Thursday, April 26, 2012

Jambalaya

During the first month of being married I was trying to do what I think most new wives do.  Cook amazing dinners.  You know, show off your wifey skills in the kitchen.  So in my effort to throw down I ventured into making dishes that I had never had at home as a kid but always sounded really good.  Jambalaya was one of them.  I found a decent recipe online and then tweaked it so that it was perfect for us.  Siua doesn't like things too spicy and I prefer the sausage over the chicken.  It's one of the few recipes that really stuck and has become a regular in the cooking rotations ever since.  Mostly because it's easy to make a whole lot of all at once.  Some of the more time consuming meals (country fried steak, stuffed chicken, fried chicken) got thrown out of rotation years ago. ;-) Once you have to cook for more than 2 or 3 people, your options change significantly.  So here goes our family jambalaya.  When I made this last week, Safeway was having a really good deal on jumbo shrimp.  So we got lucky and added shrimp to the mix but usually I just use sausage and chicken.

A few tablespoons of olive oil (or vegetable oil if you don't have olive on hand)
Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs cut into bite sized (I usually use about 5-6 pieces.)
Smoked Sausage about 7-8 cut in slices (Use whatever sausage you like. To cut the spiciness, I go for smoked.)
5 celery stalks chopped (not bunches, individual stalks)
3 bell peppers chopped (I usually use one of each color)
1 large onion chopped
4 large tomatoes chopped
4 cans of chicken stock (or one big can)
5 cups of rice
Cayenne Pepper - only about 1/2 teaspoon for us
Thyme - 2 tsp
Salt - add as much or as little as you like
Pepper - 2 tsp
Fresh Garlic - 3 tablespoons or 3 cloves
Paprika - 2 tsp
Oregano - 1 tsp
Fresh Parsley - 1 bunch
OR you can buy a mixed creole seasoning in one bottle that's pretty cheap. But add as much or as little of the seasoning as you like.  Taste as you go along and change it to make it your own.


I start off by chopping EVERYTHING and putting it in individual bowls. 

In a large, deep pot, drizzle a few tablespoons of oil just to coat the bottom.  Turn it on to medium heat and toss in your sausage.  Cook the sausage until it starts to brown.  If you're using chicken, add the chicken with the sausage and let that cook down.  Since I'm using shrimp, I'll throw them in later.

Once the sausage is nice and brown around the edges, throw in your celery, onion and bell peppers.  Sprinkle with a little salt to help them "sweat" and cook until they are soft. 

After the veggies have started to cook down, I usually add the seasonings.  I just dash them and then taste the juice.  Remember at this point, everything is edible so don't worry about tasting.  Keep doing that little by little until it's right for you.

Then throw in your tomatoes.  See how much the veggies cook down!?! Let that cook for a few minutes stirring pretty frequently.  You'll notice the
tomato adds a nice juice.  I do another tasting to see if I should add anything.

This is when it can get tricky.  Add the chicken broth and the RAW rice.  Mix really well, turn the heat down to a medium low and cover the pot.  It's important to mix really well EVERY 5-7 minutes scraping the bottom of the pot with your spoon.  You'll see why.  As the rice cooks, it'll start to stick to the bottom of the pot if it's not frequently mixed. It's going to look really watered down and soupy at first.  Just let it keep doing its thing.

As it cooks, you'll notice it start to thicken.  Every 20 mins or so, test the rice.  If it's still a little hard, keep cooking.  If your liquid has cooked down, you can add a cup of water or two to keep the rice cooking.  Remember, if you add water you'll have to taste again to make sure you don't need more seasoning.

Once the rice is completely cooked, throw those shrimp in and turn it off.  I took the shell and tails off of the shrimp but you can do it however you like.  The longer it sits, the thicker it'll get.  I usually let mine sit about 15 mins before serving it.  That gives the shrimp time to cook and the jambalaya time to thicken.

After that 15 mins, you're done! I usually make corn muffins or bread to go with the jambalaya.  A salad goes really well too.  Enjoy!












Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Lecturing the way ONLY a Gma can.

I was debating about posting this because you'll see she talks in detail about each one of the girls and their hubbys.  lol BUT I figured since I was recording in a way that you can't tell who she's pointing to (unintentionally of course) it would be okay to leave it up to you all to play the guessing game. ;-)  It is after all, a piece of our "childhood" in a way that ONLY Tongans can understand and appreciate.  I'm sure you all have gma's who do the exact same thing.  Even though I wouldn't be surprised to find out that it's only mine who decides that things just sound better when you're being vulgar.  LOL I'm sorry y'all couldn't catch the rest of the lecture but you'll see that she busted me recording and I had to turn it off before I got an adult whoopin.  LOL

LOVE YOU GMA!!!!

March Highlights

I know, how delayed! But I couldn't let April go by without talking about March! I need to get better at this highlight thing. It's so easy to forget the small things!.

     Here goes - Sissy Nani's 20th birthday! 20? Seriously? Geez Loueez can time slow down please?!?!


My Luvie Luvs turned 3!!! She enjoyed her party and all the fun at Pump it Up with her closest friends and loved ones.


**We had a BLAST at cousin VJ's Ice Skating Birthday Bash.**


**The beloved King of our great Island Nation passed away.**


**We had our Young Women New Beginning and welcomed three sweet girls into our group. Ane couldn't make it because of the funeral of the King of Tonga.**


**I was able to show support for sweet Tricia as she entered the Temple for the very first time.**

**The boys both got BRAND new bikes and were SOOOO excited about it!** So bummed I didn't get to take a picture!

**My Luvie is OFFICIALLY out of diapers! HUGE deal!**

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Mama's Boy

I'll admit it, I'm jealous. Not because of the email. More because somehow, from hundreds of miles away, MarkyBo's old Mama's Boy self managed to top our birthday gift. To make matters worse, he wasn't even TRYING! Dang you mama's boys! I thought it was cute. Cute enough to get it's own special blog shout out. Good job MarkyBo, I think it's safe to say the mission is really transforming you and yet you still manage to maintain your mama's boy nature. Pretty dope if you ask me. This weeks email from MarkyBo to all of the folks on his distribution list -
SO THROUGH THIS PAST WEEK I WAS THINKNG U KNOW MY MOM IS AWESOME..SHES THE COOLEST. THE ONLY WHITE LADY I KNO WHOS FAVORITE RAPPER IS LUDACRIS OR I GUESS THE ONLY WHITE LADY I KNO WITH A FAVORITE RAPPER.HAHA SHE GORGEOUS AND MAKES AMAZING LOOKING CHILDREN..LOL SHES VERY HARDWORKING AND KNOWS HOW TO HAVE FUN. SHES GENEROUS SHES GENIUS SHES JUST EVERYTHING YOU NEED IN A MOM. SHE KNOWS WHAT TO SAY AND HOW TO SAY IT. SHE KNOWS WHEN TO PUSH ME WHEN I NEED IT AND WHEN TO JUST LEAVE ME ALONE. SHES MEMERIZED THE LIKES AND DISLIKE IN FOOD OF ALL THE CRAZY KIDS SHE HAS AND DESERVES THE WORLD. I REALIZED THAT I DIDNT DO ANYTHING FOR HER BIRTHDAY THIS YEAR NOT EVEN A SPECIAL EMAIL TO HER ON HER DAY AND WAS MAD THAT ID HAVE TO WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR UNTIL I REALIZED THIS WOMAN IS MUCH TO SPECIAL TO BE NOTICED OR THANKED OR WISHED A HAPPY DAY ON JUST ONE DAY A YEAR. SO THIS WEEKS EMAIL IS FOR MY MOTHER..THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOU DO AND FOR ALL YOUVE DONE. I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING A GREAT WEEK!! HAPPY WHATEVER DAY !!! I LOVE U MOM!!!
WORK IS THE SAME JUST TRYING TO DO MY BEST. SO LAST WEEK WE BAPTIZED BROTHER DIEGO. CRAZY THINGS HAPPENED. HE WAS A FIVE YEAR INVESTIGATOR. THOSE ARE THE HARDEST CUZ THEY JUST KNO EXACTLY WHAT U WANNA HEAR. ANYWAYS HE HADNT RECEIVED AN ANSWER AND REFUSED TO BE BAPTIZED UNTIL HE HAD ONE WHICH IS PERFECTLY FINE. BUT HE WAS 91 AND SICK SO WE WERE NERVOUS HED PASS BEFORE GETTING THAT ANSWER. LONG STORY SHORT BROTHER DIEGO TELLS US ON FRIDAY NIGHT THAT HE GOT HIS ANSWER AND WANTED TO BE BAPTIZED THE NEXT DAY. PRETTY HARD TO RUSH THAT BUT WE MADE IT HAPPEN. HE WAS INTERVIEWED AND BAPTIZED THE NEXT DAY ON SATURDAY. THEN SUNDAY COMES FOR HIS CONFIRMATION. EVERYTHING GOES FINE HE COMES TO CHURCH AND IS CONFIRMED UNTIL RIGHT WHEN WE CLOSE HIS CONFIRMATION BLESSING AND SAY AMEN HE JUST SITS THERE. WE KNOW HES OLD SO WE JUST GIVE HIM SOME TIME THEN HE KINDA JUST SLOUCHES OVER. BROTHER DIEGO WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD 2 HOURS LATER. WAHAKO!!!!! I WAS LIKE WHOA!!..IT WAS WEIRD BUT WE FIGURED THAT WAS THE BEST TIME FOR HIM TO GO. HE HAD REPENTED AND WAS CLEAN FROM ALL SIN I QUESTIONED MY SELF AFTER THAT. HE BEING SO OLD HAD TO KNOW HIS TIME WAS CLOSE. BUT US AS YOUNGER ADULTS ARE WE READY AT ANY TIME TO GO?? WILL WE BE CLEAN OF SIN BEFORE OUR TIME COMES?? OR WILL IT BE TOO LATE??.. JUST A THOUGHT. BUT MAN IT IS HOT OUT HERE MAYNE. YA BOI IS DROPPIN WEIGHT LIKE CRAZY IN DIS SUN...AND YES GETTING BLACK!! BUT ISS ALL GOOD. IM STILL A CHILD OF MY MOM WHICH MEANS IM A HOTTIE...HHAAHHAHA....DOOOIN IT..LOVE U WORLD. RYT ME!!!

Friday, April 13, 2012

"E 'Otua Ke Tapuaki Si Eku Fa'e"

Saturday was my moms birthday and while talking with my sisters at home, we couldn't figure out what in the world we could get her! After some thought and a few ideas, we came to the conclusion that we probably don't have to GET her anything. I mean it's nice to buy something and while we would have loved to get her some super pricey fancy gift, it just didn't FEEL right. She's more of a "do" person than a "buy" person. Does that make sense? Anyway, we decided we would do just that. Get up super early on a Saturday (that's tough stuff!) and just DO something for her. We deep cleaned super early, made a big old breakfast spread and spent most of the morning eating and chillin' with the kids. It couldn't have been more perfect. Lani said it best when we were talking about what to buy. "We played it out. Gifts are over-rated. It's too easy." She couldn't have been more right.

In my opinion, she deserves the world. I'd give it to her in a heart beat if it were mine. There is no gift valuable enough to show my gratitude and love for her. So I chose to give time. Something invaluable, just like my Madre.