RockTheDesert

Sunday Setlist - November 8, 2009

Today's post is part of Fred McKinnon's Sunday Setlists. Check out other setlists from around the world at http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/11/08/sunday-setlists-68/. Pastor Randy continued the "Warrior" series today with The Confidence Of A Warrior." Good stuff guys! New start time as of last week = 9:30am. We miss that extra hour for tightening up vocals and hanging out a little. Patty led worship today AND it's her birthday - happy bday Miss Patty!! 9:25 Band Jam 9:30 Welcome 9:31 Sing To The King 9:36 God of Wonders 9:41 meet greet seat 9:43 Veteran's Day Tribute/Video 9:45 Challenge to men - Rocky B. 9:47 I'll Stand/ I Stand In Awe Of You 9:51 Revelation Song/offering during this song 9:56 Message 10:36 Dismiss First time in a long time we've done the offering before the message...we'll see how long that lasts. People really dislike change at FNC. Makes it challenging to be truly creative and innovative.

A CD Giveaway - Paul Baloche - "Glorious"

There's this favorite conference that I attend every February called Recreate. It's a creative thinktank for creative people, including musicians, artists, writers, etc. It's an intentionally intimate vibe - strict attendance caps - so you can really get to know people at the conference.  A few years ago I met Rich Kirkpatrick, a worship leader at Sunridge Community Church in Temecula, California which is 30 minutes from where I grew up. He's got a great CD giveaway going on at his blog for the next 24 hrs - winner will be chosen tomorrow evening - the prize = "Glorious" by Paul Baloche. Click HERE to go to Rich's blog and enter the giveaway...

Sunday Setlist - November 1, 2009

 

This post is part of the Sunday Setlist blog carnival at Fred McKinnon's worship blog. Click here for setlists from around the world!

Today at Fellowship North we began a new message series entitled "Warrior." It is intentionally targeted at men, driving home the point the Jesus is not an emasculated, pacificistic man with a lamb draped across his shoulders, skipping down the road, holding hands with children, singing the Barney song. Great start to what promises to be a very strong and challenging series.

Our worship leader was Jeff. He led vocally and on acoustic guitar. Our songs had strong words, nothing too wimpy or ethereal.

"Awesome Is The Lord Most High" - Tomlin

"Let God Arise" - Tomlin

Msg Part 1

Communion

"Mighty To Save" (v. 2 out) - Hillsong

"My Redeemer Lives" - Hillsong

Msg Part 2 w/Braveheart "Freedom" scene embedded

Reprise - "Let God Arise" (band v. 2 out/singers sing v. 1 not v. 2)

Cooking With Mike - It's Seafood Week!

 

We're already heading into Week 6 of Michael's culinary class at Scottsdale Community College. It's Seafood Week, which has been my least favorite week so far. We didn't get to cook a meal. Mike just had to demonstrate various techniques of handling seafood.

Michael is getting a little tired of spending money on all the extras for his class. He's had to shell out his hard-earned dollars from working at Chick-fil-a for 2 kinds of wine, bourbon, tons of shallots and filet mignon, among other things. This week was no exception. Mike needed an oyster knife. Sur La Table had just what he needed. Another $10 gone from his wallet. Sigh...grumpy sigh...then we went to Safeway to purchase the shellfish. Told the guy at the fish counter that we only needed 1 oyster - his raised eyebrow begged for an explanation - "we're going to pry it open and take its picture." I guess that was a pretty good answer - he laughed then picked out the largest oyster in the display case -- it looked like one massive barnacle that had been scraped off the bottom of a ship! He gave it to us at no cost. Very nice. Then we selected 2 littleneck clams. And a few jumbo shrimp in the shell. Let Shellfish Week commence.

 
You can see the two littleneck clams steaming away in the pan. What you can't see is the layer of sand in the bottom of the pan. Note to self: next time (if there is a next time) (like if the grocery store is all out of canned clams and I absolutely have to make clam chowder) wash/scrub the clams before cooking them. 

 
Notice that one of the clams steamed open and the other one stayed tightly closed. The one that is open is fair game and good to eat. The closed one should be discarded - did a little research - the closed one was probably dead to begin with (as opposed to alive?! what?!)

 
The lone littleneck clam, now separated from its abductor muscle. Chowder anyone?

 
Michael practiced shelling then de-veining the shrimp using a small paring knife and running it down the back of the shrimp. We brainstormed three different ways we could prepare them and serve them. I was proud of him for jumping right in with suggestions. If we had more time (and more shrimp) we would have grilled them and then stirred sweet/hot asian chili sauce and some lime juice into them...Mike's idea!

 
It's not your eyes - this pic is really blurry - bad lighting and I was a little trigger happy on the camera.

 
This oyster was a monstrosity. Really. The oyster knife that Mike bought came with this cute little wooden oyster holder - a normal-sized oyster would fit right in it and be easily pried open without too much trouble. Unfortunately, this oyster was 4x as big as the oyster holder. There was no clear opening along the edge of the shell. Mike and I couldn't see any place to start prying it open. I started chipping away at the barnacles. Finally, I saw a little sliver of shell to cram the knife into. Between Mike's muscles and my chipping, scraping and prying, we got it open. We were a little disappointed that we didn't find a pearl after all that work.

 
I can't imagine anyone wanting to put this in their mouth. Not for any reason. Not for any amount of money or tea in China or anything!

 
Here it is. Separated from the abductor muscle by a few scrapes of the oyster knife. Squeeze on some fresh lemon juice, a little salt, pepper, hey, why not add the Rockefeller sauce and bake it. Just don't ask me or Mike to eat it. That's all I'm saying.

Next assignment: sauces. Gallons of sauces. Stay tuned!

Last of the Harvest

Summer is over...there's a chill in the 90 degree days - I took a look at the remnants of Dan's summer garden- surprisingly, we've got lots of cayenne peppers on the vine. I just don't know what to do with 300 cayenne peppers - bottle my own tabasco sauce? I had to take a final picture of the last tomatoes on the tomato plant - can you spot them in between the dehydrated twigs and leaves? I'm not sure what those wicked looking green branches are - must be a drought-tolerant weed. Oh, wait, Farmer Dan just informed me that those green branches are actually part of the tomato plant - maybe there is hope for next year's crop!

  

Check out these juicy beauties...

 
And now, I'll just pull back the camera for some perspective with a little help from a freshly picked, red jalapeno pepper...

 

Yes, that's a coffee saucer. Maybe we should grow our tomatoes indoors.

Sunday Setlist - October 25, 2009

 

Today at Fellowship North Church we ended our "Practical Atheist" message series. Pastor Randy asked everyone last week to pray about inviting a friend to our service today. Definitely saw some brand new faces in the crowd!

November 1, we'll begin a new series called Warrior - all about Jesus, but not the homogenized, European version from Sunday School. What do you think/feel when you see this picture of Jesus?

 

Our worship setlist today:

Welcome - Patty

"You Are Everything" - Carmen D'Arcy

"Testify To Love" - Wynonna Judd version (remember her appearance on Touched by An Angel?)

"To God Alone" - Aaron Shust - intro'd this song last week - great response - a keeper for sure!

Meet Greet Seat - Patty

"Let The Worshippers Arise" - PFOR

Message - Pastor Randy

Reprise/Offering - "You Are Everything"

All four of these songs are bookmarked as favorites of our church...I have to say, we do a pretty crazy-good rendition of Testify To Love! Everyone sings and rocks out with us!!

Good day, 7 singers on the team (needed big vocals on Testify To Love), very fun, worshipful celebration!

For more Sunday Worship Setlists, check out Fred McKinnon's Sunday Setlist blog carnival!

Cooking With Mike - Chicken De-boned & Piccata

Mike and I had quite a time this week, wrestling with chicken! Michael's first assignment involved de-boning a chicken. At first, I thought that we would de-bone it, leaving a giant blanket of meat sans bones, and that maybe we would stuff it and roll it, bake it then slice it and serve it. Well, no. Thankfully, my over-active imagination took that one way over the intended top. We actually had to take a whole chicken apart, piece by piece, then de-bone those individual pieces. We watched the instructional video by chicken part, hit pause, de-boned, then hit play and watched the next part. A little cumbersome, but we accomplished the task. Let the de-boning begin...

 

It only took about 20 minutes from start to finish. Final count: 7 pieces plus the wishbone.

Michael was quite overwhelmed with the process. He was grossed out to the point of anxiety and tears. I was proud of him for successfully completing the task. I threw away the winglets and froze the carcass for soup stock at a later, cooler time. I then prepared the whole legs and breasts for dinner. Slid some thin lemon slices under the skin and on top. Generous amount of olive oil, salt and pepper over each piece. The last of my fresh thyme. Baked at 450 for 20 minutes then 375 for 1 hr. They turned out perfectly juicy, with crispy flavorful skin and were devoured ravenously by the starving wolves that live in our house!

Isn't this a fantastic photo? Well, that's because it was taken by a professional photographer for Tyler Florence's blog. I forgot to take a picture of our finished chicken, but it really did look just like this!

 

Mike started uploading the photos. He wrote out his description. Then he happened to hit play on the video where we had paused it last. We discovered that the video went on to show how to de-bone the winglets and de-bone the whole legs. Oops...unfortunately, the winglets were in the dumpster in the alley at this point and the legs, well, there wasn't a trace left of them. Michael emailed the chef/instructor, asked for a time extension, and the next morning he walked to the grocery store and purchased a few more thighs for de-boning. So, now we have some de-boned thighs residing in our freezer for future use!

On a brighter note, Mike's other assignment was to prepare Chicken Piccata. We picked up some already de-boned chicken breasts at Sprouts then got to work.

 
First step was to turn chicken breasts into chicken escallops. Mike and I watched the video, then tried our hand at slicing each breast into thirds, holding the knife at a nearly horizontal angle. We used Mike's big chef's knife which is razor sharp and perfect for this task.

 
Mike dredged the escallops in seasoned flour then sauteed them in olive oil and butter in a skillet. This stove, by the way, belongs to our friends, Jeff and Pam. Mike actually prepared dinner at their home then served it to 8 people. Pretty ambitious!! Michael did a great job! Once the chicken was sauteed, the pan was deglazed with white wine and lemon juice. Added in a brunoise of shallots, a few tablespoons of capers, salt, pepper and parsley. Then some unsalted butter was whisked in and the whole sauce was reduced down til it was thick and delectable! 

 
Michael served the chicken over some simple, al dente bow-tie pasta, seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper. The chicken was perfectly crisp and juicy. This recipe was simple, came together quickly, smelled fantastic, and tasted wonderfully fresh and lemony. Michael thought it was a bit too lemony. Everyone else gave it rave reviews!

Cooking With Mike - Beef Tournedos

Michael and I made the most amazing beef tournedos last week. What's a tournedo? "A portion of meat taken from the most tender part of the animal and formed into a round steak to be prepared. As a term that is most often applied to cuts of beef, the tournedo is the cut taken from the small end of the tenderloin." Yes. We did. We had filet mignon for dinner on a Monday. I was freaking out just a little at the price per pound - $13.99. Fortunately, the recipe called for 2 oz portions. We only needed 1/2 pound. Well, I did happen to also buy a couple of less expensive steaks which helped round out the meal. If I had known how spectacular the meat was going to be, I would have planned out some equally spectacular side dishes. But, alas, we had to go with re-heated, leftover roasted sweet potatoes.

Clarified butter is pretty simple to make: you just melt the butter in a small saucepan then skim the white, foamy milk solids from the surface. The clear, golden liquid under the foam is the good stuff. Great for searing meat.

 
What could be better than filet mignon, seared and carmelized to perfection then cooked to a juicy, tender, flavorful medium?
Saute shallots in the pan drippings. Add a little worcestershire, a spoonful of veal glace, then remove from heat before adding some bourbon. Stir in a splash of heavy cream...

Here's the finished dish. We all agreed that the sauce was outstanding! You really can't go wrong with butter, shallots, Worcestershire sauce, bourbon, heavy cream, and a touch of veal glace. I'm still thinking about that sauce. Michael was pretty proud of that sauce. Definitely one to make again. Especially for a special occasion.With spectacular side dishes.

Adventure in Mid-town

Tonight, Dan and I went to CBS - Community Bible Study. We dropped the boys off at open gym at Valley Lutheran. Made arrangements to pick them up at either Subway or McDonald's across the street from the school. At 8:00 Steven called to say that they would just wait at the bus stop across the street from the school. He had left his basketball shoes in his locker and didn't want to walk all the way to the strip mall in his socks. When I went to pick the boys up, I had to take a short detour off of Camelback to avoid the fire truck/ambulance blocking my usual route. I got a little worried. I called Michael twice. No answer. Called Steven once. No answer. I got a little more worried. I considered the possibility that all the sirens/flashing lights somehow involved my sons. I arrived at the bus stop in record time. They were sitting there casually waiting for me. Steven proceeded to tell me that he had just finished being questioned by the police. Of course, my heart stopped. In the 20 minutes that they waited at the bus stop, evidently there was some sort of incident - a shooting or a stabbing - at either the Subway or McDonald's that they didn't go to. That was followed by a police helicopter hovering over the neighborhood, with huge, sweeping searchlights looking for the suspected wrong-doer. Michael and Steven were approached by a squad car. The police officer asked Steven where his shoes were (in his locker). Asked why Steven was sweating so much (just played basketball for 1 hr). Mentioned that he was looking for a suspect wearing a black basketball shirt...

 

That is one guilty face.