Dead to Red 2010

God is blessing us with triumphs and challenges, often intermingled, at such a rate that I've scarce had time to chronicle them, never mind, the notable recipe or contemplation. And though the 3rd place trophy, won three weeks ago, now has the lightest layer of dust on it, the stiffness of muscles has subsided, and the victory dinner of steak and home-made ice cream has been enjoyed, I couldn't let pass the chance to to celebrate the Dashing Dudes 3rd place (of 26 teams) win in the annual Dead to Red 250K relay marathon. And this year I have pictures!

Though this is the sixth Dead to Red run my guys have participated in, I'd never gone to the race start (1.5 hours from Amman) or taken any race pictures; I usually sent a camera along with repeated pleas for pictures, though somehow in the heat of the race no one ever thought to take pictures. So, knowing that this would be Active Son's last Dead to Read race before leaving for college, I decided to drive down to the race start to cheer the Dashing Dudes and take some pictures.

The Dashing Dudes 2010 Dead to Red Team

Meet the Dashing Dudes:

Active Son, a six time Dead to Red runner, was handed the Team Captain baton by Dear Husband this year; It was Active Son's last year to run the race before heading off to college next year. Setting the pace for his team by training diligently, he encouraged his teammates to stay on track with their own training plans, he held periodic time trials during the training months, and with imput from others he worked to develop a race strategy which set the Dudes on a winning course.

This would be a good time to mention that, once upon a time, Active Son had no desire to run. That is putting it mildly. He would tell you now, as he has told a few college admissions officers per his college admissions essays, that God has used running and this race, through the vision of his father, to discipline and humble him. Active Son is preparing to run his first full marathon next month.

Dear Husband was a dad with a vision. If his mom had years ago written a blog about her family, I'm certain Dear Husband would have been dubbed with the same or similar moniker as Active Son. About eight years ago, Dear Husband chose running as an activity that he and our boys could do together, and by which he could impart to them a means for staying in good physical shape. Not a "natural" runner himself, his goal is to run the Dead to Red with his boys until they graduate from high school. Just two more years to go! He trained extra hard this year in a gallant effort to keep up with the young bucks on the team, remembering nostalgically that he used to be faster than both our boys. His reward: he ran faster legs this year than he ran two years ago!. Great vision, great dad!


Artist Son ran his first Dead to Red race when he was nine years old--at that time, the youngest runner to enter the race--and he has been running ever since. He is the only runner in our family with a natural runner's gait of ease and is a pleasure to watch. He makes it look so easy. Artist Son plans to run his first 21 K (half marathon) next month.







Brendan, another graduating Dude, competed in his fourth Dead to Red this year, having joined the team his first year living in Amman. Maybe, just maybe, he'll be running at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy next year...









Doug thought he was just going along for the ride. Little did he know that joining the Dashing Dudes team four years ago as a driver when his son, Brendan, got involved, would be a life-changing experience. The second year he drove, one of the runners injured himself and Doug ran part of the race. Last year he was a full-fledged member of the team, leading them to a stunning 2nd place in Dear Husband's out-of-town absence. At 50+, Doug has the honor, and I do mean honor, of being the oldest Dashing Dude. He is training to run his first marathon next month.




Andrew also completes his Dashing Dude career with four good runs. Though he doesn't have the the longest legs on the team, I'm sure he has the longest stride--his legs can really reach! And the Dudes are ever grateful to Andrew's dad, Fawzy, for faithfully driving their green van, the official van of the Dashing Dude team, for all four of those years. If I remember correctly, their van shuttled Dashing Dudes to Aqaba even on the year that Andrew and Fawzy were in the States, with someone else doing the driving.





Zack, a two time Dashing Dude, is a valued team member known for his enthusiasm and determination. I observed him run his first 1K, which he began in an all-out sprint. This guy runs like a rabbit. Another graduating senior, Zack heads off to college in Southern California this fall.








Though the Dashing Dude victory was nothing less than a team effort, Jon's contribution, no doubt played a big part in helping the Dashing Dudes to shave nearly 40 minutes off last year's race time. Now teaching elementary school in Amman, Jon ran on Calvin’'s National Championship cross country and track teams in college. Jon started the race for the Dashing Dudes and his 2K leg was the only time during the race that the Dashing Dudes enjoyed first place status. And, though he is a more seasoned runner than any of the other Dudes, I think he would say that he's never run a race quite like the Dead to Red.




Training and perseverance earned Matt a coveted spot on the Dashing Dude team this year. This is his third Dead to Red run; he ran on the Boy Scout team two times, once as their team captain. Noting that the Dashing Dudes will be losing half their members next year, he is already scouting new runners for the team. Rumor has it that Matt put away the most steaks at the Dashing Dudes victory celebration.







This is Jonathan's second Dead to Red run, and his first as a Dashing Dude. I didn't see Jonathan at the end of the race, but at the beginning, at least, he ran through the desert with a really big smile.









This year 26 teams competed in the Dead to Red relay marathon on Thursday afternoon, the first teams finishing around 4 a.m. Friday morning. As you can see from the pictures, the race is run along the highway-which I found out as I drove along the first 15K or so taking pictures, can be dangerous--a mom's point of view.

Map of Jordan~Lonely Planet

Over the years the Dashing Dudes have come to be known as a team with a plan. Race strategy is serious business and this years' race plan was about three pages long. Not to mention the pre-race emails flying back in forth between the teams' top strategists. I'm convinced that it is the Dudes' strategy of running shorter legs that has enabled them to compete with teams which include professional runners, such as the perennial first place Aramex team.

The Dashing Dudes start strong with Jon running the first leg

Active Son flying through the desert

Dear Husband hands off to Artist Son

The Dashing Dudes Chorus Line
stretching out at about 4am in the morning, just outside of Aqaba

The Dashing Dudes just after finishing the race
wearing the mandatory reflective vests. (Active Son wanted me to tell you that they were mandatory)

Congratulations, once again, to the Dashing Dudes. This year they ran the race in 14 hours, 38 minutes and 55 seconds, just six minutes behind the second place team and 20 minutes behind Aramex, the first place team. Not only did they cut about 40 minutes off their previous best rest time, but the also bested the race record which Aramex set in 2009. They currently have the third best race time in the history of the race.

The Sweetheart Special~Recipes from the Valentines Banquet

It is March but I am yet blogging February. Life has been such a wonderful albeit exhausting swirl of youth activity and I'm thankful for it all, for I know the day will come when the house will be too quiet. Love, love, love these teenagers!

Like last year I oversaw a great staff of cooks. We prepared all the food during three afternoon shifts and served it, again sans kitchen, to 50 adults, mostly parents of the youth.

While we busied ourselves in our makeshift kitchen, other costumed youth served the food and provided some very entertaining entertainment. Most notable was a previously filmed Jack Benny spoof with the youth acting to the dubbed in radio program. It was perfect! And, I only had one minor correction for Active Son/Sound Technician: Supertramp was a 70's band, not a 50's band. He had no idea--it just sounded like "old" music to him.


Our menu, based on our 50's theme, wasn't as elaborate as last year's Italian menu but the youth did a great job of preparing the food and we received a few recipe requests from the moms.

The Sweetheart Special

Soft Sliced White Bread
Not-Your-Mom's Coleslaw
with
Peanut Dressing
~~~
Mom's Meatloaf
Twice Baked Potatoes
Sauteed Green Beans
~~~
Mom's Apple Pie
Tea or Coffee

For the salad we combined:

Curly kale (sometimes called Chinese cabbage)
Carrots, coarsely grated
Yellow and red bell peppers, julienned

No specific quantities: I was buying vegetables for 50 so just bought what seemed the right quantity, and thankfully, it was. I'm sure what elicited the recipe requests was the peanut salad dressing, provided by Martha Stewart.com


Super-Simple-And-Delicious-Peanut-Salad-Dressing
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup salted peanuts
2 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

Puree 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 cup cider vinegar, 1/4 cup salted peanuts, 2 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt in a blender until smooth.

The most requested recipe was for Mom's Apple Pie aka The Only Apple Pie Recipe I've Ever Made And I Learned It From Fanny Farmer. I've always thought it to be a basic apple pie recipe--no special ingredients or anything. I'm guessing that the "secret" that people asked me about is in the slicing of the apples--the youth, upon my insistence, sliced them oh so very thin. Overheard in the kitchen from one of the youth: "Cut them thinner or she'll send them back."

"Pidy, Widy, Tidy, Pidy, Nice insidy apple pie!"

Apple Pie with Crumb Topping
6-8 large Granny Smith apples (about 10 cups)
3/4-1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 Tbsp flour


Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Peel, core, and thinly slice the apples. Toss them in the sugar/spice/salt mixture, coating them well. Pile them into a prepared pie crust. Top with crumb topping and place in the oven. Bake 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 degrees F and bake about 40 minutes longer--or until the apples are tender when pierced with a fork.

Hint: Place pie on a baking/cookie sheet before placing in the oven in case bubbling apple goodness spills over from the pie pan.

Crumb Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/4 pound (1/2 cup) butter, chilled

Mix the sugar and flour until blended. Rub the butter into the flour mixture with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.

The recipe for the pie crust is here.

Fullness

What began in my mind as a birthday post for Oldest daughter--her 20th birthday celebration at the end of January capped a wonderful month of family togetherness--has expanded its borders into something more...full. And while our time together inspired me to write of the fullness of Oldest Daughter's life, the fullness of our family life was juxtaposed with it, as we once again walked together, side by side.

Adding to her Christmas Break from school, Oldest Daughter spent her January/Winter Term with us in Jordan, preparing for and giving a solo concert, fulfilling her Winter Term project requirement.

Though we enjoyed the pleasant strains of violin music this summer when Oldest Daughter was home, January's concert was the first time we enjoyed the fullness of what Oldest Daughter's playing/performing( in some ways, a distinct aspect of playing) had become since her senior recital, performed in May 2008; the maturity and openness of her musical expressions was notable.

Observing the high degree to which the audience, full of long time friends and acquaintances from the community, delighted in Oldest Daughter's performance, I began contemplating the place of music, particularly live music performance, in the life of a community. Most in the audience were not aficionados of classical music, though more than a couple made comments about how Oldest Daughter's music moved them, and " carried them away to another place to enjoy beauty." Fullness of community by sharing music, beauty--beautiful music; I'm still thinking about these things...

Oldest Daughter was able to share some more of this fullness with some our our little friends--they were learning about the orchestra and came over for a special lesson about the violin.

We enjoyed fullness of fellowship and fullness of stomachs as we share some of Oldest Daughter's favorite Arab dishes with family and friends in a celebratory birthday dinner. Featured fare: Koosa Mahshi, zucchini with meat and rice stuffing, and Ma'loubi, an "upside down" dish of fried cauliflower, savory chicken, rice, and toasted almonds.

I delighted in the fullness of my relationship with an "older"daughter, who raised up from infanthood, has become a dear friend, confidante, and close sister in the Lord. God's ways are amazing!


At the end of our month together, and on Oldest Daughter's birthday, we headed just out of town, to a long-time favorite area of the countryside to enjoy each other in the fellowship of the Lord and in his creation.

In a greening field, studded with anemones and limestone we prayed together, rejoicing in the fullness of family that we had enjoyed in Christ the past month; and we prayed for Oldest daughter as she prepared to return to Oberlin, thanking God for the fullness of life that she has and is yet discovering in Jesus as she walks with Him, and asking Him to draw her ever closer to Him even as she travels far from us.

Love Words

Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

In the title of her second chapter, Love Words, Marilyn McEntyre employs a lovely paronomasia (or, pun but puns are are generally humorous) . Shortly into the chapter her double meaning is made evident:

"...So our task as stewards of the word begins and ends in love. Loving language means cherishing it for its beauty, precision, power to enhance understanding, power to name, power to heal. And it means using words as instruments of love."

The encouragment to love words and to love by words reminds me of ideas I considered this summer when I read a few excerpts of Plato's Phaedrus via The Art of Assertion:

( Phaedrus 261a) : "Such soul-leading is a liberal power, one which in its finest and fullest manifestation is a form of love: the finest rhetorician not only loves wisdom, but also loves others who do so. The finest rhetor, then, is a friend...The best university is a rhetorical community of friends, and the ultimate purpose of this book is to teach the reader how to live within such a community with words so full of care that they release the light of brilliance." p.13

-and- "The care of words and things--that is, the care of things through the care of words--is a generous, disciplined forum: this human activity is rhetorical throughout, the true influence of friends who have, as Phaedrus puts it at the close of the Phaedrus, 'everything in common' (279c), in particular the shared motion toward the real. pp 13,14

In Praise of Prepositions~
In celebrating particular parts of speech, McEntyre higlights the deep and amazing work of which prepositions are capable, connecting and showing relationship not only between words, but between the objects, persons, and ideas which they name. I have been considering and reflecting on the words from a hymn, taken from an ancient Celtic prayer, "St. Patrick's Breastplate".

Christ be with me, Christ within me.
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

"...prepositions help us, as Henry James put it, to 'understand things in relation,' which he claimed, is the only way they can be rightly understood." p.37

Love words.

Mexican Hot Chocolate

We are snow wimps here in Jordan--light snow flurries were grounds for locals schools to declare a Snow Day. But, since this will likely be one of our coldest days of the year, it is the perfect time to share this new recipe, compliments of my friend, Susan, via another friend, Robyn (thanks!). Susan served it to us last week and we immediately requested the recipe.

Mexican Hot Chocolate

3 cups milk
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla

Over low heat, whisk all the ingredients into the milk. My kids like this served with a squirt of whipped cream--of course!

Caring for Words

"Language is the means by which our rationality and our relationality are enabled simultaneously." Ken Myers, creator and host of Mars Hill Audio Journal, captured my attention and inspired my imagination when he made this statement while introducing his conversation with professor, poet, and author, Marilyn Chandler McEntyre. I love Meyers' introductions and often find them as enlightening and thought stimulating as the conversations themselves, however in these case his proposition was but a foreshadowing of a thought provoking dialogue about to begin.

With four teenagers at home (for one more day) we had recently been discussing the twists and turns our use of language has taken over the years, individually, communally, and culturally. (Hmm, I wonder who instigated these discussions...) Thus, the observations made by Meyers and McEntyre served to confirm some of my own reflections and to bring some of my intuitions into the realm of ideas by furnishing them with words.

I quickly ordered McEntyre's new book and after reading one chapter decided that she is an author of whom I would like to read more~she's also written three books of poetry on the art of Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Van Gough and I enjoyed perusing her website.



Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

I haven't yet finished this book, so this isn't a proper book review, but rather an ejaculation of enthusiasm for McEntyre's ideas and the gracious and loving way in which she expresses them. The first chapter, Why Worry about Words, elicited copious underlining:

She effectively employs an environmental metaphor in her discussion of language:

"Like any other life-sustaining resource, language can be depleted, polluted, contaminated, eroded, and filled with artificial stimulates. Like any other resource, it needs the protection of those who recognize its value and commit themselves to good stewardship."

"Caring for language is a moral issue. Caring for one another is not entirely separable from caring for words."

"As unable words are lost, experience becomes cruder and less communicable. And with the loss of subtlety, clarity, and reliability of language, we become more vulnerable to crude exercises of power."

On Conversation:
"to converse was to foster community, to commune with, to dwell in a place with others. Conversation was understood to be a life-sustaining practice, a blessing ,and a craft to be cultivated for the common good."

And all this from just the first six pages.

One final quote of a quote, and perhaps this is only back-patting--I always find it encouraging to enunciate a thought or idea only to read it elsewhere in more elegant language by someone much smarter than myself. Dear husband and I were discussing the the relationship between morality and language and I proposed that a deterioration of language portended a deterioration of the understanding of truth, and ultimately, morality: "So our language goes, so go we." Dear husband countered that the opposite was true. Soon after I read this claim by George Orwell, quoted by McEntyre:

"[The English Language] becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is reversible."

It's always nice when we can both be right.

Diario dell Cucina~Risotto alla Zucca

One of the lasting memories I have from my visit to my brother and his family who live in lovely Tuscan village overlooking Florence, is the food. That inspirational memory is due in large part to the culinary proficiency of my sister-in-law, Shandra. I was in awe of what she could whip up in her typically small European kitchen--if I remember correctly you can't open the dishwasher and the refrigerator at the same time--or something like that!

Shandra says that cooking traditional Italian food has for her been a window into the culture and she once shared a story with me which illustrated the the care and concern Italians show for the quality of their food: she was summoned to the primary school which her boys attended for a very important parents' meeting. The topic under discussion and even debate: the quality of the pasta the children were receiving for school lunch.

I've requested recipes from my sister-in-law in the past so I was very pleased when she began posting her kitchen notes on Facebook, and then her recipes at Diario della Cucina. Last week, thanks to Shandra's risotto tutorial, I made my first risotto, Risotto alla Zucca (Pumpkin). I had long wanted to try making risotto, but had heard that it was a fussy dish, easily ruined. Shandra's About Risotto post primed the pump and and when she posted her Pumpkin Risotto recipe, I went shopping.

With the cost of imported foods in Jordan, risotto will not become everyday fare, but it was a delicious treat. Per Shandra's instructions, I made sure to release all my stress before begining so that it wouldn't be absorbed by the risotto. (I think it's like pie crusts sensing hesitancy and fear.) I even made Artist Son stop practicing his drums ("The risotto absorbs the stress? What??) and turned on some YoYo Ma for stirring to.

Risotto alla Zucca
(served in a bowl I purchased with the help of my sis-in-law in a Florentine market)

Making the risotto was not difficult and the results were delicious. My children had never before eaten risotto but they all liked it, especially my Carbo Kid (Active Son) and Tayta; "This is better than mac and cheese!" I made my brodo, or chicken stock, to be used in making the risotto, early in the day and then I roasted the already boiled chicken in the oven to serve with the risotto, first topping it with an impromptu tomato-leftover-handful-of-fresh-basil-clove-of-garlic sauce I made in the blender. I also drizzled the chicken with olive oil and sprinkled it with a little sea salt.

nota bene: quantites for butter and parmesan cheese: 3 T butter and 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (though I used Grand Padano as it is more readily available to me).

Next up: Tuscan Beans and Ribollita

The Four Teenagers Picture

January 2010 is the Month of Four Teenagers: Tayta turned 13 on Christmas Eve, and Oldest Daughter will celebrate her 20th birthday at the end of the week; sorta wish I could freeze this moment in time, at least for a few more weeks.

The Four Teenagers

Happy 13th Birthday, Tayta

Tayta, my youngest child, turned 13 on Christmas Eve (I'm back blogged from December) and for one blessed month I have four teenagers at home (Oldest daughter, home for her January term will be 20 at the end of this month). With a perception of others' needs beyond her years, Tayta is the second mother in our family; God has blessed us, her family, and many more besides with her gracious heart of caring service.

Small children and babies delight her to no end and she is a favorite babysitter to many of her little friends.

Tayta and Friends

This summer, when she wasn't nurturing children she delighted in helping our garden cat raise five kittens...


or creating fantastically yummy deserts for us.

Tayta's Pink Peppermint and Chocolate Pie

Tayta's empathetic nature shone through when I recently lost my voice: I could only whisper. The older kids chuckled and snickered when I whispered at them but Tayta, she whispered back. We had conducted half a conversation when I whispered to Tatya that she didn't have to whisper back to me. Looking surprised and smiling she replied, "I didn't know I was whispering."

What a beautiful young woman you are becoming Tayta, and may the coming year be one in which you continue to grow in the beauty and grace of God.

Where shall we see a better daughter, or kinder sister, or a truer friend?
~Jane Austen

Imitating to Learn

In the modern world of education it may be counter-intuitive that submission to a fixed literary structure could encourage elegant, creative writing, but writing by this method of imitation was, in fact, the process by which masters such as Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Milton learned to write. When I read The Writer's Workshop, by Gregory Roper, I knew that I wanted to use this book with my two high-school boys; writing was certainly not their favorite activity and I was looking for a way to make the learning process pleasant and profitable for all of us.



Shortly after I decided to use Roper's book, Cindy Marsch of Writing Assessment Services began offering an Apprentice Workshop, using this very book. Active Son was enrolled post haste and Artist Son just completed Part I and is heading into Part II. The combination of this book and Cindy's tutorial services has been the perfect mix of theory, prompts, and helpful feedback for both sons to begin discovering their own writing voices by imitating the voices of others.

Below is short essay on creativty written by Artist Son, and published on Cindy's writing blog.
The assignment which prompted this essay was from the chapter, "Voices of Definition", and asks the student to take a definition developed in a previous assignment and express it in the voice of Sojourner Truth, former slave and abolitionist, in her speech, "And Ain't I a Woman?"

It is certain that in today’s fallen world creativity is greatly admired. It is generally celebrated in the artwork of modern artists who grab any passing thought and put it on canvas. They are considered “creative” for their splashes of paint and bold strokes of the brush which politely skip over meaning and evoke emotional responses from the viewers. But is that the essence of creativity?

Some say that creativity is free, easy, and merry; that it soars through the clear skies with nothing to clasp it and bring it down. They say that it touches ideas and then dances on with as much reliability as the wind. I’ve tried to integrate these ideas into my own artwork. I’ve tried to chase after my own fantasies. I’ve tried to abandon reality completely. I’ve tried to become enveloped with giddy illusions. I expected a change in my works and assuredly it did come, but I find no real beauty in them now. All I find is confused ideas, so unclear and distant that they are not even distinguishable from one another. And am I not creative?

Others say that creativity is “getting in touch” with one’s inner self, and unleashing it. We all possess a fantastically creative side but it is found within the deep recesses of one's being. I have searched. Nearly every possible aspect of my soul have I brought into the light and examined. When confronted with a blank piece of paper I have closed my eyes and sat in the quiet, seeing, searching, probing within. I did not find it. And am I not creative?

of us just modestly, quietly, conservatively creative? ;-

Still others say creativity encompasses not only the good, but also the evil, the unproductive and oft destructive. They view dark and morbid intent as a subject of creativity, a thing to dwell in and be moved by. The good, the right, the true; they are forsaken for the pursuit of the wicked, the disparaging, and even the indolent. I also have dipped my fingers in that foul water to test it. What I felt was not the cool refreshing creativity as they called it, but a vile mere that tried to suck me in. I withdrew my hand. And am I not creative?

Even after surfing the wave of fantasies and dreams, and “getting in touch” with my inner self, and languidly waiting for creativity to show up at my door, I found it eluded me. So then, what is creativity and where does it hide? But first: why does creativity exist at all?

Is not all our creativity a reflection of God’s creation which he made to be perfectly ordered, and perfectly good? Did not God give us our creativity? True creativity is found in Christ, the original creator, not in any other. Because our inconsequential creative efforts exist only as reflections of Christ’s perfect creativity, we can be creative only if we rightly create as he did: in truth, in beauty, and in goodness.

Books Received

A couple weeks ago I mentioned this site:

Free delivery worldwide on all our books

and their seemingly "too good to be true" offer. But it is true and two weeks after placing my order I have received both books, shipping free. Happy day! And, happy reading.

Fish with Preserved Lemons and Tomatoes

The fish I prepared using this recipe from Cooking Light, and found online at myrecipes.com was so delicious, it would be worth preserving lemons to make this dish and this dish alone.

Cooking light has called the recipe Fish Tagine with Lemons and Tomatoes, probably because of the dish's traditional Moroccan flavors, however it isn't cooked in a traditional clay pot, or tagine, nor is is a slow-cooked stew.

I've reproduced the recipe below; I followed this recipe almost exactly with the following exceptions:

~I used more lemon (1/2 a preserved lemon) .
~I used regular paprika.
~I used blacks which tasted somewhat like Kalamata olives.
~I used catfish fillets. I bought these on accident but was very pleased with their consistency and flavor; no fishy taste at all.

Note: this recipe requires a 30 minute marinating time.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 6 ounces fish, 3/4 cup vegetable mixture, and about 1 tablespoon sauce)

Ingredients:

• Cooking spray
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped whole lemon
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 12 pitted green olives, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 pounds mahimahi (or another firm white fish)
  
• 2 cups thinly sliced onion (about 1)
• 4 cups coarsely chopped seeded tomato (about 2 pounds)
• Cilantro leaves (optional)

Preparation:

Heat a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add lemon, 1 tablespoon water, 1/2 teaspoon oil, and sugar; cook 3 minutes or until water evaporates and mixture just begins to brown, stirring frequently. Set aside.

Place remaining 2 1/2 teaspoons oil in a small microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at high for 10 seconds at a time just until oil is heated. Stir in saffron; let stand 10 minutes.

Combine lemon mixture, saffron mixture, chopped parsley, and next 7 ingredients (through garlic) in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add fish to bag, and seal. Marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes, turning occasionally.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Layer 1 cup onion slices and 2 cups tomato on the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Remove fish from bag, reserving marinade. Top tomato with fish; pour remaining marinade from bag over fish. Cover with remaining 2 cups tomato and remaining 1 cup onion. Cover with foil. Bake at 400° for 40 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Remove from oven.

Transfer fish and vegetables to a serving platter. Drizzle remaining liquid over fish. Garnish with cilantro leaves, if desired. Serve immediately.

I've served this with rice and with couscous. This makes a lovely company meal. Delicious! (note the "outstanding" rating on myrecipes.com)

'Twas the Season

...to take a break from the routine of daily life, emerge from our piles of books and everyday meals, and celebrate the advent of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the life that he gives us. Though we began our advent celebration four weeks before Christmas by reading, singing, meditating, and discussing the Promise fulfilled, we didn't break for our physical preparation and celebration until a week before Christmas.

Tayta digging out the wall

Our first day of Christmas break, a day which should have found me baking and wrapping presents, I declared a field trip to the nearby Jordan Valley; I was unable to pass up the amazing opportunity to join real archaeologists as they excavated the largest Middle Bronze Age fortification discovered (five meters thick!) at a site they believe to be the Biblical Sodom. Eschewing the baking in favor of the dig turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made in a long time; this was a wonderful experience which I hope to write more about someday soon.


We nervously watched the US weather situation turn from bad to worse, grounding our beloved Oldest Daughter for three extra days and we rejoiced upon her return. So nice has it been to have her helping me in the kitchen or just sitting and debriefing her semester over a cup of coffee.

Tayta and Artist Son undertook their annual creative building project. My sole contribution was finding the rainbow Twizzlers at the supermarket.

2009 Rainbow Gingerbread House

We feasted on festive food,

and enjoyed the company of good friends whom we just don't see enough of during the year.

We laughed heartily as our grown-up sons (and friends) got down and shook it up.

We delighted in a traditional New Year's jaunt through one of Jordan's remaining pine forests

and, the first wildflower sighting of the new year.

The sublime Cyclamen persicum

And now our noses are back in the books, I am shunning sugar, and Active Son and I are striving to get those college applications and essays finished this weekend; and all that with a bad head cold. The celebration was grand while it lasted.

Thankfully, Emmanuel, God with us, is a reality we can celebrate all the year long.