Idiappum

This really turned out delicious! Of course, when I read the recipe, I had no idea it would look like this, but that's okay as long as it's good.

This is called Idiappum. And Indian "quick" dish.

Boil some eggs and set aside.

Soak noodles of your choice (I used whole wheat spaghetti noodles) in cold water for 30 minutes. Then, boil water and add the drained noodles in it for all of 3 minutes. Drain again.

In a fry pan, fry up garlic, onions, almonds, and green pepper chopped. Add 2 tsp curry powder and some salt.

Add the noodles and fry.

Garnish with egg slices. Yum!

Bread Recipes

I got Mary Gubser's "America's Bread Book" from the library the other day....and had to renew it twice just because I loved going through it. I marked quite a few recipes to try and have only completed a few so far.

Really, it's a fun book!

I guess these recipes are collected from every U.S. State. It's fun to read the stories and history along with each recipe.

But now I had to return it. And you know what, I didn't take any pictures of the bread I've made so far! ha

But, I typed out a few more to try, and I'll make sure to document.

So I guess, this is really a shameless promotion of the book. If you like to bake, you'll like this book. Check it out from the library and see :)

Shrimp Curry

This was our first try at making prawn (or shrimp) curry.

It turned out tasty, which was nice.

Most of all, it was fun to watch the chef in the online video cooking, making it all look so simple. And it was nice to have M. peel and cut the prawns for me.

I'm not a big fan of seafood myself, so honestly, I picked out the shrimp and just ate the gravy on rice. :)

Fiction Book Review: Somewhere to Belong

Thanks to Bethany House Publishers, I had the opportunity to review Judith Miller’s book, “Somewhere to Belong.”


Let me just tell you, it’s been a long time since I’ve read an adult historical fiction book!

The story was set in a quite Amana Church Colony in Iowa. The plot centers on two young ladies and their character building struggles. While the summary makes it sound very uplifting, I guess I expected a little more depth to the characters and to the relationship to God they were supposed to have. You can definitely tell it is book one of a series, with the many un-finished conversations the characters have.

The book is fairly detailed in the mannerisms, lifestyles, and customs of an Amana Colony, and it is nicely woven in with the story so as not to bore you with facts. It is an easy to read story.

Personally, I thought it barely squeaked by into the “Christian” fiction category. It certainly was clean, nice and sweet, but it lacked the depth and development I was hoping to find in a Christian cast of characters.

You can find the book here at Amazon.com or CBD.com

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers as part of their blogger book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."*

Veggie Pizza

Sometime a couple weeks ago, I went to a friend's house for a Tupperware Party.

I'd never been to one of those before, so it was kind of fun.

My friend made this yummy veggie pizza for snacks....it was YUM!

Veggie Pizza:

One container crescent rolls, rolled flat on pizza pan

Bake till brown

Mix sour cream and dry ranch dressing

Spread on cooled crust

Chop veggies of your choice. In this picture, black olives, brocolli, cauliflower, and carrots.

Eat or chill and eat.

Winter Retreat Survey

Hey, just a quick note. There is a survey about the Bemidji Winter Retreat over at the church website.

Maybe you'd like to go over there and take a peek and fill out the survey if you came to the winter retreat :)

Wandering

I've "wandered" across some pretty interesting articles. Sometimes I forget to share them, but they are all bookmarked somewhere in my computer.

Here are a few I've enjoyed:

• Food made into flags
• The importance of listening
• An interesting thought on friendship after marriage
• Goal setting
• The importance of reading
• In-Law realationships
• An interesting take on our digital generation
• An inspiring craft idea
• Some thoughts on youth "ministry"
• Remembering to think while reading marriage books

Vintage Prints

Well, I'm not really into vintage all that much. But the weekend after tax season, I had a chance to stay home and start sorting through some stuff in closets.

One of the things I enjoyed, was looking through a bunch of old Etude magazines. The oldest was way back from 1908!

Then, I did probably the unthinkable (for someone wanting to save old things in perfect condition). I ripped out pages.

Yup. I did.

It was such a big stack of magazines, and I really liked only some of the articles, pictures, and music in them, I decided to keep what I found useful, and get rid of the rest.

It was a nice feeling to get rid of the huge stack.

I kept this one advertisment for Cream of Wheat.

Mathew looked at me funny when I hung it up in the kitchen. But, I like it for some reason, and I guess I can always change it later :)

The other picture I kept was this old cartoon for on top our piano.

I actually pasted it to an old green cardboard, and glued a black ribbon around it for a frame.

I'll have to let you know about the great articles I kept (about "How to be Charming") in a later post :)

I love green

Bemidji is blooming!

Well, promising to bloom.

And I discovered this new tree bud.

Don't be decieved, this bud is about the size of a walnut!

And it literally explodes into this.

All over the tree.

I feel like I should know what it is....but it's escaped me. But that's okay, it made me laugh anyway when I found it. And now I purposely walk this way on my way home from work.

Happy May Day!