Johanna Speaks

Today I wanted to make an Indian dish for lunch. I really wanted to try making pita bread since I had it once at an Indian restaurant, and it went really well with soup. But I didn't have everything I needed to make the soup, so I just decided to make the pita bread and then cook up ground beef with garam masala (a mix of Indian spices). Then I made rice on the side too. 

I looked up a recipe online for pita bread. It looked very simple and easy to make with only a few ingredients. So I went to work! 

While I was making it, I felt like I added way too much water to the yeast. But I still added it to the flour after waiting a bit, so the yeast mixture can start blooming. Then, after adding everything, I put on gloves and mixed it until it reached a doughy consistency. It was still pretty sticky, so I added a little more bread flour. Then it was perfect!

I had to let it proof for about 20 mins in the bowl. After it was done proofing, I took it out, split the dough into twelve round balls, and placed them on a pan, covered them with a towel, and let them proof for fifteen more minutes. 

I brought out our cast-iron pan and set it to medium heat. While the pan heated, I started taking the balls out and stretching each one with my fingers until it reached my desired pita bread size. Then I got a fork and started stabbing it (probably the most enjoyable part of it all 😁), creating that bubbly look pita has. 

After placing it in the pan, I covered it with a lid (to keep the moisture in) and let it sit for about 2 to 3 minutes before flipping. I did that twelve times for all of them. 

I let one cool and tore a piece off to taste it. It tasted like a pita should. It usually has no flavor, kinda chewy, but it's really good for dipping in soups and stuff. Then I thought it would taste really good with butter and honey. So I put that on there, and it tastes really good together. 

Having the rice, the ground beef mixed in garam masala for that delicious flavor, then the pita bread and some cooked vegetables on the side, tasted incredible altogether. I was pretty happy the way it all turned out. 😊

Sophie is in the junior choir, and I am in the senior choir and the chamber choir.

I went hunting with my brother-in-law, Cameron, and Ezra. That day, (Sept 20th) was the first day of hunting season. We went to the Shasta Lake area. 
 

Cameron had his grandpa's boat, so we took that out on the lake and went to a separate island. Once we arrived on the island, we stopped under a shaded area and had our breakfast sandwich, as it was almost 8:00 AM by then. It was so quiet and peaceful. You could hear every little sound of the birds and other animals. It would've been a perfect place to take a nap. 

When we finished our breakfast, we started hiking up a big hill. After a while of looking for a good place to set up the gun, we found a good, shaded spot that would allow us to spot any deer from far away. We were there for about two hours waiting and watching. There was a lot of noise down in a canyon, but we couldn't see if it was a buck since there were big trees in the way, and we didn't want to make a lot of noise by moving. 

Cameron fell asleep for a bit. 😂 So Ezra and I watched for him. 

A fox came super close to us, and when it finally noticed we were there, it screamed in surprise and ran down the hill. The fox probably didn't smell us since the wind was in our favor. 

Unfortunately, we didn't get anything. Didn't even see a single buck. We hiked back down the hill, and all of us were sweating like crazy! It was so hot. It was about 12:30 PM. I was really glad I didn't wear long sleeves. 

We got back in the boat and left. I know next time, we will get a buck! 

Here are the pics I got:

While I was in France, my grandma took Sophie and me to a marketplace. There were all kinds of stuff—clothes, food, jewelry, etc. It was a really cool and fun experience to be there. I was really hoping to find a dress, since that was one of the things I wanted to get while in France. 

As we walked past various items, I saw a long dress that looked very beautiful on a mannequin. So we all stopped and went to see if there was a dress in my size. My grandma asked the guy who was selling them if they did ( since he only spoke French), and he brought one to us. The smallest size he had was a medium/small. So we got it. 

 Once we got back to my grandma's house, I tried it on. It was a little big around the waist. But I thought I could probably do some sewing on it once I get back to my own house. 

When we were back in California, I took out my sewing machine and started sewing, trying to see how I could make it tighter around the waist. But I couldn't get it right. So eventually I thought maybe I could make it into a skirt. I cut the top off. I wanted the skirt part to be very long, so I made it a high-waist skirt. Then I folded the part where I had cut it and sewed that so it wouldn't fray. It was a little loose around the waist, so I folded it a bit from the inside out and then sewed it to just where I liked it. 

It worked! I even wore it to church on Sunday with a black shirt on top. I also had a black belt, so I put that on too. Here is a picture that my mom got while I was about to walk out the door to church: 

Nicholas proposed to his girlfriend, Noemi, about a month or two ago, and of course, she said yes! The wedding date is October 4th. They will be having the wedding in Lake California at the Lake Club, out on the grass. 

Noemi will move to California sometime at the end of September (since she lives in New Jersey). 

I'm excited to have another sister-in-law!😁 It's going to be awesome! She's super sweet and awesome to be around. She also has a beautiful singing voice and hopefully will sing for our church. And she cooks amazing Mexican food. She's perfect for Nicholas because he has more of a quiet personality, and so does she. But she can also be extroverted when she needs to be and can socialize really well with people. And she's a Christian, of course. She's perfect for him. I'm so glad my brother picked such a wonderful person to marry. 😊 I'm already imagining the little, cute children they're going to have. 😂 Imagine a Nick Jr. So cute! 

Okay, so for Noelle and Cameron's wedding, I wrote a poem for them and recited it out loud on the mic. And for Nick and Noemi's wedding, I wanted to write a poem for them too. I haven't started writing it, so I'd better do that. But it would be cool if I made it a tradition for the rest of the boys when they get married. Just write a poem for each wedding. 

Here are the engagement photos: