Our Surprise Visitor...

My dad called the hostel a few days ago with a disguised voice, wanting to book a room.  At first I thought it was a stranger that had a strange voice, or possibly a mental disability, but then I distinguished a farmiliar southern accent through the voice and finally figured out that it was my dad.

He booked out private ensuite and is staying two nights with us!  This is our first visitor from home.
He got here last night and we took him to our favorite Mexican restaurant- La Piedad.  From there we thought it would be a wonderful idea to consume large portions of local ice cream at our favorite ice cream shop- Brics.  Brics gets its ice cream from a dairy in Michigan and it is delicious.  (I am personally over frozen yogurt and going back to my childhood love for good old fashioned ice cream.)  We returned to the hostel full and happy and thankful for each others' company.

This morning I awoke to my father frying eggs and bacon in my dutch oven and making pot after pot of coffee.  Kevin and I joined him and opened all the windows since it was cool and rainy outside.  Our friend (originally from Nigeria) joined us as well, eating breakfast before he attended a local job fair downtown.  He came in from San Fransisco and was interested in working somewhere new, doing something different.  We all wished him luck and my dad was confident that he would land a job since he had eaten a piece of his fried bacon.   

Tonight we ventured out into Broad Ripple once more to enjoy food at a place called Union Jacks.  Kevin ordered french fries followed by potato soup because he couldn't get enough starch.  I had wings and my dad ordered fish and chips. It was a great meal!

The night ended with us all  coming back to the hostel and welcoming a lawyer from Chicago to check in, as well as catching up with our friend from Nigeria and asking him how the job fair went.  We also helped ourselves to some chocolate from one of our guests' Belgium uncle.  It was delicious!

Tomorrow my dad leaves, but only after he is done drinking the rest of the coffee and frying the rest of the bacon for breakfast I'm sure.  We have been refreshed by this visit and are excited about our future friends and family visits to come!

Kevin and Dad in the private ensuite.  Antlers from Purdin, Missouri on the wall behind them!

Lastly, if you are looking for something new to do with sweet potatoes or looking for a more exciting option for hash-browns, this recipe is for you.  I made it Sunday night for some friends and they ate every bit of it! It's a recipe originally from Emeril, changed by me a little bit.

Sweet Potato Hash Browns

you need:
3 sweet potatoes, shredded
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic
2 T. butter or oil 
5-10 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled
salt and pepper to taste

all you do is:
Cook the onion and in olive oil in a dutch oven over med. heat until tender.  Add the garlic, cook 2 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the shredded sweet potatoes and stir, cooking until potatoes are tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste again.  Add crumbled bacon and viola! Sweet potato hash-browns.

If you are truly Southern, you can cook the bacon first, then, keeping it in the dutch oven, add the onion, garlic, and so fourth, frying everything in the bacon grease!

Or for healthier options, substitute a healthier oil (olive oil, etc.).

No matter what type of oil you use, it should taste delicious.

Garden Update:

Arugula

We have TONS of spinach!

Our radishes are coming up!