funnyyoushouldaskblog

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The Three Levels of Trust

1. Asking a stranger to watch your bag for you while you go to the bathroom. 2. A mother and child. 3. Snap chatting nudes to a casual Tinder hookup and they don't screenshot.

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And the cool fall air will guide me home. #longjourney #sarahjarosz #inthesky #sunset #kansascity #wanderlust #auditionseason #travellife

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We can, we MUST do better to end senseless gun violence and honor those who are killed because of it. My heart is with everyone who has been affected by this preventable tragedy.

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Das Wassermädchen in Blausee. I cannot get over how beautiful this lake is. #blausee #switzerland #wanderlust #cosmictwins #clearbluewater #natureforthesoul (at Blausee)

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Happy National Cat Day!! Since I don't have a kitty, I adopted Anna's. Meet Duffles. We're best friends. #purebliss #glasgow #littlegems #nationalcatday #kitty #duffles #happiness #besties #snuggles

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I mean, c'mon. Stunning. #wanderlust #scotland #glencoe #lochleven #papofglencoe #hike #beautifulday #thegreatoutdoors #walkinghighlands

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Blackberry Pie

In the late 1970s, my mother worked in a small bakery in Rocheport, Missouri, a historic river village west of Columbia. The shop mainly sold loaves of homemade sour dough and whole grain bread, but pies and other sweets were a specialty of my mom’s. Most importantly: her blackberry pie, a recipe she’s been cultivating for the better part of forty years. No one makes a blackberry pie like my momma. Juicy, sweet berries bubble over the surface of a flaky lattice top crust as the sugar settles to the bottom, forming a layer of hot, sticky blackberry jam. The rich, dark purple color is matched only by the fragrant steam rising from the little circle of pastry heaven. 

She had me working with her in the kitchen at a very young age, standing on the step stool, covered in flour from head to foot, kneading the dough for sesame seed rolls or rolling out the thin oil crusts for pie. My lips and fingernails were perpetually stained crimson throughout the summers of my childhood from sneaking bites of the berry filling. 

As an adult, I have continued this passion for cooking and baking. My recipes tend to be of the everything but the kitchen sink variety, but I still love making homemade pies. So when I came home from living a year abroad in Scotland, Mom asked me what special food I wanted to eat to celebrate. The only thing I could think of was one of her blackberry pies, the quintessential dish of my childhood and our family. (Later I realized how freaking much I missed refried beans, but oddly enough, those were one of the only foods I hated that my mom made. Probably because she made the powered kind from the all-natural health food store that tasted more like regurgitated beans, then refried. I wouldn’t discover the glory that is Trader Joe’s canned beans until college. That shit is magical.)  

Anyway, mom not only agreed to the celebratory pie but asked me if I wanted to make it. I’d already had a few years of pie baking experience under my belt, to various degrees of success, and I felt confident in my abilities to conquer her legendary recipe. 

But while I was mixing sugar, blackberries, cranberries, and rolling out dough, my mind began to wonder to current events -- one of which being the LA Pride weekend. I don’t know what possessed me to start associating rainbow flags with fruit pies, but my mind wouldn’t stop forming the following metaphor: 

It’s Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or even the Fourth of July, and you are gearing up for a big meal. But in true Grace Adler style, this is a dessert-only festival of indulgence. “Ok, here's the Thanksgiving menu so far: apple pie, pumpkin pie, blueberry tart, and ice-cream roll. What am I missing? [BEAT] Cake! We need cake.” 

You make a fabulous pumpkin pie, custardy and heavy with spices, but you’re just not that into pumpkin. In fact, you never eat pumpkin pie, you just bring it along because that’s the thing you make the best. What you love is cherry pie. And it just so happens that there is a person coming along to Thankchristofjuly that makes a killer cherry pie but, like you, doesn’t like their own dessert. Their mouths water for pumpkin. So you swap your pumpkin for their cherry, and the two of you are satisfied because you only ever want to eat either cherry or pumpkin pie. 

Or say you make an apple pie because you can’t get enough of the cinnamon-y goodness. You make a beeline for the other apple pie at the party and the baker of that creation and you are happy to swap pie recipes and eat apples until the cows come home, because you’re just not jazzed about pumpkin or cherry. Apple is your thing. 

But maybe you like apple and cherry equally? You have a slice of both on your plate and you savor each distinct texture and taste. You’re not being greedy or selfish, you just enjoy the variety of the fruit and love each pie individually without comparing one to the other. The person who made each pie did so with love and, after all, that’s more important than fruit. 

And what if you just love pie!? Go for it! You’re not discriminating against any of the delicious goodness. Pumpkin, cherry, apple, even the rare chocolate Crème de menthe pie that somehow stays untouched in the back row of the table, you love them all because they are pie and why would you ever want to limit yourself when it comes to dessert!? 

But perhaps, you, unlike your fellow party goers, just aren’t in to pie. You prefer savory over sweet and while your friends are trying to find their ideal fruit match, you’re happy hanging out by yourself with the mashed potatoes. 

Are any of these scenarios better than the others? Should we criticize or punish our apple pie friends for only liking apple, when we think they should only like pumpkin? And what about the friend who likes more than one pie? Are they less of a human being because they can be equally happy consuming different bites of flaky goodness? NO. Because dessert, like love, is AMAZING and each person on this earth should be able to eat whatever freaking pie they want! 

So yes, I did just compare sexual orientation to pies. Over simplifying the issues? Maybe. But just remember next time you’re enjoying your favorite pie/cake/dessert at a holiday party or summer evening, we all just want a little slice of sugar in this life. Don’t be the asshole who won’t let half of the party find that happiness because your narrow-mindedness is obstructing the sweets table.  

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Flying over the frozen ocean and Greenland. #Greenland #fromtheair #planepic #homecoming #travel #transatlantic

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ONE WEEK! #America #homecoming #cannotwait

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I tried to hike a Scottish munro without equipment and then made Thanksgiving dinner for eight people in four hours.

An introspective look at why and how I began to underestimate the difficulties involved in real life challenges. And why that may not be a bad thing.

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How it all began. At the end of my first year of grad school, I’m looking back at how this epic journey started.  

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Welcome!

For anyone who has ever pretended to be a guest on a talk show while sitting on their couch at four in the afternoon, this one's for you!

Instead of just talking to my empty apartment, I'm talking to you! Listen along as I tell stories about my experiences and impressions of attending grad school in Scotland. Mild cursing. Much unedited rambling. 

Enjoy!