Summery Things

This is mainly a picture post, with a few notes on each shot. Not that exciting, sorry. I do have some thoughts rolling around in my head on marriage and friendship and authenticity, but those will come a little later as they become solidified. Or even before that because I have a tendency to speak out before I really know what I'm saying. All in good fun. :) And blogging is supposed to help the process I hear, so I'm hanging onto that food for thought. 

Attempted crafts. Why oh why can I not be like FRANKIE who is an incredible artist? One day I hope she teaches me her ways. 

I'm getting better with my food processor. The dip on the top left is an orange pepper dip, with carrots, peppers, orange, garlic, and salt. Add it to a cracker with a basil leaf and mozzarella and you have homemade bruschetta! I'm so grateful that my basil plant requires virtually nothing from me to succeed. 

Finished this book last week. It came highly recommended. Would I recommend it in return? Eh. It's written by a Norwegian journalist, so although it is about the Arab world, it has little of the Arab style of storytelling that you so commonly find with Arab authors. Hard stories + not beautiful writing = Bleh. 

Heading to the beach with Patrick! Our annual beach trip is one of our favorite times of the year. 24 people in one house is a step above loud and chaotic, especially when there is someone up at all hours of the day/night when you have babies, 5 year olds, teens, Walter, and adults. My brother is a nocturnal adult which is why he has his own category.

Our glorious house! 

My dad's brother and sister - Tom and Marilee, and my grandmother Annie. 

The beautiful sunset we got to watch from the porch every night.

Gathering before we serve dinner to pray.

My church #confessions. Sometimes my books are too good to leave at home.  And our church is amazing, but has been known to have lots of 'lag' time between worship and the message. This is when I open my book.

Judge me all you want, but I love to read and sometimes feel like I hear more from the Lord through stories and books. Its just the season I'm in, and I'm okay with it. 

Peach salsa = GLORY. We bought some peaches coming home from the beach that are FAB. So Liz passed along a peach salsa recipe that is pretty amazing. AND I had all the ingredients in my fridge. Except for the mint that came from my yard. Praise God for another herb that requires me to do nothing. 

One of my new obsessions. AND THEY MAKE IT IN PURSE SIZE! That is what I'm more excited about. But I'm trying to find Shakira's Eau Florale in the purse size sprayer, but have yet to locate it. Womp womp. It is to die for.

Dirty Diana

Songs that creep past your skin and sink into your veins are so hard to find. But every now and then you come across one, and you let it live on repeat until you know it well enough to take it with you.

This is one of those songs for me. And one of those musicians. I knew Sean McConnell in high school, and loved hearing him play at FCA or on mission trips. I have his first cd that he made in high school, and remember traveling all over Atlanta to hear him every time he played. There were big life lessons in those songs, and his voice drew you in and allowed you to feel the weightiness of each of them. It's like the Kingdom transcended the artist. You came face to face with your Creator by experiencing Him through Sean's music. The lyrics aren't trite, but savory and poetic. His way with words is better than most popular artists today.

Sean doesn't do as much worship any more, but everything he does is just as rich and powerful as his worship. And this song choice for today only reemphasizes that notion. I hope you enjoy!

Thanks Mary Susan for the heads up on this one. :)

Recipe Docket

In order to motivate myself, I'm posting pictures of the four new things I want to make this week. I have acquired the ingredients for all of these beauties, but let's see how much I actually cook. :) I'm kind of over my cooking phase, but I know we eat SO much better when I get my act together. And we tend to go out less. Which means bootcamp can actually be beneficial. Womp womp.

Spring rolls

Firecracker shrimp

Tomato, Basil and Cheddar soup

Strawberry Lemonade Scones

And to round this all out a little bit, I bought THIS at Hop City this afternoon:

Does it GET any better than that!? I mean come on!!! It's currently chilling in the fridge, but I'm hoping to have some with dinner. Here's to hoping its as good as Woodchuck Raspberry or the watermelon wheat we had at work this week. ;)

Happy eating. And drinking. And cooking if you're into that sorta thing.

Balsamic Vinegar Addiction, and other great recipes...

Here are some of the foods I've made in the last week or so. I'll post the recipes below each of them, as well as a link to where I found them/adapted them from. I don't normally adapt recipes unless I don't have all the ingredients, so don't assume that I have any skill at that whatsoever! I just like to cook new things and am trying desperately to get better at it. 

Homemade Onion Rings

Ingredients: 

1 onion

1/4 cup cornflakes (I spun them in the food processor for a minute)

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

2 1/4 buttermilk (I used the Greek yogurt drink Kefir)

Salt

1. Slice your onion and pull apart the rings.

2. Soak all the rings for 30 minutes - 2 hours in the buttermilk/Kefir

3. Roll in breadcrumbs and crumbled cornflakes 

4. Bake at 450 for 12 minutes until crispy

VERDICT:

These were REALLY good. Definitely way better than expected. And since they are baked, there is no  oil or deep frying involved. The cornflakes provide a good crunch, and the breadcrumbs functioned like normal breading that you would get on onion rings at a restaurant. You could probably play with some herbs in the mix, but these were perfect in my opinion. Original recipe here.

Balsamic chicken

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts

Mozzarella

Red pepper

Olive oil

Crushed garlic

Balsamic vinegar (or balsamic glaze which I couldn't find)

Basil leaves

1. Marinate chicken breasts in balsamic vinegar and crushed garlic for as long as you have time for. I did 2 hours and that was sufficient, but I can only imagine what this would be like after 24 hours.

2. Bake the chicken with sliced peppers on top for 15 or so minutes. 

3. Then add a basil leaf and a slice of mozzarella underneath the peppers, and continue baking until chicken is done.

4. Drizzle with balsamic glaze or balsamic vinegar when finished (that part not pictured).

VERDICT:

Killer. I'd make these a million times over. VERY flavorful and moist. Recipe here.

Fudge with marshmallow cream

Ingredients:

3 cups chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Vanilla

Marshmallow fluff

1. Boil water, and place a heat-proof bowl on top of the pan.

2. Melt chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk until smooth. I stirred a good bit to keep the chocolate from hardening/burning on the bottom of the bowl.

3. Take off of heat, add a splash of vanilla.

4. Pour into pan. Spread with cream.

5. Put in fridge for a few hours to harden. OR put it in the freezer for 30 minutes. :)

Tip: line your pan with foil, so the fudge will be easy to dump out and slice. 

VERDICT:

Great. This was VERY easy, not the least bit healthy, but fun to make. I had high hopes of adding peanut butter at some point, but the process was so quick I didn't have time to get my act together. The only tricky thing with the cream is that at room temperature, it tends to melt and drip off the fudge. That of course makes it all the more delicious, but definitely messier. Especially if you want to transport it to take somewhere. But with the dark chocolate chips, the marshmallow was a nice touch. No link for this one, I combined a few recipes I found. :)

Homemade spicy balsamic pizza

Ingredients:

(I used homemade dough, but you could easily buy dough for this)

1 cooked chicken breast (seasoned however you like it), chopped/shredded

1 onion

1 pepper

Handful of cilantro

Pepperjack cheese

Sliced/Crushed garlic

Spaghetti sauce or salsa (I used Vodka sauce from Trader Joes)

Balsamic vinegar (sorry, I'm on a kick here)

1. Preheat the oven to 400.

2. Put some olive oil in a pan, and cook the onion, peppers, cilantro, and garlic until very soft. 

3. Spread the salsa or sauce on the crust.

4. Add cheese, veggies, chopped chicken

5. Drizzle balsamic vinegar on top (just for fun)

VERDICT:

Pretty good. But honestly it was better the second day when all the ingredients sat together all night. I combined two recipes for this based on what I had on hand, and was overall pretty pleased with the outcome. Check out this and this for inspiration. 

Cucumber salad

Ingredients:

1 chopped pepper (red or orange)

Handful chopped cilantro (recipe called for parsley, but who eats parsley?)

Thinly sliced cucumbers (1 used 5 small Persian cucumbers)

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp finely grated lemon rind (this would have been great had I known how to do it)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

*I added a little bit of honey because it was pretty tart

1. Slice cucumbers.

2. Mix everything together, and let soak until you're ready to serve.

*Some people add sugar or substitute rice wine vinegar.

VERDICT:

This was good as a side item for a bigger meal. Its colorful, very light, and refreshing. It would compliment a lot of other foods because it is pretty tart. I thought it might taste more like pickles, but it really just tasted like cucumbers with some other flavors. You can add red pepper flakes or chili powder for a kick. The recipe did also call for radishes, but I'm pretty sure I've never bought/eaten a radish in my life. So I left those off. :)

Happy cooking everyone! 

Insurgent

In case anyone was nervous that I wouldn't be able to fill the Harry Potter void in my heart, fret no more.

My life has now been made complete by Veronica Roth (and Bob Goff, but you knew that already). 

These books are outstanding. I could not put them down, and am slightly nervous that I won't make it to the fall of 2013 for the third book without some sort of breakdown. 

For those of you who can't read that title up top in reverse, here is the official Insurgent cover. This is the second book in the Divergent series, and it is one of the rare page turners that you can't ever quit reading. I kept finding myself wanting to go to sleep or skip church or run an errand, but then something else would happen to Beatrice Prior that I knew would be a big deal. And change everything. And I just couldn't stop there. Or 100 pages later. Or 150 after that. I sat on the edge of my seat for the last 48 hours with my palms sweating and heart racing, until all concluded.... WITH A CLIFFHANGER ENDING. Uggghhhhhhhhhh. I CAN'T WAIT TIL 2013 AFTER THAT! And because I love you, I won't spoil what's going on here and deprive you of being mad about this ending too. I need someone to commiserate with.

Being a young writer, Roth has certainly proved herself to be a great story-teller. These books have tons of action, a little bit of romance laced throughout, and provide an honest look at human nature. I hope that English teachers are using these books as tools because they are jam packed with great questions, perceptions, prejudices, and realities on life and the potential future of our world if left unattended to.

So I encourage you to go to your local Target, and pick up a copy today (as Target only began carrying them this week). 

Marked that off my prayer list on Friday. 

Let me know if you guys have read anything good lately, because I'm obviously only going to flounder around and complain about the void of good books the world has to offer at this point. And you know that I will always take book suggestions. 

XOXO

Happy reading!

Love Does

I just finished Love Does by Bob Goff. Bob Goff is an incredible man with some of the most inspiring stories I've ever read. What is so challenging about him is that anyone can do the kinds of things he does. 

He gives generously, never sparing an expense when it comes to showing his love to others. And what impresses me most is that he demonstrates love in tangible ways not only to those who are close friends, but also to those who are complete strangers. Like when he sent flowers to a woman that totaled his jeep, just to remind her that it was okay and that she was forgiven. Or like when he helped a kid he met on a walk propose to his girlfriend, and found a way to get the Coast Guard involved to make it an even more spectacular event than the kid had ever imagined it to be. Or like the time his children wrote to foreign ministers, and were invited to come visit 29 of them. He sold his car to pay for plane tickets for his family to travel to those places, because he knew that those would be lifelong experiences that his children would never forget.

I read these stories and am just flat out inspired and stirred up that he has learned to love and live in such a tangible and expressive way. A way that people long for, but don't have the gumption to just do.

He helps dreamers dream. He challenges you to live outside yourself. To see others first. To let others enthrall and captivate you with who they are. He makes no excuses. He says yes, even if its hard or uncomfortable. Because that is what living a life fully engaged is all about. Creating memories now that you'll never regret.

He reminds me so much of my favorite lesson that I took away from Blue Like Jazz. That we must love others simply because they exist. Why is that so hard to do sometimes? Why is it so unbearably easy to pick apart why you should/shouldn't do something, when you know it would mean the world to someone else? Maybe we don't give ourselves enough credit. Maybe we think that it wouldn't matter to someone, when in reality we are who they need in this season. Or maybe we don't like someone, so we want to withhold our love from them. But maybe it's in the overcoming of our flaws and issues and specks that we see past what we see, and are able to lay hold of what God sees.

If someone simply asked me to see a movie tonight, I'm more inclined to say no than yes. Why is that? I love spending time with people, and I never regret a minute doing it. But sometimes its just easier to stay at home. Or easier to finish my book, or watch a movie. Because that requires virtually nothing from me. When going out would mean I'd have to spend money, look presentable, get home late, and probably use up gas in my car. But is that really how God wants us to live? Secluded in our rooms with the TV on, completely MISSING an opportunity to engage with someone? To encourage them? To be encouraged by them? To swap life stories? To be reminded that we all need love and friendship and meaning and people to believe in us? We're meant to live bigger life stories than I think we can even dream up for ourselves, and sometimes it takes someone like Bob to point that out.

Closing the final pages was incredibly difficult for me, as this book is one that will ring in my heart for decades to come. And I know that I cannot simply 'walk away' from this one. This one was different.

If I could pull apart a few of the truths that I really want to carry with me, they would be related to doing more, loving more, and engaging more. And I realize that sounds kind of stupid, but after reading these compelling and awe-inspiring stories from Bob Goff, you realize how much more you could be doing. And by “you”, I mean “I”. Because I can get lazy. And forget to be intentional. And forget that I can matter. And those are terrible things to forget. Because at the end of the day, love does.

Vietnamese Summer Rolls

Cooking new foods is an invigorating process for me. I feel like I always get stuck in a rut with dinner, so finding new recipes and actually making them is a big step. This recipe for Vietnamese Summer Rolls I pulled from Pinterest, and literally had zero idea how they would turn out. I've never done any kind of roll or wrap before, but this one seemed easy enough to replicate. 

Ingredients for the rolls:

Handful of lettuce

Cilantro

Carrots

Rice sticks

Chopped mango (I used mango salsa)

Steak (the recipe didn't call for this, but I thought it'd be a nice addition)

Rice paper

Mint (the recipe calls for this, but I did not use it)

1. Soak the noodles in boiling water for 3 minutes or until soft. 

2. Cook steak (or meat of your choice in sesame oil)

3. Chop lettuce, cilantro and carrots

4. Dip the rice paper in water and soak for a few seconds. Dry off.

5. Put the cilantro, lettuce, noodles, meat, carrots and mango salsa on the first third of the wrap.

6. Fold over the end closest to you (where the ingredients are), fold in each side, then roll.

7. If you wanted to bake or fry the roll at this point, you could. However, eating them raw is great. And better for you. 

Ingredients for the dipping sauce:

4 tbsp soy sauce

4 tbsp warm water

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp rice vinegar (I used white wine since I didn't have rice vinegar on hand)

Ground ginger and/or garlic

Red pepper flakes

1. Mix all ingredients together. Make sure the sugar dissolves in the mix.

I highly recommend a dipping sauce of some sort (even if you don't use this one). The flavors are a little bit bland, although the mango salsa kicked it up a little bit. I really liked this dipping sauce, and you could probably do any variation of these ingredients, or any of your choice. 

I loved making this as it gave us a needed break from baked chicken, tacos, and spaghetti. They would be great for an appetizer at a party, or as part of a bigger meal. I really loved them, and hope you'll give these a shot! Here are some iPhone pictures of my ingredients, but I'll replace them with real pictures once I get them on my computer. 

Divergent

You guys, this book IS AWESOME.

 

I read it this past weekend and it was the PERFECT thing to get me over Harry Potter. If anything can get you over Harry Potter. 

Although dystopian novels are gaining popularity, this one does not disappoint. 

Society in futuristic Chicago is separated into 5 factions: Candor (the honest), Erudite (the intelligent), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), and Amity (friendship). At the age of 16, everyone must select which faction to align themselves with. And that faction then becomes your family and your way of life. Beatrice Prior grew up in Abnegation, but has questioned whether or not she is truly selfless enough to spend her life as a part of that faction: wearing the same gray clothes as everyone else, only seeing a mirror once every other month during a hair trim, and only focusing on others rather than herself. The book follows Beatrice as she selects her new faction, and follows through on the daunting initiation process.

I could not stop reading this book y'all. And of course I promptly ordered the second one on Amazon, AND IT ARRIVED YESTERDAY. But I'm wrapping up 'Love Does' by Bob Goff first, so I haven't started it yet. The third book in the series doesn't come out until 2013 - AND I'M PRAYING THAT THERE WILL BE MORE THAN THREE. I just hate waiting for these kinds of things. And if I love the books, I want there to be 29384729356129384 so I can always read them and work the characters into my daily life. Healthy right? :)

Let me know if you want to borrow this book... I love to share. 

Harry and Bob

Sorry for the meltdown a couple of days ago folks. I didn't mean to bear my soul in such a scary way. But in real life, it happens.


I finished the Harry Potter series last night. 

Twas the end of an era. 

The 7th book was epic. And I'm slightly embarrassed that it took me so long to read the series. I can understand why every man, woman, and child has loved it. Including Stephen King. Who was the one who convinced me to read it. 


I just ordered this guy from Amazon: 

as Bob Goff became so completely inspiring to me after reading A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. I cannot wait for this to come in the mail. I even ordered a second copy as a gift as I have that much faith in how great it will be. Cheers to you Bob.

In other news, I feel like I've been thinking a lot about family lately, and am starting to get excited about when Patrick and I will have one of our own. We love Lucy and Bailey tremendously, but sometimes you want more than what a pet can provide (this coming from someone who is afraid that they will love their cat more than their firstborn). And yes I'm serious. 

We kept Libby Gray two weeks ago for a weekend, and we really had a blast. She is so fun and sweet and FULL OF ENERGY. I know my dad and Jill were grateful to have some time away from her constant chattering, so Patrick and I happily took up the post. We got ice cream, we went to the pool, we went down a waterslide, we went out to breakfast, and we drew on the driveway with sidewalk chalk. Little girls are very fun, especially ones like her who are completely more fearless than I ever was as a child. I love watching how open she is to new experiences. Occasionally it takes a little extra encouragement, but she always comes around. And when she does, she is ALL IN. 

At the creek in the park. Lucy got in so Libby Gray did too. Luckily she was still wearing her new Hello Kitty two-piece.

Going down the water-slide. Look how sweet she looks!

We couldn't have had more fun with this sweet little girl. And I pray that we will one day have one as cute and sweet as she is to call our own. 

I'm heading to make dinner after a really long, but good day. Lucy and Bailey are begging to be fed, and I'm dying for some reality tv. Which is severely lacking in my life these days. I know, hard to believe, but my job does make me actually work. 

It's worse than that, he's dead Jim.

Divorce is an ugly and terrible thing. And I know that anyone who reads this would agree with me.

Patrick and I were talking the other night about how parents have an obligation to each other, first and foremost. Their relationship has to be good, strong, and healthy in order for them to give their best to their children. Obviously that does not mean that the children are not cared for, nurtured, looked after, etc. But it does mean that the parents must first have a good foundational relationship and solid commitment to one another in order to raise children in a healthy environment.

But one thing that is tough for me is second marriages. Both parents, once divorced, and despite great difficulty, have to move on from one another. They pursue different interests, they move out, they get re-married, and eventually they have someone new that they are committed to.

That in and of itself is not a bad thing.

However, the Bible doesn't demonstrate the clear priorities of parents in second marriages. It seems to me that once the parents are initially split, they each have to then be responsible for the children, since they are no longer responsible to each other. Because if they are not responsible for the children, who else will be?

I hate divorce because it forces children to have to learn to nurture themselves at a young age. Especially once parents are re-married and have new families. Because the parents get to start over but the children do not. The children no longer have a 'home' in the traditional sense. They don't have a safe place anymore to let their guard down. Or to participate in all the traditions and customs they grew up doing. If the parents don't make a concerted effort to prioritize their children, then its easy for them to just get lost in the shuffle. To not feel a part of any family. And to have to work to be a part of their parent's new lives.

But how do you tell parents that you're still important? That you're still their child and you still need them? They might have other relationships in the mix, but is it wrong to think that you should still have a priority in their life? Shouldn't your parents know that you're important? That you missed parts of your childhood that can never be recovered? And that they are the people that can make that not scar not cut so deeply?

The children can't and don't want to be the adults. The nurturers of themselves and each other. That's not their role in a parent/child relationship.

So that leaves me wrestling with all of these thoughts right now. Because I don't have a great answer. And I think parents need to do what they need to do to be healthy, but sometimes that damages the children in the process. And the damages cannot be undone.

Which makes everything just messy. And ugly. And dumps truckloads of crap on the kids to deal with over their life-time. To force them to look for the missing pieces of their 'home' and 'childhood' and pick them up, dust them off, and figure out what to do with them.

Then to figure out how to hold all of those things, and not let them hurt any other surrounding relationships. But only to use them in a positive way that is edifying and supportive for others. But to not ignore them because they need attention, and processing. And you want to be certain that you won't grow up to be the same. But not letting them overwhelm you or steal your joy or make you feel ungrateful.

All while not falling apart.

Is it even possible?