The Best James Bond Movie

I’ve seen all the James Bond movies. Fortunately some I’ve only seen once. Others I’ve seen quite a few times. It really is an amazing franchise. Dr. No came out in 1962 and there have been 22 films that have followed. Total box office receipts are well over 4 billion dollars. While I did not always think so, From Russia With Love (1963) has my vote for the best of the series.

For me, there are 5 reasons it is the best. First, it does a very nice job referencing the prior movie while not needing the character development of Dr. No. This is no easy feat. Most sequels either force you through the same information of what occurred prior, assuming you didn’t see it, or are so independent that they might as well be a new series.

Second, it has a solid, believable plot line. I have no problem with fantastic stories but I think Bond is best within a possible framework. James Bond is supposed to be the culmination of a very specific type of man’s man. If he is removed too far from reality, he actually looses some of his cachet. His appeal is that of being just out of reach.

Third, it has some of the cool James Bond gadgets, but technology does not trump plot and dialog. If anything, I could actually handle a little more in this department, but I’d rather err on the side of technology augmenting rather than dominating so, in the end, the balance of the movie works for me.

Fourth, it’s Sean, his acting is some of his best, and his portrayal of Bond cool is so fun to watch. His clothes, demeanor, physical action, and facial expressions are dead on. There is a scene where he walks into his hotel room and spends a few minutes just walking around the room checking it out. There is no dialog and he is by himself. Very few actors could pull that off. He not only pulls it off but actual develops the Bond character in the process.

Finally, it has one of the best story lines contrasting men and women and celebrating the historical differences therein. James is all male. Tatiana is all female. The strengths and weakness of each individually and as man and woman are nicely balanced. For a Bond film, it is one of the best love stories. Through this (and the general development of the movie) there is a sensuality which counterpoints nicely with the drama and inevitable violence of a spy film.

All together, it is a well told story with some really great Hitchcockian film angles and a unified feel to the whole film. The fact that it is in the classic Bond style is also a point in its favor. The only part I don’t like, and I dislike it so much I usually turn it off, is the last shot of the film when James is dropping the surveillance tape into the lagoon and waving goodbye. Its effemininity is just wretched. Keep your remote handy.

A Christian Who Drinks; Part 2

In part 1 of this discussion, I gave my conclusion that I find nothing contradictory in a Christian who consumes alcohol. More importantly, I explained the manner in which I reached those conclusions so that anyone who was interested could do their own research and form an informed opinion.

Now we get to the two questions which logically follow. Please note that if you have reached an opinion that Christian's should not drink, these questions and their answers are moot and you might as well stop reading. The two primary remaining questions are when one may or should drink and why. One quick definitional note; for this blog "drink" and “wine” refer to drinking an alcoholic beverage unless otherwise noted. Also, I usually reference only the title and chapter when giving biblical references. This is to encourage a reading of the entire context and also acts as a check to ensure I am not using a misleading reference.

I'll actually start with some specific examples of when we are directed to NOT drink. As noted in the first part, in Leviticus 10 the priests are ordered not to drink when attending affairs in the tent of meeting. In Number 6, rules for Nazarites included a prohibition against drinking for a period of time (which would be subsequently released after a presentation ceremony to the priest). This is picked up, of course, in Judges 13 as Samson was a Nazarite. Interestingly, the same proscription was given to Samson's mother. In Proverbs 31 there is a strong recommendation to kings and rulers to abstain (a recommendation which includes a tone of pity for them). The most obvious New Testament example of directed abstention is that of John the Baptist.

In balance, there are also a number of times when the recommendation was to drink. For example, in Deuteronomy 14 the Israelites are specifically directed to drink their wine with their other tithes. In 2 Samuel 16, wine is provided for David's men with the encouragement to drink for refreshment. Psalm 104 celebrates God's provisions including wine to make men glad. Proverbs 31 probably is the most proscriptive. It advocates strong drink for the perishing and wine for those who are depressed. In similar vein, Ecclesiastes 9 advocates drinking with a cheerful heart to celebrate the reality of life. Finally, in 1 Timothy 5, Timothy is encouraged to include wine in his diet for better health.

There are clearly times when drinking is appropriate. So the question that really needs to be answered is why Christians should drink. In my experience, in neither print, sermon, nor common talk, has this question been asked. I think in this absence is a real failure to develop a complete theology of food and drink. We ask the why question about all sorts of other directed activities from tithing to praying to modesty, but never about why we should drink. In the answer is found not only a purpose for drinking but also some important insights into human psychology and relationship.


Once again, I am going to step back before proceeding forward. We've seen times when drinking is prohibited. For these we need to ask the why question too (or in this case, why not). The prohibitions all seem to fall into two categories. The first is leadership. Those in leadership have additional responsibilities that come at the cost of intellectual diligence. Because they are responsible for much more than their own lives and families, they seem to have a higher calling for complete engagement. The second category is for those chosen by God or committed to God for a very particular calling. Assuming you are not set aside by kingship, God directive, or alcohol-celibate choice, continue reading.

For those biblical directives encouraging drinking, there seem again to be two general categories. The first is worship and celebration. God has given us blessings of all sorts. Recognize those blessings and give praise to him by actually using (in this case consuming) those blessings.

The second category is a collection of recommendations that drinking is beneficial for your physical and mental health. It is this second category which provides the doorway to what I find the most interesting components of why Christians should drink.

The word “person”, in current vernacular, suggests the core or essence of the individual. This is seen clearly in statements like, "I am my own person", or in the legal concept of “person” which would include all the uniquely individual things like the right to vote, the opportunity to exercise choice, the ability to be held liable for damages to another, etc... One dictionary actual uses the definition, "The personality of a human being".

Our word “person” comes from the Latin word “persona”. Persona was the name given to the mask worn by an actor. It was the thing he became and it was the thing people actually saw rather than the human actor behind the mask. “Persona”, in turn, was the conjunction of the words "per sonare" which have the literal meaning of "sound through". The mask of the actor not only represented the fictional character of the play and disguised the actor, but it also had a megaphone quality which allowed the actor to speak through it as the character but even louder than in real life.

These ideas and images help to understand the psychology of our use of these terms. As mentioned, “person” means the actual human being in reality. As was originally implied, “persona” for us means a covering or a projection of character that we wish people to see instead of the real person. We all have our persona (or personas) through which we carefully control what other see and think about us.

This is not good. While there are times we need to take on roles we do not want or feel qualified for, God did not create the persona but the person. It is that person who is to be celebrated. And it is the person that God wants to use for his purposes. All our personas merely get in the way of true knowledge, true relationship, and effective obedience to his will. It probably goes without saying, but the longer we wear our persona masks, the harder we find stripping them off and revealing the real person.

However, there are tools that can be used to help in the process of becoming real. God himself is very capable. Good friends, accountability, and a willingness to get banged around can be beneficial. Many therapists and psychologists specialize in just such growth. And wine can play a role too.

Wine (alcohol) is a depressant. As such, is depresses the normal responses and behaviors. This is easily seen in delayed reaction times and lack of balance in seriously inebriated folk. What is less discussed is that the depressive action also works on the careful constructs of our personas. Since personas are, in essence, a house of cards, they have intrinsic weaknesses. Please understand that I am not saying the persona is weak; frequently the persona has more strength that the person behind. But personas require an immense amount of fine lattice-work to hold them in place and a vigilant tending to keep them from cracking.

The depressive value in alcohol comes into play by depressing the ability to maintain the charade that is the persona. When our neurological activity is depressed, we simply cannot maintain the intense balancing act required for a persona and, instead, the person starts being revealed.

Anyone who has gone to a dinner party with other guests not well known, where wine is served will have noticed this. At the beginning, people are awkward and stiff (or potentially too friendly and outgoing). After a glass of wine or two, conversation starts flowing more richly, humor and a sense of companionship tend to increase, people argue passionately of things about which they would normally show reserve, etc...

Now, obviously, that depressive benefit can go to far and even parts of the person such as kindness and empathy can be depressed and even more base dynamics revealed. I will get to when some is too much in a minute.

The point is, wine can help us to be more real and can help us be comfortable in showing the real person, warts and all. I think it important for people to stop at those times and look at themselves. Learn what the real you is and does and says and acts. As you build a database of what the real “you” is, you can try to emulate that “you” sans alcohol. It probably took a long time to build the persona. It will likely take a while to tear it down. Personas are safe. Reality, not so much.

Again, there is a biblical basis for what I am suggesting. In Ecclesiastes 2:3, Solomon writes that he is going to try an experiment. It is one of those verses which no one quite seems to know how to translate (run a quick search on it in a parallel bible format). My best understanding of that verse, in its context, is that he decided to use wine to see how his perspective changed and what he would find out about himself. And while his ultimate conclusion is to worship and obey God, he also recognizes the value and joy of focusing on eating, drinking (including wine), and working as ways to celebrate our here-and-now despite our problems.

My ideas are also supported in the verses commending drinking for health's sake in that the depressive benefits  help release our desire to worry and control, both of which are projection actions rather than actions recognizing the reality of our person.

Now to the most fundamental issue. Life is about relationship. The dominant relationship is that of each individual to God. The next is our relationships with each other. Given that God created us just as he wanted us to be, the more true to that creation we can be will be the most blessed to those who God placed in our life. The more we place constructs and personas in the path of relationship the more we remove the ability to bless and be blessed.

The correct amount to drink then is this; if your relationships are deeper, more real, more meaningful, and more loving, you are on the right track. Please note that I am not suggesting that under the persona is some totally sweet, unbelievably loving person, with no problems. This is still a fallen world. I clearly wrote "more", not "completely" in this paragraph's first sentence. Conversely, if your relationships get stupider, more one dimensional, more harmful, and more inappropriately self-centered, you've over indulged.

The final thing I want to note is that there are a number of instances when being filled with the holy spirit and having drunken wine are contrasted with each other. I find a note of something like this in Psalm 4 when David says that that joy of the Lord is better than the joy of drinking wine. It is even more focused when the Apostles are accused of having been drinking and instead it is the power of the Holy Spirit. Finally, the direct analogy is used in Ephesians 5 when the directive is given to be drunk on the Holy Spirit instead of wine. If there is not a similarity of the releasing effect of alcohol and the reality of being in your person in alignment with God, what sense do these verses make?

I am not trying to convince. I am comfortable with my understanding of these issues at this time and I reserve the right to change my mind later. My goal has been to explain how I arrived at my position and, hopefully, to add to your own discussion so that on this issue you can be fully, intelligently, engaged. As they say, your mileage may vary.

Bread; Budget Luxury

One thing I truly believe, when it comes to food, is that you cannot fail with good quality ingredients, simply but properly prepared. After that, all good cooking is simply a derivative of this base. Working at this base level certainly requires some knowledge of ingredients, flavors, and proper cooking techniques, but, in truth, good recipes and the help of a good cooking book with even a modest collection of tools will get you along way toward food worth eating.

One of the most basic foods is bread. For what ever reason bread has developed a reputation for being difficult to make. I don't understand this reputation for two reasons. First of all, bread is one of the oldest prepared foods. If it was that complex or required fancy technology, it would not have the historical underpinnings it has. Second, I've made a lot of bread. It's not foolproof, but it's also not that far from it.

Of further amusement to me is how home baked bread, especially when still warm, is considered one of the peaks of gastronomic satisfaction. I should clarify; it's reception as a delight to the senses is no surprise. Good bread is awesome. My humor comes from bread's status as some rare treat. It need not be.

From a technological standpoint, for me, baking bread uses a good mixer, the mixing bowl itself, a fairly solid surface for some kneading, a flat tray for baking, a small variety of measuring tools, and an oven. That's pretty minimal with the mixer being the one thing most people might not have as I am talking about a fairly heavy duty, high capacity mixer. The thing to note there, however, is the mixer really only speeds things up; it is not at all necessary if you are willing to do some modest hand mixing and more kneading than otherwise.

But for this post, I am going to assume that you either have access to a basic bread book or you've made bread before. If you don't or have not, please contact me or leave a reply and I'll post on the actual process of making bread or, better yet, come on over and we'll make bread together. Actually, almost any cooking done with someone who already knows is twice delightful. You get both relationship and knowledge.

Jen wanted a bread with more grit and fiber and so I came up with this recipe a few months ago. Since our chickens give us far too many eggs for our appetites, I also designed the recipe to use up extra eggs. It's really an excellent bread, but very basic and requires nothing out of the ordinary in terms of bread making skills. What follows, then, is simply the list of ingredients. I almost always just bake bread as round loaves on a flat, lightly greased pan. There is no reason you couldn't also bake in conventional rectangular loaf pans.

Approximately 6 cups high gluten flour.
1 1/2 Tablespoons dry yeast
2/3 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon salt

1/4 cup sunflower seed
1/8 cup flax seed
3/4 cup Pumpernickel Rye flour
1/4 cup 8 grain cereal
1/4 cup wheat bran

2 cups water
2/3 cups olive oil
4 eggs

Bake @ 375 for 30-35 minutes

Off the top of my head, I would guess the actual cost of the ingredients for this recipe (which makes three decent size loaves) is about $3. Given the fact that good, home made bread is one of the more satisfying things to eat, and given that so many so rarely get the experience, and given that the price is right, I stand comfortable in my claim of budget luxury. It's the weekend ... go bake some.

*If something in here is not clear, if you have a technical question, if you have a question on where to find good ingredients, or if you are inviting yourself over, feel free to get in touch. Bon appetit!

A Christian Who Drinks; Part 1

I've been asked about the fact that I have mentioned wine on a number of occasions in my blog and yet mention in the sideline notes that I am a Christian. How is this possible?

In the interest of full disclosure, let me first state the obvious; I find nothing biblical to condemn the consumption of alcoholic beverages. In fact, I find quite the opposite. How's that for a plot spoiler. Second, while writing this I am currently snacking on a few of the Salt and Pepper chips mentioned earlier and enjoying a glass on one of my standards, the Bota Box Old Vine Zinfandel. I also have ABBA playing so take that into consideration (just wait 'til we get to a discussion of music!).



In addition, I think that there are really two questions implicit in the general query. The first is the question of what the bible says about wine (and for the rest of this post I am using wine loosely to include any alcoholic beverage). The second is, if drinking wine is OK, when and (and this is almost never addressed) why. If this sounds like good news reporting, you're not far off. I find asking the W's to be an excellent start to almost any discussion.

This post will only address the first question. Stay tuned for the sequel (which to my mind is the more interesting).

Is It Acceptable For A Christian To Drink Wine?


Obviously, for a Christian, what this question really asks is, "What does the Bible say on this issue?". Since you already know my answer, let me instead lead you through my manner of research and you can reach your own conclusion. If I remember correctly, I clicked on the Warn Viewers That This Blog May Include Adult Content warning. Well, since this topic is about alcohol, I deem it of adult content. To the under 18, read this with your parents. To the over 18, make informed decisions.

In any thing I look at, my typical style is to try to go to original material. In this case it's the Bible. In the instance of biblical research I start by thanking God for the internet. While there is a lot of stupidity, there is also a tremendous amount of beauty. In this case, one of those beautiful things is the website www.studylight .org

This website has an amazing search-able lexicon. Go, type in the word you want to look at, and read all the times it is used.  Unless is it an extremely rare word (and we may come to some of those in later, very adult, conversations) by the time you read the contextual setting of each time the word is used, you should have a decent idea of what the bible actually says on the subject.


As you read through the verses in which the word shows up ask the following questions:
Do you see a common theme?
Are there exceptions?
Can you explain why there are exceptions or are they enigmatic?
If there is no direct continuity, is there some broader principle at work?

One other quick caveat (and bone to pick). In thinking about writing this blog I ran a quick google search on the matter. One of the first sites picked up fell into one of the most common and most irritating traps of rhetoric. It would use a verse like Leviticus 10:9, "“You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die.", and argue that such a verse condemned drinking. Rules of grammar are necessary for more than English majors and attorneys. A verse like that actually says that wine is not to be consumed if going into the tent of meeting. That's it. If you are not going into the tent of meeting it is at worst ambiguous about wine consumption and at best an implicit acceptance of wine in other contexts. Also, if you look at the verse in full context, it goes on (in the same verse and the next) to say, "This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, ¹⁰ so that you can distinguish between the holy and the common ..." The tent of meeting was special and holy. The rules that applied to it were different from regular or common life since it was different. The real point I am trying to make is think logically and read the entire context of the subject.

In a quick referential search on the lexicon of the website mentioned, it appears there are about 8 Greek words for wine in the New Testament and about 15 Hebrew words for wine in the Old Testament. Again, I am not really trying to convince you of anything and I'll let you read through all the references and come to your own conclusions. However, when I read through them in context, they tend to lead me to the following conclusions.

First, there is a strong prohibition against over consumption. While some brilliant theologians could argue to tenure regarding what "over consumption" means, I focus on this; the Bible is about relationship. If your consumption leads to the degradation of your relationship with God or your relationship with the person next to you, it is over consumption. *This concept is much more fully dealt with in Part 2 of this discussion, so please wait to read that installment before assuming you know what I mean.


Second, there are numerous invitations to celebrate all that God has given us and at least one one warning which suggests that tea-totaling can lead to a judgmental appearance.  In Philippians 4, in the context of celebrating everything true, noble, lovely, right, pure, admirably, excellent, or praiseworthy, there is also the caution to be seen as people who are comfortable with moderation. I frequently think that many Christians have forgotten the value (and the directive) to be relationally attractive.

Finally, in looking at the verses pertinent, I see many references which either directly accept and celebrate wine or implicitly accept it as acceptable behavior. I am not going into the arguments that "wine" means an un-fermented grape juice; quite frankly to accept the strained interpretations and grammatical contortions required to resolve all the referenced verses into that belief system requires more faith than it does to become a Christian in the first place.

There is a final consideration for me that must be mentioned. So for we have dealt with the highly educated part of this analysis. What about the hillbilly side?


There are numerous Biblical references to vineyards in both the OT and NT. In many of the references, the vineyards are described in near industrial level terms with significant acreage and many employees. I live in an area of fairly extensive vineyards. They are a significant investment in money and even more in labor. As far as I know, they yield only one harvest a year.

We have a lot of wild grapes growing on the fence rows that we use to make grape jelly in the late summer. Grapes only last a couple of weeks at best once picked. Squeezed grape juice lasts even less time. After that the grapes, for the most part, rot. If they don't rot directly, and I find this a bit ironic, they ferment.

All this begs the question of why so many generations would go through so much work to harvest industrial size crops that were either ruined or fermented within days after harvest if fermented grape juice was biblically illegal? The hillbilly conclusion is that historically people had vineyards for the grape juice which they stored long term as wine. This would also show a biblical ethos of stewardship as you would minimize waste. I can see no other reasonable satisfaction of the data presented. So, with gratitude, I drink wine (in moderation).

Next time I'll look at the more interesting questions of when and why one should joyfully consume alcoholic beverages.

I Wanted This To Be Easy

In the Gaither Vocal Band's song Through, the lyrics include the lines:

I thought He would just remove it,
but He gently led me through.

I had always recognized that this was a distinct difference from that position we typically assume after realizing our errors, but it really came home the other day. While God certainly could remove the consequences of our mistakes, and while I think he almost always causes to make them less than they could be, I have yet to find a situation were he actually removes them completely.

It is understandable why we would want to have him wipe the whole sin and mistake away. First of all, he could. Second, confession is hard and important. Once confession is made, isn't that the most important part? Isn't it true we just learned a valuable lesson and now we can move on with our life? Third, doesn't the Bible say that His forgiveness is complete?

The answer, of course, is that free will is still the modus operandi. And free will has consequences. In addition, while confession and accountability are hugely important,  and while they are necessary to receive forgiveness, forgiveness of the sin and the effects of the sin are two different things. We may well have forgiveness after owning up to our sin, but God typically does not remove the whole event. Instead, he promises to be with and love us through the residual components of that sin. We still need to plow through the results.

And I find myself in that same situation. About 3/4 of a year ago I realized I wasn't happy with who I was, what my life was about, or what my future appeared to be. As any decent psychologist will tell you, the next step is to own the fact that it is your life and start making changes. I did not need radical changes but more directional or behavioral changes. One particular area dealt with career and finances. And while those changes were necessary, they were not likely to be immediate.

So, I came up with a 5 year plan for reform. One of the most obvious and most immediate steps was the need to get some very old tax issues cleared up. I had some taxes from '97 - '05 which either needed filing or refiling. Both the state and the feds had assumptions for some of those years which were way off and showed significant balances owed. So, for about 2 months last summer, on a nearly every day basis, I ground through my old records (yes, I still had my records from 14 years ago) and completed every last one of the late returns. I felt great for about 2 weeks.

I figured that since I had been obedient and disciplined and had done the hard but necessary thing, the worst was over. Unfortunately, God did not remove the situation. Nor did I get a letter of commendation from either the IRS or the DOR. Instead, now that I had resurfaced and was back on their active radar, things actually got worse. The DOR stepped up collection activity to a point they actually committed some civil rights violations in their aggression. And the IRS decided to start levying everything in site. In a further moment of irony, both departments moved forward with balances based off old erroneously assumed income. It got to a point where my unencumbered assets equaled a few percentage points of  the total assumed dept of over one million dollars.

For a while I got angry and depressed. Hadn't I done the right thing? Wasn't I trying to make things right? Shouldn't my good intentions be honored? Why was I being harassed worse than before I tried to fix things? Slowly, eventually, I realized that, like the song, God wasn't going to take this away but He would be there while I walked through it. In looking at prior examples like this, I realized that the consequences still remained but that the proper thing was to continue to fix my mistakes and that, in that process, God still held the ability to bless.

Today was the final day for the DOR, who has been the most aggressive and also the most willing to stomp on protocol and decency, to respond to an offer of settlement. I have heard nothing, so now I must decide how to proceed. My problem is that for both my health (a local acquaintance actually died of a heart attack last summer after being publicly humiliated over similar issues) and for the protection of the assets I have, I need to invoke a legal power greater than the tax man since the tax man is unwilling to accept my settlement proposal. I do not know exactly what options I have, I don't know what option I'll choose, and I don't know exactly what will happen when I select an option.

What I do know is that God obviously wants me to walk right through the middle of this one, that he clearly wants me to make and own my decision rather than respond to someone else's, and that his plan for me lies down this path. Obedience allows blessing; disobedience not so much. I like blessings. I think I'll choose obedience.

Potato Chips Worth Eating

Admittedly this blog is not ancient, but I already see a pattern. Not much on travel, lots on food. I would guess that will continue. Certainly it does today.

In keeping with the name of this blog, I delight in things done right regardless of highbrow or redneck. We're going to discuss potato chips. This, presumably, will be one of the more lowbrow food items, but, once again, there is something to be said.

I am comfortable with a lot of diverse experiences. I've had members of presidential families to my house. I been thrilled to have a job pulling shipping crates apart. I've had coffee with Ted Olson and I've been grateful that beans are cheap. I love the variety of experiences I've been privileged to have. In the world of food, there are qualities at each level and those qualities are what we should celebrate.


Again, this is not about money. This past summer, Kevin grilled some fillet Mignon which made me swear my undying devotion. I believe the cost to have been around $25 a pound. A year or two ago my brother Dirk made some slow-roast venison steaks with an amazing glaze type marinade from a small spike buck he shot the fall previous. Cost there was only that suffered by his pride for shooting such a wimpy deer. Once again, the flavors were amazing. Two totally different price ranges, equal excellence.


I've had a lot of chips in my life. In America, who hasn't. To my mind, however, the huge majority of potato chips pander to some gustatory lowest common denominator. Most are laden with grease or salt or suffer from totally foreign metallic or plastic overtones. Most also have an after taste kick which ruins your taste buds for hours later. What amazes me is how many people continue to eat these same chips year after year.


There had to be a legitimate predecessor to most modern chips with sufficient taste to warrant commercializing them. To my mind there are some that do proper homage to that holy grail of potato flake and oil. Two in particular stand out.


The first, for me, is a new arrival. It may have been out for a while, but I only recently found it and quite by accident. I went into one of our local, smaller, grocery stores. I was about to try (again) a somewhat disappointing salt and vinegar chip which I believes comes from out East. However, and thanks to that lazy person, someone had dropped a bag of Lays Natural Thick Cut Seal Salt chips on the same shelf (where it clearly didn't belong as I'm sure both companies would tell the display clerk). I grabbed it instead. An excellent vintage if I must say. It is exactly what a basic potato chip should be. It still tastes like potato (which surprisingly few do) and has only three ingredients; sliced potato,  sunflower oil, and salt. That's it. Crisp, clean flavors, smells good, and no nasty aftertaste. Really good with chocolate with chili pepper in it and a decent Riesling or Gewurztraminer.

The other is my standby and has been for years. Kettle Brand makes quite a few chips and most are pretty indifferent. Largely they suffer by trying to hard. However, one is excellent. Under their Krinkle Cut sub-brand they have a Salt and Fresh Cracked Pepper chip which is always excellent.

Like the first choice, it is relatively simple. It has more spices added for flavor, but, other than that, is just a thicker chip with a good oil. Quality ingredients, simply but properly prepared, will rarely fail. Both these chips follow this pattern. This chip definitely has more flavor and bite. They add not only pepper but also pepper oils and you know it. However, that is balanced by more real potato flavor than any other chip I've ever had. This chip is beefier and goes well with just about any beer or a richer wine like a moderate Cabernet Sauvignon, a hearty Merlot, or even a very present Zinfandel.

My father even likes these (or, as he said, "Well, how can't you like them?"). I don't know whether it is by positional belief or a desire to support my mother's cooking, but anything as pre-processed as a potato chip is highly suspect. Thus his praise is high praise indeed.

One other interesting thing with this chip is that they must be almost hand made. Every bag tastes a little different than the others. I can almost imaging someone hand dishing in the spices, deciding for each batch, "That looks like enough". You never know what you are going to get, but you are never disappointed.

Happy eating, but one more comment is in order. Potato chips are not the most nutritious. They have a lot of sodium, a fair amount of fat, and almost nothing nutritionally useful. I know this. As a matter of fact, that is exactly why this post is important. Like everything in life, if you are going to do it, do it right. And if you are going to imbibe in something so luxurious as a potato chip, make it worth your while. Eat a chip worth eating.

In Praise of Stovetop Smokers

I did not have a good day. For many years, 14 to be precise, I have been dealing with tax issues with the IRS and the Wisconsin DOR. Ironically, the DOR has proven to be both more amateurish and clinically aggressive than the IRS. In any case, the matter with the DOR has come to a head with an ultimatum that matures this Thursday. In the meantime, and with some justification, I wait with some dread. This, combined with my propensity to worry, has created a significant depressive atmosphere until we reach a moment of denouement.

So today Jen and I went to the store (she feeling much better) and spent the day taking care of business there and working on my "Gideon's Fleece" book. It was largely a quiet day which in this case was not as distracting as a busy day would have been.

When we got home I checked on the chickens (only 4 eggs; what's up with that Hannah?) and watched the news. It was primarily about the protests in Madison. I ate a few potato chips and had a glass of Bota Box "Old Vine Zinfandel" while watching. A short while later I went into the kitchen, poured another glass of wine, and made chicken with one of the cooler cooking gadgets we own.

A number of years ago we bought a stovetop smoker. It also, or so the advertising claimed, could also be used as a Dutch Oven. In any case, it looked something like a Dutch Oven. It had a thick aluminum cast shell and cover, about 13" across and 6" high. The top was also heavy aluminum with an arched top. Inside there was a flat drip pan which sat about 1/2" above the bottom of the pan and a grill grid which sat another 4" over that.

Early on we used it once to make potatoes, and, while they were OK, didn't seem worth the time. Then we met Pam and Kevin. Sometime shortly after meeting (and this is a friendship defined by eating, drinking, and laughing at questionable jokes) I offered the smoker to Kevin to use for some salmon he had gotten for dinner. Fortunately, he not only accepted, he also knew how to use it and cooked a great dinner. I took notes.

So here is the deal. Most of these type of smokers come with some wood chips. The idea is that you are cooking the food over a high, relatively dry heat with smoke from the wood chips. As a general rule of thumb, take 1 1/2 Tbsp of wood chips, soak them for an hour in a small amount of water (or cheat and pop the water and chips into the microwave for 30 seconds and then let sit for another 10) and then arrange the damp chips in a circle about the size of the burner flame on the bottom of the main pan. Put the drip pan on top of that, drop the cooking grid on top of that, and place your meat on top of the grid.

In this case, I heavily salted and peppered 3 chicken breasts with bones and skins still on (I think boneless/skinless lose a lot of flavor). I let the smoker heat up on a medium-high flame while prepping the chicken and then popped them onto the cooking grid skin side up. Keep the cover on as the heat is everything. You want those wood chips to be charring. For chicken breasts I left them on for about 25 minutes. In the meantime I cut up some carrots and cooked them separately.

It ended up as kind of a simple meal, but really good flavors. Jen has a bunch of food allergies so sometimes the complexity of the menu is limited. The point is that I cannot over recommend the smoker. It is fast (roughly 35 minutes from start to finish), extremely simple, healthy (nothing beyond chicken, salt and pepper), and produces amazing taste. One side point; since I don't eat the bony bottom part and since I discard the skin after cooking, the actual amount of salt and pepper remaining is far less than that which I applied. Salt and pepper heavily. Other than the smoke, it is your only added flavor.

We ate at the kitchen table and then moved into the living room and watched "What Not to Wear". If you are interested in psychology, sexuality, or style (or better yet the collusion of all three) it is a show well worth watching. It is also an excellent primer on how to be kind but unapologetic. That, of course, segued into a discussion of the historically perfect waist-to-hip ratio found in art. Amazingly, Jen fits almost perfectly into the ideal ratio. I married well.

Snow? What Snow?

I woke this morning to the strange sight of all the windows in the living room frosted over. It turns out that when I re-closed the shut-off section of the house and left through the outside door of that area, I failed to close it securely against the intense wind. It had blown open and the house had the leaking pressure of 30+ mph winds blasting into that section and into the regular house. Somehow that must have pushed heat and moisture into the living room in a different manner which led to the frosted windows.

After coffee and checking the news, I went out to check on the animals, check on the driveway, and close that blown open door. Outside I found almost no snow. By the house, largely protected from the NE winds, we had barely a 1/2" of snow. Up around the crest of the drive, along the straight section that follows the fence line, there was some drifting, but nowhere near what I had expected from the forecasts. At the crest itself, which represents the furthest SW corner of Kita's corn field, the snow had piled deepest, but even there, with the whole length of the bare field to run, only about 1' of snow had collected. It ran in a razor straight line about 4' wide across the curving turn of the drive. Beyond that the snow had barely drifted in at all and, in many sections, I could see the gravel from which the snow had melted in last week's sudden warmth.

I got in the truck and drove out to the road, turned around, and drove back in just to make sure I'd have no problems.

Jen still had a nasty cough, so I drove down to Sturgeon Bay by myself to run errands. I needed to make it down today both since it is the only week day the store is closed, but also because I had 5 pounds of beef brisket waiting for me. If you don't have access to a good butcher, make it a priority to find one. Also, make sure you know where a good cheese factory is. To my mind these are some of the basics of making good food in Wisconsin. Fortunately, in our area we have both.

In this case the brisket is for corning. My mom used to make a corned beef which would hide in the mouse-room of our farmhouse when I was a kid. The smell was amazing and the taste indescribable but what I actually remember best is pulling long strands of muscle from the cold slab of corned beef the next day. The brisket comes from the front chest of the cow and is essentially a large band of muscle that holds the front legs together with the neck. It's purpose makes it a tougher cut of beef but with a high percentage of muscle. A long corning process softens and flavors the meat and, with the effort, transforms it into an exceptional gastronomic experience. Fortunately, my mom sent me her recipe.

Once home I put away the groceries and started on the corned beef. I stirred potassium nitrate into some warm water and added that to a few quarts of fresh water into which I had stirred salt, paprika, canning spices, brown sugar, and sliced garlic. Stirring in the salt was interesting. I have become a fan of real salt as opposed to the bleached, processed, white salt. However, when stirring it into the corning water, I found that some of the natural minerals in real salt don't dissolve and there remained a grit at the bottom of the corning jar to the very end. I cut the slab of brisket into 4 pieces and put everything into a large glass jar. I then put a glass bowl on top of the meat to hold it below the top of the brine and put 1/2 a brick into the bowl for a little added weight. I then moved it into the shut off part of the house since that temperature stays around 35 degrees. 

One of the most difficult parts of the process was finding potassium nitrate. It is also known as saltpeter and, while it can be used as a meat preservative, is most commonly found in connection with things like fireworks, gunpowder, pyrotechnics, and other things that go boom. I called everywhere trying to find it. I called the grocery store, a specialty cooking store, Nelson's Hardware, and Dunham's Sporting Goods. I finally struck gold when I called Bayshore Pharmacy and spoke to the manager of the health and wellness center. She knew immediately what I was talking about and, after taking my number, called me 5 minutes later to let me know it would be in as a special order in two business days. Possibly the funniest part was walking into the grocery store a few days after my call (when I was looking for saltpeter in the first place) and having three different staff ask me if I had found a supply. I love living in a small community but sometimes I forget how small small is.

This evening I ran out to practice for the Doormen, a men's double quarter vocal group that I was recently asked to join. Unfortunately we spent most of the evening taking care of some business details and organizing a huge pile of collected music from years past. At the end I couldn't take it any more and cajoled the pianist and the last three remaining singers to sing. I didn't care what, but we had to sing something. Gladys, the pianist, grabbed a book of choral arrangements which ranged from Southern Gospel to a funky, almost barbershop arrangement of Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus" (done in English) and we sang our way through most of the book. Now I just need to get all the burrs out of Sean's tail.

Photos of My Corned Beef

Snowy Sunday Afternoon

They have been predicting quite a bit of snow for today and tomorrow. Snow is not the biggest problem for us, but snow with wind (which is also predicted) can be a huge deal. Our driveway, due to the easement location, runs for about 800' along a fence row of rocks and maple trees. Wind driven snow can really pile up along that fence row and a few inches of snow, combined with a 20 mph wind, can add up to drifts 4' high. At that point we are landlocked until John can come and use his 8' wide snow blower to clear us out. That can range from an hour or two to a day or two. I've found it pays to be prepared.

So today was a day of worship and preparation. I sang at church this morning, Jen's cough subsided enough for her to join me, and the afternoon was spent making sure things were in order for the coming snow. I put a new round bale in for the horses, put away a few things which had been left outside, and recovered the canoes and kayaks as last week's freaky wind had blown the tarp and two of the canoes off the storage rack. In addition, on the way home from church, we stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few things, the most important of which were dog food and more wine.

In the late afternoon I made two loaves of bread from a rye/molasses/orange-zest-and-spices recipe I came up with a few weeks ago. I also finished the bottle of 2009 Pacific Rim Gewurztraminer which I had started a couple of days ago. A good wine, but better the first day than the third. Part of our house is closed off for the coldest of winter and I actually opened it up and started the wood stove in that area for awhile, but soon decided with this new weather system moving in that it wasn't worth the effort.

And so this week quietly winds down. The kids are all at college, Jenny is just getting over bronchitis, and so it's just the two of us with way too many animals. Tomorrow the store is closed, so it also is likely to be a quiet day, especially if we can't get down the driveway. I need the time of rest. I think the balance of the week is going to be difficult.