pork chops and apple sauce

Actually, no apple sauce in this entry - but I can hardly say the words "pork chops" with out saying it in a silly accent and adding the words "and apple sauce".  Its a Brady Bunch thing.  I barely remember anything about the episode other than one of the sons (Peter, perhaps?) saying "pork chops an' apple sauce" in a funny way.  Moving on.....

I figured a little while ago that I am going to include more recipes on this here blog.  Again, it is my way of giving to my kids.  They won't have to wonder about mom's recipes (because she is so disorganized and some of them are just in her head or scratched down) in the future.  They will all be neatly typed out in their blog books....  I may even go so crazy as to put in an index in future books.....  That would be crazy!

One of our favorite meals, um let me rephrase, one of our used-to-be-favorite-meals-but-now-we-have-overdone-it-a-little-so-some-of-the-kids (Maddy) are-sick-of-it is BBQ pork chops and grilled veggies (I'm not sure why I just used the term veggies - I really don't like that term but it just didn't seem right to write the full word vegetables).  It is so very healthy and delicious.

The best part is the marinade for the chops (which is also great on chicken).  It is a compilation of several different recipes that I found on the internet but is distinctly our own... or we would like to think.

Please bear in mind that measurements are not exact....

Scrumpdiliumptious Marinade

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp oil

2 tbsp ketchup

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce (aka: salsa de ingles)

2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp lemon juice

We let it marinade for about four or five hours which seems to be good.  Then the man of the house - it has to be the man, as he is the one that deals with fire, naturally - barbecues them up.  Serve them with asparagus,  red pepper and zucchini chunks which are drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with seasoned salt and grilled along side the chops.

Fabulousness.

candy brilliance

This evening I had a (as Maddy would say) "brilliant beyond brilliant" idea.  Maddy and I were watching "Top Chef: Just Desserts" and they had a contest where they had to recreate Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

 I guess they didn't have to recreate it, but it was their inspiration.  First they watched the original movie (far, far superior to the pathetic Johnny Depp remake) right along side the people who played Charlie Bucket, Voilet Beauregard, Mike TeVee and Varuca Salt (spell check is not helping much right now....).  The best part is that they didn't know that these were the original cast members until after the movie was over.  Pretty cool.  The whole thing was in honor of the movie's 40th anniversary.  Can you believe it is that old?
The cast members said that the movie set was actually mostly made up of edible decorations, which is pretty cool, too.

 The contestants on the show did a pretty great job.

I particularly like Katzie's garden (sorry, no picture).  She made carrot cakes in the shape of carrots and then "planted" them in edible dirt.  You could then dig out your own cake to eat.  Very cute and creative.

After the show was over and Maddy and I were oooohing and aaaaaahing, I said that we should do something like that for Maddy's Quinceanera.  Maddy got pretty excited!

A Quinceanera, for those who have that look (huh?) on their faces, is kind of like a huge sweet 16 party, except it is for 15 year-old girls.  They are BIG deals in Latin America.  Like really, really big deals.  Ridiculously so.

While we have already let Maddy know that she will not be having the typical 5 different dresses to change into throughout the night, a band, a rented banquet hall, and all kinds of other things that would send us to the poor house, we do want to have a fun party.  This could be just the thing!
Yes, it is over a year away, but it never hurts to start thinking.....

What we really want to do is somehow convince our great friends Marlo and her daughter Mikala (whose birthday is one month later) that we should do it together.  Split the cost, the work and the FUN!  And since Marlo is a fabulous baker and quite creative, it would work out really well.

Of course, this is all a dream.  But you never know when a dream becomes reality!!

welcome mat

You might be able to tell from this post that I have too much thinking time on my hands.  One sign is that my list of desired projects is ginormous - there are soooo many things I would like to make or do.  The other sign is what some of these projects are - take my welcome mat idea, for example.

I really do want to make a welcome mat and maybe will get around to it some day - although it is far from priority.  This is what I first came up with:

Yes, I was in a bit of a mood.... But I really do want to do this second one:

Again, it probably won't happen any time soon, but I think seeing a mat like that would put a smile on my face and I'd love to do that for whomever comes over to our house as well!

happy Canadian thanksgiving!

It actually is a bit of a sad one.  I really miss my family.  Yesterday they all got together for turkey and the works and....sigh.... we obviously couldn't be there.  It didn't bother me yesterday for some reason, but it did bother me today.  I wish so much we could have been there.

I really wanted to have my own Canadian Thanksgiving celebration here with the handful of Canadians that we know, but I knew it would be disastrous to try to pull that off given my unreliable state of health. Hopefully next fall I'll be good as gold and can have a big ol' thanksgiving feast.

The one thing I did do - I had resigned myself to making these regardless of how I felt (and thankfully I felt pretty decent) - was make pumpkin pie.  Sort of.  I saw a picture the other day of "pie pops" and thought I might try it.  

I kind of "winged it" and they actually turned out great.  I wanted to make something for the family in honour of thanksgiving, but I also wanted something that I could give to my fellow Canadians.  This seemed to fit the bill.

I made regular pie crust but cut it out into circles.  Then I lay the circles on the pan and put a blop (technical term) of pumpkin pie filling on it.  I put the lollipop stick on that and then added another cirlce of crust on top - then used a fork to seal the edges.

 The first few oozed a lot, so I got smart and made the circles for the top slightly bigger than the bottom circles.  Then when I put them on top, I sort of domed them and it kept the insides from squishing out.

 They looked much better!

I baked them for about 20 minutes at 375 or so and they turned out great.

 I figured I couldn't use a regular recipe for pumpkin pie because then the filling would be too runny so I just experimented.  I probably should have googled a recipe or something, but they actually turned out great and I don't think I would change anything.  Here's what I made:

1.5 c of pumpkin puree

1.5 eggs (I cracked 2, lightly beat them and then just didn't add it all - it just seemed like too much)

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (approx.... didn't actually measure)

1 tsp cinnamon (ditto)

2/3 c brown sugar

I just mixed that all up and put about a tbsp of the mixture in each circle (the circles were just cut out with tumblers (Canadian word - in honour of the holiday... and Canadian spelling of honour as well.  Tumbler is what we called drinking glasses.)

I was pretty beat after I made them so the packaging for friends was pretty basic.  Put them in little plastic bags, tied them with cut brown leaf ribbon and the tags were just leaf shapes I cut out last fall (I had planned to make a leaf garland and it just didn't happen).  

 I only got some of them delivered, so hopefully the remaining few won't mind carrying on the celebration for one more day!

 The kids had some when they got home from school.

 They were smitten by deliciousness.  Eric the pumpkin hater, on the other hand, wouldn't come near them.

They are none too happy that I gave (or am giving) so many away, but they don't have to worry.  I definitely will be making these again soon.

Speaking of deliciousness.

Remember the little bit of self-pity I had the other day- wanting hummus and pita chips?  Well, Saturday, while the kids and I were at Molly's birthday party, Eric said he had some stuff to do.  This is what he did:  MY HUSBAND MADE HUMMAS FOR ME, FROM SCRATCH, AND FOUND AND PURCHASED PITA CHIPS!!!!!!!

Seriously.  He really loves me.

He found a recipe online.  The recipe even called for tahini paste, which is no where to be found, so he looked up a recipe for that and made that too.  Let me just break this down for you.....  He bought a billion little packages of sesame seeds so that he would have enough.  Then he roasted them and ground them with olive oil (not an easy task with those teeny little seeds).  He also purchased all the other ingredients and then whipped it all up in the food processor.  Then he surprised me with it for a late night snack after the kids went to bed.  It was fairly garlicky, so he ended up also having to deal with my stench, but boy was it good.

Seriously.  He really does love me.

gone are lazy Saturdays

Yesterday marked the first of many Saturdays in which we (we being Eric and I) will no longer be able to sleep in.  I'm not even that sad about it.  And I might not even be that affected if I have a Sunday following those Saturdays like today.... although that is highly unlikely.  Today I slept in until 10:15, felt like crap, stayed home from church, stayed awake long enough to have breakfast and read my bible, fell back asleep on the couch and slept for another three and a half hours.  While I was trying to drag myself off the sofa around 3:30, I had a very strong feeling that Eric must have drugged me last night.  Now I am functioning, blogging obviously, but my head is still fuzzy and I'm longing to go back to bed.  I'm sure that feeling will last up until 9:00 at which time I will be wide awake, headache-free and perky.

Moving on, Cade and Lucy have started playing baseball!  We are pretty darn excited about it.  Cade's age group is playing machine pitch and Lucy is playing T-ball.  They are playing on an English league run basically by parents whose kids go to Cotopaxi international school (where most North American embassy kids go).  And we are super excited because they are on the same teams as their friends Jordan and Molly Bryans, so we get to hang out with friends too.

Yesterday was just a practice day.  

 Eric helped Cade practice throwing and catching.  He made a lot of progress just practicing that little bit.

 Then it was time for some batting practice and a scrimmage  (Jordan is in the yellow).

 The girls' practice was after, so they played and watched the boys.

 Eric commented on the lack of appropriate sized head protection for our son - likening him to Jack-in-the-Box.

 Then it was the girls' turn.  Mia helped them out a little.

 Lucy has a little way to go with her baseball skills.  I'm hoping, although the evidence thus far proves otherwise, she has not inherited her mother's abilities in the field of athletics.

 While watching the girls practice, I met another mother whose family is in Ecuador because of the military.  Her husband is in the army.  She was great and we connected very well.  But even better was that she told me how she had been suffering from migraines due to altitude!  Now, of course I am not glad that she is suffering, but it was so wonderful to have some reassurance that I am not insane, nor am I the only one who suffers.

She said that she had gone to the doctor with the US embassy about it and he informed her that about 15% of people who move here have this issue.  Some of them never adjust and either have to learn to live with it or move away.  Occasional waves of nausea and dizziness are common too - which I also have but haven't really talked much about since the headache thing is the dominant issue.  Later in the day the topic came up with some people at the birthday party (to be seen later) and they mentioned two other people that they know who have suffered from this as well - and even much worse.  Anyway, it gave me some peace of mind knowing that I am not alone, nor am I imagining what I am going through (sometimes I think I am becoming psychosomatic).

Later in the afternoon, Molly had a birthday party.   Earlier in the week I attempted to make a birthday present for her.  Everything that could go wrong with it pretty much went wrong.  The sewing machine in particular was making a mess of things.  Actually, I think it was the thread.  It kept tearing and I would have to rethread the machine after sewing just a few stitches.  Finally I took the whole thing apart and started again, doing the whole thing differently.... but by that time the shirt I was working on was getting wrecked.  I tried to salvage what I could - it was now a mission of conquering the project rather than a mission of love for Molly, I must say.  I can hardly believe I actually still gave it to her.  From far away it looks good, but looking up close - not so nice.  I'm going on "its the thought that counts"!

 At the party, the kids painted pumpkins!!!  Or, I guess squash.

 But the Bryans found some at one of the markets, so I think I am going to get some to have a little fall festivity and decór.  Pretty excited about it!

 The girls dressed up like princesses - all but Molly and Lucy.  Molly went for the pirate look and Lucy just wore some fancy shoes.

 We all had a pizza for lunch and then cupcakes, of course.  It was a Hello Kitty party - much to Cade's chagrin (even though the party was for Lucy to go to and the Bryans just allowed the rest of us to come).  He threw a fit about having to use a pink Hello Kitty plate for his pizza, so he refused to eat for a while.  Finally they ran out of those plates so he got to have a plain white one.  I pointed out that all the men were using those plates and they were okay with it.  I also mentioned how our identity shouldn't be caught up in a paper product that gets thrown away after we use it - but these things didn't help.

Later for party favors, Cade was given a Hot Wheels car.  It was purple.  Apparently this was another assault on his manhood and started crying again (Doesn't the crying seem like more like an assault on his manhood??  Just saying....).  Regardless of these particular issues, the kids had a great day and we are looking forward to many more Saturdays filled with fun friendship times.

casa g birthdays

I read the other day that October 5 is the most common birthday in the US - and that it is exactly 40 weeks from New Years Eve.  Hmmm.  Lots of celebrating.  Since not all pregnancies are exactly 40 weeks, it stands to reason that there are many birthdays before and after the 5th as well.  Casa G feels the boom.

 These pictures of Ricardo and Lucy (not sure who used my camera to take them....Maddy?) have little to do with birthdays, but they are just cuteness so I had to put them in.  

 I think we had three September birthdays and then have had one in October already.

This Thursday was Darío's birthday, and he was coming over to our house for dinner anyway.  We had the boys' favorite - fish tacos (the meal where I spend 1.5 - 2 hours solid frying fish!).  Then we had a plain, not too sweet butter cake..... the birthday above I baked a chocolate cake with mocha buttercream frosting, forgetting that they boys really don't like super sweet stuff.  Most of the icing got scrapped off and left!

The best part of this birthday celebration was that Darío had completely forgotten that it was his birthday.  Or I guess, more accurately, not realized.  He came into the house and the first words out of Eric's and my mouths were "Feliz Cumpleaños!" - happy birthday.  He sort of looked at us strangely.  Then he said it wasn't his birthday yet (I panicked, thinking I got it wrong) and his birthday was really Oct. 6.  We busted up laughing, showing him the calendar - that it was the 6th.  The sheepish grin on his face was hilarious.

I just have to tell you how incredible the change in this boy has been.  He and his brother joined Casa G in spring - coming only on the weekends.  They then went to full time in summer.  Neither of these boys would look you in the eye, smile or barely utter a word.  Now, several months later, Darío in particular will not stop smiling.  He is chatty and playful and while still has trouble looking me directly in the eye, will glance up often during a conversation.  He is a different person, to be sure.  His confidence has soared.

It is incredible and a huge blessing to be a part of working with these boys and seeing how powerfully God can change their lives, if they allow Him to.  God's work is amazing.

random

I've been busy - busy doing nothing or busy doing catch-up.  It all depends on whether I have a headache or not.  A higher percentage of the time I do have a headache so I am busy trying not to go crazy doing nothing or enduring some pain and doing a bit of something on the computer.  Right now I am working on a blog book.  I want to have a book made with all my posts each year so that we sort of have a photo album/journal of each year.  That way the kids can look back and have something to remember each year - stuff we did, plus getting a little deeper into their mom's random brain.

I thought it was going to be an easy thing to do.  This company just downloads each blog post, complete with pictures and puts it into book format.  The problem is that sometimes the pictures get mixed up (and the standard layout is kind of boring) and the way I have written takes up a lot of space, so I have had to do much editing.  It is now causing me to rethink how I write.... so from now on, I'll be writing in more regular paragraph style to save myself hours of editing later (I could leave it, with all of my spaces and single sentence lines, but then the book is ginormous and costs a fortune!).  Anyway, it is at least something I can sort of do while having my headaches.... at least for a little while.... until staring at the computer screen makes the throbbing worse.

Since I have been rather discouraged with my physical state (including the rest of my body.... nothing like lying around every day to make you feel like jello.  So much for trying to keep up my fitness level over the summer.  Its just all gone to pot.), I haven't wanted to write.  Plus nothing much has been going on.  But now I am putting my big-girl panties on, sucking it up, and just going to write about all sorts of random things all in one post.

I don't think I have ever introduced you to this man in the photo.  For the life of me I can't think of his name right now, but he is a daily feature in our lives.  While we don't always directly drive right past him, we see him across the intersection.

He only has legs up to the knees and is always at the same intersection, standing in between lanes of cars, waiting for money.  He is definitely not begging or even asking.  In fact, I think what he is doing to earn money is giving away smiles and friendly hellos and waves, and hoping that people might appreciate it enough to help him out a little.  He is one of the most genuinely happy, encouraging people I have ever seen in my life.  He is a good reminder to me, as I slip into bouts of self pity, that I have much to be thankful for.... a little to cry about.

Every time we drive past him, I have to pray that he doesn't get run over.  Because he is so low to the ground, and traffic is so crazy, people are bound to not see him until they are right up to where he is standing.  It is rather unnerving.  God protect that man.

Last week was spiritual emphasis week for middle school and high school.  My desire was to go to each daily session, but just didn't have the stuff to make it each time.  By Wednesday, after not being able to go, due to a pounding head (Tuesday was a really rough day  and I was about ready to jump head-first into the pit of depression.), I finally told myself I was going to go regardless.

I needed to put on some make-up and some happy clothes.  So a donned a cheery yellow cardigan and my newly named happy shoes.

I bought these plain wool shoes a while ago and was waiting to wear them once I had made a few shoe clips to put on them.  The idea was have interchangeable little extras to pin on depending on what else I was wearing, but I scrapped that and just hot glued these little blue circles of cheer straight onto the shoe.  

Then I stuck a smile on my face and off I went.  And it was great.  I skipped out of some of the loud worship music part, but it was so good to be there, and the speaker (from Guatemala) was fabulous.  I made it one more day, but Friday was back to bed for me.

Do you remember the canopy thingy that I made for Lucy's bed?

(She added some butterflies)  Well, it has been hanging in her room all tied up like that for a month now. She said it was always in her way, so I finally just took it down.  I thought all that work went for nothing, but now Maddy said that she would like it.  So, in a year or two, once we actually get the hook up in her ceiling, it will be back in action.

About two weeks ago a friend (and another missionary for Youth World) got engaged.  Her boyfriend and some friends took her to the beach for the weekend, where he proposed.  It was all very romantical from what I understand.  They asked if I could decorate their house a little for a surprise engagement party for the night they got back.  I said I would, with their understanding that I might not be able to do too much, depending on how I was feeling.  I did work on a little bunting sign while feeling poopy-ish one day and then thankfully the day it was too be done wasn't a too bad one.

The bunting sign says "Yahoo!  You're getting married"  It all went well, she was very surprised and delighted and I was quiet thrilled to have a happy creative project.

I neglected to mention that on that very hard Tuesday, my friend Marlo cheered me up.  She brought me cookies and some homemade mora (kind of like blackberry) jam.  Oh so very good.  

 I didn't share the cookies, but I am sharing the jam.  But the jam.... so good.  It is slightly reminiscent of homemade raspberry jam from Manitoba, and has definitely motivating me to make my own.  I didn't think that there was really any point in making my own jam because it is hard to find raspberries.  But this is so good, it doesn't matter.

Look at that toast perfection.  Homemade jam, Canadian (Kraft) peanut butter, on brown bread toast (and not the prepackaged kind, either).  That is the way to start a day!

Last weekend the kids had a somewhat spontaneous three day weekend.  September 30 was the 1 year anniversary of the attempted coup and the city was expecting many grand protests.  Thursday night the kids' school decided it would be better to shut down due to possible riots and traffic issues.  Of course, the kids were thrilled.  They spent the day enjoying some of their own creative projects.

Cade dipped into the scrap wood stash and built himself a little bench for two people.  Then he and the girls decided it needed some color, so they all worked at painting it together.

They are such charming children, aren't they.

This Friday was one of Lucy's teacher's birthday.  Her name is Miss Lam, so as a play on her name, I decided to make some lamb cupcakes for the class.

They look a little more like a cross breed of albino lions and sheep, but the kids didn't seem to notice.  They were quite thrilled.  Miss Lam wasn't in the classroom when I brought them in, so I'm not sure if she appreciated the play on her name like I knew the kids would.  But I figured if she is working with first grade, she must be somewhat impervious to people tying her name to the cute little baby sheep, right?