Choklit Blog #52: The Baked Chronicles: Volume 8

July 20-23, 2010.

  I’ve officially made the the most obnoxiously pink macaroons ever.  It wasn’t my fault that they were so obnoxiously pink because I didn’t put the food coloring in them, but I did do everything else involved in making them and they turned out very pink.  They were cool.

  I’m starting to get the hang of making PBK bars.  Apparently, the reason I had a problem spreading it out smoothly last time was because I didn’t heat it enough.  It’s supposed to be so liquid that it smoothes itself out when you tap the sheet pan on the table.  I knew there had to be some easier way to do it.  Important lesson #20: Everything is easier when you actually do it right.

  I made a pretty awesome new dessert this week.  They were chocolate timbals: basically death by chocolate baked in a tube mold. There was a layer of flourless chocolate cake under baked chocolate mousse, topped with ganache and wrapped in a dark and white chocolate shell, garnished with an apricot-glazed strawberry.  They were made over the course of about two weeks and took half my day to put together.  Important lesson #21: Anything that takes two weeks to make is well worth eating.

  My mistakes for the week weren’t too horrible.  I forgot to add chocolate chips to my zucchini bread and I dropped a lemon tart on the floor.  Important lesson #22: Lemon tarts slide off of plates quite easily.

  I think I learned a pretty valuable lesson this week.  I finally learned how to temper chocolate.  I’m sure that’ll come in handy in the candies class I’m starting in a few weeks.

Choklit Blog #51: The Baked Chronicles: Volume 7

July 13-16, 2010.

  If I had to describe this week with one word, it would be “miscommunication”.  Nothing was ruined by this week’s lack of communication, but it did get annoying to constantly hear “You’re not doing that the way I told you to do it.”  It was also kind of inconvenient when I realized I had made half as much brownie batter as I was supposed to, so I had to make more and waste valuable time.  Important lesson #17: Following directions is hard when you don’t hear or understand the directions.

  One interesting thing that happened this week was a visit from DHEC.  It wasn’t actually interesting, though, because nothing really happened.  The health inspector walked around and took notes, then it was over.  We did really well.  Important lesson #18: Health inspectors are boring.

  Unfortunately, I didn’t quite break my habit of messing things up.  I made violet cupcakes this week (which are awesome since they have my name and taste like flowers) and I forgot to fold whipped egg whites into the batter.  They were still fine, so I don’t know what the point of putting in the egg whites is.  I also finished making some cream cheese icing that was supposed to be completely smooth for a wedding cake, but I didn’t scrape the bottom of the bowl well enough and it ended up with lumps of cream cheese.  Important lesson #19: ALWAYS SCRAPE THE BOTTOM AND SIDES OF THE BOWL!

  In other news, I did something awesome this week.  Normally when we make whoopie pies, they come out in all different shapes and sizes due to bad scooping skills, but I somehow managed to make absolutely perfect oatmeal whoopies this week.  I think scooping all those cookies my first few weeks has paid off.

Choklit Blog #50: Dating and divorce

  It’s pretty much an obvious and very well-known fact that divorce rates in America are high.  “I do” pretty much means “I do until I’m not happy anymore or until I find someone better.”  Why?

  Because Americans are immature.

  In a country where it’s considered totally normal for eleven-year-olds to “date”, you would expect the general population to be more mature than most.  But no, in America we encourage everyone to stay young as long as they possibly can... and then some.

  But at the same time, most Americans allow their kids to grow up as quickly as they want.  That’s why everyone in high school is expected to have a boyfriend or girlfriend.  Parents somehow think it’s healthy for their teenagers to go from relationship to relationship all through their junior high and high school years.

  Well, I’m sure we all know how the vast majority of those “relationships” work.  You’re hot, so I date you.  You make me happy, so I love you and we’ll be together forever.  You smile at another girl, so I dump you and hate you.  I hate you, so I date your best friend just to make you mad while refusing to speak to you ever again.  And so the cycle continues.

  When these teenagers grow up and get married, they eventually realize their husband isn’t Prince Charming or their wife isn’t Cinderella.  Their little fantasy comes crashing down around them when they realize this person obviously isn’t “the one”, so they let them go and find someone else just like they did in high school.

  Parents, instead of teaching your kids to live like that, why not teach them this: No person will always make you happy, but if you’re a mature adult who cares about someone other than yourself, then you can make marriage work.

  People grow up in families so they can see what it’s like to live with someone who doesn’t always make them happy.  But American teenagers are encouraged to disobey their parents and hate their families.  This attitude toward family will carry over to your marriage and your children, even if you think it’s going to be different since you pick who you marry.

  Of course, that’s another problem teenage dating tends to create: no one knows how to pick the right person anymore.  In high school, dating is all about looks and popularity, or about who makes you laugh and feel good.  Typical teenagers are all about emotion, and whoever makes them feel good is who they want to be with.  They grow up thinking that a good relationship means the other person makes you feel good. 

  Well, guess what, teenagers.  It’s not all about how you feel!  It’s important to marry someone who has the same core beliefs as you and a compatible personality, and who wants the same type of life you want.  If you want a husband who will support you financially, don’t marry a 30-year-old aspiring musician who lives in a trailer and flips burgers for a living, even if he’s cute and make you happy.  If you want a wife who will stay home and raise children, don’t marry a career woman, even if she’s pretty and rich.

  Over the next few weeks, I’ll hopefully have some time to write a mini-series about my views on marriage and dating and stuff, so this little rant is sort of an intro to that.  Or if I get lazy and don't do it, then this is just a rant.  It’s also my 50th blog.  Congratulations, me!

Choklit Blog #49: The epic story of Violet's eventful day and the things/people/decisions involved in making it epic.

July 26, 2010.  Monday morning: everyone's favorite time of the week.  It was 5:29 AM and my day was pretty wonderful.  So far, it had consisted of sleeping.  One minute later, it started going downhill.

I could barely drag myself out of bed at 5:30 this morning, and once I finally did, I most definitely did NOT feel like going to class.  I was tired and my stomach wasn't feeling too great, but instead of staying home, I told myself "Violet, this is exactly how you always feel on Monday and Wednesday mornings, so you have no reason to think you should stay home."  I went to class, as always.  Mistake number one.

In class, my partner Laura and I made some pretty awesome baguette dough.  Unfortunately, due to some miscommunication on my part, I slashed my baguettes too early and had to wait a few minutes before they could go in the oven.  For those of you who don't speak bread, that's a bad thing.  They turned out kind of ugly, as did one of my challah loaves.  I almost got to take a nap, but Chef Jeff had to get in my face and wake me up.  Then he abandoned us all to teach little kids, which was actually cool because he's annoying. (Just kidding, it was tragic.)

On the way home from class, my mom and I decided to stop by Publix.  Mistake number two.  If we had gone straight home, everything probably would have been fine, but on the way to Publix, our brakes randomly went out, the power steering went crazy so the wheel would barely turn, the "check engine" and "battery" lights came on, and the AC stopped working.  We were just a few yards from intersecting with Highway 52 and crossing a railroad, but of course, there was a Wendy's right before the intersection.  Thank God for Wendy's.  We ended up parked rather awkwardly in the middle of the parking lot right next to the drive-through.  Seeing as how we had no working brakes, I'm just glad we didn't run into anything.

Of course this was the day my mom forgot her phone, so she had to use mine to call for help.  We found out it would be an hour before we could get a tow, so my mom, my brother Brent (who had showed up by now), and I waited inside the wonderful air-conditioned Wendy's.  Frosty floats can make the worst days so very win.  Thank you, Wendy's.

Oh wait... I forgot the part where the AC in Wendy's seemed to be broken.  Yeah, that made for a fun hour.  At least it provided us with shade and a fan.  And a Frosty float.

Once the wrecker showed up, my brother drove us all to the repair shop, which we accidentally passed twice.  My mom had been told the address and the name of the place by... someone, I have no idea who... and this place didn't have the right name, but it did have the right address.  She went inside to ask them about it and found out the place she had been told to go to didn't exist, and that the place we were at didn't take Crown Vics (which is what she drives).  Fortunately, the nice guy who I guess owns the place said he could work on it.  The tow truck showed up with the car and everything seemed great, so we were finally on our way home.

As my brother was about to pull back out onto the road, he realized his car was about to overheat, so he turned off the engine.  Then it started smoking.  The radiator had blown.  I knew at that point that this day could not get worse.  But it could.

The same thing had happened to his car just recently, and it turned out that last time he had also apparently blown his head gasket (what the heck is that?) and didn't know it.  Everyone proceeded to say that was really bad, so I guess that's really bad.  Either way, the car wasn't working.

At this point, it looked like we would be spending the night at the repair shop.  My other brother Mike was (and still is) at work until 8, and my dad was in some kind of important meeting at work where he wouldn't be answering his phone.  For a while we just waited, and my mom came up with a few ideas.  We could cut through a neighborhood and walk home, or we could walk to the store where my brother works and borrow his car.  Both would involve walking several miles in enough heat to kill you (or at least make you pass out) while carrying my tool bag, notebook, and several loaves of bread.  And there were dark clouds in the sky.

But then my mom remembered that we have friends who live nearby.  Yes, there are people in the world besides my immediate family... gasp.  So she called the Walshes, and Mrs. Walsh (aka the other person I know named Violet) came to pick us up.

As we stood outside waiting, the one thing that always happens in movies happened in real life.  It started raining.  And I don't mean sprinkling... I mean the worst downpour I've seen in a while.  Walking a few feet from the repair shop to Mrs. Walsh's van made me feel like I had just taken a shower, which was kind of a good thing because I needed a shower after sweating all day.

We did all make it home in one piece, and I don't think any of my bread or notes from class were ruined by the rain.  It took three hours.  Then I had a headache.

This was technically one of the worst days I've had this year, but it wasn't really that bad, especially since none of the cars were mine and I don't have to pay for them.  The baguettes were mine though, and I'll pay for them out of my slowly dropping GPA.

Special thanks to God, Mom, Brent, Mrs. Walsh, Laura, the mechanics, tow truck guy, and the inventor of air conditioning for making my day tolerable.

Choklit Blog #48: The Baked Chronicles: Volume 6

July 6-9, 2010.

     I feel like I haven’t really worked this week.  Maybe we haven’t had much business.  If we have, then we must have been trying to run out of food.  

     I’ve discovered something amazing.  One of the few things I did make this week was brookies.  A brookie is basically a chocolate chip cookie encased in a brownie.  My mind can barely process all the awesomeness.  What could possibly be better than that?!  Important lesson #13: Brookies are the greatest things ever created by man.

     My overwhelming joy from seeing brookies for the first time didn’t last long, though, because this week I was forced against my will to make cinnamon buns again after I was told I never would again.  While I was making them, all my coworkers walked out of the kitchen, leaving me with absolutely nothing to do except wipe down my table a million times and eat granola.  Important lesson #14: Granola tastes good.

     Of course I had to ruin something this week, like every week.  I was told by a coworker a few weeks ago how to check the doneness of brownies.  Unfortunately, I was apparently taught wrong, because the brownies I made this week were way overbaked.  By “way overbaked”, I actually mean “perfect for real brownies, but way overbaked for Baked brownies.”  Each employee went home with a box of brownies, thanks to my ignorance.  Important lesson #15: Ruining things the right way can work in your favor.

     Once again, I was told to make something when we didn’t have enough ingredients for it.  Molasses cookies just don’t work without molasses.  Of course, once I started making them, I was told that I actually wasn’t supposed to make them.  Important lesson #16: Don’t listen to the production list or non-managerial coworkers.

Choklit Blog #47: Romans 8 debate. That was totally not supposed to rhyme.

This isn’t going to be written in my normal blogging style where I just kind of talk about something, because this wasn’t originally supposed to be a blog. It’s actually from a debate on an online forum, but I thought it would make a nice blog. Sorry it's so long. Enjoy. 

HIM:

Romans 8:28-39. I'll break it down.

vs. 28-30 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."

Okay fun one here. Every stage of the Christian walk is outlined here and they are all outlined in the past tense. God already justified us, meaning our right to go to heaven is set all by his effort, not our effort through repenting and confessing. It's done when we accept him into our hearts, nothing afterwards can change that. Don't believe me just go on a little more. Next 2 verses aren't vital so I'll move on.

ME:

The reason this is written in the past tense is because it's talking about people who have already been called, accepted Christ and therefore been justified, then died and been glorified (brought to true eternal glory in heaven with God, because they're already dead). It does outline each step of the Christian walk, but it's referring to people who have already done it. That's why it's in the past tense; not because everyone in the world has already done it. Now technically both of our views of this could be valid arguments, except that yours in disproved by 1 John 1:9 which says we must confess our sins. Mine isn't.

HIM:

vs. 33-35 "Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?"

Very clear, very, very, very clear. Nothing can separate us because our justification is all in Christ. He is the one interceding, the one who "prays without ceasing".  And notice he mention "nakedness" or in other words shame and guilt, a sin that hasn't been forgiven. Think about it.

ME:

This is telling us not to judge others. Basically, don't be legalistic. It's like the Pharisees making up their own laws about what you can and can't do on the Sabbath and trying to condemn others for not following them. But if you're not following God's laws, you're sinning. God justifies and condemns through the laws in His word; He doesn't justify sin and take back His word. That's not someone judging you; that's just the Bible being true. Also, Jesus does intercede for us, that's true--when we confess our sins, like 1 John 1:9 says. As for praying without ceasing, yes I'm sure He does that, but we're also instructed to do it. The verse doesn't say "Jesus prays without ceasing", it says "[You], pray without ceasing."

It says that negative circumstances in our lives cannot separate us from the love of God---God always loves us, true. But it doesn't say that nothing can separate us from His presence. Check out Isaiah 59:2: "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear." Sin does separate you from God's presence; hell is the afterlife from those who have separated themselves from God.

Also, it says "nakedness", not unforgiven sin. They are not the same thing. Nakedness means having no clothes on.

HIM:

vs. 37-39 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Nothing, I mean NOTHING can separate us from God. And especially a sin that we haven't confessed or asked forgiveness for. Because our actions cannot transcend God's love and Christ justifying sacrifice.

ME:

You say nothing can separate us from God, but like I just said, these verses say that nothing can separate us from the LOVE of God. But sin separates from the PRESENCE of God. You can still go to hell even though God loves you. If your parents love you and they try to raise you right and offer guidance, but you refuse and run away to join the circus, you probably won't have a perfect life because you chose the wrong path. Your parents still love you, but it's ultimately your decision. God is our heavenly Father and he wants to raise us right, but sometimes we don't listen and we will reap the consequences. We can repent and come back home if we chose, but until then, we're on our own.

Also, "Christ's justifying sacrifice"... His sacrifice wasn't to justify sin. It was to justify us, as in make us Christlike when we confess our sins like we're instructed to do in 1 John.

Since you've brought up Romans 8, I'd like to talk about the beginning of the chapter.

v. 1-4

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”

Most people look at this and say "Those who are in Christ Jesus are those who prayed and accepted Jesus once and now wear the title Christian. They can never be condemned to hell." The problem comes when you try to use your own definition of "those who are in Christ Jesus".

People also tend to say "Jesus set us free from the law. That means we can do whatever we want." Jesus set us free from the law of sin and death, where if you sin you are immediately killed. Instead, He died for us so we can repent of our sins and keep living. 

My favorite part of this is "And so He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." God gives those of us who live according to the Spirit (aka those of us who are in Christ Jesus) the strength to refrain from sinning. So, according to this, to be "in Christ Jesus", the righteous requirements of the law must be met in us.

v. 5-11

“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”

The mind controlled by the Spirit, aka the mind of those who are in Christ Jesus, aka the mind of those who meet the requirements of God's law, have their minds set on what God wants. Everyone else is thinking about what they want. The former will inherit eternal life; the latter will inherit eternal damnation. The former can please God; the latter cannot. When we don't follow God's laws, we don't please Him, and if we die not pleasing Him, we die separated from Him, and we go to hell.

"You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you." If the Spirit of God lives in you, you will deny the sinful nature and follow God's laws. There it is again. Those who are in Christ Jesus follow God's laws.

v. 12-14

“Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

We're obligated, as believers, to deny the sinful nature and follow God's laws. Why? Because that's how God can live in us, and therefore give us eternal live. Does that mean we have to be perfect or we go to hell? No, 1 John 1:9 tells us what we can do if we don't follow God's commands and therefore separate ourselves from Him. "IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins AND TO CLEANSE US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS." We confess, He forgives, and He cleanses. He takes the sin away "in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit" (part of Romans 8:4) and when we're free of sin He comes to live in us so we can have eternal life. That's salvation. Salvation isn't saying a little prayer and then doing whatever you want. That's laziness.

Choklit Blog #46: The Baked Chronicles: Volume 5

June 29-July 2, 2010

  I destroyed something.  I feel powerful.  Important lesson #10: Destroying things makes me feel powerful.

  I was making coffee cake... and working very hard on it.  After I had slaved over it all day hour, it was ready to go in the oven.  It decided to go on the floor instead.  All I can say is at least it wasn’t as bad as the time I ruined fifteen pounds of sugar at school.  

  So far, this is the only time I’ve really destroyed something here.  But I thought I ruined something else this week.  I was making joconde and I was supposed to put melted butter in it.  I put the butter in the microwave, and someone must have opened the door when it was finished because I forgot all about it.  Important lesson #11: If you didn’t set the timer, don’t turn it off without notifying the person who did set it.

  The joconde was used to make some interesting... things.  I’m not even sure what to call them, but I really wanted to eat one.  The joconde (which was decorated with orange decor paste) was cut into rectangles, brushed with a little bit of cocoa butter, and used to line metal tube molds, with a round piece of joconde covering one end.  Rice pudding and orange mousse were piped into the middle, then they were frozen, removed from the molds, and garnished with some cool-looking candied orange peel.  I also ate candied orange peel for the first time ever.  I was shocked that it actually tasted good.  Important lesson #12: Candying things makes them taste good.

  I’m glad to know I wasn’t the only one to make mistakes this week.  On Tuesday I was given a list of cupcakes to make, which included carrot cupcakes.  It turned out we were a whole kilo short on carrots.  I seem to always be the one running out of ingredients.  Conspiracy?  Maybe.

Choklit Blog #45: The Baked Chronicles: Volume 4

June 22-25, 2010

  Ever since my first day at Baked, I’ve been working the mid baking shift.  I’ve made like a ton of cookie dough and cinnamon buns and all that stuff, but I’ve never really done anything else.

  Until now.

  This week I got to “work” in the front with the baristas, and I finally got to do some decorating.  I was hoping to decorate an actual cake, but I guess cupcakes are close enough for now.  Of course, some of the icing was so insanely loose that it was kind of like piping water on top of cupcakes.  I think I got the hang of it eventually.  Important lesson #8: I was not born to pipe icing on top of cupcakes.

  “Working” out front was pretty awesome.  The baristas didn’t have anything for me to do, so they were just like “We don’t need to train you to work out here because you won’t be doing it normally.”  Important lesson #9: Always wear makeup to work in case you’re called upon to “stand there and look pretty.”

  This week, I said goodbye to the thing that has been my enemy for the past month: cinnamon buns.  I was told that I will never have to make them again because they’re so horrible.  Unfortunately, I also made some new enemies.  The coconut macaroons from week one came back to haunt me.  Apparently I did scoop them wrong; they needed to be packed tighter.  Now I had to shape them into triangles and they all wanted to fall apart.  They turned out kind of ugly.  I also made galettes for the first time.  They’re like little pie things full of almond cream, berries, and pure evil.  The dough was so thin that I accidentally ripped the bottom of one open as I was sliding it onto the sheet pan.  But no one noticed while I was still there, so it’s all good.