Homemade Chocolate Pudding
Last week, my mom wrote me (Alice) a list of food items I should know how to make before I leave home. At the top of the list was homemade chocolate pudding. The recipe I used was from our 1956 Betty Crocker cookbook. Instead of "pudding," the cookbook called it "Chocolate Blanc Mange." Blanc Mange is French for "White Food." The taste was better than any other pudding I have ever tasted. Here is the recipe:
Chocolate Blanc Mange
Mix in saucepan.....2/3 cup sugar, 3 tbsp. cornstarch, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 2 squares unsweetened chocolate, cut up (OR 1/3 cup cocoa). Stir in gradually...2 1/4 cups milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil 1 min. Remove from heat. Blend in 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Chill. Serve in sherbert glasses topped with fresh fruit, grape or other fruit juice (I think this is for the vanilla one), or whipped cream. Delicious, too, topped with vanilla ice cream. AMOUNT: 4 to 6 servings.
Posted in on February 8, 2007 | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Long Absence
We realize that our Lilypress website has not been updated in a long time! This long absence has been due to...
Micah's wedding last February...
Hannah's wedding in August...
Naomi's volunteer work as a missionary on the border of Mexico...
And the arrival last week of our very first nephew/grandson! He was six days too early to be born on his parents' first anniversary!
Our house is a lot quieter than it was a year ago. We will try to post more often from now on!
Posted in on February 8, 2007 | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Our 2nd Ever Lily Press Chat
Last week Naomi had a chat online with Jana Baldridge, a dear friend from Wisconsin. Both girls are currently volunteering at Christian ministries in Texas and were having similar questions about their work. They have taken advantage of these opportunities because of Paul's admonition that singleness is a gift to be used for the body of Christ and his injunction that we be "wholly concerned with the Lord's business". However, this doesn't mean concerns don't arise and this chat addreses some of them, in an informal way. (Meaning, we weren't planning on posting this while we were having it! What you see is the original, un-cut, and unedited version. Okay, I did change one spelling error, but I won't admit whose it was. Read at your own risk!)
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Posted in Thoughts to Ponder on July 19, 2006 | Comments (1)
"You Look Like a Nun!"
You know what one of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten is?
“Are you a nun?�
This has happened more than once, believe it or not. I know that may look like a strange question and to tell the truth, I’ve always been puzzled by it and even slightly annoyed. I realized today, however, that this is really a compliment.
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Posted in Thoughts to Ponder on June 30, 2006 | Comments (0)
The Sacrifice and Delight of the Daily Meal
While not a book I’d unreservedly recommend, I have been recently enjoying Donald McCullough’s Say Please, Say Thank You: The Respect We Owe One Another. It’s sort of an “I’m not Emily Post and neither are you, but we can still be nice to each other� expose on modern manners. The best chapter so far is number 8, on the topic of meals.
Here’re a few excerpts:
“My oldest daughter recently celebrated her twenty-third birthday, and for me the day brought forth many memories of her growing from childhood through adolescence into young adulthood. . .When we spoke on the telephone she said she had been thinking about her most memorable birthday. . .what stood out in her mind was the ladybug cake her mother made on her sixth birthday. ‘There was just something about that cake,’ she said, ‘that made it so special.’ Well, it doesn’t surprise me that her recollection of a favorite celebration had to do with food. For most people, meals are like mountains on the landscape of memory; food and drink and conversation have formed peak experiences, summits standing tall against the terrain of the ordinary. . .
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Posted in Thoughts to Ponder on June 23, 2006 | Comments (0)
On The Other Hand
After reading several blog posts and comments by younger mothers bemoaning the absence of older women to advise them as Paul suggests in Titus 2, I started thinking. Yes, mentoring is a Biblical idea and yes, we do have specific instructions for older women in their relation to younger women. But if there aren't any, there's nothing we can do about it.
We now are facing a similar problem as single girls at home. Wouldn't I love a mentor? Wouldn't I love someone who has done this before, grown old and been married, who could reassure me over and over that this would turn out okay and give me advice on how to spend my time and other useful things? YES! Wouldn't we all? But the fact is that there aren't any, or at least very few, and once again, there's nothing we can do about it.
However, to look on the other hand as I so love to do, perhaps it is better this way. After all, this way we have mystery. We have the adventure of the unknown. We have the chance to follow with trepidation the footsteps of Moses, Joseph, Abraham, and Mary . . . meekly walking the straight and narrow pathway of obedience that few find. The paths with solid brick walls around them, sign posts, smooth pavement, and ice-cream-stands-for-goodness'-sake are boring. They've been traveled, they're easy, and they don't require any guts at all. Wouldn't we rather walk on the unmarked trail, putting up posts as we go to mark the way, getting our shoes dusty, and deciding where the best place for pavement would be to smooth the way for others? I think so.
So to those of you who for some reason or other are lonely, don't despair. That means you are on the right path, trod by thousands of pilgrims and strangers before you. Watch for the faint footprints and take cheer in them. Listen for the encouragement of the great cloud of witnesses. And keep walking. At the end is a chorus of angels.
Posted in Thoughts to Ponder on April 21, 2006 | Comments (0)
My Thoughts on Abraham and Feminists
These aren't related. At least I don't think they are.
Abraham: In my Lenten devotional (and the liturgical calendar), the Old Testament reading for yesterday, the second Sunday of Lent, was the story of Abraham and Isaac. Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling was recommended as a resource for pastors and is apparently on this topic. I think I should find it somewhere. Anyway, I am fascinated by this story, one that made me cry when I was little. (I was convinced God might tell my dad to kill me and it took my parents significant time to convince me otherwise.) This story presents a view of God that makes us uncomfortable. Why did God do that? How did this event affect Abraham's relationship with Isaac? Isn't trusting God supposed to be about having "signs" that we're in His will and feeling all nice and warm about believing? Apparently not. Apparently sometimes it is cold and harsh to be obedient. Sometimes we come breathtakingly close to abandoning everything we ever wanted and we have no assurance whatsoever that we might not be asked to give it up. Sometimes our hands (dare I say it?) DO come down with the axe on our Isaac. Sometimes we have to watch glum-faced while our sacrifice goes up in flames. Sometimes we don't know. And we don't see. And there simply are NO footprints in front of us. But I guess this isn't bad. I guess this is the way of faith - of trust in the unseen and unknown and unheard, because Isaiah 43 says, "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." He watches and He knows and we don't and somehow that kind of faith is important to Him. Trust in the dark and the light will come. I guess that's how it works.
And on feminists: Grandma and I watched the Today Show this morning and the author of The Mommy Wars was on, answering e-mails people had sent. Some of them were from stay-at-home moms asking for advice on how to answer their friends and others were from ladies who wanted to re-integrate into the workforce and needed advice. This lady was laid back and answered each according to their philosophy. I think it's good we're at least moving in the "I'm okay, you're okay" direction and I'm fascinated by the fact that these issues are coming again to the forefront of the public discussion, but I am still puzzled over the fact that most people are against any mention of duty. I can be a homemaker if I want to, but if I should dare to say I ought to, then I am in troubled waters. We can serve our husbands and fathers because we choose to do so, as long as we don't say we think it's our job. This is too bad. It reminds me of what I quoted earlier this week from the book I'm reading: duty and happiness are forever separated and it is incomprehensible to people how they could ever be anything but mutually exclusive. Grandma and I were discussing this morning the trend to days at the spa and the beauty parlor and the massage parlor and people's claims that we need time to do "girl things" away from home. We were musing on the question of whether doing dishes and sweeping floors and dusting and doing laundry would be just as therapeuticly "feminine" if only people would stay home and do them. We decided that to us, they are.
Posted in on March 14, 2006 | Comments (0)
What My Grandma Taught Me Or, Why Young People Need To Be Around Older People
After spending nearly two weeks here in Arizona in the retirement trailer court, I’ve learned quite a few lessons I thought worth sharing.
*You can always look for animals in the cloud formations and in fact, this is quite a good use of time.
*Any day you can get out of bed and breathe, see, walk, hear, digest, and go somewhere is a good day.
*The weather is an interesting phenomenon and worthy of all the attention you wish to give it.
*Music is one of the chief pleasures of life.
*Food is another one of the chief pleasures of life. Any casserole is a good casserole and any dessert is a good dessert. Talking about these is another good use of time.
*There is something to be learned from each person you meet.
For a young, single girl who sometimes gets blue about it, I especially learned things from the widows in the park here – including my grandma. I sat at a concert of love tunes with them on Saturday night. Love songs sometimes make me sad, because of my lack of a lover, but they don’t make these ladies sad at all. They remember past love, enjoy watching the love of other people, and celebrate love in general instead of feeling sorry for themselves. They don’t waste time grasping for what once was or what could have been, but they concentrate on living each day now to the fullest. They enjoy each other, share stories, golf, sing, and LIVE.
I was looking around the auditorium last night during a “rhythms in blue� concert at all the people there – all over 55 and most over 70. I’ve been watching these people for the past two weeks and paying close attention, trying to savor each crooked smile, each wrinkled face, each time-and-work-worn hand, each limping walk. These people are precious. They have walked through time, experienced years of heartache and care, worry and fear. They know what it is to hurt, to cry, to mourn, to rejoice, to love, to lose, to win – what it is to live on this earth. As eternity steps closer and closer to them, its light shines in their minds. They don’t worry about being famous or popular or having what they want or getting ahead in life or what they will eat or drink or wherewithal they shall be clothed. They are concerned with people – how each person is feeling, what they are doing, where they are from, and who their grandchildren are. They are in touch with what really matters and they trust the Lord to take care of them, which they have no problem believing He will do, because they’ve lived and seen it and know now that He is faithful. Younger people have a harder time with this, I think. My generation is concerned with success and fame and fortune and being smart instead of wise. We think older people belong in nursing homes and we don’t value their wisdom or experience. I think we should. We should honor them for the lives they have lived, the trials they have come through, and the strength those trials have given them. We should listen more and talk less. We should watch and learn. We should revere these twinkling eyes and dancing feet for the love they have known – and have yet to give. Thank you – to my grandma and to all the other older people who have shown me what a joy it is to be a seasoned saint.
Posted in Thoughts to Ponder on March 13, 2006 | Comments (2)
