Thought for the Day

Understanding can wait; obedience cannot.

HIS Magazine, circa 1970

A Prayer

Lord, keep me from the habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.

Release me from craving to straighten out everybody’s affairs.

Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details – give me wings to get to the point.

I ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of other’s pains. Help me to endure them with patience. But seal my lip on my own aches and pain – they are increasing and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by.

Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken.

Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to be a saint – some of them are so hard to live with – but a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil.

Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people. And, give me, O Lord, the grace to tell them so.

Make me thoughtful but not moody, helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all – but Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end.

-- Author Unknown

More Ideas for Cooking with Pears

I found a few more uses for the pears that are ripening too fast to keep up with, and everyone who has tried them has thought they were great!

Upside-Down Pear Tart (makes 8 servings)

1/2 c granulated sugar

2 T margarine or butter

2 t grated lemon peel, yellow part only

5 medium, firm winter pears, pared, cored and cut into eighths

1 T lemon juice

Pastry for 9-inch single-crust pie

Vanilla yogurt

In a heavy 10-inch skillet with an oven-safe handle, heat sugar over medium heat until syrupy and light brown in color. Remove from heat, add margarine and lemon peel; stir until margarine melts.

Arrange pears in two layers on hot sugar mixture in skillet. Fill open spaces with pear slices; sprinkle with lemon juice. Roll pastry to 10-inch round and place over pears.

Bate at 425° 25-30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Cool in pan 30 minutes. If there seems to be too much sauce in pan,pour excess sauce into a 1-pint container and reserve to serve over tart. Invert tart onto shallow serving dish. Serve warm with yogurt.

Note: It is important how you arrange the pears because when you invert the tart onto the baking dish he pears will be what you see. We thickened the excess juice with corn starch and poured it over the top of the tart before we served it.

Baked Pears

You are sure to wow your family and friends with baked pears. This one is SO easy, and delicious. It's great for a fancy luncheon or a quiet dinner at home. Here's what to do:

Wash but do not core or peel four pears. (The cook in the video I saw used Anjou but we used Bartlett.) Cut the bottoms off pears and stand them up straight in a baking dish. Pour two cups of apple juice over the pears and add 6-8 whole cloves. Bake at 400° for one hour, basting them in the apple juice every 15 minutes. Serve warm, on individual plates, and pour a little of the juice from the bottom of the pan over them.

Pear Smoothies

We had pear and blueberry smoothies this morning. We used a dozen or so ice cubes, about a cup of apple juice, five pears, a large handful of frozen blueberries and a tablespoon of protein powder -- and whizzed away. Adjust the amounts (and the ingredients) to suit your taste. It is especially good for pears that are too far gone to eat fresh.

Honor thy Parents

My parents recently celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary.

I once asked Mom when they got engaged, and she said, "Well, your dad did when he proposed to me. But I got engaged the first time I saw him." Seems her friends kept saying that they were looking forward to Ken  coming home from the army. And when he finally arrived, Mom saw him and knew he was the man she would marry.

Dad didn't seem to notice for several months, but Mom's commitment was unflagging. When he finally did propose, he drove her to one of the largest houses in town and asked if she'd like to marry him and help him fill it up with kids.

By their eighth anniversary their family tree had sprouted five branches. We were the "big kids" (my older brother Tom and I were just a year and ten days apart) and the "little kids" (Peach was nearly four years younger than me, and the twins, Tim and Ted, were born two days before her second birthday.) Their house was small, but it was certainly full of kids.

We were short on money and long on love. We seldom ate out but as we shared dinner around that yellow formica-topped kitchen table we'd compare notes on our day. Dad would tell us about the remodel job he was working on, or how the hand truck had rolled down the hill when his back was turned; Mom would tell us who'd dropped by for coffee while we were all at school; we'd one-up each other on silly jokes. I remember the out-of-control hilarity the night someone figured out the double meaning of "laughing at the table" and we could hardly breathe over the side-splitting notion of a funny dinner table!

Whatever was important to their children was important to Dad and Mom. They led the church's midweek children's program while we were kids; they added on to the house so there would be more room for us and our friends; Mom always sat at the table with whomever was eating, even if it was one of her kids just having a snack. One day Dad was chauffeuring me and a group of my college friends on an outing. As we drove along the girls began to sing and Dad joined in. By their response, it was clear they weren't used to that level of parental involvement, but they rather enjoyed it.

Several years later a friend was visiting me from Norway and I took her to meet Dad and Mom. They'd prepared a meal for us and asked me to say the blessing over our food. When I opened my eyes, there sat both my parents -- in pig noses! Most recently it was wax lips at Christmas!

Full of fun, those two, even after 61 years.

Life's Purpose

"I want to live my life to make Jesus smile."

Michelle McKinney-Hammond

Can you think of any higher purpose?

Consider the Pear

Last weekend I bought a box of pears, green and rock hard, with every intention of canning them when they were ready. They are ripening fast, and now I'm wondering if they will last long enough to see the inside of the canner. Oh, how we love pears!

Today I found the September 4, 2002, food section of The Herald with a page-and-a-half dedicated to "the delectable pear." Here are some excerpts from the article:

There are more than 5,000 known pear varieties in the world, but few are grown commercially. Although pear trees grow throughout the United States, few areas outside of the Northwest and California offer the near-perfect conditions that pear trees require to produce their delectable fruit.

Levulose, the sweetest of known natural sugars, is found to a greater extent in fresh pears than any other fruit.

How do you know when pears are ripe?

- Pears ripen from the inside out and generally do not change color when ripe. To check for ripeness, press gently near the stem with your thumb. When it gives slightly, the fruit is ready. Waiting until pears are soft around the middle may indicate over-ripeness.

- Store unripe pears in a warm place in a fruit bowl or in a paper bag. Check daily for ripeness.

- Store ripe pears in the coldest part of the refrigerator.

- Do not freeze pears.

I'm having lunch today with the my childhood friends, and I'm taking Dutch Pear Pie, a recipe from Tom's cousin Nancy Hess. I thought you might like the recipe!

Cousin Nancy's Dutch Pear Pie

Sift together:

1/4 c flour

1 c sugar

Mix in:

1 T lemon juice

1 c heavy cream

Mix till smooth.

Cut 4-5 large pears into small pieces. Add to cream mixture.

Topping

Mix together:

1 T sugar

1/4 t cinnamon

Pour into unbaked 8-9" pie shell. Sprinkle on topping.

Bake at 450° for 45-50 minutes. Cool till set.

Hidden Wonders

We watched a DVD called The Guys the other night. Nick, played by Anthony LaPaglia, is a New York City fire captain who has lost eight of his men on September 11, and he has been asked to give eulogies for them. Grief overwhelms him and he cannot find words to express his sorrow or to comfort the families of the fallen.

Sigourney Weaver plays Joan, a journalist who helps him with his daunting task by drawing out from him details about his men that he didn't even realize he knew. Her gentle probing and ability to organize his scattered thoughts bring these lost lives into clear focus for the captain and those loved ones left behind. The results are stunning.

Joan is trying to come to terms herself with the sudden and devastating loss of life in New York, her beloved city, so she is writing her story. As she struggles through the experience that has changed her life forever, she comes to this understanding: "I knew that every time I saw someone on the street I just saw his public shadow. The rest, the important part, lived in layer after layer beyond my view. We have no idea what wonders are hidden in the people around us."

Perhaps you will have the chance to discover some hidden wonders today.