A Taste of Adventure

Recently, I had an assignment for my French class which involved preparing a French-style dinner. So, here's some description and photos! 

Note: I did not make the meal on my own. My mom and sisters did a lot of the work. 

First, the main meat dish. As I have nine siblings, we have a wide range of likes, dislikes, and preferences concerning food. The level of difficulty was also an important factor. The perfect solution came up in the form of a recipe my mom found for Chicken a Provençal. Basically, it's chicken roasted with herbes de Provence, lemon, and shallots. We made quite a lot of this. It was really, really good! Tender chicken with a lemon-y, herb-y flavor.

And then.... side dishes! French fries may also be a popular American side, but hey, they still count as French. My sister peeled a mound of potatoes and we both sliced them. The end result? Delicious crispy fries that disappeared far too soon. 

Also, steamed green beans. They were French-cut, so of course they belonged. Perrier mineral water was allowed as well. The sample of the whole meal is below.

Yum.

And now. 

Dessert.

I spent the afternoon making cream puffs for the very first time! I made big ones, which took less time than dozens of smaller ones would. And I filled them with pâte de choux, which is a French term. Everything French. :)

The cream puffs rose light and high, but unfortunately the bottoms were very thin. So... I turned them upside down! They were more like cream bowls, but they tasted just as good that way. 

This one stayed together!

Also, there were croissants with Nutella. I didn't make the croissants, though; we bought them.

And that concluded the meal! It was a fun experience. (Especially eating it.) Regarding the preparation, I particularly enjoyed making the cream puffs. Have you ever made them? Do you have any tips?

I hope you've enjoyed this taste of my French meal! (Pun intended.)

Reflections: Love One Another

Well, it's Valentine's Day - a day to celebrate love!

I want to focus on love in a setting of friendships and family relationships, because it's more consistently applicable, and it's much more relevant to me.

1 John 4:7 - "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God." 

It all starts with the example of perfect love. God has shown us love -- love that is incomprehensible, love that is boundless, love that can never be surpassed -- by conquering death that we might live eternally with him. How can we not love him, considering what he has done?

In order to show our love, though, we must "keep his word," as John 14:23 says. The first and greatest command is to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second is to love one's neighbor as oneself. And also...

1 John 4:21 - "Whoever loves God must also love his brother." 

Showing love isn't always easy. Sure, sometimes it is -- especially when the person in question is being/has been loving toward you. But more often, it isn't.

 1 John 15:13 - "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends." 

This is the ultimate example of love. But you may not have the opportunity to literally give your life for someone else. Then what? 

Show love in and through the small things, those that happen every day. Choosing to do something for a sibling. To clean up something when it's not your turn or responsibility. (Yeah, I'm still working on that one...) To help a sibling with things like spelling a word or determining the proper way to work a math problem. 

And perhaps one of the most important choices of all to make... forgiveness. Forgiving the one who made noise while you were trying to do schoolwork, the person who took your library book without asking, the one who left his dishes out after a meal for you to clean up. Choosing not to snap at the person whistling the same tune over and over again. (Guilty! I want to be forgiven of that -- shouldn't I forgive it in others?)

Because we're called to forgive our brothers up to seventy times seven times. Four hundred and ninety times isn't the total limit, yearly limit, monthly limit, weekly limit, or even daily limit. (Even if it feels like it.) Instead, forgiveness must be unconditional and boundless. 

Much like God's forgiveness and love for us, wouldn't you say?

1 John 4:10-11 - "In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love another."

A Soccer Team of Fictional Characters, Part Two {Villains}

A little while ago, my siblings and I came up with this blog post about a soccer team of fictional characters. Who all happened to be heroic characters. My sister suggested that I create an opposing team for them, so credit for the idea for this post goes to Anna. Here we go - time to create a team of villains from the same books as the heroes!

     Goalie - Facing Rubeus Hagrid (Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling), will be... hmm.... this is tricky since there are so many villains in a seven-book series. How about... Lucius Malfoy? I think he'd like a position in which he doesn't have to do much. That way, he can tell all the other players what they're doing wrong, how they should be doing something else, what exactly they should be doing, and how they should do it.

     Center defense - Facing Artham Wingfeather (Wingfeather Saga, Andrew Peterson), will be Commander Gnorm. That is one nasty Fang, and Artham will be the perfect defender to conquer him.

    Right defense - Facing Lucy Pevensie (Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis), will be the White Witch. Her wand will be confiscated, naturally, because you're not allowed magical wands that turn your opponents into stone in a soccer game. And without the wand Lucy will be able to deal with her with no problem, I'm pretty sure. It's all about running and taking control of the ball and no magic allowed.

     Left defense -  Facing Ella of Frell (Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine), will be hmm... there aren't a lot of blatantly evil characters. Let's say one of the ogres, NisSh. (Or however that is spelled.) This guy's pretty smart for an ogre.

    Right midfield - Facing Westley (Princess Bride, S. Morgenstern), will be Count Rugen. I know, I know, he's Inigo Montoya's personal enemy, but he's still a villain and he seems like the type to want a sword duel soccer game with Westley. And hey, if Westley could beat Inigo at swordplay, then he could probably beat Rugen at soccer.

    Center midfield - Facing Legolas Greenleaf (Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien), will be... I want to say Saruman, but no, Saruman wouldn't do too well chasing all over a soccer field, would he? I think one of the Uruk-hai would be better. How about Ugluk? Unpleasant, big, strong, ugly... yeah, this team of villains would probably want him at their center.

    Left midfield - Facing Kaladin (Stormlight Archive, Brandon Sanderson), will be Brightlord Amaram, naturally. Neither of them will be able to wait for the opportunity to beat each other to pieces in a soccer game. At least, Kaladin won't be able to wait. And Amaram can't have his Shardblade or Plate.

    Right forward/offense - Facing Kate Wetherall (Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Stewart), will be Martina Crowe, who dislikes Kate and is pretty athletic. I think they'd love to take each other on in soccer.

    Center forward/offense - Facing Arya Drottningu (Inheritance Cycle, Christopher Paolini), will be... Oh! Let's put her against Durza the Shade. He doesn't get to use magic though, and neither does she. That would be cheating.

   Left forward/offense - Facing Jason Grace (Heroes of Olympus, Rick Riordan), will be... hmm... there are a lot of villains in these books. How about, let's say, Ephialtes the style-conscious giant. Sure, they fought in the book with swords and such, but I think it'd be fun to see them play soccer. 

This is a game I wouldn't miss. The heroes would probably win, because they usually do, but the villains would put up a decent fight, as always. We've got quite a range of villains, too... 

Who do you think would win? Who would you recommend for this team?