A Great Day With Friends...

Today was a great day.
It started with cool weather (cold for Austin.) I dressed Audrey in her warm pancho and we went out to pick up some friends.
My friends Cameo and Emily are both from China. I met them at a lunch for Internationals at the Baptist Campus Ministry at UT which Audrey and I attend when we can. Cameo and I also meet to practice English together. I have really enjoyed getting to know Cameo and Emily. They are precious girls and I am glad to be friends with them.
So, today I picked them up near campus and brought them back to my house so we could cook together. They wanted to learn to make pizza and they showed me how to make delicious Chinese dumplings.
We had such a great time cooking together, eating (alot), and they loved on Audrey. They are so great with her, which I love!
Here are a few pictures of our time together.


Cameo and Audrey

And the dumplings...





They made the dumpling dough from scratch. We filled it with a mixture of pork, cabbage and green onion. I think that was all...maybe some seasonings too.
We fried some and boiled some. And let me say...good stuff! I LOVED them.





Audrey watched us cook...and helped a bit too. She really wanted to eat a dumpling.





Emily and Audrey

After the dumplings were all made, Emily made some noodles with the left over dough.





I guess I should show you a picture of our pizza too. We made a deep dish Chicago style pizza. It was pretty good. This is our last piece. :)

And now, after all the dumplings we could eat, and after giving a few to my neighbor upstairs, I have a freezer full of yummy dumplings. I am going to take them to share with my family at Thanksgiving. What a wonderful addition to our celebration that will be. (Dumplings are traditionally served to celebrate Chinese New Year, so why not serve them as we celebrate a holiday here in America? especially at Thanksgiving as we celebrate all that God has done in our lives...I will celebrate the new friends He has given me.)

Thank you Cameo and Emily. I had a great time cooking with you and look forward to the next time.

Audrey says "see you later!"

I'd like to order some sweet potatoes please...

Apples Apples Apples!!

I am SO enjoying making Audrey's baby food. I knew I wanted to try this, but had no idea if I would like it or if it would be manageable. Really, it is so much easier than I ever imagined. I was talking to a friend of mine who has also made her baby food and she said, "you're going to be making their food for many years to come, why not start now?" Good thought don't you think?
Today I am trying butternut squash. I am baking it right now and all I will need to do is scoop out the squash and process it. Whalah! Yummy baby food! :)

Audrey gets so excited when we put her in her highchair. She is lovin it!

So I got a peeler, corer, slicer for my applesauce and it is a pretty cool little gadget. I highly recommend it for anyone who cooks with apples (it peels potatoes too I think.)

Here are some pics:








Good stuff!!

And a couple of pictures of Audrey for good measure. How can I post without a few pictures of the sweetie!