Improvising and Swedish Recipes

It's tax season and with my slow internet, Turbo Tax seems to be taking forever to up-date each page. So in the meantime, I thought I would make use of the waiting: Improvise. I do this a lot anyway but I thought I would share two specific moments. The first is: when a baby is not ready for a cup, use what you got. Here's Benjamin Meredith demonstrating with a bike water bottle.

The second is: when not in Sweden, still cook like in Sweden. So here are a few recipes I've made recently.

ÄRTSOPPA (PEA SOUP)

18 oz bag of Lars Own Yellow Peas (can use split ye

llow peas)

8 cups water

1 onion, finely chopped

3 carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalks of celery, sliced

1/2 lb. of ham or pork pieces

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. marjoram

1/4 tsp. thyme

1 bay leaf

Follow soaking instructions on the peas. Drain peas. Combine all ingredients in large pot and simmer over med-low heat for 1 1/2 hours or until shells of peas split.

KÖTTBULLAR (SWEDISH MEATBALLS)

2 lb. ground beef

2 eggs

1 c. milk, cream, broth or water

1/2 c. bread crumbs or flour OR 1 c. mashed potatoes or torn bread

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 minced onion or 1 tbsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. dry mustard

1/8 tsp. nutmeg or 1/4 tsp. all-spice

Combine all ingredients. Roll into 1" balls and fry in skillet or bake at 450F for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with lingon sylt (jam).

KANELBULLAR (CINNAMON BUNS)

5  tsp. dry yeast (2 packets)

1 c. butter (2 sticks)

2 c. milk

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. sugar

6 c. flour (can use 1/2 whole wheat & 1/2 unbleached)

2 tsp. ground cardamom

Filling

4 Tbsp. butter, softened

5 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

Topping

1 egg

pearl sugar

Melt butter in pan. Add milk and heat until warm to the touch. In large mixing bowl, combine butter mixture with yeast until dissolved. Add 1/2 c. sugar, salt, cardamom and most of the flour. Mix until elastic. Place in warm location and let rise for 30 - 40 minutes. Place dough on lightly floured surface and knead using remaining flour as needed. Divide dough in half and roll each piece into a large square about 1/3" thick. Combine the cinnamon and sugar. Spread with 1/2 the butter and sprinkle with 1/2 the cinnamon sugar. Roll the dough into a log and slice about 3/4" slices. Place on greased baking sheet. Preheat oven to 425F and let rise for 20 minutes before baking. Brush with egg and sprinkle with pearl sugar. Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown.

A Tabooli Reunion

I have decided to start including some recipes in my blog. It gives me something to share. I have taken several photos of stuff I've made since I've made this decision but tragically I have failed to post any of them. So here's my first. It's one of my favorite Middle Eastern dishes. I made this for my college Bible study reunion over a week and a half ago. Heather asked for the recipe so here it is. And you can find bulgur wheat at Kroger or Publix. It's with the hot cereal or the flour.

TABOOLI

1 1/2 cups dry bulgur wheat

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1 bunch green onions or 1/2 white onion

1 cucumber

3 tomatoes, seeded

1 bunch parsley

1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 tsp. salt

Cover the bulgur wheat with boiling water. Soak at least 2 hours. Drain and squeeze out excess water. Finely chop all vegetables and mix with bulgur wheat. 

Combine oil, lemon juice and salt. Pour over salad and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Stir before serving and store in refrigerator.

So the Bible study reunion was great! It's been 8 years since most of us have seen each other. It's a blessing to have people in my life who have known me that long and still want to know about my life. The funny thing is that we have all grown up but I walked in forgetting that 8 years have gone by. I was surprised in a good way that these women have changed. On top of that, what an encouragement to see 12 women still walking with the Lord so many years later. And a lot of that has to do with the investment Janie Mullis Farwell had in our lives back then. Who would have thought the first day I walked onto the campus of WKU as a self-proclaimed atheist, Janie would be walking on her first day as Campus Crusade staff wondering how God would use her there so far from her North Carolina home. So, Janie, I hope you have a small glimpse of the impact you've made and how loved you are!

Into the West

I have been in Raleigh, North Carolina, for over a week and am anxious to be home. I love to travel and I love seeing new places, but this trip has been a bit different. I have enjoyed getting to visit so many people and get to try out a job with Campus Crusade's Regional Headquarters, but I have slept in 6 different beds in less than 2 weeks. Sunday I will be making my 9 hour trek west.

It has been a blessing to be able to take the time to check out this opportunity with Crusade and to visit so many beloved friends. Most of this week I have been staying with my college discipler Janie, her husband John and their three kids, Tate, Kensie and Sadie. Tonight I got to hang out with Sadie while the rest of the fam when swimming. After the kids went to bed, we adults had some Goodberry's Frozen Custard. Yummy stuff! I prefer the fruit mix-ins over the candy stuff. 

Last weekend I stayed with Jenn and her new husband Clyde. The previous owners of the house they bought in August had some interesting ideas in how to "add-on". But now you'd never know that there was once a wall in the middle of the living room. The parquet flooring in the upstairs bathroom is just calling out for Clyde and Jenn's magical touch (which probably involved sledgehammers, drywall tape, grout and an ailing floor scraper). I can't explain the rest but it is very impressive hearing all of the crazy things they've had to do to the house so far.

So most people seem to want to know how I'm feeling about my trip to Raleigh. Obviously it has been a great trip to get to see so many friends, but it has also been a fun time working in the office. I love Campus Crusade and the mission and am so glad to be a part of it as associate staff while living and working in Murfreesboro. The opportunity to move to Raleigh and work full-time again for CCC in the operations department is very appealing for a lot of reasons. However, my life and ministry in Murfreesboro is just as appealing so figuring out where God wants me has been difficult. Even with such a great experience at the office, I am confident that my time in Murfreesboro is not over any time soon. I have greatly missed being there and am looking forward to heading back westward. (I know that it's slightly tainted by my longing for my own bed.)

To Bring You Up To Speed

One of my oldest and dearest friends, also blogs and is much more faithful than I am. I keep joking with her that I just need to copy here entries over here for everyone to read since several pertain to me in some odd way. Mandy's link is over there on the right - "My Super Unspectacular Life". The ones that would help catch you up on my "unspectacular life" are: Greensboro's Global Village, Greater Greensboro Explanation and Foodie Friday; Six Flags in Six Hours is quite a story, too. Mandy, I hope you don't mind. I give you full credit for your great writing skills!

I'm obviously bad at blogging....

So it has been awhile since I have written anything. November and December were very busy, getting ready for holidays, two conferences: CCC regional staff conference and Encounter Winter Conference, and the visit of my Swedish friend Malin. Click HERE to see those photos. It was a fun time even in the midst of the busyness. I got to see my sister in Tampa for Thanksgiving and I am now afraid that was my last visit to see here there. She and her husband are preparing to move to Austin, TX. I am hoping that I can make some time to take a weekend trip to see her down there before she moves. I hate that the distance is such a factor. I love getting to see her but it's not often enough.

One of the big parts of Christmas was that my Swedish friend Malin came to visit for a week. It was fun to have her here. She has been studying in France this last semester so when she arrived we had this funny moment of which language to speak in: French, Swedish or English. Since I'm quite out of practice in the former two, we landed on English sprinkled with French or Swedish words. I am reminded of the importance of knowing other languages and cultures. While she was here, it was fun to show her around but also be reminded of all the things that I picked up in Sweden that is valuable. Her questioning me as to why we do things the way we do, reminds me that the American way may not always be the only way. I miss all of the mandatory recycling and composting in Sweden. I miss the simple things of daily life, riding my bike everywhere or even taking the bus, squeegee-ing the shower, the coffee and pastries (though I don't need them unless I'm biking everyday!).

For Christmas I got to decorate with a few Swedish things, my friend Pia sent me a set of figurines of Saint Lucia's parade. After Christmas, my friend Amber and I made Lucia Katter, the traditional Christmas cake in honor of Saint Lucia. And I have two paper star lanterns in my windows from Sweden.

Since Malin has been to Nashville twice before, I wanted to show her some of the things she hasn't seen. We went to the Bell Buckle Cafe for some traditional Southern American food. I took her and Amber to my hometown of Bowling Green, KY, to see the Mammoth Cave, the family farm and WKU, where I went to school. Then we had Christmas here. My parents came down and since Malin wanted to eat at the Waffle House, that was our Christmas Eve lunch! Of course, we had to go to the Opryland Hotel, too. It was fun to teach her to play Dominos and expose her to our American Christmas classics like How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the old cartoon), Miracle of 34th Street and (you can't leave out) The Christmas Story with Ralphie and his Red Rider BB gun! I grew up loving that movie, but watching it with a non-American, I was kind of embarrassed. It's a pretty shallow and crude movie and if you don't grow up in the culture, most if it isn't funny, just weird: the leg lamp, the pink rabbit pajamas, the flag pole incident, the turkey incident. Out of context, those things are just strange. 

Happily Ever After

That was the name of our church women's retreat this past weekend. Sounds too girlie for me but it was not an overnight decision to call it that. Our speaker Mary Lewise Baker speaks specifically on our identity in Christ and how we are united with Christ as believers in Him through is death, burial and resurrection, that not only does He live in us but we live in Him and are seated in Heaven as co-heirs. That took the retreat planning team down a path where scripture talks about we were once orphans, enemies of God and then we became children of God, co-heirs with Christ, daughters of the King and have the eternal hope of Happily Ever After with Him in Heaven through Christ. So there we went with a fairy tale theme.

It was one of those things that God put together. We didn't as we talked about it and how life seems to flow in chapters and the reality that we are daughters of the King, things like the design came together because a friend of mine had illustrated a children's book and already had these "fairy tale" illustrations. It came together quite unexpectedly and quite perfectly as so many people were committed to bathing it in prayer.

For a small church plant of 8 years with a little over 300 people meeting in a middle school on any given Sunday, we had over 70 women in attendance. And God showed up. It was one of those topics that either sends you toward the amazement of how big our Savior is or how big our sin is. But either way, they are both reality.

Here are some photos from the weekend: one is of me with Jenna and Mary Lewise.

Birthday Weekend and Laryngitis

I love how God loves on me through others. My birthday has been a sweet reminder of that. I got to spend my actual birthday, Friday, with my parents. It was fun to hang out with them. Dad let me drive his F-350 dualie around Murfreesboro for the afternoon and we stumbled upon a crazy huge mansion. No one I know seems to know about it. I'll have to keep asking. It's the most random thing.

Saturday was a lot of fun. I got to go out with a lot of my friends. We went to see The Secret Life of Bees based on a novel by Sue Monk Kidd. It was meant to be part of my birthday because my friend Julie loaned me the book about 4 years ago and last year when I found out they were making a movie, I decided that Julie and I had to go see it. When I returned from Sweden, I found out opening night would be my birthday, so then it was settled. The movie was very condensed compared to the book, but when you only have two hours to tell a story, that's what happens. Other than that it was great and felt true to the book. Although they did soften the ending. I enjoyed it and I think everyone else did. Lots of us were crying. So there's the warning: it's a tear jerker.

After the movie, we went out to dinner at Marina's on the square for some great Italian food. That's when I started loosing my voice but I didn't know it until I awoke the next morning barely able to talk. The worst part was that I was meeting a guy I recently met for coffee (which became tea for me) and then off to a Black and White costume party. My friend Mandy convinced me to make a concoction of hot water, lemon juice and cayenne pepper to get my voice jump started. I'm not sure I can say it remotely helped.

So now it's Wednesday and the laryngitis is starting to give way. My mom can now hear me on the phone without me feeling like I'm yelling. The laryngitis is the result of a sinus infection that has been brewing for weeks and is now full blown. I think my homeopathic remedies are starting to help. I'll have to share those crazy things another time. But through my birthday and being sick God has reminded me how loved I am by Him and by those around me (and that includes through some inappropriately hilarious greeting cards).