RockTheDesert

Culinary Class - Garde Manger

My son Michael is back in culinary class. It's an online course which means that I get to have a lot of hands-on experience as a culinary coach for Mike. I'm no chef, but I'm making a lot of progress toward becoming a sous chef in my next life. 

This week's assignment: Cheese Platter with a variety of cheeses, all artfully arranged on a platter. Then we had to taste the cheeses and rate them according to taste, texture, smell, like and dislike. Don't even get me started on all the cheese jokes I've had to endure over the past couple of days.

Here's the final product in all its glory. 

From top left, clockwise; Maytag Blue, Dutch Gouda, Spanish Manchego, French Brie, Greek Mizithra in the middle. Each cheese cost between $16.99 & $19.99 per pound. In fact, you're looking at $34.08 worth of cheese on the platter. We sliced up a Braeburn apple, Bartlett pear, scattered green grapes and fresh raspberries over all. Toasted up some crunchy crostini with olive oil and butter. My favorite cheese was the Gouda. @daninreallife loved the Manchego. Mike really liked the Brie. Steve cleaned up on the raspberries. Next time we will drizzle some honey on the Mizithra and sprinkle it with chopped walnuts. Actually, next time we will skip the Mizithra and go with a nice Taleggio or perhaps a high quality goat cheese rolled in fresh herbs or lavendar. 

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!

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.

Cooking With Mike - Surf and Turf

This week Mike and I spent 4 days on cooking projects for his Hot Foods culinary class at Scottsdale Community College. This course is self-paced, but there's a lot to do in any given week, so we've been squeezing in shopping, prep, and cooking into every spare moment.

On the menu: Poached Salmon and Beef Bourgiunonne

We went shopping, aka "treasure hunting," at Sprouts on Monday afternoon. Loaded up the cart with a pre-trussed beef rump roast, wild-caught Coho salmon, bottle of Chianti, bottle of white wine, fresh thyme, celery, leeks, fresh fennel, garlic, onions, pearl onions, bacon, carrots, flour, bay leaves, whole black peppercorns, fresh parsley, unsalted butter, white wine vinegar, caramel apple (for me & mike).

 
First thing we did was chop up all the veggies for the Court Bouillon which was the poaching liquid we needed for the salmon. Then we fashioned a "sachet d'epices" out of an old undershirt of Mike's (clean, just shapeless around the neck). We cut out a big square then wrapped up peppercorns, garlic cloves, thyme, bay leaf, parsley stems into a little bundle which we tied with our trussing string.

 
We "sweated" the vegetables in butter then added water and the sachet d'epices. Simmered for 15 minutes then added white wine and vinegar. We let it cool then strained it (we lined the strainer with the rest of the undershirt to catch all the little fennel fronds). We really put that old shirt to good use. I froze the cooked veggies. Maybe I can use them in homemade chicken soup. The finished bouillon went into the refrigerator for future use as poaching liquid.

 
On Thursday, we tackled the poaching of the salmon. I had to help Michael cut the salmon into portions. I had no idea fish skin was so tough and scaly. It's like a mini-coat of armor. We filled a skillet with Court Bouillon and heated it to a high simmer then gently lowered a slab of salmon into the liquid. It's important to cover it with parchment or foil in order to ensure even cooking on top in the middle.
Meanwhile, we worked on julienning a fresh tomato for garnishing the salmon. A tomato is not the ideal vegetable for julienne, but we managed. The plated fish looks pretty good, don't you think? We also whipped up some Baked Lemon Pasta to serve alongside the salmon.

 

On Wednesday afternoon, we started the 3-day marination process for the beef bourgiunonne. All these savory, pungent, aromatic ingredients were combined in a covered container along with the beef, then refrigerated. You can't believe how strong these flavors were when combined. I was afraid that the marinade would overpower and overtake the beef in a not-good way. We had to turn the beef over in the marinade every 1/2 day. The marinade seemed to smell stronger with each turn.

 
On Saturday afternoon, it was finally time to cook the beef. This is where the best ingredients came into play. Thick-sliced, smoky bacon, diced and sauteed with pearl onions filled the house with the most amazing aroma of goodness and anticipation. Sprouts had bags of fresh pearl onions that were so beautiful, I couldn't wait to taste their sweet flavor. I didn't realize that each tiny, perfect onion had to be peeled. By hand. After boiling in water for 3 minutes.

 
Although it was time-consuming, it was well worth the effort, and actually kind of fun to peel the onions. So, the bacon and the onions were sauteed, then the beef was dredged in flour and seared in the fat rendered from the bacon...yum...deglazed the pan with some of the marinade...oh my, an amazing, bubbling sauce began to puddle around the beef. We added the strained marinade to the pan til it was half-way up the beef because our cooking method was braising as opposed to stewing in which the meat would be completely covered with liquid (did you know that?- I didn't). Lid went on the pan which went into a 340 degree oven for 2-1/2 hrs. The last 30 minutes of cooking we added halved, sauteed button mushrooms (don't crowd the pan and you'll be amazed at how the mushrooms keep their shape, don't get soggy, and are actually browned - so delicious!) I've gotten some really lovely serving platters over the years - this one was perfect for our beef bourgiunonne. At the last minute, we thickened the pan juices by simmering at high heat for a few minutes. The marinade mellowed into a fantastic sauce, deeply layered with flavors of fresh herbs, aromatics and, of course, the chianti...amazingly good! We started serving the beef before I remembered to take a picture of the Pièce de résistance.

 
Here's Michael's plate - fork-tender beef, covered in bacon, pearl onions, mushrooms, savory sauce, alongside roasted sweet & russet potatoes, and a crusty slice of french bread, slathered in butter. "Bon Appetit!"

 
(I apologize for the blindingly white bread - I think the flash locked on to the lightest thing on the plate)

113 Degrees. Survival. And a Recipe.

What do you do when it's 113 degrees??? You do everything you can to avoid leaving your home or work til the sun goes down. When you do have to get in the car, you drive with all your fingertips, lightly propelling the car in the proper direction. When you park at the store, you park under the lone mesquite tree at the end of the row, hoping that one of its scraggly branches might lend a shadow to a fraction of your car. You drive thru Sonic for their all-day drink happy hour - only 99 cents for a large iced tea with lots of crushed ice. If you have a pool, you swim in the morning and then again when the sun goes down. You try to go to bed right after swimming or after a cool shower, letting evaporation do its magic on your body temperature.

Today, Michael and I decided to "cool off" by creating something yummy in the kitchen. We combined 3 great dessert recipes into 1 super-fantastic, no-bake dessert which will be cool and refreshing later tonight when we have guests.

Our inspiration came from the huge box of blueberries I just bought at Costco. They are sweet and juicy. We really like that 4-layer pudding dessert that was so popular in the 90's. And, of course, we were inspired by Michael's favorite dessert - cheesecake - and decided to borrow the graham cracker crust, adding a handful of crunchy, chopped pecans. Note to Hungry Lolita: I'm sorry to report that I can't say it's South Beach-friendly at all. Sorry, not figure-friendly either. But Mike and I had a great time stirring, chopping, blending and tasting!

Click HERE for recipe.

5 lbs of Sliced Ham

You know, I love Costco, Sam's Club, all the big box stores. They've got such great stuff. And the samples are so enticing. I mean, why else would I have bought 2 giant jars of pickled artichoke spears? Or hundreds of frozen meatballs? Or enough cornbread mix to feed the neighborhood? Or 48 hamburger buns? And then there's the lunch meat. Oh my. Wouldn't it be nice and very economical to have a freshly made sandwich for lunch? A freshly made ham sandwich, on toasted bread with sliced tomatoes, lettuce, swiss, avocado, the works. Of course that would be fantastic. Unfortunately, the sliced ham comes in a package that weighs nearly 5 lbs. That's a lotta pork. And once you open the package it must be eaten within 7 days. That's the bummer part right there. One of my sons won't eat cold meat. Period. One of my sons won't eat a ham sandwich with anything on it but bread and meat. And that's a once per week maximum. Then there's myself and Dan. We'd be hard-pressed to eat our way through 5 lbs of ham in a week.

I've decided to: 1) never buy this much ham again; 2) to make a list of all the ways to power through the ham in a week.

• Denver omelette (36 newly purchased eggs)
• Ham, potato, corn chowder (got a whole flat of corn niblets)
• Ham & swiss quiche (got a couple pounds of swiss in the freezer)
• Ham wrapped around pickled asparagus (adults only)
• Chopped ham stirred into cornbread (iffy - maybe not)
• Chopped ham stirred into crockpot of pinto beans (50 lb bag I bought 2 yrs ago)
• Chopped ham mixed with bbq sauce served on a hamburger bun (only if we're desperate)
• Chicken cordon bleu (yeah right)

I've made it to ham, potato, corn chowder. I've got to admit - it's pretty good. Could go on the permanent menu around here (if there was one). I'm going to try out the quiche for dinner tonight. I've got a pie crust (multi-pack of 8) ready to go.

Here's a picture of Dan's lunch serving of soup - yes, I always make him use a placemat, coordinating napkin, silverware and ceramic mug (in my dreams and for photo ops, otherwise it's disposable everything).

I'm Not Exaggerating

I am not a baker. Ask anyone who knows me. I especially don't like making cookies. So tedious. And the end product on the plate disappears too fast for me to justify the time spent slaving over a hot oven. However, at Christmas time, I always find myself thumbing through magazines, drooling over decadent, delightful displays of cookies on doilies on antique glass plates on tiers tied with gold ribbon accented with Christmas ornaments and I imagine myself creating that same kind of magical display for my friends and family and I really believe that I can pull something similar, maybe even better, together. So, I dog-ear pages, make lists of ingredients, start stocking up on butter and sugar, search for items like vanilla beans, shelled pistachios, dried cranberries, really good cocoa powder (gave up-went with Hershey's [again]) and in general, live in denial for several weeks all while planning Christmas worship and Advent, stressing about shopping for Christmas, not sending Christmas cards (again), not having a family Christmas picture taken (again) and feeling guilty about my fading dream of ooooh-worthy, delicious cookies.

This year, I decided to make The Pioneer Woman's ultra-simple Christmas Rum Cakes instead of cookies. You know, I truly thought I could whip them together in assembly-line fashion, wrap them in cellophane, place in a hand-stamped, brown paper handle bag (so green/so chic), tie with a spectacular bow, then hand them out casually, modestly, at the right time to friends and as party gifts. Uh, yeah. Another wonderful dream, over and done with.

So, here it is, Wednesday, December 31, New Year's Eve Day. I have to admit, I caved in to a pretty picture in a Rachael Ray Magazine 2 nights ago and tried my hand at baking Jeweled Lace Cookies. I had a bad feeling about it, but the lace doilies in the picture made me think I could really do a great job with these cookies. Very few ingredients. Short cooking time. Crisp, thin, buttery, loaded with dried cranberries and pistachios. What could go wrong? Um, well, I think the recipe I used had a major typo in it. I should have realized that when a cookie recipe calls for 1/2 cup of flour, it probably isn't going to make the 4 dozen cookies stated at the top of the recipe. I dropped 14 level teaspoons of dough onto my well-greased cookie sheets. Baked them at 350 for 9 minutes. Removed them with a thin metal spatula to a purchased-for-this-recipe teflon cooling rack. Couldn't help but wonder why they weren't lovely, lacy luscious cookies. They looked more like a horrific collision between granola bars and melted Brach's Milk Maid Caramels. All 14 of them were a different shape. As they hardened, they became crunchy and brittle. In case you think I'm exaggerating...

 

 

And then I saw the flames...

Yesterday was...eventful...Dan picked up Michael at school. Then they went and bought football supplies for Steven's new team. Then they stopped at the Salvation Army to drop off a donation. And that's when the chaos began. Dan's truck started literally wigging out - it wouldn't start, it wouldn't go into gear, there was this loud clicking noise like a time bomb about to explode, there was a burning sulphur smell intermittently wafting up from under the hood. It was crazy. I called AAA then went to rescue Michael. Dan waited for 1-1/2 hours for the tow truck. In the meantime, the truck kept clicking away, then the windows started going up and down on their own, the radio turned on and off, I'm telling you, it was like the stupid thing was demon-possessed! Then it all stopped. The battery finally went dead. In the meantime, I went to pick up Steven at school. Then I went home and started making dinner. I knew Dan would be calling me for a ride home from the Ford dealer, so I quickly began boiling a huge pot of water for pasta. Made a great sauce from fresh basil, fabulous sausage from Trader Joe's, and marinara sauce from TJ's. All this took about 15 minutes. Then I decided to throw a loaf of crusty Italian bread in the oven. I reached across the stove, past the pot of boiling water and the pan of simmering sauce, and turned the oven on to 400 degrees. I felt what I thought was steam escaping from the boiling pot of water burning my side so I jumped back a little from the stove. OW - that was hot! And then I saw the flames...they were on the side of my shirt, quickly burning up my shirt. I actually had on a spandex/polyester black tank top with a rayon, Christmassy red blouse on top and the red blouse was rapidly being consumed by flames and I was still wearing it! I started panicking and somehow got the blouse off and into the sink where I doused it with water. Meanwhile, my phone was ringing incessantly - it was Dan needing a ride home. I turned off the oven. Turned off the stove. Put on a shirt that wasn't burned, and went to pick up Dan.

See the tiny little hole in my favorite black tank? This shirt protected my side from the flames!

All last night I kept thinking about those flames - they could have easily reached my hair and the whole kitchen could have gone right up in flames so quickly - I am really grateful that God protected me and my family and our home.

By Popular Request...

Sweet Potato Casserole used to be the thing that I dreaded most at holiday meals. The smell of it was so gross and it was so sweet and gooey (marshmallows) and nothing you did to doctor them up took away that "squashy" taste (in my opinion). My dad absolutely loved them so my mom made them every year. And I'm sure that they were very good if you were a sweet potato fan. This year, I finally found a really great recipe that I made and took to our Urban Tribe Thanksgiving dinner. I actually took ingredients from 3 different recipes, combined them, substituted things that I had on hand, then baked it, praying it would be solid in the middle. If you choose to, you can make this delectable treat entirely from organic ingredients.

Click the pic for recipe. Thanks to The Pioneer Woman, Serious Eats, and Judy Berryman for the recipe inspiration!!

Chocolate Cake

I just baked the world's most scrumptious chocolate cake ever. Then we ate it. All of it. The sheet pan is empty. Gone. Hardly any crumbs left. I got the recipe from The Pioneer Woman blog. PW has some mighty tasty looking recipes on her blog. http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/the_pioneer_woman_cooks/2007/06/the_best_chocol.html

My cake looked sort of like this one...but a little better! Don't you wish you could taste this cake? I could hardly get the frosting spread over it before the family demanded giant slices on real plates with cake forks and tall glasses of milk. I caved in and joined them. Wow. That's some amazing combination of chocolate, butter, sugar, freshly chopped crunchy pecans, vanilla, flour, sugar, buttermilk, salt, powdered sugar, and milk. Oh yeah. Happy birthday month to me!  [I "borrowed" this pic from PW]

You might be wondering how we could polish off a sheet pan-sized cake in one evening. We had help. We brought in one of the all-time great dessert eaters - our son-in-law Joshua. He really knows his way around a piece of chocolate cake. This time I doubled the amount of pecans I folded into the homemade fudgey frosting. That frosting just melts down to the perfect consistency over the top of the cake. And I baked the cake for 19 minutes instead of 20 minutes which made it even more moist than last time. Ah yes, last time. That would be yesterday. Actually, I took the first cake to Bible Study at church last night. They helped it disappear almost all the way. Dan pretty much demolished the rest of it for breakfast this morning. Of course he had his assistant - Michael - inhaling it right along with him. There are certain things you want your house to smell like - I'm thinking a homemade chocolate cake ranks right up there on the heavenly smells list.

Random Day

Just downloading thoughts tonight - not too many main points to be found in the following paragraphs. I had a hard time concentrating on anything for too long today - I was distracted by the thought of my dear friend Pam and the breast cancer surgery she was going through today. I and many others spent the day praying for her. I have a friend who set her computer to remind her to pray every 30 minutes. I took dinner to the family tonight. Pam had just gotten home from the hospital and was sleeping on the couch. Evidently they were able to remove it all and so far no sign of it in one of the lymph nodes they removed. They will have final pathology results on Friday. I'm sure Pam & Jeff & Pat (Pam's sis) and the fam are absolutely exhausted. But I know they are greatly encouraged by the doctor's prognosis and have been lifted up on the wings of many prayers today.

I made a Cobb Salad tonight for dinner. Romaine lettuce. Diced chicken breast (pre-bought whole roasted chicken). Sliced Roma tomatoes. Crumbled bacon. Blue cheese crumbles. Chopped hard-boiled eggs. Avocado slices. A handful of chopped black olives. Croutons. Drizzled ranch dressing on top. Could've made a classic Cobb Salad Dressing but ran out of time.

Went to Costco with Em Shoulders today to buy food for youth camp tomorrow. Oh, and did I mention that I'm the cook? We bought food to feed 25 teens for 3 days. Hotdogs. Hamburgers. Spaghetti. Tacos. Chocolate donuts.

It rained really hard in the valley tonight from about 7-8:30pm. The water was running over the sidewalks on Indian School Road. I had to slosh through mid-calf deep water to get to my driveway (I park on the street). We've watched it rain everywhere but our house for the past week - - well, now we can't complain. And we can turn off our auto sprinklers at least for 1 day.

I am re-designing the FNC website. By hand. On scrap paper. Such a tedious process. I hope it turns out great. Functional. Informative. Interactive. Colorful.

Randy starts a "What If?" series Aug. 5. Week 1 = What if we really cared about America? Week 2 = What if we descended into hell? Week 3 = What if we experienced heaven? Week 4 = What if God was not? We met last night to discuss the creative possibilities. I'm thinking we should do "What if" by Nichole Nordeman.