happy birthday, boo.

So today ended up much different then originally planned.  We were supposed to have one of J's friends over for dinner, but he ended up having to cancel.  I had been planning on making J's favorite dish [pot roast] for dinner on Tuesday for his birthday, but since there was an opening for tonight [a less stressful, not-in-the-middle-of-the-study-week night] I saw the happenstance as a great opportunity to try to pull off the birthday dinner instead. 

I called Marieke to see if she and Ryan would be able to join in and surprise J, and they were able, so Marieke came over earlier bringing ice cream and supplies to make a couple birthday signs :)  Ryan caught a different bus, and J came home to me "cleaning the dishes" [not unusual] and was able to walk totally surprised into a full-fledged birthday dinner - a big feat in Grenada, I think - and the Cappas popped out of another room to complete the surprise.  He was very pleased - many "Mmmm, roast is so good! Thank you!"s throughout the meal :) We all chatted for a bit, and then he and Ryan reviewed a few study things while Marieke and I cleaned dishes [again, haha].  Now the happy, well fed guy is watching his favorite football team [Steelers] for a bit.  Hooray for birthdays! Praise the LORD for my granting my handsome man life and breath and so much more, and for the simple ability to surprise him tonight :) I'll let the pictures tell the rest.

 The spread...like our 70s decor?? ;)

 The signage, courtesy of Marieke.  Check out that cake!  Guess what candles she used...?? :)

 Mmmmm...my new weekly bake of whole wheat rolls with butter - I LOVE yeast now! Haha...

 Mini avocado and cheese salad.

The roast...white wine, fresh basil and garlic, carrots, potatoes, onions and a long life in the oven make it A-MAZ-ING!

 A VERY happy almost 23-year-old :)  Clarification: "Very, very happy" - J

 Marieke with desert...

 Fresh, hot pumpkin bread with vanilla ice cream!  Also wonderful!

The men, discussing something very important, that obviously [looking at Ryan's face] had nothing to do with the taste of the food... :)

I was so excited to be able to pull this off :)  Happy Birthday, Hus! I Love You!

he doesn't know it yet, but he's getting mango chicken :)

This has been a long week for me - mostly because I have been getting up with J for the past two days as Wednesdays and Thursdays are his early days [6am].  So come 9am, I'm already ready for lunch, haha :) 

Yesterday I participated in LIMES - an after school program for about 40-45 kids from a rougher area that is held every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  We were split up into stations: reading, worksheets, dancing, field games.  Guess which one I did? ;)  DANCING!  Yep.  It was awesome.  We did the Cha-Cha Slide and some made up dances for the littler ones, as well as the "Going on a Bear Hunt" echoing game with the really little ones.  It was pretty good - it was difficult to hold everyone's attention, but luckily, you can "teach a dance" to kids and they have no idea it isn't real...or cool.  Let's hope they keep it to themselves ;)

Today I went to the gym and came back to cook some meals for the rest of the day, and while I was waiting at the bus stop on campus, I was racking my brain for a good, new recipe to try for J - one that preferably used chicken.  Suddenly, I remembered that I had two frozen mangoes in the freezer that I needed to throw out because they were basically worthless - I had frozen them originally to keep them fresher for longer...little did I know that you CAN'T do that with fruit unless you want really sticky, gooey, condensed fruit after it thaws again - gross.  *Sigh*...But then it hit me. I thought to myself, "Surely I can use the mangoes if they are going to be cooked...in fact, they might be BETTER for cooking now!"  Who knew, self?  "Yeah, who knew!..."

ANYWAY, I came home and looked for some recipes and lo and behold! I had the majority of the ingredients for: Curried Mango Chicken - a perfect combination of mangoes [J's favorite fruit], chicken [meat...enough said], and Indian spices [also a J favorite].  Hooray!  So I set off to follow directions for once in order to avoid ruining a promising concoction :)  Turns out, frozen mangoes are easier to deal with: the skin peels right off, and you can actually CUT the fruit in small pieces without it slipping out of your grasp every time. Awesome. Pretty soon I had a sweet and sour smelling chicken in the pan, and I decided to share it with you all...I am not responsible for any drool that may or may not end up on your computer, frying the motherboard...

Local chicken, local mangoes, local hot sauce??  Oh well...it gave me this:

 Ohhh yeahh. I'm pumped to see whether or not this becomes a favorite - so easy to get the ingredients for, and such a unique dish!

 On a different note, I introduce you to: Grenadian Apples.  I think it's a farce.

 These things are rock hard with a bitter citrus taste and weird, bone-like structures protruding from the seed thing in the middle. Seriously, it's sharp.  Apparently, they may turn yellow and become more sweet?  I'm not waiting with bated breath.  So far I'm not a fan, and I may just have to give up on my desire for apples while we live here.

On ANOTHER note, here is another "hint" to Friday's events...and I'm cooking cupcakes Em C-style since I don't own a muffin tin here :)  See the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins  :)

Well, Marieke will be over soon so we can finalize some party particulars - I'm telling you, this thing is going to be BIG!  And then it's off to campus to watch a screening of HP7 with the SOs, and to deliver delectable dinner to my delightful, determined man :)  Love to all.