Chicken Paprikash

So about that party last night... I didn't go. Because I started to feel sick. And I really freaked out. If you know me, or if you've at least been keeping up with the blog, you know that I am deathly afraid of puking. And my host mom and brother came down with a sort of stomach flu the other day. And then yesterday, I was fine all morning. I went to the gym and worked out for 2 hours (and did really freaking great too), came home and cleaned my room and continued writing my Christmas cards and putting together the few packages I'm going to send, and worked out rides and stuff to get to the party. It was all ready to go. And then I decided to take a shower. And all of the sudden my stomach just started hurting. I wrote it off at first, but then it started to really bother me. So then I said, oh it's just an anxiety attack since I'm so freaked out by the rest of the people around me being sick. Plus my host mom had conveniently told me that it was on the news how there have been a lot of cases of stomach flu in Belgium this winter. So needless to say, I was nervous about it. So I said I would just wait a couple hours and see how I was. I laid down in my bed and began watching "The Princess Bride" and told my host mom I wasn't feeling well and didn't know if I was gonna go to the party. Eventually I started to feel a little better, but still decided not to go because I knew I would kick myself the next day if I got sick from going out when I wasn't in good shape. So I stayed home. Over the course of the night, I drank only water, didn't eat anything, and watched "The Princess Bride", "Ella Enchanted", and "Men in Tights". Kind of on a medieval/Cary Elwes kick. But I enjoyed myself. The I watched "Bride Wars", and then fell asleep to an episode of "Big Bang Theory".

I woke up this morning feeling tip top. I ate breakfast, continued with my Christmas stuff, and then after lunch, did some more Christmas shopping with my host mom. Don't worry, I didn't buy anything. Then for dinner I decided to try my hand at one of my dad's classic recipes: chicken paprikash. I had him send me the recipe last night and my host mom got some sour cream for me and I was doing great with it! The chicken was cooking perfectly and I had the sauce simmering and everything.

And then I tried to make the dumplings.

I totally failed. I'm just going to come right out and say it. I can't make dumplings to save my life. I don't know what was wrong with them. But they would not cook through. I put them in the boiling water by the spoonful just like Daddy said. And I was texting him simultaneously and he told me to just keep boiling them, but they wouldn't cook. They turned out totally yucky looking and they didn't taste right either. So I threw away the first attempt, changed the batter a little with more flour, but take two was no good either. So in the end, we ended up just making some pasta and my host mom and I sat down to eat. I have to say though, I totally aced the sauce and chicken. The sauce was a little bit richer than I'm used to, and I'm not sure if there was too much sour cream or I'm just all adjusted to the less flavorful Belgian food. Regardless, it tasted good and my host mom LOVED it. My host dad then came home and tasted it too and he said it was also very good. So I win :) And it was not bad over pasta, though it would have been better if I had done the dumplings right... But the chicken was extremely tender and I am very proud of that part.

By this time it was already past 9pm. And now it's past midnight. Which means technically it's Christmas Eve. And it couldn't feel farther from it. But apparently later today I'm going to have the best Christmas meal of my life at my host grandma's house. We'll see! For now, it's sleepy time. Goodnight all!