Baking Day Review (Revue?)

This past Monday, my mom, siblings, Claire, and I went to visit my Grandma. We helped her clean up a bit since she had some overnight guests coming and then we hung out and had snacks, because you can't visit a good Dutch woman's home without being fed at least once.

She also offered us some rhubarb from her garden. She had picked all she would use, and apparently no one else was interested in it. I'd never cooked with it before but had been wanting to try, so I cut half a brown paper bag's worth.

That afternoon, after work, I went to Meijer and purchased 32 ounces of strawberries. Then, around 6:30pm, I invaded the kitchen. I began with a strawberry-rhubarb pie. Here's the recipe I got off the internet:

Glazed Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c Sugar

1/8 ts Salt

1/3 c Flour

2 c Fresh strawberries

2 c Fresh rhubarb, cut in 1" pieces

2 T Butter or margarine

1 T Sugar

1 Pastry for 2-crust pie

Procedure:

Combine 1 1/4 cup sugar, salt, and flour. Arrange half the strawberries and rhubarb in a pastry-lined 9" pie pan. Sprinkle with half the sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining fruit and sugar mixture. Dot with butter. Install top crust and flute edges to make high-standing rim. Brush top of pie with cold water and sprinkle on 1 tablespoon sugar. Cut steam vents in top crust. Bake in hot oven (425 F) 40 to 50 minutes or until rhubarb is tender and crust is browned.

I made my own pie crust, following this tried and true recipe:

Pie Crust:

1 cup flour

1/3 cup + 1T butter

1 T sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Mix with pastry blender until evenly flaky throughout. Add 2 T cold water. This should cause it to ball up.

I did dot with the butter on this one, although I'd never tried that before. Instead of putting on a full crust, I attempted a lattice crust (although I didn't actually weave, I just laid them all one way and then all the other way).

This pie was great! Our oven tends to be on the hotter side, so I only cooked it for 40 minutes, and I had a pie-crust protector on for the first 25 minutes. I loved the sugar on top, and the rhubarb/strawberry blend was the perfect mixture of tart and sweet.

Next, I set aside a cup of the strawberries for a later recipe, and then used the rest for a berry pie. I went out to our garden for raspberries, but could only find about 12 berries, so I finished off the 4 cups of fruit from our frozen blueberry collection. Here's another recipe I found online:

Ingredients

2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

1 1/4 cups white sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 cups fresh strawberries (or any fruit. Frozen works fine, too)

2 tablespoons butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Place one crust in a nine inch pie pan. Mix together sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Mix lightly through the berries. Pour filling into pastry lined pan, and dot fruit with butter or margarine. Cover with top crust, and cut slits in the top. Seal and flute the edges. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the crust is slightly browned.

Again, I made my own pie crusts. This one, I forgot to dot with butter, but it still turned out amazing. I'm not sure I really mixed the sugar mixture "lightly" through the berries. Many of my berries were crushed, but again, it was still amazing. On this one, I did the lattice top again, although this time I wove it and it turned out a lot better. Even from a non-aesthetic point of view, the woven lattice burns less than the pretend lattice. I also brushed the top of this one with water and sprinkled with sugar (as I did on the strawberry-rhubarb pie). This was AMAZING! I tried this recipe again with Claire and Chloe on Friday, using blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries. I never got to eat it, but it looked great and they said it tasted great.

Again, I baked this one for 35 minutes, with a pie-crust protector on for the first 25 minutes. They say to leave this on for all but the last 15 minutes, but with the heat of our oven, I'm discovering that I like to do 10 minutes better.

I used my leftover pie crusts (since a lattice top doesn't use the whole mess) and our cookie cutters and made dinosaur-shaped pie crust cookies. These go in the oven with the pie for about 5-7 minutes.

Once the berry pie was in the oven, I cleaned up my pie mess and began a new mess. I peeled, cored, and sliced 4 apples and tossed them in a pot with 3 diced rhubarb stalks (long ones) and 1 cup of halved strawberries. I added 1/4 cup of water to keep it from burning and turned the heat on. With that going, I started another recipe, but I'll finish reviewing this one so you don't get as confused as I was.

The apple-rhubarb-strawberry mess gets cooked (covered) on medium heat until it boils. Keep stirring it occasionally so it doesn't burn. Once it boils, turn the heat down and tilt the lid so steam can escape. Keep stirring occasionally. This will cook for around 30 minutes. I used a potato masher to break up some of the larger chunks. When it reaches a consistency you like (I like it like a chunky, homemade applesauce), remove from the heat. You're done!

I really liked this recipe. I've had apple-rhubarb sauce before and loved it, but I liked adding the strawberries even more. Since rhubarb is often not the lovely pink we want it to be, many recipes require adding food coloring or a Jell-O mix. But the strawberries provided the pink color and, together with the apples, enough sweetness to counteract the bitter/tartness of the rhubarb. No sugar added!

My final recipe for the evening was a Rhubarb Crunch. I was getting really warm by this point, but wanted to keep going. This is my grandma's recipe:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease an 11x17 pan and coat the bottom with 4 cups diced rhubarb.

Put 3/4 cup sugar, 2 T cornstarch, and 1 cup water into a pot and cook until thick and clear.

Add 1/2 tsp vanilla and some red coloring. Mix this in and pour over the rhubarb.

Topping:

1 cup flour

3/4 cup rolled oats

1 cup brown sugar

1 t cinnamon

1/2 cup melted butter

Mix all these together and spread over the rhubarb.

Bake for 40-50 min.

Again, because our oven is hotter, I baked for 40 minutes. For red coloring, I squirted in a few drops of red food coloring (and then stirred it all in to make sure I liked the shade of red), but you can also use part of a red Jell-O mix.

By the time I got this in the oven, I was hot, sweaty, and quite pleased with myself.

The crunch came out of the oven around 10:30pm and my family proceeded to dig into the Strawberry-Rhubarb pie. By 9:30pm the next day, both pies were completely devoured, so I take this baking day to be a success.

Here's a picture of my exploits in the kitchen:

The crunch is obviously in the big pan, followed by some pie crust cookies (pterodactyls and stegosauruses) and the sauce. The back pie is the Strawberry-Rhubarb pie. You can see that the fake lattice burned a little bit more. The pie also overflowed a little bit in the oven; I probably should have made the edges a bit higher. The front pie is the berry pie, which made a great breakfast the next day.

Love and pie,

Leah Joy

Pre-Marital Counseling, Nannying, and Scarlett - Oh My!

Believe it or not, I've been trying to post on here for a week or two, but I couldn't get on. It just wouldn't log me in for some reason. I have it set to store my password, too, so I couldn't even change it. I finally went on another computer tonight and logged in there and changed the password. Anyway, all this to say, I'm sorry for neglecting you, but only the last 2 weeks weren't really my fault. Okay, sort of.

Anyway.

To catch you up on all that has happened would be impossible, impractical, and lots of other negative words. So, as is clear in my title, I'll focus on the three big things, in reverse order.

I've finally read Gone With the Wind. Yes, I should have read it years ago - but I didn't. I loved it. I started it on Friday, July 15 and finished on the 20th. I couldn't put it down! I have some friends (identical twins, actually) who love the book - but they each feel differently about who was right, Scarlett or Rhett. They were both very curious which one I'd pick, and I've got to say I pick Rhett. Scarlett did what she had to survive, for a while, but then she was never satisfied. "When I get enough money...." But she never had enough! She kept pushing and pushing for better positions. And then when she finally had all the money she wanted, what did she do? Flaunt it - just like her "white trash" neighbors! That makes her exactly as horrible as they. Okay, so she kind of reformed at the end, but too late! Sorry, Mrs. Butler, there are consequences!

Whereas Rhett, despite his cynical heart, did everything in his power to reform for the sake of his daughter. And he kept it up even after she died. (Okay, he turned to drinking, but he did go to his family in Charleston to try to make amends there!) And seriously? I don't blame him for not believing Scarlett. She lied and used her feminine wiles to get what she wanted for 1030 pages before she finally spend the last 7 pages longing for Rhett. Not a great percentage there, Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler.

In other news, I've taken up my old job at my neighbors'. The warehouse world is a very interesting one full of so much unnecessary drama and I was glad to get out of there. If you really want the whole story, just ask me, but when my neighbor let her former nanny go (Claire was crying all day... really? I think the nanny's gotta go) I gladly put in my 2 weeks. So I'm installed next door 45-ish hours a week taking care of a sweet little 10-year-old girl. Her 13-year-old sister is there, too, but as she's 13, she doesn't really need a nanny. I'm more there as her friend. So we've been doing all sorts of things: making Jell-O, reading princess and fairy books, patching serious gaps in her education (i.e. watching The Wizard of Oz), and other such nonsense.

Caleb and I are getting closer to the day! 43 more days. I'm so excited to spend forever getting to know each other and love each other. And fight once in a while, because let's be realistic. We had premarital counseling scheduled with the pastor of our church (and his wife) but then he resigned, so that made it a little ... difficult. Caleb found a good friend of his who pastors a church between Cedar Springs and Greenville, MI. We finally had our first meeting with him yesterday and we've got a book we're going through with him. We're also doing another one on our own. As another one of Caleb's pastor friends said, "Premarital counseling isn't really about fixing all these problems. It's about starting discussions that you'll get to talk more about later when you're married and annoyed at each other." (Or words to that effect.) So we've discussed a lot of important things, like who cleans the toilet, and how we understand apologies.

I've also made a list of everything (I think) that needs to get done before the wedding. It's a deceptively short list, but I'm glad. I'm not really a stresser and I don't want to be.

In other wedding news, we've got 2 showers coming up. The first one is a week from Sunday, and is being thrown by some people at the camp where Caleb works. It's a co-ed shower, which is good, since Caleb knows all the people and I know about 4 of them. We're having another one the Saturday after that and that's for both of our families and all my friends. (Most of my friends are boys, and since the shower is only for girls, it's a nice small crowd.) We wanted to keep it simple since neither of us has a lot of female relatives in town - why have more than one shower? I've never been too excited about showers, but with my family and friends, it should be pretty fun!

I made chocolate-chip scones today and they were delicious.

Love and Thank-You Notes,

Leah Joy

I Guess I'm Getting Old

I must be old now because I keep complaining about kids these days. Ridiculous, I know.

But here's a thought.

When email first came out, I remember being so amazed. What? We can send a letter to someone and it doesn't cost anything?? We don't have to use a stamp?? It's free??? I was astounded. I couldn't believe it. And while I have gotten used to email, there's still something wonderful about opening a real, tangible letter or package.

And kids these days know that. They like getting things snail mail, too. Except to them it's a novelty. What? You can send real, physical things to people?

But here's the catch. Kids these days think that because email is free, so is snail mail. Some girls I know (who are not related to me, for the record) tried to mail a package back on forth on the same few already-used stamps, and with an arrow drawn between the addresses so the postal worker would know to switch them. They were astonished when it came back with insufficient postage on it.

That astounds me. And just reminds me of how kids take a lot of things for granted that we didn't when I was a kid. And that I probably take a lot of things for granted that my parents didn't.

That's all.

Lousy Kids and Their Email.

Love,

Leah

Why No One Likes Middle Schoolers

Remember when we were in 7th and 8th grade?

Remember when girls were catty and mean and boys were stupid, yet strangely alluring at the same time?

Remember when girls would spout "facts" they made up just because they wanted to say something? And you knew they were wrong but you couldn't tell them so? And you were so angry at them because they got all the attention and no one knew they were lying?

Remember when girls would compliment you only so you'd return the compliment and they could feel better? Remember how sick you always felt for participating in this frivolous exchange?

Remember when girls would do stupid, impractical things just to get attention? And it made you upset because you wanted the attention but weren't that stupid? And you kind of wished you were, but not really?

Some girls get stuck in this rut and are still like this when they "grow up". They're still stupid. They still compliment-fish. They still pull B.S. out of their butt and wave it around like it's a Christmas miracle.

Some people, though sadly few, never do this, and I pray my sister is one of them.

I just wish, for her sake, that those around her didn't have to be the stupid ones. That she didn't have to be the one writing this bitter blog post in 8 years. That she could have a little limelight, real friends of her own, and none of this ridiculous drama.

Well that's my bitter rant to make up for two months of silence.

Love and Reflection,

Leah Joy

So I'm Getting Married

I guess the two themes of this blog are now going to be Theology and Wedding Planning.

And because I know you all want to read the story, let me 'splain.

On Saturday (before Easter), Caleb took me out to Lake MI (my favorite place in the WORLD) and he brought an awesome picnic (it involved bacon and fruit juice!) and the day was nearly perfect and we walked on the beach and I was totally expecting him to propose. And then he didn't.

And then he took me out again on Wednesday, and he still didn't. I was getting confused. (And - let's be honest - impatient.)

On Thursday, we went to the Frederik Meijer Gardens. He turned his phone ringer off for me! I teased him about that a little bit. At one point, though, he said, "Oh no! I forgot to tell Mike (his roommate) that dinner is in the oven." You should know that Caleb doesn't leave dinner in the oven for Mike - ever. So he texted Mike about that. A few minutes later, Mike texted back. Caleb read it to me, "Do I have to turn the oven off?" You should know that Mike is not that stupid. We kept walking around outside and at point I thought, "Why is there someone who looks like Mike holding a camera and ducking behind a bush?" but I decided not to comment on it. Then (while we were in the Kid-Sense Garden, actually), Caleb got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I, in true Leah-form, responded, "Yes! Yes! I thought you'd never ask!"

Then Mike and his girlfriend Laura, who is considerably more talented at ducking behind bushes, came and took non-creeper pictures of us.

Anyway, turns out he was planning on proposing on Saturday, but the jeweler chipped the diamond. And then they thought it'd be ready on Wednesday, but it wasn't. So we got three dates out of the deal - plus they gave him a discount on the ring (which delights my Dutch heart oh-so much).

To those who want to know, no - we don't have a date yet. We were looking at one in August, but it's my dad's softball tournament. So we're still working on that. And it's kind of a headache.

The real headache, though, was yesterday at church. Because Caleb works there and I've gone there since birth, everyone wanted to talk about it. I walked into church and literally could not even make it through the lobby without talking to 9 people first. My little brother commented that I couldn't walk 2 feet without someone wanting to talk to me. "Congratulations!", "Can I see the ring!", "Oh, how lovely!" - while I appreciate all of these, I seriously got interrupted while we were singing. I'm like, "Thanks, but I'm praising Jesus right now! Ogle the ring later!" (I didn't actually say that, for the record.)

What annoyed me, though, was the people who said things like, "Oh, you've been keeping secrets!" I said (and I did actually say this), "Not really. We've been sitting next to each other in church for four months, holding hands and leaning on each other. If you'd have asked, we would have told you." And my mom said, quite sarcastically, "Funny how they never put a 'We're Dating!' announcement in the bulletin!" (I love my mom.)

I did receive one really lovely comment, though. There's a woman at church who often says very insensitive things, especially to me because she's known me for so long. And while I always know she doesn't mean it how it comes out, it still hurts. So when I saw her coming toward me yesterday, I admit it - I tried to pretend I hadn't seen her coming and get away. But she called my name. And then blessed me so sweetly. She said, "Is it true what I heard? You're marrying the best man? And he's marrying the best woman?" I nearly cried because I have never heard anything so sweet come out of her mouth - not to me, anyway!

Anyway, my wedding plans are coming along. I couldn't sleep the other night, so I've already got invitations designed and a dress pattern picked out (who wants to sew it for me?). And I've got two of my three bridesmaids... I'll ask the other one when she decides to make time in her schedule for me. :)

Oh, and Cara, my maid of honor, decided that the situation called for sparkly nail polish, so my nails are bright purple-and-blue sparkles. :)

Love and more Love,

Leah Joy

Systematic Theology Chapters 2-3: The Word of God and the Canon of Scripture (Plus a Little Life Update)

I guess I'll start with the life update, since that's what everyone wants to know. "Why are you home in the middle of the day?" "What's this about quitting your job?" (I wish the maddening crowd would calm down... okay, I'm kidding a little bit a lot.) Here's why:

My boss turned out to be a pervert, so the other office girl and I both quit. That's all there is to it; I just need a new job.

Now Theology. The Word of God. Grudem uses this chapter to distinguish the different meanings of the phrase "The Word of God". The first meaning is in the person of Christ. The Bible, and especially the book of John, refer to Christ as "the Word". Another meaning is God's speech: his decrees (like, "Let there be light"), his personal address (like, "I am the Lord your God..."), his words through humans (prophets), and his written words (the Bible, obviously). Grudem states that the study of systematic theology focuses on the Bible, as that "is the form of God's Word that is available for study, for public inspection, for repeated examination, and as a basis for mutual discussion."

Chapter 3 discusses the Canon of Scripture. First of all, the canon of Scripture is simply a list of the books that belong in the Bible. We must trust the canon to be God's words or we will not trust the words He has spoken to us. By the time of Jesus, the Old Testament canon (or at least what we today call the OT) was well established. There were no recorded arguments among the Jews about adding or taking away books. The Jews did not accept the Apocrypha as Scripture, and most of the early church did not either. They treated them as helpful and useful books, but not the Word of God. Jesus himself did not consider them as Scripture, nor did the New Testament authors.

Grudem has a lot to say about the New Testament canon and I can't summarize it all. He basically gives a few requirements the church had for books to make it into the canon: apostolic ties and a self-attesting nature ("the words would have borne witness to their own divine authorship as Christians read them"). He also points out that we should not be concerned about the adequacy of the canon. We don't need to fret, "Are we missing a book?" or "Should this book not be in the Bible?" If God wanted us to have another book, He is a big enough God to get that book in the canon. If He wanted a book out of the canon, He would have worked that. Our God is big enough that we needn't worry! We can trust Him - and we can trust His Word!

Next up: The Four Characteristics of Scripture. And hopefully a new job!

At least I've got some time to work on art projects. :)

Love and Sewing,

Leah Joy

Let's Be Honest

First of all, it's been too long. I have excuses. Good ones this time. My grandpa died a couple weeks ago, and life has been hectic.

Second, no Theology this time. Though it would honor my grandpa's memory, it's not happening tonight. Honestly, I'm just waiting for my nail polish to dry so I can go to bed.

Third, I just realized how like my grandpa I am. I've always known I got the whole no-condiments thing from him, but I just realized that we both love Theology. I guess he can read long books about wars and grow dahlias though, and I can not. :)

Fourth, sometimes I get really angry when people pray. Or annoyed. Or frustrated. Maybe I'm not supposed to analyze your prayers. But I do. I hate it when people are constantly super super reverent. And I hate it when people are constantly too "friendly" ("Hey Jesus. What's up?"). (I see that last one a lot with college students. Yes, Jesus is your friend. He's also a holy God who put you into this world and can take you right back out of it.) I think there should be a healthy balance between "Jesus is terrifying" and "Jesus is my best buddy".

Also, God's name is not a comma. Or are you reminding Him of His name? Or perhaps you forgot to Whom you're praying? Why must you say "God", "Lord Jesus", or "Father" every two words?

And the word "just"? UGH. "Just give us peace. And just give us strength." Okay, which one do you want? Because 'just' means precisely, or only. So do you want God to only give you peace, or only give you strength? Maybe I'm over-analyzing this. Okay, I know I'm over-analyzing this, but I wish people (myself included) would stop overusing the word "just", when speaking to God and the rest of the time, too!

And finally? Why do you ask God to come and be with you? If you are a follower of Christ, God is already with you. You can thank Him for His presence, but asking for it is completely unnecessary.

Rant over. Thanks for letting me be honest with you. :)

Love and Nail Polish (Just a clear coat),

Leah Joy