New Recipes

I used to be very unconfident in the kitchen. I was really insecure about whether people (mainly Drew) liked what I made and if something didn't go as planned I was really upset with myself. I could never get the timing right, one thing would be hot and ready and another item would be not yet started. I stuck mainly to recipes I got out of trusted cookbooks, and usually only tried the things that I could imagine in my head (if there was no picture provided).

Cooking almost every night has become less of a burden (i.e. probable stress and possible tears) and more of an enjoyable, de-stressing, nightly ritual. I dont really know when this happened, but I am thankful for it.

This is not to say that I am an accomplished cooked, by any means. But I'm really not trying to be successful or accomplished. Mostly I just wanted to be comfortable in a part of our home that I spend time in and find joy in providing healthy energy and nutrition for my family.

I still mess alot of things up, like tonight for instance...we were going to have a pesto pasta...but I opened the jar of pesto up (after making the pasta, cooking the shrimp, and roasting the garlic of course) to find that it was NO WHERE near as fresh as I thought it was. OOPS!

I am still off on my timing. This is really one of those things that just comes with practice.

I still use alot of recipes I find in cookbooks and online sites. They offer great explanations for dishes you have never made before and inspiration when you cant think of anything new.

But I am more aware that things will go wrong and I am a little more expectant of the kinds of things that will go wrong, and it doesn't make me stressed out any more. I think cooking has offered me the opportunity to overcome some of my perfectionism, because when I was trying to make everything perfect and couldn't handle some mistakes or surprises, it took the fun out of it.

Again, take tonight's pesto crisis for example. I had a moment of "well, what the heck am I gonna make now? and what am I gonna do with the stuff I already cooked?" And then I thought about it and realized we had plenty of other things to improvise with. Drew helped me too. And it turned out great!

So in the last few weeks, with my new found courage (and frankly, boredom with old recipes or recipes with too many expensive ingredients) I have been making up my own dinner ideas. I started last year by just changing a few things on recipes I really liked (usually this just meant omitting pricing extras or making them healthier - more veggies and fiber, less fat and sugar). I have come up with a few things I really like. One of them was this meal we had on Sunday:

Its Mediterranean style stuffed chicken, ciabatta bread with dipping oil, and greek salad.
I stuffed the chicken breast with fresh spinach, feta, and sundried tomato spread (I love this stuff its great on paninis too)
Greek Salad or country salad as the greeks call it is one of my favorites. It usually just has tomato, cucumber, green bell pepper, and some red onion in it, topped with feta and spices, but I added some spinach to that too.
Ciabatta is one of my absolute favorite things in the whole world. And I particularly like it (any bread for that matter) in olive oil and balsamic vinegar...but Drew hates, hates, hates balsamic vinegar. But I thought he was missing out, so one day I tried some red wine instead of the vinegar and he liked that. So that is what we usually do instead.

Halloween with IVCF students

This past Friday, the night before Halloween we had our usual Asian American InterVarsity gathering called Large Group. Some of the students prepared a some fun activities to emjoy hanging out with each other and specifically make the freshman and other new students feel more welcomed into the community.

One of the students from our sister fellowship, Aggie InterVarsity (mutli-ethnic group) came and shared about his experience on an InterVarsity Global Project in China this summer. He shared about living in community, and how letting others love us (though uncomfortable and requiring vulnerability) is often the first step to a deeper level of trust, love, friendship, and community in our own lives. He also shared some of the culture of China (the region he was in) and some amazing stories of God's provision (this student was provided with over $4000 to go!) and transforming power.

Admittedly, it was a little distracting for him to speak in front of the whole group of about 40 students, his peers, most of whom were dressed up in costumes. Take a look at some of their get ups:

I decided to dress up too, even though I was really tired from just driving in from a visit at Austin College. I drove home, kissed Drew, took a nap, woke up, got dressed, and flew out the door. I almost didn't take the time to dress up, but it was fun, and a great way to build trust with my students. :) Here is my costume:

I couldn't really decide what I was: a winter priness or the White Witch from Narnia. What do you think?
One of my students said I am not mean enough to pull off being the white witch. :) That was sweet of her.