The Gift of Feeding Others

People often talk about their spiritual gifts and how they can best utilize them to serve God and others. Not to sound full of myself or completely looney, but I really do think that one of my spiritual gifts could be the gift of feeding others. I suppose that you could lump it under serving others, or caring for others, but I like to look at it as cooking for Jesus.

As far back as I can remember I have loved being in the kitchen, helping to prepare dinner, making chocolate chip cookies or banana bread to share with others. As I have grown, that love and excitement of making food in the kitchen has only grown. I always said that I wanted to be a chef when I was little and I have long admired the skills of Emeril Lagassee, Alton Brown, and many others. My path on Food Science has steered me a little bit away from that, but I am confident that God is directing me where He wants me. Eventually at least.

However, this semester He gave me an opportunity to share my talents and passion with many people and have some fun while I was at it. February 18th I competed with three other friends of mine in the 3rd Annual Boiler Culinary Throwdown Competition. It's basically Purdue's version of Iron Chef: America, but with teams of 4 instead of chefs going head to head. We were given the secret ingredient of lemon balm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_officinalis) and challenged to come up with an appetizer, main dish, and dessert incorporating that ingredient that could all be cooked in 90 minutes. Added challenge was that we did not have the use of an oven or stove, just two butane burners to make all of our food. Challenge Accepted.

My fantastic team consisting of my roommate Ginny, my good friend Amber, and my friend Jake, all of whom are also Juniors in Food Science at Purdue, dubbed ourselves "The Saccharides" bringing our flair for science into the cooking show-down. We each took the name of a Saccharide for the competition: Jake was sucrose(a disaccharide), I was fructose(monosaccharide), Ginny was glucose(monosaccharide, also dubbed "the simple one"), and Amber was galactose(monosaccharide). Also, did I mention that Jake is about 6' 5''? With me clocking in at 5' 7'', I was the next tallest team member. Hence the disaccharide/monosaccharide thing. haha, we're so clever. We went head to head against 4 other teams of 4, most of which had more experience working in a professional setting in one team member than we did in all 4 of ours combined. However, we had some pure talent and science on our side. Our main competition was a team composed of 4 HTM majors, two of whom are going off to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) after graduating in May. Some of them had competed in this competition before, but not won. They were slightly intimidating as far as competition goes, but we kept it all light hearted and fun and were determined to just make the best food we could and have a great time doing it.

In the end my team ended up being the overall winners of the throwdown taking home the coveted knives. I was so ecstatic and proud of all the work that my team had put into it. I had entered the competition simply because I wanted to face a challenge just to see how I would do. I never imagined that we could come out of it the winners. I received many congratulations from my family and friends that were there supporting me, as well as numerous people in the days after. However, it struck me a little while after how much I didn't really deserve the praise that I was receiving. I did not in any way feel worthy of it.

I firmly believe that for whatever reason, God gave me a talent and a passion for cooking and for sharing my cooking with others. Winning the competition that day was to me, a fantastic example of how God can use the talents he bestows on us. I was very humbled by the fact that my team won, because I knew that it was only by our God-given gifts that we had been able to do anything noteworthy. It has spurred me on to try and better understand how God wants me to use this specific set of gifts to serve and glorify Him. How can my knife skills and cheesecake making abilities bring glory and honor to him?

I feel as though I can't adequately describe how this throwdown made me feel, and really, how it brought me even just a little bit into a deeper relationship with Christ. It amazes me every time I think about it. The engraved knife I have sitting in my kitchen will forever be a reminder to me that God gave us beautiful gifts. Go out and use them!

Also, for those of you who were wondering, this is what we made.


The appetizer was a chilled melon soup, made with cantaloupe, red peppers, and cream. It was served with a parmesan nut crisp that is essentially like a cheese cracker.

The main course was pork loin cooked sous vide, served with a lemon balm creamy pesto over penne with sauteed red peppers.

Dessert was a no-bake lemon cheesecake with a lemon balm reduction syrup.

And yes, the soup was served in a 100mL beaker and the syrup in a test tube. For Science!

~A

Wedding Number 1: Hannah and Joel

The weekend of February 11th, I had the distinct honor of traveling to Odon, IN to stand up in my dear friend Hannah's wedding. I have known Hannah since my freshman year at Purdue, when I joined the Windsor Governing Board. The next year when I was a sophomore she lived down the hall from me and we grew closer serving on the Executive Board together. I also found out that she went to my church and worked in the office there. We spent a lot of time chatting during the day when I would hang out and do homework. About the same time that Hannah's relationship with Joel began to blossom, she decided to join my current roommate Ginny and I on a lease at Copper Beech.

I still distinctly remember the day that Hannah called me in July. I had just gotten into the car to head over to Dan's for dinner and to visit with his mom and grandma who were visiting. I answered the phone, slightly confused as to why she was calling me at that particular time but glad to hear from her nonetheless. She started off the conversation with the typical hey how are you and then said, "I have something to ask you actually, will you be one of my bridesmaids?" I answered, "Absolutely!" before it even sank in what she was asking. I quickly ingested the information and proceeded to ask, "Wait, when did THIS happen?!?" Less than an hour ago was her reply and I quickly squealed in delight asking for all the details of the proposal. I was absolutely ecstatic for Hannah and her impending nuptials.

Being able to spend that weekend with Hannah and her family leading up to the wedding was a time I will always treasure. The love that was evident between Hannah and Joel and all of their families was heartwarming and gave me faith in the vows of marriage. I got chills standing up there in the church listening to Hannah and Joel recite their vows, to know how much support and love existed between them and how committed they were to their relationship. I had the privilege of watching their relationship grow from the start and to see it come full circle made me so happy.

I am so looking forward to weddings 2, 3, and 4 of this year. Aamod & Bethany, Ben & Alice, and Clay & Ginny respectively.

A Semester of Food

Recently a friend of mine was complaining that all I have done this semester is write lab reports and bake. Really when you get down to it, that is mostly correct. It is a busy semester full of classes that can at times be overwhelming, but the rest of the time make me so glad that I am in school doing what I am doing.

There are also a few exciting adventures that have happened recently and I'd like to be able to share them with you all here. Partially at the request of a friend to be able to see more of what I've been up to, and partially because I really would like to be able to keep people in the loop on the happenings of my life since I am so terrible at keeping in contact with people who matter to me.

Thusly the next few posts will hopefully be informative and enjoyable to read. :)

~A

The Best Friday Night Includes

~Actually accomplishing some homework so you don't feel like a failure for doing the subsequent items on this list

~Starting a boob tag game

~Getting sweet, sweet revenge by merciless tickling

~Making yummy food for friends, and trying a new recipe

~Laughing until it hurts

~Playing a game of euchre with four people that actually know how to play

~A beautiful night outside

~Eating way too much popcorn

~Making birthday calls

~New life experiences

Lists

I love:

~having old campers run up to me when I visit and attack me with hugs.

~seeing campers grow up and mature into incredible young ladies of the Lord.

~dancing like a fool with my little brother and sister and have it be totally cool.

~getting to take off my 3 and 1/2 inch wedges after hours of wearing them.

~having a clean apartment.

~not failing at the charleston during wednesday night jam.

~fantastic double dates that last until 1 am.

~having a pet preying mantis named Matilda.

~finishing summer class and being able to hang out with people every night.

~roomie dates to Steak and Shake at 1:30 in the morning.

~not paying for food because your job supplies you with plenty.

~lazy Saturday afternoons with random trips to Wal-Mart.

Time Wasting

Reading other people's blogs always makes me want to blog again.

Tomorrow I'm moving out my summer apartment after work. It's hard to believe the summer is almost over. Granted, there is still almost a month left until school starts, but it feels like time has just flown by. I'm kind of disappointed in myself though. Maybe I did a lot this summer, but it doesn't really feel like it. I had so many high and lofty plans for the summer. I was going to read a lot of books and spend a lot of time in the Word and in prayer, I was going to go deeper in specific friendships, I was going to have a super memorable summer. But I don't feel as though I accomplished much. It's been really frustrating to me the last couple months of how complacent I have gotten with my life.

I visited my roommate Ginny down in Boonville last weekend which was a fun adventure. On Sunday we went to service at her church which is a Foursquare Church. For those of you like me who had no idea what that is, I think the best way to describe it would be a branch of Pentacostal. There were a lot of loud of loud voices singing and praying and proclaiming truth, people had their shoes off(yay, just like me!), they were exuberant in their worship, their faith was written all over their face. There was also some things that I wasn't very used to, like speaking in tongues and lots of praying over people.(to the point where they fell over, filled with the Holy Spirit perhaps?)

All that aside though, the sermon really spoke to me. The speaker talked about time. About using the time we are given to live the life God has called us to live. To not waste the time we have, because once it passes, we can never get it back. She talked about all the distractions in our life that cause us to waste our time.

Some of the things I wrote down while listening were:

"The purpose of distraction is to make you forget why God gave you time in the first place."

"We have been given time on this earth to do what God has called us to do."

"When we understand why we are here on this earth, what our specific calling is, we can focus on it. Getting rid of the distractions in your life gives you time."

"There is a difference between something being restorative and being a distraction. A distraction pulls you away from the work of God"

"When we misunderstand why we are here, we misuse our time."

All this really clicked with me and really frustrated me at the same time. Because I am a time waster. I remember listening to Adventures in Odyssey when I was younger(read a few years ago) and there was an episode done in a Twilight Zone fashion. The story within the story was about a girl who wasted time by always going to the mall and a boy who wasted time by always watching TV. Their lives were so consumed with their time wasters that they missed out on anything meaningful in life. Granted, those stories were a tad extreme; the girl spent 20 years in the mall to come out and find that life had gone on without her, but they still drive home a point. I try to cut out the distractions in my life, but I'm really good at finding new ones all the time. If I cut off facebook, I find a new website to browse. If I cut off TV, I find random things to read(read NOT homework). But I don't really know how to stop this. My goal for this next semester is to not waste time. I want to severely limit my time on the computer not related to school, I want to stop communicating with people via facebook or google+. I really want to be dedicated in my schoolwork and with building relationships with my roommates and other friends.

I truly believe that when we cut out distractions in our life, when we get things done that need to be done without procrastinating, that God can use that to open up possibilities for discussion with people, for kingdom work to be done. I want to be able to get my homework done in a timely manner so that when I have spare time, I can use it to write a letter to a friend, or read my Bible more, or tackle the stack of books I have sitting on my dresser.

I need some motivation and some sticking-to-my-guns-ness.

*sigh*

Now I REALLY should be in bed

Since that last post took a turn for the venting, I thought I would write another one that is a bit more light-hearted.

Things that have been happening in the last week:

Wednesday was swing at the engineering fountain which was entertaining. I danced a lot with a friend, Andrew, and it was quite delightful.

Thursday night was the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. The final installment in the Harry Potter series and I went with Dan and Devon in full costume and it was SO much fun. Dressing up to go to midnight premieres has become one of my favorite things to do, I only wish I had gotten into the Harry Potter movies prior to the 7/8 and 8/8 ones. Oh well. Next up is The Hobbit apparently. :)

Friday night I went to a campfire at Camp Tecumseh and I got to visit with my old partner Abby and some friends that are working again this summer. I also got to see Josiah and Jess which was tons of fun. They were BOTH in Hip Hop clinic this year and they gave a killer performance at the campfire. I was so proud of both of them!

Saturday Dan and I went up to Michigan City to see Ethan perform in Guys and Dolls. From that night I learned that Ethan is a bang up dancer, yellow Amps and Salt and Vinegar chips are the best road trip food, you won't get mugged in Michigan City while sleeping in your car if you park in the right place, and the BEST dance move to do while singing EVER. :D Just ask me next time you see me and I'll show you.

Sunday Dan and I spent forever trying to do our laundry. Have I ever mentioned how much I thoroughly despise doing laundry? I also got my hair dyed(it's so prettiful!) and I got a smidge of a tan at the pool. :)

Things I'm looking forward to in the next week:

Wednesday night is a big DJ battle at swing, that should be thoroughly exciting. :D

Thursday night I think I'm going to head back to camp to spend the evening there with Abs on her night off. Thinking about maybe crashing Day Camp Family Night...

Friday night Dan is taking me out for a fancy date and I'm going to wear one of my new Goodwill dresses.

Saturday I have an all day micro lab in Terre Haute and then it's off to Boonesville, IN for a weekend with my roommate Ginny. We're going to go bridesmaid dress shopping for her wedding next summer!