Our Small Group Meeting

We had a great night of discussion with our small group. We had 10 people, including Brad and I. I made some cupcakes as well. They were dark chocolate with buttercream and I topped them with bright blue sprinkles. This dark chocolate cake recipe is one I've used so many times, it's one of my favorites.

We got on a discussion later in the evening concerning Luke 4:28-30.
Jesus speaks in the synagogue in His hometown and reveals that he has fulfilled a prophesy. The crowd gets all riled up and you can read below what happens:
28) All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29) They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30) But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
I've always just thought that since this wasn't the time, place or method for Jesus to die, the people were miraculously subdued and Jesus passed through the crowd and went on His way. One person from last night's group said he had thought Jesus made Himself invisible and walked through the crowd to avoid the uprising. I mean, to me, the scripture could go either way. It made for an interesting conversation for sure. The word "through" is another of one our languages ambiguous terms. In later scriptures, after Jesus' resurrection, He "walks through" a wall. But He can also "walk through" a crowd, which doesn't mean he passes through a person, necessarily. It's debatable, for sure and I may need to find a reference that relates to the Greek language, concerning this passage for further insight.

Something else we spoke on at the end of the discussion was something Jack (our teaching pastor) had said. "I need to view myself as God sees me, not as I see myself". Um, okay, that shouldn't be too hard :rolls eyes: . I can be very negative and hard on myself, because I know what goes on in my head, I know the emotions I have, I know the things I say and do. I know that God understands, fully, those things as well, but He still trusts that I can carry out His will and make a representation of His Son to the world. That's a very heavy idea for me. It's humbling, for sure, but also frustrating. How can I do it?
To follow Christ is an ongoing experience. From the initial acceptance to our final breath, we undergo a continuous process. We are always learning, always sharpening, always growing. At least, we should. I do have lulls in my life where I feel as if I've hit a plateau, but the desire is always there to be more and do better. I want to make my Father proud. I don't think I've quite done that yet, overall. I know I have done things in His name, for His purpose and given Him the glory for it. Those things do make Him proud. But I've also displayed a rotten attitude, and abandoned compassion for others. This must disappoint Him.
I don't really know what He sees, exactly. So I'm not sure where to go with this one.
I do know that I can take this from that statement: I should see other people, the way God sees them. Because I know myself, it's difficult to imagine what a perfect God would view, but I can estimate His perspective on someone else, if that makes sense. I think keeping that in focus would create a different relationship dynamic in my life. I'm still there in completely understanding all this, but like I said it is a process. Time itself does not make progress, but it is God working in my life as I receive the grace to accept it and put it into practice.

In other news, I am making a new meal tonight: Vegetable Lasagna Rolls. Brad and I are going to visit some friends of ours who have recently welcomed their first child into the world. I'm looking forward to seeing them. I hope the dish turns out great. If it does, I will post the recipe.

My not-so-great-but-restful day

I've been having some sinus problems this week. I don't know if it is allergy related or what? My headache got pretty bad last night so I did what any other person would have done. I took two NyQuil caplets and went to bed. I'm embarrassed to say what time I got out of bed today. I did get up early to let the pups out and I left a voice mail with my director to say I was taking a sick day. I don't know if it was the medicine or the allergies itself but I was really weak and achy today.

I did get the kitchen cleaned and took a great hot shower. Now I've spent quite a few hours watching the Food Network and catching up on other blogs and such. I meant to do some reading while I had down time, but I'm just not in the mood. I don't really want to think, just chill.

Right now I'm watching Ina Garten's BareFoot Contessa. Next to Good Eats, it's my favorite show in this culinary channel. She's just....well, fabulous. I'd love to live one week in her shoes. You know, live in the Hampton's, cook with herbs out of my garden, shop at the expensive seafood markets and cook for my friends every day.

I guess I'll have to stick with what I have now.

So, anyway, all this food watching has me thinking of a list of items I need to better my kitchen.

My next purchase will be this food scale:

Soehnle Model Scale 65055

For only $29 I think it'll be a great purchase.

I also need:

a citrus zester

a food processor

salad spinner

some new sharp knives would be awesome too.

In a little while I'll leave for my nephew's kindergarten graduation. I hope my sister can make it though the ceremony. She's been a basket case all week because of it. It's hard to believe that the baby is going to the first grade.

Well that's it folks, I'm going to revert back to my couch potato status now.

Fresh Prince says It's Summuh Summuh Time!!!

The bunny and I are very excited that it's summer time. If you don't understand its caption, bunny is saying, "I has a lettuce". Since its mouth is full, bunny can't speak clearly. It's adorable, isn't it?
I love summer weather, summer vacations, summer fashions and most of all summer produce.
It's the time of year to browse the local farmer's markets for local fruits and vegetables. My favorites right now are crispy salads with loads of goodies.

Please don't make a salad with just one type of lettuce, but mix up the colors. The darker the color, the richer the vitamins. I love to mix green leaf lettuce, red lettuce and baby greens. It's also tasty to add a few raisins, slivered almonds, cucumber, black olive and grape tomatoes. I've recently discovered a delicious vinagrette recipe. It's orange balsamic, it includes: orange zest, orange juice, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, dried basil, salt and pepper. It is delicious! It's a little strong, so it doesn't take much, which is good.
I went fishing with Brooke, Dad and the kids the other weekend. Tommy, Mikayla and Mr. Curtis (the owner of the pond) caught bass and brim. Dad cooked them for us and man, was it good. My favorite way to eat any type of fish is to marinate it with a citrus of any type (lemon, lime or orange) fresh herbs and some montreal seasoning. They need to be grilled. It's the best.

My favorite fish right now are Red Snapper and Salmon. However I do like many others. I'm currently discovering that I do, in fact, like fish and am trying different types. For the longest time I had convinced myself that I don't like it. I am still picky with it, but I try to consume fish at least 2 times a week. In the summer it's so much more fun because Brad and I like to grill at this time of year the most.
As far as vegetables go, I'll eat just about any of them. I love to stick them on skewers for the grill, steam them or sautee. I made a great concoction the other night: cabbage, squash, zucchini and onion. I chopped those up, put them in my wok with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika; so tasty!
Now when someone talks about their favorite summer foods, I immediately think of fruit. I also like just about any type of fruit.

Bananas, apple and strawberries are always on stock at the Hill house. However I also like to buy mango, peaches and pineapples. Strangely enough, I LOVE the taste of an orange, but I find them too messy to eat. I mainly use them in recipes instead of simply sitting down with a knife and an orange.
It's good that summer produce is so good, therefore I find myself wanting more fresh vegetables, lean meats and fruit and wanting less of oats, pastas and breads. Conveniently, most people want to be leaner in the hotter time of the year.

Cooking and such

My fajitas yesterday turned out well. I steamed chicken breast, seasoned with chili powder. Then I cut them into bite size pieces, sautteed with green peppers and onions. I added ground cumin and juice of half a lime. We put that in a flour tortilla with some salsa. I liked them. It would have been better if I had some black beans, avacado and sour cream, though. Ah well.



I tried to bake some Mahi Mahi filets last night, but as soon as they started to cook I knew I had to throw it out. It smelled way too fishy. I need to buy some more salmon. Brad and I are trying to eat more fish through the week and so far I know we like salmon and red snapper. Red snapper is more expensive, but is so worth it! I can tolerate tilapia, but I heard they were bottom dwellers. I'll need to look into that.



I found a great recipe for brown rice by Alton Brown. I'm never making my rice a different way again! It turned out perfect:

Baked Brown Rice

1 1/4 cup brown rice (med or long grain)

2 1/2 cups water

1 tbs butter

1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a pan, boil water, butter and salt. Pour hot mixture over rice in a glass baking dish. Mix and cover with tin foil. Bake for an hour. Fluff with a fork, and serve. You can also add garlic instead of salt and herbs bake nicely in this too.



Brad bought me a bamboo steamer for Valentine's Day. The other week I put some salmon filets marinated in a citrus vinaigrette on the lower rack, and squash, carrot and onion on the top rack. Man, it turned out fantastic! Oh wait, I had green beans in there too.



I'm glad it's warm again because I've been craving some good berries. Strawberries are my favorite, then blackberries and raspberries. I love blueberries in things, but not by themselves. It's so much better shopping for food now that it's warm; especially at mom n pop stands.



I'm going to Anna and Anthony's new house tonight for dinner. She's making a dish that is something like a chicken and tomato stew served over rice. She's using the baked brown rice recipe that I posted. They brought home two kittens from the shelter today; I can't wait to play with them! I'm bringing dessert...Breyer's Natural Peach Ice Cream.