A Wonderful Saturday!

This has been an all around great Saturday! 

Initially I didn't like the thought of Chris going to play basketball at 8:00 (he usually plays at 1:00 on Saturdays), but it ended up working out perfectly! First of all, it helped me get up and moving a little sooner than I would have if we were both able to sleep in. I was able to do some reading {One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp - great book!}, eat breakfast, and get brownies in the oven before getting to talk with my wonderful Aunt Brooks (mom's sister) who lives in Colorado and my Grandma Heard who's visiting for awhile. It was soo nice to finally have a skype video chat with them! Technology is a wonderful thing!

Lookin' good you two!

My Dad called in the middle of our chat, and we attempted to 3 way video chat. That last all but 15 seconds before we decided I'd just call him back :)

Love you Papa!

After skyping with my Dad {and Karen and Steve (new dog)} I had just enough time to put together sandwiches and a bag to take down to the pool to meet Chris there on his way home from basketball. I made the chicken salad last night, so it would be ready to go for today. I made it for the first time two weeks ago and it was brought back by request :) We both love all the different flavors and crunchiness of it all! I got the recipe from allrecipes.com if you're interested. I just substituted apple for celery and added slivered almonds - yummm.

Click here for the recipe!

Chris and I have been trying to make it to the pool at least once a weekend. Not necessarily to swim, but to get some much needed vitamin D. It's always hot here, but we don't really see the sun that often and it's often covered by "smogginess". We walk to school at 6:15 and usually get home between 4:00 and 5:00 depending on after school activities. The sun sets at 6:00 every day, so it's nice to get some sun while relaxing -- it's much more welcomed than on our typical sweaty walk home. 

Our simple picnic consisted of chicken salad sandwiches, cokes, chips, and brownie s'mores (and some carrots for me). 

I saw some red velvet cupcakes on Pintrest that used marshmallows as "frosting" and thought that sounded like a great idea. But then my friend Jenna posted a recipe using brownies instead and making them like s'mores! She added graham crackers on top to make them even more like s'mores, but I didn't have any. Check out her awesome blog and more detailed recipe at Northwest Nightingale.

The poor guy on the right fell victim to the oven. He was salvaged. . . just a little extra crunchy.

We made it back from the pool just in time to watch the rain from INSIDE our apartment. A recent addiction of ours is watching the show Lie to Me. We've never really gotten into watching a weekly TV show, but this one has us hooked! We can watch it when and wherever we want {and as many episodes as we want! shhh ;) }. Our favorite things is to go into our spare bedroom and open all the blinds so we can watch on a comfy bed, while also listening and seeing the rain crashing down outside. It's a good combo. 

We have just as much fun analyzing the characters in the show as Dr. Lightman has analyzing the suspects!

After all that fun, we now have to get to work. Lessons to plan, papers to grade, dishes (that I wish could do themselves), and dinner. All thing considered. . . great Saturday! 

Wishing the best of saturdays to you too!

June 8th

June 8th is a special day.

First of all, it's our "date-aversary"-- Chris and I will have been dating 

{yes, we're still dating!} for 5 years! 

we look like babies! {first date - so happy}

 Here's just a quick little memory of that infamous bridge that 

made our first date so memorable. 

{aka, the "bridge that I slipped and fell on my butt into the water on" bridge}

However, I wasn't just randomly thinking about June 8th today. 

It also happens to be our last day of school, and the day we get to FLY HOME for the SUMMER! 

It also happens to be exactly 4 months from today {yep, I'm counting}

I've been pricing roundtrip flights from Jakarta to Portland since December, and I'm still not happy with the results. A friend here who flies into Oregon as well said she's never paid more than $1300 (three different times) but we are NOT finding those kind of deals :( I've been told to wait it out, be patient, and not buy them more than 4 months in advance. I've been looking through travelocity, and other similar websites. As of tonight, the best deal I've seen [including taxes and fees] is $1729!!!! YIKES! We're praying for lower prices. We're coming home no matter what, but would definitely like to find the best deal possible. I'm no expert at flight finding, but I'm not just gonna settle for that!

Does anybody out there who's reading this know any great flight finding tips or good websites to use? We would love any help that you can send our way :)

Just in case you find yourself with extra time on your hands, or want to test out your deal finding skills. . . here's what we're looking for :) 

2 roundtrip tickets from Jakarta (CGK) to Portland (PDX)

Departing June 8th (has to be in the evening)

Returning July 15th or 16th (way too short of a summer break if you ask us!)

Let me know if you have any leads! :)

It Rains here. . .

. . . and at REALLY unfortunate times. Like right when you need to leave school and have a 20 minute walk home. We got a little bit soaked. I'm really bummed I didn't have the camera with me on the walk, or there would be some way better shots!

Showing off his only dry spots. . .

Mirror picture! {Friday is theme shirt day}

I was a little bummed that I was wearing a black skirt because you can't tell how wet it was. . . until Chris captured the wringing out process. Look closely!

Oh, and we did have an umbrella. . .

Rice Paper Cold Rolls

I finally gave these a go! I was inspired to try them after I tasted some that a friend made. They sure don't look professional quality, but they taste yummy and are really easy!

They make a great snack, lunch, or dinner, depending on what you fill them with and how many you want to make. I just used cucumbers, carrots, and chicken.

Step 1: Slice up your veggies

Step 2: Cook the chicken [ I cooked it with a little soy sauce, salt, and pepper ]

Step 3: When the chicken has been cooked and all your stuffings are prepared, it's time for the rice wraps.  They start out very brittle with a cross-hatch pattern.

Step 4: Fill a plate [that has a rim] with water. Soak the rice paper for about a minute, or until it goes limp and the pattern disappears. Then gently transfer it onto another plate to fill.

Step 5: Load it up, and then fold it burrito style! I drizzled a little soy sauce over the top of the fillings before I rolled it up.

Step 6: Enjoy!

I enjoyed my "fancy" [not really] cold rolls for dinner, while Chris chose a good old fall back of bean and cheese nachos. . .

I promise I'm not making fun of him! Nachos are delicious too , just not as pretty :]

Healthy Substitutions - do things really turn out the same?

I'd always heard that you could substitute applesauce for butter in cookies, but never tried. Several weeks ago Chris wanted chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, and I decided to split the batch in half and try out all the tricks on one half, and keep the other half regular. 

I wan't sure I could buy what people say about them still tasting the same. . . I wanted to know for myself how the "healthy" substitutions actually affected the look and taste of the good old tried and true. 

I made two "healthy" changes to the experimental half:

- applesauce for all the butter

- whole wheat flour for white

- I also added dried cranberries, but that's just cause I like 'em!

Pretty simple changes, but here's the results:

I'm pretty sure you can tell which ones are which. So, obviously the alterations do affect the cookies' appearance. 

And yes, the taste is definitely different. . . BUT. . . I liked the "healthy" ones just as much! They're just different. If you're Chris and craving only the goodness of a regular chocolate chip oatmeal cookie, then anything else just isn't gonna cut it. That's understandable. But to me, the "healthy" ones were moister and had more flavors all together. I couldn't help eating them for breakfast as I told myself how good they were for me ;]  Because of their "health factor" I think I ended up eating more than I would have eaten the regular ones! That probably defeats the purpose I know, but what can I say? I LOVE cookies!!!

I know there are many more alterations/substitutions you can do to "healthify" things. I just wanted to share the one I'd been wondering about lately. 

Take your pick!

"Los Jakartos" White Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chili & Sour Cream Sauce

YUM!

I made these enchiladas last night and boy were they good! I'm including the recipe, because you should probably make them :] Chris said there's no need to try any other recipe again!

I got the recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff - they're always posting delicious looking things!

My notes and additions are added in green :]

White Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chili & Sour Cream Sauce

8 soft flour tortillas

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken [the 2 cups barely filled 7 tortillas so I'd make 3. I also poached my chicken in chicken broth so it would be moist, and added some cumin to give it some extra flavor]

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese 

3 Tbsp. butter

3 Tbsp. flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup sour cream

1 (4 oz) can diced green chillies

1 tsp dried cilantro [didn't have any]

1/2 tsp onion powder [substituted Lawry's]

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

[I also added 1/2 tsp Chili powder and will probably add some jalapenos for Chris next time]

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 pan using non-stick cooking spray.

2. Mix cooked chicken, chili powder [optional] and 1 cup of cheese together.  Roll up in tortillas and place in pan.

3. In a medium sauce pan, melt butter, stir in flour and cook 1 minute.  Add broth and whisk until smooth.  Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly.  

4. Stir in sour cream, can of chilies, cilantro, black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.  Make sure that you don't bring this to a boil- you don't want to have curdled sour cream!

5. Pour over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.

6. Bake 20-22 minutes and then place under high broil for 3 min to brown the cheese.

From Chris:

It is a well known fact that husbands around the world often times lie, especially in their first year of marriage, about how good the food "actually" is.  I have received permission from my pastor to do so :)  However, I am not lying when I say that these enchiladas were restaurant quality watch out LaHacienda kind of enchiladas.  Katie did not ask me for this note in her blog, I demanded a little space so I could let you all know that it tastes even better than it looks.  Dinner, lunch, and dinner again for me.  Not by necessity, by choice! Good work Katie~

First Week Back in Grade 1

I just realized that I hadn't posted much about school or my classroom lately, and the first week back happened to be a pretty fun one! 

The main project we worked on was Box Friends! I saved all of our boxes over Christmas break so the kids could start right away on Monday designing their own personal Box Friend. The point of the activity is to encourage creative thinking and writing. We spent one day painting all of the boxes black, and then the next day was devoted to decoration. 

There weren't many rules because I wanted to see their imaginations. They just had to have a name, a face, and be a character. For example, if they made an airplane, it still had to have a character. . . think Thomas the Tank Engine - if only I could have used that example to explain it to them. I am now old enough to "date myself" by referring to things in my childhood. . . sad day.

my example is the one on the right with the blue hair and green skirt :]

Here are several close-ups

This next week, they will be writing character bios and imaginative stories. At the end, they'll get a chance to stand up and share their stories and box friends with the class. I'm excited to see what they come up with!

And here was our art project of the week:

Fireworks drawn with oil pastels, then covered with black watercolor paint 

These were so fun, and I think they turned out awesome! Probably my favorite art piece we've done so far this year!

Close-ups:

Ta-Dah! 

They are now displayed proudly on our class bulletin board!