Beauty and Diversity in the City

Earlier this week I had lunch at a French cafe outside of Chinatown, followed by a visit to the Contemporary Jewish Museum and then a quick stop in a Roman Catholic Cathedral.  Say what?!

Yes, I was in San Francisco! I went into the city to do a practice run of getting to my interview the following day, which was right downtown. So I met a friend who lives in the city and we spent the afternoon having some fun.

Lunch was at Cafe de la Presse, and it was delish! The sandwich pictured below is grilled ham and cheese with, yes, a fried egg on top. Mmm...

Then, because it was the first Tuesday of the month and many of the museums are free, we decided to check out the Contemporary Jewish Museum.

Neat building, huh?

They were playing a film about the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill. It was an interesting story about this wild flock of parrots that live in the city and a man who studied and cared for them. (Now I have to find these parrots and see them for myself! Also, you can learn more here from the Parrot Man himself.)

They also had an exhibit on trees. I didn't realize, but trees are important to the Jewish culture and this exhibit was featuring different art featuring trees or wood in some way. And what I liked was that though some of it was a bit abstract, they explained what the meaning of each piece was. (That way I didn't have to say, "who says this is art?!")

Anyway, as you can see from the first photo of the museum, there is a Roman Catholic church behind the museum, so we stopped in to see. 

Being in a beautiful church always brings to mind the lyrics of a Needtobreathe song that I love, "Cathedrals have tried in vain to show the image of your face."  As our pastor recently pointed out, creation (and even our creations, we being given the ability to create as well) are so beautiful and yet they are only a shadow of the beauty of the Creator!  Wow.

Afterward, we ate cream puffs at Beard Papa. (Ugh, why did I not photograph the puff? It was a thing of beauty as well. I'm so glad I have taste buds, aren't you?!)

I'm so thankful to have had the chance to spend the day with a friend appreciating God's good gifts and the diversity and beauty of his creation!

Berkeley: Sweet and Salty

Last week I had the opportunity to head up to Berkeley to meet some friends for lunch. We enjoyed some lovely pizza at the Cheeseboard Collective Pizzeria, which is in a neighborhood called the "Gourmet Ghetto." (Doesn't that just sound like somewhere you'd want to eat lunch?) They do make only one type of pizza each day, and it is always vegetarian, which makes it great for those who are indecisive and bad for meat lovers (I told Steve he might still like it because from my experience, they do wonderful things with flavors!). The seating area is small and you just walk up to the counter and tell them how much pizza you want -- they sell it by the slice or the whole pie.  The pizza when I went was with finely sliced (so I couldn't even taste them) red and yellow onions, feta cheese and squash with a pesto sauce. (Unfortunately I devoured it before I could take a photo!) The Cheeseboard is SO Berkeley -- it's a co-op, meaning that it is worker-owned and operated. Besides the pizzeria, they also have a bakery filled with delectable baked goods and tons of fancy cheeses, most of which I probably could not pronounce. I did see a couple of pastries that were too tempting to pass up, though, including a banana chocolate chip muffin, a cheese roll, and a sour cherry-candied nut scone (as pictured left to right).

YUM :)

Afterwards, we went to check out an ice cream parlor I was instructed to try called Ici. They, like many other well-known ice cream places in the Bay Area, distinguish themselves by offering some interesting flavors. And apparently amazing ice cream sandwiches. While they did have plain chocolate, they also had some other flavors that were interesting, including chocolate-orange, coconut-lime, and the one I ended up choosing, honey-banana-candied peanut (which I had smothered in hot fudge!). They have also been known, I've been told by a friend in the know, to have more exotic offerings, like lavender.

Finally, I went down to the Berkeley Marina and took in some salty sea air and pretty views!  There is a long public pier that extends almost 1/2 mile into the Bay and you can see the Bay Bridge, Treasure Island, San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Angel Island from there.  I enjoyed a windy walk to the end of the pier and back.

 

All that and back in time for dinner!

Crescent Yums

Crescent rolls remind me of childhood because they were a staple with certain dishes.  I don't necessarily remember which dishes, but I remember the rolls and I remember having the responsibility on occasion of being the crescent roller-upper.  It used to frustrate me (and still does, if I'm honest) when they didn't look just like the picture on the package.  They also remind me of my dear mom, because she doesn't call them crescents, she calls them by their proper French name, croissants.  Spoken with a proper French accent, of course! :)

Anyway, I now have a couple of recipes featuring these lovely refrigerated dough masterpieces thanks to Pinterest and an email recipe exchange.  And when one sees a recipe with crescents, one doesn't hesitate to try it because one knows that crescents are delicious and how could a recipe with crescent rolls be bad, right?

So here they are, without further ado.  

French Dip Crescents (recipe here)

 

 

The first time I made these was with thick-cut roast beef, provolone, NO horsie sauce (because of personal distaste and also a bad experiences with horseradish), and my attempt at her "easy" au jus. (Okay, I'm sure it really is easy compared to real au jus, but still not easy and turned out too salty for me for some reason.)  So, overall, wasn't exactly a hit, but I knew it could be better... so I tried again with thin-cut deli roast beef, shredded mozzarella (milder than provolone) and from-a-powder au jus -- I think I got the Lowry's or McCormick mix to which you simply add water.  Then I spiced it up with Italian bread crumbs sprinkled on top before baking, and VOILA! (Sorry, my French language skills are very limited. That's all I've got.) Definitely drool worthy!

Cheesy Chicken Crescent Roll-Ups

This recipe I got from a friend in a recipe exchange.  It doesn't necessarily look that fab when you see the recipe, but chicken + cheese + crescents = delicious!  And it actually does have good flavor thanks to the Italian bread crumbs (which is where I got the idea to put them in the recipe above).

1 pkg cream cheese (8oz)

1 pkg crescent rolls (8 ct) 

2 shredded cooked chicken breasts 

1.5 C grated chedder cheese 

1 C grated Monterey Jack 

1/4 t salt 

1/4 t pepper 

bread crumbs 

1/4 stick melted butter

 

Combine chicken, cheeses, salt and pepper. Spoon onto crescents. Roll them up making sure they are sealed around the chicken mixture. Brush tops with butter and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. To reheat, just place in a 325 degree oven for 15 minutes.

The great thing is you can fudge this recipe quite a bit and it's still delicious!  I can even see adding other spices/herbs to change it up a bit.  As I mentioned, I use Italian seasoned bread crumbs and I also sub olive oil for the butter.  I also cheat and use whatever kind of shredded cheese I have on hand (usually just one variety).  And the secret to the roll up is to roll them like a crescent and then tuck the sides in to cover the chicken.  You don't want any of that precious cheesy goodness to get out!

Both of these recipes are good comfort food.  Let me know if you try them!

Easter is Not About Bunnies!

The secularized version of "Easter" makes me crazy!  In my opinion, it distracts from the true meaning of this precious time of remembrance of our Lord's death for our sins and his victory over death by rising again. (For more information, go here and download this free book, Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die, then check out at least chapters 1, 4, and 9. It's short and to the point and explains things way better than I can.)  At this time of the year, I have the urge to shout "Easter is not about bunnies or eggs!" from every roof top around.

Okay, that said, I didn't feel bad about buying Steve a chocolate bunny since we both know, understand, and believe the true meaning of Easter and since we didn't make a big deal of it.  I think I bought it the Thursday before Easter and just finally remembered to give it to him yesterday!  Better late than never, right?  Well, I have to say, the bunny thing is kinda starting to creep me out.  If you need a reason other than the one expressed above to not like him, well... just look at this thing!

It has the story of Peter Rabbit on the box, which has nothing to do with Easter and isn't really a happy story if I remember it correctly (though I'm sure it teaches a good moral).  Anyway, that aside, I have to say, the other chocolate bunnies weren't any better (I'm sure I got the least creepy one I could find).  Maybe I'm shopping at the wrong place.  But Steve doesn't care about the looks, or, apparently, the quality of the chocolate.  As long as it's hollow, it's delicious... and the bigger the better!

Anyway, lest you think I'm overreacting, here's further evidence that the Easter bunny is just plain creepy.  I just did a Google search for "creepy Easter bunny" and came across this gem of a photo (amongst the millions of results of that search, by the way):

Is it any wonder that this child is crying?  (Incidentally, that little girl could almost be me... really, ask my parents!)  Ugh, that is just weird. 

And speaking of creepy Easter bunnies, I have a personal story from my childhood.  I was a fairly gullible child and believed in Easter bunnies, tooth fairies, and yes, Santa till a too-late age (I like to say that it was just because I enjoyed believing).  One year, my sweet mother bought my brother and I each a very large stuffed bunny for Easter (from The Bunny... this was before we started celebrating the true meaning).  She laid the two bunnies on the couch head-to-foot and covered them with a blanket, which made them look like one large, human-sized bunny.  Upon waking, we always went first to our parents to wake them and all went together to discover what had been brought for us.  But on my way that fateful morning, I noticed the bunny "asleep" on the couch and it totally freaked me out!  I remember going to my parents' bedroom with news that the Easter bunny had fallen asleep on our couch and neglected all of the other kids whose houses he had not yet visited!  I also remember being kind of panicked about it.  But I also think what really scared me was that I was beginning to think he wasn't real and then I found him on our couch.  

Strange, I know.  As is the premise of a bunny visiting houses at night, leaving chocolate and eggs and stuffed versions of himself for boys and girls. Why do we keep up this tradition and perpetuate the creepiness? Let's do the only reasonable thing and abolish the Easter bunny.  Any takers?

Hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating Jesus' death and resurrection. Praise Him for the grace He has poured out on undeserving sinners!

Sweet Endeavors

I mentioned a while back in a post that I have been doing a little bit of baking, so I'm finally sharing the sweets that I've made!  (Note that the recipe name is a link to the recipe.)

Peanut Butter-Nutella Swirl

This was the first cookie I attempted because you don't need a mixer for this.  Oh, and duh, because of the Nutella, of course!  It is really good.  If you like PB cookies, you'll like this :)  Don't be shy with the Nutella -- the more, the better!

I also tried these, but the cookie didn't turn out for me, so I switched back to the swirl cookie and then added a dollop of Nutella.  They were good, but a little rich for me! (And that's saying a lot!)

Breakfast Cookie

Then I came across this baby on Pinterest and whipped up a batch.  They were pretty good and naturally sweet so I could eat them for breakfast without guilt!  More of a cake-like texture than cookie.  You will not be able to pass this off as a regular cookie, it's too healthy tasting for that.  Which is why it's a great breakfast cookie!

Chewy Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

The other week I found a hand mixer on sale at BB&B, so I snatched it up with visions of all of the cookies I have been wanting to make but couldn't for lack of one (I made some muffins that required creaming the butter and sugar and got a really good arm workout that day!).  So I tried this recipe, subbing chocolate chips for nuts.  Steve and I both agreed that these cookies were "okay."  Not bad for breakfast, but then, I'd probably prefer the breakfast cookies for a less-guilt alternative, because even though these are pretty low in fat, they do have a lot of sugar.  Not that there's any kind of cookie that I wouldn't eat for breakfast! :)

Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip

And then earlier this week, I was wanting to make something sweet (ugh -- I need a job so I don't have to sign up for a marathon to run off all of these cookie calories!)... so I looked up chocolate chip cookie recipes and settled on this one because I love a nice, soft cookie and supposedly using all brown sugar instead of half brown and half white yields a softer cookie (news to me!).  I also read somewhere that cooling the dough before cooking would make a thicker (less flat) cookie, so after whipping these up, I threw the dough in the freezer for about 15 minutes.  Then I formed the balls and cooked as per the recipe.  True statements for both the brown sugar and dough freezing (you can see in the photo that the cookie did not flatten out much).

Um... yum!  These are the best CC cookies I've ever made (not that it's saying a lot when I put it that way, but still!)

And now I think I'll hit the treadmill :)  Hope you enjoyed!

The Hills are Alive!

In the East side of the SF Bay ("The East Bay"), our hills are brown most of the year (refer to this post for proof). But after some rain, we now (temporarily) have the most beautiful green hills! Aren't they so pretty???  It almost makes me want to hike up Mission Peak again... almost.

And this is just the creation... what a wonderful, majestic, beautiful Creator we have!

Psalm 104:1-18

Bless the Lord, O my soul!
    O Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
²     covering yourself with light as with a garment,
     stretching out the heavens like a tent.
³ He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;
he makes the clouds his chariot;
    he rides on the wings of the wind;
⁴ he makes his messengers winds,
    his ministers a flaming fire.

⁵ He set the earth on its foundations,
    so that it should never be moved.
⁶ You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ At your rebuke they fled;
    at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
⁸ The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
    to the place that you appointed for them.
⁹ You set a boundary that they may not pass,
    so that they might not again cover the earth.

¹⁰ You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
    they flow between the hills;
¹¹ they give drink to every beast of the field;
    the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
    they sing among the branches.
¹³  From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
    the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

¹⁴ You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
    and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
¹⁵     and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
    and bread to strengthen man's heart.

¹⁶ The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
     the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
¹⁷ In them the birds build their nests;
    the stork has her home in the fir trees.
¹⁸ The high mountains are for the wild goats;
    the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

Soup-er Fail

The other week I found this recipe for vegetable stock and thought it would be so great to make my own vegetable soup -- imagine all of the healthy vegetable goodness!  The vitamins, minerals, and... other healthy things.  And so easy!

So I grabbed some veggies, through them in a pot for several hours with some water and then sampled the product.  Guess what.  It tasted like vegetable water.  A few more cooked vegetables, pasta, and several dashes, pinches, and doses of a variety of spices (and a desperate splash of chicken stock) later, and I thought it at least edible and was on my way to church.  A few hours later, I asked Steve how it was, scared of what he would say.  Can I tell you how gracious my husband is?  He just replied, "It was sweet of you to make it..."

I have to say, it wasn't bad as far as vegetable soup goes.  It just wasn't... good.  I think the problem was that, as Steve said, there just wasn't any meat.  I am afraid neither of us will ever make very good vegetarians!

But it was pretty (and almost as colorful as the fun new place mats I recently got!).  And of course, the biggest pot of soup I have ever made.  Ugh.  Today we are celebrating Steve having finished it off for lunch earlier more than a week later!  (Why does good soup go so fast and not-as-good soup last for-ev-er?!)