Dynamic Yet Consistent

Once again I break from my normal posts of esoteric ponderings and theo-political rants to bring you a recipe we have been cooking up (don’t worry, I don’t intend to make this a habit.)  Beth and I have continued our Thai cooking kick and have loved what has come from it.  Here is a hearty soup we have made a couple times.  It is flavorful, spicy and brings a very pleasant sweetness.  It is not overly complex and the ingredients can be found in the international section of most major grocery stores.  If served with rice, it easily makes a meal. 

Thai Coconut and Curry Soup

[Serves 6  //  Prep time: 20min – Cooking time: 35min]

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 1/2 pound cubed Chicken (Tofu may be substituted)
• Black Pepper
• 1 Tbsp Thai Red Curry Paste
• 4 cups (32 oz) Chicken Stock
• 14oz Coconut Milk
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped Ginger
• 2 Tbsp Lime Juice
• 1 Tbsp Fish Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 3-4 Large carrots sliced into discs
• 3-4 Celery Stalks chopped
• 1 stalk lemongrass, minced, OR 3 Tbsp. frozen prepared lemongrass (may be omitted)
• 1/2 large onion sliced
• 1 Tbsp Minced Garlic (2-3 cloves)
• 1 Bell Pepper chopped
• 1/2 – 1 Tbsp Thai Chili Paste
• 2 chopped Basil Leaves
• Cilantro (to garnish)
• 6-8 cups Cooked Rice (roughly 1.5-2 cups uncooked rice)

Preparation:

Put 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil in a large pot on medium-high heat. When it reaches temperature, add 1/2 pound cubed chicken. Season with black pepper. Cook until chicken is done.

Add 1 Tbsp Thai red curry paste and cook an addition 30 seconds while stirring continuously. Add 4 cups chicken stock (add less for a thicker soup), 14oz coconut milk and 1/4 cup chopped fresh ginger. Bring mixture to a boil.

Once mixture comes to a boil, add 1 Tbsp lime juice, (if you omit the Lemongrass, add an extra Tbsp lime juice) 1 Tbsp fish sauce, 1 Tbsp brown sugar 1/2-1 Tbsp Thai chili paste (depending on how much “kick” you like your soup) and vegetables (carrots, celery, lemongrass, onion, garlic, bell pepper) Return mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered until vegetables have soften but are not mushy (approx. 15-20 minutes).  Salt and Pepper to taste. 

Right before serving, stir in 2 chopped basil leaves. Top each bowel with cilantro and serve with rice.

Note: Soup can be ladled over the rice, or the rice can be added to the soup depending on personal preference.

It is bad enough that your theology is atrocious… must you really play the “God’s Wrath” card within 24 hours of the most devastating natural disaster since the tsunami.

I would break down all the theological errors and examples of eisegesis in this argument that God is punishing the Haitians, but the hateful, tactless Pat Robertson does not even deserve a response.

I don’t know if you all have seen this yet, so I thought I would share.  It is a satirical piece by Ray Stephens entitled “Would Jesus wear a Rolex.”  In addition to the video, I have included the lyrics below.

Obviously the song is written in a humorous way, but many truths are told in jest. Would Jesus wear a Rolex? Would he have a 52″ television? Would he drive a Lexus? Would he drive at all? Would he take a $100K+ salary? Would he take any salary? Would he live a life of luxury? Would he live like an average American?

I have a sneaking suspicion we all know the answers to these questions, but are we bold enough to try and follow his standard?

Woke up this mornin’, turned on the t.v. set.
there in livin’ color, was somethin’ I can’t forget.
This man was preachin’ at me, yeah, layin’ on the charm
askin’ me for twenty, with ten-thousand on his arm.
He wore designer clothes, and a big smile on his face
tellin’ me salvation while they sang Amazin’ Grace.
Askin’ me for money, when he had all the signs of wealth.
I almost wrote a check out, yeah, then I asked myself

(chorus)

Would He wear a pinky ring, would He drive a fancy car?
Would His wife wear furs and diamonds, would His dressin’ room have a star?
If He came back tomorrow, well there’s somethin’ I’d like to know
Could ya tell me, Would Jesus wear a Rolex on His television show.

Would Jesus be political if He came back to earth?
Have His second home in Palm Springs, yeah, a try to hide His worth?
Take money, from those poor folks, when He comes back again,
and admit He’s talked to all them preachers who say they been a talkin’ to Him?

(chorus)

Just ask ya’ self, Would He wear a pinky ring,
Would He drive a fancy car?
Would His wife wear furs and diamonds, would His dressing room have a star?
If He came back tomorrow, well there’s somethin’ I’d like to know:
Could ya tell me, would Jesus wear a Rolex,
Would jesus wear a Rolex
Would Jesus wear a Rolex
On His television show-ooh-ooh?

Beth and I have always had a special place in our heart for Thai dishes.  In fact, for our rehearsal dinner we rented out the entire Thai restaurant and offered a buffet.  However it has only been recently that we have ventured into cooking our own Thai food.

Below is a recipe for one of our favorite dishes called Pad Kee Mao or more popularly "Drunken Noodles."  This is an amalgamation of several recipes I found online and then adjusted  to taste.  Most of the ingredients can be picked up at grocery stores with a decent international section, or at your local Asian market.

 

Pad Kee Mao (Thai Drunken Noodles)

[Prep time: 30min // Cooking time: 30min]

Ingredients:

• 12 oz package medium rice sticks (rice noodles about the width of fettuccini)
• 1 pound chicken
• Oil (Peanut, Canola, Vegetable, etc)
• Black Pepper
• Fresh Basil
• Fresh Cilantro

   Stir fry components (adjust to meet your preferences)

• 4-5 Baby Corn stalks cut into 1” pieces
• 2 Medium carrots sliced into thin discs
• 1 small can bamboo shoots (drained)
• 1 small can sliced water chestnuts(drained)
• 2-3 stalks of celery sliced
• 1 bell pepper (red, yellow, green or a combination) sliced into 2” strips
• ½ medium onion sliced into thin strips
• 4-5 Shitake mushrooms
• 2 Tbs minced garlic (4-5 cloves)

    For sauce:

• 1-2 Tbsp Thai Chili Paste (2 Tbsp is noticeably hot, but still tame by Thai standards)
• 2 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 3 Tbsp Golden Mountain Sauce (a very flavorful soy sauce)
• 2 Tbsp Fish Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Lime Juice (1/2 fresh lime juiced)
• 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 Tbsp Rice Wine (use Cooking Sherry if unavailable)
• 1 Tbsp Black Bean Sauce (or substitute Hoisin Sauce)

Preparation

Begin by chopping all your stir fry vegetables as this can be quite time consuming.  If you are using dried shitake mushrooms you will need to soak them in hot water for up to 30 minutes so plan accordingly.

Cut up 1 pound of chicken (thin strips are better than cubes) and cook in large skillet with 1-2 Tbsp oil and black pepper to taste.  [Note: We have found it easiest to cook large pieces of chicken until they are about half done, then remove them from the heat to cut into smaller pieces, and then finishing cooking in the skillet.  It is less messy and easier to have consistent pieces.]

While you are cooking your chicken, begin preparing your rice noodles.  You will break the noodles into 3-4” pieces, place them in a large bowl and cover with boiling water.  Let these sit 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

Prepare your sauce by mixing all of the ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside.

[Vegetables, Brown Sauce and Noodles]

Once your chicken is cooked, drain it and set aside.

Add 1-2 Tbsp of oil to a large skilled (use the same one you used for the chicken if you like) and bring up to medium-high heat.  Add your stir-fry vegetables and sauté.  If the vegetables begin to dry out, add a small amount of water.  Cover between stirrings.  Vegetables are done when they are firm but no longer crisp.

Add the chicken back in, along with previously prepared sauce and cook a 1-2 minutes on medium heat.

Reduce heat to medium-low and add in the noodles (drained).  If your skillet is not large enough, you may need to transfer things to a large pot at this point.  Add 3-4 chopped basil leaves.  Cook until noodles begin to absorb the sauce and the basil leaves begin to wilt.

Remove from heat and serve on plates garnished with cilantro.

Enjoy!

[Final Dish]

Yesterday I posted a recap of 2009 in pictures. But, as my friend Jason pointed out, it was not just the end of a year, but the end of a decade.  Here are 10 pictures, one from each year, to reflect on the first 10 years of the millennium.

[2000 – Senior Pictures]

[2001 – First year fighting fire]

[2002 – Beth visits Idaho]

[2003 – Engagement photo]

[2004 – Wedding Photo]

[2005 – Trip to DC]

[2006 – Posing at Jackson’s Orchard]

[2007 – Playing disc golf]

[2008 – Pregnancy progression pictures]

[2009 – Mikayla’s 1 week pictures]

A year ago I was a student at Asbury, working at Kaleidoscope, expecting my first child.  12 months later I am a stay-at-home dad with my MA working at a distillery.  Quite a bit has changed in 2009.  Here is a look back in pictures. [HT: Dave]

January -Stephenson Chapel

[Bowling with the Youth from Stephenson Chapel]

In January I continued my work with Kaleidoscope writing grants, but also began a stint as an interim pastor for Stephenson Chapel.  At first it was only supposed to be a few week fill-in gig, but it ended up lasting 6 months.  The folks at this rural church in Russellville were an amazing example of community and incarnate love.  They put up with my quirks and gave Beth and I amazing support.

February – Ice and Stitches

[Ice damage and damaged knee]

In late January a major snow storm hit the Bluegrass.  Along with many other people I spent several days running a chainsaw helping with the cleanup.  Most of my time was out at Camp Loucon, a Methodist camp and retreat center near Leitchfield KY.  On my third day in I was sawing a hanging limb and it kicked back in a weird way sending the chainsaw bar (the chain was not moving) into my leg.  I ended up with 24 stitches in my knee, but was sawing again within 3 hours.  Some people never learn.

March – Corsair

[Custom Still at Corsair]

Beginning in October of last year, I completed several distillery tours in the state.  They are always a fascinating mix of industry, craft and science.  The most interesting was Corsair Artisan, a micro-distillery that just opened in Bowling Green.  After several visits, in March the owners asked if I would be interested in helping them out on a few projects.  My role in the company gradually expanded and now I am the Distillery Manager and handle most of the daily operations.  It is a great mix of duties that keeps me on my toes and works with my schedule.

April – Birth of Mikayla

[Mikayla at 1 week]

Some months carry more weight than others.  Thus is the case for April 2009.  On the the 28th at 10:36am, our baby girl Mikayla Lillian Kickert was born.  She weighed in at 7,7 and was 20” long.  You can see more blog posts about her here.

May – Graduation

[Celebrating with the family in all my regalia]

After 3 years, $33,000 ($21,000 out of pocket), and over 3,000 hours of work I finally graduated with a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies from Asbury Seminary.  This time was certainly formative, but looking back at it I am not convinced I would do it again if given the choice.  It was simply too much of a sacrifice for what it yielded.  For me, graduation was more than just an achievement – it represented a transition to freedom.

June – Blogging / Time with Family

[G-ma Morgan meets Mikayla for the first time]

After graduating and ending my stint at Stephenson Chapel I discovered a void in my life.  I no longer had an obvious outlet for my creativity or an avenue to work through my thoughts.  In order to fix this I began blogging (technically I took blogging back up, but my previous attempts had never amounted to anything).  Also during this time Beth, Mikayla and I had the opportunity to spend a lot of quality time together and visit with family.  We basically had 2.5 months together and took full advantage of it.

July – Garden

[The garden at the height of the growing season]

While not specific to July, one of the highlights of the year was our garden.  This was the first year we moved it to our house and it was also one of the best crops we have had.  It was a great escape and the food we produced was excellent.  Here is an earlier post about our garden and one about lessons learned throughout the year.

August – Stay-at-home Dad

[Watching Mikayla while Cooking]

When Mikayla was born Beth and I decided it made sense for me to stay at home with her during the week.  In August, my “job” started in earnest.  I had never pictured myself as a stay-at-home dad, but I have really enjoyed being able to spend time with her and it means the whole family gets more quality time.  To be honest with you, sometimes I wonder what Beth was thinking when she trusted me to not do anything stupid with Mikayla.  So far so good… for the most part.

September – Grandfather

[Grandma and Grandpa with Mikayla]

Some transitions are harder than others.  One of the tough ones for 2009 was the passing of my grandfather.  In his life he had overcome many illnesses and obstacles, but his last few months were filled with pain and everyone knew in September it was his time to go.  I wrote some of my thought about the transition of life here.

October – Long Term Relationships

[Kickerts and Altmaiers at Abrham’s Falls]

It is amazing how fast time goes by.  In October, Beth and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary.  A few months earlier we had celebrated 10 years together (dating+marriage).  Even though it sounds trite to say, I could not imagine my life without her.  That same month we spent a great weekend with old friends (Dave and I go back to Ms. Fitzgerald’s first grade class).  For Beth and I, Dave and Catherine are the type of friends that you can jump right back in with even after several months apart and never feel like you missed a beat.

November – Camry

[The Culprit]

November represents one of the most frustrating months of 2009.  A few months earlier the engine in Beth’s Camry blew (read about it here).  After a month of trying to figure out if was worth fixing, we finally bought a used engine to install.  Long story short, the engine was bad, we hit a bunch more hurdles, we have spent 3x the amount we planned on spending and as of the first week of January we still don’t have a car.  Ughh…

December – Christmas

[PJs, Hot Cocoa, and Pictures]

Since this was Mikayla’s first Christmas we made sure we spent part of Christmas day at our home together.  We were able to initiate some family traditions of our own (Beth has a great post about it).  One of the things we did was get dressed up in our pajamas (I had to buy some), make hot cocoa and take fun family pictures together.

—

Overall 2009 did not turn out the way I would have expected it to, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than where I am right now.

Christmas is about incarnation.

In the history of creation, there is not a more significant event than when YHWH is incarnated among his people in the form of a helpless baby in the manger.  Love comes near.  Presence is the linchpin to redemption.  The restoration of humanity comes when God takes his place in the nitty-grittyness of daily life.

God is found not in the temple, or in the mighty cosmos, but in the sweaty stinky filth of a manger.  A perfect blend of sacred and secular.  It is through the ordinary and the forgotten that salvation finally comes.  The path is ignoble and not paved in gold.  Those first reached are not the holy, but the mundane.

This is the mode of operation YHWH chooses to use.  The incarnation points to the God we serve.  It calls us to a way of living and loving in its simple form.  Even now God uses a fallen people to be his agents of redemption.  The mission of the church is reflected in this: incarnation.  God is found in and among his people as they are found among the poor and marginalized.  Presence.

Evil in conquered and hope is restored through the weakness of a infant born to teenage peasants in a world of oppression.

Incarnation.

A few days ago I asked, “Are the sins of the church more grievous for those who believe in God or those who do not?”  Now I want to take the time to unpack that a bit more.

Regardless of who you are or where you come from, it is not hard to find things to criticize the church for: There is the clergy sexual abuse cases and financial scandals.  You have the stories of people like Jimmy Swaggart and Ted Haggard.  There is corruption and abuse of power at every level.  Countless Christian churches and organizations are known more for their hate and bigotry than their love.  We have pastors who wear Rolexes while people starve.  And all of this happens in the name of God.

So who should find this more appalling?  Is this type of behavior more troublesome for Christians or for those who do not beleive?

On one hand, those who have experienced the radical love and grace of Jesus should find these acts particularly disturbing because they tarnish the face of Christianity.  If you have found your life woven into the tapestry of the Christian story then stains on the fabric reflect and affect you.  Only those who fully grasp the message can realize just how contradictory these corporate sins are.

Yet on the other hand, if you reject the story of God and Christianity, the inconsistencies are even more glaring.  There are been countless acts of violence and hate committed in the name of God.  How much worse are those acts if God does not even exist.  It is one thing to bomb an abortion clinic if you are doing it because you think you are purifying society in God’s name.  But, if there is no God then these actions are completely lacking justification.

It is one thing for pastors to live extravagant lives built upon people’s tithes (literally money given to God) if they think it is justified by scripture.  But, if God does not exist then these people are diverting people’s charity without furthering any noble cause.

I don’t have the answer to these questions, but I can say this.  As I have allowed myself to wrestle with the notion that there may not be an all powerful God who is active in creation, I find my displeasure with the church exponentially increasing.  If God does not exist then humanity has spent an inordinate amount of time and resources on petty and self-seeking things when those same resources could have been leveraged to bettering all of creation.

Just think if we had built hospitals and schools instead of sanctuaries and steeples.  What if we had sent people to heal the sick instead of convert the heathens?    Imagine a world where instead of paying pastors we paid to provide clean drinking water and basic health care to all people.

Only those inside the church can understand the true message of the church and realize the depth of grace, love and forgiveness this institution is called to.  But at the same time, we need to hear the voice of those on the outside as they lament what could have been.

Beth and I have known for a while that we need to have the house “baby-proofed.”  We are also chronic procrastinators which of course means we wait until things are immediate needs and not just distant threats.  Well Mikayla is on the move now and we have had to follow through.  Just take a look:

We can no longer sit her in the middle of the room and expect her to be there when we get back.  Not only can she crawl across the house in a matter of seconds, she has always been inquisitive and her new mobility has only served to heighten this.  Now we keep small items off the floor, our electrical cords are (usually) put away and we have a baby gate we can put up when we need it.

Of course the epitome of baby-proofing gear is the outlet plug.  We bought several packs and dutifully installed them throughout the house.  As you can see below, that sure did us a lot of good:

From install to defeat it is less than 10 seconds.  If you take it down to the frame-by-frame analysis you will find Mikayla has an impressive removal time of less than 2 seconds.  Unbelievable!

However you look at it, I can’t help but think this reveals some traits my daughter has picked up from me.  She is curious about how things work; she likes to live dangerously; and unfortunately she knows what she isn’t supposed to do yet she still wants to do it.

Hopefully she will pick up some of my good habits as well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOhf3OvRXKg

[Video Link]

In the above video, Kseniya Simonova, a Ukrainian artist who just won Ukraine’s version of “America’s Got Talent” uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and “sand painting” skills to interpret Germany’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII.

You would think that a medium such as sand would not lend itself to being graphic, but the pain of war is clearly conveyed through her finger strokes.

Take the time to watch the whole video.  At first you will be captivated by her skill, but very quickly you will drawn in by the story of the invasion and the subsequent pain and tragedy.