I really cannot believe that it is 8:18 AM and Koa is still asleep. Well, yes I can. We have had a very full weekend. Monday will be spent detoxing and running many errands. At some point it needs to involve grocery shopping lest we should have to starve!!
Saturday evening we had a dinner party for our friends who have been on this crazy journey with us praying and anxiously awaiting answers to those prayers. We decided to have a feast of thanksgiving to honor them and communion together to honor God and His faithfulness. Zak made the unleavened bread for our communion and together we made the rest of the meal. I am going to include links to as many recipes as I can for my own reference, but feel free to try them out, I think it all was a big hit--except the ice cream (more explanation to follow).
We started with spicy crab stuffed mushrooms which were a big hit. Our salad was organic baby greens and Manoa lettuce with fresh pineapple and raspberries, sunflower seeds and almonds topped with a pomegranate vinaigrette. Then for our entree we had tenderloin steaks with herbed goat cheese (instead of the Gorgonzola the recipe calls for and the herbs were thyme, rosemary and basil since that's what I have growing on my lanai), served atop roasted garlic mashed potatoes. For dessert I offered folks the choice ahead of time of creme brulee (either mango, vanilla, or ginger) or brownies with vanilla coconut milk ice cream and espresso creme anglaise. For drinks we had iced Rooibos red tea with essence of vanilla pear and I made a mint syrup and simple syrup to add to taste, homemade ginger ale and iced and hot coffee. We had grape juice for the communion ceremony and then served wine with dinner for those who wanted it.
Zak got up about 6:30 to go diving in the morning. He got to finish up his advanced diving course with Brad, Wes and Jessi out in Hawaii Kai on a boat dive. He did a wreck dive to the Corsair first and then he did a drift dive along China Wall, which is a long reef that runs along the southern coast of Oahu. A drift dive is simply diving in a location with high currents and you just float along for the ride! So you jump off the boat, get carried along by the current, then when you pop up, the boat comes and picks you up. It was like passing by the reef on an escalator! At China Wall is where Zak actually got to swim with a shark for a good 2-3 minutes! It was a juvenile white tip, only about 6 feet long, so it was nothing to be concerned about (although at one point the shark turned and swam about 15 feet directly under Zak which prompted Wes to think Zak was going to get eaten!). Zak said it was really incredible and peaceful - the shark was so graceful and didn't seem to care at all that they were there. That's not really the report you expect when one swims with a shark! I'm so glad he got to do that! I think this whole certification process has been really good for him to be able to spend that time with our friends and do something he has really wanted to do for at least six years!
On his way home from diving he stopped by the church building and picked up some tables and chairs so we could fit all 14 of us around a table in our living room!
I got up the same time Zak did and started juicing ginger and barely stopped the dinner-making process until everyone arrived at 7 PM. I say barely because there was, in fact, a toddler joining me in this process who needed to be bathed and fed and other important tasks. Unfortunately I couldn't take time to stop and read a book with him, so when he would ask I would ask him to read a book to me. It was fun to work together to try to recite from memory what was going on in his books. Of course, this would be the time that he would pick the books I don't know by heart! Not to mention that the whole time we are doing this I am keeping in mind that we have to show the house the next day, so I was trying to be vigilant about "Put one toy away before you get something else out!" without ever leaving the kitchen. Sometimes it worked. It wasn't one of my better parenting days. When Zak got home he made his bread, then helped with the stuffed mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes and creme brulee.
Dinner went pretty smoothly considering it was only my second time ever to make steak and I was doing it en masse. The company was delightful, of course! My big flop was the ice cream. I was insistent that it had to be homemade and it couldn't be made ahead of time. That is where my stubbornness foiled the plan. I was using a Kitchenaid ice cream attachment that belongs to the Cousers and I have used it several times without incident, so I felt confident in my plan. However, the kitchen was so hot from cooking all day and my Kitchenaid mixer sits right next to the stove. I guess it warmed the ice cream attachment before it had a chance to freeze the ice cream mixture. It turned to slush and then back to cream. What a bummer! My whole reason for making brownies and ice cream is that it is Brad's favorite dessert, so that was a big disappointment! He didn't seem to mind, though. He actually poured some of the cream on the brownie. I saved the ice cream mixture for another day.
If anyone has any ideas of what to do with a massive amount of egg whites, let me know. I have a plethora!
Koa is still sleeping and it is 9:26!
(Updated: Koa finally awoke at 10:20)
