America -- The Dark Side

Let me see a show of hands. How many of you whites have ever even looked at the “black people” section of any store? Here’s another one: How about the Mexican or Asian food? Not the Pace Picante sauce and ramen noodles, but the ingredients for authentic ethnic cuisine.

 

tasty corn chow-der

Ok, I have to admit, corn chowder didn't sound too appetizing at first... But I had some things on hand, and I was craving a creamy soup on this cold and rainy night. I used this recipe for the ingredient list, but my version is much simpler and more table-for-one-or-two appropriate.

Chicken Corn Chowder
1/4 onion, diced
1/4 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 clove garlic or 1 tsp. garlic powder
1 can corn, mostly drained
1 can cream of potato soup
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup (2/3 can) evaporated milk
2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, cooked and chopped
1-2 cups chicken broth* (or water)

*Note: If you plan ahead, simply boil chicken and reserve the water. To remove the fat, lay plastic wrap on top of the liquid and refrigerate until the fat floats to the top, then peel away the plastic.

Cook the pepper and onion in the bottom of soup pot on low-medium for 3-4 minutes, then add garlic and stir constantly for 1 minute. Add corn, potato soup, salt and pepper (start with 1/4 tsp each, you can add more later). Stir for a minute and add broth. Chop slightly with an "immersion blender" or in regular blender -- don't puree! You should still have chunks of corn. Return to pot and add chicken (you can do this before blending if you want a smoother soup). Add evaporated milk and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Simmer on very low heat for 10 minutes. Taste and add more salt/pepper/garlic to your liking. Goes well with biscuits or buttered toast.

With leftover ingredients, because you can't buy one fourth of a bell pepper:
bell pepper - slice and freeze to use later
onion - goes in pretty much everything worth eating, so you'll need it soon
evaporated milk - use as coffee creamer
garlic - like onion, it's in almost anything good, so keep it around for awhile

the mountains faith moved

I've climbed a few mountains lately, literally and figuratively speaking.

again? really?

Well well well...

I blinked for a second and what do you know, here I am one whole year out of college. Yikes! I wanted to write this whole thing about everything I’ve learned, what I’ve experienced, where I was then versus where I am now, etc... but honestly, I couldn’t get that all in one blog post. In all the time I spent pondering and trying to figure how I could sum up the past year, I realized life was still happening! If I spend too much time thinking about auld lang syne, I’ll get behind on now.

So let me just say this: I’m supposed to sing at church Sunday morning, and my loving mother keeps asking me, “What are you going to sing?” And every time I reply, “I haven’t decided yet!” It’s not that I don’t have any ideas; the problem is that there are so many options, and I change my mind every day. At this point I could probably give a concert with all the songs I’ve learned this week.

I think this situation pretty well defines my life right now.

My life and my heart may have changed tremendously in some ways, but here I am exactly where I was not too long ago with the same choice to make, and the same heavy basket of passions, fears, and questions making it quite a task. I have 2 classes, a scholarly paper, and student teaching between me and the real world. *GULP* What will I do? There are so many options, I’m having trouble sticking with just one. (And I think that’s a good problem to have.) So right now, again, I just want to survive my last year of school and cross those other bridges when I come to them.

A year ago I found myself at the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another similar, but in many ways completely different, place. I finished one degree and started another. I left one community and forced my way into another. It seems like after every major life decision, I breathe a huge sigh of relief until I realize that staring me in the face is yet another huge life decision. Will it ever end?! I’ve decided the answer is probably a resounding, “NO.” I’m starting to get the idea that my life is not about settling into one place forever; it’s an endless series of choices -- big and small -- strung together by brief moments of peace. This is one of those moments, and I’m loving it.

In other news, interesting developments on the home front. I’ve been seeing a doctor here at home for a little over a year about a certain issue that isn’t too public. The office called a few weeks ago to reschedule my appointment, confirmed that appointment last Friday, and in all of that neglected to tell me that my doctor DIED. You’d think they would’ve mentioned that little bit of information. So now I have my entire file in hand with the task of finding a new doc in Tennessee, all by myself without my mommy there to talk for me when I get embarrassed. Oh well, it’s just another chance for me to be a big girl, I guess.

Decisions, decisions...

what doesn't kill you

I've been going to the gym all winter, occasionally wearing my chacos or hiking boots around the house and pretending to be outside. I like cold weather, but a person can only breath so much heated-humidified-and-recycled air. Being indoors for too long is like keeping a loaf of bread for too long -- a good thing gone very bad.

"Am I going to die tomorrow?" I asked a friend last week, trying to feel out how much pain I should psych myself up for. His answer: "You might." (Of course we were exaggerating a bit, but I was still a little unsure.) I went on that hike anyway, and I didn't die. I know my legs were burning, I know my ski-knee was yelling at me on the way down, but honestly, I don't remember. I hauled myself up and down 8 miles round-trip, in the soft green mountains I've been in love with since I was seven years old, and didn't regret a single second.

At the time all I could think about was getting over the next ice patch, how to cross that creek without falling in, whether mud or snow was worse. Now all I can think about is how exhausted and satisfied I was at the end of the day, and how clean my lungs felt. I keep thinking about how the trees towered around me; I love trees. I want to do it again.

 MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES. It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.

 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:5-13)

Sometimes I'm so tempted to ask God, "Don't you realize how much this hurts? What are you trying to do to me here?" It's easy to forget that the point is not our comfort, but being conformed to His image -- and He suffered quite a bit for that to be a possibility. But in the end, is it the pain we remember, or the results? It seems to me that I only remember that feeling of pain when pain was the final outcome of a particular situation. When I allow God to finish teaching me, I do remember that there was pain, but most of all that He showed me amazing things about Himself. The joy continues; the pain does not, because it was eventually healed.

I see 5 perks of God's discipline in these verses: assurance of God's love, security of belonging to Him, respect for my Father, holiness, and righteousness. That's all pretty good stuff! But in order to get there you have to endure, and that's the hardest part. That's why my favorite verse says, "shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and LIVE?" The discipline of our God leads to life! Always! Whatever it is you're going through, whatever hurt you have from failure, whatever painful sacrifice of obedience you're making...  you can hold onto this promise.


It won't kill you. 


I don't know about you, but that sure makes me feel better about a few things.

Confirmation

      Well friends, it's official! All the papers are turned in, my name on the class rosters, and the textbooks in a bag by the door. I'm all grown up and ready to start grad school -- at 8am tomorrow. Yay. Since most of us went to the same small college in south GA, I thought I might tell you about my experience here.

Week 1 (Contd.): One Day I'll Be Old Enough For Senior Coffee

Ok, where was I... oh yes! Monday.

Week 1: Hot Apple Pie should be FRIED, not baked.

While I was driving to Morristown a few days ago, that old song from high school came on... "We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way, oh no."

Day 1: You can't always trust your GPS.

I stood stiffly with my eyes wide as the woman surveyed me with a mixture of surprise and confusion. I passed a piano on my way in, but I couldn't find the coffee bar. Several people sat around tables and welcomed me inside, although I thought they looked a little old for the coffee shop scene. They had pointed me to the elderly lady who smiled and asked if she could help me. "Can I get a cup of coffee?"

my saleing adventure

      As most of you readers out there know, I will soon be moving into my very first, very own apartment. Being that I have lived in a dorm for four years, I don't exactly have any cool furniture or decorations to liven up my rental-white new home.