Fried Marbles and Internal Sparkle

A while back, I saw a pin on Pinterest about making fried marbles.  I had visions of the craziest marble-filled grease pot imaginable and thought, "No way!" The marbles did look pretty cool, though, so the next time I saw the pin, I clicked through to the link.  It turns out that the marbles are not really fried, you just use a frying pan. They are really roasted marbles.

I won't bore you with the physics of glass expansion and contraction, but you could use this as a science demonstration if I did.  Although I used a single marble, I mostly used flat-back glass beads for flower arrangements, as you can see from the picture.

Here's a quick tutorial:
1) Put your cast iron skillet (or other oven proof dish) in your oven and pre-heat to 400 degrees. Since I'm a little over the top, I heated mine to 450 degrees.
2) When the oven is hot, put the marbles in the skillet for 20 minutes. Or 30 minutes if you are like me.
3) While the marbles are roasting, prepare a small bowl with ice water.
4) Immediately remove the skillet/oven proof dish at the end of the time and quickly pour the hot marbles into the ice water.
5) Let the marbles cool and remove.

When those glass beads and marbles come out of the ice water, they have an amazing crackled appearance inside.  The marbles have been heated to an extreme temperature, cooled to a frosty and unreasonable chill, and survived both extremes.  The outside of the marble is intact, but the inside has multiple cracks that make a lovely sparkle and actually enhance the original appearance.

The point of this is not just so that you can have cute sparkly marbles. (Although you can!) We often find ourselves in difficult circumstances that feel as if we are going through a fiery furnace experience of our own.  It's not uncommon to survive the fire time, think we've made it, and go through an equally disturbing desert time where we not only feel removed from the very One who saved us from the fiery furnace, but also feel a "cooling" of our ardor for our Lord. I know I'm not the only one who has gone through something like this! Maybe you have, too.

The marbles make it through intact and enhanced because tiny cracks appear in the internal structure that change the marble permanently.  After the fire and the ice, the marble sparkles in the light and magnifies it more than ever.  That's how we should be afterwards, too.

If you are going through a fire and ice experience of your own, take heart.  The fire is hot and the cold is terrible, but the sparkle that enhances the Light can't be far behind.

Roasting the Roots

We have two doctors in our clinic on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Too long ago for me to remember when, we started sharing lunch and meeting with Fred Page (our friend and financial guru from next door). As type A personalities will do, we have made an effort to have healthy, delicious, and lovely lunches. Of course, we consider every dish to be gourmet. There was some discussion today about whether or not the meals were really gourmet. Dr. Lambert settled the question. "Of course these dishes are gourmet," he said. "Gourmet just means it is carefully and lovingly prepared."  Fred was skeptical, so we checked with the internet. We found that the term is used (according to Wikipedia) "to describe a person with refined or discriminating taste who is knowledgeable in the craft and art of food and food preparation."  After reading that, Dr. Lambert and I are sure we are gourmets.  Fred tells us, however, we are just run-of-the-mill gourmets, as we know some things, but not necessarily a lot.  We are not calling ourselves gourmet chefs, but we may be. Just so you know. 

With all that said, our lunch was so yummy and beautiful that we decided to share it with you. Here's the menu:

Roasted duck nestled on a bed of chanterelle mushrooms, roasted root vegetables, and sautéed organic collards and onions kissed with red peppers. 

(The sweet potatoes and collards were from Native Son Farm and were terrific. If you haven't visited their stand, make time to do so.) 

Isn't that a lovely lunch plate?  Every dish was delicious, and we might end up sharing all the recipes with you, but for today, we are sharing the Roasted Root recipe. 

One onion, sliced

Three whole carrots, two or three parsnips, two or three sweet potatoes, two large radishes all peeled and sliced in large chunks

Olive oil

Salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley

Combine all vegetables in a bowl. Drizzle the olive oil over the vegetables, add seasonings, and combine. Transfer to cooking dish. 

Place in 450 degree preheated oven. Cook for 45-60 minutes or until tender. 

Dot with butter and toss gently before serving. Serves four to six

The first picture is how it looked in the pan last night. It marinated overnight in the olive oil and seasonings. Today, it was simply delicious! 

There's an amazing thing about food and shared recipes. When I use Fred's recipe at my home, it's like sharing a part of his life. When they use my recipes, they have shared a part of my life. It's what we do in the South. We don't just cook. We cook Leanna's roots, Lewayne's duck, Fred's gumbo, Pam's curry, Elaine's collards. It's a kind of cooking that makes the meal both delicious and personal, shared with those we love because of the associations of the flavors with those from whom the recipe came. 

The Tuesday-Thursday Gourmet Lunch Club decided to invite you to share a taste of delicious with us by roasting up some roots of your own. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. 

Speaking of roots... These root vegetables anchor the plant to the source of nutrition and life. Roots to eat are just wonderful, but more important is your Life-Root that anchors you to your source of spiritual nutrition and life. To whom or what are you rooted ?  Much like the plants that provided our lunch, whose roots were anchored in nourishing soil, be sure you are rooted in the One who can sustain you in good times and bad, give you life, and nourish your soul. 

Happy rooting, dear ones!

Lamb chop recipe

For those who have asked, here's the recipe for my lamb chops:

1 ten-pack of lamb chops (the small ones from Sam's)

Olive oil

Garlic

Herbs: rosemary, parsley, maybe a little cumin

salt and pepper 

Mix a few teaspoons of oil with minced garlic. Brush the chops with olive oil/garlic mixture, then sprinkle herbs atop and salt and pepper to taste. I like to do all the chops at once and let them marinate in the refrigerator (covered). 

Brush the skillet with the olive oil and garlic mixture and preheat to a medium high temperature (7/10 on my stove) Put the chops in the hot skillet and cook them for 4 minutes and 3 minutes on the other. All done and medium rare. 

Serve with horseradish sauce (prepared horseradish, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and tarragon. 

Yum yum!

PS I learned to do this at work. My boss taught me. 

Drying Rosemary

When I visited the Garden of Gethsemane earlier this year (where Jesus was praying for us before He was arrested and crucified), I was amazed by the enormous olive trees. Some of them are more than 2000 years old, so yes, they were there when Jesus was praying. All these centuries later, I knelt and prayed by the very same trees where Jesus had knelt. How amazing is that?  The very surprising thing about the Garden of Gethsemane is that there were rosemary bushes everywhere, so the fragrance in the garden was incredible. Ever since, I've been determined to root my rosemary cuttings and make new plants in all my landscaping areas. I want my yard to smell like the Garden of Gethsemane! 

Yesterday, I snipped some tender young rosemary branches so that I could start rooting it, which is not the easiest thing to do. I trimmed off the lower leaves and dried them. My drying technique is so amazingly fast that I thought you might like to hear it. 

I put the leaves on a paper towel, cover them with another paper towel, microwave them for one minute, stir them around a little, then nuke them for another 30 or 40 seconds. The goal is to get them dry but still green. That's all there is to it! Perfectly dried rosemary for cooking (or whatever) in under two minutes!

There's a faith lesson in this wonderfully fragrant plant. The herb of memory, rosemary leaves are believed to quicken the mind and prevent forgetfulness.  It represents the importance of remembering all that God has done for you – in forgiveness, cleansing, healing, freedom. 

This evening, look in your spice rack for rosemary and crush a few leaves in your hand. Breathe in that lovely aroma and think on all that God has done for you. As you remember, be sure to thank Him for the sweet smelling sacrifice our Lord made of Himself on your behalf.