Much A Do About Cooking

Inspired by the Wall Cookbook I took to the Maid-Rites, but I guess I felt that after reading the article in the cookbook once I felt I need not refer back to it in order to cook the Maid-Rites. Needless to say my measurement of cheese to be added to such a difficult dish was much like me making the gravy in Biscuts n' Gravy on the camping trip of 2006. (Biscuts N' Gravy Made EZ! Just add pepper!)

In the recipe for Maid-Rites that I had in my head I was add a 1/2 a stick of Velveta cheese (you know the block of cheese that comes in a foil box?)to 1 pound of browned beef. It turns out you need to cut the 1/2 a block down to smaller size for easier melting and 1/2 block is too much for the 1 pound of beef.

I wonder if Jeff would every hire me at Joel?

Cartoon Idea for a Law Firm

Here is a cartoon that I did for a newsletter for a law firm in LA that wanted to do an article about Economic Recovery. I'm really proud of this one and I think its really funny.

Nothing To Say

I have been sitting in front of my computer for twenty minutes trying to think about what I should write about. Wanting to be funny or creative. Wanting something interesting to say. And I have nothing. I have nothing to say about the fact that Marty went to a dead end while I was trying to tell Dad where we were at so he could give us directions to the Hotel that took us over an hour to find because we drove on Hwy 29 not 316/29, which we didn't know was different and was only supposed to take us 15 minutes. I have nothing to say about how awesome Jeff and Heather's wedding was and that I am proud to have another sister-in-law. I have nothing to say about Jeff and his amazing food that he made for all of the guests. I have nothing to say about Heather and her beautiful decorations. It is obvious that both Jeff and Heather are very gifted at what they do. I have nothing to say about how glad I am that I have the cutest-most wonderful nephew that a Aunt could ever imagine. And I have nothing to say about my Parent's Anniversary being on the same day as Father's Day, which I have yet to buy and send any gifts for Jeff and Heather, Dad, and not to mention the three birthday's that are coming up. So, like I said, I have nothing to say. Nothing to say about how much fun it was to see everyone and watch Jeff and Heather become One through marriage. I have nothing to say except: Congratulations to the Newly Weds!

Maid-Rite's For Dinner

I ordered my grocery's online tonight and they will be delivered tomorrow. I opened up the Wall Family Cookbook to see what stuff I was going to order so I would be able to cook. My temptation was to go to the last page and order from the Hot Pocket recipe...that one is a real family favorite, but then in the course of flipping to the back I came across the old Fort Dodge staple, the Maid-Rite. So tomorrow I will be having a cheese Maid-Rite thanks to the Wall Family Cookbook.

P.S. I also ordered a new flavor of Hot Pocket which is Hamburger Helper Hot Pocket. I can't wait.

Jeffery Cooking

Wall 'Gangsta' Wedding

I'd like my first post to be of some of the great pictures I took at Jeff and Heather's wedding. This blog needs some images to really show just how great of a family we really have!

To all those people just checking out this blog note that although the men wear classy hats and the groom is wearing a pin stripped suite we are not actually a mobster family. Our women might like fancy things, we practice customary hazing to all peoples who marry into the family, our boys drink Templeton Rye (which we also drink at the birth of our babies), every Wall child has a scar, broken bone, or chipped tooth from a family initiation event, and our Father may go by "The Bing," - we are really just a down to earth, Midwestern family, who just happens to have a lot of legendary family secrets and stories...

On second thought...who are we kidding?

Some thoughts on the Wall trip to Atlanta 2009

Now I know why they call it Hot-lanta! It was 150 degrees the entire time.
I got lost every time I left the hotel or house.
Business 29 is not the same as Highway 316/29.
Jeffery's new house.
Beer is cheep in Georgia. $2 for a Red Stripe.
Emilie's drink of choice is Sex on the Beach.
Philly's drink of choice is White Russian.
Brandon needs to blog.
Debt snowball means microwave nachos in the hotel room.
Glover wins the US Open in golf. Tiger Woods loses.
Joel has a mean bacon cheese burger.
Bing likes his GPS speaking Mandarin.
Three hours at a Varsity hot dog stand is a good way to spend the afternoon.
Up 40 hours in a row.
Bad watermelon at Walmart.
Speed up to the speed bumps...its a rental car.
Fried Chicken and biscuits from a southern bell.
Lucy made a mess of the garbage.
Shot of whiskey in the mens room.
The dudes had some awesome hats and the ladies had new purses.
Jeffery can't tie a tie.
Brandon and Marty can't tie Jeffery's tie either.
Bing had to tie the tie.
Everyone cried at the wedding.
Ring Pop for a ring.

Family Dates

(Birthdays and Anniversaries in bold)

Mary Sue’s BD: July 16, 1953

Born in Olivia, Minnesota to Louis and Marcella Erickson

Lived in Willmar from age 2. High School Graduation: 1971

Bing: November 11, 1951

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Milton (“Fritz”) and Carol Wall

Lived in Minneapolis till age 5

Red Wood Falls, Minnesota 5-8

Byron, Minnesota High School Graduation: 1970

Bing and Mary Sue Erickson met at the Dining Hall Side Entry at Trout Lake Bible Camp in Pine Lake, Minnesota, where they were both camp counselors. They found out that they both were transferring to Moorhead State from their respective Junior Colleges (Bing: Rochester Junior College and Mary Sue: Willmar Junior College). They got in contact with each other at Moorhead State.

Bing Graduated from Moorhead State, MN with a BA in History, 1974

Engaged, July 5, 1974

Bing started Seminary at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, September, 1974

Mary Sue Graduated from Moorhead State, MN with a BS in Heath Education, 1975

Married: June 21, 1975 First Baptist Church, Willmar, Minnesota

Worked at Woodland Camp, Summer of 1975 in Zumbro Falls, Minnesota

Moved to Highland Park, Illinois where we lived on the upper floor of Mrs. Murphy’s house.

First Car: 1973 Plymouth Fury a gift from Bing’s dad. The starter went out the day of our wedding, thus beginning a long tradition of car trouble

Mary Sue worked at Brandel Care Center in Northfield, Illinois

Bing worked at Grove School in Maintenance, did odd jobs and drove school bus

Bing did his internship at Immanuel Baptist Church, Waukegan, Illinois

Moved to Cairo, Nebraska where Bing was Pastor of First Baptist Church, December, 1977

Graduated, December, 1977 Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, M. Div.

Martin Page Wall born in Grand Island, Nebraska, July 11, 1978 at Grand Island Memorial Hospital

July, 1979 Moved to Byron, Minnesota for 2 months to live with Bing’s parents and then to Rochester, Minnesota to Oak Terrace Estates to a mobile home with a down payment for the trailer from Bing’s Dad. He worked for his Dad for 3 years in sales for Rainsoft Water Company. He had numerous jobs (lawn mowing, bus driving, vending machine filler) until he was hired by Elim Baptist Church, Rochester, Minnesota as Associate Pastor. He was ordained in the Baptist General Conference while serving there. Mary Sue worked at Daytons as a sales clerk and at Mr. Steak as a waitress.

Emilie Sue Rochelle Wall born at Olmsted Community Hospital, Rochester, Minnesota, April 17, 1980

Brandon Earl Wall born at Olmsted Community Hospital, Rochester, Minnesota, July 16, 1982

Moved to Fort Dodge, Iowa where Bing became pastor of Calvary Baptist Church.

Jeffrey Phillip Wall born February 4, 1986 at Trinity Region Hospital in Fort Dodge, Iowa

Mary Sue worked at Randals as a cashier and then attended Iowa Central Community College and got her 2 year nursing degree. She then worked at Trinity Regional Hospital.

Bing began work on his masters in Family Studies at Iowa State while the Wall Family still lived in Fort Dodge, January, 1994, and he continued at the church fulltime with reduced benefits.

Moved to Ames, Iowa, July, 1995 to Old Orchard Mobile Home Park for their second trip through a mobile home for Bing to study full time at Iowa State. He worked as a Research Assistant in Human Development and Family Studies for 3 years. Marty stayed in Fort Dodge to finish his Junior and Senior years. He was Senior Class president and graduated in 1996. Bing, Mary Sue and Jeffrey moved to the row house on Bristol Drive in May, 2000.

Bing graduated with a MS in Family Studies from Iowa State in 1996 and continued with his Ph.D. program (graduating, December, 1999). He completed his marriage and family therapy internship at Catholic Social Services, Fort Dodge, Iowa and worked there a total of two years while he finished the hours he needed for licensure. He started seeing clients in Cornerstone Church offices in 1996 and opened his own office on Lincolnway in Ames, Iowa, in July, 1998. He opened another office in Urbandale, Iowa in December, 2000. After much prodding from Marty and Brandon, Bing started a relationship blog in March, 2009, that Marty designed.

Mary Sue worked at Mary Greeley Medical Center as a Med-Surg nurse and for Iowa Heart at McFarland Clinic in cardiology after our move to Ames. When Iowa Heart split off from McFarland Clinic, she had to drive to Iowa Heart in Clive, Iowa, for a year due to a non-compete while Iowa Heart completed construction of their new facility. She’s been at Iowa Heart ever since. This summer (2009) Iowa Heart is being bought out by Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, so she will change employers there. In December, 2005, she purchased a new sewing machine and has since complete many projects, doll clothes, bags and quilts being her most favorite. She also has majored on being a grandmother and even developed a special play room in the loft of our home specifically for grandchildren.

Marty had wanted to be a cartoonist since he was five and was always drawing. In high school he was involved in the arts including drama, music, and art. He painted a couple murals for the high school and helped with other art projects. During high school, Marty worked at Randal’s and at JaMar’s Drive Inn Restaurant in Fort Dodge. Marty moved to Ames after high school graduation and attended ISU 2 years, majoring in art. While attending ISU he worked at a First Class Signs in Ames in fabrication. Wanting to pursue studies that would be more helpful in developing his cartoon skills, he moved to San Francisco where he took on his grandpa's Fritz' nickname and called himself Fritz, and graduated from the Academy of Art with a BA in Illustration in 2003 and then started working at Signs America in San Francisco, where he is the sales manager. He also started his own web site: fritzcartoons.com to promote his own cartooning business. He named his cartoon strip “Rackafracka,” after a made-up swear word his sister, Emilie, used to say when she was frustrated as a child. His cartoons have appeared in many newsletters and other applications. Since 2003 he has had cartoons published in magazines, newspapers, direct mail, email marketing, e-vites, sales letters, news letters, books and more for local businesses in San Francisco. In 2008 he published his first calendar made up entirely of his own original cartoons. His long-term plans include starting his own sign company and advancing his cartooning business.

Emilie had always loved organizing things. One of her first prized possessions was a pink filing cabinet she bought from K-Mart when she was in third grade, being the only third grader in the history of the world to have her own filing cabinet and use it! In high school she was involved with track and swimming and band and graduated from Ames High in 1998. She worked at Hickory Park Restaurant in Ames and at First American Bank while in High School. She graduated from ISU with a BS in Child and Family Services in 2002. During her ISU studies volunteered at the Friendship Center in Des Moines for one year (also doing her internship there) working with inner-city kids and their families. While attending Cornerstone Church in Ames she went on three short-term mission trips: one to Kazakhstan and two to Seattle, Washington, the last one of which she co-led to the Union Gospel Mission. She served one summer as a camp counselor at Pine Lake Christian Center. She then continued her studies after her move to the St. Paul area where she attended the University of Minnesota and graduated with a Masters in Education Degree in 2003 and has taught at Central High School in St. Paul ever since in Family and Consumer Science (FACS). During her first two years in Minnesota she taught after school programs tutoring in math. She’s lived in Roseville, Minnesota since 2008. During her time student teaching and teaching she has served as assistant coach in girls swimming and girls track, head Jr. High Volleyball coach and in the Spring of 2009 was awarded the Girls Basketball “Mom” award at Central High School for her assistance and guidance to the student athletes. She has also taught summer school and worked part time at Caribou Coffee, was on two worship teams in two churches and started an outreach at her church to 20-30 somethings called “Turning Point.”

Brandon graduated from High School in the spring of 2000 and then attended ISU for 2 years. While in High School he did a short-term missions trip to Africa and worked a several restaurants, including Carlos O’Kelley’s. He met Philly at Cornerstone Church where he attended after his conversion to Christ in 11^th grade, August, 1999. He graduated from high school in 2001. Philly graduated from ISU in 2003 with a BS in Biology (she was there on a scholarship), while Brandon completed two years of studies there. He and Philly (Kybat from Council Bluffs, Iowa) married June 14, 2003 and moved to Omaha, Nebraska. She completed her Physicians Assistant degree at the University of Nebraska Medical School, graduating in December, 2006 and has been working at Council Bluffs Community Health Center as a Physician’s Asssistant ever since. Brandon finished his history degree at Bellevue University, graduating in 2005 and continued on with his Masters in Philosophy at Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, NC, where he is currently studying, taking most of his classes by distance learning. Philly gave birth to Alyas William Wall on April 1, 2008. Brandon and Philly were instrumental in starting a non-profit organization called Park Avenue Community (“PAC”) in order to have a indigenous outreach for Christ in the inner city of Omaha. They made their home on the third floor of a huge Victorian home along with 5 other single people. Brandon was also instrumental in the planting of a new church and served for a time as an associate pastor at Core Community Church in Omaha. Brandon also worked at a coffee shop and several restaurants during their stay in Omaha. He is currently a waiter at Old Chicago. They are planning to move to England for a year while Brandon studies medieval philosophy (specifically Thomas Aquinas) at Cambridge for ten months starting the fall of 2009. He then hopes to continue his studies in Philosophy at the Ph.D. level, the destination currently unknown.

Jeffrey met Heather McMichen when he was in elementary school at Edwards Elementary School in Ames, Iowa. He has shown an interest in cooking since he was very young. He’s pursued cooking opportunities his whole working career, starting at Carlos O’Kelly’s in Ames, where his brother Brandon got him his first job. He also worked at Olde Main Brewing Co. in Ames and The Cheesecake Factory in West Des Moines, Iowa. He and Heather both graduated from Ames High School in 2005. After a semester at Iowa Central Community College in Ankeny, Iowa and at Iowa State University, he moved to Providence, Rhode Island to attend Johnson and Wales Culinary School. While there he also worked at The Cheesecake Factory and Ruth Chris Steak House. Heather also attended ISU for a time and worked at The Flying Burrito and Bali Satay House. After being separated for a time, Heather joined him in Providence where she also worked at Ruth Chris as a server. Both moved to the Atlanta, Georgia area in January, 2007, where Heather desired to continue her college studies and Jeff wanted to pursue other culinary opportunities. Both found work at several restaurants together until they settled at Joel Restaurant, a gourmet French Restaurant where Jeff trained under French chefs. In the winter of 2009 they moved to Statham, Georgia, where they bought a home together and where they could be close to the University of Georgia, where Heather desired to continue her studies in Interior and Fashion Design. Jeff and Heather continued working at Joel’s. Jeff was being recruited to be the head chef at a newly starting restaurant as of this writing, a goal that he has wanted to do for long time. Jeff and Heather were married in Athens, Georgia on June 22, 2009, the occasion of this family history.

Louis Erickson, Marcella Erickson’s husband, Mary Sue’s father, Bing’s Father-in-Law and Marty, Emilie, Brandon and Jeff’s grandfather passed away, June 4, 2004 and was buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota as a WWII Veteran of the Pacific Theater.

Folklore about Jeffrey Phillip Wall:

The fall after Jeffrey was born I attended a Pastor’s retreat at Pine Lake Christian Center in Eldora, Iowa. There were probably around 20 or so pastors and staff attending. One time during the retreat for one of the sessions we were sitting in a circle in chairs facing inwards. The facilitator was having us go around the circle, one at a time, sharing the best thing that had happened them that yearn, whatever we wanted to say. As happens in these things, the first person sets the tone and he shared these wonderful successes in his church and the next guy did, too, and on and on it went with each guy outdoing the other in baptisms or church attendance or new staff or record offerings. After each person shared there were “Way-to-goes” and “Praise-the-Lords” and by the time it go to me you’d a thought the stars were lined up for the return of the Messiah. I really wasn’t trying to be rebellious. I had decided to share the coolest thing that had happened that year as the facilitator had said, which I proceed to do:

“I was sitting in my living room alone with my 6 month old son, Jeffrey. He sat directly in front of me with the fireplace as a backdrop. He was playing with a metal lid to one of our stove-top pots and had figured out how to make it go around and around and around and around and then the top would suddenly stop and crashed and Jeffrey started laughing. And he laughed and laughed. And then he did it again and it suddenly stopped and crashed and he’d laugh and laugh and then he did it again and again and he laughed and laughed and I laughed and laughed and I was worshipping God in this joyful moment, thankful for little things, for humor and the gift of Jeffrey and life and possibilities. It was the highlight of my year. I’ll never forget that short, wonderful moment.”

Or something like that. I didn’t take notes, but that was the gist. When I stopped talking there was dead silence. The contrast to the other accolades was startling. I was smiling and happy with my story. Others were looking down, like they were embarrassed for me. The facilitator stumbled and went on the next pastor. I realized at that moment that maybe I was made up of different material than the rest of the group.

I still like the story of Jeffrey and his pan lid. It reminds me of all the times I have thanked God for the privilege of having Jeffrey in my life and the joy he’s brought to my life and the life of our family.

***********

We've already decided to add more items to the "Wall Way." One we thought of last night when we were getting a tour of Jeff's house is:

"The couch serves in perpetuity as the laundry room."

The Wall Way

The Wall Way
By Bing Wall


On Sundays you go to church
Eat dinner at home or go out to eat
Everyone takes a nap
When the kids are older, it’s quiet time
When the kids are older still they can go out and play
Mom and dad still take a nap
There’s a lock on the bedroom door
At Thanksgiving Dinner everyone gets teased at least once
Usually at least one person is teased one too many times
It is decreed that Jared will eat all of our leftovers
Mom and Dad go to breakfast at HyVee every Saturday
To read the paper
Talk about the news and the Minnesota Twins
Talk about how the kids are doing
Talk about how mom and dad are doing
Then they figure out the bills
Then they come home and everyone cleans the house: No excuses
When it comes to the house, mom is the General
Dad is the Lieutenant,
The kids are Privates
This pecking order is built into the laws of the universe
And cannot be renegotiated
If you have a friend overnight on Friday night
They have to help you clean because
The first time you visit you are a guest
The second time you visit you are family
Which means you pick up after yourself
And
If you don’t work you don’t eat
You want your friends to stay over on Friday night
BB guns cannot be used to shoot at glass pop bottles while aiming at the house
Even if your Grandpa gave you the BB gun
BB guns have a mysterious habit of disappearing forever
Please do not terrorize Mrs. Murphy
Big Brandon’s family’s hot dogs suck to high heaven
Dad is the recreation director
Sleeping at a rest stop on the interstate is a God-given natural right
When we stop at a convenience store Dad will give you money to buy whatever you want
When we return from vacation everyone helps clean out the van
When Mom asks what you learned in Sunday School today, you say “Jesus”




Used cars are a badge of honor, especially old Buicks
New cars are a waste of money
As Grandpa Fritz says: it’s just sheet metal
When you pay to get your car fixed you say:
“At least I don’t have monthly car payments or loose all that money to depreciation”
And then you smile and nod knowingly
Using and developing your God-given talent is a duty, honor, privilege and a joy
Jesus is our friend, confidant, example and coming King
We love because He first loved us
Laugh long, hard and often
A well timed joke is just shy of heaven
When you join the Wall family
Your picture is added to the Wall of Walls
This is the greatest promotion known to man
You are then initiated.