God's Minute 2/14

February 14

Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion and righteous. A good man sheweth favor, and lendeth; he will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he shall not be moved forever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.--Psalm 112:4-6

ALMIGHTY GOD, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou hast taught us to call Thee "Father." In the strength of Thy Name we go forth to meet the temptations and the duties of this day. May we be worthy of being called Thy children. May we have Thy patience and tenderness in our dealing with others, especially with the members of our own household. May we have pity for all weak and tempted persons, and lend them our strength, as Thou dost lend Thy strength to us. Clothe us this day with the armor of light. May we have Thy purity, the horror of all evil thoughts and all unholy desires, and may they be overcome and cast out of our hearts by a passion for holiness. Whatever we have to do, may we do it so that it shall be well pleasing to Thee. Help us to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Preserve us in all danger; keep us in the way of life; and bring us at last to our Father's house in peace. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Henry Evertson Cobb, D.D.,
New York City, New York

The Dog Blog

I have been toying with the idea of starting a blog about Vizslas. I have reserved a blogspot and have started to move some of the posts about my dogs to that blog.

If I do decide to develop this dog blog, my thought is to post articles about training, hunt and field competion, agility and conformation along with links to interesting or funny Vizsla stories. (There are a million stories out there that do not include my two!) I am hoping to get some Vizsla experts to submit articles and/or stories.

Anyway, since this is Blog Your Dog day, and since I have a miserable cold and just don't feel too good today, I thought I'd go ahead and post the link in lieu of a new post.

If you've read this blog at all, you already know my dogs, Ivy and Eve. If you want to get a "V fix" follow the link. (I'll try to get some puppie pictures up sometime today)

If I felt up to blogging about my dogs today, I might blog about how living with dogs has affected my decorating scheme:

(Note the "lovely" and ever present, ever changing array of quilts, throws and blankets that are tucked on my couch now.)

God's Minute 2/13

February 13

I have loved thee with an everlasting love.--Jeremiah 31:3

WE thank Thee, our loving Father, for Thy watchful care over us through another night. Thou dost neither slumber nor sleep, and Thy ever-wakeful eye has been upon us in our unconscious moments, and Thy protecting and upholding hand has been underneath and about us. Thou art setting before us a new day, with all of its opportunities and possibilities for good or evil. This is one of the days concerning which Thou hast promised, "As thy day so shall thy strength be." Is not this one of the days for which Thou hast made such bountiful provision? Let us not venture forth upon the day's duties or difficulties without Thy guiding, upholding, protecting hand. Thou art able to do for us exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Give us strength to conquer every temptation. Surround us with Thy gracious presence as a shield from every danger. Bless with us all whom we should specially remember at the Throne of Thy Grace. Wherever we can send a thought, Thou canst send a blessing. Let Thy blessing be suited to the capacities and needs of every one of them. May every heart be turned to Thee as the morning-glory turns to the light, and may their souls and ours be enlivened, purified, and strengthened by the light of Thy health-giving countenance.

Amen.

R.J. Miller, D.D.,
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania

God's Minute 2/12

February 12

He forgave their iniquity.--Psalm 73:38

O LORD, who hast proven that we may trust Thee, we seek Thy blessing in the beginning of the day, that we may carry its influence with us into the toil and trial of our busy life. We claim Thy sufficient grace, that we may be equal to every severe test.

Give us wisdom, that we may undertake our tasks and do them as those who have learned of the Divine Workman. Take possession of our minds that today they may think Thy thoughts after Thee, and be intent upon working out Thy great plans through the best lives we can live.

So rule us with Thy Spirit that our senses may be harnessed for Thy uses. Save us from falling into shameful sin. Prevent us from being mean, small, disagreeable, irritable, unsympathetic, as we touch other lives. Be our unseen Companion, as we earn our daily bread--and help us to earn it honestly.

Make us wholesome; keep us sweet. May others know today by our unobtrusive goodness that Jesus lives at our house. May we somehow be instrumental in opening the doors of other homes for the incoming of this Heavenly Guest.

We ask these favors in His Name,

Amen.

J. Bradley Markward, D.D.,
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Inspiration isn't enough

We're hosting our small group Bible Study at our home tomorrow evening. While I was casting about, trying to figure out what I want to serve, I got my February issue of Gourmet magazine. On the cover is a GORGEOUS Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse Cake and inside is a recipe for Chocolate Almond Shortbread cookies. So I get one of my brainiac ideas--"I know! I'll fix all sorts of cool and decadent desserts because Valentine's Day is coming!"

I had a lovely time choosing recipes, planning my dessert menu, thinking about the table and all the fun things that go along with a Valentine dessert party. I remembered that I still have some cute Valentine dessert sized napkins that I bought a few years ago but had forgotton to use. Great! I went to Target and found some really, really cute heart-shaped ramekins ($1 each!) that I can use as candy dishes--conversation hearts, cinnamon imperials, and Hershey's kisses all wrapped for Valentine's day. I found some strawberries to dip in chocolate (and they were 2 pints for $4!) By this time, I'm thinking that everything is falling into place and this is going to be a lot of fun.

Until I started to cook this afternoon. Have you ever had one of those days where everything, absolutely EVERYTHING goes wrong? That was my day. I neglected to read the fine print in the recipe and used a whole package of gelatin in my mousse instead of the 1 teaspoon I should have measured out of the envelope. As soon as the Nutella hit the gelatin (which I was supposed to be whisking) the whole sad mess set up. The whisk was immediately immobilized and stuck to the bottom of the pan. I'm supposed to "whisk" the marscapone into that mixture? I got out my hand mixer and said a prayer. After nearly burning out the motor on my hand mixer, I got the marscapone incorporated into the nutella/gelatin glob. During this time, my stand mixer was merrily whipping creme, cocoa, and sugar. It turned out beautifully. I hated to have to try to "fold" the beautiful whipped cream into my stiff nutella/gelatin/marscapone mixture, but by this time I had a lot of ingrediants already committed, so I folded it in. Surprisingly, it didn't turn out too bad. I licked the spatula and it really tasted delicious. Tomorrow I will test it to make sure my knife doesn't bounce back when I try to cut it before I make the ganache that goes on top.

The Chocolate Almond Shortbread cookies look like they will be fine--as long as they don't fall apart when I take them out of the pan.

I decided to make some plain shortbread cutout cookies just in case the cake sets up like rubber. Now, I have made shortbread for years. I've never had trouble with it. Today I decided to double the recipe because I am taking a meal to a family tomorrow and I needed a dessert. I creamed the sugar and butter and added the flour. It was the consistency of, well, flour. I added extra butter a little bit at a time until it was the consistency of sand. I added a little bit of heavy cream, thinking that might get it to come together. Nothing.

I called my sister, Kathy, who makes delicious, tender shortbread cookies and told her the whole sad story. She was very sympathetic (when she wasn't laughing) but she had no long distance advice for me. We decided to try pressing it into a 9 x 13 and baking it. Here's the result.

I don't think I'll be serving shortbread.

Sigh. I hope the chocolate covered strawberries turn out. . .

(Lauren--I think I flunked Martha Stewart)

[update] Here's the recipe for the Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse Cake, Gourmet Magazine Feb. 2006

[update 2] Go check out my friend, Allyson's, Valentine tea party. Allyson is a splendid cook and hostess as well as a fantastically gifted photographer. Allyson, where are you when I need you???

[update 3] Here's the recipe for the Chocolate Almond Shortbread cookies.

Here's what they looked like: