So, I have completed my New Papi’s Whatever Whatever Chicken Challenge, and posted the results below. The only person that has tried it so far is Mr. ND, who could very well be biased, but he declared it “better than anything you could get in a Mexican restaurant.” I have to say, I thought it was delicious myself, and I ate almost the whole chicken breast (these days I usually only eat a couple of bites, if any at all). I was glad I chose mild salsa (I debated using medium), but the pepper jack was pretty spicy, and I thought it was good the way it was.

I stuck pretty much with the original recipe, except in the case of marinating. Instead of preparing like the packet said, I actually mixed the taco seasoning with 1T each lime juice and olive oil and made a paste out of it, and spread that on the chicken. I haven’t ever had the original recipe, so I can’t say whether or not it was better, but it’s something I’ve done before (not with taco seasoning) and I like it.

Incidentally, most of the ingredients in this dish were organic (olive oil, salsa, etc.), with the exception of the rice (which was brown rice), the cheese, and the taco seasoning. I felt like I had to give myself a challenge with the ingredients after this entry, since I wasn’t exactly traveling around Hong Kong for my stuff. The side dish was probably not very camera beautiful, but it’s one of my favorites, roasted green beans, which added a nice sweet/savory contrast to the spice of the chicken. Anyway, bravo for the recipe, and see my photos below (click to enlarge). I suggest serving it with your favorite mexican beverage. If margaritas or cerveza are not an option for you, just throw a lime on whatever you are drinking (water, diet coke, cherry kool-aid, whatever), and it will feel much more like a fiesta.

Salud!

The United Nations describes a migrant worker as “a person who is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national.” Unfortunately, this description sometimes does not tell the whole story. A good friend of mine works in Hong Kong at an organization that protects and advocates for abused and exploited migrant workers, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia. In China alone, it is estimated that 11.5 % of the population consists of migrant workers- that’s 150 million people, a number that equals roughly HALF of the U.S. population. Unfortunately, an untold number of these people are often abused and exploited.

According to a study performed by the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, more than 25% of migrant workers in Hong Kong (where migrant workers make up three percent of the population) were regularly paid less than minimum wage, denied their legally mandated weekly day off, and experienced physical or verbal abuse. A “significant incidence” of sexual abuse was also found.

There are hundreds of stories that can be found online from migrant workers who have been abused. The problem is certainly not unique to Hong Kong, or even China. Thankfully, there are organizations that work to protect migrant workers and help them advocate for themselves. The organization that my friend works for is called Bethune House, and they work closely with United Filipinos in Hong Kong, and the newly formed International Migrants Alliance to advocate for the rights of migrant workers both individually and on a large-scale basis. The photo you see above is from a recent march that was held in Hong Kong. There is not much we can do from the outside, except support these organizations whenever possible, elect leaders that will assist the U.N. and other NGOs in putting pressure on offending nations to stop Human Rights abuses whenever possible, and pray.

There is hope for the women you see above through organizations like these that advocate for them and empower them to speak for themselves. Today, I am praying that when they are abused or intimidated that help will come swiftly, and that when they speak, people in authority will listen.

(This post was my part of the 40 Day Fast, hosted by Inspired to Action. I have a partner today- be sure to visit her blog and see what she is praying for at http://thetruevyne.blogspot.com/)

• I have slacked on the Homemaker blogging. Just know that I have made Blackberry Jam, Bread and Butter Pickles, and Dill Pickles since my last post. They were all really easy, and you should all try it unless you are Mr. and Mrs. H, in which case your kitchen is very small and at least one of you is a lawyer. I recommend that in that case, you focus your spare time on writing blogs for us to read. I will put photos on my Flickr page soon.
• Tomorrow, I am participating in the 40-Day Fast. Hooray!
• I got a new boss this week. She is very nice.
• I have started swimming at our local Y. It is fun, except for the fact that all of the other swimmers are very serious in their swim caps and Speedo brand swimsuits (TM), and kind of show me up at the pool. But I think that’s normal at first for any sort of sport or excercise (the insecurity, I mean- not the Speedos. Those are pretty exclusive to swimming as near as I can tell). I haven’t been this excited about anything since running (my SHOES were loyal to the sport, my knees, not so much). I’m getting it together.
• Mr. ND and I have booked our honeymoon. After a LOT of research, we will be going here (it’s cheaper than Disney!). And yes, we booked it through Costco. I cannot wait- mostly because that means that the wedding and the beginning of school will be over and we will just get to relax. Hooray again!

AND

• As of Monday (because lets be realistic: I will probably not post again aside from the 40-Day Fast post before Monday), I will be one week and one month away from my first day of graduate studies. In preparation for this, I am trying to come up with a clever psuedonym for my school. Suggestions are welcome.

(The Hermitage, home of Andrew Jackson)

So, I hear you about the last couple of posts being a little on the depressing side. This one will be much happier.

• I haven’t been posting much for the usual reasons, and also because my sister is visiting right now, and we have been trying to show her the sights in Nashville. We have not been very successful so far, but I think she has seen enough, and today we are visiting The Hermitage. I think visiting the home of a former President (Andrew Jackson, for those of you who don’t know) is pretty patriotic.
• I have never lived in a place where fireworks were legal before. This place (Mt. Juliet) is COVERED with fireworks stands. Seriously- I pass FIVE on the main road on my way home from work. We are planning to get some fireworks later and take them to our friends’ house, which should be fun.
• We are also planning to go to the big fireworks display in downtown Nashville today. The symphony is going to play for free, and it’s generally going to be awesome.
• Also, you know who LOVES America? Car dealers. And air conditioning retailers, and hot tub companies. I know this, because there are NOTHING but red, white, and blue commercials on TV today for sales on cars, air conditioners, and spas. I guess it makes sense- there’s nothing more American than capitalism.
• The place we live is not really a suburb (for those of you who haven’t been here)- it is an actual small town still, which is unusual for me, although I kind of like it. Just as an example of how that is true, my neighbors are outside in FULL FORCE this morning, yelling at each other across the street about fireworks and charcoal, even though it is RAINING (That is expected to clear up, though). There is also a town-wide fireworks display later at the Baptist Church, which I feel kind of guilty about missing, but the Nashville one will be good, so we’re going to go to that one. Maybe we’ll do Mt. Juliet next year.
• What is everyone else doing to celebrate our nation’s birthday?

Happy 4th of July, everyone! Go out and buy a spa or something patriotic like that.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25145431/

Tim Russert died today. I don’t have much else to say at this point, except that I am really genuinely sad. I had a standing weekly relationship with Tim Russert, and I can’t believe I won’t be watching him on TV anymore. My heart goes out to his family.

• Today we went to the Y to swim, and there had been a drowning an hour before. The police and the media were still there and everything- my car is even in the news footage, that’s how close we were to being there when it happened. Very sad.
• We went rafting on the Ocoee yesterday with the J-Mac family, and it was awesome. It had been like 10 years (!) since I had been rafting, and it was very fun.
• This week is the Tennessee Annual Conference, so I will be hard at work there (since we are a UM Mission Agency) it would be awesome, except its in Murfreesboro, which is exactly the farthest community from my house in the Nashville Area.

That’s it for now. Look for another Summer Homemaker post soon- hooray Bread and Butter pickles!

(Photo from the NY Daily News)

Lately, I have been reading the biography of Albert Einstein, which has been really interesting and cool, and I always think how fascinating it would have been to be alive when all of that stuff (the discovery of the Theory of Relativity, development of the A-bomb, the Red Scare, etc) was happening. Not that it was all good, but it was history in-the-making, and all of those things have shaped, markedly, the world we live in today. When you think about it, though, what we’ve got right now ain’t too shabby.

I think it was totally awesome that we had a woman AND an African-American contending seriously for a major-party nomination AT THE SAME TIME (although WAY too long in coming, really), and that ALL of the states got to have their primaries actually count and participate in the process (some more than others, but still). I think the whole electoral e-penis thing was ridiculous and that we should basically evacuate Florida and Michigan and torpedo them both, but that was history too.

And now we have a Democratic nominee (basically). I have not technically been a supporter of either candidate since Super Tuesday, and I am glad for a chance to get back in the game. I chose my candidate at that time, and then after I voted honestly became a neutral spectator (because really, my part was done, and whether people believe me or not, I really liked them both), just waiting (and waiting) for this whole thing to be over. And now, I have a candidate to support, and I could not be happier, although there is just one thing that bothers me. This.

Not so much the Slate generator as journalists and bloggers (not Summer Associate bloggers, but professional ones) who use clever Obama-puns as titles for articles. Can we please not make this man- this man who could very well be our Commander in Chief, this man who has so much promise and stands for peace and social justice- can we please not make this man’s name into a thousand silly neologisms? I know it’s clever, but he’s going up against John Leave-No-Man-Behind-War-Hero McCain in the fall. Let’s not turn his name into a series of bad puns. /End rant.

It’s hard sometimes not to get sick of the media coverage and the demographic (over-)analysis sometimes, but it helps to remember that this is something historic that we can tell our kids about until they’re sick of hearing it. And by that time, hopefully female Presidents and minority Presidents will be old hat to them and they will just roll their eyes at how OLD we are, and they didn’t have CELL PHONES when we were little and not everyone even had a COMPUTER?!

If that’s going to happen, this would be a first step, and I intend to do whatever I can to support Senator Obama, and enjoy this campaign as much as possible, without letting political pundits ruin it (I’m looking at you, Joe Bear).

Now if only I could get tickets to the debate at Belmont later this year…

In honor of the Summer Gourmet series, I have decided to post about my summer experiments, except I’m not so much cooking gourmet meals as trying new food-related things. This will probably not be a series, but maybe it will be a periodic thing. Or maybe this will be the only one. We’ll see. In the meantime, I give you:

Homemade Strawberry Jam (now with photos!)

Start with two cups fresh, local strawberries (preferably from your CSA share), mashed.

Add FOUR (yes, four) cups of sugar. Make sure you have enough sugar when you start, otherwise you might have to use whatever else you have…

Mix thoroughly…

… and let stand ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

Kill some time by admiring your newly updated kitchen, complete with non-Navy paint, awesome backsplash, stolen cup (sorry J-Mac household!), and new stainless refrigerator (thanks GE!).

Then reminisce about how your last jam effort did not go as planned, but resulted in delicious ice cream sauce instead.

Dissolve pectin on the stove.

Stir until sugar crystals are dissolved and pectin is throroughly mixed in (taking photos with a cell phone while stirring is hard. Be extra careful not to drop Mr. ND’s cell phone into the bowl).

Watch for pectin blobs (left) and strawberry leaves (right). Retrieve your camera from the 1970’s.

Fill jars with canning funnel and cover. Let stand 24 hours to set before freezing (or refrigerating for consumption within three weeks). Note that the canning funnel barely fits into a Sam Adams glass and remember to buy enough jars next time. Also, remember to look for the missing outlet cover later on…

And that’s it! This is a recipe that allows the jam to be frozen for up to a year and still have the right consistency when thawed. That is why it is in plastic jars (you know, for freezing, because glass doesn’t freeze well, blah blah blah). The Sam Adams jar-full will be consumed in the near future (although not too near, since this jam has about 45 calories per tablespoon. That’s not unusual for jam, so use it sparingly if you don’t want to go into a sugar coma or whatever.

I will let you know how it turns out in approximately 20 hours, but Mr. ND’s Aunt Anna says this recipe is pretty foolproof, so hopefully everything will turn out well. Effort-wise, it is probably easier to buy your own jam, but we already had these awesome strawberries, and there will be no high-fructose corn syrup or artificial preservatives here.

Ta da!

Sunday morning was a family worship service, and then Sunday afternoon went by pretty quick. After Amish church dinner (bread, pickles, beets, cheese, Amish peanut butter and cold sausage- modeled after the lunch they eat at Amish church), it was chatting with the cousins and then time for bed.

The weekend went by before you know it, and it was time to head for Chicago! We took the train from South Bend, and saw all the lovely sights of Northern Indiana:

A Nuclear Plant! I had never seen one before, except on the Simpsons.

A mere two hours later, we had arrived in lovely Chicago, IL! We checked into our hotel, and headed out for lunch. We, of course, had deep dish pizza at Pizzeria Due (the sister restaurant to Pizzeria Uno, which according to our menu was the first place to serve pizza in Chicago. Whether or not that’s true, I don’t know, but it was delicious!)

Look how happy I am to be in Chicago.

Finally! Free access to caffinated beverages!

Pizzeria Due

Mr. ND is so hungry.

We were really hungry- it was now 12:00 and the last real meal we had eaten was Amish dinner the day before. I had only eaten bread with cheese and pickles.

Our pizza. It was delicious.

Afterwards, we went back to our hotel and looked at the map to figure out where to go.

The view from our hotel room.

(We were on the 12th floor.)

The Magnificent Mile.

After a quick stop for ice cream and a tour of the Magnificent Mile, we were off to the Hancock building. Unfortunately, a trip to the top was $15/person, so we opted out of that. I didn’t want to pay $15 to be mildly uncomfortable due to my fear of heights, and Mr. ND just didn’t want to pay $15. We decided that there were plenty of free things to do in the city, and so went to find a free trolley (yay Chicago!) to take us to Navy Pier.

Us in front of Lake Michigan.

Even though it was not even a little bit close to sunset at 6:00, we decided to head back to do a little shopping at Nordstrom and then hit the hotel bar for a really expensive drink.

This drink cost the same as a trip to the top of the Hancock building. Totally worth it.

After that, we ordered room service (I had by this time, realized that the sore throat I had was not going away- hooray for 96 people at every meal at the Inn!), and then checked our email and watched TV (which we had not had all weekend!). The next morning we got up and headed to Midway for our flight home.

Edit: For those Summer Gourmets out there, our dinner consisted of Risotto with Shrimp, Grilled Salmon with Bernaise Sauce, Sauteed Asparagus, Truffled Potato Gratin, and Cheesecake with Limoncello and Cherry Liqueur sauces for dessert.

All in all, a good weekend. We will definitely have to go back.

Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame,
Wake up the echoes cheering her name,
Send a volley cheer on high,
Shake down the thunder from the sky.
What though the odds be great or small
Old Notre Dame will win over all,
While her loyal sons are marching
Onward to victory.

-Notre Dame Fight Song

So on Saturday, we went to visit Mr. ND’s alma mater, Our Lady of the Lake U, and I have to say I was impressed. It is a beautiful campus (two lakes!), and we didn’t take many photos (technical difficulty), but there was a lot to see. There’s a fire hydrant painted like a leprechaun, and there is a CEMETERY on campus. More than one, actually. People love the school that much, I suppose. Actually, one of the cemeteries is for the priests who teach there and work as administrators, which makes sense. But that still leaves one for regular people. That’s school spirit.

This photo was taken outside of the student center. It is actually a lovely statue of one of the priests who worked there as a porter and was known for his loyal service to God, but Mr. ND thought the bird nest was more urgent. They ARE nice birds.

This is the Golden Dome. It is the ADMINISTRATION building. I would say you should see the basilica, but that would be cruel, since we didn’t take any photos of it.

Inside the dome.

The floor inside the building. There were also murals- it was nicer than some state capital buildings I have seen.

So, after a quick trip to the lake and to see the football field, we were ready to hit the bookstore and get back to the Inn for dinner. I picked out a sweatshirt at the bookstore that I really liked, which was a mere $68.00. We decided we would come back for a football game sometime, and then headed back to Hope Springs (the Inn).