Churchy things and evil water

So yesterday we had the missionaries over for dinner. Yes, again. We are trying to work on churchy things, so why not have the Elders over once a fornight or so (the plan was once a month, but they were just here 2 weeks ago, so yeah). I made spaghetti. I didn't know what to make, so first I made hummus. It turned out mroe lime tasting than I had planned. Lets just say lime is a stronger flavor than lemon. Its not horrible, but not what I was going for. I also have to brag about the fact that I am trying to incorporate more forms of protien in our diets than meat. So I have been soaking, cooking, and freezing my own beans. Its really handy for pulling out a container and having a cans worth of beans on hand, but without all the salt. Plus, its cheaper. Dry beans and legumes are like the cheapest form of protien. I finally found chick peas / garbonzo beans at Checkers (our usual store) in the "Mexican" section...you know the imported food. I bought 3 bags. Then when I was at Dillons on Mass the other day, they had them on thier shelf. You can so tell that people in East Lawrence are more likely to be vegetarians by the vast number of bean types. They didn't have red lentils (which supposedly makes some killer Indian Lentil Pate) but they had most of the typical beans as well as other varieties in different colors.

So anyway, I cooked up some garbonzo beans. They take alot less time than most of the other beans. And YUM. Everyone likes chick peas. So I made a ton, and when I say ton, I mean a 3lb butter container full, of hummus. Even though its slightly more lime flavored than I wanted, its still yummy. Of course, I told Daniel about it when he called on my break and was implying that he would rather cook a frozen pizza than have a meal that consists of hummus and veggies to dip in it. So I continued on in my cooking ways...

I made a cake in a crockpot. I should have cooked it 2 hours like recommended, but it was so done on the edges, I didn't want it to overcook. It sank in the middle, making Daniel laugh, and causing me to heat up some frosting and pour on chocolate goo. He said it tasted like the Aussie version of "pudding"which is pretty much undercooked brownies. The actual definition is a mass usually containing flour. He says that technically raw ground meat is pudding. Its just not in the usually category...um yeah, thats not pudding.

I finally decided on spaghetti, which ended up beign one of the Elder's favorites. I would say his name, but I really really try and not learn names. Ok, fine its Nielson, but he has been here for about 6 months, so its excuseable. In fact this might be the only area he has ever served in...I'm not sure. So i used up the leftovers in the fridge and wala, spaghetti and sauce. I also discovered we have no serving dishes. We have plates and cooking pans, but no serving dishes. Have you ever served a really big plate of spaghetti as the food in the middle of the table? I have. It was sort of messy, but the tablecloth needs washed anyway. Speaking of which, Tablecloths make ghetto tables look much nicer. We just need cloth napkins. Those are an expensive investment though, so thats an eventually thing.

I paid bills today. I hate the water bill. Not just because it keeps going up, but because the "Sewer" charge has been more than twice the water charge. So annoying. Thats what happens when they base the sewer charge on the water use for December, Jan and February and you have a baby at the beginning of that. Water use was more than twice December's use in January, and in February, while it was lower, it was still higher. I think we are currently using less than that though. Its silly considering we wash cloth diapers all the time, and I have watered the garden (though not in the last 2 weeks) and still its less than when everyones mom and all sorts of relatives I never see come visit. But within 4 weeks or so it dies down because babies aren't as cute once they start being awake, but still can't smile. In the future I say things have to be different, but whatever. No one knows whats going on, or what things will really be like once they have a baby.