Our Culinary Adventure: A Night in Brazil

In one of my recent posts, I mentioned how traveling is one of the few interests Chris and I share. But I now realize that I forgot about a big one...

We share a love of food. We love eating. We love cooking together. We love trying out new restaurants. (Which, I might add, is quite challenging in Colorado Springs, the world's mecca of chain restaurants.) Our favorite TV channel is the Food Network, and if we ever decide to pay for cable, it will be to watch that channel. We've even gone so far as to throw around the idea of moving to a big city just to be able to experience more culture. (By the way, this plan isn't off the table.)

We're trying our best to pass on this love of food to our kids. We have made it our mission to introduce our daughter to a wide a variety of food as early in life as possible. By 10 months old (thanks in big part to a trip to San Francisco) she had eating authentic Mexican, Persian, Greek and Thai food. She loved it all. Being that she's a Giovagnoni, of course she's also eaten Italian and American. And just last weekend, we introduced her to Brazilian food.

Chris recently came up with this idea to cook and eat different recipes from the countries where Compassion works and then he'd share our experiences on Compassion's blog. I loved the idea. 

Mise en place for Moqueca de Peixe

So our first foray into cooking international cuisine was to Brazil. You can read Chris' post about the experience, but let me just sum it up to say, after the first meal I'm very excited about this new culinary adventure! Even though we cannot travel as much as we might want to in this moment in our lives, we can still experience a small taste of the world through food. 

An Evening with Becky

Wow, it's Thursday already? Where did this week go?

Since the time changed and the days are warmer, I find myself living for 4:30. Every day. Don't get me wrong ... I like my job, but I LOVE summer evenings. I love leaving the office (where I've usually been cold for eight straight hours) and getting into my toasty car. I always sit for a few minutes and just soak up the warmth. Then I kick my shoes off, roll the windows down, crank the radio and enjoy the 20 minute drive home.

When I get home, usually the first thing I do is change into comfortable clothes (this inevitably includes a baseball hat and Crocs or flip flops) and take my dog for a walk. There are several paths through my neighborhood and I do a two-mile loop. On the nights when there's nothing going on at the church near my house, I'll let Havana run off leash for 10 or 15 minutes in the field next to the church.

When I get home, I'll decide what to make for dinner. I love trying new recipes and so often I'll browse through the latest issues of Gourmet, Bon Appetit or Real Simple to find a recipe to try. (Another place I find good dishes is Allrecipes.com.) As I cook I'll put a few of my most recently acquired CD's on shuffle. (This week it's Martin Sexton and India Arie.) Chris often joins me around this time, and true to his Italian heritage, he's an excellent cook. (And his eating skills are unmatched!)

After dinner, it's time to relax. This usually includes some combination of reading, watching TV, and reading blogs or Facebook. My living room windows face the west, so we often get to watch the sun go down over the mountains.

Evenings are my favorite time of day. I love the freedom to do the things I most enjoy without any agenda. I love spending quality time with my favorite person. I love relaxing and savoring the blessings God has given me.

Some might say that I waste my time on the frivolous and unimportant. That my life is too hedonistic. Or that I should be a better steward with my time. No matter how I choose to spend my time, though, there will always be more "could be's" or "should be's." In fact, I think Satan often uses guilt or a burden of responsibility to strip life of the good, the pleasurable, the enjoyable. I believe God is pleased when I'm not too busy doing his work to truly delight in his blessings.

Life is good.

Moo Dang, that was good!

A little over a year ago my friend Wendy and I started a monthly cooking night. The idea was that we would pick a type of ethnic food that neither of us had cooked before and learn how to cook it. We pick an appetizer, a few dishes, a typical drink and a dessert.

For the first 10 months or so it was just Wendy and me. Then our friend Jamie joined us. Each month we seem to have one or two new people. 16 months later it's turned into a full-fledged party! (Sadly, Wendy moved to Seattle a few months ago, but we've carried on the tradition.)

Last night was Thai night. Julisa and I hosted it at our house.

Here's Julisa making Tom Ka Gai.


Heidi works on her masterpiece, Pad Thai.


It was a lot of work, but worth it in the end. Ta da!


Bring on the grub!


Here is the yummy looking Thai salad, made by the lovely Suzanne.


Suzanne and I ready to eat!


Here is the finished product:
Tom Ka Gai, Mango Sticky Rice, Thai Iced Tea, Pad Thai, Thai Salad, Chicken Satay, and last but not least ... Moo Dang!


And for a close-up ...
Are you hungry yet?

In case you were wondering ... here's a list of what we've made so far. Any suggestions for next month?

Jan - New England
Feb - Greek
Mar - French
Apr - Hawaiian
May/June - Mexican
Jul - Japanese
Aug - Spanish
Sept - Italian
Oct - Caribbean
Nov - Indian
Dec - Moroccan
Jan - Argentinian
Feb - German
Mar - Irish
Apr - Thai