Christmas in Louisville 2013

For Christmas 2013, we decided to stay in Louisville and see what this great city has to offer for the Christmas Season.  I'm glad we decided to do this!!  There's so much to do at Christmas time in this city.  Here are some of the pictures of the different things we did and places we went.  Enjoy!!

First, I must mention, that Christmas time ushered in the beginnings of the Polar Vortex over here in Kentucky.  This is Matt's truck covered in icicles  right before we left to go to the Creation Museum in Northern Kentucky.

This is a pretty bad quality of a picture, but it's the only one that I actually took at the Creation Museum.  So this is the only actual proof that I have that we went there.  :)  Matt got to hold this huge snake, I didn't really want too.  I'm not a snake person.  :)  We love to visit the Creation Museum and this was the first activity we did to usher in the Christmas season here in Kentucky.

We spent the entire day at the Creation Museum, and then spent the night over in Ohio, near Cincinnati.   We quickly realized that Matt's windshield wiper blades from California had given up the ghost and were no match for the Northern KY, snow.  :)

Louisville, is known for having the best city water there is.  I don't really have anything to compare it with since I'm a country girl who grew up on well water.  I still don't drink the water from the tap here though.  In this picture Matt and I are walking around the water treatment plant's reservoir.  The water is pumped in directly from the Ohio river and treated here.  It was a really cold and windy day; that's why my hair looks even more wild than it usually does.  :)

Here's something really unique that we did.  We went and saw Christmas lights inside a cave.  It was pretty amazing.  It was called Lights Under Louisville.  This picture is the entrance to the cave.  I thought it was interesting that the first light display said, "Keep Christ in Christmas."  The next few photos are from are time under Louisville enjoying the light displays.  It was about a 20 minute drive through this amazingly festive cavern.

We enjoyed going to the Frazier History Museum in Downtown Louisville on a Sunday afternoon.  They had a bunch of Christmas trees on display and each one was decorated to the theme of a different country.

For our Christmas Eve dinner this year we had schnitzel with spaetzle.  As you can see it was definitely a German themed dinner.  We were on a schnitzel kick and it seemed like it would make a great Christmas Eve dinner. We even made the spaetzle from scratch.  After our dinner we went to Clifton Baptist Church for the first Christmas Eve service that we have ever been too.  We really enjoyed our time at church, and then we went around town and enjoyed all the different light displays at people's homes.  It was a great Christmas Eve night finished off by watching the Nativity, and sleeping out in the living room by the Christmas tree.  

Our Christmas morning tradition is to wake up and have freshly made maple cinnamon rolls.  We love the recipe from the Pioneer Woman's cook book.  They were so good as you can tell by the empty plate.  :)

This is a crazy picture.  We look like we've had way too much sugar or something.  :) Matt's mom sent us our Christmas gifts and when we opened them, confetti exploded everywhere.  It was so funny!! Our carpet was literally covered in confetti.

I got Matt a bunch of calligraphy supplies for his gift.

Matt got me some really nice frying pans and also some quilting supplies.


We really had a great Christmas as we celebrated our Lord's birth over here in Louisville, KY.  We constantly praise the Lord for where He has brought us and what he is teaching us while we are here at Southern  Seminary.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been working on perfecting my chocolate chip cookie recipe this year, and I think I've finally done it!  So, because I'm nice, I'm going to share the step by step pictorial recipe with you all.  :) These cookies are so good!  Warning:  If you're on a diet, these cookies are not for you, they're full of fat and sugary goodness.  :)   Click Here for a printable version of this recipe:  Printable Version 

For the Christmas season I've been making the peppermint white chocolate chip version of these cookies, but you'll see how easy it is to change up what you can put in these cookies.

First, Let's start with the ingredients:

I'll give you the exact ingredients and their measurements at the bottom of this post in the actual recipe. The only thing healthy about these ingredients is the organic brown sugar.  :)  Honestly I don't usually use organic baking ingredients because they are so expensive.  The only reason I used it this time is because I was out of regular brown sugar and the closest store to us is a little health food store called Rainbow Blossom.  

Okay, this step is really important, and you won't find it in many chocolate chip cookie recipes.  You must must must take your butter and eggs out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature.  This will help them cream together with the sugar much better and make for even more yummy chewy cookies.  I usually cube up my butter and let it sit on the counter for about 2 hours.  Don't skip this step, it's really important.  

For these particular cookies that I made tonight, I added 12 crushed candy canes.  I made a double batch of cookies so my husband could take them to work tomorrow.  It's pretty easy to crush the candy canes, but it can be a pain to unwrap them all.  :)  I just put the candy canes in a ziploc bag and crushed them with my meat mallet.  Make sure you don't crush them into powder, just small pieces like in this picture.  

Now that you've brought your butter and eggs up to room temperature, and crushed your candy canes, you can cream together your butter, butter-flavored Crisco, white sugar and brown sugar.  Okay, once again, this next part is not in most chocolate chip cookie recipes, but it is really important too.  Beat this butter/Crisco/Sugars mixture with your electric beater for 5 minutes.  Yes, I said 5 minutes.  I thought this was pretty crazy at first too.  But, this helps to break down all the sugars and really cream them together with the butter/Crisco.  Warning, your arm can get tired from this much beating with the mixer, so you may want to enlist your husband's help at this point.  He'll like his reward of getting to lick the beaters.  I know Matt loves that part.  :) 

Next your going to add your eggs and vanilla to the creamed mixture.  Beat once again with the electric mixer until the vanilla and eggs are fully incorporated.  The batter should be somewhat fluffy at this point and a little stiff.  

Now it's time to measure out our dry ingredients into a separate bowl.  

This is an important little side not about measuring flour and other dry ingredients.  When measuring flour be sure to scoop the flour with a spoon into a measuring cup.  You want to avoid packing flour into your measuring cup as this will make the actual measurements incorrect and greatly effect the taste of your cookie.  Remember baking is like Chemistry, we need to be as exact as possible.

Here is another important step for measuring flour.  Always level off the measuring cup.  I just use a butter knife to gently slide the excess flour back into the jar.  

I know that most flour now days comes pre-sifted, but I really like to sift my own flour after it's all been measured out into the sifter along with the other dry ingredients.  Think about it, your flour has been sitting in a container in your pantry, it needs some fluffing up right?  Also, it's really fun to use a sifter. (If you have young children, this is something they can do,)  I got this one from an antique store and I love it.  I remember that this was one of my favorite things to do when I was helping my mom make cookies when I was little.  So using a sifter now is kind of nostalgic for me, but I do think it definitely effects the texture of your cookies.  It makes them less tough.  

I now add the sifted dry ingredients to my creamed wet ingredients a little at a time and beat them together with my electric mixer.  I add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 different installments.  Hmm...installments sounds funny, but that's the best word I could think of to describe this process.  :)  Make sure that all the dry ingredients are mixed together with the wet ones.  Don't over mix at this point though.  Remember flour has gluten, and the more you mix gluten the tougher it gets making you have really tough cookies.  

This is the fun part, add in whatever your heart desires to your cookies.  For this batch I used white chocolate chips and crushed candy canes to make them nice and festive for the Christmas season. You can get really creative at this point.  Here are some ideas:

• Any kind of baking chips
• Any kind of nuts
• Dried fruits (I like craisins and dried apricots) 
• Crushed pretzels
• Crushed candy bars

For this part, mix the add ins by hand.  I use a big wooden spoon.  Once again, you may want to get your husband to help you with this part, because the dough will be very stiff at this point.  Don't worry, he won't mind, he can't wait to eat one of your cookies, so he will do anything to make the process go faster.

Now at this point, must recipes would tell you to get your baking sheets ready, but this isn't most recipes, so instead, you will be getting your Pyrex glass casserole dish ready. :)  This cookie dough is not headed to the oven, but to the freezer first.  So, line a large freezer proof dish with parchment paper.

Use your 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop out some of the cookie dough.  The dough should be very stiff and not sticky to the touch at all.  

Scoop the dough out of the measuring cup with your hand and lightly form it into a disc shape, not a ball.  

Place all the cookie dough disks into the parchment lined freezer safe dish.  

I double-stack my cookie dough discs in my Pyrex glass casserole dish and then I put the lid on them, or you could cover them with foil.  At this point it's into the freezer with these dough discs.  It's best to let them freeze over night, but if you need them sooner, let them freeze for at least 2 hours.  One of the reasons that I love this recipe so much is that all the dough goes into the freezer, and you can take out the dough discs when you feel like making cookies, you don't have to cook up all 24.  Which is good, because these cookies are huge, you wouldn't want to eat 24 in one sitting.  :)  The dough discs will keep for up to 3 months in your freezer.  So, if you have guests come over you can always just pop some of these dough discs into the oven and surprise your guests with fresh baked cookies.  

After the cookies have been frozen, you can take out however many you want to bake and place them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  I love using parchment paper, it helps your cookies not to darken or burn on the bottom and they cook much more evenly.  I usually cook just 4 at a time for Matt and I.  

After the cookies have been in a 350 degree oven for 9 minutes, I flip the sheet around to ensure that they cook evenly and bake them for another 9 minutes.  Remember that every oven cooks differently.  I'm cooking with an electric oven so a total of 18 minutes of baking time works perfect for me, but it may not for you.  So when you first make these cookies be sure to check your cookies often so that they don't burn or overcook.  Also, if you like really crispy cookies, you'll want to increase the time.  A baking time of 18 minutes creates cookies that are crispy on the edges and nice and chewy in the center. 

After your cookies are finished baking in the oven, immediately place them on a wooden cutting board and allow them to sit for 2 more minutes.  This allows the cookies to harden up a bit so that they will be easier to transfer to their cooling racks.  

This picture is just to show you the large size of these cookies compared to my Pampered Chef cookie spatula.  The large size of these cookies is what helps them to retain that nice chewy center and crispy edges that make them so amazing.  

Once the cookies have sat for 2 minutes on their cookie sheet, go ahead and transfer them to a cooling rack.  I like my cookies to not only taste amazing, but to look really good and uniform too.  With this recipe I have finally accomplished both.  You can eat these cookies warm with milk, or you can store them in an air-tight container for a couple of days if somehow they don't get eaten right away.  :) 

Here is the actual Recipe:  

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Yields:  24 Large Cookies Ingredients 1 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 4 teaspoons vanilla extract (use the best brand you can afford) 4 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons cornstarch 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 bag baking chips of your choice Instructions Mix butter, butter-flavored Crisco and sugars with an electric mixer on medium for 5 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and mix with electric mixer on medium until completely combined.   Combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt and sift together. Mix dry ingredients slowly into wet ingredients and mix with the electric mixer on low.  The dough should be stiff and not sticky to the touch (Do not over mix the wet and dry ingredients this will cause your cookies to be tough.) Add in the baking chips and stir with a wooden spoon until thoroughly mixed together.  (Once again, be careful not to over mix.)  Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop out dough and from into a disc.  Place the dough discs into a parchment lined freezer safe container. Continue until all 24 cough discs are in the freezer safe container and then put them in the freezer. Place the dough discs in the freezer for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.  The dough can remain in the freezer for up to 3 months.   Place frozen dough discs onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in a  350 degree preheated oven for 8 minutes and then turn the baking sheet and cook for another 8 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Remove from the cookie sheet and place the cookies on a cooling rack. You can eat these cookies warm or allow them to cool and then place them in an air-tight container for a few days.  (If they last that long.)

Click Here for Printable Version.  

A Time to Give Thanks...

This time of year always seems to be the busiest for us.  Matt is busy studying and working, I'm busy with nanny responsibilities and sewing, but in the midst of all this business it's good to stop and take time to give thanks.  God has been so good to us!  Matt began his second year of Seminary in August and he is now in his last weeks of finishing up this semester.  As I'm writing this post, we are sitting in Barnes and Noble and he is studying, reading, and preparing for his finals next week.  We are so thankful for every circumstance that God used to bring us here to The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  At work, Matt received a promotion to operator; which came with a nice raise.  God is good to us financially! I could not be happier with my job as a nanny.  It is the perfect job for this season of our lives.  Since both of the kids that I nanny are in school, I have the whole middle of the day to myself.  This has allowed me to be able to attend chapel services with Matt on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I'm so thankful for what God has been teaching me through all of the Godly chapel speakers.  God is allowing us both to grow so much in the knowledge of Him and Who He is while we are here attending classes.  I just finished up my third semester of Seminary Wive's classes by taking a discipleship class.  I learned so much from this class, but one thing that stands out to me is this profound lesson:  "ministry wives will need to learn to be 'self-feeders' before they will ever be able to feed (disciple) another."  This class greatly challenged me in my own personal walk with God through helping me to be more consistent in my daily Bible reading, prayer, and worship time.  I'm so thankful that Mrs. Mohler, the seminary president's wife, began this special school to train up minister's wives alongside their husbands.  I don't want to give any of you all the false impression that we live perfect lives.  No, we don't have perfect lives, and everything doesn't always go our way.  But, we are doing our best to learn from what the Apostle Paul said:  "I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content."  Even if that state is Kentucky and not California.  :)  Yes, we miss California, but we know that God has us over here in Kentucky to prepare ourselves for the future ministry He has planned for us.  We both can boldly say that whether in good times or bad, God has always been there working in us and even through us, and for this we are ever thankful.

Okay, now I will get you all up to date with some of the pictures of our latest adventures since our last post.  I don't know about you, but I love looking at pictures, so if you're like me, than this section of this post is for you.  Enjoy!!

Back in September, Matt and I went on a little mini-vacation to the Madison Art Festival in Indiana, which is about an hour away from Louisville.  The town of Madison, IN is reminiscent of small-town America, and we really enjoyed looking at all the amazing architecture from that era.  We had a great time even if it did pour on us the second day we were there.  There were many local artists and artisans with some very unique art on display.

We have found the best spot for eating fresh seasonal food at The Blue Dog Bakery and Cafe.  It's walking distance from the Seminary, and they have the best soups, pizzas and sandwiches.  Everything there is so fresh, and a lot of it is served farm to table so we are supporting our local farmers and enjoying good food. 

Last year we got our pumpkins from Huber's Farm in IN, so this year we figured, "why not make it a tradition while we're here."  Matt had never been to an actual pumpkin field to pick his own pumpkin.  This was quite fun watching my perfectionist husband trying to pick the perfect pumpkin in a field of 100s of pumpkins.  

In October, my mom surprised my dad by flying me home for his birthday.  It was so good to see family again, and to meet my cousin Mike and his family for the first time.  It was a quick two-day trip.  Just a little teaser to make me miss California even more.  :) 

Before I left California to go back to Kentucky, my parents took me to see the ocean.  I sure do miss the Pacific Ocean.  The Ohio River here in Kentucky just doesn't compare to the great big Pacific Ocean.  

I've always had this fear of cooking steaks, but I love to eat them.  So recently I decided to conquer this fear and learn how to cook a good steak.  I've been doing pretty good so far, and Matt sure does like steak night Saturdays.  

Every year, since we've been married, Matt and I have packed up shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  We always have so much fun shopping for the items to put in our boxes and then coming home and trying to fit everything into the box.

Ok, I'll admit it.  Kentucky does have something up on California.  The trees all turn the most beautiful colors here during the fall!

As a side job, I sew vintage belts for two ladies who have a business designing the belts and selling them to boutiques. When I'm not sewing these belts, I love to quilt.  I made this wall quilt out of a bunch of vintage scrap material that I found at the thrift store here on campus.  All the pieces of material were already cut into shapes, so it was quite a challenge trying to piece them together, but I like the end result.  

Matt and I took our Christmas card picture the weekend before Thanksgiving.  It was freezing outside at Cherokee Park.  Matt was a good sport though.  We had to use the timer on my camera and set it up on a tripod to take the pictures for us.  It took us a while, but we finally got a picture we both liked.  The picture above is not the picture we used for our card, I didn't want to put that one on here only on our Christmas card.  

Ice Cream, Fairs, and Festivals Oh My!!

At this season in our lives, God has placed Luke 12:48 heavily on my heart.  "Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more."  We are both being given so much training while we are here at Southern Theological Seminary.  I truly feel like a sponge doing my best to be saturated with the good Godly teaching we are being influenced with on a daily basis.  Then, it dawned on me the other day, we are going to be very responsible to the congregation that God leads us to after graduation.  We have been given much, and then it will be our turn to give back.  That's definitely a scary thought, but I have all confidence that God will never give us more than we can handle, and that He is always there to strengthen us to the task He has laid before us.  Which brings another excellent passage to mind from Joshua 1:9b "Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”  What an excellent promise to hold on to wherever God has brought us to in our lives.  He will be with us wherever we go.  Once again I stand in absolute awe of what an awesome and mighty God we serve!!  We are definitely enjoying this season of intense training in our lives right now.  Which is good, because we have 3 years and 11 months more of it, not that anyone's counting down or anything. :)  Besides a busy schedule of studies, Matt and I find time to enjoy the Southern life here in Kentucky.  So, without further ado, here are the pics of what we've been up to since the end of July.  Enjoy!!

Ok, I had to start with this pic, because we have eaten more than our fair share of ice-cream this Summer. :) 

We experienced our first tow.  It was fun!!  It didn't cost us anything thanks to good Costco Insurance, and it ended up being the alternator which Matt was able to replace himself.  In the pouring Summer rain, it was a pretty interesting experience, but one that God blessed throughout.

Louisville is definitely known as a foodie Mecca.  So, we've been trying a lot of the local restaurants.  I loved the grilled cheese at Tom and Chee, but Matt didn't like it so much, probably due to the fact that he's really not a cheese lover. :)  I'm so blessed with a husband who took me to Tom & Chee anyways because he knows that I LOVE cheese.

See, we really don't just go to festivals and eat all the time, Matt does a lot of studying too.  

I just had to mention this.  I don't think I'll ever stop saying "you guys."  

That's what a tobacco plant looks like.  It kind of looks like seaweed to this CA girl.  There was a whole exhibit of all the varieties of tobacco at this year's KY state fair.

Ahh...now doesn't this State Fair exhibit look so healthy?  Do not be deceived though, this is not how all Southerner's truly eat....see the next picture and you will know what I mean.  :) 

Yep, you're seeing this right, Krispy Kreme Donuts on the grill!!

And here's what they're turning  those Krispy Kreme Donuts into.  Jelly filled sloppy joes, and donut burgers.  

I know...You're asking yourself, "who would eat such fattening weird food?"  Well, this picture says it all.   Hungry seminary students will! :)  Yep, Matt loved them, me no thank you.  :) 

Ok, this is the last fair picture, but isn't it just so creative?!!

For my birthday this year, I got the most amazing dutch oven ever!! Thanks to my wonderful husband and mother -in-law.  I've already cooked pork roast, and creamy chicken noodle soup in it and they both turned out amazing.  

One thing about being way out here in KY is that I don't get to go shopping with my mom for my birthday. :(  But, she sent me a JCPenny's gift card and I was able to buy a whole new outfit.  I was so excited because I have lost 25 lbs since we've come to KY and my clothes were making me look like an orphan.  It's so nice to have an outfit that actually fits now, plus I had fun picking it out.  

This lovely little Southern vegetable is called Kushaw and it's actually from the pumpkin family.  One of the men from the church in Turner's Station was always sharing produce from his garden with us, and one Sunday this is what we got.  They told me that pretty much anything that you make with pumpkin, you can use Kushaw instead.  So, I was pretty excited to try cooking with it.  I have to say, it made me feel kind of Southern. :)

Here's what it looks like on the inside.

And here's the finished product....Kushaw pie.  The verdict:  it tastes even better than pumpkin pie!!

Ok, we've discovered that late Summer and early Fall is definitely festival time here in Louisville.  Matt enjoyed at least 3 of these pina colada's at The World Fest in Down Town Louisville.  I know what you're thinking...no they didn't have alcohol in them, we're in Seminary. :) 

While at the World Fest, I thought I died and went to Heaven when I saw that they had Elote...which is Mexican corn on the cob.  Oh how it made me miss the little street vendor in San Jose, CA that I used to buy it from every Saturday while I was going to college in the Bay Area.  

And the festival's continue with The Bluegrass Festival.  The Kettle Corn was amazing!!

So, what's the best way to enjoy bluegrass music?  Flat on your back on the lawn according to Matt.  

Before the Bluegrass Festival was over, God decided to roll in some "music" of His own with a huge thunder storm and buckets of rain.  Needless to say, the rest of the festival was canceled for the night.  That was okay though, because Matt and I enjoyed watching and listening to God's "festival" much more anyways.  Not that bluegrass music is bad or anything, you just can't compare to perfection.  

At the Seminary's Fall Festival this year, the them was "The World's Fair 1904."  We had the best time ever.  We were so surprised to see that they even had boba.  We haven't seen boba since we left CA, where we used to get it every Thursday night after classes at CBU at Boba Loca.  The night ended with an amazing light show right on the face of the Seminary's library.  I'm so thankful that we attend a Seminary where they truly care about their students.  

Ok, this last picture is just so you guys don't think that all we eat is fair and festival food all the time. :)  We actually eat really healthy during the week thanks to a great local farmer's market that we go to just about every Saturday.  

Well, I hope you all enjoyed that picture journey of our lives since the end of July.  I just wanted to include a list of a few things that we would like you to join us in prayer for.

1. That God would lead us to a permanent church home here in Louisville.  Matt finished off the summer preaching at the small church in Turner's Station, KY.  After much prayer, he decided that he would not be able to have the time to adequately server the church there during the school year.
2. For Matt's studies here at Seminary.  Especially for time management.
3. For both of us to be a light and witness at our jobs.