Happy Fourth of July

Happy Independence Day, everyone.

I am sitting at home, in the only cool room in the house, reading blogs that are funnier, better written and just all around....better than my blog. Oh well - they're hilarious, and I'll pretend they're inspiring. (If you don't believe me, go to this site. You'll see!) LouhGung is sitting next to me playing Final Fantasy XII. Good stuff, this. Right now, he's ridding some awful wasteland of all the beasties that have infested it. What a good helper he is! The fantastic thing about the video game world - when you have "defeated" the awful winged, bearded, barbed beastie, it falls over and simply disappears. It's like in a bad dream. The bad thing just goes away and you get some points. No blood, no guts, and all of the glory!

I hardly know what to do with myself. BBJ has successfully slept through the night every night but one for the past week. What a good girl she is! The poor thing is bringing in two new teeth, and it makes her a little cranky.

Last night, we had a dinner party. It was such a fun dinner party! Amber, a good friend from the Missionary Training Center was in town to visit her husband's family. Mamie, her good friend (and mission companion/ ex-college-roommate) recently moved into my congregation. Now, I love a good surprise. I invited Amber and her husband (and adorable baby boy) over for dinner. I also invited over Mamie and her husband (and adorable baby girl), but did not tell her that Amber was coming. What fun! When Mamie and Co. arrived, they were so surprised to see their good friends.

By the way, dinner also turned out very well. Thanks for everyone that contributed! Usually, I love dinner parties, but I end up frazzled trying to entertain guests and get dinner on the table without burning it or serving it frozen. Last night went off without a hitch! We started out with a DELICIOUS soup that Mamie brought. We then had egg rolls (frozen, from Costco) with homemade sauce (recipe compliments of a friend's mother - THANK YOU! I've been dreaming of that sauce since middle school and just recently acquired the recipe.). We also had Broccoli with Beef, also frozen from Costco. However, my sweet sister warned me against the sauce - something about a very prominent Worcestershire Sauce taste? My sweet, Chinese MIL was aghast, and taught me how to make a simple dressing for the dish: When everything is done cooking in your wok, add a little oyster sauce and the Chinese Trinity - soy sauce, sugar and corn starch. (These three things can dress just about any vegetable or meat, varying the proportions for the dish at hand.) We finished off the meal with fresh raspberries from my mother's abundant garden, vanilla ice cream and fresh lychee nuts (also compliments of Mamie).
Overall, the evening was a huge success!