Snack with Fried Egg

Snack with Fried Eggs, Georg Flegel

Farm-to-table and flatbed trucks

She laughed out loud when she first heard the term "farm-to-table." They had it in her day, too; they called it a flatbed truck. She knows her food is not the healthiest, yet her people live long, long lives, those not killed by gunfire, moonshine or machines. She has never tasted ceviche or pate, but can do more with field-dressed quail, fresh-caught perch, or a humble pullet than anyone I know. With a morsel of pork no bigger than a matchbox, salt, a pod of pepper, and a sprinkle of cane sugar, she can turn collards, turnips, cabbage, green beans, and more into something finer than the mere ingredients should allow. With bacon grease and two tablespoons of mayonnaise, she turns simple cornmeal into something more like cake. I watched two magazine photographers eat it up standing in her kitchen, with slabs of butter. I do not believe they were merely being polite. "They even eat the crumbs," she said. "They were nice boys."

Rick Bragg, The Best Cook in the World

Every time I read this book, this makes me laugh out loud.

Outrage on the Patio

Outrage on the Patio

 Pecan and Jeeves can't believe their eyes! The rabbit looks startled but actually was fairly blasé. It's an urban rabbit — of which we have a plethora this year.

Optional Memorial: Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and his 119 companions

“St. Augustine Zhao Rong”
Artist and Date are unknown. Via Memorial Bench.

Christianity arrived in China by way of Syria in the 600s. Depending on China's relations with the outside world, Christianity over the centuries was free to grow or was forced to operate secretly.

The 120 martyrs in this group died between 1648 and 1930. Most of them (eighty-seven) were born in China and were children, parents, catechists or laborers, ranging from nine years of age to seventy-two. This group includes four Chinese diocesan priests.

The thirty-three foreign-born martyrs were mostly priests or women religious, especially from the Order of Preachers, the Paris Foreign Mission Society, the Friars Minor, Jesuits, Salesians and Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.

Augustine Zhao Rong was a Chinese soldier who accompanied Bishop John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse (Paris Foreign Mission Society) to his martyrdom in Beijing. Augustine was baptized and not long after was ordained as a diocesan priest. He was martyred in 1815.

Beatified in groups at various times, these 120 martyrs were canonized in Rome on October 1, 2000. ...

The fact that this considerable number of Chinese lay faithful offered their lives for Christ together with the missionaries who had proclaimed the Gospel to them and had been so devoted to them is evidence of the depth of the link that faith in Christ establishes. It gathers into a single family people of various races and cultures, strongly uniting them not for political motives but in virtue of a religion that preaches love, brotherhood, peace and justice.

Catholic Culture

I am not sure why but I have always been fascinated by the witness of these brave Catholics in China. Perhaps it is because I've always been interested in China anyway and so these saints naturally draw my attention. Their witness is just as important today as when they were martyred.

You may read more about the individual martyrs.

One of them who recently came to my attention is St. Mark Ji Tianxiang. He was highly respected until he treated himself for an illness with opium and became addicted. Sounds just like the morphine problem after WWII or today's opioid addiction crisis, doesn't it? As he continually struggled with his addiction, his confessor gradually became convinced that the repeated confessions meant that Tianxiang wasn't really trying. So he was banned from the sacraments ... for 30 years. But Tianxiang never turned away from the Church, instead praying that he could become a martyr. His entire family was martyred during the Boxer Rebellion.

Ji begged his captors to kill him last so that none of his family would have to die alone. He stood beside all nine of them as they were beheaded.

That is a beautiful bit of selflessness that I hope I would have the courage to emulate. Read his story here.

These Old Books — The Time-Life Foods of the World Series

I first wrote this review in 2004 and it doesn't need changing. But I wanted to share this again since it's been so long.

One of the best things about sorting through books to donate to the school carnival is the rediscovery of books that I haven't read in a very long time. In this case, I'm enjoying rereading the Time-Life Foods of the World series. It includes 27 volumes which cover different countries as a whole, with the U.S. also having six regional volumes. 

My parents signed up for this series as soon as it came out and we knew that every 90 days we would be getting a concentration of food from whatever country was featured. Living in the middle of Kansas but intensely interested in cooking, they were really excited to find out about these cuisines which were so exotic. Italian and French food were exciting as it was. They got to try Indian and South Pacific cuisine and culture too! This excellent series helped form American tastes today for that very reason. 

Believe me, I have looked at a lot of current cookbooks that purport to cover different countries and none do a better job than this series. These books are around 30 years old but they still are au courant in telling the foods and customs of practically every cuisine that exists. 

Each country has two books, a large hardback book and a smaller spiral-bound book that only contains recipes. Different expert authors were used for each book and they lend their own special styles to each. The hardback has a lot of cultural information, with some of the recipes included. It is a look back at cooking and culture told to us in the 1960s. The spiral bound books are 100% recipes and include many more than are in the hardback.

I have used some extensively, such as the Italian one which I open every year when I'm making Pesto. Others I just read for pleasure. All are delightful.

Most libraries have a set of these classics and you can often find various volumes in used book stores. 

If you are at all interested in either reading or cooking food from other cuisines, these are the books to go to.

Gorgeous Stained Glass

Domestic window by Dirck Crabeth for the house of Adriaen Dircxz. van Crimpen, of Leiden. (1543)
via Wikipedia

Van Crimpen was a member of the government. The scenes show seven scenes from the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament and five scenes from the Acts of the Apostles. Though the house is still standing, the stained glass is now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

Light and Darkness in Hawaii

My brother is lucky enough to live where this is a commonplace sight. Click on the photo to see it enlarged. I'm including today's quote below because the two go together so wonderfully.

It's important to note that God does not obliterate the darkness; rather, God names it and limits it — puts boundaries on it. The boundary is the light.

Lisa Sharon Harper, The Very Good Gospel

Amen, amen.

Live Podcasting!

Scott and I finally meet face to face after 16 years of podcasting. 

What's the first thing we do? Podcast, of course!

Glorying in being home

The Scripture says we are not supposed to glory in the things we make with our own hands, she told me, not long after she came home from the hospital, in the late spring. But when I got out of that place, that last time, I stood in my house and it just dawned on me, ‘I’m home. I’m back in my own house. I’m back in my own kitchen.’ And God forgive me, but I gloried in that.

Rick Braggs' mother

quoted in The Best Cook in the World

I know just how she felt. Unlike Bragg's mother, I was not returning from the hospital, which can be like staying in one of the circles of hell. I was returning after 11 days on the road of seeing some of our nation's most glorious natural beauty. And also of equally glorying in meeting and furthering my friendship with Scott after 16 years of podcasting.

Nonetheless, I walked around our home for a full day glorying in being home.

Happy 250th Independence Day!

July Fourth is the birthday of our nation. I believed as a boy, and believe even more today, that it is the birthday of the greatest nation on earth. ...

In recent years, however, I’ve come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation. It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history.

Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government.

Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people.

We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.

Happy Fourth of July.

President Ronald Reagan, What July Fourth Means to Me, 1981

Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
A flash of color beneath the sky:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!

Blue and crimson and white it shines,
Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines.
Hats off!
The colors before us fly;
But more than the flag is passing by.

Sea-fights and land-fights, grim and great,
Fought to make and to save the State;
Weary marches and sinking ships;
Cheers of victory on dying lips;

Days of plenty and years of peace,
March of a strong land's swift increase:
Equal justice, right and law,
Stately honor and reverent awe;

Sign of a nation, great and strong,
To ward her people from foreign wrong;
Pride and glory and honor, all
Live in the colors to stand or fall.

Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
And loyal hearts are beating high:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!

(Henry Holcomb Bennett)

Childe Hassam, The Fourth of July, 1916

Feast Day: St. Thomas, Apostle

It's Friday and the feast day of one of my favorite saints — enjoy your meat everyone!

We know just how to celebrate this feast day, having come to know much more about the adopted land where St. Thomas carried the gospel and died — India! Yes, when the Portuguese landed in the 1600s and wanted to tell the southern Indians about the Faith, they were told, "Yes, we already know. St. Thomas the Apostle was here. Have one of his trademark crosses!"

So Indian cooking will be enjoyed in his honor. Possibly we'll watch an Indian movie, maybe set in South India since that is where a lot of Christians live.

I posted this in years past and have added some words from Pope Gregory the Great this year. Otherwise, I cannot improve on the basics it presents for my reflection and celebration of this apostle who spoke so forthrightly and acknowledged Truth as soon as he found it.

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio.
Via Wikipedia.

Gospel JN 20:24-29

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But Thomas said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nailmarks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

I became very attached to Thomas when reading A Doubter's Novena: Nine Steps to Trust with the Apostle Thomas. It's a little book that packs a big punch and I have read it three times. This is not because I especially needed a novena for doubting but because I was so fascinated by Thomas's story as told by tradition. Also, truth to tell, I could relate to many of Thomas's other various traits. Stubborn. A bit gloomy. You know ... the whole package!

And yet, Thomas's early insistence on proof made him one of the first witnesses for Christ. Ultimately he did marvelous things for God as he learned to trust and step out in faith. May we all do the same.

Here is the collect for today:

Grant, almighty God, that we may glory in the Feast of the blessed Apostle Thomas, so that we may always be sustained by his intercession and, believing, may have life in the name of Jesus Christ your Son, whom Thomas acknowledged as the Lord. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Here is an excerpt from a truly wonderful homily by Pope Gregory the Great, featured in the readings from the Liturgy of the Hours. I especially love when he says, "Do you really believe that it was by chance that this chosen disciple was absent, then came and heard, heard and doubted, doubted and touched, touched and believed? It was not by chance but in God’s providence. ... The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples." It never occurred to me that God had a hand in Thomas's actions, especially after the many homilies I've heard which guess at his character and reasons for not being present the first time around. As someone who is hard-headed in the same way that Thomas is, I hope that my own stubbornness will be used for God's glory.

From a homily on the Gospels by Saint Gregory the Great, pope
(Hom. 26, 7-9: PL 76, 1201-1202)

My Lord and my God

Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. He was the only disciple absent; on his return he heard what had happened but refused to believe it. The Lord came a second time; he offered his side for the disbelieving disciple to touch, held out his hands, and showing the scars of his wounds, healed the wound of his disbelief.

Dearly beloved, what do you see in these events? Do you really believe that it was by chance that this chosen disciple was absent, then came and heard, heard and doubted, doubted and touched, touched and believed? It was not by chance but in God’s providence. In a marvelous way God’s mercy arranged that the disbelieving disciple, in touching the wounds of his master’s body, should heal our wounds of disbelief. The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt Christ’s wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the resurrection.

Touching Christ, he cried out: My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him: Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed. Paul said: Faith is the guarantee of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. It is clear, then, that faith is the proof of what can not be seen. What is seen gives knowledge, not faith. When Thomas saw and touched, why was he told: You have believed because you have seen me? Because what he saw and what he believed were different things. God cannot be seen by mortal man. Thomas saw a human being, whom he acknowledged to be God, and said: My Lord and my God. Seeing, he believed; looking at one who was true man, he cried out that this was God, the God he could not see.

What follows is reason for great joy: Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. There is here a particular reference to ourselves; we hold in our hearts one we have not seen in the flesh. We are included in these words, but only if we follow up our faith with good works. The true believer practices what he believes. But of those who pay only lip service to faith, Paul has this to say: They profess to know God, but they deny him in their works. Therefore James says: Faith without works is dead.

St. Thomas, pray for us.