Christmas Lights

My beautiful sister-in-law Julie just sent me the BEST email. Here it is:

To whom it may concern...

We do ardently request that you put up the Christmas lights on your house!!! And We also request refreshments after we are done viewing the lights.

Thank you and best regards,
The Chandler Family

Last year we purchased a Christmas light music system that blinks lights to Christmas music. Apparently my husband's family loved it so much that they have been requesting Christmas lights for weeks. I keep trying to explain to them that we have a lot going on right now with ripping out walls and replacing drywall, rerouting plumbing and having to run new electrical wires for our second kitchen. The excuses have fallen on deaf ears. Today I received the above email from Julie, my sister-in-law, and it was quite enough to motivate us to put up the lights. So, if you are in the area after Saturday, we will have tons of lights on the house blinking to music (from 5pm to about 9pm). Once you have taken in the sights and sounds, we offer refreshments afterward consisting of hot chocolate, hot apple cider and assorted goodies.

Left Over Turkey

About now is the time people are pretty darn sick of that leftover turkey, and for good reason. While I should have been grading papers yesterday I decided it was a good time to make enchiladas. I tried only once before to make them and it was slightly disastrous. This recipe however, is AWESOME!!!!! Here it is:

Leftover Turkey Enchiladas
2-3 cups cooked turkey, diced or shredded
1/2 onion, small dice
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 jar of Trader Joe's Enchilada Sauce (if TJ's is not local, use a can of sauce from the store if you don't want to make your own, but TJ's is the best!)
12 or so corn tortillas
1 Tb. Olive Oil (better for the heart)
1 small can of olives (or not if you hate olives)
2-3 cups of cheese, Mexican blend

In a saute pan, add olive oil and onions and soften. Add garlic when the onions are almost soft and continue to saute for a bit to cook the garlic. Add the turkey and about 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce, mix. This is the filling!

In another pan, heat the remaining enchilada sauce, but do not boil.

In a glass pan, or corning wear pan, cover the bottom with enchilada sauce.

Toast the corn tortillas with a cast iron tortilla plate or in a dry frying pan. Some people fry the tortillas in oil rather than doing it dry. I prefer no oil on the tortillas because frying them makes the enchiladas oily. After toasting them until a bit bubbly, dip them into the enchilada sauce. Here's where your hands get messy. Once you dip them, place them into the pan with the enchilada sauce and fill with a few tablespoons of turkey mixture. Add a couple slices of olive to the inside and sprinkle with as much cheese as you'd like (try not to overfill the enchiladas - it may take a try or two to get it right). Line the pan with enchiladas touching. Once you have filled the pan, you can add more enchilada sauce if you like saucy enchiladas, or not if you don't (I did not). Sprinkle cheese on the top and line them with olives (see pic above) to delineate where the individual enchiladas are located. Serve with sour cream, avocados, rice and beans for a complete dinner. Shawn and I don't do rice and beans at home, so we ate them ala carte. They are awesome!

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

I tried, but I can't do it! We are deep frying a turkey on Thanksgiving.....and I'm making all the fixin's. I canceled the Safeway order. Ugghhh!!! Preparations start today, and will continue until Thanksgiving Day. This year should be fun. :)

I cried

There is a video on cnn.com that has touched my heart. If you want to check it out, please click HERE.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I have been craving Chicken Tortilla Soup for weeks. I finally went to the supermarket today to gather all of the ingredients needed. If you are interested, here's the recipe:

1 Whole Chicken
3 Carrots, small dice
3 Stalks of Celery, small dice
1 Large Onion, small dice
6 Cloves Garlic, finely minced
1 15oz. can Petite Diced Tomatoes (not drained)
1 15oz. can Chili Beans (not drained)
1 15oz. can Pinto Beans (drained and rinsed)
2 cups corn, more if you'd like
1 cup salsa (use your favorite type)
10-12 cups of water
3 Tablespoons "Better than Bullion"
2 Tablespoons Chili Powder (I use Grandma's Chili Powder)
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Limes to squeeze on top for that fresh citrus flavor

Optional Toppings:
Sour Cream
Cheese
Cilantro
Avocado
Jalapenos
Black Olives
Tortilla Chips

Saute onion, celery and carrots in olive oil until soft. Add garlic and saute for a minute or two. Add water and Better than Bullion (make sure the bullion dissolves). Meanwhile, skin the chicken, make sure to remove as much visible fat as possible, and drop it into the pot. Cook the chicken until it reaches 180 degrees. Remove the chicken and cool until you can handle it. Shred the chicken or cut into little pieces and add it back to the pot. Add everything else listed: beans, corn, tomatoes, salsa & chili powder. Simmer until all flavors meld together, approximately 30 minutes or so. The flavors get better as it sits.

Tips:
*Better than Bullion is indeed much better than bullion cubes or chicken broth. In a pinch, use anything you have, but Better than Bullion is the way to go if possible.

*Use boneless skinless chicken breasts if you don't want to deal with the whole chicken. Sometimes whole chickens are ridiculously cheap, so that's why I used the whole thing today.

*Add more/less veggies to taste. Next time I will probably use a bit more onion.

*Use marinated jalapenos if you want a bit of a kick. I love vinegar, so sometimes I just spoon out some of the marinade to use on top of the soup instead, or in addition to the jalapenos themselves. Using a teaspoon or more of the marinade gives the flavor without the kick of the jalapeno itself.

*The squeeze of lime finishes the soup off nicely. Squeeze the fresh lime into the soup right before serving.

*Use whatever beans you'd like. If you do use other beans besides Chili Beans, rinse and drain before adding to the pot. The Chili Beans are in a marinade that goes well with the recipe. Black, Chili, Pinto, Kidney, etc... work well in this soup too. Use whatever you have on hand.

*This list looks like quite a bit of stuff, but it really is an easy soup to make.

The verdict: I will be keeping this recipe for quite a long time. It is awesome!!! It's kind of an amalgam of a bunch of different recipes I have seen, but of course had to put my own twist on it. Try it, you'll like it. :)

Baby Letters

For the past few months I have started painting letters for my friends who have babies. At my age, that means everyone around us is either planning on getting pregnant, already pregnant, or has a baby. So, instead of getting a little outfit, or sending a gift card, which is my standard, I hand paint letters to match the nursery. The letter start out as plain wood letters, I have to sand , prime, paint, and then detail paint the letters. I believe that if you click on the individual pics, the picture will be huge, that is, in case you want to see the detail. :) I'm not too creative, which is why the designs of the two are fairly similar. Plus, both mommies wanted something not too girly, thus neither of them are pink. My sister-in-law (Julie - not listed in the cast of characters) wants letters for her kids, but I have no idea what I am going to create for them. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Lauren is 5 and Olivia just turned 2.




Here's a close up so you can see the detail.













Next is a pic of the whole name:













And finally a pic of one of the other names I have done:

French Baguettes

I found this recipe on my favorite website, allrecipes.com. Click on the link and it will take you to the original recipe. This recipe was so spectacular that I did not change a thing, and will more than likely never change it, save adding half wheat flour instead of all white bread flour. I did, however, change the way I prepared the recipe.







Here is the recipe:

• 1 cup water
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon water

1. Place 1 cup water (100 degrees), sugar, and yeast into a stand mixer and allow the yeast to bloom for a few minutes.
2. Add the flour and salt, mix for 5 minutes. The dough will be sticky.
   
3. Place dough in a greased bowl (NOT plastic), turning to coat all sides. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in bulk. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
4. Punch down dough making sure to punch down all bubbles. Cut dough in half, creating two long thin loaves. Roll gently back and forth to taper end. Place 3 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Make deep diagonal slashes across loaves every 2 inches, or make one lengthwise slash on each loaf. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes, or until doubled in bulk.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Mix egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water; brush over tops of loaves.
6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

The verdict: O-H....M-Y....G-O-S-H....the best bread I have ever eaten. Some people who reviewed the recipe said that it was the closest thing to real french baguettes they have eaten since they were in France. I have never been to France, but my gosh, I may just go for the bread......wait a minute.....if I can make bread like that, why go to France? Really though - this is amazing bread. It has just the right amount of sweetness, and the taste and texture are awesome! I can't recommend this recipe enough.

Spicy Meatballs

I found a recipe on allrecipes.com that was for "The Best Meatballs You'll Ever Have". Well, I changed the recipe a bit to suit what we had in the house. Here it is:

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 4 slices of bread, toasted and crumbled
  
• 1/4 cup finely chopped sweet onion
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

I threw everything together and mixed it. I then rolled the mixture into small meatballs and baked it at 350 degrees for approximately 25 minutes, then broiled for a few minutes.

The verdict: The meatballs are very spicy. Next time I will use less than half of the red pepper flakes. I also used quite a spicy Cajun mix. I will use half of that too, and possibly add some cheese. So far we have tried them alone, they may be better once we put them in some pasta sauce. Of course Shawn likes them, me, not so much! They are decent, but far too spicy for me.

This year I'm cheating

Here's my plan for this year....to cook as little as possible. I absolutely love cooking, coming up with recipes, and generally making people happy with food, but Thanksgiving this year is not going to encompass too much cooking on my part. Shawn and I have decided not to travel this year for the Holiday's. Really, the only place we would travel is to my mom's house near Reno, but with us getting into a car accident a couple of years ago on Thanksgiving trying to get up to her house in time for dinner (ahem, a 3 hour drive each way), we have decided not to go anywhere this year. I think we may stop by Debi and Steve's house, simply because we were invited, and Mamaw and Papaw are going to be there, along with the rest of his family, but we should only be there for a few hours at best. Plus, they live 10 minutes from our house.

You can ask Mel, the best part about Thanksgiving is leftovers, and of course getting together with family, but I shall focus on the leftovers. :) Our family LOVES leftovers, and I can't stress this enough. We will eat turkey after Thanksgiving until we can't even look at another piece of poultry. Literally, we eat turkey for breakfast, lunch and dinner until it's gone, only to turn around and have another one at Christmas. By the time we are done with our Christmas bird, we don't even want to look at another turkey for another 11 months, just in time for Thanksgiving the following year.

Because we will be at a house other than our own, I have decided to order a Thanksgiving day dinner from a local grocery store. That's right, I'm cheating! I want the leftovers but I don't want to cook. I will cook every other day of the year, but those high profile days turn me off. I can delve deep into my psyche for an explanation, but I won't. I will simply say two things: 1). When I'm forced to do something required like cooking for a holiday, I have a strong resistance to it. This is perhaps why I have continued my habit of procrastination from when I was a student. I simply hate being forced to do things. 2). I have cooked a number of Thanksgiving day dinners before and it's a booty load of work. My dinners totally rock, but the amount of time I would have to put into it for just Shawn and I simply isn't worth it if I can buy a turkey dinner.

Thanksgiving this year will be quiet, and filled with tons of leftovers. And for that, I am truly thankful!

Ahhh Crap!

I accidentally posted a comment on a students blog with this blog address. I have no idea how it happened because I am always careful to be signed into the school blog the students are associated with. I guess I have too many blog accounts right now. Anyway, I had to set my blog to private. Please let me know if you prefer to read my blog in private mode, or if I should just delete this blog and make another? I can see this problem happening again because I have online classes next semester again too. Ugggghhhhh! I have no idea what to do.

It brought me to tears

I had quite and interesting experience driving to work yesterday. At a busy intersection in Roseville I noticed demonstrators for Prop 8 standing on all four corners of the intersection holding signs. (For those of you that read this blog and are unaware of Prop 8, click HERE to read up on Prop 8). There were about 25 people standing on each corner holding signs for each side, for a total of about 100 people in this one particular intersection. Signs reading No on Prop 8, and of course the vote Yes on Prop 8 signs. As I drove through the intersection I felt a bit scared. Having not been alive in the 60's (and barely during the 70's), and having never been involved in a protest, I have never experienced anything quite like this before. It was exhilarating! I have stood in the midst of a large group of people before, but never like this. I felt excited and frightened at the same time. I was excited that people are getting out there and taking a stand for what they believe, on both sides.

It literally brought me to tears. I was on the phone when I passed by the intersection and literally had to stop talking because I was so moved by what was happening. I understand that people as a whole can sometimes be quite complacent with what's going on, and on the flip side, can be quite involved at times. But I have never experienced anything like this before. When I drove home later last night after work I passed by the same intersection. It was raining pretty hard, the wind was blowing, but to my amazement, about 400 more people had joined the demonstration in this intersection. I thought, and even commented to one of my students that the demonstrators were probably gone because it was dark by the time I let them out of class and the storm had gotten a bit more intense. I was wrong! (I love when I'm wrong by the way....to me it means that I am learning, and that excites me quite a bit). Getting back to my point, the sidewalks were lined with people, even down the streets on all sides holding up signs for both positions. I can't stress this enough, it moves me like nothing else, when people take a stand for what they believe. It's not who your supporting or what your supporting, it's the fact that the apathy and complacency has drifted away, even if for only a moment, that moves me to tears.

For those in California, have you experienced demonstrators in intersections? I have asked a few people, but have not heard back yet.

I have put this next section in small print on purpose. It is mildly related to the post, but has little to do with it and since I don't want this blog to be a political one, I will probably never mention this again. When I was in college, both undergraduate and graduate degrees, I was this [ ] close to switching majors over to Political Science. I have a deep love for Politics, and that love has never faded. Sometimes I think about going back to school just to learn more about Poli Sci. Perhaps this is why I try not to get into political conversations, and perhaps why I get slightly irritated at people that try to be political 'shockers' rather than sharing their genuine perspective. (To understand the political 'shocker' comment, you would need to understand a bit about my past...and I would be willing to share that, but not on this blog). In short, my love for politics runs deep in my veins, so much so that I can certainly see myself getting emotionally involved in conversations, and to save myself from saying something I will regret later, I completely shy away from these types of conversations. That's it, nothing more to say. Happy voting today!

Just so I didn't have to....

I came home on Wednesday night to find Shawn in the kitchen cooking dinner. Is this blog-worthy? Yeah! I do about 99% of the cooking in our small family. I love to cook and come up with new recipes, duplicate recipes from restaurants, and of course use allrecipes.com to find ideas and recipes. Most of the time I find something that looks interesting and adapt it to my taste (see the Black Olive Hummus Recipe below). I personally came up with this recipe after reviewing many recipes and techniques. And yes, I can certainly call it my own. I have found no other recipe like it. But, back to my point. Shawn was cooking Asparagus Spears with a touch of Olive Oil, salt and pepper; Snow Peas with a touch of Sesame Oil and a sprinkling of Toasted Sesame Seeds (my idea since I have an odd love for all things sesame), and of course HIS VERY own creation, a wonderful Salmon recipe. I don't remember everything he put on it, but I know the marinade had brown sugar and a pinch of cayenne pepper along with some other things.

He was so sweet! He knows I'm exhausted when I get home from lecturing for four and a half hours.....yeah, you read that correctly, 4 1/2 hours of lecture twice a week. It goes by fairly quickly, but it does exhaust me. When I get home I barely want to talk because I have just talked for hours, and answered about a thousand questions. Kudos to my man for being so darn cool!

Slow Cooker Stew

I woke up at the crack of dawn this morning to cook Shawn and Jonathan breakfast (see the cast of players on the right side of my blog to understand who these people are). I wanted it done by the time Jonathan got here because they needed to get on the road ASAP. They are heading up to Donner Lake to help Mamaw and Papaw with their lake house. Every year around this time they need to weather the boat and prepare the deck for the winter. Shawn and Jonathan help them every year prepare the house for winter, then in Spring, the prepare the house for the Summer. What nice grandsons!!!! Back to my point....I got up early to shop for all the stuff I needed to make them breakfast and for the ingredients to make dinner tonight. What's for dinner??? Thanks for asking!

Crockpot Stew!!!! The picture above is partially cooked. I had sauteed the meat and onions, but those are the only two ingredients cooked. Hopefully it will cook down without spilling out, I quite overfilled the crockpot. Here's my recipe:

2-3 lbs. Stew Meat
3 Yukon Gold Potatoes - cut into 1 inch or so pieces
3 Red Potatoes - same as above
3 Celery Stalks cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1-1 1/2 cups baby carrots
2 Onions cut into hearty chunks
5 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup mix
1 beef bullion - large
1 Bay Leaf
2 cups of boiling water
1 Tb. parsley
1/4 - 1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
1 Tb. butter
4 Tb. olive oil
1/4 cup water
2 Tb. flour or cornstarch to thicken

1). Rinse meat, drain and coat with flour and seasoned salt. Brown on all sides in a pan with 3Tb. olive oil. Once browned, add to crockpot.
3). Add butter and remaining Tb. of olive oil and soften onions and garlic.
3). Deglaze pan with wine and add to crockpot.
4). Combine 2 cups of boiling water with Bullion Cube and Lipton Onion Packet, mix well and add to crockpot.
5). Add parsley to crockpot and mix.
6). Add bay leaf, carrots, celery, and potatoes to crockpot and stir.
7). Turn the crockpot on high for 30 minutes, then lower to low setting and leave for 6-8 hours.
8). Once done, you can add the slurry (water and cornstarch or flour) to thicken.

Tips: Here's one of my most important tips to cooking.....are you ready??? Are you sure??? Try to make all of your veggies and meat the same size. This should be self-explanatory, but for some it is not. When people speak of "love" in cooking, this is what comes to mind (for me anyway). Why would people say "It's cooked with love"? I personally think it's because of the amount of time someone takes to cook something, and for a dish like this, that means taking the extra time to cut everything 'right'. Why take the time too cook unless it's extraordinary. :)

The verdict: Well, as is my nature, I didn't like it. Shawn liked it quite a bit, but me, uh no! There was a flavor in it that was a bit off. Jonathan said that it needed salt. I guess I'm still on the hunt for the perfect stew recipe. :)

Frightmare Mansion

My sister and her husband have outdone themselves yet again this year. For those that are not familiar, every year for Halloween they spend endless hours getting a haunted house together for the kids in the neighborhood. This year they have built 13 different rooms to visit that will scare the living poop out of you. Here is a link to their website:

http://hanlyshounds.com/halloween.html

They have also been featured in their local papers for the last few years. Last year that had well over a thousand people visit the haunted house, this year they are expecting quite a few more people. Really, I have never seen anything so spectacular done at a 'home' level where there is no charge. If you want to check out the article in the newspaper, here it is:

http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008810290305

Melanie (my sister) said that it a pretty big ad with a big picture...the picture is featured in the online version. Kudos to Mel and Justin for putting in so many freaking hours making a wonderful haunted house for the community!

Sesame Black Olive Hummus

I just made Black Olive Hummus with Sesame Oil last night, and it was so good that I had to share the recipe. Usually traditional Hummus calls for Tahini, which is a sesame paste almost like peanut butter. But since I don't usually use Tahini, I saw no need to buy it. Here is my recipe without it. I hope you like it. (I cannot take credit for the picture. I failed to take a picture of my hummus, so I pulled this off of the internet)


2 15 oz. cans of garbanzo beans drained
1 15 oz. can of black olives, reserve 3 Tb. of liquid
1 garlic clove minced
2 lemons juiced, remove seeds
1 Tb. of Sesame Oil

Directions: If you have a food processor, this will make your life TONS easier. I will assume you have one. Throw in 1 garlic clove and mince the crap out of it. Add in 1/2 can beans and blend really really well. This insures the garlic is minced really small. Add in the rest of the beans, the juice of both lemons, reserved olive brine, the tablespoon of sesame oil and grind grind grind until almost pureed. Add more olive brine if needed. Pour into a bowl. Then, add the olives, the whole can to the food processor and coarsely chop (don't worry about cleaning out your food processor). Chop until desired consistency and stir into hummus. Sprinkle with a few reserved olives if you'd like, and sprinkle with paprika if needed for presentation value.

Tips and Variations: Use Greek Olives, Green Olives or Roasted Red Peppers. Also, taste as you go. I ended up adding about a teaspoon of sea salt, but only because I like my hummus a bit salty. This is certainly NOT needed because the olives are fairly salty, but will be needed if you make the Roasted Red Pepper variety.

Serve with Club crackers, Ritz crackers, carrots, cut red pepper and other veggies for dipping. Of course you can serve it with pita bread, pita chips or my favorite, Gorgonzola Crackers from Trader Joe's (a fairly new item). I personally like cut veggies because you can't have too many veggies in your diet right? Enjoy!

The Wonders of WOW

I will be the first to admit that I'm NOT addicted to WOW. :) I do like it though. I have a level 70 character, and once the expansion is released in a couple of weeks I will soon have a level 80 character. And, I will be starting a NEW character soon. I also do 'daily quests' almost everyday to increase the amount of gold that I have in case I need to make a big purchase in the game. I just recently procured my fast flying mount which is exciting because now I can get from place to place fairly quickly. WOW is somewhat engaging, but also a time to simply checkout from reality and enter a different world, kind of like a mini-vacation whenever you log on.

Here's the point of this post, it's more of a rant really, so bear with me. In the game you gain reputation for experience with certain things. In my case, and for the purpose of this post, I have gained the maximum amount of reputation in a certain area where I complete quests on a daily basis in order to earn gold in the game. A while ago I reached 999 out of 1,000 reputation and noticed that it wouldn't go up anymore. I asked my husband, the WOW guru, why that was. His simple explanation was "999 is the highest you can get". In other words, I CAN NEVER GET TO 1,000. Let me break this down for you......I can NEVER EVER get to 1,000 and 999 is the highest I will ever be able to achieve in this area. Uh, yeah - this bugs me can you tell? Why would Blizzard decide to make the maximum 1,000 if no one will ever be able to achieve that? My husband thinks this is funny. He looked at me during my, "You mean I can NEVER EVER get to 1,000" rant and says, "This is really tweakin' you isn't it?" while sitting back relaxed and smirking. There is so much in THAT statement. In short, YES Shawn, this really bothers me.

Imagine what would happen if I told my students that they could only ever achieve a 99% on their midterms and finals, or 99% in the class because "No one is perfect". I can see their heads exploding even as I type this.

The Attack of the Killer Tomato Plants

These tomato plants are right outside our front door. Actually, this year, they are blocking our front door. Because they are doing so well, we have decided to just deal with it rather than cut them back. Crazy, I know! But if you knew my deep rooted love for tomatoes, you would understand! I eat tomatoes with everything. In fact, I will eat a bowl of tomatoes for breakfast, or during a movie, or for lunch, as a replacement for grapes, with sandwiches, as my 'veggie' for dinner. The other night I had roasted chicken, asparagus, mixed vegetables, a salad with tomatoes, and that's right, more tomatoes with a pinch of salt for good measure. So yeah, my love for GOOD tomatoes runs pretty deep. Most store bought tomatoes have very little flavor, but the home grown variety burst with flavor!

Shawn and I started off with 11 tomato plants this year, and have yet to give any away. And yeah, I haven't canned anything or made anything but salad with the tomatoes and eaten them raw. If they are on the counter from picking, I will pass by the kitchen and grab one and eat it (mostly the small ones, the larger ones deserve to be cut up and sprinkled with a tiny bit of salt, but of course eaten raw). I said we 'started off' with 11, we now have 13-15 I think. This is because a few tomatoes from our crop last season made it into the soil and decided to pop up halfway through this growing season. So now we have a few more than planned. In fact, one tomato plant decided it wanted to cross pollinate so now we have a different variety than what we have ever had before, but I must admit, they are AWESOME!!!

In the picture, the first one on the left is our standard round tomato. I think they are called early girl tomatoes. The second is a small variety of Roma tomatoes. The middle is our crosspollinated tomato, let's call that one "Yummy in my Tummy" tomato (well, let's work on that name). The third is your standard cherry or grape tomato, and the last one, Mr. Yellow, is from our last years crop (they popped up again too).

Our plan for next year includes all of these varieties, plus about 10 more plants of a hearty variety so we can grow more than I can eat and use the leftovers for canning during the season. Next year we should have tomatoes everywhere we look at our house, not that we already don't.

Double Dipping

A couple of weeks ago Shawn and I were watching Food Detectives on the Food Network. While the host of the show, Ted Allen, is a horrendous host, some of the stuff they cover is pretty interesting. Double dipping, is it really that big of a deal? In short, YES! As most of us have probably known for a while, double dipping causes bacteria to be spread from one person to the next. This essentially means that if people are double dipping, dipping a chip or cracker into something, taking a bite, and dipping it again, they are spreading their saliva throughout the bowl of dip or salsa. Uh, YUCK!!!!!

Here is an article from the New York Times to confirm what I'm talking about. Click Here!

Now time for a confession: I have long hated eating out of communal bowls at parties. I can obviously handle eating out of the same bowl as my husband, and certain married couples that I know and hang out with quite a bit. But I try to avoid eating out of the same bowl as anyone else, or sharing drinks for that matter. People are sometimes offended, yes, but as my close friends can probably tell you, I avoid doing this because I don't like other people's germs. It's a psychological thing really. Why can some of us choke down chocolate covered grasshoppers and others not? It's a psychological issue.

Heck, my friends and family can probably reveal to you, for that matter, that I sanitize my bathroom all the time even though it's just my husband and I living in our house, and I sanitize especially after someone else uses my bathroom. At motels/hotels I bring bleach and my own sanitizing wipes, as I revealed to my friend Jaymie a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully she understood where I was coming from, because she does the same thing. :) But here's the issue - I like my stuff clean! It's as simple as that. Yes my house is cluttered. Yes I can stand to vacuum up the dog hair on a more consistent basis. Yes I can stand to dust more. Even though my house may be all those things, the places that 'matter' are sterilized, not only for my protection but for the protection of my guests. Double dipping falls into this category, I want my food 'clean'. I don't mind, at all, people dipping a chip or cracker into a communal bowl, but for heaven's sake, PLEASE DON'T DOUBLE DIP!!!

Chicken Stuffed with Dried Apricots and Gorgonzola

I just came up with a recipe. Chicken stuffed with chopped pieces of dried apricots and slices of gorgonzola cheese. It's still in the oven, but when it comes out I will let y'all know how it is. But in the meantime, here's the recipe:



2 chicken breasts
6 dried apricots chopped
gorgonzola cheese, about 3 ounces
10 buttery crackers (like Club, or Ritz)
1 Tb. flour
salt
pepper
1 egg beaten

Cut a pocket into the chicken breasts and fill it with the apricots and gorgonzola cheese. Crumble the crackers, then add the flour, salt and pepper to taste and place onto a dish. Once the chicken is filled, dip the chicken breasts in the egg, then into the cracker mixture. If need be, stick a toothpick through the opening in the chicken. Throw it into the oven at 350-375 for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through. (I would give you a time frame on cooking the chicken, but I simply don't know. I always cook chicken until the tempertaure reads about 180 degrees.)

The verdict: The husband really liked it. I however, thought that a milder cheese would have worked a bit better so the sweetness of the apricots could have come through a little more. But, all in all it's a keeper. If the husband likes it, heck, it's a keeper. Nothin' more to say!

Update: You know what would go really good in the stuffing of this recipe? Some chopped pecans. Not too many, but enough to taste. Hmmm, I will have to try that next time.

Birth Order and Personalilty Traits

In my quest for understanding, I have begun to read a bit about birth order and personality traits. I have read very little about this personally, but I have had extensive conversations with friends who have completed their MA degrees in Counseling/Psychology and who are working on their Marriage and Family Therapy Licenses (and let me tell you, they are none too shy to talk about subject such as this). This is NO WAY makes be an expert, or even a credible resource for that matter. But, when I observe people's communication behaviors, I search for meaning - a deeper meaning than writing off one's personality as, "Oh, that's just so and so's personality". I truly believe that we act as we are trained. Or, in short, our behaviors are directly linked to our past experiences.

For example, my extreme fear of loss is a direct result of my father's suicide. I have just recently figured out, within the last week or so, that I am terrified of loss. This is not just death, but any kind of loss (loss of friendship, loss of a loved one, and even people close to me moving away). About a year before my dad's suicide my grandmother passed away and went to be with Jesus. I wasn't bothered by that too much, which know sounds terrible. I miss her terribly, and wish everyday that we can have one last conversation. But, it was only after my dad's death that I become fearful of loss because of the extreme emotions I felt immediately following his death. But let's not delve too deeply into my psyche at this point.

Getting back to my point.....I have been observing conversational patterns in people, or the semantics of conversations if you will, for a couple of years, especially with my students. Why do some people have a tendency to talk about certain subjects repetitively (namely themselves or thier experiences or how much they have accomplished...nor not for that matter)? It seems that some people are chameleons and can converse about anything. And then there are other people who repetitively talk about things, perhaps about themselves, and who are seemingly uncomfortable talking about other things. But, the nature of conversations is interesting. For those that can converse about seemingly anything, they almost never steer the conversation back to them. But those that feel a bit uncomfortable talking about extraneous things, the conversation comes back to a conversation about them, their lives, and only what they are familiar with in their world. But my question is why? Why do some have a tendency to take on pattern A, while others take on pattern B? (I'm know that there are more patterns of conversations, but these are the two I am focusing on right now).

My idea, and that's simply what it is, an idea at this point, is that there are patterns set up from past experiences. And, these experiences have to do with how someone was raised. Therefore, birth order may have something to do with it. Adler's theories can explain some of this, in a parallel way almost to conversational patterns. But Thurstone came up with the idea of the Big Five personality traits which seem a bit more comprehensive. I know, I know, there are many more ideas and explinations for how people behave, which can contain a deeper explination of 'conversational styles' - or behavoirs for that matter. My friends are constantly talking about personality types, enneagrams, and many other theories for that matter than can explain behviors and patterns of conversation for that matter. After all, when a person talks, what spills out is who they are esentially. (Of course this is my limited connection between communication and psychology). For those of you that are out there, who have MUCH more knowledge about this than I, what do you think?

Cheesecake Cookie Cups

Alright ladies and gentlemen, here's an awesome recipe I found on allrecipes.com It is cookie at the bottom and cheesecake at the top. As is my nature, I can't follow a recipe exactly, but I did change it to suit my needs. I bought Nestle Brownie Bites and put those at the bottom. Other users have said to use sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies and other stuff if you'd like. But, at least here's the original recipe so you can see it, and of course, change it as you see fit! :) Oh yeah, I also did not use the pie filling.

INGREDIENTS

• 12 pieces NESTLE TOLL HOUSE Refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar Dough
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1/2 cup NESTLE CARNATION Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling

DIRECTIONS

1. PREHEAT oven to 325 degrees F. Paper-line 12 muffin cups.
2. PLACE one piece of cookie dough in each muffin cup.
3. BAKE for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookie has spread to edge of cup.
4. BEAT cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, egg and vanilla extract in medium bowl until smooth. Pour about 3 tablespoons cream cheese mixture over each cookie in cup.
5. BAKE for additional 15 to 18 minutes or until set. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Top with pie filling. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

BYE BYE Xanga

After a couple of years on Xanga I have finally decided to leave. I am now using the following blog:

http://blogambiguous.blogspot.com/

Please drop by and let me know what you think. :)

Any post prior to this one was taken from my Xanga blog.

What's it about?

I have conceded. I used to blog on Xanga, but I have made the switch. Blogspot is much more user friendly, and almost everyone I know blogs on blogspot.....even me for my online classes. Why did it take so much time to transfer? Well, I'm glad you asked. Laziness, pure laziness. So, while I get everything transfered over, please be patient.

To answer the burning question...what's this blog gonna be about? IDK my bff Jill (ugghhh, I hated that commercial). Back to the point, it's gonna be about whatever I want it to be about. Cooking, crafts, remodeling, God, funny musings about life, the stupid things people do or say etc.... Is this blog gonna make a million dollars? No! But it may be entertaining at times. So, without further ado, I hope you enjoy!

Why I'm not blogging

Hi all! Well, here's the deal with the very LLLLLOOOOONNNNNGGGGGG blogging break. As you know, I teach college classes at San Jose State University and Sierra College. My Sierra classes are going well, as in-person classes generally do. But my SJSU classes this semester are quite unique. My students are online students, meaning, I don't have any in-person class time. I am teaching over the internet. A great step 'out of the box' for the Communication Department, especially it being a Public Speaking class (we do have 3 in-person meetings to present speeches). Don't get me wrong, we've had classes online for years, but I am teaching Public Speaking online which has been met with quite a bit of resistance from folk in the department......to freshmen, and sophomores, and a few juniors and seniors here and there. This means that I get TONS of questions on a consistent basis to clarify the thing that I just clarified in an email to the class, on my blog, and on the class website. Needless to say there is quite a bit of repetition going on. But that's not why I have skipped out on blogging. Here's why: My classes are set up such that I have my students blogging 5 times a week......times two classes.....times 55 students total for both classes......equals quite a few blogs I have to read. That's not counting the blogs that I post each day for these classes.

I must give HUGE props to my UPPER division class (Communication, Self and Society) - they are mostly on the ball (save the few students who can be clueless at times, but this is not exclusive to my online classes.....every class has a few of these students), and anyone who has taken a college class can identify these folk in about 2 seconds flat......but more about this type of student later. I can go on and on, trust me. :)

So, there is why I haven't blogged lately. I am simply overwhelmed with blogs at this point. And, after a hard day of let's say, being a cook, does one want to come home and cook dinner?

I will say this though - look for a blog later today at some point (that is, after my 4 1/2 hour in-person lecture this afternoon) that is about my husband. It's his birthday today.....and he is the most amazing husband in the world for so many reasons, and I want to give him a proper Happy Birthday in blogland.

Portobello Napoleon

For lunch today I made something that looks like the picture below. We were too hungry to wait to take a picture, but it's generally the same, minus the meaty looking thing on the top. Here's the recipe:



6 Portobello Mushrooms (not the HUGE ones, but the medium sized ones)
1 or 2 tomatoes (match the size to the portobello's)
6 large basil leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts
Mozzarella cheese (we used fresh, but a more flavorful variety would have been better)
2 cups of balsamic vinegar

Put balsamic vinegar in a pot and reduce down by half.
Grill the mushrooms for about 10 minutes. First brush them with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Stack the ingredients in this order once you have completed the above two steps:
Portobello's first
slice of cheese
thick slice of tomato
basil leaf resting on top
pine nuts scattered over the stack
pour a TB of cooled vinegar over the mushroom stacks.

Such a great meal!!!! Enjoy!

Far too busy...

I know it's no fun reading a blog when the blogger never blogs. I am absolutely going to make an excuse here so be prepared. I have been online all week, meaning, about 40 hours this week trying to get my online classes off the ground. I will blog more starting next week hopefully! :)

The coffee conversation

Last night around 10pm or so I was craving something sweet. And, since I have cut out most whites from my diet, white bread, pasta, refined sugar, I decided I had been good enough over the last couple of weeks and wanted a couple of cookies and some decaffeinated coffee. After all, it was 10pm so caffeinated coffee was not an option. My old standby - McDonald's coffee. I love it, it loves me, and it doesn't hurt that we can see McDonald's from our doorstep....yeah, it's that close. Anyway, this is what the conversation was like at the drive-thru last night:

Window Guy: Welcome to McDonald's! What can I get for you?
Me: A large decaffeinated coffee please.
Window Guy: What?
Me: A large de-caff-ein-a-ted coffee please.
Window Guy: We don't have that kind.
Me: **silence** dumbfounded at what I just heard. I think my exact words were, "Uhhhhh, what?"
Window Guy: We don't have that kind, but we do have decaf coffee.

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

The soup came out great. The recipe I posted serves 6-8 people. I LOVED the chunkiness of the soup, my husband did not. He prefers a much smoother soup. So, if you have picky eaters in the house, just puree everything. The flavor was good, although, I thought it needed quite a bit more basil. But, I did add fresh basil to the top of the soup, and that helped. I do think that it would have been better with another tablespoon of basil during the cooking process. Next time I will add two and see how it comes out. I tend to like really strong flavors (and again, the husband does not), so sometimes I try to compromise. All in all this is a keep recipe.

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

I just made this soup for lunch today. In fact, it is still simmering on the stove for about 40 more minutes. But, even the 'young' soup is amazingly good. This recipe is adapted from Ina Garten's Roasted Tomato Basil Soup, and oh so good.

3 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half (I used Roma Tomatoes)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons good olive oil (I used less)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper (I am not a big pepper fan, so I used about 1/2 a teaspoon total)
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
6 garlic cloves, minced (garlic lover here - I used almost 10 cloves)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (I only had salted on hand, and it came out fine)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (this is a MUST, but if you don't like spicy, cut that in half)
1 (28-ounce) canned plum tomatoes, with their juice
4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed (who has 4 cups of basil leaves on hand? I used 1 tablespoon dried, crushed in my hand)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/4 teaspoon dried and crushed in my hand)
1 quart chicken stock or water (uh yeah - stock is expensive, so I used broth made from bullion cubes)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss together the tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.

In an 8-quart stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the butter, and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown. Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and chicken stock. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Pass through a food mill fitted with the coarsest blade. Taste for seasonings. Serve hot or cold.

Personal Adaptations: In the ingredients list above, I have obviously made notes. Other than that, and because I don't have a food mill, after sauteing the onions and garlic, I put the tomatoes from the oven and onion mixture in the food processor and pulsed it until pretty smooth, but still had small lumps in it. Then, I put the whole can of tomatoes in the food processor and gave that a rough-ish chop, but somewhat smooth. (I tend to like my soups with some substance. My husband does not, so when it's done, I will probably have to put a few servings in the blender or food processor for him to make it really smooth). When serving, I will put a chiffonad of fresh basil on the top and serve it with some parmesan crisps from the oven. You can also serve this cold with a dollop of creme fresch on top (but that stuff tastes like sour cream to me and I don't really like cold soup). Enjoy!!!!

The Finished Product

The letters are 95% complete. All that needs to be done now is a seal coat. I should be sending these out at the start of next week. Hopefully the new mommy will like them.

The newest project

Here is a picture of the latest project I am working on. I am hardly creative, so this project has been quite frustrating for me. Ugghhhh!

My friends baby's name is Tyler. She was born about a week ago, and I am painting letters for the nursery....that is, if what I am doing in fact goes with the nursery she has put together. The "T" and the "L" are experimental. I think I am going to sand down the "T", and just to polka dots to outline the letters instead of doing willy-nilly polka dots. My eyes tend to like uniformity quite a bit instead of chaos. I don't know, I'm too tired to think right now. What do you think?

UPDATE: I just changed the letters to look like this. Two letters will be painted like the "E", and three will look just like the "R". I think this is a better plan!

Doctorate in Education

I decided to pursue the Doctorate in Eduction - under one stipulation......that I wouldn't have to take out students loans. The whole program costs about $40k, which is quite a bit of money. I still have a VERY small residual student loan out from a number of years ago and don't like it very much. So, here's the deal, if I can get into a TA program or a Research Assistantship Program at Sacramento State (which they currently do not offer), I'm gonna bite the bullet and go for it. There is little to no government funding for those of us that want to pursue higher education, which sucks BIG TIME. I guess I leave it up to God, cause there's nothin' I can do except be the squeaky wheel.

I had a pretty in-depth conversation with the director of the program yesterday, and he said that he's going to talk to the graduate studies department to see if there is anything they can offer, but until then, I sit and wait. I will email him in a month to check and see if he has gotten any further with it. I was very frank on the phone and said simply that we can't afford it, and that loans weren't an option for us. I don't think it's wise to take out $40k in loans at this point in our lives. So, that leaves me with the option of a TA program or Research Assistantship Program. Come on God, open one up please - oh yeah, and an divine acceptance would be good too (sometimes those TA programs and Research Assistantship Programs are fairly competitive.....I have been accepted to one before that was highly competitive, but that was a whole different situation).

Ducks need to be lined up, and God knows what needs to be done in order for me to get there. So now, I study for the GRE, and wait!

Expensive Decisions

For those of you who actually read this blog - which I think is down to maybe 3 people now (despite the HIGH amount of traffic my blog gets, only 3 people comment regularly), but you know that I have been trying to figure out if I want to go back to school for a PhD, EdD or another Master's Degree. Something inside of me is telling me that my education is not over. The other 'something' inside of me says that I simply don't want to put that much effort into an education that I may not use when we start to foster or adopt children. But, there is this nagging feeling, and has been for the last 4 years since I completed my Masters Degree, that I'm not done. In the last 4 years, I have ordered information from college's all around the country that offer doctoral degrees. I have also sent numerous emails to people trying to get more information, only to correspond back and forth, then lose interest because the effort is SO great for these programs.

The most recent program is the EdD program at Sacramento State. This program is nice because it is tailored to folks who are working full time. The classes are minimal - on Friday nights and all day Saturday's. The downside - the program is an additional 60 units, which would take me 3 more years - YEAR ROUND!!!! I would not be able move for 3 years if I start this program, and did I mention that it would take 3 WHOLE YEARS - - - - - - - - YEAR ROUND? I am finally coming to a point that I need to stop wavering back and forth and come to a decision.

Here's the kicker - I know that I will be disappointed in myself if I do not go "all the way" and get that doctoral degree. I will be settling because I don't want to put in the effort to get that additional degree. So, what do I do?

The program is quite inexpensive, but still out of our price range. It's $12k a year. That's an additional $40k, which is a bargain for a doctoral degree, but QUITE expensive for us. Unfortunately the government, with all of the money they give away for school, does not take into account how much you paid for you house, and how much it costs to live per month. Ugghhhh! I've got a lot to think about. Any suggestions?

I can't even think straight!

Have you ever been so damn irritated that you can't even think straight? That's where I am right now. I think I need a glass of wine and should probably go hang out in the hot tub...alone!

The wonders of a young star...

I just read these quotes from Misha Barton:

"It kind of irritates me that I'm seen as this pretty face. People also say I'm too thin. The truth is pretty people aren't as accepted as other people. It comes with all these stigmas."

Uh, yeah - Miss Barton, studies have proven that "pretty people" as you call them are MORE accepted as other people AND have more opportunities than other people. Get an education and stop being so ignorant! This leads me to my second quote from this "pretty person":

"I do intelligent roles. I don't want to be labeled as doing silly movies. I'm more mature than kids my age because I'm constantly surrounded by adults."

Why does she HAVE to mention that she is "MORE MATURE" than "KIDS" her age? Uh yeah, if you have to tell people that you are mature means that you probably aren't or it means you are aspiring to be more mature, but in fact haven't achieved this yet. I have heard countless people say this (remember, I come in contact with late teens, early 20-something's constantly because of teaching and hear this all the time). But uh, yeah - if the phrase, "I'm so mature" or any variation of that has to be spoken, it means you're probably not. If someone really is that grown up beyond their years, it wouldn't need to be talked about, their maturity will shine through. (My students say this crap all the time, and their actual maturity level amazes me - but then again, I am the one making the judgement, so I could be wrong here because I have limited contact with these young-ins).

I have come in contact with some of the most mature people I have ever met in the last year or so. This last summer session I instructed, there was a 17 year old girl who was one of the most mature 17 year olds I have ever met. She never once mentioned that she 'thought' she was mature, even in our long conversations after class which we had quite often, but her behavior screamed that she was much older than her age. In fact, when meeting her I remember thinking that she was probably in her mid-twenties - not because she looked it, but because she acted it.

I remember saying things like this when I was in my late teens, primarily when I was 16 or 17. Looking back on it now, I should have embraced my immaturity and shortly after turn 18 or 19, I can't remember now, I remember telling people that I was going to be a Toys-R-Us kid forever. Even now I simply didn't want to grow up. I strongly embrace my immaturity even now. Plus, being 'mature' is no fun and mature people bore me. But, I guess if I have to tell people that I am embracing immaturity, does that mean I'm not? Or does that mean I'm trying too hard?

I don't ever wanna grow up - never, never, never!

Thanks for letting me rant about one Miss Misha Barton! :)

Neighbors

One of our neighbors was planning on selling her house. She fixed it up a bit, and put it on the market about a year ago. We just spoke to her today and she said she isn't going to sell the house, rather 'spend the rest of her days' there. Selling the house concerned me a bit because her driveway is right outside the masterbedroom window. If professionals moved in there, they would be leaving for work at o'dark-hundred in the morning and wake me up. Purely selfish - I am SO glad that she is going to stay. It's a 5 bedroom house, 3 stories, and would attract a seriously large family coming in and out all day long. At least for the next 5 - 10 years we will have a great neighbor. Today I gave her some home grown tomatoes for her sandwiches that she eats everyday. And, we got to talking, and she's going to teach me how to sew. It's a favorite pass time for her. I'm excited to get to know her better. Maybe, eventually, I can talk to her about God. One can hope that the door for that is opened right?

It pays to look....

Yesterday Shawn and I went out for lunch. We happened by the Thrift Shop near the little place we were going for lunch. We had NO IDEA there was a thrift shop near where we were going. I wondered in there to kill 30 seconds because Shawn wanted to get a menu from a nearby restaurant and discovered that they had a GREAT set of china there for $50. It was service for 10, with one piece missing. All the rest of the pieces were in good shape, except one, which I discovered today had a chip. No biggie, since one piece was missing anyway, we have true service for 9. An odd number, but hey, our table doesn't even fit 9 people, so we've got it covered.

Well, the best part is, all of their kitchen ware was on sale for 50% off. Now I know I know - I could have gave them the whole $50, because, you know, it's for charity right? But, I wouldn't have paid $50 for a used set of china. So, we paid $25 for it (I will give extra money to missionaries next month to make up for it, I promise). I told Shawn that even if we didn't decide to keep it we could just donate it back to the Thrift shop. Now we have a great set of china for when company comes over (because I simply will not use the china my mom traded me for our wedding. It's too nice!). Yeah. What do you think?????? I actually looked it up online and it's quite an expensive set of china. Each 5 piece setting is around $36.

Healthy Yumminess

I don't usually endorse products, but I MUST tell you about these baked goods. You can find the products HERE! These cookies are from the Rising Dough Bakery. Just look at the nutritional facts. 200 calories, 4 grams of fat and a WHOPPING 10 grams of dietary fiber (this is for the Double Chocolate Chip version - other varieties have differences in nutritional info.). But let me tell you, the Double Chocolate Chip Cookie is absolutely amazing. It tastes like a brownie - no lie! Especially if you warm them up a bit. I eat one of these for lunch almost everyday - and for a late night snack if I feel so inclined. Each time I order I get two boxes (free shipping). They are awesome!!!!! Even my mom liked them, and that lady hates just about anything healthy....lol. I have tried the other varieties, and they are good too, but I keep coming back to the Double Chocolate Chip Cookies. Man cannot live by bread alone - but no one said man can't live by Double Chocolate Chip Cookies alone.

Jesus in Question.....

This article from cnn.com raises some interesting questions.

A 3-ft.-high tablet romantically dubbed "Gabriel's Revelation" could challenge the uniqueness of the idea of the Christian Resurrection. The tablet appears to date authentically to the years just before the birth of Jesus and yet — at least according to one Israeli scholar — it announces the raising of a messiah after three days in the grave. If true, this could mean that Jesus' followers had access to a well-established paradigm when they decreed that Christ himself rose on the third day — and it might even hint that they they could have applied it in their grief after their master was crucified. However, such a contentious reading of the 87-line tablet depends on creative interpretation of a smudged passage, making it the latest entry in the woulda/coulda/shoulda category of possible New Testament artifacts; they are useful to prove less-spectacular points and to stir discussion on the big ones, but probably not to settle them nor shake anyone's faith.

The ink-on-stone document, which is owned by a Swiss-Israeli antiques collector and reportedly came to light about a decade ago, has been dated by manuscript and chemical experts to a period just before Jesus' birth. Some scholars think it may originally have been part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a trove of religious texts found in caves on the West Bank that were possibly associated with John the Baptist. The tablet is written in the form of an end-of-the-world prediction in the voice of the angel Gabriel; one line, for instance, predicts that "in three days you will know evil will be defeated by justice."

Such "apocalypses," often featuring a triumphant military figure called a messiah (literally, anointed one), were not uncommon in the religious and politically tumultuous Jewish world of 1st century B.C. Palestine. But what may make the Gabriel tablet unique is its 80th line, which begins with the words "In three days" and includes some form of the verb "to live." Israel Knohl, an expert in Talmudic and biblical language at Jerusalem's Hebrew University who was not involved in the first research on the artifact, claims that it refers to a historic 1st-century Jewish rebel named Simon who was killed by the Romans in 4 B.C., and should read "In three days, you shall live. I Gabriel command you." If so, Jesus-era Judaism had begun to explore the idea of a three-day resurrection before Jesus was born.

This, in turn, undermines one of the strongest literary arguments employed by Christians over centuries to support the historicity of the Resurrection (in which they believe on faith): the specificity and novelty of the idea that the Messiah would die on a Friday and rise on a Sunday. Who could make such stuff up? But, as Knohl told TIME, maybe the Christians had a model to work from. The idea of a "dying and rising messiah appears in some Jewish texts, but until now, everyone thought that was the impact of Christianity on Judaism," he says. "But for the first time, we have proof that it was the other way around. The concept was there before Jesus." If so, he goes on, "this should shake our basic view of Christianity. ... What happens in the New Testament [could have been] adopted by Jesus and his followers based on an earlier messiah story."

Not so fast, say some Christian academics. "It is certainly not perfectly clear that the tablet is talking about a crucified and risen savior figure called Simon," says Ben Witherington, an early-Christianity expert at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky. The verb that Knohl translates as "rise!," Witherington says, could also mean "there arose," and so one can ask "does it mean 'he comes to life,' i.e., a resurrection, or that he just 'shows up?' " Witherington also points out that gospel texts are far less reliant on the observed fact of the Resurrection (there is no angelic command in them like the line in the Gabriel stone) than on the testimony of eyewitnesses to Jesus' post-Resurrection self. Finally, Witherington notes that if he is wrong and Knohl's reading is right, it at least sets to rest the notion that the various gospel quotes attributed to Christ foreshadowing his death and Resurrection were textual retrojections put in his mouth by later believers — Jesus the Messianic Jew, as Knohl sees him, would have been familiar with the vocabulary for his own fate.

Knohl stands by his reading. "The spelling and the phrasing is unique," he told TIME, "but it is similar to to other texts found around the Dead Sea." Yet for now, at least, Gabriel's Revelation must take its place among a slew of recently discovered or rediscovered objects from around the time of Jesus that are claimed to either support or undermine Scripture but are themselves sufficiently, logically or archaeologically compromised to prevent their being definitive. In 2002, a bone-storage box with the legend "James Son of Joseph Brother of Jesus" bobbed up that seemed to buttress Jesus' historicity while at the same time suggest that the Catholic teaching that he had no true brothers was false — but the Israeli Antiquities Authority declared the inscription as a forgery (although various experts continue to disagree). In 2007 the Discovery Channel aired a documentary (funded by Titanic director James Cameron) that purported to have located the "Jesus Family Tomb" in the Israeli suburb of Talpiot, with bone boxes with the names "Jesus Son of Joseph," "Mary" and one of the names of Mary Magdalene. If the ossuaries were for the gospel Jesus, his mother and Mary Magdalene, then the implications for Christianity would be dire; but despite considerable initial hoopla, the idea is regarded by many as speculation.

It remains to be seen whether Gabriel's Revelation, and especially Knohl's interpretation, will weather the hot lights of fame. Even the authors of its initial research seem a little dubious about his claims that it is a dry run for the Easter story. But, as often happens in such cases, they seem better disposed to a slightly toned-down assertion: in this case, that the Gabriel tablet does indicate a very rare instance of the idea that a messiah might suffer — a notion introduced in Judaic thought centuries before by the prophet Isaiah but which supposedly went out of style by Jesus' time. If that more modest theory gains traction, it will forge a link between a trend in first-century Judaism and one of Christianity's galvanizing thoughts — that God might throw in his lot with a suffering or even murdered man — that could contribute to a growing mutual understanding.

Johari Window of Communicaiton

The Johari Window.....fascinating. I have loved the idea of the Johari Window since my early days studying communication. 4 quadrants, each one explains what is known/unknown to others and/or to ourselves. One quadrant in particular fascinates me - the "blind" quadrant. The blind quadrant is NOT known to the self, but IT IS known to others. In recent interactions with people, this quadrant has become amazingly obvious, or I guess I should say, seemingly obvious. I assume that there are communicative processes that people are unaware of in themselves (and some more so than others).

Let's get this out of the way right now - I know that I have qualities in this area, everyone does. I am constantly asking myself questions like: How am I perceived by other people? What do they think of a particular interaction? How am I coming off to others? Etc. It's amazingly hard not to think about these things being a college instructor. You are in front of people everyday who are reflecting back to you in different ways multiple times a week. So I am constantly getting feedback, I think, more so than a lot of other people. Simple interaction with people is not enough to get this feedback. I interacted with people for years (11 to be exact in a work setting before becoming a college instructor and have 31 years under my belt in other interactions) and NEVER received this kind of feedback before. Just this week I had 16 interesting conversations with my students about who they thought I was at the beginning of the semester versus at the end. Their feedback was invaluable. Getting back to my point.....

There are 4 windows included in the Johari Window. The unknown to self, but known to others is amazingly interesting. What is it about you that other people see that you don't? The is the interesting aspect of this concept is this: If it's know to other people and not to you, then how will these things come into the light and become known to you so you can improve upon them and change them? Feedback from other people right? But are people really receptive to hearing things like - "you know, you make things about YOU quite a bit even when they clearly aren't", or "you come off really mean sometimes", or "you talk way too much and need to tone it down a little", or "you tend to police social situations which makes people not want to be around you", or "you interject ridiculous things into conversations which highlights your immaturity, do you realize that?". Of course these are very harsh ways of saying these things, and for those TM alumni out there who read this, would never ever fly in a 'care enough to confront' situation. But really, do you tell people these things or hope and pray that they figure them out on their own, which most people don't without repeated negative interactions? What do you do? Or is it even your responsibility to say anything even though someones communicative behavior obviously violates every unspoken, or spoken for that matter, social rule that exists?

I come into contact with different groups of students every 7 weeks or so right now because I teach fast track classes and come across A LOT of different personalities. I am constantly analyzing people - and I have quite a bit of time to do that since I drive an hour each way to teach on a normal basis. And to tell you the truth, the analysis goes way beyond my students. I sit back and observe people constantly, and interestingly enough, the Johari Window has been crossing my mind quite a bit. Are particular things people do and say obvious to them? Or are things people do, say and act upon simply blind to them? Or, let's go even further, was it acceptable in your family? And is that particular thing not acceptable in other situations? What is blind to you that others can see? This is part of my quest - what is blind to me that others can see? I can assume, I can guess, I can try and learn from others reactions - but will I ever really know unless someone confirms it?