It is interesting in my Pastor's Father's Day sermon, he used the book of Proverbs, because he said that it is "the only book in the Bible that is specifically written for men. The purpose of the book is to pass along what it means to be a man by sharing godly wisdom from father to son." The main theme of the book is to pursue and value WISDOM; and the message is applicable to all. One of the most important lessons in the book comes from the familiar passage in Proverbs 1:7a "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". The life of wisdom is characterized by: discipline, insight, justice and fairness, prudence, and guidance. A person of wisdom will pursue: a teachable attitude, examples of the righteous, a life filled with love and faithfulness, a life of faith in God, a life of generosity, and lessons learned from God's discipline; but will avoid: a circle of evil friends, the wayward, and pride & arrogance. And the long-term benefits of a life of wisdom are: Blessing, Long life, Peace, Safety from disaster, and Confidence.
There were a couple of funny jokes I heard yesterday as well.....
1) A man from Poland went to the police and asked for help, because he believed that his wife was planning to kill him. They asked him how he knew, and he said that he thought she was trying to poison him, since he found a bottle that she bought the other day with the label "Polish Remover" haha...
2) A woman heard on the news that there was someone driving the wrong way on the highway; so, she called her husband on the cell phone and told him to be careful to drive home safely since there was a crazy person driving on the wrong side of the road. Her husband replied and said that it's not just one person, it was everyone. haha....
I have done quite a bit of yardwork in the last month; and I have maybe a couple more days of work left. It all looks a lot nicer; but, once I'm done with the first round, it'll just be time to start all over again. It seems to be a never-ending cycle; and the next time I do landscaping, I will insist on as close to no maintenance as possible.
I had my dad and my family over for dinner. Overall the food turned out okay; but, there was definitely room for improvement. At least I can say, that what I have learned from making soups and stock has helped for those particular dishes. Following are my notes on the dishes served:
- Creamed Corn Soup - I made it according to my previous blog entry, with chicken stock base, mixed with creamed corn (3 cans for about 12 bowls worked okay) and green onion. When I added the cilantro, it changed the taste; and I would prefer to leave it out next time for the simple and clear flavor of the just the corn and green onion
- Kimchee - I didn't actually make this, but, this time I served cucumber with chive, as opposed to the daikon radish last time. They are both different but, I like them both. This cucumber one may have been a bit spicier.
- Brown Basmati Rice - I got the rice grain at Trader Joe's. It is actually pretty good... it has a smoother texture than many of the other brown rice; and it's also basmati, which my dad likes
- Seafood Vegetable Hot Pot - With a chicken stock, I mixed in bok choy, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, imitation crab pieces, shrimp, and tofu. I used fresh shrimp, and it was a lot of work to shell and de-vein. I'm not sure if it was worth all the effort (and it ended up being overcooked when I had to reheat it). I used the extra soft tofu since that is the type that my dad likes; and it was okay. As far as the dish went, it was good; but, even though I don't like to use corn starch, the next time I serve it, I probably should add more, since it is quite runny.
- Orange Chicken - This is a fairly dish to make from the Trader Joe's package. I bake the chicken pieces in the dish that I serve it in; and just pour the heated sauce over it.
- Salmon - I cooked the fish in two different ways: 1) foil-baked with green onion, ginger, wine and soy sauce. Afterwards, I drizzled hot oil and added more soy sauce and some fresh green onion. This tasted fine, although aesthetically, the color was not as appealing; 2) pan fried fillets which were soaked in wine; then simmered in a sauce with soy sauce, chicken broth, green onion, and ginger. This looked nicer and actually had more flavor; though cleanup would be more work between the two.
- Rice Noodle w/Chicken - When I pan-fried the noodles with sesame oil, olive oil, and soy sauce, it was really good fresh. Just adding cooked shredded chicken with green onion was a good dish. But, then I decided to add spinach, but, it turned out to be a bad choice. While it added vegetable to the dish and made it softer and less dry; it caused the chicken to be overcooked and totally changed the flavor and taste. It was much better without, not only by taste but also by how it looked.
- Chow Mein Noodles - The steamed chow mein noodle package was a pleasant surprise. It was easy to cook - just soak in boiling water for less than a minute and then pan fry with oil. It tastes like the noodles one can get at a restaurant. However, I need to work on the topping more. I just made a mixture of bok choy, mushroom carrots, and chicken pieces; and then mixed it with the sauce from cooking the chicken the day before. For one, this is another dish in which the sauce needs more corn starch in order to be thicker. I'm not sure what else should change; but, the overall dish just was not as good as I would've liked
- Dessert - I used the Trader Joe's individually packaged Apple Blossom pastries heated up and served with ice cream. The choice of mud pie flavor for the ice cream was not bad - it had some chocolate pieces with coffee flavor, which went pretty well with the pastry. Almost like apple pie a la mode.
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