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Sexy Swedish Buns for the Food Revolution
··· Apr 20 2011 · By ···
It’s long overdue for me to write about Jamie Oliver and his Food Revolution. J and I have been Big Fans of his since the Naked Chef on PBS, which first aired back in 1999 and continued for three seasons. I would say it’s what really took our cooking/eating from pretty good to better and better. Beyond his adorable accent and youthful energy (even now, with four young children running around at home!), it’s his unique approach to simple, fresh, whole, and delicious that we so appreciate.
More recently we’ve found Jamie at Home and Jamie Does… (‘Jamie’s Food Escapes’ in America) on the Cooking Channel. In the former he’s cooking straight out of the garden and we like the many casual spots he has for cooking, especially the outdoor oven and sitting on a stool by the range (good idea.) And in the latter it’s fun to watch him explore the markets, learn about regional flavors/traditions/specialties, and then put his own creative spin on it. Of all the cooking shows we watch and cookbooks we read, no one has inspired us to cook up more of their recipes than Jamie, and it is always Really Tasty and Really Healthy.
The other thing we really respect, admire, and appreciate about Jamie is his passions for helping youth (our future!) find their way in our challenging and crazy world, and making school food Good Food. Season 2 of his Food Revolution is airing on ABC right now. We were actually amazed that he’d want to come back to America after the really tough go he had during Season 1 in Virginia. But, when you are really passionate about helping people be their healthiest, happiest selves, you do find the energy to keep on keepin on. Amen. Here’s what the Food Revolution is all about:
The Food Revolution is working to make sure every child grows up knowing what real food is, how to cook with it, and eating it at home and at school, in order to fight the impact that a diet of processed food is having on our children’s health
We need your support to help us run campaigns that mobilize people to replace junk food with meals cooked from scratch in schools, inspire people to improve their health by cooking more with fresh ingredients, and put critically needed food education and cooking skills in communities across America.
While it’s not surprising that public school food, as a whole, is highly processed and preserved, it is still astonishing, and disheartening, to actually see what American children are being fed each day. So thank God for Jamie and his team (to do all that he does – When do you sleep/rest/rejuvenate, Jamie? – it’s clear he has a great family, great team, and great network.) Keep up the Great Work, Jamie. We are rooting for you!
We ask all of our friends, family, and connections to join us in signing the petition and supporting the Food Revolution. We can accomplish great things when we are healthy and happy.
P.S. We made Sexy Swedish Buns from Jamie’s Food Escapes, Stockholm, recently – chewy and yeasty on the inside, crispy on the outside, just a hint of sweetness and citrus. Love the cardamom and ya, they “look bloody gorgeous” (see photo.) I’m thinking they’d be perfect for a Sunday hike and picnic in the sunny hills…
Officiating a Wedding
··· Sep 27 2010 · By ···
I had the opportunity to officiate my first wedding recently. I was honored to be asked by a couple of good friends to share in this special occasion. As an ordained Minister, I have the legal power to conduct marriages and proclaim couples as married (as well as a few other things).
Officiating a wedding is a funny thing. While most everyone is familiar with the “traditional” style of wedding with some singing, and candle lighting, and vows and ring exchange, there are really very few rules that need to be followed. So it comes down to the taste of the bride and groom, and what they want as part of their ceremony. For this wedding, H & T (the couple getting hitched) told me that they wanted a nice short ceremony. No Problem!
Having never done the marrying before I needed some help, so I consulted a book that was given to me as a gift by my Spiritual Mentor Sue who is a fellow member of the clergy. This book, entitled ”Weddings, Funerals and Rites of Passage” by Rev. Amy E. Long, really came in handy as it contains a nice collection of different ceremonies and ceremony elements that can be packed together to create a unique ceremony.
I could have simply read from the book directly, but I felt it necessary to throw some of my personality, and the personalities of H&T into the ceremony, so I studied a number of different elements, and developed a nice ceremony (high level here, simply an outline for the ceremony) that really fit the setting that H&T chose, (Outside in a nice spot in the west Michigan woods) and that captured the wants and needs of H&T (simple and quick).
It was helpful to do a walk through the day before, but for the most part, that was done sort of freestyle, as H&T didn’t have a lock on what they wanted in a ceremony, and I sure didn’t have anything written down at that point. So, as the Officiant and apparently the one in charge, I had to make some decisions, which ultimately became the outline for the guts of the ceremony that would be delivered the next day, while being flexible for the inevitable . That’s about all you can do in a situation like that, better to bend than break.
With the rehearsal still fairly fresh in my head, I sat down and wrote out the ceremony, in bed, at around 1a.m. It felt good to get the ceremony scripted out and on paper.
The next morning was time to prepare everything for the ceremony later in the afternoon. As officiant, there really isn’t much to do except be there and try to pick out the people who you have to give special instructions to, like any family who wasn’t at the rehearsal who have assigned seats. So that was the real job I had to do before the ceremony. In addition, being that H&T are good friends, I helped with setting up the flowers and place settings in the reception hall. This was good, because it was busy work that took my mind off things, and left me with a clear head for the ceremony.
To sum this up, the ceremony went off without a hitch (except for H&T getting hitched, of course). leaving me with only one remaining job, to sign the wedding license. So after the reception cleared out I rounded up the Bride and Groom, and a couple of witnesses, and we got down to the business of making this thing official. It’s pretty straight forward, just filling out what you need to fil out and signing where you need to sign – in triplicate.
Licenses all signed and in hand (it is the job of the officiant to file the license with the locality where the wedding took place) Dorothy and I made a mad dash out of there, and headed on to our next adventure.