Ah, olive oil.  Years ago, I took a group of young people over to Italy.  For months afterwards, a group of them and I would sit around doing a Bible study, all the while dipping pieces of bread into a mixture of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Heavenly.

Over the years, I’ve grown to love olive oil, and have tried many different types.

For Mother’s Day, I got my mom a copy of Frances Maye’s newest book, a cookbook focusing on Tuscan food. Mom has been cooking from it ever since, most recently trying a recipe for Minestrone.

Anyway, I bought myself a copy too, and just yesterday I came across a page devoted to Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Since most of us use olive oil all the time, I thought I would share Maye’s thoughts with you.  OK, I’m a foodie at heart, but I’m hoping you are too  If not for the practical info, read on to experience the really wonderful writing style of one of my favorite authors.  Who would have guessed there was so much to learn about olive oil?

The olive tree springs from the taproot of Mediterranean life.  Over time, I’ve heard of olive oil being used for everything from stretch marks to kidney stones to coughs.  After caring for a grove, it’s impossible not to think of olive oil as a holy substance.

The biblical references to anointing the body with oil had to have meant olive oil.  Who first squeezed those bitter drupes and discovered the oil?  She’s our missing goddess or saint!  She found the soul of the Mediterranean diet.

How to describe the distinct, polyphonic, greeny, assertive, fresh, piquant, sublime taste of just pressed extra virgin olive oil?  Every year at harvest, I marvel at the punch it delivers to everything I cook.  At this stage, just pressed oil is bursting with health-improving properties, as well as that indescribable taste.  Your cooking skills, quadruple when you cook with the freshest oil available.  Tuscans use great olive oil every day.  When I first arrived in Tuscany, I was surprised to see Don Ferruccio, a local priest, eating an orange he doused in olive oil and salt.  That was a defining moment for me; I realized in one bite what I missed.

Since everything in moderation could be the Tuscan motto, cooks use just enough olive oil.  Salads remain crisp when just glistened with olive oil, and maybe, but not always, a hint of vinegar or lemon juice, then a judicious sprinkling of salt.  On meats, the bottle tips farther: a liberal swathing of the steak or roast produces rich juices.

Finding an excellent oil takes a little work.  Be sure to look at the expiration date and the harvest date.  Naturally, the further away from the expiration date, the better.  Well-stored oil lasts a long time, just slowly losing its pep over time. The oil you’re reaching for at the grocery store might have sat for months in the light.  Even a week in a sunny window and it’s lost.  A dark bottle protects better than a clear one- but you can’t see what you’re buying.  If the bottle has the DOP (Denominazione di Orinine Protetta) sticker- bright blue and yellow- that’s an Italian government guarantee that the oil is from the area stated on the bottle and that it was bottled there.  The IGP (Indicazione Geografica Protetta) is a slightly less comprehensive guarantee, but if you see it, you know that the oil is from a specific region.

Italy being Italy, however, means that some top oil makers don’t bother with the sticker because the process of getting approval is baroque and delays sales while the oil is fresh. More and more growers who take pride in their oil are stating on the label where their olives were grown and where they were bottled. (The Tuscan Cookbook, pg. 31)

I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent all weekend trying to catch up.  Catch up on yard work.  Catch up on rest.  Catch up with friends and family. Catch up on reading. Catch up on work.

So often, we use these long weekends to re-group, get back on track, and relax a bit before we have to start all over again.  Today being Memorial Day, I think we need to pause and remember why this day came about, and not take it for just another day off.

Way back in 1868, General John Logan made a proclamation to honor those who died in the Civil War.  The General’s proclamation was dated May 5th, and on May 30th, a 16-year-old girl named Marry Shellman from Westminster, Maryland led the first Memorial Day Parade, although it was called Decoration Day at the time.

Young Miss Shellman organized the children from Westminster Elementary and St. John School march down Main St. towards the local cemeteries and place flowers on the graves of Westminster’s Civil War dead.  Shellman would continue to lead our parade for the next sixty years.  Here’s a picture of her, in the middle holding a flag, marching in the 1900 parade.

A few hours from now, the 145th Memorial Day parade will take place here in Westminster.  For the 145th time, students from the school of my church will be marching.  They will pass by our parish cemetery, already filled with small flags honoring the war dead who are buried there, at least one dating back to the Revolution.

It’s neat to live in a town with such a rich history.  It’s important, no matter where you live, to pause today and remember those who gave their lives fighting for freedom.  I would add that world peace should also be a part of our prayer, so that one day, there would be no more war and we would all live in the freedom we long for.

One of the real joys of being on campus is that I can visit the National Shrine, which sits on campus.  One of the largest Catholic churches in our hemisphere, the Shrine is a remarkable place.

Earlier this week, I walked by one of the side entrances, and looking up, I read this passage from James (1:22), which is above the doorway.  I hope you can make out the words in the photo, but if not, they read:  ”Be doers of the Word and not hearers only.”

The Scripture passage touched a nerve in me, since earlier in the day, one of my professors was talking about this very thing.

So often, we come to church, hear what’s said, think about it, pray about it, then walk out when the service is over and forget about it before we’re off the parking lot.

St. James reminds us that we need to be more than hearers.  We need to take Scripture and let it transform us. The Word of God should encourage us to action, press us into service.

So, are you just a hearer, or are you also a doer?  The challenge of the passage is that we’re called to be both, not just one or the other.

Are you up for the challenge?

On Friday, I dragged myself home from my first week at Catholic University.  Let me just say they don’t mess around there.  Doctoral studies are hard, much more than I anticipated.

That being said, it’s also a joy to be back in a great learning environment.  There’s a lot to do, and a lot to learn.  Somehow, I have to put it all together, but I think I’ll pull it off.

When I got home last night, I was too tired to work in my garden.  But this morning, I was out there bright an early.

Before I did anything else, I just sat for a few minutes, coffee in hand, on a lounge chair right off my kitchen.  Things were really quiet and peaceful.  Finally, I could relax a bit after a long week.

With that, my nose caught the scent of several different plants that were in bloom.  My dutch iris have a very lemony scent, just beautiful.  My mock orange is also in full bloom, smelling, like the name implies, orange blossoms.  Then, there is my late-blooming lilac, just covered with flowers.  I don’t know if I was smelling one in particular, or all of them together.  My little piece of paradise.

My mom walks through her garden every day.  She told me a long time ago that gardening is the cheapest therapy there is.  Just work out your problems digging weeds.  When I bought my house about ten years ago now, it was mostly a blank slate.   The previous owners were big into trees, and when I moved in, the place was quite dark.  I ended up taking out about twenty mature trees, which left me lots of sunny places to develop a garden.

The reason I’m posting this blog is because most of us are really busy and figure we don’t have time to plant a nice garden.  That would be a mistake.  With just a fair amount of effort and expense, you can have a little slice of Eden, right in your own backyard.  It’s still pretty early in the planting season, so get at it.  Go to your local library and check out some gardening books/magazines.  You’re sure to find a lot of them.

As the sun was setting, I finished up in my yard.  I got a lot accomplished, mainly in the weeding department.  I also got the pots that go along my retaining wall filled with a great combination of flowers.  I tried several new things this year and I’ll let you know how they turned out.

Like my mom, when I’m tired after a long day, I love to sit and relax in my garden.  It puts me in a good mood,  and I can end in a peaceful mood, thanking God for another day.  Then I can go to bed a little less burdened, and a bit more content.

It’s been some time since I last quoted from the book Grace In Every Season, written by Catherine Doherty.  Sadly, this book is difficult to find now, but I recently found that you can still get it through Madonna House, the community that Doherty founded.

So often, many of us are hardest on ourselves.

Be Gentle With Ourselves

How important it is to be gentle with ourselves!  And how often we swing in the opposite direction, getting angry with ourselves, or even angry at God!  Often we beat ourselves up, mentally speaking.  We dwell upon our sins and think of ourselves as horrible people.  Or we harass ourselves with the ‘wrong decisions’ we have made or with ‘indecisions’ … especially in regards to sin.  We become exhausted.

We forget that the mercy of God is part of his gentleness.  We forget that if we but turn to him when we have sinned and say ‘I’m sorry,” the sin is erased completely.  He does not remember because he does not want to.  His mercy overshadows all.

Christ said to love our neighbor as ourselves; and our first neighbor is ourselves.  If you can’t love yourself you can’t love anybody else.  So be gentle with yourself.  How often we are ‘ungentle’ with ourselves.  We can inflict so many wounds on ourselves.  I can almost take you in my arms and say: ‘Rest now.  Be gentle with yourselves.  Be gentle’

Where do you learn how to be gentle?  St. John used to recline on the breast of Christ.  I think we will become gentle toward ourselves, and toward others, if we go and do likewise.

Then we will hear the heartbeats of God, and we will be able to let others hear them.  Then we will be gentle with ourselves and to everybody else.

]]> http://makingallthingsnew.com/2012/05/15/be-gentle-with-yourself/feed/ 1 seedthrower1 gulls http://makingallthingsnew.com/2012/05/13/happy-mothers-day/ http://makingallthingsnew.com/2012/05/13/happy-mothers-day/#comments Sun, 13 May 2012 18:38:50 +0000 seedthrower1 http://makingallthingsnew.com/?p=4355 Continue reading →]]>

This is a shot of my mom and sister on their last visit to Maryland a few years ago.  I’ve had the chance to take mom to Assateague Island to see the famous wild ponies a couple of times, and that’s where this photo was taken.

One would think that on a small island, a large herd of ponies would be fairly easy to find.  Well, there’s something known as Gallagher luck, and we have it.  On our first visit, we drove around and around for about an hour, and we decided to call it quits.  Just as we made the last turn, there they were.  A lot of them.  Mom left happy

On the next trip, my sister was with us.  Although they were a little easier to find, we still had to drive around a bit.  Once again, mom left happy.

If there’s one thing my mother instilled in me (and still does), it’s the joy that comes with having a sense of adventure.  I guess the last time this manifested was when we were in Sedona.  We had the chance to take a helicopter ride, and when we asked mom, she said sure with no hesitation.

We’ve had many, many trips, not only in the United States, but in several other countries as well.  There was always something new to see, another fun thing to do.  For this Mother’s Day, I got my mom the newest book by Frances Mayes, the author of Under the Tuscan Sun.  Mayes is also the adventurous type, and we’ve loved reading her tales about life in Tuscany.

We had the chance to visit her villa in Cortona once.  Well, we looked at it through locked gates, but it felt so familiar to us because of her books.  This latest book is a cookbook, full of tasty and simple Tuscan food.  My mom is already putting the book to use, making green beans and olives for our family today.

Well, I hope you had the chance to wish your mom a Happy Mother’s Day today.  When I called, mom had already cooked one turkey and was getting ready to put in another.  Always an adventure…

The kids in my 5th grade class are going to be pretty happy that today is the last day of Religious Ed.

From my perspective, we’ve had a great year, and I think they’ve learned a lot.  Since I began teaching this group two years ago, the kids have really bonded and they support each other well.  They also have a good rapport with me, and being with them on Tuesdays is one of the highlights of my week.  That being said, I’m looking forward to the break, not just from them, but from our entire program of about 1,000 children.

We started the year with some staff reductions, and several other issues have caused some unneeded stress. In the end, it all worked out well, and now we can look forward to a bit of piece and quiet.  Until the next thing comes…

I guess that’s the rhythm of life: fast, slow, busy, quiet, calm, tense.  Can you relate?  It’s funny how those go together: fast, busy, tense; slow, quiet, calm.  Which group would you rather be in?

Something to think about…

Enjoy the day

When I wrote my post about control the other day, I didn’t think that I’d be writing a part two.  Something happened yesterday got me thinking, and I wanted to share it with you.

I was meeting with my chiropractor yesterday, and he was asking me about the medications I take on a daily basis.

One of those that I have to take each and every day is called synthroid, and it makes up for my slow-functioning thyroid.  Before I realized I had thyroid issues, I was feeling really run down all the time, and it seemed like no matter what I did for exercise, I just couldn’t loose any weight.

Once my doctor put me on this medicine, my metabolism kicked in and I started to feel much better, and the weight came off pretty easily.

Now, here’s the reason for today’s post.  When I told my chiropractor about the medicines and supplements I was taking, he asked me how I was taking them.  First thing in the morning, all at the same time.  That was not the answer he was looking for.

He told me that I shouldn’t be taking my synthroid with my daily vitamins, because the two don’t react well to each other.  In fact, the synthroid more than likely isn’t being absorbed properly.  Instead, I should take the synthroid, then wait a couple of hours and take my daily vitamins.  That way, everything will be absorbed into my system properly.  Wow, I wish my regular doctor would have mentioned this to me, especially because he is aware of everything I take.  That being said, I’m going to make an appointment with him to review what the Chiropractor said, just to be sure he’s right.

So, the point of this is that the control I spoke about the other day can be spun many ways.  We need to look at our lives, especially those areas where our care has been intrusted to others, and review things from time to time.  This will ensure we are maximizing our potential to live healthy lives.  Sound like a good plan?

If you or someone you know has diabetes, you can sometimes feel a bit like this mountain climber.

It takes tremendous discipline and control to reach the summit, and the risks involved might be enough to keep you off the mountain all together.  Fear of failure (falling, dying) probably has something to do with it.

When dealing with diabetes, most people start out great after receiving their diagnosis.  They eat right, exercise, keep close tabs on their blood sugar numbers, and check in with their doctor on a regular basis.  In the end, its a lot of work, and if the person doesn’t get the results they want, they quickly give up.  They end up coming down the mountain of diabetic life, tired and exhausted, just burned out.  I’m told that’s how it goes with the vast majority of people who deal with this disease on a daily basis.  Maybe it’s gone that way for you.  If that’s the case, there’s hope!

In the most recent edition of Diabetes Forecast, published by the American Diabetes Association, I learned of a national organization called Taking Control Of Your Diabetes.  Founded in 1995 by an endocrinologist named Dr. Steve Edelman, who also happens to have type 1 diabetes himself, this group’s goal is to help people either get on or stay on track for the long haul.  Dr. Edelman believes that a huge part of many people’s lack of control is that they have little information and feel alone in their disease.  In order to lessen or eliminate these issues, he began offering diabetes conferences throughout the country and making online educational videos available on-line.

I went to the website and was really impressed with all that was available for free.  If you or someone you love is a diabetic, please make them aware of this site.  It might make a world of difference to them, and it could help them take back control of their diabetes.  How could that not be a good thing?

Here’s a sample video clip for you to check out.  I think everyone will find it helpful and informative, whether diabetes affects you or not.  Please take a look

I’m sorry its been so long since I’ve posted one of my Saturday recipes.

Well, all we can do is go forward, right?  Anyone who reads Making All Things New on a regular basis knows how much I depend on lentils for a tasty and inexpensive source of protein in my daily diet.  

A few months ago, my staff and I put on a soup and salad dinner for about a hundred people.  I decided to make two soups, one with lentils, the other with cheese tortellini.  Both were really good, but the one I got the most compliments on was the one with lentils.  I’m always amazed at the number of people who tell me they’ve never tried them.  If that’s the same for you, start with this great tasting recipe, made super easy because it cooks in your crock pot.

Spanish Lentils and Rice

serves 6-8

1 1/2 cup dried lentils

1 cup uncooked long-grain rice

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

1 32 oz container low sodium vegetable broth (I used Trader Joe’s)

1 10 oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 garlic powder

1 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Pick over and rinse lentils.  Place them in a 4 quart slow cooker.  Cover with water 2 inches above lentils; Let them soak 8 hours (do not cook at this point).  Drain and rinse; return lentils to slow cooker.  Add rice and all remaining ingredients except cheese.

Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or until lentils and rice are tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste. If using, stir in cheese. Serve immediately.