A Cooking Fool

In an effort to avoid the many foods I am either allergic to or have build up food intolerance against, a little over a month ago I begrudgingly started a whole foods diet. And while it hasn't yet given all the perks I hoped it would (like dropping a few pounds), I must admit: I do feel better!

There are downsides to every major change, of course. This change comes with a huge financial burden of eating whole, organic, natural (and lots of raw!) foods that unfortunately cost more than the oh-so-easy processed foods (and we wonder why America is so overweight!?). It also requires a lot of time and intentionality, meaning that most of my evenings are spent cooking.

Fortunately for me, I love to cook, and while it of course would be nice not to HAVE to do it every day, it often provides a great form of stress relief. Which means I should be entirely stress-free after the past month! ;)

This weekend has been particularly busy as I have spent the weekend trying out new recipes. This weekend I have made for the first time (or the first time allergy free):

Sushi (with veggies: raw fish at home seems to risky!)
Pancakes
Waffles
Homemade vegetable broth
Carrot soup with tofu (delicious!)
Vegetable stew (with sweet potatoes!)
Mayonnaise
Bedouin Bread


The best part? ALL of these foods - except the sushi and mayo - freeze well! So I've made big batches, divided it up, and now I can have "convenience food" I can actually eat!

I've also made turkey burgers and sweet potato fries. These - with a salad, of course, will be dinner tonight.

Sure... its better fresh (though not necessarily with the soup!), but now I can have options on nights I just don't feel like cooking. Like the good 'ol days. :)

All this talk about food... I'm off to eat my delicious dinner...

Thankful Indeed

There is much to be thankful for year ‘round, and I am thankful that each year in the last week of November, we US citizens celebrate and remind each other to be thankful through a national holiday: Thanksgiving.

I have celebrated Thanksgiving in various places and with different groups of people who are important to me, but this was the first year I was not in the United States. That means that while I have always contributed to the Thanksgiving feast, it has always been done pot-luck style. That was not the case this year, as we knew that as the only Americans we know here, if we didn’t prepare the feast ourselves, there would be no traditional foods to be had. Therefore Hannah, Rachel and I did all the shopping over the couple of days leading up to Thanksgiving and stayed home from work Thanksgiving Day to prepare the feast. Our only regret was that we didn’t have a bigger kitchen/house to host people in, as our list of who we wanted to invite was significantly larger than the list of people we actually did get to invite.

As we prepared the large feast that included TWO turkeys (who were we kidding? We knew these folks could EAT!), excitement built. The baking of desserts was done the night before and were taunting us from the cupboard. As the preparations began in early hours of the morning, we had all day to talk about our own traditions and how things were the same or different from back home. We laughed and shared stories of memories from years past. We took time to share things we are thankful for and remembered the many ways we are fortunate.

We received our guests with joy and excitement into our aroma-filled house. While initially unsure how they would feel about these foods that were all almost all new to them, we were easily convinced they weren’t exaggerating their approval as they moved in for third and forth servings. By then, we had also moved into entertainment by some of the girls (through singing and dancing)- all of this before they slipped into food comas, sprawling out in the living room before we even got to dessert (don’t worry, we woke them for it!). Needless to say, they ate their fill and then some, and we hardly had any left!

Only days after we finally got some furniture in our house, it was great to fill our house with guests that brought such energy, joy, life and love. We spoke all week of things we are thankful for, and as the evening came to a close, I realized the depth of gratitude I really do have especially for the friends and family (however defined) I have in my life. I am also grateful this year to have been able to share this great tradition (and traditional food!) with others for the first time. It was indeed a great Thanksgiving, and I went to bed counting my blessings for an incredible life and for a God that is always giving us new life in ways great and small.

Here we are mid-meal... I was teaching them how to stretch their stomachs to make room for another course. :)

Our entire group, L-R Top Row: Judy, Joyce, Me, Lucy, Nissia, Debbie, Vixa
Front Row: Lynn, Hannah, Clifford, Rachel

Rounding out Week 1

To begin this update, I would like to give a shout-out to my Ride:Well family, who I thought of lots this week while you were at the Venture banquet! I even made... I mean “invited” my roommates here to watch the ’09 Ride:Well Video (courtesy of Josh McNeilly and the wonderful world of Facebook) Thursday night about the same time as you all were gathering for the banquet. I hope it went well- miss you all!

After a busy week at the office, we were informed that Joyce would be coming to stay and accompany us on our journeys for the weekend. This was a welcome surprise, and so the weekend began with a trip to get fitted for Congolese cultural dresses, to be handmade by a friend of her family. The fabric she gave to us to have them made is absolutely BEAUTIFUL, and I can’t wait to see how they turn out!

Friday evening brought with it whole new sides of Vixa and Joyce we were yet to see. As it turns out, not only Joyce was staying with Vixa for the weekend, but also 2 of Vixa’s brothers - Raul and Yannick. We learned so much about Vixa (our co-worker and driver, who lives across the street) that I hardly know where to begin. One thing is certain... one should never trust in anything he and Yannick agree on, haha. You should have seen them over card games on Friday and Saturday night, switching between French and Swahili to keep us from catching on to what they were saying. I dont think I’ve laughed so hard in a very, very long time. I’m thankful for the friendships that have come so easily out of spending this time together. I’m looking forward to getting to know them better, for sure.

When not trying to play an “honest” game, we did take time out for tourism to go down to Cape Point. We did a bit of light hiking, much to Joyce’s dismay. It was gorgeous! Though I have to say, myfavorite part was likely the drive through Simonstown, where we stopped to see the many whales in the bay. I’d never seen whales before, so I was pretty excited.

The weekend also consisted of lots of cooking... its funny its only been a week and we “finally” cooked for those poor boys who are clearly starving. I made pancakes, Rachel baked cookies. Yannick is certain that no matter what we make, his is better. This was actually good news for us, for if his is better, we’re convinced we shouldn’t waste our time with sub-par meals, and next time he comes for the weekend, he is going to cook for us! I’ll let you know how that turns out, though...

A Piece of Cake

Its cold outside. Today, I am reminded of one of my favorite things to do when I was little and it was too cold to go outside. Usually, these days came with lots of snow, so my siblings would often go out and play in it- most frequently by sledding. Though this is an activity I enjoy now, it was far from my first choice when I was young.

I used to stay inside in our warm apartment and spend the afternoon baking with Mom. I may have said this before- Mom isn't much of a cook. But she can sure bake! So we would stay inside and make too many batches of all of our favorite kinds of cookies, only to freeze them so we'd have them for the weeks to come.

Today, it is cold and I don't want to be out in the wind and snow. So I'm staying inside to bake. Straying from our tradition of cookies I'm experimenting to make the BEST chocolate cake recipe into cupcakes. I've wanted to bake for some time now, but with no one around to eat the product for me, I've held off. But tonight, these chocolaty treats will be perfect for Bible Study at church- when I finally do venture out again today.

It is a good day to stay inside. While I have much work to do, I am thankful for the opportunity to take part in and reflect upon an old tradition. Perhaps I'll even end it with a cup of hot cocoa, just like we always had when everyone came together, snow-covered and freezing from a long day of sledding and snowman building.