Monthly Archive for December, 2007

Apple Cranberry Crisp

Published
by
Michael
on December 29, 2007
in Recipes
. 0 Comments

This recipe is attributed to Suzanne Hobbs, and I discovered it in Bottom Line Personal magazine.

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This is a very delicious dessert, and it got high marks from my family at Christmas. It was my first time making it, and I am not an expert cook by any estimation. It is easy to make, and it has a nice tart-sweet taste, something really nice for people like me who like their sweet things to be tart. The preparation time was maybe 15-30 minutes, and then it takes 40 minutes to bake.

Here’s a few tips for those like me who don’t cook very often:

  • The first thing you should do is take out the margarin and let it soften (the original recipe called for butter, but I’m vegan, so have adapted it). You will need to blend it by hand later on, and this will be difficult if it is rock-hard from being in the refrigerator.
  • You will get the best results if you peel and slice the apples before proceeding, since that is the most time-consuming step. An easy procedure is to peel each one, then cut it into quarters, cut out the core of each quarter, and then slice each quarter.
  • After you peel the apples, turn on your oven to 375°F (it needs to preheat).
  • If you don’t have a pastry blender or a big fork, try this method of blending the topping ingredients (my mom taught me this technique): With a butter knife in each hand, crisscross the knives through the ingredients, scissor-like, to break up the chunks of margarin and other ingredients. It’s not hard work, but to get it done you should do the motions quickly or it will take forever. You want a nice fine texture, no chunks.

 

Apple Cranberry Crisp

Preheat over to 375°F. Oil a 9×13-inch baking dish (or use Pam cooking spray to lightly coat it).

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FILLING

  • 6 large tart apples, peeled and sliced: Granny Smith (what I used), McIntosh, or any firm apple
  • 1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (I used fresh)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, combine apples, cranberries, sugar, and flour. Toss to coat fruit. Spread the mixture over the bottom of the baking dish.

Variation: Ripe pears can be used in place of apples.

TOPPING

  • 1 cup rolled oats (I used old-fashioned oats)
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup margarin
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans

In a small bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, flour, and margarin. Using a fork or pastry blender (or butter knives), combine ingredients until the mixture is crumbly and margarin is well incorporated. Stir in pecans.

Variation: Use chopped walnuts in place of pecans.

Sprinkle topping evenly over fruit and pat down firmly with your fingers. Bake for 40 minutes or until the fruit is bubbly and topping is golden brown. (It looks and smells really good at this point … I wish I had taken a photo!)

Serve warm or chilled. We ate ours plain, but you can top it with ice cream or sorbet if desired.

Yields 8-12 servings. If you cut the recipe in half, use an 8×8-inch baking dish.

260 calories per serving. 6g fat. A good source of vitamin C.

Christmas At My House

Published
by
Michael
on December 25, 2007
in Journal
. 0 Comments

This is the first year that my family has had Christmas at my place. It is also the first time I’ve had Christmas at my place, since moving here to work at 3ABN in 1999. It was a little bit stressful, since Christmas fell immediately on the heels of the GYC convention. Getting home from GYC was a challenge in itself. You can read all about it at the end of my post about GYC on my Xanga blog.

I had hoped to have a Christmas tree, but a full week before Christmas all the local suppliers (including Wal-Mart, Menards, Home Depot, Lowe’s) were completely sold out. I don’t really care for artificial trees … they just seem so fake … so this year we went without a tree. Well, not completely. My rubber plant and ficus did extra duty as stand-ins.

My rubber plant decorated with Christmas lights — not too bad:

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All the gifts around the plants:

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Because Eugene and Heidi were in a hurry to get back to OHC, we had Christmas a day early this year, on Monday. So for me, it feels like Christmas is already past, even though today is Christmas.

Eugene and Heidi with their pile of winnings:

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My mom and Heidi did most of the cooking, but I did contribute a little bit. I found a recipe for “Apple Cranberry Crisp,” and made that. The ingredients in the mixing bowl looked so good, I had to take a picture. I may post the recipe later.

Granny Smith apples and cranberries — the two key ingredients in Apple Cranberry Crisp:

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Heidi and Eugene purchased this beautiful bouquet that decorated our table:

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We had a really nice and filling Christmas dinner. But I didn’t get any photos of it. The photo below is from our much lighter supper.

Eugene, Heidi, and Mom:

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Finally, in the evening we played a game of Rummikub, and then watched a video (The Privileged Planet). It was a fun day, and I really enjoyed the time with family. Seems like all too soon it was over.

GYC Retrospective

Published
by
Michael
on December 24, 2007
in Journal and Photos
. 0 Comments

I spent December 19-23 at the Generation of Youth for Christ (GYC) convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I have attended each year since the first one, and as usual GYC was very good.

I arranged my own hotel through Priceline this year, and that saved me a little money (it was $60/night). The hotel I got was the Hyatt, right next to the convention center, and one of the main hotels other GYC attendees were using. My room was nice, with a king size bed, and a nice 15th-story view of downtown Minneapolis. For some reason the thermostat was a little flaky, and the wireless internet ($10 extra per night) was very poor — worse than dial-up. But I had a comfortable place to rest, and everything else worked well. Nothing I couldn’t live with.

All of the main meetings (plenary sessions) were very good. I especially enjoyed the testimony by Steve Kasperbauer, the 1888 panel discussion (since my bro was in it … and because the content was good ;-) ), and all the presentations by David Shin. Steve’s testimony was absolutely incredible. If you didn’t hear it, get it. I believe it will be available from the GYC website eventually.

The seminars were good, although not really the highlight for me. I enjoyed one of Mark Finley’s seminars (”The Shaking and the Sifting”), but it was so packed that I could not get in more than once. I attended two seminars by Nathan Renner (about friendship evangelism); I enjoyed hearing his testimony, and the other content was good, but a little too heavy on the theory of why, and a little too light on the subject of how, for my tastes. The surprise for me was two seminars by Bruce Ashton on the topic of music. I was expecting the usual “how to tell good music from bad” approach, but it wasn’t really that at all. If an attendee could look past the fact that Bruce read everything from notes, there were some really awesome concepts to glean. I would even dare say revolutionary concepts for the worship services at many medium to large churches. The main gem was a clear explanation of the purpose and nature of worship, and the consequential implications for what passes as worship at many churches. In a nutshell: Most churches fashion their worship services to please the congregation, or visitors, or “seekers”; but real worship, and all decisions about style and format and content, should be about pleasing God alone. In this light, much of the music labeled as “worship” music has nothing to do with worship at all, even if it is acceptable in a larger framework.

This year’s outreach was challenging on at least three fronts: Many people weren’t home (it was just before Christmas). Those that were home were often not interested (Minnesota is a hard area to witness in, as numerous GYC attendees noted). And it was freezing cold. If not for a block of apartments that we were able to enter, I wonder if I’d be nursing my second case of frostbite on my toes. Still, it was a good experience, especially in light of all that was accomplished by the group in total. My partner and I had a really nice talk with a woman who seemed genuinely interested, and I was able to pray with her. I hope that she will sign up for the studies.

3ABN’s booth was in a prime location this year, and although I was not there officially representing 3ABN, I pitched in at the booth a few times. Greg and Jill did a great job of manning the booth. We made observations that hopefully will help us be better prepared for these kinds of events in the future. The booth seemed to be quite popular, and it was great to hear all the positive feedback from attendees both young and old.

3ABN’s booth, with Greg and Jill, and our president, Jim Gilley:

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GYC is always a great place to catch up with friends, and make new ones. Although I am probably one of the worst people for remembering names and facts about people, I gain some satisfaction from seeing familiar faces (even if for the life of me I can’t remember who they are or where I recognize them from). At last year’s GYC I learned that if I really, really try to remember, such as by utilizing various memory association tricks, I can actually remember new names pretty well. In fact, I still remember the names of the two persons from that conference that I tried this technique with. Ironically, I’ve never seen them again.

I saw so many friends at this year’s conference, I can’t really name them all. But it was a blessing to talk with them and learn what’s new in their lives.

Eugene and Heidi:

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One of the beautiful churches in the area (note the low clouds/mist — the top third or so of the skyscraper in the background is completely hidden):

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Candy Cane Lane

Published
by
Michael
on December 24, 2007
in Journal
. 1 Comment

Just before GYC, I was with my good ol’ buddy from LifeStyleTV, Claus Nybo. On the way home that December 14, we stopped in West Frankfort to look at Candy Cane Lane. Candy Cane Lane is a series of streets that are decorated for the Christmas holiday, and is an annual tradition for the people of West Frankfort. At the time we drove through, most of the houses were not decorated very well, but the final street was incredible. It was like a cross between midwest lawn decorations and the Las Vegas main drag. (See the video below.)

A section of one of the streets:

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Here is a video I took on Claus’s camera:

The music for this video was taken from this website. Ordinarily I would not think of the “1812 Overture” as Christmas music, and I almost chose another song. But in the end I thought the soundtrack matched the exuberant display perfectly. If I had more footage, I could have done something to synchronize with the music (especially the cannons!), but this was a quick and dirty job.

GYC

Published
by
Michael
on December 18, 2007
in Journal
. 0 Comments

This week I’ll be up in Minneapolis, MN, for the Generation of Youth for Christ (GYC) convention. My flight leaves at 6:07 a.m.! I should be there sometime in the early afternoon. Looks like we are in for a cool and snowy GYC … the third such GYC, I believe (Pine Springs Ranch and the one in MI were also snowy). For all of you that will be there, too … see you soon!

I’ll be back home on the 23rd, just in time for Christmas.