A good friend of mine posted this video on her Facebook wall and I thought I would pass it on. I recommend that everyone who reads this paste that address into their URL and watch it before continuing to read. Heck, watch it twice. I will wait.
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/368914/december-16-2010/jesus-is-a-liberal-democrat
Ok, as much as I laugh at this (because let's face it Stephen Colbert is funny) I can't help but break a little inside because there are people all over this country that treat Christianity and one of it's biggest agendas, helping the poor, exactly this way. People seem all for giving to the poor as long as they have their own cushy lifestyle's fully padded so that nothing can go wrong when they spare a few coins at the bottom of their purse. Come on people! If it takes comedic parody for us to even be thinking about an issue, we need to take a better look at ourselves.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Josh and Joshia
Tonight, I decided to do something I have never done...cook...and not boxed tuna helper. More specifically it was baking but either way, it was a first. I had been jonesing for tater tot casserole all day so after doing my laundry, I had no choice but to head back to HyVee so I could get the appropriate ingredients.
Before heading to HyVee, I perused the internet to find a good recipe. I couldn't find any that seemed right so I decided to be a real chef and create my own recipe from combining a couple and adding to them. Off the HyVee!
I get to HyVee and immediately start wishing I wasn't there. Because I work there all day long, when people see me come back they give me a hard time and just about every employee asks me why I don't just shop after work so that I don't have to come back. After explaining that I don't take my wallet to work with me and that I walk so I wouldn't want to walk back home with sacks full of food, I maneuver my way out of the store and almost wipe out about six times trying to get to my car. I make a mental note while unlocking me car..."Ice and boots don't go well together. Think about different foot wear."
I get back to my apartment and almost cry...there is not a clean dish in the kitchen. I grumble to myself because I'm the only one here with Cody in Arkansas and roll up my sleeves and start scrubbing pots. After one load of dishes, I decide they are going to have to be done anyway so I spend the next hour scrubbing dishes and cleaning the kitchen. When my hands look like they can't absorb anymore water and I am starting to think no food is worth this, even tater tot casserole, I am finally ready to get started.
I review the recipe again, which I have copied to Word for saving, and add in the ingredients to it that I decided to put it. The recipe calls for half an onion so I get to chopping. I am starting to think I am resistant to the war cry of the chopped onion when my next chop yields a spray. I am unable to blink in time and the onion almost brings me to my knees. Why are you doing this to me God?! Can a man not enjoy his casseroles?!
I squeeze the hamburger out of the tube and start mixing it with the onion while cooking it. It isn't long before I realize that I have way too much onion. So as I am mashing and mixing meat, I am trying to pick out onion to somehow reduce the intensity. This proved to be a task that I am excellent. All employers reading this take note...I can effectively reduce excess.
I do the manly thing (plus what I see all the chefs on food network) and ignore the measurements for the Worcestershire sauce and ketchup(I just splashed it on). I dump in the cream of mushroom and it is time to spread it out on the pan.
Uh...this is when I instantly realize I should have used two pounds of hamburger and two cans of cream of mushroom. I spread out the green beans on top, throw on way more tater tots then the recipe calls, and sprinkle cheese all over the top. I stick it in the oven and cross my fingers. It smells good but did I get enough onion out?!
25 minutes later...
I search the kitchen for oven mitts and eventually just secede to using a towel because I don't want to food to burn that I have been sacrificing for the last two hours. I make another mental check to use more meat and scoop some on to my plate. I nervously dip my fork into the meat and cheese and close my eyes. "If this goes bad, I am not telling anyone about this." And survey says! Wow...that isn't bad. In fact, this is really good. I am thoroughly impressed. I need to try this more often!
What did this experience do for me? Besides helping me refine my tater tot casserole recipe, it has also given me confidence. I can do this. And I will do this. I am becoming a man!
Before heading to HyVee, I perused the internet to find a good recipe. I couldn't find any that seemed right so I decided to be a real chef and create my own recipe from combining a couple and adding to them. Off the HyVee!
I get to HyVee and immediately start wishing I wasn't there. Because I work there all day long, when people see me come back they give me a hard time and just about every employee asks me why I don't just shop after work so that I don't have to come back. After explaining that I don't take my wallet to work with me and that I walk so I wouldn't want to walk back home with sacks full of food, I maneuver my way out of the store and almost wipe out about six times trying to get to my car. I make a mental note while unlocking me car..."Ice and boots don't go well together. Think about different foot wear."
I get back to my apartment and almost cry...there is not a clean dish in the kitchen. I grumble to myself because I'm the only one here with Cody in Arkansas and roll up my sleeves and start scrubbing pots. After one load of dishes, I decide they are going to have to be done anyway so I spend the next hour scrubbing dishes and cleaning the kitchen. When my hands look like they can't absorb anymore water and I am starting to think no food is worth this, even tater tot casserole, I am finally ready to get started.
I review the recipe again, which I have copied to Word for saving, and add in the ingredients to it that I decided to put it. The recipe calls for half an onion so I get to chopping. I am starting to think I am resistant to the war cry of the chopped onion when my next chop yields a spray. I am unable to blink in time and the onion almost brings me to my knees. Why are you doing this to me God?! Can a man not enjoy his casseroles?!
I squeeze the hamburger out of the tube and start mixing it with the onion while cooking it. It isn't long before I realize that I have way too much onion. So as I am mashing and mixing meat, I am trying to pick out onion to somehow reduce the intensity. This proved to be a task that I am excellent. All employers reading this take note...I can effectively reduce excess.
I do the manly thing (plus what I see all the chefs on food network) and ignore the measurements for the Worcestershire sauce and ketchup(I just splashed it on). I dump in the cream of mushroom and it is time to spread it out on the pan.
Uh...this is when I instantly realize I should have used two pounds of hamburger and two cans of cream of mushroom. I spread out the green beans on top, throw on way more tater tots then the recipe calls, and sprinkle cheese all over the top. I stick it in the oven and cross my fingers. It smells good but did I get enough onion out?!
25 minutes later...
I search the kitchen for oven mitts and eventually just secede to using a towel because I don't want to food to burn that I have been sacrificing for the last two hours. I make another mental check to use more meat and scoop some on to my plate. I nervously dip my fork into the meat and cheese and close my eyes. "If this goes bad, I am not telling anyone about this." And survey says! Wow...that isn't bad. In fact, this is really good. I am thoroughly impressed. I need to try this more often!
What did this experience do for me? Besides helping me refine my tater tot casserole recipe, it has also given me confidence. I can do this. And I will do this. I am becoming a man!
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