February 2011 – Page 5

Where Is God?

Psalm 62:2 “Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress,
I will not be shaken.”

Sometimes I read other blogs and find a jewel of an article. The one I found is called “Where Is God When We Need Him?” A lengthy article but well worth reading.

I don’t think I know a Christian who has not grappled with the question of where God is — especially in times of deep need like a death, depression, sickness, abuse, etc. In my life, I have had moments when I too have felt that God was silent. I would look up at the sky in anger and say “So, where are You? You said you’d never leave me or forsake me but — you are not here!”

My experiences though have been a little different than this other blogger in that God has always shown Himself to me. Whether it’s through a song, a person, an animal, the wind — He has spoken. Not always right away. He knows my breaking point and just when I’m ready to give up, like playing hide-and-seek, He says “I’m right here.”

But He wasn’t playing hide-and-seek. He was there all along. I just failed to see Him. He has always been faithful in being right by my side.

Click here to read the article.

Champps Restaurant in Woodbury, Minnesota

A group of us went to Champps Restaurant in Woodbury, Minnesota.

Champps Restaurant in Woodbury, Minnesota

Inside of Champps Restaurant, Woodbury, Minnesota

This is definitely a sports bar. There were over 20 televisions overhead with their channels on sports stations and the atmosphere was a little noisy. When we entered, we were seated immediately. There are booths, tables and sports bar-like stools.

Our group had a variety of food.

The Chicken Noodle soup was very good with large chunks of chicken, celery and carrots.

Chicken Noodle Soup

One of the entrees was the smothered chicken that was sauteed with mushrooms, garlic, butter Marsala wine and spinach. The dish was served with green beans and yellow carrots. This was a good entree.

Smothered Chicken

The Greek Salad was delicious and the portion served was enough so I could take half of it home. Served with feta cheese, kalamata olives, eggs, and pepperonicini tossed with lettuce and seasoned chicken.

Greek Chicken Salad

The house salad was fresh and again, a large portion was served.

House Salad

The last entree we had was the Mediterranean Pasta. This entree was good also and approximately half of it was taken home as the portion served was large. The entree includes fettuccine noodles tossed in a cream sauce with fresh kalamata olives, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and chicken breast that was grilled. This also included garlic toast.

Both the food and service were good.

Chammps is located at 8418 Tamarack Village, Woodbury, Minnesota.

Moving to Minnesota

I recently received an email with a video from our Realtor, Bridget Crepeau, that asks the question “Why We’re Here: Twin Cities.”

Quite a few people asked us “why move to Minnesota?” Our main reason was to be closer to family on both sides. But then we were asked “what about the snow?” Actually, we like the snow. Some days though it’s very white outside. Almost a blinding white. The streets here are cleared up rather quickly, unlike the city of Seattle that shuts down with 2 inches of snow because they don’t have the equipment to remove the snow (they don’t get much anyway).

Then we were asked “what about the cold?” I thought that might be a problem too but so far it hasn’t been. I’ve actually adjusted to the cold and 20 degrees fahrenheit seems pretty warm (well, compared to when it gets to 0 degrees).

Since it’s winter and our focus right now is finding permanent housing, i.e. a house, we have not had much opportunity to explore the area as much as we’d like. That should change come spring and summer.

View the video below. And come visit us in Minnesota sometime.

Unfailing Love

I fell today and scraped my knee and it bled. Then I ate a whole box of oreo cookies.

I yelled at my husband and snapped at the cashier at the grocery store.

When I came home, my father berated me for falling and bleeding, for overeating, for yelling and for snapping at the cashier. He went on and on about how stupid I was and that I wouldn’t amount to anything. He slapped me across the face. Then he wouldn’t give me any food for a week because I had overeaten.

Was he correct in what he did? Or, was what he did emotional and physical abuse? Was he too harsh?

What would we do if we saw this happening? Look away? Talk to the father? Report it to a social services organization?

Sadly, many people just look away. We don’t condone what is going on but we don’t want to be involved. We can probably all agree that it’s wrong and that we wouldn’t behave this way.

A lot of us look at God in the same way. One who judges harshly. The Bible is full of stories that depict God as vengeful and full of hate.

And so, many of us look away from Him. We don’t want to be involved with a person like this. But that is not really who God is.

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.” Matthew 7:11

Jesus came to show us what the Father (God) really is like. He came to take away our misconceptions of God being harsh and instead to show us that we can call God our Father, Abba, Papa, Papi. He came to show us the Father’s gentleness, kindness, peacefulness and His willingness to sacrifice everything for us.

Most earthly fathers will show that to their children. Our Heavenly Father will do no less.

“… for anyone who has seen me, has seen the Father.” John 14:9

Look at Jesus — you’ll see the Father.

The Desire of Ages

Doomsday

An article in the New York Times, dated January 30, 2011, stated that people are heading to Bugarach, France because they believe the end of the world is almost upon us. Supposedly, the mountain there has aliens who live underneath it who will protect them from this event. Their belief is that the end of the world is when a 5125 year cycle in the Mayan calendar comes to an end in 2012.

“Religious” hikers continually pass through this town of approximately 200 locals.

The end of the world has been predicted many times, ranging from the Y2K event to the rapture some Christians believe in.

In the book of Matthew 24:36-39 in the Christian Bible, Jesus states:

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

For me, preparedness is key. No mountain is going to save people. Only the relationship they have with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Searching for good recipes on the internet sometimes nets me a really really good one.

I had gone to the website cooks.com to find a recipe for Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. I had my doubts as to whether the recipe would be as good as I wanted it to be.

Being a basic cook, i.e. following every single step one by one, I found that the recipe lacked a step and I had to improvise. So, here is the improvisation of the recipe – I omitted the onions.

The ingredients are as follows:

2 quarts chicken broth

1 box of Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice original recipe (seasoning packet will not be used)

1/2 cup celery, chopped

1/2 cup carrot, chopped

1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped

1 qt whole milk

Salt (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

8 ounces fresh mushrooms (sauteed in butter)

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

4 cups cooked chicken (I used skinless chicken thighs)

Organic Imagine Chicken Broth

Uncle Ben’s Long Grain & Wild Rice

Ingredients for Chicken & Wild Rice Soup (add butter)

– In a large pot, add the chopped vegetables and the wild rice to the 2 quarts of chicken (or vegetable) broth.

– After it starts to boil, simmer approximately 40 minutes

– While the ingredients in the pot are cooking, melt the butter in a large skillet

– Once melted, add the chopped mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are soft

– Add the flour to the mushroom mixture and whisk

– Slowly add the milk and continue whisking the mixture

– Stir until thick (about 7 to 10 minutes)

– Cut the chicken in medium sized pieces and add those pieces to a small pot of water

– Boil the chicken until it’s cooked (about 15 – 20 minutes)

– Remove the boiled chicken pieces from the pot and cut them into smaller pieces

– Add the mushroom sauce mixture and the cooked chicken to the vegetable/rice mixture

– Add salt and pepper to taste.

Heat through for about 30 minutes.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

The original recipe assumes that one knows what it means when it says “4 cups cooked chicken.” I did not. I am a very basic cook and follow the directions as stated. Since I didn’t know what it meant, I boiled the chicken to cook it. I’ve been told that it can also be baked.

This recipe makes about 10 bowls of soup and tastes great the next day also. I served it with English muffins with the Wild Blueberry Jam from the Sherburne Farm in Vermont.

House Hunting in Wisconsin

I saw a very beautiful house in Hudson, Wisconsin.

Unfortunately, it’s one of the houses in an area that is overpriced and the owner will probably not come down in price. We’ve already had two homes that we made offers on where that happened so we don’t want to risk another rejection.

But — it is beautiful. It does not have the master bedroom and a guest room on the main floor though and we really wanted to have that.

The architecture is unique and exquisite. The house received an architecture and interior design award.

Hudson, Wisconsin house in the Troy Burne golf course neighborhood

This is the front of the house.

Hudson, Wisconsin house in the Troy Burne golf course neighborhood.

Stainless steel appliances and the use of cherry, maple, slate and tile is used throughout the home.

This is the kitchen. The cabinets are so so beautiful.

Hudson, Wisconsin house in Troy Burne

Hudson, Wisconsin Troy Burne house

The dining room has a built in hutch with unique glass on the doors. A 3-way fireplace separates the living and dining rooms.

Hudson, Wisconsin house in Troy Burne

Hudson, Wisconsin Troy Burne house

The guest bathroom has unique tile in it.

Hudson, Wisconsin Troy Burne house

The master bathroom has a nice bathroom also.

Hudson, Wisconsin Troy Burne house – bathroom

And the detail on the stair molding is beautiful.

Hudson, Wisconsin Troy Burne house stairwell

Ahhh … if only the seller would come down in price — a LOT.

But, it’s okay. We have an accepted offer on a different house right now in Minnesota. We just need to wait for the inspection to be done. Then we have to wait about 30 days to move in.

Dorothy Ann Bakery & Cafe, Woodbury, Minnesota

For a quick hot chocolate and pastry, I went into the Dorothy Ann Bakery & Cafe in Woodbury, Minnesota.

Dorothy Ann Bakery & Cafe, Woodbury, Minnesota

The bakery has a few tables for sitting and it also has a small conference-like room that can be reserved for larger groups.

Dorothy Ann Bakery & Cafe, Woodbury, Minnesota

My hot chocolate wasn’t the best, however, it wasn’t the worse I’ve had. They do not use the powdered chocolate like I might expect in a small establishment. Instead, they use hershey syrup with milk.

The pastry I had was a blueberry turnover. It was very flaky but good and moist.

Blueberry turnover, Dorothy Ann Bakery & Cafe

In addition, this bakery also boasts a lot of sweet pastries, cookies, cakes, etc. Although I didn’t sample them, they looked very good.

Pastries at Dorothy Ann Bakery & Cafe, Woodbury, Minnesota

Dorothy Ann’s Bakery & Cafe is located at 710 Commerce Drive in Woodbury, Minnesota.

House Hunting in Wisconsin

On the other side of the St Croix River in eastern Minnesota lies a small town called Hudson, Wisconsin.

We’ve been looking for houses in both Hudson and also in Minnesota but have yet to find one that meets most of our requirements and wants. Â One of the last homes we saw was no exception.

Hudson, Wisconsin home

This house is fenced in the backyard. Â A cage in one of the rooms hints that they had a dog. Â The property sits on about 2 acres and does not have very many trees but is more open — prairie-like.

Tiffany-like chandelier

When I entered the house, I was impressed when I looked up and saw this Tiffany-like chandelier. Â It made the entrance feel warm somehow. Â The stairs are just a few steps from the foyer and once you pass the steps, the living room boasts a beautiful fireplace that has light-filled windows on both sides.

Hudson, Wisconsin fireplace

Entering the kitchen, the owners continued the tiffany-like light look as over the kitchen island, there were these three lights.

Tiffany-like light fixtures, Hudson, Wisconsin

But of course, every house has its idiosyncrasy as I found an old scale in the corner of the office.

Old upright scale, Hudson, Wisconsin

The flow of this house was not our style. Â The oak cabinets have a different look to them that, had this home had a better floor plan, would not have bothered me at all.

Nice house.

India Palace Restaurant

I went to the India Palace Restaurant in Woodbury, Minnesota for their buffet lunch.

India Palace Restaurant, Woodbury, Minnesota

The restaurant looks small on the outside but has quite a bit of seating on the inside. They serve a buffet during the lunch hour which makes it worth going to — well, on the pocketbook, not on the waistline.

I started with a mango lassi which is a mixture of mango puree and yogurt. I was not disappointed. It was a good drink.

The buffet line has quite a few entrees along with rice and desserts. Since I like naan bread, that’s where I headed first. It was okay — I wish it had tasted a little fresher though. The bread was semi-burnt on the bottom and tasted a little soggy.

I sampled the tandoori chicken tikka which has chunks of boneless chicken breast marinated in ground spices with saffron. It was very good along with the white rice.

India Palace, Woodbury, Minnesota

From the desserts, I sampled the Kheer, a creamy rice pudding that has pistachios in it. This was really good although I didn’t taste as much pistachio as I had imagined it would have. Still — I went back for seconds.

Kheer, India Palace, Woodbury, Minnesota

The service was good although during the lunch hour people were standing near the front counter waiting to pay and it’s right next to the front door where people are coming in so it was a little hectic getting out.

I would definitely go back for their lunch buffet.