Papa

Wish I was watching the U.S. Open and eating popcorn with my daddy today instead of packing. (But I do think I'm ready to go to China!)

Happy Father's Day!

With love and gratitude.

A new page in your book just flipped!

I read that text message from Lindsay as I pulled out of my parking spot (#137) for the last time and got all teary. It may have helped to have "Dog Days Are Over" blaring, but I did cherish the moment nonetheless. I have already established that change tends to be sad for me, and I had just cleaned out my desk and reluctantly said "see you soon" to the people I had spent the most time with over the past three years. I definitely grew to love them and appreciate my first real job all the more because of them.

To show my appreciation the way I know best, I made them my favorite cookies. Banana. Oatmeal. Chocolate chip.

There is much to say about the wonders of these cookies. The original recipe is vegan-friendly, so there are no eggs (the banana acts as an egg would). I do use butter when I make them, which vegans would not appreciate, but one beauty of these cookies is you can eat all the dough you want without the fear of consuming raw eggs (not that that has ever stopped me from eating dough). I will type the recipe at the bottom of this post. It is a keeper. Even my anti-banana colleagues enjoyed them. 

Just after my penultimate workday, Sarah called and asked if I'd like to have dinner. I loved the idea, of course, and it turned out to be a great last-minute dinner party when Nicole, Marianne and Marissa joined us (and brought wine).

I love this photo of Nicole. She looks like an elegant cartoon character.

Lovely caprese salad prepped by master chef Foil.

I assisted by cooking pasta and mixing in jarred pesto sauce (leftover from spinach pie!). And we feasted on the porch while the mosquitos feasted on us, and we even didn't care until later.

We liked this so much that I think we'll fill July with nights like this. As I write this, in the short time between finishing work and traveling to China, July stands as this idyllic month of endless free-time. I have established this as my own summer of spontaneity, and I hope there are myriad more spontaneous dinner parties. And fewer spontaneous bike accidents. Jim -- I know mine does not compare to yours, but I do think the bruise makes me look tough.

Knowing that Friday, June 17, would be a big day for me, Lindsay led the charge for a not-so-spontaneous but fully wonderful dinner in downtown Kansas City. Ethiopian is one cuisine that cannot be found in Lawrence, and this special occasion trip and meal made me feel very loved. And the food was delicious.

My dear cousin Hillary even was able to join us before she moves to Bolivia! It is pretty incredible how all of these wonderful people are sharing this time of change with me. In the next few months, we will all be in very different places (geographically or otherwise) than we are right now. That is a little sad, of course, but really exciting. So glad to know them. And so glad to have more excuses for international travel!

After dinner, we wandered around downtown KC for awhile, crashed a Joplin benefit event at Sarah and Tyler's wedding venue! and stopped at the swanky Cosentino's market to use the restroom. And so the Coloradan could escape our oppressive humidity for a bit.

So cool.

This was a beautiful night. 

It seems weird to say, but I am going to miss them a lot while I'm on the other side of the world. 

Speaking of China. I woke up on this, my first unemployed morning, feeling a little panicked about the fact that I am leaving the day after tomorrow. After strolling through the farmers' market, I vowed to bike around town getting last-minute items like 3-ounce sunscreen. An invitation from Nicole put her house first on my list of places to stop, and I spent a couple relaxing hours there while she baked me almond cake to take on my trip. What a sweet soul she is.

I did make it to Target and back in time to get everything laid out. It must have something to do with putting my last day of work behind me, but I suddenly feel very well prepared, mentally and physically, for China. And I am highly confident that I can fit everything I need into my beloved Osprey and my mama's great day pack. No checked bags here.

The pubs staff's sweet parting gift included some great crimson and blue luggage accessories.

I feel so prepared that I think I'm going to take a night ride with Lindsay. I plan to practice perfect bike safety this time.

Oops! Forgot the cookie recipe the first time. Thanks, Ash! Without further ado...

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. margarine or butter, cold
1 c. tightly packed brown sugar
1 (scant) c. table sugar
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3 t. vanilla
2 T. water
2 c. all-purpose or wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder (stirred into the flour for guaranteed dispersion)
2 ½ c. rolled oats (quick oats work well)
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat together the butter and sugars. Add the banana and mix well, then add the vanilla, then the water. The water will try to separate; keep mixing with a figure-eight motion and add the dry ingredients, in the order above, bit by bit.

{Feel free to stop here and eat with a spoon. If you intend to bake it (which is a great option, too) I find that it's best to chill the dough for awhile before scooping it. If the butter is not very cold, the cookies will spread quickly in the oven and turn out flat.}

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees on an ungreased cookie sheet. Let them set on the sheet for a moment after removing them from the oven, then cool on a wire rack. Store in an air-tight container. They taste even better after they sit overnight or in the fridge, which is great because this recipe makes a lot.


With love.

When I am not vegetarian

For several less-than-fervent reasons, including but not limited to personal wellness (have you seen the USDA's new food guide?), I choose to limit the amount of meat I eat. I don't buy meat to cook at home and I rarely order it in restaurants. Lawrence offers plenty of delicious (I dare say preferable) vegetarian options. I love and appreciate my healthy meat-and-potatoes upbringing, but it has been kind of exciting to discover a new way of eating and to challenge myself that way. I frequently eat fish, and get most of my protein from beans, lentils, nuts, quinoa and dairy.

And yet, I am not strict enough to decline a meal if I have been invited to someone's house, I really can't resist the petra platter at Aladdin Cafe, and I still choose pork chops when my dad offers to grill, as he did when I was in Hutch this weekend.

My first stop was Willowbrook to have lunch on Grandma and Grandpa's porch -- one of my very favorite places.

You know those certain smells and things that trigger memories? That little yellow cart on my grandparents' patio did that (the sight of it, not the smell). The garden tool-turned-toy has returned to its former life, now that none of us can fit in it anymore.

My parents began this day with a 28-mile bike ride to Yoder and back. There is no stopping them. And no rest for the weary. After our leisurely porch picnic, we returned home to make a big, lovely, transportable version of my mom's signature salad topped with strawberries, celery, green onions and poppy seed dressing....

And then we hopped back on the bikes (just kidding) and drove to Westminster Woods to see this girl, who is thriving out there, changing lives and letting God change her. And apparently making a lot of friends...just look at all those bracelets!

The same little baby sister that I pulled around in that yellow cart. Linds, let's try it again when you get home. For old time's sake.

On Sunday, after church and a second trip to Dillon's, it was time for the best meal in the world. Mom and I created another, similarly hued salad with tomatoes and avocado, while Dad worked his magic on the grill. I have found no one who cooks a better pork chop.

Another huge blessing of growing up in Hutch was that all of my grandparents were there too. When I go home to visit, I often can see all of them. My sweet, cutie Grandma Marj joined us for lunch and I showed her a map of where I'll be flying in SIX DAYS. The iPad was as foreign to her as Beijing. I love that.

And then we went to Braum's for dessert, o'course. Vegetarians never turn down frozen yogurt.



With love.

Mediterranean

One thing I would have liked to write about, had I started this venture a few months ago, is my experience sharing a house with two international professors. Adea, of Albania, and Nino, of Georgia, lived with Missy and me for four months while they observed how education happens at KU. I don't think Kansas was their first choice, but I do know that they appreciated the home we offered. And I really grew to love them. 

A perk of living with European women that I especially cherished was the new food they brought to the house. Mediterranean is probably my favorite regional cuisine (if I had to choose one). Adea didn't cook much, but she did make this delicious spinach pie (byrek in Albania) that was reminiscent of the incredible Greek spanakopita that Toni's yiayia makes.

Adea's family eats byrek once a week at home, and she assembled it without a recipe. But after watching her do it, I decided I could too. This week, I invited some of my wonderful, encouraging friends over, who I knew would give gracious praise no matter what. It's important to have people like that in your life. I love them. The only intimidation factor was that Nicole has spent a lot of time in Slovenia and knows how tasty spinach pie should be (it's burek to those locals). But she was extremely kind with her reviews of mine.

The filling for the pie includes some of my favorite foods: spinach, feta, pesto.

I used frozen spinach (four packages), and it is important to thaw it completely and squeeze out all of the water. I didn't get a photo of that because my fists were full of spinach. The dough was also in the freezer section. 

I saw recipes that called for parsley and dill, but I loved that Adea used pesto, so I stuck with that -- about half of a 10-oz. bottle. Mix in three eggs to hold it all together, then begin the assembly. Ten sheets of phyllo dough on the bottom, ten on top. Each layer must be brushed with olive oil, and I used the spray kind, which was great until it ran out. Phyllo dough is not as hard to use as I thought! Try it sometime! It fits nicely into two 9x13 baking dishes.

This is when those wonderful friends jump in to help...

Our little food-loving circle tends to cook squash for every gathering. Sarah (shown here laying down sheets of phyllo) designed a beautiful cookbook and asked each of us to contribute a recipe. Three out of four of us used squash in our dish. It's probably not a traditional accompaniment to byrek, but it is certainly a tradition with us. I just chop it (or Mrs. Kelsey Hall will) and then open my aesthetically pleasing spice drawer and pick out some flavors. This time I used garlic salt and red pepper flakes. Olive oil, too.

Set the oven to 350, which will only exacerbate the inescapable heat of this unusually warm June. Use a sharp knife to slice the spinach pie into sandwich-sized pieces, then bake for 30 minutes until the top is golden. Roast the squash alongside until it is fork tender, flipping once. 

Then take a moment to admire the outcome and thank God for your taste buds. Again, it helps to have great enthusiastic friends to admire it with you.

I love this part. My favorite memories in this house are made sitting around Grandma's borrowed dining room table.

I apologize to anyone who is bothered by my lack of focus.
By the time I take the dinner table photo, that is not the priority.

I was so busy enjoying the meal, the compliments, and the conversation about Sarah and Tyler's upcoming nuptials that I didn't think to take another photo until this point:

Gather your loving circle and feed them some Mediterranean. Don't forget the wine.

Spinach Pie/Byrek

Makes 12 slices

4 pkg. frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

3 eggs

5-7 oz. pesto (or more, if you like!)

2 c. feta

1 pkg. frozen phyllo dough, thawed

Olive oil for brushing

Combine the first four ingredients and set aside. For each 9x13 glass baking dish, spray with olive oil, lay one sheet of phyllo along the bottom, spray or brush with oil and repeat until there is a layer of 10 sheets. Top with half of the spinach mixture. Layer on ten more olive oil-brushed phyllo sheets. This gets a bit repetitive, but the flaky crust is worth it. Brush the top with more oil, making sure to coat the edges. Slice into six sandwich-sized pieces, then bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the top is golden.

These are great re-heated in the toaster oven, and the burnt parts flake right off if you leave it in too long.

With love.

Commence wedding season!

This weekend I drove 600 miles around Southeast Kansas. Two-lane highways, big slow trucks, 98 degrees.

I like to think drafting off of this guy improved my gas mileage.

I love this part of Kansas. Westminster Woods is there, so Kelsey and I got to surprise Lindsey while she was cleaning after the campers went home Friday. I am so proud of her. Plus, she is a great excuse to visit the Woods. I haven't officially been on staff in five years and it still feels like home.

Who wouldn't want this girl for a counselor?

Another great gem of Southern Kansas is Braum's, where we stopped three times in 24 hours. Best frozen yogurt, in my experience. And only $0.79.

The real purpose of the trip was to witness sweet Rachel marry her perfect complement, Jeff, in Ark City. It was beautiful and I got zero photos of the happy couple. I'm still getting the hang of this blogging thing.

On Friday night, as Kelsey rehearsed in the car the scripture Rachel asked her to read during the ceremony, she got a call from the bride-to-be. Kelsey would not be reading after all, because the silly pastor would not allow a woman to do it. His church had never let a woman read scripture and he did not want to offend his congregation. Needless to say, we were all a little offended and shocked...no one more than the bride herself. I do not intend to generalize small-town churches or get on a soap box about it, but if blogs aren't the place to make a statement about something, I don't know what is. There simply is nowhere in my realm of belief or understanding that says women cannot read aloud from the Bible. Amen. But on Saturday the pastor read the verses, Rach and Jeff entered the world of wedded bliss and we all had fun talking about this great act of discrimination...and then dancing the night away.

Sunday morning, Kelsey and I were treated to breakfast in Wichita with our parents and grandparents. Then I hopped back on Highway 400, bound for Chanute and a wedding shower in honor of my dear friend Emilie. 

Taken at Braum's, o'course.

I love that I get to celebrate this time of life with my friends. Here's to a great summer of unions and reunions.

With love.

This weather

These are the days I dreamed about all brutal winter. There are hours of sunlight after I get off work, those silly students are gone and I can open all the windows in the house.

I ride my bike to yoga class, my mat strapped to my back. (Couldn't do it without that precious tote, Dori. Thank you.)

Okay, Kels, your bike. My tires are flat.

I eat things like this...

With a view like this...

Soon I will complain that it is too hot. Meanwhile, you can find me outside.

In other news, my mama drove a woman to Colorado yesterday so the woman could be there for the birth of her grandbaby. My hero.


With love.