Something to Ponder

Myself

by Edgar A. Guest

I have to live with myself, and so

I want to be fit for myself to know,

I want to be able, as days go by,

 Always to look myself straight in the eye;

I don’t want to stand, with the setting sun,

And hate myself for the things I’ve done.

I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf

 A lot of secrets about myself,

And fool myself, as I come and go,

Into thinking that nobody else will know

The kind of a man I really am;

I don’t want to dress up myself in sham.

 I want to go out with my head erect,

I want to deserve all men’s respect;

But here in the struggle for fame and self

I want to be able to like myself.

I don’t want to look at myself and know

 That I’m bluster and bluff and empty show.

I can never hide myself from me;

I see what others may never see;

I know what others may never know,

I never can fool myself, and so,

Whatever happens, I want to be

Self-respecting and conscience free.

I thought this poem was thoughtful. It is self centred but we know that God sees and knows all that we do and say and think. For us as christians, this helps and encourages us to truly seek to be Christlike in our life and conversation. I think we will all admit that at times we ignore, or at least pretend that we do not have certain faults and failings (sins!). I am provoked to examine my own self coming into this new year of 2010. Will I be a peron I can live with? Will I reflect my Lord and Saviour and walk before the Him ?. By  God’s grace.

May He bless each one in the year ahead .

Happy birthday, Ruby!

Short notice, Ruby, but providentially, I rambled over to your blog just in time to find out I missed your birthday by only one day! So I hope you don’t mind a rather impromptu tea presentation. We’re having Supreme green tea from Vital T-Leaf in our whimsical cat mug, and a mandarin orange and a bit of Swiss cheese. Do enjoy, and may God keep you with strength and laughter and give you a blessed new year.

The Feast of Trumpets

The kids and I have been reading a commentary on Leviticus written for children in our morning bible study.  A couple of days ago we read about the Feast of Trumpets.  In this section the book is explaining the Old Testament celebrations and how they point to Christ.  Since the New Year is almost upon us I thought I would share this section with you.  I had not contemplated the Feast of Trumpets before and wouldn’t have come to this wonderful conclusion on my own.  What a wonderful blessing to live in this modern age where commentaries for children are being written.  And even more wonderful of a blessing to be able to teach my children and learn along with them in a straight forward, simple manner! 

The Feast of Trumpets was on the first day of the seventh month–New Year’s Day.  The blowing of the trumpets on that day was, however, just a shadow of another day, a greater day, the Day of the Lord, on which the trumpet blasts of angels would usher in, not a new year, but a new age.  “Blow the trumpet…sound the alarm…Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming.  It is close at hand” (Joel 2:1) “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts” (Revelation 8:13), the trumpet blasts sounded by the angels.   “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.  And He will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect…No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven…Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:30-42)  On that last day, the Day of the Lord, those who believe in Him “will all be changed– in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised…and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52).  On that day “the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).  The Feast of Trumpets was just a shadow of the reality of the great and terrible Day of the Lord and the return of Christ, when the angels will blast trumpets which will shake the heavens and the earth (see Revelation 8&9).

 

I’m sure I’m very slow and dull at grasping these pictures of Christ in the Old Testament.  And so, I am very glad when I come across one of these shadows of Christ and am able to see it.  I hope you will be blessed by it too!

Mum’s the word… and a warming one at that

My packet of chrysanthemum tea arrived Tuesday, just 10 days after I placed my order with teacuppa.com. It came all the way from Malaysia, replete with customs ticket and pretty bird stamps. The tiny pearl buds brew a fragrant, pleasant-tasting infusion, pale golden yellow in color, and very warming to drink.

Chrysanthemum tea, according to some tea websites, is indicated for arthritis, heartburn, and “internal heat.” Since drinking this tea in the evenings when I am most chilled, I haven’t noticed any let up in my arthritic symptoms, but I do experience a sense of heat, almost like a hot flash. When the flash subsides, I remain warm and the chill does not return.

This tea is not really tea,  but pure chrysanthemum buds, so it contains no caffeine. I find it a  pleasant change from chamomile; I  prefer its taste to the trusty ragweed, and it seems to be equally relaxing.

I prefer to brew my chrysanthemum tea for at least 3 to 5 minutes. Teacuppa.com recommends 2 to 4 minutes, but to my taste, this does not produce as nice a fragrance and flavor. You can rebrew the buds 4 to 6 times for good teaconomy, too. Just store them covered in the refrigerator if you won’t brew again within the day.

Merry Christmas, colleagues in homekeeping! May God bless and keep you with warm hearts and warm hearths.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I know I’m a little slow at getting around to it, but I’m finally adding one of my favorite pumpkin recipes to the mix.  I found this recipe on another blog called MoneySavingMom and then adapted it to suit our allergies and preferences.  I will give you my version as I believe it to be slightly more healthy and therefore I feel better about making it more often.  Just one little way that I justify adding chocolate to our everyday diet!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

4 Tbs. milled flax seed + 1 C. water (or 4 large eggs)

1 C. Sucanant or  other form of sugar as you prefer

1- 15oz. can of pumpkin puree

3/4 C. of oil

Mix together and then add:

3 C. of whole wheat flour

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1- 12oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix thoroughly and drop into muffin pans fill about 2/3 full.  Bake @ 400* for 16-20 minutes.  Makes about 2 dozen.  These freeze really well for those of you who may not eat two dozen in a sitting!!  I sometimes freeze a batch and pull them out two at a time to put in Ben’s breakfast in the morning.  He eats on the go!  I’ll try to post a picture when the next batch comes out of the oven.

In re: chrysanthemums

Heidi, Denise, my trusted herbaphiles… do you know what the healing properties of chrysanthemum tea are purported to be? I’ve read that it is a stimulant and a relaxant and good for “rheumatism.” I’ve ordered some because I’m tired of chamomile and wanted something I could drink in the evenings after my day of oolong rebrewings. I ordered it from an outfit called cuppa tea.com, but I have to reserve bestowing accolades on this site until my order arrives.

It was kind of a quaint experience, in a jet-setty way. I placed my order and received a confirmation saying that my chrysanthemum buds would arrive in 7-25 days. I wrote back, casually asking where they were located, or at least where my order was actually shipping from, as I wasn’t sure from what point of the planet I am 25 days away. Nice Lisa wrote back saying my order was coming directly from Asia, by normal air parcel. I wrote back saying that was amazing, because when I was in China in 1987, there was no such thing as normal air anything. Air travel was paranormal at best. Of course, my tea could be coming from Singapore or Hong Kong or really anywhere, or even from modern-day China.

I have been able to get chrysanthemum-black tea bags locally, but not pure chrysanthemum buds. It will be fun to brew them. The chrysanthemum-black tea I have is wonderfully sweet, and the sweetness is entirely from the chrysanthemums. I just wanted to know as much as possible from anyone’s personal experience about chrysanthemum tea.

Anyway, cheers.

of tea

During this tea drinking weather, I thought it good to belatedly inform everyone that Lauren has a delightful post on the subject here.

Also, for your viewing pleasure, a picture of my foam indygo bus taking the inhabitants on a safari tour of my wooden elephant and giraffe teaspoons.

And a reminder that the best price I have found on bulk teas is Davidson’s, when you sign up for the “subscribe and save” option (15 percent off the listed price *and* free shipping).

(Also, Denise has a post about tea here, with a link in the comments to where she gets her herbal teas.)

PS.  Perhaps Ruby or Jillian will be able to provide information for our more international faction about where teas can be obtained inexpensively in the underworld er, Australia :-).

Have a Blessed Christmas!

I know it’s a busy time of the year and most of us won’t have time to be posting much in the days and weeks ahead. May you have a blessed Christmas with your families!

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Some of our Christmas Favorites

Here are a few of our family’s favorite Christmas recipes.

Pound Cake
I got this recipe from an Asheville NC cookbook my sister gave me called Mountain Elegance. I’m not wild about most pound cakes, but the cream cheese in this one makes it especially good. It would be very good for someone who’s trying to gain weight. The recipe is called Fuller’s Finest Pound Cake. I made a few minor changes to the original recipe. Note, there is no leavening in this cake so it feels pretty heavy. It’s good toasted for breakfast with some extra butter!
3 cups sugar
3 sticks butter, melted (original recipe has 2 sticks margarine, 1 butter)
1 8 oz Philadelphia Cream cheese, soft
8 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (original recipe also has 1 tsp rum flavoring)
3 cups flour

Cream butter and cream cheese together. Add sugar and mix well. Add the vanilla and blend in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour gradually and blend well. Grease and flour two bread pans. Bake at 225-250 degrees for 2 hours.

Fannie May Fudge

A friend shared this fudge recipe with me. It’s supposed to be the original Fannie May Fudge recipe. It’s very easy to make and is wonderful. Many people have asked me for the recipe. I don’t make it every year anymore, but my boys loved to “help” when they were little and would carefully count out all the marshmallows for me. Be careful during the boiling stage because it splashes and can burn you.
4 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
13 oz. milk chocolate chips (I use an 11 1/2 oz bag for both)
13 oz. semi sweet chocolate
2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
25 large marshmallows
(3/4-1 cup pecans or walnuts if desired)

Melt butter, add sugar, milk and vanilla. Then boil for two minutes. Remove from heat. Quickly add marshmallows and then baking chocolate. Stir well. Add in the other two bags of chocolate chips. Apply heat if necessary to melt chocolate pieces.
Pour into a greased 9 by 13 glass pan. Cut when slightly hardened.

The following recipe is from Joy of Cooking. I substitute a little more white sugar for some of the brown called for in the original recipe because the full amount of brown sugar turns almost to taffy around the edges and it is harder to put the icing on. Joy of Cooking calls them Pecan or Angel Slices. She says “One fan says her family is sure these are the cakes St. Peter gives little children at the Gates of Heaven to get them over the first pangs of homesickness. Her family has dubbed them Angel Cookies…” We call them “Angel Bars”.

Angel Bars

First you make the pastry layer.
Cream together:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup white sugar
Beat in:
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
Add in:
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
Press into a 9 by 12 glass pan, adding more flour if necessary. Bake 10 minutes at 325.

Mix together:
2 beaten eggs
1 1/4 brown sugar (Joy of Cooking has 1 1/2 cups brown and no white)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup flaked coconut (3 0z)
1 cup chopped pecans
2 TBSP flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Mix all ingredients together. Pour over the pastry. Bake at 325-350 for 20-25 mins.
When cool ice with:
2 cups confectioners sugar
enough lemon juice from fresh squeezed lemon(s) to make a spreadable icing. Let icing harden before slicing and serving.

Baguettes

My latest project has been learning how to make baguettes. This project goes well with Heidi’s latest post. If you fail and end up with a brick you can always use your baguette for a weapon.

A chewy crust with soft bread inside and large holes are the goal. I used this
recipe with instructions.

It’s a long, drawn out process and was challenging but it was well worth all the trouble. My dough didn’t stretch as well as theirs in the picture. It tore some showing the gluten was not well formed but it improved with each stretch and fold. I formed my loaves on a cookie sheet and baked them on that since I don’t have a baking stone. It worked fine. I especially appreciated the pictures on the following King Arthur site about how to shape the loaves. I preheated the oven and put a bread pan in the bottom of the oven filled with hot water. I slashed then sprayed the baguettes before putting them in the oven and also sprayed them every five minutes while they were baking. It only took 15 minutes at 450. My husband has had baguettes in France and he was very pleased with how they turned out even though the holes in mine were not as large as those in the picture in the first site.

I found more helpful advice about making baguettes with many detailed pictures on a King Arthur blog but I haven’t tried out their recipe yet. If you want their recipe, it’s found under the instructions, just before the comments.
King Arthur Baguette instructions.