A Respite for Randomness

We interrupt this cake baking marathon to bring you. . .

various observations upon the process of baking, not all of them new.
1. There are slightly less than 5 cups of brown sugar in a bag. I know this because the (wonderful) chocolate groom's cake requires 2 1/2 cups of sugar for each layer, and I had to open a second new bag to finish the second layer.
2. Cake mixes make life easier. DO NOT, under any circumstance, act as if this is not a revelation. Almost 3/4 of the way through my 8-cakes-from-scratch project, I realize the inestimable value of adding eggs and oil to a bag of powder. Cakes from scratch must be indescribably rewarding. . .otherwise no recipes would have survived. I'll let you know tomorrow.
3. With 3 cooling racks, where to put 8 cooling cakes soon becomes a problem.
4. When making several cakes from scratch in successsion, one quickly memorizes even the most detailed recipe. If, then, you should need a heavenly chocolate cake recipe or a quite good white cake recipe in the next 36 hours, call me. After that, I don't promise to retain the memory. (Please understand that I mean no offense to the white cake. . .it just isn't quite possible for white cake to be heavenly. After all, the Bible mentions only that we shall wear white robes. There is no mention of white cake. It seems obvious, then, that the cake will be chocolate.)
5. Parchment paper is invaluable in convincing cake pans to release cakes-from-scratch as if they were cakes-from-mix.
6. Letting a cake sit in the hot pan for over an hour is NOT conducive to getting it out in one piece. (Someone needs to pay more attention. . .set timers. . .do less than 4 things at once. . . .)
7. I need a bigger kitchen. And an extra table.
8. My glass mixing bowl is preferrable to my stoneware mixing bowl when using my hand mixer, for 2 reasons: the glass bowl is the perfect circumference for my hand mixer, so it does not toss batter bits up on the sides where they will not get mixed in; stoneware makes a horrible clanging noise when combined with an electric mixer.

In case anyone queries into my enthusiasm for completing this cake, let me assure you that I always rebound once the baking is done.
That's all for now. I have some lovely quotes to post from the ORU English Department's spring newsletter, but it is downloaded on the other computer and must wait.

Holy Joy

Reading from Matthew Henry's Commentary, Psalm 9:

Holy joy is the life of thankful praise, as thankful praise is the language of holy joy.

"Those that know thy name will put their trust in thee, as I have done, and then they will find, as I have found, that thou dost not forsake those that seek thee." The better God is known the more he is trusted. Those who know him to be a God of infinite wisdom will trust him further than they can see him (Job xxxv. 14); those who know him to be a God of almighty power will trust him when creature-confidences fail and they have nothing else to trust to (2 Chron. xx. 12); and those who know him to be a God of infinite grace and goodness will trust him though he slay them,Job xiii. 15. those who know him to be a God of inviolable truth and faithfulness will rejoice in his word of promise, and rest upon that. Those who know him to be the Father of spirits, and an everlasting Father, will trust him with their souls even to the end.

Question: How well do I know God? Answer: How much do I trust Him?

Recommended

We went to see the new Disney Pixar film Cars this weekend with my dady. It was cute, witty, and ended up with a good message about life. I recommend it.

Notes on Quotes

Doesn't that sound like a glorified Dr. Seuss book?

The primary purpose of a home is to reflect and to distribute the love of Christ.

The words of Jesus are a stirring reminder to all of us that the pride of birth carried to extreme can be a vortex that sucks us into destructive ways of thinking and living. The rising voice of nationalism has unleashed horrors too numerous to mention. In years of travel, I have been to many places in the world where people think they are superior because of their culture, places like China, the Middle East, Europe, and America. One way or the other, we all think we are the center of the universe because of our place in life. We had absolutely nothing to do with our birth. Jesus did, and He chose a most unlikely city to call home. He was not ensnared by the flimsy and fickle attachments of nationalism.

We have made truth relative and culture supreme and have been left with a world in which wickedness reigns.

taken from Jesus Among Other Gods, by Ravi Zacharias

It is so easy to think of home as a safe haven, a place for me to be insulated from the world, a place I can come to have things my way. Instead, as Zacharias says, I should be thinking of my home as a means to an end, as the tool with which I am privileged to share the Gospel. It should indeed be a safe haven, a place insulated from the trials of life, but not just for me. It should be that for everyone in my sphere of influence. . .a place where Christ's way reigns supreme and there is never fear of embarassment, reprisal, or inhospitality. I think this means I can't be a hermit.
The comments on culture are provocative. It is not exagerration to say that I have always seen patriotism as a godly trait. God, family, country, in that order, deserve our devotion. I think this is a particularly sticky subject for Americans because of our Christian founders. American history is important, not only for national pride, but to discover the godly principles upon which our nation was built. Foreign policy is important, not only for its impact on our country, but because we have responsibilities as a Christian nation. I realize that the nation as a whole has largely strayed from its Biblical roots, yet our culture still shows Biblical influence in areas such as work ethic, equality of persons, etc. It may be that truth and American culture were, at one time, largely intertwined (or were seen that way). I wonder if this is true for many--all?-- countries, if I am again falling to the American ego. What are the responsibilities of a Christian toward his country, in terms of attitude or devotion? Is that answer somewhat dependent on the godliness (or lack thereof) of the country's culture?

Love and Home

I really must update my reading list. Below are several quotes from chapter 2 of the Ravi Zacharias book I, Isaac, Take Thee Rebekah, which I am currently reading.

G.K. Chesterton said these powerful words: "They have invented a phrase, a phrase that is a black and white contradiction in two words--'free love'--as if a lover ever had been, or ever could be, free. It is the nature of love to bind itself, and the institution of marriage merely paid the average man the compliment of taking him at his word."
When two lives meet, they are like two distinct walls. Each has to start by dismantling his or her wall one brick at a time, and then those bricks are taken intact and with other materials used to build a structure with a roof that brings them together at the top. That is the new home.
The playwright Thornton Wilder said it well: "I didn't marry you because you were perfect. I didn't even marry you because I loved you. I married you because you gave me a promise. That promise made up for your faults. And the promise I gave you made up for mine. Two imperfect people got married and it was the promise that made the marriage. And when our children were growing up, it wasn't a house that protected them; and it wasn't our love that protected them--it was that promise."

And here is one from the ever-present, yet nearing-completion, Domestic Tranquility, responding to an quote from Hillary Clinton signifying the modern person's inability to find meaning at the "core level". As my life is, hopefully, now changing from one focused on a occupational responsibilities to one centered at home, I am finding need for some small adjustments in the expectations and habits I've developed over 2 years of being consumed by teaching demands. Statements like this bolster my motivation.

That core meaning is readily apparent to Brunnhilde [representing a woman who finds fulfillment in domestic and familial pursuits] all day, every day, as she nurses her baby, rocks it to sleep, reads to her children, and prepares dinner for her family.

Out of the Mouths of Babes and Children

Amazing how the most "complicated" of issues may be reduced to bare simplicity by those as yet unskilled in the arts of avoidance and prevarication. Read about it "here".

Back from the Backwoods, Part 3

A few final shots. . .
Hopefully you can see the small white butterfly that chose to light on the brim of my hat. It kept flitting down close to my eye (hence the funny squint).

. . .although it seemed to prefer K's hand.




I spotted this garter snake right next to our trail. It pretended we weren't there, although we were less than a foot away. K said the little guy thought he was well-hidden. . .I say he needs to work on his camouflage act a bit.

This water fall was our first major stopping point on the way to our campsite. It's called Abram's Falls (like Abraham before God changed his name, if you ask me; like an Abrams Tank, if you ask K). It was pretty, and wading out in the stream allowed us to see several types of trout and a few crawdads.

Back from the Backwoods, Part 2

Before and After pictures from our overnight backpacking escapade. . .if you can't tell which is which, you don't need to know.

Back from the Backwoods

We've returned from a week-long vacation in the beautiful rolling hills of Tennessee. We stayed near Smoky Mountain National Park, where we spent the better part of 4 days, including 1 night, and from which we secured many lovely pictures. I shall now post a choice few, with appropriate captioning.
These are some flowers growing out of the side of the rocky mountain-top we hiked to on our first day hike.


Here we are, having successfully completed to 4-mile hike to said mountain-top, known as Charlie's Bunion. Now for the 4 miles back to the car. . . .

This little snail was the first of many we saw on the various trails. He was my own personal find.

Old Women

I am enraptured by the image of domestic bliss in chapter 13 of Uncle Tom's Cabin, which opens, after some descriptive detail, with this simple question:

So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls, why doesn't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women?

Below are a small collection of quotes from the chapter that inspire me:

Her hair, partially silvered by age, was parted smoothly back from a high placed forehead, on which time had written no inscription, except peace on earth, good will to men, and beneath shone a large pair of clear, honest, loveing brown eyes; you only needed to look straight into them, to feel that you saw to the bottom of a heart as good and true as ever throbbed in woman's bosom.
'Thee uses thyself only to learn how to love thy neighbor'. . .'To be sure. Isn't it what we are made for?'
"Mother" was up betimes, and surrounded by busy girls and boys. . .who all moved obediently to Rachel's gentle "Thee had better," or more gentle "Hadn't thee better?" in the work of getting breakfast. . . .
Everything went on so sociably, so quietly, so harmoniously, in the great kitchen,--it seemed so pleasant to every one to do just what they were doing, there was such an atmosphere of mutual confidence and good fellowship everywhere. . . .
Rachel never looked so truly and benignly happy as at the head of her table. There was so much motherliness and full-heartedness even in the way she passed a plate of cakes or poured a cup of coffee, that it seemed to put a spirit into the food and drink she offered.
This, indeed, was a home. . . .

The saying age before beauty rings more truly tonight, taken in a new light. True beauty, the beauty that comes by years lived in godly wisdom, comes age; it does not fade as the onset of inevitable age continues. I fervently desire to live in such a way that I become more beautiful with the passage of time, and, while I know I have much to learn, it comforts me to think that time is at least as much my friend as my enemy in the attempt.

The First Day of the Rest of My Life

Three cheers for the end of school! Hip Hip Hurrah! Hip Hip Hurrah! Hip Hip Hurrah!
Today has not been a particularly pleasant day, but it has been MY day, and that makes it lovely nonetheless. I shall endeavor to always remember that when in the future I am tempted to decry the passage of some day.
I have already dived into my summer reading, completing one little book and beginning another. I sped through the famous The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupery over the weekend, in early preparation for viewing the opera during next year's Tulsa Opera season. I confess to being somewhat bewildered and not completely pleased by the ending. I shall, however, read it again more closely. I do wish to understand its popularity and the favor with which it is regarded by friends of mine. Has anyone any thoughts to offer on the subject?
Last night I begain the American classic Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. I've only finished the introduction, but it was quite interesting. The author of the introduction, Amanda Claybaugh, attempts to paint Stowe as an early feminist, explaining her obvious submission to her husband as "a canny strategy for turning those (gender) constraints toward her own ends. By sitting silently while her husband or son spoke on her behalf, Stowe was not simply conforming to the expectations of her audience, but also dramatizing her conformity and thereby transforming conformity into a source of power." I find this funny. Not surprisingly, I know little about Stowe, so I cannot positively refute Claybaugh's claims. However, I find it far more likely that her explanation is a feminist's pitiful attempt to make a feminist hero of someone who dared to accept her role as wife. And that amuses me.

Overdue Quotes

It has been quite a while since I posted any inspriational quote from Domestic Tranquility. Here is a beautiful synopsis of a woman's job, based upon Virginia Woolf's character Mrs. Ramsay in To the Lighthouse, a book I may now have to read:

. . .Mrs. Ramsay produces little, daily miracles by imposing shape and staibility upon life's chaos. For her husband, her children, and those who might join her faimly circle, Mrs. Ramsay calms the whirlwind, stops time, and with the gift of her attention, structures for others a moment to share with her, a moment that they would never experience without her mediation. In these moments of permanence, Mrs. Ramsay teaches others that they count for something in this life. . . .for those individuals who have no Mrs. Ramsay in their lives, there may will be no moments of permanence in which they know that they count. They will be like unfinished canvases with a "centre of complete emptiness," without shape or stability. What is there in life that can replace the woman who "resolved everything into simplicity" and made "of the moment something permanent?" (author's quotes taken from Woolf)

Boring Blog

Are boring posts better than no posts?
That is the question of the day. Yesterday's question of the day came from a student using a dictionary: "Does O come before I?" Please keep in mind that I teach high school. Fortunately, some other student told the querying student to sing the alphabet, so I didn't have to.
I have not consumed any of my water today. Oops. Bad health for me. I really should make a more concerted effort to drink, rather than finishing my water only when I'm thirsty.
I'm going home now, finally, to find something healthy to eat. I hope this lonely little post satiates some great need until I have more time!

Throwback

While baking 3 batches of cookies and 3 of mini-muffins this evening, I've been nostalgically listening to CD's from my high school years. It's interesting. I find myself picking up on just a line here and there, even on songs I know most of the words to. They are the lines that resonate most with my experience and my personal faith, inasmuch as one's personal faith differs slightly in emphasis from everyone else's. (Anyone wonder why we put three words together into one word? We do that with "insofar" also. Interesting.) Some songs, of course, I sing almost all of, but even on songs with whose basic premise I now disagree I sing a few lines. (Why is that "whose"? A song is not a "who;" it's a "which," but there's no possessive form of "which.") My brain automatically discriminates between the lines, without me thinking about it. Even after several years, the words are still ingrained enough in my subconscious for that to happen.
This discussion is not really going anywhere. . .it's just me transmitting my current thought processes. That IS what a blog is for, right? Feel free to comment.

Blue Bonnet Sue, Bakers & Chefs

Ever searching for the elusive "perfect" cookie and taking advantage of my self-appointed task to make an enormous number of chocolate chip cookies for my AP class to enjoy after their AP test tomorrow, I decided to make 3 batches using 3 different recipes. The winner, with the slight modification of a whole bag of chocolate chips rather than just 1 cup (1 1/2) and no nuts, is actually a tie and comes from the back of the Blue Bonnet Margarine box and the back of a Bakers & Chefs brown sugar bag:

Blue Bonnet Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup Blue Bonnet (of course) margarine, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Mix as usual (Read: combine margerine and sugar; add egg and vanilla; add flour and soda; add chocolate chips). Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes or until edges harden and centers are still soft.

B&C Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Mix as usual (see above). Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Yes, I realize there are at least a zillion (I counted them! Really!) (Okay. . .not really.) chocolate chip cookie recipes, and everyone probably already has their favorite. The first one is different because it uses melted margarine, and I don't remember doing that before. It results in less flattening during baking, because the margarine is already melted. Next time, I shall add nuts. (My students rarely get nuts in their cookies for 2 reasons: 1) They're expensive. 2) They take time and energy to chop. When making many batches, those nominal obstacles become Herculean. (No, probably not Herculean, but I wanted to use the word.)) I also noticed, with the other batches, that butter creates a much flatter cookies than a margerine/shortening mix. It must be thinner when melted. Also, the cookies flattened less on a dark, non-stick pan than on my other, textured, light pan. All interesting observations for you to enjoy. Anyone care to share your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe? Or maybe you should try mine first, so you don't have to retract your statement later. Hee hee.

For the Future

I post this link here in hopes that I may remember to read it again when I have boys to raise.

On the Evils of Fast Food

One can't be expected to eat a burger and fries every day, and they don't warm up in the microwave. In fact, burgers and fries in the microwave s---oh, wait--that's crude.
And there are only so many times you can go to Subway for a sandwich. There are Long John Silver's and McDonald's and Carl's, Jr. The problem with Sonic is that you have to eat in your car, or wait and bring it back, but then your tater tots are all soggy and wasted. And everything is so expensive. Who can afford that? It's just a lose-lose situation.
What's that? Bring simple, tasteful, nutritional food from home? But it's so much easier to run pick something up. . . .

This litany of complaints I overheard while waiting for to have lunch with my dad yesterday. . .with a small bit of poetic license, of course. . .highly amused me, and I hope it does you as well.

Congrats are in order!

I feel that I deserve congratulations for single-handedly wading through 20 months of bank statements and successfully reconciling bank records to checkbook records over the weekend. Nevermind that only I am responsible for the backlog or that the vast majority (say. . .all but 3, "all" being at least 25) of the mistakes were recording or (mostly) math errors on my part. (Dare not to recommend better practices in the future!) A simple congratulations will do. Thank you, in advance.

Noon Sustenance

My lunch today: Danon Light'n Fit blueberry yogurt, Nature Valley Apple Crisp granola bar, several dried Turkish apricots, and water. My dessert? A watermelon-flavored Mexican-produced sucker from one of my students. Weird.
It is Friday. That and the fact that we have 25 days of school left please me. This afternoon I administer the state Biology standardized test for 18 students. That should allow me to get more grading done, which is good. My AP class turned in research rough drafts today (I always want to spell that "ruff" drafts. . .fitting, somehow), and those will take hours to check thoroughly.
Typing in this position really hurts my shoulders, so I am finished. Besides, lunch is now over, and students are returning. Happy Weekending, everyone!

Fungible

This is my new word. I have now seen it several times in various contexts and have looked in a dictionary for its meaning twice. It means interchangeable, exchangeable, or substitutable. Yes, those are the exact words. . .although I wouldn't have guessed the last one WAS a word. Research says it takes 7-9 exposures to a word before it sticks in the memory. I'm guessing I'm at 5 or 6. . .maybe I can beat the odds.