommendation from the Costco Connection magazine. It was a good story, but I just couldn’t relate to the characters well. It’s about a family that owns an island off the East Coast and vacations there every year. The family has a big secret.  Vacation islands, big family secrets…I got nothing in common with that. But the story kept me interested, so I finished it.

Peacock Emporium – Jojo Moyes

I normally love Jojo Moyes. Her book The Giver of Stars is one of the best books I have read in years, but this one just didn’t do it for me. I finished it, just didn’t love it.

Ashes in the Wind – Kathleen Woodiwiss

My mom has always said this was one of her favorites. I saw it at the Lubbock Friends of the Library Half Price Sale years ago and let it sit on the shelf until a few months ago. I finally picked it up this year, but I didn’t really like it. It was okay enough to finish though. I can see why lots of people like it, it just wasn’t my type of story.

Nonfiction

I really enjoyed all my nonfiction books this year. Tattooist of Auschwitz was by far the best, but it was really hard for me to rank the others. I would recommend any of them.

Tattooist of Auschwitz – Heather Morris

Wow. Everyone should read this book. What an incredible piece of history. Ms. Morris has written at least two other books that I know of on similar topics, and I will be reading them this year. So well written, such an incredible story, and I’m so glad someone told this story.

Bad Smoke, Good Smoke – John Erickson

We know John Erickson as the Hank the Cowdog author. Did you know that he’s also a rancher in the Texas Panhandle and several years ago, he lost everything other than his laptops to a wildfire? His story is heartbreaking but compelling and is a testament to the Panhandle spirit.

Open Book – Jessica Simpson

I like Jessica Simpson, but I wouldn’t call myself a super fan. However, I loved reading her story. It took me four or five days to finish it. Once I started, I was hooked. She has had such an interesting life, and I must say, I took her at face value until I read her book. She goes into teenage stardom, addiction, recovery, parenting, it was a great read.

The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo – Amy Schumer

I love Amy Schumer. I think she’s hilarious, I love the way she’s an advocate for working women, for moms, and for doing your own thing. I also want to be best friends with her. If you read this, Amy, PM me! I’ll fly to New York, and we’ll go to happy hour. Seriously, though, if you like Amy’s comedy, you’ll love the book.

Home Work – Julie Andrews

Since Julie Andrews is my hero and mentor, it’s only appropriate that I read her autobiography. This is the follow up to her first biography, Home, that chronicles her early life. Home Work picks up when she was working on Sound of Music. I found her first book more interesting, but this one was enjoyable to read as well.

Dangerous Prayers – Craig Groschel

This was part of an all-church book study our church did, and for once, I finished the book. My sister goes to Craig’s church, I listen to his podcast, Craig worked with my parents’ former preacher – I feel like I know this guy, but we’ve never met (but this confirms there are probably only three degrees of separation to anyone from Oklahoma). Anyway, this book encourages you to go beyond the daily niceties of prayer and push for bigger things. It was a big wake up call for me and I think it made a difference.

You’ll notice I didn’t complain too much about many of these books, because this is a list of the books I finished. There were several that I started and put down because I didn’t like them. I’m not going to list them because I think books are so subjective and personal. What I didn’t like might be your favorite book ever. Plus, as someone that just finished writing a book, I don’t want someone saying negative things about my story, so I won’t do that to another author.

I’m not going to set a higher goal for this year, simply because I like the sound of 22 in ’22. Also this year, I’m going to read more nonfiction, and I’m going to review as I go in Good Reads (follow me: Erica Irlbeck).  Some of these books I read a year ago were not that memorable, so writing about them now was more difficult than I thought it would be.

I have always enjoyed reading, and setting the goal this year made it even more of a delight for me. Happy reading to all of you!

One of my favorite things about the closing of a calendar year is the television news networks’ look back at those we lost in the previous year. CBS Sunday Morning’s Hale & Farewell is usually my favorite: they do an excellent job of honoring those in addition to the A-list celebrities that passed on in the last year. And I’m always surprised to learn about someone that died that I had missed in the news coverage.

But as 2021 ends, a farewell hit very close to home. My father-in-law, Albert Irlbeck, passed away on December 23. Although we are devastated that we didn’t get to have one more Christmas with him, we are at peace knowing that he passed quickly, in the Chiv-a-lay (that’s how he said it) pickup that he loved, driving the backroads of his beloved Swisher County.

Scott’s mom and sisters wrote a wonderful obituary for him at this link that provides a look into his life and the type of person he was. Scott wrote a beautiful Facebook post for him. My contribution was the slide show that played during the funeral.

We were all so pleased with his celebration of life. Two of his neighbors led the funeral services and their stories and tributes made it so personal. We were all happy that he was honored in such a happy way. If he would have been there, he would have been beaming and chuckling all at once. Never in my life have I met someone that could take a joke and teasing as well as Albert.

With all the nice things already said about him, you’re probably wondering why I needed to prattle on with a blog post. Well, two things. One is that I want to draw attention to the fact that the Amarillo Globe News wanted $1,700 to print the obituary that Scott’s family took hours to write (they had to trim it waaaaayyyyy down to get the price down to a reasonable level). I get that newspapers are a business and need to charge a something for obituaries, but $1,700 is highway robbery to vulnerable people who simply want to pay a public tribute the person they loved most. Two, I thought of a couple more things I wanted to point out about my father-in-law that I remembered after I had finished the slide show.

The thing that I don’t feel like I captured well enough in the slide show about Albert is how welcoming, warm, and hospitable he was. He loved to have people out at his house – especially his barn, loved to cook for people, usually had popcorn popped, had an embellished story to tell, and was always quick to offer a Keystone Lite. If you were in his home, his stuff was your stuff, and you were welcome to anything there.

Albert was an excellent farmer, and I will forever appreciate him as he helped Scott get started with his own farming career. Albert was Scott’s teacher, mentor, sometimes loan officer, consultant, and we often joked, supervisor. He was committed to Scott’s success, and I will always be grateful to him for his generosity and guidance.

The last song I used in his slide show was We’ll Meet Again by Johnny Cash. I can’t think of a more perfect ending to a tribute to someone. For one, he loved Johnny Cash. But more importantly, it was upbeat, which was so Albert – upbeat, smiling, laughing.

So, thank you for everything, Albert. We’ll meet again some sunny day. And until then, I’ll keep the drinks cold and your irrigation boots warm (we had the same size feet, so I wore his boots rather than get my own😂).

December commencement was last weekend. I always have a strange mix of emotions around graduation because I’m so damn proud of how hard everyone has worked, and I’m so excited to see what life has in store for everyone, but selfishly, I’m sad to see them go.

As I was sitting through the ceremony, I got a little wistful thinking about one recent graduate that didn’t get to have his moment. Dr. Austin Moore has to be my most unique doctoral student. He received a diploma, but he didn’t walk because he moved, started his dream job, and his kids had to start school, all within a few days of commencement. But that’s not why he’s unique. This photo is what makes him unique. How many professors have a 20 year old photo of their doctoral student that looks like this:

And I have more pictures, but Austin doesn’t have tenure yet, so I’ll keep them tucked away for a while. I know have one that goes back to 1992, but it’s in the depths of my basement. I know which box it’s in, but that box is at the bottom of a pile of boxes and, well, I’m lazy.

Austin and I met at Oklahoma 4-H Congress in 1992. We shared a love of people, 4-H, public speaking, and talking about ourselves. We enrolled at OSU on the same day, and because of our love of communications we gravitated toward agricultural communications. I can’t think of a more perfect fit for a degree for two people. Just a few months into our freshman year, Rob McClendon hired us to work at SUNUP-TV, a daily television program produced by the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State. As interns, our job was to arrive at 6:30 a.m. and run cameras, tapes, and other things involved with producing a live television show. I don’t know how, but I only missed one show, and I don’t think Austin ever missed any. The fact that they successfully depended on 18-22 year olds to get a live t.v. show on the air at 7 a.m. still amazes me.

As we continued working at SUNUP, we each gained responsibility, and Rob let us shoot, write, and edit stories, then he actually aired them! As the semesters rolled on, Rob trusted us even more, and allowed us to produce, and sometimes anchor, the show. And occasionally, they (and why they did blows my mind) let us take the state vehicle and state equipment and go all over Oklahoma to shoot stories. It was absolutely the best college experience, and it was made better because Austin was with me. (Seriously, Rob! Why did you let us punks use all that fancy equipment? And yes, it was me that spilled the coke on the camera.)

After graduation, we went our separate ways. Austin was at Texas A&M, and heard about an ag reporting job at KLBK in Lubbock, so I have him to thank (and I say that with true gratitude) for putting my career on its path here on the South Plains. We always stayed in touch and saw each other as often as we could.

Things were transitioning with his job at Oklahoma Career Tech, I had a doctoral assistantship available at Texas Tech, so I started pestering him to come work on his master’s and doctorate. Austin always had a patience about him and a knack for explaining things well, and I knew he would make a great teacher. Plus, he’s incredibly smart, so I figured he would get a kick out of research. I knew it was a long shot, but one May afternoon over cheese fries at Eskimo Joes, I suggested he come work on his doctorate. A few months later, he was moving his family to Lubbock.

Austin took to academia easily. He’s a natural teacher. He gets research. He has a servant heart. His entire dissertation was to help extension video producers nationwide: that’s how much he loves video and wants to help people. It’s not available in the library yet, but here’s his thesis. It’s incredible, despite what Reviewer #2 said (still bitter about that).

Our department misses him already, and he has only been gone a few months. I miss him terribly. He was the only one that could fix the video equipment! And he knew what parts to order when stuff broke. Now, it takes me at least an hour to google which replacements to buy; it took Austin 20 seconds. Oddly enough, the only pics we have from his doctoral program are his graduation pictures (see below).

Austin took a job as an assistant professor at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia, and they are so lucky to have him. He’s so happy there, and he’s loving his students. I mean, they got him to dance in a TicToc video, for pete’s sake. Here’s the link. I’m sharing this as many times as possible because it makes me laugh so hard.

There aren’t very many people that I would call a lifetime friend, but Austin Moore is one of them, and I now consider his family as part of my family. He’s as good as gold and I want only the best for him, Melissa, Tucker, and Ella as they move through this chapter of life in Georgia.

(To eat at Thanksgiving Dinner)

Other than the fact that Thanksgiving stresses me out because my food touches on my plate, it might be my favorite holiday. We get the nice family togetherness (and I’m not being sarcastic, I like my family) without all the decorating and gift buying. And oh yeah, the food. Oh, the food.

I like turkey and dressing just fine, but it does not bother me one bit if we break tradition and have something else as a main dish (one year we had lasagna, last year we had a spiral sliced ham that was excellent). But I better have a piece of pumpkin pie, and there are several other staple side dishes that I also expect. So, here are my favorite Thanksgiving recipes.

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is my absolute favorite Thanksgiving food, and it’s probably my favorite pie. But I’m really picky about it. I hate it when people load it up with clove and ginger or some other weird spice 🥴 And store bought or frozen pumpkin pie just doesn’t cut it. It simply does not taste good. Please don’t interpret this as me saying all bought/frozen pies are bad!

I don’t have some snooty recipe. Simply turn the Libby’s can around, get out your reading glasses (seriously! I think they use seven point font!), and follow the recipe. If you want to jazz it up a little, throw in some extra pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon, but cut down on the amount of clove. A quarter teaspoon is too much for my taste.

Here’s the recipe, straight from the back of the can. Ignore the nonsense about “new fashioning” your pie or adding chai spice. That’s too weird. Stick with what works.

Another thing that will make your pie so much better: MAKE YOUR OWN CRUST! It’s super easy. More pontificating and snobbery about homemade pie crusts in the next section.

To kick your pie up a notch, whip your own cream. Also not hard, and tastier than CoolWhip.

Homemade Whipped Cream

1 c. heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla (or more if you want)

2, 3, 4, 5, or however many tablespoons of powdered sugar you want. It’s a personal preference thing.

Pour everything into a bowl with tall sides. Use a mixer or immersion blender and beat the dickens out of it until it’s thick and creamy.

🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧

Homemade Pie Crust

Thanksgiving pies deserve homemade pie crusts. Really, all pies deserve a homemade crust. Because if you’re going to the trouble of making a pie, take the extra 10 (or fewer) minutes to make the crust. I just don’t like the taste of a store bought crust, they taste like shortening to me. Yes, I’m snobby, but to me, you really can taste the difference. Also, homemade pie crusts have a reputation for being a lot of work, but really, they’re not. The hardest part is rolling out the dough, which isn’t all that hard. I have trouble crimping the edges, but guess what: they still taste good, even if they’re ugly.

The pie crust recipe I use comes from Pioneer Woman’s second cookbook, p. 37. I like this recipe because it doesn’t have shortening; I just prefer the taste of a butter-based pie crust. I don’t know who Pam is but God bless you, Pam!

Pam’s Piecrust (makes two crusts).

2 1/2 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. sugar

2 sticks cold butter, cut into chunks

1/4 cold water

Put 2 cups of the flour, the salt, and the sugar in a food processor. Give them a quick whirl to mix them.

Then start throwing the chunks of butter into the food processor. It will get kind crumbly and chunky. My food processor make a gawd-awful noise at this point.

Gradually pour in the water.

Take a look at the dough. If it’s too sticky (and it probably will be) add more flour. If it’s too dry, add water.

Shape into two discs and refrigerate 20 minutes, longer if needed. You can even freeze the crusts for a few months.

This makes enough for two pumpkin pies, a pumpkin and a pecan, a double-decker apple, a pumpkin and an apple crumble, two pecans, or…….

🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧

Cranberry Salad/Relish

This is my favorite cranberry recipe. It’s from my brother-in-law’s grandma, LaVonn McKnight. LaVonn was such a sweet lady, and a wonderful cook. She was one of those people that you felt comfortable telling your life story. My little niece, Vonn is named after her. This is the recipe she typed up and sent to my sister.

🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐

Rolls

My mom is the best cook I know, and breads are her thing. It’s kind of an unwritten expectation that she’ll make rolls for any family gathering. This is her base recipe for nearly every kind of bread she makes. She wanted to make sure I inform you that this recipe does not work well for loaves of bread, just rolls.

I have a batch rising right now, and it’s not going well. Either my yeast is too old, or my water was too hot and I killed the yeast, so be careful with that.

🍠🍠🍠🍠🍠🍠🍠🍠🍠🍠

Sweet Potatoes

Once again, @ThePioneerWoman for the win! This comes from her holiday cookbook, p. 272. If you haven’t picked up on it yet, this is my desperate attempt to get Ree Drummond’s attention, and then she’ll invite me to her ranch, and I’ll bring a pumpkin pie that’ll be the best she’s ever tasted, and we’ll hang out, and mix cocktails, and then we’ll be best friends.

Even if I never meet her, I can pretend that I’m part of her family’s Thanksgiving each time I make these sweet potatoes.

Soul Sweet ‘Taters

4 medium sweet potatoes

1 c. milk

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. all purpose flour

3/4 stick butter, cut in pieces

1 c. chopped pecans

I don’t want to type out the instructions because I’m feeling lazy, so here is a picture of the cookbook.

🥦🥦🥦🥦🥦🥦🥦🥦🥦🥦🥦

Brussels Sprouts

For a girl that doesn’t have much use for vegetables, I really like brussels sprouts, and I LOVE this recipe that I made up last Christmas. It’s inspired by the side dish at Saltgrass Steakhouse that mysteriously went away “””due to COVID.””” Apparently the sprouts went to the same place as the McDonald’s Southwest Salad (also yummy) when COVID happened.

Warning: This dish is kind of a hassle to make. The veggies take a lot of tending when they’re in the oven, but they’re so tasty! If you can get the pre-shaved brussels sprouts, do: It’s a huge time saver. They’re more expensive, but it saves the steps of washing, trimming tough ends, and shredding.

1 bag of brussels sprouts (I think they come in 1 lb. bags)

3-4 slices of bacon, chopped

1/4 red onion, chopped

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Wash and trim sprouts, then shave in a food processor. Place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. Set aside.

Cook the bacon until the fat renders, then add the onion. Cook until the onion is translucent. Pour the bacon/grease/onion mixture all over the veggies. Add a little olive oil (it kind of depends on how oily you like your veggies), season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss gently to coat. I say gently because I end up slinging veggies and bacon fat all over my countertops every time I make this.

Roast in the oven for 10 minutes, check on the veggies and add more olive oil if they seem too dry.

Repeat as often as needed until the veggies are cooked to your liking. I like mine pretty done, which means dark brown in places.

While the veggies cook, make the sauce:

2 tbsp. mayo

1-2 tbsp Sriracha mayo

1/4 c. sour cream

1 tsp. lemon juice

salt & pepper

Throw everything in a bowl and mix well.

I’ll be honest. I eyeball this stuff until it tastes right. All those measurements are a good guess.

If I want a good presentation on these, I’ll put the sauce in a squirt bottle and drizzle it over the top. If it’s just us at home, I do “generous dollops.” 😃

I don’t have a picture of these; they’re not very photogenic. But trust me, they’re soooo good.

🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving.