Back home

I returned home on Monday around noon, after almost two full days of travel. I’m experiencing the effects of jetlag, as you might see from the time on this post – 1 a.m.

The trip was mostly uneventful. I say mostly because as soon as the bus from Kichijoji to Narita began to move I began to feel nauseated and ill. I listened to a reading of The Age of American Unreason and shut my eyes to keep from getting really sick.

At Narita I wandered around the shopping floor of Terminal 2 for the next four hours, purchased overpriced OTC medications to treat the nausea, and ate some udon before heading down to passport control and into the departure area.

My Alaskan body never adjusted to the temps in Japan. The bus was too warm, the terminal was too warm, and the plane was too warm.

I never did find a comfortable position on the flight. I didn’t sleep much either. The medication I took got me drowsy and I must have dozed from takeoff until the meal service started. After that I was awake for the rest of the flight.

Arrival into San Francisco was uneventful. It was a warm day there as well. I rechecked my bag in at the recheck area right outside Customs. Then I went to the Alaska Air counter to get my boarding pass. It turns out I should have taken my checked bag all the way out and rechecked it there. What happened was that at the Narita counter, the agent wasn’t sure the baggage would make it all the way to Petersburg because of the date change and flight changes. I didn’t feel like taking the time to try to explain that any bag destined for Petersburg really had only one route and one airline, and if it got there it would find me. So it was checked through to Seattle. That meant I had to pick up the bag at Seattle and recheck it there.

I had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant and had beef noodle soup. From there I went to my uncle’s townhouse in the middle of the city where I showered and napped for a little while. His wife made me some onigiri (rice balls) for the plane. Back to the airport, through security, and off to Seattle.

It was just after 10 p.m. when I arrived in Seattle. I picked up my bag and went to the counter to see when I could check it back in – 3:30 a.m. when the counters reopened for the next day. I found an AC outlet and paid for a WiFi connection ($7.99/24 hours) to keep me entertained for the next five hours. Between Wall Street Journal Online and Facebook, the time went by fairly rapidly. Quite a few other people were also sitting/sleeping about the area waiting for the counters to open.

A bit after 3:30 a.m. the counters opened and I was able to check my bag in (and didn’t have to pay the bag check fee because it was originally from an overseas flight). I proceeded to go through security and straight to Dilettante, a chocolate and coffee shop/stand, where I got myself a Xtra Dark 72% mocha. This is a Seattle-only shop with a few locations in the city. Normally I don’t care much for mochas because they are way too sweet. But this is the one place where I look forward to it because I can choose the kind of chocolate that gets added to the coffee. The last time through Seattle I had just the hot chocolate using the Xtra Dark 72%, and I could have that again as well. It was sad to see, a couple hours later when more travelers came in, that a very long line formed at Starbucks while only a few people milled about Dilettante. Is the power of marketing that influential…?

I finally boarded my final flight to Petersburg. The scenery into Ketchikan was amazing. For once it wasn’t overcast or raining. Wrangell was overcast and starting to rain. From there it was just a short hop to Petersburg. I think the pilot tried to keep under the cloud cover and flew right above the Narrows. I don’t think I’ve been on a jet flight where the tops of the trees were so plainly visible. I started to feel a bit ill again. Then we landed and I was home.

I slept, slept some more, and slept at odd times. And now I’m wide awake at 1:30 a.m.

Two weeks in Japan

My two weeks in Japan is about to come to a close. By this time tomorrow I should be enroute on the first leg of my trip back to Petersburg.

Although the circumstances that initiated this trip was tragic and sad, it turned out to be a good trip. I got to meet numerous relatives, some that I hadn’t seen for some 10 to 16 years.

The memorial/funeral was certainly an eye-opening and interesting experience. This was the first such service/ritual in Japan that I was involved.

I arrived too late to be a part of the service that placed the body in the casket. I went later to view the body and the casket was filled with items meaningful to Mom.

The memorial was held at the church right next to the Adventist hospital, just a few minutes’ walk from the house. The service was attended by somewhere around 300-400 people, and during the ceremony at the end placing flowers in the casket, an additional 100-200 employees from the hospital came through. It felt like a memorial for a minor celebrity – which apparently my mom was. Everyone spoke of her ever cheerful outlook, her smile, and her laughter. That made more positive impression on people than any words could ever do.

The next part of the ceremony and ritual was completely unexpected, at least from a Western perspective. Family and close friends boarded two buses led by a Hearse (actually a stretched Toyota). We went to the crematorium where the ritual of cremating the body took place. We paid our final respects to Mom and then the casket was slid into the furnace. We went up to a waiting area and about 40 minutes later we were ushered back down. The remains were slid out for our examination and then taken to the side of the room where everyone took part in collecting the bones (with chopsticks) and placing each piece into the urn. From there we boarded buses and arrived at a Chinese restaurant where we partook of a memorial dinner.

Following dinner we returned home (carrying Mom’s portrait – it was carried and was at the head of each procession all the way from the memorial to the dinner – and the urn) where the funeral service caretakers came in and set up a little altar where the portrait and urn was placed alongside flowers and numerous memorabilia.

Other than that, the past two weeks have been pretty fun and enjoyable. There’s a little bit of loneliness and sadness that I sense every now and then, but no big sense of loss or grief. I’m a little surprised but perhaps not too unexpected. I think it was harder waiting for my mom to pass away than to deal with the death itself. Now that she’s gone there’s no more uncertainty and no more waiting for something to happen. I know I’ll see my mom again when Christ returns.

So the family has been having a good time every day. We’ve been eating well, both cooking at the house and eating out. I’ve had plenty of good Japanese food. Among them: Real ramen, ramen with tomato based soup, sushi, more sushi, real chicken donburi, 1/2 lb. steak for $50, and Izakaya (Japanese pub) food. Oh, and I can’t forget all the wagashi (Japanese confections). I might have gained a few pounds…

I got to experience being in the midst of historical national elections. The Democratic Party of Japan won a huge victory over the Liberal Democratic Party (which is actually the conservative party, in spite of its name) which had been in power nearly continuously for 50 years.

A tropical storm (called a typhoon, even though it didn’t hit hurricane levels) came through and we experienced Ketchikan-like downpours (i.e., like sitting under a waterfall).

We went to Dad’s church where the regular pianist was away both weeks. Conveniently(?) I was available and was drafted to play.

After tonight, I will be on the road, in the air, and in airports for something like 40 hours before arriving home.

That was one long trip

The trip began Friday evening about 5 p.m. and I reached my destination 32 hours later. The time since I last laid down in a bed has now reached 49 hours. In the meantime I’ve napped on a very hard and short wooden bench at Seattle, had a very dark (72%) hot chocolate drink, made my first stop ever in Canada, and nearly finished listening to a biography of Samuel de Champlain which revolves around the history of the founding of Quebec.

This was also the first time I flew on JAL. The overall service level seemed noticeably better than ones I’ve experienced from other carriers. The food looked and tasted better. The first meal was a broccoli beef dish. Typically the broccoli is usually found to be quite dead, mushy, and brown, but the one I had this time was still obviously green and still firm. The presentation was considerably better than any I’ve seen. The light meal at the end was a turkey and tomato sandwich with a basil mayonnaise. It was one of the better sandwiches I’ve  had. I think this is the first time I’ve gotten a recipe idea from an airplane meal.

I’m beyond tired and exhausted. I think I’ll be able to sleep though – at least I hope I can.

D-Link DIR-655 “N” Wireless Router

I got this router from Amazon a few weeks ago. It is a vast improvement over the old one in terms of manageability and reliability. Setting it up and replacing the old with this one was a breeze.

I most appreciate its improved reliability. For some reason the old one would choke and I would have to go down to the garage once, twice, and sometimes half a dozen times a day to perform a cold reset (i.e., unplug from wall, wait a few seconds, plug it back in). With this new one, whenever something results in network connectivity loss it appears to automatically reset. I have not had to go down to the garage to do a reset with this new router.

The second thing I appreciate is the better logs that it provides. It rates network events as Informational, Warning, or Critical. It logs more types of events than the old one did.

The third thing is the integration with SecureSpot 2.0 (fee applies). SecureSpot provides additional single-point network management for devices that connect through the router. It provides website URL filtering and network device control that all devices go through. Additionally there is client-based malware and intrusion protection that can be installed on up to three clients (extra fee for additional clients). I was having problems running Microsoft’s Windows Live Family Safety on some of the PCs in our household, so a non-client method of filtering sites is quite welcome.

The final feature I find useful is the ability to enable a Guest Zone. What this does is it enables a second SSID for guests to connect to the Internet without having visibility into the rest of your personal network (though the option is available to route network traffic between the two zones). What this means is that I can enable an unprotected wireless connection during the times we have guests over (SecureSpot and router logs still identify connections from new devices) without having to compromise the rest of the network or having to setup the connection for each guest.

My conclusion: This router exceeded my expectations. Your mileage may vary. At $94.95 (currently at Amazon) it was a worthwhile upgrade.

Mom is gone

My mother passed away early this morning (Alaska time). I’ll be flying over to Tokyo this evening and plan to stay there for about two weeks. I was surprised that I was able to get tickets for under $2,000. The original search turned up prices that were at or above $2,000. I fiddled with the departure dates to try to find something reasonable, and around 2 weeks seemed to be the sweet spot. When I clicked to purchase the tickets though, the site informed it that lower prices had been found. I think it was about $300 lower. I arrive in Seattle around 11 p.m., then leave for Vancouver at 6 a.m. before transferring onto the actual flight to Tokyo for arrival there Sunday afternoon.

In the big picture, I think it was better that Mom passed away so quickly. She didn’t have to experience the worst parts of ALS. I think it is better for those of us left behind to have an early closure rather than one that drags on for years. As my mom said in the last conversation we had over Skype, we are confident that we will meet again when Jesus returns. The next time we meet we will no longer be in bodies decaying from disease, but brand new ones that will never lose health or strength.

Where do I turn for a listening ear?

These last few days have been particularly difficult ones. I’ve written about one of the sources in the last couple posts. The other is that my mom’s life is quickly fading away. She may only have a few hours left. I’m in Petersburg; she’s in Tokyo. There is no way to get from here to there in less than two days. All I can do is sit here and wait.

When church members need to just talk and have someone listen, they go to their pastor. So where is a pastor to go? In my case I turn to the other pastors in town. In particular the two that I feel closest to are the Presbyterian pastor and the Catholic priest. I spent about an hour with the former this morning, and spoke with both over the phone later this evening.

I think this illustrates what I wrote in the previous post about Christian priorities. Genuine Christianity is revealed not by statements of belief, by creeds, by having a bigger and better organization, or a detailed church manual. It’s about positive interactions and relationships between individuals. It’s about getting to know and trust individuals. It’s about holding in common Jesus Christ and letting everything else fall to the periphery. It’s about living what John wrote about in his First Epistle (1 John).

Churches can maybe learn from software development

Way back in the year 2001, a group of software developers saw that the way development was being done was not working well. They came together and agreed upon a set of priorities called the Agile Manifesto that should govern successful software development.

Church leaders observe that most churches are stagnant at best and often in decline. Religion doesn’t seem to appeal to most people. Perhaps churches have prioritized the wrong things…

Perhaps what we need is an Agile Manifesto for churches something like this (with apologies to the Agile Alliance…):

We are uncovering better ways of revealing the true God to the world and helping others to do it. Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over policies and organizations.

Loving (respecting and accepting) one another over doctrine and creeds.

Trusting members’ judgments over detailed job descriptions and artificial boundaries.

Responding to change over following a plan.

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

It’s only about the organization

Got a call from the Conference office regarding Shelley’s baptism. As expected, the response was they could not grant me permission when a pastor nearby could come over.

I would have been okay with that, but they harangued me for baptizing two at camp. I let them know I was more than willing for them to “fire” me from the volunteer leader position, and I even volunteered to take my name off of the rolls, but they wouldn’t have that either. Their repeated response: the church organization has policies in place… yada, yada.

What were we supposed to do when the two campers asked to be baptized? Say no? That you have to be thoroughly instructed in beliefs and doctrines before you can be baptized?

In tonight’s conversation, I got the very strong impression that this Conference and administrators do not care about doing what is right for individual people. My reservations about remaining in this organization have become even stronger.

Sermon: 1 John 3:18-24

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

This previous Sabbath’s (August 15) sermon works through 1 John 3:18-24. I found this passage quite difficult. The key seems to be the idea of “confidence” before God and its relationship to keeping Jesus’ commandments and doing what pleases Him. The difficulty of this passage is maintaining salvation solely through grace by faith, yet simultaneously coming to grips with why behavior is important (the age-old faith and works dilemma…).

Camp Retrospective

It’s been two days since returning from camp. I think my mind and body are still in recovery mode. Rather than a lengthy narrative of everything that happened, I’ll briefly jot down a few thoughts in retrospect.

We got two of the best and brightest directors from Camp Mivoden in Idaho (Upper Columbia Conference). They had no idea what they were getting into nor what kind of help they could expect. They came prepared to basically run the whole thing between the two of them and were pleasantly surprised to discover the breadth of skills and talent in the volunteer staff.

I was glad I had only three boys to look after, and just two after Thursday. They were ages 7 (almost 8) and 8. Overall, the girls outnumbered the boys 2 to 1. That made for a lot of work for the girls’ counselors, but it sure made life easier for most of the boys’ counselors for whom this was a first-time experience.

We were fortunate to have five dry and sunny days out of seven. It would have been miserable having to deal with all the kids and wet weather. The worst of the weather held off until Saturday night and Sunday, after all of the activities were finished.

There were some complaints, but overall the vegetarian meals went over pretty well with the kids. There were always quite a few kids waiting for the announcement to get seconds (and thirds, and fourths…). The kitchen was headed by the assistant from previous years, helped out by another lady from Prince of Wales island who has pervious experience as a professional chef. We also had a sixteen year old help out who has an interest in the culinary profession and had attended culinary camps.

There were no major injuries or sickness that required transport of campers to Wrangell. There were the usual bumps and cuts but nothing more.

There is nothing like camp for the sinful nature to be on full display – the desire for control, the desire to be first, the desire to get even were on full exhibition. (Kids haven’t yet learned the more socially acceptable ways of self-centeredness…) It seemed like the first few days were spent by the kids (particularly the boys) trying to establish the new pecking order, and then the rest of the week fighting to maintain those positions. It took supernatural strength of will and wisdom on the part of the staff to deal with all the incidents in a patient and loving manner. By Sunday most of us were just hanging on praying nothing more would come up to test us.

I taught two sessions of photography each day. I had five in one and four in the other (all girls). About half of each class was interested in really learning about making photographs. The others just wanted to take pictures. For them it was a contest to see how many could be taken in one class period. I’m glad they were all girls since I had about $3,000 of my personal equipment running around in their hands for about 2 hours each day. There were some pretty good photos from each of them. Some I am quite sure were accidents. Others were intentionally done and done quite well.

The spiritual atmosphere, particularly in the evenings, I thought was much better this than last’s. The theme for the week was “Real God, Real Life.” The daily topics were: dealing with distractions, getting unstuck from sin, giving up control, God works in little things, God uses the willing, and trusting in God. I preached a sermon on each of these plus a Sabbath morning one reviewing the whole list.

I didn’t have a choice but to employ the Spirit-led preaching method I’ve been using since the early part of this year. All I had was the topic for the day and a brief outline of the skit in the evening. I spent what free time I had thinking about it and then coming up with several Bible passages and personal experiences that might be relevant to the topic. Often I didn’t know how I would start or what I would say in the sermon until the skit finished and I was walking up to speak. We were surprised (although I supposed we shouldn’t have been) how well many of the skits and the sermon came together.

At the end of the week we had two girls who wanted to begin a new walk with Christ and were baptized into Christian fellowship (vs. into the Adventist denomination). The camp directors couldn’t perform the baptism because as ministers of the Adventist church, they could only baptize into the church and not only that, policies do not allow them to baptize out of their district. Thus I had the privilege of performing their baptisms. The glacial waters were very, very cold! And never having done this, I had a difficult time with the mechanics of it. Shelley, too, wanted to be baptized but no one there could do it because she wanted to join the Adventist church. My personal opinion is that something is dearly wrong when baptism has to be postponed because of policies of human inventions. Rather than waiting until all the ducks come into line sometime in the future, I plan to do something this Sabbath to affirm her desire and decision.

There were a number of others that afterwards expressed desire to make a commitment for Christ. Since camp does not exist to make Adventists, I pointed them to all the fine pastors in the local communities that can help them do what needs to be done to follow through on their decisions.

The “God Talk” through the week even got through to the two campers I had at the end. The youngest one in camp said that he wasn’t sure if God existed before but now he thought God probably did because how could the world exist if there was no God? The other one said to me that all this talk about God had him forgetting his parents’ names. They were first-timers to camp and although the youngest wanted to go home for quite a bit of the week, by the end of the week in spite of all the fighting, the discipline, and the “God talk” they were looking forward to returning next summer.

As for me, serving as counselor is probably never going to be one of my spiritual gifts. It was a good experience but not one I would likely want to repeat. The class teaching and camp pastoring tasks I think I can handle adequately.

Back from camp

Just dropping a short note that I am back from camp and back on the grid. I’ll likely have more to write once I recover a bit from spending a whole week with something like fifty kids, keeping track of three of them, giving seven sermons, and teaching ten hours of photography.

Off the grid for a few days

We are heading to camp today. I’ll be back briefly on Sunday then most likely out until the following Sunday. Sporadic cell phone access there, but otherwise incommunicado.

Camp saga update 3

Actually, I haven’t heard anything more since yesterday. As far as I know the camp is going to happen. I’ve spoken with most of the parents/guardians of the registered children in Petersburg and none so far have backed out. The amount of trust placed in us is incredible. That only seems to add to the pressure…

I didn’t sleep very well last night for understandable reasons, you can imagine. It is going to take multiple miracles to get through this next week. I think that every person involved, and I definitely speak for myself, is going to need to be gifted with skills and abilities that we don’t naturally possess.

Philippians is the passage for me for this upcoming week. I look particularly to Philippians 4, and within that Philippians 4:4-7, 10-13, 19 are particularly relevant.

Caught 3 Dollies today

Of which one was a keeper which I will be having for breakfast tomorrow.

I caught the first one this morning – probably about 5 inches in length, but as I was about to examine it more closely it slipped off the hook and back into the water.

After the hectic day and the associated stresses today, I went out this evening for relaxation and meditation. On my first cast I caught a small one, about 4 inches. And then it was just cast, reel in, cast reel in for a very long time. I switched lures a few times but without any noticeable effect.

I went back to my original lure at the end and cast out a few more times before going back in. I gave myself 7 p.m. as the cutoff time. It wasn’t too long after switching the lure that I snagged a 9-inch Dolly.

I also learned just a couple days ago that I’m supposed to quickly kill fish that I intend to keep. It’s supposed to be more humane that way. I found billy club style wooden sticks sold, but decided that since the fish I’m catching are pretty small that a couple whacks with my Leatherman tool would be sufficient, which it was. I also discovered that a dead fish is much easier to carry back home than one that is still flipping and wriggling about.

Camp Saga update 2

I just received a call letting me know that Upper Columbia Conference is flying out a camp director to run the camp next week. We are short on counselors, so guess what… both Elise and I are likely draftees. I can’t speak for Elise but I know I will need your prayers. I have never spent a whole week with boys!

Summer camp, go or no go…?

We learned this morning that the entire staff that was supposed to come and run our church youth camp next week, has cancelled because they are suspected of being exposed to the swine flu. I just finished calling and talking with or leaving messages with every camper household and of the ones I actually spoke with, none have cancelled but are awaiting a definitive go or no-go from us.

We are scrambling to find volunteers to help staff and run the camp next week, both in Petersburg and Wrangell. We really have just one day to get this together.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I am suddenly feeling a huge amount of stress.

Caught 3 fish this morning

None of them were really keepers so they were released.

The first was a sculpin, about 8 or 9 inches long. This was the first one of these I’d caught out in the open Narrows. As I was pulling it in I could see it was a decent size but was disappointed when I saw that it was a sculpin. They’re not good for anything, really, except perhaps cut up as bait. I don’t know if it’s even good for that. What made this catch even more annoying is that it took the lure into its throat. I had to spend several minutes with pliers pushing and pulling to release the hook and back the lure out, all the while trying to keep a hold of it (it is very slimy) and trying to avoid it’s “horns” that produce toxins.

The next two catches were small dollies. One was about five inches and the other about seven. I suppose there might have been enough flesh on the seven inch dolly to make keeping it worthwhile… After that one I headed home as I’d been out fishing for about 45 minutes.

This was the most productive outing so far.

New mobile phone service

T-Mobile finally figured out I wasn’t moving back down into their service area and sent me a notice they were going to terminate service in about a month. I have  a one-year old BlackBerry Curve that I preferred to keep and use if I could.

We have three mobile service providers here: AT&T, ACS Wireless, and GCI. AT&T and GCI. ACS Wireless is on CDMA so they were more or less out of consideration. (I have a prepaid mobile phone on their network.) It was a choice between AT&T and GCI. After looking at the monthly cost for the replacement service, AT&T also was out of the running.

I e-mailed GCI support to see if I could use my unlocked device on their network. The reply didn’t sound too certain. I went to the retail store in town yesterday and they were more than willing to give it a try. They had someone else from T-Mobile recently move their unit over. If it didn’t work at least they had the same model available for free on a 2-year contract.

Anyway, it is all working on the existing device. I’m not on a contract so when the next must-have BlackBerry device is available from GCI, I can get it at a discount on a new contract.

The T-Mobile service is gone. If you want my new number, e-mail me and I can get it to you.

Sermon: 1 John 3:11-18

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Today’s sermon discusses 1 John 3:11-18. The thesis is found in 1 John 3:18 which states that (my interpretation) it’s easy to say we love God and we love one another, but the proof and evidence of genuine Christianity is in how we actually treat one another. John defines “love” broadly as the giving of life to another, while “hate” is defined as anything that takes life from another. I believe John’s also infers “life” to include not just physical life but emotional well-being, self-worth, reputation, health, and means necessary for physical sustenance. Thus for John love is increasing or improving any of these for another, while murder (the end result of hate) is taking any of these away from another.

Start of more sunny and warm days

The morning started out foggy but by midday all that had burnt off and we were left with sunny skies. This next week, if the forecast holds, should be sunny and quite warm.

After lunch and after all the guests had gone home, I went out for a little while and fished until I caught another 9-inch Dolly Varden. The tide was also getting high so it was good time to go home anyway. Later this evening after the tide had gone out for a couple of hours I went out again for a little while. I got a few hits on the hook and one small catch that I released back into the water.

I can’t believe how addicting fishing can be! It will be hard to convince me to move anywhere else. I mean, I’d have to leave behind fishing almost right out of my front yard.

Recipe: Black Beans and Corn flavored with Chipotle

Our annual Southeast campmeeting is coming up in just over a week. Once again our church is responsible for Sabbath lunch. I want dishes that are interesting yet not too complicated. I have in mind three dishes: Pasta with a tomato pesto; roasted vegetables; and now the black beans and corn.

The inspiration for this dish came from searching about for something to do with black beans. I saw a photo for a pizza with black beans and corn topping. I didn’t look at the recipe, however. It looked like an interesting combination so I pondered it in the back of my mind. I wanted something that wasn’t soupy but rather, dry. I didn’t want something that tasted like ordinary black beans or a chili.

The key would be what I used as the primary flavorings. I thought about chipotle chiles in adobo sauce. The problem is that these chiles are HOT when directly used in a dish. I’m okay with it, but not too many others that I know would be. So how could I get the chipotle flavor minus the heat…? I also thought that lime juice would perk up the taste. In addition to these two, the usual suspects of salt, pepper, garlic, and cilantro would go in.

This afternoon as I began to work on the beans after I had soaked them all day, the thought came to me: boil the beans with the chipotle chile, smashed cloves of garlic, and salt. Now normally when salt is added to beans while cooking, they don’t soften up as much. In this case this would be a desirable feature. I wanted firm beans with the corn.

I threw in two chipotle chiles, whole, into the pot of beans and water. I crushed two cloves of garlic with the flat of the knife and threw that in as well. I poured in some salt and cooked it for about 35 minutes until the beans were tender but firm. When I drained it I removed the chiles. I went to remove the garlic also but discovered they were very, very soft. I thought, why not just mash them and include it in the beans? And so I did.

Next question was how to cook the corn… I was going to fry it, but should I use vegetable oil or butter? I opted for the latter. I fried about the same volume of frozen corn as the cooked beans until the corn was thawed, then added the beans, pepper, and a bit more salt. I also took a tiny bit of the adobo sauce and added it to the pan and fried them all together.

After a few minutes I took the pan off the heat, combined chopped, fresh cilantro, and the juice squeezed from one lime. Voila! It was done, and it was very good. The beans retain the smoky flavor from the chiles without their heat. The corn provides a sweetness to the dish and the lime juice gives it a needed tartness and lift.

Serves about 4 as a side dish

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry black beans, soaked according to package directions
• 2 whole, chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
• 2 cloves, garlic, crushed with flat of knife blade
• Salt, divided (1-1/2 tsp. and to taste)
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 cups frozen corn
• (optional) Adobo sauce from chiles, to taste
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped, fresh cilantro
• Juice from 1 lime

1. Place soaked beans into a 3-qt. pot and cover with enough liquid so that it is about 2-inches above the beans. Add the chiles, garlic, and 1-1/2 tsp. of salt. Bring to boil then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 35-40 minutes until beans are tender but still firm to the bite. Drain beans and discard chiles. Lightly mash chunks of garlic. Set aside.
2. In a large frying pan, melt butter. Add corn and fry until thawed. Add adobo sauce, if using. Add beans and garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste. Continue to fry for a few more minutes until any liquid is absorbed or evaporated. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro and lime juice.

Caught my second keeper fish (updates)

I had a little time to kill so I went down to fish again. The noseeums were awful, swarming about my head. I was out there for about 25 minutes and getting ready to pack it in and head home with every passing moment and every noseeum buzzing about. I had felt a little tug earlier but didn’t see any fish. It could have been one, or it could have been seaweed…

In any case I decided to cast out a few more times before heading back up. It was then that I felt a definite fishy tug on the line and instead of jerking it (like I often seem to do) I increased the reel-in speed and kept the line steady and saw indeed a fish on the hook. I saw that it was a decent size – small but not tiny – and so I hoped it was a Dolly and not one of the other trouts. After I had brought it in I looked at it and saw to my great pleasure that it was indeed a Dolly – dinner! I measured it once I got back home and saw that it was 9 inches – not large but good enough for a meal.

I wonder why I didn’t get into fishing earlier… :) It was the “fear of the unknown.” I didn’t know what to use and how to do it. A couple of lessons from someone more experienced was all it took. I may, and likely never will, become an expert at fishing but at least I know enough now to go have fun fishing for even just 30 minutes down at the beach.

Sermon: 1 John 2:28-3:10

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

This past Sabbath’s sermon discussed 1 John 2:28-3:10. Unfortunately I found it difficult to find a good focus and thus the sermon ended up somewhat scatterbrained and I was rather unhappy with it. I think I tried to cover too many texts and too many themes in them.

The themes discussed included: How as children of God, Christians should not find walking with God and away from sin a burden; how heaven should not thought of primarily as a future goal, but rather as a present reality that is experienced when we walk with God.

Nature and Policies

Nature does not always conform to people-made policies and regulations.

Our hospital had stopped offering deliveries since the beginning of the year (factors include risk, cost, unable to offer some services). Births mean that the mother must travel to one of the larger hospitals in the area: Ketchikan, Juneau, Anchorage, Seattle, etc.

Last night, however, nature decided one baby was not going to follow the published policy. Petersburg has one more resident this morning that it did not have last night.

People may try to control the path nature takes, but it seems that in many cases the most we can do is to influence it. Does that mean we shouldn’t try to mold nature’s path? No. But it does mean that we should acknowledge our limitations and recognize that nature can overpower even our most carefully crafted plans in the most unexpected ways.

Had a flat

It was cloudy, but it seemed fairly dry so I decided to go out on the bike for a couple of hours. As soon as I started out, there was a bit of a shower, but it quickly passed and I made it all the way to Blind River Rapids. It was there that the rain began to fall. I quickly downed a cereal bar and then turned around back for town. My goal was to outrun the rain, if possible. I was actually doing a pretty good job of it when suddenly I heard the awful, familiar sound of air psssss-ing out from the front tire. It was about milepost 11 or 12.

I pulled over and checked if I had cell phone reception – yes, but just barely. I called Elise and asked her to come pick me up. Then I got to work replacing the tube. I checked the inside of the tire but couldn’t feel anything, so I replaced the tube, and pumped it up. (It is not easy pumping up a high pressure tire with a hand pump!) That took perhaps 20 minutes. Then I got back on and started riding towards town again. I went another two miles when I saw Elise approach and pass me. I slowed down and waited for her to turn around and stop.

I thought about continuing on to town on the bike but decided that since I didn’t know what caused the flat, it would be better to pack up the bike and motor back. It’s probably a good thing I did because after getting home I checked the tire and discovered that something had torn through the sidewall and had rendered the tire unsafe to ride.

Later in the day I saw that the rain had let up so I went out with my fishing pole to fish for an hour or so. I saw five fish chase the lure but only one of them, a tiny one, bit. It was another trout. The hook didn’t have a good hold of it so once I got it landed it slipped off the hook and I had to chase after it to get it back into the water. The noseeums were starting to come out about the time I started to think about heading back home. Elise wondered when I was and came down to the beach. In those next few minutes the noseeums got even worse and I decided to pack it in.

Sermon: 1 John 2:18-27

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

This sermon is from this past Sabbath, July 11. It covers 1 John 2:18-27 where John instructs his audience about how they and we can remain faithful.

Clouds and showers return

After about two weeks of sunny days, clouds returned yesterday and showers today. There wasn’t much of it though as the skies were mostly cloudy with some sunbreaks in the afternoon.

I went down to the beach with my fishing pole and did some removing of the lines that was put onto the reel. There was way too much of it and the line kept getting tangled into a rat’s nest. I took off quite a bit and that seemed to help quite a bit, although it still has a tendency to get tangled if I’m not careful when reeling the line back in.

It’s amazing how quickly time passes when I’m out by the water casting, reeling, and casting again.

I caught two fish this afternoon. Both were tiny ones – about 3 inches in length. One was a Dolly. The other was either a Cutthroat or a Steelhead. I released both of them. The latter I had to release since they were too small to keep. I could have kept the Dolly since there are no size restrictions on them.

Fished today

I went out to Middle Harbor with the rest of the family and the hardware store employee. He had me first practice casting out with just a sinker. There were a lot of sculpins (aka bullheads) about and they were trying to nibble on the sinker. As soon as a hook and bait was attached, they bit into them. I practiced catch and release with maybe ten or so of the fish. I’m still not quite comfortable handling slimy fish and removing hooks.

Towards the end I practiced a bit with casting out a spinner lure. I didn’t catch anything edible today, but that wasn’t the point of today’s exercise.

Purchased fishing gear

Yep, Elise and I went out to town this afternoon and I picked out some basic fishing gear – pole, reel, line, hook, sinker, and a small tackle box. The store employee who provided assistance and advice has the day off tomorrow and offered to give me a lesson, which I accepted. We have an appointment to meet up at 11 am tomorrow.

Long Bike Ride

I went out to the South Ferry Terminal today. I thought it was something like 23 miles there, but it turned out to be almost 26 miles, for a round-trip of close to 52 miles.

I rode the first hour (to Blind River Rapids) at a very easy pace of 15.4 mph. It may be the same road I use every week, but this time of year the roadside scenery – the plants and flowers – seems to change every week. Today most of the red columbines from a week ago were gone, but there were quite a few yellow, daisy-like flowers blooming along the road. The trip out was helped by a fairly steady tailwind of 9-10 mph (which means return trip will be that much tougher, as usual).

After downing a couple of chocolate Chex mix bars I clipped back in for the ride to the Ferry Terminal and back to Blind River Rapids. Once past Blind Slough the pavement is brand new and is very, very smooth and a sheer pleasure to cycle upon. Again helped with some tailwind, I was able to kick my speed to close to 19 and 20 mph for the stretch out to the terminal. I watched the clock tick by and the milepost signs count up with no sign of the terminal. Obviously I had underestimated the distance. The terminal entrance road appeared at about milepost 25. And the pavement ended just a short distance later. So I turned around and headed back. I grabbed a energy bar and downed half of it, saving the other half to be consumed upon reaching Blind River Rapids once more. The two or three miles of this return was tailwind, but the remaining 23 miles or so was all headwind. But on a smooth surface, even headwind isn’t quite so bad because the wheels just glides so easily.

The smooth pavement doesn’t last forever and at Blind Slough once again the pavement turned rough and it was a fight against headwind to travel a few more miles to Blind River Rapids. I reached it 1h15m or so after leaving it earlier. Average speed for the whole trip thus far had climbed to 16.6 mph. I finished the rest of the energy bar and stretched my legs for a few minutes.

I climbed back onto the bike and started the final leg back to town and home. My legs were starting to feel a little heavier and it seemed the wind might have picked up a bit more. Whatever the reason, average speed for this final leg was not quite as fast. When I finally reached home, the final distance traveled was 51.7 miles in 3h08m at an average speed of 16.5 mph.

I showered, then consumed three leftover pancakes (from breakfast where I had four) with peanut butter, honey, strawberry jam, syrup, applesauce, and yogurt on top – lots of sugary carbs to replenish what I had burned.

That was my excitement for this Sunday.

Around midweek the weather forecasts predict showers returning. Until then, I should get in a couple more days of shorter rides.

Another look at my catch

One more look. This one right before I cooked and ate it. When cooked, the flesh looked and tasted a lot like salmon. Since I’m not a fish expert, I went back and looked at the fish and it has to be a Char (notice the light pink spots on a dark background), related to the trout. The only trout I’ve had in the past have been river trout, and my recollection was the they had white flesh. This char had very red flesh. Anyway, whatever… A fish is a fish, and this one was pretty tasty. {update} Elise learned from someone at work that Dolly Vardens are a kind of salmon. After looking up salmonidae I learned that salmon and trout are very closely related.

I’m going to have to go get my own fly fishing gear… Fishing is just a block down from our house! (Although where I fished today was closer to town, but still within easy walking distance, even carrying all the gear.)

Eagle’s Roost Park and a Dolly

We had lunch at Eagle’s Roost Park. Then a couple of us went down fishing. I didn’t expect to actually catch anything, but I did. The first one was a tiny 2 or 3-inch fish that slid off the hook and slid out of my hands back into the water. The second one was an 11-inch Dolly Varden Char.

Since I had no bucket to place the fish, I walked the half mile back home with the fish still on the hook.

Ripe Berries

I discovered Amy sitting on the couch with a bowl of salmonberries and blueberries. I knew from whence the salmonberries came, but the blueberries I didn’t know where. I first thought they might be frozen ones, but upon closer look they were fresh. I hadn’t purchased any so where was their origin? I asked Amy and she said they came from the backyard! Apparently we have a few wild blackberry bushes. The recent hot temperatures I’m sure have helped ripen them. I tasted one and it was quite tart, but definitely a blueberry.

Stitches are out

Elise took the stitches out yesterday. Here’s what my injury looks like, almost 2 weeks after its occurrence.

Oh, and I got the ER bill today: $491.20.

A real summer

We are having a real summer. Temps are expected to rise to upper 70s and even 80 this week.

Yesterday I went out for 41.5 miles on my bike, all the way to Man Made Hole (a small pond with fishing and picnic area) and back. Today I went out for 23.7 miles to the entrance to Papke’s Landing and back. Both outings were quite warm. If the good weather holds, I’d like to go all the way out to the South Ferry Terminal, about 23 miles away (one way), now that the road is paved out to there. I got to ride a couple miles of the new tarmac out to Man Made Hole, and it was a beautiful surface.

We just had another “uh oh” with Stripey. He has a heart murmur and that can lead to blood clots. We had this problem a few months ago, and he possibly has another now. The vet is in town again, so I’ll be dropping by this afternoon to see if they have any more Heparin I can purchase.

Parade

After singing a number of songs for a short worship time at church, all of us headed back to the downtown area to lineup for the parade. We rode in or walked with the collection of Miles electric vehicles (the reason why so many photos in the gallery show the EVs). The parade went around the city circuit twice, bringing festivity to the gathered spectators.

Following the parade I returned home to pick up the pan of deviled eggs and my key lime icebox pie to be taken to the Long Term Care indoor picnic. There was a pretty good turnout. We did our part in bringing a little bit of joy and celebration to the residents.

Sunny days are here again

If the weather forecasts hold true, we could be in for some record breaking high temperatures during one or more days this coming week.

Today was sunny but still relatively cool. I went out on another 30 mile bike ride. My legs felt better than they have ever felt so far this year. My only question is: why is it that on an out-and-back bicycle ride, the headwind is always on the “back” portion? I saw some new wildflowers along the road, though I did not stop to take a look at them so I’m not entirely sure what they are. One was red with a yellow center.

Tomorrow is 4th of July, aka Independence Day. We will have a very short worship at church and then join the community for the celebration. We are planning to have lunch with the long-term care residents at the Medical Center. They are having an indoor 4th of July picnic and the community is invited. Elise made some deviled eggs. I put together a key lime icebox pie.

For supper this evening, I tested a test recipe that Cook’s Illustrated sent out. I signed up to be on their recipe test panel and this was the first recipe I got. It was broccoli sautéed with bacon and red onions. I substituted some turkey bacon for regular bacon. The problem with turkey bacon is that it doesn’t have any fat… Thus I added some canola oil as I was frying the bacon. The result is meaty flavored vegetable dish that I think can appeal to even die-hard carnivores. I have some thoughts about using Worthington Stripples® or Morningstar Farms® Veggie Bacon Strips to see how close it gets to the meat version.

Hand injury, 1 week later

It looks like it is doing quite well. I even went out today and mowed the yard with my manual mower.

Slow Cooker Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

This is, I suppose, similar to another one I posted some time ago. This one uses fewer ingredients and is done in a large slow cooker (i.e., Crockpot®). The quantities are large because I prepared this to be served at our weekly supper at our church.

Roasting the red peppers gives the dish a slight smoky flavor. The smokiness is very subtle. Another method for obtaining this flavor and make it more overt is to use chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, but then you have to be committed to a rather hot and spicy result. If you’d rather not go to the trouble of roasting and peeling, you could just add the diced peppers with the tomatoes. Depending on how long it cooks, it could be crunchy or tender.

Serves: 10-12 as a main dish, double that as a side dish

• 1 pkg (1 lb.) dry black beans, washed
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 red bell peppers
• 1 - 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 - 28 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 pkg (1 lb.) frozen corn
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 medium onions, diced
• 2 jalapenos (optional), seeded (or left in, if you prefer) and diced

For adding as it is served:

• Cilantro, chopped
• Cheese, grated
• Sour cream (optional)

1. Cook beans with 6 cups of water, and 1 Tbsp. salt in Crockpot until tender (was about 3 hrs. on high).
2. Oven roast red peppers as follows. Slice off tops and bottoms. Remove stem and seeds. Slice the middle section so that it lays flat onto a baking sheet. Also lay tops and bottoms on baking sheet. Set oven rack to top rack, turn broiler on high. Broil peppers for about 4 minutes, turn baking sheet around and continue to broil another 4-5 minutes until skin is black. When cool, peel skin and dice peppers. Set aside. (See note above.)
3. Add tomatoes, brown sugar, and corn; continue to cook (I lowered to Lo setting at this point).
4. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and fry until fragrant. Add onions and another tsp salt, black pepper, and cook until lightly browned. Add jalapenos and cook another minute or so. Add mixture and diced red peppers to beans, stir to mix well and continue to cook to blend flavors.
5. Adjust seasonings to taste and serve with cilantro, cheese, sour cream.

Along the road

Today was relatively dry and I walked to run some errands. Here are just a few things that caught my eye along the way.

More cakes

Here are the cakes I wrote about.

Peach yogurt cake. Middle layer is composed of mashed peaches with sugar and orange juice concentrate, plus a bit of gelatin. The top layer is cream and yogurt and sugar with some gelatin to help it set.

This next one is a simple strawberry layer cream cake.

Various Updates

First, the cut on my hand is healing. There seems to be no infection. It no longer hurts, even when I apply some pressure in the area. I still keep it loosely covered much of the time because the stitches tend to hook and snag on things if I don’t have them covered.

Next, tomorrow is Pastor Brown’s (from Wrangell) last time in Petersburg. He is being replaced around the end of July or beginning of August. We will hold a little farewell service tomorrow.

Next up, an update on my strawberry preservation experiment. On Wednesday I purchased some strawberries intending to use them this weekend (i.e., today and tomorrow). With the bit of anecdotal past positive experience in regards to washing and drying each strawberry, Elise and I washed (in a light vinegar solution), trimmed, dried, and stored (in paper lined container) each berry. This afternoon I took out one of the containers to put together two cakes for tomorrow. The strawberries were still in good condition. This runs contrary to conventional advice that says no water should touch the strawberries until you’re ready to use them. Perhaps the advice doesn’t hold in every case…?

The weather has been cool and showery for much of the week. We’re back to normal Petersburg weather.

City politics and government are in a self-inflicted storm. (The city council terminated the city manager, and some citizens and city employees are angry, in spite of the fact that there is no full disclosure from either side.) I think everyone involved and every voter should read Jeanne DuPrau’s The Prophet of Yonwood. After hearing and listening to some of the juvenile reactions, I think this novel, classified as juvenile fiction, is probably at the right comprehension level. When a person hurts other people trying to do something he or she thinks is right, maybe right is wrong… Maybe there are some things more important than being “right” and defending “rightness.” Maybe one person’s perception of right can turn into wrong when more data becomes available.

This evening, Shelley and Amy went to a party at the Lighthouse Assembly of God church. There were games and ice cream… apparently. One of them was something like musical pies (my visualization from what Amy was describing). The person with the pie can smash the cream into a neighbor (and the pie smasher is out), or smash it into his/her own face (the pie smasher gets to choose who goes out). Shelley got plastered with cream pie in her face. (I saw a photo.) Multiple times, she said. It was fun, according to the reports.

Elise invited her coworkers to a party tomorrow evening. That’s what the two pies are for. I should have photos tomorrow, assuming they remain in good condition. One was a peach-yogurt cake. I used several fresh peaches, microwaved them with a bit of orange juice concentrate and sugar, then mashed them, added some gelatin and poured it over the cake. I poured a yogurt-cream mixture on top of that and arranged a few peach slices and some strawberries on top. The second cake is a strawberry cream cake, two layers, strawberry filling in the middle, strawberries and mandarin oranges arranged on top. I also cooked a number of sushi fillings that I will use to make maki sushi.

So that’s the brief rundown of news as this week comes to a close.

Hand Wound

Yeah, I know you’re all eagerly awaiting the photo! :) Elise took the bandage off and I got it washed up and photographed. Oh, and she purchased fillet gloves for me to wear!

Sliced hand today

I was chopping onions at the church, making cuts parallel to the cutting board, when I was momentarily distracted (my best guess) by a comment from someone watching me, “Don’t cut yourself.” Not even a second later the knife had gone too far and had sliced into my hand.

I could immediately tell this was not just a minor cut. The blood was flowing very quickly and I called for a towel to apply pressure and declared I needed to get to the the Emergency Room for some stitches. I got a ride and less than five minutes later I was there. Elise came in a few minutes later.

In less than an hour the cut was cleaned, stitched up (I think it was about five), bandaged, and one tetanus shot later was out. The most painful part was when Elise handed me a bowl with some disinfecting stuff and water and had me stick my wound in there. YOUCH! The next most painful was the first local anesthesia injection. Once that was in, I couldn’t feel anything else.

My left pinky is still numb, and typing with a numb finger is an odd sensation.

Salmon Supper

This afternoon one of our church members, a commercial fisherman, unexpectedly stopped by and handed me a whole side of a king salmon. He had just returned from his first fishing trip this season. I cut off a piece, put it in a pan, cooked it, and ate it. It was good.

Cottongrass

The muskeg is full of cottongrass.

The day started out with some sun, but as the morning progressed grey clouds spread out over most of the sky. I was going to go out, then decided not to, and then seeing no rain yet finally went out.

Sermon: 1 John 2:12-17

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

1 John 2:12-17

This sermon discusses genuine vs. counterfeit assurance.

Sunshowers

The last few days have seen all kinds of weather. Today was no exception, having both rain and sun.

I was in a down, annoyed, restless, etc. mood for much of the day. I can’t pinpoint the exact reason or reasons… I felt like I ought to be doing something, being productive, or something.

I felt better while I was walking about town, going over to the church to take out the trash, purchasing some batteries and light bulbs, and returning home.

But as soon as I came home my mood went sour… Not sure why.

We all went to Tina’s Kitchen for dinner. The ladies had some burritos and I had halibut fish and chips. We returned home and discovered Shelley had left her purse. I took Shelley back. She decided to walk home. I drove back. On the way back I saw sunshowers that looked pretty nice and stopped to take some pictures.

I am feeling much better now… Not sure why.

Baking and Cooking

I think I spent a great part of the day in the kitchen today. I didn’t plan to, but it just kind of happened that way.

I finally got around to baking the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie (from May/June 2009 issue of Cook’s Illustrated). It takes more effort than a throw-together-the-ingredients-and-mix recipe, but the end result is definitely worth it. The cookies are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside; a rich, toffee-like flavor; holds together (i.e., not crumbly) but not tough or hard; and the Ghirardelli chocolate chips are much better (not as sweet) than most other chips found in grocery stores.

After a bit of a break, it was back to the kitchen to prepare supper. Tonight’s main dish was Cauliflower Macaroni and Cheese. I also put together a green salad with more of the organic lettuce, celery, tomatoes, and a few greens from my AeroGarden.

Following supper it was time to make pie. I hadn’t planned on this at all but in today’s e-mail I found a recipe for Icebox Strawberry Pie (from Cook’s Country) that included what looked like an easy crust recipe. Instead of shortening, oil, and water the recipe uses butter and cream cheese. The filling uses frozen strawberries cooked down plus fresh ones folded in.

It is currently in the refrigerator waiting for the filling to set. We will see tomorrow how it all actually turned out.

Trying out Full Circle Farm

On Sunday I signed up for biweekly organic produce shipments from Full Circle Farm. We are getting the medium box (about the size of a book box) which is around $50. Before you gasp in astonishment at the cost, keep in mind everything in it is organic, it’s air shipped, and the per pound cost (I should have weighed the box) is probably not that much more than regular priced produce at the store here. The box was packed well with produce (no filler material).

There was lettuce, spinach, chard, red bell pepper, carrots (with tops!), nappa cabbage, peaches, apples, strawberries, grapes, tomatoes… I wrapped the leafy vegetables and the peppers in newspaper and then in a plastic bag before placing them in the refrigerator. They seem to last a lot longer that way. I looked at a romaine lettuce I purchased two weeks ago stored this way, and it still looks fine. I used to use paper towels, but I saw my parents using newspapers, so I started using that instead. Produce seems to last longer with the newspaper.

I used some of the spinach and lettuce this evening. It could just be all in my mind, but I thought the lettuce tasted better than the ones we usually find here… We also had a few of the strawberries. They were very, very red – almost a deep burgundy – and very sweet.

Anyway, I’m going to give this a try for a while and see how it goes.

A brief photo stop

Last evening we were driving back from our weekly supper at the church when I looked across and saw a nice photo op with the sun, clouds, slough, and the Sons of Norway Hall reflected in it. I made a turn towards Middle Harbor to see if the photo op there was worth stopping, but it wasn’t. So I made the circle back to South Harbor and back to the bridge over Hammer Slough.

The photos you see don’t quite capture what I saw. The light changed in the few minutes I made the turn and it wasn’t quite as good as when it was when I first saw it. I think there was more of a backlight against the clouds.

Storing fresh strawberries

Conventional advice for fresh strawberries is: Keep in refrigerator and wash just before use because water damages the delicate skin and speeds up spoilage.

Problem with strawberries that we get: Many are already on the verge of starting to spoil by the time we bring them home.

I first noticed something different with the strawberries I placed on my cakes. I had gently rinsed, trimmed, then carefully dried each one. After a few days, they still looked okay. The advice for other types of berries is to wash in a water and vinegar solution (3:1), spin dry in a salad spinner lined with paper towel, then store in a paper towel lined container as soon as you get the berries home.

I purchased a 4 lb. package of strawberries last Friday. I put some into and onto another cake. On Saturday night I spent some time rinsing, trimming, and drying the remaining berries. I’ve been examining their condition every day. The few that still remain today still look fairly good. My hypothesis regarding strawberry preservation based upon this experiment (though I had no control set of unwashed berries) is strengthened.

Getting rain

We’ve had rain off and on for the last three days now – back to “normal” Petersburg weather. It does help reduce the dust that’s been flying about, so I guess that’s good. It’s also cooler, and I’m happy about that.

For some reason I’ve been feeling rather tired and run down the last few days as well. Sleep patterns have been somewhat erratic. I got up at around 4:15 a.m. today after getting to bed around 9 p.m. last night. One of my lower eyelids has been twitching for two days now…

On a rather different topic, why is fruit so expensive in Japan? Take the case of cherries. I found a blog that discussed the effort that goes into growing cherries. In order to be marketable, the final result must be free of blemish, have the right colors and proper taste. In order to accomplish this the cherries are grown under shelter (to keep out the rain), with heaters during the winter, proper ventilation to control temperature, rental honeybees to pollinate, and branches bundled in threes to make sure each fruit gets the necessary exposure to sunlight. Elise purchased a bag of cherries yesterday. I looked at its contents, and I’m pretty sure 90%+ of the fruit in there wouldn’t make it to a Japanese market.

Sermon: 1 John 2:3-11

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

1 John 2:3-11 (if popup doesn’t work, click HERE.)

Today’s sermon discusses knowing God and how that will change the life and attitudes of a true Christian.

Around City Creek

This afternoon, a number of us walked out Frederick Point Road to City Creek and spent a bit of time around there. You can see more photos from the area by clicking on the following photo.

Another cake (cream & yogurt topping)

I put together another cake yesterday. One of the grocery stores is having a weekend sale and I came home with a large amount of fruit. I had to use them in some way so I baked another cake and put together a whipped cream and yogurt topping for it (also from the Happy Sweet site).

I also put together a tomato and mozzarella salad (similar to the tomato and feta salad from not too long ago).

Lupines and Columbines

Last year I found quite a few different varieties of columbine growing along the shoulder of North Nordic Drive along the Narrows, just a short walk down from our house. Last year it was mid-May when I found them. With the flowers blooming later this year, I hadn’t seen any in May. I’ve been keeping an eye out for them whenever I happened to chance by along there (quite often, in other words). Earlier this week I thought I saw at least one columbine shooting up with blossoms.

Earlier today I was debating whether to go out cycling again or go for a walk with a camera. It turns out the cyclingwear needed washing, so that kind of made the decision for me. I took along my Canon today and went down the street and onto the path along the beach. I found lupines and about half a dozen different columbines (though some were still just in buds).

Amy’s Poetry

The Petersburg Public Library site has the poems Amy submitted to this year’s Poet Laureate competition.

Japanese-Style Fruit and Cream Cake

This was my project for today :) I got a food scale so I am able to measure ingredients by weight. I baked the cake, Elise spread the cream, I prepped the fruit, and Shelley did most of the fruit arranging.

This is cake as I think it should be :) Just a hint of sweetness, creaminess from the whipped cream, and lots of fruit. As far as cakes go, this is probably about as healthy as it can get. It’s not loaded down with fat and sugar, at least not in comparison to the Western decorated cakes.

Here is the recipe for the cake portion, found on the happysweet.com site, translated into English. I kept the measurements in metric except for the oven temperature.

Japanese-Style Sponge Cake

Ingredients (for 1 layer)

• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 45g sugar
• 40g cake flour
• 20g cornstarch
• 15g unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

1. Sift the flour and cornstarch together and set aside. Preheat oven to 355F. Prepare 8 or 9-inch round cake pan by spraying pan with nonstick spray, lining bottom with parchment paper, and spraying nonstick spray on the paper.
2. Crack eggs into large mixing bowl. Using hand mixer, pulse to break apart yolk and roughly mix together. While continuing to pulse, slowly pour in sugar and mix.
3. Turn mixer to high and beat egg and sugar mixture together until it is nearly white and fluffy, about (I’m guessing here because I didn’t time it) 7-10 minutes. The mixture should be fairly stiff to to where you can draw a figure-eight with the batter and it will remain on the surface for several seconds.
4. Sift the sifted flour/cornstarch into the whipped eggs. Using a rubber spatula, carefully fold the flour into the eggs. Use a slicing motion to fold while slowly rotating the bowl.
5. Once the flour has been folded and batter no longer has a powdery appearance, add the melted butter and fold by gently scooping from the bottom.
6. Pour batter into prepared cake pan. From about a height of 2-inches, drop the pan onto a hard surface. This helps remove any large air bubbles in the batter.
7. Place pan in preheated oven and bake for about 15 minutes until surface is golden brown (Japanese: color of a fox) and tester comes out clean.
8. Immediately remove cake from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Japanese Dessert Recipes

As recent posts show, I’ve been venturing into dessert making over the last little bit of time. Triggered by a friend’s comment on Facebook, I did some searching about for recipes of Japanese cakes and eventually came across a site called Happy Sweet (it’s all in Japanese, btw). There are close to 150 recipes for desserts, both Japanese and Western (many with distinctly Japanese adaptations). Now I’ve got to see what strikes my fancy and for which ones I can find ingredients.

Still sunny and warm

The weather forecast wasn’t quite right, it seems. A few days ago clouds were forecast to come in today and start cooling down, but it looks like that’s been pushed out another 36-48 hours. Today, thus, remains sunny and warm, and unlike the last few days there isn’t much of a breeze. The official observation shows 70 degrees at this time (2 p.m.).

I rode out to Blind River Rapids, about 15 miles out, and then back for a total of just over 30 miles in just under 2 hours. This stretch of warm and dry weather has allowed me to put in miles on the bicycle like I used to be able to do back in Portland. I rode 22 miles last Wednesday, 16 miles on Thursday, 19 miles on Friday, and 30 miles today. I think this is the first time in 3 years that I was able to put in that many miles all within a week.

After the Wednesday ride my knee was a bit bothered, but it appears that my legs are already adjusting to the longer distance and time. After today’s ride I don’t feel any problems.

I also realized that the highway is now paved all the way to the South Ferry Terminal at around milepost 26. I haven’t actually been on that road since it was paved, so I don’t know what it’s like, but theoretically now I can go out and back for almost 60 miles – good enough for a century training if I ever feel inclined to participate in another one somewhere down south.

Wildflowers finally blooming

Since today was “rest day” I took a walk (rather than bicycle) to the Post Office to pick up the mail. Along the way I found the muskeg to be in bloom, though this year due to the lack of rain, it didn’t seem quite as green as it did last year. The muskeg pools don’t look much like pools anymore – just big mud holes.

Sermon: 1 John 1:5-2:2

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

1 John 1:5-2:2

Today’s sermon is about darkness and light, sin and salvation. I discussed definitions of sin and how that can lead to proper and improper understandings about salvation. The fact that a person recognizes sin in their own lives and desires to do something about it is actually an evidence that they are in a saving relationship with Christ.

Sermon: 1 John 1:1-7

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

1 John 1:1-7

This was the sermon from last Sabbath (May 30). The main point is that Christianity has some foundational elements founded in Jesus Christ. They must exist together or else whatever remains is no longer Christianity.

Cake is much better on a not-so-full stomach

I just had another slice of yesterday’s cake.

Yesterday, I was already rather full from the Mexican food dinner and was kind of forcing myself to eat the cake. Today, I had just returned from 16 miles on the bicycle, had a bit of lunch, and then had the cake when I wasn’t already feeling full.

The cake tasted much better. It is definitely a very chocolaty, dark, bittersweet cake.

Now I’m pleasantly full, getting a little drowsy, and I want a nap…

Chocolate Cake and Birthday

Today is Shelley’s birthday. I started making a chocolate cake last night. The recipe is from the June 2009 issue of Bon Appetit. The recipe is Giant Chocolate Cake with Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache. I didn’t use the edible flower bit in the recipe for decoration/garnish because I couldn’t find any to use.

I made the ganache this morning. Since I don’t decorate cakes, Elise decorated the cake this afternoon.

We ordered burritos and enchiladas from the Mexican restaurant and had that for dinner, followed by cake and ice cream.

Trick candles in use…

 

The cake turned out to be not too sweet (even with the 2 cups of sugar!), moist, and the ganache was decadently chocolaty. This is the second cake I’ve made from scratch. Yeah, from scratch costs more and takes more time than mixes, but the quality is definitely superior.

It’s hot…

The official airport station shows 68F at the moment. I was out on my bike earlier on the south side of the island and it was much warmer there, probably in the mid- to upper-70’s. It was plenty warm for just short sleeve jersey and shorts (the first time I was able to do that in over a year, I think). I went out and back for a total of 21 miles, averaging 16 mph. The trip out was tailwind so I was able to hit 31 mph going out of town and 32 mph on a descent into Twin Creeks. The return trip was stiff headwind all the way back. There were plenty of dandelions and lupines blooming alongside the road.

The weather is supposed to stay this way through Saturday, then start cooling off on Sunday with showers returning Monday evening.

Recipe: Cold Cucumber Yogurt Soup

We are experiencing warm days this week, so I created a cold cucumber soup. I looked at a few similar recipes, then threw together one based on several of them.

The rest of the family’s reaction to this soup? “Startling.” It has a potent kick to it due to the tartness from both the yogurt and the lime, and also from the Serrano chili.

Serves 6

Note

• If you have a large blender, you may be able to combine all ingredients at once. Otherwise divide and blend in batches.

Ingredients

• 3 English cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped
• 2 cups plain, unsweetened yogurt
• 2 cups water
• 20-30 mint leaves (from about 4 sprigs)
• 6-8 fresh cilantro sprigs, leaves and tender stems, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp. grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. salt
• (optional) 1 Serrano chili, seeded and roughly chopped
• Juice from 1 lime

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender. Pulse several times to break large chunks apart, then puree for a minute or so until soup is liquefied.
2. Let cool in refrigerator at least 30 minutes.