The End of an Era

It is with heartfelt regret that I must relay this bit of unfortunate news. Something which has consistently brought joy and amusement to just about everyone I know is no longer. I'm not sure what the most delicate way to phrase this is, so I'll just come out and say it. I, Jonathan Steffens, am a college graduate. I think most of you have known this to be coming for a little while at least. And it is most certainly long overdue. However, it still feels like a shock. We all knew it had to happen sooner or later, but the foreknowledge doesn't quite prepare you. I'm not sure anything could really prepare you. But here we are. I suppose there is nothing left to do but grieve and try to find some way move on, no matter how difficult it may seem. To all those affected by this tragic loss, you have my deepest sympathies.

If there is anything I can do to help you through these trying times ahead, please don't hesitate to ask.

Chicken Curry

This is a new segment where I share recipes I've developed.  I've honed my cooking/baking skills as a sort of hobby and I'd like to share some of the finding with my adoring audience.

Chicken Curry

I've been working on this recipe for many many months.  And I think I have finally gotten it to where I want.  Now just so you know, my first 3 or so attempts were bad.  I mean really bad.  It's hard to put into words just how terrible they were.  Anyway I've come a long way. 

I wanted to call it Indian Chicken Curry, since that's what I started out trying to make, but I don't think it falls into that realm anymore.  I've added a few more Thai elements as well as, I'm sure, some Americanization.  But I definitely still find it enjoyable and tasty and I hope you do too.


Ingredients

• 2 medium sized red onions - chopped coarsely
• ~1 inch ginger root - minced
• 3 cloves garlic - minced
• 1 habanero pepper - chopped
• 4 small cinnamon sticks
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk
• ~1.5lb chicken thighs (4 pieces or so) - cut into halves or thirds
• Spice Mix
• 3 tsp curry powder
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp turmeric

Directions

Add oil to wide bottom pot.  Saute onions, ginger, garlic, habanero, cinnamon, bay leaf over medium heat until onions are mostly translucent.  Add coconut milk and bring to boil.  Reduce liquid about 50%, stirring regularly (~5-10 minutes).  Remaining sauce should be a slightly thick gravy.  Reduce to simmer.

Lightly coat chicken in spice mix.  Heat pan and sear chicken (~1-2 minutes each side).  Remaining spice mix can mixed into simmering liquid.  Add chicken to gravy.  Cover pot and simmer 45 minutes.

Serves 3-4


Notes

• Serve with jasmine or basmati rice or naan or whatever really.
• Mix gravy before serving since the fat tends to collect at the top.
• The spice mix can really be whatever you want it to be depending on what you have available.  The only requirements I think it needs are the curry powder and the salt.
• The chicken needs to be thigh.  Leg is probably ok too, but do not use chicken breast.  It will make for a very dry meat.
• This curry is fairly spicy.  If you want it even spicier, add more chili powder or peppers.  If you want it less spicy you can remove the habanero.  And then after dinner you can head the mall and find some killer heels to go with the skirt you're wearing.  This is curry.  It's supposed to be spicy.
• Turmeric stains.  Bad.
• When smelling, don't inhale too deeply.
• If you don't have ginger, garlic, or cinnamon you can use their respective powders, but try not to if you can help it.
• I like to listen to Streetlight Manifesto while making curry.
• If you have trouble finding all of the spices listed, you can always try shopping at the Ithaca Wegmans.  We have an Indian food section with dirt cheap spices.

What is your Quest?

You know that scene in The Last Crusade where Indiana Jones has to make his 'leap of faith'?  That's one of my favorite movie scenes ever.  What makes this scene so powerful to me is the simple yet profound image of faith in action. 

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see"

Maybe Indy wasn't sure or certain that he wouldn't plummet to his death (which always makes me wonder why he didn't feel around before stepping off - but that wouldn't be a leap of faith if he did, now would it).  But he stepped off anyway.  Indy was all in on that one step. 

I see faith as a little bit of a gamble.  Hebrews 11 gives the faith all stars.  But look at the list.  We have Abel giving a large sacrifice.  We have noah preparing for a flood despite it never having rained.  We have Abraham holding onto God's promise of his inheritance in a foriegn land. 

Abel risked not having enough to eat.  Noah risked looking foolish.  Abraham risked the well being of his entire family.  But like any good gamble, it's all about the payoff.  God does reward the faithful after all (see parable of the talents)  Except the payoff isn't always what we expect.  In fact these three never saw all of the payoff during their lifetimes (v13). 

Faith asks us to risk much of our own wants, desires, maybe even our own lives and makes no guarentee of seeing the reward in this lifetime. I guess it takes a little bit of faith to make that a good deal.


"You have chosen ... wisely."

superNatural

I don't like the word supernatural. Or more specifically, I don't like making a distinction between what is "natural" and what is "supernatural." The distinction between the two often goes something like this. The natural world is the one we can perceive with our senses. It is the one where we use science. The supernatural world is all of the things that are not perceivable, or explainable by natural means. But differentiating in this manner raises some problems. People who don't believe in god discount anything that is claimed to be supernatural. There can be nothing other than the natural world. Believers often pull back and conclude that the natural world is the 'less real' world. That the supernatural world is somehow what is really real. Only we cannot perceive it in the normal way.

In my view, there is truth beyond our perception, because our perception is limited. But what makes that truth more real than what we can perceive with our senses. Why would God create us to be able to only sense what is less real? Maybe a better question is this. Why would God create a world that operates on a very strict set of rules that are able to be learned through sensory observation and God given reasoning only to violate them in the name of the supernatural? If God set up the natural order of the universe, why break those very laws. Perhaps there is no such thing as supernatural in the strict definition of beyond the natural order of things. Perhaps there is only supernatural in the sense that we have a limited understanding of the natural world. Supernatural is just unexplained natural.

This is exactly the kind of argument that skeptics will use to disprove God. But I don't use it from that perspective. I'm not arguing that there is no God because there is no supernatural. I am arguing that the idea of God is intrinsically natural. Does this mean that God is provable? Maybe. Or maybe the idea of God is something more metaphysical. That is to say that God is not what we expect. We tend to think of God as a being that is like man, he just happens to know everything and has the power to do anything. But what if God was something very dissimilar from that. What if God was the glue holding the universe together? "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Col 1:17). What if the physical laws of the universe were manifestations of who God is? We can attribute every phenomenon we encounter to God, while simultaneously being able to find a physical reason for why this happened.

One argument, and a reasonable one at that, that skeptics will often employ is the God of the Gaps argument. What happens is that unknown events are attributed to some supernatural force, or to God. Scientists find a physical, naturalistic explanation for said event. Now the domain of God has been reduced. With every scientific achievement, God shrinks. Eventually, science leaves no room for God to hide. But I want to change the subject a bit when tackling this argument, because it is a good point. I think we have to stop attributing the unexplained to something that is unexplainable. For example, people used to believe it was a god that caused the sun to rise each day. Why? Because there was no better way to explain it. Now we know that there is not some god actually causing the sun to rise. Science has given us a much better explanation. Except I submit that God is causing the sun to rise each day. God uses natural causes to keep the universe in order. Why wouldn't he? Why wouldn't everything about the universe be explainable by science? Science reveals the glory of God and the wonders of his creation. It does not cause God to shrink but rather to expand.