Italy Mission Trip Day 1/2 - Thursday & Friday

For some reason I got so whacked last night, just praying for this trip. Elizabeth & I ended up dancing to Jesus Culture in the living room & talking till late sharing dreams. God's already at work!

Unfortunately I had a bit of a cold the last couple of days, but who cares, trip day is here and one way or another, this body WILL GET WELL! I woke up at 5 am today, one from not being able to breathe through my nose, two to get an extra shot or Apple Cider Vinegar, three out of EXCITEMENT! 8 am rolled in and Julie drove me to Bethel. I forgot my phone so I was late.

Well, we were on our way to San Fran to catch our flight. The drive went by so quick because I was asleep almost all the way, but I woke up in time to see some of the city and I loved it, its so beautiful. I also caught a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge. Our flight was at 4:25pm

Boarding the Plane. See those swollen eyes? I was so sick, I felt like I was gonna faint. We went to a sandwich shop in SFO and I felt a little better...my nose being blocked though led to some intense pain during landing - like, brink of tears pain & having a blocked ear for a couple hours.

Oh my gosh, I didn't need a sleeping pill, Bob put me right to sleep, no offense to Reggae lovers, I mean it in the best way!

Charles Du Galle Airport! We're in PARIS!!!

We were supposed to land in Florence at 3pm, but we were re-routed to Pisa. I was cool with the impromptu 1 hour shuttle tour :-)

Once we got to Florence, we were set free to explore, grab some food. We ended up at this fancy restaurant & I ordered pizza of course. Well, if you're like me and like a loaded pizza with 8 toppings and extra cheese, you'll quickly realize, that's not what pizza is in Italy. Pizza is simply amazing crust, sauce, mozzarella, a couple of thin slices of prosciutto/ham and you're done. I broke the rules & got extra mushrooms on mine though.

Doesn't this look exactly like Moi Avenue in Nairobi?!!

I was so exhausted by this point. Finally we were on our way home to the convento in Viarreggio, where I promptly collapsed into my top bunk.

Treasure Hunts, Trader Joe's & Victoria Secret Legs!

Treasure Hunts Today!!!

Treasure hunts are my city service/activation. Basically, a team of 3-5 people fill out a treasure map, which is a list of clues about who God is highlighting to us at that particular time. So today on my list, I had a bunch of stuff among them I had, red & white striped shirt. So we went downtown to a coffee shop which was on my team mates list & found a girl in the shirt I wrote down! So we went up & prayed for a few things for her & prophesied over her that was really cool

The boys also found this guy who had just moved to Redding & prayed and prophesied over him and when they came back & told me, I was like, "No way, I had 'moved to a new city' on my treasure map" It would have been so cool for the guy to see that & know he really was God's treasure for the day just as an added bonus!

Afterward, we had class & were prayed over & released for our mission trips!!! #6daystoitaly

We had a Trader Joes run and I got their Turkey burgers & honey wheat buns & handsome cut french fries.

 

I was craving some In n Out & figued I could satisfy my cravings in a healthier way than animal fries & animal style burger. I just packed the burger with spring mix & cut the cheese. Oh yeah, it hit the spot!!!

I also had some of this...crack in a plastic bag! These are so good. I've never had kettle corn until meeting my housemate Julie, the thought of sugar in popcorn made me sick, but now, OMG Kenya you don't know what you're missing! Nobody does it better than Trader Joe's!

My workouts for the day included walking 2.1 miles to school in the morning and...

these were some amazing stretches for my poor, sore strong body! I don't know what it is about working out & eating semi-well...I feel hot! I know I have probably not lost 100 pounds, but I feel so strong & confident. My legs probably look the same, but I feel like a freaking Victoria Secret Model walking the runway. Exercise is a great self-esteem boost. It's the weekend tomorrow, I just might go on a little run, at the very least a brisk walk. I never thought I'd say this, but, I'm probably packing workout clothes to Italy as well. Let's see if I can do a couple of workouts in the land of pasta and gelato!

x

Jo

Jo Gets Healthy Day 1

Monday!

Well, today I woke up to some Cheerios, then I had a couple of oranges as a midday snack. I made some stir fry chicken teriyaki noodles for lunch which will be my lunch for the next couple of days. I also made some oatmeal peanut butter cookies for my 2nd snack of the day. I'll post all these recipes up soon :-)

I tried to wake up to go running, but we were out late last night and I decided to sleep in. Tomorrow though!

So these were my workouts for today!

By this point I was SWEATING!!!

I couldn't do any more by this point, even though Pippa's routine is one of my favorites. Maybe next time I'll get through the whole workout :-)

Right after, I had a serving of some nuts and yogurt as my post workout snack/final meal of the day.

Happy Workouts Friends!

Healthy Berry Bread

I am so loving this new cooking hobby I'm picking up, it's just a lot of fun. The scale is not appreciating it too much, so in an effort to justify my baked goods love, I decided to go to Winco and buy some healthy cooking flours. I'm not sure about health nutrient wise, but I know there's some good fiber in some of the different flour types.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup flax seed
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 cup canola oil
1-2 cups of mixed berries (I bought the mixed frozen berries from Winco)
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp vanilla essence

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. In a medium bowl, whisk the flours with the baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk the wet ingredients. Stir the into the dry ingredients, fold in berries
2. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the center of the oven for about 50 minutes, until the bread is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and let cool for 15 minutes, then turn the bread out onto the rack and let cool completely. 
3.  (Optional) Dust the top with confectioners' sugar, cut into slices and serve.

*You can wrap the bread in plastic and refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Joan's Favorite Cookie Recipe

I've made these cookies a few times & the first few times were a disaster, but I think I'm getting better. Here's the thing about me though, I find it so hard to pull cookies out a little raw, so the 1st time, I cooked them until they turned into little hard cakes, the next time I took them about 2 minutes before they were little cakes and now they turned out pretty ok, but dried out by the end of the day. This time though, I took them out right when they were golden at the edges, it was perfect!

• 2 1/2 cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup (200 grams) lightly packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• Chocolate chips, I don't like too many in so I use 1/2 cup, you can use anywhere from 1/2 to 2 cups 

Preheat oven to 375
Mix canola oil & sugar
Add in eggs & vanilla
Add dry ingredients
Add chips
Spray baking sheet & drop 1 tbsp of dough or an ice cream scoop of dough on it
Bake 9 to 13 minutes or until edges are golden brown and middles look lightly brown, moist, but not wet

I wish I took a better picture, all I could dig out was a quick Instagram :-)

That One Sunday We Grilled Chicken Mishkakis

That was a fun weekend!

God, Food and Peace

Today I’ve been feeling really sluggish, actually it started yesterday. First thing I think about when I feel like this is, “Have I lost connection with God?” No, I actually worshipped to “Be My Love Reprise” standing in line at the movie store. Ok, next is, “Am I depressed or discouraged about something?” No. 

So, I hadn’t really figured out why until I remembered I’ve been eating trash the past few weeks and barely been drinking any water and its finally catching up to me. As I type this my face is burning because I might have scrubbed a little too hard because of the 2 spots currently taking up residence on my skin. “Can’t wait to see how this ends up in the morning”, said me, sarcastically.

Anyway, today didn’t contain a huge revelation about my eating habits, more of a realization. Or two. First if I want to change the world and I’m trusting God to take care of everything I can’t control, why is it so hard for me to take care of the one thing I can control which is how I take care of my body. I last maximum a week on any diet plan or health resolution. Currently I live in a place where pizza and burgers and fried chicken are financially inconvenient to get every day, my temptation is those delicious local joint fries with a lot of kachumbari (salsa) poured all over it and maybe a samosa and a Krest on the side. What happens the day I’m in a place surrounded by KFC’s and the like?

Second, I really have to think through this change the world plan, because the moment I thought the 1^st thought, I wondered how exactly I’m going to do that. The thing is, I have ideas in my head, but I have no idea how it’s all going to come together. Anyway, that’s a story for another day.

Back to the health thing…I don’t know why it’s been so hard for me to eat healthy. I like to cook, but I’m so not used to eating regular meals, it makes me lazy from the get go to start cooking. The best plan of attack here is baby steps: starting with drinking more water because honestly, my skin is suffering. I’ve never had acne (thank the Lord!) and this year would be the absolute worst time to get it. Also I’m getting a little allergy rash on my collar bone and at this point the only thing I could be allergic to are french-fry ingredients since that’s literally the only thing I’ve been eating all month!

After that, we’ll see how we do with meals and such. I really would love your prayers, I definitely need the self-discipline to change my ways.

Other than that, we really really absolutely need to pray for peace during this election. I do not want to live in the middle of violence like last time and the news has been getting worse each day leading up to this election. Daddy God, please confuse the enemy camp, all the seeds of war being planted may they fall on choking thorns. LET PEACE ARISE, that’s what we declare in the name of Jesus.

xx

Jo

Brown Rice Basil Avocado Salad

Found this recipe and absolutely had to try it. Still looking for some healthy meal ideas using locally available ingredients and this one is exactly that. (Except for the Basil, I have no idea where to get fresh basil, but I'll see how it works with dried.)

Got it from Kathrine Kunde's website here: (I LOVE this site!)

Source: mrsjkunde.blogspot.com via Joanne on Pinterest

• Brown rice, cooked
• Heirloom tomatoes
• Avocado (ripe)
• Basil (fresh)
• (Optionals: nuts, cheese, olive oil...) 
• Cook up brown rice, cut up the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Serve it mixed with the rice or separate. 

 xo
Jo

CPA Reward / Papaya – Passion Fruit Smoothie / Supermarket Black forest Cake

I passed my CPA like I think I mentioned before, and now I’m a Part 2! Planning on doing Part 3 next year and finally getting that CPA-K!

As a “Congratulations” gift as well as a thank you gift for doing some stuff around the house for my mom she made me the most delicious juice I have everrrr tasted (blended Papaya and Passion Fruit and a little honey).

I am a Dorman’s girl. (Dorman’s Coffee House) If I’m buying myself cake or buying one for someone, I’m Dorman’s all the way, a little steeply priced but soooo worth it! I have never found a Supermarket taste that I love and this from Kamindi was no exception, tasted like cardboard! (Don’t tell my mom that!), but of course I ate it and acted like it was the most delicious thing in the world, because it was given to me by the most spectacular and loving lady in the world.

Thank you and you are welcome mom!

xo

Jo

Papaya – Passion Fruit Smoothie / Supermarket Black forest Cake

I passed my CPA like I think I mentioned before, and now I’m a Part 2! Planning on doing Part 3 next year and finally getting that CPA-K!

As a “Congratulations” gift as well as a thank you gift for doing some stuff around the house for my mom she made me the most delicious juice I have everrrr tasted (blended Papaya and Passion Fruit and a little honey). 

I am a Dorman’s girl. (Dorman’s Coffee House) If I’m buying myself cake or buying one for someone, I’m Dorman’s all the way, a little steeply priced but soooo worth it! I have never found a Supermarket taste that I love and this from Kamindi was no exception, tasted like cardboard! (Don’t tell my mom that!), but of course I ate it and acted like it was the most delicious thing in the world, because it was given to me by the most spectacular and loving lady in the world.

Thank you and you are welcome mom!

xo

Jo

In The Week of Typhoid...

Guess who's back?! 

After a particularly bad dose of food poisoning bordering on the edge of typhoid and malaria (for real) 2 weeks ago, blogging was the last thing on my mind!

Remember Sunday I went to that mad love concert, (pictures coming up later), Monday, Tuesday I was at school paying my fees and that fateful Tuesday I bought one f those veggie salads from John and Jo's in town, and yes I'm writing their name hadharani (in public) because they almost killed me. 

I went to the counter and asked the girl if they sold salad without dressing and she pulls underneath the counter and gives me one. A logical person would've taken that as a warning sign and been a little wary...not me, I bought it, got home, took a couple of bites, it didn't really taste "right" so I threw it away, but it was too late. 

Source: medschoolsketches.tumblr.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

Thursday night comes along and I'm puking my guts out at 2 in the morning, same thing throughout the weekend. By Saturday morning, I'm slowly feeling my spirit slip away (well-deserved drama queen moment) but, anyway, I was really weak, I couldn't keep anything down, I had a fever, I fainted running to the bathroom to puke again at 2 in the morning and my mum finds me on the floor...really, it was scary, then trying to figure out how she was going to get me to the hospital in the middle of the night!

Got to the clinic a couple of hours later and got a bunch of tests done, got drugged up and got home. Sunday till Thursday, I was in bed recuperating and dealing with the nasty side effects of the drugs they put me under, one was an anti-nausea pill whose side effect was causing lethargy and sleepiness, another was an amoebicide the size of my thumb, and the rest were malaria pills, cough medicine, antibiotics, anti-allergy, antacids, I am telling you, I was a walking pharmacy!!!

Anyway, I'm better now, and I hope you accept my deepest apologies for not being around.

A couple of great things happened while I was sick though;

1. I'm understudying a Mizizi class at Church and obviously couldn't make it to the 1st class, but I was amazingly touched when my "bosses" called me and prayed for me, keeping in mind that at the time I was a complete stranger. (I Love My Church)
2. Bonded with my mom, obviously, seeing as how she was there taking care of me all week.
3. Realized I am not the most inspiring sick person; I barely prayed all week, except the "Oh God, kill me now, I can't take this anymore!" quickly followed by "I was kidding! Please heal me, please, please, please heal me" I mope, I whine, I complain, I'm needy, I need you there to hold my hand, hehe, hope you can deal with me...
4. Realized that because I'm such a needy sick person, I am the most qualified person to take care of a (mildly) sick family member, bring you soup, fluff your pillows, buy your favorite movies...yeah, I'd be awesome...

Apart from all that, I'm good, not eating raw food out of the house for a LOONG time, but I'm good and never taking my health for granted again!

xo

Jo

Let's Play Catch-Up

Apparently numbered lists are my thing now, so bear with me :-)

1. I am just in love with my nephew, He's the sweetest baby, {well not baby anymore, toddler} there has ever been in the world. He has an easy laugh that's just  too cute for words. Then, he'd come up to me and rub his tiny hand on my face or just grab my face and give me a hug or a kiss and call me "Auntie Amla" ...ah! Sweetest kid in the world I tell ya!

2. Heard about this woman here in Kenya who found out her kid's photos are being used by a stranger who's acting like they are her kids. When this woman confronted her, the psycho refused to take the pics down! Really making me nervous to put pictures up, but ha! Too late, anyway, I think I'm going to pause photos until I watermark them. I won't stop posting them...no way I'm derailing my life for a few weirdos!!!!

3. Really felt ADORED by God yeaterday at Church. Remember Saturday I'd been feeling down? Well, I get to Church on Sunday, and guess what?! The Worship Team played Brian Johnson's/Bethel Music's "Your Love Never Fails" OMGosh! It was AMAZING! The band like knocked that one way out of the park! They mashed it up with "Our God Is an Awesome God"! I was just like, God orchestrated that whole thing for me! Yeah the band rehearsed and played it, but God let it happen for me. It was AMAZING! I'm still reeling. Feeling absolutely LOVED! I hope I get to sing that when my month on stage comes!

Afterward, another great thing I loved in Church was this kid from Greenhouse (Kids' Church) who was being interviewed...man, I want a son like that! He was like, I cant even describe it...he was such a leader, he knew God, he was eloquent and confident and he prayed like a champ. Great kid, he must have some crazy proud parents!

4. Hung out today with the nerd and another friend of mine. We surfed, exchanged some movies and went to eat at the newly refurbished Galitos at Union Towers. Wah, that grilled chicken from Galitos is crazy good! They had this offer for 1/4 Chicken, Fries and Pepsi for 300/- I think it's normally 460/- Glad I got that because we are probably never going to see that again!

5. Fearless starts the day after tomorrow! Yippee!

6. Spiderman opens this weekend! Ah!!!!!!

xx
Jo

Healthy Taco Recipe

For The Tortillas
I used this recipe from Texas Cooking, with a few adjustments. Instead of 2 cups all purpose flour, I used 11/2 cups of all purpose and 1/2 cup of Amaranth flour if amaranth is used solely in gluten-free baking recipes, baked goods become too dense. So you need to mix it with your normal flour. The nutritional benefits amaranth offers include: iron, low carbs, vitamin E, lysine, magnesium, calcium etc.

I like mine thin and crispy, I tried them thicker and soft and didn't like them as much.

Knead the flour, baking powder, salt, oil together and roll em out then throw them on your griddle.

 Try to make the rounder than mine :-)

 Wait for it to sort of bubble on top...

 I accidentally burn this one when I was getting my camera :-) but you get the idea...

For the Veggie and Avocado Salad 

I used about 1/4 of a small cabbage, 1 tomato, 1 small red onion, 1 small tomato and 1/2 avocado

1. Shred your cabbage/lettuce

2. Dice up your tomatoes and onion as small as you like

3. Mix em together

4. Add juice from one lemon

5. I used 1/2 teaspoon of tomato paste and 1/2 teaspoon of ketchup to give the tomatoes some extra kick and to avoid putting any calorie-full dressing on it

6. Cut your avocado into bite sized/thick chunks

7. Mix em all together.

This was my favorite part of the meal, the tartness of the lemon+red onion mmm

 

 

 For The Beans

I used 1 onion, 1 tomato, 1 1/2 cups beans, a handful of cabbage, mixed spices, salt and pepper to taste (wish I remembered some chilli)
1. Fry onions in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
2. Throw in your precooked beans
3. Add your spices and fry em up
4. Throw in your diced tomatoes and handful of cabbage
5. Add about 1/4 cup of water
6. Simmer on low heat until the water reduces

Assemble

OK, This Part is For My Mom:

Difference Between This and Chapati Dondo, (Kenyan meal of chapati and bean stew)
1. The tortillas aren't full of oil, like chapatis, you only use 3 teaspoons in the whole recipe, even when your frying, you use a dry griddle
2. I guess that's it..., lol,

Whatever you call it, enjoy :-)

xx
Jo