Dinner Again

So, I have a confession... just in the last few weeks I have started cooking dinner again. It had been a pretty long time. I cooked dinner when we lived in Iraq, but it didn't really count most of the time because it was usually something frozen you just had to heat up or something from America you could just mix on the stove. I did very little real get your hands dirty cooking. I mean, it has been a while. We have been pretty transient since August 2008 and that meant we didn't have a fully equipped kitchen for a while. Then when we finally did in Iraq I got pregnant and was too sick to use it for a long time. Since we've been back I have stayed clear of the kitchen for various reasons (huge belly, gallbladder attacks, etc.) and then a few weeks ago I realized how much I missed cooking.
So tonight I made dinner and it was a new dish for me to try. I found it on my ipod last night using the all recipes dinner spinner application. I love playing with my ipod in the middle of the night while I'm nursing Haydn - otherwise it is really hard to stay awake! Here's a look at the Chicken Piccata I made tonight. Everyone agreed that it was very tasty and overall pretty easy, but be prepared for a messy kitchen.


Here's a look at the chicken after it has been breaded


Here's the finished product

I served it with angel hair pasta and it was great! The only recommendation Jeff made was to wait to pour the sauce on until you are going to eat the chicken otherwise it gets a little soggy. Here's the recipe from the all recipes website



Ingredients

* 6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
* 1 egg, lightly beaten
* 1 tablespoon water
* 1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* 2 tablespoons dry white wine
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
* 2 lemons - cut into wedges, for garnish

Directions

1. Flatten chicken to 1/4 inch thickness between plastic wrap or waxed paper. Mix egg and water. Mix bread crumbs, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Coat chicken with flour, dip into egg mixture and coat with bread crumb mixture.
2. Heat butter or margarine and oil in 12 inch skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, until juice is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut. Remove chicken from skillet using tongs; keep warm.
3. Stir lemon juice and wine into drippings in skillet. Heat to boiling; pour over chicken. Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley, and serve with lemon wedges for garnish.

Things I am looking forward to in the states.

-All the electricity I want
-Skeet shooting with friends
-Fishing with my dad and Allen
-Having a little boy =) who I get to teach the above mentioned and probably below mentioned things to
-Smoking briskets with the above mentioned people
-Hunting if I have a place to hunt
-Grilling steaks, fajitas, pork chops and chicken
-Making guacamole with Erin
-Eating lots of great food
-BACON!!!!
-Hanging out with friends who love me, you know who you are!!
-Talking stocks with John

-Restaurants I want to eat at
Jaliscos and Adriana & Jennets both breakfast
Waterstreet and a nice steak house like Ruth Chris for dinner
Joe Cottons, Rudy’s, Ninfas, Kitox, Jaspers, Whataburger, Papa Rollo’s, Chick-fil-a, Lee’s, Bush’s Chicken and SWEET TEA

I would love for Erin to come shoot skeet with me but after we saw GI Joe I don’t think Haydn will like the noise. I would also like for her to get to go fishing with me, my dad and Allen cause she is better than a good luck charm! I would also love for her to be able to smoke briskets but the smoke might be too much so she and Haydn will get the joy of eating all the great food that is grilled. I will try to remember that most people other than myself like more than just meat for dinner so maybe we will have some rabbit food also.

Friends, did I forget any good places?

we're here!

Since we can't use our phones anymore just wanted to let everyone know we made it safely to Thailand. We are enjoying our time here so far and are looking forward to the rest of the week.
Unfortunately, I don't have my camera on me to post any pictures because Jeff has it and is 4-wheeling through the jungle right now. But we'll post pictures soon.
I got to see the doctor here (tidbit for you Dad) and so I'm taking antibiotics and hope to kick the 3 infections I have right now very soon! I'm feeling better already, so that is a good sign.
There is even more American food here than in Istanbul! I'm a little bit excited about it all. Yesterday I ate donuts, and Auntie Anne's pretzels, and then I had my second dinner at Subway and drank root beer! It was so fabulous. I have actually been dreaming about Subway and root beer for maybe the last 3 months - it was even better than I dreamed.
I'm going to Starbucks in a few minutes with some friends and plan to enjoy every sip! We have also been eating Thai food too, but right now nothing compares to good ol' American food. We are going to ride elephants in a couple days and we are going on a dinner cruise. I'm pretty excited. It has been a breath of fresh air and it has been really refreshing to gather with so many people from around the globe who are serving the Lord. It has been kind of overwhelming to worship with hundreds of people again, but it has been so renewing! Well, gotta go, don't want to be late for my Starbucks date!

Time in Turkey

We've had a really good time in Turkey so far, we've also had some unexpected time here, but more on that later.
We got to Istanbul on Tuesday and ate some delicious Burger King before we even left the airport. It was some kind of wonderful.


Haydn and I got to enjoy Burger King twice! We were supposed to fly to Bangkok last night but the airline canceled our tickets without notifying us so we were at the airport until 1 AM trying to get that sorted out. Now we are flying to Bangkok tonight instead. Kind of a bummer, but today has been relaxing and I did get some more BK.

On Wednesday we got to go to the hospital to see some of our kids who are still there after heart surgery. We got to go to cardiac ICU and see baby Daryan. They are hoping to be able to extubate soon but he is still in pretty critical condition, please keep praying. Here's Jeff next to the model of the hospital, I couldn't believe how nice this hospital was!


We had a great time taking Daryan's mom out for lunch and then for some time in the city away from the hospital. It was also pretty wonderful getting to go to McDonald's twice and get some ice cream! I'm not one to usually take pictures of my food...but I was just so excited to eat some American food. We even got some Starbucks last night while we waited at the airport.


Here are some pics of us from the roof of the house we were staying at. I almost forgot how beautiful Turkey is, we've really enjoyed our time here.

We had a good time on the roof playing with Emma & Micah.


And this is Jeff's new traveling shirt. One of his good friends bought this for him right before we left Iraq because he said that Jeff needed a new shirt for his trip. Isn't it something? =)

We've had a great time in Istanbul but are ready to move on to phase 2 of our trip. Inshallah, we will get on a plane tonight and then arrive at our final destination in Thailand tomorrow night just in time for all of the big events to kick off for the week. Please be praying for our health. Jeff is at the pharmacy right now trying to find some cold medicine for us. I just got rid of a parasite last week, then got an infection from the antibiotics, and now it seems we are both getting colds. I'm really ready to feel better - especially on vacation!