First, an apology to those of you (and I know there are just throngs of you out there) who have actually noticed that I haven’t blogged since January. And, after I promised I was going to review and deconstruct evey single episode of LOST’s fifth season as it aired! Okay, now that we’re all over that, let’s talk about last night’s no-breathe-TV 2-hour episode — the one that will have to hold us for the next nine months! If you haven’t watched the episode yet, DON’T READ ANY FURTHER! If you have, get out of this paragraph and into the next one…hurry!
You know Jacob has to be in the first paragraph. For someone who has been so elusive for so long, he sure was easy to find here! The dude was everywhere! But, more than that, he gave us one of the most gorgeous opening scenes of the entire series! Sitting inside his giant foot (which was a whole statue then), he spun and wove by firelight. Whoa. Moments later, he went all Bobby Flay on us and cooked some fish on his rock grill (Lostpedia says it was a red herring…a cool tidbit). When the second guy showed up, I’m betting I’m not the only one who thought HE was Jacob (it was the beard). Once the Black Rock appeared and the conversation began, I was sure ONE of them was, anyway. By the end of the scene, we knew which one was, but the identity of the other remains a mystery. Can’t say I’m thrilled with that, but being frustrated over mystery on LOST seems kind of like being frustrated about the thrill you feel when you willingly get on a roller coaster!
Once we have established that Jacob seems to be able to control the actions of others and seems to exist outside of time (he brought the Black Rock to the island, apparently to prove that things will play out the same perpetually…except for the mysterious reference he made to “progress”), we see him make his rounds, clearly keeping an eye on those whose lives are tied to the island. We see Kate, Sawyer, and Juliet as children and I didn’t realize why it was those three until I just typed their names all together. They were uncomfortably chained to a table on the submarine together, broke out of it together, and stood against Jack and Jughead together…initially. They came around to see Jack’s view together (well, Sawyer allowed Juliet to run the show, but the ladies were genuinely convinced), and they all ended up at the mouth of the drilled hole that led down to the dreaded “pocket.” I’m guessing these three will have a lot of screen time in the beginning of season 6. What? You think Juliet is dead? Didn’t you watch the season 2 finale where Desmond turned the key and the sky went all purple and the hatch blew up? On this island, my friends, being at ground zero isn’t necessarily the end of the game!
Jacob also makes appearances at key moments in the lives of Jack, Sun & Jin, Locke, Hurley, Sayid, and Ilana. We see Jack’s first major surgery and pick up some history on the “count to five,” technique. We see Locke apparently resurrected by Jacob after being pushed out of the window that left him paralyzed. I always wondered how the heck he survived that fall, didn’t you? It seems, perhaps, that he didn’t. I loved this setup because it seemed to explain why Locke was alive on the island after being killed by Ben. That small window of satisfaction was then ripped away from us when we finally saw what was in the crate! We saw how Hurley came to be in possession of the guitar he carried on board Ajira 316, and we saw Nadia die. Even though we’ve seen that hit-by-a-car/bus/quarterback film technique a million times, now, I am still amazed by it. It seems to have replaced the cat leaping out of the dark as the quintessential guarantor of gasps! Back on point, Jacob touches or gives something to everyone he encounters. That physical contact was certainly played up as significant, making me wish it wasn’t going to be nine months of waiting to find out more about it.
Okay, so our love triangle of the season are out of the sub (one of the coolest escape scenes I think I’ve ever seen! I mean, who the heck escapes from a SUBMARINE?) and rushing off to stop Jack when Vincent comes running out of the jungle. Wait, what? Aren’t we in 1977? Oh, so that means Vincent must have time traveled, too. By the way, that was so clearly not the same dog actor, it was almost distracting as I was trying to process this scene. But, the moment Bernard and Rose showed up, I let that all go and just drank them in. Their peaceful hippie vibe made for an outstanding scene! We’re so accustomed to everyone being all dirty and sweaty and urgently running off to deal with some crisis and right in the middle of that we have this serenity that is just unshakable, even when the happy couple is told they’re about to die. Priceless! It did raise one question, though: How is it Rose and Bernard never had any problems with the Hostiles (was it because they were not a threat?) and how did they keep themselves in Dharma provisions? Okay, that was two questions. Any thoughts?
Drama, drama, drama while the core is removed from the bomb and carried through Dharmaville out to the Swan construction site. Sayid gets gut shot and there is a dramatic VW bus getaway that you just gotta love! Radzinsky continues to be way too intense and annoying and Pierre Chang is doing his darndest to stop the drilling. Once the bomb core is dropped down the drill hole (nice work covering Jack by the VW bus and the gang, by the way!), we get to watch the faces of Jack, Sawyer, Juliet and Kate up close and teary-eyed as they prepare to never have been to the island. Then, we get the anti-climax of the century as — well — nothing happens. But, a moment later, the pocket begins to suck metal and we watch “the incident” unfold.
Yea…Phil is dead by impaling! That guy was asking for it almost as much as Radzinsky and exactly as much as that annoying dude that was trying to steal Libby from Hurley and got it with a flaming arrow! Now, let me pause here and confess that I genuinely cried when Juliet was hanging on for dear life in that hole with Sawyer and Kate trying to save her. The eye contact between her and Sawyer and the stream of “I love you’s,” and “Don’t you leave me’s,” was actually stronger than the grip they had on one anothers’ hands. That Kate was present and desperately trying to be a part of that moment, but unable to touch either of them was poignant on a number of levels. This scene was EPIC in the same way as the two reunion scenes between Desmond and Penny (the one on the telephone in “The Constant,” and the one on her ship as the Oceanic 6 were rescued). That was just great television and there is just no arguing with that.
As creepy as her alien-eque stare can sometimes be, Elizabeth Mitchell deserves serious recognition for her acting prowess here. The scene where she recovers from her fall, momentarily panics, then causes the bomb core to detonate (another juicy tidbit from Lostpedia says she strikes it “8″ times) puts her on a par with Terry O’Quinn (Locke) and Michael Emerson (Ben) in my book. I’ve always been ambivalent about her as Juliet, but I think that feeling has made for the best characters on Lost. My hat’s off to her. And, now that she has won me over, I’m a bit sad to have read that she is already cast in a remake of the 1980’s schlock TV series, “V,” so there’s no telling if we will actually see her here again. I know, I said in the third paragraph that this whole episode set her up for season 6, but perhaps that’s not the case. I’m making this up as I go along, people!
Okay, before we talk about the sky going white and the awesome white ending title screen (oops…I guess I just did that), let’s go back to 2007 and the shadow of the statue. Ilana asks the now-famous question of Richard, who correctly responds in Latin, “”He who will protect/save us all.” Whatever that means. So, even as Jacob is being stabbed and burned to death inside the statue, Ilana is fulfilling her promise to “help” him by delivering Locke’s corpse to Richard as proof that the man who took Ben inside was not the man we thought he was. This leaves me wondering how this “helps,” since Jacob ends up dead, but there’s one more reason to tune in for season 6. The man we’ve thought was Locke is now revealed as the bearded man from the opening scene who expressed how badly he wanted to kill Jacob and vowed to find the loophole that would make it possible. Whatever that loophole actually is, I’m not sure, but this scene and the one where Juliet detonates the bomb seem to tell us definitively that whatever happened didn’t necessarily happen and time can be changed. Having said that, we have seen so many examples of “course correction,” that I’m currently of the opinion that there are major points that are non-negotiable but several possible ways to reach them. Whether the bomb was part of “the incident” or not, Chang loses the use of his let arm and the Swan station gets built and he goes on to make the Dharma station orientation films. If you haven’t noticed, watch The Swan orientation film to see that his left arm does not move:
No matter what Desmond does to stop it (or even step in as a replacement), Charlie dies. The Black Rock will land and the people on it will do bad things, though there may be some “progress” involved in the changing minor details. So, I’m guessing that either Oceanic 815 crashes no matter what, or these individuals who end up on the island will always end up there even if it’s on Ajira 316 or some other way. Hey, they’ve been touched by Jacob!
Entertainment Weekly’s Jeff “Doc” Jensen has been writing awesome pre- and post-episode articles here. I recommend signing up for the email alerts if you don’t already. He’s issued a call for your top 3 mysteries that MUST be answered before the series ends next season. There are still many unanswered questions and a few new ones just cropped up last night! But, see if you can get it down to three completely non-negociables — the ones that will make you feel like you just wasted 6 years of your life if they aren’t answered by the big wrap up. You can submit your responses this week at JeffJensenEW@aol.com, but be warned: His inbox fills up and stays filled up so you might have to try a dozen times and get bounced a dozen times before your message gets through. Your other alternative is to just post a comment here and we can keep it nice and cozy! Here are my three picks:
Who are the “Adam & Eve” skeletons found in the cave in season 1 and what is the significance of the black and white stones Jack found on them?
What is the smoke monster…and I want DETAILS!
Who/what is Jacob?
Of course, I want to know about everyone who doesn’t seem to be a “normal” human being, so I could cheat and make my questions more compound than they are, but these are the crucial ones. I’m very curious about the nature of Richard (”I am like this because of Jacob,”) and Christian Shepherd (is he also an enemy of Jacob taking the form of another person…or perhaps the same enemy?). I’m curious about the Hostiles in general (if they are truly “indiginous,” where did all of the Egyptian culture come from and why are they speaking Latin all the time?). Is Claire dead? Are dead people showing up a good thing or a bad thing? Is Desmond coming back to the island? Who are the new posse headed by Ilana that claim to be “the good guys,” just as Ben did is season 2? If the outcome is always the same, what ist here to war about and which is acutally the “right” side? Okay, let’s hear from you!
1 Corinthians 15:35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” 36 Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. 37 And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain–perhaps wheat or some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. 40 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed– 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
I know…it’s starting to show that I’ve been too busy over the holidays to actually write real blog entries. Still, I’m not getting any complaints, so I’ll keep tossing awesome little video clips atcha until things settle down around here!
My 9-month-old black Labrador, Benjamin, could not watch this enough times! He stood there and imitated these little pugs over and over and over again! Let me tell you, there was a great deal of giggling in the old home office tonight! Do some giggling of your own now, whether or not you have a dog. If you do, though, go get him before playing the video!
Sorry about the obnoxious advertisement at the end. I just rewind before it gets there and play it for Benjamin again!
Mark 7:25 For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” 28 And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.
Here, everyone. Just, here. I’m so revved up for this! Just bought Season 4 and lent my brother Season 3 so he can catch up in time for the Season 5 premier on January 21. More Island freshness!
Not a scripture today…but a hymn:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see. T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear, and Grace, my fears relieved. How precious did that Grace appear…the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils and snares we have already come. T’was Grace that brought us safe thus far and Grace will lead us home. The Lord has promised good to me; His word my hope secures. He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures. When we’ve been here ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’ve first begun. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now, I see.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so hungry for fresh footage in all my days. I mean real, post-production, polished, juicy, fresh footage. You, too? Well, feast your eyes and ears, my darlings!
Aaaahhh! That’s better! I cannot wait for January 21!
Luke 15:4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’
Props to YouTube Director “FATMIME,” who has a real name that I haven’t gotten permission to use because I had to blog the moment I saw it and he wasn’t online so I could ask him! He posted this on Facebook and I saw it in my newsfeed about 5 mintues ago. It was posted on the YouTube Comedian channel CHTV: College Humor on November 11, but I really hope you haven’t seen it yet and I have the pleasure of being the first to show it to you. I haven’t checked out the rest of their channel, so if there’s gross, juvenile, profane, or otherwise collegy stuff on it, I’m not endorsing it. But THIS VIDEO rocks like there’s no tomorrow!
Do I sound a little over-excited? Well, I’m a big fan of the first Matrix film. I can seriously live without the other two, but you kind of have to take them as a package deal, don’t you? Good Matrix parodies have always tickled my funny bone. For instance, Here’s another effort from a few college students doing a project for their technical school. I sure hope they got an “A!”
Then, there’s this nearly-identical version based on the same movie trailer, only featuring the South Park cast instead of the Muppets:
And, just to bring you back to live-action for a closer, here’s Dave Chappelle’s hilarious take on things:
You’re welcome.
Joshua 24:15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Our kitchen was so full of hustle bustle this year (hey, let’s face it…every year!) that I just couldn’t even think about taking pictures of the cooking process for most of our dishes. I did manage to sneak in a few shots of the bacon-wrapped brussels sprouts, but I’ll do that as a separate entry. Here, I’m going to focus on the bread-like dishes. These pictures are just mined from the interwebz. All of these recipes were tried for the first time and all turned out so good I simply have to share the joy! Go and make them…then come back and tell me how your family liked them! By the way, comments making any reference whatsoever to calories, fat content, or weight gain will be immediately deleted! Other than that, comment away! LOL!
I’ve tried at least a half dozen recipes for spoon bread and have been disatisfied every time. Then, my stepson Matt mentioned he’d had the perfect spoon bread at a Thanksgiving table several years back. He got the recipe for us and we made it this year to RAVE reviews! The key…and I am telling you this is key…is the use of Jiffy Corn Bread Mix. From scratch recipes and other corn bread mixes just didn’t come out with the intense flavor and texture that reminds me of my favorite Mexican restaurant’s spoon bread. This one is da bomb!
Kentucky Spoon Bread Ingredients
1 Box Jiffy Corn Bread Mix
1 stick of butter, melted
1 8 oz. can of whole corn, drained
1 8 oz. can of cream style corn
1 cup sour cream (I prefer Daisy brand)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
Instructions
Melt the butter and combine the Jiffy mix, corns, sour cream, and beaten eggs in a large bowl. Pour into a 1.5 quart greased casserole and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, until center is firm. Serve warm.
I doubled this recipe and used a 9×13 glass baking dish with outstanding results. The bread will be dense, very moist, and utterly delicious!
For our follow-up Thanksgiving dinner Sunday evening with a different group of family, I tried a bread pudding recipe from Penzey’s One magazine. If you haven’t yet discovered the amazing world of Penzey’s Spices, I encourage you to go visit their website, subscribe to their magazine, and…most importantly…throw away every dried herb and spice in your cupboard and replace them all with Penzey’s. You will be astounded at the difference in your tried and true receipes. The magazine always has great receipes…many from readers…and I have never, ever, had a bad result using their recipes and spices. Going Penzey’s has transformed our kitchen and our culinary life!
This recipe is over 100 years old and was contributed by a Penzey’s One reader whose family has passed it down. I can see why it has endured, though I have modified it slightly to round out a few ingredients. It calls for a whiskey sauce, which I made the first night, but then made a non-alcoholic vanilla sauce the next night. Both versions are included below.
Bread Pudding Ingredients
16 day-old hamburger buns, torn in large pieces
(Leave them exposed to the air, opened up and spread out on a baking sheet overnight. You want most of the moisture out of the bread. Big pieces yield lots of texture, smaller pieces make a smooth, wet pudding. I prefer the large chunks.)
1 14-oz can evaporated milk (not sweetened, not condensed)
4 cups milk (lower fat milks are okay, not skim)
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs, beaten
3 tbs cinnamon (oh, yes…go heavy here)
2 tbs plus 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup melted butter
Whiskey Sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/8 - 1/4 cup whiskey
Non-alcoholic alternative is to substitue 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp imitation rum extract for the whiskey, or 1 tsp vanilla extract and leave out the rum extract altogether.
Instructions
Preheat over to 400 degrees. In a large bowl (I needed a punch bowl as my largest mixing bowl was too small), combine the ripped up buns, canned milk and evaporated milk and let soak for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, stir together the sugar, eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla to make a gorgeous goop! Add to the bread and milk and mix well with a wooden spoon. Take care not to mash the bread chunks too much. Pour into an ungreased 9×13 pan and drizzle the melted butter over the top. If you have a larger one, you may want to choose it, or else place the pan on a lipped cookie sheet. This will rise high in the oven. and some of the butter may spill out. Bake until lightly browned and no longer wiggly, about 50 minutes. Carefully remove from oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Bread will settle and melted butter that may be pooled on top will soak in.
To make the whiskey sauce, combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan and bring to a rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Pour 1-2 tablespoons over individual servings of warm bread pudding.
Well, there you have it. That oughta keep you away from the scale for a while! I must confess, I’ve been going back for midnight snacks of this bread pudding…and I never do that! Something about the warmth and the texture and the cinnamon flavor tastes even better snuggled in bed in front of the tv! Note that I am not officially recommending that to you…it’s more of a confession, really.
Please comment…they are my favorite snack food of all!
Deuteronomy 16: 14 And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates. 15 Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.
Right after sunset tonight, if you look in the southwestern sky in North America, you’re likely to be richly rewarded! This is a night to get out the telescope and gather the kids together! You’ll see a close conjunction between three bright solar system objects: the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter. If you have binoculars, you might even be able to fit all three of them in the field of view. It should look something like this:
What to Expect, December 1, 2008, Just After Sunset
I’m borrowing the following text from Space.com’s colomnist Joe Rao, since he already did all the work and I couldn’t say it any better myself! Here is the link to the full article.
Every once in a while, something will appear in the night sky that will attract the attention of even those who normally don’t bother looking up. It’s likely to be that way on Monday evening, Dec. 1.
A slender crescent moon, just 15-percent illuminated, will appear in very close proximity to the two brightest planets in our sky, Venus and Jupiter.
People who are unaware or have no advance notice will almost certainly wonder, as they cast a casual glance toward the moon on that night, what those two “large silvery stars” happen to be? Sometimes, such an occasion brings with it a sudden spike of phone calls to local planetariums, weather offices and even police precincts. Not a few of these calls excitedly inquire about “the UFOs” that are hovering in the vicinity of our natural satellite.
A very close conjunction of the crescent moon and a bright star or planet can be an awe-inspiring naked-eye spectacle. Also on Monday evening, you may be able to see the full globe of the moon, its darkened portion glowing with a bluish-gray hue interposed between the sunlit crescent and not much darker sky. This vision is sometimes called “the old moon in the young moon’s arms.” Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was the first to recognize it as what we now call “earthshine.”
Those using binoculars or a small telescope will certainly enjoy the almost three-dimensional aspect of the moon, but Venus will be rather disappointing appearing only as a brilliant blob of light, for right now, it’s a small, featureless gibbous disk. That will change in the coming weeks, however, as Venus approaches Earth and the angle it makes between us and the Sun allows it to evolve into a “half-moon” phase in mid January, and a lovely crescent phase of its own during the latter part of February and March.
Jupiter on the other hand is a far more pleasing sight with its relatively large disk, cloud bands and its retinue of bright Galilean satellites. All four will be in view on Monday evening, with Callisto sitting alone on one side of Jupiter, Ganymede, Io and Europa will be on the other side. Io and Europa will in fact, appear very close to each other, separated by only about one-sixth the apparent width of Jupiter.
Please come back and share your experiences if you see this spectacle for yourself! I know we’ll be out there!
UPDATED TO ADD:
I just took this with my digital SLR, hand held, auto focus, available light (natch!). Click on the image to view it full size. What are you seeing?
December 1 sky over Jacksonville, FL
1 Corinthians 15:40 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.
Another short blog today…with apologies to those of you who are utterly enraptured by my every word (snort)!
I have a personal goal of promoting the activities of aweseome people I’ve encounterd on the internet. Right at the tippity top of that list are Rhett and Link, for those who have never read The Garden Party before (or even taken a peek at the sidebars). Though my boiz were criminally under-appreciated at YouTube Live on Sunday, they did have an opportunity to perform…in a parking lot…standing in the back of a dressed-up tractor trailer. It was a pre-show thing. Friend and fellow Rhett & Link fan, Genevieve, captured a bit of that here (including technical problems):
But, Harnett County, NC gave them all the love they deserve when they got home! Readers, I give you Rhett and Link on their local news station:
Okay. I can walk away from my computer with a clear conscience now. Please let me know if you enjoyed these little confections.
I was looking for an organization I think is called, “Every Nation for Christ,” because the pastor of a church we visited recently is accountable to them and I wanted to check them out. It is my understanding they help plant churches all over the world, specifically near college campuses and their primary focus is on that demographic. Since over 80% of children raised Christian leave their faith behind in their first year of secular college, I believe this is a crucial ministry.
I haven’t found the organization yet…but I stopped looking for today when my google search led me to this man: Jaeson Ma. Here’s his personal testimony. I believe it is a terrific one to show unsaved young people who may be struggling and in need of the gospel presented in a way they can respond to it.
I’ve added a link to Jaeson’s blog under “Christian” over there on the right. Go check him out if he speaks to your heart.
Revelation 7:9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
This isn’t actually a Levi Strauss & Company ad. It was made as promotional material for “AboveGray Pictures.” Still, I had to give it a tip of my hat:
I’m no longer a celebrater of Halloween, but this just tickled my funny bone.
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.
I’m really interested in finding out what visitors to the Garden Party think and in discovering ways to increase readership and interaction. So, I’ve prepared this little survey. Please note that the name and email questions do not require answers and are only inlcuded in the event you actually want me to put you on an email list and keep in touch with you. If you choose to share that information with me, it goes no further than me. You have my word on that. However, it’s the other questions that interest me more at the moment. When I switched from Wordpress.com hosting to self-hosting, I lost about 2/3 of my per-day views since I’m no longer in the Wordpress tag search community. I’ve gotta believe that was not a mistake and I can build an audience in other ways. Here’s your chance to help!
My last recipe post included a complaint that we haven’t been able to find good Chinese food in Jacksonville. New Yorker’s are pretty finicky when it comes to food. Well, if there’s anything more scarce in Jacksonville than good Chinese food, it has got to be good pizza. That stuff you see advertised anywhere outside of New York as, “New York Style Pizza?” Fuggedaboutit! Gimme a break! So, once again, this household coped with the problem by simply making what we wanted in our own kitchen.
My husband makes his own bread regularly. He enjoys messing with yeast and kneading and waiting for stuff to rise. I, on the other hand, do not. So, that’s his department. He found a recipe for “New York Style Pizza Dough,” at Recipe Pizza online. That link will take you to their version, but I’ve reproduced it here with a couple of modifications we’ve made after making it about a half dozen times.
Now, I’m not going to tell you this tastes exactly like the best pizzaria pizza in New York, because it doesn’t. However, it does taste unbelievably good and close enough to satisfy us! We discovered last night that the fresher your flour is, the easier the dough will be to work with. Hubby prepares it a couple of hours before we want to eat and then I roll up my sleeves and take over
This recipe makes 1 15-inch and 1 12-inch pie
the shell forming and assembly. He handles the baking peel (that wooden paddle) and the actual baking. The system works flawlessly!
New York Style
Pizza Dough
Ingredients Required
1 1/2 cups warm water (105F) 4 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour 1 tablespoons of olive oil 2 1/2 teaspoon of granulated sugar 2 1/2 teaspoon of salt 1/2 teaspoon of yeast
Step by Step Procedure
In a large bowl, dissolve sugar and salt in water.
Add oil and flour and mix with a dough hook in a heavy duty mixer until dough forms.
Turn out to a lightly floured surface and press into a circle.
Sprinkle yeast evenly over dough and knead for 12 minutes.
Divide dough into portions: 6 oz. for Calzones, 18 oz. for 12 inch, 25 oz. for 15 inch
Roll each portion into a ball. You want a dough ball without visible seams except the bottom.
Place dough balls in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to proof for 1−2 hours at room temperature to use the same day, or store in refrigerator to use the next day.
Place dough ball on lightly floured surface, and lightly flour the top. Use fingertips to evenly flatten out the dough ball. Work from the edges to the center press dough into a 12″ circle. Place both hands within the shell edge and stretch with fingertips and palms maintaining an even pressure. Or, use a lightly floured rolling pin to stretch to desired shape. (I do both)
Lift the shell onto a square of baking parchment placed on your pizza peel.
Add desired toppings to the pizza.
Carefully slide the pizza and parchment onto the stone in the preheated oven.
Bake in a 550 degree oven for 10 minutes for a 15″ pie and 8 minutes for a 12″ pie, until crust is golden.
Additional Information
Cooking pizzas with this dough should be done on a baking stone. Using a pan will produce a very soft “doughy” crust. The stone in the oven should be preheated to 550F for an hour prior to baking, and should be placed in the middle of the oven.
Now, let me tell you about the toppings we put on last night’s pizza. I’m telling you, you should have been there! Since you weren’t, please enjoy this slide show of the process, featuring my step-son Matt sampling the meaty, cheesey goodness!
You can click on the slideshow to visit the web album and see these shots full size.
We had some leftover barbequed bratwurst in the refrigerator. I cut that into thick slices, then tossed those into my food processor and pulsed for about 20 seconds until I had a nice, course, crumbled result. I also had about a half dozed strips of chicken breast I didn’t use when I made the Pad Thai the other night, so I breaded and fried those in olive oil, drained them and cut them into bite-sized chunks. We always have onions and jarred sliced mushrooms on our pizza. I prefer to sliver my onions by cutting them in half, removing the centers and then slicing lengthwise as thin as possible.
So, the large pie got topped in this order: sauce (Ragu Pizza Quick Sauce has worked fine for us), mozzarella (I prefer part-skim and always buy it pre-shredded for this purpose), bratwurst, chicken, a little granulated garlic and a little oregano, onions, mushrooms. Just look at that picture at the top of the post! Doesn’t that look amazing? It was, by a wide margin, the best pizza I have ever had in my life, New York or anywhere else!
We decided the smaller pie would be a white pizza. I dumped an entire pint of ricotta cheese onto the shell (again, part skim) and spread it around with a tablespoon, nearly to the edge. Then, I added minced, jarred garlic (crucial to the flavor of this one) and some fresh ground black pepper. The mozzarella was next (I went light on this layer) and then topped it with some freshly sliced, ripe plum tomatoes.
Of course, pizza toppings are a very personal thing. We often like to crumble crisp bacon on ours. If you haven’t tried that, and you’re not the slightest bit concerned about packing on the calories and making your pizza exponentially fattier (lol), you really must try this! Hubby likes sliced black olives and pepperoni. What are your favorite toppings and, have you ever made your own pizza?
Leviticus 23:17 You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord.
I’m a New Yorker, born and raised. There, if you walk into just about any Chinese take-out restaurant, you can order Cold Sesame Noodles (sometimes called, “cold noodles with sesame sauce,”). In my single years, a pint of that and a pint of roast pork fried rice made a perfect dinner for me. I could pick it up on the way home, walking from the subway to my Queens apartment and it filled me up for very little cash. In fact, that Chinese place on 108th Street in Forest Hills at about 65th Avenue made the best cold sesame noodles anywhere! I wonder if they’re still doing that.
Since we moved to Jacksonville three years ago, not only is it really tough to find good Chinese to begin with, but my husband and I have never seen this culinary delight on any menu. Three years is a long time to go without that kind of taste sensation. So, I just got fed up about six weeks ago and decided I’d figure out a way to duplicate that flavor, by hook or by crook. I knew I needed peanut butter and something with sesame flavor that was dark in color. But what?
At Publix (the coolest supermarket in the universe, IMHO), I browsed the “Ethnic Foods,” aisle - the Chinese section in particular. Soy sauce…terayaki sauce…chili sauce…fish sauce…AHA! There is was, and I don’t know why I’d never seen it before. Sesame Garlic sauce by “Iron Chef.” Who knew that was a brand (then again, of course it is). I read the ingredients and they sounded like exactly like what I’d need to make the famous, yet elusive sauce. I picked up 2 bottles and headed home.
I already had angel hair pasta (a nice, big, 16-oz box from Mueller) and Jif creamy peanut butter in the pantry. Seemed like I was set. I put on my white lab coat and got busy (not really ). I figured about 2/3 cup of peanut butter was right. A full cup would be too much. I started light, but ended up pouring about half the bottle of sesame garlic sauce in. Then, I added a few tablespoons of HOT water until the consistency was thick, but not gummy. Meanwhile, I cooked the angel hair in salted water with a little olive oil (this only takes about 4 minutes, so don’t get distracted!) after breaking it in half. I drained the pasta and ran cold water over it to stop the cooking process and cool it off. That’s why the sauce can’t be too gummy…you’re gonna try to evenly distribute it in the cold noodles without making mush out of everything.
Two tablespoons worked well for me to get the stuff properly mixed. I don’t recommend using forks. The pasta is delicate while still a bit warm and you don’t want to shred it. Once mixed, I covered it with plastic wrap and put the whole bowl in the freezer for about 45 minutes. Serve it in the bowl with bean sprouts and slivers of cucumber on the side or piled for guests to put on top. I didn’t have any cucumbers when I made this for the second time last night, so we’ve just got the sprouts in this picture.
I also made Pad Thai using noodles and sauce from a box. The shrimp goes with the Pad Thai, but since my stepson is allergic, I served them on the side. It was certainly a noodle-intensive meal, but the hot dish with lime and cilantro flavors complimented the cold dish with peanut and sesame flavors perfectly!
Once again, the pictures are clickable to view full size. I’d love to know if you make this. I know if you do, you’ll be back here thanking me. This stuff is heavenly! If you want my Pad Thai receipe, just say so in the comments and that will be my next cuisine post, though I mostly follow box directions and enhance, enhance, enhance.
Genesis 19:1 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. 2 And he said, “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.” 3 But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
Well, for any of you who don’t yet know (because I started this blog during the hiatus after Season 4, I am one enormous LOST fan! Oh, yes I am! I’m telling you right now, there are gonna be in-depth discussions of every single episode right here once the 2009 season starts. So, these ridiculously long breaks between seasons cause a very dry, barren feeling in my soul. Thankfully, my best friend Jill just emailed me the link to this wonderful ladel-full of sparkling spring water:
New images! Hints! It’s like a cheeseburger after a 5-month fast! I am so grateful! I am a happy, happy lady today!
Jeremiah 50:6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; They have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; They have forgotten their resting place. 7 All who found them have devoured them;
Watch this and just try not to make a joyful noise! You can’t just smile…you’ll have to chuckle, if not LOL!
Luke 1:41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
Here’s the email I received just about a half hour ago from Andres, my Sunday School leader:
Paul Smith, the man with extraordinary talent was born in Philadelphia on September 21, 1921 with severe cerebral palsy.
Not only had Paul beaten the odds of a life with spastic cerebral palsy, a disability that impeded his speech & mobility but also taught himself to become a master artist as well as a terrific chess player even after being devoid of a formal education as a child.
‘When typing, Paul used his left hand to steady his right one. Since he couldn’t press two keys at the same time, he almost always locked the shift key down and made his pictures using the symbols at the top of the number keys. In other words, his pictures were based on these characters…. @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _
Across seven decades, Paul created hundreds of pictures. He often gave the originals away. Sometimes, but not always, he kept or received a copy for his own records.
As his mastery of the typewriter grew, he developed techniques to create shadings, colors, and textures that made his work resemble pencil or charcoal drawings.’
This great man passed away on June 25, 2007, but left behind a collection of his amazing artwork that will be an inspiration for many.
Typewriter Art
Can you believe that this art was created using a typewriter?
I followed some links to individual image files and, I must confess, I did not believe it. A quick google search resulted in a delightful surprise: The man, his art, and his technique are real! Please enjoy this lovely video that offers biographical information and a marvellous gallery of Mr. Smith’s work accompanied by some wonderful classical music that I wish I could identify.
The Paul Smith Foundation website provides a more static version of these images and Smith’s biography, and includes several brief video clips that I highly recommend taking the few minutes to watch. In them, though Smith’s speech is nearly impossible to understand, he is credited with making statements like, “I’m a self-made man…but I goofed!” “God makes the pictures, I merely hit the keys,” and “What I can’t do, I don’t worry about and what I can do, I do the best I can.”
I turned up several other blogs (many written this month) on Smith, most of them starting off the same way this one does, with having received an email about this amazing man. I also found this Craig’s List ad from Eugene, OR looking for some of Smith’s work. Smith called Oregon home and passed away there in 2007. The Paul Smith Foundation website owner also has a blog called Chessville in which he pays reverent homage to Smith and invites visitors to subscribe to a newsletter on Smith. You can pick up a few tips on chess there, as well, which was another area in which Smith excelled.
I am especially moved by this man’s cheerful outlook despite extraordinary physical challenges. In virtually every single video and photograph, the man’s face simply exudes joy. Some early adult pictures appear to reveal he had a loving family who took him to lovely places and gave him a sense of self-worth and peace. Though he spent most of his life in a nursing home in Oregon, Smith was well cared-for and appreciated for his extraordinary abilities and attitude. He was allowed to make art all his life, which makes him more fortunate than many of us who have creative leanings. His body may have been limited, but his mind was very much alive and active. He understood God in a way that eludes so many of us and he gave God glory in his work, in his comments, and in his heart. We should all feel inspired by this lovely life.
Psalms 139:13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.
This is what I made for dinner last night. My mother always made an excellent meat loaf when I was growing up. I stuck to her recipe faithfully until I became vegetarian in my 20s. Let me just say right now that most vegetarian alternatives to meat loaf are to be avoided at all costs unless that’s all you have in the vaccuum-sealed bags in your bomb shelter and the alarm has sounded. Seriously. However, I did make a few interesting discoveries during that decade of my life that carried over to my kitchen life when I climbed back on the meat wagon. One such thing is using oats in meat loaf rather than bread crumbs. Of course, using oats when the other ingredients are tofu and sunflower seeds and…well…NO MEAT…doesn’t make for a very tasty dinner. But, just swapping the bread crumbs for some oats works really well!And, I’m led to believe it may help reduce cholesterol if used for 30 consecutive days!
Truth be told, I had not done this for several years. My meat loaf was still widely appreciated, so I stuck with Mom’s recipe most of the time. But, yesterday afternoon I was hanging out with Rhett & LInk on UStream during their live broadcast and I mentioned my dinner plans. Link noticed my comment in the chat window and said, “Meat loaf? Don’t use bread crumbs…use oats.” And, I figured, hey…why not use oats?
So, here’s my recipe, which is mostly Mom’s, slightly modified over the years, and most notably modified by the use of Quaker 1-Minute Oats,
Ingredients and Assembly
though, you can use long-cooking if that’s what’s in your pantry. (Images are clickable for full-sized view.)
Ingredients
2 lbs fresh meat loaf mix
(I use 2 parts ground chuck to 1 part ground pork)
2 eggs (beaten)
1-1.5 cups coarsely chopped onion
(I used Vidalia here)
1/2 cup worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
(nothing labelled “catsup” has ever been in my pantry…who knows what that stuff is?)
2 cups dry rolled oats, very briefly processed (like, 2 pulses)
1/4 cup dried parsley (or 1/2 cup chopped, fresh, flat-leaf)
salt, pepper
Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. I start with the meat, add the wet ingredients, then the dry on top, though I have no idea why. Wash your hands well, remove rings and watches, then get in there with both hands and SQUISH, SQUISH, SQUISH until everything is uniformly blended. Really, it’s the only way. Then, pick up the whole meaty mess and slap it between your hands a few times to remove any air pockets that might make crevices in the loaf during baking. Form it into a loaf and place on a prepared pan.
Voila! Gorgeous!
Here, you can see I’ve used my broiler ban with the bottom portion lined with foil for easy cleanup later and the top portion prepared with cooking spray. I made a double recipe here, so there are 2 loaves shown. I like to shape the loaves with squared ends and a flattened top because then all the slices come out about the same height and width except for the very ends. I have found I get more bang for the buck that way. I never use loaf pans. I find the loaf is difficult to extract and all the fat is trapped on the bottom.
Bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 50-60 minutes until nicely browned. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
I served mine with mashed potatoes last night. We ate very late, so there was no veggie, but I usually serve this with broccoli first steamed, then tossed in some olive oil with a little garlic and oregano. I eat my meat loaf with ketchup which offends my husband nearly to the point of distraction. If I haven’t remembered to heat up some jarred beef gravy, he will use A-1 Steak Sauce on his.
Please comment! Let me know if you like meat loaf, if you have a cool meat loaf recipe, or of you think you might try this one!
Acts 10:9 The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. 10 Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance 11 and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” 15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.”
Double shot of video humor for you today! Remember the “Take On Me,” video I posted a few days back? Well, Dustin McLean is at it again! Just click the little triangular button and grin until your face hurts! Oh, and comment! Let me know your favorite line!
Genesis 41:15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.”
Please enjoy Hugh Laurie (aka “House”) and Stephen Frye in this British sketch that is Python-esque enough to make my day!
Be sure to click the little “x” to kill the advertisement afterward…it is extremely obnoxious.
Edited to add: If you get a message saying “This video is no longer available, you can watch it directly on YouTube here. But, please do come back and comment, okay?!
Genesis 12:1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
Today was a bad day. Really bad. I had to make a 10-hour round trip drive to do something unpleasant that turned out to be even more unpleasant than I expected. I came home to find my sister not only had to say goodbye to one of her cats (who was in the critical stages of cancer and suffering terribly), but took a bunch of verbal abuse from a co-worker for taking a personal day because of this. Then, my property management company sent an email saying they’re probably not going to do the right thing in a homeowner’s association matter that may cost us money we don’t have to spend (I’m the HOA president). I mean, it came from all sides today. So, when my dear, dear, dear friend Jill sent me this little gem, I was indescribably grateful! Just enjoy the heck out of this! Especially if you’ve had a bad day.
The Lord gets the whole psalm tonight:
Psalms 30
1 I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. 2 O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. 3 O Lord, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit. 4 Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name. 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
6 When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” 7 O Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. 8 To you, O Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: 9 “What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me; O Lord, be my help.” 11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.
). I figured about 2/3 cup of peanut butter was right. A full cup would be too much. I started light, but ended up pouring about half the bottle of sesame garlic sauce in. Then, I added a few tablespoons of HOT water until the consistency was thick, but not gummy. Meanwhile, I cooked the angel hair in salted water with a little olive oil (this only takes about 4 minutes, so don’t get distracted!) after breaking it in half. I drained the pasta and ran cold water over it to stop the cooking process and cool it off. That’s why the sauce can’t be too gummy…you’re gonna try to evenly distribute it in the cold noodles without making mush out of everything.
Entries (RSS)