suggestion for a saturday

Columbia’s Gourmet Shop (GS) in 5 Points is changing lives. I recently met 3 co-workers* there for a late Saturday lunch. The 4 of us may or may not own matching T-shirts from a local pub, Hunter-Gatherer (H-G), so we’re pretty geeky. But maybe GS can help remedy that. We sampled two of their desserts- red velvet cake & tuxedo balls- highly recommended (& I think I can speak for the group). Coming soon on a Saturday, we also plan to do their dollar-a-glass wine tasting. (Geekiness solved?)

Co-worker AmyBeth, who we call AB, landed a new nickname for herself during the recent lunch at GS. Suffering from sinus and ear infections & nursing those with meds, she wasn’t herself. Carrie sat to her left & did some interpreting, making apologies for a few of AB's comments (“that’s the codeine talking”), then later just found it easier to call AB “Codeine.” The nicknames might seem like a little much, but they keep us entertained. One of the more insightful** among us, Leanna, has been dubbed “Crystal Ball” among other things. Not funny unless you’d been there the day at H-G that she was trying to come up with some wisdom, when she motioned as if she were consulting a crystal ball.

Back to GS- if you head there soon, you’ll have to share a dessert with friends (3 or 4 ways might do- so rich). Have a ball! (just excuse the loud Saturday chatter)

*I freakin love these people!
**AmyBeth/Codeine would say "inceptive" (she insists it's a word:)

missing the obvious

when christy and i were baking pumpkin bread the other night, i was looking high and low for mixing bowls. we found some that did the trick, but after the bread was in the oven, christy looked up at the wall to see three mounted pampered chef mixing bowls and said, “D, why haven’t we been using these?” genius. so, the next project will employ the better quality bowls, which were a gift from a colleague during my teaching years. but we had a good laugh and i wondered where my brain had been. i fail to catch the obvious a lot. the recent read is another example, but one that leaves me significantly more mystified. how have i known God since childhood but go on in near blindness to certain basic truths…

“i am sent into the world as one loved before the world began. when our deepest truth is that we are the beloved and when our greatest joy and peace come from fully claiming that truth, it follows that this has to become visible and tangible in the ways we eat and drink, talk and love, play and work” (Life of the Beloved by Nouwen)

one can hope! good reminder along these lines at church last night, something that encouraged me to stop cracking the whip and to work through feeling defeated over my slowness in learning. the message concluded with thoughts about dealing with past sin / present weakness and a challenge to believe the gospel and walk in light of its hope: Jesus has forgiven and conquered past and present.

also learned this weekend to make some white chocolate etc. cookies. used christy’s aunt’s dough recipe and then she threw in white chocolate chips, macadamia nuts and dried blueberries. she also put some dough aside for chocolate chips, nuts and coconut. loved both!

more pumpkin

Got a little more cosmetic help on the site from friends Ben and Liza the other day. It was pretty hilarious how excited I was over simply seeing the heading centered (meaning I don’t get out much). I’m sure I’ll call on them again, but I hope to learn to navigate this some on my own too.

Now to the baking. Last night, it was pumpkin cheese bread. The cream cheese being the reason I chose it. Oh and the remaining pumpkin from the aforementioned Autumn Panic 2009. But back to the topic of cream cheese, for a confession: I may or may not be ignoring results from a recent health screening that sort of indicated I should be watching the cholesterol level.

Christy- who walked into the house like a breath of fresh air- made the bread with me. She’s pretty seasoned in the kitchen. Baking seems a favorite pastime for her and her mom- next week she promises to teach her specialty, white chocolate macadamia nut blueberry something oh man. Focusing... She was tasked with dry ingredients while I mixed the cream cheese, butter, eggs and pumpkin. Quick/easy with a tasty outcome: moist but not too rich. Breakfast for a few days! (by the way, this one also came from allrecipes.com)

We decided that chatting while baking can be tricky, for me that’s mainly because I’m a novice and have to check everything three times. So thankfully, for the hour that it spent in the oven, we were able to catch up on the weekend/Monday and on a book we’re both reading (Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen- do it!)

...and watched the most recent Office episode. Michael, your social awkwardness pains me. I cannot fully tell you how nervous it makes me to see that man standing at a microphone. Kind of how I feel trying to figure out the mechanics of blogging.