ramekins.

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aren’t they just the best little food containers?  my obsession started a few months ago.  somehow i stumbled upon this brilliant idea: stuffing chocolate chip cookie dough into them, an inch or two deep, and baking them in the oven for 10-15 minutes–the deep-dish cookies are crispy on the outside, and still gooey on the inside.  they’re especially perfect with a perfectly spherical scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

the delicious, hot, texturey dessert sated me for a week or two, and then i found a recipe on Tasty Kitchen for a five-ingredient chocolate molten cake, designed to be enjoyed in a ramekin (of course).  everyone’s had a chocolate molten/lava cake, but this one only has five ingredients (my husband has made it himself!), comes together, in 5 minutes, and aside from the sugar, doesn’t have much against it, health-wise.  here are a few changes i made to the recipe you’ll find above: instead of the 60% cacao they suggest, i had 100%–and i loved it.  i halved the recipe, because 2 cakes is the perfect size for our two-person family, and instead of adding a yolk, or half one, i just used 1 egg.  for most of my baking recently, i’ve started using Smart Balance butter blend, and have loved it.  finally, i found that while powdered sugar really melts into the batter, usual granulated sugar, or even raw sugar, adds a nice crunch, too.

this morning, i tried a new egg-scramble method, outlined in this month’s Bon Apettit–crack 4 eggs into a small saucepan with 1 T butter.  heat over med-low heat, whisking constantly, till eggs thicken and begin to form small curds.  it’ll take longer than you think it should to thicken & curd, but once it starts, it all cooks very quickly.  don’t let it stay on the heat too long, just make sure most of the mixture is curdy; then, because special eggs deserve special presentation, i scooped them into ramekins and snipped flat-leaf parsley on top (i read last week that parsley is a great anti-inflammatory, so i’ve been putting it in everything).

TONIGHT: sticky toffee puddings in ramekins….

Perspectives on the Eucharist

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oh, there are dozens and hundreds of theological explanations of the Eucharist–what *exactly* is “happening,” and how and why…  this is not one of those.  this is a reflection on how Jesus can specifically meet a person in the bread & wine of Holy Communion.

this morning, i learned that dear, dear friends of mine are moving about a six-hour plane ride away.  both husband and wife have been so vital to the discernment of my call to ordained ministry that i honestly don’t know where i would be without them (well, without Jesus, of course, but without their willingness to be conduits!).  thinking of their exit makes me tear up; i hope i get over that part at least by the time i see them…

as such, it’s been an emotional day.  i looked forward to going to the week-day Eucharist that the church i’m working at this year hosts every Thursday.  the familiarity of the service is so, so calming.  this particular service is small, usually less than 10 attendees, and held in a chapel that’s covered in carpet, wood and a bit of hewn-stone accent–it feels like a cozy cave (with lovely triangle windows at the top that let you see only the tops of the trees outside).  Not only was the homily about Advent and waiting (someone here is searching for a job post-grad), but Communion was something special today.

as i knelt down and the wafer was placed in my hand with the usual words, it dawned on me that this was exactly the same thing they would do and experience when they went back to England.  they, too, would receive the cup with the same, old proclamation.  we’d be taking and eating and living in Christ, still together, somehow, though we would not live down the street (in walking distance!) from each other anymore.  we would still be tightly knit as God’s children, washed by Jesus’ blood–we will still be one body, because we share one bread and one cup.

this is exactly (one of) the thing(s) that the Eucharist is to remind us of–that we aren’t individuals, and we aren’t divided and we aren’t alone.  we are joined to all Christians throughout space (the whole earth) and throughout time (all of history) in the sacrament of Eucharist.  we all serve the same Lord, and so we are never so far away from each other as we may feel, because we are all part of the same mission.

Book love: “A Homemade Life”

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right now, i should be reading Bartolome de Las Casas’ “The Only Way,” about how to convert the Native Americans, who the Spanish had just “discovered” back in the early 16th century, when Las Casas does his thinking.

instead, i am wandering around my mind, inspired by the book i just finished, thinking, “hey, i could do that!” for about the twenty-second time, reading the author’s old blog posts, then clicking through gmail-facebook-twitter, in the too-familiar sequence of the wired-in tic every internet addict (most of us, these days) must have.

i wonder where my “voice” is, i wonder if my writing sounds like “me.”  I rarely think it does.  i wonder what my “style” is.  instead of these really inane wonderings, i shall write a bit about this book.  this is not a “review”–notice–this is just “love.”

For one, Molly‘s prose.  It’s the first book in years that I’ve read chunks out loud to whoever happens to be nearby, just because the wording is so fantastic.  how does one do that? (i’ve been told, “practice.”)  As i read, and even more now, i turn over in my mind one of the little sentences of praise that’s on the back or on the front, it says, “every story tells a recipe.”  I thought it was a little bit trite when i first read the phrase, how clever the reviewer must have thought him/her-self, but as i gulped down the book, he/she was right.  and here lies my one qualm: each chapter, a few pages of story, a page or two of recipe, gets its title inspiration from the story, not the recipe.  So how am i to find one recipe when i want it?  I want to go back to the braised cabbage (we’re starting a winter CSA next week, and i’m eager to know what to do with what i’m sure will be lots of winter cabbage) and the chocolate cake that they used for their wedding and the cornmeal cake that’s eaten with maple syrup and the stewed prunes…  clearly, it’s a varietous collection, and now that she’s on to her second book, a similar style, it seems, about birthing a restaurant, i’m eager for more (but will have to wait till early 2013, according to her website).

what book has been so good that you read bits out loud?

will hoge – lincoln theatre 10/1

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Joe College Day Will Hoge(the above photo is from college days; Will Hoge played Duke’s Joe College Day in ’07, and I’d interviewed him for The Chronicle.  I should go find that paper (which his signed) and frame it.)

over the weekend, i took J to his first Will Hoge concert.  i’ve lost count, i don’t know how many times i’ve seen him (Will Hoge, that is, not my husband).  after this particular show, i conceived of a new goal (a past goal having been: see Edwin McCain four times in one year.  i did.): see Will Hoge play Nashville.  it’s his home town, and though we love him here in Raleigh, I can only imagine what he/the crowd/the experience is like at home.  Collective effervescence all over the place (because if you’re aware of what you’re complicit in, it’s okay, right?). 

I was turned on to him in high school. his music is the soundtrack to my college years, and now that i listen more closely to his words, i’m starting to appreciate his wisdom (though, like his wife–i can’t find the link to the interview–i wonder when he’s going to write a song about a happy relationship).  I’ve gotten hooked on “No Man’s Land” from his new album, “Number Seven;” i’m trying to grow into the rest of it.  Here, i’m still a die-hard Blackbird on a Lonely Wire fan.  In concert, though, we get the best of all worlds–they play the longest set list of anyone I know.  Look out for Will Hoge–the concerts are cheap (literally, and) in comparison to the musical experience.

home tour!

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What fun it is to have your own home!  J & I are relishing the freedom (relative–we are renters…) of space & design in our first little abode.  I think i prefer this small canvas for now, not only does school take a lot out of one, but with freshly-painted, not-white walls, and lovely wood floors, the tweaks we desire to bring out this home’s best are manageable.  Welcome to our home…

  here is our living room/dining room (front door visible on the far side of the tv to the left).  Oh, and i forgot to mention, this home tour is a “where’s waldo” for Ben.  He wanted to help take photos (more accurately, like a child, he sometimes has “mommy days,” and man, has today been one of them…).

see Ben??  Thanks to the delicious fall air, the windows are open and all the SOUNDS are just the most fantastic thing to happen to Ben’s ears.  Another angle on the living room, taken near the front door.

the relatively clean kitchen.  my favorite part of this apartment (well, after the new appliances & hardwood floors) is the enormous windows with deep sills.  do you see the lovely tree outside, too?

you know, it’s harder than you’d think to get a decent, not-too-graphic shot of a bathroom.

notice the lovely windows, notice the crafty (handmade by wifey) throw pillows, notice the afternoon sun…

There is another bedroom, which serves as our office/study/sewing room, but J is in there, writing furiously at the moment, and it’s rather unsightly anyway.  Oh!  i forgot–there is one other room–the laundry room.  It’s even presentable, so i should publish the evidence:and our back door.  last weekend, we were away, but Ben was here with a friend.  Ben ended up alone–out of his crate–for a full day, but the house & he were no worse for wear (we did notice, however, that there were paw prints on the bed & sofa, two places he wouldn’t dream of going if we were around).  A sweet, sweet watch dog.