Savoring

I think we are on the 'post-a-month' plan now. This week I was reminded of how this year is turning into a time of appreciating things that we may not have next year. For example--for the last 2 years we have had a membership to the LA Arboretum. The arboretum is one of our favorite places in LA, and each time I go I seem to discover something new. Our membership expired in April, and we determined that it would not be worth it to renew since we will not live in LA for the next year. I was mourning that I would not feel the same freedom to go there on a whim if I would have to pay the entrance fee every time, and wondering where I would go when I needed to be alone and outside. Then, this week, Bob came home one day with a surprise for me. You guessed it--he bought me a pass! I was so amazed and felt so loved! So, may the gallivanting with the flowers continue, at least for this year. :)

Another thing we are savoring this year is going to Dodgers games. Last week we got the rare opportunity to sit in the 'good seats', where the players actually looked life-size! It was fun to look UP at the press-box and WAY-UP to where we normally sit in the top deck! Hopefully this doesn't spoil our fun, since the rest of the games we attend this year will be from the birds-eye view in the top deck. :)

Visiting friends

...so I've been negligent of the blog again. Very sorry! In March we got to see lots of people through some random traveling, but that left little time for blogging. First, Todd and Michelle visited from OR....We realized we had not seen them both since our wedding! We went to the arboretum early in the morning with them, and were disappointed that the waterfall did not have any water flowing in it. We milled around, wondering if there was a problem they were repairing or if they really 'turned off' the waterfall every night. Then, before our very eyes, the water burst forth and the waterfall was running again. Perhaps it was a bit like water coming out of the rock when Moses struck it. :)
At the end of March we spent the week up north, visiting Bob's family. We got to meet our new "cousin, once removed" (I think that's the official relation?), Brianna. Bob and Brianna look like they are getting used to each other.
I (Kristi) was very excited to visit Filoli, a place I think I have heard about since the first time I met Bob's family. All the flowering trees and the tulips were in bloom, which was especially beautiful. The picture below is of a spot called "The wedding spot"--the trees here were incredible...I've never seen anything like it!
We really treasure our visits with these friends that we don't see very often...which will become even more rare and treasured if we are not in the US next year! Back down in SoCal, we got to visit some more friends when Lisa threw a party to get a few of her far-flung friends together. Lisa prepared an incredible meal, with TWO picture-worthy desserts, so we were happy and stuffed when we rolled out at the end of the night!
Now, after all of this partying and visiting, we're back home, trying to catch up and make big decisions about our future. And trying to do the mundane but essential things, like working, studying, and paying our taxes. :)

Our experiment with CSA

We've heard about CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture) from several people, and it sounded like a great way to eat healthy organic veggies and also support local farmers. Then, we heard from our neighbors that a CSA farm was doing a drop-off in Pasadena, and we decided to take the plunge and try it! Fortunately, our CSA doesn't require an annual commitment, which helped us be willing to give it a try.

Since we started in December, we've become very familiar with many winter vegetables and greens--many of which I had never heard of or seen before. Kale, collard greens, mustard greens, swiss chard, beets, radishes, carrots, eggplant, kohlrabi, and turnips are just some of the things that we've had in our box. We only get 1/2 a box, but even so we have to work hard to find ways to use everything--especially the greens! We have succeeded thoughg--it makes us feel so healthy eating these vitamin-packed organic vegetables!

Look at the size of that radish!

So--what is kohlrabi and how in the world do you eat it?? And I'm not a fan of radishes, so what am I supposed to do with the endless supply we have? Fortunately, I already had a cookbook that is ideal for CSA users--it is sorted by season and has recipes for many of these lesser-known vegetables, and even a glossary with pictures and explanations of how to cook each vegetable! Simply in Season is now our most-used cookbook with lots of post-its and notes thoughout. Also, serendipitously we have a couple of neighbors who grew up in families that gardened these types of vegetables. The husband says he ate a kohlrabi every morning before he went to school!

So--how do we use these vegetables? Some of our favorite meals with the CSA veggies have been: Swiss chard cheese bake, greens with peanut sauce, vegetable soup, stir-fry, and quiche with kale and whatever other veggies we have on hand. We realized that one of the side-effects of having all these vegetables waiting to be used is that we have been eating more vegetarian meals, which also adds to the health benefits! We're still experimenting-- fortunately the vegetables change with the seasons so we get to continue to try new things! :)

A very large frying pan FULL of
greens...for greens with peanut sauce!

Quiche with kale and other veggies

Our alternative retreat

Last weekend we were supposed to go on a retreat in the mountains with the Fuller Presbyterians. We were SO excited about this chance to get away, be with friends, and play in the SNOW. I was almost jumping up and down as we packed up the car, I was so excited. It was raining at the time, and we knew it was snowing in the mountains we were headed to. We had chains for the tires. We were prepared. We caravaned with another car, and took a quick pit-stop at the end of the freeway before we started up the mountain road. That quick pit-stop turned into a long conference between a few of the cars as we heard from others about the bad conditions and accidents on the mountain roads. Finally, in the interest of safety, they decided to reschedule the retreat. So...back we head to Pasadena, terribly disappointed. Our consolation that night was going to dinner with other who we were traveling with at a fun hole-in-the-wall noodle shop.

Saturday morning, we decided that since there were several people like us whose plans had been suddenly rearranged, we would invite those people over for a worship night. We had a great time Saturday with those friends, singing and reflecting on how we have seen God at work around us. It was almost like a retreat...in our living room. :) We were still talking to friends at 11pm--when is the last time we've been up till 11pm??

Sunday, we decided we would relax and do a few things to celebrate Valentines day, since we didn't do that on Saturday. After a few hours of fun reading we had planned to do at the retreat, we were up for our big outing. We hopped on our bikes (the first time EVER we've ridden our bikes together!) and went to McDonalds for lunch! We are generally healthy, cook-at-home people, and I don't think we've been to McDonalds in the last year. But we had a couple of gift certificates to use, so we thoroughly enjoyed our greasy fries and juicy Angus burger. Here's a picture of Bob devouring his burger:

Then, in the evening, to cap off our relaxing weekend, we watched Casablanca. I think it was the first time I've seen the movie all the way through, and it is probably the quinessential classic movie, so it was a great experience. The only glitch was that there were 3 minutes in the middle that refused to play...I guess since we got the movie free from the library, we can't complain, but it was frustrating.

So, that was our retreat-weekend at home. I feel like we made the best of a disappointing weekend, and thoroughly relaxed like we haven't done in too long. We are glad that at least we weren't stuck on a mountain road in the snow for the weekend! :)

Quotables - the stuff of life

"The great danger facing all of us...is that some day we may wake up and find that we have been busy with husks and trappings of life and have really missed life itself. That is what one prays one's friends may be spared--satisfaction with a life that...has in it no tingle or thrill that comes from a friendship with the Father."
--Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), Sermons
Quoted in He Loves Me! by Wayne Jacobsen