Out of the Kitchen May 2020

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We’re back with another out of the kitchen post – here’s what we’ve been up to for the month of May!

A split image: on the left, three cars with open trunks are parked in an empty parking lot near a building; on the right, a smiling man and woman pose in front of a colorful cityscape puzzle.

The beginning of May seems so long ago. So much has happened to our city this month and I’ll get into that later in the post.

The girls in our life group gathered for a safe car hang out, it was so good to be able to see them in person! The second photo – Ryan and I completed our first 2,000 piece puzzle of Time Squares. Every time we finish a puzzle we attempt to take a photo in front of the puzzle that looks like we were actually there, its kind of fun ?

Left: A kitchen counter with scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, pancakes, blueberries, and a potted plant. Right: A smiling man and woman posing for a selfie on a tennis court, holding tennis rackets.

Nothing beats a good breakfast (or dinner) like pancakes, bacon and eggs. The second photo – I can’t believe this is our first time playing tennis in Michigan – we’ve been living here for 3 years! We used to play tennis all the time when we lived in Urbana. Ryan has a love for tennis because he played in high school.

Split image: On the left, a person smiles at a kitchen food photography setup with a camera and cereal bowl. On the right, a laptop shows a video call with multiple people; a cluttered desk is visible.

In May I updated 20 recipes! That’s a lot of old recipes that got “face lifts” with additional SEO and photos! Some of my favorite are turtle cookies, oreo cheesecake, and mixed berry galette. The second photo – we had a zoom session with my family on cinco de mayo and I busted out the fiesta decorations, fake mustaches and sombreros. I love making the holidays special by decorating.

Left: An open Bible sits on a desk with a laptop, mouse, and bowl nearby; a black cat is at the bottom. Right: A smiling woman holds her hair like a mustache beside a man with a real mustache.

One morning Salsa snuggled up on my desk while I was doing my morning devotional! The second photo – Ryan grew a mustache during quarantine. It’s gone now (plus he got a haircut) and now I tell him everyday how handsome he is ?

Left: Flooded area beneath a wooden deck beside a house. Right: A muddy, debris-strewn landscape with empty chairs and a small pool in the foreground, and a dry lakebed under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

On May 19th at 6pm we got an emergency alert notification saying that we needed to evacuate our house, along with 10,000 other residents in our city. We had received quite a bit of rain within 24 hours, causing the 2 dams in our area to fail. Tuesday night into Wednesday was filled with a lot of anxiety. It took us 45 minutes to travel 2 miles in our city to check on our house because a lot of roads were flooded. When we got to our house the water was about 2 feet from our foundation. We franticly pulled everything out of the basement because at that time the flood waters were still suppose to increase 3 feet. It was a huge blessing and relief for our community when the national weather service revised the crest, saying the water had already crested. Ryan and I are extremely blessed that our basement didn’t flood. But so many families in our community lost everything. Entire neighborhoods are gutted. Multiple sewer stations in our city had to be shut off because they were underwater and wouldn’t function, this caused sewage to back up into people’s homes, on top of flood waters.

The first photo is looking outside our walk out in our basement when we arrived at the house Wednesday morning. The second photo is a view of Sanford Lake, which is no longer a lake, and might not be a lake again for 10 years. I was able to help out at this house. We had to rip this woman’s entire 2 story house to the studs. Nothing was salvageable.

Two photos of people cleaning and repairing a damaged indoor space. In both, they wear masks and gloves, with tools and debris around. Exposed wall studs and buckets suggest flood or water damage cleanup.

Ryan and I volunteered for flood clean up at 9 different houses. A lot of the work involved removing damaged debris / household items and putting that on the curb, removing baseboards, carpet, tile floor, drywall, doors, etc. It was amazing to see our community come together. While we were at one particular house, 3 different community members stopped at this house to: offer the family a free mattress and bedding because one of the kid’s rooms was in the basement and she lost her bed, another person came and started mowing this family’s lawn which was a blessing because they didn’t have a lawn mower and the grass was pretty tall, and last, women in our church were picking up sewage soaked clothes from this family, cleaning and treating them at their homes and returning the fresh laundry back to the family. Such an awesome outpouring of support.

A group of thirteen people, some wearing gloves and masks, pose and smile together outside a house with trees and various items scattered around the driveway. It appears to be a volunteer or cleanup event.

It was amazing to meet volunteers who traveled from neighboring cities and even from 3 hours away to help with clean up.

The focus in our community is shifting from clean up to restoration, which is going to take a long time.

On the left, a person in a workshop uses a drill press on a wooden table. On the right, two white planters with green plants sit on tall wooden plant stands against a beige wall.

After we had some time to rest from clean up, Ryan and I worked together to make these cute modern plants stands. It was a little more difficult than excepted because it was hard to drill straight holes into the round dowels we used as legs.. but at least they look cute ?

Left: A plate of grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, and asparagus. Right: Two people smiling at the camera inside a car, holding food containers and grocery bags.

We had an awesome grilled dinner on Friday and then went on a “date” to Chipotle the following evening. We had a picnic in the back of the car with our Chipotle which was fun!

SEE MY PREVIOUS OUT OF THE KITCHEN POSTS.