Dinner

Last night was the dinner that I was making all the food for. We ended up having SEVEN different dishes for three people!

Main dish was (a small dish of) Poppy Seed Chicken which turned out good even though I didn't have all the ingredients and had to substitue again. Christine brought Caesar salad and garlic bread, Daniel made brouchette. The other side dishes were cheesey mashed potatoes (made from at least 10 potatoes!), pasta salad, and the apple sauce that I rescued from the Chilled Apple Soup.

It was the oddest dinner for me, but Christine and Daniel seemed to enjoy it :)

Cooking

A couple friends and I (including Daniel, of course!) are going to a cheap movie tomorrow, and then coming over here for dinner. I really don't know how many will be able to stay for dinner; and since there is a variety of taste buds among those coming, I decided to make lots of things.

I popped on a pretty vintage-y apron, turned on Sinatra, and pureed, spiced, and tasted to my heart's content. First off was the Chilled Apple Soup I had posted on here. Well...I didn't have all the ingredients, so I subsituted things. And I forgot to buy 6 apples...I only bought 3. So I had to halve the recipie, too. Cranberry raspberry juice for apple juice, 2% milk for cream, and more cranberry juice for wine. Once I had it all made, it didn't taste very good: like a poorly made apple sauce. So I threw in some Redi-Whip. And some carmel sauce. perhaps not what they had in mind, but I can eat it now :) I'm not sure if I'm going to make it again ever, but I enjoyed the expeirence.

Next came pasta salad (new reciepe): again, I didn't all the ingredients, so I improvised. It turned out a lot better then the apple soup! Besides the pasta, it has salami, sundried tomatoes (the kind packaged in olive oil), and cucumber. The dressing is olive oil and red wine vinegar and basalmic vinegar. I used a little bit of the tomato's oil. it turned out very tasty, and I have to keep myself from eating it all for lunch today!

Last of all, I made real mashed potatoes. I'm used to the freeze-dried potato flakes, but Mum bought two large bags of potatoes. so I peeled, cut and boiled them. We have a potato masher, but I wanted to save time: I pulled out the imersion blender. My recipie warned me that to much whipping could turn them to glue...blenders cause too much whipping. I yanked the blender out of the pan, forgetting to let go of the button. OOOPS! Potato splattered everywhere! Even my hair! and that glutenous blob...after it got tasted, was spit straight into the sink!

Daniel wants to help me cook, so tomorrow before the movie, we'll make the Poppyseed chicken, and when we get home, I'll pop a vegtable in the microwave.

We'll have anywhere from 3-7 (unless people invite others!) for dinner tomorrow.

Covert Agents

After last post, I'm sure you all are dying to hear the story. Sunday evening, Daniel asked Christine and I to meet him at Publix. We arrived first, and watched as Daniel pulled in, and walked into the store without seeing us. Christine and I trailed him, quickly dashing from end cap to end cap, flattening ourselves against the shelves and ducking whenever Daniel turned toward us. He called me, adn so we had to dash down an aisle so he wouldn't hear my phone ringing. But then we had a problem! He promised to meet us outside, yet he was at the checkout line by the doors! We crept along one tall-ish shelf, and made a mad dash for the doors as he stepped up to the counter to pay.

Week In Review

Week's Weather: Hot and sunny with a wee bit of rain sometimes

Sunday Sermon: "The Missional Church" John 15:7-14

Life lessons: Playing covert agents in public is fun!

Favorite Meal: Hotdogs and chili

Treasured Moment(s): Walking in the pasture with Daniel, Playing Mission Impossible in Publix, Singing and dancing in the car to "Be a Man" from Mulan

In the News-National: have no clue

In the News-Local: have no clue

In the News-Personal: Christine and I "stalked" Daniel in Publix...sneaking around like we were in Mission Impossible

Things I Read: I Heart Bloomburg by Melody Carlson, To Catch a Thief Series

Talked With: Daniel, Christine, Gregory, and Norman

Places We Went: church, hiking through the woods

Budget Savers: Raviolli for $1 a can

Budget Busters: none!

Blessings: Daniel

Challenges: how to relieve bordeom and keep Christine from mooping. Or was it mopping? :)

Accomplishments: baked cookies, manipulated Norman and Gregory :), figured out how to use the clone tool in Photoshop

Summer Soups to Try

Chilled Apple Soup

2 c apple juice
1/2 c sugar
1 T lemon juice
4 sticks of cinnamon
6 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, and cut into wedges
1 c whipping cream
3 T white wine (optional: can add more apple juice instead)

Combine all the ingredients except the cream and wine in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Remove the cinnamon sticks. Puree. Stri in the cream and wine and cill before serving.

Two Melon Spoup

3 c cubed cantalope
1/4 c powdered sugar
2 T lime juice
3 c cubed honeydew

Combine one type of melon and half of the other ingredients in a blender. Puree. Chill. Repeat with the other melon. When ready to serve, ladle each flavor into one bowl; keep them seperate as possible. (you should have a bowl with green on one side and orange on the other.)

Gracefulness Strikes Again

Somehow I got dye on some favorite clothes, though I was never wearing them while I was dyeing. Oh the joy of anxiously trying to figure out ways to get the dye out!