Libby’s Lines

What can I say. I’m a great James Bond (movie) fan. I even won a contest of James Bond trivia and received a trip to Jamaica; 5 nights, 6 days with spending cash! It was absolutely fabulous.

Well, this week I began reading the James Bond books and am I impressed with Ian Fleming as an author. However, the movies are almost nothing like the books! I was very disappointed. They take just a few similarities and almost completely change the stories (so far) for the movies. I understand artistic license being used, but man, after reading 3 of the books, I wish the movies had followed more closely to the stories! They is so much more to Bond’s character than the movies bring out.

Recreating the Bond movies according to the books, I think would be fantastic. And the loyalty to Bond, I think, would grow. It would be great to start at the beginning and show his character according to the books and follow their story lines, as they are even better the movies have been.

Am I disillisioned? Want to drop my fandom? NO! Just more informed. I plan to continue reading all of the James Bond stories and anticipate enjoying each one.

Bond, James Bond…. I like it!

No, I’m not talking about a person…

I am talking about the hot sauces my husband and I have been working on. Last night my husband combined some of the two sauces together, added a little vinegar and a little ginger and WOW! It was great! We need to thicken it up just a little, but it’s flavor is wonderful.

We are going to thicken it and then bottle it up.

We are going to take the leftover peppers from the sauce and add them to some cut up veggies: cauliflower, carrot and celery, pickle it and make a nice hot pepper mix. Something like a relish.

Our next adventure will be making a habenero sauce. This is so much fun.

It has been a stressful few weeks. Issues at church, getting ready for school to start for the kids, car trouble, etc. However, I’d like to talk about church.

When things first got bad, I reacted very harshly. I regret it and deleted the blog entry and wrote an apology. However, I don’t want to recant so I deleted the apology. I am sorry for the way I reacted, however, the issues remain.

And there are issues, for more than just me and my family. There is an underlying problem that needs to be addressed openly, otherwise I don’t believe things can change for the church. And if things don’t change, I don’t see how the church can really grow and have a positive affect on the surrounding community. And isn’t this the goal? I believe so and I believe it truly is the goal of the church family and it’s leadership.

Being rebuked is not easy but Proverbs 9:8-9 says:

Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you,
Reprove a wise man and he will love you.
Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser,
Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.

This is why there is room for dissent in the church. If there weren’t, we wouldn’t have the church as we know it today. But, I do not have the finesse or skill to dissent in the way it should be done (I am too emotional), so I am praying for those who do. My prayer is not for anyone to be punished, just that things would be brought to light, confronted, lessons learned and growth started.

Hi, in a post I deleted, I also deleted my chicken salad recipe. Sorry. Here it is, again:

Libby’s Chicken Salad

Chicken Breasts, cooked, cooled and chopped (or shredded)
Onion, diced small (approx. 1 t. per chicken breast)
Celery, diced small (approx. 1 t. per chicken breast)
Carrots, diced small (approx 1 1/2 t. per chicken breast)
Grapes, cut in half or quarters (approx. 2 T. per chicken breast)
Pecans, chopped (approx. 2 T. per chicken breast)
Mayonnaise (must be real mayo), approx. 2 T. per chicken breast)
Dill Pickle Juice, to taste (offsets some of the sweet from the mayo)
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Mix everything together, to taste. I like my chicken shredded instead of chopped, but, you should make this your own to how you like it. I have given some approximate measurements, but still engourage you to add more or less depending on the flavor you want for your chicken salad.

Two things that are a must are the Dill pickle juice and the Real Mayo. I use Kraft Real Mayonnaise. If you use salad dressing (Miracle Whip), it will completely change the flavor. And if you use sweet relish it will drastically change the flavor as well.

I really like a lot of pecans and grapes. That sweet and nutty crunch is great.

Have fun with and make it your own.

Peppers. Hot sauce. Spicy.

Some of my favorite words. My husband and I have been receiving gifts of peppers: jalepeno, hot banana and now habenero. We used some of the jalepeno peppers to make a green sauce with onion and peach jelly added. It turned out to be a really nice marinade with a slow burn. It needs some tweeking before it will be a good sauce. Then, we used the hot banana peppers with a couple of hungarian wax peppers to make a red sauce. Quicker burn and pretty good pepper flavor.

Now we have habeneros. We’d like to continue working on a hot sauce that has a ton of pepper flavor with just a nice amount heat to it. Our goal is flavor not pain.

I think we are going to take small amounts of the two we have already made and try different additions with them, including adding the two together. In any case, the process is fun (and tasty) and I look forward to the eventual outcome.

One more week till school starts! I am excited about the coming personal time I’ll have each day, however, I am also anxious about the coming year for my children.

Having children in high school means that everything they do really starts to count! Their grades, extra-curricular activities, volunteering all count toward possible scholarships for college and even counts toward acceptance to college. They have to be very aware of their decisions and we have to be very careful in our reactions to their decisions.

My prayer is that these adolescents just take it slow; not rush into anything or any decision.

Pudding Cake Recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together:
3/4 c. Sugar
1 c. Flour
1/4 c. Cocao Powder
2 t. Baking Powder
1/4 t. Salt

Add in:
1/2 c. Milk
1/3 c. Butter, melted
1 1/2 t. Vanilla

Pour mixture into a 9″ square baking pan/dish.

Stir together, in separate bowl:

1/2 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Brown Sugar
1/4 c. CocoaPowder

Sprinkle over batter in pan. Do Not Mix with batter. Completely cover batter.

Pour 1 1/4 c. Hot Water over dry mix. Do Not Mix.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until center is almost set.

Let stand 10-15 minutes and serve warm with ice cream or whipped topping. The cake will be moist with a pudding on the bottom. This is soooo good. It is rich, so smaller servings are better.