Cranberry Spinach Salad

Eat your vegetables, Mom always said. After discovering this amazing salad dressing by Jamie Hensley on allrecipes.com, eating greens is no longer a chore. In fact, this has made salad one of my favorite foods. Here's the recipe to the tangy, sweet vinegar and oil dressing that you can make yourself. 

Jamie's Cranberry Spinach Salad

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3/4 cup almonds, blanched and slivered
• 1 pound spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons minced onion
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions: 

1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook and stir almonds in butter until lightly toasted. Remove from heat, and let cool.
2. In a large bowl, combine the spinach with the toasted almonds and cranberries.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, paprika, white wine vinegar, cider vinegar, and vegetable oil. Toss with spinach just before serving.

Notes: It takes about 20 minutes to prepare this salad. This is enough for about 8-12 servings. At our house, we like to double the recipe and keep the dressing in a bottle, then add it to the greens and sprinkle on the toppings. I use Romaine lettuce when spinach isn't in the fridge, and I don't always toast the almonds; it still tastes great. For a variation, you can replace the cranberries with fresh, sliced strawberries. I've also enjoyed the addition of cooked chicken to the dish, and some say it's good with chopped apple. You can read all its five-star reviews here at the allrecipes site.

Isaiah 40:8

VisFest

My brother James, close friend Ashlea, and I just learned tonight that our short film Discovery got Best of VisFest at our school district's film festival! It took days of filming and way too many hours of editing, but with a medal, a trophy, and Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 in my hands, I feel like it was worth the work. :)


Watch it here on YouTube: Discovery: A Short Film

Joshua Eddy 1993-2012

https://www.facebook.com/JoshuaSEddy
I would like to think that I have the eloquence to write something beautiful and heart-moving that would give you hope after his passing, but I don't have words to say. I never knew Josh, but I wish I had. He was an amazing person, a powerful Christian, and I know about him so much more now that the attention has been called to him.


It was Saturday, or Monday. I sat down and logged on to Facebook. A post from First Impressions showed up, so I read it, assuming it would be a movie update. Wow. The words I read knocked the breath out of me -- was this for real? One of the directors died -- Joshua Eddy? I had no further information to reference, so that post stewed in my head for the longest time as I tried to imagine how, or why he could have died. I had been following First Impressions closely since stumbling upon their blog, and to hear this -- Shock. Disbelief. Sorrow. A cracked heart.


Why did God take him home? I can't even try to figure it out, because His purposes are so much greater than I could ever fathom. I would simply twist my emotions up even further.
As with all situations like this -- dealing with that word, Death -- we have to trust that God is in control and the best thing we can do is trust him. It's what he needs us to do. Joshua Eddy is far, far happier in Heaven now, and even though we want him back...


P.S. To the First Impressions team, if you ever read this, please don't stop making the movie. If you ever considered giving up the project (because the thought flickered in my head that you might), well, DON'T.  I don't think Josh would have wanted you to leave it unfinished :)

Modesty

Word Blocks

1. Find four wooden blocks about the same size. Sand the fronts and edges smooth.

2. Cut newsprint (magazine text works fine!) into rectangles that are slightly smaller than the front of the blocks.

3. Use acrylic paint to coat the blocks with a bright color.

4. Let the blocks dry; then glue newsprint to the front of each one. Rub sandpaper along the edges of the print for texture.

5. Use more acrylic paint to write a letter or symbol on each block (I wrote L, O, V, E); then add swirls and flourishes with a thin-tipped Sharpie.

6. Perfect! Use the word blocks to add color to a windowsill, dresser, or bookshelf.

The Adventures of Tintin

Somewhere along the way as I grew up, I was introduced to the Adventures of Tintin. And boy, were those a hit in our house! From King Ottokar's Sceptre to Tintin in Tibet: we read every colorful book. A few years back, we were hesitant to accept the news that Tintin would star in a movie come 2011. Would the makers respect Herge's comics?

                                                                                                                                          I'm excited to say that The Adventures of Tintin really did justice to the books. Tintin looked perfect, Captain Haddock's voice was superb, and the plot was entertaining and quite true to the original story. Add that to the spectacular animation effects, and you have my favorite movie! I'm hoping to see a sequel to this amazing film in the coming years.

Captain Haddock's thirst for adventure is "Unquenchable"