Year of Significance

Appenzeller cheese tartlet. YUM.

On Sunday, I turned twenty-seven. Jesse calls twenty-seven “the year of significance” because seems like in movies something big always happens to the main character in his or her twenty-seventh year.

Friday night, Jesse and I ate stir fry and then walked around the outdoor mall where all the rich people shop. I had birthday money and Williams and Sonoma was having a big sale on Le Creuset. I walked away with a giant blue pot, the most gorgeous Dutch oven I’ve ever seen. Saturday evening, I spent nearly three hours in the kitchen, cooking a Julia Child chicken recipe with a mushroom cream sauce in my Le Creuset, roasting Brussels sprouts, and making Appenzeller tartlets.

“Tartlets” has become a new favorite word around here. First of all, because the word is just so fun to say out loud (go on, try it!). It sounds even better when said three times in a row. I don’t know why. And second of all, because they were really good. They’re basically little baby quiches, with a homemade crust (lard and butter!), sweet cooked onions, prosciutto, and the tangy Appenzeller, which I’d gotten at Harris Teeter for super cheap (the other blocks were going for $8 and $9, and I got this one for $2, but it had to be used right then).

Dinner was glorious. Who knew enamel-coated cast iron could be so exciting?

Sunday was our last Congo team meeting before the trip. More on that later. The afternoon was shopping for Congo odds and ends—bug spray, hand wipes, medicines of all varieties.

Then, we had a birthday dinner at India Mahal with some folks from small group. The girls sat at one end of the table, the boys at the other, and us gals talked about a trip to Spain, and I have no idea what the boys talked about, and we ate plates of curries and stacks of naan and paratha and everything else, and it was just so pleasant to be surrounded by friends, talking about travel, the sun still hanging on as we paid and walked a few doors down to the little Mexican grocery. A few of us went back to the Paschals’ place and watched a movie. Brandon and Kara brought me gummy bears and chocolate.

I don’t know how significant the year will be yet, but it sure has started out fun.