Oh Blog, it's been a while...

HI! remember me?!

This is what I have been doing lately:

30th Annual Jungle Boater Canoe Race on the Mulberry River in Arkansas:

  

  These pictures are from the day before the race. Matt and I always take a short float with all our "Creek" buddies. After all the major rapids, Matt put me in a boat by myself! Check it out, my first solo trip. Yeah, it was all of about a quarter of a mile, but hey, you gotta start somewhere!

  After the weekend outdoors I headed back to my parents house to spend a week at home. I actually didn't spend too much time at home as I had visiting to do with my friends. I got to spend some time in Eureka Springs with my pal Holly and her adorable little family!

  Then on the weekend I helped my Grandparent's at the Eureka Springs Antique show. This was a lot of fun for everyone involved.  

 The only bad thing about a show advertised as an "Antique Show" was the fact that I couldn't really afford anything there.  However, I did find a few jewelry treasures and filled out a wish list for my b-day which I promptly handed over to my Mom. One of my jewelry treasures was a strand of old pressed Czech glass beads. They are a basket of flowers embellished with pressed beads and seed bead! I snagged it for $5!!!! I couldn't wait to show them to my Grandma, needless to say she was so proud of me for getting such a good deal! I added them to my collection, don't they look great beside my blue "warriors?" I don't know a lot about these types of glass beads. I am just assuming they are Czech from my experience and love for Czech glass. I would love to learn more about them as I feel they were not as mass produced as other Czech glass. I am sort of obsessed with learning about the history of glass beads. Any info or resources would be greatly appreciated.

Bella Vita has a lot of exciting things coming up. I promise to set aside more time for blogging, in the mean time make sure you are following me on facebook and @bvjewelry on twitter.

An Ecuadorian Feast

  Last weekend Matt and I hosted a party for his department at our house. Fun times were definitely had by all! At some point in the night I convinced our friend David to come back this weekend to cook some Ecuadorian fare for us all to try. I don't think it was hard to talk him into it, I think he was flattered that a few of us were interested in his native food.  

We started with plantains.... we sliced them a few different ways and fried them. This batch was sliced about 1" thick, fried, then smashed into a patty and then fried again! I had never eaten plantains until Saturday. They were very yummy!

This is the beginning of the ceviche. David sliced onions and then added water and mushed them all up. Then added the fresh lime juice, cilantro, shrimp, and tomatoes. This was so delicious. I don't get to eat ceviche at restaurants because it is made of fish that I am allergic to. So, this was a treat for me. So light, and fresh!!!

The finished product!

 

This is David, he was our guest chef. I think in this picture he is preparing the hot sauce. It was hot, made with two habenaro peppers Matt and I grew last year. My friend Kayti and I had to have a glass of milk with this sauce. It was very tasty though.

 

This was the main dish. I don't remember what he called it but it is made from plantains that we grated really fine. Also in the mix is shrimp, coconut milk and a bunch of garlic. I topped my bowl with the hot relish. 

There were 6 of us at dinner and I think we decided we are going to try to do a monthly dinner party. Each person will cook their native foods or foods they specialize in. I am planning an Italian feast, Matt will probably fry some kind of meat. I look forward to the future dinners though, in the mix is our Turkish friend Necati and our neighbors Andrea and Zach who love to cook and try new recipes.

I would love to hear if any of you have any recipes to share!