[Un]

It will show how out of the Blogoverse I have been in the past that it has only been today that I finally made the long overdue trip over to Cecilia at Closeted Pastor to see how she was doing. "But," I mused, "something is different." With the keen powers of discernment honed at Bryn Mawr College, I determined that her blog was no longer called "Closeted Pastor." Now it was called [Un] Closeted Pastor. Hmm...

Gloriosky, Hallelujah!

So I proceeded to read the wonderful story.

I am so happy for you and Beloved.




I will change my link accordingly.

What book would you waltz with?

I've been catching up on my blog reading--I've been away from it for too long and since I have a Saturday at leisure I am "backreading" one of my favorite blogs: Grandmère Mimi's Wounded Bird. I started at the beginning of March so I can work up to her epic Big Trip to See Mad Priest. (Yes, it's been that long....) It may take a while because it's all so good and she sends you off on such interesting sidetrips (for example, Oyster's post about his Unfortunate Incident.) In As I Further Reread Gilead, Grandmère quotes from Gilead by Marilynne Robinson:

The Reverend has a bad heart.

So I decided a little waltzing would be very good, and it was. I plan to do all my waltzing here in the study. I have thought I might have a book ready at hand to clutch if I began to experience unusual pain, so that it would have an especial recommendation from being found in my hands. That seemed theatrical, on consideration, and it might have the perverse effect of burdening the book with unpleasant associations. The ones I considered, by the way, were Donne and Herbert and Barth's "Epistle to the Romans" and Volume II of Calvin's "Institutes". Which is by no means to slight Volume I. p. 115.


It got me to thinking: what book would you waltz with?

Guess what? Pork Butt.

Went to the store to get a smoked ham hock to satisfy a bean soup craving. No ham hocks to be seen, but pork butt was on sale. Don't think I have ever bought pork butt before, but I've never tasted a part of the pig I didn't like,** so I picked one up. This dish came out so good that I went back to buy some more and put it in the freezer. Here's the recipe. It actually takes longer to type it than it does to cook it!

The night before you want to eat the soup:

Put a pound (or two) of small white beans to soak overnight. Navy beans are fine, too.

Take the pork butt (or half of it and freeze the other half, proportions are very adjustable!) and sear it in a very hot pan, all over, until it's good and browned. You'll probably find that there's some nice rendered fat already in the pan. Good. Put the pork butt in your crock pot.

Take a large onion or two smaller ones and slice. Not too thin. Cook the onion in the fat left in the pan until it loses that raw look and starts to be translucent. Dump the onion and the fat into the crock pot on top of the pork. Add a couple of whole peeled garlic cloves.

Deglaze the pan with about a cup or so of water; get all the good caramelized bits and dump this in the crock pot, too. Turn the crock pot on low and go to bed. (If it is too hot in the house, put your crock pot out on the back patio unless you live in the bayou like Grandmère and the gators will get it.)

In the morning you should find that the kitchen smells marvelous, the meat has acquired even more lovely color and the onions have virually melted away into velvelty loveliness. There will be a thick layer of fat rendered out. Take a heat-safe measuring cup and ladle the fat into it. It's ok if there's still a tiny bit left in the pot--it's tasty! Unless you're really good at it you'll also have some broth in the cup too. Let the fat cool a bit and put it in the fridge. You can separate the broth and add it back later.

(Don't make the mistake I did and unthinkingly dump this lovely lard into the trash! Save it and make rillettes!!! Here's a great recipe from a wonderfully poetic food blogger named Lindy. I love rillettes. )

Rinse the beans and add them to the crock pot. Add some salt free herb mix but no salt yet because it makes the beans tough. Add enough water to the pot to ensure the beans don't dry out. Go out into the wonderful world and do good and distribute. Forget not.

When you come back from doing good the pork should be falling apart tender and the beans cooked through. Add any additional seasoning you want (I like to pop in a spoonful of beef "Better Than Boullion"--adds salt and flavor--but I am a broth fanatic.)

I also like at this point to pull out the pork and shred it well (removing any bones) and put it back in for a while to meld everything together. Serve with crusty bread and you'll immediately wish you made a lot more! (I sprinkle green onions on top and add good vinegar.)

What to do with leftovers: the soup is even better the next day!
If the beans aren't tooo soupy it is great spooned into fresh corn tortillas, with cilantro, salsa and grated cheese. They are also super mixed with rice for a sort of casserole. I ate them for breakfast for days and I was very happy. Freeze the soup if you get tired of it before it's gone.

Tasty, inexpensive, and fairly good for you!

** full disclosure: I haven't tried any really bizarre pig parts, but we once roasted a whole pig on a spit for my mother's birthday....




A pork butt haiku:

Oh, lonely pork butt,
waiting there in the crockpot,
beans will be here soon.

1,325 Pope Hats

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(from Craig's List)

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Date: 2009-07-07, 3:17PM MST

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Because of this terrible economy, I'm having to shut down my business. I have OVER 1300 Pope hats (replicas) that I REALLY need to get rid of. The pope hats came from China and are a little too small for most adult heads and are also irritating to the skin, so you would need to have long hair or wear a smaller hat underneath (just like the REAL POPE). Dogs do not like to wear these pope hats, but maybe a large cat or maybe a nice dog would wear one. My dogs will not but they are not very nice and always hate being dressed up like for Halloween when we tried to dress them up like batman but they became very very agitated and bit a neighbors kid. I will lock the dogs up when you come get all of these pope hats.

My wife is a devout catholic and she finds the presence of all of these pope hats all over the house to be blasphemous. I have pope hats in every closet, pope hats under the sing, pope hats full of other pope hats. She will not stop talking to me about getting rid of the pope hats and has started lighting candles all over the house for my soul but these pope hats are extremely flammable so its a problem in my house (there are pope hats everywhere)

I payed 10x what I'm asking for when I bought these pope hats. I still think there is a market for them maybe when the economy turns around. Act NOW! Don't miss this great deal! I have 1,325 total (I counted this morning). 3 of them have some dog bites and one of them is burnt to a crisp, but you can take that one or leave it. Bring 2-3 strong friends.

• Location: Tempe
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 1258405496

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I suggest we all buy one for the upcoming party at MadPriest's house.

Clumber's a nice dog. He'll wear one. So will Rowan, I suspect.

Update from Holy Family

This new year has brought many changes to Holy Family. Our church continues to grow. Our rector has resigned and we have an interim rector, a new Senior and Junior Warden, and we have had five funerals in four months. (Father Bruce Kirkwood lost his long and valiant battle with cancer, and his memorial service was attended by one of the largest crowds ever seen at HFC--I dare not say how many for fear of the fire marshall.)

On April 4 we will have the Chrism Mass at Holy Family and then decorate the church for Palm Sunday. Liam will be out of town accompanying our students to the Alpha Chi convention, so I will have a few days with the house all by myself.

We are considering getting a couple of pugs this summer from the Pug Rescue, or a pug and a French bulldog. What do you think of the name "Martin Buber" for a pug?

Other than the usual lectures and grading, we are preparing to lead a group of students to Italy this summer. It's been tough getting enough students because of the economy, but it's finally falling into place.

The Olbermensch weighs in

Let California Ring, part two:

In honor of IT and her Best Beloved:

Let California Ring, part one:

in honor of IT and her Sweetie-Boo:

We say goodbye to Grendel

I phoned up the vet this morning to find out how Grendel was. The Shabazz-man said that he would never walk again and that his condition would continue to deteriorate. I asked him if Grendel was in pain, and he said he didn't think so. I asked him, "If Grendel were your dog, what would you do?" He said, without hestitation, "I would let him go. Now."

So about an hour ago Liam and I drove over together to the Vet Clinic. Grendel was happy to see us but could not get up. He was in the bottom cage, lying on his favorite green shaggy blanket. We sat on the floor and petted him and told him how much we loved him and how happy we were that he shared his life with us. Then we told him we were taking him home. We each gave him a treat and then the Shabazz-man (His name is actually Gary Shahbazian and he is a wonderful vet.) came and gave him the shot. It was very peaceful.

Thnaks to all who said a prayer for this little dog. Your prayers have been answered. Grendel is home.

Pray for a dog

Yesterday Grendel took an alarming turn for the worst. Where as before only his right front paw was unstable, yesterday he was very shaky on all four legs and his right front paw was totally non-functional. He seemed quite unsettled. Last night I stayed awake with Grendel until he finally went to sleep. I took him into the vet today.

The Shabazz-man was not very comforting. He said it was not arthritis. He said that based on the configuration of the paw and the stiffness of the limb it appeared to be one of two things: an advanced tumor of the spine or some sort of degenerative spine disease. He was alarmed at the progression (we had taken Grendel in three weeks ago for his annual and there was no signficant problem besides a stiffness in the legs and the loss of a few front teeth)

Sp Grendel is spending the night at the Shabazz-man's and he will have X-rays and other diagnostics. If you are inclined to pray for a dog, pray that he remains pain-free. Pray that we have the strength to do what is needful. If you have a dog, give him love. Kiss him and tell him you love him. As Grendel would say, Do It Now!

I will keep you posted.

Phoebe crosses the Rainbow Bridge

When we came home from vacation we noticed that Phoebe seemed to have lost some weight. We figured it was probably because the Pig (an aptly named cat) had taken advantage of our absence and crowded his way into Phoebe's food bowl. The house-sitter didn't notice anything wrong with her, so we started feeding her more often and by herself.

She didn't gain any weight and seemed to be getting weaker so I took her to our vet on Thursday (the Shabazz-man, as Grendel calls him) and he couldn't find anything visibly wrong; he recommended a blood test.

I called him up yesterday to get the results and he said that all her counts were very low and to bring her in for an X-ray. So I did, and when they weighed her they found she had lost another quarter of a pound since Thursday. Not good.

I could tell that the Shabazz-man was hoping he's see something obvious in the X-rays, but there was nothing. He decided to give her an antibiotic shot and send her home with more antibiotic and steroid combined, as well as special food, but over the course of the conversation I could tell he was becoming more and more certain that the prognosis was pretty bleak. I asked if there was any specific danger sign to look for, as we did not want her to suffer. He said no, but then said it would be a matter of weeks, not months. It was probably leukemia or bone cancer by how swiftly it progressed.

I took her home and she ate a third of the can of cat food. That seemed a good sign. She rested on her blanket on the floor. Before I went to bed I lay down next to her and told her how much we loved her.

In the morning it was clear that she was much weaker. That was that, there's no way we were going to let her suffer, so Liam called up the Shabazz-man and was able to bring her right in. I had to go to school to meet with a student. I hated not being able to go with them, but I said goodbye to Phoebe and we loaded her into Liam's car. We were both heartbroken.

Liam came into school and said that all went as well as one could expect--she left peacefully and painlessly. The vet agreed it was "an acceptable time" for Phoebe to go.

She was a sweet cat, a gentle cat, who never made any trouble. She loved being brushed. We called her "FooFoo," FooFighter" and "Fluffy." She came into our lives suddenly, from a student of ours, D., forced to give up all her cats after a terrible tragedy. She left us too soon.

Mass on the Beach!

It's time again for Holy Family's Mass on the Beach. We are off bright and early for the coast, to escape the summer heat. We have two full buses this year. I'll be bringing my camera (but not my computer) to record the festivities.

(Grendel is at Doggie Day Care)

Don't forget the sunscreen!

This week at The Church of the Forced Antithesis

Every week when Liam and I drive to church we pass by what has come to be known by us as The Church of the Forced Antithesis. This refers to their reader board which displays a message which (one can only assume) is designed to lure people into the church. The choices are (to us, in any event) rather bizarre, tending to the fire and brimstone, wrathful God, genre. (Why would that attract people????)

In the past, I have been tempted to list these gems on the blog, but have resisted. But this week I can no longer keep silent; the message reads:

"If evolution were true, mothers would have three arms"

Where do I start? Perhaps from the denial of evolution as an accepted theory by all reasonable, educated, people?

Or the grave misunderstanding of the nature of evolution? Species do not wish to evolve in a certain way...

Or perhaps from the complete misunderstanding of what a scientific theory is, to begin with??

Or from the semiotic: what is meant by "true", anyway???

Good Grief. This is why Fresno is a byword for the unthinking conservative.

We are back

We are back from France.

We spent over three weeks helping our friends renovate their 17th century farmhouse and three lovely days in Paris.

It was wonderful. The best thing about our job is that we can travel in the summer. (Of course the flip side of not being gainfully employed for three months of the year is not getting paid for three months out of the year, but we are frugal types and can get by...)

We seriously considered ways in which we could stay in France forever (I'd rather be an ex-pat in Ireland, but it seems even more difficult.) It helps to learn the French for "I did not vote for him; I think he is an idiot." If you have a good scheme for earning an income over the Internet, please let me know.

Coming back to Holy Family after so long away (I'd only been back for one Sunday between Vietnam and France) made me realize how much my little church is changing...it's not so much the physical changes (although there are plenty of those: the rector's office is being renovated, the plaza re-landscaped, new benches in the Chapel of St. Francis and St. Clair, a splendid new set of paraments for the altar) but the growth: seeing the Rev. Michelle take her place on a regular basis (a woman priest!! Who would ever have thought it possible in this Diocese!),
We had 49 people at the 8 o-clock on a summer's day, several of them new faces. (And of course Norm joked about giving us a newcomer's packet, having been away so long.)

And now we are off again, this time only for a few days, to visit my sister Sláine and my brother Mickey in Phoenix.

After the Garden

Father Jake has closed up shop.

Neil Young said,

Where will people go?

After the garden is gone
What will people know?

After the garden....




Thank you, Father Jake.

Go meadai Dia thu!