7 Quick Takes Volume 16

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Total "Ladies of Finance" workouts I have attended this week: 3. My legs are sore, but I feel accomplished. Maybe our resolution will last into February ;-)

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My family has been reading and discussing Gary Smalley's book Making Love Last Forever and the personality profile quiz in it. Now I can't help analyzing whether people I meet are assertive "lions" (choleric/Type A), playful "otters" (sanguine/extrovert), conflict averse "golden retrievers" (plegmatic), or hardworking and precise "beavers" (sort of melancholic, IS in Myers-Briggs). (I am almost an even split between lion/GR/beaver, apparently.) Has anyone else read this book? Did you find it helpful?

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Lately I've become a big fan of Get Religion, which does a great job of discussing media coverage of religious topics. It's refreshingly astute. There's not incessant whining or Christian infighting about politics. Instead, there's an appeal for journalistic excellence and accurate definition of terms. It's almost like Fr. Z and John Stewart collaborating. Check it out.

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My hot wings project was fairly successful. Baked wings with Frank's Red Hot were of course not as crispily delicious as those fried in a restaurant. On a whim, I also tried a dry spice rub too that turned out to be a huge hit! Now I want to put that smoky/sweet/savory blend on every meat in my Mom's freezer.

I wish LSU's plays had been as good as all the food we ate. 

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If you'd rather look at pictures of historic things than my dinner, I just posted a recap of last year's field trips on my museum blog.

Sofa and inlaid table in the White House Red Room

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A former executive at my company just dropped by for a meeting, and everyone just lit up when they saw him. He's definitely one of the most considerate, well-grounded, kind people I have ever met - a true example of Christ's love. That's the kind of witness this introvert needs to work on.

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I still prefer Blogger for its simpler menu, but I'm glad it's been introducing some of Wordpress' features. Now you can reply to comments in a thread! (Why was this not a no-brainer?) I love hearing from readers, and I'm glad this will help me respond to your comments effectively.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

New Year, New Quick Takes

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Practically everyone in New Orleans celebrated 2012 by setting off tons of fireworks in their driveways and backyards. I approve - it's like 4th of July in 360 stereo.

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An example of why The Beau and I are a perfect match: he suggested we spend an entire day in the French Quarter...touring a 1740s convent and two historic houses. He saved me from dec arts withdrawal.

Taking photos of the 1830s Hermann-Grima House courtyard, with a n EWTN photobomb appearence. 

As an added bonus, a minor Catholic celebrity was on our last tour.
"Hey, doesn't that guy look like EWTN news anchor Raymond Arroyo?....OMG IT IS Raymond Arroyo!!" I'd recognize that distinctive diction anywhere. (Once upon a time, I wanted to be him when I grew up and get the best seat for papal events.) He and his wife were very nice and commiserated with The Beau about being NOLA expats.

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Since I graduated from college I've become obsessed with hot wings. Blame it on that one karaoke night in a south city St. Louis dive bar. I'm going to attempt a baked version on Monday for the BCS championship. (Geaux Tigers!)

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Elsewhere in the kitchen, my family just bought an electric juicer, one of the most fun toys ever. We tried it yesterday and went nuts throwing in anything we could think of - broccoli, carrots, oranges, a pear. It all came out frothy and creamy. I could marvel at this thing all day.

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Please pray for J.T., a teenage boy at my high school who was just diagnosed with the same chronic circulatory condition that caused The Year I Was Sick. I talked to him and his mom on the phone yesterday, and learned that he's got a way worse case than I did.
Do I even know how to talk to teenage boys without sounding stupid? Will he even remember our random convo in which he was too tired to say much? Who knows. But I feel blessed to have been able to reach out to them.

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The Anglophile and religious historian in me is totally stoked for the new Anglican Ordinariate. Fr. Dwight Longenecker, my favorite married-Anglican-cleric-turned-Catholic-priest, had a great post last week about what the Roman and Anglican traditions can give each other. I geeked out when he mentioned needlepoint kneelers and altar frontals. Also Our Lady of Walsingham, the patroness of the my college's Catholic chapel.

William and Mary likes to maintain its English roots. 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Winter Break Book Reviews

Here's what I've been reading for fun before classes start.

The Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan

There have been many recent exposes of the food industry, but Michael Pollan's is by far the best. It's not a polemic (although I hear he's written those too). It's a surprisingly balanced and realistic, admitting that its ideals are also difficult and impractical. Pollan takes us through "a natural history of four meals" that exemplify four means of food production. We see a McDonald's meal produced by conventional farming; organic roast chicken and vegetables from a Whole Foods; a chicken dinner dinner all grown on a sustainable small farm; and a pork/mushroom that resulted from training as a hunter/gatherer. Along the way we learn about FDA regulations, food subsidies, the evolution of the corn genome, and Peter Singer's persuasive but flawed writings on animal rights.

It's appropriate that I read this book on my epic airport adventure, being herded like cattle through security gates. While I don't always buy organic or free-range food, I feel like knowing is half the battle. We can still understand our food even if we never visit farms or slaughterhouses.My food restrictions require me to pay close attention, but that's also why I do goofy things like photograph my salads. Pausing to thank God for a meal couldn't hurt either. 

Pollan frequently invokes the natural balance evolution has determined, making his account is also an unwitting testament to the complex beauty of God's creation. Could it be that we have tried to circumvent God's wisdom with our chemical fertilizers and synthetic vitamin supplements? The book's very title points to the blessing and curse of human nature. When you can eat or do anything, how do you determine what you should? Pollan's dilemma is one that we've been struggling with even before we left Eden.

Girl Meets God - Lauren Winner

Raised by a Jewish father and lapsed Baptist mother, Lauren Winner went through two conversion processes. Her freshman year at Columbia she became an Orthodox Jew. Still, a fascination with Jesus persisted, and she entered the Anglican church while studying for her master's at Cambridge. This book reflects on the process of both conversions, and the challenges of building a meaningful life in one's new religion. Following the course of  a liturgical year, the story celebrates aspects of both Judaism and Christianity, showing how they are connected. There is some typical new convert fervor - she covers her bedroom wall with images of Christ - but there is also  family tension and continuing catechesis.

True confession - part of me wanted to hate Lauren Winner. (Self-deprecating envy is one of my congenital vices, Lord help me.) In all of our close similarities she surpassed me: more advanced degrees in America religious history, more publications, more devoted bookworm, more abundant social life, more historic Virginia hometown.  Luckily some Googling dug up video of a sermon Winner gave at Duke. Her very nerdy voice and glasses assured me that book deals do not guarantee celebrity hotttness.Just because no one is publishing my spiritual memoirs does not make me a loser (pun intended.)

Phew, now that is off my chest, I can say this was an excellent book. Winner's story was approachable and relate-able. It made me appreciate my own faith, and even inspired me to pray more! Winner's reflections on the Incarnation and scripture study were especially good. Of course, her experiences as a religious person in academia were especially encouraging to me. Go pick up this memoir if you want an intelligent discussion of faith that blends modernity and tradition.

Image Sources

New York: A culinary recap

 At the end of every day on these long class trips I feel like I've lived through a week and am at a loss to sum up everything I've seen. Gluten-free survival is always a big part of my day, though. While all my classmates are looking forward to a platter of assorted sandwiches, I'm just praying there won't be any croutons or mysterious gravies. So I decided to chronicle New York by documenting every salad lunch. Stroke of genius or dorky idea? Whatever, I had fun doing it, and I happily did not starve or have to resort to sandwich meat and potato chips. . 

Day 1, Tuesday: Sotheby's auction house 11th floor cafe. Spinach with chicken, asparagus, roasted beets, and mushrooms tossed in lemon herb vinaigrette. Pretty tasty, though not as lemony as I hoped. We had several Devil Wears Prada moments when 80 lb. girls dressed in black cut ahead of us in line.

Day 2, Wednesday, Metropolitan Museum of Art American Wing curatorial conference room: Spinach salad of candied walnuts, sauteed pears, dried cranberries, blue cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette. Classmate L gave me her salad tomato. The Met's staff were very nice, and a few are alumni of my MA program. The silver curator caught me sneaking my one blurry salad photo,  but I don't think she thought I was too much of a weirdo. 

 

Day 3, Friday, Brooklyn Museum Cafe: Lemon tarragon chicken breast on arugula with tomatoes and manchego cheese. Tarragon was faint, but the grill marks tasted real. We sat on fun lime green chairs and learned about the museum's new extended evening hours. I also ate my last remaining sprinkle doughnut from Babycakes, a vegan gluten free bakery around the corner from the Tenement Museum. Both are awesome places to visit.

Day 4, Friday, the Appraisers Association of America: Grilled chicken, bell peppers, carrots, and tomatoes on romaine with balsamic vinaigrette. Not too exciting, but it still hit the spot. While we ate, three chatty, confident, successful New York women told us how the appraisal business works. Not unlike antiques dealers, they have customers as long as there are deaths, divorces, and debts.  

Day 5, Saturday, Cilantro restaurant on E. 71st: Tequila lime shrimp enchiladas with green chile sauce, rice and beans. Ok, I fell off the salad wagon. But watching that Sotheby's auction made me hungry!
This lunch was so good, and fortified me for two afternoon antique shows.

Such downright domesticity

(Bonus points if you can tell me the song/musical where I got that title.)

It was great to be back home on break, but I also love coming back to my own apartment and getting re-settled in my own domain. My roommate doesn't cook too much, so she doesn't mind my crazy kitchen experiments. Thus I spent Monday playing at domestic goddess. Maybe I didn't get much thesis writing done, but I felt darn productive anyway.

First, I tried out my favorite Delaware Christmas present - a new washing machine! Call me an old lady, but I was seriously ecstatic when I heard the landlords were replacing our ancient leaky, shaking, violently loud machine. Check out the glorious new toy - those buttons and timer are the bees knees.

Then I roasted a chicken in the awesome roasting pan I got for Christmas. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

 Finally, I tried out a black bean soup recipe my Mom gave me that involved bacon, sherry, and lemon. It was delicious, and I bet you could adapt the 400 degree oven cooking time to a crock pot

. If you are interested, click on the link for the recipe.

Pressure Cooker

"Don't make fun of the grad students, Bart. They just made a terrible life choice."- Marge Simpson

Last week was really icky. Grad school can sure mess with your head. Suddenly I found myself doubting and questioning pretty much everything in which I thought I believed. It was like there was a demon whispering in my ear that my life was pathetic and boring, and that there was nothing on this earth that could make me happy. Thank the Lord there were lots of good things on the horizon to cheer me up and give me a reality check. Here's the top ten in chronological order.

1. My grad prgram had a career panel consisting entirely of alumnae who are married with kids but also employed in museums. They all emphasized work/life balance and not neglecting your family for a stressful, high power job.

2. On my way out of town on Saturday, I ran to confession at a nearby church. The priest was a wonderful grandfatherly man who told me not to be too hard on myself. "You're just in a pressure cooker right now, gearing up for the next thing." Kind advice plus sacramental forgiveness = why I am glad to be Catholic.

3. When I arrived in New Jersey, I discovered The Beau had bought me flowers the color of autumn leaves :-)

4. After talking about it for ages, we finally cooked gumbo combining gluten-free roux (1/2 sourghum, 1/2 brown rice flour) with vegtables and stock

and chicken, andouille and rice. It was delicious.

5. On Sunday I tagged along to a choir concert/evening prayer at the Diocese of Metuchen cathedral. Why yes, I photographed the architecture.

6. On Monday I took another thesis field trip to New Tork, this time to Trinity Wall Street (the church at the end of National Treasure. Nicholas Cage did not actually find a fortune there.) The Trinity archivists were super nice and I even found some records of vestment purchases. A friendly security guard offered to take my picture while I was exploring the church.

7. I met my friend Laura for lunch uptown, emerging from the subway at yet another Anglo-Catholic church, St. Bart's.

8. After lunch, I went looking for a restroom. Laura suggested I try the Waldorf Astoria lobby. Good call!

9. The Trinity rector diaries were fun but not useful, so I cut out early and visited the Statue of Liberty instead. Hey lady, I'm tired and poor over here!

10.When I got off my train back to Jersey, I could look out from the platform and see where The Beau was doing homework and waiting for me. And when I got back to Delaware, my aunt was in town on business and we went out to dinner! It's nice to come home to people you love. Maybe I'll make it out of this pressure cooker after all.

Up close in the kitchen

While I still miss Theodora the camera, I have to admit that my new little camera has good macro capabilities. There is even a setting just for food! This is a shot of my dinner on Tuesday - chicken tenders seasoned with garlic, coriander, and curry on top of Trader Joe's vegetable biryani. I'd like to think it's almost as good as the glowing shots on Gluten Free Girl.

I also tried a grilled porkchop recipe that I saw on the new TLC show Inedible to Incredible. The premise of the show is to replace horrendous home cooking with similar, but better recipies. I may have left my chops in the brine too long, I definitely need a better meat thermometer, and I don't know how I'll get the panini press clea, but overall this is definitely a dish I'll try again.