Food for Thought: April

I admit it. In the month of April there was pretty well zero cooking for me. While I was out of the country I left my mom and LK home with frozen lasagna, Carolina Crockpot Chicken, and omelet making material. And, in reality, they were happy.

But at the end of the month, I did manage to make a few final Rachel Ray meals before moving on to another cookbook. Here's how it went:

#171 Fruited Chicken Curry in a Hurry
I'm not gonna lie, this one was interesting. I love the Real Simple peach curry recipe that I've used for years so this one had a lot to live up to if it was going to replace the staple. And prunes in the curry- well that's just a strike against it before the game even started. But over all it wasn't bad. I didn't have golden raisins like I thought I did, so those were left out and I got the idea that I could use the canned coconut milk I've had for a bit to make it creamy- but I guess I've had that can longer than I thought because the milk had solidified! (I threw it out rather than try and salvage). I topped it with scallions, coconut and cilantro. Overall it was done in a hurry and it was pretty good- but I think Real Simple still wins.  (In trying to find the RS recipe to link to it seems to be gone from the internets.  So I guess that means it's time to make and post it. Filed away under things to do.)

(would be higher he said if not for the prunes)

#201 Aussie Meat Pies, Made Quick
This was amazing! AMAZING! I made this for LK on ANZAC day and while it wasn't spot on Aussie in that I know the origin of the meat contained inside the pie (thankfully) it was still absolutely yummy. I used basic refrigerator pie shells put into a muffin tin instead of the puff pastry- though I think the puff pastry would have been better. I cooked the bottom of the crust for 8 minutes, then filled the crust with cooked meat, topped it with the other side of the shell and cooked for another 8 minutes. I do believe I'll be making these the next time the Aussie team gets together.

#356 Honey Chicken over Snow Pea Rice
I omitted the scallions because I was looking for shallots and I only used 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes because my family doesn't like spicy things- though I added more to mine because I was on the heels of a trip to Asia which completely altered my taste buds. I also added some sesame seeds because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Overall it was pretty good. But again, I was on heels of Asia and so it was, well, US-modified Asian take-out.



Happy Eating,

Sleep

9 times out of 10, especially after a string of nights with interrupted sleep, I'll go on all day about how I want to go to be early only to end up staying up as late if not later than I normally do.

One Drop

At the beginning of Wishing Well's documentary on the water crisis in Rwanda, the narrator says that people may view their lives as one drop- as something insignificant- but that like rain when one drop follows another amazing things can happen.

For some, April 30 was just one drop, one day in the line of many other insignificant days, but for Geo, this was the day that he discovered something larger than himself.

On April 30, Geo and ISH were able to attend a reception for His Excellency Paul Kigame and Mrs. Kigame on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University. And later that night they  attended a dinner where His Excellency talked about all the good that Rwanda has to offer and where Wishing Well was given a platform to talk about how clean water is necessary if Rwanda is going to continue to develop. Both boys came home from that evening in shock.

"Mommy, they don't have clean water in Rwandan!" they told me in disbelief.

"Well what should be do about that?" I asked.

"We should give money so they can dig wells." Geo told me

"And when I'm bigger, I'll go and help them dig." ISH added.

My heart melted. But that was only the beginning.

The next week Geo was chosen to be the "Star Student" for his class and was given the job of decorating a poster board with information about himself. One of the pictures he wanted to use was the picture of him with His Excellency and Mrs. Kagame.

"And I can have a bag to show my friends where to put their money, so they can help give water too." Geo said putting a few pennies in the bag so his friends could have an visual aid.

Floored!

My six year old was choosing to use his "about me" project as a platform to help others. (Please note it was also special hat day on the day he took the poster board to school. Hats from Venice are not part of his regular school attire.)

He was so excited when he came home from school on Monday telling me how kids said they were going to bring money. What was even more exciting was that they did!

Geo raised 6.31 (including the few pennies he'd thrown in to start the ball rolling) and then he and ISH gave an additional 2.65 of their own allowance matched "dollar-for-dollar" by me and LK to start early teaching them the value of matching gifts.

And today Geo made the trip to the OC Campus to donate his 11.61 to the Wishing Well's cause.

I'm so proud of Geo, and hope this is the beginning of him seeing creative ways to help others. One drop in the many of his life, I pray.

... though it should be said that the best part of the interaction with Ryan Groves, head of Wishing Well, was when after talking about the wells, looking at a few pictures of watching the video that won the Million Miles contest, Geo turned to Ryan and said "My car smells like sugar." He was right. It did.

To the man

To the man
who stepped up to the challenge of "conquering the unconquerable"
who wasn't scared off by my marriage proposal after our second week of dating
who called even when I wasn't at my best
who listened even when he didn't want to know the truth
who talked me down from ledges
who called my parents when I said I was ready to come home
who put miles on his car up and down the turnpike for a chance that I might know what I wanted this time
who (rightfully) let me know that I needed to make a choice
and who came up one more time when I was ready.

To the man
who listened as I laid down my rules and laws and regulations
who was patient when I changed them all
who was willing to call strangers on the phone to see if they were nervous before their engagement just so I wouldn't walk out the door
who proposed to me on the grave of a worm named Fred
who was willing to have me from a distance so I could see what the world looked like
who slept at weird times so he could call me every night from a million miles away
and who was waiting for me when I returned home.

To the man
who helped me put together furniture only to return it hours later without an "I told you so"
who danced with me to America in our little apartment
who worked hard to save money for us so I could have a house
who let me cry when that house took me miles away from home
who stood with me when all plans changed
who has loved me when I have been completely and utterly wrong
who has never given up on me, never walked away
who has remained committed to the promises we made
and who works to love me more fully like Christ every day.

To the man
who still has wonderful Robert Redford eyes
who can still make me laugh
who can still make me smile
who has supported and encouraged me to do what I love
who helps with laundry, cleaning, cooking so that I can
who still understands my innate need for globetrotting
who is an amazing father, husband, friend
and who doesn't wear scuba gear to bed.

To the man that I have been married to for nine wonderful years,
Happy anniversary.

Celebrating Moms

The theme for iheartfaces this week is, of course, "Celebrating Mom".  But with this challenge I went with the lovely Leise- my soon-to-be-first-time-mommy sister-in-law who has just recently started to show.  I love this picture because of the sweet confident smile she has.  It's as though she knows some secret that I don't remember knowing my first time around.

Click here to see more entries.

Mothers

Mandy's photo challenge this week is all about moms, which is great because I just had a fabulous Mother of a Brunch (with my new fully well self and my wonderful family) which provided opportunity for great mom pictures. (However Mandy, since there's an actual prize this week I'd like it to be known that no mom could be as beautiful as this one, e hem)

But I do love this picture from this week. I think it pretty well sums up where I get my lively, fun spirit from: It's hereditary round these parts.

Completely blessed to have these women in my life,

SoCoS: Bottom

Making use of the random noun generator again this week's word is Bottom.

Read and go:

I feel sorry for the word bottom. No one wants to be the bottom of the class or the bottom of the barrel and most of the time you hear women hate on how their bottom looks. And kids roll their eyes when they're told to sit on their bottoms (though my mom now says "pockets" which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. What if you have pockets in the front or worse yet- cargo pants! Then where do you sit?!?!) But bottom has always seemed like a lonely word.

Hit a road block.

I do enjoy the bottomless soup and salad at Chili's - but then maybe they call it "endless" because if I ate all I wanted of their enchilada soup "bottomless" would not describe me.

Hit a road block Hit a road block.

Is bottom the same thing as underbelly? And equally undesirable word.

Now it's your turn. If you'd like to participate in a little SoCoS action here are your guidelines: Write on the same topic for 3:37 without stopping. If you can't think of what to write, write "hit a road block" over and over again until something comes to mind. When you're done- post a link to your SoCoS writing as a comment to this post.

Looking forward to see what you all have to say