Randomness

Jason says I get to teach our Sunday school class this week, just because I had a brilliant idea for teaching it last week. He was preparing for class during the regular church service by looking through a book about pop culture we bought at a Christian bookstore, and I just happened to glance over and see a section talking about 'purpose'. It had small tidbits of Heroes (tv show) and a Switchfoot song and I thought it would be really fun to use for teaching. I'd like to put a slide show together with video clips from those... I'm going to need to do some more research first, though :). If you have any ideas, please let me know! Oh, then I talked to Jason about doing a mini-series-type-thing after we get back from vacation on different religions, such as Mormon, Jehovah's Witness, Islam, Buddhism, etc. The students have been asking about other religions recently and I think it would be interesting to help them understand what other people believe and why. I'm not sure if I'll know the "why", but I can figure out the "what" :).

My sister asked me yesterday if I can bring some barbecue sauce home with me next week. She said that my mom brought some home with her from a trip to Nebraska where she ate at Famous Dave's BBQ, which just happens to be mine and Jason's favorite BBQ joint in Georgia. I told Jason and we decided we'd just have to go eat there this weekend so that we can buy some sauce :D. Now I just have to figure out how we're going to bring it home... I'm going to have to do a stand-up job of packing, methinks.

I'm really excited about going home next week. First, for the family, of course. I always get excited about cooking/baking new things for them to try, though. Since I live in the south, I'm exposed to a much different cuisine, so I always get a lot of new ideas to try. I usually experiment on Jason's family and if it's a hit, I'll add it to my cookbook and try it on my family. I've made pecan pie for them, sweet potato souffle', honey mustard curry chicken, stuffed bell peppers, etc. and I think this time Jason and I will make them a feast of chicken cordon bleu on angel hair pasta with my special sauce... and I might even make them some asparagus. Whenever I mention the awesome asparagus recipe that I got from my mother-in-law, Ellen, my dad gags over the phone and says there's absolutely no way you can cook it to make it taste good. I disagree. Here's how I cook it:

Snap the bottoms off of the asparagus to get rid of the tough stringy part. Put a dab of olive oil, butter, and minced garlic in a pan. Once the butter is melted and everything starts to bubble a tiny bit, add the asparagus. Let it cook a couple minutes and then turn/mix them around with some tongs, making sure to get at least a little bit of the oil/butter stuff on all of the spears. Sprinkle some lime pepper over them and keep cooking/turning them until they're a nice green color. Just don't overcook them or they'll be limp and grotty :). As a finishing touch, grind some fresh salt over them and serve. Mmmmm... Ellen randomly came up with this and it's soooo good. My father-in-law likes to make a hollandaise sauce to go on top of it, but I think it's better without.

Here are a couple of facts about asparagus:
* Asparagus is a nutrient-dense food which in high in Folic Acid and is a good source of potassium, fiber, vitamin B6, vitamins A and C, and thiamin.
* Asparagus has No Fat, contains No Cholesterol and is low in Sodium.
* Asparagus rhizomes and root is used ethnomedically to treat urinary tract infections, as well as kidney and bladder stones.
* Makes your urine smell... don't believe me?... read toward the bottom of this.

Well, I think that in the process of typing this, I've lost all my other random ideas, so I guess I'll wrap this up :). I hope you all have a great weekend!