Book Review: Salad of the Day

 

Georgeanne Brennan has authored a new cookbook in 2012, Salad of the Day, 365 Recipes for Every Day of the Year. The chapters are laid out to follow the calendar year, with a large 2 page calendar spread at the beginning of each chapter giving a once glance view of the entire month’s recipes. In the subsequent pages of each chapter, Georgeanne provides the detailed recipes, including thoughtful comments. There are also many full page pictures of salads throughout the book.

I picked up this cookbook at Williams Sonoma in the beginning of April and have been cooking from it ever since. I love the organization of the recipes and I love that Georgeanne strives to highlight seasonal ingredients as we progress through the calendar year of recipes. I’ve made at least a dozen of her salads so far and I haven’t found one dud in the bunch yet! There are warm salads such as her Grilled Salmon, Potato, and Asparagus salad sprinkled throughout the cookbook and the cold salads are by no means traditional – every salad has a creative twist either in ingredients or presentation. The past two weeks have found me shopping for wheat berries, quinoa, pea shoots, green mangos, and more. Definitely not pedestrian.

I first heard of Georgeanne Brennan from my mother-in-law who has always wanted to take cooking lessons from Ms. Brennan out at her cooking studio and home in California. Unfortunately the weekend classes seem to fill within a day of being posted to her website and I’ve not been quick enough to snag reservations for us. Given how fantastic this cookbook is, I’m really keen to soak up some of her creative wisdom face to face now so I’ll be watching her website for openings in her classes a little more closely.

I think this cookbook would prove useful for just about everyone, including vegetarians and vegans. Granted it’s not strictly vegetarian but most of the salads are vegetarian or vegan and with simple adaptations they all can be. Brennan’s cookbook would also be great for those who want to eat healthier and incorporate greens and whole grains but have trouble coming up with ideas on how to do so, and more importantly how to do so deliciously. 365 different and delicious salads all at the ready and organized around seasonal ingredients. You really can’t do any better than that.

Mother’s Day and Getting What You Asked For

Another Mother’s Day has come and gone. It’s always been a bit rough for me and this year I kept a handle on my emotions by staying away from social media until the day was nearly over.

As a daughter I find Mother’s Day to be a painful reminder of the joy and emotional intimacy between mother and child that I have always wanted but never experienced. My mother is still alive, but our relationship has always been strained and when I see the happy pictures of my friends celebrating with their mothers (especially the ones where they look so much alike) and read the ode to mother tributes I feel the little stabby pains of envy creeping in. I let myself grieve a bit each year when this special day rolls around for what was never to be and I turn the hurt over to God because he is the only one that can full the dark corners in the heart where a mother’s love should reach but couldn’t.

As a woman who is childless by choice Mother’s Day can also be a painful reminder that society not only values mothers (which is very very good) but also devalues women without children (which is hurtful and cruel). I am very blessed to have such loving and accepting friends in the Christian community who don’t tie my worth to bearing children, but out in the larger circles of the church and society it isn’t always the case. Common sentiments from happy parents such as “Now that I have children, my life truly has meaning” or “Children make life worth living” can cut like a knife with their subtle implications. And while I have chosen a life without children of my own volition I can only imagine the gut wrenching pain these comments induce for women who are infertile, who have miscarried, or who have lost children after birth.

For these reasons, I was so very please yesterday to attend a church service in Everett, WA (Northlake Christian Church http://www.northlakecc.org/) where Mother’s Day was acknowledged and blessed but NOT made the focus of the sermon. In this way we were able to honor mothers without inadvertently raining hurt down upon those who are wrestling with issues surrounding motherhood. The sermon was on the transformational power of praying together. A couple gave witness and testimony to how praying together nightly (a personal challenged issued to them by the pastor) has begun to change them and their marriage for the better in just the two weeks since they’ve started. At the conclusion of the service Pastor Steve challenged the entire congregation and all visitors to begin praying with a companion daily and to keep this habit through the end of this month. Jonathan and I have accepted the challenge and I am excited to see what great things God is going to do with this window we have opened up in our life to him.

In addition to the wonderful church service, we enjoyed many other happy moments this weekend. We flew into Seattle Friday night and spent all day Saturday with my husband’s brother and our sister-in-law and their children. I always look forward to our visits with them because there is such love and positive energy in their home. Their sons are crazy about their Uncle Jon and it warms my heart to see their faces light up when he plays with them. We went running and hiking through the park with our oldest nephew and enjoyed giggles and playtime with the younger kids. We even had a bit of cooking (we made a pie together and I also taught my nephew the secrets of transforming canned soup into a masterpiece lunch with a few added ingredients and spices). My sister-in-law is one of the most wonderful people I know. She’s open and friendly and always welcome us with hugs and kindness. I know that she’s got my back and she’s very trustworthy. And my brother-in-law is steadfast in his faith and works hard to model that for his sons and I very much admire that.

In thinking about mothers on the ride home from the airport last night, my mind was immediately drawn to my best friend (who is a very good and loving mother). I prayed that she had a very rewarding day of honor and I thanked God for bringing her into my life. Here is an interesting tidbit about my best friend: I prayed her into my life. I prayed for a long time (years in fact) for God to bring a good friend across my path with whom I could laugh and love and share a deep and edifying friendship. When it finally happened, it didn’t play out quite as I envisioned. Even for an extreme extrovert like myself, letting someone in so close and establishing such an emotionally intimate friendship has been hard. All the great fun and social companionship that I imagined is there and I am so happy about that. She has also been there by my side through some very difficult experiences such as the death of my father and my sister. But there is a whole other side of Christian friendship that I didn’t anticipate. The experiences I share with my best friend and the emotions that surround these experiences hold up a mirror to my eyes that reflects my deepest thoughts and feelings. And sometimes those thoughts and feelings are just ugly. At times I wrestle with envy or pride or fear (of rejection, of abandonment, of losing in comparison) in our friendship and I didn’t even know how deep these sinful tendencies ran into my soul until the Holy Spirit began uncovering them and rooting them out in the light of our friendship. In this way, our friendship has been edifying and I am a better person for it. Along the way I have seen her grow in her faith as well and the fruits of her discipleship to Christ continue to blossom and ripen. Of course in addition to these subtle acts of transformation going on behind the scenes there are the direct challenges to the ego and conscience that we lay upon each other as friends when we see each other heading off course. My best friend has saved me from myself more times than I can count. I find that the friendship that God has given me; the Christian friendship that I asked for, pushes me to grow and change in ways that are challenging and uncomfortable and sometimes when it seems too hard I want to give up and go back to being isolated and comfortable hiding in the darkness. But I won’t give up (and I suspect that if I tried my best friend would hunt me down and pull me back out of myself) because I hold fast to this truth: in our relationships with one another we are working out what it means to be like Christ; we are practicing (and sometimes fumbling) the real work of self-sacrifice and unconditional love and edification and we are better for it.

Book Review: From a Polish Country House Kitchen

 

My experience with Polish cuisine has been less than satisfactory, but until I visited Poland I assumed this could be blamed on lackluster American copies of Polish originals. I’d tried pierogies from the frozen section of the supermarket and kielbasa from Hillshire Farms and neither suited me. When I tried a fresh kielbasa prepared by a Polish housewife at an upstate New York church supper in the late 1990s, my theory was reinforced. This,THIS kielbasa wasn’t smoky or salty, it was sweet and rich and delicious hot off the grill. I dreamed of going to Poland one day to taste more of this meaty perfection and to sample the rest of what I was sure would be fantastic cuisine.

I finally visited Poland in late 2011- Krakow and Warsaw both. I eagerly stood in line at the Christmas Markets is downtown Krakow to taste authentic kielbasa. Guess what, it tastes exactly like Hillshire Farms! Sidenote: I contacted that Polish housewife when I returned to the states and she confirmed that fresh (not smoked) kielbasa is not the standard variety most people associated with Poland. I’m not a fan of that smoky flavor so it didn’t work for me at all. Over the next two weekends I ate my way through Krakow and Warsaw and other than one batch of mushroom pierogies from a dimly lit cellar restaurant, I could not find even one authentic Polish dish that I enjoyed. Clearly traditional Polish food and I are not compatible. I am an avid cookbook collector and like to frequently add to my collection with authentic cookbooks highlighting local ingredients and cuisine from my recent travels but I was so turned off by Polish cuisine that I did not bother to purchase a Polish cookbook during or upon returning from the trip.

So it was to my surprise that as I thumbed through From a Polish Country House Kitchen at a bookstore one afternoon, the recipes and the beautiful photography that accompanies them whetted my appetite. Here were almost a hundred recipes from Annie Applebaum, living in Poland, utilizing local and well known Polish ingredients (cucumbers, beets, fish, cabbage, etc) as well as some traditional Polish culinary forms (pierogi) but in ways I had not seen before.  Applebaum provides several recipes that are simple twists on Polish classics and yet many more that are reminiscent of the Polish larder while simultaneously betraying a cross cultural influence. This was Polish food, reimagined; this was Polish food I could get behind.

So far from the book I have sampled ‘Mizeria Dziadka Benjamina’ (Grandpa Ben’s Cucumber Salad), ‘Kotlet Schabowy’ (Wiener Schnitzel, Polish Style), and ‘Nalesniki’ (Rolled Pancakes with Jam). All of the recipes were clearly written, easy to follow, and Applebaum provides a short introduction for each describing the history and inspiration for the dish. I especially like that many recipes have both English and metric measurements provided.

While I admit I will probably find excuses to avoid attempting some of Applebaum’s recipes that seem to come a little too close to traditional Polish cuisine for my tastes (Beet Soup? No thanks.) there are many recipes I can’t wait to try such as Braised Cabbage with Wine and Nutmeg as well as Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Cognac Sauce.

I would think this cookbook would be an especially lovely gift for American expats living in Poland who need to lean heavily on ingredients available in Polish markets.

Potato Soup with Dill

Note: I made this soup patterned after a recipe I found online, but have since been unable to locate that inspiration recipe. There's a lot of flexibility in this soup - to use leeks or onions, to add in celery or not, to puree or not, to finish with cream or not. Let your mood and your ingredients on hand guide you.

Serves: 2 (with leftovers)

Season: Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring

• 1.5 pounds russet and/or Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 large leek, rinsed well and chopped (use just the white portion, discard the green tough tops, and make sure to really clean the leek well while fanning out the layers to get the dirt/sand out from between the layers) OR substitute 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 1 rib celery, peeled and diced (optional)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 T white wine, any variety
• 2 T unsalted butter
• 1 quart chicken stock (I use chicken base + water)
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste
• copious amounts of fresh dill
• milk or cream, to taste (optional)

Bring water to boil in a medium saucepot and boil the potatoes until tender.

While potatoes are cooking, warm 1-2 T of oil in a sauté pan large enough to fit the leek or onion, the carrot, and the celery (optional; improves flavor but if you don't have any on hand the soup will not suffer much). Add the leek or onion along with the carrot and celery and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Sauté the vegetables until the leek or onion is nearly tender. Add in the garlic and sauté until the garlic is tender. Use the wine to deglaze the pan but make sure to let the alcohol cook off after you add it to the pan.

When potatoes are tender, drain and rinse. Return to the saucepot and add 2 T of butter, the leek mixture of vegetables. Add stock, bay leaf, and fresh dill sprigs to taste. Bring this to a boil and then turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and then partially or completely puree the soup in a blender (or using a hand blender in the pot), depending on your preference for chunky or smooth soup. Add soup back to the pot and season with salt and pepper to taste. Optional: finish the soup with milk or cream to taste. Garnish with any additional remaining dill.

Beginnings and Endings

This week marks the end of my first full semester of graduate school at the University of Michigan in the MS in Computer Science and Information Systems program. I was enrolled in coursework in Autumn 2012, but those classes were actually senior level computer science undergraduate courses recommended by the university to fill the gaps in my knowledge due to not having a Bachelor’s of Science degree (I have a BA in psychology from New Mexico State University).

It was a very challenging semester both in terms of the content of the coursework (so much math at times) and the requirement to balance the coursework with my full time career, my full time role as a wife and my leisure hobby of weekend travel. There were quite a few weekends whilst we were en route to Asia that I had to maintain the self-discipline to study on the plane. Luckily, I was smart enough to enlist the assistance of both my husband and and my closest female friend to help keep me on track with accountability and peer pressure. And also I was lucky to have not only my husband, but additionally our friend who is an engineer (currently residing with us while on contract for a local company) to help tutor me in the math where I was lacking such as vectors and other linear algebra basics.

I cleared the semester with an A- in Computer Architecture and an A in Information Retrieval. The architecture course was really an eye opener with regard to the newest processor technology coming down the pike. We learned all about Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and other sorts of common processor configurations. We dove deep into pipelining and other subject areas that were addressed only lightly in my undergraduate computer architecture course. All of the information was directly relevant to my current job and as a bonus a lot of the papers coming out of my industry regarding analytics are framed with regard to processor technology and now I better understand those relationships. My course on information systems covered the history of information retrieval and we spent most of the class learning the algorithms that drive search results and the ranking of those results. I’ve come out of the course with a much greater appreciation for the math and science that is behind companies like Google. Handling multiple languages, trillions of documents, spelling errors in queries AND in the related documents you want to return, categorization of documents, etc - this is all pretty complex stuff that I never much gave thought to previously. Which really speaks to the beauty of technology - we can use it successfully without really ever understanding how it works or what’s going on “under the hood” so to speak. But it sure is nice after being in this field for 10 years to not only be adept at using the technology but finally to truly understand the wizardry behind the curtain.

The university does not offer summer graduate courses (except for thesis work) so I’ll be returning to the daily grind of classes when September rolls around again.

Just as the school semester is ending, recent projects at work are also wrapping up. Actually, work has been going pretty well for me, but not as well for the husband. Both of our companies have been undergoing some major reorganizational changes as of late in the pursuit of greater profitability. For my company (CSC) that means restructuring the employees into different groups (or at minimum renaming groups to more accurately reflect their focus), realigning job titles, revamping our mission and value statements, reducing the complexity of our organizational structure (mostly by taking out excessive layers of middle management), changing the way we pursue and capture new and rebid business contracts, and rededicating the whole company to a focus on customer and shareholder value. I have to report that so far it’s working very well, especially as reflected in the CSC share price. I feel more invigorated and pleased to be working for the company than ever before and I’m excited to continue marching down the road of success as the last of the changes are implemented.

Unfortunately at my husband’s company things are not going quite as smoothly. I suspect that many of the changes have not been as carefully planned or executed and much of the modifications appear from the outside to be random panic layoffs in order to move the company structure as quickly as possible back into alignment with the original owner’s vision (who recently has retaken control of the company). So far the random layoffs have not hit my husband’s job but we are of course concerned that may not hold true for much longer. And of course with such pressure hanging over the remaining employees’ heads, the workplace has become one of stress and poor morale.

Speaking of work, I recently returned from San Francisco (one of my favorite cities!) where I attended SAS Global Forum 2013. This is the annual, international SAS conference (SAS is the analytic software I specialize in). I was really excited to go this year as I was invited to present a paper I’ve written, “SAS Enterprise Business Intelligence (EBI) Deployments in the Federal Sector: Best Practices”, as well as to serve on a panel discussion on SAS Administration. This was the first professional paper I’ve ever presented at a national conference and I consider it my debut; my beginning in professional speaking. Thank goodness for all those years in Toastmasters! I’m looking forward to next year’s conference already and sketching out paper ideas for submission (I’m leaning toward “The Many Hats of a SAS Administrator: An Insider’s Guide on Becoming an Indispensable Asset in Your Organization”). It was really great to catch up with industry colleagues from all over the country and of course to explore more of San Francisco on the downtime. I got the chance to visit both the farmer’s market held at the Ferry building and the one held at the Civic center. In fact, I followed the advice of my good friend and brought along an entire extra suitcase to carry home produce and other goodies from the market. Lemongrass stalks at 10 for $1? Yes please! Chrysanthemum greens? Alright! And so on…

I also spent a half day with a friend in the Sunset district where we hiked up Grand View Hill. It’s the oldest and last remaining sand dune in San Francisco. Once all the houses were built along the shoreline, the sand was forever cut off from blowing across the landscape and the sand dunes gradually disappeared. At the top of the Grand View Hill we were treated to a 360 degree view of the entire San Francisco area including downtown, the Bay bridge, Golden Gate bridge, Golden Gate park, Twin Peaks, and more. It was absolutely beautiful.

After descending Grand View Hill we walked down the lovely mosaic steps (here’s a link to the best picture of the entire staircase: http://www.sfmuralarts.com/pics/1424.jpg) before catching a bus back to downtown San Francisco.

One other notable stop during my time in the city was the dinner I enjoyed at Fang’s Restaurant. While this boutique Chinese restaurant offers a standard menu with daily specials, there is also the possibility of ordering off menu for those in the know. I had been tipped off by a fellow frequent flier that a simple request to the owner or senior waitstaff will find you the recipient of a custom menu based around your taste preferences. I was in the mood for eggplant and so I was brought a starter salad of tomato, Asian pear, herbs and rice crackers dressed deliciously followed by a main entrée of sautéed eggplant and fried shrimp in a sweet honey sauce. They would have continued with dessert if I hadn’t waved it away on account of feeling full from the generous portions of the salad and entrée. Really some of the best Chinese food I’ve ever had and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s very convenient also – a few blocks south of Market street near the financial district.

Let’s talk new beginnings. I’m guessing you’ve noticed the sharp uptick in the book reviews I’ve been posting lately? There’s a story behind that (of course there is!). I’ve always enjoyed reading anything I can get my hands on and I have been working diligently on curating a fantastic collection of cookbooks from all around the world as we travel. Recently I have decided to formally join the ranks of semi-professional book reviewers. I got things started by joining the National Book Critics Circle for a nominal annual fee and this self-appointed new hobby consists mostly of selecting books I’d like to read (especially cookbooks I’d like to add to my collection), soliciting complimentary review copies from the associated publishers, reading the material end to end, and posting informative reviews on Amazon.com, Goodreads.com, and here on my blog. Occasionally publishers request I submit feedback directly to them as well. And of course I’m careful to keep integrity at the forefront, never allowing the book-for-review exchange to slant my reviews for the benefit of the publisher or author. Indeed, some of the reviews I’ve posted lately should be strong evidence of that. I thought hubby would be quite excited to learn I’ve stumbled upon an ingenious way to fund my cookbook collection from here on out, but he just put his head in his hands and whimpered “not more cookbooks”. What can you do? I told him to be glad I’m not a car collector. Anyway, the onslaught of cookbook reviews will inevitably continue each week, but for easy sorting for those of you on the mailing list, remember that the subject line always reflects the content of the post and so will contain ‘book review’. That should allow you to auto-sort the book reviews away from the main stream of incoming blog posts should you not wish to read them (but of course I encourage you to read them!).

Book Review: The Daily Soup

I’ve owned The Daily Soup  by Leslie Kaul and Bob Spiegal since 2005. It was that year that I decided to establish a weekly ‘Souper Saturday’ tradition in our home (wherein we enjoy soup paired salad or sandwiches each Saturday) and so was on the prowl for high quality soup recipes. The Daily Soup has not disappointed. The instructions are clear and easy to follow, the ingredients are easy to source, and the soups that result are delicious. My favorite soup so far from the collection is ‘Roasted Eggplant Parmesan’ (p.29). It’s everything wonderful about traditional eggplant parmesan, ladled into a bowl. There are soups for everyone in this cookbook including vegetarian and dairy free. The recipes are grouped by major ingredient such as corn, tomato, or grain, which is useful when you have specific ingredients you’d like to use and find a recipe to accompany.

One suggestion for this author team or for other authors putting together a soup cookbook any cookbook is to include more pictures of the prepared dishes. While such pictures aren’t absolutely necessary, they add a little something extra to the cookbook and give readers an idea of how the finished dishes should look including hints on garnishing. And of course great pictures also help to sell the book, bring the recipes to life in a very visceral and appetizing format.

I’ve read that the Daily Soup restaurant in NYC from which this cookbook was adapted has since shuttered its doors.That means the only place to try the chefs’ creations is in your own home using The Daily Soup.

Book Review: Amity and Sorrow

Amity and Sorrow is quite the unusual novel by Peggy Riley. It opens on the scene of a mother, Amaranth, driving her two daughters, Amity and Sorrow, down an Oklahoma country road. It quickly becomes evident that they are on the run from someone or something. Because the daughters are literally bound to one another via their arms in the backseat, and because the language is evocative of the south, I first assumed this was a story about an escape from slavery. Which it is, I suppose, but not in the traditional African slave trade context.

Amity and Sorrow are the daughters of a polygamous cult leader and his first wife (among many many wives). They’ve escaped from the cult’s homesteading compound in Utah following a police raid. As the story slowly unravels we learn more about the destructive power of the cult and their father’s leadership. The family is in shambles emotionally and financially and their cultural identity and experiences are very different than those of the people they encounter in the world outside of the compound.

The novel is dark and yet hopeful as we root for the transformation and healing of the young girls and their mother as we follow the novel to its conclusion. One of the daughters, Amity has been less twisted and less damaged by her time in the cult while Sorrow has been scarred deeply in so many ways it’s not clear she’s entirely redeemable.

While I enjoyed the plot and pacing of Riley’s novel, the dialogue at times seemed forced and artificial. As I mentioned previously, there is, at times, an ‘old southern world’ feel to the dialogue that doesn’t fit the modern era the story is supposed to take place in. And the scenes surrounding first interactions with a computer and with other modern technology seem really quite contrived and plastic. Still, the novel can stand on its other merits. Overall 3 stars.

Book Review: Beautiful Ruins

While traveling cross-country last weekend, I passed the time reading novels I’d recently received. One of these was Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. The book is simply fantastic. Walter presents a moving story encompassing friendship and love that spans a lifetime.

Pasquale is a deep and soulful innkeeper in a rarely visited, small Italian village. He dreams of running a large, profitable, and popular resort that would serve as a beacon for adventurous American tourists but when Americans do venture onto his island home they are few and far between and transpires is nothing as he’s imagined. It’s better.

The novel unwinds Pasquale’s story and those of his two American guests, tracing their paths across continents and back together again to a satisfying and beautiful conclusion.

Walter draws a portrait of each character so multi-faceted that we learn to love and identify with each of them, regardless of their foibles. Walter even manages to weave in real-life events and figures (Elizabeth Taylor) in a way that is natural and believable and not at all forced, awkward, or artificial.

Common to the greatest of books, the feelings that welled up when I reached the end of Beautiful Ruins were bittersweet joy (these characters will live on in my mind indefinitely), an aspiration to write a novel (I want to write like this! I want to make people feel this way! I want to bring characters alive just like this!), and an immediate desire to hunt down the rest of Walter’s books to add to my “must read” list.

Book Review: Altar Ego

 

Craig Groeschel has recently released Altar Ego. It’s a phenomenal step by step guide on stepping out of our fallen sinful identities and stepping into a life guided by the Holy Spirit and subject to the will of God. It’s well written, biblically sound, and highly relevant for both new and established Christians.

“You are not yet who you are supposed to be.”, explains Groeschel. To further us along the path of Christian discipleship, Groeschel breaks down his transformation plan into three parts:

• Accepting the persona of a disciple
• Adopting the behaviors of a disciple
• Embracing the power of a disciple

To accept the persona of a disciple is to accept the truths regarding who we are as God’s people. It is the act of overcoming the labels and self-identified traits of old personas. Groeschel explains that every follower of Christ will have their own unique unexplored identities under a new life in Christ. Just as God transformed Abram into Abraham and Saul into Paul bringing out qualities they never knew they had, he will transform us also. Additionally, we can hold strong in the shared truth common to all disciples: we are masterpieces loved by God who can overcome tremendous obstacles and who have been designated as ambassador’s of Christ.

“Stop focusing on the things you can’t do. Turn your attention to the things you can do. You are the masterpiece of God, created for the Master’s purpose. Don’t flip through the catalog of things you aren’t, wishing you could order a few nice things for yourself.”

“Hupernikao, which means to vanquish beyond recognition, to gain a decisive victory, to conquer exceedingly. With Christ, you are HUPERNIKAO! You are not just going to eke out some tiny, insignificant victory.”

“As Christ’s ambassador you never represent yourself; you always represent God…I’m not there to promote my own agenda, my own values or my own ideas… You represent the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.”

According to Groeschel, adopting the behaviors of the disciple include a dedicated focus on patience, integrity, honor, and gratitude. Groeschel’s guidance is sound and biblically grounded, especially in his insistence that we cannot simply flip a switch and easily turn ourselves into patient, honest, honorable, grateful sorts of persons. The *only* way to bear this fruit is to get to know Jesus better, and allow the Holy Spirit to transform our heart.

“Get rid of the masks. Be the real you. Allow God’s Holy Spirit to transform you.”

Embracing the power of a disciple is to approach everything we do – our prayers, our words, our actions-  with the boldness of our power in Christ. As it is written in scripture, who can stand against us when God is behind us? Being bold and confident is not an end unto itself, nor an action we take in order to be better disciples. Rather, it’s the natural outcome of following in step with Christ.

“When you live a life of faith, when you’re directed by the Spirit, you’re going to see opportunity after opportunity to be bold…As your faith grows, so does your boldness.”

Groeschel concludes his book with a blessing (and call to action):

“I’m praying that God will use the words from this book to help you to sacrifice any old, unhealthy, untrue, and unbiblical thoughts about yourself. And that God will introduce you to your altar ego- who you are in Christ. Because when you know who you are, you’ll know what to do. Empowered by Christ in you, you can now live a life full of integrity…And as your confidence in your new Christ-esteem grows, so will your boldness. Because you know Christ, you’ll pray bold prayer, speak bold words, and obey God boldly. You’ll never be timid again because bold actions are born of bold beliefs.”

The Twilight Zone

Suddenly life just got strange. Really strange. Twilight zone strange.

Every Friday that we are both in town, hubby and I go out for a date. Tonight we entertained ourselves with movie and a dinner to follow. We saw Jurassic Park in 3D and it was just as gripping as the first time we saw it all those years ago while dating. I loved it! I enjoyed the edge of my seat roller coaster ride feeling for almost two hours.

As an homage to the old days I chose Little Caesar’s for dinner. Pizza Pizza! We arrived at the restaurant and I asked Jonathan if we should order a large pizza. I was concerned because most of the pricing on the menu seems to imply a large pizza is the default size now and since the restaurant always gives you two pizzas (Pizza Pizza!) that would mean taking home two large pizzas, which would be too much food. Jon whispered that he isn’t sure they are still offering two pizzas and I rolled my eyes and laugh. OF COURSE they still give you two pizzas (Pizza Pizza!), THAT’S THEIR ENTIRE MARKETING GIMMICK. I turned to the young lady behind the counter and prompted her to confirm for dear hubby that yes, they serve 2 pizzas.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about Ma’am. We don’t serve two pizzas unless you pay for two.”

“You know, Pizza Pizza!”, I say enthusiastically while I continue to grin.

“Uh, two pizzas?”

I frown. My eyebrows furrow. I begin to explain to the girl the “Pizza Pizza” ad campaign that was the essence of Little Caesars the last time I visited one of their restaurants. “You know, in 1989”, I giggle as I continue jokingly, “Maybe you weren’t born yet” (which is ridiculous of course because she’s clearly an adult and anyone born after the 80s would be a kid).

“I was born in 1995. But two pizzas makes a lot of sense.”

Now my concentration was torn between two complex brain teasers. First, how on earth could Little Caesar’s drop the entire concept that makes it famous? Second, how could a living breathing adult standing before me be born in 1995? I mean in 1995 I was only 19. I was graduating from college. Jon and I were engaged. I was barely out of childhood myself. Everyone I know who was born in the 90s is still a kid (take my lovely niece Alli for example). I mean, I suppose in theory, given the math, it is possible for someone to be born in the 90s and have reached adulthood but I hadn’t met any of these mythical creatures of possibility. That would mean that an entire conception-birthing-rearing-raising cycle of a generation had passed SINCE I was 19. Which isn’t really something I can wrap my mind around since that was like, what, yesterday – and raising a generation takes a long long time. Like 18 years long! Which is, did I mention a very long time conceptually.

Yet this girl kept standing there behind the counter breathing and ..and..BEING…as if it was no big deal. I didn’t even feel old in that moment. I felt other-worldly. Twilight zone tingly. Like we all felt when the closing credits began to roll after “The Matrix”.

Is this my new reality? There are ADULTS roaming the world who weren’t alive before I myself was a grown up?

Normally I like to wrap up my little notes here with something clever or wistful to leave you with a thought for you to ponder until you read my writing again. But tonight I got nothing; nothing I can add to bring closure to this of out-of-body feeling. There is a clear cognitive dissonance I suffer from in reconciling what 20 years seems conceptually (seems a very long time) and what 20 years looks like in practice when reflecting on them passed (seems like yesterday).

Book Review: The Turk Who Loved Apples (by Matt Gross)

Recently I had the chance to read The Turk who Loved Apples as I was provided an advance copy (book hits Amazon.com on April 23rd, 2013)to review. Many of you know I am an avid traveler. Often with my husband at my side, frequently with my friends along for the journey as well, and occasionally all on my own I set out for weekend adventures near and far across the globe. I generally log at least 120,000 miles on Delta Airlines each year flying to and from various destinations. With a love of travel and a love of reading I'm naturally drawn to the travel writing genre. And there are some stars (I'm looking at you Anthony Bourdain, Peter Mayle and Bill Bryson)and some fantastic articles, stories, collections, and novels that come out of this genre. Sadly, Matt's latest book is not one of them. Overall, Matt Gross is a credible travel author and guide. He presents an experienced voice in his work for the New York Times and is highly respected in the genre. In The Turk who Loved Apples, Mr. Gross explains that much of his travel writing has been on spec and conforms to his buyers' formatting, structure, and content requirements yet there is a whole world of experiences and observations he's collected on his travels that have value for others and thus he has in mind to share them. I've not read many of Matt's short form pieces but his long form as presented in this book suffers from a style that doesn't deliver suspense, a sense of intrigue, or strong characters to draw in the readers' emotions. When I read travel writing, I want adventure or deep emotional outpourings that I can identify with and Matt's text falls short. In the beginning of the book he details his start in travel writing and recounts his time in Asia & I found myself waiting for the story to pull me in. Disappointment set in as with each page my hopes were dashed a bit further that the material would ever become truly engaging. Finally (finally!), I reached a chapter within which Mr. Gross wrote eloquently about his relationship with his roommates, reflecting on the emotional connections between them and pulling me in to root for him (for him to succeed, for him to love and be loved, for him to enjoy his travels)for the first time. I perked up, satisfied that my patience in grinding through the earlier lackluster sections was now producing rewards. And then Matt detailed his experience with a hooker and his feelings about the situation- both in the moment and afterward and here he lost me again and forever. Do you know how many travel books I've read in the past year where white, educated men from America have seen fit to detail their sex encounters with prostitutes overseas? Three. It's disgusting and shameful. I don't want to read about your post sex-trade enlightenment! I don't want to know about your crisis of consciousness (or lack thereof) and the good and the bad of what you did when confronted with the offer of cheap sex from a woman who thinks so little of herself or has so little to lose that she is selling her body. And I hate the idea that someone who writes about this is going to make revenue from selling his story. You buy a woman's dignity cheap and wholesale, then turn around and repackage it in a voyeuristic story for your audience, selling it to them for profit. If you've paid for sex, confess your sin to God, not your book audience. I never did read about this Turk - the one who loved apples - because I couldn't make it past the wistful story of "that time I caved and bought sex".

Book Review: Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

 

In her new book, Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg has a little something to say about feminism, women, and power.

She doesn’t devote much time to detailing or discussing the external, institutional barriers that we women face in gaining power and becoming leaders in our workplaces, the political arena, and the world. She doesn’t devote much time to these barriers because she feels that’s been well covered by others - we’ve already been there, covered that, beat that dead horse a la the Feminine Mystique. Sandberg wants to focus on our individual circles of influence. This isn’t about sociology and the group, this is about psychology and the individual. This is about what we can do, in spite of those external barriers, to rise to power.

Sandberg’s main premise is that there are barriers inside of us, holding us back, and fencing off success. If we simply overcome these barriers we can rise to power and change the world through the power we wield.

Sandberg on what women are designed to do…

The foremost of these barriers is the internalized ideology that we aren’t designed to be aggressive; aren’t meant to hold power over men. Sandberg seemingly considers this assertion so repugnant that she doesn’t bother to argue against it. She simply recounts the ideology and steamrolls over it as if it were irrelevant. 

Sandberg is a smart and well educated woman. She owes a more detailed rebuttal of the classic religious and evolutionary biology arguments on a woman’s purpose then she’s presented. As noted in fact, she’s presented no rebuttal to these arguments.

Sandberg on what women want to do…

Anticipating the potential criticism, Sandberg acknowledges that even if we could let go of these constraining ideals of what we “should” do, not every woman actually wants to be ambitious in her career; not every woman wants to hold power and serve as a leader over others. She pays lip service to freedom, to choice, but only briefly and only after she reminds us how high the stakes on equality are: the world would be SUCH a better place if men and women in equal numbers provided leadership in companies, in politics, in the world. In her chapter entitled “The Leadership Ambition Gap” Sandberg quietly notes that there may be biological differences between the sexes that contribute to the gap in ambition between the sexes, but quickly moves on to expound on all of the external forces that researchers have identified as influential in this area, leaving the biology argument largely unanswered as a footnote.

Reducing woman’s desires and instincts to cultural brainwashing is derogatory and arrogant. And implying that if women wielded equal share in world leadership, things would be improved is both naïve and gender biased. On the whole, history teaches us that more voices, i.e. a stronger democracy, does not necessarily bring about gains in justice. Tyranny of the mob and all that. And there is nothing “special” about women over men that indicates our leadership will be a more ethical one. 

Sandberg on emotion…

Authentic emotion is appropriate in the workplace. Sandberg argues that it’s misguided to attempt to leave our personal selves at home when we come to the workplace. Don’t be afraid to cry at work when you’re really upset, or share other genuine emotions with your colleagues.

I don’t know what to do with this. Sandberg cautions women into dropping many other qualities traditionally associated with femininity (being gentle, being overly cooperative, being likeable, etc) but encourages us to hold onto this one. Why? Oddly, this might be one of the feminine qualities I think can sink us in the business world if we don’t harness it carefully (just like a man’s aggression can tempt him to steamroll over others and must be harnessed with good character).

Sandberg on stewardship of our time…

Don’t pull back from putting in above and beyond effort at work in light of any long term plans you have to leave the workforce to pursue other goals (such as rearing children). If you’re going to work, then work hard and work ambitiously to the best of your ability. You can pull back when it’s time to leave. Until then, put your whole heart into it, Sandberg argues.

On the subject of choosing working outside the home or childrearing you don’t have to choose. You can opt for daycare and consider it an investment in your future earning potential (because women who leave the workforce to raise children rarely ever reach high salary levels even after/if they return).

I can get behind doing a good job of whatever it is you are set about doing. I cannot get behind outsourcing the raising of one’s children to other people.

Sandberg on parenting and division of labor…

Men need to lean in at home and take on a more equitable share of childrearing and home keeping labor. Women should not marry a man who isn’t willing to do so.

Economics teaches us that division of labor benefits all. This doesn’t mean 50/50 splits. If a couple is comfortable with the male handling all or part of the housework while the woman handles some or none of it, fine. And vice versa. While Sandberg is free to choose her husband as per the qualities that matter most to her, suggesting that all women, at the outset define a good man as one that is willing to divide up the labor in just the way Sandberg advocates is ridiculous.

Sandberg on doing it all..

The conservatives who argue you can’t do it all (a la supermom) are right. Something has to bend. Sandberg recommends women with children bend their work habits some (be willing to work less hours, maybe only 45 or 50 or so a week) and bend their mommy habits (be content to have less time with your children; research shows they will still grow up ok if you stick them in daycare) and give up the idea of reaching ideal or perfect standards in any area. We can’t do all the things well; we can do all the things fairly ok, or do a few things really well.

This might be the worst advice in the entire book.

Sandberg on broaching the topic gender bias in our workplaces…

It’s important to be talk about gender differences, gender bias, and other gender issues in the workplace. But not too much! We don’t want to minimize, but we don’t want to obsess.

Agreed.

Sandberg on personal choice…

In the concluding chapters of Lean In, Sandberg reiterates that she unequivocally supports every woman making the choice that is right for them. However, she advocates hard for a societal push to encourage women at every junction to pursue leadership and power with gusto.

Translation: you can do whatever you want but Sandberg would like society to readjust so that the default message is to push you toward leadership and power instead of away from it. As is probably clear from the tone of my summary, I don’t at all agree with Sheryl Sandberg and her prescription for world improvement. I don’t think it’s the plan of God for more women to dominate and lead in the public sphere and I don’t think most women want to do so and I don’t think most men are comfortable in a society structured toward that end.  I think that occasionally God calls out exceptional women to be in such a role and that it is just that- an exception and not the standard. I think that women are here to be the gentle, tender, nurturing and feminizing image of God, in partnership with the masculine images of God that men give glory to. 

Come to the Table

Last night I attended the Easter Vigil held at Grace United Methodist here in Manassas. It was beautiful, it was soul lifting, it was interactive, it was powerful, and it was lovely.

Just as I outlined in my previous post on Holy Saturday traditions, the service was one of fire and light, Word, water, and table. We began the service outdoors around a fire. Everyone was welcomed, the opening prayer was given and we were ushered indoors as a member of the congregation carried the flame to light the candle on the altar.

Once inside the sanctuary, we began the service of the Word. Aside from the candle, the altar was unadorned, just as we had left it at the end of Maundy Thursday. The great and might acts of God were read at this stripped altar, from creation to the parting of the red sea, to the hope of the savior, with the story of King Nebuchadnezzar and the three gents in the fire wedged in between. After each tale was recounted we responded with music and singing of hymns. The energy and joy which was stirred with the opening fire continued to build with our praise and it was amazing. Amazing!

Next, we migrated to the church hall before the delicate stained glass windows. There, at the front of the baptismal font, we remembered our baptisms before the Lord and renewed our vows to him and to each other as the church as the pastor sprinkled each of us with the water.  Then Pastor McNabb delivered the traditional Paschal sermon, written and first spoken by St. John Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople in AD 390:

The Lord is risen.
He is risen indeed!
If there are devout and God-loving people here,
let them enjoy this beautiful, radiant festival.
If there are prudent servants,
enter joyously into the Lord’s joy.
Whoever may be spent from fasting,
enjoy now your reward.
Whoever has toiled from the first hour,
receive today your just settlement.
If any came after the third hour,
celebrate gratefully.
If any of you arrived after the sixth,
have no misgivings, you have lost nothing.
If some have been as late as the ninth,
come forward, do not be at a loss.
If any of you have arrived only at the eleventh hour,
do not be dismayed for being late.

The Master is gracious;
He accepts the last even as the first;
He gives rest to those of the eleventh as well as to
those who have labored from the first;
He is lenient with the last while looking after the first;
to the one He gives, to the other He gives freely;
He accepts the labors and welcomes the effort;
honors the deed, but commends the intent.
So, all of you, enter into the joy of our Lord:
first and second, share the bounty.
Rich and poor alike, celebrate together.
Sober or heedless, honor the day.
Those who fasted, and those who did not, rejoice
today.
The table is full, everyone fare sumptuously.
The calf is fatted; no one go away hungry.
Everyone, savor the banquet of faith;
relish the riches of His goodness.

No one need lament poverty,
for the kingdom is seen as universal.
No one need grieve over sins;
forgiveness has dawned from the tomb.
No one need fear death;
the Savior's death has freed us from it.
While its captive He stifled it.
He despoiled Hades as He descended into it; it was angered when it tasted His flesh.
Foreseeing this, Isaiah proclaimed: "Hades," he
said, "was angered when he met You below."
It was angered because it was abolished
It was angered because it was mocked
It was angered because it was slain.
It was angered because it was shackled.
It received a body and encountered God.
It took earth and came face-to-face with heaven.
It took what I saw and fell by what if could not see.
Death, where is your sting?
Hades, where is your victory?
Christ is risen and you are overthrown.
Christ is risen and demons have fallen.
Christ is risen and angels rejoice.Christ is risen and life rules.Christ is risen and not one dead remains in the tomb.
For Christ, having risen from the dead,
has become the first fruits of those that slept.
To Him be the glory and the dominion, forever.Amen.

After this rousing invitation to the table, we returned to the sanctuary for communion. It was such a delight to find the altar covered in flowers and adornment once again, ending our fasting and our grieving of this season and celebrating the beginning of Easter.

Happy Easter to you and your family!

Alleluia, the great storm is over,
Lift up your wings and fly!

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Holy Week Liturgy and Traditions

 

Today is Holy Saturday, and the last day of Holy Week.

What does that mean?

Many people are familiar with Lent – that period of weeks before Easter when we Christians prepare our hearts for the death of Jesus and his subsequent resurrection. Traditionally this preparation involves steep increases in penance (confession of sins), self-denial including fasting, prayers, and charity to the poor and needy in comparison to the rest of the days of the year.

Holy Week is the last week of Lent¹  and during this time, we take special care to remember the key events in the life of Christ leading up to and including his death.

The oldest Holy Week liturgical tradition is that of Maundy Thursday. As chronicled in John 13:34, Jesus told the disciples during their supper together (what would be their last supper together), "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” The word for commandment in Latin is mandatum, from which the term Maundy derives, hence Maundy Thursday = Commandment Thursday. Let that sit a bit in your mind.

Jesus also told his disciples to break bread and and drink wine in memory of not only the last supper but also of what the portions of the supper symbolized: his death and resurrection on our behalf.  Luke 22:19-20 recalls this event: And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

During Maundy Thursday services across the Christian church, communion is given; it will not be given again until the end of the Easter Vigil. Stripping the altar of adornments (flowers, decorations, bible, etc) and extinguishing the lights is the traditional close to Maundy Thursday worship and is practiced still today by the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist communities.

Good Friday is the day immediately following Maundy Thursday. It is a day of solemn remembrance of the death of Jesus on the cross.

The Crucifixion is recounted in John, chapter 19:16-30.

So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek.So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; but that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS.” Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth.Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

It is traditional to begin a strict fast on Good Friday. For the Eastern Orthodox community this means no sustenance of any kind, for the Catholic community this means no more than three small, basic, very light meals (no meat). Sadly, many protestant communities have abandoned the fast entirely, throwing out the tradition when they broke from Catholicism. This fast is twofold in purpose – first, it is an outward symbol of our grief over our part (our sin) in the death of Jesus, and second, it is the beginning of preparation for the great feast of Easter. As I have described in my posts on Advent, church tradition has always upheld the balance of fasting before great feasts. Without the fast preceding, the feast loses some of it contrasting significance and risks becoming a day of indulgence no different than our other days in the food-plenty modern world.

In addition to the fast, services are held on Good Friday across the Christian church and the traditional elements of worship are continual prayer, lots of kneeling (although, this too has been abandoned by most protestants), and a few moments spent adoring the cross and pondering the significance of the death of Jesus. As mentioned previously, no communion is given on this day, unless it’s requested by a congregant on their deathbed.

Finally now, we come to Holy Saturday, the very last day of holy week. This is the day immediately following Good Friday. Day two of our fasting, which will come to an end at the end of our Easter Vigil. Notably, this is the only Saturday of the year that fasting is permitted or prescribed in the Christian church! Because the death of Jesus in a key event in man’s salvation and it happened on a Friday (a long long time ago), Saturdays and Sundays are always held to be a little bit of a mini-celebration each week. However it is understood that on the very first Holy Saturday the disciples didn’t yet understand the full significance of the death and were still in mourning and so it is right to fast on this specific Saturday, even in modern times. Because different Christian communities hold differing interpretations of scripture (what exactly did Jesus mean when he told the fellow dying next to him that he would see him in paradise shortly; what exactly happened to Jesus between his death on the cross and the resurrection?), there are wide variations in the focus of our prayers and activities on this day. However, across most Christian communities, things begin to come together similarly during the evening of Holy Saturday. This is when the Easter Vigil service is held. The common worship elements for this service are fire/light, the Word of God, water (baptism), and the table (communion). Some church communities begin with a big bonfire, others with simple candles. Scripture is read or sung. Baptisms with water are conducted, welcoming new Christians into the covenant that was fulfilled by the blood of Jesus. This Easter Vigil is the final push of salvation’s dawning; this is the last hours of the watch for resurrection! The mood is bittersweet. As the General Board of Assembly for the United Methodist Church notes, “The Great Vigil of Easter may be the longest, most solemn, joyous and symbol-rich service of the Christian Year.”² At the conclusion of Easter Vigil, communion is given, signifying that Easter has begun and breaking our fast. This is also the first moment that “Allelulia” and “Gloria” are permitted to be sung or spoken since the beginning of Lent. The oldest Christian traditions call for an all night East Vigil, beginning at sundown on Saturday and culminating at sunrise Easter morning. I’ve never been to an all night worship service, but I can imagine it is quite emotional if not exhausting. I think I might like to try it sometime. The next time you read or hear about a candlelight vigil on the news (seems to be a common activity on college campuses for humanitarian or environmental causes) think about what it would mean to keep an all-night vigil for Christ. 

Of course, given the busy busy busy mantra of society, many modern Christian communities offer only a condensed Easter Vigil, beginning at sundown on Holy Saturday and lasting a duration of no more than 3 hours. As a guideline, most liturgical guides suggest if a church is going to hold an Easter Vigil it be scheduled for at least 1.25 hours in length, out of respect for tradition and the importance of this event.

Some Christian communities (I’m looking at most of you, protestants) don’t offer Easter Vigil services at all. Ideally, for these congregants, to abide in the spirit of the Easter Vigil, the fasting and praying and personal preparations in the heart for Easter should carry through until Easter morning worship, since that is the first service attended after the death of Jesus for these folks.

In an upcoming post, I’ll write on Easter itself and the Easter season (which lasts from Easter morning until Pentacost^3.

1 Catholics hold that Lent ends when Holy Week begins, while most other Christian traditions view Holy Week as part of Lent.

2 http://www.gbod.org/misc/the-great-vigil-of-easter-the-first-service-of-easter-march-30-or-31-2013. A great link with full details on the Methodist traditions for Easter Vigil.

3 Pentacost is both a Jewish religious feast and the anniversary of the founding of the Christian church in the world.

Book Review: Heresy

After I began reading this book at B&N in the cafe I really got into it (it’s a page turner) and knew i was not going to have a chance to return to the store for a few weeks so i downloaded it to my nook and finished it there.
It was a great read. Excellent pacing throughout the book, interesting and suspenseful plot – set in the old world of Europe and weaving in historical details about the Catholic war on science and the Protestant war on Catholics.
Get it here:

Book Review: Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't be Wrong

Nadeau & Barlow (two Canadians from Quebec) wrote this non-fiction book on French culture and government as an expose of the differences between North American and French mindsets. The book offers really compelling evidence for why the French think the way they do and have organized their society and government the way they have. It was a fascinating read and I really think it is a valuable book regardless of your current perspective on the French and their culture.

The underlying thesis of the book is that the French have organized their culture around the centralized state and that in turn is a byproduct of the Catholic influence whereas the community based culture of the Americas is influenced by Protestant theology.

Get the book here:

Los Angeles, Boston, Barcelona, New York, New Orleans

 

Looking over my trip report entries (ZERO!) for 2012, one would think I got hit on the head and decided to hang up my suitcase and stay home last year. Never! I think I was still struggling under the heavy burden of grief from the tragic deaths in my family the previous year and so I lost the motivation to put my heart into journaling the trip experiences at the time.

Our travel adventures in 2012 started with a trip out to Los Angeles to visit my Uncle Lucien and Aunt Hazel. They live in Upton, California and invited us for a weekend of family time. While we were with them we enjoyed a few fabulous dinners out on the town, a few scenic jogging sessions around the neighborhood, and visited the tar pits and associated museum. FYI, the tar pits are pretty damn cool. One of my favorite activities was when we visited a farmer’s market so lovely I was ready to uproot and move to California on the spot. The asparagus was so fresh and vibrant and the blood oranges were heady and delicious. What a wonderful pleasure it must be to live so close to where most of our food is grown. What I especially loved about the trip was the chance to spend time with my aunt and uncle. Uncle Lu has the same hands, exactly the same hands, as my father. Every time I looked down at his hands I wanted to cry and hug him close. I settled for wistful glances instead, missing my father so deeply in those moments I thought my heart would break. He has a larger-than-life excitement about him too, my uncle, just like my father did. Just like I do. I see that now, that joie de vivre we carry as a family tradition.

Besides the time well spent with my family, hubby and I took a trip down memory lane into his childhood when we ventured into Redlands to see Jon's childhood home and then took a road trip down to Hadley's for a date shake (these date shakes were the joy of Jon’s childhood and I have heard many a story about their greatness over the years). When we pulled up alongside Jon’s (former) home, hubby was content to admire the property from the street. Well, nuts to that! I didn’t come all the way to his childhood mecca just to gaze at it from the outside. So, in my typical extroverted fashion, I sauntered up to the front door and rang the bell and explained that I’d like a tour of the house. The sweet lady who answered the door was revealed to be the very same one who bought the house from hubby’s parents all those years ago and she was more than happy to accommodate my request and showed us gracious hospitality and kindness and we had a lovely time of it.

Jon stands before his childhood home.

After leaving the house, we drove past Jon’s elementary school, past an orange grove hubby used to cut through in his neighborhood, and over to the home of the parents –the Grammars - of his childhood best friend, John. We spent some time catching up with them (they had not seen Jon for many years) and then we were finally on the road to Hadley’s, the date shake headquarters for California. While I’m not a raving fan of dates, you know what I am a fan of? Seeing my husband’s eyes light up as we approached Hadley’s and watching him down a date shake with nostalgic passion. It was a great day to crown a wonderful trip. We hope to make it out to LA again in 2013 if possible.

In February, Jon and I took a romantic excursion up to Boston to experience the famed Chocolate Bar at the Langham hotel. Hubby had read about the event the previous summer and we had decided once the weather was conducive (for obvious reasons the chocolate bar is offered only during the cooler months of the year) we would give it a try. You know what’s awkward? Realizing while you are at a luxury all you can eat chocolate buffet you flew to Boston to enjoy that you don't *really* like chocolate that much – at least not enough to consume anywhere near enough to get your money’s worth. Still the trip was favorable in that I picked up a great pair of boots on sale at a DSW store in downtown Boston and Jon and I were introduced to possibly one of the greatest Chinese dishes ever: soup dumplings (Xiaolongbao). It takes a bit of practice to eat them correctly. First you balance a dumpling on your wide, flat spoon. Then, you lean over the dumpling and delicately bite the top off and suck out all the hot broth. Finally, you wrap your lips around the spoon and eat the dumpling and meat filling, along with any residual broth left on the spoon. Delicious! The spring onion pancakes that are typically served alongside are fantastic as well. Since this Boston trip I’ve tried soup dumplings in Manhattan and Washington D.C., but I cannot find a place that makes them as good as we had in Boston at the little soup dumpling specialty restaurant near the hospital brilliantly named ‘Dumpling House’.

Also in February, Jon and I traveled to Barcelona with a couple of our friends for a weekend excursion. While I had flown into Barcelona and spent the night there a few years ago en route to Andorra, I had not spent any decent amount of time in the city or toured it before this trip. We stayed at the Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona, which was situated overlooking the Mediterranean. It was such a nice view from our hotel room. Even better, one of our friends we traveled with works for Hilton, so we got a great discount on the room, a room upgrade, and a beautiful welcome gift. Team Hilton all the way!

We spent our first full day in Barcelona walking the Gothic district, which is the historic center of the city. The architecture is lovely and the culinary side stops are not to be missed. We sampled churros, hot spiced chocolate, and nougat for our sweet tastings of Spain and a host of tapas and other delicacies for our savory tastings as we made our way through the scenic old-world architecture. With regard to the attractions, there were classical art museums, beautiful old churches, and expansive plazas to take in. Oh, and the market, whoa the market! You’ll probably never see anything like this in the United States. Brace yourself for the market shot below.

skinned sheep heads and reproductive organs in the market on sale

Alright, moving on….

We rounded out our first evening with a visit to the Turkish baths offered at Rituels d'Orient Spa Hammam. It was a perfectly acceptable experience I suppose, but we’ve been so spoiled by the over the top treatment at Cemberlitas Hammam in Istanbul that everything else just pales in comparison.

Our second day in Barcelona we spent in the newer part of town, soaking up the art scene. We started at the Picasso museum where I learned that Picasso actually had real talent as an artist and could draw and paint the most beautiful pictures -he did so as a young artist- but simply chose not to later in life because he wanted to be his own man or whatever. All this time I just thought he drew ugly things because he was talentless. Also I learned that all the cruddy art he painted during his famous phases (the ugly art stuff with weird faces) started with him looking at a famous masterpiece and screwing around with it to mess with people- moving the eyes and nose around, distorting the shapes, etc. They show you his paintings superimposed on the original masterpiece he was toying with and you can see his method. Interesting, very interesting. After dabbling in Picasso we moved onto Gaudi. Now this man, he was a genius and a visionary. We toured Casa Mila (an apartment building he designed) and the Sagrida Familia Cathedral (also his work). The Sagrida Familia was started in 1882 and is scheduled for completion in 2026. Each side of the cathedral represents a different story in Christian history (for example the side completed first represents the nativity). Since the building, like many famous cathedrals, has taken so long, multiple architects and artists have been involved in the work and as such the architecture of each face of the building is very different with regard to visual features and artistic style. There’s to be a grand worship service when the work is finally finished and I’ve got it in mind to attend. Words cannot begin to describe how beautiful the cathedral is; unfortunately we took most of our pictures on this trip with hubby’s phone which was subsequently stolen on a weekend trip in NY before we had a chance to download the pictures from the camera. Boo. But pictures from our camera could hardly do justice anyway compared to standing before the building in person. This is why it’s important to travel and to see things with your own eyes that you’ll never forget. Also of note from this second day of sightseeing was our lunch spot: La Pepita. Just a fabulous cozy little sandwich shop with a specialty gin menu and exquisite fresh side dishes such as roasted spring onions in romanesco sauce. If you’re dining in Barcelona, make it a point to stop at La Pepita for lunch.

Our last day in Spain was spent at Montserrat which is a short day trip from Barcelona. For trip planning purposes, expect to spend about 24 euros including the round trip train ride from Barcelona plus the cable car and funicular to get you to the monastery at the top of the mountain. It’s a Benedictine monastery offering a scenic worship space, tranquil views and hiking trails from the mountain, the oldest boys choir in the world (beautiful voices), and a host of fresh cheeses, honey, wine, and other treats from mom and pop traders outside the monastery. It was a nice way to wind down our trip and come away with a taste of Spain (we brought a few wheels of goat and sheep cheese home).

Rounding out our first quarter travels in 2012 was a weekend trip to New York City to see Alan Rickman perform on Broadway in Seminar (so good I repeated the trip the next quarter to see it again) and a weekend trip I led for a group of six friends in New Orleans. The trip was nearly a moment by moment repeat of our previous New Orleans excursion, except that we stayed at a different hotel (this time in the garden district) and visited Oak Alley Plantation instead of the Laura Plantation. A great trip other than the culinary disappointment that is Cajun food (ugh).

Second quarter 2012 travel preview: Amsterdam, Portland, OR, and Glacier National Park

Success In Your Career

I've had the opportunity lately to offer some career coaching to others in our industry and I've really enjoyed the experience. I don't promise to offer all the answers to success but I can speak to what has worked for me that I've identified as potentially reproducible in your career planning to obtain your desired outcomes. I've transitioned from one industry (counseling and mental health services) into a completely different field (IT Consulting) during the course of my career and there are several specific skills I have honed and principles I have embraced that afforded me the ability to identify, pursue, and "win" opportunities that have come before me.

General Tips for Career Success:

1. KNOW WHAT YOU VALUE. Self-discovery time. Figure out the qualities that are important to you with regard to job tasks, general industry/nature of the work, and work environment.

• For general industry give thought to the current and projected job market and market outlook for employers with regard to profit and viability in the industry.
• For nature of the work, give thought to task types and skill sets (research oriented, sales oriented, management oriented, technical oriented, customer facing or not, problem solving or tasklist checkoff oriented, independent work versus team based projects, etc).
• For work environment, give thought to work hours required and schedules, dress code, management style (authoritarian versus laissez faire, etc).
• You don't have to box yourself into one specific picture for all of these areas, but at least be able to identify clear preferences and a ranking system in your mind so that if you had to weigh 2 jobs against each other (which paid equally and had similar benefits)  you could do so without a lot of hand wringing.

2. KNOW YOUR VALUE TO OTHERS. Cultivate an expertise as rapidly as you can that is tied into your "what you want" list from above. Maybe you want to be the go-to guy on X technology. Or maybe you want to be the one everyone comes to on business development and pre-sales and proposals and contract negotiations. Or an expert on insert something important here.

3. BE ABLE TO CLEARLY EXPRESS WHAT YOU VALUE AND YOUR VALUE TO OTHERS. Work on your presence. Practice articulating what you want clearly and confidently with sincerity and practice asking for it (versus hinting at it). Practice this outside of workplace contexts (with your friends, family, when dealing with service folks where you are the customer, etc) and you will get better and better at it. Practice managing your own brand and letting others see what you're good at (without doing so in a braggart, obnoxious, arrogant kind of way). Toastmasters is a great opportunity to work on your communication skills- especially the "ums" and "you knows" and "I mean" and other filler phrases people tend to lean on a lot.

Putting It All Together- A Practice Example:

A peer who does work similar to yours on another project or for another team leaves the job. Their role is a lot like your current role but more desirable because of fill in the blank here on why you want the role. Following the general principles above, how might this play out successfully for you? Column A and B show the general steps in a successful "close" (that's sales speak for the customer agreeing to buy what you're selling). Column C and D show these steps applied specifically to our scenario.

Seller	Buyer	You	Hiring Manager
Polite greetings and hellos		Good morning (insert Mgr of vacant position's name here), hope you are doing well today.
	Polite greetings and hellos		Likewise. How are you?
State the problem		I'm doing great, thanks for asking. Listen, I've heard that X has left their position. I'm sure their stack of work in progress is waiting to be delegated.
	*listens*		Yes. It looks like we may just shift their workload onto the remaining project members to save some money, especially as we don't have a candidate lined up right now.
Ask for buy-in/confirm the problem		Yeah, I hear you. I'm sure it's a bit stressful for the rest of the team who are going to be asked to pick up the slack now that you're down a person.
	Confirms or clarifies		Yes, but the economy is crap,so we are just plugging holes the best we can.
State the solution: 1. clear expression of the proposed solution 2. testimonials or evidence with CONFIDENCE 3. provide win-win 4. CLOSE the deal: ask for what you want		1. My understanding of X's role is that the task list is quite similar to the kind of work I've been handling for the company so far. I've really enjoyed these sorts of tasks and I'd like to pitch in and take on some of the workload for your project. My preference is to take on the role and title that X held, but I'm also amenable to staying put where i'm at working under (insert name of mgr) while taking on this additional work if HR can't find the funding right now to staff X's role with a full time replacement. 2. I've become quite familiar with the regulatory requirements, customer specs, and day to day procedures from doing this kind of work on my project. As (insert name of my manager) can confirm, (insert list of significant accomplishments here. VERY important to list anything you've done that has actually saved the company money, landed a new customer, furthered market share, etc). 3. Regardless of how we need to structure this with HR with regard to me stepping into the position formally or just taking on a portion of the tasks, this could help temper the onslaught of work to be reassigned to your already busy team and provide me with more in depth exposure to this area of our business. 4. Would that work for you and your team? What do I need to do to facilitate the process of taking on this workload? What's the next step here?
	Yes/no/delay("maybe")		Sounds great! Let me check with HR and get the ball rolling. OR: I think that sounds great in theory but we may need to default to the option you mentioned of just taking on part of the work now. Or: That's not really going to work out for us, we don't have funds to staff the role now full time right now, and company/customer doesn't allow us to task members outside of the role/team with our project work.
If no or delay, overcome objections if applicable; for yes, thanks and well wishes		If he says yes: GREAT, thank you, and I'll follow up with the next steps you've mentioned. If he says taking on some of their workload is the only option, then express thank you and that you're ok with this if its the only option and that you'll be bringing it up at your performance review time to demonstrate your commitment to meeting the company's business goals. if he says no outright to either option, express thanks and understanding and immediately ask for suggestions on what's the best way to position yourself as a candidate for their dept so that when a role does become available you'll be able to slide into it.
	Yes/no/delay("maybe")/thanks and well wishes		Mgr. responds to your questions if applicable and wishes you well.
Thanks and well wishes		Thank you again! I really appreciate your time.

Book Review: The Meat Free Monday Cookbook (British Cooking Gone Bad- (Very Very Bad)

 

0/5 stars.

This cookbook has helped me realize that what the common review and rating systems are missing is the ability to give a book negative stars.

Meat Free Monday Cookbook is like that sexy hipster fellow who talks smart and looks sharp but is pretty dull and lacking soul when you get him talking. To quote another reviewer from Amazon, "This is one of the most sensible (and appetizing) vegetarian cookbooks I have ever read". So as far as purchasing cookbooks for reading, hey, A+++. The problem results when you attempt to actually cook something from the book. I am pretty skilled in the kitchen and every single recipe I have made from tMFM Cookbook has been bland and just beyond the pale of yuck.  I was finally driven to write this angry review after making the meatless ale pie concoction (from the winter menu section). It was so disgusting that those of us who were unfortunate enough to take the first bites gave into our instinct to spit it out full stop immediately. And now we are going out to dinner, but because I care about you considerably dear reader I am taking a moment to write this review RIGHT NOW before we head out the door.

Book Review: The Light Between Oceans

En route to Thailand last month I had a chance to read a number of books and The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Steadman was the best of them all.

Stedman draws the reader in with a captivating love story between two unlikely characters and keeps our attention with her pleasant pacing and beautiful narrative. This is an emotional, gut wrenching tale of a devoted husband and wife isolated on a small island; their joys and sorrows kept private from the faraway lives of strangers until circumstances set them on a collision course with sin, heartache and deception. This is a story where there truly are no bad characters to root against but only anguish in knowing that no matter how it ends,  someone who doesn’t deserve it is going to be devastated and the lives of everyone who loves them will be altered forever.

I couldn’t put this book down and I cried so deeply so many times during the read. Some books speak to the soul and this is one of them. Anyone who has lost a child or yearned for a child of their own will find Steadman’s debut novel especially moving.

Sweet and Nutty Turkey Pizza

---adapted from Oxygen magazine ---

Alright, I know this recipe seems very strange at first glance but it's actually fantastic!

One 16 inch pizza dough (I like to use the recipe from The Professional Chef, but use whatever you like)

one half cup freshly made cranberry sauce

mozzarella cheese

2 cups arugula (rocket)

2 cups shredded turkey breast

one half cup carrot, shredded

one quarter cup diced fresh tomatoes

one half cup walnuts or pecans

Oven to 375 degrees. Spread sauce over dough after stretching or rolling it out onto pizza stone. top with the toppings listed & bake 15 to 20 minutes. Yum!

BERRY CHEESECAKE PANCAKES

---adapted from Oxygen magazine ---

Ready in 10 minutes - Makes 5 pancakes

1/3 c. nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt
1/4 c. low-fat cottage cheese
1/8 c. vanilla whey protein powder
1/8 c. coconut flour
1/4 c. rolled quick oats
1 whole egg
1/4 c. skim milk
Pulverize all ingredients together in blender. Once blended, stir in:
1/4 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen)
Cook pancakes on skillet that has been coated in cooking spray. Cook on a slightly lower heat that you would with normal pancakes and cook a little longer.