The Lemon Tree

April 18, 2010

Wow. And I mean, wow.

After I wrote my last post about my housing situation, I believed 100% that God will absolutely provide. But I had no idea that He would act so fast. Once again, God just proved to me how gracious He is…and I am absolutely amazed and in awe of His providence and faithfulness.

If you can’t tell already, I’ve already found housing for next year. And it’s not just a simple shelter I reluctantly accepted, either. It is perfect in every single way I could ever want in my future housing.

May I list the ways?

10 Reasons Why This Place is God’s Perfect Arrangement For Me

It is well within my budget at just $600 per month.
Electricity, water, internet, washing machine, all utilities included!
Entirely furnished for me, too!
It accepts a semester’s lease! Which means studying abroad won’t be such a hassle, and I don’t need to deal with finding someone to sub-lease my place while I’m gone.
The tenant is actually a professor in my school…which means I can be rest assured that there will be no evil greedy tenants out there to suck me dry (There’s been a LOT of horror stories around this USC area, actually…not cool!).
It is within walking distance from school, and other grocery stores.
I’ll be sharing the house with about 3 other students, all of them international students…this will be interesting, because I love to interact with different nationalities (oh, and I met one of them, and he’s pretty darn cute).
The neighborhood is pretty safe and quiet…which is pretty rare in downtown LA.
The second best part: I have my own private room…30 feet across the yard from the main house. I actual have a whole little building to myself!
And the single best part? There is a lemon tree in the yard. OMG! My very own lemon tree! How freaking cool is that?!!!

I find it rather symbolic that there is a lemon tree in that house. You know what they say: “When Life (God) hands you lemons, squeeze lemonade”.

And that’s a lesson God constantly seems to reinforce into me—to learn to deal with life’s everyday problems, and to find God’s grace and purpose behind them; to trust in Him, and to delight in whatever trials that I may face, because in the end, I know God will use them to develop my maturity and endurance.

And boy, oh boy, I can’t wait to squeeze the heck out of those organic home-grown lemons into my future dishes. Unfortunately, I did not get to see if the lighting is good in the dining area…hmm…How did I forget the most important thing?

Anyway. Things have been really turning around for me. I recently found out that I won first prize in my school’s WebFest contest, too. That means $1000 in cash prize. Dang. That is almost 500 Supersize McDonald’s French Fries!!!

Truthfully, I’d actually been slightly worried about my finances, especially since I’ll be going to Singapore and Korea in the summer, which is gonna cost a LOT. This extra cash came just at the right moment. Once again, God has shown me how abundant He is!

I can blabber on and on…but all I can really do, right now…is to just get down on my knees, and praise God. I’m not sure how many of you are religious…but I just want to express from the bottom of my heart: My God is a true and living and active God. And He’s freaking awesome. This little testimony of mine? It’s only one of the few that He’s accomplished in my life, and only the beginning of many more to come.

That said, I need another testimony. Dear Heavenly Father, please help me survive through this madness of the last few weeks of school…My sleep schedule has been entirely out of whack, and work is starting to pile up. The annoying thing is, even with all the work I have to do, I can’t seem to stop all these brilliant recipe ideas from entering my head, which means I just have to make them. What gives?

This weekend, I made my first vegan dish…ever. I heard that vegans have fantastic sex lives; I’m not surprised, because that dish was orgasmically wonderful! I’m not gonna post the recipe here; it’s for a special guest post for a certain brilliant blogger…but I’ll let you know when it’s up.

So. You’ll have to make do with another non-vegan recipe. One that encompasses cheese and bacon and the like. Check this one out:

Broiled Grits & Spring Greens Pot

some ready-made chilled grits, sliced into one-inch cubes (recipe below)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 red onion, diced
1 slab bacon, diced
bunch of mixed spring greens (can be kale, nettles, collard, swiss chard, etc)
handful of raisins
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes
huge spoonful cream cheese
about 1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
handful feta cheese

Grit cubes:

1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup grits or cornmeal
chicken broth
almond milk
salt and pepper
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

For the grits:

Cook the garlic and onion in a pot with some chicken broth until soft. Add the grits or cornmeal, stir. Add in half chicken broth and half almond milk, cook until the mixture thickens and is cooked through. Add in more chicken broth as it cooks as necessary. Season with salt and pepper; stir in cream cheese and cheddar cheese.

Spread the mixture into an oiled pan. Store in refrigerator to firm it up.

For the pot:

Cook together the garlic, onion, and bacon until fragrant. Add in the spring greens and raisins. Season with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, and red pepper flakes to your own liking. Once the spring greens is kind of cooked through, turn down the heat, and stir in the cream cheese, sour cream, and half of the cheddar cheese until melted.

Ladle the green mixture into a French Onion soup bowl. Top with cubed grits, and sprinkle with the remaining cheeses. Broil in oven for about 10 minutes.

How comforting does that look? So adorable, too. A single serving size!
I need to use my French Onion soup bowl more. They make eating so much more rustic and fun.
Loved the broiled grits and cheese topping. You don’t really have to make your grits from scratch…you can always use store-bought polenta. I’m just being more economical, and besides, it really doesn’t take too much effort to make your own.
One thing I love about these pots is the steam that whooshes up when you dig into it…
The only thing lacking about these pots is that you can’t really get a detailed view of the insides…
But rest assured, the insides were just as delicious, too!
Creamy, crunchy, cheesy, and absolutely nutritious. What more can you ask? Of course, if I had that lemon tree in my backyard right now, a fresh squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of lemon zest would have found its way into this dish…Ah, I really cannot wait to use those lemons! >.<

I hope you’re all having a glorious Sunday! Starting from this week, I’ll have to buckle up and start being more productive…but I’ll say this week has been productive, just in a non-academic way! Oh, and stay tune for a giveaway coming sometime this week.

Question of the day: If you had a lemon tree in your garden…what would you do with it? And if you have any great testimony to share for this week, do share!

'cuz burping and slurping is mandatory and polite when it comes to good eats

The Lemon Tree

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