Thursday, February 3, 2011

when you slack in blogging, that means a big rambling post

I can't believe that it's been almost a week since I posted. So much has been on my mind. I've been pondering things a lot. There are things I would like to share here, but I cannot because I have to keep in mind who reads this. Anyway, the Lord has challenged my thinking in several ways, and he has really opened up some things in the last few weeks. I am trying to keep an eternal perspective on things right now, and some of the worries and stresses in life don't seem that big of a deal when I do that.

Zsolt and Gabi called us this weekend, and it was the sweetest conversation ever. It made my heart smile, and that was a gift from the Lord. We spent Sunday afternoon with them and saw the property Zsolt bought and hopes to build a house on one day. It's only a couple of streets away and needs lots of work before he can start to build, but they are excited and wanted to share in it with us. Precious. They are our family here. I don't know how we would have made it these four years without them. The Lord knew what he was doing when they came to my first English class. Praise Him!

I got some family photos from John to share. Yeah! Still need to get some in front of the Colosseum. But now, we have some family photos! We have had only two pictures of the four of us since Kate was born over a year ago.


My family and friends in Chicago got blasted by that winter storm. Insane amount of snow (for Chicago) and drifts that were taller than man. I saw some pretty awesome pictures from people on Facebook. Apparently there was thunder and lightning during the blizzard too! God is awesome like that. Although it's nice to have some snow in the winter, I'm glad that we didn't get any blizzard. We did have an earthquake this weekend though. That's the second one this school year. So weird.

My favorite soup this winter is Chicken Tortilla soup. It's really easy to make, just time consuming. So after I made it the first time, I decided I'd make a double batch the next time. Well, this week when I went to the grocery store and tomatoes were on sale, I thought I'd make a quadruple batch of soup. So I went ahead Monday night and chopped all of the veggies for the soup, and on Tuesday, I roasted all of the tomatoes in two batches (because I didn't have a big enough pan) and then cooked all the chicken. When it came time to dump it all in and simmer for quite awhile, I realized that my 8 quart stockpot wasn't big enough! So I had to make the soup in two different pots. And when Kevin came home and saw all of the soup simmering on the stove, he asked if I had invited the whole village of Diósd over for dinner. At least I have plenty of leftovers in the freezer for weeks to come. And like I said, it is my favorite!

I am trying to save up for a KitchenAid Mixer, you know, one of those. I didn't register for one when we got married because I had no need for such a big mixer. I loved my little chrome Cuisinart one that I got from Crate and Barrel. Worked great. But when we moved here, I didn't bring it because of the different electricity stuff. I am on my THIRD hand mixer here. They don't seem to last much more than a year. I don't know if that's because they're not as good or because I use it all the time, or maybe it's a combination of both. I can hear the motor starting to go on the current one. So I figure it's worth it to buy one now, although more expensive up front but hopefully less expensive in the long run. I joined Swagbucks (yes, that's my referral link, and I get points for you signing up through me!), and I have been earning Amazon gift cards in hopes of being able to buy one with little out of pocket cash. We will see how far I get, but I am really excited. I need to keep an eye out for Kohl's, too, because they offer sales upon sales, so maybe I can do better there. Who knows. I just know that I am excited to save up for one. (The basic KitchenAid model here runs close to $900, and I saw one in Rome for "only" $750!)

I have been in a baking mood this week. I made these gigantic chocolate chip cookies. (And yes, another recipe from Annie's Eats! Seriously, everything I make of hers is fabulous. Every time I am looking for a certain type of recipe, I go to her site first.) They are still soft and chewy, and I made them days ago. Kacie, I have found a bunch of new recipes that I am dying to try. I think that means we need to get together. Want to hop on a plane over spring break?! ;)

And since I'm on the topic of food, I was told about this site that allows me to figure out the nutrition information in recipes. I love it. Hungary is not big on posting nutrition information on their food packages, although it is getting better. But now I can figure out all of the nutrition info on all of the dishes I make at home. Huge help. And I can save the recipes on there so that I can have the info later, too. You don't want to know how many calories are in those chocolate chip cookies I made though. :)

Seth has asked several times since we got back from Rome if we could build "that big church." I wouldn't mind attempting it one day, but Seth only has Duplo blocks right now...and so that isn't going to work. But anyone who knows me, knows that I love a good Lego challenge. I think that means people need to start buying us the regular Lego blocks. (You will notice that I said "us" and not just "Seth." Be nice!)

We have had a taste of Kate's personality over the last 14 months, and as she continues to grow, that personality comes through more and more of course. Let me just say that she is a little stinker! And she knows it. We may be in trouble.

I wish I lived near a Hobby Lobby, Michael's, or Home Goods. Or Target. Or a million other stores right about now.

And completely unrelated to food or anything else I have written about...Egypt! Wow. First everything happened in Tunisia a couple weeks ago, and now the stuff in Egypt is getting really bad. Makes me wonder... No one knows when Christ will return, but I do know that we are one day closer every day we wake up...

Tis the end of the ramble for now. At least I had a few pictures at the beginning. But maybe you stopped reading several paragraphs ago.

3 comments:

Kacie said...

I wish I could hop a plane over spring break!! I've been looking at tastespotting.com and finding all kinds of delicious recipes.

Julie said...

i want to cook with you now, but not feeling well, hopefully soon. We leave on Monday for China and I want to be better!

Jessica Heights said...

I think it's cute that Seth wants to build the things he saw on his trip! :)