Into the Wild

Over the last few days I sat down to watch Into the Wild. I'd read the book years ago, and coming on the heels of some things this week, the film got me thinking and I wrote some things down, Here they are, for what it's worth.
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This past week I watched the film Into the Wild (dir. Sean Penn, 2007). If you are unfamiliar, it’s taken from Jon Krakauer’s book which tells the true story of the young Chris McCandless. After college, Christ renounces his life, renames himself Alexander Supertramp, and journeys into the wilderness (in all senses) and an eventual, tragic death at 24. I got into a discussion at work about it, with comments of “how selfish, what a waste, senseless” etc. Yes and no. Even if we allow that it’s a selfish waste, I can still admire the struggle, still sense the challenge it presents to our own lives and world. In Alex’s case, I can’t help but think that his struggle was just off-course enough to mean an endless beating against the wind, a tack into its teeth. Sure, the art of elimination knifes off all the stuff and junk that clutter and cloud our inner worlds – call it society, people, money and materialism, idols, desires, careers, what have you. But when everything is stripped away in the name of truth, what’s left?

In the end, truth can be as merciless a tyrant as any other, leaving you weak, pale, pitiful, and cold. It, too, demands your death, but it remains to be seen whether your death will bring any life. Or will it be just the final, too-familiar flameout of a once-brilliant torch? Closer to the heart of things, I think that the very part of us that has to be better, be right, be moral, alone be strong, alone be true – that part has to die as well. If it doesn’t, it becomes another petty god, a sham-idol in the jam-packed temple of humanity. And idols don’t give life.

It’s not the wild that kills the devil in me – but I think Alex/Chris knew that. It might reveal it, make me face it, but merely being in extremis doesn’t bring liberation. The real liberation comes when all our strivings only further tighten the cords further and we realize that we have to die in order to live. The truth is, someone has died for me and that alone gives me the power to die to myself and live for others. Without love, truth – however piercing, however beautiful – is only so much noise. Someone far wiser than I wrote that truth is not known unless it is loved. I think of some of Alex’/Chris’ final words: “in God’s name someone help me please …” In God’s name, someone has helped us, someone has loved us – and showed us the fullest extent of that love. God help us all.

(cross-posted at Facebook)

the great exchange

"Let us then rejoice in this grace ... for what greater grace could God have made to dawn on us than to make his only Son become the Son of man, so that human beings might in their turn become children and heirs of God? Ask if this were merited; ask for its reason, for its justification, and whether you will find any other answer but sheer grace."
-Augustine

Christmastime is here!

You know how I know that? Because I seriously just put a million Christmas cards into the hands of our friendly postal worker. It's got to be some kind of record in that the cards were not even in my house for 24 hours. UPS brought them at lunch yesterday and they were gone this morning. I can't take any of the credit for the speedy turnaround; it's all the kids. They have been anticipating the card assembly process for weeks (why, I don't know). So yesterday afternoon I was frantically sorting through Outlook, trying to export a long list of people to a document of labels in Word (yes, I printed labels and trust me, the USPS is thanking me for that one!), during which process I somehow ended up with about ten Word windows open (Dear MS: honestly, printing labels from one of your programs in another one really shouldn't be all that hard, and I'm actually considered to be fairly computer savvy, so if I struggled with it?), but I finally emerged victorious over the process. The assembly line was rockin', too. And if you suddenly realized that you moved this year and didn't give me a new address, I hope the USPS is forwarding your mail. And please do give me your new address because I'd like to know that I can rely on my address book.

Actually, I have really been looking forward to the cards this year as well, because I had fun designing them, and my heart almost melted when I opened the box and saw how well they turned out. It didn't hurt that they have three of the cutest children ever on them.

I was going to make this post the 2009 update post, especially since I've done so badly with that this year, but since I've gone on a crazy ramble already, I'll just post some of the outtakes from our Christmas pictures (note the new dog, Judah). If you already saw these over on my own website, well, then, you saw them.

On Cooking: #3 in 50

I see we should be around day 15 of 50, but alas – it is only day 3. So I’ll just list the new things made in the meantime – delicious things, but things that I got too busy to blog about: rabbit stew with homemade dumplings, sautéed chicken with porcini sauce, broccoli with buerre blanc, braised lentils, the ever-present frittata combos in our house, a sweet potato/Israeli couscous dish I will never repeat, oriecchette with mushrooms, and oven-roasted beef tenderloin (new method for Thanksgiving). That brings us to …

White Chicken Chili. I love this dish, but have never been satisfied with my attempts at it. So I reached for the Jan/07 recipe in Cooks Illustrated (my cooking education and companion). Highly recommended.

As in war and armies, you go to cook with the ingredients you’ve got. I had only boneless/skinless thighs instead of 3# whole breasts (which meant so skin for browning or bones for stock). I also dropped the anaheim/poblano/jalapeno chili combo quantity by 1/3 (after all, I have children to think of) and subbed in 4 tomatillos. Since I was short on chicken I dropped in one length of andouille sausage for that optional kick. After making it a day ahead to blend flavors, I served it with the following toppings: scallions, limes, cilantro, minced jalapeno, and sour cream.

We ate almost the entire pot (plus some cornmeal biscuits). Michael’s response – “woo-hoo-chakalaka-boom-boom!”

love to you all - andy

(cross-posted at Facebook)

On Cooking: #2 in 50

So I am a week late, but here we are. As a reminder, my goal is 50 new recipes over 50 weeks to expand the ol’ home repertoire. Sound easy? try it sometime. Week #2 was Baked Lamb Shanks (also via Cook with Jamie, p. 162). Lamb shanks, sage, thyme, butter, garlic, salt, pepper – all piled on top of finely sliced carrots, onions, and leeks, then wrap in foil, tip in a glass of wine, and cook for 2.5 hours. Witness the raw ingredients:


(props to Ela for taking the picture for her dad: my hands were filthy, and we can work on her focus).

So what was so fun about this recipe:

1) It’s lamb! I love it, but this is the only the second time I cooked it. I couldn’t resist the noise: “what’s this bleating of sheep in my ears?”

2) It’s meat. Ok, I love meat: all the Cornetts do. But we, like most Americans, eat too much of it, so I’ve been cutting down our portions. The two times I’ve cooked meatless, I’ve endured long, mournful glances from the children before one of them gets up the courage to ask, lips trembling, “Dad, what happened to the meat?” Lamb shanks don’t give you a ton of meat, but just enough.

3) It’s the first time I frenched a bone: something I’ve wanted to do, but never really had the excuse. This was fun, and not as hard as I expected.

The end result was delicious: I tucked in with a good will, and I think the others all tried some. But let’s just say it’s not a meal fit for a sweltering August night in south Florida. Think early December, up north, with cold winds outside and steaming potatoes alongside the toasty packages on a platter.

In other cooking news, let me share two recent developments. After a hearty dinner of a homemade Tuscan Bean Stew, Michael pushed back has half-eaten bowl and said: “Dad, can’t we just have canned soup next time? I mean – can’t we just trust Publix?” Oh, Michael – you don’t want to trust canned soups. Second, I have decided that my current guilty pleasure in cooking is pancetta. Expensive? Salty? Fatty? Yes. Delectable? Oh yes. In small amounts – omelettes, pastas, arugula salads, and more – it’s both worthwhile and economical.

Love to you all - andy

(cross-posted at Facebook)

On Cooking: 50 in 50

Some of you know that I love to cook. I’ve tried to analyze why: it’s the creative outlet, it’s the routine, it’s the necessity, it’s the joy of fresh whole ingredients, it’s the satisfaction of doing well at something others enjoy – and yes, it’s because I love to eat.

But lately I feel like I’ve been in a rut. So two things are happening: (1) I’m making a list of new recipes, and (2) Robin signed up so for this 2x/month organic co-op fruit-and-veggie box which will force me to use things outside my normal repertoire (like the fresh globe eggplants I turned into “Operation Grilled Baba Ganoush” last night – don’t think that campaign went over very well).

That means I have a goal of using 50 new workable recipes this year (I cook for my wife and kids, after all!), trying out one new dish in each of the 50 weeks. I’ll keep a running log for you of what I’m cooking, where it’s from, and how it went. It has the added bonus of stretching me to write about something outside my normal zone. And if it helps inspire you in any way about what you put on your table, then so much the better!

Just a teaser from this last week: summertime tagliarini(via Cook with Jamie – a 447-page effort by Jamie Oliver). Think smashed pine nuts, copious olive oil, lemon juice and zest, flat-leaf parseley, parmesan, pecorino, sea salt and pepper, and hot fresh pasta. Killer good.

Love to you all - andy

(cross-posted at facebook.com/AndyCornett)

if you missed hearing it in person...

Andy recently had the unusual opportunity to preach from the pulpit in our sanctuary. I personally thought he did rather a good job (I know I'm biased but I do not think I err). I am not sure how to link directly to the file itself, but the sermon is available online if you would like to listen to it. Here is the link to the online sermons. Currently, Andy's is three down from the top: his sermon was titled "Every Picture Tells a Story".