Haiku Tuesday: Soup Memory

chocolate is a no brainer...

Well, I've decided to have a dinner party. I know, I am usually the anal, "my house has to be perfect before I can entertain people" type of person, but I've finally come to the realization that it just ain't gonna happen anytime during this lifetime, so I might as well just be hospitable with what I have. I'm having 12 of my favorite girlfriends over on Saturday night. It should be a good time. I fully intend to cook a fantastic dinner too. Here is what is on the menu so far.

SECRET DINNER INGREDIENT: Slow roasted tomatoes. I got this great recipe from Fine Cooking. You roast the tomatoes for about 4 hours and then you can do all sorts of things with them.

1st Course: Crostinis- options include a goat cheese/roasted tomato/pesto/pine nut dip, or whole roasted tomatoes topped with portabella mushroomsand feta. mmmmm.

2nd Course: Spinach Basil Salad tossed with, (you guessed it) roasted tomatoes, bacon, candied walnuts and lemon rosemary vinegrette made with roasted tomato oil. Yum.

3rd Course: Homemade ravioli filled with a parmigiana/butternut squash filling, topped with sauce made with (what else?) roasted tomatoes and fresh basil.

4th Course: Dessert. Except, here is where I run into a dilemma. I can't decide!!! I do know this, it must be chocolate. Chocolate is a no-brainer for a girls night. But I have so many options how can I choose? So, I've decided to try out one of Nelly's cool blogpolls to let the readers decide.

(Photo by Su-lin)

i heart goat cheese

Today was a beautiful fall day. So beautiful that it was really hard to stay inside at work all day when I wanted to go outside. I passed much of the time during the afternoon contemplating what to eat for dinner. I really love eating so this is something that occupies my time on a regular basis. Since I'm trying to eat healthy, I couldn't just go eat fast food or something pre-made and bad for me. Then I made my mistake. I went to the grocery store. Word to the wise: never go to the grocery store when you're hungry without a list. You just end up deciding you want to eat everything and then you buy stuff accordingly. Well, I didn't do quite so bad, but I did end up with a hodge-podge of foods which didn't exactly go well together when I got home. For example, here are some things I bought:

Fresh Salmon
spaghetti sauce
Alfredo sauce
goat cheese
lemons
golden raisins
pasta
wine
Parmesan cheese
Fine cooking magazine on appetizers

I ended up broiling the salmon, which I only ate half of.
I cooked some broccoli that I had at home, with some of the Parmesan cheese on top.
To top it all off I baked half of the goat cheese with honey, almonds, and raisins and ate it on kashi crackers complemented by a glass of white wine.

I quickly discovered, that the only thing I wanted to eat for dinner was the goat cheese. I didn't finish my half of my salmon, and I ate all the broccoli for good measure. But man, if I could get away with it I would just eat goat cheese for dinner. So much for being healthy right? :)

I'm so glad God created goats. They can be so cute and cuddly sometimes, but mostly, I just heart their cheese.

renaissance carnies

(photo from www.craigsminstrel.com)

I went to North Carolina this weekend to visit my friend Mary. We were debating on what to do on Saturday, and since the local Renaissance Festival was going on we decided to go check it out. A renaissance festival is a good choice for a saturday if you want to do some seriously hilarious and sometimes frightening people watching. :)

I've been to carnivals and fairs before and I've seen some weird looking people. But the carnies at this place really added a whole new spin on kooky. The picture above is very tame, because I wanted to keep this blog G rated. I saw more exposed body parts, tight pants, open shirts, and just plain freaky looking people than I've seen in one place in a long time! It was really funny to think that there are some people who dress up like this voluntarily. (And then create websites to advertise themselves. Hence, the picture above) There was one man wearing skin tight crushed velvet pants, an open ruffly shirt and a robin-hoodish-like hat with feathers in it twirling ribbons and juggling. I wandered around thinking, how do you end up doing this job? I mean, I wonder are there really kids in the world who think, "When I grow up I want to be a professional ribbon twirler/juggler at the renaissance festival." I don't get it. What's worse though are the so called "normal" people who do not work at the festival, but actually buy these costumes and wear them around as if its the latest fashion! To each his own I guess...

I also had one of those love/hate experiences with a giant turkey leg at the renaissance festival. Yes, they were selling giant turkey legs, and corn on the cob and sausage on a stick. Although I am on a diet, they smelled really good so we thought, "when in Rome..."

Yeah, that great tasting turkey leg took about 15 minutes to start assaulting my innards. I felt uncomfortably full all day and probably should have taken some pepto-bismal. To my dismay, at 2am Sunday morning my stomach decided it was ready to kick some turkey leg out of my body. And, yes, I was painfully ill in the night. It wasn't until Sunday at church when I took communion that my insides starting feeling better.

Perhaps this physical affliction was God's way of reminding me that feasting on the world is sickening whereas feasting on Him is healing.

breakfast hope

I had breakfast with Toby, my pastor, this morning. Here is an example of God's incredible grace and goodness. I get to eat eggs and grits with my pastor at 7am on a Wednesday morning, just because I asked. I love having a pastor who is my friend and a spiritual father and mentor at the same time. After I talked about all things I struggle with, namely feeling like the most selfish person on the planet (which in fact is an expression of me being selfish!), and laughing at myself, getting frustrated, and laughing some more Toby said some things, that as always, will stick with me.

He said, "You know, you're not the only one who struggles with this. And you're not doing so bad as you think. I can see the cynicism in your eyes, but trust me, there is hope."

I left thinking about what E. Prentiss says in "Stepping Heavenward": Stop dwelling on the past. If I did not love God yesterday as I should, I can start now. I can begin again today, because as many times as I fail, he still loves me. I am unfaithful, but He loves me! I don't obey him, but he loves me! I am selfish and impatient, but he loves me! I am a sinner, but he loves me!

I think I really need to let this sink in all over again. I need to remind myself of these truths every morning. Starting over today has made a difference in my level of peace and joy. I've not "arrived" yet, but I'm still walking on the road..

Here is a great hymn that is singing in my heart:

Father long before creation,

Thou hast chosen us in love.

And Thy love so deep, so moving,

Draws us close to Christ above.

Still it keeps us, still it keeps us

Firmly fixed in Christ alone!

Though the world may change its fashion,

Yet our God is ever the same.

His compassion and His covenant,

Through all ages will remain.

God's own children, God's own children

Must forever praise His name!

God's compassion is my story,

Is my boasting all the day.

Mercy free and never failing,

Moves my will, directs my way.

God so loved us, God so loved us,

That His only son He gave!

Loving Father now before Thee,

We will ever praise Thy love.

And our songs will sound unceasing

Till we reach our home above.

Giving glory, giving glory,
To our God and to the Lamb!

Giving glory, giving glory to our God and to the Lamb!!!!

spaghetti for breakfast

The morning is here and all is quiet except for the occasional rustle of leaves as the wind passes through the trees and the distant sound of Linford playing on the stereo inside. Its chilly enough for a sweater, but the filtered sun shines onto the porch and warms my face. Yes, this glorious, wonderful, quiet Saturday morning is finally here. I feel like I have been waiting my whole life to have this morning. Both of my roommates have gone out of town, and they've taken their dogs with them. Only Lindy and I are left.

If truth be told, I've been struggling lately. Busy-ness seems to crowd out rest, and the volume of work to be done seems to outweigh time like a sumo wrestler against a mouse. Most of the time I feel incredibly lonely, but I never have the luxury of just being alone. With two roommates (whom I love) and three dogs (whom I love) and what seems like constant dinner parties (not thrown by me) and visitors, I find that I long for solitude and quiet. And the same battle that has raged in my heart my whole life, the battle against selfishness, seems to have flared up amidst all of this. It is a hard thing to deal with the sin of self-love. Its a tricky one because it manifests itself in so many ways. Whether I am high or low, alone or in company, happy or sad, tired or wired, it pops up and takes root again. And it hurts when God takes a trowel to that root and kills it. I wish I knew how to be free of this battle, but I am sure God uses it for good, though I don't always see it. I am identifying most these days with one of my favorite literary characters. Her name is Katy Mortimer Elliott and she is the main character of a wonderful little book called "Stepping Heavenward" by Elizabeth Prentiss. Here is a snippet from Katy's journal that captures my sentiment of late:

"And I can see now, what I wonder I did not see at the time, that God was dealing very kindly and wisely with me when He made Martha overlook my good qualities, of which I suppose I have some, as everybody else has, and call out all my bad ones, since the ax was thus laid at the root of self-love. And it is plain that self-love cannot die without a fearful struggle"

But I am not too discouraged. For God has promised in 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." And not only does he promise to do all that for me, he has doubly blessed me by giving me this quiet, beautiful Saturday morning all to myself where I can sit on my porch and enjoy such simple pleasures as eating leftover spaghetti with a cherry coke zero for breakfast. :) I'm so glad that God is good.

Peace is coming...

homemade soups and backyard swings

I love fall. Its the season of soup making. I read an article recently in Southern Living magazine about having a soup swapping party. The idea is to invite a few friends over and have each one bring a big pot of homemade soup. Then everyone gets to try the different soups, take home recipes, and leftovers from a variety of soups. That way you aren't eating the same soup for two weeks. Since my house is not yet fit to have parties, I decided I would just make soup for myself instead. Yesterday I made a big pot of one of my favorite soups: Two Bean Chicken Chili. Very Tasty. Here is the recipe:

black beans
pinto beans
corn
chicken
salsa
tomato sauce
chicken broth
garlic
chili powder
zucchini

Topped with: sour cream, cheddar cheese, and tortilla chips. YUM. :)

Sunday afternoons are great for cooking things like soup. Because while they are simmering, you have time to do other things. I went outside to one of my new favorite things. We have a backyard tree swing that a friend made for us. We have many old trees in the yard, including more than one Live Oak. This swing is made from a 2x10 board and two pieces of heavy duty rope and it hangs from a very high branch on the biggest oak tree. Its so high that the length of the ropes are really long, which means when you swing you can cover about half of the yard in one go. I felt like Amelie yesterday, just swinging long sweeps across the yard, looking up at the filtered light coming down through the trees, enjoying the simplicity of it all. The dogs sat on the ground nearby and their eyes rhythmically followed me - back and forth, back and forth.

There is so much I take for granted in life - like pots of soup and backyard swings. I want to be a more thankful person - more grateful, and more gracious. Even in the midst of all the things in my life that I am unsatisfied with, I am constantly reminded of this: God is good. He is all goodness.

(photo is of me on the swing at night)

An apple a day...

After a brief hiatus from the blog world I am back, thankfully, due to Nelly's gracious prodding.

So much has been happening in my life since I last posted, I feel as though I have a wealth of material to write about, simply to update the blog readers (which, I think is only Nelly!) on my comings and goings. Perhaps I will have to blog more than once in a day! Ah, but this is very doubtful. So, I will give an overview of the latest news in bullets form:

• I moved to a new old house in July/August. My parents bought a house and I get the great pleasure of renting from them. The goal, I believe, is to buy the house myself, someday. In the meantime, we are fixing it up. It is a great house with a fabulous yard, but it is requiring a lot of work. Needless to say, it hasn't yet become the restful homestead I'm hoping for. I'm still hopeful, but exhausted.


• I have two new roommates. Their names are Mary and Lindsay. They have two dogs. So altogether we are 3 people and 3 dogs. The dogs are: Lindy (mel's border collie), Maya (mary's siberian huskey), and Jo (lindsay's black lab). All I need is three rings in the backyard and I'd be living at the circus.



(In this photo: roomie Lindsay and Mel with new haircut)

• I got a fun haircut.


• I've started a new eating regimen and have been losing weight. This makes me feel great. Its amazing what eating healthier will do for you, both inside and out. Pink Lady apples are probably my favorite food these days. I eat one almost every day. An apple a day keeps the doctor away! I've coined a new proverb about apples: An apple a day instead of cookies and chips makes your clothes fit better.



(photo by Barb Iverson)


• I'm reading lots of new books. (I will blog about these in another post.)


• I'm still single, and its OK.
  

So there you have it. The latest news. Life has been busy, but God is still good. That's one thing I know I can count on.