Monday, January 24, 2011

Tuscan Ribeye Steak


If you're game to a different approach to a steak, here is a Tuscan Ribeye for two people:

You need:

2 Rib eye steaks, about 1 1/2 inch thick, 8-10 oz each
3 garlic cloves
5-6 Roma tomatoes
1 Tblspn Balsamic vinegar
Xtra virgin olive oil
1 stick unsalted butter
Kosher, or sea salt
Cracked black pepper
Red wine of your choice (it'll be what you're drinking tonight)
3 Rosemary sprigs
4 fresh basil leaves
1 Tblspn light brown sugar

Drop about a nickle-sized portion of olive oil on each side of each steak.  Press one garlic clove and divide it as a rub on one side of each steak.  Rub it into the steaks until it’s a little paste and cover with plastic wrap and set aside in the frig.  Slice your largest roma into quarters lengthwise and chop into 1/4" pieces.  Slice the rest of them in quarters lengthwise but core them out to reduce the seeds and core contents -- looking for the meat and the peel in them not the juice and seeds.  Place that in a bowl to put in the frig for a moment.  Chop the remaining 2 garlic cloves, strip one rosemary sprig and chop your basil and add to the tomato along with salt and pepper to taste.  Add balsamic vinegar and wine in equal parts along with brown sugar and stir.  Put the whole tomato thing into the frig.

While everybody rests, you drink some wine and start the grill -- hot grill -- max it out.  Come back inside and get a large saute pan going to cook your tomato relish that's in the frig.  Drop the tomato thing into the pan and saute to nearly done -- not quite because you'll finish it once the steaks are grilled.  Trying to reduce the wine and balsamic to one third its original volume.  Drop a tablespoon or two of the butter in as it cooks, if that makes you feel good (does me).  Set aside and take the steaks to their rightful place in life.  Drop them on the grill and watch as they flash and get all scarred with grill marks on their little bodies.  Turn each twice making sure you are not cooking as much as searing.  Once satisfied with this offering, bring them inside and drop each, one at a time, into your relish saute in the reheated saute pan -- adding a tablespoon of butter as you do (if it makes you feel good -- does me) and a little olive oil to grease the pan.

Finish off each steak and plate-up with the relish on top.  Drop a rosemary sprig in there at the end as garnish (very chic and professional).  I'll serve these with thin quarters of roasted rosemary red potatoes, a Caesar salad and some kind of Italian bread slices.  I mean go for it, do your thing, this is just my latest deal and what you're likely to get out of my kitchen on a Saturday night.

Henri

This is Henri, the Bichon.  He is the third in a series of Bichon's we have been fortunate to have as pets and full-fledged members of our household.  Henri was born in Lawrenceburg, KY even though he is a registered Bichon Frise' he thinks he is a bird dog.

Each evening he gets a walk just before bedtime and usually prefers to visit a stand of pine trees and firs behind our house.  One night this past summer as we approached a large fir, two dove flew out of the tree and Henri assumed he had scared them off and proceeded to try and run them down -- but only as far as his 15 foot leash would allow.

The next evening he tugged me to the same fir tree and this time actually flushed the dove on his own - again attempting a run-down as far as his leash permits.  Even did an anticipatory "point" with his left front paw in the air and his curly tail at attention!

Now every night that's where he heads.  Chest puffed out, certain he is going to "get him" a couple of dove.  The dove, of course, are smart enough to not hang out in that tree in the evening.  Nevertheless, Henri heads to the fir, chest puffed out and once in awhile points at the tree like a bird dog.

Henri: not a French circus dog, but one of them Kentucky Bird Dogs.  Yup, even barks out of the side of his mouth now.  Yup.  Bird dog. 

By the way.  His nickname is "Bo" as in Boudreaux.  Its French, you know.  Good name for a bird dog, too.

Pessimist and a Dog

Here's another puppy joke:

An avid duck hunter was in the market for a new bird dog. His search ended when he found a dog that could actually walk on water to retrieve a duck. Shocked by his find, he was sure none of his friends would ever believe him.

He decided to try to break the news to a friend of his, the eternal pessimist who refused to be impressed with anything. This, surely, would impress him. He invited him to hunt with him and his new dog.

As they waited by the shore, a flock of ducks flew by. They fired and a duck fell. The dog responded and jumped into the water. The dog, however, did not sink but instead walked across the water to retrieve the bird, never getting more than his paws wet. This continued all day long; each time a duck fell, the dog walked across the surface of the water to retrieve it.

The pessimist watched carefully, saw everything, but did not say a single word.

On the drive home the hunter asked his friend, "Did you notice anything unusual about my new dog?"

"I sure did," responded the pessimist. "He can't swim."

Alpha Prayer Talk - Final

Let’s talk about How to Pray.

Here’s a really good acronym on prayer:

A = Adoration
C = Confession
T = Thanksgiving
S = Supplication

We can pray in adoration only for the power and glory of God and His creation.  We could pray in confession of our sins and ask for His forgiveness.  We could give thanks for what He has done for us and we could pray in supplication to His will and His guidance for us.  Or you can combine all four into one prayer as Jesus taught us through The Lord’s Prayer.  Let’s dissect that prayer as a model for how to pray.  It is my model for almost all my own prayer life these days:

We start with “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” This is addressing God and honoring His sovereignty over us and the universe.

“Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”  Oh, God give us what we really need – not so much that we become chained only to worldly desires and pleasures.  But what we need to sustain us and grow.  And I am sorry and regret my sins.  Please forgive me as I have forgiven those who have done wrong to me.
“And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”  Another way of saying lead us into green pastures for thy name’s sake.  Protect us from the evil one and give us the strength to avoid temptation and sin.
That’s a pretty good model for prayer at anytime, don’t you think?

So When Should We Pray?

Well, always.  Both alone and with others.

The other night my little dog finished his dinner and in his usual way came over to me as I was sitting typing out this talk and intentionally bumped into me.  I ignored him and he did it again.  Eventually he spoke.  A whinny little request to be taken “out.”  I said “Do you want Daddy to take you out?”  Of course he got all excited and headed for the door – although he was probably either thinking “Well yeah …” or he was enthused because I was finally smart enough to catch on.

As we marched out into the back yard it was absolutely a clear November night.  Stars all over the place.  As the puppy did his business I started looking to the sky noticing the stars and then an airplane, and another and another until I counted eight of them all going in a different direction and at different altitudes.  I thought of my two friends who are retired air traffic controllers and how stressful they admit their jobs were.  Then I thought of God who has the ultimate traffic control job going on.  In there we fit somehow -- each with a free will, each with our own destination, each with our own plan of some kind, and each with our own unique gifts and personalities.  And each one of us has a plan made for us by God. And I asked God to help me in my struggles to be a good man.

Pretty good that we have a communication line wired up directly to the Author of it all.  If we’ll use it and pick up the phone.

So you can make a prayer out of walking your dog.  I pray always when I’m in my car.  I pray when I can’t sleep.  I pray with my wife.  I pray with and for my children and grandchildren and I pray most effectively next door in our sanctuary during services with the other wonderful people we have gotten to know here at St Francis.

By now you might be asking yourself, “Does Ned think he hears God?  I mean does he hear a voice?  You know – “Ned, let go of the branch.”  No I don’t.  God does answer my prayers though.  But sometimes I just stop and listen.  Pay attention to what is going on in my life.  Look for what God’s will would be for me.  I have learned to be patient.  I have also come to believe there really aren’t any coincidences.  Is it always a coincidence when I have prayed about something and it happens?  Or when we are about out of money and a check arrives from an unexpected source?  Or that I ask God to show me what I should do next and a request comes for me to do this talk?

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Brothers Four

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb6mlPFzkx0&feature=related

Little Snail At The Door

One day a man was sitting on his sofa at home when he heard a scratching at the door. He got up to see who it was but when he opened the door no one was there. Just as he was about to go back to his sofa, he looked down to see a tiny snail on the porch.
He picked up the snail, threw it into a field across the street and headed back inside to watch television again.
Three month’s later he hears a scratching at the door he gets up and goes to see who's there and there is no one.
He looks around for a second and just as he is about to close the door, he looks down and sees the snail who looks back up and says, "Now what was that all about!!?"

Talking Dog Joke

A guy is driving around and he sees a sign in front of a house:

"Talking Dog For Sale."

He rings the bell, and the owner tells him the dog is in the backyard.
The guy goes into the backyard and sees a Labrador Retriever
sitting there.

"You talk?" he asks.
"Yep," the Lab replies.
"So, what's your story?"

The Lab looks up and says, "Well, I discovered that I could talk when
I was pretty young, and I wanted to help the government; so I told the
CIA about my gift, and in no time at all they had me jetting from
country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders,
because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of
their most valuable spies for eight years running."

"But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't
getting any younger so I wanted to settle down. I signed up for a
job at the airport to do some undercover security work, mostly
wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some
incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals. I got married,
had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired."

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants
for the dog.

"Ten dollars."

The guy says, "This dog is amazing. Why on earth are you selling him
so cheap?"

"Because he's a liar. He didn't do any of that stuff."

Sunday, January 16, 2011

My Alpha Talk on Prayer, Part Three

Let’s pay attention to Scripture here and go to:
John 16:19-24 – “19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, ‘Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? 20 Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. 23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.’”
And on peace let’s look at:
Philippians 4:6-7 -- 6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
For a look into what the results of prayer are let’s check …

Matthew 7:7-11 -- 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.   9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

So this might beg the next question: Does God always answer prayer?

Short answer to this is “Yes He does.”  Always.  One way or another.

Now when He doesn’t there is a reason that has to be cleared up.  If we have
unconfessed sin,
unforgiveness,
disobedience,
a misunderstanding of God’s will,
or the wrong motives then God may not actually respond to your prayers until you make the necessary changes and ask again.  But He will answer.  Our guidebook here claims there are three possible answers God will have to pray:

“Yes”  “No” and “Wait”.  In my case I will add “You’ve got to be kidding Me.”

If God’s answer is “no” you can guess that either the request is not good in and of itself, not good for us or others either directly or indirectly.  And maybe not do good in either the immediate or the long term – which we might not understand or comprehend.  Since God already knows and can play out your requests He alone knows what is coming and what He has planned for your life, now and in the longterm.

If He answers “yes” then you can be assured that you’ve got it right.  Both for yourself and Him.
Often the answer is “wait”. And I often get that one.  I won’t go into the “you’re kidding Me” one because I’m sure you can extrapolate that on your own and know exactly what I’m talking about there.

I do like the Matthew 7 instruction about giving our children good gifts.  If you have kids you are well aware that you will not grant them every wish and request they have.  You know better than them what is good for them, what will profit them in the long run, what will harm them, and what makes no sense just because “everyone else is doing it or has it”.  So if we know better than a child, so much so our God knows what is good and right for us.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Classic Chicken Cacciatore

Cacciatore to an Italian indicates a country or a hunter stew.  The chicken version could instead be for squab, rabbit, or other hunted animals.  I know you’ve got squab and little rabbits just lining up for you to shoot and cook them – but we’ll just go with the chicken version for now.

This, as you now know, is a hunter stew-ish dish and so great care in chopping, carving, and cooking is not required – think “big pot over an open fire somewhere out in the woods”.  You got it.

So you will need:

1 whole chicken
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 medium can tomato sauce
½ small can tomato paste
1 medium white onion
1 garlic clove
1 stalk celery
1 cup mushrooms
1 bell pepper
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup red wine
1 teaspoon crushed oregano
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon parsley
½ teaspoon fennel seed
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt and pepper

Butcher the chicken into pieces – 2 boneless breasts, 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 wings, and the back.  Remove the skin from all parts.  I make my own chicken stock at this point using the back and bones and pieces from the chicken along with 2 cups water, one chopped carrot, 1 chopped celery stalk with leaves left on, plus some salt, pepper and a bay leaf (simmer for 1 hour, or more).

Dredge the chicken in flour and sprinkle on some salt and pepper.  In a large fry pan brown the chicken pieces thoroughly in vegetable oil (about 2 tablespoons).  Remove and set aside on a plate – don’t bother to drain the chicken as you will want the juices later.

While the chicken is browning, begin your tomato sauce using all the tomato ingredients and ½ cup of red wine.  Add the herbs.  Meanwhile you could have been making stock – the first thing I do once the chicken is carved up, but you might just buy yours instead.

Roughly chop and sauté the veggies in the same fry pan used for the chicken.  After the veggies wilt somewhat, add the remaining wine and the chicken stock (the one you made earlier).  Scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan to combine and enrich your sauce.

Once the vegetables have been sautéed, add the marinara sauce you have made and add the chicken.  Simmer covered for 2 ½ -3 hours and serve on top or beside linguine, Italian bread and a salad.


Alpha Talk on Prayer, Part Two

I am reminded of the story about the atheist on a long hike up a mountainside who slips on gravel and falls off a steep cliff.  About thirty feet down he is able to grab a branch hanging off the face of the cliffside and he’s dangling there by this thin branch.  He looks down and its another 300 feet to the bottom.  So the atheist screams out “Is anybody up there?”  No answer.  He screams again, “Please if anyone is up there, help me.”  In a moment comes this reply, “This is God, let go of the branch.”

After a few moments of silence the man yells out, “Is anyone else up there?”
If communication with God happens only in our darkest moments, it might be kind of hard to trust the answers, if you think He’s giving you one.  Harder yet to recognize His voice.
Prayer actually can be a frequent, daily, even a continuous conversation with God, if you will let it be so.  And if you do, you’ll be pleased and happy with what He’ll do in your life.
Prayer allows us to have access to God through Jesus, His Son.  Prayer is the most important activity in our lives.  Believe me at the end of your life you want that communication line wide open for you.  You don’t want to be that stranger He doesn’t know.  And you do want to be able to trust Him if He says, “Let go of the branch.”
So what is Christian prayer?  It is a conversation with God the Father, through His Son, Jesus, by the Holy Spirit.  Let me give you some Bible verses that help explain what that means:
Matthew 6: v 6 – “… when you pray go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
And Ephesians 2: 18 – “though Him (speaking now of Jesus) we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”
Finally, Romans 8: 26 – “The Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us … ”
You might say at this point, “Well if God is all powerful and all knowing, He knows what I need and what I want.  I shouldn’t have to pray.”  You are right, He does know what we need.  So then why should we be spending time in prayer?
So Why Pray?
Another quick story:  A few years ago I read the book “The Prayer of Jabez” and in that book the author, Bruce Wilkenson, goes into some depth about a little known man, Jabez, from 1 Chronicles in the Old Testament who prays to God this way:
The prayer is a simple one: "And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, 'Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.' So God granted him what he requested."
The point Dr. Wilkenson develops is that we should pray to help God expand HIS kingdom here on earth and that if that is your true motive, then God will indeed grant your prayers.  That’s what Jabez did.  So off I go saying the prayer of Jabez and my own versions of it.  In earnest and with such passion that I decide that is the only thing I am ever going to pray for.  Nothing about me, just for God to do His will through me for whatever that was worth to Him.  Well, I sure did get lots of stuff to do around church … a lot of stuff to do.  Good stuff usually.
I continued to pray this way almost exclusively with the exception of worship and requests for others, but never, ever, about me.  Years went by.  No requests to God for something only for me and what I needed.  Just what God might find pleasing and for other people to be healed, or to get a job, or for other people’s safety or whatever.  But not for Ned.
One of my brothers who I had told about this practice told me I was being disrespectful and disobedient to God.  After some thought I realized he was right.  God wants us to ask him for the things we need.  Of course He knows what we need … and He wants us to have them (well sometimes He does).  He also wants us to honor and submit to that power and actually ask.  It’s a form of obedience to His will and His power over our lives.
So one reason we should pray is for the things we need and want.  And if those things line-up with His will for us, then it will happen.
Another reason for prayer is that it develops that relationship I talked about earlier with God.
Another is to acknowledge that sovereignty He has over not only our lives, but the world itself.  He did create it, its His to do with, ultimately, as He pleases.  We were made to please and be pleasing to this sovereign God and having communication with Him is part of what He wants from us and with us.  Imagine.  You get to have a conversation with the Creator of the universe any time, any place you want … as often as you’d like.  You can’t talk to the mayor of Prospect that much, even if you were married to him.
So then what would be the rewards, so to speak, of this conversation with God?   Two things: Joy and peace.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Salmon Lobster Pinwheels

Tonight Sandy served baked salmon pinwheels with a lobster stuffing along with roasted dill and parsley new potatoes and steamed brocolli with lemon butter garnished with grated parmesan.  We also found a freshly-baked Pane Toscano bread.  The salmon and the bread was from our Fresh Market.  We served the bread in a small bread plate with extra virgin olive oil and freshly-ground black pepper.

The Fresh Market is new for us and we think we've found a winner.

My Alpha Talk on "Why and How Do We Pray?"

Imagine with me that you grew up with a very, very close friend.  A friend (maybe even a brother or sister, a neighbor, or a classmate) with whom you went to school, played with everyday, shared together all the ups and downs of growing up.  You studied together, shared Christmas in each others homes, swapped toys, maybe even double-dated when you were in high school.  You were considered inseparable. 
Then you both went off on your separate ways to college or to work and soon lost touch.  Years passed and while you thought of this best friend often, you didn’t pick up the phone much, if at all and eventually you became unsure of where this person actually lived. 
Kind of like, “Well, my best friend growing up went off to college, got married, and they moved away.  I think they are in Mississippi now and have a couple of kids, but I’m not sure.”
I was raised in an Air Force family and about every three years we rolled up the tent, so to speak, and moved to another air base.  I did not have a friend for more than 3 years at a time.  Usually about a year and a half and they moved and then we moved.  Rarely did anyone I cared about ever show up at the next assignment.  I wish I had had that close friend.
Actually, I did … that friend was always there, we spoke often and every day.  He was always with me in the ups and downs of childhood.  In fact, I always had a direct conversation with Him every night before bedtime.  I’ll bet you’ve guessed who my friend was … God, that was Him!
Well, just like my hypothetical story, I lost touch with Him over the years.  We hadn’t spoken in quite awhile up until a few years ago.  In fact, after some time as an adult I decided I would not visit anymore and stopped going to church.  Even decided that organized religion wasn’t of much help to me and that I could pray or worship on my own without going to a church at all.  So the only time I did go was when I was “home for the holidays”, or someone got married, or had a child that needed baptism.  Often, when I did go to church I came out angry instead of up-lifted.  Guess you can put together the idea that I stopped praying because the thought of God had become distant to me, not part of my daily routine, and that eventually it was embarrassing to pick up the phone, so to speak, and make that call to say “Hello”.  That is except in times of crises.
Its true there are no atheists in foxholes – at least none when I was serving in Vietnam.  And there are no atheists who have lost a job, been divorced, gone broke, or seen a loved one die.  Nope that’s usually when we summon up a call to God for help, express our anger, or admit our fear.  “Why me God?”