Beet Semifreddo Recipe

Or Beet Sorbet, if you prefer English. No, don't stop reading! I haven't completely lost it. The October issue of Gourmet contains a recipe for Beet Parfaits. Having been exposed to Corn Sorbet and Carrot Ice Cream by the creative ex-pastry chef at CVI (Lara!), I wasn't totally scared off by this idea. However, being only semi-motivated, I only made the semifreddo part of the recipe, rather than the whole thing. It turned out okay, not perfect, primarily due to my lack of proper tools and techniques. It is a beautiful fuchsia pink color though!

Beets actually contain a fair bit of sugar, which is why this recipe works. If you have some beets kicking around and are feeling adventuresome, try it out!

Beet Semifreddo
2 lb. beets, unpeeled, cut into thick sticks for juicing
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
5 large egg yolks, at room temp. for 30 minutes
1 1/4 cups chilled heavy cream

Juice the beet, then skim off the foam. (You need about 1 1/2 cups of juice.) Boil juice in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat until reduced to about 1/2 cup, 20-25 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and chill until cold.

Heat sugar and water in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved, then boil, without stirring, until syrup registers 248-250 degrees F on thermometer, about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, start beating yolks in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed to lighten. Add hot sugar syrup in a slow stream, beating at medium-high speed until pale yellow, fluffy, and tripled in volume, about 5 minutes. (Mixture should be completely cool.)

Beat cream in another bowl with cleaned beaters until it just holds stiff peaks. Fold into yolk mixture until just combined, then fold in cold beet juice gently but thoroughly.

Transfer to an airtight container and freeze, covered, until firm, about 3 hours.

Web Safari

This week's Web Safari is going to seem a bit heavy on religion articles for some of you, particularly articles that are somewhat critical of things that are going on in American Evangelical forms of Christianity. Those articles are going to get their own special grouping, so you can either avoid them or zoom right to them.

Religion Links and Articles

1. A woman who was at the forefront of the movement promoting Worship as Evangelism has written an article explaining why she no longer promotes that idea. A very insightful article discussing what worship should and shouldn't be.

"In 2001 a worship-driven congregation in my area finally did a survey as to who they were really reaching, and they were shocked. They'd thought their congregation was at least 50 percent unchurched. The real number was 3 percent."

2. A funny and insightful cartoon from Brant Hansen.

3. Related to the first article, David Fitch has written about some of the problems with the megachurch movement. Just because "good things are happening" doesn't mean that it justifies everything that is going on.

4. Barna has a new study out: A New Generation Expresses its Skepticism and Frustration with Christianity. This article is a overview of topics that will be discussed indepth in a new book, UnChristian by David Kinnaman. In short, there are more non-Christian 16-29 year olds than in any other generation, and they have much less favorable views of Christianity than previous generations. Not only that, but young Christians in the 16-29 year old age group tend to increasingly agree with many of the views of their non-Christian counterparts.

When young people were asked to identify their impressions of Christianity, one of the common themes was "Christianity is changed from what it used to be" and "Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus." These comments were the most frequent unprompted images that young people called to mind, mentioned by one-quarter of both young non-Christians (23%) and born again Christians (22%).

Kinnaman explained, "That’s where the term 'unChristian' came from. Young people are very candid. In our interviews, we kept encountering young people - both those inside the church and outside of it - who said that something was broken in the present-day expression of Christianity. Their perceptions about Christianity were not always accurate, but what surprised me was not only the severity of their frustration with Christians, but also how frequently young born again Christians expressed some of the very same comments as young non-Christians."

Other Interesting and Miscellaneous Links

1. Jenna Bush has a book being published that was inspired by her work with UNICEF in Panama.

2. Several new species of animals and orchids have been discovered in Vietnam.

3. Would you be more likely to stop at a humorous stop sign? Apparently a Chicago suburb thinks so.

4. "Recession" is a word being heard more commonly again. This article discusses 5 Reasons why it's looming. I have to say, that working in a business that is dependent on the spending patterns of the wealthiest people in the U.S., we can already see a crunch happening.

5. Soda flavors that are reminiscent of a football locker room? Yuck! Take your pick from Dirt, Sports Cream, Perspiration, and Natural Field Turf. Again, yuck!

NEWS!

I have a new job! It's a position as a Horticulture Extension Agent in Wichita, Kansas (Sedgwick County). So I'm starting November 5th. I'm really excited about it. The people all seem really great, and the job will be a nice change from my current job. My last day at my current job is October 12, a little earlier than I would have chosen, but my boss dictated that. Moving details and stories will follow.

Biofuels...Down with Corn!

I have to say that with all the politicos in an uproar over corn-based ethanol, it seems to me that some of the realities of the situation get grossly overlooked. Since I'm not running for political office, I don't need to worry about saying the politically correct thing to keep the Iowa farmers happy. I have major issues with producing ethanol from corn for several reasons: environmental impact of the corn monoculture production systems, economic impact of diverting corn from the foodsystem (whether from direct processing or as animal feed), the inefficiency of the corn ethanol production process, and the poor comparison of corn ethanol compared to other types of ethanol.

If you want to see a really nifty, interactive comparison of the cost, energy efficiency, etc. of various types of ethanol, check out this National Geographic Biofuels Comparison.

You can also read the full cover page story from NationalGeographic, Green Dreams.

Web Safari

1. Right...because suing God is an intelligent thing to do...

2. The best sandwich in America. (I don't think any of them came out of my Sandwich Book!)

3. Looking to get a date with that cute girl/guy in the pew next to you? DO NOT try these.

4. The best cheap wines, according to the NYTimes.

5. Not your grandmother's kilogram: the kilo standard is losing weight!

6. An unexploded grenade in your body? Sounds like a bad TV drama plotline...except it wasn't.

Web Safari

Well, this would be one of the weeks that I have apparently found nothing worth mentioning in the great wide world of the internet.

1. Horror Movie Safety Tips - wisdom from watching horror movies?

2. Healthy eating countries, and what makes them healthy.

3. Brett has more TDs toward the record, and has become the winningest QB in NFL history.

4. The Cyclones won a game! Not just any game, they beat Iowa! But who chose those hideous uniforms?!?

5. Check out this Cali farm that is home to some very weird tomatoes.

I'm afraid this is all for this week. Maybe I'll do better next week. I'll be flying to Wichita on Saturday, Sept. 22, and I'll be back Wednesday, Sept. 26. That might make for more or less blogging...we will see what comes about. At any rate, it will be a much needed break from work and my workplace. Hopefully I will be refreshed and ready to finish out the season when I get back. I do have a couple other blog posts I've been working on, but I'm nowhere near close to finishing them, so you will have to breathlessly await them. Or something like that.

Blog of the Week

This week's blog of the week is the Local Harvest Blog. They seem to primarily highlight different organic farms and other farms in their network. It's interesting to see all the different farms and niche markets that are out there.

Serving

I've been seriously considering applying for AmeriCorps, at least partly because I've experienced corporate America and would really appreciate the opportunity to do a job that helps people rather than takes advantage of them. With that in mind, the cover story from the Sept. 10 issue of Time Magazine seemed to be very timely. (Yeah, pun kinda intended.) A Time to Serve: The Case for National Service

The article lays out the importance of national service and suggests that part of the reason that the current generation of young people are so interested in service is because they have so little belief in the government. This may or may not be true, I don't know. I did find it rather ironic that Time then proceeded to suggest that the federal government and the presidential candidates should do a lot more to encourage volunteerism and national service. Right. Because when you have a group of people that engage in activities because they are skeptical about the government, it makes a lot of sense to involve the government in those activities even more. Luckily they don't recommend compulsory service, because I know that for myself and other people my age that would fly about like a lead balloon.

The article then puts forth 10 ideas/steps for enacting a plan for "universal national service."

1. Create a National Service Baby-Bond (hmm...interesting, but it involves the government handling more of people's money...and creates a Social Security-esque fund)
2. Make National Service a Cabinet-Level Department (maybe, but is more bureaucracy really that necessary?)
3. Expand Existing National Service Programs like AmeriCorps and National Senior Volunteer Corps (Well, yes. Fairly obvious, this.)
4. Create an Education Corps (Makes sense, but the teacher certification people won't like it.)
5. Institute a Summer of Service (Okay, just the sheer number of adult volunteers that would be required to make it feasible to oversee a horde of 8th/9th grade volunteers seems silly.)
6. Build a Health Corps (Actually, this could be a good idea in general.)
7. Launch a Green Corps (This could be a good idea too, if it's done properly.)
8. Recruit a Rapid-Response Reserve Corps (Again, not a horrible idea...)
9. Start a National Service Academy (Uh...what's the point? Do we really need to found another school just so that we can require attendees to commit 5 years to public service afterwards?)
10. Create a Baby-Boomer Education Bond (Hmm...I'm not sold on this idea. Have Baby Boomers volunteer so they can get a $1,000 scholarship that they can earmark for a grandchild/other child of their choice? Seems like a silly incentive, although maybe it's valid.)

Honestly, I think my main fear with a lot of these ideas is that they create more bureaucracy that is unnecessary. I will say that I haven't seen much evidence of excessive bureaucracy with the AmeriCorps programs, and maybe that is because there aren't a lot of high profile politicians mixing around with it. So by all means, expand AmeriCorps and similar programs to fill more pressing needs. Just don't encourage the politicians to get involved because it might just squelch our interesting in service.

Green and Gold

In honor of the start of the NFL season, and the Packers currently doing their best to lose to the Philadelphia Eagles, I'm posting some pictures of my gold tomato sauce and green salsa.

Web Safari

My computer is becoming increasingly flaky, which can be annoying to frustrating on any given day. Unfortunately, it makes regular blogging something of a challenge. I'm hoping that it was largely the effect of the hot, humid weather this past week that was causing the problem. We will see how things progress. I did take the precaution of backing up my pictures and other documents today so I don't lose them if my computer decides to take a turn for the worse.

1. A California group is suing the federal government claiming that a law allowing alternative teacher certification programs is 'harming our children.' One of the side effects of this lawsuit could be that programs like Teach for America would be shut down. Right. Because shutting down a program that takes highly educated college graduates and gives them incentives to teach for 2 years in inner city or rural schools that are short on quality teachers is clearly bad and hurting those students.

2. Osama bin Laden urges Americans to convert to Islam to stop terrorism. Uh huh. What would happen if we told the Muslims to embrace Christianity or Atheism to have American forces withdraw from Iraq? Exactly.

3. Now you know how to preach a "brilliant" sermon - Brant Hansen gives us the outline!

4. A story about a teacher working with 8th graders in a Chicago school.

5. St. Patrick's Breastplate prayer.

6. A photoblog with some pretty spiffy nature photos.

Tales of Labor Day Weekend

Having a 2.67 day weekend, I figured it would be a good opportunity to see some friends. Happily, they agreed with me. Nicole came down from Rochester on Saturday, and we drove to Ann Arbor, MI to see Liz, another former Andersian. We got there just in time to see lots and lots of people in gold and navy blue shirts milling around looking dejected. Liz showed us the co-op she lives in, then we walked around and got to see the Michigan campus and surrounding vicinity. We ate dinner at a nice little Middle Eastern restaurant. (Yum!) Then we went back to the co-op and watched Short Circuit.

I drove home after a nice Pumpkin Spice Latte (Yum again!), and we slept in Huron. Sunday morning we got up and got ready for a day of salsa making with some people from my work. The first task was finding a kitchen tool that apparently has become as unknown as the butter churn. First we went to Meijer where we bought pint jars with lids, but the needed item could not be found. Inquiring of a employee, we discovered it was not in stock, but she helpfully said, "You really do need one of those, though." Yeah, thanks. On to WalMart. Same story. The employee there suggested the Kitchen Connection at the mall. Okay. We get there and walk through the store. Nothing. Honestly. I go to the girl behind the counter (who looks like she's 18 and has no clue about anything). After a moment of a non-comprehending stare, she says, "You mean, like, for canning?" Uh, yes, that would be it. She had one left and it was under the counter. What was this elusive object? Ah yes. A Jar Lifter. You would think that when you stock all other manner of canning goods, you would stock these as well, but apparently not.

Anyway, the salsa making was uneventful to the point of being boring. We did make some pretty tasty salsa though. (I'm sitting here contemplating making more using yellow tomatoes and green peppers...perfect for football season!) We made 36 quart jars, 12 pint jars, and about 12 additional quarts of fresh salsa.

After the salsa making, Nicole and I decided to rent movies for the evening. We managed to rent two of the worst movies I have ever had the misfortune to watch. The Good German and For Your Consideration. I don't know how we made such poor choices, but they both seemed like good ideas at the time. They have managed to push Room with A View down to number 3 on my All Time Worst Movies list. I feel like I should give you some reason for the judgement, but I don't think I can put into written English just how awful these two movies were. Ugh. Apparently some people like them though, since they are rated 6.2 and 6.3, respectively, on the Internet Movie Database.

Web Safari

I love how some weeks I have to go around hunting for a bunch of interesting links, and some weeks I have way more than I need. This week they were all here waiting for me when I got around to finishing the post.

1. A mother of an 11-year old daughter writes an account of the horrors and joys of back to school clothes shopping.

2. The Diet Fork

3. An interesting conversation about the Bible and idolatry.

4. Always wondering about the correct table settings? Wonder no more!

5. My friend Nettie is going to be doing an apprenticeship with InnerChange starting in late September. Check it out. If you'd like to support Nettie, leave a comment or send me and email and I'll hook you up.

6. Is there such a thing as a FairTax? On just a glance, the FairTax appears to do away with all income taxes and put in place Federal sales taxes. There is a long list of exemptions and a rebate program for "necessesities" so that people under the poverty line would never have to pay any taxes in. I have to wonder if this would really work. I also think that there is a baseline assumption with the FairTax that no amount of taxation will curb American consumption and consumer spending noticeably. (Which may very well be a correct assumption on the average.)

7. The Internet Monk has a great post about Post-Evangelicals and Catholic Spirituality

8. The online art gallery of Edward B. Gordon, a German artist. Also, his blog.

9. And for those of you who know who Joel Osteen is, but have no desire to read his book, here's an inside look at the "Your Best Life Now" board game. I think the scariest part is that apparently they encourage the small groups at Osteen's church to play this game. Maybe they should try, oh, I dunno...Bible reading?!?

10. And apparently there are a lot of people in France that don't know what that thing is in space that orbits the Earth.

Affected by American Culture?

You Have Not Been Ruined by American Culture

You're nothing like the typical American. In fact, you may not be American at all. You have a broad view of the world, and you're very well informed. And while you certainly have been influenced by American culture (who hasn't?), it's not your primary influence. You take a more global philosophy with your politics, taste, and life. And you're always expanding and revising what you believe.

Has American Culture Ruined You?