Roast ala Aaron

Over the last few years I have been trying to make the perfect pot roast, one that tastes rich and flavorful and does not require expensive ingredients, a lot of time, or fancy kitchen equipment. Today I took some time to write down my recipe. I thought I would pass it on to you, my readers. Merry Christmas.

Ingredients

1 2.5lb. Boneless Chuck “Pot” Roast
4-5 Red Potatoes cut in quarters
8-12oz. Baby Carrots
2 Shallots diced (or 1 small yellow onion finely diced)
3 Cloves of Garlic (whole)
2 C. Red Wine (preferably Cabernet, Pinot Noir, or Rhone)
2 Tbs. Herbes de Provence (usually a mix of marjoram, savory, thyme, rosemary, basil, fennel, sage, and lavender): you can buy a 3oz. bag at World Market imported from France for $1.99.
½ tsp. Kosher Salt
½ tsp. Course Ground Black Pepper
1 10½ oz. Can Campbell’s Beef Consommé (Gelatin Added)
1/8 C. Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp. Sugar
¼ C. Butter

Cooking Instructions

- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- On the stove top, heat a large skillet on high. When skillet is hot, place roast on skillet to sear (brown). Brown for about two minutes on each side (till some dark brown spots begin to appear) and place roast in a medium size roasting pan with lid.
- Deglaze pan with ½ cup red wine. Meaning: while pan is still very hot pour the wine and scrape the pan with a wooden spoon or spatula in the skillet. This pulls out the meat flavor left in the pan. Pour the “deglaze” on the roast in the roasting pan.
- Sprinkle roast with ½ tsp kosher salt and ½ tsp. course ground black pepper.
- Place cloves of garlic and shallots on and around roast.
- Scoop herbes de Provence on the roast.
- Lay the potatoes and carrots around roast and place the roasting pan in a hot oven with the lid on.

Once the roast has been in the oven for about an hour you can start on the sauce:

- In a sauce pan, heat the remaining 1½ cups of red wine to a boil to burn off the alcohol and reduce. Boil for about half its original volume (about 10 minutes). Take off heat.
- Pull out the roast and reduce the oven temperature to 275. Remove the meat and vegetables. Pour all the liquid and juice from the roasting pan (usually about 2 cups worth) into the reduced wine.
- Put the meat and vegetables back in the roasting pan and into the oven with the lid off until the sauce is finished.
- Place the sauce back on stove on high heat. Add the can of beef consommé, balsamic vinegar, and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil.
- Once mixture is boiling, reduce heat to medium-high and simmer the mixture until it has reduced to half its volume (about 15 minutes).
- Finish the sauce off by melting the butter in it. Once the butter is fully melted take the sauce off the heat.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serving: remove the roast from the pan and slice. Place slices of roast, potatoes, and carrots on plates and spoon sauce generously over it all. Serve with French bread or dinner rolls.

Missing Good Mexican Food

I love Mexican food. At least that is what I said when I lived in California. In Iowa, I don't love Mexican food. I love the Mexican food I used to have on the west coast. As much as I hear that authentic Mexican food exists in the Midwest, I have yet to find a restaurant that even comes close to comparing to any of the places listed below. "Hot Sauce" in Iowa typically tastes about as spicy as pizza sauce, and barely seasoned ground beef is the meat of choice. Oh, how I long to walk up to a counter and say, "Two al pastor tacos, cilantro, onions, hot sauce, please."

My Top 10 Mexican Food Restaurants:
1. La Choza Santa Fe, New Mexico
2. El Taco De Mexico Morro Bay, California
3. Burrito Boy Eugene, Oregon
4. Taco Stand Bend, Oregon
5. Tonny's Restaurant Pasadena, California
6. Super Burrito Bend, Oregon
7. Taqueria El Bajio Santa Barbara, California
8. El Burrito Bend, Oregon
9. King Taco Southern California
10. El Mexicali Restaurant Indio, California

High Church

When I was in Oxford a few weeks ago I decided to go to an evening prayer service at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, the church where C. S. Lewis gave his famous sermon, "The Weight of Glory". I enjoyed the service a lot and it made me think about how differently church is conceived depending on where you are. I entered the church and took a seat along the bench on the far right of the room pictured left. The church was totally silent besides a priest across from me thumbing through a few pages in a book. There was a nice wooden stool on hinges I could pull down in front of me to kneel on if I wanted. A few minutes passed and a few more people started to come in. All entered quietly, and acknowledged the painting of Christ that hung at the end of the room. About 6 o'clock a man came around cheerfully handing out all the materials for the service: an order of worship, a Book of Common Prayer, a hymnal, and a Bible. The service consisted of corporate scripture reading, silent meditation, corporate read prayers, hymn singing (without instruments), and a short (10 minute) sermon. I was struck by how simple and uncluttered the service was. I felt as though there were no layers that I had to peel back before I arrived at the purpose of gathering together at church. It was easy to see. There were no apologies for the smallish crowd of 30 or so. They didn't dress up the service with anything other than what was necessary for the purpose of the service: prayer. I enjoyed the read prayers. They were a refreshing break from the spontaneous prayers rarely thought out beforehand that I am used to at home. After the service everyone left quietly, replacing their books, and possibly offering a handshake or two. I left the service feeling like I had really been at church and met with God. It was the first time in a while. I didn't have to worry about lights, videos, knowing words to songs, overheads, the sermon joke, chair placement, greeting people, bulletin announcements, or anything else that often fills a typical to do list on Sunday mornings at home. It made me wonder how much we do in church just keeps the perpetual cycle of church stuff in motion instead of really accomplishing the purpose for which church exists. The crowd was small at the church, but maybe that's okay. Maybe when church is what it is supposed to be the average person doesn't like it.

The Radcliffe Camera

Three weeks ago I was in England for a week doing research and meeting with my supervisors for my doctoral program. One of the great things I got to do was to read theology at Oxford's Bodleian Library. Specifically, I got to work in the Radcliffe Camera, one of the coolest buildings in Oxford. Built in the early 1700s, it houses Oxford's collections of English, History and Theology. One morning I got one of 8 window seats, and had a view of the University cathedral while I worked. For a nerd like me, it really doesn't get much better than that.

The Little Things

I'm in a crunch right now trying to finish the second chapter of my dissertation by Monday so I can send it off to my committee members before I see them in person in a couple weeks. With a seemingly insurmountable amount of writing before me, I set out for a coffee shop this evening. I needed a place that would be open late and I didn't want to drive very far so I decided to go to a Starbucks nearby. I've almost totally avoided Starbucks for the past couple of years for many reasons, the most important being that their drip coffee is terrible. I gave it a try tonight because a friend of mine that works at Starbucks said they would serve whatever coffee you wanted in a press pot if you asked even though it is not on the menu. So I asked. To my surprise, they did give me an 8-cup press pot of my coffee of choice. Only $3.40. What a treat! And, on top of that I got free wireless from the Quiznos next door. Armed with this coffee, I got more writing done this evening than I ever thought I would when I set out. Its amazing how the little things can often make such a big difference in our lives. Unfortunately, this little thing is keeping me wide awake at midnight so that I'm blogging instead of going to bed.

PCSP

PCSP is an acronym for "Peets Coffee Separation Phenomenon". It refers to a consistently well-defined separation that occurs when half & half is poured into a freshly brewed cup of Peet's coffee. A picture may help:

Like me, scientists have failed to satisfactorily explain what exactly is going on at the molecular level, and why it would occur so consistently in coffee roasted by Peet's and not others. This is not just a one-time occurrence. About 8/10 times this happens when I fix a cup of Peet's in the morning. Only very rarely have I seen this kind of separation occur with coffee from other roasters. I humbly enlist your comments and explanations concerning PCSP.

The 4 Hour Footnote

Last week I had to go to Iowa State to return some books I got through their Inter-Library Loan program, and also photocopy a couple articles. I parked where I normally do at the lot where you can take a bus to campus. It was then that I realized it was the first day of the new semester at ISU. I couldn't take Thomas on a bus packed with students with no seat belts and all my books and his diaper bag. So, I walked from the bus lot up to the library with Thomas in the stroller. 30 minutes and a handful of funny looks later we finally got to the library. First, I tried to go the ILL office to return my books, except there were no ramps for the stroller. I tried several routes and finally just carried Thomas in his stroller down the stairs to the office. I returned the books and made my way back to the main floor so I could photocopy the articles. About this time, Thomas started to get fussy and hungry. So I made my way through a study area of the library to a bathroom. Of course, there were no changing tables there, and there wasn't much room for a stroller and all the other paraphernalia I had. Finally, I got Thomas calmed down enough to take him back out in the library. I made my way to the elevator to go down to floor 1B and get the book with the article I needed, but first I had to stop at a computer and get the call#. So, with one hand holding Thomas and one hand typing one key at a time I got the call# I needed. With no hands free to write it down, I just remembered it. I finally got downstairs and got the book, but there were no copiers on floor 1B. I went back up to the main floor where the copier was out of order. The sign said use the copier on the 3rd floor. So I went back to the elevator and up to the 3rd floor to copy the article. Unfortunately, when I got up there I realized I was in a "Quite Zone" of the library and the copier was right in the middle. Thomas wasn't fussy anymore, but he wanted to play and hear himself talk and yell. This presented a problem. I huddled close to the elevator and tried to set Thomas down in the stroller so I could flip to the article I needed in the book. He erupted into tears, so I picked him back up and tried to get to the article with one hand. I finally found it and tried to get Thomas quieted down enough to make my way to the copier without disrupting all the students in the "Quiet Zone". I had to leave the stroller over by the elevator, and when I got over to the copier I realized I left my change in the stroller. I went back and got the change, and Thomas started making noise again. After about 5 minutes he quieted down again and I made my way back to the copier. I got 2 pages copied and he started yelling, so I went back out of the Quiet Zone and tried to calm him again. Finally, I just decided it didn't matter and I copied the article even though he was making a lot of noise and tried not to make eye contact with any of the annoyed students. We finished, and made our way out of the library, and walked back to the car. I had left for ISU around 8 and it was well after noon by the time I got back. The sad part is that all I needed the article was for one little footnote in my dissertation.

This would have been a quick, insignificant little thing to accomplish if I had been an average ISU student who lives on campus and has no children. But I was not the typical student, and I was repeatedly reminded of that fact the entire time I spent at ISU. Things were designed for the average student, and I was an exception to the rule. This caused me to ask a question: How do the systems and programs we set-up in church for the average churchgoer feel to those who are exceptional? Jesus said,

"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED."

Jesus came for the exceptions to the rule. Lord help the church to be a place where all can come and meet with you regardless of how they fit into the mold of our "target audience".

Culinary Adventures

At the request of one of my readers, I am posting pictures of some of the meals I have had lately:


Linguine w/ red sauce, Italian sausage, and Romano cheese
Mixed greens, pepperoncini, red bell pepper, black olives, and balsamic dressing
Muddled lemon-limeade





Apple-Sage sausage
Egg
Toasted baguette w/ Bon Mamme' peach preserves
Press Pot coffee - Ethiopian Blend





Breakfast "Eggspress": Zanzibar's Coffee Adventure
Coffee
Fresh squeezed orange juice
Toasted "sunflower wheat" bread from Great Harvest
Eggs scrambled topped w/ white cheddar and scallions
Orange marmalade



Potstickers
Teriyaki chicken & vegetable rice
Soy dipping sauce
Chili sauce




If you like this post you may also like this book: Everything I Ate

April Showers Bring May Flowers Snow Plowers

I woke up yesterday morning to 2 inches of snow. That's right. Snow on April 11th. I was starting to think about things like planting flowers, getting patio furniture, playing golf, and BBQ. Now I'm thinking about getting the salt off my car that all the snow plows dump on the roads whenever it snows. Quite a change from sunny SoCal. It turns out the spring is quite volatile in Iowa with well over 100 degrees difference between the record high and low (see chart). Apparently our neighbors were not aware of this. They bought flowers, shrubs, and plants two weeks ago and now they are all dead. Hopefully this is the last of this lengthy Midwest winter. I'm counting down the days (literally - see countdown on sidebar) till we can soak up the sun on the West Coast.

The OC

No, I'm not talking about that stupid show on FOX. Nor am I referring to the large, overpopulated county south of LA. I am talking about Trader Joe's Orange Chicken. I finally had it for the first time since moving to Iowa last night. That's 8 months without those decadent, crispy pieces of breaded dark-meat chicken smothered in a sweet & tangy sauce that is hard to describe as anything but "orange chicken sauce". I had been anticipating this moment for the past 7 weeks. We went up to Minneapolis in February and stopped by a Trader Joe's there and got 3 packages of The OC. Shortly after we got home, Heather and I decided to give up meat for Lent (I wasn't thinking about The OC at the time or I never would have gone through with it). This Easter we celebrated the resurrection of Christ by resurrecting The OC out of the freezer. I started thinking that I might have a glorified memory of the meal. That was until I took my first bite. It was better than I even remembered. Maybe this will become a new Easter tradition for our home.

To experience this exquisite culinary masterpiece, visit a Trader Joe's near you.

A Humbling Experience

The saying, "The more you learn the more you realize you don't know," certainly applies to me. I don't know how you could ever emerge from the experience of writing a dissertation without being humbled by the sheer vastness of academia in the western world. I've just finished writing the first chapter of my dissertation. After 45 pages and 11,000 words I'm feeling as though it really is almost an impossible task to contribute something new and useful to the world of theological study. If you're saying it, chances are someone else said it before you, and in a better way.

Writing at a tiny desk on my laptop computer in the Fuller Seminary library, I once made the terrible mistake of looking up from my work and taking in my surroundings. Row upon row, shelf upon shelf, thousands of theological books were all I could see. Where did all this stuff come from? For the last 900 years or so people have been scrupulously studying the Christian faith from a mind boggling number of angles. The sad part is that I'm not sure that the average Christian is seeing things much clearer than the Christians living in 1100AD. Do I really want to contribute another book to the inritus irritus in the theological libraries of the world? Will call# BS1644.b8.P4.134 really produce much better results than BS1644.b8.P3.1699? I doubt it.

I appreciate very much the advice of Thomas A' Kempis who says, "Restrain an inordinate desire for knowledge, in which is found much anxiety and deception. Learned men always wish to appear so, and desire recognition of their wisdom. But there are many matters, knowledge of which brings little or no advantage to the soul. Indeed, a man is unwise if he occupies himself with any things save those that further his salvation. A spate of words does nothing to satisfy the soul, but a good life refreshes the mind, and clean conscience brings great confidence in God." - The Imitation of Christ, Counsels on the Spiritual Life, Chapter 2