Mahlzeit, comida, and भोजन

Around the world at dinner! We've had three fabulous international meals lately with friends and family.

German fare with Caitie and Aysha
Good food and company! Caitie's family does German food at home, so the recipe was nostalgic.

German beef rouladen (c/o C and A, example here) - the king of meat dishes!


German potato salad - super tasty
3 pounds medium red potatoes
5 bacon strips, diced (we used turkey bacon)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1-1/4 cups sugar
1 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup water
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Boil potatoes. Drain and cool. Place in fridge to chill. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp; using a slotted spoon, remove to paper towels. Drain, reserving 4 tablespoons drippings. In the drippings, saute onion until tender.
Stir in the flour, salt, celery seed and pepper until blended. Gradually add the sugar, vinegar and water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
Cut potatoes into 1/4-in. slices. Add potatoes and bacon to the skillet; cook and stir gently over low heat until heated through. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve warm.


Apple studel - dangerously delicious ;)
2 tablespoons butter $
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice $
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt $
6 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced (about 2 1/2 pounds) $
2 sheets frozen puff pastry dough, thawed
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons granulated sugar $

Preheat oven to 400°. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in brown sugar, juice, cinnamon, salt, and apples. Cover, reduce heat, and cook 10 minutes or until apples are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove apples from pan; cool. Roll pastry to a 15 x 12–inch rectangle. Spoon apple mixture along 1 long edge of pastry; roll up jelly-roll fashion. (This got pretty hard to do without breaking the pastry sheet. We used both sheets to try to seal up the roll.) Gently press seam to seal. Sprinkle strudel with the nut and sugar, pressing gently. Place strudel on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400° for 25 minutes or until golden. Let stand 5 minutes; slice.


Cafe Rio with Palermos
We end of making this crazy delicious spread twice a year, for fun dinners. Cafe Rio includes sweet pork cooked in root beer, pico de gallo, cilantro lime rice, spicy black beans, lettuce, cheese, and, of course, cilantro ranch dressing. Simply incredible. You can make salads for days afterwards, or add in burritos if you prefer. The only glitch this time was the jalapeno-slicing-then-burning-of-our-hands for 36 hours afterwards. We tried sour cream, milk, vinegar, alcohol, vaseline, olive oil, diaper rash cream, and a few other items to try to relieve the pain - to no avail. GLOVES next time. :/

Thanks to my amazing sis-in-law Ash for the recipes (THE REAL recipes, per Ash). I am not sure if I'm allowed to share them online, but if you want a copy, email me!

Late-night Indian food (a first!)
We tried this for the first time and fell in love. Definitely again, soon. This recipe came from our friends the Sniders.


Chana Masala

Good-quality olive oil
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garam masala
3 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
1 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
1 Tbs cilantro leaves, roughly torn, plus more for garnish
A pinch of cayenne, or to taste
2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
6-8 Tbs plain whole-milk yogurt, optional
A few lemon wedges, optional

Sautee onion over medium heat in large pot, stirring frequently, until it is deeply caramelizedand even charred in some spots. Be patient. The more color, the more
full-flavored the final dish will be.

Reduce the heat to low. Add the garlic, stirring, and add a bit more
oil if the pan seems dry. Add the cumin seeds, coriander, ginger, garam
masala, and cardamom pods, and fry them, stirring constantly, until
fragrant and toasty, about 30 seconds. Add ¼ cup water, and stir to
scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until the
water has evaporated away completely. Pour in the juice from can of
tomatoes, followed by the tomatoes themselves, using your hands to
break them apart as you add them; alternatively, add them whole and
crush them in the pot with a potato masher. Add the salt.

Raise the heat to medium, and bring the pot to a boil. Reduce the heat
to low, add the cilantro and cayenne, and simmer the sauce gently,
stirring occasionally, until it reduces a bit and begins to thicken.
Taste, and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Add the chickpeas,
stirring well, and cook over low heat for about five minutes. Add 2 Tbs
water, and cook for another five minutes. Add another 2 Tbs water, and
cook until the water is absorbed, a few minutes more. This process of
adding and cooking off water helps to concentrate the sauce?s flavor
and makes the chickpeas more tender and toothsome. Taste, and adjust
the seasoning as necessary.

Stir in the yogurt, if you like, or garnish with lemon wedges and
cilantro. Serve.

Dealing with a Racist Past

It's one of those things we just don't talk about enough. The racist past of my church, my state, my country. Not to mention the current racism that exists in all those places.

Growing up in the deep South, Mississippi, I was aware of slavery...I was aware of our ugly history of lynching and human rights violations... I was aware of segregation, forced in the past and the current cultural kind. The whole thing made me sick. How could these things happen? How could anyone justify the things they did or watched happen? I thought, "I'm not that way, not in the least bit." I would get indignant at any over racist statements and try to call people out on them. Although I thought myself more progressive than our prior generations, I was living in the bubble of a private Catholic school where black kids my age were easy to befriend and popular. We grew up with a black housekeeper who kept our home two days a week and we loved. Outside that bubble, there was anger and prejudice in my community. There was racism mixed with poverty, cultural barriers between blacks and whites, and fear.

When I went to college, my surroundings changed significantly. Overnight, I was around well-educated and intelligent people of all races/ethnicities all the time, compared with the desperate poverty and racial divides I saw in my hometown growing up (like black-only neighborhoods). Basically, everyone was similar to me. At the same time, I started an in-depth and wider education of disparity and differences (which continues today and largely drives all that I do in my community). It changed my perspective. When I returned home for breaks, I noticed it...My own racist thoughts...I saw that I looked at blacks differently there than I did in college. Not necessarily mean, but just dismissive. Like the thought, "Of course I don't know them. We're not the type of people that talk to each other." My black friends in college were just more like me, so it was no problem to talk and bond. With the majority of blacks in my hometown, I just didn't talk with them on that level. The whole realization caused me to reexamine my personal issues with race, the ones taught to me by society, by oft-repeated prejudiced statements, by the media. Today, I do not say I am not racist, I say that I am always trying to become better and leave my judgements of others behind. It is a constant process.

As I learn more about my country's racist past in bits and pieces, I am appalled. Recently, we've watched a documentary about the Freedom Riders and The Help, and I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - all amazing and striking a personal chord in my heart. Slavery has lead to an awful cascade of social, emotional, and financial repercussions for black Americans ever since its inception. How can non-blacks judge black Americans without having the same knowledge of institutionalized and overt racism that they deal with their whole lives, and to a higher degree in the South? It makes my head spin to think of it. My life as a middle class white American woman just isn't the same.

When I learned about the LDS church's racist past, particularly the banning of people of African descent from the priesthood and the temple, I was troubled. I learned about it a little at a time, most striking from this article and this podcast. Both are highly recommended! I believe that podcast inspired me to be more honest about these type of issues, and opened my eyes to what it is like to be a black Mormon.

Within the church, we don't talk too much about our former race-based theology, and outside the church, lots of folks tend to cite this theology like a gut-punch. I think it is something we can (and likely should) educate ourselves on, to ensure that it isn't repeated and just for the sake of honest discussions and healing.

The up-to-1978 priesthood ban has been in the news lately. A well-liked religion professor at BYU made some speculative and demeaning statements in the Washington Post, sparking bloggernacle threads to light up. The LDS Church quickly made a statement denouncing his remarks. Online, there have been calls for a disavowal and denouncement of the ban itself, and many folks talking about their reactions to the current discourse. Noteably, Joanna Brooks released a beautiful blog post incorporating her own scholarly study of racism and its harm. I was also touched by Sistas in Zion, who responded with honesty and forgiveness to Bott's hurtful statements.

It is another layer. It is sad to learn about the church I love with a dirty past regarding racial equality, and it is sad still to see these dirty mindsets persist in some leaders and older generations. Would things change if a official disavowal was made? I think the church's statement this past week was a step in the right direction.

I do have hope, that hope grows as we continue to have frank and open discussions about how to heal and purge out personal and institutional racism. How will we know it still exists if we don't ever talk about it?

Spare the Meat!

One of my favorite blogs: http://www.wordofwisdomliving.com/home/meat-sparingly.html

"For our use, we aim to get two-thirds of our protein from plants and just one-third from animal sources...This is equivalent to three servings of meat (excluding two servings of fish) weekly, though we spread it around. Research reported in The China Study suggests this is a healthy level—Americans are reported to eat four times this amount."

We all know American eat way too much meat. (So do Brazilians, accordingly to Aaron.) Direct benefits from cutting down your meat intake to a recommended amount - more $$$; less risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer; decrease environment pollution; and decrease demand which creates less pressure on meat industry to use unethical and unsustainable practices. Don't misunderstand - I love meat and fish, but also try to make it is a special part of our cooking (compared to a go-to). Our home cooks meat apprx. 1-2/week and fish once a week. We do something vegetarian for our breakfast and other dinners. Lunch is always a toss up based on what we have at home or what we buy at work. Usually no more than two servings of dairy per day. We are moving into local meats, fish, and produce slowly - one of our big health goals for this year. (Just watch Food, Inc. - it'll rock your world.) Not perfect, but always striving to do better.

What are your goals for improving nutrition?

BT2 is Coming!

Announcement: Baby Towers the 2nd (lovingly abbreviated BT2 or T2) is on the way. Expected arrival date, October 7. Expected belly bump and discomfort date, already here!

Someone Worth Dying For

Needed this tonight:

You can't listen and not be inspired!