Cooking, cooking, cooking.....

Whew, I don't think I have ever cooked so much in a short amount of time. It is 11:30pm right now and I have made three different dishes since around 9:30pm. I know very late, but there is a reason. We are going to Columbus tomorrow to visit with some good friends of ours from church who just had a baby, 4 weeks early. I wanted to make some food to take up for them. So after Sabbath we ran to the store so I could get some items and I have made three different things, all my own recipes I guess you could say. Here there are.

Vegetable Lasagna

1 box of lasagna noodles
1 large jar of tomato sauce (I used Prego)
Spinach
Zucchini
Ricotta cheese
Shredded cheese

I boiled the noodles and then started the layering. Sauce to cover the bottom of the dish first. In between each layer of noodles I put spinach, zucchini, ricotta and a little bit of shredded cheese on one layer. I did about 4 layers and then on the top I put the rest of the sauce and some shredded cheese.

I think I am going to cut it in half because it turned out huge and they might get scared with so much food, lol!Plus I want to taste it too! :P

The next thing I made was Veggie "Chicken" Noodle Soup

2 quarts of water
2 bags of Amish style noodles
4 TBS of McKay's chicken style flavoring
2 cans of Fri-chik
Carrots

I diced the fri-chik and the carrots, added all the ingredients together and simmered for about 15-30 minutes. And I did save some for us, plus taste it! It was pretty good!! :)

The last dish I made is a family secret potato recipe that I have been sworn into secrecy for by David's mom. But I will say there are only 3 ingredients and that includes the potatoes. It is always a hit anywhere I take it. When our friend was pregnant one of the only things she could tolerate was potatoes, so I made this dish for church pot-lucks so she would have something to eat.

So if you ever want to taste it, I guess you will have to come on over! ;)

Day 6: London

Today was the day we were to fly to Syria. No doubt you have heard about the closing of all the air space in Great Britain and now many other parts of Europe because of the volcano in Iceland spewing a combination of glass, sand and rock which is catastrophic to airplane engines flying through it. We learned first thing this morning that our flight this afternoon was canceled and that we are rescheduled for Monday. We are hopeful but it is entirely possible that that flight could be canceled as well. It all depends on the volcano and this plume of stuff moving south and east at about 25 miles per hour.

So we unexpectedly have a weekend in London to do as we please. More to come.

Day 5: Oxford to London

Thursday night I ate alone at 4500 Miles from Delhi, a very nice Indian restaurant right around the corner from our hotel. Eating alone in a restaurant is not my favorite activity but I think of it as a survival skill I have had to learn. My favorite place to eat alone is at a bar, preferably in front of the people who are cooking my food or a friendly bar tender. The activity gives me something to do. I never bring a book with me: I believe that eating alone gives me the chance to taste my food and if I’m reading I will be distracted from appreciating it. What’s more, I have always thought that a woman reading while eating her dinner looks a bit pathetic. I don’t want to generate sympathy. I want to have fun and enjoy myself and tell myself stories about the people eating around me.

That said, the dinner at the Indian place was really very pleasant, even though it didn’t satisfy my preferences when eating alone. I was seated at a table looking out toward Park End Street. There was a family sitting in front of me; two Indian fellows, one of whom had his cell phone glued to his ear; a table of four and a table of two women—plenty to keep me occupied. I started with Poppadoms served with four chutneys; moved along to Aloo Tikki, fried potatoes cakes stuffed with peas; and finally Chooza Makhni, tandoor chicken in a delicious tomato sauce with some Garlic and Coriander Naan. A glass of house Merlot. The family finished eating, paid their bill and left the restaurant. A few minutes later I saw the four of them on the top level of a bus as it drove by. I thought to myself: When have I ever seen a family of four in the US riding a bus home after dinner in a nice restaurant? Isn’t that true?

Now jump to Friday. We packed up our bags to come back to London. I set out for a nice walk through Oxford one last time, looking for a place to have lunch. I had noticed several places selling pies with various savoury fillings. In a covered market just off High Street, I found a nice shop called Pieminister and ordered a lamb and mint pie which was served with gravy. The crust was not as flaky as I would have liked and the filling didn’t have much lamb or any mint that I could detect. But what I liked most about the experience was catching sight of two students next to me eating their pies in the traditional way: with mashed potatoes, gravy, a mound of mushy peas on top and a dollop of ketchup on the side.

We took the train to London later in the day and had a lovely dinner with friends at their home—such a nice change from eating in restaurants. The food they prepared was beautiful, fresh and delicious. Thank you, David and Sarah.