The Republic

We knocked another one off the list! Yesterday Donavon and I joined a pre-marital bible study and before hand he asked me if I would go to dinner with him. Obviously, that is not really a question and I said yes. He didn't tell me where we were going though so I knew it was going to be a bigger deal than just normal dinner. And it was! He took me to the Republic Steakhouse and it was wonderful! It was the one left on our list that I have been anticipating with the most excitement. The environment was very nice and fairly upscale but not snooty. We also sat in the more formal area. There is a bar area that is a little more casual. Apparently they have live music several nights a week and as we did not have room for dessert this time, we plan to go back and sit at the bar, listen to some music and have dessert. Our waiter was very nice and the service all around was great. It was not one of those places that is so quiet you have to whisper, but it was quiet enough to have an easy conversation. I liked that. Right after we sat down they took our drink order (I got san pelegrino which made me pretty excited, not gonna lie) and a few minutes later brought us French bread and delicious citrus-y butter. Then we ordered an appetizer of lump crab cakes. It was wonderful! It was a little tower of crab cake, bacon and chive potato blini (which I learned is a potato pancake, essentially), and spinach and drizzled around it was lemon beurre blanc, a yummy lemon sauce that we dipped every bite in. For our entrees, I ordered Pan Seared Wild Striped Bass which came with Three Cheese Herbed Risotto, Corn and Crab puree and Smoked Bacon Shallot Brussel Sprouts. The fish was good but not absolutely amazing. The sides on the other hand, were wonderful! Best risotto I've ever had and the Brussel Sprouts were different than I've ever seen and marvelous. The corn and crab puree was basically little pieces of crab meat in a creamy corn sauce, also good. Donavon ordered Pan Roasted Maine Diver Scallops which came with Pancetta Orzo, Savory Glazed Forest Mushrooms, Crispy Fried Potato nest, and had Blackberry Grastique drizzled around the edge of the plate. The Scallops were delicious and a little sweet. The Pancetta Orzo was fine but nothing compared to my risotto. The Fried Potato was yummy and interesting but not any different than you'd imagine fried potato being. The Forest Mushrooms were really good and different than any mushrooms I've ever had. They had a very fresh taste to them, opposed to the more earthy flavors I usually associate with mushrooms. The Blackberry Grastique was good and sweet. Also, the portions are very big for this kind of place. We got very full. Yes, it is a little expensive. Not the kind of place we can frequent unless it's for an appetizer, salad or dessert. It was not hands down the best meal I've ever had but everything was very good, some of it was amazing and we had a great time!

My three day journey to a Mocha Torte

Photo 1. Parchment lined baking pans. I read that in order to line them you should cut out a square of paper a little larger than the pans. Fold it diagonally until it is in little triangles. Hold it with the tip pointed into the center and cut a round edge to fit the curve of the pan on the other end. Unfold and lay into the pans. I would warn you though, to make sure it is the perfect size and laying as flat as possible because mine ended up making bubbles on the bottom of my cakes.

Photo 2. Mixing the first of the ingredients.

Photo 3. My first ever double boiler!

Photo 4. Mixing in the dry ingredients.

Photo 6. Filling the pans.

Photo 7 and 8. All baked, a Vanilla sponge cake! The base for my torte.

Photo 9. Heating up the Kahlua syrup..mmmm

Photo 10. Painting the sponge cake with lots of syrup.

Photo 11 and 12. Spreading the Chocolate Italian Buttercream Frosting on the Sponge Cakes. (That was the hardest frosting I've ever made and never actually got it exactly right. I had to add powdered sugar to it in the end..I will try it again though. It was also the most delicious frosting I have ever had!)

The final product: A Mocha Torte! AKA Two Vanilla Sponge Cakes, painted in Coffee/Kahlua Syrup, Covered in Chocolate Italian Buttercream Frosting with Chocolate Covered Coffee Bean accents!

mmm mmm good!

Applying 1st Samuel

I've been reading through 1st Samuel and it's been really interesting. As I've been reading, I've been trying to see how I can apply it to my life. Every time I open my Bible I pray that God would help me understand the stories of how He helped His people back then and how it applies to me right now. I guess I went into it hoping to find encouragement but ended up finding conviction. Funny, how that happens.
I was reading the story of Israel asking for a king and Samuel warning them that they didn't actually want what they were asking for. I was thinking through why it was wrong of them. After all, a king isn't always a bad thing. What was the real difference in a judge and a king? Why was one right and the other wrong?
As I read I realized that it did apply to me. It applied to me because a king, in and of itself, is not wrong, just the way that all of the good things I fill my mind and time with, aren't wrong either. What is wrong is when we replace God with those things. In my case, I replace God with God's will. Weird, I know. But I've always had a tendency to make finding God's will more important than finding God.
The Israelites were wrong for wanting a king because they wanted to follow a king instead of following God. They weren't looking for the opposite of God, but they weren't looking for God. Samuel told them that if they continually looked toward God for direction and didn't forsake Him, He would continue to bless them. But, if they started looking toward other things, they would lose God's blessing.
We can't just live and expect God to be in our lives. We can't look for things and expect to find God. We can't just walk and expect to be on His path. We have to chase after Him. We have to be intentional about seeking Him, not just intentional about seeking something good and occasionally thinking about Him, hoping He's just somehow included. Being intentional about never seeking what is blatantly wrong, is not the same as always seeking what we are supposed to. As in, seeking God.
Some times I feel God leading me towards something and then I get obsessed with it and seek so hard after what I think is His will, that I put Him on the back burner. I ignore Him because I don't have time in the middle of His will to continue to seek after Him.
I repented of this today as I read. I know He forgives me every time but someday I hope to follow His will without forgetting about Him.
Good thing He's patient with me.

The Great Importance of Planning What You'll Eat

I cook for my family. I have 10 people in my family and often times 10+ over for dinner. I do almost all of the cooking and almost all of the grocery shopping. I love doing it and my parents not only allow me to try new recipes on them, they actually give me an allowance for doing it! They said they would pay me for 5 meals a week so I do my best to supply them with just that. Since the holidays, things have been more up in the air and I haven't gotten back to my schedule. I might be working another job soon so I really don't know how much I'll be able to cook at home at that point. The last couple of weeks I think I've done more like 3 meals a week. This week I'm hoping to do 5. This post is really more how I did things last semester and how I hope to do them again. But to be completely honest, I'm not quite there right now! It's really fun most of the time but it does turn into quite a bit of work. Being organized helps immensely! Planning ahead even helps me cook healthier meals since I can use fresh ingredients and take a little more time to decide. There are really two reasons I'm writing this post. One is just to give you a little more information about me and what I'm always talking about. And the other is to tell you how much it has helped me to be organized and some of the ways that I do that.

If I waited until just before dinner time to figure out what I was making we would always end up eating macaroni and cheese. I mostly enjoy cooking when it's fun, exciting, new, interesting kinds of meals. Now, they're not always that way, but they would never be that way if I didn't plan ahead! Therefore, on the weekends, I do my planning. I write out my family's general schedule for the week so that I know when I'll be cooking. I always try to cook when the most people will be home. My dad's schedule changes all the time so I always find out what meals he will be home for and that is the main frame for the rest of the scheduling. I try to cook mon-fri but if there's a day that I'm too busy during the week I try to cook over the weekend to make up for it. This also helps me know what kind of food I can make each day because if I don't have a lot of time, it can't be too complicated. Not only do I have to be home, I have to be home with enough time to cook whatever it is. I also have to schedule in my grocery shopping trip. This usually happens on Sunday evening or Monday afternoon. If I'm cooking lunch Monday then I have to go before then. I then start trying to come up with a meal plan. I usually try to cook something like two to three chicken dishes, one fish, one beef, sometimes a vegetarian or pork. I am constantly trying to learn to cook new things but I try to only cook one completely new recipe a week. My family is trusting me to cook food they will like and I try not to disappoint but I also want to expand their pallets. A new recipe can be a safe option if it is made with mostly familiar ingredients. But the more out-there ones, have to be spread out. Anyway, once I get a meal plan I make a grocery list. It must include all of the ingredients for the meals and anything else that we will need that week. I have to try to make the meals with the most fresh ingredients at the beginning of the week or else I will have to wait to buy some of them until mid-way through the week. I try to schedule almost my entire week during the weekend before. Not only meals, everything. Then I try to prepare as much as possible ahead of time. Then my week goes so much smoother. Anything that I know ahead of time goes into my pre-week schedule and I try to stick to it. This has made me a million times more productive and I actually get to cook almost as much as I would like to! Anyway, just thought I would share a little more about what I do. Here's the plan for this week:

M. Polenta Lasagna, Caesar salad

W. Beef Tacos, Sherried Tomato Soup (from Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Th. Baked Flounder, Mexican Rice (from Authentic Mexican Food) and Spicy Pinto Beans

F. Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, Green Peas

S. Roast, Red Potatoes, Carrots, Rolls


Just so you know, I also made a Cranberry-Lemon cake that was delicious and I'll hopefully be posting about that soon!

Genghis Grill

It's not on the list because it arrived in our little town after the creation of the list. But, it should have been. So, for the sake of our curiosity, we acted as though it was, and went there. It was really a neat place! I had a lot of fun because they let you participate in the preparation of your own meal. It's nothing too fancy, but it was fun and quite yummy too. When you walk in, they hand you a metal bowl and lead you to your seat. The server takes your drink order and explains how things work and then you're on your own. It's set up like a buffet but nothing is cooked. Awesome, I know! So the first counter you come to has all of the meats and you choose whatever raw meat you would like and plop it in your little metal bowl. Then you come to a little section of seasonings and spices where you have the option of seasoning your meat. I had sliced beef and seasoned it with a sort of garlic and ginger mix. There are not too many options in that section but plenty to get something good especially since you'll add sauce later. Then you continue down the line and pick your vegetables. There are quite a few different ones to choose from and as long as it fits in your bowl, the skies the limit. If you wanted, I suppose you could skip the meat and have only veggies or the other way around. We were not that lame, so we picked lots of vegetables and piled them on top of our meat. I had cabbage, bean sprouts, carrots, broccoli, little corn thingys, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts...and probably some other things that I can't remember. A lot of mine were sort of Asian-esque choices, but there were enough that it didn't have to be. Then you come to the sauces. You get another little cup and dip out whatever sort of sauce(s) you want into that. I got a peanut ginger sauce and Donavon got a spicy, signature blend. Then you take your bowl of raw food and your cup of sauce and walk over to this counter that surrounds a huge hibachi grill that a chef is working at. He walks over, takes your food, asks if you want rice or noodles and gives you a number. Then he throws your food on the grill and starts cooking it for you. I'm sure he gets a pretty good laugh out of the combinations people hand him! Then you go back to your seat and after a short wait, especially for this kind of food, a server brings you your custom dish. Sounds fun, right? It was. Yes, it is a chain and no it's not the best Asian food you can possibly find, but it was good, lots of food, and lots of fun. I would go back! :)