yg camp

Was amazing. Over the long weekend we took the youth to Lithgow and just spent four fabulous days in the freezing cold hearing about the certain hope we have in Christ and bracing ourselves for a lifetime of following Jesus in a hostile world.

Highlights:

• Watching the kids really include one another and look out for each other
• Seeing new kids be absorbed and adopted and included by the rest
• My seniors stepping up to really serve others at youth 
• Bonfire night - our sharing prayer and praise evening. Kids were keen to sing, keen to share and keen to pray for one another. 
• Hearing how difficult people find it to be a Christian and knowing you're not alone
• Realising that God really is at work in people, and we are all a work in progress.
• My team won the overall weekend competition. Woo!
• The food as usual
• Interviewed one cook, who shared her incredible testimony of how she learned to pray from watching The Simpsons.
• A shy girl got up and shared what it's like to be a Christian for her in front of the youth.
• New leaders taking charge and running things and stepping up.
• E prepared missionary stories and they were really captivating for the kids to hear about people who went into hostile places to share the word.
• Electives all went really well
• Costumes were on point as usual
• Train trip went smoothly. Nice conversations on the way there, epic games of mafia on the way back

 So many more highlights. Too many to mention. Came back on a high.

Jamie's 15 Minute Meals: Blacked Chicken

I made this for the second time the other night and it was really good. Although would be better in summer when mangoes and avocados are easier to purchase, and when I remember to buy cress.... But regardless, turned out to be super enjoyable. I may have made too much couscous.

Overall gets a very big tick of approval. Recipes that get quicker every time you make them are good recipes. And this one doesn't use a thousand dishes and pans, which is a nice change from many Jamie recipes. 

Would make again. 

The picture is from Pinterest. My dishes never come out looking like that sadly. 

The past two weekends

Reminder to myself: I need to blog. It is good for me to have a scrapbook of fun memories.

Friday 27 - Monday 30 May
The plan was to ride my bike and then catch a train to Campbelltown, but this didn't happen due to a cough and cold air. But I got to drive to Campbelltown, do a hairdresser date and lunch with mum and come home with freshly dyed hair.

Saturday was Equip, which was wonderful but a super long day. Served lots of people, saw old forgotten friends, had encouraging conversations with M and L after the conference, had a really nice road trip with C and a prayer session in the car. Those things are always good for the soul.

Church was good - it's always good. Spontaneous picnic lunch with friends at the park, then dinner with R. Bit of a goodbye dinner, which I'm no good at. But nice to think back over the past year and be thankful for sharing this season of life together as a trio.

Monday was so tired from big weekend. We discovered a mouse in cupboard. Went out to dinner with Mum and family, and then spontaneous board games at my house. Turns out L and I are the most compatible, but am not compatible with Mum at all haha.



Friday 3 - Monday 6 June
Spent all Friday finishing a youth group talk, hearing the mouse run through the walls, and napping. Youth group talk was on Ecclesiastes 9, death is meaningless but Jesus defeats death. Afterwards we celebrated it being a Friday night by driving out for Krispy Kreme donuts and then for HSP's. A random epic evening but my favourite kind.

R left on Saturday, so we helped him pack boxes and drove stuff over for him. Trying to help him get settled in the new home. Had a baby shower in the afternoon which was lovely, and then went out at night for P's birthday with a bunch of girls. Dancing, pizza, good conversations and lots of rain. Was a bit scary driving home. Also I had two energy drinks, so then I was awake most of the night.

Church = good again! Talk was on keeping the gospel pure and free from contamination, and protecting it. I made slow cooker vegetable soup, which turned out to be God's providence as I ended up feeding most of those who stayed around at church lunch. Rain meant that not many people wanted to leave and come back. Spent the evening with E and K watching Veronica Mars and cuddling Paddington dog.

Monday = sleep. Considering that I didn't get much on the weekend. And it was an emotionally exhausting one. Did some housework, spent time with Soong. We went out for spontaneous waffles. Also had coffee with P which was lovely to catch up and just share some of the things we are going through. Disappointed we didn't pray together though. And the camp prep begins. Monday and Tuesday were 1am bedtimes.

Wednesday morning I also enjoyed a 15 minute conversation with E and her daughters R & J. So gorgeous to watch them growing up.

Jamie's 15 Minute Meals: Thai Chicken Laksa

I received Jamie's 15 Minute Meals for my 24th birthday, and decided I would expose myself to new flavours, techniques and skills by cooking my way through the book, one recipe at a time. Four years later and I'm still not through the first section. I took a hiatus after doing the Michelle Bridges 12WBT, focused more on calories than on nutritious filling food. I then almost forgot about the challenge, until the middle of college last year when I decided I should really get back into cooking new recipes to challenge myself once more.

At least once a month I cook a new recipe.

And as this is my virtual paperless scrapbook, I thought I would blog about each recipe here because why not.

This Thai Chicken Laksa was so yummy the first time I made it, it was one of the first 15MM recipes that came out super awesome the first time I made it. It took me longer because I didn't have the right food-processor attachment, but the extra time it took was worth it.

So now it's been added to the meal roster, and I am looking forward to making this one more often.

The best thing about this laksa is how thick it is. The grated pumpkin in the soup really adds depth, and there are just some really powerful flavours working their magic. The first time I made it I didn't have kaffir lime leaves, and the second time I made it I forgot the coriander - but both times it has been super flavoursome and I haven't noticed the missing ingredients too much. I add a bit more stock than what JO says, because otherwise the noodles soak up all the broth.

And the chicken thighs are gorgeous and moist, and I love the five-spice/honey/sesame combo. It's a real winner. Soong loves it too.

So this one is a winner because:

• there's only one pot, one grater, one frypan and one mini food-processor to wash. 
• it tastes awesome
• Soong likes it
• it's super easy
• now that I know how to make it, it'll just keep getting faster and faster

This was recipe 11 out of 119 recipes in total. I'll do a bit of back-blogging about the first 15 recipes, and then will blog as I go for the rest! Exciting stuff. 

A place for thoughts

It's probably a good time to start fact checking again and making an objective account of all the really wonderful things that happen, the wonderful people around me and the wonderful ways God blesses me. That will keep me in line!

In the break between the last blog post and this one:
- I finished an amazing year of Bible college and graduated with a Dip of Bible & Missions
- I went back to working at my old job, but in a new office
- I learned a lot about caring for people with mental illness
- We started hosting young adults home group
- We had a wonderful housemate move in and stay for a year (who is about to move out)
- I learned to ride a bike
- I passed Greek! But am pretty bad at it now as I haven't done hardly anything since :(
- I read a few books
- I didn't go on holidays anywhere, but we've got a trip to USA planned.
- Had lots of little fun adventures, including seeing live music, spending time with friends, picnics, getting outdoors, cooking
- I won a competition on Instagram and got a free cookbook
- I had a pretty nasty ankle injury thanks to my friend's dog
- We got internet at home, installed air conditioning and an awning (feeling like real grown ups now)

So it's been a full year and a half, and a happy year and a half.

And here's to more regular blogging. Because paper and pen is so 2010, and everyone needs one or more scrapbooks.