A Glimpse of Bursting Joy #1

I find myself, more so than ever, cognitively aware of how blessed we are and how much joy the Lord has surrounded us with if only we observed, listened and served a little more. I experience these minuscule moments that make my heart jump and a creeping smile suddenly appear on my face. I was thinking this afternoon that I should add these to the blog. My hope is to encourage you to go to bed every night with a list of these moments on your mind and most importantly . . . to thank the Lord for His everlasting, omnipotent, merciful and gracious love and promise.

These moments I share with you may be very impactful or maybe just simple, brief examples of what brings my heart joy :)

1. Sunday when we went down the long, narrow and bumpy dirt road to the homestead where we met the two old men, I was instantly fearful of our surroundings. We had drove onto someones land, two men were walking up to us, one carrying a machete, and they did not speak my language. We also were battling getting stuck in the mud. Oh and I can't forget to mention that we are in  . . .Africa! As Matt began to speak what he knew in Spanish, I just observed a possibly dangerously tense situation turn into a friendly interaction with two elders. Like I described in a previous post, one of the men used the machete to try and help the truck turn into 4 wheel drive while the other was at our window talking. They were both so frail with tattered clothes and probably past 70 years old, yet still working the land. I could only imagine who they were, what stories they had to tell and how many young adults like us they had ever interacted with. Once we decided it was too dangerous to get to the beach, we watched as the other truck gave the man a sandwich. He came back to us and kindly asked if we had anything. We had a half eaten pringles can that we gave to him. He reached for them with his frail hand and gave us the sweetest missing tooth smile. As we shared our, "tenga un buen dias," I watched him look into his hands at the food several times, smile and wave at us. We passed there very small home where we noticed an old woman sitting in a chair on the porch with a can of flowers on her table. Although we all briefly talked about how we wished we were able to go to the beach and that the two men were very nice, I left that moment feeling fearless and very blessed to have experienced it. Although when we left I felt we probably could have given over more, I realized that I can not underestimate how even the smallest things can bring a smile to someone who has so little, and maybe that is all the Lord intended. 

Family and friends we miss you dearly!

Scrumptious & Simple Shrimp

Last night I made a really tasty baked shrimp and just have to share it with all of you! My inspiration for this started with seeing recipes on Pinterest for buttered lemon shrimp. I ended up just making up something of my own and it was delicious. 

Here is the recipe:

10 large shrimp

3/4 stick of butter

1 whole lemon, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 small shallot, finely chopped

T italian seasoning

drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

I started with 10 large, frozen, deveined and peeled shrimp thawed in ice water. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl add shrimp, garlic, shallot, italian seasoning and salt and pepper. Drizzle appropriate amount of olive oil over shrimp so that when you toss the ingredients in the bowl, the shrimp are fully coated with all of the goodies :) Melt butter in large ceramic baking dish. Place thinly sliced lemon on melted butter. Top the lemon and butter with the shrimp. If we had an extra lemon, I would have sliced a second lemon and placed over the shrimp as the final layer and/or squeezed some lemon juice on them as well. Did it need it . . . no . . . but I LOVE lemon :) Then bake the shrimp for 11 - 12 minutes at 350 degrees and they are perfect! When plating, don't miss out on a spoonful ( or two!) of the lemon butter sauce :) YUMMY!

Prior to baking

 Finished product

Paired with baked potato, balsamic roasted cauliflower and some of the best cut filet = success!

A Sunday stroll to Moka

One of the super sweet couples here, Matt and Eda, had their family fly in for the week for a visit. We were invited to join them along with another great couple, Matt and Krystal, to make the trek to the Moka Wildlife Center (MWC).

To the left of the "B" marker in this picture you can see the lake, Lago Biao, at the top of Pico Biao. There is a 7 hour hike, 10 km up to this lake.

The nine of us, split into two trucks, drove a little under an hour and a half to reach the site. Although it was raining, it was a beautiful drive! Along the way, we went through three or four military stops and a toll booth without any issues. I was praying about this once we got into the car. We have to have our company badges, lamented passport copies and resident card, which we hope to have soon, any time we leave the compound. I think the rain helped us :)

We passed through dense, lush jungle . . .

. . . there were chickens everywhere . . .

. . .  and numerous villages.

There were countless, makeshift tables alongside the road with at least bananas, plantains and other fruit. Some also had huge sea snails, crabs, mammals and one had a 3 1/2 ft shark!

We also stopped at a very small outdoor market. There were numerous pigs, dogs and chickens running around. They had habaneros, other peppers, papaya, plantains, other fruit, porcupine, the smallest deer I have ever seen (full grown, less than the size of Parker), squirrel, large rats, a huge fluorescent blue bird, sea snails and crab among other items. All of the animals had passed and were hanging upside-down except for 2 live deer which were on the ground with their legs tied together. Although challenging to see, this is a sought after food source for the local culture.

 Once we made it to Moka we stopped at the MWC, the research headquarters for the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program (BBPP). After reading more about this at http://bioko.org/ecotourism/mwc_visit/, it appears that there are several people living at the site including a few scientists, students, researchers, leadership and/or staff. There was a staff house and an education building full of books, articles and pictures to help educate visitors on their research and conservation efforts. They maintain three hiking trails of different levels including a 10 km, 6 km and 1 km distances. Although no one was there when we arrived, we took shelter from the rain in the education building for about an hour and a half visiting, reading and looking around the site. It was amazing to read about their mission to conserve Bioko's biodiversity, specifically the endangered 7 species of primates and sea turtles, and their desire to end bushmeat hunting. Due to the rain and mud, we had to abandon the hike but can not wait to return! I would highly recommend you taking a look at the link to the website above to learn more about Bioko Island and the BBPP :)

On the way back we stopped at 2 lookouts for a pictures . . .

. . . and passed an old cocoa drying site . . . 

. . . and took a very narrow, dirt road trying to get to another beach we hear is beautiful. 

After about 6 minutes through mud and copious amounts of fruit trees and jungle, we made it to what looked like someone's homestead. Two very kind, working, old men approached the truck speaking only Spanish. The dirt that we were on was densely saturated and the truck in front of us did not have automatic 4 wheel drive. One of the men took his machete and tried to switch the manual locking hub  to 4 wheel drive so we could make it down to the coast, so sweet! We decided it was too dangerous risking getting stuck and turned around after giving them a sandwich and chips in return for a big missing tooth smile :) It is moments like those that I continue to be blessed by having the opportunity to explore the world and meet precious people along the way.

All in all, it was great to get away from the compound, rain or shine, with good company but hope to hike from Moka soon!

Who knew cauliflower could taste so good!

With all of the wonderful fresh produce we get from our food drop every other week, I have been on the look out for equally wonderful recipes. I have never been much of a cauliflower fan but Eric loves it. We had 3 heads of cauliflower in our fridge and I went hunting for how to spruce it up before it went bad. I hit the jackpot! In the past 2 weeks, I have made this recipe 3 times!

I found this recipe on pinterest which was pulled from a blog titled My Kitchen Escapades: 
http://www.mykitchenescapades.com/2013/01/garlic-parmesan-cauliflower.html.

Here is the recipe:

                                    

Garlic Parmesan Cauliflower
recipe adapted from One Perfect Bite
1 large head of cauliflower, cut into florets
4 large cloves of garlic, minced (I use a microplane)
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
2 Tb fresh lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 C freshly grated parmesan cheese

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients, except for the parmesan cheese.  Mix well until all the seasonings are evenly distributed over the pieces of cauliflower.  Pour the mixture evenly onto a large ungreased jelly roll pan and spread out so the cauliflower is in a single layer.  This is very important so don't crowd your pan!  Use two pans if you don't have a large enough pan to put it all on at once.  Roast in the oven for 25 minutes.
2.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle on the parmesan cheese.  Put back into the oven for another 2-3 minutes.  If you would like to serve this in a nice dish, transfer the cauliflower into a serving dish before adding the cheese, then put the pretty dish in the oven for the 2-3 minutes.

The last time I made this, the head of cauliflower was a bit on the small side. I would recommend reducing the amount of olive oil you use. We also were out of lemons and I bravely tried limes. It was just as good! Because we have not had fresh parmesan, we have not used it and do not miss it! I look forward to seeing how this would work for broccoli as well :)

Oreo, peanut butter and brownies, OH MY!

I think I have stumbled upon the most deliciously sinful dessert EVER! I found a version of this on pinterest which was in cupcake form. Because I only have one cupcake tin, I had to make these in a regular 9x9 cake pan. They were a little messy and took about 30 minutes to prepare but worth every second!

I ended up using 2 bags of brownie mix, peanut butter and 12 oreo-like cookies :)

I then put a tsp. of peanut butter on top of one cookie, stacked another cookie on top of the peanut butter and finished off the stack with another tsp. of peanut butter.

Next, I lined the up in a 4x3 pattern in the cake pan. 

Finally, I poured the two bags of brownie mix in between and on top of the cookie and peanut butter stacks.  I think if I had only done one cookie with peanut butter on top, I would have only needed one bag of brownie mix.

They took much longer than expected because of the doubled mix. Although I did not measure the time, I believe it was equivalent to 2 times the amount on the brownie mix suggested. I made this for the  girls night originally. When we heard the boys were making hot dogs, we all wanted one! One by one the boys brought their wives over a hotdog over about 30 minutes time. After the first husband came over and had shared what I had made, each one of them came to not only bring the hot dog but to look at the brownies and see if they cold have one. It was super sweet of them to have brought us a hot dog so we decided that we would bring the brownie pan over to share with them :) Hence, they went fast and I did not get a chance to take a picture of the final product but here is one that I found online that looks just like it.

They were super rich but wonderful! An easy item to bring to a party or get together that almost everyone will enjoy!

I am hosting the first Girl's Night at our place tonight!!!!!!

Since we have been here, everyone has welcomed us with opened arms! Talk about making a transition into a foreign country, new culture and environment as easy as it could ever be! We have made friends with several married couples all between our age and 30 and they are a blast. We go into Malabo once a week to eat at different restaurants. We have played "closest ball wins" golf together and attended quiz night at the Club House. We also try to do a dinner and/or brunch at someones house weekly. This week, the boys will be a few apartments away and I offered our apartment for the girls and am super excited to have them over! This will be my first time to have company. I am slightly nervous, not sure why........ :( We barely have any decorations and entertainment cookware :( I am sure it will be just fine.We have decided on quesadillas. So something that I have loved since being here is the sense of community and sharing. I do not have tortillas, sour cream or cheese other than Gouda :( In our email communication, we mention it, and then almost always, someone brings over what you are missing. Because you can not just go out and get what you need, it is the neatest thing to have a group of friends that are always so kind to share. The week before last, our neighbor had mentioned at small group that she did not have spaghetti. Eric and I went into town for groceries and I had remembered and made sure to get her some. It is the best feeling to give something to someone as small as spaghetti, but know how much it has meant to me to have that one thing to complete your dinner etc. Let me share with you the value of someone offering something so simple with great impact.When we received our air shipment, I was so incredibly excited to open the 14 boxes! One of the large boxes that I had made sure was in that shipment was the one with food. It was full of boxed brownies, tons of seasonings, numerous package seasonings, peanut butter, jelly, ranch dressing, ketchup, gourmet mustard, beans, rice, pasta, other condiments, all of the ingredients to our amazing chili, all of the ingredients to the awesome chicken and peanut wraps from cuisine (the ones Lindsey made for us in North Dakota), all of our cooking wines/oils/vinegars, GARLIC SALT (my favorite!) and a bunch of other things. I got about half way through the boxes and had not found it yet. I was about on my tenth box and started to get worried. Once I opened the last box, my stomach fell to my toes. Eric and I had talked almost daily about being so excited to get that box as there were copious amounts of recipes that we could not make without its contents and can not buy in town. Although I knew that the nail polish I had smuggled into the boxes may be confiscated, I had never considered not getting the food items. I was devastated! We went out to dinner with our friends and I shared this story. The next day, there was half a bottle of garlic salt on Eric's desk. He called me, and of course I was so shocked and excited I got a little emotional. Eric worked a little late that day and I was home alone and there was a knock at the door. It was our neighbors that walked in with a huge bottle of Tony's Chachere's seasoning, another bottle of garlic salt, several packages of fajita and taco seasoning and several bags of brownies. I could not believe it! It was the sweetest thing to have those few comforts especially in a time of so much unknown. The Lord has shown me in my short time here, how much joy there are in the small things! He is so clever! Anyhow, back from my tangent . . . I am sure we will be good with ingredients tonight.       I have also found what looks like a delicious dessert that calls for brownie mix, peanut butter and oreo cookies that I will try tonight. YUM! I am off to start getting everything ready. Wish me luck!

Our First Post!

Hello family and friends! Believe it or not, it has been 4 weeks and 3 days since we have arrived in Africa. Other than a severe sinus infection, mystery rash and stomach bug, all is well. In such a short time, we have already made some amazing friends and had some equally amazing experiences that we are so excited to share! Oh! We must not forget our sweet little Parker Bob, a.k.a Doodle, HE LOVES IT HERE! In fact, he is now the resident millipede, gecko, Agama Agama (to be explained later :), crab and spider hunter for the C-block apartments. I tell him he is kinda' a big deal :) We hope you join us throughout the next several years of amazing adventures, defyning trials and blessed learnings.