weekend

Was a busy weekend.

Steve was surprised on Saturday morning by a knock on our door at 7:30. It wasn't an emergency, it was his boss taking him and the rest of the community life staff out for a picnic on the beach. I am not on the community life staff, so I got to stay in bed. Steve said it was a nice time. If I have my way about it, I will be on the community life team next year so that I can be included in on the fun.

I woke up a little while later to get ready for my own retreat. I made brunch for my current SOS leaders, and then we went to a sauna. It was a great afternoon. To my recollection, I had never been to a sauna before then. I think if I had the resources, I would like to go to a sauna on a regular basis -- it's that enjoyable. This was the last group gathering that I will have with this bunch of SOS leaders. Sometime after Easter, I will do something with my new (for next year) SOS leaders (not as fancy as a sauna...probably have them over for dinner and games).

While that was happening, Steve was bowling with 3 RAs.

Then after our afternoon activities were done, we made some Chicken Tortilla Soup for the Karklu potluck. It was such good soup, but maybe a little spicy for the tastes of a lot of students. I can post the recipe at the end of this post, if I remember. It was so good, we made a second batch of it for ourselves after church on Sunday...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Then after the potluck, we went back to bake some cookies for Steve's RA initiation event on Sunday. We made two batches, one batch of chocolate chip cookies, and one of peanut butter cookies. A couple of weeks or so ago, our mixer decided it didn't want to work anymore, so I stirred all of the cookie dough up with a spoon. Word to the wise: no matter what, stick the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds. Your arm will thank you.

On Sunday we got up and went to the store so that Steve could find a kickball type ball, for the RA event. Then Steve packed up his cookies and went to the RA event. He and the other RD's played kickball with all the newly hired RAs for next year. From what I hear, it was fun, and also interesting to try to explain kickball to a group that had never played it...or baseball. But Steve can post more about that. After kickball, they made ice cream sandwiches with the cookies. A big hit.

While Steve was playing kickball, I worked on some laundry and talked myself into learning Russian (from the Rosetta Stone gift we were given nearly a year ago). I was almost done setting it up on the computer when Steve came home, and we left for church.

When we got home from church, we made some more Chicken Tortilla Soup. It was even better than the day before.

Then while Steve talked with some students, I called our family on Skype. Always so fun to talk to people from home! Steve joined in after his important conversations with students, and even though there were several technical difficulties, I managed to take this picture of our moms.


All in all it was a very full weekend, and it's Monday evening and we're so tired. But we're doing well. And we feel blessed to be busy in a good way. Maybe soon Steve will share pictures from RA kickball.

Here is the recipe, as it is on paper (at the end, I will share how we doctor it up, or adjust it to the ingredients we can find here).

Tortilla Soup with Chicken
1/2 cup corn oil
6 corn tortillas, cut into 1-inch slices
1 large onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 cup drained canned tomatoes, chopped
1 ancho chile, seeded and coarsely chopped
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked shredded chicken
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup shredded Monteray Jack cheese
1 ripe avacado, peeled and sliced
Cilantro for garnish, optional

*Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, fry the tortilla strips in batches until golden brown and crisp, about 2 to 3 minutes total. Reserve.

*Discard all but one tablespoon of oil. Turn heat to medium and cook onion and garlic until soft, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, ancho chile, and half the tortilla strips. Cook for 5 minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes.

*Cool slightly. Using an immersion blender or upright blender, puree the mixture until smooth. Return to medium heat, stir in chicken and heat through.

*To serve, season to taste with lime juice. Garnish with cheese, avocado, cilantro, and remaining tortilla chips.

Doctoring:

Only once in Pennsylvania did we actually follow the first instruction with the corn tortillas. It is definitely an adventure if you go this route. Time-saver: buy tortilla chips.

You don't really need to measure out one tablespoon of oil. We just eye it up and probably pour more in than we need to...but that is because we add a half of a chopped up red bell pepper to the mix.

As for the canned tomatoes, when we drain the juice, we save it. We use a can that says 800 grams on the side of it...we don't measure out the tomatoes, just use them all. There is about a cup of juice, which we set aside and use it as one of the 6 cups of the chicken broth. (to make chicken broth: water, and chicken boullion).

We didn't find an ancho chile, instead a small jar of sliced jalepeno peppers. We guessed on how much to put in. Put in as much as you want. The more you put in, the spicier it will be.

Again, instead of tortilla strips, just crumble up tortilla chips into the mixture.

Yes, it seems weird, but put the mixture into a blender. We don't have a blender, but we do have a magic bullet. We can't fit all of the soup in at one time, so we do it in about 3 shifts. Recommendation: if you aren't already wearing one at this point, put on an apron.

We've found that it is a good thing if we just go to the grocery store and buy a small, already cooked chicken. While I'm cooking up all of the vegetables and broth, Steve picks the chicken apart.

We didn't use cilantro, but in addition to everything else that was mentioned as a garnish, we would highly recommend a dollop of sour cream in your bowl of soup. Especially if you've put too much jalepenos in it, it will tame it a bit.

Sorry my commentary on the recipe is probably longer than the recipe itself.

Hope everyone is doing well.