Romantic Date Plus Easy Delicious Italian Meal

Romanticism was brought back from the Tang Dynasty last night. After talking to Karen, I realized it had been quite some time since Wes and I had a date night. So here was our night... nice candle lite picnic in the living room with Italian Music.
Here is what we ate and even the steps for you to prepare the same dish :-)
It was super easy and courtesy of the Food Network
What you need:


Peel and Chop Eggplant into cubes. Sprinkle with Salt and let set for 40 minutes


Chop Tomatoes and Onion




Saute Egg Plant in Olive Oil and with Garlic until it is brown on all sides. Add the diced tomatoes and onion. Allow to simmer until the onion is soft. Add a handful of basil, 1.75 teaspoon sugar, salt and pepper.


Serve Over Pasta.


Light a bunch of candles and lay out a blanket for picnic :-) Enjoy

Exploring

Sometimes it is fun in China to get on a bus (any number) and ride until you feel like getting off... Once off the bus... explore the area. We did this on Saturday and found many furniture stores, knick-knack shops and lots of street vendors.
I wanted to share the purchase of the day...

Rats or Chinese Squirrels

Either Way... GROSS!!!
They are really common to see and give me the webby geebies.


The name is kind of a joke. Wes says they are "Chinese squirrels" because he thinks it's funny... for me... you've gotta call it what it is... it's a rat!!

Pumpkin Bread

It is October!! This is arguably my favorite month of the year (or back home it was) There are so many things about October to love.
1. State Fair
2. Candy Corn
3. Pumpkins
4. Baking with Pumpkins
5. Cutting or decorating pumpkins
6. Leaves Changing Colors
7. Cooler weather
8. The smell
9. Football
10. Autumn Candles
The list could literally go on and on... but the post is about Pumpkin bread in China :-)
So Pumpkins look a little different here... there is certainly no carving Jack out of the Pumpkin.

BUT we do have pumpkin so ... happy baking.
I bought a slice of pumpkin and baked it for about 45 minutes (until soft) and then mashed it.

Here is the recipe I used (taken from allrecipes.com)

I made one loaf with raisins and one with chocolate chips (or in my case a Dove bar chopped into pieces)


It turned out delicious!! We will take it with us to believers fellowship this morning.

Potato Soup

More Cooking!!
I thought I would post some more of my cooking successes for your pleasure. I know many of my friends here in China (and Thailand) are also facing the troubles of cooking in a foreign country... so hopefully this will help give my "foreign friends" some ideas and hopefully it will interesting to those back home to see how I adapt and make delicious foods.

Potato Soup.
This is something I remember my mom cooking when I was growing up. It is easy and tasty. I recently e-mailed her for the recipe. It didn't fail me :-) Easy and delicious soup!! I paired a Ham, Cheese and Pepper sandwich with the soup.


Recipe (Mom-- I hope this wasn't a secret recipe)
4 Potatoes
Lots of Celery
1 Onion
Milk
1-2 Tablespoon Butter
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)

Chop the Potatoes-- into cubes, Celery and Onions

Boil in Water until Potatoes are soft.
Some of the water and add milk, butter, salt and pepper. Regain boil :-)
You can also add Ham, Bacon or Spinach... but I think the best things can be simple :-)

Exciting News... no we are not having a baby!!

This week, I went for a walk with our Father. Some of the time I was just quite and listening... other moments I was sharing my heart. I am homesick... at times I feel like I'm not having an impact and China isn't always the "easy life" BUT He is so faithful. He reminded my heart of my call. It was that simple... what is your call... remember it.
I came home from my walk encouraged. I went to class (all of whom are having respect issues... meaning they aren't respecting their teacher) Regardless of the lack of respect (at times) the lesson went good. I have office hours after my Tuesday classes. I left class and headed up the office. Generally, I am exhausted after teaching for 4 hours... this day was no exception. I went into the office with many students already eager to chat. One of my students and her friend sought me out... we sat on the couches and talked about everything from cooking to guns in America-- it is amazing how the conversation flows. After about an hour of talking, one of the girls said she wanted to buy The Book in English and asked me where she could purchase it. The other girl was excited to hear her friend say this and said she also wanted to buy one. I asked them if they knew much about The Book... both of them said "no" but they wanted to learn more. I was so excited to hear about the interest of their hearts. I offered to meet with them and teach them more. How exciting. After reflecting back on my day... I saw how faithful the Father is to encourage my heart and to fulfill His purpose-- to bring Himself glory. Praise HIM!!

Soups

I don't know about you but starting about this time of year ... all the way until the weather warms in the Spring... I like to cook soup. Chili, Chicken and Rice, Vegetable, Beef Stew, Brunswick stew... Love them all!!
I found a new recipe while browsing on The Food Network for "China friendly" recipes and thought I would give it a shot. Asian Chicken Soup. It turned out DELICIOUS!!!

Here is the recipe:
Ginger (about 2 inches)
4 cloves of garlic
Scallions
2 Chicken Breast
2 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce
Homemade Chicken Stock
Carrots
Snap Peas

Instructions: Boil Chicken in water and salt. Cook the chicken through. Take the chicken and shred but save the stock. Chop ginger and garlic SUPER fine!! Puree if you have the means (but if not... just chop chop chop until really small) In a separate pan (or in my case- transfer to a dish for holding until ready to combine) Saute the ginger, garlic and chopped scallions. Saute until soft. Add the chicken stock, shredded chicken and soy sauce. Bring to boil. Slice carrot and snap peas on diagonal. Add to the boiling soup. Cook for a few minutes or until soft. Serve with rice or saltine crackers.
Enjoy!! Happy Soup Season.

Feel free to send me any tasty recipes you have.

I GOT MAIL!!

One place I daily visit is the post office. Many days the workers look at me with disgust and say "mayo mayo" meaning I don't have anything for you. Since I know something is on the way, I just smile and say- see you tomorrow!! Today has been really exciting. Our post office opened after a 7 day holiday and to my delight... I had mail :-) It was so wonderful. I had a letter from my mom and 4 packages slips!! WOOHOO!! I think even the postal worker were excited (in their own way) The way packages pick up works at our school is they provide you with a slip saying - you have a package. Once you get your slips and your passports, you get a taxi and have him drive you across town to another post office, you take your package slips and passports to the lady (we call her the Visa Nazi because she will examine your visa for a long time... even though she just looked at it the last time you were in) After she has decided that it is valid she will disappear into a side room. You can hear her struggling to lift the packages then you hear the packages thrown to the floor then she will appear- kicking/sliding the package to the pick up area. My advice... never mail anything fragile.
Today -- we received Heaven in 4 different boxes. Everything ranging from Brownies, Muffins, Cookies and Cereal!! I can't wait to bake!! I had cereal for lunch :-) We also got a copy of my Dad's new book!! I was thrilled that it made it. I am so proud of him. It looks great and it has already comforted my heart. Thank you so much Mom, Dad, Karen and Kate for making my day, week and month. I love you all!!

Chicken Dinner Success!!

The bird turned out GREAT!! Super tender and tasty. Here is a picture of our completed meal.

Day out with Wes students

This week we are on National Holiday. We have divided our time between resting and going out with students. Yesterday we went out with some of Wes' students. We walked all over Hengyang learning the good places to eat, shop and hang out. It was a fun and tiring day :-)

On the menu tonight...

Chicken
On our recent trip to Changsha- I bought a crock-pot :-) HOORAY!!! I am excited about cooking soups in the winter. Please send all recipes :-)

I generally go to the store on Monday and buy meat and yogurt for the week... This week- I got a little crazy and bought a whole chicken. Yes a whole chicken includes the head and feet!! Here is a picture of my Chinese bird.

And here is a picture of my now Westernized bird. I chopped off the head and feet myself :-) I have it coated in Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper. Stay tuned for the finished product.

Accompanying the chicken... Rice, Seasoned vegetable and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!!

Pizza Dinner

My cooking adventures. My Ham, Pepper and Onion Pizza ... from scratch (including the homemade yeast dough.
It was fabulous.

Before cooking

After cooking just moments before devouring