"People ask me, 'Is it better to be loved or feared?' That's easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me." – Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell on "The Office, www.NBC.com, Thursdays
Ditto.
Archive for October, 2007
Loved or Feared?
Sunday, October 14th, 2007Advice for Audrey – The Bride to Be
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007This is the second of a few little notes I am writing to Audrey as her wedding day approaches, see previous here.
Dear Audrey,
I was reading in Malachi from The Message a few weeks ago and became intrigued by the emotion of the language on the topic of marriage. It is bold, somewhat startling. and certainly flies in the face of our culture and the demise of the honoring of a God-ordained and blessed marriage.
His Spirit inhabits even the smallest details of marriage. And what does He want from marriage? Children of God, that's what. So guard the spirit of marriage within you. Don't cheat on your spouse.
"I hate divorce," says the God of Israel. God-of-the-Angel-Armies says, "I hate the violent dismembering of the 'one-flesh' of marriage." So watch yourselves. Don't let your guard down. Don't cheat. Malachi 2. 14-16 The Message
It's a downer, isn't it, when long-time marrieds tell you how hard marriage can be? Right now, as you are embarking on the path of a life-long love with Ben, you're probably like I was as a young bride. wondering how people could be so lackluster in their marriages and why they don't talk anymore and why they didn't seem to be as in love as I was. Many "Christian" marriages are the saddest things I have ever seen. And I wonder: did they guard the spirit of marriage with every ounce of energy and commitment to their vow as they could?
To guard something like your heart or your marriage is an interesting thing. To guard is to protect something from harm or danger or an attack by watching over it and employing vigilant, defensive measures, if need be. A guard is a protector, keeping watch and acting as a sentinel – carefully choosing what will be allowed in or allowed out. A guard has the duty to defend and provide cover, is alert, prepared and cautious.
Anything that needs guarded is something precious, something to be held in esteem.
The opposite of "guarding the spirit of marriage" would be to disregard it, forget it in every day life, ignore the vows and neglect the tending of love. "Don't let down your guard."
The verses preceeding the ones above remind us that God is there as we speak our vows. He is at the wedding and is a witness and He hates seeing them ripped to shreds. He hates it when we break the faith bond with our vowed companion. He hates the "violent dismembering of the 'one-flesh' of marriage.'"
"Don't cheat on your spouse." There are many ways to cheat on your spouse besides the obvious adultry issue. And God hates all of them, anything that breaks our vow.
So, Ben and Audrey – decide now that you won't be a statistic, that you won't be cheaters, that you refuse to dis-member the whole of you, that you'll guard your marriage with everything you have inside. If you'll do this, not only speak it, but live it, then according to the Word, you'll have the marriage you are starting out with 20, 30, 40+ years down the road.
His perfect love will keep you together!…Jeanie
PICTURED: This painted ceramic and wire wall-hanging Audrey did in high school, a close view and a closer view; Ben & Audrey.
Stephanie’s Place urges readers to DELURK!
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007http://stephaniesplace.wordpress.com/2007/10/09/delurk/
One of my favorite bloggers has written a fabulous piece about etiquette at our blogs. I wholeheartedly agree with her, so go there and read it. You'll find out what LURKING is and how to DELURK. (For the love of God and all that is holy: DELURK!) You'll also learn about the 1st commandment of blogs – "If thou readest, thou shalt comment."
Go there – now! Do what she says. Then come back here and do what she says HERE!
Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: I need to do much less lurking…
Dear Audrey – So You’re Going to be a Bride
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007My wonderful friends, Pearl and Bryan (http://bryanyounger.wordpress.com/) are busily preparing for the marriage of their firstborn daughter, Audrey, to Ben – the man for whom she will "leave father and mother," and become a wife. I asked Audrey if I could "go public" with her joyous news and give her some for-all-the-world-to-see advice. She consented.
Two things about that: (1) Rest easy, Audrey. The whole world won't see it because I only have 7 or 8 readers! Ha! (2) These are really just general marriage thoughts and not for Audrey only.
Dear Audrey -
You're going to be a beautiful bride. Love fills us with hope and erases all doubts and makes our complexions fairly burst with the glow of life! If falling in love and making the decision to be together forever could be bottled, we'd finally have discovered the true fountain of youth. For the bloom of the intensity of the touches, the kisses, the discovery of "the one" energize in a way nothing else ever can.
Love is a beautiful thing, as Michael Bolton can attest.
First comes love…then comes marriage. But wait, no – then comes a wedding!
Weddings are big business. They are also physically, financially, and emotionally draining. No matter how small a wedding starts out to be, no matter how simple they are planned, our culture has catapulted this one-day thing/beast/machine into a commercial endevour.
So three things about that:
1. Keep the wedding in perspective and make the marriage your life. It's a one-day event. It's your coming-out party as husband and wife. It is the celebration of the vows you are making publicly, having already made them between the two of you. Have a wedding. Make it the wedding of your dreams, but always remember the marriage – the mystical union. That is what deserves the most energy, your planning, your commitment. The day after the wedding, you will have a marriage on your hands.
2. Make the wedding day sacred. You can have fun. It should be fun. It should be celebratory. But include somehow, your worship to God in the ceremony of it all. Invite Him in. Dave and Tara actually served communion to all the wedding guests, who took the time in the ceremony to remember the Lord and bless the betrothed. Make God central.
The crazy rock and roll dancing at the reception will fade from memory. Romance can be dissapated during tough times in life. But 2 people hanging on to God for all they're worth in the worst of circumstances will be held together by His hand. Then, arriving safely again on solid ground, the romance and the dancing return with full vigor.
3. Go easy on your parents. I have always had a love-hate relationship with the whole wedding process. I have been "doing weddings" now for over 20 years. It is such a dichotemy that at the same time a bride is madly in love and planning the extravaganza she has dreamed of since childhood, she is often also raging against her parents and their opinions, wanting more money for the wedding than they can afford and desiring to do it her own way without their love-motivated advice and suggestion.
Now, Audrey – I know I don't have to worry about that with you…right? But this is just a heads up.
From a parental perspective I can tell you – that while you are embarking on the adventure of your life, as you stand at the precipice of a lifetime of love with Ben, as your father walks you down the aisle and gives your hand to the man of your dreams – your parents are relenquishing their role, losing a little bit of their identity and are looking in to the gaping hole of the life they have willingly, sacrifically and enthusiastically been living for all the days of your life. You will always be their daughter. But it will never be the same.
So, you know – go easy on mom and dad.
We're celebrating with you, Audrey, on the upcoming nuptials and on your lifetime marriage to Ben. Blessings!…Jeanie
PICTURED: Audrey and Ben around the time of their engagement announcement. Some of Audrey's high school artwork. She is very creative and lovely. I am a fan.
Happy 3rd Birthday, Hunter Magoo!
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
Hunter is three! He arrived 3 weeks early 3 years ago. In that spirit – here are the top three reasons I love Hunter:
Reason #1 – Hunter is very wholehearted and focused and in-the-moment. You know this when he needs to tell you something. Like an Old Testament prophet, he will not just go away without telling yu what must be said. "Nonna! Nonna! Nonna! Nonna!," he'll continue until I stop to listen. When he is in his cape, he is Superman. There is no use trying to tell him he's just a little guy. The flip of that is saying, "Hey, Superman – let's fly," while playing in the backyard – at which time he will soberly explain to you, "I'm not Superman. I'm Hunter. I can't fly, I don't have my cape." And somehow, you're convinced by his faith, that if, indeed, that cape were on site, he could don it and fly.
Reason #2 – He talks…and talks…and talks…There is something so amazing about a really short person who can carry on actual, meaningful conversations (in that gruff little voice) with some one who is a gazillion-times his age. Before he was even two, we were "Shouting to the Lord," our favorite praise words. I'd start and then he'd repeat. "Glory to God!," I'd say. "Glory to God," he'd repeat with great enthusiasm. We shouted out things like "Hosanna," and "Hallelujah." This would go on for 15 or 20 minutes. I said, "God is good!" Hunter turned to me, and with the palm of his hand gave me a good smack on the forehead like an old-time revivalist at a prayer line, and shouted as he looked into my eyes, "God is good!" And with that, we were finished.
Reason #3 - He came from me, he is part of the best of anything I'll ever leave. Dave & Tara – you have made a beautiful son!
Happy Birthday, sweet boy and blessings-times-three. Your Nonna loves you!
Hunter’s Fire truck Cake
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
Tara called one night while I was watching Ace of Cakes (www.charmcitycakes.com) to tell me to be thinking about Hunter's birthday cake. They were planning a "wheels" theme so all the little tykes could bring their Big Wheels or trikes, or skateboards or bicycles to this little area at their local park and "wheel around." The party would culminate in a visit to the local fire house situated near the park where the firemen had told her the kids could climb around on a fire truck – great photo opp!
Duff and the Charm City Cakes team in Boston were doing a fire engine that night for a local benefit. It seemed a "God-moment." Inspiration filled the room with the sound of angels. I would create for Hunter Magoo a fire truck cake.
By the end of the show I was freaked out. The one they had done was so detailed, took so many hours and people that I was afraid to try. But Stormie said we could, so we did. Thank goodness my husband helped!
It was nothing like Duff's, and in fact, if you looked at it head-on from the front, it looked like it was squealing into an emergency scene in a cartoonish way. Here is what Stormie and I came up with: 4 Duncan Hines Chocolate Butter Cake mixes (made with real butter) to which I added pudding, a simple syrup moistening, and filled with creamy chocolate fudge. The finished size was 6"w x 23 1/2"l x maybe 7 1/2" high.
We used about 10 pounds of almond-infused buttercream and 3 containers of red food color (2 gel by Wilton, 1 squeezee bottle because I feared it wasn't red enough). We made hoses out of the moldable pastillage (which dries harder than the Rocky Mountains). The tires were Entemann's chocolate cake donuts. The "lights" were M & Ms, and Dots.
I made a royal icing 3-D laddar, but it was too delicate and kept breaking. So we just piped on the rest of the decorations. It was heavier than a heart attack. We placed the actual cake on raised, foil-covered masonite, cut to size. We displayed the whole on a scrap of particle board that we painted black to resemble a black-top parking lot, and then I painted yellow "parking lines" on it. This "inspiration" happened literally less than an hour before leaving the house. If I'd had it sooner, I'd have made pastillage "cement" parking barriers and some green scaping with icing and tinted sugar. There also would have been a molded fire hydrant and a Dalmation or two.
Hunter got the chocolate fire truck cake he wanted and I think he liked it because his mom told me that yesterday after his nap, she walked in to find him naked on the kitchen table, quietly and contentedly eating leftover cake like, "This is the life."
Cake questions?…Jeanie
NOTE: Hunter is peering over the table on the top photo.
Older
Monday, October 8th, 2007OK, so today I am one day older than I was yesterday. I wish I were one day wiser, too, but the wisdom part doesn't seem to keep up with the aging part.
Time flies when you're having fun!…Jeanie
NOTE TO MY SPECIALS: Dave, Tara & Dave, Hunter, Steph & Tris, Gavin, Guini, Gemma, Tredessa, Rocky & Jovan (and the baby within), and Stormie – You're the reason I was born…
Rock-star’s Guitar Cake
Sunday, October 7th, 2007
Jovan got the idea to do a big party for Rocky with a full-size replica of one of his guitars. Stormie sneaked into his office and traced his favorite, a Gibson electric, and here is what we came up with: a traditional white cake (4 Duncan Hine's mixes, augmented) with strawberry moistening syrup, strawberry filling and buttercream icing.
We made the knobs and gadgets from pastillage, which is technically edible, but would break your teeth if you really tried to eat it. The pick guard was tinted white chocolate. We decided to just create the "neck" of the guitar (which I kept calling the "leg" or the "arm" and any number of other body parts because I am a dork) from 3 layers of foam core with icing.
The guitar cakes we saw on the internet generally had piped icing "strings," but they usually looked wiggly and crooked so we opted for some gold-toned cord from Stormie's jewelry-making supplies, which was cute, but couldn't be pulled taut. This aggravated Stormie to no end. I kept saying, "It's just a cake." She kept saying, "This is not just a cake." I think she may have actually wanted Rocky to be able to play the cake?
Questions?…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: I see a lot of strange cakes in my future. I don't even bake!?!?
Photos: the finished product, note the framed photo of Rocky playing the guitar; Rocky checking out the work on it; Rocky and his very proud father, Dave
Bryan, you’re funny
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 
Ok, ok – I am posting this comment I received about my last post from my friend, Bryan Younger. His comments are always funny, but we have an ongoing dialogue about tomatoes because he hates them – and because of this I wonder, "Does God really want me to be his friend???"
Bryan's words:
Jeanie, consider this an intervention. You seem to have an addiction to the dreaded tomato, or, " Red Balls " as they're known on the street. First you write practically a sonnet to tomatoes.(see here) Then you forget to blog for a week because you have a tomato sandwich (see here).
Now, you're concentrating them. What happens when you run out? Maybe sneak a little tomato juice? When thats not enough, maybe eating tomato paste out of a can with a spoon or squirting ketchup directly into your mouth. Please seek help before you're really "Red Balling" and start stealing ketchup packets from McDonalds. Jeanie we love you and are praying for you.
Then Bryan ever so kindly pointed me to a website about tomato addictions. Nice.
It's time for lunch. Guess what I am having…Jeanie
NOTE: Bryan and his wife Pearl (my dear, dear friend who loves tomatoes, too) just started a blog! Check it out: http://bryanyounger.wordpress.com/
Slow-roasted intensity
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007
This was a good year for tomatoes.
As the nights are cooling and the days are getting shorter, the overgrown three tomato plants in my backyard are heavily-laden, madly producing fruit as a last, desperate attempt to pro-create and leave plenty of seed behind. If I am attentive and cover the plants diligently as cold weather and snow arrive (October is often snowier in intermittent dumps in Colorado than in December), I could still be eating tomatoes at Thanksgiving time. We've done it before. They aren't like mid-summer eatings: sweet and juicy and huge, but rather make good Fried Green slices and mock-apple pie.
But right now, as summer has morphed into a picture perfect Autumn with cool mornings and crisp nights, bright sunlight and north winds – there is an abundance. By now, we've worn people out with gifts of tomato and have to make several trips to carry in the daily harvest. So right now is the perfect time to slow-roast these beauties into rich, intensified bolts of flavor for use in millions of other ways.
At the hospital for the annual "m" a week ago or so, I picked up a special fall issue of a gourmet magazine and tried their recipe for roasted tomatoes. I have done it twice now and will probably use almost all of the rest of the '07 bounty this way:
- 350-degree oven
- Spritz the bottom of 2 glass cake pans with non-stick spray (olive-oil flavored, if you have it)
- Cut medium to large sized tomatoes in half on the hemisphere and place them, cut side up, in the pan. They should be touching and "crowded" in the pan. It took 12-15 tomatoes for me to fill 2 glass cake pans.
- Drizzle generously with olive oil. All slices should get some!
- Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar per pan over the top.
- Sprinkle 1 tablespoon per pan with dry Italian seasoning or oregano or basil to your liking
- Generous salt and pepper, garlic salt is good here.
- Yesterday, I threw in whole cloves of garlic for the roasting, too
- Set your timer for 2 1/2 hours. When it goes off, leave them in the hot oven for at least another 1/2 hour.
- Keep all drippings for storing your roasted tomatoes
Your house will smell like heaven. When you scoop a bite into your mouth, your tastebuds will swell as if liquid sun filled with the flavor of a thousand summer tomatoes just dropped on your tongue.
The tomatoes cook down from 12-15 nice-sized fruit to a sandwich-bag full of menu potential.
You can eat them just as they are – hot and dripping with flavor (for the bold and courageous only) or toss them with hot pasta and freshly grated parmesan. You can use it as a Bruschetta spread or smear it onto a pizza crust instead of sauce and anything you put over the top will be the better for it. Yesterday I loaded the top of a rising-not-yet-baked homemade foccacia bread with the tomato and oil mixture – divine! They would light up an antipasto platter making the other ingredients seem anemic by comparison and I have heard they are good in a cold pasta salad, but mine haven't made it that far, yet.
The photo above, swiped off the internet, doesn't really represent how mine look – turning black at the edges near the end of the roasting: carmelizing…tantalizing…enthralling…
Don't can them ever. Don't freeze them yet. Roast them, my friends. For the love of the tomato, roast them!
Jeanie, a tomato lover…
ODD OBSERVATION: It occurs to me that a woman at the halfway mark is much like a roasted tomato: the red is deeper, more multi-dimensional, the original fruit is somewhat of a memory, but she is richer in taste and fragrance. She adds more to every dish and is better preserved for the future.
NOTE TO SELF: It is ok to be a roasted tomato.
From Amy Grant's upcoming book, Mosaic, "The beauty of being in the middle of life is the vantage point it provides…Even from here I can see growing old is not for the cowardly." p.117 (www.amygrant.com)
