Peaches

Last week of summer - Day 1. Makes me sad even though it has been a very relaxing summer for me. Today I took care of some ripe peaches - made them into peach muffins. They were a favorite of Andrew's when he was a child . . . because they didn't have "humps."


First you blend the peaches - skins
and all.

Then you make the muffins using a Peach Bread recipe from the Rassi Cookbook which calls for two cups of peach puree. They might not be real dramatic to look at, but they are delicious. They're flavored with cinnamon as well.

My family likes these so much that I put up several freezer bags of peach puree each summer so that we can have peach muffins several times during the winter as well.

And there's fresh peach jam behind the muffins as well - made last week. It's been wonderful to have peaches this year. Last year there were none, and we missed them.

Reading and Reading!

Well, I have been reading voraciously lately. That's one advantage to being a little under the weather and not really feeling well enough to do much else. It's also something I'd better do this week as. . .school starts for me next Monday. I don't usually read much fiction but have consumed three novels in the last few days, and two of the three were really, really good reads. Will share more in detail about them in the next couple of posts.

I've also found a website called Faithful Reader that has wonderful book reviews, and one reviewer in particular, Marcia Ford, who has very similar thoughts to mine about books. For instance, about one author who wrote one particular novel that I thought was better than her previous things I'd read, Marcia Ford comments on an award the book won, "It's certainly the best, or among the best, from [this author] and the accolades it has received should encourage her to maintain the higher standard she set for herself with this book."

But the neatest thing was what happened when I finished a book this evening called The Mending String by Cliff Coon. After finishing the book and then reading the acknowledgements, he thanks the members from his writing critique group - and one of my old roommates from college, a good friend over the years, was mentioned! I'm sure it's her because he lived in the same town. She's been interested in writing for sometime, but I didn't realize she'd gotten her name into something put out by Moody Press! My claim to fame!

Packages and eBay

Packages are coming in every day with the things I've ordered for the library. I have always loved this opportunity in the summers. The $$ has been more limited this year due to a very tight budget at school, but someone very kindly gave $100 to extend the resources. With those extra funds I was able to replace a number of DK Eyewitness books and add several that we don't have. The elementary students especially love those DK Eyewitness books, and they are a good set of books for them to concentrate on.

I'm trying very hard to get resources that are educational, not just time fillers. That's why it was good to find things like animated cartoons of a number of famous classics; also a set called "Liberty's Kids" that shows two child "reporters" who are reporting on the history of our nation during the Revolutionary time period. Also there are a lot of NOVAs, National Geographics, and History Channel Modern Marvels out there if one searches. Some of the Modern Marvels can be very interesting - we're getting Candy, Fireworks, and Computers, for example. I try to get DVDs where possible, but if a VHS is available really cheaply, it is sometimes an option.

It's just very heartwarming to see new resources and books being used once the school year starts. It is a "ministry" for me.

My Little Fiddler

From time to time I take a notion to look at Hummel figurines on eBay in hopes of getting a good deal. Now, I'm not much of one to have a lot of "stuff" around to collect dust. But Hummels are different because they bring back memories of two dear great-aunts who collected them.

Usually I look at what's selling and then quickly lose the notion of getting one due to the prices. With two teenagers, one in college, there are just too many other demands on my $$ to be indulging in Hummel-buying at this stage of life. However, I've been looking for a "Little Fiddler" off and on for some time. He's just such a cute little guy, and with Mike taking up the violin a couple of years ago he's been the one I've had a desire to get.

So last week, I found one that was a really good deal. Bidders were shying away from the auction because the seller's feedback was not very good. I emailed her and she wrote back and explained the reason for her low feedback. I decided to give it a shot and take the risk--and am now the proud possessor of a 5" Hummel "Little Fiddler" for a very good price. Isn't he cute?

More Thoughts on Kingsolver

I've been reading this book (see post below) at every opportunity, with a feeling of urgency that now is when I must do the things I want to do as summer is almost over and my time will no longer be mine. I've got more thoughts about her today:

--This family is truly devoted to what they are doing. There are essays included from the college-aged daughter as well as the author's husband. Their garden includes unbelievable variety, and I'd love to try some of the squashes, potatoes, and other vegetables that she describes--they grow several varieties, some heirloom, of every vegetable they produce. Many I am unfamiliar with.

--I went to the grocery store for a few things this afternoon and looked at it in a new eye. One hears all the time about the overprocessed foods that we consume, but they are everywhere. Right in the lobby of the store were potato chips and instant pasta salad--both products far removed from their roots--and that was just two of hundreds, maybe thousands, of examples.

--This is a good opportunity to see that there is something to be learned from everyone. It is apparent that Kingsolver's life philosophy and religious roots are far removed from mine--for example, she sees far eastern Buddhists through the same lens as any other religious belief. She describes things in very evolutionary terms at times. Occasionally she is somewhat coarse--not dramatically so; not nearly enough to reject the book. Earthy might be a better word than coarse. But she has some great principles to digest (no pun intended).

--Kingsolver talks often about CAFO-raised animals (confined animal feeding operation). She discusses how these animals--usually cows and chickens--are raised in pens half filled with muck and manure; this in comparison to the free-range animals which she is willing to eat. I know there is a giant food pipeline through which meat is produced. But I find it difficult to believe that the two extremes are all that exists. Surely there is some middle ground for the raising of meat animals.

--I feel like I've really failed my two kids in this area. My son is happier with a frozen store-brand pizza than with a fresh vegetable of any kind except maybe corn. While we did better than some households, they got plenty of boxed macaroni and cheese and other processed foods when they were growing up.

--And a final thought: This woman has a beautiful way with language. For example, when describing a stop at a farm during a trip to Italy, she describes how overgrown squashes are disposed of there. She says "At home we would have considered these "heavers" (that's what we do with them, over the back fence into the woods). But these were carefully stacked against the back wall of the house like a miniature cord of firewood, presumably as winter fuel for a pig or chickens. The garden's secondos would be next year's prosciutto."

Or here: She is describing doing battle with a very large, very stubborn pumpkin, wanting to use it for a Thanksgiving pumpkin dish: "Or so I'd thought, before I knew this one would not go gentle into that good night (as Dylan Thomas advised). Even our meanest roosters hadn't raged this hard against the dying of the light." That's good stuff.

I even tried a recipe from the book tonight, modified slightly below. Andrew and I are the only ones at home, and naturally, he's not interested in it. But I made a 1/3 batch of the recipe below and thought it was delicious:

ZUCCHINI ORZO

3/4-pound orzo pasta, cooked
1 chopped onion
garlic to taste
3 zucchini, grated
Olive oil
Thyme and/or oregano
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese.

Saute onion & garlic in oil. Add grated zucchini and cook about five minutes longer; remove from heat. Stir in spices, cheese, and orzo. Salt to taste. Serve warm or room temperature.

A Good Book - ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MINERAL by Barbara Kingsolver

I've been reading a very interesting book titled ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE by Barbara Kingsolver. She's written a number of fiction books, and I recognize the name, but don't know much about her work since I don't read much secular fiction. However, this non-fiction work is quite a book. Its original premise is to journal the progress of her family's decision to eat nothing but local food for one year; however, in the process it also educates the reader about much of our food-buying processes and how the food pipeline has changed so dramatically in our lifetime.

The reader quickly becomes apparent of how much we have lost in the culture of eating and cooking food. Kingsolver laments that loss throughout the book. She says mothers are losing the "eat your vegetables" war because vegetables do not taste good any more--they've been genetically bred, not for taste, but for durability to travel thousands of miles. We want to satisfy our tastes for strawberries, melon, tomatoes, and other fruits and vegetables year round, and it doesn't seem to matter to us that we're getting a poor reproduction of what they should taste like--we want what we want now. (A great encapsulation of society today!) Furthermore, she points out that in today's market, 87 calories of gasolines are required to get one calorie of usable food to our mouths. That's what it takes to satisfy our all-encompassing but insipid tastes.

And she makes painfully aware the family enrichment we've eliminated with our eating decisions. Listen to this quotation from pp. 126-127:

"When my generation of women walked away from the kitchen we were escorted down that path by a profiteering industry that knew a tired, vulnerable marketing target when they saw it. 'Hey, ladies,' it said to us, 'go ahead, get liberated. We'll take care of dinner.' They threw open the door and we walked into a nutritional crisis and genuinely toxic food supply. If you think toxic is an exaggeration, read the package directions for handling raw chicken from a CAFO [confined animal feeding operation]. We came a long way, baby, into bad eating habits and collaterally impaired family dynamics. No matter what we do or believe, food remains at the center of every culture. Ours now runs on empty calories.

"When we traded homemaking for careers, we were implicitly promised economic independence and worldly influence. But a devil of a bargain it has turned out to be in terms of daily life. We gave up the aroma of warm bread rising, the measured pace of nurturing routines, the creative task of molding our families' tastes and zest for life; we received in exchange the minivan and the Lunchable. (Or worse, convenience-mart hot dogs and latchkey kids.) I consider it the great hoodwink of my generation."

Whew! That's powerful stuff, and very convicting. I'm only on page 157 out of 354, so I suspect any readers of this blog might be getting more in the days to come.

My Prayer

MY PRAYER

author unknown

Let me not die before I've done for Thee
My earthly work, whatever it may be.
Call me not home with mission unfilled;
Let me not leave my space of ground untilled.

Impress this truth upon me--that not one

Can do my portion that I leave undone;

For each one in the vineyard has a spot

To labor on for life, and weary not.

I long to be an instrument of Thine,
To bid men at Thy table "Come and dine;"
To be a means one human soul to save
From the dark terrors of a hopeless grave.

Yet most I want a spirit of content
To work where'ere you wish my labor spent.
Whether at home, or in a stranger clime,
In days of joy or sorrow's sterner time;

I want a spirit happy to lie still,
Or by Thy power to do Thy holy will.
Let me not die before I've done for Thee
My earthly work, whatever it may be.

TASTE OF HOME commentary

Okay, if you read this blog for great intellectual and theological insights (insert chuckle), you might want to skip this post. It's only for those of us who like to cook.

I do not like TASTE OF HOME magazine anymore. I used to love it--The six days of the year when it arrived in my mailbox were red-letter days. I would savor the reading of it, stretching it out to make it last a couple of nights, or maybe indulging myself, letting the grading assignments for school wait, reading the entire thing cover to cover in one night. I loved it so much that I collected back issues on eBay, and have an entire set dating from 1993 onward in a back corner of my closet.

It's not that they've added advertising. The few ads spaced out amidst its content are not that offensive or obnoxious, and I understand that in today's business climate it was probably a necessity. It's not that the texture of the paper is different.

It's just that they've taken what used to be a truly grass-roots magazine and turned it into a slick magazine that is attempting to look like a grass-roots magazine.

If you'll read the editorial box near the front you'll see that it's no longer published by Reiman Publications; it's now published by Reader's Digest publications. Talk about a big switch from Greendale, Wisconsin, to a big-city approach! The list of executives is about three times as long as it used to be. It appears that though the content probably still originates out of Wisconsin, it's zipped to New York to be "polished up."

Now, there are a few folksy things about the early TASTE OF HOME editions that I don't miss. (The feature "Town Apetit" comes to mind.) But I liked having pictures of the cooks who submitted recipes included. I liked the feature where people would write in asking for help finding old obscure recipes that their grandmothers used to make. I liked the inclusion of original pictures taken by average people who submitted party themes, along with the staged pictures taken when those themes were featured in the magazine. I liked that the photographs of food, though very well done, still looked like photos taken for an average person's table, rather than the new, slightly blurred style that looks so, well, Madison Avenue-ish. (As do the new styles and sizes of fonts for the titles, cooks' names and locations, and actual recipes.)

-

Previously, the "feel" of the magazine was that it was about cooking but also about cooks. Those stories about ladies (and men) from all over the country and Canada, and their cooking experiences, made me feel like I got to know these people. (That was why QUICK COOKING was never quite as appealing to me as TASTE OF HOME--it was mainly recipes and did not appeal to that enjoyment of stories of people.) Now, the attitude of the editors appears to be to include personal information and stories somewhat, but no longer included in the primary focus and intent of the magazine. And that is a serious omission in retaining the "flavor" of TASTE OF HOME.

-

I know the older version won't come back. It's gone, a victim of its own success. But I feel like I've lost an old friend, and it seems like just another example of how homey things are being dismantled bit by bit in the name of progress and sophistication in today's society. And I really, really miss the former incarnation of what was once my favorite magazine.

Quirks

My friend Barbara at Stray Thoughts has tagged me for this "quirks" meme. I've got three weeks in the summer left; still some time to do this sort of thing! The only thing is. . .I don't really have a list of people to "tag," so may have to leave that part off. I know of a number of readers; I just haven't convinced most of them to start blogging yet! (You know who you are!!!!)

1) Link to the person who tagged me.
2) Mention the rules.
3) Tell six quirky, yet boring, unspectacular details about myself.
4) Tag 6 other bloggers by linking to them.
5) Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged.

Okay, six quirky things:

1. This summer I have really enjoyed watching Andy Griffith reruns on Channel 4 at 12:30 and 2:00 every day. I even time my kitchen work to be out there during those times.

2. I can't go to sleep unless the covers are securely tucked in at the foot of the bed, and I have to have something heavier over my feet, like an extra blanket, more than just the bedspread or whatever blankets happen to be on the bed.

3. I try to keep the house reasonably neat, but my bedroom closet is a disaster, and no one in the house may comment or object--it is the one place where I can just let things collect. Call it my form of rebellion against having to be neat as a sign of conformity, maybe?!

4. I really enjoy swimming in the summer but the water has to be about the temperature of a tepid bath. None of that cold water for me.

5. I don't care for coffee in any form, but there is nothing better in the world than a warm chocolate chip cookie dunked in a glass of cold milk.

6. Every spring I get excited about growing flowers and a few vegetables; then if the plants don't do well pretty much on their own, I always get lax about watering them. . .and in weather like this, that means that they die.

And I tag my sister Rhoda at rk2 and anyone else who reads this who wants to try it!

Books & Bookcase, continued:

Several months ago I posted about the bookcase Mike had painted for me for my birthday. It really isn't as pink as it looks in these photos--it's a little darker than that. But here is the finished product filled with the books that I've had stored in my closet for a long time. And below: These are two things that are precious to me. On the left is my collection of Cherry Ames nurse books. I owned about three or four originally. When Mike and I had been dating for a few weeks, we visited Aunt Frances' store here in Anderson, the Bee Hive. She had about half a dozen of them, which I exclaimed over. Unbeknownst to me, she wrapped them up and Mike gave them to me later that night for a birthday present. Then, several years later, after Mike's dad found out that I liked Cherry Ames books, he put together a large quantity of them, finding them on some of his "ramblings," as a gift for me.

On the right are the two Hummel-style figurines that I painted in Aunt Louise and Aunt Hulda's basement in the '70s. Details about that experience will be another post someday.
Elisabeth Elliot books. Her writings were especially influential on me during the college years, and on through adulthood also. There are a couple of Tozer books on the right--he is powerful.
Loula Grace Erdman books. Don't really know how I got started on her. She wrote in the '40s and '50s, not particularly "Christian" fiction but all of her books have positive moral and Christian themes. She is particularly good at characterization, which I've always preferred in fiction more than plot.
And that is my bookcase!