Life as I know it

Since I haven't written on here in forever, I thought I'd write a bit of an update, for those friends I rarely see and keep up with through their blogs! Though I'd much rather curl up at Starbucks with an iced coffee or on a walk on the Huck (like many of us have done together in the past! lots of great memories and conversations on that trail), this will have to suffice for now!

We are "home" from Australia now since December 12th. I write home in quotes because it feels a bit like we don't have a home at the moment (though I find myself calling wherever we're staying for any length of time "home"). We are living with Jordan's brother in the Short Pump area, which has been really nice. He has been really gracious to have us and it's been really fun - a time we probably won't have again. Usually when we're in Richmond we have lived with our parents (during support raising), but it's always a difficult place for us to get a lot of work done because it feels like we're reverting back to our childhood going back to our old rooms!

For those of you who don't know, we've now left staff with Campus Crusade - now Cru. We are pursuing opening up a restaurant in Blacksburg in the next few months. We're in the process of putting together a team of investors first, which is why we're here in Richmond! This has been an idea for a few years but now that it's happening, it's been a hard transition for me. We absolutely loved our time on staff with Cru, and I'm so glad it's now part of our life story and the experiences we had will influence our choices and ministry for the rest of our lives. But because there was no negative thing that happened that caused us to want to leave, it's really sad at times. I think it's probably because of re-entry stress, plus leaving staff, plus starting something new and really stressful, plus in a sense being homeless…I've been pretty down the past few months. Therefore blogging has definitely not been something I've been interested in doing.

However, this week was a really great one! With Anne Parker having her sweet baby Lucy this week, I have been so happy every day, just remembering how much more there is to life, and that this transition time that God has us in for the time being is so temporary. I don't know if any of you guys ever feel like this, but I have a tendency to get so wrapped up in wherever I am RIGHT now. Sometimes this is a good thing, like when I'm enjoying nature, or time with a good friend, and it's like there's nothing else in the world. But sometimes this can be very bad, like right now, when I see only difficulty, and risk, and gosh darn it, Lord, I did this whole instability thing for you for a year and now I just want normal! And I want my stuff back, too! And instead of embracing where I am right now, and just realizing this is a season, and that there is good and bad, I pout. A lot. Thankfully this week I've been realizing the err of my ways (or more like I've become willing to try and give over my ways to the Lord and correct them).

Anne Parker with baby Lucy!

Anyway, that was a lot of journal-blogging, which makes me nervous since this is a public blog! But I'm saying this so that you, women in my life who love me, know, and can hold me accountable! And can love me :) I know, I'm so needy!

On another note, since I usually just do recipes and things like that on here, I've been cooking a ton so we'll see if I can get around to posting some of those things! Maybe one day I'll get my act together and have a full-out cooking blog! Too much else going on though right now, so I'll leave it to sporadic posts and updates about life and the restaurant. I love reading you guys' blogs and hearing about where God's taking you in your lives!

Love, Jess

Duke's

Jordan and I have this really weird love. It's for Duke's Mayonnaise. It's made in our hometown, it's "the secret of great southern cooks," and we think it's just delicious. Especially my lovely husband. So knowing of this love, my mom decided to send us some mayo to cheer us up (haha) in Australia. This was probably back in February. Well, our mayo was quarantined by the Australian government because apparently our eggs might contaminate the whole country and therefore we were to never enjoy our favorite sandwich condiment. 

However, my mom's lovely best friend found out about this, and similarly to us, was outraged! You see, her father was a chicken farmer and therefore made his living off of eggs and other chicken products. When she heard that Australia didn't appreciate our eggs, she and her father set out to hatch a plan (ha) to get us some of this tasty spread. After some time of scheming, they determined they would wrap the mayo as Easter presents, packaged inside an larger Easter box, in an Easter tin (I know, I should have posted this months ago). But they got extra sneaky (and to prevent them from having to lie when stating what was in the package - smart and honest people that they are!) and included a decoy in the box too. An unwrapped, unashamed mayo that would inevitably be a sacrifice for the other mayos to make it to us unquarantined. 

Well, for some reason I guess the box inspectors were feeling lazy that day and all three containers (the decoy and the two Easter presents) made it to us! We were so shocked and excited because they hadn't revealed their plan to us before sending the package! I wanted to properly recognize their heroic acts to get my desperate husband his Duke's. This week we have finished the last container and I think we both died inside a bit when we bought a new jar of sub-par Australian mayonnaise that most certainly is not the secret of great Southern cooks. And for the record, our eggs have definitely not contaminated this country.

Green Apple and Bleu Grilled Cheese

I made this sandwich the other night for us when I had a bit of bleu cheese leftover. They were really tasty and though this isn't as much of a recipe as it is a suggestion of a flavor combination, I thought they were good enough to share! The side salad is simply the same ingredients from the sandwiches, just made into a salad with some chopped pecans and a drizzle of olive oil and red wine vinegar. Hope you enjoy these if you try them - and are inspired to be creative with ingredients you have on hand!

APPLE AND BLEU GRILLED CHEESE


Ingredients:
Slices of sourdough or other artisan bread
Thin apple slices
Shredded Mozzarella cheese
Crumbled Bleu Cheese
Mayo, if desired
Salt and Pepper
Arugula
Butter (I would use spray butter if I was at home since it has zero calories but grills well)

Build sandwiches by spreading bread with a thin layer of mayo and sprinkling with salt and pepper. Add desired amount of mozzarella cheese, bleu cheese, and top with apple slices and arugula. Spread (or spray!) butter on the outside and grill. :)

Sky Deck + George

Like I said before, Jordan's friend George has been visiting. He's now in Sydney and will be traveling more before he comes back to Melbourne in a couple weeks, but here's a few pictures from last Sunday! We went to the Queen Vic Market and the Sky Deck. It was a really nice day and it was fun to do something we hadn't done before. That seems to happen more when people come visit us!

Obviously disgusted at the pig parts at the market

I love me a good ox tongue - and at such an affordable price! YUCK!

Love this of them on the tram

Beautiful St. Pauls. The centre of the city.

So glad for George to visit!

Get excited about the Sky Deck!

Loved the side of this building!

Never knew the bay was so close! Can't usually see it. 

From the 88th floor. Last picture before my camera died. :(

Sugar Cookie Bar Variations: Strawberry Kiwi Sugar Cookie Cupcakes

As promised, here's the other variation on the sugar cookie bars that I've made. I'm sure you could come up with many other awesome desserts using this dough, too! I love a great, versatile recipe I can get creative with while being sure I'll come out with a great product.

This "recipe" is one I'm writing right now. When I made this, I used some extra dough from the big batch of pink sugar cookie bars I made and ended up with 6 "cupcakes". But I didn't take notes as I made these, so it's really more of a guess as to how many of these babies you'll actually end up with. If you make this, let me know how many this recipe made and I'll update this post! Side note: I took this dessert over to my neighbor's house for dinner since she's Muslim and needed to eat something halal. Though most desserts you probably make are halal since it mainly refers to how meat products (gelatin is included in this) are dealt with, it's good to know if you're ever in the same situation as me!

Again, you could top these with any fruit you wanted, but I like the contrast of the red and green together. I guess you could even deem these appropriate for a Christmas event? Maybe they're too summery. Christmas in the summer here confuses my normal thinking about it. I've been anticipating it because of the cold for months now.

STRAWBERRY KIWI SUGAR COOKIE CUPCAKES

Makes approximately 6 cupcakes, easily doubled for more

Ingredients

For the cookie base:

1/4 cup butter (or 1/2 stick)

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp baking powder

For topping:

About 4 oz. or 1/2 block of cream cheese, softened

1 to 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 kiwi

3 - 4 large strawberries

Directions

Grease the muffin cups with butter. For the cookie base, cream sugar and butter together in large bowl on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Mix in egg, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Blend in vanilla. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda. *Note: I like to do this step in a wire mesh strainer hooked to the top of my mixing bowl so that it sifts the flour at the same time, but you could also do it in separate bowl.* Add flour mixture to wet ingredients on low speed until just incorporated.

Press dough into muffin cups, about half of the way full. Bake them at 350 F for about 10 minutes. You will need to keep an eye on these because I don't remember how long I actually cooked them. Just make sure the edges are a bit browned and center is mostly set. If it's a little soft still that's probably good if you're like me and enjoy soft chewy cookies. Let fully cool before frosting.

For the topping, blend together the softened cream cheese, vanilla extract, and 1 cup confectioners sugar. Add more sugar as needed to reach desired consistency and taste. Frost cupcakes with the sweetened cream cheese. Dice up a kiwi and a few strawberries and use them for topping. Eat the leftovers, they're good for you. :)

PS: this post is my first one that I've "scheduled"! I feel like a real live blogger!