Food Adventures - The Implementation

Hi.

How ya doin?  Ya good?

Good.  Me too.

So about this food adventure that I've embarked on--it's awesome.  Challenging, for sure, but really really good.

I made focaccia bread (super tasty) and minestrone soup (took forever, but it's so stinkin good), and I've enjoyed salads, yogurt with granola and banana slices for breakfast, and fresh veggies--my bank account thinks I died.  Or maybe it thinks I'm back in Mississippi (food is plentiful in Mississippi homes.  It's amazing).  I'll update with recipes and pictures soon, but I just wanted to pop in and let you know that this 2 week food adventure is really a great thing.  I'm excited to learn from this and not be so darn scared to plan ahead for some good food in the future.

Ain't no sense in eating junk food when we live in this land of plenty.  And when it's REALLY NOT THAT EXPENSIVE to eat healthy (what an awful lie).  In fact, I am spending SIGNIFICANTLY less on food than I was when I'd just get food for that meal, right then.  Planning ahead requires thought (oh boo hoo) but it doesn't require as much money.  PLUS it's healthier, more fulfilling, and honestly tastier.  Give "instant gratification" the boot that it deserves.  It never turns out well anyway.

Food Adventures - The Plan

Hello, good and faithful reader.

I have a plan.

A food plan.

A two week, eating well on a budget plan--just to see how well it will work.

And I'm super excited.

In my [somewhat limited] cooking experience, it's incredibly challenging to have something fresh, healthy, tasty, and fast.  You must sacrifice one of the 4 (at least).  I've historically sacrificed one of the first 3 far more than the speedy element, and I've been a bit convicted by that lately.  I mean, I KNOW that I'm going to be hungry later.  I KNOW that I'm going to want something fresh, healthy, tasty, and fast.  It shouldn't come as a surprise to me when, three times a day (at least), I become hungry, and yet it does!  I find myself so often unprepared for that moment!

So now that I have the space, the will, and the foresight, I'm trying out a meal plan that will stretch my culinary skills and fuel my body with fresh, delicious food.

Back story: one of the things that I was (am) most excited about concerning the move into a single apartment is the full dominance of a kitchen all my own.  I enjoy cooking.  Stems back to living with Sarah, who, upon hearing that I'd had a rough day, would don an apron, miraculously throw dinner on the stove AND some chocolate baked good in the oven within 15 minutes, and play with my hair while waiting on food magic to finish.  She's so maternal that it's contagious.  I was inspired to be domestic!  I wanted to learn to cook fun things--I knew what I liked to eat at other places, and that was the first kitchen I'd had to play in since I lived at home (and everybody knows that home kitchen is Mama's Domain--unless your dad's the cooking one in the fam fam).  And so commenced cooking lessons with Sarah: salmon and orzo, whole wheat pancakes, butternut squash bundt cake, double chocolate rum cake (be still, my beating heart) and much much more.

Sarah and I had one difference: style of cleanliness.  She was not a dirty roommate.  I just happen to be a little neurotic about hygiene.  See, I've historically been stupidly terrified of throwing up.  Vom-vom is not my thing, ok?  So I know nearly every cleanliness, hygiene, bacteria clean-up rule in the book.  And precisely how violating that rule will KILL YOU, and if not kill you, make you vom-vom, which is worse.

So, basically, only my mother is sufficiently clean for me.  She knows all the cleanliness rules, too.  And my dad rolls his eyes at her as she lysols the kitchen counter just like Sarah rolled her eyes at me.  Just like Jared does even today.

But today, I can lovingly say, "Jared, if you don't like the cleanliness standards of this kitchen, you can sit in the living room, cuz this is MY KITCHEN, SIR!"

And it's the first time I've been able to say something like that!

But back to the food adventures.

So I went to India, right?  Camebackmovedjumpedbackintoworkhitthegroundrunning.  Haven't really had time to think about cooking anything, except some lemon rosemary garlic chicken last Sunday, which was an epic success, if I do say so myself.  Cooking that very meal inspired me.  It was time to go grocery shopping.

Grocery shopping... with a plan.

I went to Sprouts, a sort of commercial farmers market (isn't that contradictory?...), and left with a backseat FULL of food to last me for at least a week (maybe 2), and for only $35.  I got navy beans, pine nuts, yogurt, dry yeast, olive oil, pasta, bay leaves, broccoli, squash, celery, salad (curly endive lettuce), garlic, parsley, kale, carrots, onions, mushrooms, bell pepper, and bananas.  ALL FOR $35, YALL.  Now, argue with me that you can't be healthy and frugal all at once.

You can't be healthy, frugal, and impatient all at once.  But if you plan ahead, just a little bit, and are willing to experiment, just a little bit, you'd be crazy surprised.

On the menu for this week (all food this week will be consumed within my $50 limit, which means after grocery shopping, I still have $15 if I need to do a little more shopping):

-Herb bread
-Curly endive salad with homemade vinaigrette
-Aioli, also homemade
-Fall minestrone soup with kale and butternut squash
-Pasta with oil, garlic, and herbs
-Roasted vegetables (carrots, onions, new potatoes, butternut squash, broccoli, mushrooms)

On the menu NEXT week (with a $30 limit because many of these ingredients will already be here!):

-More herb bread
-More salad (I want to learn to really enjoy a good salad)
-Polenta torta
-Homemade pesto sauce
-Pizza using said sauce
-Pasta using said sauce
-Edamame
-Quiche
-1,2,3,4 Cake (kinda my "reward")

Basically, the plan is to make one BIG challenging thing a week using fresh seasonal veggies (week 1 is the minestrone soup, week 2 is the polenta torta).  The game plan is to freeze half of the soup and half of the torta to whip out later (like, in a few weeks) when I'm in need of a quick tasty meal, and use the others as take-along lunches or "oh look!  Leftovers!" for dinner this week.  The other things on the menu are either things I've made before, so I'm comfortable with whipping them out, or they're so easy to make it should be illegal.

I'm not the most adventurous cooker ever, so I'll be blogging about all this, complete with pictures (if I can figure out how to grow another arm to take pictures while cooking...), and, yall, if I can do it, you can too.  I'll let you know what's easy, what works, and what doesn't.  And if you're in town, come cook with me :)  it's always more fun to cook with company.

Oh hi!

I admit it.

I've been neglecting you.

It's not you.  It's me.

See, I came back from India, encountered jet lag and packing, and jumped back into work.

Then I moved.

And now I don't have Internet at my new house.

Not yet, anyway.

So I don't have the ability to just perch in the comfort of my own [really cute new] home and upload pictures and tell you guys stories, even though that's EXACTLY what I want to do.

Because I have about 6000 pictures.

Ok.  Maybe not quite that many.  But kinda close.

But about that many stories.

Game plan:  I'm going to have a housewarming party sometime soon.  Like, within the next 2 weeks.  If you're in FtW or have the ability to be, all I ask is that you come and bring a black frame (preferably one for a 4x6 photo, but I'm flexible)--you choose the style as long as it's black, and at the housewarming party you can pick the India/UK picture to put in the frame!  I want a full wall of black frames with India trip pictures, so that fun day will come soon.  Just get your thinking caps on.

Anyway, lots going on this month--I moved already, so now I'm unpacking, Jared and I are leading a small group (2 days to get the house in working order!), my daddy's coming to town!, 4 friends are getting married (2 to each other, so that's convenient), I'm babysitting a little (I'd like to do more if you know of anybody in the area who needs a babysitter with a weird schedule), there's a prayer retreat, and halloween is coming.  FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN stuff filling my calendar.

But now I need to go work.

And think about ordering a sofa.

I'm such a grownup!

How To Lose Your Passport, part 2

Still in London. This is day 3 here. Still no passport. I'm realizing now that my ONLY chance to get to India lies in my passport coming into my hands within the next 40 hours. If not, back to TX I go. With a heavy, but peaceful heart. I know that God has a genius plan. I shouldn't question Him--just trust Him. He is the perfect navigation system. No mistakes, and always with a clear goal of His Glory. Let this detour sing of how great He is, somehow!

Making the most of our time here. Going to the British Museum, seeing a show at the National Theatre tonight, and really enjoying using PHENOMENAL public transportation. There's something magical about London. The history, the brilliant architecture, the complex but smoothly-run transport systems, the efficiency, the civility. It's quite wonderful.

Such a blessing to have had to pause here, but I'm praying that this isn't a U turn, but rather a pit stop on my way to India.

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How to Lose Your Passport, part 1

I typed up a long and awesome big post, complete with a reference to Tangled, only for it to be deleted before posting. Quite bummed because it may have been one of the better ones I've ever written.

Today's adventures have included, but have not been limited to:

1. Cole losing her passport.
2. Amanda flying alone to Hyderabad to meet the group, with Cole and Jared staying behind. See #1 for the reason.
3. Being totally snubbed by the American Embassy, while being warmly welcomed by British Airlines. What?
4. Snagging a sweet, safe, not too crazy expensive little room in a German YMCA right near Paddington (2 twin beds, folks. Nothing sketchy).
5. Narrowly avoiding being kicked out of a Hilton for using their swanky concierge (sp?) to help us get info.
6. The actual purchase of boingo WiFi on my phone which turns out to be the best idea all day (oh, hai, blog post and emails).
7. We have our bags. If that ain't God, I don't know what is.
8. I'm stranded in another country, but that country speaks English and is really hip. Again with the blessings.
9. DO YOU KNOW WHAT WEATHER IN LONDON IN THE SUMMER IS LIKE?? WHAT IS THIS GLORIOUS GOOD WEATHER-NESS?? UM--SHARE THE GOODNESS, ENGLAND!
10. If I'm going to be stranded in another country, I'm really glad to be stuck with someone I like a lot. Who has traveled a lot. Who is used to my mode of dealing with stressful situations (this is where the Tangled reference comes in. Manic joy and thankfulness at being in London, followed by self-loathing depression about misplacing passport, worrying my parents, potentially missing the conference, etc).

But we're safe. And we have several game plans. All of which involve us making it home eventually. Some just sooner than others. :/

So PRAY. Pray that BA finds my passport. Pray that if they don't, the processes involved in getting a new one and getting an Indian visa will be easy and smooth. Pray for continued good travel for the other women at the conference. They're amazing, and they're doing amazing things for Christ this week. I hope I get to go join them!

Love ya :) I'll update as things happen.

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Today is a GREAT day!

Today is........


my......


......


...........


BIRTHDAY!!!

I'm [exactly the age that I should be]!  Yay!

What, you may be thinking, does a gal like Cole do to celebrate her birthday?

Well, I like to do a little work, ya know, to prove I'm not the self-absorbed birthday-type.  Head to the office, if only for a few hours.  Maybe do a load of laundry or something, just to remind myself that life goes on, even on birthdays.  Then I'll pack a few things for India, to get excited about the fact that I'll be on a plane flying east this time next week.  I'll pack a box or 2, to get excited about the fact that exactly one week after I get back from India I'll be moving into a swanky new apartment.  I'll write a lesson or 3 to prepare for the childrens ministry while we're in India, because I've procrastinated plenty long on that--something I picked up in college.

I may even play a little ditty on my keyboard that I ordered on ebay 3 weeks ago that only just arrived today because it's been sitting in a warehouse in Fort Worth since the 13th because the sellers made a mistake and did nothing to fix it so I fixed it myself and...


...because of the delay I got a birthday present from me to me :)  What cute timing, God.  Way to humble me in my ebay frustrations!  I needed that.  God's pretty amazing, folks.  In case that was something that you were questioning.

But back to my day.  Because it's my birthday.  And God ordained it to be as such.

Then, my friends... THEN things get fun.  After all that office work, emailing, laundering, packing, boxing, writing, preparing...  I get to get all spruced up.

WHY?  WHY?  you ask.

Because sweet Jared, boyfriend to end all boyfriends, is taking me out for my birthday tonight.  Taverna in downtown Fort Worth (homeboy made reservations ALL ON HIS OWN, PEOPLE), and The Usual, one of our favorite spots.  And, folks, despite the fact that he's the kind of kid who carefully unwrapped the presents under the tree and rewrapped them once he knew what they all were, he's kept his present for me a secret.  Honestly, the fact that he's honored my ridiculous love of surprises AND SIMULTANEOUSLY let me choose the place to have dinner (a tricky combo, friends) is the sweetest gift of all.

Domestic Things

Hi friends :)

Just daydreaming about new one-bedroom house to come--list-style!  Let's get domesticated...

1.  I'll be living alone with my cat.  That does not mean I am a cat lady, understood?  And that cat's litter box will no longer be in my bedroom.  It will be in the bathroom where poo belongs.  HOORAY!!!
2.  I'm already pretty furnished!  I don't think I'll need any large furniture pieces (until Jared finally convinces me that I need a couch...  Which will be several paychecks in the future).  In the meanwhile I'll have 2 (3?) fairly comfortable chairs and floor pillows for the living room.
3.  Which means I get to spend the most time and effort on decorating with what I already have--MY FAVORITE!!  And I get to decorate an entire house, all by myself :D
4.  With Martha Stewart.  I've already browsed through a few of her articles on super cute and super inexpensive DIY projects and moving tips.
5.  This is going to be the smoothest move you've ever heard of.  I'm talking, numbered boxes with a master list of items inside said boxes.  I'm talking, gaff tape marking off where the movers shall place big furniture pieces.  I'm talking, color coded boxes by room and importance.
6.  Jared becomes afraid of me when I start talking about moving.
7.  I'm excited to cook in my new home.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and the most important meal of the day--dessert.
8.  I'm excited to invite people over to my new home.  Small group gatherings (how awesome will THAT be!?)... girls nights... jam sessions... Star Wars nights with popcorn, beer, and a crew of nerdy men...
9.  I'm excited to flex my green thumb again--hopefully with more success (see: 5 pots of dirt in my house currently) since I have my own little balcony.  Herbs, blooms, and veggies, oh my!
10.  I'm delighted that I'll get to ride my bike to work!  Yoshi's gotten so little use since I graduated.  She needs a good cleaning, some air in her tires, and the weather to cool down so her pansy-of-an-owner will be willing to go for bike rides again.

While I'll be super sad to leave the sweet girls of ACES (the original 4's initials--soon to be changed to JEWS. Hehe), living alone is something that I've toyed with trying for a few years, and the time and place couldn't have been better!  I feel like a more well-rounded person for the living experiences that I've had (good and bad, and there have been plenty of both).

Brief re-cap there:
1. At home I had my own room and sink.  Everything else was shared with 1 or 3.
2. Dorm life, year 1.  Nothing was just for me.  Shared everything.  Including sanity.
3. Dorm life, year 2.  I had my own bedroom!  Shared bathroom and living space with 1.
4. Apartment, part 1.  I had my own bedroom AND bathroom, shared living and kitchen with 1 (2).
5. Apartment, part 2.  Shared bathroom, living, and kitchen with 1.  And then with Freds.  Which I didn't blog about.  Because it was gross and caused us to immediately move into...
6. Apartment, part 3.  My own bedroom, shared bathroom with 2, kitchen and living with 3.  Which is surprisingly not crowded most of the time.

So now I'm moving into Apartment, part 4.  My own everything.  Weird.  Granted, I won't be splitting rent with anyone (womp womp...) but that's ok.  I have a big girl job.  Plus, I'll be paying less in gas since I'll be BICYCLING TO WORK EVERY DAY! :D 

I'm seriously really pumped about that.

To Do

Oh heavens.  My list of things to do is going to eat me.

To do tomorrow:

-Babysit (woo!)
-Write about 25 thank you notes to preschool teachers (no woo.)
-Address those notes
-Write a script for a preschool teacher training video
-Find people to play in said video

To do within a week:

-Plan and successfully execute said training video
-Crank out 8 lesson plans for Indian kiddos
-Find oodles of people who want to be preschool teachers this fall
-Find even more people who wanna be preschool teachers this fall
-Officially slap my name on a cute 1-bedroom apartment (woo!)

To do before India:

-Round up substitute teachers out the wa-zoo for while I'm gone
-Edit training video
-Train the oodles of preschool teachers
-Make sure the oodles of preschool teachers are screened, etc
-Begin to pack to move
-Definitely pack for India

Thanks for walking me through that.

I know, I know... Keep calm and carry on.

Stages of [Body] Grief (edited from wikipedia)

1. Denial — "I feel fine."; "This can't be happening, not to me."  Denial is usually only a temporary defense for the individual. This feeling is generally replaced with heightened awareness of [the excess that has accumulated around her legs].
2. Anger — "Why me? It's not fair!"; "How can this happen to me?"; '"Who is to blame?"  Once in the second stage, the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue. Because of anger, the person is very difficult to care for due to misplaced feelings of rage and envy.  [She really wanted to still have her high school dancer legs and tush.]
3. Bargaining — "I'll do anything for [lean, fit legs]."; "I will give my life savings if [I could just feel fit, but not really]."  The third stage involves the hope that the individual can somehow postpone or delay [flabbiness]. Usually, the negotiation for an extended [fitness] is made with a higher power in exchange for a reformed lifestyle. Psychologically, the individual is saying, "I understand I will [not be fit if I don't exercise], but if I could just do something to buy more time [with that youthful, overtime-working metabolism]..."
4. Depression — "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?"; "I'm going to [gain weight]... What's the point?"; "I miss my loved [legs], why go on?"  During the fourth stage, the [unfit] person begins to understand the certainty of [flabbiness]. Because of this, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time crying and grieving. This process allows the [unfit] person to disconnect from things of love and affection. It is not recommended to attempt to cheer up an individual who is in this stage. It is an important time for grieving that must be processed.
5. Acceptance — "It's going to be okay."; "I can't fight it, I may as well [just do] it."
   In this last stage, the individual begins to come to terms with the fact that she is going to have to start exercising if she wants to look and feel better about her body.

Folks, I've reached the 5th stage.  If you need me, I will be trying out workout regimen #1 this afternoon.  God, help me.

Today is Fabulous

So, Jane's here.

I'm sorry.  Let's try that again.

JaNe's HEEEEEERE!

Much better.

We grabbed dinner at Central Market and barely resisted the urge to be fatties.  We've both read a book just since she's been here (she read We'll Always Have Summer and I read A Wrinkle In Time).  She helped me weed out the ridiculousness of my closet (to be taken to Berry Good Buys potentially this afternoon).  We have plans to hang out at the church today (while I do work, she's gonna play in the resource room--what what??) and go to Exalt tonight.  Tomorrow there may be some Six Flag action, and at some point I need her professional opinion on a haircut.  Also, shopping is bound to happen.  Because she's good at it, and I'm just not.  It's not very much fun.  To me.

Also, Jane's gonna help me babysit on Friday and Saturday.  Because she's a rock star.

Have I mentioned how much I love my sister?  A whole lot.  Lots of love.  Oodles of it.

How To Spend One's Fourth

1. Find out, albeit kindly, that you need to find somewhere else to live starting August 1.

2.  Mope, whine, throw a general one-man-pity-party.

3.  Get over that mess and go watch about 4 episodes of bad acting (ex: Army Wives).

4.  Get over that, too, and finally take a shower and start a load of laundry.

5.  Laundry X 3

6.  Go to your bf's house and water the plants and feed the cats, love on the cats, and generally suck up to the cats since bf and his sweet mama are out of the country.

7.  Take advantage of being at this bf's house and read a good book in a hammock for an hour and a half.

8.  Again, take advantage of being at said bf's house and continue reading in the "cold tub" (hot tub minus heat).

9.  Try to avoid being completely devoured by mosquitoes (I'm not good at this one).

10.  Come home and enjoy a glass of red wine with strawberries and yogurt while watching Modern Times with Charlie Chaplin.  Proceed directly to sleep, or pause for a moment to blog about the day while listening to Regina Spektor.

Terrific Tuesday!

Ok, so the thing that I've gone to bed thinking about and talked about and giggled about and planned for is finally happening on Tuesday.

JANE IS COMING TO FORT WORTH!

My rock-awesome little sister and I are going to get 6 days of legit, just us, gals on the town, hangout time.  Something we haven't had in years.

And now she's 15, so we can connect a little better than we could than when she was 9 and I was 16.  Amazing how you can actually feel the age gap shrinking as the years pass...  I started journaling when I was 15, so I have tangible records of the [ridiculous] things I was thinking and feeling at the time.  I didn't think much, but I felt A LOT.  She's got a much better head on her shoulders.  I'm very serious about that.

Though I may have a different report after hanging out with her for a week ;)

OK!  So here's where the fun stuff starts.  WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO??

I'm thinking Six Flags.  That's pretty much the big ticket item that I'm pulling for.  I've never been (which is craziness) and what better way to love on a sister than putting her in a machine that will hoist her up in the air and back down again faster than you can say "bonding time!"

Also, there's a modern dance show at The Modern [art museum], and we both did the dance thing in high school, so that could be fun.  Though I doubt they'll be doing jr high dance team numbers...  I'm thinking more Martha Graham.  Which could be even MORE fun.

Needless to say, I'm REALLY READY FOR TUESDAY to roll around.  Jared leaves the country tomorrow, which is a bummer, but then Jane comes, so...  I mean...  Love you... But next week is gonna be stinkin fun :) Thankfully, Jared and Jane overlap by about 36 hours! 

And then Jane and I road trip to MS together, and I will FINALLY get to meet THIS LITTLE GUY!




I'm almost as excited to meet Wiley as I am for Jane to come to TX.  This is huge, obviously.

Later days!  (and hopefully good quality pictures from our adventures! Hint hint, mom!)