The Year of 2011 Full of Thanks

               It’s been a year full of thanks, because God’s grace has provided for us.  We still manage to have a nice home, food on our table and the opportunity to pursue our dreams. This year has brought about maturity to our marriage and our parenting skills.

Dan continues to work happily for Verizon Wireless, and he works tirelessly to provide for our family needs and wants. He has taken up the hobby of growing his own coral reef fish tank. He has also taken a leadership role at Cornerstone Church to lead the m Second Saturday men’s ministry.

Alayna and Naomi are growing up faster than I can even begin to realize it.  The years are flying by. It makes us want the days to go by slower so that time seems to be still. The girls are amazing and they each have their own talents and special interest.

 Alayna continues to achieve at the top of her class, at James Ward. She loves playing piano and plans to continue with honing in that skill. She still loves to draw and desires to be an artist.

 Naomi is making leaps and bounds in kindergarten at Mark Sherdian. She  also enjoys her dance classes at Hubbard Street Dance Studios, and plans to learn ballet in the future. She loves making friends at school and continues to play the bossy big sister role, even though we know she is the younger sister.

Bogart is doing really well. He just has to lose some weight and we need to make sure he is going to be a healthier dog so he can live a long life.

We are sad to report that Molly Yeo passed away suddenly on December 24th 2011, around the late evening time at home in her cage. We pray that she died peacefully, and we were so happy to have her in our lives. She was only a year and half old. We have no idea what was wrong with her, there are so many unanswered questions, but we leave it at God’s feet.

 And now I leave you with a reflection piece of what I felt God has inspired me to share with you this year.

Thank you Lord for trials and miracles in our lives.

There have been many worship songs that have guided me through life. The song that best sums up this year would be “Thank You Lord For The Trials That Come My Way.”

I thank you Lord, for my failures, the heartbreak, and disappointments because those trials brought about a new change in me. It made me learn to care about what matters more than my own selfish gains and needs. Because what I need is never as important as what You know I need from You.

I thank you Lord, for giving me a husband that stands by me, when I can be the hardest person to love and to live with. For a husband that is my best friend and goes through the trials with me. For a husband that makes me feel like the richest woman in the world.

I thank you Lord, for daughters who show me every day that I need to grow more patience. For daughters who are well behaved, and are learning to love you Lord. I thank you for the gifts you’ve given them. For allowing Dan and I to witness them grow into young ladies. It has been an honor Lord.

I thank you Lord, for my dad who has bailed me out of almost every tough situation I got myself into this year. From leaving my keys in the Jeep at the school parking lot, to allow me to win a few Scrabble games here and there.

I thank you Lord, for my mom who loves and cares for me and even though I see less of her now. It makes me miss her more and that I realize how much I need her in my life.

I thank you Lord, for my brother Scott and allowing him to find work. Thank you for keeping him safe. Let him know I pray for him and he is in my thoughts.  And that him being in my life has taught me to love in a way I never thought possible.

I thank you Lord, for our church family at Cornerstone. We are small but we are growing in many ways. Cornerstone has been a blessing to our family because we have our church family that prays for us and supports us.

I thank you Lord, for the trials in my education.  For every mountain that I face in the classroom, You calm my spirit and give me a song to sing.

I thank you Lord, for showing me that I have great friends. Friends whom I can count on for their shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen to my thoughts.

I thank you Lord, for my brother-in-law, Alex, for extra hands to help me around the house. For also bringing him to knowing You more. For giving him a church family, and best of all, a life walking along side You.

As much as our human nature tells us we can’t handle any more trials, we know You show us in those trials that You are there. You are pouring out Your love for us, whether we see it or not. You give us hope that is real, a purpose that fills our emptiness, and a life worth living for.

To all who are  facing  your trials in sickness, joblessness, injustice, and emptiness, let the Spirit of God take control of everything you do.

Thank you Lord for a Christmas, even in this age of materialism, we remember it’s all about the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:17

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Tonight was no exception, I goofed up making jajangmyeon, Korean bean paste noodles. I didn’t have all the right ingredients and I didn’t follow the exact recipe that I watched on youtube. Will I ever try this dish again perhaps, but not in the near future. Perhaps I shall try eating the dish a few more times before I attempt to try and make it again.

So to make up for the blunders I made some puff pastries with some apple filling in it. It smells very buttery in the house tonight.

It is coming to a close to the fall quarter at Kendall College and there is much to be done. With written final to take, and a big practical to conquer I feel good about it. I didn’t study like a mad woman, but I did study and I have practiced making French omletes and mayonnaise. I can only pray and ask God for a calm spirit as  I get through this week with feeling better than just okay.

Last night in class, I had my first raw oyster and I thought it was amazing. I never knew what the ocean tasted like until last night.  If you haven’t tried this yet, you definately should, trust me. It’s something you don’t want to miss out if you get that opportunity.

Ingredients:

Unsalted Compound Butter (4 meduim size slabs of it) set it aside

Texas Toast bread

 2 slices of Cheese, American Cheese is traditional, but you can use other soft cheeses as well.

Tools:

Fire up the non-stick pan, or griddle, which I mean put it on a low to meduim high eat and let it get evenly heated before you start making your grill cheese.

WAIT But how do you make Compound Butter?

Compound Butter! Don’t use maragine.

Take your unsalted butter, all four sticks or the entire brick of butter and leave it out so it may get to room tempature. At room temparture you would mix in, some minced garlic, like 1/4 cup or more if you like more, and I do so I probably do more than 1/4 cups worh of garlic. I also put in some minced parsley and some parmesan cheese. If you use cheese hard cheeses, I would advise using the butter with in the week or two, because it can spoil. But you can leave cheese out.

Okay now that you have compound butter, get yourself some nice text toast bread. You can find it your in local grocery store on the bread isle very easy  to do.

Next thing you do is …

Get two slices of bread, then two slice of cheese. Take the two slices of bread and put the cheese in the middle, I like to make a star shape cheese, where one cheese over laps the other in a star shape to get the evenly melted cheese and most in the middle. That is just me but you can just double layer it too.

Put some butter onto the heated pan, and let it melt for a few seconds, I mean with in like 1, 2 3 seconds and lay the grill cheese onto the buttery hot pan. with a spatula you can press down on the sandwich so the cheese and ahere to the bread faster. I do it so that when I get ready to turn it over it will be easier. It only takes a few minutes to get the one side brown and toasted then the other side needs butter too. So you can spread some compound butter on the top bread that is not toasted yet and when you flip it over it’s ready to sizzle.

If you like to add some more texture and flavor to the grill cheese, you can add some slice tomatoes between the cheese slices it gives more color and if you like tomatoes it’s a good addition to the already wonderful grill cheese sandwich.

A Good Potluck meals to bring to the Church potlucks would be something roasted with potatoes. Why? Do you ask because it has your meat and it has your starch all on one tray. In addition to the fact it doesn’t break the bank, when feeding 2- -4 serving per guest.

Marinade the Chickek Drum Sticks in

1) Olive oil

2) Salt and White Pepper

3) throw some fresh Herbs you have on hand I used Rosemary and Thyme

4) let is marinade for about a hour in the refrigerator

Pre Heat oven to 450 – 500 Degrees

Place Chicken Drum sticks on a sheet pan, then toss them in the oven for about 15 minutes to get some roasting color. Then after you roast for 15 minutes at 500 degrees bring back down to 350 Degrees and then get your potatoes ready to join them.

Potatoes!

If you get the red potatoes or the light yukon potatoes I don’t take off the skin I leave it on.

I take the potatoes and cut then up  into all the same size or roughly the same size toss some

1) Olive oil

2) Salt and Black Pepper

3) also add some fresh herbs like Rosemary and Thyme

4) Throw them on top of the Chicken Drum sticks half way through the cooking process at 350 degrees for about 30 – 40  minutes.

Now you have potluck dinner!

Let’s begin with our trip to …

Check out their Website for their location and Menu : http://www.90milescubancafe.com/

90 Miles Cuban

We dine here early summer right before  summer break officially began, I remember we had gone there during graduation season. A lot of families were at the restuarant celebrating several graduations, and we ate in the outdoor area of their place, so the weather was fanastic.

The atmosphere was lively and the decoration matched their theme ” 90 miles Cuban,” and the service was pretty good. The menu was easy to read and the food seemed easy to order as well. I ordered the ” Bistec Sandwich wich came with fried yuca, it’s like a starchy potato, but has a tough texture to  it. What attracted me to order the bistec sandwhich was the, ” Chimichurri Sauce,” on the steak and I love chimichurrie sauce on steak period. The sandwhich was very tasty on the bread that they used and I liked it, I didn’t care for the yuca . My girls had their grill cheese sandwhich which was two pieces of bread slapped together with some cheese and fried yuca on the side, I didn’t think it was all that great and the kid’s didn’re areally eat it, it was money down the drain. Overall I give the place a three Star rating for food and fun.

Next up we tried the very popular “Smoque”

Check out their Website : http://www.smoquebbq.com/

It was so good the first time we went, I had to go back there one more time and it was great. The first time I tried their ribs, and pull pork sandwhich it was Fab! I like how it is a causal sit down place, and you can go ahead and get messy with your ribs and bbq brisket sandwhich and just enjoy a meal. The ribs are smoked to perfection and the sauce is tangy and smokey and sweet. It’s a good place for BBQ, if you haven’t tried it you should, and their peach cobbler is very good too.

Kuma’s Corner : http://www.kumascorner.com/

We hit Kuma’s Corner twice this summer, and it was great. I like their mac’ and cheese, and the Kumo’s traditional burger. Their service is okay, I noticed the second time we went there, we waited an hour and half, and saw other people seated before our table who were clearly after us. Their product is really good, a giant beefy burger on a pretzel bun and fries to go with it, the cost is the price of a gourmet burger about $10 or more. I like Kuma’s corner, but I don’t love it.

Franks N Dawgs : http://www.franksndawgs.com/

Is a place that reminds me of ” Hot Dougs” but more classy look. They accept credit card, their hot dog menu is more upscale, and yous still have to shovel out at least $20 to buy yourself a meal there lunch or dinner. I didn’t care for my hot dog I head some turkey hot dog, and I thought it was decent. We didn’t have to wait in line for a special hot dog so that was a plus, and we got to sit down and enjoy your meal, I really enjoyed the Triple Truffle French Fries. I would go back again to try another gourmet hot dog that might suit my taste buds. The owner seems like a nice guy and everybody is friendly there and it’s accross the street from ” Trade Joes” and a ” Crate and Barrel,” so I can always work off my full stomach by shopping.

   The summer quarter has ended, I pass all of my classes that is what matters.  I got to know my new classmates, and Chef DeWan, who is a Chef with many talents and skills. The man is not only a culinary food instructor, but a writer for the Chicago Tribune, for Plate, and he is a musician too. He was a great teacher and we hope to see him around school next quarter. I was able to eat some very amazing food this summer, we got to eat at least two meals a day. I would have dinner in the cafe and eat at night in the classroom or with the catering class. So food was abudant and very enjoyable for the most part.

My favorite lessons this summer were on learning how to cut, although I am still in the process of getting it down perfectly, it is a great skill to have. I didn’t like having to de-glove a chicken, because it is a lot tedious of work and I just tore that chicken up, and it looked like a mess. I learned how to make all kinds of stocks for soups and sauces, and I hope to carry on these lessons into the future classes. Here is to a fast summer quarter and looking into the Fall quarter with excitement.

We had a short trip to L.A. California, and as soon as we got off the airplane, and got into our rental car, we headed to Santa Monica Beach, and visited friends and ate a lot of good food. We had gone there to attend good friends wedding, since it was my very first time in L.A. my husband just made sure we ate the best foods, and talk about whether or not we liked it better in L.A. or at Home.

Mr Ramen Hands down this was the better ramen noodle experience I have had since we were in Hawaii. We haven't been to Hawaii in over 7 years. Chicago has not arrived to this level of broth, noodles and salty pork. I found Mr Ramen to have a friendly service, good food and priced fairly. The restaurant was located by the hotel we were staying at in " Little Tokyo." There was not wait I really can't complain and the food came out fast and it was good. Salmon RollWe had sushi in this at ZenCu sushi and Grill to-go because were only trying to get our parking Validated. I ordered a simple salmon roll nothing special. I didn't eat it until later that night because we had to save our stomach for the reception dinner so I chowed down on it when it wasn't fresh, but really cold from being in the refrigerator. It was okay. Chicago has good sushi too. Howeer, sushi in L.A. is a lot cheaper.In and Out

The Sushi presentation was wonderful, the maki rolls as well as their Nigiri tasted not spoiled, I am not certain how fresh sushi is on a Sunday, but I didn’t get sick so that is a good indication their fish isn’t stored  prepared in any unsanitized way. I liked the rice there was a lot of it on the Nigiri but it was warm rice not cold or hard texture, it was good. We had all the other items we enjoyed their like their popular pork cutlets, and assorted tempura and we get bowl of ramen noodles, and everyone gets ice-cream at the end of the dinner, included in the buffet which is always a nice touch to any buffet meal. I would go back again, provided we find parking.