Guam

It's Friday morning here and we are getting ready to head over to Vacation Bible School.  It's the last day so we will be doing our normal morning routines with the kids but then tonight there will also be a program for the kids to invite their parents to.  They have been working on dances to songs this week and they will put all they've learned together in a short program.  

I got my bag yesterday!  Nate's is nowhere to be found still and they don't know where it is, so we will put together an itemized list of contents, when it was bought, and how much it was purchased for. That will take a bit of thought and time.  

For those who didn't hear the whole story, after we checked our bags at the airport when we left on Friday early evening, we didn't see them again for a long, long time.  We were supposed to pick them up on Friday night when we landed in New Jersey to stay overnight before checking them again on Saturday morning when we left to fly the rest of the way to Japan and then to Guam, arriving Sunday evening.

Through our daily call to the airport we found that somehow our bags (or at least mine) was tagged incorrectly from the start and if they ever did get to New Jersey they were then sent on to Dubai... then London... then somewhere along the way someone realized there was some type of mistake and sent it back to New Jersey...and then Japan....then, miraculously, did finally end up on Guam where it should have been all along!  So while I might not have traveled around the world yet, my bag has.  And Nate's bag has perhaps decided it likes the view somewhere else and has made a permanent home elsewhere because there is no sign of it. 

Onto more fun topics...    

We did a long hike on Tuesday and planned on doing one yesterday as well but it rained most of the day so we called that one off.  Next week we are planning on going kayaking, perhaps another hike, beach/snorkeling and a place called Chamorro Village that is every Wednesday and you can see local food and dance there.  I think Nate will be able to go out for a dive with a friend sometime next week as well.  So I'm sure he will be excited to get that in.  

Everyone is incredibly friendly, warm, and welcoming.  We have been showered with hugs and gifts.  Many of the church has been "off island" so I am meeting people at a nice easy pace.  A few new faces ever day which is helpful in remembering names! 

Nate will be preaching this Sunday so we've bought him some nicer clothes for him to be able to preach in.  It's been a busy week with most times that would have been "down time" turned into "run-to-the-mall-and-shop time" ;)  So while it's nice to get some new things, it's not as fun when you are under pressure!  So today after meeting some folks for lunch we will try to find some dress shoes for Nate before coming back for the evening programming.

The time is going quickly and it's hard to believe it's Friday already.  

It's time to go sing songs with the kids.

I will try to update again soon!

Chopped.

I don't know if you have ever seen the show on the Food Network channel, "Chopped".

I found myself engrossed in another episode the other day.  Because, let's face it, what on earth can you do with mystery basket ingredients of mustard, strawberries, and beets in 30 minutes?  I mean, really?  It would take me that long to look through my cookbooks and google it, to find a satisfactory recipe to try, and that wouldn't include any cooking or baking yet!

But those chefs are on it.  And they almost always come up with something presentable and tasty.  Some chefs come up with better dishes than others, but the fact they hit the ground running with their mystery basket ingredients is always fascinating to me.

Partly because I spent the last week pulling myself...or I suppose I should say cooking myself,  out of a vegetable mountain that had developed in our refrigerator.  We are still doing our veggie share every week which has been great but it sure does stretch the imagination!  My mystery basket ingredients are full of vegetables every time.  Some I've heard of, some I haven't.  But almost all are vegetables I don't normally cook with.

And I am definitely not at a skill level to just start whipping things up in the kitchen.  So my cookbooks have been the books I've been reading the most.  And when you get on my computer, just about every tab in my browser has some recipe pulled up that I've been reading through.

This last week we went to work and started using up those mystery veggies.

We ate several different cabbage dishes.
An onion and squash casserole.
I made fried zucchini for the first time (thanks to the suggestion of my sister-in-law).
Another variation of a swiss chard saute.
But Nate found the winning recipe from the last few weeks for a bok choy salad that knocked my socks off.

So I will pass this along for anyone who is interested:

Ingredients

• 2 (3-ounce) packages ramen noodle soup mix
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 3 tablespoons slivered almonds, chopped
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 bok choy, shredded
• 6 green onions, chopped

• Preparation

  • Remove flavor packets from soup mix; reserve for another use. Crumble noodles.
  • Combine noodles, sunflower seeds, and almonds. Spread on a 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan.
  • Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown; set aside.
  • Bring sugar and next 3 ingredients to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat; cool.
  • Place bok choy and green onions in a large bowl. Drizzle with sugar mixture. Add ramen noodle mixture, tossing well. Serve immediately.

And now we have finally eaten our way through the veggies.  Hooray!  You can be impressed.  I know I was.

But we have now begun a new game.  The I-don't-want-to-buy-food-before-vacation-because-it-will-just-spoil-in-the-frig Game.  So now we are making meals from what we already have in the fridge and cabinets.  I secretly really enjoy this one.  I used to play this even when I wasn't going on vacation when I was single, because I hated going to the store.  And I still do.  Which is why I still like this game.

So another thing I tried recently was making baking mix, instead of buying it.  Not that baking mix really spoils, but it's just a pricey thing to buy at the store.  So I made this up a few weeks ago and then we had pancakes one night this week and used our substitute baking mix instead of Bisquick and I thought the result was quite tasty!

Of course now that I try to find the recipe again, I can't.  But it was super easy and this one is really close to what I ended up doing.  The recipe I did use called for 1 cup of shortening instead of the butter but otherwise exactly the same.  And if you want to do something more complex there are tons of homemade baking mix recipes with more ingredients too.  But I was looking for fast and easy.

Homemade Bisquick Mix

• 6 c. all-purpose flour, sifted
• 3 T. baking powder
• 1 T. salt
• 1/2 c. cold butter
• Measure the sifted flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Use a wire whisk to blend thoroughly.
• Cut in cold butter using a pastry cutter until thoroughly incorporated.

Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 months.

I hope my adventures in the kitchen have resulted in something you might enjoy too!