Foodie Friday - Dinner Party

Tonight I am throwing a dinner party. It’s something I haven’t done in a long time. In fact, I can’t think of when I have ever done a dinner party quite like this. I guess it is something I’ve always dreamed of/aspired to but have never really done.

The people:

This is one of the neatest groups of people you will ever come in contact with. And God SO put us all together.

It started out by the Lord prompting me last spring to see if the girls that I would normally do a summer Bible study with would want to include our husbands and do something as couples. Response at first was mixed. But finally, 3 couples got together. Then 2 more couples were invited. And we had ourselves a little group.

The Bible study portion of our times together on Friday evenings was interesting. The study that we ended up doing was video based. The main teacher was good. His wife, well, let’s just say, “not so much.” And it was pretty obvious that it was filmed in the early – mid 90’s.

Our discussion time was good, though. Full of rabbit trails and lots of laughing. It was mighty good for the soul. If nothing else just to be around other adults with no children around demanding our attention.

They spent their Friday evenings at a different house (our house actually) with babysitters.



The menu:

I’m stretching my gourmet muscles.

I love doing that.

And it’s going to be an evening of decadence.

Our menu includes Rack of Lamb with Sun-Dried Cherry Sauce, Four Cheese Risotto, and Green Beans in Garlic Butter Sauce.

For dessert, we will have Chocolate Fondue with all manner of fruits and sweets for dipping, swirling, and savoring.

(I’m trying something new. If you want to see the recipes, just click on the names of the dishes and it will shoot you over to the separate blog that I’m making of just recipes.)

As I was doing some prep work on Thursday evening, I had to laugh at myself several times. I started out cleaning the kitchen and eating area. But then I got distracted on to the blog and finally over to doing some food prep.

I needed to be cleaning, but I was having so much more fun with the food prep. There’s not a lot of people I know that have fun with food prep.

I was really kind of hoping that cutting up the onions would help clear out my sinuses (go away you foul ragweed… just go away).

And you know what gives me so much joy? Fresh herbs. I had to go out and get some fresh rosemary and thyme. I took a big whiff and let out a satisfied sigh.

I just love thyme so much. In fact I have 3 different varieties in my garden.

But I digress.

I have so enjoyed planning this dinner party menu and preparing this meal for my friends.

It’s definitely my love language.

Who Can Forget?

7 years seems like no time at all.

I could get a penalty for excessive celebration

I'm just going to make it a week of celebration around here.

In honor of my blogiversary and 200 posts, I decided to tell you 200 things about myself.

But that was too hard to do.... so you're getting 100 things about me.



I am 35 years old.

I am married to my college sweet-heart.

We went to Texas A&M. (Yeah, we’re AGGIES! WHOOP!)

I have been married for 12 ½ years.

I have a 7 year old daughter.

I have a 3 year old son.

I have a 12 year old Dachshund named Frankie

And a 9 year old Welsh Corgi named Gus.

I am a native Texan

But I lived in Northern Virginia for a short time.

I am the baby of my family and

I have 2 OLDER sisters.

My parents are currently missionaries in South Asia.

I miss the snow in No. VA

And the seasons,

And being near Washington DC.

I don’t miss the traffic

I love to cook

And bake

From scratch.

I love to eat good food

And drink good wine.

I have environmental allergies, and

I am supposed to take shots each week, but

I’ve been delinquent about my shots recently.

Watermelon makes my throat itch, along with

My nose and ears.

I work part (almost full) time for a financial advisor.

The streak you see in my hair is natural, and

It’s gray.

I started getting gray hair in my early twenties.

I am a nut for the details, and

I can be a little bit of a control freak, so

I like the details done my way.

I grew up as somewhat of a tom-boy.

I went deer hunting with my dad.

And fishing.

I love to water ski and

Snow ski.

I have thrill seeker tendencies.

I have been on a tandem sky dive, and

Parapenting, and

Caving,

And I love to go white water rafting.

I love to travel.

I have visited 9 countries including

Canada,

Mexico,

France,

New Zealand,

Greece,

England,

Austria,

Belgium, and

Spain

My favorite international city that I have visited is Paris.

I've been there twice.

I lived in France for 3 1/2 months as a nanny in 1994 while in college.

I have visited 20 states.

I have been from east coast to west coast.

It's strange for me to think that there are many people who have not done that.

My favorite city in the US that I have visited is San Francisco.

My favorite family vacation was in Destin, Fl.

The house we live in was built in 1980.

Someone redecorated in about 1989.

Not much has changed since then.

Pink marble in the master bathroom is NEVER a good idea.

Cobalt blue is a beautiful color.

I love my new iPhone.

And my cute little green case for it.

I cloth diapered both of my kids.

I am not what you would consider a "granola" or "crunchy" mama.

I am a horrible house-keeper.

My bedroom is never clean.

It always seems to be over-run with laundry.

I am not a morning person.

My daily wake up time is 5:15 am.

I do this out of absolute necessity.

I should go to bed at 10 or 10:30 pm.

I rarely do.

I love to watch movies over and over again.

We like to drop movie quotes to see if the other catches it.

Yeah, it's a weird sort of ongoing game we play.

And usually we enjoy watcing The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

I love to study the Bible.

I attend Bible Study Fellowship during the school year.

I have completed Acts of the Apostles, Genesis, Romans, and Matthew.

I have also completed several Beth Moore studies, including:

Living Beyond Yourself, Jesus the One and Only, Beloved Disciple, Breaking Free, and A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place.

I have just finished No Other Gods with the Siestas on the LPM blog.

I am currently going through Believing God (Beth Moore) with my husband and mother in law.

I am taking a leadership course at church, and

I’m about to start The Life of Moses (BSF).

I am currently reading through the Psalms in my daily devotional.

The last year has been a huge growing time for me spiritually.

I am not much of a reader of just regular books, but

I recently read The Shack.

It really spoke to me about trusting God.

I’ve struggled with this since having 2 miscarriages 7 years ago.

*******

And my husband might kill me for doing this, but I've been dying to and this is the perfect opportunity for me to do a little blog giveaway. It's not much, but I'd love to send someone a Lifeway gift card for $10 and a couple of people this booklet that made a huge difference in my life. All just to say thanks for visiting my little corner of the blosophere.



So... you know the blog giveaway drill... you have to leave a comment. But this time, since I told you some things about me, try and leave me something about you that I may not know. I know pretty much all 6 of you that read my blogity-blog, but I think you can come up with some little something that I don't know about you.

I'll close the comments at mid-night on Friday and I'll post the winners on Saturday. I'm sure I will use a very high-tech method of winner choosing... like pulling numbers from a hat or other such method.

Thank you again blog-friends. You make this blogging journey a blast!

It's monumental, I tell you

Today, my friends, is an auspicious occasion.

It's not coincidence, in my opinion, that my 200th post would coincide with my blogiversary.

Yes, you read that right. It's my blogiversary and 200th post. (Actually with the timing of the blog-over, this is probably post # 201... but I'm the only one so detailed as to care.)

*cue Academy Awards type music*

I'd like to thank my man *snif* for not rolling his eyes at me too terribly much and for cleaning out my car just so I could show all my readers what a slob I am.

*snif*

I'd like to thank my children for such wonderful blog-able moments. You bless my heart with your stubbornness, sweetness, and general child-being. Such beautiful blog fodder you provide on a daily basis. (Yeah, I post a lot about my kids)

*about to ugly cry*

*but successfully holding it back like an Olympic athlete hearing the National Anthem*

I'd like to thank you, dear readers, *sniffle sniff* for, well, reading.

I'd like to thank the Academy... oh, wait...

:)

Seriously, I enjoy this blog and I hope you do, also. I really do want to thank you for reading like you do. But also for laughing, crying, and praying with me.


This year has marked a turning point in my life and the summer of 2007 initiated that turning point which led me to blogging. God has done some amazing things in my life personally and blogging has helped me write about and think through things.

And I've made a decision.

I have no desire to go back to the same ol' "gonna just act like a Christian" life that I had back then. I am not going to live life the way anyone just thinks I should. My life will not just be a premade life from a box.

I am all about being full-out, full-on, fully engaged in a relationship with Jesus Christ. I'm still growing in this. I still have ebs and flows, ups and downs... but I am NOT going back there. I am laying down my pride and independence and working to fully trust and believe God.

That, my friends, is a declaration. Please hold me accountable to it.

Monumental, indeed.

I can't quite put my finger on it

If you didn't notice, there are a few changes going on around here. My blog had a "Day At The Spa" with Real Life Designs. Many thanks to Sarah for being so patient with my control freak-ish ways.

And, from here on out you can find me at http://www.waymorehomemade.com/. Yep, I got me a custom domain.

How fun that the timing coincides with a very special occasion that I will be celebrating tomorrow.

I am in love with my new internet digs and will continue to clean up/spruce up over the coming weeks.

More kid cuteness

Oh here's another one. It was too cute to not show.

We've watched "The Sound of Music" a couple of times recently, and this is the product:

Oh man, I just watched it and I missed the best part. I cut it off right before he made a shooting sound toward his dad. Ahh, the randomness of boys.

Here's some recent cuteness...

OK, this first one requires a little bit of explanation.

We got a game in a kids' meal that was a Between the Lions game. You pick out cards and are supposed to make up a story using whatever is on the cards. Sarah was playing it with Nathan the other day. Then the next day, he came in and announced to me it was "Story Time."

And, during one of our last swims of the summer, Sarah jumped in and immediately started doing this...

Do you think he has any idea the influence he has had on young people in our country and around the world?

Foodie Friday - Veep-Stakes

Home Run. Grand Slam.

That's how I would describe Governor Sarah Palin's speech last night at the Republican National Convention.

I actually spent the better part of the last three evenings live-blogging during the speeches over at BlogHer (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). It was fun.

Yeah, I'm a nerd.

So to recap... she had incredible hair, a beautiful suit, and a lot of moxy.

Friends she brought it. That was some great TV.

Sorry, showing the nerdyness again.

Here's what I loved:

"You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick" (not an exact quote)
It was extremely endearing the way she engaged the other Hockey Moms from Michigan. When I looked at the transcript of her prepared remarks, this quote was not there. She was very comfortable addressing and acknowledging them off the cuff.

There was a theme in her speech, not so much about policy, but about showing differences between Senator McCain and Senator Obama.

"In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain,who use their careers to promote change."

"And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they are always, quote, "fighting for you," let us face the matter squarely. There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you..."

Some have called her remarks "snarky," "sarcastic," "off-putting." Yes, the may have been a little bit of those things. However, I think it was that tone that drew me in.

Some complained about the "Dem-bashing," but seriously, this was just a big pep rally. And what do we do at a pep rally? Talk a little trash about the opposing team. I didn't watch the DNC (should have, but didn't), and I expect they did their fair share of Republican bashing.

But, in the end, it was a heck of a speech. And Senator McCain showed some maturity and wisdom by listening to others and probably putting his own preferences aside by giving up who may have been his first choice to choose Governor Palin. There seem to be a lot of people that are awfully excited now about this campaign that have not been - myself included.

Therefore, in honor of our Republican VP Nominee, from the great state of Alaska, I'd like to share with you what we hear is one of Governor Sarah Palin's favorite dishes.

Moose Stew.

They say you can use venison in this recipe instead of moose. I think I'll do that since I actually do have some venison in my freezer. And, since there aren't any mooses (meese?) wandering around here in North Texas, most of us may just have to use beef. This actually looks very similar to the stew that I make with beef. I'll share that recipe with you sometime later.

But when I think of food from Alaska, more often than not, I think of salmon. And since moose isn't something we can just run down to Central Market to pick up, I thought this might be a little more practical for most of us. I'll share my favorite way to cook it.

I marinate the salmon fillet for a few minutes in a mixture of brown sugar, teryaki sauce, soy sauce, honey and crushed red pepper. Just before grilling I add some citrus (orange, lemon or lime juice). I grill salmon on a cedar plank (you know you need to soak it in water for quite a while first) over indirect heat (burners on one side, food on the other).

I like my salmon very much on the rare side. My man likes his salmon "minus the flopping" as he says it. So, just watch it very carefully, because even if you like it cooked more than it should be like my man does, it can get over-cooked and dry out very easily.

Another thing that is good is to take some smoked salmon and mix it with some cream cheese and eat it spread on a cracker. Oh, talk about delicious.

We have a parrot in the house

The other day, Mike went in to get Nathan up to go to daycare. I was taking Sarah to school that morning so we had already left. It was the first week of school and Nathan was having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to having to get out of bed and not being able to just linger and lie around in bed like he had become accustomed to doing during the summer.

So, Mike opened up his door and saw some movement, meaning that he was in fact awake and just lying in bed. He takes a couple of steps into his room, and the conversation goes something like this:

Nathan: Close the door. (in kind of a nasty tone)

Dad: A) Don’t speak to me that way; and B) It’s time to turn the light on and get up and get dressed.

Nathan: A) It’s not time to get dressed; and B) Turn off my light!

Dad exits stage left laughing the whole way. I mean, what else can you do at that point?

There have been several other things that we say on a regular basis that we've heard coming back our way. Such as:

Au contraire it is NOT time to get ready for dinner.

and

You're killin' me Sarah. You're killin' me.

I guess I need to go buy some parrot food.

The Politics of Motherhood

When I heard the news that was coming from John McCain's campaign early Friday morning that he had selected Sarah Palin as his running mate I couldn't have been more excited. My husband actually said a few months ago, "If McCain's smart, he'll pick Palin." He's a politics nerd, if you ask me. But I guess he should have headed to Vegas and put money on this one. Because he was right.

Yes, I just said that... out loud. My husband was RIGHT.

As soon as I heard, I read up a little on her to remind myself of who she was so that when I picked up the phone to call him I would sound a little knowledgable about her.

But, once on the phone with him, you know what my first question was? "Do you really think it's a good idea? I mean, a mom of 5 with a 4 month old.... as Vice President? Really?"

We figure they've got some kind of system worked out. Maybe he has taken over with the kids for the most part. Maybe they have a great live-in nanny. Maybe she just works from home a lot. Who knows.

But, apparently, I'm not the only one asking this question. I found myself a little comforted to read this article in the New York Times showing other women with the same thoughts.

Here are some things I've been thinking...

Can you imagine every mothering move you make being under the national political spotlight?

No thanks. Not me. I'm way too moody. I'd end up yelling, "WHAT?!?" to the President after a crying baby all night long and yelling over and over at the rest of the kids to PLEASE get their homework done.


I mean, it's already begun. People questioning her going back to work 3 days after giving birth. People are questioning her accepting this job knowingly putting her oldest daughter under media scrutiny.

Listen, I'm a working mother. I know how hard it is. I want to be the best at everything. There is something in me, in how God hardwired me, that drives me to seek employment outside of my home. But, on the flipside of that coin, I am driven to be the best wife and mom I can be. For me, that means a part-time job and my house is rarely, if ever, clean.

What does it mean for the Vice President of the United States of America?

I dont' know.

But one thing I've learned in my 7 1/2 years of mothering and 35 years of living... yes, 35... is that I can't judge what is right for someone else.

Let me put it this way: The answer that God has given me for my family is not necessarily the same answer for anyone else. There isn't just one way to do this mothering thing. While it might be right for me to work 30 hours a week, it might be right for my friend Cristel to recognize that she can't do that, and it might be right for my friend Keal and my sister to work for themselves so they can set their own hours...

See where I'm going with this?

I've recognized that I can't make a judgement call about what is right for Sarah Palin's family. I know what I think and what would be right for me and that would not include taking on such a job. However, I also think of Esther and how greatness was thrust upon her... she didn't ask for it, didn't seek it, it just happened because she was open to what God had called her to do.

I pray that Sarah Palin is right where God wants her. I pray for her family.

I believe that there is a reason that Mr. McCain and his campaign were drawn to her.

I believe that she is the woman for such a time as this.