Menu Recap

Last week's meals were as follows:

Monday Dinner: Tomato Orzo Soup {Recipe here}. Daniel gave it 4.6/5 stars.

Tuesday Dinner: Black Bean Burger {Recipe from 20 Something Cupcakes} with Baked Onion Rings {recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipes}. Daniel LOVES Black Bean Burgers so he gave this meal 4.73/5 stars. I am not a huge fan of Black Bean Burgers, so I would rate it 3/5.

Wednesday Dinner: Sauteed Chicken, Mushrooms and Asparagus on a bed of Whole Wheat Spaghetti. This is one of my favorite dishes for simple, fresh ingredients. Daniel gave this dish 4.2/5 stars.

Thursday Dinner: We ordered pizza from Papa John's

Friday Dinner: Red Beans and Rice {Recipe adapted from CDKitchen}. Daniel gave this 4.73/5 stars. I made it in a crockpot {including the rice} and it was perfect to come home to after an evening run. 

Saturday Dinner: We had leftovers for lunch then headed to the Walls of Jericho for some hiking. We were home by 7PM, but I didn't feel like cooking. Daniel heated up more leftovers and I had a bowl of cereal.

Sunday Lunch: We used a gift card we had to eat at Olive Garden in Huntsville. Not our favorite restaurant but it was good in terms of a free meal.

Sunday Dinner: More leftovers for Daniel and cereal for me.

Walls of Jericho

Today Daniel and I headed up the the Skyline Wildlife Management Area to visit The Walls of Jericho. We had heard that it was a pretty sweet hike and since the weather was nice we thought we would give it a try.

The Alabama State Park website calls it the "Grand Canyon on the South." I have heard this slogan applied to several gorges in the southeast so I don't buy into the hype. It is a pretty canyon, but definitely not a "grand canyon." If you are purely looking for views, I would suggest you hit up Cloudland Canyon on Lookout Mountain {Georgia}.

Anyways, The Walls of Jericho is a pretty hike down into a gorge. At the end of the canyon you find a series of waterfalls and pools that you can wade in. There is also an entrance to a cave that you can access here. We were short on time and weren't equipped for spelunking so we just enjoyed the scenery.

My personal lesson from the day: Wear proper shoes and don't be stubborn.

Since it was a warm day, Daniel and I both decided to wear our Chaco sandals for hiking. Normally this would be fine. However, this is one of our first hikes of the year and it has just gotten warm enough for daily sandal wear. This means that the soles of my feet are not toughened yet. This also means that about 1.5 miles into the hike I noticed that I was starting to get hot spots. Daniel didn't have this same problem.

Not to be deterred from making it to the bottom, I pushed on. Daniel repeatedly told me that I would regret this decision on the climb out. I ignored his warning and we kept going. 

As we neared the bottom the pain was getting pretty bad, but I sucked it up and we made it into the gorge. I relished soaking my bare feet in the cold water, but having to turn around and hike out was almost unbearable.

I hiked out VERY SLOWLY. The hike itself was not bad, but every step felt like I was stepping on glass. I tried walking on different parts of my feet: my toes {which made my calves hurt}; the outsides of my feet {which messed with my hips}; the balls of my feet. None were good options. 

We finally made it out of the canyon. Normally I wouldn't rate this as a particularly hard hike {if you are used to hiking} but walking with blisters made the entire day brutal.

52 Books: Book 18

I just completed Perelandra by C.S. Lewis. It is the second book in a science fiction trilogy that Lewis wrote. The first book, Out of the Silent Planet, introduces us to the main character of the series: Ransom. In the opening book, Ransom finds himself a hostage who is being taken to Malacandra {or Mars}. Ransom learns that Mars is an old planet and that none of the planets have had contact with anyone from Earth in a very long time.

In the second book, Ransom is sent to Perelandra {also known as Venus}. Here he discovers that Venus is a relatively new planet and the only humans are one woman, The Lady, and one man, The King. It soon unfolds that the story of temptation in the Garden of Eden is playing out before Ransom's eyes.

Early in the book, Weston, one of the scientist's that took Ransom hostage in the first book, arrives on the planet. Weston no longer appears to be inhabiting his own body and Ransom realizes that an evil force is controlling the scientist's body {much like the serpent in the Garden of Eden was used}. Weston {or the Un-man as Ransom comes to call him} methodically works to convince The Lady of Venus to break the only rule of the country. Un-man has cunning arguments, is cruel to the creatures of Perelandra and never seems to tire. Eventually Ransom realizes that he has been sent to Venus to help prevent The Lady from giving in to temptation so that history does not repeat itself.

I found this to be a very intriguing book. Ransom's inner dialogue raises a lot of questions: Did Eve resist in the garden for many days? Weeks? Years perhaps? If an elephant had trampled on the serpent would the temptation have been killed with it? Would the temptation have come in another form if Eve had been able to resist?

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was thought provoking and I look forward to reading the final book in the series: That Hideous Strength.

Excerpts from the book:

It is the idea that humanity having now sufficiently corrupted the planet where it arose, must at all costs contrive to seed itself over a large area: that the vast astronomical distances which are God's quarantive regulations must somehow be overcome.

It surprised him that he could experience so extreme a terror and yet be walking and thinking – as men in war or sickness are surprised to find how much can be borne...

The image or her beautiful body had been offered to her only as a means to awake the far more perilous image of her great soul. The external and, as it were, dramatic conception of the self was the enemy's true aim.

Inner silence is for our {human} race a difficult achievement.

Guest Post on Cheap Food Here

Today I am guest posting over at Cheap Food Here. If you want to try a great recipe for Chicken Florentine Pizza, you should definitely check out my post.

Chicken Florentine Pizza

Cheap Food Here is the brainchild of my friend Ashley. Ashley happens to live in Costa Rica and her blog offers great recipes as well as an insider's perspective on great {cheap} food to be found in the country of Costa Rica. If you are looking for healthy {cheap} recipes or have any interest in Costa Rica, you should check out Ashley's blog.

Menu Recap

Last week's meals were as follows: 

Monday Dinner: Taco Soup {Recipe from Ezra Pound Cake}. Daniel gave it 4.75/5 stars.

 

Tuesday Dinner: We had dinner with friends – Jeremy and Laura. Laura made us cheese dip to go with chips, corn on the cob and an enchilada-type dish. Afterward we ate Rice Krispy Treats while we played Monopoly. 5/5 stars for a fun evening with friends.

Wednesday Dinner: Mushroom and Provolone Turkey Burger with Sauteed Asparagus. 
Daniel gave it 4/5 stars. 

Thursday Dinner: Date Night at Geno's Pizza. We split an order of Bread Sticks and a Supreme Pizza.

Friday Dinner: Spaghetti and Mozzarella-Stuffed Meatballs with a Side Salad {Recipe from Picky Palate}. Daniel gave it 4.6/5 stars. 

Saturday: We spent the day canoeing and then had a second lunch at Cantina Laredo. It was excellent. I tried the Chimichanga. It had a red sauce – I prefer a white sauce, but the dish was amazing. It had a side of grilled sugar snap peas that were fantastic. Daniel tried the enchiladas and loved them. The side of rice was a bit bland, but overall this restaurant was a hit. Our friends recommend the desserts here so we will have to come back another time and split a main course so we can try out the desserts.

Afterwards we went to Orange Tree Frozen Yogurt. Daniel and I were both stuffed, but we decided to split a cup of yogurt. We tried a combination of the cheesecake, coffee, peanut butter and cookies & cream flavors and topped it off with Heath Bar. It was amazing.

Sunday Lunch: Mozzarella-Stuffed Meatball Sandwiches using leftovers from Friday night with a side of Chips. Daniel gave this 4.4/5 stars

Sunday Dinner: Pepperoni Pizza. You really can't go wrong with a pizza... 
Daniel gave it 4.6/5 stars.

Paddling the Flint River

Saturday we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and headed to Huntsville to paddle 7.5 miles on the Flint River.

This was not a "get thrown out of your boat" or a "we got shot at" kind of paddling trip. Nonetheless we had a lot of fun hanging out with our friends, enjoying the sunshine and being outside.

We opted to use NACK as our outfitter. I have to give this company props for providing great equipment. They were a bit pricey at $35 per person, but we really liked their Mad River Canoes – light and comfortable and definitely the nicest canoe we have ever rented. 

The water on Flint River was up, so what would normally be a 4-hour trip was around 2 hours. Two hours with a good current is much preferable to four hours of slow moving water.

Since we were off the river faster than anticipated, we decided to have a second lunch at Cantina Laredo, followed by dessert at Orange Tree Frozen Yogurt and finally a Dollar Movie at Carmike 10. Not too bad for a Saturday with friends.

ENTP

Over the last decade I have taken the Meyer's Brigg Personality test on several different occasions. When I was first out of college, I always scored extremely close in the Extrovert/ Introvert category. I also tended to be close in the Intuitive/Sensor and Thinker/Feeler sections. However I have always consistently scored higher as a Perceiver than a Judger.

I recently took this test again and was intrigued to learn that I have developed a more consistent personality. There was no room for crossover this time. It is as if I finally know who I am. My score revealed that I was definitely an ENTP.

Here is a sampling that describes the ENTP:

ENTPs are idea people. Their perceptive abilities cause them to see possibilities everywhere. They get excited and enthusiastic about their ideas, and are able to spread their enthusiasm to others.

ENTPs are less interested in developing plans of actions or making decisions than they are in generating possibilities and ideas. Following through on the implementation of an idea is usually a chore to the ENTP. For some ENTPs, this results in the habit of never finishing what they start.

 
ENTPs are fluent conversationalists, mentally quick, and enjoy verbal sparring with others. They love to debate issues, and may even switch sides sometimes just for the love of the debate. When they express their underlying principles, however, they may feel awkward and speak abruptly and intensely.  

In general, ENTPs are upbeat visionaries. They highly value knowledge, and spend much of their lives seeking a higher understanding. They live in the world of possibilities, and become excited about concepts, challenges and difficulties. When presented with a problem, they're good at improvising and quickly come up with a creative solution. Creative, clever, curious, and theoretical...

When I was in my early 20s, these descriptions would not have necessarily fit me. I was incredibly shy about my ideas and opening up to others. I am still sometimes shy, but the traits described above fit me to a tee. I believe that as we mature it is easier to identify with who we truly are.