Monday, October 26, 2009

Salud!!!

I just started a delightful book titled "Theology and Food" by Angel F. Mendez Montoya, a Dominican Friar.  In it he makes the case that eating and and sacred awareness are intimately joined. He quotes from another work by David Carrazco, a meso-american scholar:

The Aztecs developed a sophiscated cosmology of eating in which gods ate gods, humans ate gods, gods ate humans and the sexual sin of humans, children in the underworld suckled from divine trees, gods in  the underworld ate the remains of humans,  and adults in the underworld ate rotten tamales!

Talk about Moctezuma's revenge!!! 

Monday, October 12, 2009

Lollipop! Oooo holy holy holy

Last summer, while in the Holy Land (Santa Fe NM!)  our friends Tom and Susan took us to a restaurant where we had lamb lollipops for an appetizer.  They were wonderful and the memory of that flavor has stayed with me.

Now that we have the first real norther here in South Texas, I thought I'd give them a try. But, I'd never cooked lamb of any kind before.  So I did what any self respecting provisioning monk would do, and went on line, found Emeril Green, and found a recipe which was very simple: 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup sherry vinegar, 1 TBS rosemary, salt, pepper, and lamb lollipops.  I decided that sounded good, but the one's I had might have had some oregano, so I added some too  (all fresh of course).


Marinate one hour or so as the grill heats.  (doing that now.  In awhile, I'll post photos of the cooking and tell you how they taste).











Later.........



They were pretty good!  I think next time I'll use a rub rather than marinade, or cut back a bit on the oil and vinegar.   Still, they were very nice as is and enough for another meal. Plus, the pups LOVED the bones.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Such a Loss

The newspaper today had a very sad article about two fine San Antonio restaurants closing:  La Scala and L’Etoile.  The economy got the blame. I wonder.

It was good to see that other restaurants (such as Silo are holding to standards of cooking and adapting, with smaller portions and more reasonable prices. May they succeed.

I cannot help but think in all this that over and over again Jesus had to tell people “Do Not Fear”.  Fear and its kissin’ cousin Greed are the cause of all this, it’s what drives our economy.  I think the antidote is good, healthy food, and a sense of the holy in all we do.

   
It has been far, far too long since my last blog post.  Life sometimes gets in the way of truly important and delightful things, and sometimes truly important and delightful things get in the way of life.  The delightfully important things interrupting my life right now are Graford and Fiona, our two Border Collie puppies. Graford, age 4 1/2 months and Fiona, age 3 1/2 months are everything you wish for in Border Collies:  intelligent, energetic, people oriented, eager to learn, and NOT OCD!!!!!!

These pups show great promise as kitchen dogs, as they love to lie on the kitchen tiles as we cook.
I did take a break for a retreat at the Mustang Island Episcopal Conference Center. If you get a chance to attend a workshop or retreat there, go!  Hospitality is truly Benedictine, and the food surpasses many fine restaurants.  Plus, the ambiance of the Texas Coast is relaxing.  Be sure they are serving the Fried Shrimp while you are there. Chef Kathy Jansen (and she truly is a chef--not a camp cook) makes the best Fried Shrimp in the world, thanks to the selection of finest shrimp, hand preparation, and the prayers she puts into this and every meal.  Check the website for an upcoming Food for the Soul retreat, where she'll share her secrets.