a taste of home

If you've ever been to New Orleans, you don't need me to tell you that the food there is AMAZING.  There's some food that's unique to New Orleans- like beignets and crawfish- but other food that they just do better than I've ever had before- like paella, garlic shrimp, and sangria at Lola's or chicken schwarma at Babylons or the shrimp and steak and twice baked potatoes at Mulates or the fish at Jacque-Imo's...  I could go on and on.  We're heading to New Orleans this weekend for a wedding, and I've already started thinking through where I want to eat so I don't come back and realize I made a terrible mistake, like not eating a shrimp poboy.*  When we realized we were moving to Florida, I mourned the loss of all these great restaurants that were just right around the corner, but determined that I would bring New Orleans with me.


*For the record, while the food will be yummy, we are by far the most excited to catch up with some of our best friends and see my sweet relief team buddy Steph walk down the aisle.  If we had to choose between the food or the friends, we'd choose the friends every time. :)


I joked with Cori that we would make friends by having people over for a Cajun/Creole meal.  Surely, they would be so amazed by the food that they'd be our best friends for life, right? ;)


So far we've succeeded on several fronts.  We made sure to buy a big ol' bottle of Tony's seasoning before we left, and we incorporate that in a lot of our meals.  We also stocked up on some of Zatarains mixes, like shrimp etouffee and jumbalaya.  When we had our neighbors over for dinner last weekend, we made jumbalaya and not only was it easy to make (thanks, Zats!) it was a definite hit.


My other big flavor-of-New Orleans-in-Florida hit has come in the form of a little dish we call Shrimp Roban.  One of my favorite restaurants in New Orleans is Semolina's, and while I was forced to travel out to Metaire to eat there after their Magazine Street Bistro closed, it was ALWAYS worth it to go.  No need for a menu, just bring me a diet coke and some Shrimp Roban.  


Now, my sweet roommate Laura, knowing my slightly obsessive love for this dish, found a recipe for shrimp roban and made it for the bridal shower she and my other roommate, Kim, threw for me back in May.  So when we moved to Tampa, I had hope; maybe I too, could make shrimp roban.


I did a little online-searching and found the recipe here.  I got the ingredients, printed out the recipe, and was about to start cooking it when I realized something funny.  The recipe says that it yields 1 serving, yet it calls for using quantities like 1 gallon of Alfredo Sauce, a 1/2 pound of butter, and 4 cups of green onion.  Say what?!  I'm thinking their '1 serving' meant '1 serving for a party of 50' or something along those lines.  So, my sweet husband kindly did the math and reduced the portions to a more do able size.  It depends on how much you eat (i.e., my skinny but never gains a pound husband could easily eat about 4 servings), but I'd guess this probably makes enough for about 6.  Which works great, because I love leftovers!


So here it is:


Roban Sauce
1 pint or 16 fl oz or 2 cups of Alfredo Sauce
1/2 pint or 8 fl oz or 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped green onion, white and green
4 teaspoons blackened red fish seasoning (I found some made by Emeril's)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic


Just a few notes- I usually use a little less cayenne pepper; while I can handle some spiciness, I prefer to not drink 6 cups of water with my meal.  But if you love spice, go for it!  I also tend to go heavier on the garlic, because I LOVE garlic.  I think the few times I've made this, I've used more like 2 tablespoons of garlic, and it was wonderful.  Also, while obviously fresh minced garlic is better, I've gone the lazier easier way before and just used a bottle of minced garlic.


I will also say that you could just as easily substitute chicken for shrimp.  I use shrimp just because I adore shrimp and end up cooking lots of other dishes with chicken.  Honestly, it's the sauce that makes this meal such a winner... I think I could drizzle roban sauce on anything and I would love it.


So there you have it!  One of my all-time favorite meals.  I was thrilled when I realized I was able to make this- it's delicious, and honestly doesn't take long to prepare!  I made it last week for my Bible study and got compliments, which I think officially affirmed for me that this meal is a winner.

a house, a cat, a job, and a church.

I figured it was time for a little life update on how things are going here in Tampa.  We're pretty settled in and are loving our little house.  It definitely took us a little while to get everything we needed, (since a desk, 2 chairs, a twin sized bed, and a night stand were literally the only pieces of furniture we owned when we got married) but we've pretty much got everything we need now and are loving sharing this home together.  We love our neighborhood too; it's full of cute little unique houses that reminds us a little of New Orleans.  We're also loving our next door neighbors.  They're just a few years older than us and have two adorable little boys, ages 3 and 6.  We went to the beach with them on Labor Day and I'm pretty sure Cori is hoping we'll have boys someday (not for a while though, folks!) because he loved playing with them- they were way more fun than his 'I just want to lay out!' wife. :)

We also got a cat!  It was completely unexpected; while we'd talked about getting a kitten sometime down the road, we certainly weren't thinking that it'd be after just a month of living here and 2 months of marriage.  But apparently God had different plans. ;)  Our across-the-street neighbors knocked on our door last weeked, saying they had to get rid of their cat, and did we want it?  Before I knew it, Cori was saying yes, and this adorable black, white, and orange calico cat was being brought across the street.  I have to say, she is the sweetest cat ever!  She came with the name Tabitha, but after some thinking, we changed it to Willow, after the street I lived on for 3 years in New Orleans.  She's 2 or 3 years old, so while she's definitely not a kitten anymore, she's still got a lot of playfulness in her.  She LOVES to be held, a quality I've never experienced in a cat before, and she's a good cuddler- when she wants to be. ;)  Our next door neighbors came over for dinner on Saturday, and we were so impressed by how well Willow did with the kids.  For 45 minutes, these little boys played with her... and being that they're 3 and 6, by played, I mean, chased around the house.  The 3 year old was so proud that he could pick her up- he walked around the house carrying her, and each time he'd say, "I'm strong!"  It was adorable.  And while Willow was more than happy to have some alone time when the boys got busy with dinner and the playing the Wii, she didn't once hiss or bite or scratch or snap at them.  Good news, since she should be around when we have kids of our own someday.

Cori is enjoying his job and has been getting familiar with the infectious diseases of Tampa by looking at DNA and blood cultures from chicken and geese around the city.  At least, that's my perception of what he's doing... my non-science oriented brain tends to dumb down his explanations a bit...

And- drumroll please!- I have a job!  I'll be the lead teacher in a 3 year olds classroom at a daycare here in Tampa, and will start later this week or the beginning of next, depending on when my background check clears.  I'm excited to get back to work and am looking forward to being with even littler ones than before.  Although I gotta say, after 3.5 months of not working, it's going to be hard to get back into the routine!

We've also been so blessed by our church here.  When I was in college, I went to a church called aletheia, and was reminded before we moved by a good friend that aletheia planted a church here in Tampa.  We went our first Sunday here- literally about 8 hours after our 3am arrival- and have been hooked.  It's been wonderful to reconnect with some JMU friends that are part of the church plant here, and also to slowly but surely make some new friends.  We've really loved the way they make it clear that this life is about Jesus and the salvation He brought us, and have been reminded by how much we need Him.

Phew, that's all for now!  It's time for this girl to do a little Bible reading and then look at her to-do list and make sure life is in order before work starts up... and maybe take a shower, too. ;)

Tomorrow marks two months of marriage.  We're celebrating big: Cori is going to work, I'm going to look for a job, then we're going to make dinner, eat it, and probably play the Wii some.  Exciting stuff! ;)

Alright, so I'm mocking us a little.  But, I realized an anniversary that is almost more significant than the two months of marriage mark.  Right around this time last year, Cori and I had our first serious marriage conversation.  We'd been dating for about 8 months and Cori had recently returned from 2 months in Ecuador.  Those first weeks having him back were wonderful; it was a difficult summer being away from each other, and after making it through that, we were both beginning to think along more permanent lines.  After several casual conversations about the 'if' of marriage (can any conversation about marriage every really be casual for a girl?) I realized that as much as the giddy, girly part of me enjoyed it, we were going to a place where I would be devastated if our 'if thinking' didn't turn out to be a 'when.'  So I told Cori that I couldn't have any more conversations about marriage until he was sure he wanted to marry me.  Cori said, "What if I'm sure?"  I believe my response was something along the lines of, "Well, then we can talk about it all you want!"  (Insert giggly, blushing Rebecca here)

That was the beginning of a very fun, if not sometimes scary and new, season for us.  We dated for the next 3 or 4 months before getting engaged, intentionally talking about marriage and the future.  It was such a crazy season to be in, being fully secure of Cori's feelings for me as we moved towards a place in life neither of us had been before.

Right around that time, my friend April posted a song on her blog, dedicating it to her husband of 6 months.  I immediately fell in love with it and played it for Cori, who loved it too.  It became our song and was our first dance together as husband and wife.

Dancing in the Minefields, Andrew Peterson

I was nineteen, you were twenty-one
The year we got engaged
Everyone said we were much too young
But we did it anyway

We bought our rings for forty each
From a pawn shop down the road
We made our vows and took the leap
Now fifteen years ago

We went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storm
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for

"I do" are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another I've heard
Is a good place to begin
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/a/andrew_peterson/dancing_in_the_minefields.html ]
'Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it's an easy price
For the life that we have found

And we're dancing in the minefields
We're sailing in the storm
This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for

So when I lose my way, find me
When I loose love's chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days
When I forget my name, remind me

'Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man
So there's nothing left to fear
So I'll walk with you in the shadowlands
Till the shadows disappear

'Cause He promised not to leave us
And His promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos, baby,
I can dance with you



Please, listen to it, and get caught up in the sweet simplicity of it.  Cori and I love it because it not only talks about the sweetness of love, it also talks about the reality of being in a relationship in a messed up world with messed up people.  I adore Cori, but not every day of our marriage has been easy.  We've fought and cried and gotten frustrated.  As my pastor said at our wedding, "Not every day will be as happy as this one." 

Often, when I'm feeling like a complete and total mess, Cori will remind me that he's dancing in the minefields with me- even when I'm the one who put the mines there to begin with.  And the even more beautiful part is that we've got Jesus dancing with us too.  And He promised not to leave us, and His promises are true.

...wherever you are.

I miss New Orleans.

Don't get me wrong; Tampa has been great so far.  We've got a cute little house in a great neighborhood, we're getting plugged into a fantastic church here, and we've even hung out with people a few times.  Not bad considering we got here 11 days ago.  I feel confident that Tampa is going to be a great move for us as a newly married couple, that Cori's job will be a great fit for him and that God is going to grow us in new ways in this different season. 

But New Orleans was my heart and soul for 5 pivotal years, and when we left, a piece of my heart stayed there.  I miss the friends who were family, I miss driving down St. Charles Avenue, I miss our favorite restaurants, I miss the familiarity and the settled life I had there.  It's been so weird to realize that school has started back up in New Orleans and that there's this rhythm that I lived and breathed for 3 years as a teacher, going on without me.  New Orleans is where I became an adult, where I learned to delight in who God made me to be, where I made some of the best friends ever, where I ate some of the most amazing meals in existence, where I ran a marathon and became a teacher.  It's where I met Cori, where I fell in love with him, where he asked me to marry him.

Things weren't perfect there, and the truth is, for as much joy as I experienced in New Orleans, there was heartbreak and pain as well.  But it was my home, and I love it, will always love it. 

This week, I've been reminding myself how I never could have predicted the beauty that God brought in my life these last 5 years, and I have to trust that He's got good plans for me in this new season as well.  When I miss New Orleans, I try to turn it into a prayer of thanksgiving, because how blessed am I that I have so much to miss?  My sorrow reflects the joy that I was given for 5 years, so I take my homesickness as a reminder of an amazing season of life.

There's a popular bumper sticker in New Orleans, particularly after Katrina, when so many New Orleanians were displaced across the nation.  It said, 'Be a New Orleanian, wherever you are.'  And so I will.  Just as I left a bit of myself behind in New Orleans, I'll take a bit of New Orleans with me... in my cooking (Cajun spices, shrimp creole, and jambalaya!), in my obsession with fleur de lis and the New Orleans Saints, in the phone calls and visits and pictures, in the way I'll always honor August 29th as the Katrina anniversary, in my fondness for Mardi Gras beads, and in my heart.  I'll always be a New Orleanian, no matter where I am.

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practice makes perfect.

Our rehearsal was your typical wedding rehearsal... we ran through the order of the wedding, with the church's wedding coordinator and my pastor telling us where to stand, when to hand over my bouquet, etc.  Here's a few snapshots.

so much love.

I was overwhelmed by the people who traveled from near and far to celebrate with us.  We had guests come from all over the country and we were so honored that they would be willing to go to such lengths to watch Cori and I get married.

The definite winner of the travel award would go to my best friend and maid of honor, Katherine.  We became friends at JMU and were inseperable our last two years of college.  Since then, despite my move to New Orleans after graduation, we've grown even closer as friends through phone calls, visits, and vacations together.  If any picture characterizes our friendship, it would have to be this one from a visit Katherine took to New Orleans.

Katherine flew all the way from AUSTRALIA to be a part of our wedding.  I hadn't seen her since before she left in December, so not only was I thrilled to have her at the wedding, I was so excited to get quality time with my BFF.  She got in late Monday night, spent Tuesday with her family, and then she was all mine for the rest of the week.  :)  We had long talks, at lunch at our favorite restaurant, the Galaxy Diner- hello trailer trash pancakes and fried oreos!, ran wedding-related errands, and soaked up the time together.

On Thursday, two more precious friends flew in.

Katherine, Laura, and Amy

Laura was one of my bridesmaids and has been one of my two roommates for the last two years.  She flew into Richmond from New Orleans.  Amy was also a roommate of mine in New Orleans, but got married two years ago and now lives in Texas with her hubby.  I hadn't seen her since right before Cori and I got engaged and was so happy she came in a couple days before the wedding so we could get a little time together. 

Friday morning, Katherine, Laura, my mom, her best friend from childhood Carole, headed to Vy-Vy's salon to get mani/pedis.  We were stylishly late to the bridal luncheon (and by stylishly, I mean our mani/pedis took longer than we thought and we were 45 minutes late) that Katherine and her mom threw for me.  A few pictures:

The luncheon was great- yummy food and wonderful girlfriends.  It was so sweet of Katherine and her mom to throw for me, and I was so thankful for the chance to be with some of my best girls before the craziness of the rest of the weekend started.

Next up: rehearsal and rehearsal dinner!

the weeks before the wedding...

I know, I know... I have so much to update on!  I'm going to start in chronological order, so be patient- it may take a couple posts to get to the actual wedding.

The beginning of June, Cori and I headed back to Virginia for a crazy wedding month.  Seriously, everything about June was weddings for us, and I don't just mean our wedding.

On June 11, we traveled to Virginia Beach for Mike and Brittany's wedding.  Mike was one of Cori's close friends at Virginia Tech, so we loved the chance to celebrate with them and get quality time with some of Cori's best friends- who are also becoming some of my good friends as well, which is fun.

Then, on June 18th, we traveled back to Virginia Beach for another wedding.  Danny was one of Cori's college roommates and also one of my teammates during my first year in New Orleans, doing relief work with Campus Crusade for Christ. 



When we weren't attending other people's weddings, we were busy working on our own.  We went to every craft store in Richmond, searching for the supplies needed for our programs.  We went to Party City to look for cake toppers and champagne glasses for our toasts.  We met with our fabulous photographer (http://www.rebekahgoldman.com/).  We listened to potential songs for our father/daughter and mother/son dance.  I looked everywhere for the perfect earrings to wear on the wedding day, and shopped for a rehearsal dinner dress and bikinis for our honeymoon. 

Our programs!  Much thanks to Caitlyn, Rachel Bishop, Katie Howe, my mom, and her friend Nancy for helping Cori and I put them together!

I was also so blessed by a surprise bachellorette party from my best girlfriends.

  

   

Next up: bridal luncheon and rehearsal dinner!  Stay tuned :)