Date Night Chronicle 2

Tonight's meal:  Andouille and Chicken Creole Pasta

Spicy!  Just like the Queen of the Castle and Princess #2.  This recipe also comes from allrecipes.com.  They have a cool feature in which they email you a "recipe of the day".  The picture looks delicious.  Of course the picture of a McDonald's cheeseburger also looks great on TV...then you eat one.

I'm living on the edge this week as the sauce is very gravy-like.  If you read last week's post you know the current score is "Gravy 1, Marty 0".  We're going to go best two-out-of-three...unless I lose, then we'll switch to a five-game series.

4:00pm:  We were at Market Street.  What exactly is Andouille sausage?  I asked the meat counter guy for some help.  Basically, it is just smoked Cajun sausage.  I read the ingredient labels of a couple of different options.  Note to self:  In the future, follow the "Slim-Jim Rule", it will always taste better if you don't know what's in it."

7:07pm:  The "Mission Impossible" theme is blaring in my head.  Heather is defusing Sofie as she is going to self-destruct in five seconds.  It will be an early bedtime for everyone's sake.  She needs the rest more than I need a visit from CPS.  I kid about her, but I LOVE my little spark plug.

7:22pm:  We're subbing in Lily's Sunday School class tomorrow.  I filled in a few weeks ago without bloodshed so they asked us help out again.  Heather just finished reviewing the lesson as I nominated her to be "lead teacher", a role she accepted under protest.  I'm going to be "the hammer" and keep them in line.  I recommend subbing on occasion in order to fully appreciate your kids' regular teachers.  Kim and Danny have a special place in heaven.

Heather is playing on the couch with the girls.  I'm helping Jack with his science fair project and am about to begin slicing and dicing the vegetables.

8:00pm:  We sent the girls up to their room to read books for ten minutes before bedtime.

8:10pm:  We sang "The Moon Song", the girls competed over who Sydney would sleep with, we prayed and Heather did a devotional with the girls.

8:30pm:  Jack finished working on his Science Fair Project.  He has spent 6 hours on it today.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute, there is no doubt he is my son.  We sent him off to shower and then bed.

8:45pm:  Dinner smells fabulous so far.  The moment of truth has arrived.  The sauce portion of the recipe silently taunts me on the counter, but I'm not scared.  I MEASURE this time and follow the directions exactly.  No contest.  Gravy/Sauce 1-Marty 1.  We'll meet again, but I'm confident.

9:00pm:  Dinner is on the table.  The flavor is unlike anything we've ever tasted.  It is very good, but incredibly salty.  I had used less than the recommended amount of Creole seasoning and selected low-sodium chicken broth.  Next time I'll definitely further decrease the seasoning, reduce the amount of chicken broth, increase the water and add some more cayenne pepper.  I served it over linguine as recommended.  I think it would probably be better over rice.

Over the next couple of hours we discussed resolutions for the new year regarding our relationships with God, each other and our kids.  We reviewed the many ways God has blessed and restored us.  We've commited ourselves to listening more and talking less during our time with Him.  

We serve such an indescribably marvelous God.  My favorite name for Him is "I am".  It is like an open-ended sentence.  An infinite number of his attributes can be placed at the end and no human words can properly convey their depth.  I've reached a place where I thoroughly enjoy watching Him slowly untie the bow to reveal each in his perfect timing.

The Verdict:
We had a great date tonight.  The meal was good and could be exceptional with some tweaking.  The conversation was even better.  I am beginning to suspect that aliens have body-snatched Heather as she again commented that she was glad we didn't have dessert.  If that turns out to be the case, they did a good job as the replacement is every bit as wonderful as the original.

Tonight's recipe can be found at:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Andouille-and-Chicken-Creole-Pasta/Detail.aspx?ms=1&prop25=29501354&prop26=DailyDish&prop27=2009-12-29&prop28=DailyRecipe&prop29=FullRecipe&me=1