January 2010 Daring Bakers’ Challenge – Graham Crackers and Nanaimo Bars
Posted by aaronjen | Filed under Recipes
I was very excited when I found out my very first Daring Bakers’ Challenge would involve making my own graham crackers. Having lived in Australia for the past 10 years, it is one of those staple grocery items that I miss the most from the US. I have grown used to substituting them for Arnott’s Shredded Wheatmeal biscuits (they’re the closest thing I’ve found in taste and texture to graham crackers here). But they’re just not the same!!! How am I honestly meant to introduce my boys to S’mores on anything but a graham cracker?!?
I didn’t attempt the gluten free version we were encouraged to try, but I was very pleased with the result, especially since Caleb loves them! It was a fairly straight forward recipe, one I would try again (although I think I’ll attempt to lower the fat content by replacing the butter with low fat margarine next time and see if they still come out ok), and the only snag I had was rolling out the dough. It was a disaster!!! It resulted in my having to call in Aaron to help me through it, and it made me so cranky that I’m thinking of coining the term ‘Baker’s Rage’. Poor Aaron! But he saved the day, the good super hero husband he is, and I think they turned out great for a first attempt!
Yet that wasn’t the end of my challenge. No! The reason we made the graham crackers was to crumb them for a Canadian slice called Nanaimo Bars (in the spirit of the Winter Olympics being hosted by Canada this year). I’d never heard of them before, but it’s basically a cocoa and graham cracker crumb base with almonds and coconut, a custard butter icing centre, and a chocolate top layer. They are very yummy, and very rich! You only need a bite size piece to be satisfied, and I’m glad to know that they freeze well, so that I can pull them out when people stop by for a cuppa, or take them with me when I visit others.
Experienced as I am with making slices, this was a fairly easy challenge. The only thing that didn’t work well was the chocolate top. The recipe called for melting 2 tablespoons of butter with 115g of chocolate, and for some reason, it seemed to curdle instead of come together. It was very late at the time, so I ended up giving up and omitted the butter, but on reflection, I think I should’ve just melted the chocolate and then mixed the butter in. Doesn’t really matter – they still turned out great! Now I just have to find some Canadian friends to give them to, in order to see if they pass for the real deal! - JRR
The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.
Tags: Arnotts, Baking, Daring Bakers, Graham Crackers, Nanaimo Bars, S'mores, Shredded Wheatmeal Biscuits
January 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge - Satay
Posted by aaronjen | Filed under Recipes
I started right on the deadline for this challenge, and have just managed to scrape through AND blog about it! The challenge for January was satay which is something that I have made before, but only with pre-made satay sauce etc., so I was keen to make it from scratch.
The guidelines allowed any meat or tofu, and with or without skewers. I opted for chicken and no skewers.
I made up the marinade this morning in the food processor, although it seemed that most of the ingredients ‘flew under the radar’ of the processor blade so I had to engage in the dangerous practice of ’tilting’ the processor to get maximum amount of marinade going through the blades (please don’t try this at home).
After the marinade was semi-passable, I zip-lock bagged it up with the cut-up chicken nice and air tight and put it in the fridge to marinate for about six hours.
As dinner time approached, I prepared the peanut sauce, which turned out to be a lot easier and a lot quicker than I thought it would, so it was almost ready as I started to cook the chicken, and started to cook the rice (2 cups of Jasmine, 3 cups of water, press “sensor cook rice/pasta” once then start, stir when it tells you to, add another cup of water, then throw it back into the microwave for the remaining time).
The timing on the rice was a bit out, so it was the last thing ready, which meant I probably pushed the chicken a little too far, but it was still passable.
Through this process I’ve come to really like the combination of lemon and ginger…the chicken (even without the sauce) was amazing because of it. There was a lot more depth to the flavor than you get from any of the pre-made stuff I’ve used in the past - the peanut sauce was there throughout the mouthful, and first off was the garlic, then the lemon and ginger finished - almost refreshing - each mouthful.
This is definitely a recipe I would try again - I was surprised at how easy it actually was! I will explore other ways to get the marinade to a saucier consistency next time (probably with a whizz stick), and will start cooking the rice before the meat, and the meat before the sauce. - ALR
The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.
Tags: daring cook, satay
Christmas Countdown
Posted by aaronjen | Filed under Family
As Christmas is quickly approaching, I thought I should share some Team Rose family traditions, ways in which we intentionally try to teach our boys why it is we celebrate Christmas, that it’s not all about Santa and presents. There are four things we specifically do as a family – we have an Advent Calendar, an Advent Wreath, a Jesse Tree, and a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas day.
The Advent Calendar is fairly normal, chocolate included, but I usually slip a sheet of paper in each day with a different family activity – these vary from an afternoon walk to get an ice cream cone, collecting items around our house to give to Salvation Army, making Christmas cards, doing Christmas baking and giving it away to our neighbours, going for a drive to look at Christmas lights, and so on. I find that this is a good way to wind down the year, especially after having finished study, and to reinforce our relationships with our boys through good old fashioned quality time.
For the Advent Wreath (which for us is more like an Advent log – incidentally the form my grandparents’ one took), last year we followed the liturgy on Scot McKnight’s blog, Jesus Creed. It’s short and sweet, just what you want with two young active boys in the house, and includes at least one passage of Scripture and a prayer for each week. We did this right before dinner on Sunday nights and the boys would blow out the candles together afterwards. It made a nice centrepiece for our dining table.
For our version (pictured above), I picked up a glass tea light candle holder on clearance last year and bought some coloured votive candles for it, and then jazzed it up with a bit of Christmas garland and printed out the theme for each candle on strips of paper which I sticky taped underneath. One year we simple had votive candles arranged on a plate in a circle though, which worked just as well, so there’s no need to make it complicated.
The Jesse tree is a fairly new concept for us, but has been a great little addition to our Christmas celebrations. We have a separate little Christmas tree which we attach ornaments to, each symbolizing part of the Bible narrative leading up to Jesus’ birth. In the past I’ve simply found little colouring pages for each symbol on the internet and fashioned them into ornaments for our tree by backing them with cardstock. Before we had a separate tree for this, I simply stuck them to the wall in the shape of a Christmas tree, or placed them on our bigger tree along with the other ornaments.
This year I’ve bought this little chapter book from Koorong, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to start the Jesse tree tradition in their family (the picture of the book takes you to its page on Amazon.com). There are 24 chapters, a chapter a day in the month of December leading up to Christmas, and I think it’s a great Biblical theology tool to use with kids. Aaron described it as being in a similar style to A New Kind of Christian by Brian McLaren, but for kids. Definitely worth a look!
Lastly, we have our birthday cake for Jesus. This is another tradition that came from my childhood and one that I’ve always loved. Birthdays were huge family affairs for us, when my entire extended family would get together, and it was great to recognize the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth in a similar manner. I think it also places some perspective on the presents thing, offering opportunities for kids to question why they are getting presents on someone else’s birthday. - JRR
Happy snap of us from Christmas 2008
Tags: A New Kind of Christian, Advent Calendar, Advent Wreath, Biblical theology, Brian McLaren, Christmas, Jesse tree, Jesus, Jesus Creed, Salvation Army, Santa, Scot McKnight
Hit hard by the Macaron bug
Posted by aaronjen | Filed under Recipes
So I realize it’s been a while since I’ve contributed to our blog – that comes with the craziness of a semester of study – and so this post seems way overdue! But hey, I don’t get marked 10% off a week for not posting here…
My mom came to visit us from the US in late August/early September and since her birthday was a week after she left us, I thought I’d take her out for high tea at the Tea House at Macquarie Centre and to the movies to see My Sister’s Keeper. We had a great time and it was during our high tea at the Tea House that I tried my first ever French macaron! Instantly hooked! Two varieties - Strawberry and Pistachio - simply AMAZING! But at $2 each, I thought I could quickly send us bankrupt, so what else could I do but work out how to make them at home. And wouldn’t you know that macarons are everywhere in cyberspace! Prophecies that they’ll be the new cupcake - and I couldn’t agree more!
My first attempt was a Chocolate macaron and when it didn’t turn out very well, I suddenly recalled that French macarons were one of the tougher components of a Pressure Test on MasterChef Australia – and felt both scared, and slightly relieved – you see, mine didn’t look the best, but they didn’t look as bad as the bad ones on MasterChef either. Then I found Kitchen Musings, and was also reassured that chocolate macarons are a bit harder to master – another boost of confidence!
So we tried again – and by we I mean WE – Aaron is great at these kinds of things – and tried the basic almond macaron recipe from Kitchen Musings, and what do you know, we got feet! Yet the butter cream let us down – mainly because I was trying so hard to lower the fat content – alas! it cannot be done.
Third time was the charm – the Almond Macaron from Kitchen Musings with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Butter Cream from Martha Stewart’s website - oh so good! We’ve tried a few more times, still experimenting with different ingredients, flavourings, and slowly acquiring better equipment, but one of the most interesting results has been our renewed love for food – and with that has come our decision to apply to take part in The Daring Kitchen challenges.
So heads up – food is probably going to become a regular feature of this blog! – JRR
Tags: high tea, Kitchen Musings, macaron, Macquarie Centre, Martha Stewart, MasterChef Australia, My Sister's Keeper, Pressure Test, Tea House, The Daring Kitchen
John and Olive Drane
Posted by aaronjen | Filed under Theology
I’ve just finished a week’s intensive Masters/DMin class for my BMin (Honours) and wanted to post a few things that have been ticking in my mind that have come up this past week, that I will aim to unpack more over the next of weeks as I start the research for my assessment for the class.
At this stage, I see the following things as areas worth exploring in working out the ‘way forward’ for the church in the 21st Century.
- Many churches’ worship and gatherings are based on a model that comes from the Agricultural Age
- People are replacing ‘religion’ with ’spirituality’
- Rather than having the culture directly influence ecclesiology, culture, along with our understanding of Jesus, should influence our missiology, which should determine our ecclesiology - so often we get it around the other way (culture determines ecclesiology, which influences our missiology, which shapes our Christology)
- we need to unpack what ‘in the world’ as opposed to ‘of the world’ means. Often we spend too much time focusing in quite insignificant interpretations of this phrase (being in church on Sunday makes sure we’re not of the world) and ignore significant ways we could show we’re not ‘of the world’ (Western Christians’ adoption of consumerism, seen easily by visiting your local Christian bookstore).
- the division between ’secular’ and ’sacred’ needs to be seen as unbiblical as it is not an idea derived from the New Testament idea of church and mission
- this dualistic division impacts the church significantly in areas such as women in ministry, adopting a holistic lifestyle, and incarnationality
Much more was covered, but these are the points that I see as most relevant to the future direction the church needs to take. One lucky last point is:
- we need to aim at being incarnational, not relevant
- ALR
John Drane - The McDonaldization of the Church
Posted by aaronjen | Filed under Books, Theology
I have just finished reading this book as part of the pre-reading requirements for an intensive I’m planning on taking in November with the author and his wife, Olive. I’m planning on recording my notes for each chapter as blog posts over the next week or so (hopefully!).
I was reflecting last night on how much my views have changed, particularly regarding ecclesiology, over the last 5 years or so. I think the ‘me’ 5 years ago would think the ‘now’ me was a heretic! This book has been another that has helped fuel my new-found heretical beliefs - I highly recommend it!
Tags: Church, John Drane, McDonaldization
A bit of pre-reading with Caleb
Posted by aaronjen | Filed under Books, Family
Noah was always keen to sit and read with me from the time he was a toddler. Caleb, however, now a preschooler, has only recently taken any real interest in reading, but has picked it up really quickly. As with Noah, his favourite book by far is The Cat in the Hat, by Dr Seuss (we’re already onto our second copy, having worn out the first one). How I recall reading The Cat in the Hat to Noah no less than 7 times a day before he was 2 years old, especially when I read it to Caleb now, being able to easily recite the whole book off by heart.
In this post, however, I want to mention two other books that are very popular with Caleb - I Went Walking, by Sue Williams and Where is the Green Sheep?, by Mem Fox – because they are great examples of books that develop a preschooler’s pre-reading skills. The thing that makes these two books particularly good is the repetitive and easy vocabulary and the 
corresponding pictures, helping a child who can’t read yet remember which words go with which pictures, allowing them to practice ‘reading’ the book to themselves. In fact, the book is rather an optional add-in when it comes to reciting the book, as Caleb demonstrated the other day when we were walking home from the shops by reciting pretty much verbatim I Went Walking (only steering from the script where I do as I read it to him).
I highly recommend these books for your toddler/preschooler and it’s my hope that reading these books over and over again to Caleb and having him ‘read’ them to me will help him gain the confidence he needs to take the leap when he starts school in 2011 to real reading. - JRR
Tags: Dr Seuss, I Went Walking, Mem Fox, parenting, pre-reading, reading, school, Sue Williams, The Cat in the Hat, Where is the Green Sheep?
Derek Webb - What Matters More?
Posted by aaronjen | Filed under Music
I blogged about Derek Webb’s album Stockholm Syndrome earlier and have had more of a chance to listen to the album and read a bit more of the ‘controversy’ this song has caused.
Scot McKnight blogs about this song - mainly asking what people have heard and think about the song. McKnight doesn’t know much about Derek Webb so for that reason was asking what other people thought about the song/artist etc. A number of responses to McKnight’s questions seemed to be directed at Derek Webb’s artistic ability and not directly at the questions of whether the song was appropriate etc.
I’ve also read elsewhere opposing views as to whether or not the issue of homosexuality is in fact still an issue. A number of people at both McKnight’s and Burnside Writer’s blogs believe that “What Matters More” is a little bit too late. I don’t think this is the case…I think, maybe on paper some Christians attitudes towards sexuality have changed, but I’d say in practice there is still a hesitation towards acceptance of people regardless of sexuality.
I think that Webb is asking the question about what matters more to highlight that instead of trying to correct other peoples’ behavior, we should focus on things that we can make a difference with, such as loving others, justice, and worrying about our own walk. - ALR
Tags: Derek Webb, Scot McKnight, sexuality, What Matters More
Two-Line Vocabulary
Posted by aaronjen | Filed under Family
If you’ve ever watched the show “Whose Line is it Anyway?”, you may be familiar with one of the games they play called Two-Line Vocabulary. There are three actors and they are given a scene, but two of the characters have to act out the scene each being given only two lines they are allowed to say, while the third actor is allowed to say anything. It’s amazing how many ways the actors can inject different meanings in to the two lines they are given, but also how every time they play this game, the actor that can say whatever they want to ultimately acts it frustrated.
Well, it occurred to me the other day that Caleb has been playing an ongoing game of Two-Line Vocabulary for months now. The two lines he’s working with: “Look see” and “Is that right?”. The thing is, like the character that can say whatever they want, I often find myself frustrated with Caleb after the 50th time he’s said “Look see” or “Is that right?” as it gets to a stage when I feel like our conversation is going nowhere. I constantly need reminding that he’s still learning, and these are opportunities for me to expand his vocabulary as I offer different responses.
Caleb, at 3 1/2 is very strong-willed, (a child that refused to be weaned until 2 1/2, and who although quite capable of using the toilet, is still in nappies), and keeps us constantly on our toes (he’s got ‘tude). But we love him to bits! He’s been a bit sick the past couple days, and he’s just so snuggly and sweet. In fact, just before I was colouring in for him (being forced), yet every time I finished a task for him and asked him how it looked, his response, “That’s beautiful!”. How could you not adore that (especially since I wasn’t even staying in the lines)?! - JRR
Tags: Breastfeeding, humor, parenting, Toilet Training, Two Line Vocabulary, Weaning, Whose Line is it Anyway
Simon & Garfunkel Concert
Posted by aaronjen | Filed under Music
On Saturday, 20 Jun 09, Jen took me to see Simon and Garfunkel in concert at Acer Arena in Sydney for my birthday present. It had been years that I had wanted to see S&G in concert, and never thought it’d happen, especially in Sydney, so there was no question that we’d have to get tickets to go see them. The 20th of June was their first of three Sydney shows (two were originally advertised, with the show on the 23rd added after the first two shows all but sold out) and was sold out (although we did have spare seats either side of us).”
The show started late as people were still arriving after the start time, but when they finally took to the stage, most seats were filled and we were all ready for a once in a lifetime opportunity to see and hear two of the most influential recording artists over the last 50 years.
The show opened, after a long round of applause from us fans, with the tour title “Old Friends“. It was amazing to hear how good S&G still sound. They played about 27 songs (click here for the complete set list), with at least one of them on stage for the entire 2 (and a little bit) hour concert. Paul Simon left for Art to sing “Bright Eyes”, “A Heart in New York” (which I was hoping to hear!) and a song he wrote himself called “Perfect Moment”. Simon returned to the stage to play guitar for Art while he sang “For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her“. They then performed “Late in the Evening” which included one of their guitarists playing a saxophone solo, followed by a guitar solo, which was quite incredible. Art then left for Simon to sing “The Boy in the Bubble” and “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”. Art returned for Paul to sing “The Only Living Boy in New York“, which Paul told us he wrote while Art was down in Mexico filming “Catch 22“.
I was very impressed with their backing band - all incredible musicians. After the concert Jen and I were discussing songs we would have liked to have heard that they didn’t play and soon realised that the concert would have had to have been twice as long for them to have sung all the songs we wanted to hear.
All up, it was a sensational concert and an amazing experience to have finally gotten to see Simon and Garfunkel in concert! - ALR
Tags: Acer Arena, Art Garfunkel, Old Friends tour, Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel
