Fast Forward to Fall

I must have missed the memo: mother nature pressed the fast forward button to autumn. It is still August, granted the end of the month, but it feels like October. My fingers are shivering - no, my whole body is shivering. This is absolutely crazy. Today's high was something like 57 and at 10:30 pm it is around 45. The cold is numbing my brain. I am having problems stringing together coherent thoughts so please forgive me. This weekend went by pretty much as fast as the week did. Not fair. I like the weekends to slooooooow down.

Anyhow, I had a friend arrive from Frankfurt on Friday so I decided to test out a few recipes. Friday night I made a pasta skillet from My Recipes with tomatoes, chick peas, basil, balsamic vinegar, angel hair pasta and grated romano cheese. (My Recipes includes recipes from Cooking Light, Southern Living, Sunset, Coastal Living, All You, Real Simple, and Health.) Since I had spinach in the fridgerator, I decided to spruce the recipe up a bit. I actually just made it again tonight for another friend (I made too much spaghetti on Friday and wanted to use it up) and threw in olives, which added a nice kick. If you're at all curious where the hodge podge of ingredients above leaves you, try it out for yourself. Here's a link to the recipe: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=223284&adsqs=

My advice... go wild and crazy. Add whatever leftover veggies you might have. I used dried basil and a little marjoram the second time around and loved it even more. This is a great EASY recipe. Enjoy!

Saturday morning I decided to test a coffee cake recipe from Joy of Baking. I happened to be checking Facebook on Friday and noticed it. The coffee cake crumble picture kept calling my name and I gave in.  After all, I'm gradually trying to expand my repertoire so every new recipe helps. Also, I simply find time in my kitchen therapeutic. I think it has something to do with the act of creation. When you cook and bake, you have an end product. It's rather gratifying. While it might not always look phenomenal - especially if it's the first time - my track record is that nearly 90-95% percent of the time it tastes mighty good regardless of whether it looks exactly like the picture online or in the cookbook. I actually don't remember the last time I tried a recipe I didn't like. It has been a good roll. :) Here's the coffee cake recipe: http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/CoffeeCake.html. It turned out nice and light. It also looked beautiful. I did like it, but something in me, perhaps my gut, keeps whispering that I'd prefer a fruit coffee cake, one with apple or blueberries or something along those lines. I guess perhaps I should find such a recipe and compare them :)

Hmmm, it seems that the topic of food warms the fingers, mind, and soul. Maybe I don't need a third cup of hot tea after all.

Happy cooking and baking!

A Crazy Full Weekend!

Where to begin...Friday night I hosted a dinner party and served zucchini-crusted pizza out of Moosewood's cookbook. I highly recommend any Moosewood cookbook you can get your hands on. It's a famous vegetarian restaurant in Ithaca, NY near Cornell University. My brother introduced me to it when he was a Cornell student. I think my next Moosewood's experiment will be their low-fat mac-n-cheese. Is that even possible? We shall find out.

Saturday made my Better Homes and Garden buttermilk pancakes with pecans and rushed out the door around 11:25 am to catch a train to Karlstejn. With two friends did a 14 km hike from Karlstejn to Cernosice where we waited no longer than 90 seconds for the train to whisk us back to Prague. Here are a few sights from our hike:

We passed through poppy fields, meadows, woods, and villages. We even came upon several meters of ants marching!

The 14 km took about 3 1/2 hours. Arrived back at my flat around 6:00 pm and was back out the door around 7:20 pm after a nice bath. Ate Costa Rican food and played Settlers of Catan till late Saturday. 

After church this morning I headed to the Sapa Vietnamese market on the outskirts of Prague with a few friends and went over to Rebecca's place for homemade red curry with fish and jasmine rice. Got home around 7:30 pm and find myself wondering where the weekend went!

How about you? 

Pecena Jablka - Baked Apple

Say hello to my baked apple maker, a birthday gift from my friend Lenka.
You chop up an apple, put some butter on the inside of the round "bulb," add the apples and some cinnamon and nutmeg, put the top on, light the tea light, and wait for warm baked apple goodness.

YUM!

Saturday Afternoon Reflections

This was my office view at 6 pm on Friday. The pounding of the rain, hitting sideways on my office windows both distracted me and made me in no hurry to leave work. However, a mere 15 minutes after I took the photo the rain stopped and the dark clouds dissipated.

Would we know that the major chords were sweet,
If there were no minor key?
Would the painter's work be fair to our eyes,
Without shade on land or sea?
Would we know the meaning of happiness,
Would we feel that the day was bright,
If we'd never known what it was to grieve,
Nor gazed on the dark of night?

These are not my words, but they sure strike a deep chord. They come from a devotional book, "Streams in the Desert," by L.B. Cowman, a missionary to Japan and China. This collection of thoughts, verses, and quotations helped sustain Cowman as she nursed her dying husband. "Streams in the Desert" has been a huge blessing to me as I process and continue to grieve my father.

No hiking adventures planned for this weekend... just much needed quiet and R&R. I am getting ready to head over to a German friend's for dinner. Her husband left for the weekend to go watch his favorite football (soccer) team play. Not a bad deal. This means homemade tiramisu and something equally tasty for dinner...

Birthday

Today I enjoyed one of the loveliest of birthdays. After torrential down pours on Saturday- albeit nothing on par with what is happening in Pakistan and China -  the sun broke out in Prague. I wasn't 100% sure what the day might hold for on my way to church in the morning a pigeon came within inches of well, you know what. 

The sun held out throughout the day and allowed me and 12 friends to enjoy the beautiful garden of the restaurant formerly known as John and George's next to the Lennon wall in Prague. While I've been there a couple of times, it was the first time for all but one friend. 

The birthday crew

Everyone was pleased with their food - quiches, thai noodles, salmon, balsamic chicken, blueberry crumble cake. But most of all, everyone was taken in by the garden's special atmosphere, with its carpet of green grass, statue alcoves, flowers, birds, and Romanesque walls. 

The highlight of the afternoon had to be my friend Liz's birthday dance. I'm not sure my friend Alice got it all on video, but if she got even a portion of it and posts it on YouTube, it is bound to go viral. Think TGIF sing a long with the addition of cheerleading choreography. And, imagine a loud American breaking out in song and dance amidst peacefully dining Europeans (and a few American tourists). Since my eyes were on Liz, I did not have a chance to look at our neighbors' faces. According to my friend Zannah, the Czech customers at first were totally shocked, but by the time Liz concluded her masterpiece they were all smiles. As for me, I had tears coming down my cheeks. Wow. You had to be there. 

Liz and I on Charles Bridge

After lunch, we headed over to Kampa island park, next to the Vltava river, and plopped down and ate cupcakes and drank South African vino. It was PERFECT. Thank you Lord for an amazing day. My heart is truly joy-filled tonight. 

Together with Liz and Zannah on Charles Bridge