Good Italian Recipe

Here’s a great Italian recipe I just made for dinner. I found it in one of my cookbooks it’s one of those “old world” pasta dishes called “Paglio e Fieno” which translates to straw and hay. It’s very easy to make and also really tasty.

Ingredients: 1 lb. Egg noodles, 1 cup of light cream, 1 cup of frozen peas thawed, ¼ of pancetta or bacon, Parmigiano cheese, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of butter.

How to make it: Fill a pot with water, some oil, and salt and heat to a boil. While waiting for it to boil warm cream (don’t boil) in a saucepan – this shouldn’t take all that long. After the cream is warmed melt the butter in a large frying pan, add pancetta and cook until crisp. (Here the recipe says to drain the fat but that’s where the flavor comes so don’t). When the pancetta is done add the cream and peas and heat on medium, add a few generous spoonfuls of cheese and a good amount of cracked pepper. Heats the sauces on medium until it thickens slightly and then keeps warm. When the water boils add the egg noodles and cook, drain and add to sauce stirring them in until covered. Serve and enjoy. Buon Appetito.

A side note, I made this for my uncle and he said that his dad (my grandfather) would make this with fettuccine, and use half spinach and half plain it sounded good so next time I make this I’ll do that and tell you what I think. Also I’m thinking about making my own fresh pasta so I’ll blog about that.

Thoughts on Pascal and Faith

Well I said I would write about Pascal so here are my thoughts after reading. First off I have to say that it’s funny that I would read Pascal considering my age and that the books he wrote were written in the 1600’s. But little did I know when I picked the book up that God was giving me exactly what I asked of Him in the spring, except now I am more ready for it. The interesting thing is that Pascal writes in little journal entries, some are bullet points others are paragraphs so I will do the same.
· Pascal writes about how a life without God is terrifying and, well, stinks. Throughout my spring and summer I wrestled with tough questions and woke up terrified at the fact that I didn’t know whether or not I believed. I would attempt to force myself to believe stronger but it never worked. God took His time on me to make me where I am today.
· Next Pascal writes that while faith is not 100% guaranteed, it is a reasonable bet. Like what I wrote about the Red Sox in 2004. Also by looking at the simple facts, my life while fully trusting and believing in God was way better and more satisfactory than not, so there must be something to it.
· Lastly we need faith and can’t live alone on reason. Knowledge might sound great but to really know God we need faith. Pascal also writes that faith is a gift; I really liked that because as I wrote earlier I tried to get more faith. It doesn’t work that way as I found out; God took time helping me grow and building up my faith bringing me closer to Him.
Well that’s it for now, unfortunately I have a limited time to read Pascal so I won’t have super-developed thoughts or quotes. One more thing, I am hesitant to say I am “out of” my previous problem or even call it a “faith crisis”. Really, looking back at it, the past six months while painful have been a great blessing, and I now see them as, instead of a problem another step in the journey.

Hot Stove

So, now that the season is over it is time to fire up the hot stove. I know every single prediction I have made on this blog (if anyone can point one out that was right, please make my day) here are my predictions.

Number 1: Last year was a HUGE disappointment, we did nothing to seriously better the team, this year will be different and I expect a lot of BIG names to be thrown around.

Number 2: The first/third/DH position has been a weak point in the sense that it wasn’t defined. I don’t want it to happen but I think Mike Lowell’s name will be thrown around in trades in the hope of getting a big impact bat at first (which leaves Youk to play third). Either that or Mike Lowell will play when he’s up to it and DH.

Number 3: I expect to see a new pitcher, the pitching staff this year was a major disappointment; for the better part of the season the Sox relied on two “maybe come-backs” which really hurt them down the stretch. Thus a new pitcher may be the answer while you could also argue that the rotation is already set: Beckett, Lester, Dice-K, Buchholz, and Wakefield.

Number 4: Here’s a good one, what starts with an s and ends with hortstop? The shortstop position has been up in the air for way too long, the Sox basically had a invitee as the starter for the first half of the season, how many games has Green thrown away (pun intended)? And Lowrie who was hurt all year, and even when he played he was hurt. I think Gonzalez is the answer, he is above average defensively and gave way more than expected at the plate, if Theo is smart he’ll make a deal.

Number 5: Next on the list is leftfield, Jason Bay has been great for the Sox ever since he came to Boston, after the first week he had me cheering “Manny who?” I think it’s worthwhile to sign him for at least a few more years. The only problem is consistency, while hitting a ton of homeruns in the first half of the season Bay fell into a terrible slump and never fully recovered. Then there’s getting over his potential suitors (like the Yankees).

My Thoughts on "The Thoughts"

An interesting thing happened a week ago. I was sitting in my school library near a certain book shelf. Later that day I was sitting by the same books shelf, almost as if I were drawn to it. I happened to look at the books and saw many of the “classics” meaning old books that nobody really reads anymore (mainly on early science and philosophy). Anyway I saw the book written by Blaise Pascal, a Christian theologian from the 1600’s. The interesting thing though is that Pascal wrote a lot about faith, which is particularly relative to my current situation, I guess this is one of those funny ways God works in our lives. Anyway I’ll be posting my thoughts on Pascal’s writings, it’s actually pretty interesting once you get used to his style.

Happy Halloween!

Sports Update

I’m trying to stay quiet to minimize the risk of jinxing the series but I can’t contain myself, Pedro was great! Yes I know the Phillies lost 3-1, but here is a 38 year old guy who wasn’t even pitching in the majors this year and here he is back in Yankee stadium. As for who’s whose daddy, let’s see 6 innings of work, 3 earned runs (one of which was the cheapest homerun ever), and 8 strikeouts. Gee I wonder what the answer is. Hopefully the Phillies can come back to win. Also this year I am determined to watch more Celtics games. Last year was such a painful off-season; I need something to watch so I’ll be more involved with the Celtics, even though I don’t know the first thing about Basketball. Also, my second full year of baseball has ended and here I am left to mull over my successes and failures so I’ll be posting a lot on hitting and mindset/philosophy of baseball.

The Good Kind of Burn

If there is one thing I can walk away with from the past few months, it is that God tests us. God is always testing us, not in a mean way, as if He were trying to stump us. No, God tests us to make us better and in turn more like Him. In my ceramics class, after we fire the clay we glaze it and fire it again at a hotter temperature. The glaze is pretty unimpressive at first, usually it bears little resemblance to the actual color and it’s very dull. But after going through the kiln the color explodes out and becomes bright and shiny and smooth, it is after the second firing the clay truly becomes a work of art. It is similar with us, throughout our lives God is constantly putting us through that second firing, where we transform from a dull caricature to a true masterpiece. Now what if the glaze turned and said “Whoa wait a minute, you’re going to put me through that? Now way Jose, I’m just fine the way I am.” Imagine looking at clay pots covered in a powdery dull paint, having no idea they could be vibrant pieces of art. In our struggles God puts us through a fire to transform us into His own masterpieces; it’s up to us to either follow and let Him or settle for dullness. “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” Romans 5: 3-4.