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Cake Day

Saturday night Sarah and I hung out with Jeni and a bunch of her friends for the second annual Cake Day. What is Cake Day you ask? It's the fourth Saturday in September and it serves as an excuse to bake a cake. This isn't just any cake though, it's an excuse to bake an exceptional cake - decorated to the best of your abilities. Jeni decided that we needed a new holiday in September because there really aren't any holidays that warrant a special cake except for birthdays. Saturday was a lot of fun - there were a lot of people and five different cakes. Jeni even made a butterfly cake. 

Junior League Cookbooks

I'm a huge fan of Junior League cookbooks. I think they contain some of the best recipes available. They also contain great examples of regional food. I try to pick one up anytime I'm travelling someplace new. When we were in Savannah, GA a few years ago we got Southern Style which is the Savannah Junior League cookbook. It kicks things off with a punch recipe that measures ingredients by the gallon - alcoholic ingredients no less. I don't think I'll have occassion to make a spiked punch for 200, but if I need to the ladies of Savannah have given me the recipe.

It's starting to feel like fall here in Springfield and the raininess of Sunday made me think of soup. One of my favorite soups is the Stuffed Spud Soup from The Bess Collection - the Independence, MO JSL cookbook (named for Bess Truman). This soup is amazingly easy it consists of butter, green onion, frozen hashbrowns, cream of chicken soup, milk, and then is served with fresh parsley and cheddar cheese. Matt & Meredith brought a salad to go with the the soup and fresh bread. We enjoyed dinner and the Amazing Race season premier. Good times. 

 

New Bible Study - Hebrews

This week we'll most likely be kicking off the first week of real content in the hebrewsONLINE Bible study at Schweitzer. The introduction was posted last week, but nobody could sign up until Thursday so we may let the intro sit for a second week. This study is a real experiment for us. First, it's completely online - we'll be posting a short teaching video each week and doing discussion in a forum. Second, it's the first Bible study I've written that has a main audience of adults. I wrote a couple back when I was doing youth ministry, but a weekly walk through Hebrews targetted at adults is a different beast.

My retreat to Assumption Abbey last week was part of the kick-off. I shot the segments for the introduction and Hebrews 1 and got Hebrews 2-3 scripted and Hebrews 4 researched.  

I'm really excited about the possibility of building a community within this study that is made up of people both at Schweitzer and those that aren't (or are loosely affiliated with Schweitzer). The study is open to anybody and expanding our discipleship efforts to those who might not walk into our building is one of the major goals.

Arrrgh, it be talk like a pirate day

So go about yer business as normal, but throw in lots of Arrrrrghs, Avast, and of course you shouldn't say yes, you should say "Aye", for added fun talk about your food coming from the bung hole.

Take this quiz:
You are The Cap'n!

Some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some slit the throats of any man that stands between them and the mantle of power. You never met a man you couldn't eviscerate. Not that mindless violence is the only avenue open to you - but why take an avenue when you have complete freeway access? You are the definitive Man of Action. You are James Bond in a blousy shirt and drawstring-fly pants. Your swash was buckled long ago and you have never been so sure of anything in your life as in your ability to bend everyone to your will. You will call anyone out and cut off their head if they show any sign of taking you on or backing down. You cannot be saddled with tedious underlings, but if one of your lieutenants shows an overly developed sense of ambition he may find more suitable accommodations in Davy Jones' locker. That is, of course, IF you notice him. You tend to be self absorbed - a weakness that may keep you from seeing enemies where they are and imagining them where they are not.

What's Yer Inner Pirate?
brought to you by The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site. Arrrrr!

Google Maps Bible Locations

I got this from Matt Singley and thought it was incredibly cool. Ever wondered how Bible locations fit in the modern world? Here's Google Maps to help you out. Google Maps Bible Location Mashup.

Fire & Ice

Friday night we joined Steve & Tammy Kirks and Greg Holman for a happy hour at Hickok's. During the course of the time there we goaded Chris into creating a drink for the table with suggestions of 417 bartender of the year. He came up with what is now being called "The Steve" which was quite good - a modified Rum Runner with whiskey. The base rules were 4 ingredients, no vodka, and whiskey. Chris did add a fifth ingredient - grenadine - for a splash of color. The drink was quite good. I'll be doing some experiements soon to get exact proportions for a recipe. The goal is for The Steve to be the popular new drink.

Leaving Hickok's we went to Fire & Ice which is located in the Oasis hotel at the north side of town. A lot of money has gone into restoring what was once a run-down facility and the decor is great. The bar at Fire & Ice also includes the only ice bar in the city - a strip of super chilled metal that will keep your drink cold. The food is  exceptional with good prices something we noticed  when Sarah and I went there during restaurant week. With a second visit Fire & Ice didn't disappoint. We intoduced The Steve to the bartender there and everybody ordered different food and then we sampled around the table.

Tammy had the cashew chicken skewers. I'm not a fan of cashew chicken and these were great. The chef at Fire and Ice is related to the man who invented cashew chicken and it's not shocking that this is better than anyplace else in town - I'm going to have go back when I can get a full order, not just the skewers (on Wednesdays I think). 

Steve ordered meatloaf which was made with pork, beef, and chorizo. It's served with a side of mashed potatoes and a vegetable. The chorizo adds a great spicy flavor. I'm going to have to try adding it to my smoked meatloaf recipe.

Sarah ordered crab cakes - her standard appetizer. We've had crabcakes just about everywhere and these were good but nothing to write home about. The sauces with the crab cakes were more unique than the cakes themselves.

I had the empandas - spicy beef baked into a pocket pie with a spicy dough. I was originally concerned about them being beef, but ordered them anyway. I wasn't expecting them to be spicy which was a great surprise. I also had a side of their great garlic mashed potatoes.

Greg ordered a duck napoleon and the crab and corn bisque. The presentation of the napoleon was great - duck meat, a salsa, and quacamole all layered between crispy pastry (possibly fried tortilla?). The duck was colder than I would have liked - room temperature would have been better than chilled. The crab and corn bisque was outstanding. It was rich and creamy with significant flavor from both the crab and the corn. Often places will go heavy on one which overshadows the other - not the case.

Overall it was a great evening with friends. Fire and Ice will get more visits in the future despite it's location in north Springfield. 

Simplicity

It's been more than a month since my last post. There's not much excuse for it other than I've been busy. The last month has been an insane sprint to prepare things for this fall at Schweitzer, get our new Saturday night worship service off the ground (it had a great start on the 9th), and help clean up some staffing issues at Educara.

Part of my insanity has been the recent campaign we've been doing at Schweitzer for the fall sermon series about distractions. We've had 10 billboards a month with 4 different images of a guy in a gorilla suit that direct people to AreYouDistracted.com. The other part of the campaign has been the video podcast of the gorilla - schweitzerumc.org/gorilla. We got the idea from the sex campaign that Granger did last spring.

 

This campaign has been a lot of fun and we're still producing gorilla videos for the web site and use in worship. Some of those may get posted to the web site, but most will just be used at our worship services. I haven't done busy video production in a long time and putting together location shots then editing a 60-90 second video each week has been considerably more work than I remembered. Most of them have involved several cameras and the guy in the gorilla suit.

Saturday night went amazingly well. We had 165 people in attendance many of whom are not regular  Schweitzer attendees and several first-time visitors. We're really focusing on making the Saturday night experience something that is comfortable for people without a church family. 

I left yesterday after church for the drive to Assumption Abbey - a monastery about 20 miles SE of Ava, MO. They have a satellite network  connection and it's fairly good so far. I'll be here until Wednesday morning recharging and doing some research/writing for the Bible study I'm leading this fall. The grounds are nice, my room is simple (but everything I need), there is no cell phone coverage, and the network is only available in the library (so I'm connected on my terms). Yesterday was great I got here, took a nap, took a walk, went to a prayer and meditation service, went to dinner, did some reading and went to bed. Today is for Hebrews research and writing. I'm planning on going to the service at 11:45 before lunch and then maybe a walk this afternoon before I write up the morning's reading. I'm feeling much more grounded already.

There is a lot of value to taking a few days for simplicity - reading, relaxation, prayer, and a healthy amount of sleep.