Themes...

I am still working on posting more regularly; it's been almost a full week since I last posted.  Which is not to say that nothing has been going on (do you love double negatives, too?) or that I've been sitting around trying to think of something to write about.  It's been all about time.  But let's see if I can get caught up.

First, last weekend, G&I went to a CD release concert where my son, S, was playing.  It was a good concert, and I've enjoyed listening to the CD this week.  One phrase from track 10 resonated with me immediately.  It's a remix of an old song, and the line "redeeming love has been my theme" struck me as something I want to capture as a section in my grown-up blog, Deb's Dessertations.  But I don't have to wait until then to explore that theme.  I want that section to be full of stories of redeeming love - people living out redeeming love - love that restores...love that respects...love that brings hope and yes, oftentimes those stories may well lead to tears, for something about redeeming love strikes a chord with most people.  It's something we all long for at some level - that sense that no matter how badly I may have screwed up or hurt someone, I will be forgiven.  That sense that we all matter, no matter our circumstances or anything else going on.  We matter.  Period. 

My friend, PK, shared this story on her FB this week, and it is a story that lives out redeeming love.  Both wrestlers are champions in their own ways - both show respect for the other even in the ring.  It may seem odd to post a story about high school wrestling under the theme of redeeming love, but ya gotta love the back stories of both of these young men and the humility and strength each brings to the match - each acting in a way that redeems the other.  Redeeming love - I don't always live it, but I want it to be a theme in my life.

Second theme of the week has been....drum roll please...PIE!!!  Here are a few shots of the action...

Pumpkin - we found sugar pumpkins for sale at Home Depot on Saturday, so I roasted them up on Sunday.  Here are the skins after roasting.  The one on the left was MUCH riper than the one on the right, and you can tell it here.  Notice how soft and yielding the one on the left looks vs. the right?  The right one never did yield a soft skin.  I was able to scoop out the pulp, but the shell remained hard.  Interesting...but I would do this again with a sugar pumpkin - not with a large one, but with a small, sugar pumpkin, yes. 

Yesterday was the SAP Team's First Annual Pie Day.  We shared 6 pies among 12 people.  The team got divided up into 6 teams of 2, and each had to choose their team name and a pie. 

The first team was the easiest - Life of Pie and Strawberry.  That was it.  No special requests; just a strawberry pie.  I used the America's Test Kitchen recipe, and here it is.

 

Next we have cappuccino pie for team Easy as 3.14.  They won the prize for best name as chosen by our esteemed judges...er...judge...This pie was the first one gone, and while it's closer than the other cappuccino pie that I've baked in the past to what I want, what I really, really want, there is still a gap, so there will be another version sometime.  At least the cappuccino type art on the top came out pretty cool!

 

Below is Derby Pie from Team Muy Mucho - although that was a typo, and it was supposed to be Team Muy Macho.  They won the prize for the best fit between team name, team members and pie choice...there is so much here that I could say, but I will simply post the pic and move on....

 

Team 4's name was Lean Green IT Machine since they both test "green" in the Insights tests and are IT professionals.  They chose a cherry pie with the SAP logo.

 

The next team name was Pi Squared.  They chose pumpkin pecan, and I think the rest is pretty self- explanatory.

 

And last but not least was Team Support 3.14159 or Team Support 22/7 (trust me, it's an inside joke.)  They chose apple with a flag or some patriotic theme.  What's more American?

 



I even came up with a little Pie Chart Prezi presentation, cause I'm a geek like that.  Also another theme in my life.  If you've never played with Prezi as a presentation tool (it's free!) you might find it fun - funner than PowerPoint...

 

All good practice for Pie Night coming up on the 3rd Thursday in November!  My daughter, S, has already chosen her pie...stay tuned...

 

I guess that's about it for now.  The family is going apple picking on Saturday, so if I don't post again before then I will post after that at least.  Happy Thursday everyone!