Baby Jesus Returns

I bought this Nativity Set last month after looking for one like this for many years. I fell in love with the simple beauty and clean lines and brilliant colors. Seems Henry liked it too, because the Baby Jesus was constantly disappearing from the creche. Usually, I could find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, but far from the manger, however a couple of weeks before Christmas, Baby Jesus disappeared. I looked high and low, even under the couch, but didn't find him. Christmas came and went, and poor Baby Jesus was still lost.

On Saturday I decided to finally get around to trying a friend's recipe for homemade bread. When I reached into the fridge to get out the yeast for the bread, who should I see, tucked away in the deep shelf of the refrigerator door, but Baby Jesus. I guess I should have thought to look for him near the yeast since he is the Bread of Life. So Baby Jesus has returned after his long winter's nap in the fridge. I'm just glad it's not that hard to find the real Jesus!

A Birthday Girl

Cricket
Originally uploaded by FishChick

She turned eight this week. It's a little hard for me to accept. We had a totally dreamy birthday party at The Lion House, the home that Brigham Young built in downtown Salt Lake City. It was really as perfect as could be. The girls were darling, the hostess was so great, and Grammy and I got to feel like we were eight again too. At eight, Caroline loves dolls, dancing, and art. She is a super reader, and has lots of friends. Her idea of a great day is going out to lunch and having a pedicure and going shopping. A little precocious, yes, but still wonderfully naive, imaginative, and sweet too.

Mormon Funerals--A Follow Up to Funeral Potatoes

I probably should have clarified why Funeral Potatoes are called Funeral Potatoes. My friend Kyles wanted to know, and that prompted more musings about Mormon funerals in general.

Kyles they are called funeral potatoes because they are usually served at the family dinner that occurs after Mormon funerals. This is a very tender event where the women of the local congregation feed the family members who have gathered for the funeral and they have a chance to comfort each other and catch up. Funerals are most often held at the church, and the family returns to the church after the burial for a little impromptu family reunion.

Mormon funerals, especially when the person has lived a long and satisfying life, have such a sweet and loving character. They are usually a chance to share family stories and catch up with long-lost relatives--a family historian's dream. I like to take along a notebook and/or a tape recorder.

I think that the Mormon funeral is somewhat unique, although I've only been to a few funerals that were not decidedly Mormon in nature (even when the person who died was not really very active in the Church, if they were ever a member or have relatives who are, the funeral tends to take on that flavor, at least here in Salt Lake). Course that could also be that my own worldview permeating my perspective. The LDS view on death is that it's a time for sadness for those who are left behind missing their loved one, but it is also a time to rejoice for the person who has been released from pain, suffering, and the sorrows of mortality. We have such a strong conviction that we will see each other again, whether it is a family member or a friend. My experience has been that the Lord's comfort and peace is the primary feeling I come away with from a family funeral, even when I feel a great sense of loss as well.

Funeral Potatoes-- My Mormon Birthright

Adventures in Cooking- A Laura style recipe

As a female member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have an innate ability to enjoy and create one of the tastiest and deadliest concoctions known to mankind, that is, funeral potatoes. I made a huge double batch yesterday, and boy were they yummy. It combines the most processed of foods in the kind of yummy campy mormony mess that I find so culturally interesting. Call it a heritage dish if you will. Crunchy, cheesy, tangy, mmmm... I didn't really use a recipe, but here's what I did--

I took two big bags of frozen hash brown potatoes and threw them into a mixing bowl. Then I discovered that my mixing bowl was not big enough to hold all the potatoes AND mix anything in with them. I looked around my kitchen until I found another not-big enough mixing bowl, and split them in half. I have a big-enough mixing bowl, but it is so big it lives in the attic. That means that I would have had to climb up in the attic to get it out, and then wash it, and I didn't have any clean towels with which to dry it (I didn't say I was that good of a Mormon woman), so I winged it with the two smaller bowls.

Then I dumped a huge can of Campbell's cream of chicken soup, a big tub of sour cream, and a whole bunch of really sharp cheddar cheese (broke Marty's food processor in the process of grating it), and about 1 stick of melted butter into the first bowl and started mixing it up, then I had to slowly transfer from one bowl to the other until everything was mixed together. This made a huge mess as I dropped half the ingredients on the counter. Then I realized that I left out the onion, so I chopped one up and sauteed it in olive oil until it was just starting to look clear. I had to re-start the process of transferring everything around until I could get the onion mixed in. While I was doing this, I remember to put salt and pepper in too.

Once I had everything good and mixed, I had to dig out my big casserole dishes, which are at the bottom of the hall cupboard underneath a whole bunch of other stuff. I had to call Marty over to help me to prevent being crushed under an avalanche of various dishes, at which point he sighed, because he wanted to eat his lunch. So I crabbed at him about having a small kitchen with nowhere to store anything as retaliation for that sigh.

We managed to extricate the biggest casserole dish out of the cupboard, and I filled it up with the funeral potatoes concoction. After a certain point, I realized that it was not going to fit in just one dish, and I had to go pull out the second biggest casserole dish from the bottom of the aforementioned bunch of stuff. This time I didn't ask for help because I didn't want to hear the sigh again. After a little while I was able to balance out the potatoes to fit into the two casseroles and it was time to make the crunchy topping.

I poured about two cups of cornflakes into a big Ziploc bag, at which point I proceeded to squish them by hand. I could have done this in my food processor even though I broke it because the blade attachment still works, but it is very satisfying to squish them yourself, especially when you are still grouchy from your husband's hunger-induced sigh and subsequent snippiness. I didn't quite have enough for my two giant casserole dishes, so I had to add more (of course in the process I spilled cornflakes everywhere because the inside bag had refused to open along the seam, so the cornflakes came out of the box all willy-nilly).

Once I had the cornflakes sufficiently squished, I put them in one of the two big mixing bowls (not yet washed) and dumped melted butter over the top of them, stirring them around until they were all buttery. I spread them over the top of the casseroles and then wrapped them up and popped them in the fridge. Finally I could eat my sandwich (which Marty had made for me while I was cooking despite my retaliation for the sigh). After lunch I washed the dishes (left them out on the counter to dry) and swept the floor.

Later when it was time for dinner, we took them to the family party and popped them in the oven at 375 degrees until they were all bubbly and brown around the edges (about 40 minutes). They were definitely a big hit of the evening. Good thing I made a lot because I saw people taking entire heaping platefuls of just potatoes (of course my own kids didn't touch them), and there were enough left for me to take some home for lunch today.

Book Review- The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Pillars of the Earth is an inspiring and thrilling book. I loved it. Be warned however, that the book depicts both sex and violence (often together) very graphically. This however, is a typical worldview and experience of the people of the Middle Ages, (specifically, twelfth century Britain) the time in which this book is set. At this time, the human race lived with constant violence as a part of everyday life. Sensitive readers should beware of this and may choose to avoid the book for these reasons.

The book follows a number of different individuals over the course of about three decades. There is Philip, a monk who comes from a quiet forest monastary; Tom Builder and his family, who are seeking work and sustenance; Ellen, a beautiful young woman who lives in the forest with her son Jack; the powerful Hamleigh family, who wreak ruthless violence upon all; and a young lady named Aliena and her brother who are the children of the Earl. Each individual and family rises and falls (many times over) in security, power, and capabilities, and each experience the consequences of choices made by themselves and by others. Their stories are set against the backdrop of the building of the Kingsbridge Cathedral, a long and bloody civil war, and a challenge between the monarchy and the catholic church.

I liked the book on many levels. The plot was wonderful, character development was interesting and compelling, and the historical setting fascinating. Follett is a great story teller, having developed his writing chops as a thriller-action novelist. His prose is nothing special--simple and straightforward, and accessible, yet at the same time he creates imagery of both the external and internal environments of the noval that is both vivid and forceful. I loved the way the book followed the characters over such a long period of time, allowing the reader to experience their personality development as they matured and experienced the joys and cruelties of their lives.

The central metaphor of the book, the cathedral, undergoes a similar development as the characters, experiencing similar disasters, triumphs. It becomes a source of strength and hope for the community. The cathedral develops into something completely different than anyone had initially conceived. When the cathedral is damaged or shows signs of weakness, these trials inspire the builders to make the cathedral more fortified, more mighty, and more beautiful. Through the process of time, and by long and arduous effort, the cathedral evolves into something triumphant and holy.

Pillars of the Earth will definitely make my read-again list.