YUM!

Luckily for my wife, and myself, I have learned to love and enjoy cooking. This pizza is the most recent addition to my culinary mastery. Ok, maybe that's a little much, but if you have ever experienced baking/cooking something, having a goal in mind as to what you want it to taste like, you know how I felt tonight! Pizza is a pretty regular thing around our house, whether we make it from scratch, Papa Murphey's, or Pizza Hut (only on the rarest of occasions), we like pizza. Tuesday night, I decided that it was pizza time, but wanted something different...so BBQ chicken it was. I knew I had some great BBQ sauce in the fridge, but I had to think of what else to put on it. First though, was the crust.

When we were first married, we hung out a lot with one of E's cousins, who sadly moved away. Anyhoo, she gave us some recipies, but the one that gets used the most is the pizza crust. It is really easy to make: a packet of Quick yeast, flour, sugar, salt, oil, and hot water (to dissolve the yeast), let it sit for bit, and walla, you got dough! Sometimes I add basil, oregano, or other spices into the crust.

Next I "Foreman'd" the chicken. While that happened, I chopped up some yellow Onion (sweet onion would have killed it!!! (a good kill)), some baby sweet peppers, and some seasoning, sauteed in Worcestishire Sauce and A1. YUM! It was starting to smell very good. Instead of a tomato-based sauce I used the hickory smoked BBQ sauce. I topped it all off with chedder/jack cheese and hoped for the best. 12 minutes later that beauty at the top popped out and as I took the first bite, celebrated as my taste buds savored the amazingness of BBQ chicken pizza! SO GOOD!

Basically, I just wanted to share with you that I like cooking and that it is fun! I guess what we can apply here is that if we put our best effort into it, maybe "follow the recipe" until we get some practice, good things can come. My only follower of this blog, so far, commented about the last post, basically about going deeper into the issue of "picking". I appreciated it, because I was reminded that there are times to go deeper than the surface issue. Is there a deeper application to this cooking tale? Maybe it's patience, maybe it's the art of it.

For me, I think it speaks to me that if we truly apply ourselves and do our best, we will find success. Not that we can "create" our success, or that I like Joel Osteen, but there is a point where we can "get better at life", the way we live, our intentions, our interactions with others. Maybe we need a "recipe" to get us started (Jesus, a mentor) and then to take it to the next level, a Class or in-depth techniques book (Bible, discipleship) and then we will be living how we want, blessing and loving others in ways we could never imagine.

Or maybe it's just about making delisously awesome food. :)

Chosen...

So I was at middle school youth group this last Thursday, and afterwards, on of the other leaders, Daniel, asked me what was new. So I responded "I am now a blogger." Then I told him about my blog, what I write about, my different interests, etc. I told him that I hoped it was interesting, because it can be so random. People seem to be reading it, and hopefully y'all aren't bored with it.

As Daniel and I chatted about what I write about, he brought up that he had a spot on his thumb that he picked. Whenever it got dry, he picked it, and picked it, until it got to be an open sore. This was a continuous cycle and he couldn't understand why he let it get tp that point everytime. Well, I commiserated with him, because I am guilty of picking myself. I have eczema and dry-skin, but also with scabs and what not, I pick. It isn't flattering, and has even led to infections...but there is something intrinsic about it. Whatever the case, it feels good.

Now, maybe this is just that we pickers are OCD when it comes to something to pick, or maybe it it is just cathartic. I am not sure, but I know that there are times when even subconsciously I pick. Someone will usually point out blood, or something, and I won't even know that it happened. It is a strange phenomenon, and yet I still find myself picking. Is it boredom, is it catharsis, is it just plain stupid? Sometimes it seems so.

Whatever it is, I don't think it is healthy and I need to stop. I pick when I shouldn't, I admit, and even E has encouraged me stop, whether it is a look, or placing her hands on mine to stop, she is trying to make me a better person.

So, why do we pick...is it something we can help, or just instinctive. Hopefully, I will stop pick, and let my body heal. I told Daniel that what I do is put gloves on my hands to sleep, maybe with medication, for my eczema, or maybe neosporin for him. This seems to help my hands heal.

This is a random post, but something I have been thinking about. When you pick, or see someone picking, let's do ourselves the favor of encouraging each other to stop. Our friends will thank us, or skin will thank us.

6 in a row

So it's time to blog. I am trying not to push myself to blog just because I should. I started this because it is something that I want to do, a place to put thoughts and clear my mind on whatever I wanted to. Thankfully there have been a enough hits to make me keep posting, and I hope that my radomness doesn't destroy the blog. I am going to be better about putting labels on each individual blog too, so that when you visit and you don't want to read about the Royals, you can find something interesting to read about. I wonder if my "eclectic" tastes should be refined, to have a blog on the Royals, Coffee roasting, etc, but I keep coming to the conclusion that if I did that I would probably need 13 blogs, and that is  too many.

So, back to my original thoughts from tonight. This is my 6th blog, however, that is not the "6 in a row" I am referring to. No, this is much more exciting than 6 blogs. The hobbled, hurting, yet hopeful Blazers have won their last 6 games. Granted, 4 of those games they should have won. But, when you beat the teams you should and teams that are pretty level with you, you should be doing fairly well. The Blazers started this run off with a win against the Bulls at home. I was worried about this one. We beat the Spurs, the best team in the conference, and then lost the next two which were both games that we could have/should have won. Maybe they let down after the Spurs game, who knows. But we never play well at Denver, and the Indiana game, well that was just bad.

What gets me excited about the the Blazers, though, is how they are playing right now. Early in the season, the All-Star and main cog Brandon Roy showed that his knees were shot. He tried playing through the pain, but everyone could see that somethign was going on and he wasn't the same player that he was last year. This was supposed to spell the end of the Blazers and any chance at getting into the play-offs. Then Marcus Camby went down with a knee issue. But low-and-behold, your Blazers are in the 5th position for the play-offs thanks to the beastly play of LaMarcus Aldridge. It took a few years, but LA is finally showing why the Blazers drafted him and then gave him a max contract. He was been unstoppable and had been carrying the team on his shoulders. He has outplayed Tim Duncan, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin, and pretty much every other Power Forward int he league. He should have been an All-Star this year, but it wasn't in the cards.

In the past, LA has always hit the jumper. he had good range and was able to open the lane for BRoy to get in and do his thing. But with BRoy out, it's been LA from outside, LA from inside, and LA all over. He hasn't backed down. Except when he's got a defender on him, the ball, and the desire for a hoop (get it?). He has shown that his game isn't just jumpers. It has evolved into an all around All-Star caliber game. He can go left, right, and no one finishes alley-oops like him. he hustles down the court, is unpretentious, and just cares about winning ball games.

But there's more. Wesley Matthews has been legit. We signed him after his rookie year in Utah (whole other story for why he was available). He was good, and looked at as a back-up for BRoy. But when BRoy went down, in stepped Wes. The guy can shoot. He spots up for three like it's no ones business, but also takes it to the hole with authority.  It's a beautiful thing to watch, though he can be a bit streaky. Batum is again showing potential. I hope we don't trade him. He's a great defender and is learning to shoot even after he's missed a few. He also crashes the boards pretty good too. Rudy has been pehnomenal in February. his shot has been on which is good. It reminds me, though, of Martell Webster, who we traded last year, because Webster had a month like Rudy is having now, but then fell off. Hopefully Rudy keeps the momentum and the rhythm.  Andre Miller has been superb, but will prbably be traded. Lastly, Dante Cunningham has been huge. He has been playing while Camby is out, and though he is usually pretty quiet about his stats, he has started to become a force. He calls himself the Junkyard dog, and that's exaclty the way he plays the game!

In all, the Blazers have suprosed me, and a lot of other fans. It is always fun to root when your team does well, but Blazers fans are first class anyways. If you happen to watch a game that's played at most other arenas, they are half-full. Not the Rose Garden, though. That makes me proud to be a Blazers fan!

RIP CITY!

Tomorrow is a Big Day...

Tomorrow, February 14 I am celebrating Love. NO, not Valentine's day were I am being told to, one day a year, spoil E with flowers and chocolate and teddy bears. No, the love I celebrate will be the pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training and the beginning of a long summer of baseball, good (Red Sox), bad (Mets) and ugly (Royals). Fortunately, I have found myself a fan of good and ugly. Yes, I root for the Kansas City Royals. The past few years that means a pain, hurt, confusion, and depression. And that's just from the players!! Although I want to put a nice *j/k* there, I can't when your Ace pitcher demands a trade. Being a Royals fan hasn't been pleasant for the majority of my life. Of course I was alive when they won their only World Series, but in 1985, I was only 4. Thankfully, I can remember the days of George Brett and how my hatred of the Yankees started with the brutal battles against KC and of course the "Pine Tar Game". If you don't know what that is, just go to here.

Each off-season, I try to get excited. I mean, hope springs eternal, right? Although Dayton Moore, KC's general manager has usually disappointed with his Free Agent signings, the Royals minor league system has never been stronger than right now. There is potential that the top two bats (Hosmer and Moustakas) will see time in KC this year, with Mous getting there around June 1. That on top of the possibility that Wil Myers is even better than both those guys is very exciting since Mous and Hos are top 10 prospects according to multiple prospect lists. Those three on top of 7 left-handed pitchers that all have the potential to make any MLB rotation leave me drooling the future in KC.

I have learned to temper my expectations for the Royals, and 2011 will be no different. EXCEPT if someone isn't performing, we have players in Omaha that can take over. Spring Training always gets me excited, though. Even when Jose Guillen was our RF and "Power" guy. Not that Francouer and Cabrera are legit power bats, but with Butler another year older and Ka'aihue given plenty of PA's, I am excited to see what happens.

The Red Sox had a HUGE off-season, having spent the most $$ in Free Agency. I know...people are starting tho think of the Red Sox like the Yankees, but if you have the resources to get better, you have to use them. When they sign Gonzalez long-term, they will be close to the amount of players making 20+ mil. a year, but I like the age at which we signed those players. Gonzalez and Crawford will be with the Red Sox in their Peak ages and both project well in Fenway. I love the Red Sox because of the vicious rivalry with the Evil Empire (NY) but also because the are a storied franchise, and believe me, if you get the chance to watch a game in Fenway, you can't help but pull for Sox! Plus they have a lot more homegrown players than the Evil Empire that have impacted the team at higher levels.

Needless to say, I am excited to start watching baseball again! "Play Ball!"

Coffee Roasting

As I sit here enjoying a day off, a morning to relax, get some errands done, I am enjoying a nice cup of Sumatra. Cool story, though. I roasted it! 

The first week of January, with my last remaining Starbucks dwindling, my dad and I made a trip to Mr. Green Beans, a do-it-yourself coffee roasting, soap making, etc shop located on Mississippi Ave in Portland. Now my dad has been roasting for 8 years or so...and I have been wanting to join the family craft myself, but with a job at Starbucks I would have had no place to store my coffee and the drive to roast outside on a 33* day would not have been there. Since I rely on my almost-daily roasting, it makes it that much more important to spend the 15 minutes to roast. What I have learned in the past month or so, I will expand here:

First off, the desire to roast. As stated above, my father started roasting many years ago. With each cup he offered me, I realized that not only can I have good coffee, I can cut some of the cost by roasting it myself. All I needed was a machine, beans, and out of Starbucks. Fast forward 5 years and here I am, at the beginning of my journey. I am not a fine-art-artist. I like to take pictures, I will draw (mostly for/with the nephews),  but aside from those things, I wouldn't consider myself an "artist". Funny thing though, about believing in a creative God, Elohim, is that I believe we all have some sense of "art" in us. It may not be art as it is popularly thought of, but cooking, interior design, beer, wine, and coffee are all arts. Shoot, I worked at Papa Murphy's and my title was "Pizza Artist". Art in a broad sense can be defined as general or specific as you want. Back to the point, coffee roasting for me is my art, and an expression of my God n each creation.

Second, I like coffee. I like good coffee. It is interesting to take a bean from it's green state to a nice dark roast. My roaster is the FreshRoast 500. One of my favorite things about roasting with this machine is that the chamber is glass, so I get to watch the green turn to yellow, yellow to brown, and then the darkening of brown and the first and second crack commence. It can get tricky though. My timer only goes to 9.9 minutes. With pretty much each roast I need to add 2-3 minutes. What makes it more interesting is how the weather changes the timing of the roast. When I started roasting it was 33*-36* outside. It jumped to 50* for a couple days and it caught me off-guard to see how quickly the beans changed stages. My last few roasts have come out quite nicely. Nothing beats the satisfaction of an action turning out positively. Right now, it's not about making the best roasted, best tasting coffee, but getting used to the process and finding something that is drinkable and that I like. 


Third, the beans matter. I bought two pounds from India and one from Brazil from Mr. Green Beans.I was told that they were both farm-direct, which is awesome, but I also got the sense that they are high-grade beans. You can buy low-quality beans, called Robusta. They generally don't taste good, but depending on sugar, milk, etc, you may not notice. The high-quality are Arabica beans. You can read about the difference here: http://tinyurl.com/ylzhca5. Within each category are grades. AA are the top of the scale and my recent Sumatra purchase was AA. My dad gave me some El Salvador beans that he was having a hard time getting a favorable roast one, at least in Mom's taste. Trying my best, i noticed that on each roast, there were beans not getting fully roaster, some staying green, some looking like a leopard (spotted). I decided that it had to be low-grade beans, because as I soon as I went back to the Brazil and now Sumatra, I haven't had that happen where the roast is so uneven. Now, some beans will be different shades, but I haven't seen the spotted bean since that El Salvador. So, one must consider the grade of the bean in order to get a good and proper roast!


Fourth, It's fun! Literally, I can get a 1/4 lb. roasted and ready to go in 15-20 minutes. It is a fun hobby that doesn't take a weekend or even a day to do. Of course, I am sure that I could spend that amount of time roasting, but I don't have to in order to enjoy a cup. Although I have heard that within 3-5 days of roasting is the optimum time to drink the roasted coffee, it is ready to go as soon as it is done. One thing I would like to do is roast a pound of the same coffee, and then try some the following days. One cup within an hour of roasting, one cup within 24 hours, within 3,5,7 days, and just see how much the characteristics change each time. Now, it won't be dramatic or anything, but there should be a slight profile change in each cup.


Ok, this is a long post, and I hope you found it interesting. This is my first on Roasting, but it won't be my last! God bless!

"The Catcher in the Rye"

So I finally read "The Catcher in the Rye". I have been told by many males that this was a favorite book of theirs, and since I had not read it, I decided that, by golly, it was time to do so!

My first impression was that this book is a great book for 17-22 year olds males. It marks the tale of young Holden Caulfield and his trying to figure out life. He hates school, phonies, and most other things, aside from his sister, brother, and even his brother that passed away. Throughout the boo, I kept waiting for Holden to have an epoch, a revelation about finishing school and finding passion.

Now, I won't "spoil" it for those who want to read it...you should. It is a classic and even if you aren't a young man, if may help understand a young man in your life.

I think what the book meant to me was that I need to live with a Passion. The one major difference between myself and Mr. Caulfield (aside from him being fictional, of course...and 16), is that I have a relationship with the Living God. Holden has had some "religious" experience, but as I read through, it seemed the purpose he was lacking is one that I have found in Christ and in salvation. Now, there are a plethora of people who have passion, have goals and purpose in life that aren't followers of Christ. What is mean is that I think when I compare where my life was when I was Holden's age, I can see that my faith has given me guidance through seeking a will and purpose that isn't mine (though sometimes it does get in the way..). Further, because I am seeking to have an active faith, a faith that changes my priorities, a faith that is more than just me and my decisions, there is a greater purpose in life than making loads of cash, or just getting through life because I have to do something with it.

E has been taking a class through Solid Rock, "Perspectives". It has been recommended to us on multiple occasions but this is the first time either of us has had the opportunity to participate. Unfortunately for me, I was unavailable on Tuesday nights due to work. I digress...and article that E read for this weeks class was about going on mission. The gist that I got from her explanation was that if nothing is holding us back, we should go abroad. As we talked, and as I was reading "The Catcher in the Rye", I was reminded that we should ultimately be living in a state of readiness to move as the doors are open and God is calling. The call to missions is of course a call on any believers life, whether it is sharing your faith at work, in the community, or in another culture (here or anywhere). The Great Commission tells us to go (Acts 1:8), and if we are seeking to live in God's will it should be obvious when he opens the doors or closes the doors, right?

So, where does this leave us. I don't want you to think that I or anyone expect you to do anything radical like selling house, cars, etc and living on the streets or moving to Bhutan. What I think the response should be is that we need to be living in a state of readiness. Readiness to obey when God speaks, readiness to share with the person in the elevator, readiness to prayer with/for the drunk homeless guy on the spot. We have to let our lives be lived with Passion for the world like God has. He wants ALL to come to him. Are we ready to fulfill the role he has given us and calls us to daily?

I pray that if you read this as a Christian it is inspiring and hopeful. If you aren't a Christian or follower of Christ, and you made it this far, I hope you are challenged to ask questions of me, of the Christians you know.

A favorite quote from Jack Kerouac in "On the Road"

   “The only people for me are the mad ones

, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time,

 the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles 

exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop 

and everybody goes "Awww!” 

Grace

So, one of my co-workers brought a book in and told me I should read it. It is called "Gracenomics" by Mike Foster. I thought it was an interesting book, since we try to walk the line of grace and truth at my "office", the Portland Rescue Mission*. I work the graveyard shift, which allows men to sleep there. Anywhere from 50-130ish are there on a nightly basis. The higher numbers are during the months of November to April when we open the chapel for winter shelter. We keep 50 bunks open year round, though.

But I digress. During the night I get to read  as much as I am allowed, with guests coming in and out and making sure to do laundry to hand out clean clothes and blankets. I get to interact with guests coming in throughout the night looking for warmth, socks, food, etc. Sometimes I get to oblige them, sometimes not. But a lot of times I run into the truth/grace wall. I know what we have and don't have, but the question is "am I truly helping or hindering?" "Gracenomics" is basically saying that we need to show grace, more grace, and then some more on top of that. I can't argue with this thought, as I can look back on my life and see the mountains of grace that have been shown to me. First and foremost, the grace of God through Jesus, but also grace from my spouse, parents, etc. It's like the guy in Matthew 18:21-35. We often get consumed by what we are owed instead of our larger debt being forgiven.

I ask myself, can I not forgive those who "don't deserve to be forgiven" by my own judgement? No. Just as I have been shown grace, so do I need to show grace, just as we see in the Lord's Prayer, "forgive us our sins as we have also forgiven our debtors" Matthew 6:12. We are hypocrites if we choose to accept grace given to us but deny those who seek grace from us.

1 John 1:9 states "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Of course, if we repent and confess, grace flows freely. It isn't easy for us to freely give grace. And there are instances where it is easier and instances where it is harder. But my friends, I pray that I, that we, can be imitators of Christ by reflecting the grace we've been given to this broken, ungraceful, hurting world.

Would you join me in living out Grace?