Coming backAs I sit here at my laptop, I think ... "How am I going to do this?" Where do I start? What am I going to talk about? HOW am I going to even begin writing about the journey that I have been on?
Countless times have I started typing and set aside a few words, a paragraph or two, or even a whole page. Though, I never did post. I didn't think I was ready. Thoughts, feelings, insights, etc... entries in my email or journal, in personal texts, on scraps of paper, or swimming in my mind. And I am finally deciding to bring it all together. To share my burdens, my joys, my strengths and weaknesses, my insights, ... my life; this blog is no longer just about food. And if there's an ear out there, I am blessed. And perhaps I can bring truth to your world, as God has brought it to mine. Truth. About our purpose here. Truth. About my struggles. Truth. About my joys. Truth. About health. Truth. About our world. There are so many lies we were born or taught into believing and their manifestations are far beyond UgLy. But when we learn the Truth, we can make the changes we need to be better for our Lord and Savior. The changes that perfect us and make us new. I am becoming new. It is no easy journey and I am certainly not through, but I will no longer let the waiting period dictate the postponement of sharing my story. And so let it begin. This is my story... |
"Food is an infinitely rich subject, and there's always something about it to understand better, something new to discover, a fresh source of interest, ideas, and delight." |
As per usual, when I always start these posts, I feel as though several weeks have passed since my last posting. Time here flies like it’s a race and you’re always scraping to savor that last bite or last moment. These past few days have been spent with great friends (as always), doing great things. And whether it be tennis or hiking around Disney, I’ve been living on a high cloud. (Now all I need to learn how to do is fly!) In my life with food, I’ve made two new recipes this week and purchased two new ingredients (dragon cauliflower and honey mango) as well: cinnamon rolls and creamy (without cream!) cauliflower soup. The cinnamon rolls recipe was retrieved from a co-worker and is much simpler than you’d think: 3.5 cups flour 3 Tbsp sugar 2 tsp yeast 2 ¼ tsp salt 1 egg, then add warm water up to 1 cup 1 tsp vanilla 2 Tbsp non-fat dry milk 2 Tbsp softened butter 1. Mix all ingredients in bowl and knead together. 2. Cover with moist towel and let rise for 1.5 hours 3. Roll out and spread preferred amount of butter and cinnamon/sugar 4. Roll and cut into 2 inch pieces and place one buttered sheet. 5. Let rise for 1 hour then bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown. *Icing? Add heavy cream and confectioner’s sugar together to preferred consistency. Top. Savor. The cauliflower soup was even easier: 1 head chopped cauliflower 3 cloves minced garlic 1 medium diced onion 2 cups chicken broth 1. Mix together onions, garlic, and 4 Tbsp butter (I added EVOO as well) and saute until onions are translucent. 2. Add cauliflower and chicken broth and simmer on medium heat until softened. 3. Pour WARM mixture into blender and puree. (Can add ¼ c cream if desired – I did not). 4. Salt and pepper to taste. Voila The cauliflower actually came from a local farmer where the family grows cauliflower on 70 acres!! I also got a piece of dragon kale (which has a different texture than regular kale), kefir, and raw milk. The really cool thing about the kefir is that I can continue to re-produce it. It’s like Friendship bread, but instead of saving a bit of dough, you save a bit of the grains and some liquid from the kefir by taking a few Tbsp of it and adding either raw or pasteurized (not Ultra-high pasteurized or it won’t propagate the bacteria) and allowing it to sit in a non-metal container for 24-48 hours depending on how sour you want it! It’s amazing! And this kefir has 50 different strands of good microbes in it versus the 8 that are found in the kefir in grocery stores. Remember, kefir is a fermented dairy product so if making a smoothie, add ½ kefir, ½ milk, fruit, and honey and you should be on the road to happy digestion. J I’m going to be back-tracking quite a bit so bare with me. This farmer’s market was not chanced upon. In fact, it was thanks to an all-girls sleepover at a woman’s house (from church) who loves to cook (and is REALLY good at it!!) She made soup, roast chicken, roasted onions, carrots, and potatoes with rosemary, creamed cauliflower with carrots, rice cooked with pork belly fat (GREAT flavor seriously), and an appetizer of prosciutto wrapped around goat cheese, dates, and arugula with an EVOO/lemon/salt drizzle. And for dessert we had smores over the campfire. The great thing about campfires is that when you wake up in the morning, you have that smoky smell to your clothes and you just breathe it in, all snuggled up in your sleeping bag… This morning, we had some more delicious food: baked French toast with pecans. But once breakfast was over, we all drove over to the local farm where our host grows several vegetables and leafy greens. She even teaches six families how to grow their own garden of food! So we were all there helping harvest the kale, collard greens, and other lettuces. Not soon after did we help sell the produce and jump to other stands to see what they were selling, if not sampling. There was homemade granola, cauliflower soup, lemonades, salsas, eggs, meat, dairy products, and more produce. Working in that garden and at that farmer’s market, I was in a purely euphoric state. Yes, I love food, but I very much enjoy where our food comes from and how I can make my own garden (SOME DAY!). The rest of my day was spent getting a haircut, making granola, making creamy cauliflower soup, and nursing myself back to good health for lack of good sleep. Wednesday and Friday of my week were spent at Magic Kingdom (12 hours in one day!!) and then Epcot and Hollywood Studios (9 hours in one day!). At Magic, there is a new 3:00 parade with crazy costumes, new princesses, and forever surprises. Since it’s still spring break season the park was pretty busy, but fastpasses always help avoid a few lines. Epcot was spectacular because the flower and garden festival has been going on. There are several topiaries (you’ll see below) and stands in the world showcase that have smaller plates of special foods. Since some of the friends that I was with were staying at a resort and had a meal plan. Being the great friends that they are, they shared their meals with me! Overall, life has been good. Life is good.
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Living life down here in Florida has been sheer bliss, to put it in a word. I've made great friends, ventured out into unknown territories, shared my love for food, and upped my exercise routines making me feel even healthier! These past few days have been filled with too much I think I'd explode had I known what great experiences were to come. But first, let me start you on my recipe of the week: cous-cous burgers! They sound weird and are actually supposed to be quinoa burgers, but since cous-cous is cheaper I used that. Other than that I followed the recipe as written: http://thecornerkitchenblog.com/quinoa-veggie-burgers-with-whipped-feta/ I froze all but one of them and continue to eat them for lunch at work atop a slice of 15 grain bread with homemade hummus, cream cheese, and feta cheese. Since it's so protein-packed, it sustains you for hours and still holds up at 4:30 for a workout! Stepping away from food real quick, a few days ago I went on a tour at Disney's ARC (Avian Research Center) where they house several birds (I missed the number) from micronesian kingfishers to storks. The kingfishers are 1 of only 2 extant species that inhabited Guam years ago. They are now an endangered captive species due to the accidental introduction of brown tree snakes. The Storks (from Africa) luckily don't have this issue (and I don't know what I snake would do but run away from these huge birds!!). I also saw a 4 day old baby bird being hand-fed since its parents abandoned it. In fact, it needs to be fed every 2 hours. The time, care, and attention that the Avian Research Team puts towards these birds and the facility in which they are housed is sometimes unbelievable. Back-tracking a few days, I went to celebration again but this time for a day to myself. I walked along the lakes and ponds, journaled, wrote a letter, and sat alongside one of the lakes and just read. Sometimes we need those days for self-reflection and rejuvenation. We can get too lost in our work days and responsibilities that we sometimes lose focus of who we are and what we truly want in life. And celebration is just one of those places that really helps. In fact, I drove there yesterday morning just to run and made it a 3 miler. No soon after did I have to dash home, shower, and get ready for our monthly meeting at work. This time, however was the last meeting for one of the employees (who worked for disney for 26 years!) since she is now retiring. So, because the meetings always involve food or a for theme, she was able to choose what she wanted. Any guesses? Try surf and turf!! (Shrimp and sirloin!!) It was o-so-delicious and I have a few pictures explaining what was there. I brought triple m&m cookies which are comprised of milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and peanut m&m's (original m&m recipe here: http://treasures-by-brenda.squidoo.com/m-m-cookies). Post lunch my roommate Brittany and I ventured out toward Winter Park where we went into an indoor market called East End Market (http://eastendmkt.com/). Everything there is local and simple in their ingredients; it's my kind of a place! From the bakery to the bar to the cheese shop to the coffee shop and so on we were just dazzled by it all. We bought and split a whole wheat loaf of sourdough bread and a bag of arugula. I also bought a mini ginger coconut cookie and some Roquefort cheese. The fun thing about this place is that they sample so many things (cheeses, dips, kuquats - YES, granola, etc). Well, among everything else fun and spectacular about the place! We then went onto park avenue and shopped around. One of the shops we hit up was an Italian food shop where they sold infused olive oils and vinegars (all of which were available for sampling!). Brittany bought a few vinegars but I refrained knowing that I had already splurged last week on clothes. For dinner we went to an up-scale Italian restaurant called Prato (http://www.prato-wp.com/) The menu was fairly small, but that is a good indication that all of the food is really good (and it was). I took several pictures and posted them below. The atmosphere of the restaurant was hip, classy, and refreshing. It was narrow and long like a rectangle rather than uniform like a square. In the center stood the long bar with several bottles of wine, beer, liquor, and spirits held atop the bar (arranged in a visually pleasing way). On one wall of the restaurant hung several plants against a blue tiled wall (tried to get this in one of my pictures below so look closely!) and so expressed an Earthy feel. The other wall of the restaurant had pictures and a large wooden sign that displayed from where their ingredients came (all in Florida). The back of the restaurant had some more seating and then extended further back into a kitchen more on the side. I was told that their two ovens were made in Italy and shipped over. Oh and the front of the restaurant opens up to the outside so that (on evenings like yesterday's) people can sit outside, but still feel as though they are a part of the restaurant. Do you see why I 1. love dining out, 2. love food, and 3. love Italy?? Today is not as food-filled as was yesterday's, but it holds its promise to a beauty sunny day. Since my sleep schedule has been so off (oh I forgot to tell you about that... let me first go there). Three nights ago I went to bed around 10:30 pm and woke up for work at 4:00 am. Despite my energetic mental and physical state, I wanted to make sure to get enough sleep the following night and so drank a glass of wine to act as a depressant and soporific. Well it put me to sleep at 7:30pm, but then I woke up at 8 and then 8:30, and then 10 and then 12 and then 3 and THEN 4. So much for my seemingly functional plan. So that night I went to bed at 12 and let myself sleep in until WHENEVER I wanted to. And you know when my body decided to wake up? 5:00 AM. So I fell asleep for only a half an hour more and then couldn't get back to sleep. So LAST night I went to bed at 9:30 PM and woke up at ... 5:40 AM. This whole sleeping in thing has is just not me; has never been and never will be. But I always have preferred the early, tranquil mornings anyway. And so what else does one do so early in the morning? Work out. And so I did. For lunch today I took that arugula and tossed sliced strawberries, feta cheese, roquefort cheese, lemon juice, EVOO, and honey in to make a nice salad. I also toasted a piece of sourdough bread and put EVOO and honey on that. And so now here I sit blogging with one last paragraph of interesting things that I've learned over the week. I've also elaborated a bit based on my own knowledge. But I'm hoping you'll appreciate these facts as much as I do: 1. Roasting anything concentrates the flavor; roma tomatoes have no flavor so roasting them with seeds taken out is great (with basil!!) 2. For cakes (or the bottom of a fruit tart) Over-mixing batter makes it more bread-like because of over-working the dough and activating the gluten more than necessary. So mix it just until blended to get a cake-like batter. 3. Overcooking pasta allows your body to pull and digest the carbohydrates faster. So cooking until al dente ('to the tooth') will actually sustain you (your blood sugar levels) longer. 4. A high sodium diet is believed to increase your insulin production. - When you consume energy, your insulin levels increase to take glucose from the blood stream and store it in your liver and muscles, for energy. Though it can also convert glucose to fat if your liver and muscle stores of glucose (now glycogen) are filled. So to summarize, insulin can take sugar and turn it into fat so lower the amount of sodium in your diet if you know it to be too high. 5. Hopefully we all know that fat is good (in moderation, of course). Particularly the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. EVOO is high in monounsat'd and it helps increase the absorption of cancer fighting molecules such as lycopene (in tomatoes), lutein (good for your eyes and found in broccoli, spinach, kale, corn, kiwi, grape, OJ, and squashes), and beta-carotene (vit A's precursor and found in most all colorful fruits and vegetables - also good for eyesight) 6. Arugula is really peppery and so needs to be balanced with an acid (i.e. lemon juice) and sweet (i.e. honey) Well hopefully you are now filled to your eyeballs about food and just how special it can be. My 'recipe of the week' this week was spicy peanut butter noodles as you saw in my last post and let. me. tell. you. They were DELICIOUS. I didn't have to microwave them since they were meant to be eaten as leftovers(partly why I made them), but the dish is also EXCELLENT in being one to provide a great deal of energy for working out. I think I would be so bold as to place it in the category of a 'marathon food dish'. It has protein, carbs, and fat and sustains you for quite some time. Jus' sayin'.... My work week was a 5 day work week (50 hours) and was fun (as always)! Something I forgot to mention last time was my experience at the Animal Nutrition Window where we prepare the bird diets (excepting the carnivorous ones) in front of the public. I met several French and Canadian/residents of Quebec and so spoke as much french with them as possible. The afterthought? Oh how I want to LIVE IN FRANCE!!!! For just a year or two... but then I think about how lonely that could be... sacrifices must always be made in new places I guess. My days off have been equally as great. From exercising to cooking to great fellowship, I've been living life with bright and wide eyes, always trying to pull it all in. On Thursday, I also splurged and bought myself two dresses, tank tops(more of a necessity), and a pair of shoes. They'll come up in pictures eventually; don't worry. Later at night I went out to a Bible Study and stayed up until 1:30 AM! I never ever stay up late. I mean I woke up at 8:10 AM the next morning because I just don't sleep in. And that actually WAS sleeping in, but why not on a day off? Today I bought a few more groceries and later went to celebration, FL to run around the ponds, lakes, houses, plants, etc and it was just tooo beautiful. Everyone was out walking their dogs or children, biking, etc. Actually, I was the only runner that I saw (weird now that I think about it). And then I played tennis and lost miserably. Oh well. At least I got home to cook a nice, fresh meal (pictured below). Might just hang out in celebration tomorrow and run there or even tan by the pool. Either way, it's going to be 80 degrees and sunny and I'm going to soak it all in. Now that I've illustrated my week, allow me to narrate it.
My weekend started on Wednesday (I work - for the most part) Saturday through Tuesday. Wednesday morning was one of taxes and working out, but the afternoon was spent in Plant City, FL at the strawberry festival. There were fair rides, fried food stands, expos, merchandise sold from artists, monkeys, rays, livestock, and sections that were dedicated to the strawberry festival by means of decorating it and competing to win (as seen in the pictures). At the end of our visit, I ended up buying two store-sized cartons of strawberries for $2.50 total! And they're still in great condition. Once I become established and own my own property, I'm going to build a huge vegetable, fruit, herb, and flower garden. And I'm going to learn how to can too! So much fun awaits me!! The next day I went to Hollywood studios with my roommates and went on The Great Movie Ride, The Tower of Terror(one of my favorites!), saw the Muppet Show (another one of my favorites!), and became a pirate! Lunch/dinner was at Mama Melrose's and the dish can be seen in the previous post. After dining at a few disney restaurants, I've come to the conclusion that they have good food, but not great food. The venue is what really makes the experience great, but the food could still be better; they're better with their themes than their flavors. I'm a food snob ... I know this. Since we ate at 3, I decided to make apple crisp as a dinner/dessert dish later on. Thankfully, Friday was not rainy as Thursday had been, but it was pretty darn windy. Nevertheless, I went to celebration, FL to go running and then meet up with a friend to play tennis. Celebration is an interesting town. First off, it's BEAUTIFUL but it's also a pretty penny to live there. In fact, there's a waiting list to live in this town! Also, residents pay for extra security and the town is always kept very clean. I can't wait to go back there to run around the lake and see what the running trails have to offer. After tennis and making lunch, I took a nap, made granola, another new recipe, and then dinner. Once my roomies got home we went out to Howl At The Moon (another piano bar but this one was much more fun). Several of my co-workers were there so it was a good time, but by 9:40 I was out of there and off to bed. In fact, since we set our clocks ahead tonight, I'm attempting to get to bed by 7 or 7:30 so I can still get my 8 hours of sleep. We'll see if this really happens... but before I go: My ingredient of the week is water chestnuts (I'll likely make a dish with the bamboo shoots I bought) and my recipe of the week is penne a la vodka (my own recipe): EVOO for sauteeing mushrooms 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 small spanish onion, chopped 1 container single serving plain greek yogurt 3/4 c vodka 3/4 cup crushed tomatoes, 1/2 cup skim milk (or enough to desired consistency) 1 Tbsp cream cheese 1/4-1/3 c parm cheese 15 leaves fresh basil, chopped sprinkle parsley, oregano, and chili powder (extra sprinkle of this) few red chili flakes salt and pepper to taste Sautee all veggies, spices, and herbs together until tender, add tomatoes and vodka, mix in dairy, add salt and pepper to taste. It's really simple. And I added mushrooms just to include another form of vegetable. Feel free to add squash or something subtle to the dish. Allow it to stew for a bit and add more water or milk if it gets too thick. Also, once cooked, add your pasta and mix it in so the pasta can bathe in the sauce. And there you are: penne a la vodka. My recipe of next week is spicy peanut butter noodles which I got from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/peanut-butter-noodles/. I already made it and followed the recipe almost to the T; I used cashews because I had no peanuts and I used a spanish onion because of lack of green onions. Oh and it's also a great recipe because I gave up using the microwave for lent (not that I'm Catholic, but I like the idea of giving something up for God). I've also taken out deep fat fried foods (since I've actually picked at some lately) and have added in a Bible verse per day (with attempts at memorizing them). And so I bid you adieu and until next time. I knew I was behind on pictures and posting, but it didn't occur to me that I was EIGHT days behind! Therefore, please enjoy this slideshow of pictures from the past two weeks. Details will come later! |
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February 2017
"Food is an infinitely rich subject, and there's always something about it to understand better, something new to discover, a fresh source of interest, ideas, and delight."
From Pennsylvania to France to Washington DC to Florida, I've had myself many an adventure. Now it's time to indulge in the life of a Floridian. With great food, great friends, and great experiences, I offer you stories and pictures to take you away, into my world at Disney. Categories |