It's Friday night, it must be time for kettle corn
I swear I am addicted to the stuff!
In a heavy bottom pan, stir together 3
TBL olive oil, 3
TBL sugar, and 1/2 a cup of
popcorn kernels. Set over medium heat, and pop, shaking occasionally, until the popping slows down. Remove from heat, but let set a few minutes so any last
kernels can pop and it crisps up. You'll
probably scorch some to the bottom but who cares? Salt liberally because popcorn without lots of salt is like sex without an orgasm.
Pork Vindaloo in the crockpot.Ada
Adapted ( rather loosely) from the Joy of Cooking
Heat your crock pot to high. Cut about 3
ish pound of pork into chunks. Toss them in. Drizzle with a little olive oil- if you're making this dish, you don't care about fat anyway. Chop an onion and toss it in. Toss in all the following, then stir it all up and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 7-8:
a few
TBl garlic
3
TBL grated ginger
about 3
TBL curry powder
2 tsp cumin
about 1 tsp each of
cardamon, cloves, and cinnamon
1 can tomato paste.
Bread machine Naan
By request- this recipe is adapted from "The Barbecue Bible" by Steve
RaichlenCombine in bowl of bread machine:
4 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
1 egg
2 1/2 tsp yeast
about 1
TBL olive oil
about 1
TBL sugar or honey
about 1 cup warm water
Start processing and
watch closely to see if it will need more water. It may need up to a cup more. Allow dough cycle to finish. Remove and cut into gold ball size pieces. If you don't have access to a grill ( the best way to make them, but don't ask me how, Brian does that) heat up a cast iron skillet to medium hot. If you have more than one, it will go faster. Cook on each side about 2-4 minutes, or until it bubbles and brown spots start to form. Try to make them last until supper.
Lost Boys : The Tribe
When I was a teenager, I was obsessed with "Lost Boys" I watched it several times a week and could recite it the way I can recite Princess Bride. What was not to love...it had
Keifer Sutherland, both
Coreys, the
awesomest Doors song ever, and a buff shirtless guy playing a sax. And vampires. So when I read that a SEQUEL had been made, I was off to add it to my
Netflix queue.This movie has Angus Sutherland, a Corey,a song by some group I have never heard of, and a shirtless guy
playing a sax who really needed a muumuu. And vampires that made those in "30 Days of night " look like neat, polite eaters. They at least had the sense to include "Cry Little Sister" ( redone, of course) and some lines from the original about the death throes of vampires. As so often happens, the sequel epically failed to live up to the original.
When you teach your kids a dead language
they are going to insult their siblings in a dead language, then have to write apologetic notes like this.
Some thoughts on faith and evolution
the marriage of which has been on my mind lately.
I drew my own conclusions on this matter when I was about 9. I had been fascinated by paleontology since the age of 5, but had been told by my opinionated great aunt (
Godresthersoul) I could not believe in the evolutionary science portrayed in those books and still be a good Christian.
Geekily enough, it was during an episode of Doctor Who that I has my epiphany. It was the 5
th Doctor episode "Four to Doomsday", and when
Tegan ( was it
Tegan) wanted to know why the megalomaniac frog alien guy wanted to go back tot eh beginning of time, The Doctor replies, "he thinks he'll meet himself. He thinks he's God". Ding! Though it may not have been the intent of the writers, but it was the first time I had been presented with that concept- God there at the time of the Big Bang, rather then a literal interpretation of the Genesis account. Of course, countless Great Thinkers had come to that conclusion before me, but remember where I grew up. From there, I was able to smoothly integrate my faith and science.
So the issue has come up recently from several fronts. Darwin's 200
th birthday
encroaches, and the Lutheran magazine had a wonderful article about how we as Lutherans can embrace the miracle of evolution, and celebrate Darwin's contribution ( wish I could link it to
you, but you have to be a paying subscriber to view online. bah) I posted a similar article on my
Facebook, which sparked some interesting discussions. This
coincided with Matthew's confirmation class studying the
Creation story in Genesis, with assigned discussion on whether you ( parents and student) believe in evolution, and if you, how you marry that to your faith. Matthew, Brian and I s
hare very much the same view- the "days" in Genesis are not literal 24 hour periods, but eras/ epochs; The Bible is a religious book, not a science text, and should not be treated as one; science explains how, faith explains why. I was pleased to see the post class handout expressed much the same sentiments ( though it does not actually suggest whether one should or should not believe in evolution. Lutherans are very big on "read for yourself, decide for yourself)
I am sure I will be continuing my thoughts in this- I have placed many books on the subject on hold at the library, as I like to be an informed
discusser of things.
I need to get the hang of Tuesdays
because today was NOT good.
First off I have to say a public thank you to Matthew. He did not drive me crazy today. He was helpful. Thank you.
Olivia and Andrew however....
Olivia has been doing well at getting her schoolwork done this year- she often gets up early, when Brian leaves for work, and starts working then. Unless there is some kind of essay writing involved, which has led to me highlighting those things on her weekly lesson plan sheets. She got most of her work done early ( good) but it seems she got bored while I was in the shower and she was at the table with Andrew. ( She did not HAVE to be at the table with Andrew).
Who, I must say, has done his schoolwork in a timely manner ONCE this year. Not that he can't do it, he doesn't want to.
And when I came out of the shower ( still in my bathrobe, mind) there were wads of wet paper all over. I didn't ask, just made them clean it all up and took away Doctor Who and game time.
I was all the more stressed because we had to get our for
homeschool dance- both are in ballet and jazz, ( though Olivia wants to drop ballet and Andrew wants to drop jazz- I am making them tough it out at least until costume deposits are due, and hopefully they will not want to drop anything at that point). Andrew has tap tonight. So Tuesdays are pretty busy. I did not get any subjects I had to teach in today. Since I also don't on the two Weds I teach MOPS, I am stressing about that. There is just so much that needs to get done! I may have to start getting up earlier, by about an hour, on Tuesdays.
So I have already had chocolate twice, two walks, once alone and once with kids, and I am still feeling very stressed. I have told the younger two if they come in I am giving them more schoolwork- really, this is not the way you're supposed to feel when you choose to
homeschool our kids, but I really need them to be not in my face right now. I know later I will be grateful once we get our weeks in order, and things are working.
Blame it on the menstrual (men, you've been warned)
It's the next to the last day of our first week of school, and I have been pretty bitchy. The first two days went off without a hitch, so no good reason. Except- my period came, about a week before I was expecting it. Great. I can hope this weirdness is the beginning of the end, but most of the lady friends I have talked to have said that means I have about a decade to go. Remind me why I don;t get surgery again? Yes, it's the whole surgery aspect of surgery.
This has made dealing with Andrew today even more difficult. Not that it has been, in any way, easy. He has been in a mood, an "I don't want to do my work so I will will pretend I can't" mood. This would make me want to scream at the best times of the month. Of course he's well fed and hydrated-except that he keeps spilling water on his work. It's two and he's still doing math and Latin and I still have to do Grammar with him. I have gotten in less than 1/2 a row on the shawl I REALLY wanted to work on, and we haven't even had a walk yet. As you can imagine, no game time.
On the good hand though- a dear friend got the miracle of keeping her wonderful house. So many people have been praying hoping, meditating, candle lighting-and this miracle happened. Thank you.
Oh, and yeah? Tonight, orientation for new confirmation students. Already. Really.
