Life & TravelPaul Shetler Fast

Our Bookshelf

Life & TravelPaul Shetler Fast
Our Bookshelf

We've received many emails from readers asking for cookbook recommendations. Just in time for the holiday season, we put together some of our current favorites: cookbooks we come back to again and again, books we give away as gifts, books we'd buy over again if our copy got ruined, and if you looked at our bookshelves, the books with well-worn dog-earned, food splattered pages. Our opinions are our own and we have received nothing from the publishers. Click on the book covers to read more.

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Prayer For Haiti

Hurricane Matthew, a category 4 storm, is on course to hit Haiti in the next 24 hours. The rain and wind has already begun.

We pray tonight for Haiti. We pray for the those without a safe place to sleep, without a place to brace against the coming storm. We pray for those with leaky roofs and mud walls, those still under tents and tarps and cardboard. We pray for those who fear their only belongings may be washed away. We pray for those who are sick and cannot travel to seek care. We pray for those who were hungry before this storm, and those who will see their crops washed away. We pray for compassion and helping hands. We pray for pastors opening up their churches to provide refuge from the storm. We pray for friends and neighbors helping people get to safety if they can. We pray for our staff and their families, for our partners and the communities we serve.

We pray for Haiti. 

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastComment
Prayer For Haiti
Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastComment

Birthday Joy

I turned 31 today, ate cookies, watermelon pie, and ribs, and I had to change my clothes three times because our daughter's outdoor play got unusually messy! It was a great birthday. Two years ago on my birthday, Rebecca and I were living and working in Pittsburgh. Last year we were new parents, in a new country, in new jobs. And this year we are expectantly waiting. Rebecca is pregnant, and due to a complication in the pregnancy, we are both working remotely from the US during this last trimester. If all goes as well as it can, our baby will be joining us about a month ahead of schedule towards the end of June.

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastComment
Birthday Joy
Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastComment

Thanksgiving

In my early twenties, I worked at a homeless shelter in New Mexico. During evening shift, the most critical task was dinner for the shelter's 70 guests. The evening meal prep would start mid-afternoon when, most often, a passel of grey-haired church ladies would descend on the shelter kitchen. For the next few hours, the kitchen would be a chaotic mess of aproned volunteer cooks, hustling to prepare and serve the meal. On the occasional night when volunteers and groceries failed to show up, I would be left improvising with a pantry of mismatched items and hungry people to feed.

One night, just as I was starting to worry about the absence of both volunteers and food, there was a hesitant knock at the back door. A young man, about my age, was standing there with a huge pot in his hands. I helped him unloaded pot after pot of red and green chile from an old car parked out back. With the chiles bubbling on the stove, he set to work rolling out and frying the traditional sopapilla accompaniment. 

Complementing him on the meal as I was helping him pack up his now empty pots, I asked him how he heard about the shelter. He told me that he had been homeless this time last year, and had stayed the night many times in our shelter. He said, “I figured since cooking is something I can do, I should give back.”

Gratitude has been linked to everything from longer life expectancy to better relationships and happiness. Tomorrow, we will be sharing a Thanksgiving feast with loved ones, and we hope that many of our American readers will as well. On a holiday named for gratitude, we also recognize that great disparities exist. This evening, 610,000 Americans will spend the night on the streets, one-quarter of whom are children. Tonight, 49 million Americans will not have secure access to food, and millions more will not be safe in their own homes. This Thanksgiving, there are countless ways to show gratitude.

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastComment
Thanksgiving
Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastComment

Our Bookshelf II

Our most vivid cooking memories center around our parents. With Mother’s and Father’s Day on the horizon, we wanted to share some of our current favorite cookbooks, cookbooks we come back to again and again, books we give away as gifts, and the ones with the tattered, food splattered pages. We have included links attached to each cookbook review for easy online viewing. To find a brick and mortar independent bookstore near you, visit Indie Bound. Our opinions are our own and we have received nothing from the publishers.

Visit Our Bookshelf For cookbook reviews

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastComment
Our Bookshelf II
Life & TravelRebecca Shetler FastComment

Cooking as a Couple: 10 tips

Even for people who love to cook, cooking as a couple can be a uniquely unappealing proposition. Many couples find the kitchen too crowded, the opinions too many, the timing too tight, to share the reins with someone else. Becoming a well-oiled machine in the kitchen takes practice, patience, and strategy. We've found it well worth the effort. We've been been cooking and eating together for over 10 years now, and since we have just about a month left before we leave our galley kitchen in Pittsburgh for Haiti, we thought we'd share the top 10 things we've learned about cooking together as a couple [...]

Life & TravelRebecca Shetler FastComment
Cooking as a Couple: 10 tips