Chicken Pasta Salad

The curry makes this great.....3 of us really liked it...the other 4 like boxed mac and cheese. Need I say more? 

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package bow tie or corkscrew pasta, cooked (used veggie spiral)
• 3 cups cubed cooked chicken (2 organic chicken breasts)
• 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup mayonnaise (0% fat Yogurt)
• 1/2 cup Caesar or Parmesan salad dressing (see below)
• 1 tablespoon honey mustard or other prepared mustard
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1 cup shredded carrot

Added:

Mushrooms

Parmesan Cheese

Green Onions

Corn

In the future, I may leave out chicken and use artichokes etc - more veggies.


Toss pasta, chicken, oil and garlic powder. Cover and chill. 


Combine yogurt, salad dressing, mustard, curry powder, salt and pepper; cover and chill. 


Before serving, add the pepper, tomato, carrot and dressing to pasta mixture. Toss. 


This recipe is from allrecipes.com. I didn't have either of the dressings called for so also found the recipe below. 

Simple Caesar Salad Dressing

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1/3 cup white vinegar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2 1/2 tablespoons prepared Dijon-style mustard
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

I added 1/3 C olive oil 

Put in jar, shake, store. 

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Spider Season in Misawa

Capturing the cut kid sayings, as I realize those sayings will be fewer and fewer......until the grand babies start arriving for me to blog about. ::snort:: 



Stacia (5) "I walked out the door and carefully looked and saw insects above me."


Unbelievable! I had cleared the doorway of spiders the evening before....and there it was again....all over our front doorway and porch...egg sacks....ugh. Never ending summer battle. 

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Sweltering Sunday

We still have rolling black outs in Japan. 


We have air conditioning in our living room and master bedroom (BECAUSE WE WEREN'T ALLOWED TO LIVE ON BASE - SEE THERE ARE ALWAYS REASONS FOR THESE THINGS::snort::);  we've not used it as it seems only right to be tough in solidarity with my sweltering peeps and to do our part to conserve electricity at this time in Japan. We hang our laundry. We burn two lights at a time in the house...those sorts of things. We've been tough. 


The heat here isn't the hottest I've survived; but the humidity makes it FEEL HOTTER. Really. In the a.m. you wake up and the sweat is rolling down your back. The highlight of yesterday is Michael came home from chapel and turned on the AC. YES. It could have had something to do with my Facebook status which mentioned lying nekkid under a fan and not wanting to get up for anything...even chapel. Now I know which chapel attendees read my Facebook. LOL 


We had plans for Bre's last afternoon....however, I think the AC enticed us to stay inside, or maybe approaching goodbyes made us lethargic....though we're fairly good TCKs and deal with goodbyes by living to the fullest in denial until we pull up at the airport. ::snort::

I took a loverly nap. I needed it. I'm a "certain age" and have been told to take a nap if I need to; so there. ::grin::

Everyone played games....we play more games when the older kids are home. Why don't we play games when its the younger ones? I must explore this a bit.

The day passed...and tomorrow is sure to come.


Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Girls Day Out

Year's ago Michael and the boys had a "boys weekend". They snow machined into a cabin in the middle of nowhere and went ice fishing.  The girls went to Seattle during our PCS (though we had Zander and Nolan). Bre is proposing a Girls' Weekend in December. 


ANYWAY today we decided on a "Girls Day Out". I wanted Bre to have a pedicure while she was here in Japan. I knew she'd enjoy it more than the onsen...which she bravely endures with me. ::snort:: 

I got them drinks of their choice, they picked the colors and got ready to relax......

This was Arielle's first pedicure...she agrees with Bre's thoughts on pedicures vs onsens. LOL 

They didn't have enough chairs for Stacia to get a pedicure (a fact which she is not totally at peace with as they told her they'd do her nails if I brought her back this week), she did settle down with the ipad and enjoyed herself. 

We did a "bit more" shopping for Bre... and I bought each of the girls a Kokechi doll to remember the day....Krista, you'll love the one I'm sending with Bre. We missed you. 

Our next stop was an authentic Ramen shop - where Bre chose Yakisoba...but she DID use chopsticks. 

Arielle's Ramen

Mike called to say he and the boys were heading our way. They had packed some snacks and we were heading to the BEACH...with our new nails....we took a photo in case dire things happened to our soft and shiny feet.

We went to a new beach - Takasegawa River....

Lots of fishermen

We tried to find another beach to shoot off fireworks, but all the beaches were roped off. Love roads like this. 

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Real vs FAKE

THIS is Ramen

This is NOT!

Loving the good life in Misawa, Japan. 

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Another Haircut

Zander is our spectrum/sensory integration child.....and his hair grows FAST. He likes things even. He doesn't like things touching him.  You may remember a few months ago his hair was bugging him and he took the scissors to it.  I had noticed he was getting preoccupied with his hair again this week and knew the scissors couldn't be far off. 


One of his friends came over with a buzz. I seized the moment! 


"Zander, would you like a hair cut too?" 


"Yes." 


Off we went. I quickly snipped the hair to a level the clippers would better handle.  This is the child I worried would never learn to communicate and interact with us....the child who was content in his own world and didn't seem to need us. 


"Try to do it without touching me any more."


I began to buzz.....


"AGH you are ripping my hair out by roots like a flower!"


 "It sounds like a bulldozer!!!" 


"It's going to bust my ear hearing"


He went to the  couch  and  laid out spread-eagle....I tried to find an emergency soda in the house, but there hasn't been any since before the end of deployment. ::snort:: 


He came through at one point and sang to me, "Why'd you grab your clipping shears and shave my head like Brittany Spears, now I'm standing here in total shame, you're to blame, ..."


He's still rubbing his head and says it's "thorny," but he likes it. LOL 


Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Krista's Update

It had been well over a week since we'd heard anything from Krista...to include her blog, email, FB, Skype....and we were all ready to hear. 

As we sat around playing games yesterday afternoon Skype went off....and there she was! BLOND and TAN...very much healthy and well. 

This was the first time we'd been able to talk about her lifestyle, the things she is doing and witnessing and whether this may be a lifestyle she embraces permanently. It was good to talk and process with her.  She has an opportunity to extend her time in country. She's praying that through. I told her she could come HERE and do the same thing and we'd be sure she had all the time she wanted interacting with host nationals. ::snort:: 

She's been busy with camps....there will be two more upcoming camps and then a week of possible travel around Europe and then she'll be flying back to OR.  I snagged some photos from Facebook. Pray Krista finds her camera. 

Krista is basing her adventures here at Paul's Place in Antalya, Turkey. 

Shots from Olive Grove - a camp for TCKs.  (Third Culture Kids) Krista, of course, being a TCK and the daughter of a TCK, relates well with this group. 

One of her jobs was to spend 4 hours a day teaching kids to snorkel and kayak....she's the blond.

Tressa (2nd from left) is Krista's (3rd from left) roommate

We had so hoped we could bring Krista to Japan for a few weeks to hear all her stories first hand....but she needs to get back to OR, find an apartment and job and start saving for the next phase of her life. 

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...