Bainbridge Visit

This weekend we had a last minute change in plans and ended up going to Seattle to see a friend and to Bainbridge Island to spend a few nights with my aunt and uncle. It was a fantastic mini-getaway!

Friday night we met Whitney for dinner at a Brazilian restaurant, Amazon Grill, that we've been wanting to try for a long time now. We refer to the style of eating at a Brazilian restaurant as a, "meat parade" because they are known for their special mesquite roasting style, huge meat selection and table-side service. If you order the 'meat parade', actually called Rodízio, the chefs walk around with one of the seventeen styles of meat and offer you slices of it at your table. It was as outstanding as we'd imagined and both agree that our favorite meat was the cheese steak, but they were all delicious. There is also an extensive fruit, veggie and cheese salad bar to balance out all that protein.

After we were stuffed with protein and fully smelling like mesquite, we rolled ourselves made our way toward the ferry and headed over to Bainbridge Island.

Bainbridge Island is just across the sound from Seattle. I lived there during my grad school internships, thanks to the generosity of my aunt and uncle. It is a beautiful location and my aunt and uncle, Sandy and Rodney, are exceptional hosts!

We spent the morning shooting at the Bainbridge Gun Club, ran some errands and then headed down to the water to enjoy the gorgeous Fall weather and the sunset. The men were in charge of appetizers and the women were in charge of dinner. We had such a fantastic time catching up, cooking and enjoying the view. Here are some pictures of the evening:

All bundled up and ready to smell like smoke

The new stairs, my uncle has been
working on for a while now. He carries
the concrete down bag by bag!

The spread that the boys put on. Pretty nice!

The new fire pit.

Feet up, enjoying the fire and the view.

My favorite part of sunset is just before
it sets and everything is washed in yellow.
It seems like all the colors around are
brighter just then.

A perfect evening. 

A view of the Olympics as the sun sets.

Refreshing

Have you ever walked away from an interaction, situation, setting or meal and thought to yourself, "How refreshing!"

I just did and it made me think about the other things that make me feel refreshed.

  Ice cold sparkling water with lime

  A hot shower

  A conversation with someone who understands the simplicity and peace of life with Christ

  A clear, bright day with green grass or trees next to a lake or river

  Plain frozen yogurt with fresh berries

  A light cold breeze on a hot day

  Anything citrus

  Waking up to crisp mountain air surrounded by God's handiwork

  Seeing eye-to-eye or understanding a common history with an acquaintance or stranger

  Lightly vanilla syrup sweetened ice tea

  The world through the eyes and mouths of babes

  Walking through the falling snow with a latte in one hand and my husband in another

  Crawling into fresh, clean, cold, crisp sheets and falling fast asleep


And on that note.. I think I'll try that last one {sigh}... ahh.

How refreshing!

Goodnight!

Soupe Oignon

That's French for onion soup.

On my drive to Pendleton I pass several onion trucks and pass countless more onions that have fallen from the trucks onto the roadside. Every onion I see makes me crave some French Onion Soup. So I finally made some.

Here's the journey:

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4-6 onions, sliced (purchased from a store)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 fresh thyme sprigs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red wine, about 1/2 bottle (or chicken/veal stock if you don't cook with alcohol)
3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 quarts beef broth
1 baguette, sliced
1/2 pound grated Gruyere

Directions

Prep and slice the onions.

Late Night Scones

I'm back at it with The Great Australian Pumpkin Recipe Book (the GAPRB).

I had some left over pumpkin puree from making ice cream and thought it was time for some pumpkin scones.

I had planned on making these for my monthly SLP meeting. All day I thought about it, a little concerned that I would be up late because I worked in Pendleton tonight. I walked in the door and... completely forgot I was supposed to make them. It wasn't until I was climbing into bed at 11:00 that I remembered. Now, I am better at staying up than I am at getting up... so I opted for making them tonight and going to bed late.

So here I sit, warm, fluffy pumpkin scone in hand at 1:00 am, waiting for them to cool enough to be covered.

Here's the recipe (adapted from the GAPRB and this recipe):


Pumpkin Scones
2 Cups Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 TBS vanilla
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ cup Plus 2 TBS sugar
½ cup ice cold butter cut into small cubes
½ cup chopped pecans save some for the top (optional)
½ cup ice cold pumpkin puree
½ cup of golden raisins (optional)
2 T cinnamon


For the glaze
2 TBS cream/milk
1 cup plus 1 TBS powdered sugar


For the spice drizzle:
1 cup plus 3 Tablespoons powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground cloves


Directions:
Cut butter into cubes and refrigerate until ready to use

Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar into a large bowl

Cut the butter into the flour mixture with pastry blender until resembles coarse meal (or use food processor).

It looks powdery, but will hold its shape when squeezed.

In a smaller bowl whisk the pumpkin puree and the egg, and vanilla

My new favorite kitchen gadget. A tiny adjust-a-cup!

I added a little spice to this too - optional.

Add to the dry mixture mixing with a fork (or processor), and stir until just combined.

Careful not to over mix it.

Then gently add the nuts and raisins (if desired).

I made a double batch, so I ended up mixing it in a big bowl.
No nuts for me, just golden raisins.

Pour the dough mix onto a lightly floured board and pat into a 7 inch 1 to 1 ½ inch high disk.

Cut into in half then quarters and then in eights as evenly as possible.

Again, this is a double batch and I made minis.

Place the scones on a baking sheet with sil-pat or parchment paper – this ensures even browning on the bottom.

Bake at 375 degrees for 17 minutes and take them out, it’s easy to over bake them.
If making mini scones – bake for 15 minutes.

Make glaze by combining ingredients.

Brush on plain glaze when they come out of the oven.

Drizzle with spice glaze when they are cool (I put spiced glaze in a zip top bag and snip the corner). See this post about the spice glaze.

Pick the goofiest looking one and test it out for quality!

Mmm. So very, very pumpkin good!

Friendship

This is just me thinking some things through here. A total contradiction to my last post.. because I'm sure I'm not making this simple.

Friendship is something I've never fully understood. I mean, I know that I enjoy a good friendship. I know when a friendship just works and when a friendship takes work, but sometimes I'm not sure why we are friends with the people that we are friends with (not that I question those that I call friend, just the idea in general).

Why do some friendships last forever, and some only through a season? Why do some people have a million friends and others have only a few? What drives people to make friends? What drives people to stay friends?

Specifically, what makes people want to be friends with me? What do I have to offer that someone else can't? I don't say that to be hard on myself, I just often wonder this. Why am I blessed with their friendship, even if just for a season? What did I do to deserve it? Maybe it isn't about deserving?

I'm one of those people that have a {very} few close friends instead of many acquaintances. I value intense friendship - being able to really know a person and to really connect and support each other. This is, to me, why we have friends - to support, encourage, challenge and love one another.

I feel like it isn't easy to make friends. I don't know if this is a gene I'm missing or just my personality, but it is something that I struggle with. It's easy enough to make acquaintances at work that you can share a work friendship with, or make acquaintances though church that you can share accountability and faith with, but sometimes those friendships don't last outside of those environments (and sometimes they do).

I know that there are times when a friend comes in and out of my life by clear design of God. I can look back and see God's purpose in that friendship. I can also see why the friendship moved on, we grew and started that mentoring with other friends etc. This is a hard thing about friendships, but I can see the purpose in it, so it eases the change.

I wonder, though, what is the ingredient that makes a friendship last despite a change in environment, frequency of interaction and stages of life? What is it that makes a friendship really thrive?

Is it chemistry? Is it the right combination of shared interests? Is it mutual shared investment in the friendship? Is it all of those things?

I have no answers really. I never have. I am just thankful for the time I have been given with the friends I have.

Maybe someday I'll wrap my head around this friendship thing.

A Life Made Simple

I tend to make things complicated. I don't like to, but I do. I over think things, I over analyze and we all know I over discuss things (see all previous posts). It's the human part of me. I was laying in bed this morning, thinking about how simple life can be if we let it, and how much more simple my life seems recently. Life in Christ is meant to be simple.

The beauty of a life in Christ is that the older you get, the longer you live for Christ, the more simple life becomes. I can remember a time when I thought that it wasn't so easy to 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind (Matt. 22:37). I've realized though, that the more I try to live this way, the easier it becomes. I think that this is probably because the more I put God first, the better things turn out, it snowballs and the easier life gets. It's simple.

Not that I have it down pat - far, far from it - but it's cool to look back and see the pattern of simplicity that follows the times that I surrender to Jesus and try to put Him first. I was praying this morning about some friends that are experiencing life's struggles, I found myself just wishing for them that they could just surrender their chaos to Jesus. He makes all things new. His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt. 11:30). His advice is wholesome. His words are plain (Prov. 8:8-9). He makes life so simple.

That's not to say that life isn't complex. Our bodies, this planet, our social networks, our relationships and our value systems - they are all complex just like the One that created them. That doesn't mean that they have to be complicated though. There is a simple answer.

I like this verse in the KJV because it has a certain ring to it: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt 6:33). Or in the more modern version: "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." NLT.

Life can be so simple.

On My Heart:

These are the things that God has been teaching me lately. They are only tiny pages in the greater story of life long lessons. If I try to expound on any one of these thoughts I end up with pages of words that lead to more pages of words. I’ll try to be concise (my constant challenge) as I share about the thoughts running through my heart lately.

Lay down your life. God calls us to ‘lay down your life for a friend’ and he says ‘he who loses his life for My [Jesus’] sake will find it. I’m realizing that He does not simply mean that you should die for a friend or for Jesus (although I suppose it could be included), but that you should sacrifice the things that you want for your life in order to help another person or to do what God might want for you instead. In the small sense, this may be giving up your place in line for a person that needs those few extra minutes. In the large sense, this might be giving up your dream of having a huge house, in order to afford to take in more foster children. The beauty of this is that Jesus promises that when you ‘lay down your life for My sake, you will find it’. So these things you are giving up, He replaces. He either gives you a new dream, makes the dream you gave up happen anyway, or provides for you in some way you couldn’t have ever planned for.

Loving your neighbor as yourself. Loving your neighbor of course includes loving just about everyone, which then also includes loving those people you don't really like or that are irritating to you. This really ties into the concept above. I’ve discovered that part of loving your neighbor is laying down your life/wants/needs for those of the people around you. It’s not so much about giving them a cup of sugar when they ask, or bringing them baked goods, or inviting them to church (although it could include those). It’s about putting others’ needs before yours for the sake of the life Christ has given you. It’s putting what you want in Jesus’ hands and trusting that He’ll provide a replacement. C.S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity, "Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him." I have found this to be true. The more I act like I love the strangers around me, the more I actually do care for their needs more than my own (Some days, that is. I am, after all, still a work in progress).

‘O you of little faith.’ ‘Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things’ ‘Your Father in heaven knows the things you have need of before you ask him.’ These can all be found in Matthew 6. They have stuck out to me a few mornings in a row and remind me that how silly it is when we worry about the trivial things in life, and the important things for that matter. I should also include this verse: ‘If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!’ which is in Matthew 7. Of course God wants to bless us when we are trying to honor Him.. even our earthly fathers try to bless their kids... sometimes when they aren't honoring their parents. I just love these reminders when I start to get caught up in the spreadsheet, the what-ifs and the how-will-we's of life. O you of little faith.


Love never fails. I am reminded constantly that even when I grow weary of praying for a long list of people around the world, God is not weary. His love is unfailing and He never gives up on us. The words "unfailing love" appear 121 times in the NLT version of the Bible. Jesus even tells a story in Luke 18 about an unjust judge that is so tired of the pleading of a wronged woman that he finally grants her justice so that she'll stop asking. Jesus says that if even an unjust judge is worn down by asking, how much more quickly will our just Father listen to our pleads. Just another reminder to keep on praying. Praying for friends, family and brothers in Christ.

Only the Beginning

When we were perusing the Moruya Farmer's Market during our trip to Australia we found this delightful little gem of a cookbook:

I'm pretty sure that this kid is around 20
now, since this was published in 1992.
 Crazy huh!?

I was thrilled to find a cookbook that explicitly said "Australian" because I wanted come away with some appreciation of Australian cuisine. And since, well... I do love pumpkin, it seemed a perfect choice! As it turns out, Australian cuisine is really quite similar to our own, with the exception of a few quirky combinations and specific items (i.e., Vegemite). Nonetheless, this treasury of pumpkin recipes will be put to good use this Fall. Starting with: Pumpkin Ice Cream (in honor of the cute little kid at the Moruya Market that was dripping with ice cream and asking everyone in sight, in the most adorable way, if we like ice cream).

Pumpkin Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup fresh pumpkin puree or canned
   unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
5 egg yolks
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground cloves (optional)
1/4 tsp. salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg


DIRECTIONS:
In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate during the remaining steps.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 1/2 cups of the cream and 1/2 cup of the brown sugar. Cook until bubbles form around the edges of the pan, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the egg yolks, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and the remaining 1/2 cup cream and the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar. Whisk until smooth and the sugar begins to dissolve.

Remove the cream mixture from the heat. Gradually whisk about 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture until smooth. Pour the egg mixture back into the pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and keeping the custard at a low simmer, until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it, 4 to 6 minutes. Do not allow the custard to boil.

Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl.

Place the bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice water, stirring occasionally until cool (optional). Whisk the pumpkin mixture into the custard.

Strain again through a fine-mesh sieve into another bowl (also optional, but will result in smoother and creamier ice cream later.

At this point, your fingers are sticky and your arms
are sore from holding and stirring.. but it's worth it.

Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled, can take up to 8 hours.


Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before serving. Makes about 1 quart (I doubled this recipe).

At this stage, it's like soft serve.

After some time in the freezer, it'll look more like
ice cream and less like custard.

That's it! Keep it frozen and enjoy! This tastes like pumpkin pie filling and would probably be great as a pumpkin ice cream pie. One word about custard ice cream and flavors. It gets more mellow in flavor the colder it gets. So if you taste the custard, it's sweet and has somewhat strong pumpkin flavor, At the soft-serve stage, it'll be a little less sweet and not so strong of pumpkin flavor. When it's frozen hard, it will be perfect, not too sweet, not too overwhelming pumpkin (I know, who knew there was such a thing). So if you are making homemade ice cream, don't question yoruself or the recipe until you've tasted it in the final, hard frozen stage.

It's the Great Australian Pumpkin Recipe Book [Charlie Brown], and we're just getting started!!

Serendipitous Supper

It is finally soup season!

Tonight's dinner was meant to be. I had some leftover kale in the fridge that needed to be used up. I'd been wanting to make a copy of the Italian chain restaurant's Zuppa Tuscana - a college-days favorite - with the kale, but I didn't have all the ingredients. I'd planned on making fish tonight but I did have to go to the grocery store anyway... and to cap it all off:  I decided to take an actual lunch break and spent some time catching up on some of my favorite food blogs. One of those food blogs is Ree Drummond's The Pioneer Women Cooks. And what was the featured recipe on her blog today? Thank you for asking... it was:

Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup! (i.e., Zuppa Tuscana)

It was meant to be! I added the few ingredients I was missing to my shopping list and counted down the minutes until I was done with work. 

Here's my version of the recipe:

• 4 medium size red potatoes
• 32 oz. chicken stock
• 8 oz. fat free cream cheese
• 1 lb. sausage (we like hot Italian)
• 1 bunch of kale
• 1 clove garlic - minced
• half of an onion - any type
• salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste

To start: slice, boil and drain the potatoes. 

While the potatoes are cooking: rinse, remove stems and chop the kale (for the record, you can use the stems, you just have cut them out and instead of throwing them away - dice them and let them cook a good 5-10 minutes before the rest of the kale. I usually do this, but tonight I decided that eating kale leaves was good enough).

Also while the potatoes cook: chop up the onion. You can use any type of onion. I usually use red because it adds some nice color and is full of antioxidants. 

Next brown the sausage and cook the onion.

Drain the sausage/onion mixture and fill the pot with the chicken stock. Scrape up the brown bits from the sausage. Add the cream cheese. This is my favorite low-fat trick. Now, I'm not super crazy about using fake food to save on calories (especially when it comes to dessert). However, this an instance when I think that it is ingenious. Instead of 4 cups of half and half and 2 cups of whole milk.. one 8 oz package of fat free cream cheese makes a cream based soup just as creamy without all. those. fat. calories (and less lactose, of which I am intolerant). 

It looks funny and goes through stages of looking
like tofu, but with some heat and stirring, it works out.

Nice and creamy. Increase the thickness with a flour slurry.
I like a thick broth, but some people don't

Next, add the kale and let it cook down a little. 

Once the kale is BRIGHT green, add in the sausage/onion mixture, potatoes and minced garlic. 

Stir all the ingredients together.

Add the salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. This could also be done earlier in the process, but I forgot it before. 

Serve up with some bread, crackers or whatever you have on hand.

YUM! Brings back memories. 

Made My Week

(i.e., Tidbits)

It was a busy, busy week with a promise to be the last of it's type for some time. Here are some of the small joys that pulled me through (in no particular order).

1. This weekend represents the end of summer plans. We attended our last wedding of the year, and are driving home to a nearly empty calendar for the month.

2. The wedding was fantastically fall themed, gorgeous and finished with a cupcake assortment that included pumpkin- yum. I can't get enough pumpkin goodness :).

3. We got to see my cousin Macey for a few hours when our trips west crossed paths. An impromptu and short visit is still a visit and it's always good to see family :)

4. I {finally} got my wedding rings cleaned, polished and - most importantly - tightened! My diamond is now sparkly and secure in it's place and I've stopped taking it off the wrong way, so it should stay that way. A long standing to-do list item: DONE! Thanks to my cousin's impromptu visit, we ended up going to the jewelry store where her grandma works. They took care of my loose stone and gave it a bath... for free!

5. Blake rocked the cheesecake which was a delicious and fun experience to share the kitchen in a new way. He blesses my heart in new ways every day.

6. A library book came with the cutest little magnetic bookmark. I have no idea how I'd find the rightful owner, so I'm just going to enjoy it until I too forgetfully return it with a book and have to pass it on.

7. As I was rushing through some paperwork at the school I am covering during a maternity leave (which was doubling my meeting/paperwork responsibilities), a woman walked in and announced that they had {finally} hired her to cover that building. It was a huge weight lifted from my work load and a very pleasant surprise!

8. My jaw is working again. For reasons unknown, I woke up a few weeks ago with a sore jaw and unable to close my teeth together fully. As you can imagine, this was painful, made it hard to eat (though I still managed plenty) and troubling. I'm pretty sure I clenched my jaw (probably from stress) in my sleep and pulled something. At any rate, I'm thankful for the answered prayer of it being back in place.

9. Lastly, I was able to sleep in both days this weekend. I'd not gotten much sleep this week because of my jaw, choices in how I spent my time, and work... A recipe for an unpleasant me. I'm thankful I finally was able to get some alarm clock free sleep! I'm also thankful for the grace, mercy and compassion that covers the innumerable times that I was neither gracious or compassionate this past week. Another week goes by and I look back on my slip ups of word and deed and I thank my Father for the lessons learned and opportunities for growth.

To borrow from Anne of Green Gables: Here's to a new week, with no mistakes in it yet.




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