Lentils

The other night I decided to bring out some lentils from the pantry. I hadn’t cooked lentils in a long time. I just “winged” this dish and although I don’t have exact measurements I’ll try to describe what I did.  

I had a bag of frozen, cubed, onions, carrots, and celery that I sautéed for a while. This was maybe two cups of vegetables. I then added chicken stock that I had in the fridge from when I cooked a chicken. Once that was boiling I added the lentils, maybe a cup and a half (like all beans lentils increase in size).  I seasoned them with oregano, cumin, and salt. 

I let it all simmer until the lentils were soft.  Mine were a bit old so it took longer than lentils normally do.  Meanwhile I cooked rice (in a rice cooker) and my daughter and I prepared tomatoes, cilantro, and avocados to serve with the dish. We also topped it with olives and sour cream. 

The avocados, olives, and sour cream brought the cost up a bit but the main dish of rice and lentils cooked with vegetables was quite cheap.  You could put different spices with it, and add or subtract the vegetables to make it different. 

Some resources for recipes - Mexican cooking x 2

I've been enjoying two Youtube channels lately. 

One is Rockin Robin Cooks Mexican and More
Robin is very enjoyable and down to earth and my family has really enjoyed her recipes.  Her explanations are clear and easy to follow.  She also has a website for her recipes but I don't think it's as up to date as her Youtube channel is.
Cooking Mexican Recipes

Two of our favorite recipes so far are Pico de Gallo and the One Pan Chicken and Vegetables.


The other Youtube channel  I want to tell you about today is Abuela's Kitchen  .
This features three generations of cooks who want to share their knowledge of cooking and Mexican culture.  Most of the videos are of the grandmother cooking.  She speaks in Spanish but there are subtitles for the cooking.  I only wish there were subtitles for the stories she tells!   I haven't decided on a favorite from that channel yet but we did like the chicken tostados. 

The granddaughter (an adult)  has a blog which is personal but also has recipes.  (Like mine!)
Abuelaskitchenofficialblog


I hope you find these resources helpful!

Timing

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 - ESV

The other day my son was reading something on the internet and telling me about it.   When Pixar was making Monsters Inc, which came out in 2001,  they had originally intended for the sushi bar that some characters went to, to blow up in an explosion.   When the tragedy of September 11 happened in that year, they decided, wisely in my opinion, to change that scene to have the sushi bar covered with a plasma dome.    Lilo and Stitch came out in 2002, and a scene involving a commercial jet flying between buildings was changed as well to avoid bringing people's memories back to the events of 9/11. 

Now, this was on the internet, on a Reddit page and I have not done further research to verify this information.  It does sound credible to me and fits in with other things I have read involving the deletion or changing of scenes in other films or programs in order to avoid upsetting people.  I have seen here in the UK television shows being postponed or cancelled because of the overall themes or some scenes being too close to some tragedy that happened near the time of the planned broadcast.   

The thing is that the scenes in the films or shows are not wrong in themselves.  Drama or even comedy can show unpleasant scenes (in comedies usually made so no one dies) and it's not wrong.  Good stories involve tense moments which the characters have to get through.     The issue is being sensitive to the times and circumstances when the films, shows, or books are first put out into the public arena.   There is the matter of not wanting to needlessly upset people.  

In real estate the slogan is "Location, location, location!"   Where something is changes its value.

In studying the Bible - and any other literature, or philosophies, the slogan is "Context, context, context!"     Where something is in the Bible or other literature matters.   You can take things out of context ignorantly and misunderstand things, and sadly some people do it deliberately in order to falsely criticise and mislead people.

You've likely heard the saying "it's not just what you say, but how you say it that matters."  That's so true.  I'd like to add that it's important when you say or do things. 

Timing - when we do things in relation to other things - matters a lot not only in films, etc, but in our personal lives.   There is a right time and a wrong time to bring things up or to take certain actions.   We often hear of people trying to find "the right time" to have a conversation with someone.   Context may be another and more complete way of expressing this concept -  the immediate time, the location, and the timing within the broader setting of what is going on in the peoples' lives. 

Patience is one of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 22-25) and is something the Christian is meant to pursue and exhibit.  Patience allows us to wait to bring things up to other people (like our spouses, or even a group of people) until the moment is right.  It requires patience to bring up a difficult topic to a spouse at an appropriate time - a wife might want to discuss something immediately but love will compel her to wait and not engage her husband in a difficult conversation as soon as he comes in from work.    

Patience is needed in parenting - it's tempting to want to tell a child (particularly a teen) what they did wrong and what they need to do differently when they're upset about something that has gone wrong or when they are experiencing difficulties in some way.  It's better to have patience, get the child through the crisis with love and a supportive attitude, and then later, when the crisis has passed and the emotions are calm, to look at the issues with Biblical principles and logic.  This is something for all relationships, not just parents and children.  And it's something I'm still learning.

We want to do things now!  We want to sort things out now!  to have it out now!  But the way of love is different.  Sometimes things must be dealt with right away.  Usually, though, the feelings of "must do it now" stem at least in part from impatience, which is not a godly thing.  Feelings of being offended also cause us to want to tackle things right away.  Again, some things must be dealt with immediately. You must immediately stop someone from driving while drunk, for example.     So often, though, some delay, in order to pray about things, to bring them before God, asking Him to purify our hearts and keep us from acting in anger, is the better way.

Even non-religious entities such as film companies understand the importance of timing and being considerate of others.   We too, as Christians, must learn to be patient, to change our "script," or even drop the matter entirely at times.   Timing and context matter in our lives, even more than location matters to real estate. 


A word spoken at the right time is like gold apples in silver settings.

Proverbs 25:11 - Christian Standard Bible

Borracho beans and what to do if your husband brings you flowers when you have a tight budget

Food and a story with advice....

The last time I was in my hometown Tulsa, at one of our lunches together my father ordered borracho beans for me instead of the refried beans I normally ordered.  I had never had them before but I liked them.  I bought a few packets of pinto beans last Saturday (I have to go to a certain store in another town to get pinto beans so I buy several packets at once) and thought this week that I'd make borracho beans. 


Borracho beans on rice, because my daughter wanted rice! You can eat just the beans in a bowl like a soup if you want.


I'm not going to share a specific recipe because I have only made them once (so I'm no expert)  but you can look up some recipes and find one you think you might like.  "Borracho" means "drunk" in English.  Borracho beans are cooked in beer so they are called "drunken beans."  Charro beans are much the same thing but without the beer.

The basic ingredients are:
Pinto beans
Beer
bacon or hamhock
onions (white or green "spring" onions)
jalapenos (or not)
tomatoes
seasonings
cilantro for topping

As with all dry beans they will need a longish cooking time - and the older the beans, the longer they will take. 

And now to my very short story.  

When I was single, and in my mid-20's, and working with a lot of other young women at a school, an older woman told us, "If your husband brings you flowers, never respond with 'You shouldn't have! We can't afford that!' Eat beans for a week if you have to, but don't discourage him ever over things like that."

Good advice!

Tomato soup and Irish soda bread

Today I made tomato soup and Irish soda bread for lunch.  I made the bread first so it could be baking while I made the soup, because the soup does not take long at all.  I found a recipe for the bread online.  I didn’t have any buttermilk to use, so I used some sour cream which was getting a bit old but was still good. 

I mixed up the bread and made it into a loaf.  Soda bread is a “quick bread” which means it doesn’t use yeast and does not need to be left to rise before baking.  It rises - quickly - in the oven. 

This took a while to bake so next time I will make it a bit flatter and make the cuts deeper. 

After the bread was in the oven I started the soup.  I peeled and chopped two onions and sautéed them in maybe a fourth of a cup of olive oil. 

Then I added some vegetable stock - you can use broth you already have or bouillon cubes.  I like these little stock things from Knorr.  They are a bit high in price but I try to wait until they are on sale and then I buy several packets.  I use a supermarket’s own brand for the chopped tomatoes. 

I let those things all cook together (onions, stock “cubes” although they aren’t really cubes,  two cans of chopped tomatoes, and some water - about half a can of water) and added salt and seasoning.  I didn’t have plain basil so I used some Italian seasoning.   I tasted it and found it was a bit acidic so I added some baking soda.  Some people add sugar to take away an acid taste but I prefer using baking soda if I can.  I added a little first and then decided to add a good bit more - perhaps I added half a teaspoon in all.   If you add baking soda (I should say here for my British readers that baking soda is simply bicarbonate of soda) to something acidic you will notice that it fizzes a bit as it mixes in. 

Here I add a little bit:

And after I add a bit more and mix it in:

You can see the bubbles as the soda fizzes a bit.  You don’t want a lot, just enough to tame a bit of the acidity of the tomatoes. 

I added a bit more water as I felt the soup was too thick.  Maybe another half a can’s worth, maybe a bit more.  It’s all a matter of preference. 

After it’s cooked for a while you can eat the soup as it is, rather chunky, or you can blend it down to make it smoother.  You can make it very smooth, or go midway which is what I aimed for.   You can put the soup, a cup or so at a time, in a blender or food processor, or use a stick blender which is what I prefer.   Mine is quite a cheap stick blender but I am happy with it. 

A stick blender makes soups so easy to do and really helps with making cheap and easy but nutritious meals. 

The bread eventually got done in the middle and ready to eat:

Lunch was delicious if I do say so myself!

It was cheap, used things I almost always have on hand, and wasn’t difficult to make. 

Here is the recipe I followed (for the most part) for the soda bread:

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16947/amazingly-easy-irish-soda-bread/

The soup keeps well but you can add it to other dishes.  I plan to add our leftover soup to chili tonight along with some beans that need to be used up and some taco meat that I’m defrosting now. 

Happy cooking!

Tamales-making day

A couple of weeks ago my daughter and I made tamales.  I ordered some corn husks and ancho peppers from an online Mexican grocery here in the U.K.   I made some sauce and cooked the meats beforehand so that on the day we could just mix the masa up and make the tamales.  

Corn husks:

Getting started:

This was only our first time so don’t laugh!

My daughter working:

We worked out a code to tell the different types apart.




I’m fairly tall but needed help to put the tamales into the canned which was serving as our steamer. 






The extra husks went on top as per instructions. 


A bit of larking about with cleavers seemed to be in order as we waited for the tamales to steam.  (Plant is “cleavers” “goose-grass” or other names depending on your location/upbringing.). (My decoration was courtesy of my daughter!)



It came time to test.  






My verdict was that it wasn’t bad for a first try.  And I definitely want to try again.  I want to do better on the sauce - I messed up on part of it and want to perhaps find another recipe anyway.  But daughter and I liked them!

At dinner they looked like this:

The Christian and Being Triggered

In the last few years a word has moved from the realms of medicine and psychology to common parlance.  It has even moved away from what was meant to be a considerate warning to people who may have suffered deep sorrow, grief and trauma when a topic was going to be discussed which might upset them (for instance, infant loss, physical assault, and other similar things).   It has changed again in meaning to more common issues, to such an extent that people use it in irony and mocking.  The word is "triggered."

"Triggered" used to mean something very serious, something that would set off sheer panic and deep distress in people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Now it often means something that causes someone to become upset, angry, or offended at the mere sight of a word or idea or conversation.  You can read on the internet examples of people saying they are "triggered" by this or that word.  They mean they get angry or upset when they see the word or the discussion that includes that word (or concept).   It's not about vulgarities.  The phenomenon deals with just normal words used when discussing political or philosophical topics, among others.

Let me boil that down.  People are getting upset, offended, even angry when someone uses a certain word or phrase in a discussion, or a post, or an article. 

It makes it rather difficult to have adult conversations about all sorts of serious issues. 

Of course, we should strive to be charitable and kind in all our interactions with others.  But much burden should be laid on the shoulders of those who claim to be triggered.  Those who, in other words, are confessing to becoming angry and offended upon the mere sight of certain words. 

Being triggered seems to be the very definition of being easily angered.  Of reacting too suddenly. 

I would like to make the case to my Christian readers that being "triggered" is something we should strive to never be.   We are not called to become "triggered" - even when we think we are on the right side of an issue.  

The Christian is called to be:

Patient and Gentle  (Galatians 5:22-23 lists the fruit of the Spirit - what we should be exhibiting and striving for).   Is a gentle and patient person easily set off by certain words?

Sober-minded  (Titus 2, 1 Peter 5, 1 Timothy 3 all talk about being sober-minded - NB the qualifications of elders are not suggestions that elders are to be men with super powers.  It's simply that elders are to be men who exemplify the qualities that all believers should desire to have.)   
Does someone who becomes upset when a word is used in a conversation really show they are sober-minded? 

Self-controlled (Titus - this short epistle contains the phrase "self-controlled" 5 times!  It's found again in the list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5)  Getting easily offended and upset shows a lack of self-control.   Why would we want that in our lives?

Dignified (The Proverbs 31 woman - she who is nowadays much maligned it seems, in modern Christianity - has dignity.  1 Timothy 3 and Titus 2 call all manner of Christians to be dignified.)
Is it dignified to be easily angered?  I don't think so. 

Not easily angered (one of the hallmarks of love, in 1 Corinthians 13).   Not being easily angered contrasts a lot with the idea of being "triggered," doesn't it?


Here is a word from the apostle James:

   Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;  for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.  James 1:19, 20, ESV


Even if we think we are on the right side of a debate or discussion, note what James says.  Our anger does not produce the righteousness of God.   There is sometimes a righteous anger to be had and shown (anger at abuse, or other grievous sin) but getting angry or upset upon seeing a word or phrase (again, not talking about vulgarities, insults, etc) is not righteous anger.  It's fleshly.  It's worldly.  Let the world do what it wants.  My Christian sisters, we are called to better things.   Patience.  Gentleness. Sober-mindedness. Self-control. Dignity.  We are to not be easily angered.   
Before the apostle Paul introduces his list of fruits of the flesh and those of the spirit he says in Galatians 5:16  :

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
May the Lord help us obey His commands and walk by His Spirit. 

Welcome to my new blog!

Welcome to my new blog.  I decided to start a blog for sharing some of my daily life so posts may include:
Cooking
Crafts
Theology and Christian matters
Language learning
Other learning
Walking in the countryside or sharing other aspects of the beauty around me.

I do have a blog for the books I read called Karen's Bookshelves - if you like books (warning - many Christian books - much theology) have a look. 

I love to cook and learn to make new dishes.  My favorite foods are Italian and Mexican.   I love to knit and do a number of crafts - at least I'll try them! Knitting and crochet are the ones I keep going back to. 

I am fluent in Italian yet there is still much to learn.   I'm trying to resurrect my out-of-date Spanish learning. 

I've been a Christian for about 45 years - I'm sure I'll write about it on here sometime.  

I've been married for 28 years, and though I'm from the US I live in England.  I have 5 living children.

Well, that's my opening post.   My daughter and my adventures in tamal-making today is almost certain to be my first (after this) post.

Bye for now!