Going To the Table

Strawberry Swing (video)

2009-10-13T00:07:00.000-07:00

This is the coolest music video I've seen in a while (and, as it happens, my favorite song off Coldplay's last album). They won't let me embed it, so skip over here to see 'er.

Primum Non Nocere

2009-09-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

"First, to do no harm."

Your meats will thank you.

There are dozens, maybe hundreds, maybe thousands of kitchen tools out there that are no good (some of them are plain dagnasty evil, its just a fact). Granted, most of them are easy enough to spot and avoid--they usually only have one function and they are the same color as the food they are meant to be used on (exempli gratia) However, one odious kitchen tool has been around so long that familiarity has helped it avoid detection.

I am talking about your meat tenderizer. That's right, your meat tenderizer...you barbarian. Recognize it? One of these nasty numbers, left over from some medieval torture chamber. The problem with these things is just that, they're better suited to corporeal punishment than to "tenderizing" anything.

When you take to whacking your meat with this war-hammer, you're doing more than flattening or tenderizing; you are tearing and severing the muscle fibers, destroying the body and integrity of the meat. But there is a better way:

Get your hands on one of these beauties. A little more modern, and not so Spanish-Inquisition-y. The virtues of a flat tenderizer extend beyond their more civilized appearance, though. The wide, flat surface transfers force away from the point of impact and eliminates the blunt-force damage from those spiked hammers. These are advantages because the tool can still thin/spread the muscle fibers and flatten/tenderize the meat without mangling it or leaving it flaccid.

The make the most of your new tenderizer, cover the meat you're tenderizing with plastic wrap, dampened on both sides, to reduce friction, and use glancing strokes instead of straight-down strokes. After all, the days of the hammer are behind you.

If you're anxious to tenderize some meat, try this simple recipe for Chicken Kiev/Chicken Royale

Putting Off the Gear

2009-05-28T10:22:00.000-07:00

"Sam did likewise, and put aside his orc-gear; and he took out all the things in his pack. Somehow each of them had become dear to him, if only because he had borne them so far with so much toil. Hardest of all it was to part with his cooking-gear. Tears welled in his eyes at the thought of casting it away....The clatter of his precious pans as they fell down into the dark was like a death-knell to his heart." (Bk. VI, ch. 3, pg 214)

I felt a pang of deep sympathy for Sam as he and Frodo put aside their things for the end of their long journey, and it revealed to me a sin I am particularly susceptible to. I've often thought that I would be very disappointed to find, when the present things were passing away and the new earth was coming upon us, that our need for and interest in food would finally be put off -- never again to dig up growing things, pick their fruits, put them in our hearths and our mouths (a surprising many folks feel this way).

I've known people who have the same hangup with marriage, but I'll leave them to agonize over what it means to be "like the angels." Today I don't even feel like defending food as vehemently as I might usually, because too often my resistance to change is a true failing. In Lewis' words, it is a foolish thing to ignore the coming waves of the ocean because we long for the ones that have already come and gone; and forsaking today's meal will not bring back yesterday's. In the defense of glorious things, we may too eagerly turn from the greater reality still to come.

But maybe the great meal of mankind, when all things have changed and are remade, will be the same tomorrow as it is today. Till we know, I am just glad I was not made to live at the end of an age, when the gear from the old lands must be put off, and the cookery let fall into darkness.

Morning

2009-05-05T17:43:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this in conjunction with yesterday's post. Billy and I have our differences, but he does manage to capture the greatness of the early hours.

Morning

by Billy Collins

Why do we bother with the rest of the day,

the swale of the afternoon,

the sudden dip into evening,

then night with his notorious perfumes,

his many-pointed stars?

This is the best—

throwing off the light covers,

feet on the cold floor,

and buzzing around the house on espresso—

maybe a splash of water on the face,

a palmful of vitamins—

but mostly buzzing around the house on espresso,

dictionary and atlas open on the rug,

the typewriter waiting for the key of the head,

a cello on the radio,

and, if necessary, the windows—

trees fifty, a hundred years old

out there,

heavy clouds on the way

and the lawn steaming like a horse

in the early morning.

While It Is Yet Night

2009-05-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

According to Cake, "today is tomorrow, and tomorrow today," and I'm going to take that to mean that our present and future existences are bound up tightly together. This should be sobering for young men. John C. Ryle called youth the "seedtime of full age...the turning point in the history of man's mind."

Every habit we have now is a habit we'll be hardpressed to break in the coming years, for better or worse. The character and conduct of the 20-year-old is a glimpse of the 40-year-old. "By the shoot we judge of the tree--by the blossoms we judge of the fruit--by the spring we judge of the harvest--by the morning we judge of the day." This final metaphor is especially appropriate because of one virtue recommended to all young men and cultivated only by some--rising early.

If a man desires to know God, he will be driven to rise up early:

Psalms 5:3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

Psalms 59:16 But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.

Psalms 63:1 O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

Psalms 88:13 But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.

Isaiah 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

In rising to seek after Wisdom, a diligent man is rewarded:

Proverbs 8:17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.

Rising early to work hard, you will not suffer want:

Proverbs 6:9-11 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

Plus, the women you run into in the early hours are good and wise:

Proverbs 31:15, 25 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens…. Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come

"She shall rejoice in time to come," and so shall the man who rises up early to meet her and meet His Lord. Paul says, in Hebrews, that the Lord appoints a special day: "Today" and "as long as it is called Today, if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts." For the Hebrews, "tomorrow" was not an option. Paul was telling them they would have a load of "today's" in which to repent, and when it was no longer "today" it would be too late. "Tomorrow" would be the day of judgment and for those who did not turn there would be no tomorrow.

Though maybe not so dire as that, the young man's "tomorrow" may also find them too far down the sluggard's path. Four years of saying "I will consider the ant tomorrow, I will store up tomorrow, I will rise up early and seek my Lord's face tomorrow," can turn into a lifetime of wasted "Today's."

"Today is tomorrow, and tomorrow today, and yesterday is weaving in and out."

After Years

2009-04-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, two poems today, and not an original thought in sight. Proverbs leads me to believe that's an ideal arrangement, so with no more gilding the aster, After Years:

Today, from a distance, I saw you
walking away, and without a sound
the glittering face of a glacier
slid into the sea. An ancient oak
fell in the Cumberlands, holding only
a handful of leaves, and an old woman
scattering corn to her chickens looked up
for an instant. At the other side
of the galaxy, a star thirty-five times
the size of our own sun exploded
and vanished, leaving a small green spot
on the astronomer's retina
as he stood on the great open dome
of my heart with no one to tell.

-Ted Kooser

Crossing the Bar

2009-04-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

SUNSET and evening star, 
  And one clear call for me! 
And may there be no moaning of the bar, 
  When I put out to sea, 
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,         
  Too full for sound and foam, 
When that which drew from out the boundless deep 
  Turns again home. 
Twilight and evening bell, 
  And after that the dark!         
And may there be no sadness of farewell, 
  When I embark; 
For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place 
  The flood may bear me far, 
I hope to see my Pilot face to face         
  When I have crossed the bar.

                         -Alfred, Lord Tennyson

"Crown"

2009-04-21T11:23:00.000-07:00

Too much rain
loosens trees.
In the hills giant oaks
fall upon their knees.
You can touch parts
you have no right to—
places only birds
should fly to.

-Kay Ryan

Dressing Our Words

2009-04-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

In his Experiment in Criticism, C.S. Lewis foresaw a dangerous practice that has now crept into our most precious art of poetry, disguising itself as an honest reaction to both modernism and romanticism alike:

"The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility. Instead it proves the offender’s inability to forget himself in the rite….A celebrant approaching the altar…a general officer on a ceremonial parade…all these must wear unusual clothes and move with calculated dignity."

Not to dress poetry in its ceremonial garments is to lose sight of what it really is: something special, something sacred. The more ritual it becomes, the more we are elevated to the rank of participants in it.

Shrimp Stock with a View-to-a-gumbo

2009-03-13T20:11:00.001-07:00

Yes, food is supposed to feature here when I can get around to it. For now, a great shrimp stock for gumbo and a few rules for a gumbo base:

Shrimp stock for a Gumbo:

1 yellow onion (rough chop)

1 cup parsnips (chopped)

1/2 cup carrot (")

1/2 cup celery (")

1/2 cup leeks (", after you've pre-soaked and rinsed thoroughly)

2-3 garlic cloves (large chop)

[now you've built what's called a 'white mirepoix' in french or cajun cooking. for the spices:]

2 sprigs fresh or 1 tsp dried thyme

" basil

" oregano

3 or 4 black peppercorns

5 or 6 parsley stems

[for best results, tie all these up in a piece of cheese cloth (or, if you have loose-leaf tea balls, they'll work too). A few more things:]

a lemon, halved

shells and heads from 2-2.5 lbs shrimp

2.5 qts water

Combine all, bring to a steady boil, then simmer until reduced by half and strain well

Now, some tips for any gumbo-bound stock:

-You'll notice no white wine in the stock above. Yes, leaving out the wine makes your water work awfully hard, but gumbos come from the salt of the earth and a gumbo stock deserves to work a little more. Plus, the added flavor can clash with the taste of your roux (baked oil and flour mixture used in gumbo), imo.

-If you can't find head-on shrimp and you want extra seafood flavor, add a fish head along with the shrimp shells. This is only for gumbos featuring seafood though; other ingredients deserve their own base--I've even heard of duck gumbos (yum!)

What the Monks Knew

2009-03-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

Somewhere between St. Anthony and St. Francis (probably much closer to the latter, bless him), there seems to be a kind of monastic ideal for all Churchmen and Churchwomen. Given, that is, that we understand 'monk' to mean something beyond, or entirely other than, a cloistered wretch conscience-bound by excess of vows. Perhaps, rather, there is a monasticism for all of us, in so much as we're called to incorporate into the rythm of our lives a life-giving discipline of sacrifice and a deep listening to the past, to the world around us, and to the Spirit. Rosenstock-Huessy gave poetic expression to this and the hope of a growing 'monasticism' within the life of a faithful Church:

Time and again, man has to be ripped open
by the ploughshare of suffering
and open himself
like a dry and desicated earth
to dew and rain.
And ever since one man did this
manifestly all alone by himself,
his congregations relieve the members
of the total pressure of absolute loneliness.
In every generation, the group
which may be remodeled,
may increase, until the whole of mankind
will be allowed to fall silent
and to cleanse ourselves
from the chatter and clatter of the day,
and to listen to the spirit
silmultaneously.

Recent Moscow Weather and the Accompanying Sentiments

2009-03-02T10:17:00.000-08:00

No commentary needed, it's Singin' in the Rain, for crying out loud.

Horror, Harrowed

2009-03-02T09:55:00.000-08:00

After four years, I finally understand Heart of Darkness and what to do with it.

After Kurtz’s death, Marlow returns to Europe, conflicted by his experience up the Congo and wrestling with the dark and lingering influence of Africa. He hopes to find his way back from the darkness of Kurtz and the jungle by visiting Kurtz’s intended, whom he believes to be an embodiment of innocence and light.

“This interview will free him, Marlow hopes, from all connections with Kurtz. It will somehow exorcise the dark memory of Kurtz by surrendering it to its opposite, a beautiful girl with ‘a soul as translucently pure as a cliff of crystal’….He thinks that,…from having gone downward into darkness and evil, into a sort of hell, to meet Kurtz, Marlow should rise into light and goodness, into a sort of heaven, to meet the Intended. But he does not rise. Instead his journey constitutes a second descent. [Though the Intended is full of light, it is a light that] can no longer combat darkness…so that both dark and light, in the same scene, suggest evil.” (Cheatham 306)

So it is that Conrad makes his final statement about the true “darkness.” Marlow realizes, in the end, that a descent into the heart of evil can never really be reversed. He realizes exactly what Kurtz meant in his last words….”the horror! the horror!”

Tolkien shows us a tortured Frodo with the same plight, telling Sam, "I need to know he can come back" (speaking of Gollum, but fearing for himself). Tolkien, however gave greater consideration to Dante, and what's more, Scripture. A descent into the darkest abyss, for those who are not evil when they enter, is fated to end in ascent. The dark land was harrowed and Frodo went to rest in Valinor, Dante rose again and glimpsed his Beatrice; Christ shut tight the jaws of Tartarus and burst forth in new and glorious life. There is no "horror" that may corrupt those whom He has called and claimed. Anyone with the spirit of life animating their sorry dust can be rescued, can come back.

Family Table

2009-03-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

Family. Mine was broken and remade. The break was singular, a fixed and limited point in time and history. But a boy is never truly without a father, and the glory of my Father is the nature of my family's reconstitution. Not limited, bound to a single point or time, but limitless, continuous, and life-giving. A second and greater father to rule as vice-regent for the Father, friends to be brothers and sisters where none had been before.

One of my brothers shares my name, or I share his, rather. Sean is a derivation of the greater, John, and because naming is creating in truth, he was created a better man than I. Never fearing what I never had the courage to face, he longed to know and teach God's word, thought the thoughts of true poetry while I called them unpoetic, and beat his plowshare into a sword for the sake of others.

My brother KC, from the Scottish "narrow" and the latin for "bearing Christ," walks a chosen road so narrow that only the things of Christ may come along without catching and stalling his progress.

My sister Kate, they say, comes from the Greek for "torture," but others argue its true origin is "pure." Strong to bear up under tortures, she emerged from trials pure and undefiled.

Michael, whose name questions: "who is like God?" asks the same with a humble life. Strong, like the captain of the Lord's hosts, and patron of soldiers; maybe his spirit visits and cares for John's.

As the Lord's body was broken once, reconstituted, and is now redistributed weekly for our sakes, so was my family broken and lifted up for the God of hosts to declare to me, "here is your body, broken," and then to remake in His image. Now, once broken, more and more is added to it, like the loaves and fishes, like the body and blood, like the family and body of the one whose family and body I am.

Quotating: Through a Glass

2009-03-01T19:26:00.000-08:00

"It is only when we are very happy, that we can bear to gaze merrily upon the vast and limitless expanse of water, rolling on and on with such persistent, irritating monotony, to the accompaniment of our thoughts, whether grave or gay. When they are gay, the waves echo their gaiety; but when they are sad, then every breaker, as it rolls, seems to bring additional sadness, and to speak to us of hopelessness and of the pettiness of all our joys."

-The Scarlet Pimpernel

"The Colonel"

2009-02-28T10:05:00.000-08:00

The story of the fried chicken revolution:

Forsaking the Table

2009-02-24T22:40:00.000-08:00

I've just come from my last meal before the Lenten fast. It is popular to say that we no longer have good cause to observe seasons of fasting, for redemption has alreadycome to us. However, many victories still wait to be completed--sorrow and darkness still plague the soul, and our flesh still weakens and gives up its ghost. We still see but through a glass darkly and we still keep our lamplight vigils, waiting for the return of the Bridegroom. When He is present, there is no need for weeping and fasting, but while He is not with us, fasting is the appropriate way to punctuate the hope we have in His return and the Wedding Feast that He will call us to.

"In this vale of shadows, we should be careful not to allow abundance to con us out of hunger. It is not only the best sauce; it is also the choicest daily reminder that the agony of the world is by no means over."

The Ent and The Entwife

2009-02-15T01:48:00.000-08:00

[one of my favorite "songs" in Tolkien]

ENT:
When Spring unfolds the beechen leaf, and sap is in the bough;
When light is on the wild-wood stream, and wind is on the brow;
When stride is long, and breath is deep, and keen the mountain-air,
Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is fair!

ENTWIFE:
When Spring is come to garth and field, and corn is in the blade;
When blossom like a shining snow is on the orchard laid;
When shower and Sun upon the Earth with fragrance fill the air,
I'll linger here, and will not come, because my land is fair.

ENT:
When Summer lies upon the world, and in a noon of gold
Beneath the roof of sleeping leaves the dreams of trees unfold;
When woodland halls are green and cool, and wind is in the West,
Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is best!

ENTWIFE:
When Summer warms the hanging fruit and burns the berry brown;
When straw is gold, and ear is white, and harvest comes to town;
When honey spills, and apple swells, though wind be in the West,
I'll linger here beneath the Sun, because my land is best!

ENT:
When Winter comes, the winter wild that hill and wood shall slay;
When trees shall fall and starless night devour the sunless day;
When wind is in the deadly East, then in the bitter rain
I'll look for thee, and call to thee; I'll come to thee again!

ENTWIFE:
When Winter comes, and singing ends; when darkness falls at last;
When broken is the barren bough, and light and labour past;
I'll look for thee, and wait for thee, until we meet again:
Together we will tkae the road beneath the bitter rain!

BOTH:
Together we will take the road that leads into the West,
And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest.

The Fast of St. Valentine

2009-02-15T00:57:00.000-08:00

Traditionally, St. Valentine's Day is observed as a feast day, but to many single folk it is just a painful punctuation of their unpaired existance. Now, without considering the martyr aspect of the day, I will say that it is neither a sin to celebrate your love for another person, nor to be solitary for a time. That is why lovers should go on celebrating, and for single people the day should take on the character of fasting.

That does not necessarily mean they have to keep a literal fast all day, however, because such a fast doesn't have to be penitential. After all, not all fasts are penitential, but all fasts are anticipating something. Christ said their would be fasting while there was no bridegroom, but only in preparation for the Marriage Supper to be held at His return. So it is for all of us waiting to find or to become bridegrooms; we are faced with a kind of palette-cleansing period in which we should develop a healthy anticipation for what is to come.

St. Valentine's Day is the perfect time to be mindful of that, so that we can look forward in hope and prepare ourselves thoughtfully; so that "by fasting, we will be given back our feasts."

A Joyful Illi-noise

2009-01-28T22:16:00.000-08:00

To kick off another element at The Table--the occasional song highlight--here's a survey of Sufjan. And, for what it's worth, his music is maybe the best example of righteous, contemporary art.

The Transfiguration - the beauty of this one is that all he does is tell the story from Scripture in a winsome way.

Seven Swans and Decatur are my favorites, and they speak for themselves, but I especially like the civil war skeletons that "came up clapping in the spirit of the aviator" and have a special place for the whole song, having an excellent step-parent myself.

Casimir Pulaski Day - I enjoy the hopeful tune behind the sad lyrics, and the emotion that the combination evokes; I cry every time.

Quotating: the laborer's wife

2009-01-18T15:15:00.000-08:00

"How wasteful, then, and indeed, how shameful for a labourer's wife to go to the baker's shop....Give me, for a beautiful sight, a neat and smart woman, heating her oven and setting in her bread! And, if the bustle does make the sign of labour glisten on her brow, where is the man that would not kiss that off, rather than lick the plaster from the cheek of a duchess?"

-William Cobbett
(Cottage Economy, qtd. in On Food and Cooking)

Reservation For Two

2009-01-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

Sirio Maccioni, famous restauranteur and owner of Le Cirque at New York's Palace Hotel, the city's top restaurant for over forty years, was once asked by Pope John Paul II whether the Pontiff would need a reservation to eat at his restaurant. Maccioni said, "of course not," but asked how he might get a reservation for a table in heaven. The Pope's reply was, "How do you know we go up there?"

----------------------

"God is spirit," said the Lord who is Christ to the woman at the well, "...the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" (Jn. 4:23-24). And because this "new" worship is contrasted, by Jesus, with the worship of the Jews, it is often interpreted in a way that frames the spiritual nature of the new Church as fundamentally at odds with a more physical and archaic Jewish religion.

There is a measure of truth in this kind of interpretation; Christ Himself points out a clear progression. The progression, however, isn't from the base physicality of Judaism to the true and uncorrupted spirituality of Christianity. Rather, it is a progression of knowledge, of revelation. As the Lord says in verse 22, the gentiles (here, Samarians) knew not what they worshipped, while the Jews knew what they worshipped, "for salvation is of the Jews," but soon all peoples will worship in spirit and in truth. Our proof for this is Ephesians 3, and the "Mystery" that was not always known to all men, but is now revealed by the Spirit: "that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel" (Eph. 3:6).

In that case, this speech at the well is not a gnostic contrast between the darned ol' worship of Israel that we had to put up with for a while, and the "true" and "spiritual" worship of the Christ and His followers. Instead it is both the reminder that the Jews already worship (as often as they were a faithful nation) in spirit and truth, and the announcement that the Gentiles are to be grafted into the Vine so that they too might worship in spirit and truth.

Dispensationalism finds no safe haven here either; Jesus' saying is not a reinforcement of the notion that the Jews will inherit the earth while the Christians get the spiritual world. The Jews are heirs to the earth, but Paul makes it quite clear that the Gentiles are their "fellow heirs" and "of the same body." Anything inherited by part of a body is inherited by the whole body.

We all have a reservation for the same table, some may simply be surprised at where it is.

Medieval curiosities

2009-01-10T03:13:00.000-08:00

And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet. (II Kings 13:21)

Smashing the proverbial champagne bottle

2009-01-10T02:26:00.000-08:00

This seemed like a fitting first post. I recently tried cooking a steak with a salt-herb crust; it turned out great. Heat your favorite oven to 475 and try this: beat/whip 5 or 6 egg whites to soft peaks, then fold in (not stir, not whip, fold!) minced garlic, crushed or minced herbs (parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, or other delicious herbs you've got on hand), pepper, and 1-2 cups of salt (it sounds excessive but trust me, stay closer to one if you have smaller cuts, but you'll need that much).
Next, get your steak into an iron skillet or baking dish and spread the whole mess over top of it, making sure to get plenty on the top and sides of the steak (you shouldn't see meat). Now let that hang out in your oven for, I'd say, 15 minutes, take it out, scrape off the crust and marvel at the delicious piece of meat that sits before you.

SUNSET and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar. -Alfred, Lord Tennyson