For Post #500: Something Special

April 22 was the 41st Earth Day. I remember the very first one. I was in 6th grade and our teachers made quite a big deal about conservation, clean air and water, and environmentalism in general. The American public was just beginning to catch on to the idea that we should take care of the place. NASA celebrated #41 by publishing some special photos of what we earthlings like to call Home, Sweet Home.

Click on the photos in order to read the captions more easily.

(NOTE: Photos were acquired via Talking Points Memo.)

In Glock We Trust

I found an interesting item in the Washington Post the other day. It seems some Christians in northern Virginia don't really expect God to keep them safe, even when they're in church. So, they're helping him out.

By bringing weapons to church.

Here are some excerpts from the article:

Parishioners carried Bibles in embroidered cases, babies with ribbons in their hair, and flutes, violins and sheet music into Immanuel Bible Church for Palm Sunday services.

And a few carried guns, tucked into waistbands, hidden under suit jackets.

- snip -

Philip Van Cleave, of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, said people have been carrying concealed weapons to church for years because of the threat of terrorism and church shootings across the country.

“Al-Qaeda has been our reason, as well as many of the recent church shootings around the country,” he said. “Think of it this way: If saving your own life isn’t a ‘good and sufficient reason’ to carry a gun, then what else could possibly qualify?”

- snip -

“Guns in a church? Why?” said Samy Youssef, a member from Alexandria. “God is our protector. He is our savior.”

- snip -

“The real sad thing for all of us in this is it’s an indication of where our culture is — that public meeting areas, churches, schools, town halls, malls are threats for terrorism,” Holley said. Two years ago, he said, a preacher in Illinois was gunned down in the pulpit.

The Rev. Tom Joyce, a fellow Immanuel pastor, said there was a case in Colorado in which a gunman began spraying bullets in a church but was shot and killed by someone in attendance.

“We rely 100 percent, before any weapon, in the power of the Holy Spirit to protect us,” he said. “It’s also good to have some people here on campus” who are trained and armed.

I hate to break it to the Rev. Joyce, but that last statement is utter nonsense. If the Holy Spirit's protective powers need to be supplemented by firearms, then trust in him is not 100%, as claimed.

Amatriciana Sauce W/ Chopped Veggies

A long time ago, I began what was supposed to be a recipe series. The reason I haven't shared anything since my first entry is that I don't usually measure ingredients when I cook - I just add stuff, taste it, add some more and so on. The reason I have this recipe to share is that I wanted to get a nutritional breakdown, calorie count, etc. In order to do that, I had to pay more attention to what I was adding and how much of it was going into the pot. Today's recipe is Amatriciana Sauce W/ Chopped Veggies.

This is a variation on Italian amatriciana sauce - I substituted bacon for the pancetta and added some fresh veggies. Authentic amatriciana is pretty hot and is simpler than this as it leaves out the veggies and some of the non-pepper seasonings. Be forewarned - the recipe below is a bit hot. The seasonings can be varied according to taste, and 1/3 cup of wine can be substituted for some of the water (if you use cooking wine, omit the salt). Also, fresh Roma tomatoes could be chopped and substituted for the canned tomato sauce to cut down the sodium.

We'll start with the ingredients:

Hunt's Tomato Sauce - 1 15-oz. can
Hunt's Tomato Paste - 1 8-oz. can
Onion - 1/2 cup, chopped
Celery - 1/2 cup, chopped
Garlic - 4 cloves, chopped
Carrots - 1/2 cup, chopped
Water - 1 cup, or 2/3 cup water + 1/3 cup wine
Sugar - 2 tsp.
Bacon - 4 slices, chopped
Pepper - 1/2 tsp.
Salt - 1 tsp.
Red Pepper - 2 tsp. (may substitute Tony Chachere's seasoning)
Oregano - 1 tsp.
Rosemary - 1 tbsp.
Thyme - 1 tsp.

Next, the procedure:

Add tomato sauce, paste, liquid and seasonings to crock pot and begin cooking on high.

Once the base sauce has started cooking, chop vegetables and bacon, and brown in saucepan until tender. Start with the bacon, then add veggies when fat has started melting. You may add one tablespoon of olive oil, if needed, to keep veggies from burning. When veggies and bacon are nicely browned add them to the sauce in the crock pot. Sauce may be cooked in crock pot 2-4 hours without burning.

Prepare pasta - rigatoni and rotini go nicely with this sauce. One minute before pasta has finished cooking, remove 1-2 tablespoons of pasta water and reserve. Drain pasta, then add pasta and reserved cooking water to sauce. Cook pasta for one more minute in the sauce, then serve.

Finally, nutritional data for those who are interested in such things:

Note: the nutritional calculation does not include the pasta.

Servings Per Recipe: 4 (calculated at 1 cup per serving - this is quite a lot, so you may want to decrease the amount according to your taste)

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 166.9
Total Fat: 4.2 g
Cholesterol: 5.4 mg
Sodium: 1,869.2 mg
Total Carbs: 30.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 6.9 g
Protein: 7.3 g

If you like Italian food, you may enjoy playing with this recipe and adapting it to your tastes and needs.

Happy cooking!

It's Official!

Jonathan and Maggie want to announce that they have set a date for their wedding: October 8, 2011.

Ally is thrilled (and relieved) that her parents are finally tying the knot!

Paradise Lost

Dave and I returned from Jamaica late last night. He took many more photos than I did, so I'll just post a few here. Check his facebook page for more details.

As you can see from this photo, he began the trip by conserving energy.

The airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica is located right next to the sea. This was a bit of scenery we saw from our bus window on the way from the airport to our resort.

This is where we stopped for a pit stop on the bus ride from Montego Bay to Negril. Yes, that's our bus.

This was the street just outside our pit stop.

In addition spending many hours drifting in the sea on foam mats, we did some snorkeling.

We also went to Rick's Cafe to watch some cliff diving. We were supposed to see the sunset too, but some idiots on our bus had booked dinner reservations back at the resort for the same time as sunset at Rick's. Dave heroically restrained me from throttling them.

If we go to Rick's again some day, I'm staying for the sunset, even if I have to hurt someone to do it.