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Kringle: A Delicious Norwegian Goodie

 What is a kringle (pronounced KRING-lə, not like Kris Kringle), you might ask?  It is a light, soft, and cake-like Norwegian dessert or cookie formed in a figure eight or pretzel shape. There are many versions of kringle from across Scandinavia. The Danes in the Racine, Wisconsin area make a pastry very different from this one, which confused me the first time I saw it labeled “kringle.” Apparently, what they have most in common is their shape (because “kringle” is evidently a reference to the shape). These are the type I’m most familiar with from church, Sons of Norway meetings and Syttende Mai celebrations, and occasionally home at Christmas time.…

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Rules Matter at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly

 Rules of procedure? Do I hear yawns? It’s probably a worthy response to a rather esoteric topic. (And don’t worry, I’m not getting too esoteric.) As the Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adopted it’s rules tonight, a couple of important things happened with respect to the issues of ministry by gay and lesbian persons. First, an attempt to require a 2/3 majority for passage on the votes concerning allowing blessings of same-sex relationships and ordination of individuals in a same-sex relationship was defeated. Soundly. Over 57% of the voting members voted against the 2/3 rule. The proposals will only be required to be passed by a simple…

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Faith and Religion as Practice

 I recently came across a website called “Luthermergent,” which is a discussion community devoted to s0-called “emergent” church and practice in a Lutheran context. Part of the program of “emergent” thought is to try to figure out a new way of being the church in a postmodern world amongst postmodern people. Reading through some of the posts and comments there brought to mind a comment I heard several years ago on the public radio program Speaking of Faith. Host Krista Tippett, in a program on paganism, interviewed Adrian Ivakhiv, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Vermont. He was raised in an Eastern Rite Catholic family, and has…

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The Feast of Mary, Mother of Our Lord

 O higher than the cherubim, more glorious than the seraphim, lead their praises: “Alleluia!” Thou bearer of the eternal Word, most gracious, magnify the Lord: “Alleluia! Alleluia!” Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! On this day the church remembers Mary. On the Lutheran calendar is it simply Mary, Mother of Our Lord. For Roman Catholics today is the feast of the Assumption. For Eastern Orthodox Christians, it is the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. The title Theotokos means God-bearer, and was applied to Mary at the Council of Ephesus in 431 because if Christ is both God and human, Mary indeed gave birth not only to Jesus as a human being,…

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Photos from Israel

 A call a few days ago from a former colleague of mine lead me to look back at my photographs from my 1994 grip to Israel. Wow, 1994. Was it really 15 years ago that I made that trip? Anyway, I decided to dig out the negatives and scan a selection to share. Right now there are about a dozen and a half images, and I may add a few more later. Photos include the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Western Wall, and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and photos from Galilee. Gallery: Israel 1994

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ELCA Clergy, the Churchwide Assembly, and Ordination Questions

 The ELCA communications office sent out a story on Thursday highlighting results from a survey of Mainline Protestant clergy on gay and lesbian issues and the church (conducted by a firm called Public Religion Research). There were some interesting results, both generally and about ELCA clergy. The survey found that 54% of ELCA clergy favor the ordination of gay and lesbian persons without any special requirements placed upon them. Only 14% oppose the eligibility of gay and lesbian persons in any circumstance, and 32% favor their eligibility if they remain celibate (which is the status quo in the ELCA). Civil marriage for same-sex couples gets only 37% support from ELCA…

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Orange Whole Wheat Muffins

 These tasty and tender muffins come with a nice, gentle orange flavor and are filled with whole grain goodness. I recommend using King Arthur white whole wheat flour for this recipe so that the orange flavor is not dominated by the more tannic flavors of more conventional whole wheat flours, although you can easily substitute regular all-purpose flour, if you desire. The recipe is below. It makes nine medium-sized muffins.

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Jefferson Memorial in HDR

 I’ve revisited another photograph from one of last year’s visits to Washington, DC. This photograph is of the Jefferson Memorial portico with dramatic sky above. Processed from a single frame in Photomatix Pro, the new version is a great improvement from the version I had previously posted in my galleries. The sky is more dramatic and it allows for more detail in the memorial’s stone. I’ve also included the original version below for comparison. Collection: HDR

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Introducing the Restenergy Store

 I’ve opened an online store at Cafe Press that features my photography.  I currently offer a variety of blank greeting cards, note cards, post cards, and a couple of calendars.  I’ll add one or two more calendars soon.  A selection of Christmas cards with your choice of interior greeting will be available in the next month or so, as well. You will find my store at http://www.cafepress.com/restenergy.  A link also appears in the right sidebar. As always, prints of my photograph are available through my photography galleries at http://photo.restenergy.net. If there are images you’d like to see on a card, or some other product you’d like to purchase with one of…

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Food, Cooking, and Television

 Food programs are as popular as ever, perhaps even more popular than they were not so long ago. Julia Child helped transform the American relationship with food and cooking. And the Food Network thrives on cable television. But in a New York Times Magazine article, Michael Pollan (author of The Omnivores Dilemma and In Defense of Food) notes that two curious things accompany this popularity. First, Americans continue to spend less and less time cooking (and the definition of “cooking” seems to have expanded tremendously so that what one online Scottish friend calls “prick and ping” becomes “cooking” to many Americans). Second, unlike the shows that Julia Child presided over,…

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Thai Soup: Tom Kah Gai

 Tom Kah Gai (ต้มข่าไก่) is a Thai soup of chicken, and coconut milk, flavored with galangal and lime. It’s light and refreshing, and a bit creamy thanks to the coconut milk. It’s also very tasty.  Kah (or kha)  is Thai for galangal, which is similar to ginger, only different. I first had this delicious soup when I visited Portland in June, at a restaurant named Typhoon. It was wonderful. I had to go back and have some more for lunch a couple of days later before I left town. I was also determined to find a recipe for it.  There are quite a number around.  After taking a look at several, and…

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