Many of the students that attend Pepperdine don’t originally come from southern CA. This means that from time to time, students will find themselves missing some of the comforts of wherever they call home. I am no different... and one of the things I find myself missing is a home made sit down type of dinner meal.
Several things in my life make this a somewhat difficult problem to solve: 1) lack of a dining room table, 2) Usually eating by myself due to Frankie and I sometimes having different schedules and 3) Usually not having many traditional kitchen items. This is really embarrassing to admit, but our neighbor came over asking to barrow white table salt because she ran out while baking her cake... and I had to tell her we didn’t have any! Haha... the life of the single grad student!
One element in my grad school life that helps out with this... is the amazing cooking of Amy Cathy. Amy is an experienced and motivated chef who always likes to try out new recipes. Often times during our football practices, she can be seen sitting in her beach chair checking out the latest recipes in "Real Simple" magazine. Anytime I get the chance to get in on an Amy Cathy dinner... I am always quick to jump at the opportunity!
Last week, Amy and I were having a conversation about the possibility of me living in Spain if I worked for Schneider Electric. She told me that not only was she a Spanish major in undergrad, but that she lived in Spain for four months! While talking about what it is like and what she saw, she told me that I should come over sometime to try Spanish food! I was excited at not only the idea of Amy’s cooking, but also trying a new dish from a country that I might live in someday.
So we arranged a night when we were all free and I came over to the Cathy home. Amy had spent two hours preparing a Spanish dish called “Paella de Valenciana”. The dish was a combination of chicken and shrimp, over a particular type of rice and beans. The dish tasted really good and it was exciting to try something new. If any of you are really adventurous, check out her blog post about it here: www.amycathy.com. For those of you that know me, you know I am a really picky eater. Amy is so kind to make things she knows I’ll like and check with me before hand so I can be sure I’ll like everything served.
On a more personal note, I enjoy hanging out with Mark and Amy as a couple as often as I can. I can see that their marriage has a substantial amount of value in it and I think there are many things I can learn from them. They are a very loving and mature couple, and I know that I benefit greatly from having them in my life. So if you ever get the chance to try Amy’s cooking, or just to enjoy their company... by all means consider yourself lucky!
