Deyang Summer

I've been home from China now for a few weeks, but it's not left my thoughts for even a day. How can I tell you about this most memorable summer? We set off to a different place and seemingly a different time, Mel, Jason, Jeremiah, Miranda and I. We settled into our bare rooms and made them home. The connections with our classes full of Chinese teachers was immediate--and then we began collecting memories. The surprise of finding a turtle in our soup! The crazy enthusiasm for the bunny hop with our students. The days of endless dialogues and endearing one on one conversations. Of course, several encounters with Sichuan hot pot! There was the late evening conversation with Shichao as she told me the tale of her terrible loss in last years earthquake-- followed by a tearful visit with her and our team to the earthquake ruins in Wen Chuan. I'll remember the sweet chance to give little Anna her English name (after our Ani--"grace") and her bright fish painting for me in return. The wild gobbles as we acted out the Thanksgiving skit or the worshipful candlelit version of "Silent Night" we all sang together. The warm smiles of our dorm family-- and their washing machine instruction! The afternoon we seemed to go back in time strolling through the park in Mian Zhu and sitting in the tea house over cups of green tea. And evening of delectable street food with Rui-rui and the card games & green tea with her by the river on hot summer nights. I'll continue to be grateful for her care on our trips to the eye clinic through my frightening eye infection. Sunday worship in the crowded Deyang church, shoulder to shoulder with the dear tiny ladies sharing their hymnals... and the Sunday Rui rui joined us there. The cafeteria lunches with students, picking over spicy food. Morning ping pong with Ceicil and friends. Afternoons meeting with our team--sharing stories, reading scripture, praying toether... And the Closing Ceremony followed by unexpectedly tearful hugs and tender good-byes as our teachers left on their way home to towns all around. Unforgettable.

Pecan Shortcake

I celebrated my first day of summer making and enjoying a memorable dinner with friends. My feeble hydrangea bush cooperated by providing a big bunch of pink blooms for the table. I picked Larry's boysenberries and fresh basil from the yard and gathered lovely things from the Trader Joe's. I cleaned a bit, cooked a lot and set the table out the back door under the spreading maple with anticipation. A new mango-avocado relish, orange chipotle chicken, cilantro rice and a salad topped with 3 kinds of berries, feta and pumpkin seeds. Tim provided one his famous "go-round questions" (What's the dumbest thing you've ever done?) that had us laughing round the table for an hour! Followed by more serious talk and dessert--Mixed berry pecan shortcakes...

PECAN SHORTCAKES

1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup pecans, finely chopped
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. amaretto (or vanilla)

Cut the first 5 ingredients together in the food processor. Remove to a bowl and stir in the pecans, buttermilk and amaretto. Drop onto a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam to form 6 to 8 'biscuits." Sprinkle the tops with sugar. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until browned.

Serve with mixed berries and mountains of whipped cream (the main ingredient for me!). You can make these ahead and them cover them with foil and re-warm them in the oven for 5 minutes before serving. Fresh and delish!

HOME

"Home is where the heart is." I believe that. When we lived in Spain i was "homesick" for California. Now in California, I have my "homesick" days for Spain. And with Micah and family in Shanghai, I've plenty of "homesick" for China days... My heart is home in all these places. That's why when I read this C.S.Lewis quote, I read it over & over and loved it right away...

"The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of this world; but joy, pleasure, and merriment he has spread broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and pose an obstacle to our return to God; a few moments of happiness, of love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bathe, or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home."

At the end of my father's life the family gathered in his cc unit room. We'd talk and sing to him. Sing "This world is not my home." --an old favorite of ours. He knew where he was going, to heaven, to his real home. I love my life, my "merry" days with family & dear friends and the hard days as well. But I long for the real, eternal, heart home of heaven...

Pesto Pasta Salad

PESTO PASTA SALAD

So easy. And this makes enough for a crowd. Perfect for a backyard supper on a warm summer evening with crunchy loaf of La Brea Bakery bread and a tumbler of Sangria.

Cook 1 pound of your favorite pasta until tender (I like the Barilla mini penne). Cool.

Mix it with 8 to 10 oz. of pesto. (Trader Joe's makes a nice refrigerated pesto)

Then stir in:

hard salami, chopped into small pieces
small bits of fresh mozarella or gouda
good olives
chopped red & green pepper
about 3 oz. baby spinach, sliced into thin slivers
parmesan cheese to taste
pine nuts
halved cherry tomatoes (if you like them, I don't!)

This makes enough for 6 to 8 big main course platefuls. Que aproveche!

Luxury

My friend Joannie was a missionary in Haiti when she was younger. Living among such poverty, she had a new understanding of the luxury of the lives we lead here. She summed it up for me when she remarked "Luxury is having a choice." She lived where people had few choices about what they would eat, where they would live, about their chances for education or even medical help.

My life is awash with possibilities-- gathering meals in the grocery store, making plans with friends for the weekend, mapping out a vacation, for Pete's sake think of all the choices when we remodeled our kitchen last year! I live a luxurious life. And I'm trying to be appropriately thankful. Also to honor God with all (so many!) choices he's given me. So much luxury...

Mom

Is it too late for Mothers' Day? Nope-- because I just adore my Mom every day of the year.

I was with her Thursday night when we dropped in on an old friend of hers who is in an Alzheimer's unit. She talked so tenderly to her friend who just responded with a slight smile. Mom chatted about the woman's family and held her hands and prayed for her to find peace in these days. That's my mother--understanding other people's needs and helping them as best she can.

I used to remark on all the things I learned from my mother growing up-- how to bake a cake, sew on a button, how to teach Sunday School or throw a birthday party, how to raise 4 kids and love a husband... But I'm finding I'm learning even more now that she's (almost ) 78 and living an amazing life -- organizing the CD ministry at church, shepherding people around the Nixon Library as a docent, knitting caps for children overseas, volunteering at a charity thrift store, keeping track of grandkids on facebook!, leading tour groups all over the world, serving on the missions board, "mothering" me and a whole lot of other people. The single word I think of when I think of my mother is "unselfish." I hope to be like her. She is an amazing, godly woman, Lorraine Dupray.

Current Pizza Favorite

One of my (many) favorite pizza moments occurred in front of Cheeseboard Pizza (Berkeley, CA). It's a small place that makes only one daily selection of pizza. The line that snakes out the front door and down the sidewalk moves quickly because only one type of pizza is being made and pizzas just keep popping out of those ovens. Ani, Laurel and I ordered a few slices and because the two small tables in the store were already full, we joined other picnickers out on the grassy median of the Shattuck Ave for a pizza feast, as cars zoomed by on either side of us! A homey crust, topped with olive oil, garlic, spinach, gouda, mushrooms, walnuts and piles of carmelized onions. That's memorable pizza! So I've been making my own version:

SPINACH/ONION PIZZA

Crust: Dissolve 1 pkg of yeast in a cup of warm water. Add 1 tab. sugar, 2 tabs. olive oil, 1/2 tsp. salt and then 2 1/2 cups flour. Knead 3 to 4 minutes and spread onto 2 12" pizza pans sprayed with Pam. Put in a warm place while you prepare the other ingredients.

Toppings: Onto each pizza spread-- 1 tab olive oil mixed with 2 cloves finely minced garlic, one large onion carmelized in olive oil, baby spinach leaves cut into shreds, mushrooms (if Laurel is not at dinner), 6-8 oz. grated gouda, and pine nuts.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Good and garlicky! mmm