Archive for the 'guacamole' Category

Trinity River, Baseball, 2 Corinthians, Pappasito’s, Guacamole, Benedict

Published
by
Mike
on July 14, 2007
in Baseball, Church of Christ and guacamole
. 35 Comments

Ft. Worth is a great place to camp out for a few days during a tournament. The last two mornings I’ve had incredible bike rides along the Trinity River. If it was just a little closer to Abilene, I think I’d drive over once a week to make that ride — just for the beauty.

We won game two against the winner of the Waco district last night, 6-1. Tonight we play the host team from Ft. Worth in the finals of the winners’ bracket. Either late tonight or early tomorrow morning, I’ll hustle back to Abilene to preach. My guess is that the preaching will be a bit blurry-eyed tomorrow. (Note: I’ll just be underscoring the text about how this treasure comes in jars of clay!)

Today: lunch at Pappasito’s. Yes, fajitas, guacamole, and salsa are in my immediate future.

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Is the Pope stealing his speech material from Churches of Christ? (See this article entitled “Pope: Other Denominations Not True Churches.”) Makes a Protestant really miss John Paul 2.

Coming to Abilene for the Holidays?

Published
by
Mike
on December 22, 2006
in food, guacamole and memories
. 59 Comments

Some of my favorite Christmas gifts when I was young included: an NFL electronic football game (perhaps it wouldn’t compare favorably with a Wie), Cowboy pistols and holster (apparently an annual gift from my maternal grandfather), a 007 spy kit, a football uniform (with shoulder pads and helmet), and my brother’s rock-em-sock-em robot. There were also the wonderful pairs of boxing gloves my parents gave my brother and me one Christmas. Was that a good idea? But it worked — at least it did for me since I was 4 1/2 years older. Dad was the problem. He’d been a Missouri Golden Gloves champion as a young man, and boxing him was NOT FAIR.

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Donald Trump looks small when he’s mean and vindictive. No defense for Rosie here, but there is irony in having Mr. Trump as the moral compass for young women who stray.

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Here’s my “If You Come to Abilene for Christmas” guide.

Bar-b-que?

1. Sharon’s (across from Towne Crier). Now our favorite bar-b-que place in town. Be sure to get the corn.

2. Betty Rose’s. I like the smaller version on S. 7th. Maybe it’s because it’s so close to the office. The friendliness of the people there matches the excellent food.

3. Joe Allen’s. Not quite the same ambiance since they left the shack on Treadaway . . . but still good.

4. Harold’s. Two kinds of sauce: “hot” and “d——— hot.” Believe the sign before you lather it on. I haven’t been since . . . yesterday.

5. Harlow’s. NW side of town.

Mexican/Tex-Mex?

1. Alfredo’s. It’s the only place in town Eddie Parish would get Mexican food. (That’s saying a lot since Eddie and Judy’s kitchen WAS the best place in town to eat Mexican food.) I will vouch for the guacamole. I’ve made sure to taste-test it scores of times before offering you, my dear readers, this recommendation. I did it for you.

2. Los Arcos. Randy Harris has made this a cult favorite. He ought to eat free there. They actually had to add on a side room. We call it the Harris Fajita Room.

3. Abuelo’s. “Los Mejores de la Casa.” About the best meal in town — though pricey by Abilene standards (about the price of a bagel and OJ in NYC).

4. Pappasito’s. I’d list it first, but it’s a little ways out of town. (2 hours and 15 minutes to the east, including a bathroom break at Love’s.)

5. Rosa’s. This is a sentimental favorite. We’ve crammed 30 people in there many times and laughed ourselves silly. If you go on Tuesday, you’ll be joined by a couple hundred ACU and Hardin-Simmons students for the Taco Tuesday special.

Oriental?

1. Szechuan. The list stops here. It was — I kid you not — named in some list of the best 100 oriental restaurants in the United States. Unfortunately, they’re closed right now for remodeling. Maybe you’ll no longer have to go at 10:45 a.m. for lunch just to get a table.

Steaks?

Hey, this is steak country. You can’t go wrong. The chains are good: Texas Roadhouse, Logan’s (so I’ve heard — we haven’t been yet), and Outback. But I’d stick with a local: either Joe Allen’s or Lytle Land and Cattle.

My favorite place to get a steak is HEB. It’s eight minutes from their meat market to my grill.

Sandhill Crane Fajitas

Published
by
Mike
on December 14, 2006
in General, guacamole and sports
. 39 Comments

This week I’m telling that slightly lesser known Christmas story in Revelation 12. What, after all, is Christmas without a dragon?

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Someone made the comment yesterday that he’s afraid many are trading one form of fundamentalism for another. I agree! The problem is a fundamental problem with fundamentalism itself.

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I’ve said this before here: but how do you single parents do it? How do you work, manage the house, run the car pool, shuttle between band practices and ball games, make it to church, and still get a Christmas tree up? How do you make the money last to the end of the month? How do you endure when you’re lonely?

Seriously. Hats off to the single parents. But even more than that — how can we make your life easier? How can we help you endure? How can we assist with your children? What encouragement do you need in your spiritual journey (on those rare moments when you can even pause to think about it!)?

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What do you get for that person who already has everything? My little pals, the Moore boys (whose parents were part of the Jinja mission team we love), had these thoughts a couple years ago. Shot right there in a Target store.

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I’ve been dove and quail hunting the past couple years, but it’s been three years since I’ve been able to go sandhill crane hunting — until this week when a buddy and I went out. (Thanks, JW!) I got my limit, which is three. It’s thrilling to be lying on the ground, listening to the songs of the coyotes, watching the ducks, and then anticipating the flocks of cranes. We probably saw 500.

And what do you DO with a sandhill crane, you ask? Answer: fajitas. Sandhill crane fajitas. If you think the meat is a bit strong, then you slap on a double amount of guacamole.

These are big birds . . .

Cheeseburger in Paradise

Published
by
Mike
on September 1, 2006
in food and guacamole
. 53 Comments

Mostly, I’m a healthy eater. Fiber One for breakfast sprinkled with almonds and blueberries. 1% milk with OJ on the side. And usually a chicken or turkey sandwich for lunch. (I’m a Subway regular.)

But there are two exceptions to my healthy eating.

First, I like meat. Real meat. Something that moo-ed or oink-ed in an earlier life. A big, juicy, medium-rare steak so heavily peppered that it almost sneezes. A burger with a hint of pink, lathered with mushrooms and jalapenos. A pork tenderloin that melts in your mouth. Beef fajitas. So go ahead: subtract a couple years from my life. But give me a hunk of red meat.

And second, I like dessert. A chocolate-chip Kudo bar . . . a chunk of dark chocolate . . . a hot brownie . . . a cake from McKay’s . . . cookies right out of the oven . . . a pie (nearly any kind will do — blueberry, peach, apple, cherry, rhubarb, lemon meringue, chocolate meringue, etc.). Just as God is not a respector of persons, I’m not a respector of desserts. Nearly all have something to offer.

Moderation is the key (I keep telling myself). Eat MOSTLY healthy. Work out even when you don’t want to. Guzzle the agua. Wolf down the vegies, fruits, nuts, and whole grains.

Here’s my hope: that if you eat enough guacamole it will offset any damage the red meat and sweets might otherwise cause.

Avocados: the true elixir.

Wednesday, February 1

Published
by
Mike
on February 1, 2006
in General and guacamole
. 28 Comments

Tonight Randy Harris, a beloved member of Highland and a gift to Churches of Christ all over the world, is going to begin a three-week series called “Great Is the Mystery: God in the Darkness.” (Come early for fajitas at the Oasis meal, served 5:15-6:30, if you can.)

For those of you who are too far to come tonight, don’t worry. Randy works this material up for his own church and then shares it everywhere! It’s coming soon to a theater, I mean “church,” near you.

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And the guest resource person for next year’s Nashville and Fresno Zoe conferences is . . . Lauren Winner. For more info on this brilliant, God-filled young woman — her bio, her books, and her blog — you can check here.

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Yesterday I taught Revelation 1-5 to our 90 freshmen Bible majors. Tomorrow, it’s chapters 6-22. Then Randy gets to deal with whatever difficult questions may be left–and I intend for there to be plenty! I just keep thinking: I hope I help some of these young ministry students half as much as Neale Pryor helped me.

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To Lee and the Gang at College Church in Fresno: The avocados you sent are ripening, and I’ve made guacamole five straight days. And that’s with a trip to Nashville thrown in. (I made some for lunch Sunday before leaving and then for dinner Monday after returning.)

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Thank you, Coretta.

Youth Ministers

Published
by
Mike
on September 20, 2005
in Church, food and guacamole
. 39 Comments

Yesterday’s comments include a couple people wanting to know how to fix dove. The very question misses the larger context of this blog. The answer to serving dove is guacamole.

Tonight I’m fixing dove fajitas — with fresh guacamole (starting with Haas avocados), beans, onions, peppers, and tortillas right off the tortilla-maker at HEB. I’ll grill the dove with a little bacon and a bit of sauce and then slap them on the fajita plate. I’ve also been known to make quail fajitas and sandhill crane fajitas.

Mmmm, good.

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Just a word about youth ministers here. I’ve been blessed to speak at lots of conferences for youth ministers through the years, and I’ve gotten to know many of them.

Here’s what I’ve discovered: so many of them are among the most passionate, godly leaders I’ve ever met. They tend to fly under the radar a bit since they are “youth ministers”–but trust me, their influence permeates throughout their churches.

Most of them are thinking theologically in a way that connects with culture. They have to answer the question “Where was God in this?” constantly, because teens aren’t afraid to ask. They have developed a knack for seeing beneath the surface to the deeper issues. For example, when everyone was blathering on about Generation X, most youth ministers saw beneath those “studies” to the deeper cultural shifts involved.

Church leaders are, thankfully, talking more and more about missional living. I think many youth ministers led the way. Over the past couple decades they have moved away from the ski trip model of youth ministry (though there’s nothing wrong with a good old ski trip!) to the mission trip model. They know that their job isn’t to meet all the perceived needs of their teens or to compete with the next megachurch down the road but to help in the transformation of students into passionate disciples of Christ who seek to participate in the work of God.

So many youth ministers I know are passionate about kingdom, mission, incarnational living, authenticity, and — of course — the gospel. They have little time for denominational concerns and have been moving beyond those borders long before others decided that is a good idea.

In my freshman Bible class each fall, I ask my students to fill out a sheet to help me get to know them. One question asks them to tell me about the most influential person in their spiritual formation. As you would guess, moms and dads lead the list. But the next group is youth ministers. Isn’t that amazing? So many university freshmen remember them as their mentors/guides/teachers!

Does your church have a youth minister? Or if not, how about volunteers who pour themselves into the ministry? Then thank them! Pray for them! Encourage them! Support them! Can you imagine what a word from you might do to give them new strength? Or an invitation to go to lunch? Or a promise to pray for them by name each week?

So today, I give thanks to all of you out there who are involved in the faith formation of teenagers. As the dad of a 7th grader, I know just how important you are!