BBQ Sauce

I love BBQ sauce.  Not in the "I'll have some on the side" way or even the "I'll have the BBQ sandwich with extra BBQ sauce on the side." way.  Nope.  I love BBQ sauce in the "I could eat it with a spoon like soup" way.  Pretty much anything can be made better with BBQ sauce. Even vanilla ice cream?  Absolutely.

Unfortunately, my daughter is allergic to tomatoes.  Sadly for her, a seven year old, this means no pizza, a staple at children's events and birthday parties.  It also means she cannot eat out because most restaurants use the same cutting board and knives for numerous veggies, and even cutting her food with the same knife that chopped a tomato results in crazy itchy hives.  Of course her favorite foods were BLT's, American chop suey and BBQ pork previous to her allergy onset (1.5 yrs ago), and they are no longer...or so I thought.

I know I can't make a BLT with something besides a tomato, and BLC (bacon, lettuce and shredded carrot) was a failure, we have developed a BLA (bacon, lettuce and apple) that is quite tasty.  But not as good as a BLT.

I don't even know what to substitute for tomato sauce in American chop suey.  I tried just the other ingredients, but it was sad.  No one would touch it when I used Alfredo sauce, so I still have to work on that one.

My love of BBQ sauce would not let me give up on a tomato-less sauce.  There are recipes out there, but they are too different tasting, not what Maddy or I were looking for.  Finally fed up, I just began.  Originally I would saute onions in butter.  Done.  Next I would normally add brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, ketchup salt and pepper...OK, so I added the sugar and mustard and instead of the rest, added some balsamic vinegar and a few drops of Frank's Original Hot Sauce.  It tasted similar, but the texture was too thin.  It wasn't thickened by the ketchup so I grabbed the blender, poured it in and pureed the sauce, onions and all. 

TA_DA!  I liked it, but would it pass the 6 and 7 year old judges?  Maddy took a big bite and gushed about how yummy it was, then quickly panicked.  Almost in tears she said "Mommy, I can't have BBQ sauce it has tomatoes in it, I'll get itchy!"  Not this kind.  It was the biggest hug all day.  And she ate three servings.

Yeah! for Maddy and Yeah! for me.
Maybe for dessert I will grab a spoon and the rest of the sauce!

Thank you for calling, have a nice day.

A friend emailed me an article today about how phone calls are becoming obsolete.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/fashion/20Cultural.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=homepage&src=me&adxnnlx=1300795291-lC9jb/6 pbKtxBCJrozixw

I thought she was nuts.  Everyone and their brother has a cell phone.  Then I read the article and started thinking...

While it is hard to find anyone above age 12 who is not holding a "phone", it is rare anyone is actually talking on them.  Texts and email, tweets and status updates.  I could not remember the last time I actually saw someone speak into their mobile device.

I do not use my cell phone.  On the rare occasion that I am away from my children I will look for it, charge it and half the time remember to turn it on.  I am fine with being unreachable sometimes.  Truth be told, I like it.  I have a pay as you go plan, so if there is an emergency I am covered (providing the phone is charged and I know where it is)  And did I mention that it does not take pictures and I am so annoyed that I have to press the number three times to get the letter I want, that I do not bother to text.  Do you even need to ask if the phone gets the internet???

If phone calls are a way of the past, than consider me ancient.  Newcomers to our home also marvel at the ancient tradition of having one...yes ONE, television in the entire house, the absence of a microwave and not one single electronic gaming system (even hand held ).  Although I do joke about it, I do not vacuum in pearls and heels, but calling me June Cleaver is not an insult, it is a compliment.

Maybe underneath that perfectly pressed outfit June had tattoos and taught Zumba? Maybe she was a women's rights activist who believed that the feminist movement really was about women being able to choose their own path, even if that path was to stay home and raise a family?  Maybe June knew that TVs, gaming systems and everyone with their own computer allowed families to exist without interacting, so she chose to bake cookies and sit with her children after school and talk about their day?  I bet June knew that a phone call can brighten someone's day. 

Actually hearing another human voice speak words of happiness or sorrow, really, that is becoming obsolete?  Give me a call and let me know what you think.

Living in a Fragile World

Many, many moons ago (maybe even a "supermoon" or two) Maria Montessori began teaching children in a way that honored their relationship with God, each other and the world around them.  Jerome Berryman incorporated these ideals into a method of exploring the sacred  Christian stories, called Godly Play, used around the world. Godly Play strives to give  people the language to relate the sacred stories of God's people to their present lives and relationship to God and each other.  Peter Privett then used the tradition of Godly Play to create five lessons on the conservation of the land and stewardship of the earth.   He called it Living in a Fragile World

Today  in the 4-6th grade classroom, we explored the first lesson.  All of us had heard it before.  Still it moved one participant to near tears, and there was more than one heavy sigh of disgust as we looked down on the beautiful black felt universe, sprinkled with hundreds of shiny stars and a blue silk Earth with a patchwork quilt of continents littered with cities, pesticides, people, money, disease and war.  We wondered together...I wonder if  it is really like this?  I wonder how does the Earth feel? I wonder what can be done? I wonder what part of this story do you like best? Least?

Sometimes I live my life like I am Queen of the World (tiara and all, those of you who know me well  will not be surprised in the least) in control of it all.  Most of the time I remember to say a prayer of thanks for my life and all the blessings in it, which reminds me that I am not in charge. Every once in a while, the world as I know it comes crashing down...cancer, death, natural disasters...and it is clear not only am I not in charge, none of us are.  Or all of us are.

God is a part of every thing.  Each soul, each blade of grass, every fish, dinosaur, gnat and lion pulses with life, pulses with God.  God is a part of the evolutionary chain, as much orangutan as neanderthal as modern person; at each evolutionary milestone, God continued.  But while we are the children of God, WE created cars, pesticides, guns and pavement.  US, WE, the children of God, to whom the stewardship of the Earth is entrusted, we created these things we deem necessary. Are they bad? I know I "need" my car, the roads and enjoy out of season veggies.  Or have we just gone too far?

Life is fragile, our Earth is fragile, and no matter how many retaining walls we erect, or vaccines we produce, or weapons we build, or food we genetically engineer, the only thing we are really in charge of is keeping this planet alive.  I wonder how we are doing?

http://www.stjohnsnorthampton.org/
http://www.godlyplayfoundation.org/