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Eric’s "Touch of Maple" Pecan Pie

Posted by Eric (November 22, 2007 at 12:18 pm)

Pecan PieI’ve been pretty busy lately, but things have slowed down enough that I managed to brew beer a couple of weeks ago—it’s now in the keg—and to bake a couple of pecan pies for Thanksgiving.

In researching recipes for my first pecan pie a couple of Thanksgivings ago, I was dismayed to find that nearly every recipe calls for corn syrup, a detestable substance, especially in its “high fructose” version, which I find is in nearly everything. What’s more, it appears that the original recipe for pecan pie was inspired by Karo brand corn syrup.

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Posted in Brewing & Cooking | 8 Comments »

Producing WSJ-Style Hedcuts

Posted by Eric (July 31, 2007 at 5:00 pm)

Brejcha hedcutI’ve been working on a new design for the Thomas More Society website—this is the original Thomas More law firm that defended my father, Joe Scheidler in the landmark NOW v. Scheidler RICO suit.

It remains to be seen if I can meet my deadlines and actually see the new design published, but meanwhile I want to share a discovery.

For the TMS homepage I wanted to use a Wall Street Journal style “hedcut” of Tom Brejcha, the lead attorney at TMS—and the guy I’ve got on speed dial when I have to deal with police out on the street protesting abortion.

I couldn’t find any quick instructions on how to do this (the hedcuts made famous by the WSJ are hand drawn—good for them!). So I threw something together myself using Corel PhotoPaint. Should be easy to do with PhotoShop too.

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Posted in Technology | 5 Comments »

Five Gallons of Iced Tea

Posted by Eric (June 27, 2007 at 4:34 pm)

Iced Tea BrewingI am probably one of the few non-restaurateurs who needs to know how to make five gallons of iced tea, but if there are any other A/C-hating, do-it-yourselfer fathers of large families out there, here’s my recipe—which you see my sons Nate and Sam and I testing out one evening here to the right.

But first, an explanation. Last week I took vacation time to build a large playhouse/fort in the backyard. I’ll post an article about that soon, once all the loose ends are tied up. But it was pretty hot last week, and it’s been hot all month. We finally got sick of making five and six pitcher of iced tea a day and decided to make a whole lot all at once.

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Posted in Brewing & Cooking | 11 Comments »

About the Vandalism . . .

Posted by Eric (June 7, 2007 at 2:38 pm)

Eric and WilliamSeveral people have expressed curiosity about the reference to “vandalism” in my sketchy notes to Sarah Paraskeva’s birth story. I’m impressed that people are actually reading the notes, which are there to help me finally finish the full account of her birth story.

Unfortunately, I could not get a photo of the “vandalized note” in question to come out. But I do have a picture of me with “Baby William” which will give you an idea of what kind of state I was in after three days pacing around hospital rooms. William was fashioned from a blown-up surgical glove, onto which I drew a face: the thumb became William’s nose; the fingers his Mohawk.

William was “born” when my seven other children were visiting us the evening after Sarah was born. For some reason they let the whole crew in there at once, and Daddy got rather silly. Another silliness was my “vandalism” of the note that had been taped onto Sarah’s bassinet.

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Posted in Children, Family, Fatherhood | 5 Comments »

Meet Sarah Paraskeva!

Posted by Eric (June 4, 2007 at 10:02 pm)

Sarah Paraskeva ScheidlerWe’re back from the hospital and Sarah Paraskeva’s personal website is ready! Read all about her birth, get all the vital stats, learn about her unusual name, and best of all see lots of pictures of my littlest little girl.

God is good! Praised be His Holy Name forever! In his mercy he has blessed me to be the father of six girls—no fewer than six! Nor has he forgotten to give me sons, two of them, older brothers to help me nurture protect these precious sisters and daughters.

I invite you to share my joy by meeting this newest Scheidler daughter.

Posted in Family, Fatherhood | 22 Comments »