Fettuccini Carbonara

Spaghetti Carbonara was probably my favorite meal growing up. I remember my father would always fry the bacon. On the few occasions he attempted to do the whole meal by himself, all the bacon ended up clumped at the bottom of the pot =P. So this dish is simliar, with fettuccini instead of spaghetti, and a little bit more of a sauce. The traditional meat to use in carbonara is actually guanciale, which is unsmoked pig cheek. Yummy.

Chicken Farfalle with a Creamy Cheese Sauce

I was having trouble deciding what call this. The chicken and the farfalle(bowtie pasta) were pretty straightforward, but what about the sauce? My last food post mentioned that I had delayed a recipe because it had heavy cream in it. This is it. So it's similar to an alfredo sauce, but I'm feeling reluctant to call it such. First off I found out that the original alfredo didn't have any cream in it at all, it was simply butter and cheese. Secondly, the only cheese in alfredo is parmesan. Since I have had both success and failure with these kinds of sauces before, I decided to ditch the pure parmesan in favor of a mixture of cheeses that I thought would melt easier. The results were very satisfactory. The sauce thickened beautifully with only the cheese, though I had cornstarch standing by, and by the end I was liberally licking it off the spatula. With a pint of heavy cream, several tablespoons of butter, and 6 oz. of cheese, it probably took a year off my life, but it tasted good.

Canticle of the Turning

“Among times there is a time that turns a corner and everything this side of it is new” –Tinidril (Perelandra) – C.S. Lewis

Traditionally I’ve always thought the Christmas season was just too long. I’m not sure when it started, but at some point I began to figure that more than a month was too much. I just didn’t get why it deserved to be commemorated so long. From my point of view, it seemed silly to celebrate the birth of Christ without celebrating his death. Yet it seemed we had a whole month just celebrating His arrival, an event I saw taking most of its meaning from the fact that it was necessary to lead to the cross. Basically, lent made sense to me, while advent did not. I didn’t think we needed both.

This year however, my thinking has been reversed, thanks in a large part to C.S. Lewis. I’ve been convinced that my previous characterizations had been based on a view that was not big enough. From an Earthly point of reference, it’s easy to see how the Resurrection might seem to trump the birth of Christ. His birth is, by worldly standards, admittedly miraculous, angels filling up the sky, stars flying through the heavens, and of course the virgin birth. But the end is something we’ve all see before, a crying baby. Even the most radical element of it, the virgin birth, yields a familiar occurrence, a pregnant women who will give birth after 9 months. The fact that we’ve removed a condition that was necessary for the event to occur is often just classed as kind of strange. I had never thought of it as one of God’s great miracles.

The Resurrection on the other hand is a stunning reversal the primary constant of life. From our Earthly reference frame this is completely revolutionary, a man was dead, in the grave, and now he’s walking around. This is something you can’t miss, something you can’t forget. It was this thinking that led me to the idea that Jesus’ death overshadows his birth in importance.

But thanks to Lewis, I saw I needed to take one more step back and observe both the Natural and the Supernatural, instead of just gauging the impact on the former. In this sense the Resurrection loses most of its clout. A great miracle to be sure, but Jesus wasn’t the first man to be raised from the dead. What made it different? The fact that He was God. The same thing happens with His death. Common by any standard, it draws its significance from the fact that He had led a sinless life. How was that possible if every man was bound to sin? Because he was not just a man, He was God. We seem to be going somewhere here. Heading back towards his birth, the angels, stars, and even the virginity of Mary at conception is nothing really ground-breaking from our new reference frame. God could have done all that for any child he wished. What makes this one so special? He was God.

With our new point of view, everything seems to be pointing back to one event, the Incarnation of Christ. All of the miracles of the Gospels derive their meaning from this happening. And how does this occurrence look from our new frame? Well you can tell me. The omnipotent, omniscient, timeless, necessary being, creator of all that is, self-existent in His own right, epitome of beauty, embodiment of justice, essence of love, manifested himself in a human nature to do what no other human could, for the purpose of redeeming His creation that was in constant rebellion to Him. Now that is beyond revolutionary. When you have the broader point of view you start to see that the story isn’t about you. It’s about Him, from beginning to end.

The Incarnation of Christ is so fundamental, so earth-shattering, so far-reaching, that everything in the universe points to this one event. At Genesis 3:15 we’re already looking forward to it, and at Revelation 22:14 we’re still looking back. The monks made no mistake when they chose the birth of Christ to be the benchmark by which we measure time. Lewis allegorically refers to it as the “corner of time” in his novel Perelandra. I think it’s the perfect label. So much more eloquent than “turning point”, it suggests that things are completely different, perpendicular, ninety degrees off. The Incarnation is the climax of a meta-narrative that has been being written since time began. When I came to this realization I could only use one word to describe it, beautiful, utterly beautiful. It is as if every sunrise, every symphony, every mountain range, every meteor shower, every child’s laugh, is an attempt to reflect how excessively beautiful what He has done from beginning to end is.

So what does this have to do with the Christmas song “Canticle of the Turning”? We sang this song for our advent celebration at church today, and each of the four stanzas has a reference to the world turning. I just love it because it picks up on what I’ve just been talking about, that the birth of Christ is center of all history. The song itself is from Mary’s point of view, taking text from the Magnificat, found in Luke 1:46-55. The lyrics are different from what you might expect in Christmas song, “Let the fires of your justice burn!” But put yourself in Mary’s shoes. Gabriel shows up and tells her that she will have a son that will reign on the throne of David. So Mary is thinking of the Davidic covenant, that his kingdom would last forever, and of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the stone that grew into a mountain. With the Jews under Roman rule, you might imagine what she first thought her son might be like.

Moreover, old testatment prophecy predicts the coming of Christ as well as his judgment and the times after it. The text in the song picks up on that as well. At this point Mary may be thinking that her son would be a ruling King. If so, she’s not wrong, she just doesn’t realize that God has an older covenant to fulfill first, the Abrahamic one, the promise that he would be a blessing to all nations. And luckily for all of us, God has been spending a long time allowing the full number of gentiles to come in.

But without further ado, my favorite Christmas song for this year:

Canticle of the Turning

My soul cries out with a joyful shout that the God of my heart is great, and my spirit sings of the wondrous things that you bring to the ones who wait. You fixed your sight on your servant's plight, and my weakness you did not spurn. So from east to west shall your name be blest. Could the world be about to turn?

My heart shall sing of the day you bring. Let the fires of you justice burn. Wipe away all the tears, for the dawn draw near, and the world is about to turn.

Though I am small, my God, my all, you work great things in me,And your mercy will last from the depths of the past to the end of the age to be. Your very name puts the proud to shame, and to those who would for you yearn, you will show your might, put the strong to flight, for the world is about to turn.

My heart shall sing of the day you bring. Let the fires of you justice burn. Wipe away all the tears, for the dawn draw near, and the world is about to turn.

From the halls of power to the fortress tower, not a stone will be left on stone. Let the king beware for your justice tears ev'ry tyrant from his throne.The hungry poor shall weep no more, for the food they can never earn;There are tables spread, ev'ry mouth be fed, for the world is about to turn.

My heart shall sing of the day you bring. Let the fires of you justice burn. Wipe away all the tears, for the dawn draw near, and the world is about to turn.

Though the nations rage from age to age, we remember who holds us fast: God's mercy must deliver us from the conqueror's crushing grasp.This saving word that our forebears heard is the promise which holds us bound, 'Til the spear and rod can be crushed by God, who is turning the world around.

Chicken Penne Italiano

I'm not really sure that title means much. All it tells you is that has chicken and penne in it, and is cooked somewhat Italian like? But it does sound pretty cool. Anyway, I was planning on making a different dish, but I decided that, from a health point of view, no matter how good it tasted, it may not be the best idea to have everything I cook contain 2 cups of heavy cream. So I ended up with this. Chicken and veggies sautéed then simmered in chicken broth and diced tomatoes with lots of exciting spices and cooked penne. I'll be the first to admit it doesn't have the rich, awe-inspiring depth of taste of something with a sauce made with heavy cream, but that doesn't mean a light taste can't be delicious. Plus the knowledge that what you're eating isn't going to plug up your arteries has to be worth something. And just look at all those pretty colors.

Beef Stroganoff

I love egg noodles. I'm not sure why. But the one thing I always remember eating over them is beef stroganoff. A lot of time the cheaper cuts of meat are used, but that often results in what was affectionately labeled when I was younger, "Long-chew meat." So when I saw sirloin kabobs on sale I figured it was the perfect opportunity. The worcestershire sauce and red-wine vinegar added to the sauce gave it a wonderfully tangy flavor. I thought it was fantastic. I could have eaten the whole thing in one night.

Chicken Penne Pasta

Beyond the fact that it was green, I knew pretty much nothing about pesto before today. A little bit of research quickly convinced me to forego trying to make it myself. Its deep green color comes from the large amount of fresh basil. This is crushed up with sea salt and pine nuts and turned into a cream, being finished with some olive oil and cheese. There was only one type of pesto at the store, but I was happy with the apparent quality. This dish itself is pretty simple, using whipping cream and pesto for the sauce. I added extra pesto just to make sure I could distinguish the flavor.

Turns out I didn't need to. The sauce had a strong basil flavor and an enjoyable nuttiness. Some sort of memory kicked it, so I know that I've had it before, I'm just not sure where. Given my general love for basil I'm going to look for some excuses to use it in the future. The jar suggested adding it to tuna salad, so I think I'll give it a shot.

Baked Ziti

How can anything with a pound each of pasta and Italian sasuage mixed with tomato sauce, sour cream, ricotta, and lots of cheese go wrong?

So why do I cook so much Italian style food? Well, aside from the obvious reason that I like flavor, there are several others:

1. You get to start every recipe by sauteing onions and garlic. (Note exception in last recipe)

2. Cheese is ubiquitous.

3. Just about every recipe contains pasta, which is filling but cheap.

4. Many of the recipes lend themselves decently to reheating. This recipe for example completely filled my 9 x 13 dish. That means I'm going to be eating it for the rest of the week.

Chicken Parmesan with Tomato Sauce over Linguine

Breading and baking chicken is such an easy way to generate great taste. Given the myriad of different options for coating, breading, sauce and what to serve over, there are probably thousands of different possibilities. This one dips the chicken in garlic butter and coats it in bread crumbs mixed with parmesan cheese and spices. This is also the first time in forever that I can remember where I didn't slice up an onion for a dish. However in defense of my insistence that all good recipes must contain onions, I'm sure that there was some kind of onion in the Italian style bread crumbs I was using.

Hamburger and other stuff

There are some dishes that have a delicate taste, and require very specific ingredients and precise methods. And then there are some that practically beg for improvisation. This meal is certainly one of the latter. Comfort food may mean different things to different people, but I think this dish always falls into the category. Warm, filling, robust, and easy to make lots of. This is actually one of the very few times I've bought parsley; I normally see it as an unnecessary garnish. But I splurged (an extra $0.99), and was delighted with how the green really complemented the rest of the colors.

Psalm 27

I believe I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
Psalm 27:13

This verse has been resonating inside my mind. For the past week my life has for various reasons, and in no uncertain terms, sucked. I’ve found myself unable to read anything in the Bible besides Psalm 27, which I’ve read over and over. I can’t be sure, but I imagine that this Psalm was written when David was hiding from Saul. Though David had been Saul’s greatest servant, the king now sought David’s life, forcing him to flee. Though David had multiple opportunities to kill Saul, or perhaps even lead a popular revolt against him, he would not do so because Saul was king by the edict of God. Instead he hid for years, betrayed by those who called themselves his friends, hunted by those he had risked his life for.

There were probably plenty of nights spent in caves where David wondered if God knew his cause, if He cared about him at all. Enter verse 10:

If my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will take me up.

At this point a lot of people had forsaken David, but he asserts that though his parents turn against him, God would not. This statement means the world to me. I cannot even think of a situation where my own parents would forsake me. But if it were to happen, no matter the circumstance that led to it, God would not turn against me, He would take me up. I can’t even fathom the depth of that concept, it’s just beyond me.

Armed with this belief, David, in his darkest hour, comes up with verse 13.

I believe I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

We know from the other Psalms that David has a keen understanding of the need for the hope of heaven, but this is different. David here is expressing hope for life on Earth, for what in the New Testament we’d call the abundant life. In a tough time, it’s easy to think, “Oh well life sucks right now, but one day in heaven it’ll all be better….” And that’s a true statement. But David doesn’t resort to that. Instead he insists that he will experience the goodness of the LORD while he is alive, that he will not spend the rest of his life fleeing from those who pursue him, that he will behold the beauty of LORD on this planet.

And how will he accomplish this? Verse 14:

Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

Now this doesn’t mean to sit around on your blessed assurance and wait for God to hand you the world. In David’s situation he was waiting for God to remove Saul from throne, and that was precisely what he was supposed to be doing. It’s a matter of doing the will of God, and then trusting and waiting for God to control the outcome. This situation is easily compared with Joseph while he was in prison. He was bringing glory to God where he was, while waiting for God to act. Neither of them were idle watchers of the work of God, but laborers in his fields. Life had placed them in hard circumstances, but they honored God where they were, and waited for Him to deliver them.

Now I suppose not many of us are in prison and or on the run, but we have the same God that David and Joseph did, the God that will not leave us, though the rest of the world would. So though life seems to suck, I believe I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Meatloaf

There comes a time in every man’s life where he realizes the presence of a void deep within. He then must begin his epic journey to find the one thing that fills the emptiness…meatloaf. There’s just something about biting into that thick slice of meaty goodness smothered in ketchup. It's a man's food.

It's one of those days. I don't have anything to say, anything worth saying. So I'll let another Aaron do the talking for me.

Give me words to Speak
- Aaron Shust

Calloused and bruised, dazed and confused
My Spirit is left wanting something more
Than my selfish hopes, and my selfish dreams
I’m lying with my face down to the floor
I’m crying out for more

Give me Words to speak
Don’t let my Spirit sleep
Cause I can’t think of anything worth saying
But I know that I owe You my life
So give me Words to speak
Don’t let my Spirit sleep

Every night, every day, I find that I have nothing I can say
So I stand here in silence awaiting Your guidance
I’m wanting only Your voice to be heard
Let them be Your Words

I just don’t understand this life that I’ve been living
I just don’t understand
I just don’t understand these lies I’ve been believing
I just don’t understand

Debate Rundown

Tonight was a Fox News GOP Debate. My thoughts on the candidates:

Fred Thompson sounded like he normally does, slow and bored. It’s no surprise his numbers have been tanking since he entered the race. Nobody wants a president who sounds like he’d rather be somewhere else.

John McCain looked and sounded tired. He’s been a great public servant for decades but I think he’s done. There’s so way he can make a surge without a lot more energy. He did however deliver the best quip of the night, railing against Hillary for supporting a one million dollar Woodstock Museum, saying he was sure it was a great event, but that he was tied up at the time.

There’s only one word I can use to describe Mitt Romney, plastic. It’s like all these Ivy League politicians are cut out of the same mold. I have this strange desire to try and rip a mask off his face to see what he really is. It’s possible he could be a great president. It’s possible he could be a terrible one. I really don’t know, because he seems so fake to me.

Rudy Giuliani did pretty well. I think Rudy would probably be a good president in the realm of national security and foreign policy. My problem is his social agenda, or lack of one. In particular if we end up with Rudy as president with a Democrat controlled congress, I’m afraid he won’t stand up to them on social issues, or even use them as bargaining chips in order to get his foreign policy though. He can say a thousand times how he hates abortion, but if he’s not willing to stand up to it, then what’s the point?

Ron Paul stands for what he believes and doesn’t hedge, and I can respect that. Unfortunately he stands for a lot of wrong things. He got a mixture of boos and cheers tonight. He’s doing much better than I anticipated in the polls, but he must know that a libertarian will never get the Republican nomination.

I always forget where Tommy Tancredo stands on illegal immigration, so….

Duncan Hunter? Meh.

Finally, Mike Huckabee. I thought Mike’s answers were great tonight, but like normal he just had too few of them. It took 22 minutes to get his first question, after the supposed “First Tier” got lots of camera time. Never mind that Mike is leading McCain in Iowa and tied with Fred. While the two big dogs of the “First Tier” are at each other’s throats, Mike made a great statement about not wanting to be part of the dogfight. That’s something I noticed about Huckabee a while back. He doesn’t launch vitriolic attacks against his comrades, and no one can find anything to say against him. He reminds me of Daniel, being above reproach. While Romney tries to explain his flip-flops and Giuliani talks about hating something but not being against it, Mike’s position on the issues that matter the most to me have always been clear.

It’s a shame that the evangelicals don’t unite behind this guy. I know why they don’t, they say he has no name recognition and can’t win against Hillary. But what are they going to do? The Republican field isn’t going to get any bigger, and they don’t want to support Mitt or Rudy. Moreover throwing all their weight behind a 3rd party candidate will put a Clinton back in the White House. Huckabee has a perfect record, plenty of experience, and a great disposition. He’s the man that is needed for this time in our nation. If they would just support him, he’d get his name recognition. There’s no reason to dawdle anymore. Perhaps the religious right needs to go back and read a story in 1 Samuel 17, or perhaps they need to read my post below, they may have forgotten just how big their God is.

Elevation

This morning I attended Elevation Church in Charlotte with some friends in the area I knew from Clemson. Though only two years old, Elevation is already hitting 2500-3000 people on a Sunday morning. Not having a building of their own, they meet in two separate high school auditoriums at five different times. Walking into it was like taking a trip back in time, back to my junior year in high school, when I walked into New Spring Community Church for the first time. New Spring was one of the churches I attended while at Clemson, and now is about 8 years old, with an average attendance 8500 or so. New Spring was just a few years old then, and probably had about the same attendance as Elevation. From the greeter gauntlet in the entrance, to the t-shirts worn by the volunteers, to the tables in the lobby selling books, cds, and nalgenes, to the ushers with flashlights, to the big projection screens, giant speakers, and blaring bass, everything about Elevation exuded old New Spring. And it shouldn’t be surprising, the 27-year old pastor had been to New Spring before, and apparently based Elevation on it.

The service was similar as well, Christian rock music followed by one adapted hymn, very New Spring style, followed by the pastor’s message. One thing that people really say they like about churches like Elevation and New Spring is the energy. But by energy what they really mean is emotion. The fact is that it’s very easy to emotionally charge people which loud rock music and vibrant speaking. Although Steve at Elevation is not nearly the dynamic speaker that Perry at New Spring is, it works out pretty well for him. I’ve always distrusted emotionally charged services, not that emotion is a bad thing, but without the proper foundation, you wake up Monday morning wondering what happened. Fortunately for both New Spring and Elevation, the foundation is there. The one thing that really attracted to me New Spring is present in Charlotte as well, and that’s complete acceptance of Ephesians 3:20.

Jesus didn’t come and die on a cross so we could pick up our get-out-of-hell-free card and go along our merry way. He came to transform our lives beyond anything that we could imagine, and he has plans for us that we’d never believe. If you’ll read through the New Testament miracles you’ll notice something. The work of God done was always in proportion to the faith that was already extant. You’ll find this same sentiment echoed in James. I firmly believe that the reason God doesn’t work in some churches is because they don’t think he will, even when they ask. This is why the attitude of New Spring was so refreshing. Perry used to always say, “How big is your God? ‘Cause I’ll tell you how big mine is”. This is so key, this is so vital, it is very much something I’m trying to cultivate in my own life, dreaming the dreams of God, instead of mine.

So how do I know the difference? Well I know one good place to start, and it was mentioned by Steve this morning. If you think you can accomplish God’s plan by your own strength, then you’re dreaming too small. Though that idea of accomplishing anything without God is an illusion, if you think you can do it on your own then you won’t think you’ll need God, and if you don’t think you need God then don’t expect to see God act, and if God isn’t acting then what’s the point?

This just blows me away, because the things I’ve been dreaming about recently have just been too small. I mentioned in the last post that I don’t know God’s endgame, and that hasn’t changed. But just because I don’t know what it is, doesn’t mean I don’t investigate into things I think it might be. However it appears I’ve been looking in the wrong place. It’s exciting to think God’s plan has to be something that I can’t accomplish by myself, partially because it takes the pressure off me. This goes back to my first post, the only thing I can do is to do what God has set out for me with all my ability. The success of that, and even my provision, is God’s responsibility. This idea of putting all of my eggs in His basket, of giving up all the things I’ve built around myself for security, and resting solely in his goodness, it’s so frightening, but so exhilarating at the same time. This is where I’m sure Christians are supposed to be.

Chicken Fettucini Alfredo

I had made this once before and was excited to be able to cook it for my parents this time. However, something went amiss when making the alfredo. For some reason the parmesan cheese didn't melt into the sauce properly. I don't know whether it was a too low of temperature, or adding the cheese too fast, or something with the milk, or perhaps due to the fact the cheese had expired a few months before. In anycase, the taste was fine in the end, but it looked a little strange. I don't know why things always have to go wrong when I'm cooking for someone else...

Краще з Тобою день один

What is it about the two little letters in the bottom corner of my screen switching from PM to AM that makes me stop and ponder? What is it about the crickets chirping and the fan buzzing that makes me think for a moment that perhaps all the coincidences in my life might be connected, that perhaps if I could see through God's eyes, it would all make sense.

Of course if I believed Romans 8:28 then this result should be simple right? I could quote it a thousand times, I could firmly resolve to accept it, but it seems that only in moments like these does it really take hold of me. Only in moments like these does the thought travel the long 18 inches between my head and heart.

Suddenly I don't need contingency plans, I don't need to keep my options open, and I don't need to know where I'll be in 5 years. Who of Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Elisha and countless others knew where God was going to take them? They didn't know God's endgame, just what the next step was.

[Woe] to those who say, "Let God hurry,
let him hasten his work
so we may see it.
Let it approach,
let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come,
so we may know it.

Isaiah 5:19

That passage was in my reading this morning, among the list of charges against Judah. My thoughts drift back to it now, and part of me still rebels. What's so wrong with wanting to know the plans of God? But the more we know, the less we'd trust God. The more we know, the more we'd try to do on our own, and the less we'd let God work. And for the people of Judah, their request was stemmed in doubt, a challenge to Almighty God.

So as I sit here, feet propped up on the bed, only one song seems appropriate to put on: Краще з Тобою день один, a song off my Russian praise cd I bought during my time in Ukraine. In English it's known as Better is One Day. And tonight it's enough for me. It's enough.

Краще з тобою день один,
Тільки з тобою в Твоїм домі.
Краще з тобою день один,
Ніж сотні будь-де.

23

As of today I have officially completed my 23rd year on the planet. Twenty-three seems like a pretty good number really. I’ve always been attracted to odd numbers for the strangest reason. I like the fact that you can count from both ends and have something left in the middle. I really don’t know where that came from, but I can remember liking numbers like 3, 5, and 7 even back in elementary school. Some other interesting facts about the number:

23 is not only the ninth prime number but also the smallest odd prime that is not separated from another prime by a distance of two.

A group of 23 or more persons has a 50% or greater chance of any two people having the same birthday. (I know you don’t believe that, you think it has to be much higher, but math doesn’t lie.)

23 is the atomic number of Vanadium, an insignificant silver-grey metal used in lacrosse shafts.

23 was the number worn by Michael Jordon and Don Mattingly

23! is 23 digits long

23 is the number of the best known Psalm

So what does it mean to me to be 23? On October 16, 2006 I was probably in the house I shared with Glen and Cliff, not studying for quantum mechanics, and wondering where and for what was I going to go to graduate school. I was pretty sure it wasn’t physics, but beyond that I was probably still confused. Looking back, this last year doesn’t really seem short. So much has happened, deciding God wanted me to go into biostats, applying, being accepted, and choosing to attend UNC, graduating from Clemson, spending the hardest, but most rewarding summer ever in Honduras, and moving to a new town where I knew no one to start a grad program in a subject I knew little of. In fact, this last year seems really long. It was good year, but it was absolutely overflowing with change.

And of course I’m obliged to ask the often self-incriminating question, am I closer to God now than I was 12 months ago? This time I believe I can answer a tentative yes. All the change in the last year brought about some major highs and lows, but through it all I’ve learned some great stuff.

So now it’s October 16, 2007, and I’m in my single bedroom apartment, the first time I’ve lived alone, still not studying. Honestly I’ve started to grow weary of school. This will mark my 18th straight birthday taking place while I’m in some sort of schooling. I came here convinced I was to follow the Ph.D track, but now I’m leaning towards just a Masters. I just have this growing desire to go do something useful instead of taking more tests. But that subject deserves its own post.

Where will I be on October 16, 2008? Well hopefully still in biostats at UNC, but beyond that who knows. I would be even willing to forfeit that if I was sure of God’s calling. So for this next year, I’ve decided to resolve to know one thing, and to hope for one thing, both contained in the last stanza of one of my favorite hymns, aptly based on the 23rd Psalm.

And so through all the length of days,
Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
Within Thy house forever.

Amen.

Chicken Parmigiana

So this is a fancy name for the simple dish of breaded chicken baked in tomato sauce with cheese. Despite its simplicity, the taste is just fantastic. Take notice of that hunk of bread, it's homemade. This was my second attempt at bread from scratch, and I'm getting better. My dough wasn't overly sticky this time, so it made much less of a mess. I think however, that I didn't let it rise all the way the second time before I baked it, so it was a little denser than I anticipated.

So this meal has marked the second consecutive time I’ve managed to cut myself with lids off of cans. The first time was trivial, but this one was not. I somehow managed to get my finger caught between the edge of the lid and the counter with a decent amount of force pushing them together. So it sliced a thin but deep cut that immediately started bleeding like it was nobody's business. This posed a problem because I was right in the middle of cooking, and well, blood wasn't a planned ingredient. So I had to wrap a paper towel around it and tie it up with a shoestring. Pretty nifty eh?

f' = f + fv/c !?!?

This morning I witnessed something I have never seen in my almost 23 years, a pastor using mathematical equations and graphs in his sermon. Now it really wasn't all that intense, and there were lots of pictures, but the fact remains. The subject matter was the Doppler Effect, so here’s a quick review.

When the source of wave is moving, the wavelength and frequency of that wave are observed differently from when it is not. Modeling a wave as a sine curve, the wavelength is the distance between the successive peaks of a wave, and the frequency is the amount of peaks per second. Now for any wave, the wavelength multiplied by the frequency gives the speed. Therefore if the wave source is moving towards you, the wavelength is going to be less, because in the time it takes between 2 peaks to be emitted, the source has moved a distance. Now this drop in wavelength causes a perceived, but not actual, rise in frequency by an observer that the source is moving relative to. In terms of sound waves, a rise in frequency is associated with a rise in pitch. The reverse also holds, a wave whose source is moving away from you will have a lower frequency. You experience this everyday when any vehicle passes by. You hear a higher pitch as it is approaching and a lower pitch as it races off.

So in the case of electromagnetic radiation, including light, an object moving away from you would be what we called red-shifted. That term arises because red is on the lower end of the wavelength scale of visible light. The most famous red-shifted objects are most galaxies, which Hubble discovered to be moving away from Earth, giving evidence that the universe is expanding.

So this was all an image of the spread of the Gospel. We were encouraged to be ‘redshift’ Christians, those taking part in the expansion of the Good News. So what do I think of all this? Interestingly enough, my mother had made a comment the last week on how the pastor had mentioned one’s position might be in a research lab. She said that she doubted the pastor of Dewberry, the small church in a rural area of Indiana that she grew up in, would have mentioned that. And she’s right. He we are smack in the middle of UNC, Duke, and the Triangle Research Park. The congregation of Chapel Hill Bible Church is likely significantly more interested in science than that of Dewberry. So this analogy of a red shift is simply making an allusion that the audience would understand. Jesus told parables about farming and banquets to better connect with the people. This is an example of the same thing, and it’s a pretty good example. I’ll probably remember his red shift parallel for a long time. Although I must admit I’m sure there were people who had no idea what he was talking about.

Following up the last post, brominated vegetable oil is used as an emulsifier in citrus-flavored drinks. It’s needed to prevent the citrus flavors from separating and forming a separate layer, which I’ll admit sounds disgusting. The fact that citrus drinks are emulsions is their reason for being cloudy, the many interfaces between the citrus flavors and the rest of the drink scatter light. Other examples of emulsifiers are egg yolks, used to emulsify mayonnaise, and also detergent, and soap. So given the option, I guess I’ll stick with brominated vegetable oil.

Beef-stuffed Manicotti Baked in Tomato Sauce

So this was my first attempt at stuffed pasta. The biggest challenge was not eating all the filling as I was stuffing the pasta. The picture reminds me of tube worms for some reason. Though I’ve never tried tube worms, I’m pretty sure they didn’t taste this good.

On a completely random note, I noticed today that Fresca has brominated vegetable oil in it......yeah. I mean seriously, why would you want to brominate vegetable oil? And if you did, why the crap would you put it in a soda?

A Very Inconvenient Truth

Around the world, there is probably no award as prestigious as the Nobel Peace Prize. Any random person on the street is likely to know of it. This morning the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 went to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change." Now’s there’s plenty of reasons why I believe the concept of man-made climate change will soon be going the way of the aether, but aside from that, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has selected a recipient that is totally out of synch with its original charter, which instructs the prize should be awarded:

to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.

Well I think we can rule out the reduction of standing armies and the holding of peace congresses. And as for fraternity among the nations? Not really seeing much. Moreover, the citation by the committee doesn’t even attempt to align itself with Nobel’s will. Traditionally the prize has been awarded to individuals who had put forth efforts to reduce armed conflicts. There are also a number of laureates who were awarded for humanitarian efforts. But this year the prize went to someone for raising awareness on an environmental issue. It’s ridiculous to try and justify Gore’s selection when juxtaposed against previous laureates and the original charter of the prize.

Moreover I can’t believe they would award the prize simply for raising awareness, an awareness which so far has accomplished nothing. We have the Kyoto Protocol, the treaty that everybody(except the US) signed on to, but nobody actually implements because it would wreck their economy if they did, and even if the whole world achieved the benchmarks it would have a negligible effect on the climate. Beyond that there are probably a few more people buying hybrid cars, and a few more houses with those strange light bulbs that are actually supposed to save you money anyway.

Al Gore’s selection is an affront to the candidates who actually deserved the prize this year. But perhaps this is some sort of life achievement award for inventing the internet…

Italian Sausage Fettuccini with Creamy Tomato Sauce

So it's actually pretty simple to make. Sauté the onions and brown the sausage, add the cream and let it simmer, add the diced tomatoes and let it simmer etc, etc. Then just mix it all with the cooked fettuccini at the end. The sauce didn't thicken like I expected however. Next time I'm going to have to cheat and add some flour. All around great flavor though.

When you try your best but you don't succeed...

No, not the song by Coldplay. But seriously, what do you do when you, literally in my case, leave in all on the field and still fail? Tonight was the quarterfinals of the flag football playoffs. We were up by 4 with two minutes left when I let the guy I was guarding get behind me, who then got the pass and scored a touchdown. We failed to score again and it was game over. If you know me well enough you might guess that I don’t really care about losing personally. While that’s a correct assessment, the fact that my failure caused 10 other people to lose does bother me. Now this is my no means an unknown situation, professional teams and other organizations heavily dependent on teamwork have long spouted rhetoric about winning and losing as a team to avoid ostracizing the wide receiver who drops a pass in endzone, or the striker who misses a penalty kick.

But despite that, it’s natural to pinpoint the cause of the failure to an action, or inaction, of an individual. Now when that failure is caused by some degree of negligence, it may become easy to criticize, but what if it’s not? I didn’t fail to stop the pass because I wasn’t paying attention, but rather because the other guy was faster, stronger, and generally better at football. So what then? And to generalize this away from a sports game and into something that matters a little more, let's look at life. What do you do when you try your hardest at a given endeavor and fail? Let’s take a look at Colossians 3:23-24

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Notice what this verse doesn’t say? Whatever you do, succeed. No, it says whatever you do, try your hardest. Why? Because as a steward you are working for the Lord, who will not fail to reward the faithful. Now immediately you might argue that success always followed the godly. The Bible is indeed replete with such examples: Abraham, Joseph, David, Daniel, just name a few. But something is in common with all of them. It was God granting the success. It was never by their own prowess, but by the grace of God, and they understood that. So what then is our responsibility? It is to succeed? No. Go back to Colossians. Our responsibility is to work with all our heart at jobs God sets out for us. Whether we succeed or not will be up to him. In addition we should be aware that our definition of success and God’s are probably not aligned. I’d be willing to bet that Stephen’s idea of success would have been to see the whole Sanhedrin repent at his message. But they didn’t, they killed him instead. Not much of an evangelist was he? But God knew what the purpose of Stephen’s death was to be, and it was successful in spreading the Gospel. And why was it that David’s success was conquering his enemies, while Hezekiah’s was simply survival? Was it because David was just that much godlier? Well he may have been, but in the end the results were determined by God’s purpose for the time in which they lived.

So what does this come down to? If you work with all your heart, if you leave it all on the field, you might lose, you might be maligned, you might be killed, but in the end you will never fail.