Food

Food is a passion of mine, what can I say, I come from a family where we planned our days around our meals. When dinner is ready, I am ready, none of this waiting around finishing other tasks, they will be there when you finish. When I moved out for college, I started to cook on my own more. Previously I would help my mom, she would instruct me. Mostly my jobs involved cutting and stirring. But once on my own I had to do it myself. And once I married Tom I cooked even more. I have discovered cooking for one is hard and not very fun. I like having someone to enjoy the food with.

I'm grateful to have a husband who likes many different foods. I sometimes get a look when I tell him what something is but he is always willing to try and sometimes comes out of it enjoying something he never thought he would. Like today...

My parents help support our ministry by giving us groceries from time to time. Yesterday when my mom came to watch Micah so Tom and I could have a much needed date night (well date afternoon), she brought groceries. It's a bit like Christmas morning, I'm not sure what she will bring. She will ask me what I need and so she does bring that but often she will pick up other things, fruit that's in season or items that she is also getting for herself. Yesterday it was radishes.

Now as a kid I enjoyed radishes raw dipped in ranch or some other sauce. I was a weird kid, I liked green onions the same way. Today I decided to slice some up and throw them in my salad but that still left me with a ton. What do you do with radishes? When I have extra ingredients or just looking for something good to make I tend to go to one of my favorite websites tastespotting.com or, if that proves unsuccessful foodgawker.com

A friend of ours told me about it, he told us he wanted to make us dinner and he made us salmon ravioli's. I'm not a huge fan of salmon but I loved that he used wonton wrappers for the raviolis. He told me it wasn't his idea but he had seen it on tastespotting. Ever since I have drooled as I looked at the different recipes, people sure are talented!

Anyways back to today, I searched radishes and found that in France they eat sliced radishes on bread. I found many variations including making herbed butter and a salad with pan seared radishes. I combined the two and was presently surprised. Tom gave me one of those looks when I offered him a bite and told him that it was radishes but he did enjoy it. I doubt I will go out of my way to get radishes but if I get some thats definitely something to do. Next time I think I will do the salad with pan seared radishes and avocado. That looked pretty yummy.

While I was on tastespotting I also did some searching for sweets. It's almost Christmas again, I want to show my loved ones that I care but often the gifts I want to get them are just out of our price range. When I make something homemade I feel like I am doing more, taking more time then just going out and buying some gift. I'm one of those people that have to find the perfect gift. And become frustrated if I can't. Last year I started early and knitting a lot of gifts but this year with Micah I have not had much time. And really how many scarfs do people need? I am currently only knitting one large gift for Christmas, if I finish it early I might make some other small gifts for other people but we will see.

Right now for Christmas sweets I am thinking candied orange peels (some friends brought over oranges from their parents trees yesterday yum!), hot fudge, peppermint bark and perhaps caramel bark. We will see what I end up getting to.

Friday Tom leaves for a whole week which has me both sad since I will miss him and fairly anxious. The longest it has been just me and Micah was only a two night trip. Tom is much better at putting him down to sleep so this will be interesting. When Tom gets back, he will have one day to rest then we will go to his parents for almost a week. Hoping I can hang in there until Christmas! Still need to finish Christmas shopping. It's surprising how much longer everything takes with a little one!

Baby News:
Micah is still growing like crazy, he is so big! He smiles all the time and loves when we sing to him, he enjoys looking in your eyes and "talking". He has discovered his feet a few times, but not so much his hands. I think whenever he remembers his hands he wants to just shove them in his mouth. He is able to get his thumb in his mouth but he is better at getting his pointer finger in. Nights are getting a little easier but I still look forward to the day that I can enjoy a full nights sleep. His current favorite songs are Joy to the World and You are My Sunshine. I'm falling more in love with him every day :)

Cal Poly News:
This week is finials, I can't believe it's already the end of the quarter! We had the Christmas party last week and Micah went to it. It was his first student event. We had an ugly sweater contest, cookie decorating and white elephant. It was a blast! I'm looking forward to next quarter, Micah are getting into a grove and we plan to jump into more activities in January. Excited to get back with the group. There has been a ton of new students which is awesome but I haven't meet most of them. It will be nice to be back out there some.

Prayers:
-Tom and two of our staff girls are traveling to Colorado Springs for a training summit. Prayer for their safe travels and for Micah and I being home without dad.
-Pray for the students during their finials week and as they return home for the holidays
-Pray that we all remember what Christmas is about and that this Christmas we get to enjoy quality time with God and get to know Him more intimately

Cleaning house

Between baby stuff and now Christmas decorations my house seems so cluttered. Today I started to go through everything again to find stuff to get rid of. I'm starting with my clothes. I'm such a pack rat, I found a pair of pants that i have had since Junior High. Here is the arguments that occurred in my head:

A: these have got to go
B: I can't get rid of them!
A: yea but they are SO ugly!
but they are so comfy!
A: You own comfy pants that are also cute, why do you need ugly, old pants
B: ... I dunno, but they are SO comfy!
A: when is the last time you wore them?
B: ...fine

I have my two personalities duling it out. The one personality likes stuff clean, the idea of keeping stuff that has no purpose is dumb. But my other side is the pack rat, what if I might need it again? Why buy something new when I could just keep this and use it? It's a constant battle. Now that Micah is here my pack rat side is losing out. Just to much clutter. Finding time to pick up is hard, easier if there is less to pick up! Now just hoping I find the time to clean out my house before the pack rat finds a way back in!