Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

While Mom and Dad have been out West the past two weeks, I have fully enjoyed taking advantage of all my ’empty-house’ nights and days, through hosting and being hosted.

First up, was dinner with an amazing, brilliant single lady in my church named
Carolyn McCulley, who graciously hosted me at her home for a dinner of curry cashew squash soup, and a tortellini cabbage zucchini dish.  Carolyn is the author of the Christian books, “Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye?” and “Radical Womanhood,” which both purpose to provide biblical thinking in the topics of marriage, singleness, and feminine faith.  Carolyn and I got to talk about God, business, food, exercise, vacationing, books, work experiences, and a whole lot more.  It was really fun to be with someone who is witty and hospitable and caring and intellectually robust.  If you have any experience in graphic design, and would like to enter her logo contest that she is having for her new business that will launch over this year and next, go to the following link to enter:  http://logotournament.com/contests/citygate_films.

Later this week, on Thursday, I was hosted for dinner by the Maka family for an Italian meal of spaghetti and meatballs, and salad with homemade garlic herb croutons, plus oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookies for dessert.  Mr. Maka (Matt) is one of the Youth Ministry pastors who serves in our church, alongside his wife, Elsabeth and their four, blond, blue-eyed children.  Their eldest, Hannah, is a former piano student, and I have babysat for them a few times here and there.  Their littlest, Abigail (fondly referred to as Abu (“Aaaa-booo”), is five years old, and talks more than any other child I have ever met.  The funniest thing about it is that she is such a conversationalist, always asking questions and making insightful comments on this or that.  After dinner, we all played “Apples to Apples” on the family-room floor and the girls showed me some of their knitting projects.  I don’t babysit much these days, or have a lot of interaction with young families, so it was neat to remember the ‘good ole days’ with my own brothers and sister, when we used to blow away the evenings playing Risk, or Scrabble, or Monopoly.  

On Friday night, I hosted one of my best friends, Lauren Lotinsky, over for a movie-night: “Fireproof.”  It was really cute! (Ok, a bit hokey, but still a redeeming story line).  It was about a firefighter and his wife whose marriage is on the rocks, and how God saves their marriage and renews their love for each other.  I really liked one of the analogies in the film, in reference to the idea of marriage and having a lasting, committed relationship: Having a “fireproof marriage” doesn’t mean that fires won’t ever come; they will.  Rather, it is made “fireproof” when two people fight the fire together, hand in hand.  If the Lord’s love  is the source of their strength and courage and hope (and not selfish demands of respect and honor and affection), then lasting love will be fireproof.  On a funny note, Lauren and I talked till 11, and we inevitably got hungry, so we grabbed the two bananas that were left in our fruit bowl.  after one bite, i went, “ughhh!”  Serves me for right for buying cheap bananas at H-Mart (see previous post).  I do not recommend bananas from there–they taste like mealy sand.

Then, yesterday, I was in the “It’s Saturday, let’s make Pancakes” mode, so I invited Jenni Smith, Carson, and baby Jade over around 10.  Jenni has become a very dear friend and counselor and role-model for me, and we always enjoy sitting down, drinking our coffee, and catching up on each other’s lives.  I made Carson his special “C” pancake, which kept him occupied for about 5 minutes, and then he was off to the basement, requesting to play with our old Playmobile Cowboys and Indians!  Baby Jade cuddled in my arms for a little while, and Jenni and I thoroughly enjoyed our pancakes, too.

Though I haven’t hosted anyone for dinner, I have enjoyed trying new recipes on my own taste buds.  As many of you know, I have a strange, but fond affection, for trying to be as frugal as possible by using up whatever is in the house to cook with.  I usually end up with some pretty eccentric combinations, but sometimes, I get a few that taste really really good.  Here are two of my favorites:

Spinach salad with fresh goat cheese and slices of asian pear drizzled with sweet, aged balsamic vinegar.

The crispy, juicy pear combined with the tart balsamic and creaminess of the goat cheese is to die for.

Shredded Celery Root and pink Radish coleslaw with pine nuts and raisins and shredded carrots.

(Dressing: a big plump of plain, greek yogurt, some splashes of freshly squeezed lemon juice, a spoonful of dijon mustard, a bit of agave nectar to sweeten it, and a drizzle of olive oil.)

The crunch of the celery root, radish, and carrots balanced with the sweet chewiness of the raisins, and the earthy flavor of the pine nuts is actually quite nice…

Leftovers.  I took the last cup or two of the Trader Joe’s Corn and Lemongrass Soup that was in our fridge, and combined it with 2-3 cups of cooked Broccoli and put it through the blender with a little bit of chicken broth.  Voila!  I had enough Broccoli Lemongrass Soup for two lunches.  

It sounds really really strange, but believe me when I tell you that it actually tastes really refreshing COLD or HOT.  This is a healthy spin to broccoli cheddar soup, too.  With some fresh, homemade croutons on top, it makes for the perfect, light, springy lunch.

And, there are my food stories for the week.