Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Quote of the Day

“I see that Christ is but little known by those who consider themselves his friends. These, loving themselves so much, seek in him their own comfort and satisfaction, and not his sufferings and death out of love for him.” (John of the Cross)




Saturday, August 27, 2011

He needs a recipe to make toast!

I've often heard the phrase 'He needs a recipe to make toast.' along with it's companion phrase 'When she boils water, she burns it.' as ways of insulting somebody's culinary prowess. Consequently the idea of posting any kind of recipe for toast is an odd one, so take what follows as a suggestion for a very specific purpose.
I am currently making Ricotta in the kitchen. See the recipe here.


I'm taking it to a party tonight (along with a Caprese Salad), and I wanted some little toast rounds to serve it upon.


So for the cost of a 99 cent baguette, I made these :)

Preheat the oven to 350F

Slice the baguette thinly

in a small bowl mix olive oil, garlic powder and Italian seasoning (and salt if the Italian seasoning doesn't already have it)

Brush each side of each slice with the olive oil mixture and place on a wire baking rack stood inside a rimmed baking sheet (covered in foil for easy clean up)

Bake 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned. Then let cool.


These will be served tonight with the Ricotta.

Tasty and cheaper than purchasing pre-toasted slices ( I see them for sale at the store but have never yet seen anyone buy them!)

Yum

Thursday, August 18, 2011

God's Blog

GOD’S BLOG

by Paul Simms (The New yorker, 8/8/11)


UPDATE: Pretty pleased with what I’ve come up with in just six days. Going to take tomorrow off. Feel free to check out what I’ve done so far. Suggestions and criticism (constructive, please!) more than welcome. God out.




COMMENTS (24)

Not sure who this is for. Seems like a fix for a problem that didn’t exist. Liked it better when the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep.
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Going carbon-based for the life-forms seems a tad obvious, no?

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The creeping things that creepeth over the earth are gross.
 
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Not enough action. Needs more conflict. Maybe put in a whole bunch more people, limit the resources, and see if we can get some fights going. Give them different skin colors so they can tell each other apart.
 
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Disagree with the haters out there who have a problem with man having dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, the cattle of the earth, and so on. However, I do think it’s worth considering giving the fowl of the air dominion over the cattle of the earth, because it would be really funny to see, like, a wildebeest or whatever getting bossed around by a baby duck.

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The “herb yielding seed” is a hella fresh move. 4:20!
 
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Why are the creatures more or less symmetrical on a vertical axis but completely asymmetrical on a horizontal axis? It’s almost like You had a great idea but You didn’t have the balls to go all the way with it.

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The dodo should just have a sign on him that says, “Please kill me.” Ridiculous.
 
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Amoebas are too small to see. They should be at least the size of a plum.
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Beta version was better. I thought the Adam-Steve dynamic was much more compelling than the Adam-Eve work-around You finally settled on.

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I liked the old commenting format better, when you could get automatic alerts when someone replied to your comment. This new way, you have to click through three or four pages to see new comments, and they’re not even organized by threads. Until this is fixed, I’m afraid I won’t be checking in on Your creation.

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***SPOILER***
One of them is going to eat something off that tree You told them not to touch.

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Adam was obviously created somewhere else and then just put here. So, until I see some paperwork proving otherwise, I question the legitimacy of his dominion over any of this.
 
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Why do they have to poop? Seems like there could have been a more elegant/family-friendly solution to the food-waste-disposal problem.

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The lemon tree: very pretty. The lemon flower: sweet. But the fruit of the poor lemon? Impossible to eat. Is this a bug or a feature?
 
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Unfocussed. Seems like a mishmash at best. You’ve got creatures that can speak but aren’t smart (parrots). Then, You’ve got creatures that are smart but can’t speak (dolphins, dogs, houseflies). Then, You’ve got man, who is smart and can speak but who can’t fly, breathe underwater, or unhinge his jaws to swallow large prey in one gulp. If it’s supposed to be chaos, then mission accomplished. But it seems more like laziness and bad planning.
 
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If it’s not too late to make changes, in version 2.0 You should make water reflective, so the creatures have a way of seeing what they look like.
 
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S*H*O*E*S!!! Manolo Jimmy Choo Vuitton Prada +++ All sizes Great deals Free shipping! @@@ [www.shoezwarehouze.com]
 
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Penguins are retarded. Their wings don’t work and their legs are too short. I guess they’re supposed to be cute in a “I liek to eat teh fishes” way, but it’s such obvious pandering to the lowest common denominator.
 
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There’s imitation, and then there’s homage, and then there’s straight-up idea theft, which is what Your thing appears to be. Anyone who wants to check out the original should go to www.VishnuAndBrahma.com. (And check it out soon, because I think they’re about to go behind a paywall.)
 
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Putting boobs on the woman is sexist.
 
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Wow. Just wow. I don’t even know where to start. So the man and his buddy the rib-thing have dominion over everything. They’re going to get pretty unbearable really fast. What You need to do is make them think that there were other, bigger, scarier creatures around a long time before them. I suggest dinosaurs. No need to actually create dinosaurs—just create some weird-ass dinosaur bones and skeletons and bury them in random locations. Man will dig them up eventually and think, What the...?
 
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Epic fail.
 
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Meh.

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Gathering Stones

In a meeting this morning I was discussing my ability to form judgements about people when I'm driving. I see somebody driving recklessly - speeding, lane changes, driving off road to avoid waiting in traffic, cutting across parking lots to avoid a red light, I judge them. 'Who do they think they are? Why is their time more important than mine? They are putting other people at risk!'.

I never do anything with my judgements, I'm not the kind of person who accelerates up behind somebody or flips them off or anything like that. The condemnation just simmers inside me until I eventually leave the car and the judgements behind.

After I had finished speaking I glanced at this icon out of the corner of my eye and turned to examine it.



I identified with the man in red. He's gathering stones, he may not be throwing them, but they are weighing him down. It gave me a picture of what my judgements are doing and how they hinder me.

Next week I am driving to West Texas. I talked with the group about how I was going to make a conscious decision to use any reckless drivers as a reminder for me to pray. To try and offer generous judgements - 'Maybe they are driving fast because they have to get to the hospital or a friend is in difficulty'.

I do not know all the story of the person in the pick up truck who is cutting across 5 lanes of traffic. Even if I did it may not justify their actions, but it does help explain them.

I will be generous, and allow my stones to fall unthrown...

...and in that generosity of judgement to somebody else, I am unburdened.