Joy of Cooking

Ever since I could hold a whisk, I have been cooking and baking with my father in the kitchen. Under his tutelage, I learned the basics of cooking and the joy in sharing delicious food with family and friends. Being the science nerds that we were, we also discussed the chemistry involved with cooking. Have you every wondered what exactly baking powder does? http://www.joyofbaking.com/bakingsoda.html. Pretty cool, huh?

For the past 2 weeks, I have been cooking and baking like I have a family of 7 to feed (or a small scale B&B). I don't know whether I have been cooking out of sheer boredom or win over my roommates and coworkers, but after mushroom and pea risotto, breaded eggplant, 3 pies, 2 quiches, one crisp, one loaf of bread, and several apple pancakes later, I still want to cook more! Cooking is such a fulfilling hobby!
After reading a little bit of Julie & Julia and hearing about the story from others, I am considering a culinary adventure of my own. For those who have not heard of this recent novel-turned-movie, a young woman decides to cook everything in a Julia Child cookbook....everything. The cookbook I choose will most likely have "Budget" in the title though! I am living on a volunteer stipend after all. Although, I would rather cook based on references from family and friends instead. I've always preferred personal experience to cookbooks anyhow!

So to all you cooks out there, if you have any dishes/recipes of which you are especially proud, I would love to share in your joy of cooking!

Refugee Apostolate

This week, I volunteered with a hole-in-wall discount clothing/furniture/kitchen accessories store run by a non-profit organization known as Refugee Apostolate. The couple running this chaotic but functioning store has been helping (and often housing) international refugees since 1979. From the early 1980s to 1999, they worked with Catholic Charities and the International Rescue Committee to host several families, one by one, in their house and helped the refugees find a new home in America. During one of my lunch breaks, I had the opportunity to talk with Cathy, one of the store owners. "At one point," she explained, "we hosted a Vietnamese family of 14 in our house. It was crowded, but fun." Cathy and her husband, Walter, had a 6 bedroom house at the time, but she said that bath time was often challenging with only one shower! And I feel rushed with one shower between 3 people!

Not only did Cathy and Walter host refugee families during these years, but they also raised 5 children simultaneously! Could you imagine growing up with constant exposures to international cultures? How awesome... I imagine we would all be more understanding of other cultures if we were raised around people with different values and beliefs from the very beginning of our lives.

Lord, thank you for the gift of diverse cultures. Help me to always respect and appreciate diversity and hunger to learn more about the people of the world. After all, in learning more about each other, we begin to understand more about ourselves. Amen.

http://www.theirc.org/

Volume 1 - My Epic Road Trip

Wow - I can hardly believe it has been a month since my last post! So much has happened in August that this is going to take a few posts...

Day 1
My mom and I left Texas Aug. 5th around 9am and spent most of the day driving to Memphis, TN. The waterfront park along the Mississippi provided a commanding view of the river and a glimpse into the rich history associated with the area. I resonated with Mark Twain's words, "Along the Mississippi, every hour brings something new....there are crowds of odd islands, woods and villages--everything one could desire to amuse the children." What vitality a river brings! The view of downtown was beautiful as well...oh and that pyramid in the photo is an indoor sports area. Mark Twain would get a kick out of that!

We also visited the famous Beale Street - hundreds of sweet motorcycles lined the street, which were only visible by the plethora of 1950's neon signs. Music filled the air with bands playing everything from blues to jazz to rock. Beer and jello shots were sold like hot dogs from store front windows. It was quite an experience!

Day 2

Drove to Gatlinburg, TN and camped in the Great Smoky Mountains! We reserved a tent site in the Elkmont campground and found a site within a few feet of a babbling stream - it was incredible to say the least. The night was made even more interesting as my garage-sale-tent did not come with a rain fly...and clouds were on the horizon. Luckily, we didn't wake up to pouring rain. The woods were breathtaking though. I recommend everyone go camping in the Great Smokies at least once in their lifetime. You won't regret it!

Driving to our campsite was another story though- we had to drive through two heavily commercialized towns that made me cringe. Imagine a street lined with with overlapping theme parks complete with mini-golf courses, water parks, carnival rides, and dinner shows like the Black Bear Jamboree . I assumed that the Great Smoky Mountains were awe-inspiring and entertaining enough...sorry ancient mountains rich with life and history, mini-golf and water parks create more revenue. But to me, I would pay for these views over any theme park.

Day 3 -4

Drove to Nellysford, VA which is close to Charlottesville (home of Monitcello and University of Virginia). We accidentally drove into North Carolina, but the drive was absolutely gorgeous! Well worth the 30 minutes of back-tracking. My mom and I stayed in a small town B&B (a way of rewarding my mom for smiling through the camping experience - she is not a camper). The town was filled with fruit orchards and wineries along with an amazing little known French bistro/Wine and Cheese shop called Basic Necessities. They work with a local farm to use the freshest produce for their dishes. The atmosphere of the petit bistro was delightfully serene, full of people sipping wine sharing stories and laughing about the day. A guitar player set up close to us after we sat down, which made me nervous because the music could either ruin or preserve the lovely ambiance established. When he played a James Taylor song, I automatically trusted his taste in music, which proved to be quite good. The food was beyond amazing! The most memorable dish for me was the goat cheese appetizer. There are not enough words in the English language to describe how much I love herbed goat cheese atop crispy French bread.

The Blue Ridge Mountains are right next to Nellysford and offered a beautiful view everyday. But just down the road from our B&B was an even more idyllic scene - a red barn and stable with horses idly standing around djacent a placid pond. When I was little, I remember staring at this picture nearly every day during December vacation when my father and I would work on puzzles. I would work on putting the obvious colorful pieces of the puzzle together, like the barn and stable, while my father preferred the more elusive edge and corner pieces. We were quite the puzzle-duo and solved several puzzles that looked like this gorgeous Nellysford area.

Day 5-6 To be continued...

New Beginnings

Yes, to all you avid bloggers out there - I finally have a blog of my very own!

If there is anything worth blogging about, I figure it will be my experience working for the Associate Missionaries of the Assumption in Worcester, MA for the next 9 months.
My Uncle Gary gave me a piece of advice after graduating from college, "Live every day to the fullest or before you know it your time in MA will have vanished and you will have nothing to show for it." By creating this blog, I hope to record memories and discoveries over the next year, so that I will remember the friendships and lessons learned.
Amidst all the noise in America, it can be easy to forget the small milestones in your life. People can become so consumed by the latest trends, newest gadgets, and personal dramas that they forget those little moments of enlightenment and wonder. I hope that this blog of little moments will serve as a constant reminder of the life lessons learned during my stay in MA.

In the meantime...
I cannot believe I just ran 5.3 miles today! Thanks be to God for giving me strength. To explain how monumental this is for me, I was hoping to run just 4 miles for the first time. My somewhat daily routine is 3 -3.5miles, but I made it a goal to push for 4mi this time. Well, after my 4th mile, I was feeling good so I kept running... I felt like Forest Gump. "I just felt like runnin'." So I did - in fact, I ran all the way back to my house and decided to keep going. When I finally decided to stop, my GPS watch (borrowed from Lucas - thank you!) posted 51minutes and 5.3 miles. I stared at those numbers for the longest time in shock. The weather was perfect though- 76, cloudy, breezy, and drizzling. As the rain poured over me, I asked God to renew me with his grace and unfailing love. That renewal must have given me the confidence and strength to continue - 5 miles would have been impossible without Him. Not to mention that there is something incredible about running in the rain! I definitely encourage it (but just during a drizzle folks, not in a hurricane for Peat's sake).

Wow- who knew I could write so much in my first blog? Stay tuned for more as I take the GRE and begin my Epic Road Trip through AR, TN, VA, PA, and CT! MA or bust!