Okay, Listen Here

Okay, Listen Here

Monday, December 12, 2011

Random Thoughts and Brie With Bourbon Praline Sauce

Random Thought One—This really isn't so much a random thought as what is becoming an obsession. I am torn up about Joseph. Or not so much about Joseph as how he is depicted in my nativity scene. (I'm talking about the earthly father of the Christ Child here.) I’m not going to turn this into a religious debate because we don't do that here under the tulip tree. It's against our rules. Let's just say for reasons of my own, I have never believed that Joseph was old. Now, my belief has been validated by one Adam Hamilton, author of The Journey, which I have been reading along with the rest of the New Community Sunday School class at the First Methodist Church of Decatur. Hamilton believes Joseph was fifteen years old and I'm with him. This is the part where I want to tell you why I believe it. But I'm not. Anyway, I love nativity sets. Love them. I affectionately call the two I have The Baby Jesus and His Buddies. I do not think this is disrespectful. If I did, I wouldn't do it. Anyway. My Josephs are old. I can't have it. Amazon has 5000 Nativity sets and I've looked at, roughly, a quarter of them. All the Josephs are old except the ones where the whole cast is children. And that's creepy. Also, there was one made up of mice. Come to think of it, I don't know an old mouse from a teenage mouse, so I don't know how old mousy Joseph is. But guess how I feel about a rodent Holy Family. Not good. So. I need a teenage Joseph. Stephanie says she's going to find me one. I think she told me that because she is tired of hearing about it. Most people in my life are.

Random Thought Two—There are two occasions in my little town where you can dress up and drop a few hundred dollars in the name of charity and a good time—The Gala and The Pact Ball. My pals and I usually go to The Pact Ball but not the Gala. This year, however, Precious, Fun Girl, Cutest Girl in the World and their assorted spouses went to the Gala. It was two nights ago. I have not talked to them since but they put up a picture on Facebook of themselves in their finery drinking chocolate milk at the Waffle House. I can only imagine they shut down the Gala and every other place in town. I can't wait to hear this story.

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I know it isn't recipe day, but in the name of randomness I am going to supply you with a recipe that I've had requests for.


Brie with Bourbon Praline Sauce

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • ½ cup finely chopped pecans.
  • ¼ cup of butter
  • ¾ cup of dark brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons bourbon
  • 1 pound round of brie
Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter and add pecans. Cook on medium heat until pecans are toasted. Set aside.

Melt ¼ cup of butter and add brown sugar . Stir over medium heat until sugar melts. Add pecans and bourbon. Keep warm.

Peel rind from top of brie. Microwave cheese until it's runny—30 to 60 seconds . Pour sauce over cheese and serve with crackers and apple splices.

14 comments:

  1. Jean, your recipes are evil. I love them. They make me want to cook . . . and anything that makes me want to cook is evil.

    Of course Joseph was young. How else could he still be alive and carpentering years later????

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  2. After Saturday, I Googled Saint Joseph and most of the experts think he was ninety when he married Mary. Geez, I'm with Maven Linda, how did he carpenter all those years after that? Most of those experts think he was a widower with other children also. Thanks Jean for putting that thought in my head. Now I shall be looking for a Nativity with a younger Joseph...

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  3. Linda--I know! Not to mention walking to Bethlehem and escaping to Egypt. That Brie is good--and so easy.

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  4. Cheryl--I feel my chances have increased since you are also questing for a young Joseph. Perhaps we should for a task force. Southern Women for an Adolescent Joseph. SWAJ.

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  5. I think they measured years differently back then too. But I agree -- he was younger than normally depicted. Sign me up for SWAJ.

    Does that bourbon heat long enough to cook off the alcohol? I'm not a tee-totaler, just one whose meds don't play nice with alcohol.

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  6. And, I forgot to add, that those same experts put Mary's age as between twelve and fourteen. I sincerely hope they measured age differently. Now I really have to find a younger Joseph. I am also thinking of having t-shirts made - SWAJ.

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  7. PM--I've always been taught that Mary was 13 or 14. Life expectancy wasn't what it is today.

    No, I don't think the alcohol would be cooked out. If you cooked it long enough to do that, I think it would be candy instead of sauce. But you can omit it and flavor it with a teaspoon or so of extract--rum, almond, vanilla.

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  8. I am going to find that young Joseph. Maybe I need to take orders. lol

    I don't think I need one of those shirts.

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  9. Stephanie--I will try to simmer down about Joseph. But you know I can't until I get on to something else.

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  10. This is so funny and very thought provoking. You know me, I'm eager to hear whatever you have to say, Jean. ;) I'll never tire of the Joseph debate. Very astute of you to consider his age when most people go with the flow and never even think twice about it.

    Now I want to know how old he really was. Hmmm... Must ponder this more. Thanks for the motivation!

    Brie? Yes!

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  11. Kathy, I can always depend on you and Godson's Dad to beat areas horse with me. It's our hobby'

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  12. And lots of fun too! How many different ways can you beat a dead horse? LOL!

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  13. Yay, the Brie recipe! Y'all, this is awesome. I've had it. And now I can make it. Squee!

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