Tasty Tuesday: Tantalizing Tomatoes

Summer in the South

(Lovely patriotic centerpiece by DD#1)

Heat, fresh tomatoes, field peas, sweet corn.

More heat.

(Fortunately, we no longer live below the gnat line, where our list would read heat, gnats, heat and tomatoes. And more heat.)

Anyhoo, for the first cookout of the year on Memorial Day, I used some early tomatoes from the farmer’s market for Marinated Tomato Salad, one of those wonderful make-ahead recipe that gets better the longer it sits.

The super-easy dressing is from a veggie salad my mom used to make.  Alas, she loves raw onions and used them plentifully in that dish.

Ick.

So one day I poured the dressing over sliced tomatoes and cucumbers and let them soak in the fridge for a few hours.

Oh my.

Yum.

Marinated Tomato Salad

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar (mix it up with some balsamic, red wine vinegar, or any other flavor you’ve got stashed in the pantry)

1/4 cup canola oil

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 tbl water

1 cup sugar

salt to taste

Dump all this in a pot and bring it to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool.

Slice  tomatoes, cucumbers, and/or bell peppers (or, yes, even onions, if you are into those) in shallow dish (like a 8x8 baking dish) and pour dressing over all.

Refrigerate until serving, the longer the better.

I like to add basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, and any other herb growing on my deck (except the mint) to the mix for a little sass.  Big Red laces his liberally with Tabasco.

Talk about more heat.

Stay cool!

Blessings,

Ginger

Linking up at Tasty Tuesday

Help Wanted

Attention bibliophiles!

Lately I’ve been boring myself at the library.

Normally, I’ll read just about anything.

I’ve been known to read this if I’m desperate.

Not that I don’t have standards.

It appears that my standards are the issue.

I don’t mind fluff if it’s funny or wholesome or has a good story line. (Hence my attachment to cozy mysteries.  Please confess if you are also a fan of Hannah Swenson mysteries or the Ellie Haskell series!)

I don’t mind deep either.  See this post.

What I don’t care for is egregious immorality, excessive post modernism as a worldview, or lots  of navel-gazing masquerading as depth.

Sometimes I just want to tell the main character to get a grip.  Anyone?

So…Help!

What are you reading these days that makes you laugh, cry, think?

Be blessed today.  Enjoy your porch swing and a glass of lemonade.

Ginger

Resting Place

I have to start by saying that I don’t know where to start.

I may not say this well.

I’m in that place between public and private, and I am still chewing on this, pondering.

For the second time in six months, I went to bed last night with the word “cancer” hanging over my head.

For the second time in six months, I will go to bed tonight with praises for the word “benign”.

The first time, I had moments of tears and worry, but I can truly say that I knew the “peace that passes understanding”, the absolute assurance that God was working, He was in it, He had purpose for either result.

This time was different.

I knew fear.

Then my husband, my pastor, and a dear friend who has walked this path herself anointed me with oil and prayed for me.

Then I knew nothing.

Silence.

Which is sort of like peace, but not exactly.

As I have prayed the last few months for the ladies on the retreat weekend, God spoke very little.    I felt we knew few specific things to pray over those women. 

We prayed anyway, and I finally decided that was the point.

“Will you,” God seemed to ask, “ praise Me, worship Me, seek My face, even if I choose  not to let you in on anything I’m doing?”

The last 24 hours, I have walked that question, not for other people, but for myself and my family.

Would I praise Him, worship Him, seek His face, even if He chose not the let me in on what He was doing?

In Ephesians 3, Paul writes a prayer for the church, that we would be strengthened by the power of Christ dwelling in our hearts through faith, and that we would know the wide, high, long, and deep love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

His love for me goes beyond knowledge of my circumstances, beyond my future, whatever it holds.

Christ, the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, is holy and good, and faithful.

Even if the news had not been good.

I don’t feel any different than I did this morning.  I still feel like God is being quiet.

But in the stillness, I know I am being refined.

“These {trials} have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may prove genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

1 Peter 1:7 (NIV)

Garden Tour

Blooming in my yard right now:

(view from a stump in my yard of my neighbor’s property and the community pond.)

Ah, the miracle of pictures!  They make me believe our yard is lush with blooms!

It isn’t.

Yet.

May this little taste of summer to come give you hope that beauty is on the way.

May the deer not treat your garden as dessert.

 

Psalm 24

Of David. A psalm.

The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it,
       the world, and all who live in it.

Be blessed today!

Ginger

Total Fluffy Randomness

I am BRAIN DEAD from lack of sleep (for very good reasons, but still true), so just to prove I am still alive in blogland, I give you

A DaY in the Life

Monday Edition

Outside my window: Grey skies, green leaves, and hydrangeas tinged with blue

I am thinking: Take that back.  I’m not thinking.  It requires too much energy.

I am thankful: For lovely ladies to work with and pray for this weekend; for an amazing hubby who prays for me and puts out fires at home while I’m off praying for other people

In the kitchen: Strawberries, sweet potatoes, squash, and green beans, awaiting the opportunity to be part of our supper

I am wondering: How to combine said fruits and veggies into anything supper-ish

I am looking forward to: A good (read: long) night’s rest

I am reading: Radical  by David Platt. . . and Apple Turnover Murder by Joanna Fluke. It’s how my mind works.  Bizarre, I know.

I am hoping:  Big Red avoids knee surgery after an injury a few weeks back; that I can get my act together for school without ruining our whole summer.

Around the house: Unpacked suitcases

One Two of my favorite things: French roast coffee this morning after a weekend of the weak stuff.

Hydrangeas, which just say “summer” to me.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Back up at the school tomorrow for meetings with department heads

A picture: Totally random picture of seagull taken at the beach this spring; the girls are hoping for a return visit this summer.

Hoping to be more interesting tomorrow!  Be blessed today!

Ginger

I Want to be Radical

I don’t have a lot of time today, but I want you to order this book. 

Today.

Right now.

It’s important.

Spend some time here.

I don’t want the American dream. 

I want to KNOW Christ.

Blessings,

Ginger

P.S Thanks for praying this weekend!

Shall We Dance?

Yesterday, we went to the Ball.

Not our typical Tuesday morning.

Our middle school hosts a Civil War Ball as the culminating unit of a year-long study of our state’s history.  Courageous 8th grade teachers dare to take a  bunch of uncouth teenagers and teach them the Virginia Reel, the Spinning Waltz, the Patty-Cake Polka.

What happens is magical. 

Girls, usually virtually identical in jeans and Aeropostle t-shirts, are transformed, Cinderella-like, into a rainbow of satin and lace, unique and captivating.

Boys who have never seen a pair of dress pants in their lives are suddenly dapper and suave in jackets and ribbon ties.

I loved it.

Not just because of DD#1, who was, in my humble opinion, the belle of the ball.   With her cascade of curls, my recycled prom dress (circa-1986), and the last hoop skirt this side of the state line, she blossomed into a beauty that made her daddy cry.

No, I loved it for everyone else there, too.

In a world devoid of elegance, it was a moment of dignity and refinement  

Girls were treated like ladies.

Boys behaved like gentleman.

With each bow and curtsey, each swirl of skirts and graceful footwork,  those kids caught of glimpse of what it means to be noble.

Maybe one day, years from now, the memory of offering his arm to his dancing partner will inspire a guy to open the car door for his date.

Maybe one day,  the memory of the courtly behavior of her dancing partner will inspire a girl to expect that on a date.

So, even though they will never read this, I want to publically thank the teachers and administrators who  recognized that there are life lessons beyond testing.

May those lessons be well-learned. 

I may be scarce for a few days; this is the retreat weekend where I am working on the prayer team.  I would appreciate your prayers for the team and the ladies we are serving!

Blessings,

Ginger