Do You See What I See?

As I've mentioned in my first post, I like to study and learn Koine Greek as a way to really get to know what the Bible says.  Most English versions are pretty good, but some of the meaning is lost in the translation from Greek to English.  As Guy N. Woods put it, "the effort to transfer the meaning of the text from one language to another by translation is comparable to playing music on a violin which was originally written for the piano............the subtle undertones intended by the composer are lost..."
I find that to be so true.  For example:  John 20:5-8 NKJV

"And he, stooping down and looking in, SAW the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he SAW the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.  Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he SAW and believed."

I capitalized the word SAW because that is what I wanted to point out in this passage.  In English, the same word is used for all three of them.  But in the Greek, a different word is used for each one.

When John outran Peter and got to the tomb first, he SAW the cloths lying there.  In English this is a good word to use cuz that's basically what it means.  He saw the image with his eyeballs which transferred the image to his brain.  That was it - he saw it but he didn't think anything of it (at first).

Then Peter comes and enters the tomb and SAW the cloths lying there.  This word for SAW comes from a different Greek word which also means "to see", but not just glancing at it, like John did.  He saw and noticed details about the cloths, and he noticed the handkerchief was folded up.  He saw the exact same thing as John did, but paid attention to the details of them.

Do you see those cloths?  yeah, I see them.  No, I mean, do you SEE those cloths?

Then John entered the tomb and SAW the cloths a second time.  This time he REALLY SAW them.  This word comes from another word that means to see, but it means to perceive and understand the situation that they are telling.  The cloths are telling him something now.  He is looking at them and grasping the significance of what these cloths means. (He is risen!) I like to imagine a humongous light bulb over John's head at that moment.

So when we look at something, we start with a glance, then we look at the details, and then we perceive as to whether or not it is significant to anything.  Do you see?  Yes, I see.  No, do you really see?  Yes, I see.  Oh.....I SEEEEE!!!!!  (light bulb, wink! wink!)

A Woman I'd Like to Meet

This is a picture of my great-grandmother, Rose (Rosalia).  Genealogy is one of those "on and off" hobbies of mine.  I haven't worked on my family tree in quite some time, but I have recently acquired an album of extra pictures from my mom's side that I have never seen before.  The photos were placed in one of those old "magnetic sheet" albums that were turning yellow, so I knew I had to get those precious photos out of there before they got contaminated by the spreading "album cancer".  Anyhoo, re-scrapping these photos has resurfaced my passion for this hobby.  I love learning about people in my family tree.  Knowing your ancestors helps you to know who you are.  They're story is part of your story, and somehow you feel connected to them, even if you've never met them.  When I look at this picture of my G-grandmother, I like to imagine myself walking towards her across the field to greet her.  What would I say to her?  What would she say to me? If she had any words of wisdom for me, what would they be?  If I stayed for supper, what kind of meal would I eat? Could she make a mean loaf of bread? Would she have a favorite recipe she could pass on to me?   How long was her hair? What were her fondest memories of her childhood?  What were her parents like? I would have so many questions I'd like to ask her about her life.   If I could go back in time and spend a few days with her, it would be very interesting to observe her performing her daily tasks as a farm wife. She walked with a limp because she had a deformed foot from a childhood injury that didn't heal right (she wore long dresses all the time to cover it up), but that didn't stop her from working hard and raising eight children.  I don't know how those women back then could stand wearing those long dresses all the time.  Can you imagine doing everything in a long dress?  Ugh.  After spending some time in her world, I would like to bring her back to mine.  What would she think about females running around in jeans? What would she say about our microwave ovens, and hot running water, and electric garage doors, and music coming from iPods to listen to while we work in the kitchen? (was she a fan of polka music?) What would she say about all the pre-made foods in the grocery store that we don't have to make by scratch anymore?  She'd probably say that we are "crazy spoiled" and don't know what real work is, and I wouldn't be able to argue with that.  I really don't know much about her, and my mom only has a vague memory of her from when she was very small.  A distant relative described her as "a loving and quiet woman who was always obedient to her husband who probably wasn't always kind".  She must've been one tough woman.

Wenzel and Rose

Chicken Stock epilogue

Well, it looks like my chicken stock gelled after all!  Yay! Apparently it takes a while to gel and I checked it too soon. It's not real solid like firm jello, but more sorta like runny jello.  Hey, I'll take any gel I can get.  I wasn't sure how important the gelling was, but from what I was reading in my research, gel indicates that it's good quality stock.  I guess it has something to do with aiding in digestion and promotes a healthy gut, which would be right up my alley.  I guess chicken feet added to the simmering process is supposed to guarantee a good firm gel, but I'm sorta out of chicken feet right now.........
I think I'm going to try this again in two weeks when I roast my next chicken.  Except try a couple things different that I have read about other people doing.  We'll see how it goes.  Surprisingly, it's really hardly any work at all, so it's not like I'm going through heavy labor and toil over it, and if it doesn't work out, it's not like it cost me anything extra either, except I still wonder what it costs to keep the crockpot running for so long. (but that's a question for Chuck to figure out) The only thing that kinda sorta bothers me is that I am buying conventionally raised chickens and I don't know how much unhealthy toxins and hormones I'm leaching out along with all the healthy stuff.  I'm really hoping that the benefits of all the good stuff I'm getting out of it far outweighs the neggies.  But at the same time I figure this is the kind of chicken that we eat all the time, so if I'm not squeamish about that when I eat the meat, what difference does it make in the stock?  It's one of those things I have to try not to think about until money grows on trees and I can afford to buy organic free-range chickens.  Anyhoo, if this stuff is really as healthy as it's made out to be, I'm glad I finally discovered it, and wish I had discovered this years ago.

Chicken Stock

For the past several years I have been making a chicken casserole every other week for our church potlucks, which means I roast and bone a whole chicken 26 times every year!!  Recently I began to wonder if I have been throwing away valuable "garbage" into the trash all this time, as everyone knows, homemade chicken stock is supposed to be really really really good for you, AND it's supposed to ward off the common cold.  I have never made chicken stock before, but I use a fair amount of it in my cooking, but never really thought much about it as I kept buying it in the can.  So this weekend when I felt myself "coming down with something", I thought to myself, "what better time than now to learn how to make my own chicken stock".  I read about how to leach all those healthy minerals out of the chicken bones, and I am all for trying anything that's healthy.  So after picking all the meat off the bones for my casserole, I tossed my chicken garbage into my crockpot.  Skin, bones, cartilage, tendons......I wasn't going to let any part of that chicken go to waste!

It looked really gross so I had a hard time imagining myself consuming anything that would come from that.  But I proceeded, hoping to concoct a magical cure-all elixir, that I can also use in my every-day cooking.  I added enough water to cover it up, splashed a little bit of Apple Cider Vinegar into it (this is what is supposed to help leach all the minerals out of the bones), sloshed it around a bit to distribute the vinegar, and then let it just sit there for an hour or so.  (advice from the internet)

Before I went to bed, I set the crockpot on Low, and let it simmer all night long.  In the morning I used my tongs to fish out the big pieces which had all fallen apart, and then strained the rest through a cheesecloth.  This is what I ended up with:

A nice bowl of chicken stock, complete with the healthy tasty chicken fat floating on top.  I could tell already it was going to be way better than the canned stuff.  So I let it cool a little bit before spooning it into individual freezer containers.  And this is how much I got:

Three pint sized containers.  Is that all?  When I cook with it I will decide if it was worth it or not, but I think it was.  That is probably worth about $5 or $6 of the inferior canned stuff, but how much does it cost to keep the crockpot on Low all night long?  Oh well, if it doesn't bother Chuck, why should it bother me?

Now according to the internet, apparently "quality" stock is supposed to gel.  Mine did not gel.  I have no idea how important that is for nutritional value or taste.  Anyone out there know?  There is another method where you simmer it over the stove to help it gel, but I don't know if I feel good about running my stove all day long - it's supposed to simmer for a long long long long long long time, some websites say 14 to 24 hours!!!!  Really?  Would it take that long?  They also say that too much heat can break down the fats which would prevent it from gelling.  Perhaps even on Low, my crockpot gets too hot for this job.  Maybe next time I will try the stove top method so I can have better control of the heat.  Anyhoo, since my body is battling an army of foreign invaders right now, I did sit down and get cozy with a warm cut of this stuff.

It tasted just like......well,.............chicken broth...........with a bit of an aftertaste.  I think next time I will try adding some spices to it - that is supposed to make it even healthier, so they say.  But somehow it did seem kinda soothing, and am I already feeling better?  or is it just all in my head?  I will probably keep enough in the fridge for another cup or two (until I'm sure the battle is over), and then freeze the rest and use it for cooking.  I haven't decided yet if this is going to be a new bi-weekly ritual for me, but I do like the idea of using my own homemade stock vs. the canned stuff.

Do you see my kitty cat in the background?  I think she would agree.

If anyone out there knows how to make good chicken stock, please give me some suggestions!!

A Day in My Kitchen

I always look forward to Saturdays cuz that is the day to hope for a big chunk of uninterrupted time for scrap booking.  But sometimes I end up spending my whole Saturday in the kitchen.  Like today.  I started out by making some squash bread.  I have a favorite squash bread recipe that I normally use, but I saw another recipe for it in the current edition of the "allrecipes" magazine, so I wanted to try it out and compare it to my own recipe.  Also, the bread in the magazine was braided, unlike my normal loaf shapes.  So I gave it a whirl.

It turned out pretty good, but........I think I'll stick with my other recipe.  (that'll be another blog post)

Then Chuck requested some chocolate chocolate chip cookies, since the brownies were all gone.  He's a chocolate man.  He always has to have some form of chocolate in the house.  If he were made of chocolate, he would probably eat himself.    So I made some cookies.  And washed dishes.

These are very good accompanied by a glass of almond milk.

Then I tried something new.  Homemade cream of mushroom soup!!  The only cream of mushroom soup I've ever had was out of a Campbell's can, but I quit eating that years ago after I realized how gross it was.  A friend from church was kind enough to share her own home-grown recipe with me.  Chuck and I both love mushrooms, so I was excited to try it out.  I expected Chuck to be excited about it, but when I told him it was time to eat he said, "I'm not hungry.  I just ate two pieces of pizza."  Argh.  He ate it anyway, but I know he would've liked it a lot more if he was hungry.

I was surprised how easy it was to make.  And it turned out so yummy, I was disappointed that I was too full to have another bowl.   With crushed saltines added to it, it is divine, if you like mushrooms, that is.  My kids wouldn't touch mushrooms with a 10 1/2 foot pole.   More for me!!  I will definitely be making that again and again.  I would like to share the recipe with y'all, but it doesn't feel right to publish it without asking permission first, since it was invented by someone else.

Then I was craving hot chocolate, and discovered that I didn't have enough mix left, so I had to revert to my emergency packet of store-bought mix.  Blechh!-Nasty!  So I was forced to mix up another batch of my homemade hot chocolate mix.

Normally I cut the recipe in half cuz it makes a LOT, but I accidentally added the full of amount of sugar, thus forcing me to go ahead and make the full of amount of the whole thing.  You can't tell in the picture, but this is a really really big bowl.  I think this will last me for awhile.  I think I should probably rewrite that recipe with the half amounts so I don't do that again.

Whoops!  A little runaway marshmallow trying to escape.  Can't let him get away...

Time to wash dishes again!  Then I had to make just one more thing.  My casserole for potluck tomorrow, which entailed boning a chicken.  More mess to clean up.  But wait!!

Don't throw away that chicken carcass!  I have a plan for that!   Something new to try tomorrow.
Stay tuned...................

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This is only a test page.  Thank you Stephanie for walking me through it!

Snickers

Introduction

What do I do now?  Just start typing?  Okay, this is something totally new to me.  I have no idea what I'm doing, so this is going to be a learning process for me.  I generally hate technology and make Chuck do anything for me that requires more than a simple click on an icon. If there's anything in this world that I give up on quickly, it's technology. But a friend of mine inspired me to start a blog (Tammie you know who you are!), so I am going to give it a try.  I have no idea why I'm doing it, other than because I think it might be a fun thing to do, even though my life is certainly not very exciting.  I used to keep a hand-written journal in my younger days, and it was always fun to go back and look at that, but a digital journal might be more fun after Chuck shows me how to insert pictures.  I don't expect to gain an audience on my blog, but I am not trying to gain an audience; I am just mostly doing this for myself and if anyone else is interested in my non-interesting life, they are more than welcome to intrude.
So where do I begin and what do I write first?  I don't know.  I didn't do anything special today except start a blog.  Woo-HOO!  I guess that is something.   Does making a pan of brownies count as anything?

At first, my blog entries will probably be really boring.  It's in the middle of winter and I don't go out much in the wintertime. But life happens, even for a stay-at-home housewife.  I plan to post things pertaining to things in my own little world that are mostly insignificant, but even the smallest accomplishments can mean a lot, especially if they make someone else happy.  For instance, I know Chuck will appreciate coming home to a pan of brownies today, even though they are half gone already.  The brownies aren't important to me, but if I can make his day with a pan of half-eaten brownies, than that is a big accomplishment.

I like to bake and try new recipes, so I might blog about recipe successes and/or disasters.  I like to scrap book and make cards and treat boxes for birthdays and holidiays, so you'll probably see some of my projects.  My favorite holiday is Halloween so I will definitely be blogging about that.  I am teaching myself NT Greek and am currently translating the book of John into my own translation, and once in a while I will have an epiphany or a "light bulb" moment that I might write about, and will also post my memory verses that I am working on.  (Right now the memory verse that I'm working on is Ps. 25:4-5, in case anyone is curious).  We also own a cabin on 10 acres of thick trees and lots of blueberries, so maybe we will run into an adventure there that I can post.  Or run into a bear, who knows?  Haven't seen one yet, but almost stepped in some "evidence", if you know what I mean.
In May we are taking a short little trip to Hawaii, so I look forward to posting about that.

So I really don't have any specific theme or purpose for this blog, but I do think that it will be a lot of fun.  And hopefully I will easily learn how to include pictures in with my posts - that will be my next accomplishment.

.......until next time...............