I already had planned to have friends Daniel, Elise, Nikki, and Scott over for dinner last week, so once I started working on the menu, I got pretty into it. I had never attempted Cuban food but give this girl a recipe and I can make it happen.

First, narrowing down the recipes. I found these two recipes for Vaca Frita http://cubanfood.blogspot.com/2009/05/esthers-vaca-frita.html and http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/vaca-frita-crispy-beef. I probably followed the first one more closely, until the end, where I did let the shredded meat sit in the lime, garlic and olive oil for a good hour before searing it. I cooked the beef on the stove-top the night before, not in slow cooker or pressure cooker, and then finished it right before dinner.

Then, I found two recipes for Ropa Vieja, but really ended up sticking to this one because it had more complex flavors in it. Again I made this the night before and just heated it up in the crock-pot after work before dinner.

***I had a little trouble tracking down flank steak for the two beef recipes, but at the fifth grocery store/butcher, there it was. (Rossville Bi-Lo, by the way)

Made black beans–first time (I’m ashamed to say) I’ve made beans not from a can. They were so delicious and easy that I will definitely be making them again. This recipe is excellent! I used an orange pepper instead of the green pepper, for color and because I used the two green peppers for the beef recipes and didn’t want to go out to the store again. The balsamic vinegar is such a good addition here. And, waiting til the end to add salt means that your total sodium content will be less, but the flavor is top-notch. These I served over basic rice.

When I stopped at the local tienda/fruteria on my way home from church Wednesday night to pick up limes and tomatoes, I saw the plantains and realized I needed to include them in this meal.

And, then I found this recipe, which really was the star of the evening. As you may have picked up, if you know me at all, I enjoy a little bacon in my life. Sooooo . . . when a recipe popped up that combined slightly sweet plantains with bacon, I figured it would have to be about the best thing ever. And it was. I cooked the plantains longer than 10 minutes (more like 20)–because they weren’t super-sweet. The skins were yellow and spotted, not totally black. I just mashed them by hand. Super-easy and the flavor combo is to die for.

Here’s a glimpse of how my kitchen was looking during all this fun: What you can’t see is how much GARLIC went into this meal. Three heads, I kid you not.

With chopped avocado and sour cream as our accompaniments, and some homemade sangria brought by Daniel and Elise, we had an amazing meal and great time together. (Nikki added some of my favorite cookies in all of the world for dessert. Niedlov’s Ginger Molasses)

Here’s some more photos from Scott:

From his instagram (cool way of making photos look old i-phone stuff)

Oh yeah, and I made this for our pre-dinner drink on the porch:
vermontucky lemonade. Might be the best summer drink I have ever tasted.

So, next time you’re having people over for dinner, don’t go with your old stand-by recipes, like I am often tempted to do. Try something new. It’s a lot more fun!!

That’s right. Lardons.

I escaped my house on Wednesday and visited Link 41, a local sausage maker that also happens to make bacon. I bought a package of back bacon, and it was the best decision I made all week. I used one piece to add to pizza on Thursday for dinner, but today tried out a recipe from my America’s Test Kitchen cookbook with a few small changes.

Pasta with Canellini and Pancetta Link 41 Bacon
The cast of ingredients:

After collecting my ingredients, I chopped up that bacon and put it in my cast iron pan with a little olive oil (probably not necessary) and cooked it til it looked like this:
Here is where I must give due honor to the French for coming up with the word “lardon.” That’s what these little chunks of heaven are called. It could not be a more appropriate word. It is what it is.

I added onions: chopped garlic: & cannelini beans:
along with some chicken broth (lowfat, of course. Ha!).

Meanwhile, in the pot of boiling water next burner over, I added a bunch of fresh angel hair pasta (the recipe called for penne, but the angel hair worked well.

While that cooked (about 2 minutes), I smashed some of the beans to thicken the sauce. After the pasta was drained, I added 2 cups of arugula and spinach (see, this is about healthy eating. GREENS), some lemon juice which really brightened the flavor, and the sauce. And stirred it up like this:

And then, I put it on a plate, covered it with freshly shredded parmesan, and ate it.

Then I visited my friends Corey and Sheila and did not breathe garlic breath on them or their son, Solomon.

And that, my friends, is my snow week story of how I ate salad greens without eating salad. Also about lardons.

My friend Tiffany has been part of my small group that meets on Wednesday nights the past two years. She’s been engaged a good portion of that time, so it was wonderful to see the wedding day arrive. It was also great to see so many in my church pitch in to help–from the decorations, to the delicious catered reception (from pretty much the best cook in Chattanooga, who also happens to head our church kitchen committee), to the musicians . . .

Here’s the bride and groom, listening to a prayer from her grandfather, the father of the bride’s father, who officiated the ceremony.

Someone joked with the bride to ask if she didn’t have any ugly friends, because the bridal party was so beautiful. Check them out.

The whole party was a blast to photograph. We had some fun.

And the bride and groom were just gorgeous. I love them. And am so thankful that they let me be part of their day!

Seriously, look how beautiful.

Generations of beauty . . .

But, one of my favorite pictures is this one of kids who were running around playing and came over to pose when I pulled out my camera at the reception.

I’m still in process of editing more of the photos, but what fun!

“Alleluia!” now we cry to our King immortal,
Who, triumphant, burst the bars of the tomb’s dark portal;
“Alleluia!” with the Son, God the Father praising,
“Alleluia!” yet again to the Spirit raising.

I love the triumphant triune praise of the last verse of this hymn!

I do have pretty much the cutest nieces and nephews in the whole world, by the way. (and two more on the way before Christmas!)

A late night conversation on the back deck and the visit was over! It went by way too quickly and was a not-so-welcome reminder of how far from my family I really am. But, I’m thankful that all my siblings have now gotten down to visit here in Chattanooga. Still not sure I can claim Chattanooga as my town just yet, but it is great for hosting visitors.

I was out grocery shopping since I’m having a few people over for dinner tomorrow evening, and I stopped by the farm to see if they had cilantro (which I learned is a cool climate plant that doesn’t do too well here in the Mid-South). They did have pints of the most beautiful figs, and I snatched up one to snack on and to have with some goat cheese and honey tomorrow as part of dinner. Look how beautiful they are:

Seriously, so good! I had to take a bite of one while I was capturing the shot:

By the time I was at the farm, the torrential downpour had already started (like we haven’t gotten enough rain this week, thank you very much!), and I was soaked, but determined to try to find cilantro. I tried two small groceries (one Guatemalan owned and one Mexican owned), and I came away with chorizo and these delicious chicken tamales instead of the illusive herb, cilantro. At Tienda Jalisco, they have homemade tamales (pork or chicken) for $1.50 each. When I’ve stopped by before, they’ve either run out or had pork  ones, which I like too. Today, though, they had chicken, and I ordered three. See below:

Everything I’ve eaten from this place has been great. Homecooked, authentic, and, best of all, in my neighborhood.

All that to say, I got distracted from my cilantro hunt, and I decided to change the recipe a little so I won’t need it anyway.

The non-food highlight of my day: my first choir practice with the Resurrected choir tonight. Imagine, if you will, me, who can’t sit down at the piano and pick out a tune without the written music despite 9 years of lessons, trying to learn songs without the music in front of me. Or worse, on the second song, having a hymnal in front of me and realizing that we were singing nothing like the music written there. Oh, it was good for me! I need fresh challenges in my life, and this will certainly be an enjoyable one.

Seriously, though, I am really looking forward to not only having him in concert, but having a student luncheon with him. We do this kind of event with guest speakers that come to campus, giving them a chance to get to know our students and and vice versa. With Andrew’s thoughtfulness and good humor, as well as his experience in the music business, in getting his writing published (two novels so far), in creating community among artists and others, I think we’ll have a great conversation. The demand for seats at the lunch has been HIGH!

When I look back the past few months, I am struck by the people that have crossed my path. Some photos here.

From speakers at the college where I work, to the group of freshmen I traveled with to Europe for two weeks, to the two shop workers in a large city in the middle east who grew up under Taliban rule and wanted to hear the story of the nativity, to friends from the middle east who speak in very different ways about the events in their country than anything I read in the headlines (but also want to hang out and watch The Half-Blood Prince with us!), to the students I grew with and loved this summer, to the people who shared their stories of coming to faith from backgrounds that many consider hopeless and too dark for redemption.

How did I get this privilege? Seriously. I could not have planned this life that I live. And, sometimes I forget to be thankful. I think of what I don’t have, of what I would like to add to my life, and then I am reminded that I have everything and yet I still receive more. I get hit in the face with how big our world is, how amazing the people in it are, and how God is working all over the place!

I love that in the evening, so many people stop and sit on these benches and just look at the sights around them. I love that vendors sell fresh corn on the cob for 1 lira and big containers of watermelon chunks for the same price. I love the way the sun hits the buildings. I love the bright colors of the head scarves and the green gardens.

And, this one gives new meaning to “street lights”: