Thursday, November 26, 2015

1440

Regardless of how clever I am, I only have twenty four hours in each day.  I cannot delegate my way to more.  I cannot multitask my way to more.  I cannot expect that God will alter the course of the solar system to give me more. I cannot get more by force of will or superior argument.  Twenty four hours.  One thousand four hundred forty minutes: that is all anyone has to work with in the daily cycle.  

Subtract seven hundred twenty minutes for meals, hygiene, prayer, sleep.  Leaves seven hundred twenty minutes to do things.  

Each day.  

Only seven hundred twenty.

An eight hour job is usually longer at five hundred twenty two minutes.  One hundred ninety eight is all that’s left.

Subtract fifty one minutes for driving  to and from work .  One hundred forty seven remain.

Laundry, dishes, floors and such take another sixty six minutes leaving eighty one.

If I have meal prep, subtract thirty three.  Forty eight remain.

Forty minutes for Facebook (this is the American average): Eight left.

Fifteen minutes on necessary email. Nothing is left. Not even nothing.  Less than nothing.  

And I have not talked with you, yet.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Immigrants

The Great Hunger lasted from 1845 to 1852.  It is also known as the Irish famine.  The grandparents of my paternal grandfather came over then.  Over three hundred fifty Mahoneys came through New York in 1850 and 1851, the years my kinfolk came through.

I was sorting through the records for Daniel in 1850 and Katherine and Ellen in 1851.  So many records, so ...flexible the sense of names and dates.  I have not been able to identify their entry dates with any degree of certitude, yet seeing all of those names had its effect.

At that time, in our republic, Catholics were suspect of loyalty to the Pope more than to the country, especially the rebellious Irish.  Catholics were a problem for this country even in Maryland.  Yet, they came.  They answered the open invitation of liberty.  "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free...."

It was not an easy assimilation.  "No Irish Need Apply" was not an uncommon sign.  Yet this idealistic country opened the borders to these refugees with all the risks of disease and insurrection.  

***
Today we see the flood of immigrants from the middle east.  Peoples whose countries are ravaged by an Islamic analog to the Reformation in western Europe and the destruction of many of the functioning governments.  These people, Muslim and Maronite, pose potential harms to the west, to these United States.  ...And yet...
Though they are despised even as my ancestors were despised on their entry to this land, even so, the call of Liberty still rings true.  


Sunday, November 22, 2015

Sunday Pancakes!

This is derived from the wonderful More with Less Cookbook.

This is enough for six to ten people depending on appetite and other things: eggs, bacon, sausage, oj, coffee....

Preheat the griddle to 325 F.  Find your digital kitchen timer. (The timer is really important if you have a short attention span!)

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl.

~4 c. flour (whole wheat, bread flour, white... fresh ground is best)
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tbsp baking powder

Wisk the wets together in a separate bowl that is big enough for the whole batch.

8 tbsp cooking oil
4 eggs
4 c. sour milk or buttermilk  (To make sour milk add 1 tbsp of cider vinegar per cup of milk.)

Add the drys to the wets and wisk until there are no lumps.  The consistency should be thick and rich like a milk shake.  Adjust with more flour or milk if necessary.

A word about cooking:  temperature controls the brownness of the pancakes, time controls the doneness.  Whole wheat pancakes require about three minutes per side.  All purpose flour pancakes take only about a minute and a half per side.

I usually use a quarter cup measure per pancake.  No additional oil should be needed on the griddle.

Pour the pancakes on the griddle and start the timer.

Watch the first round of pancakes closely.  Use the first round to adjust time and temperature to achieve the best results.

Stack them on a cookie sheet and cover them in a warmed oven until you are ready to start eating.

Serve with butter, maple syrup, whipped cream, powdered sugar, peanut butter, jam, yogurt, applesauce,... and thanksgiving!

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Advent Is Coming

I've been thinking about advent.  Usually it just gets lost between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Advent.  It is similar to Lent, although you wouldn't know it for all the commerce stirred by Jingle Bells and tinsel.  Similar to Lent: a time of reflection, of penance before the coming of the Christ Child.

So, I am going to give up the news for advent.  I am a news junkie.  It is my favorite distraction.  It is easy to saturate on a dozen international news streams: web, icecast....  Too easy to ignore the blessings and challenges of here and now for a handful of distant awefuls.  

So, pray for me that I may be faithful and renewed in this small self discipline.