A lot of my cooking these days is being influenced by Heidi Swanson’s cookbook, Super Natural Every Day, which I happily added to my bulging cookbook shelf this past Christmas.

She frequently mixes whole grains into her cooking, so I’ve added a few more to my pantry and am trying to add them in here and there.

My friend, Micaiah, told me to roast grapes with my brussel sprouts along with a little olive oil, thyme and balsamic vinegar.

We loved the results!  I made a TON of them one night for dinner so I made this salad up that I ate for lunch the next two days.

I used winter wheat berries, arugula and a citrus vinaigrette to turn all these ingredients into a meal (or at least a satisfying lunch!) for Taido and me.

I loved how it turned out and I am certain I’ll be repeating this combination soon.

Warm Winter Salad with Brussel Sprouts

1 pound brussel sprouts

1 cup grapes

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon dried thyme (or a couple of tablespoons fresh)

dash of balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup dried winter wheat berries, boiled in 2 quarts water for 20 minutes or until soft, then drained

6-12 ounces arugula

Toss brussel sprouts and grapes with oil, vinegar, thyme, salt and pepper.  Roast on parchment lined baking sheet at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes.  Stir once or twice while cooking.

Toss the warm brussel sprouts with the wheat berries, arugula and citris vinaigrette.  Serve immediately.

Citrus Vinaigrette

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon or lime juice

1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons honey

1 shallot, chopped

2 tablespoons fresh tarragon (optional)

1/2 teaspoon dried basil (optional)

1 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and use a blender or immersion blender to emulsify.

Note, I added the herbes because I had them handy and thought they would be yummy.  I loved the taste of the tarragon, but you could use any almost any avaialable herbes or omit them entirely.

Enjoy!

A sweet friend who knows me well put City of Tranquil Light in my hands over a month ago and when I texted her early this morning saying I had finished it and loved it so, so much, she replied,

I knew you would love it.

I read a lot of books.  I read stories that fascinate me and histories that teach me.  I read facts that inform me about food and my body.  I read novels for book club that are fun and that take me away from my current surroundings.

But this book.

This book is one of those stories that I feel like I am a better person for having read.  Because the characters, Will and Katherine, who lived more life in ten of their years than I have lived in almost forty, are now a part of my heart, I expect and hope that I will be improved by their influence.

The books is a novel, but the author based the story on her grandparents’ history as missionaries in China in the early 1900s.  Bo Caldwell’s vivid writing strongly evokes the sights, sounds and smells of this time and country. I feel as though I have actually been to China and back in the last few days.

Towards the end, I could not put it down.  And yet I did not want to read it too quickly either and gloss other Will and Katherine’s experiences without digesting each one.  However, I think that this is what life was like, tumultuous events one of top of the other without time to recover in between.

I hope with all my heart that my life with Taido will mirror the story of Will and Katherine in some small way. Their sweet tenderness towards one another is as compelling as their faith and devotion to living and working in China.  In the end their love for each other is what truly makes the story so beautiful.

I am certain that there will be tears at yoga this morning as I think of it all over again.

My church hosts this class once or twice a year called Talk It Out.  And I want to invite you to be a part of it.

It’s a class for anyone who wants to learn more about race issues inside and outside of the church.

The provided reading and listening material alone is worth the effort to participate in the class, but nothing can take the place of the unrehearsed, impromptu but guided discussions you will have face to face with someone who is different from you.

To say that hearing a brother or sister alongside whom I now worship tell a story from his or her own experience is eye-opening is to grossly understate the experience.  It is heart opening.  It is nothing short of life changing.  It is the fuel we need in our souls to stay hard on the path of seeing the church become a reconciled body of Christ.

Each Talk It Out class is as different as the people who attend it.  The memories you take from a simple gathering together with others for a meager four sessions are greatly varied but consistently meaningful.

For me, the moment I remember most vividly was learning that it is common practice today in some neighborhoods that if you are an African American trying to sell your home, you would be asked by a realtor to you hide all evidence that black people live in your house. 

Really?

Put away your family photos.  Take down art that might seem ethnic.

Really?

For some reason, it was this experience that stayed with me even longer than stories of growing up in segregated schools.  I think the reason for this is that it happened just recently.  In my lifetime, in the day I (we) live in, right now, people don’t want to buy a house because the race of the owner is different from their own.  Because this story happened right across from me and I could not alleviate its pain or take it away, I was ultimately most moved by it.  Even now as I remember her telling it, I feel the sting of how much I hated its truth.  I cringe.  It was something I wanted to look away from.

I did not know it at the time, but the part of Talk It Out that I needed was a tangible understanding that I don’t have to live with these kinds of common insults because I am white.  I will not ever have to explain to my children that I’m taking their pictures down because someone won’t want to buy our house if they see them.

There is a name for this collection of concerns that I don’t carry with me every day of my life.  This not having to think about race.  It is called white privilege.  I didn’t earn it and I can’t give it back, but it is as real as the chair I am sitting in.

Because I have it, I can look away.  I can turn my head. I can choose to not listen to the stories.  I can try to pretend that there is no such thing as racism in America.

But this mission, this most worthy journey of all people being reconciled in Christ Jesus, calls me to keep looking.  To keep listening.  To stop pretending.

In an ideal world, I would like to do a recap of the weekend on my blog every Monday so that I could always remember a few of the moments we spend with family and friends.  The weekends fly by at our house and then the kids are off in a flash to school, leaving all kinds of mess in their wake.

It takes me a couple of days just to catch my breath (and do all the laundry), so I miss the opportunity to stop and just savor.  To hold on to a memory or two from our days at home.

But since it’s Tuesday, not Monday, I figure I’ll be behind all week and I might as well enjoy the unusually warm air and sunshine on this seventeenth day of the new year.

We started the weekend with celebrating Vitara’s 18th birthday.  She is our exchange student from Indonesia.  We had a family dinner one night and then she had lots of friends over on Saturday.

We made about 10 pans of enchiladas and Mary Polly made a giant bowl of guacamole.  Plus chips and salsa of course!

The American students insisted the exchange students see Napoleon Dynamite, which we had to agree is a classic must-see for American teenagers.  Simon and Ben were thrilled with the movie choice as they both have a special appreciation for this film that encapsulates what it’s like to live with their brother.

Saturday night, Mary Polly and I got dressed up to go out for a special girls’ date with some of our bestest friends for dessert at the Capital Hotel.  We had a blast getting dressed up and laughing together.  We ordered four different desserts and practically licked the plates clean.

Mary Polly and her friend, Kindell are over halfway through the seventh grade, and since that year was so very difficult in my own life, we are celebrating just getting through!  Mary Polly and I went and bought shoes to go with her dress and it was our very first shopping experience together that did not end badly.  No tears from either of us!  Fingers crossed, but I think we might be on the downhill slide!

At church on Sunday we celebrated the ways we are different from one another and the progress our church has made in 16 years on the road to being multi-racial.  Also we talked about how far we have to go.

I got to sing in the choir which is one of my most favoritest things! We sang a simple chorus called Let the Walls Come Down that will be in my heart in days ahead.  Daddy preached and it was beautiful.  I so much appreciate his heart for issues of race in the church.

Then yesterday was Martin Luther King, Jr Day.  Taido did some writing.  I did some reading.  One of my favorite teachers keeps me up to date on new books for kids and her class is reading Peace, Locomotion this week.  It’s a sweet, sweet book of letters from an older brother to a younger sister written while they are both residing in separate foster homes.

Also, I made it to a new yoga class (check that off the New Year’s list!), most of us went to the park and played and there was even some box sledding.  Hooray for getting out and moving in January!

And of course, no weekend is complete around here without a round or two of Settlers of Catan.  Buying this game for Ben’s birthday last spring was the best investment I’ve made in years!

Hope your weekend was lovely and that there is sunshine in your Tuesday!

For our anniversary, Taido and I had a chance to get away at the end of December to Hot Springs, courtesy of some really wonderful folks. (Thanks Jim and June for giving us a wonderful place to stay!  And thank you to the many many folks who kept kids for us!)

We looked out over the lake, read books, ate wonderful food, watched movies and just enjoyed being together.

I love that our anniversary falls at the end of the year because if we take a little time to celebrate, we get to spend some of those precious hours alone talking about what we’re thankful for from the year before as well as what we’re hoping and dreaming for in the year ahead.

One of the many things I wrote down as we brainstormed hopes, dreams and goals is that we want to try to go out together once a month.

Lots of couples we know have a weekly date night, but somehow we have barely managed quarterly ones over the last 17 years.  So, once a month seemed like a good balance for us.

So for an anniversary gift, I gave Taido 12 envelopes filled with promises for dates in the coming year.  (I totally stole this idea from Whitney, who gave this to my brother for Christmas.)  I thought it was a precious handmade gift idea, and now we have a physical reminder to push us to actually get out of the house sans children.

I’m so thankful for 17 years with Taido and I look forward not just to our once a month dates but to all the crazy in-between.  For better or worse.

The running kids around, the meeting at soccer and football games, the piles of laundry, the epic road trips, the buckets of camping gear in the garage, the coffee in the morning, the quesadillas in the evening, the helping with homework, the runs to the store for posterboards or glue sticks, the discussing of books, the fighting in the dark, the making up by the light of day, the hoping like crazy for our kids to do great, the wishing to Jesus that they would just survive, the weeks in the mountains, the months in the valleys and every little moment of time that is us.

For all this and so much more, I am more than thankful.

And for whatever comes, here’s to us.

*photo by Whitney Loibner

As you gave the ring to one another and have now received it a second time from the hand of the pastor, so love comes from you, but marriage from above, from God.  As high as God is above man, so high are the sanctity, the rights, and the promise of love.  It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.

a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

UPDATE:
We sold 625 cupcakes and raised $1317 today for charities the kids picked out!

We’re both super excited and super tired tonight!!

Our Cupcakes for a Cause sale starts officially at 3pm.

Come on by for a cupcake ($2) and hot cocoa (50 cents).

We’re so excited!

You can find out lots more info about our cupcakes here.

Taido and I have been eating many variations of this salad over the years, ever since we first had Chinese Chicken Salad at the Cheesecake Factory in Chicago, many, many years ago.

I used to deep fry rice noodles to get that crunch on the top like you get in a restaurant, but this healthier version has evolved in which the crunchy element is sliced almonds.  It’s also a lot simpler.

I also love and frequently make The Barefoot Contessa’s Chinese Chicken Salad, but again, this version is easy.

It is quick to throw together and always gathers compliments.  In fact, I’m posting it today per request of a sweet friend.

Chinese Chicken Salad

Ingredients

6-8 cups spinach

2 avocados, cut into 1/2 inch chunks

1/4 – 1/2 cup sliced almonds

2 cups green beans, lightly blanched (still crunchy) then rinsed in cold water

6 clementines, peeled and sectioned

2 grilled chicken breasts

Dressing

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

2 tablespoons honey

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon salt

Mix dressing with an immersion blender.  Combine salad ingredients.  Toss with dressing just before serving.

Enjoy!

My kitchen is covered in cookies today.

If you need a few all wrapped up for gifts, give me a holler.

Or you could make some yourself!  They are so yummy and happy!

Tomorrow I will be turning all my baking efforts solely to…

the cupcakes!

Over half of our cupcakes are already sold, so get your order in soon!

alisonchino at gmail dot com

Martha Stewart’s Sugar Cookies

Makes about 16 large cookies

Ingredients:

4  cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/2  teaspoon salt

1  teaspoon baking powder

1  cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2  cups sugar

2   large eggs

2  teaspoons pure vanilla extractor 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice and zest of 2 lemons

Directions:

In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs.

Add flour mixture, and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla or lemon juice and zest. Wrap dough in plastic; chill for about 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 325°. On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets; refrigerate until firm, 15 minutes. Bake until edges just start to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks; decorate as desired.

Enjoy!

I did a demonstration on Monday for an appetizer you can take to a holiday event that requires no cooking.

Just chop and assemble.  So easy.  And it’s Christmas colors!

Shrimp Dip

Ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese, softened

10 oz shrimp cocktail sauce

6-8 oz already cooked salad shrimp

½ green bell pepper chopped

2-3 small tomatoes, chopped

8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Spread cream cheese on a platter.

Layer other ingredients.

Begin with shrimp and cocktail sauce.

Add bell pepper and tomatoes.

Top with mozzarella cheese.

Serve with Ritz crackers

Here are a few things I put on my list today.

Covering my parents’ kitchen with crayon art, 8 gingerbread houses and 125 mini chocolate peppermint cupcakes.

Seeing my brother and my daughter work together on a project.

Tara making her first gingerbread house.

Time for trying to copy things from Pinterest.

Talking about celebrating Advent as a family with other women.

Watching a roomful of parents and children decorate cookies and then show them off to each other.

Teaching friends how to make an easy appetizer for the holidays. (Recipe coming soon!)

Reading one of my favorite Christmas stories aloud to Mamas who are learning to celebrate Christmas with little ones.

Showing off Mary Polly’s homemade nativity.  (You can make one too with this free printable! Start collecting empty toilet paper rolls.)

140 cupcakes already pre-ordered!

photo by Whitney Loibner