Nomadic Trash and Human Treasures

One of the reasons I was able to maintain my nomadic lifestyle for as long as I did was the fact that I had rather stationary parents and friends back home in Oklahoma who were anchors for me. I was able to move every year or so, off on a new adventure, but I had people I could count on that I could call and visit, picking up as if no time had passed. These people were, and still are, constants in my life. One of those people I left back in OK is my friend Amy. Amy and I met at my church in my college days. She and our other friend Ashley and I all connected through volunteering with the church’s youth group. We dubbed ourselves AAA, and through the years we had many adventures and long drives. Amy and Ashley have supported me through disappointments, laughed over mistakes, and been ready with advice. Regardless of the miles between us, we stayed connected, and I could always talk them into going to Hideaway Pizza when I was home over Christmas break.

AAA in 2012: Aubrey, Amy, Ashley

In the summer of 2010, Amy got to experience one of my first wanderlust adventures with me. On a Tuesday night after a dollar theater movie with high schoolers from my church’s youth group, I felt wide awake. While I can’t remember what movie I saw, I can tell you that for me, 9:00 p.m. is usually late, even in my younger days. But at close to 10 at night I was ready for an adventure. Amy is usually a night owl. We’ve often gone for drives or stayed up talking until 12 a.m. or 1 in the morning. So when I got a crazy idea that would require no sleep, she was my go-to call.

“What are you doing?” I asked on the phone with a smile on my face, not able to hide my excitement. After a non-committed response, I asked her, “Want to see as many states that border OK as we can in one night?” As one always up for an adventure, I knew she wouldn’t say no.

I don’t know why I thought to do this, but since OK borders six states, it was definitely an attainable goal, within reason. We decided to eliminate Missouri and Arkansas since we were in the south-central part of the state, and driving south and west would be easier than backtracking after driving 3.5 hours to Joplin, MO then south to AR. For those of you that don’t know, Oklahoma is bigger than it seems. It takes 5.5 hours to travel from the northeast corner to the southwest corner (365 miles) or 12.5 hours (791 miles) to travel from the northeast corner across the panhandle. Our goal was to just cross the border and get a picture of the welcome signs for Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.

We were not going alone, though. Like all good road trips, we had a mascot. At the time I was a part of a game with another friend and youth group leader (we were a “wild” bunch, really). At one of our town’s infamous “big trash days,” he found a giant plastic frog. I could only guess it was a lawn decoration, but as the saying goes, “One man’s trash is another’s treasure.” He spray-painted the frog Pepto Bismol pink, and then at some point he started “frog bombing,” or leaving it on someone’s porch or outside their car, and that person would get to pass it on.

"Pink Frog" is born!

"Pink Frog" had to come along. Another fun fact to mention is that we didn’t drive either of our cars. At the time Amy was given permission to drive a different friend’s car while he was out of town. A Prius got better gas mileage than either of our cars, so why not take it on an adventure?

After I drove about six hours straight with only one stop around 2:00 a.m. for gas, we made it to the New Mexico border at 4:38 a.m. Texas was 6:00 a.m., Colorado was 6:49 a.m., and Kansas was 8:50 a.m. We made it to our goal of crossing into four bordering states within sixteen hours! Four states, sixteen hours, three tanks of gas, an unknown number of playlists and conversation topics, and one speeding ticket. Success? I think so. Tired? Yes, but so worth it!

It was a long night, but we made it to Colorado!

I never knew what happened to Pink Frog. My friend David remembers frog-bombing me outside my classroom where I was subbing one day. He ran off down the hall but not before he saw me confusedly open the door to see what he’d done. Neither of us remembers what happened after that, but I’d like to think Pink Frog went on to explore other states as I did. Baked Potato Deliciousness

When I think of a recipe for Amy my mind immediately goes to her famous baked potato soup. I know when the weather turns chilly it’s only a matter of time before I see a picture of this comfort food pop up in my feed. Lucky for me Ken Haedrich had a bread for that. Stuffed baked potato bread was the perfect solution! Since I’m one of those people who believe there is such a thing as “too much of a good thing,” I made a rosemary and roasted garlic white bean soup to go with the bread and saved Amy’s baked potato soup for another occasion. The bread really was the soup in bread form – plenty of bacon, cheese, butter, and some onion intermixed with the mashed potato to make one almost think it was a meal on its own. It’s a quick bread, so no yeast or kneading was involved. The crackly crust and flavorful crumb were everything I wanted. And if you’re a fan of garlic, the roasted garlic and white bean soup is worth a try, too!

Baked Stuffed Potato Bread Fresh From the Oven

While I cannot share the bread recipe (find it in The Harvest Baker), I was permitted to share Amy’s Baked Potato Soup. Amy recommends you quadruple the recipe to feed a family. Try it at home!

Amy’s Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups of chicken broth, stock, or Better Than Bouillon

• ½ cup finely chopped onion

• 1 cup cubed potatoes

• 2-4 TBS butter

• 2 TBS all-purpose flour

• 1 cup of milk

• salt and pepper, to taste

• ½ to 1 cup sour cream

• 1 – 2 handfuls of Colby Jack cheese

• chopped, cooked bacon, to taste

• chopped scallions or chives, to taste

Directions:

1. In large soup pot sauté onions in a bit of extra butter until a bit softened and translucent (some people like to add garlic or use leeks too). Add in your broth and potatoes and cook until tender.

2. Meanwhile begin a roux of the melted butter and flour in a separate saucepan, add milk and continue stirring until thickened. Pour into a large pot of simmering potato broth. Continue stirring to thicken.

3. While it simmers add in some cooked bacon, scallions or chives, sour cream, and a handful (or two) of shredded Colby Jack, and sour cream.

4. Let simmer a few minutes and let the flavors marry, of course, it tastes even better the next day. Serve in bowls with freshly grated sharp cheddar, more bacon, a small dollop of sour cream, and scallions.