The Journey
Last week we drove up the Cleveland to pick my dad up from the airport as he was returning from Colombia, South America. If you’ve been reading here for a while, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I was born/raised in Colombia. My parents have been missionaries there for almost 40 years. Whenever my dad returns, he brings back treats from Colombia, things I can’t get here in Ohio. This time he brought us some buñelos, which are basically corn starch and baking powder mixed with a country cheese that’s made with soured milk and then deep fried. Nothing like some delicious starch and cheese, which pretty much is what all Colombian snacks are made of – they just use different kinds of starch and shape them differently.
Traditionally they’re eaten for breakfast or a snack with coffee or hot chocolate. I probably could make these, I know how to make the cheese they use and I can buy corn starch. The trick is in the frying, they have to be done just right or they are not nice spheres but weird bulbous masses. Perhaps one of these days I’ll try making them, but until then I’m happy that my dad brings us some each time he returns. We pop them in the oven for 10 minutes and they’re quite tasty!
On our way home from my parent’s house Mr Chiots and I were talking about how if he had never met me, he would have most likely never eaten a buñelo (if I had never met him I would have never eaten a brown sugar cinnamon pop tart with butter on top). It’s interesting to look back on your life and see the journey that you’ve taken, how different choices molded your life. How you ended up in your current house, in your current situation, with your current significant other, or lack there of.
Whenever I really think about it, I’m amazed at where I ended up in life. When I was little I always said I wanted to open a bakery, that was my second choice because I really just wanted to stay little. I would have never guessed that I’d be married to Mr Chiots, living in Malvern, OH, gardening like there’s no tomorrow, working at Ethel Gloves, blogging about my life, and taking photos of anything and everything I see.
Is there something in your life that you would have never experienced had you not met one specific person?
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The Beauty of Old Friendship
This past weekend I traveled down to Cincinnati, OH to meet up with some college girlfriends. We met in 1994 during the fall of our freshman year of college and became fast friends right away. Our years in college were spent together creating lots of fun memories while building a foundation for a friendship that would last the rest of our lives. In 1998 we parted and went our separate ways. This photo was taken on graduation day, marking the end of the first phase of our friendship.
Although our lives have taken us each down a different road to a different city, we get together at least once a year. We have cried tears of joy when celebrating marriages and births, and tears of joy and grief through divorce and the death of a husband.
Although we all have made other friends throughout the years of our lives, there’s just something comforting about a friendship with a long rich history. We relish these moments when we can spend time together, even though it is all too brief. I’m very grateful for these girlfriends that have been in my life for 17 years. A warm thanks goes out to my friends: Danielle, Shannon, Kelly, Katie, and Jen for all the wonderful memories we’ve made so far and the all the ones we’ll make in the future.
Do you have any friendships that have withstood the test of time?
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Quote of the Day: Jessica Prentice
Abundance is something we feel, not something that we have. Those of us who have gone traveling to a so-called poor country and encountered an amazing spirit of generosity and a true sense of abundance can attest to this. We find it surprising and charming and quite exotic. Without a sense of scarcity, there is no sense of abundance, because there is no perspective.
Jessica Prentice
(from: Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection)
I’m very thankful that I was brought up in a third world country and was able to see true scarcity. There aren’t a lot of people in this country that have seen anything like it. We’ve definitely lost our sense of what abundance really is, which is really sad since we’re some of the richest people in the world.
When I read about one in five New Yorkers being on food stamps and of officials estimate that $75 million to $135 million of New Yorks food stamp benefits are spent on sodas or sugary drinks I kind of feel sick (see this article). I think back on the poor people I’ve visited that would kill their last chicken to feed you a meal while going hungry themselves. I’m thankful I’ve had this experience and as a result I know what true abundance is and I strive to share some of the abundance I have with others.
Please consider doing without something during the month of November and donating the funds you save to a charity that helps the poor around the world. As we start thinking about Thanksgiving and planning our big feasts, please don’t forget to think about those around us and the world don’t have the abundance we do.
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Chickens in the Garden
I’ve declared my hopes of getting a few chickens here before, and I may try to sneak them in someday. They’re currently outlawed by our HOA. We keep thinking about trying to get the rules changed, but haven’t taken the plunge yet. Generally our HOA rules aren’t enforces unless the neighbors complain, so I could probably get chickens without any trouble. Our neighbors are all very laid back about all the craziness that goes on here at Chiot’s Run.
Since I can’t have chickens yet, I decided to get this beauty at the farmer’s market. She also has a sister for sale at the market which I may buy soon. They’re not real chickens, but they sure are cute. Generally I’m not much of one for kitschy garden art, but I was drawn to these ladies. I love that they’re made by a local artisan. They won’t be producing any eggs for my kitchen, but they do make me smile whenever I see them. No doubt I’ll really be appreciating them in the winter when they’ll be happily standing outside my kitchen window even on the coldest snowiest days!
Do you have any garden art in your garden?
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Take a Closer Look
No doubt we all remember having a magnifying glass when we were kids and we used them to examine all sorts of things up close. I remember using mine to look at leaves. Leaves always fascinated me with their variety of shapes, the veins and the different colors. I often slowly peeled away the parts of the leaf until only the skeleton of the veins remained. The other morning I noticed this particular one stuck to my front porch step and was reminded of my fascination as a kid.
As I often do, I leaned in for a close look and noticed how the water droplets magnified the leaf making the intricate puzzle of it’s surface visible. I came inside and got my macro lens so I could take some photos as I thought you might enjoy them.
When you stop to notice things like this, it really brings the awesomeness of nature right before your eyes. Think about what a leaf does for a tree, then it drops in the fall and composts into the soil, it really is an amazing thing. As a religious person, I do not believe this is by chance or evolution and every time I take the time to notice these tiny intricate things I’m reminded of that.
What intricacies have you noticed in nature recently?
