Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Man pleasing chicken, two nights of fun and the sweetest church moment ever

Man Pleasing Chicken. 
That's quite the name. I saw it on a blog and then on Pinterest, so followed both to Witty in the City for the recipe.



I thought it would probably be good, and I was right. But it was also great. I would make this again, though I would make sure to read the directions properly and put the sauce on in two batches to help keep it moist and saucey. 

But regardless it was awesome and easy!


3 easy ingredients (plus the chicken)


45 minutes in the oven and voila!


There were two men at dinner and they both liked it - so man pleasing it is indeed!

This weekend was great - Friday night we were supposed to be at the youth worship night. We love being at Chapel. At the last minute though Paul's grandpa was able to come over to fix our deep freeze (broken during the move) and some of the carpet Paul installed and since these were both very needed we knew it was important to take him up on his ability to help! We "paid" him with dinner for him and Doreen. It was the first time they'd seen our new place and it was great to show it off for them. We had a great dinner together and then the boys went to work while Doreen and I chatted. The guys had a coffee and dessert break and then went back to work. And we ended the evening chatting in the living room until 11. It was relaxing and nice to spend some quality time with them. And SUPER nice to have my deep freezer fixed!!!

Saturday was a day of housework and more unpacking. My sister and her boys came over and we hung out and played for a few hours, which is always nice. Then it was time to get ready to have the Saffolds over! Rachel, our new student (more on that later), helped me in the kitchen and I'd forgotten how nice it is to have a "sous-chef". We made the Man-pleasing chicken listed above, a homemade pesto cream sauce, parmesan garlic knots and roasted vegetables. It was all super tasty, except for the slightly burnt knots. 

After dinner Rachel went downstairs and the Saffolds daughter Symphony played in the living room, and us the four of us got to play Agricola. I'll admit the fact that there weren't custom made pieces like at the Froese's had me slightly less excited than normal but we ended up having a great time and I did better than I've ever done before, coming in 2nd. Woo!



After the game Symphony decided she was tired of us playing adult games and that she would join us for Cadoo, the kids version of Cranium. Despite some of the answers being very easy it's actually a super fun game! Especially since one card makes you run around the house to find certain items. Cool idea!




Then Shannon very graciously let me talk through the issues I was having with my living room - not enough seating! We now have a bigger living room than our last place, but less spots to seat people, thanks for the open fourth wall and the fireplace. These two things made it hard to set up seating. And since we aren't allowed to use the fireplace, we really don't need to showcase it. Shannon pointed out that we could put a couch in front of the fireplace. So we had the boys move one of our free couches from downstairs to upstairs and try it out. I LOVED it. 

Before:


After:



It not only fills the space better but it is so much more practical. And using pillows from our bed we can easily tie all the browns, whites and grey's together. Win!

Not everyone loves it though - especially in photos. In person most everyone prefers it this way, but I've had a few friends on the fence...thankfully that doesn't have to decide my opinion though I love that my friends care enough to have opinions about my house!

Sunday I got to sleep in until 11 and then my friend Tami from the island came over for lunch. It was great to see her! We had a great time talking and eating and then I drove her to Tsawassen to the ferry terminal. I got back JUST in time for church. I really thought I was going to get back into Vancouver around 4 and somehow got back just in time.

Speaking of church I just found these photos from our church's Christmas party - Wally is an amazing photographer!

Deve and I


Paul and I


My Auntie Debbie, the amazing hostess in her beautiful home.


Also, I should introduce you to Vic and Ereka. 


I love Vic and Ereka. There relationship makes me smile. I met Ereka just after she moved here and was one of her first friends in our church! I love that because she is now super popular and everyone loves her and I like having that history with her. She is a campus minister with our church and she serves in beautiful ways. With her is her boyfriend Vic. They have been dating for 2 years and they are just such a beautiful example of a godly relationship and godly service. I knew they'd been talking about marriage for a while but I also knew they hadn't gotten engaged yet. Vic's sister was just engaged to our friend Gabe over Christmas and I was just wondering if they might follow suit soon. Well, turns out, yes. 

At church Pastor Greg announced our friend's Sam and Stef's engagement - woo! and then he turned the stage or screen really over to Vic who was doing powerpoint. A song and a slideshow came on with shots of Vic and Ereka. Then came the word document with a love story. 


As Vic shared his love for Ereka and their story, he explained why he was doing this here with us - family. The crowd was eating it up! There were cheers and clapping and tears and just so many reactions. He let us know he'd be coming down now from the projection booth (and we all knew at this point that he was coming down to propose). He found his love (Ereka) in the crowd and got down on one knee...


She said yes!



I love seeing the joy on the faces around them.


They then asked for the other recently engaged couples to come up to the front, 4 couples in total! Pastor Greg prayed over them all and blessed them. It was beautiful. At this point I finally started to cry. Seeing beautiful friends of mine like Stefany, Sunshine, Ereka and Yhan be loved and so in love was so moving. God is so good! I was on such a high after this!! I'm so glad I didn't miss church like I originally thought I might. Praise the Lord!!!!

And it doesn't stop being a great day there - church was also exiting because we had some visiting friends from the Calgary church - Amy, Kaitie, Christine, Carolynn, and Jordon were around, as well as Eugene from the Montreal church! I knew I wanted to spend some time with them before they headed out that night at 9 but I also knew I wouldn't be the only one wanting that. So I invited them and all of our LG over for dinner...in 20 minutes. Spontaneous Dinner for 18 people within half an hour. Alright.

Can I tell you a secret? I LOVED it. LOVED IT. As Rachel and I cooked in the kitchen to get ready for everyone my heart was bursting, as the house started filling with people asking how they could help I was in heaven. I love feeding people. I love having people in our home.  Plus it meant getting to spend time with friends (old and new) and do a trial run for LG of feeding large groups of people in our new home. Result: it's awesome.

I whipped up some meatballs with pasta, and made a rose sauce with sauteed spinach, mushrooms and cream cheese and it was tasty. It only cost me $30 to feed all 18 of them (with leftovers) and it meant none of them had to pay to eat out at a restaurant as was the original plan. For me and Paul to eat out with them would have cost at least $20, so really for only $10 more we got to bless a whole whack load of people!

Here are all the girls (12 of us) smushed around our dining room table. 


Afterwards the boys did the dishes (the girls helped prep) and we all sat around and talked for a few hours. It was the perfect way to end the weekend and the perfect way to start a week of prayer and fasting with our church. 

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