Christian Chefs Newsletter
December, 2000

OUTLINE:
           Welcome
           Christianity in the Kitchen - THE BIG BEARS IN OUR LIVES (Part Two)
           Recipe Contests - 4 Listed
           Featured Recipe - Baked Rice Pudding
           Recent Job Listings - 1
           Hints and Tips - Super Quick Homemade Hash Browns
           Featured Website - The Hungersite
           Helping Each Other - Looking for Fellowship
           A Little Something Extra - The Middle
           In Closing

Greetings! Been wondering where we were? Life just seems to keep us ALL very busy, doesn't it? I call most of it "The Tyranny of the Urgent" after the title of a book by A. W. Tozer. That basically means that there are so many things in our lives that seem "urgent" that they keep a tyrannical hold over us, our time, our thoughts, our plans, etc. So much so that we sometimes don't get around to doing those things that we WANT to do or that are really important to us. We really do have to MAKE time to do the things that are most important to us, don't we? And that brings me to a question I'm sure some of you have, and that is, how often does this newsletter come out, anyways? When everything is normal (what exactly is "normal"? LOL) , it's published monthly. But due to health problems of the volunteer who had agreed to undertake the responsibility of keeping the newsletter going in Ira's absence, this huge task fell into the lap of the proofreader (ME!) , who already had a VERY full, very blessed and very busy life! But I agreed to put the newsletter out (albeit somewhat shortened from its original intent) as often as was humanly possible for me to do so. Thus the sporadic publishing of the newsletter.

In order to let all our many new subscribers know what's been going on, and catch all the rest of you "oldies" up to date, here's some of what's been happening in CCF.

Since July, our director (Ira Krizo) has been traveling and getting valuable work experience in Europe. In fact, we got a nice, long, newsy letter from him just a few days ago. Here it is in its entirety, re-printed with his permission:

"Hi everybody! God's been molding me and blessing me greatly these past 6 months of work and travel around Europe, and I thank you all for your prayers during that time. If you've joined CCF since my departure in July, let me introduce myself: I'm Ira, the Director of CCF. Back in July, God had for me to come to France to have a sort of sabbatical from my working 2 jobs and putting in 40+ hours a week spent with the Fellowship here. Additionally, I'm getting some great European work experience! I spent my first 4 weeks here in a language course in Paris (in order to obtain a few of the absolute basics of French grammar) then went to work in the South of France. I worked for 6 weeks in Roger Verge's restaurant, and after that, about 4 weeks in a fabulous bread bakery. God taught me many things during this time. At the restaurant, I learned a lot about the French work system, French language, and also received some excellent new ideas related to cooking in general.

Another thing I learned while there is that no restaurant in the world is perfect. I thought that since I was going to this famous restaurant in the south of France, that it would be THE perfect restaurant; but I found out that every restaurant has its problems...some just have more than others. The bread bakery/pastry shop I worked at was fabulous, though! Immediately after I finished working in Verge's restaurant, God opened the door for me to work in the bread bakery that provided bread for the restaurant. This bakery has the best bread I've ever eaten; and now, the best bread I've ever made! It took almost no time for the owner to trust me with many of the responsibilities, and by the time I finished, I was making baguettes, rolls, multi-grain breads, croissants, and all other breads without much, if any, assistance. I was doing the entire process of mixing, forming, proofing, and baking...even being allowed to bring a few loaves home to eat! However, there are several bakers there, so I wasn't making all the breads every day. I was also working quite often with the pastry chefs there which was an awesome experience as well! At the restaurant, there were a few people who spoke English, which helped me to get started; but it was great how much French I learned at the bakery, since NOBODY there spoke English! Honestly, between the bakery and restaurant, I thank God so much more for providing the job in the bakery, for the awesome experience and new friends from there!

Currently, work has finished, and for the past few weeks I've been doing a bit of traveling around France, Switzerland, Holland, and Luxembourg. Since I don't have any job, car insurance or registration, or other similar bills in the States, after a few more weeks of traveling, on December 29th, I'm off to visit my grandmother. (For graduating from the Culinary Institute of America a few years ago, my grandmother gave me the gift of a trip to Australia to visit her there.) If God allows, I might be finding work there or in New Zealand for a few months. After that, I'll be heading back to the US. Again, I thank you for your prayers as God has me on this giant adventure around the world, and I look forward to coming back in the not-so-distant future to continue working with the Fellowship. I also ask that you pray for the Fellowship as a whole, as it's been fairly difficult for the few volunteers to keep everything running, and if you'd prayerfully consider helping out in any way, that would be greatly appreciated. Just contact Carol Pinson (christianchefs@aol.com) or check out the following web address: http://www.ChristianChefs.org/volunteering.html
Thank you again and God bless you all!
Your Brother in Christ,
Ira Krizo"

Ira, we miss you terribly, but we wouldn't take this wonderful experience away from you for anything. So just keep on enjoying this special time in your life.

We've had a lot of requests for new subscriptions in the past few months. For those of you who have signed on since April, if you've been to the website (www.ChristianChefs.org), you may notice that the last newsletter listed there is for April. We have had several newsletters published since that time, but alas, while our web genius (Ira) is in Europe, he doesn't have access to what it takes to update the website and we haven't had any volunteers step forward in that capacity either. So, if you would like back copies of the newsletter that have been written since April, just send us an e-mail (ChristianChefs@aol.com) and tell us which one(s) you'd like to have e-mailed to you. We'd be happy to oblige.

We know that quite a few of you found us by simply surfing the internet or by doing a specific search. So if you haven't thoroughly checked out our website, we'd like to encourage you to do so. Besides links there to past newsletters, you'll also find links to individual articles, (Learning Subjects of the Month and Christianity in the Kitchen articles), a link to our Message Boards, a place to post and view job listings, a games area, hundreds of links to other culinary and Christian sites, an abundance of very helpful culinary charts, information about our volunteers, etc.

We're still greatly in need of writers for the Newsletter. Since our director has been in Europe, we've been struggling to get good Learning Subjects of the Month for our readers and have had to put out our newsletters without it. We're still getting some awesome devotionals submitted (THANK YOU!) and have had a couple of other people volunteer to help in other ways, but hey, we're here to learn more about our craft, too, right? And I just KNOW that some of you out there have all sorts of fascinating knowledge in one subject or another that you could pass on to the rest of us. You don't have to be a world-reknown writer (or wannabe); you just need to be knowledgeable in your subject. We have a good proofreader who can proof, edit, re-word or even partially re-write your subject matter (with your approval, of course) and is very happy to do so. Want to check first and see what's involved in doing that? Then go here:
http://www.christianchefs.org/volunteering.html#nl1
And please, if you have a learning subject mulling around in your head that's aching to get out (or suggestions for one you'd like to see in the newsletter), please write and let us know. You never know WHO you're gonna bless!

The holidays having begun, it looks like this will be the last newsletter published this year. So enjoy!

Be blessed,
Carol
Temporary Editor

(Note: Part One of this article was printed in our June, 2000 Newsletter. If you missed it, and would like a copy, please e-mail us at ChristianChefs@aol.com and ask for the June, 2000 issue.)

"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."
1 Timothy 6:6-10

This little "bear tale" shows God's sense of humor. :>) It also shows us that it is wrong to "hoard" riches (butter).

I was working at a camp out in the woods. Our year-round staff and I decided to SAVE one hundred pounds of butter from summer camp and use it to make Christmas goodies for all the families and neighbors. We carefully pooled our money and bought 100 pounds of margarine to take its place and safely placed the butter in a secure freezer out on the deck behind the kitchen. We would have one wonderful day in our beautiful big kitchen just making all our favorite Christmas treats.

Well, this is where the BEAR comes into the picture. It was a cold, snowy December morning and we were all ready to have our baking party. Would you believe he arrived the night before? Broke open the locked freezer and ATE all our butter. There were greasy paw prints all over the wooden deck. We never saw that bear the rest of the winter. He was living off our butter. :>)

We ended up having to go out and buy butter and still had our baking party, laughing all the while about our "hoarded" butter loss.

Dear friends, be content to take your walk with Jesus one day at a time and trust Him for the tomorrows. Then Jesus won't have to send a big old black bear to eat up your "butter".

Love to all of you in Our Savior's Name,
Diane Boone
Retired Camp/Institutional Chef

If God is speaking to your heart about these things, and you need somebody to talk with, please don't hesitate to e-mail us about your need and somebody from the Fellowship will contact you as soon as possible.

If you have a prayer request or would like to start a theological discussion on this or any other topic please feel free to post it in our Message Boards:
http://www.ChristianChefs.org/forums.html

Listed here are 4 contests for PROFESSIONALS in the culinary industry. There are many, many more contests available for non-professionals as well. If you're interested in those, here's an excellent website to check out:
www.recipecontests.com

ANGOSTURA AROMATIC BITTERS "WORLD CLASS TASTE" RECIPE CONTEST
Your best original recipe for food (not beverages) using the unique flavor of Angostura Aromatic Bitters can win you big prizes. There are professional and amateur catagories.
DEADLINE: Dec. 30
PRIZES: First Prize: $10,000; Second Prize: $5,000; Third Prize: 10 winners receive $1,000.
MORE INFO: There is no Web site information. Professionals can get the latest edition of Food Arts Magazine. Non-professional rules are in Sept./Oct. edition of Saveur and the Sept. edition of Yankee magazine. For more info, call (650) 726-3747.

THE ART OF DESSERTS RECIPE CONTEST
Sponsored by Cockburn's Special Reserve Port. Chefs must submit an original dessert recipe that uses Cockburn's Special Reserve Port or tastes great served with it.
DEADLINE: Dec. 31
PRIZE: $10,000
Mail to:
Earley & Earley, Inc.
225 South Cabrillo Highway
Suite 105B
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019

PORTABELLA MUSHROOM ALL-AMERICAN CLASSIC SANDWICH CHEF RECIPE CONTEST
The Mushroom Council is looking for chefs' recipes for any type of sandwich featuring portabella mushrooms.
DEADLINE: Dec. 31
PRIZE: $1,000
MORE INFO: For more information, call (209) 523-1642.

ALIZE LIQUEUR RECIPE CONTEST FOR WOMEN CHEFS
The makers of Alize liqueur are sponsoring a national recipe for women chefs. The contest is open to aspiring female chefs over 21 with at least one year of experience in culinary school or the restaurant trade.
DEADLINE: Feb. 1
PRIZES: Grand Prize: A six-week trip and scholarship to Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in France, plus a month-long apprenticeship in New York with Diane Forley, executive chef/owner of Verbena and Bar Demi.
MORE INFO: Among the judges are Forley, Sara Moulton of TVFN and Gourmet, and Ann Cooper of Putney Inn in Vermont. For more info, call 1-800-628-2921.
Mail to:
Alize Culinary Mentorship
c/o Kobrand Corp.
134 East 40th St.
New York, NY 10016

In honor of the holidays, a classic:

Recipe By :Dee Bell
Serving Size : 6
Preparation Time :1:00
Ingredients:
2 cups (473ml) cooked rice
1 tablespoon (15ml) butter, softened
1/2 cup (118.3ml) brown sugar
OR 1/4 cup (59.15ml) plus 2 tablespoons (30ml) granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon (.61ml) salt
4 eggs
2 teaspoons (10ml) vanilla
1 1/3 cups (315.45) milk
1 teaspoon (4.93ml) lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon (2.46ml) lemon peel
1/3 cup (79ml) chopped dried fruit or dates, or raisins (optional)
1 1/2 cups (354.9ml) crumbled cookies (optional)

Heat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Cut butter into sugar and slowly add salt, eggs, vanilla and milk. Beat together well and stir in rice. Add lemon juice and peel and other fruit (if desired). If you are using cookie crumbs, sprinkle a greased baking dish with half of the crumbs, spoon the rice mixture on top and then cover with the rest of the cookie crumbs. Bake for 50 minutes.

Serve with whipped cream, ice cream or mashed, sweetened berries.

Description:
"Cooked rice baked into a pudding with eggs, milk, sugar, lemon and vanilla."
Cuisine:
"British"

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 318 Calories; 11g Fat (30.6% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 47g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 137mg Cholesterol; 195mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 2 Fat; 1 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

To search the MasterCook.com Recipe Library, visit:
http://www.mastercook.com/library

For the time being, job listings are now found in our Message Boards. (There's been 1 new listing since our last newsletter.) At times, you can also find jobs that have been posted in previous months that haven't yet been filled. In addition, you can post any available job openings you have there for FREE! Go to the main website and follow the link to the Message Boards and then on to the Job Listings:

http://www.ChristianChefs.org

Listed below is an excellent site for finding or posting job offers relating to the culinary industry. This site gives you the option of registering to receive e-mail notification of NEW job postings as well. Just go to the site and follow the links to the Culinary Job Board.

http://www.pastrywiz.com

Even professional chefs and cooks have to eat at home sometimes, right? And we don't always have the time it takes to be able to cook all those freshly prepared foods we prefer and desire. But here's a handy little tip for preparing homemade hash browns in a hurry. The next time you bake potatoes for dinner, put several extra in your oven, undercooking the extra ones just a little. After cooling to room temperature, store them in your refrigerator, still wrapped in the original foil. These will keep for at least a couple of weeks. When you get that craving for crispy, homemade hash browns, simply unwrap the cooled, baked potato and grate with a hand grater, as you would cheese. Saute in a hot skillet with butter and seasoning. Voila! You have that homemade taste, but in a hurry!

Do you have a tip or hint you'd like to pass on to your Christian brothers and sisters who are chefs and cooks? Send it on in to: ChristianChefs@aol.com. You just might see it featured in the next newsletter. And don't forget to post your hints and tips in the message boards, too!

Here's an excellent way to help feed the hungry people in the world that costs you no money and just a few seconds of your time. You can donate food simply by clicking a button on this website. No pressure or hidden sales agenda here; you will NOT be asked for personal information and you will NOT be asked to donate money. Each person is limited to being able to donate one cup of food per click per day.

http://www.thehungersite.com

And yet another one:

Campbell's Chunky - Click for Cans!

Here is an easy way to make a difference this holiday season. Campbell's is donating a can of soup to the needy for every person that goes to their site and votes for their favorite NFL team. Go to the site and it is right there, very easy to do. It will only take a few minutes of your time to fill some empty tummies with warm soup this winter. Please forward this message to everyone in your address book too.

http://www.chunky.com/click_cans.cfm

We're thinking of making this a regular area of our newsletter, but we aren't all that crazy about the NAME of the area (Helping Each Other). We've also thought of: From Our Readers, Lend A Hand, Neighbor Helping Neighbor, Help!) Do you have any suggestions? If so, we'd LOVE to hear them! E-mail your suggestions to: ChristianChefs@aol.com.

In the spirit of helping each other, we have a reader who is interested in making Christian friends in the San Francisco, CA area; hopefully someone who is attending California Culinary Academy. If you know of anyone, please write us at ChristianChefs@aol.com and let us know. Or if you know of a local fellowship of Christians in that area, please inform us. Thanks!

The MIDDLE

1. Psalm 118 is the middle chapter of the entire Bible.
2. Psalm 117, before Psalm 118, is the shortest chapter in the Bible.
3. Psalm 119, after Psalm 118, is the longest chapter in the Bible.
4. The Bible has 594 chapters before Psalm 118 and 594 chapters after Psalm 118.
5. If you add up all the chapters except Psalm 118, you get a total of 1188 chapters.
6. 1188 or Psalm 118 verse 8 is the middle verse of the entire Bible.

Should the central verse have an important message? "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man." Psalm 118:8

Permission is granted to circulate this publication via e-mail or in printed form to others providing that no fee is charged and that proper credit has been given to CCF for the part sent.

Donations are sincerely and deeply appreciated and may be sent to the below address. The following link leads to our "Finances" webpage, where you can find how all CCF's finances are handled:
http://www.ChristianChefs.org/finances.html

Note: To view our archived newsletters, go HERE

If this newsletter was forwarded to you and you would like to be added to this mailing list, please go to the following website for a free subscription:
http://www.ChristianChefs.org/subscribe.html

If you would like to be removed from our mailing list, please send an e-mail to the address below, with the word "Unsubscribe" in the subject column.

In His Service,
Carol Pinson, Temporary Editor
Christian Chefs Fellowship
webmaster@ChristianChefs.org
http://www.ChristianChefs.org

Christian Chefs Fellowship
P.O. Box 608
Crestline, CA 92325-0608
USA