Minty CousCous Salad

Description:
I found this recipe on Epicurious, but I've made a few modifications based on how it came out last night.

Ingredients:
6 oz. (ish) dry Israeli (large pearl) couscous
2 cups boiling water
1 bouillon cube
1 cup chopped red bell pepper (I used green, but red, yellow or orange would give you a brighter looking salad.)
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives or other brine-cured black olives, halved
1 cup chopped fresh mint
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon vinegar (I used a citrus vinegar from Trader Joes. White wine vinegar might work well also.)
1 clove finely chopped garlic or 1/2 teaspoon premashed garlic
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 2 1/2 ounces)
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a 2-quart (ish) saucepan, sauté couscous in 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat until couscous is lightly browned (about 5 minutes). (I used Casbah Toasted CousCous. These directions on how to cook the couscous are from them.)

Add one bouillon cube (I used a salted vegetable bouillon but chicken might work well also.) and the boiling water to the couscous and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer for 12 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.

Transfer couscous to bowl; fluff with fork and cool slightly.
Stir chopped bell pepper, olives, and mint into couscous. Mix together 2 tablespoons remaining olive oil, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and garlic and pour over mixture. Fold in feta cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Don't make the couscous in advance. It just clumps together.

Fruit Bars

Description:
I love fruit bars. If I make these and they need a little extra bit of sweet, I drizzle agave nectar over them.

WholeFoods makes a carmel version of this same thing that includes chocolate chips. Someday I hope to try making that as well. Until then, I settle for fruit bars which are still über yummy.

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cup rolled oats
1 cup unsalted butter; cut into 1/2-inch pieces, softened to cool room temperature
2 cups fresh or frozen fruit
3/4 cup jam or preserves or conserve (something that will match or compliment your fruit)

Directions:
Mix brown sugar, flour, soda, salt and oats. Cut in butter until crumbly.

Simmer fruit and jam until fruit is soft and the jam is mixed in well with the fruit.

Press half of oatmeal mixture into bottom of 9x13 pan. Pour fruit mixture on top and cover that with the remaining oatmeal mixture. Bake about 30 or 40 minutes in a 350° oven until slightly browned and bubbly.

Nellie and Mary - First Cousins

The woman on the left in this picture is my granny - my dad's dad's mom. Her name was Nellie Kulchesky Woskowich (nee Kulchesky Khust). She came over from Ukraine when she was a teenager because she was "tired of taking care of the horses."

The other woman in the picture is her first cousin. My dad's notes on the back of the picture are a little cryptic, but I think this is Mary Baranetcka, mother of Josephene. (The spellings of the names are by my dad and I'm not sure if they're accurate or he just didn't know how to spell Josephine. I'm sure Baranetcka could be transliterated a number of ways.) 

Unicorn Country and San Antonio

At about half the size you're expecting.

We were delighted to see that we were in Unicorn Country as we drove through New Braunfels. We snapped a few photos as proof that we had been there. We didn't get to see any actual, live unicorns, though. They were probably all up in Austin for SXSW.

In San Antonio we stayed at the Drury Hotel, which was right on the River Walk. I think it was built in the early 1920s. We walked around downtown a fair bit and I really enjoyed the architecture. It was quite varied and I particularly liked the little regional flairs that were worked in here and there.

We visited the art school thinking that it was an art college that we should keep in mind if the girls decided to do art school some day. But it turns out they have classes, but aren't an accredited college. They're seeking accreditation in the next few years, though, so we'll have to keep our radar up.

Of the three main towns we visited while in Texas (Corpus Christi, Austin and San Antonio) I definitely liked San Antonio the best. There might be hope for Austin, but it was hard to get much of a sense of it when SXSW was going on.

Scottish Oatmeal Scones

Description:
This recipe is from Mary Gubser's book, Quick Breads, Soups & Stews which I found in the Detroit library ages and ages ago. Some of my favorite muffin recipes are from this book, but there's also a few excellent scone recipes that I kept from the book as well. This is one of them.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour (I use whole wheat flour.)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup raisins or currants
1/2 cup milk

Directions:
Combine the flour, oats, baking soda and cream of tartar in a shallow mixing bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add the raisins/currants, mix well and stir in the milk until the dough is gathered into a ball. I then form these into circles with my hand, and at Nathan's direction, have started pushing a depression into the middle of each scone to help hold in the butter and jam that he'll be slathering on top.

Pot Pie (with Chicken or Seitan)

Description:
Naomi has decided that she really loves Coopersmith's pot pie. I saw this recipe in the Denver Post (1/12/11) and decided to give it a go, with a few modifications of my own.

When I make this, I double the recipe. So what follows is the amount I make. Feel free to scale it back down if you'd prefer. Since Rob, Nathan and Naomi eat meat, I make a larger chicken version. The rest goes into a slightly smaller vegetarian version.

Ingredients:
3/4 c. butter
3/4 c. flour
4 cups broth (chicken or vegetable) or 2 cups broth and 2 cups leftover from boiling potatoes and carrots
2 cups heavy cream
ground pepper
salt
3 chicken breasts + 1 package seitan
1 medium to large onion, chopped into little pieces
1 bag of frozen peas
2 or 3 carrots, chopped into 1/2 inch thick rounds
2 or 3 stalks of celery chopped to the same approximate size as the carrots
3 or 4 potatoes with skin
1 package phyllo dough

Directions:
Essentially the meat and veggies all get precooked. I toss the chicken in a pan in the oven until it's baked through. I boil the potatoes and carrots until they're soft. And I sauté the onions and celery until the onions are translucent. I also make the sauce. Melt the butter in a medium sized sauce pan. Stir in the flour and cook for about 2 minutes. Slowly add the broth, cream, pepper and salt to taste. Cook for 5 minutes or until thickened and smooth.

Then preheat the oven to 350º Fahrenheit. While the oven is warming up, I melt a little butter into the bottom of the two casserole pans that I'm going to use for the pot pies. (I make one with meat and one without.) I lay several (maybe 10?) layers of phyllo dough on the bottom of the pan. (I know this isn't typical for a pot pie. But we liked it this way.) Then I toss in the chicken, cut into bite sized pieces -- or the seitan, likewise cut into bite sized pieces. I add the veggies and then I pour the sauce over the whole lot. I finish the pie off with the rest of the phyllo dough. I don't bother adding any butter between layers. There's enough sauce to kill a small hamster and a lot of it will soak right into the dough.

Bake for 25 minutes.

The Digital Story of the Nativity

... or Nativity 2.0

Chickens Changing Lives in Tanzania

One Last Christmas...

This is a real tear jerker. Here's the description from Matthew West's YouTube page:

---

This is the video my new Christmas song - "One Last Christmas." This song is inspired by the true story of the Locke family and their son Dax.

At just thirteen months old, little Dax was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia. He was given two bone marrow transplants as a part of emergency treatment; one from each of his parents. The doctors then told his parents that Dax would most likely not make it to see Christmas.

This song is about the love of a family, and the coming together of an entire community to make sure that this little boy could have one last Christmas. His dad, determined that his son would see Christmas, put up the decorations early. The neighborhood caught on, and did the same. The whole town soon followed suit. A website was built telling his story. Soon, pictures were sent from all over the world of Christmas decorations that had been put up in his honor.

Dax did lose his battle with Leukemia, but not before he got to see one last Christmas. Today, this little boy's legacy lives on, and his parents are making sure it does. They were so touched by the care they received from St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, that they now have a desire to raise enough money to run the entire hospital for one day in honor of their son, Dax. The total cost to run St. Jude's for one day is $1.6 million dollars. Already, they have raised a quarter of a million dollars.

This Christmas, it is on my heart to join forces with the Locke family, and help them in their cause. I would like to encourage you to join us in raising money that will go to an amazing cause in St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital that cares for so many children each year.

To donate now to St. Jude's in memory of Dax please visit:
http://tiny.cc/m1mdo

To read more of Dax's story visit:
http://www.daxlocke.com/
or
http://www.matthewwest.com

Together, we can reach this goal -- and fund St. Jude's for an entire day in Dax Locke's memory!

-Matthew West

Eggnog Cupcakes

Description:
Nathan heard that the bakery down town had eggnog cupcakes and he really wanted one, but none of us were up for trekking down there to pick one up. So I just made some instead.

We're out of eggnog, so I made a mini-portion of an eggnog recipe that I found online, then mixed that into an eggnog cupcake recipe that I also found online. Since I knew I was going to be cooking the eggnog, I didn't mind that it was a raw egg version. What I've written below is my mash-up of the above recipes.

Ingredients:
Eggnog
1 oz rum
1 oz bourbon whiskey (I used Irish whiskey because that's what I had on hand.)
1 beaten egg
3 oz sugar (It should have been 1 oz. sugar, but it came out of the sugar jar faster than I was counting on.)
pinch salt
2 oz whipping cream
2 oz whole milk

Cupcake
1 c (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 1/3 c + 3 T sugar
2 t rum
1/8 t vanilla
1 1/3 t baking powder
2/3 t salt
2 c flour
2/3 c eggnog
5 egg whites

Directions:
Mix together all of the ingredients for the eggnog. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare 48 mini cupcake tins or 18 regular.

In a mixing bowl cream the butter & 1 1/3 cups of sugar together until light & fluffy. Beat in the rum & vanilla. Add the baking powder, salt & 2/3 cup flour, beat until combined. Beat in 1/3 cup eggnog. Then beat in another 2/3 cup flour, followed by the rest of the eggnog & then the rest of the flour.

In another bowl beat the egg whites until foamy. Add in the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar. (I left this part out since I'd already overdone the sugar in the eggnog.) Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter until completely combined then fold in the remaining egg whites.

Divide the batter between the cupcake tins, filling each one 2/3 full. Bake 15 minutes for mini cupcakes or 22 for regular. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

The original cupcake recipe came with a buttercream icing recipe as well, but I didn't notice that until after I'd already done a drizzling icing of my own: powdered sugar, half and half and a splash of rum.

We suspect Nathan might be allergic to nutmeg, so we held off on that and added it individually.

With the leftover 5 yolks, I made egg custard with a dash of nutmeg on top.

Emotions require too much bandwidth for this T

Thinking and feeling are the decision-making (judging) functions. The thinking and feeling functions are both used to make rational decisions, based on the data received from their information-gathering functions (sensing or intuition). Those who prefer thinking tend to decide things from a more detached standpoint, measuring the decision by what seems reasonable, logical, causal, consistent and matching a given set of rules. Those who prefer feeling tend to come to decisions by associating or empathizing with the situation, looking at it 'from the inside' and weighing the situation to achieve, on balance, the greatest harmony, consensus and fit, considering the needs of the people involved.

                                                                  -- snagged from Wikipedia

In the Meyers-Briggs Personality terminology, Thinking and Feeling are two different ways that people make decisions. (Sensing and Intuition are how people take in data. Thinking and Feeling are how they act upon the data they've taken in.) But I think there's another aspect to this whole T/F thing that I've never heard talked about anywhere (except in Meirav's recent post, which I think was in part a response to something I'd said in another one of her posts, which I can't find now).

It seems to me that there's an energy or "bandwidth" component to this as well. I've often heard Introversion vs. Extraversion explained in terms of energy. If new people or places energize you, then you're likely an Extravert. If you're drained when you're with people and energized when you have time alone or with a few close friends, then you're likely an Introvert. But what if you're hanging out with someone that you're very comfortable with and who you like to be with, but you can't handle too much time with them if they're emoting a great deal? I don't think it's just a "T's don't like emotions" sort of thing. I think there's something deeper. 

I know that when I'm confronted with a great deal of emotion, especially negative or depressing emotion, I just get to the point where I want to hide away in a closet and be alone. It's the same reaction I have to being forced to hang out with a jillion strangers, only it's actually more profound. The crowd of strangers makes me feel very uncomfortable and awkward and out of place and I want to hide away mostly so that I can feel normal again. But the outpouring of emotions, even from someone I'm close to, can make me feel weary, and even somewhat trampled and injured. It's then that I want to hide away in order to heal. 

Overwhelming positive emotions can be a bit... ewey, too. People tend to be a lot less effusive when they're happy (either that or I just don't hang out around places where people are over-the-top happy -- like San Francisco has been over the past couple of weeks), so I think that's the main reason I deal with it better. But I still feel sorta slimed, sometimes. It's like someone is taking something that's intimately theirs and shoveling it on top of me. It doesn't make me feel really good. 

Having said all this, you probably think I hate emotions - period. But I don't think that's true. There are times when emotion is beautiful or deep or touching or bonding or able to express something in a way words simply don't. I can appreciate that. I understand that. I get it. Emotions have value. But too much emotion quickly undoes all the good and leaves me wanting to crawl into bed with a good (but not too emotional) book and block the world out. That feeling of overwhelming weariness hits me and I just can't handle the emotional stuff any more. I get lethargic and apathetic and want to give it up for the day. 

... Then someone tosses a good metaphor my way, or an interesting idea, or a logic puzzle, and suddenly I have the energy of a kitten after a nap who has just found a ball of yarn. Suddenly I'm awake and invigorated and my mind starts moving at the speed of light. 

I'm still not certain that this is strictly a T/F distinction. I'm surprised that I can't find anything about this online. (Anyone have a good link for me?) I'm curious to hear what your thoughts/experiences are. 

There's also the flip side - my emotions and how I express them. (I found the cat picture while googling for images on emotions and couldn't resist including it. I think T's are often read as being emotionless, even though from the inside looking out, we feel that we have quite a range of well expressed emotion.) Expressing emotion can be just as draining for me as responding to someone else's emotions. I'd much prefer to express my emotions in private. In public, if someone talks to me about hard and emotional issues (like how Nathan's doing) I spend half my brain power wondering what kind of emotive expression they're expecting from me and how I'm supposed to manage that. Will they think I'm cold and uncaring if I just nod and agree that things are hard? Do I have to get moist eyes or even shed a tear? Should my voice quiver? Will they hold it against me if I just give my "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do right now" grimace? 

What I find particularly hard is the divergence between the need of some people to emote and my inability allow them to emote without feeling pulverized by it all in the end. I do it. I know my dear friends, and daughters, need time to emote and they want to do it with me because we're close. It's really a privilege and I realize that. It's a good thing. And yet it's hard. Why does it work that way? How can I make it less painful on my end? How can I still be a good listener/emotion-receiver for them? What's the trick? Any ideas?

Extraversion vs. Introversion

I just found the following on a Wikipedia page, of all places. It's one of the best descriptions I've seen delineating the differences between Extraversion and Introversion.

---

People who prefer extraversion draw energy from action: they tend to act, then reflect, then act further. If they are inactive, their motivation tends to decline. To rebuild their energy, extraverts need breaks from time spent in reflection. Conversely, those who prefer introversion expend energy through action: they prefer to reflect, then act, then reflect again. To rebuild their energy, introverts need quiet time alone, away from activity.

The extravert's flow is directed outward toward people and objects, and the introvert's is directed inward toward concepts and ideas. Contrasting characteristics between extraverts and introverts include the following:

Extraverts are action oriented, while introverts are thought oriented.

Extraverts seek breadth of knowledge and influence, while introverts seek depth of knowledge and influence.

Extraverts often prefer more frequent interaction, while introverts prefer more substantial interaction.

Extraverts recharge and get their energy from spending time with the outer world (this could be people, things, activities, etc), while introverts recharge and get their energy from spending time alone (or with very close friends).

Sesame-Garlic Mochi topped with Raw Cashew Butter: Yum!

Gluten free, dairy free, yeast free, no added sugars and Oh So yummy! We've been eating Grainaissance Mochi for years now (that and Edensoy were my two main purchases back when I shopped at the Detroit Food Co-op), but the Artisana Raw Organic Cashew Butter is a brand new find. When I brought it home Rob looked at the label and said, "Oh. It's raw." like I might as well just chuck it straight into the trash. But when I slathered some on top of a warm, gooey piece of sesame-garlic mochi he became completely silent. He finally admitted that it was utterly delicious and he was embarrassed to have been so wrong about it. lol!

Strengths / Weaknesses a la Marcus Buckingham

I've been aware of the Myers-Briggs personality type system, as well as several other personality typing systems (DISC, Enneagrams, etc.), since high school. I've studied them off and on and I tend to find the MBTi system the most helpful. But one thing that I've always struggled with is helping other people figure out what they are. I'll observe them over time and determine that they're such and such only to suggest as much to them, they take an online test to verify, and it comes out Completely Different than what I had suggested. But when someone who rarely speaks in public, consorts only with a small group of close friends, and who only gets really animated when talking about a subject he feels really strongly about takes the test and tells me he's an E, I start to wonder how the test could have pegged him so poorly.

What I've tried to encourage people to do is to ignore what they think people expect of them, or what behaviors they might have to display at work, and focus on what comes naturally to them when they're on vacation or over the weekend. Theoretically that should help them get test results that are a little closer to their natural personality type rather than the personality that's expected of them at work or in other settings and that they feel they need to live up to. 

But Marcus Buckingham, a speaker that I heard just last week (more on that here), has given me a new way to encourage people to determine their own personality types (or as Buckingham describes it, their strengths and weaknesses). He says that after an activity (it doesn't matter if it was in a group or alone, planned or spontaneous) we should evaluate the activity (or even the various parts of the activity) by determining whether we loved it or loathed it. If we loved it, then there's very likely something about that activity that played to our strengths. If we loathed it, then we were probably called upon to perform in a way that draws from our weaknesses. 

The example he gave is that he recently attended a party with a lot of very famous people in attendance. Theoretically it should have been a great event that he would have enjoyed. But he loathed it. So he took that piece of information and tried to dial down to what exactly he loathed about it and found that he loathes mingling with people. (The description that he gave of how he felt while mingling described an introvert quite well.) On the other hand, he recently had to interview a woman that was a housekeeper at a hotel. The interview lasted about 30-45 minutes and by the end he realized that he had loved the experience. So he examined that reaction and determined that he really enjoys getting to know people on a deeper level. 

Buckingham pointed out that just because you're good at something doesn't mean it's one of your strengths. You can be very good at something and still feel utterly drained by it at the end. Your ability to do the task well is therefore probably more a function of training and experience than innate ability or desire. According to his definition of a strength, what is important is not what we're good at so much as what energizes us. He gave an acronym that described this: SIGN

Success: When we're done, do we feel successful?

Instinct: What are we instinctively drawn to? 

Growth: How do you feel when you're doing it? Is there a flow? Do you feel that you've grown?

Need: Does it feel like you've filled a need?

Obviously, what you're weak in will most likely leave you feeling unsuccessful, or you may not feel drawn to it at all - even if you have to do the job for some reason, or you'll feel stilted, or like the entire thing could have proceeded just fine without your input or help. 

Buckingham also made a great suggestion for how to make the best of a situation that you usually find draining. He explained that though he hates mingling, he loves interviewing people. So instead of going to a party and mingling with 10 or 20 people, he'll find a person, interview them for awhile, find another person, interview them, find a third person and interview them. At that point he's had enough of talking with people and he heads for home. So when you're caught in a situation that plays to your weaknesses, find a way to insert your strengths into the picture. 

100 Ways to Use a Tomato | Endless Simmer

Overwhelmed with bunches of tomatoes from the garden? Check out Endless Simmer's 100 Ways to Use a Tomato.

While you're there, you can also look through 100 Things to Do with a Banana, 100 Ways to Use a Strip of Bacon, and 100 Ways to Crack an Egg.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Description:
The girls got a banana bread recipe once upon a time when they took a summer class at the farm (Martinez Park). It was a wonderfully yummy recipe which we seem to have misplaced since the remodeling. So we found this one online and it seems to be pretty darn close to (if not exactly the same as) the one we lost.

I'm posting it here so we don't lose it again.

Be careful to measure out the sour cream and buttermilk. I speak from experience in saying that too much liquid leads to a squishy center that won't cook up until the outside is too done.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sucanat
2 eggs
3 or 4 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups flour (either hard red or hard white wheat will do)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:
Mix the butter and sucanat (or sugar) until well blended. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the chocolate) and mix until combined. Toss the chocolate chips in, mix a bit more, and pour into two greased bread tins. Cook at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 40 minutes (more or less -- watch for browning edges vs. mushy centers).

I've used the same recipe to make muffins -- 17 regular sized and 12 mini.

Not Too Sweet Blueberry Muffins

Description:
On occasion people offer me muffins that I bite into only to find that what they've really handed me is a cupcake with fruit inside. I don't have anything against cupcakes. It's just that when I'm expecting a muffin, I want a muffin.

The following is a blueberry muffin recipe that does not consist mostly of fat and sugar with an extra sprinkling of fat and sugar on top. In fact, from Nathan's point of view, these muffins are more like bread with blueberries inside. That's not quite right because there is a bit of sweetener in them, but not so much that the sugar hits you between the eyes.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (Hard red wheat will provide a muffin with more flavor. Hard white wheat will provide a muffin that *looks* more like what you might find in a standard bakery or among friends that use white flour when baking.)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup honey, agave nectar, cane syrup, molasses or brown sugar (a sweetener, in other words)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 1/2 buttermilk (or powdered buttermilk and water)
1/4 butter, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin tin or use silicone or paper cups.

Mix all of the ingredients (except the blueberries) together gently until just combined. Don't overstir. That'll make the muffins come out with a bit of a hockey puck nature. Fold in the blueberries and pour into muffin tin.

Cook for 25 minutes or until light brown on top. If you use a mini-muffin tin, check the muffins after about 10 minutes. It's likely they'll be done.

Chive Biscuits

Description:
This is mostly the Joy of Cooking recipe for whole wheat biscuits with a bit of changing up to make it chive-worthy.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 c flour (I used mostly hard red wheat with a smidgen of white flour thrown in. The recipe called for more but we didn't have it and it still came out just fine.)
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
1/3 c. (5 1/3 tablespoons) butter
1 c. buttermilk (or sour cream)
chives to taste (I cut in about 2 tablespoons of chives)

Directions:
Blend all ingredients except buttermilk in mixer until pebbly. Don't let it get to a solid mass. Add buttermilk and chives and mix.

I used a cookie scoop to make mini-biscuits cooking them for 10 minutes at 400F degrees. I love my cookie scoop and it makes dishing things out so much easier. The biscuits come out looking like bite-sized puffs.

Meg's Chocolate Brownie Cakes

Description:
Nathan asked me today if he could try making some Molten Chocolate Baby Cakes. I was just about to start staining some shelves on the back porch and wanted to get it done before the sun went down, so I popped open the recipe, helped him find a few key ingredients and left him to it. ... Only to realize, as I glanced at the recipe to give him some pointers, that what I have written there isn't really how I make the baby cakes. So leaving him to go it alone meant he "did it all wrong" (mainly by not stirring the chocolate and letting it burn... but I think if he'd had the butter in there it would have gone a little better for him). So I decided to rewrite that recipe according to the way that *I* make these mini-cakes. Hopefully next time Nathan will be able to follow these directions step-by-step and get it right the first time. (We managed to pour out the not-burned chocolate and finish up the recipe ending up with a pretty respectable mini-cake.)

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick)
12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (I aim for 8 cubes semi-sweet and 4 cubes bittersweet Baker's chocolate.)
4 large eggs
Pinch of salt
¾ cup sucanat
1/3 cup flour (I usually use ground hard red wheat.)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

2. Put the chocolate and butter into a small sauce pan and melt over low heat stirring very often. Once melted, remove from heat and let it sit while you mix together the next set of ingredients.

3. In a medium sized bowl, mix the eggs, salt, and sucanat until well blended. Add the flour and stir until combined.

4. Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and stir until combined, scraping the edges of the bowl to mix well.

5. Pour the batter into silicone cupcake holders. (I set these into a cupcake pan, but you can set them right on a cookie sheet as well.)

6. Cook the brownie cakes for 11 minutes. When you pull them out of the oven they might still be wiggly.

If I serve these immediately, then I give people a spoon to eat them with and we slurp up the goopy brownie cake like it's a thick chocolate pudding. If you let the brownie cakes cool until they are room temperature, they will be more like a soft brownie.

Introverts in the Church: Finding our place in an extroverted culture

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Religion & Spirituality
Author:	Adam S. McHugh

Applying the Meiers-Briggs Type indicator (MBTi) to issues of spirituality and church life appears to be a trend of late. Phil Douglass sorted churches into various personality types in his book What Is Your Church's Personality? and Sandra Krebs Hirsh and Jane Kise addressed preferred worship, prayer and spiritual interaction styles for each of the 16 MBTi categories in their book Soul Types. Adam McHugh’s book, Introverts in the Church, is the latest in this "personality types and spirituality" trend to arrive on the scene. McHugh takes on the difficulties introverts face in an extroverted evangelical culture. He describes several innate differences between introverts and extroverts and encourages introverts in the church that they are not less spiritual just because extroverts are placing expectations of extroversion upon them. And he addresses strengths that introverts have and how these strengths can be helpful and balancing for the church as a whole.

I suspect there are areas in each of our lives where we act or think a certain way and think, "well, that's just me." A good example of this in my own life is my reticence to make phone calls. There is a call I was asked to make 4 weeks ago that I have yet to make. If I had been given an email address, I would have already made the connection and passed on the info that I was asked to convey. But because all I have is a phone number, it just hasn't happened yet. It's not like I deliberately avoid making the call. It's more like the phone and I are oppositely polarized magnets that just can't seem to get together. It dawned on me a few years ago that perhaps it wasn't just me. Maybe there were others out there that had a similar struggle. I asked several INTJ's about this in an online community I was a part of and was delighted to discover that they weren't fans of the phone either. It was liberating to realize that there was a reason I struggled with phones. I wasn't just being contrary or rude or lazy. I could point to a reason, my introverted tendencies, to explain my aversion. This feeling of liberation is something that I think most introverts will feel as they read the first few chapters of McHugh's book. (The fact that I can pinpoint a reason for my phone reticence doesn't mean that I shouldn't still push myself outside of my comfort zone at times, of course.)

The evangelical church in the United States applauds activity and overt (even "loud") Christianity. A "good" Christian is one who is out evangelizing complete strangers, who is demonstratively excited about being a follower of Jesus, and who jumps feet first into church projects without necessarily spending time in planning or prayer beforehand. Introverts, by their very nature, are more likely to take things slowly and with aforethought. They are more contemplative, often more academic or bookish, and they prefer relating to people one on one or in small groups. McHugh points out that both extroverted and introverted means of interactions are important and helpful (rather than only valuing extroverted modes of operation as is common in Evangelical churches today and making introverts feel bad, or even less spiritual, if they don't fall in step).

McHugh spent a chapter explaining not only the differences in personality traits between introverts and extroverts, but he also delved into the physiological differences, which I found incredibly fascinating. (I posted about it in the INTJ group here if you'd like to read more.) He spent a couple of chapters exploring the types of spirituality and community interactions that introverts prefer. (I would recommend the Soul Types book if you're interested in hearing even more on this. McHugh not only skims the surface on these issues, but he also doesn't take into consideration how Thinking vs. Feeling, Judging vs. Perceiving, or Intuitive vs. Sensing personality differences affect personal worship preferences. His focus is introversion in a more general sense, which he covers admirably.) McHugh spends the second half of his book focusing on the strengths introverts bring specifically to the areas of church leadership and evangelism. (More on introverted evangelism here.) Rather than being "movers and shakers," introverts are more likely to be contemplative leaders who help to lead their congregation toward the bigger picture. (It was at points like this that I felt like McHugh was attributing to introverts traits that fit better with other parts of the Meiers-Briggs Personality typing. In this case he seemed to be describing intuitive leaders as opposed to sensing leaders.)

Though I didn't agree with all of McHugh's conclusions, I definitely agree with the idea that both extroverted and introverted strengths are helpful and necessarily in a healthy church. (In fact, in my mind, the ideal church is one in which all personality types of the MBTi are integrated in such a way that strengths of each type are equally valued rather than only valuing the strengths of one personality type and downplaying or even criticizing the strengths of other personality types.) Introverts shouldn't feel like "lesser Christians" simply because their personality traits don't fit in with the accepted "norms" of American Christianity in today's day and age.

Though I've been familiar with the concepts of Introversion and Extroversion for a couple decades now and I've studied them specifically in the context of church and spirituality for the past few years, I still found Introverts in the Church to be an excellent summary of Introversion (a summary that even non-Christians might find interesting and helpful) and an encouraging look at how the strengths of introverts can be a pillar of strength for the American church (right alongside the already accepted pillar forged from extroversion).