New Stuff

Tuesday afternoon was beautiful with white puffy clouds in a bright blue sky. It was also rather cold once one stepped out of the car in the gusty wind, but that didn’t keep us from heading for Berrien County Michigan with its fruit groves. We bought Red Haven peaches, some for us and some to share. We have enjoyed eating them as is, but today I baked a peaches n’ cream pie, a recipe I cut from a newspaper several years ago. It smells divine with a cinnamony undercurrent. I made this once before.

In this recipe, you use peach halves, not slices. I only used 3 as our peaches are rather large.

 Peaches ‘n Cream Pie

 

1 uncooked 9-inch deep-dish pastry shell

4 cups peaches (7 to 8 fresh peach halves; canned fruit to equal 4 cups; or one 1-pound bag frozen peaches)

2/3 cup sugar

4 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup heavy cream

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. If using fresh peaches, peel them; drain canned peaches or defrost and drain frozen peaches. Place peaches, rounded side up, in pie shell.

Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and cream. Pour over peaches. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. Once the crust is brown, put foil over the edges to prevent overbrowning. Serve warm. Makes 6 to 8 servings. 

After we bought our peaches, we dined at Wheatberry restaurant in Buchanan, Michigan. It was too chilly to sit on the deck (yes, we are having very unusual summer weather). My beef brisket and baked beans were very good. My husband said his walleye was also good. The waitress raved about the peach cobbler so we split a dish. Nothing to write home about in my opinion. 

Yesterday I went to Carsons to see if the summer slippers were discounted yet. They weren’t; I passed thru the scarf department to get to them, however, and decided to look around as I will be traveling in September and a spot of color on my neutral tops would be pretty. I wasn’t looking for an infinity scarf (didn’t set out shopping for a scarf after all), but that seemed to be what was marked down. I suppose these are a trend that has passed. Oh, well, the price was right and the scarf is pretty. I looked on the internet to see how to wear an infinity scarf. Some people are very creative, even making a mini-skirt and hood and shrug out of a scarf. My scarf is not as big as some and not a stretchy material, but I did try doing a small shawl look and it worked. How have you worn an infinity scarf? 

                                         

 Last but not least, dreams do come true. My husband found a Dodge Dakota pickup truck that has the features he wants and fit into the price range I had agreed on. He now belongs to the fraternity of pickup truck owners.

 

Summertime

I am so glad that we have a local farmers market. This morning I bought Ambrosia sweet corn and an assortment of small tomatoes.

It will be interesting to see how these different varieties taste.

A dish that we tried earlier this week is shrimp taco salad which also is enhanced by the bounty of summer.

3 ears fresh corn, shucked
2 med. zucchini, thinly sliced on an angle
1 avocado, thinly sliced
1 lb. shelled deveined large shrimp (16 to 20 count)—I used thawed-out frozen ones as they were on sale.
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (2 limes)
1 tsp. cayenne pepper sauce
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground coriander
1 avocado, thinly sliced
2 cups (1/2-inch pieces) watermelon chunks
3/4 cup crushed corn chips (such as fritos)
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves


Prepare grill for direct grilling on medium.
Grill corn 8 to 10 minutes or until slightly charred and tender, turning over once halfway thru cooking. Grill shrimp 2 to 4 minutes or until opaque throughout, turning once halfway thru.
In a small bowl, whisk together oil, lime juice, pepper sauce, cumin, coriander, and 1/4 tsp. salt.
Cut kernels off ears of corn. Arrange zucchini and avocado on platter closest to edge, alternating.
In center of plate put corn, shrimp, and watermelon. Salad can be made ahead to this point and refrigerated, covered, up to 4 hours.
To serve, sprinkle with corn chip crumbs and drizzle with dressing. Top with cilantro.

Makes 4 servings

Wakarusa Dime Store

Our retirement condo residents get together once a month for lunch. Usually that is in the community center. Sometimes though we go to a restaurant, even some that are a bit of a drive. Today we went to Wakarusa, Indiana. After lunch in a local café, we visited the Wakarusa Dime Store. Known for its jumbo jelly beans (4-5 times bigger than regular jelly beans), they also have almost 50 flavors of salt water taffy, and lots of what we called in my childhood penny candy but believe me it costs more than a penny these days. 

They sell the taffy by the pound as well as some other bulk candies, all at the same price so you can fill a bag with an assortment and have them weigh it for you. I bought a little over 1/2 pound. They also sell Jelly Bellies already packaged. The jumbo jelly beans have maybe half a dozen with free samples. Watch out for the cinnamon flavor. It is like eating a fistful of red hot candies at one time. Clears the sinuses. My husband threw in the Tootsie Rolls, and I included some individually-wrapped hard candies. One of those, with a raspberry center in a hard candy shell reminds me of what we used to get in our church post-Christmas-program goody bags. I doubt I will remember the exact flavor of the taffy and be surprised when I take the first bite. The green one, for example, is a pear flavor, but not sure of the other colors. They also had large jars of unwrapped hard candies from which to select with the assistance of the clerk. A sugar high ahead for us these next few days.

Reaching For the Invisible God

I have read several of Philip Yancey’s books. Reaching for the Invisible God was relevant for me at this time. I bought this at a library sale months ago, but picked it up to read now because our Adult Bible Fellowship class is studying about ministering in the church and discussing how we relate to God so that we are equipped to minister.

 

If you find God with great ease, suggested Thomas Merton, perhaps it is not God that you have found. Relating to an invisible God has its difficulties, not the least of which is the differences in perspective between God and man.

 

Since God remains invisible, people tend to remake God in their own image. God transcended our limitations by revealing Himself thru Jesus, the full expression of God, yet veiled in human flesh. He reached out to us; how do we reach out to Him?

 

We come to God on His terms, i.e., through faith. Faith means following, trusting, holding out a hand to an invisible Guide. Faith is trust, not certainty. In the presence of certainty, who would need faith? Merton again: “We do not first see, then act; we act, then see. . . . And that is why the man who wants to see clearly before he will believe, never starts the journey.” We must take the first step of knowing God by faith.

 

As Yancey points out, we seldom run into visual clues of God unless we are looking. The pursuit makes possible the encounter. The Spirit of God brings to us recognition of God’s presence in places we may have overlooked: a baby’s smile, a beautiful sunset, the kindness of a friend. Ann Voskamp shines in this department. Her recognition that these “gifts” in our lives come from God, that by being thankful, we build up trust in His goodness complements nicely Yancey’s thoughts. Are you looking? Am I pursuing?

 

Faith gets tested when a sense of God’s presence fades or the very ordinariness of life makes us question if we even matter. God is a self-revealer but also a self-concealer. Isaiah says, “Truly you are a God who hides Himself.” Here is an interesting thought. Yancey speculates that just as in a game of hide ‘n seek where the child does want to be eventually found and delights in being found not ignored, perhaps God delights in being found. He wants us to pursue Him, to make the effort.

 

Faith can only be exercised in circumstances that allow for doubt, such as God’s hiddenness. God is free to reveal or conceal, to intervene or to restrain from intervening, to work within nature or outside it, to rule over the world or to be despised and rejected, to display Himself or limit Himself. Human beings have no competence in trying to figure out all the intricacies of why things happen. Faith means continuing to trust God while accepting the limits of our humanity, i.e., that we cannot answer the “why” questions.

 

Since we are limited, we do better by not looking backward for explanations but forward for redemptive results. God can use the events in our lives to transform us if we let Him. We have to trust in His goodness to redeem the bad. But God respects our freedom, making Himself dependent on our co-operation. Sometimes God allows us to determine the intensity of His presence thru our chosen responses.

 

I cannot learn from Jesus why bad things happen, but I can learn how God feels about tragedy. Jesus gives God a face, and that face is streaked with tears. We see God’s love for us; a love that should remove our doubts and fear. I must accept whatever falls into my bowl (life) knowing that a good God will redeem it if I return that love with trust.