Trial by Fire

Friendship is a great and wonderous thing.

It, in its truest form, is rare and ponderous - a mirror in which one can gauge the makings of oneself. 

Friendship also provides wonderful insight into the varied differences which mark humanity.  For example, do you run? Do you help? Do you laugh? Do you cry?  Do you jump?  Do you shield your eyes? 

Friends come in many varieties, shapes and forms.  They can pass into your lives for a season and move on, they can come and stay and change with you, or they can come and go like frost and warm fireside chats - here today, gone tomorrow, but back again next year.

Jennie and I have been blessed with a wide variety of friends, but some of our nearest and dearest (as the family well knows) are the Hatchers.  We've known the Hatchers since the fall of 2004 and since that time we've, to put it simply, bonded.  They're not our only friends, but there some of the very few who feel like family.

And family means a lot of things.

Family means celebrating and spats.  Inside jokes and memories.  Trips and tears. Triumphs and tantrums.

You drop and change plans for family.

Those of you to whom I am writing know this - I have all of this with you as well.  And you, in turn, have similar friends - the Klewers, the Papas, the Hiatts, the Hannahs, etc. etc. etc.

Family also means you have history.  A story.  A timeline.  You ask yourself if a favorite bit happened before or after you cried on each other's shoulder. And you smile (and cringe a bit) when you think back through the story.

I write all of this as a lead into another chapter into the Fights/Hatcher friendship.  The Trial by Fire chapter.  It was a time of laughter and, for a brief moment, a time in the crucible to see how you react to a moment of choice and how do you work with the aftermath - does grace factor into your real life?

In preparation for my review of Shauna Niequist's Bread and Wine, we prepared a full menu from the book's recipes. A main dish of Steak Au Poivre in a brandy cream sauce (both from the book) supplemented by a salad tossed in one of Shauna's dressings and roasted potatoes and finished with dark chocolate, sea salted toffee (also from the book). Four recipes in one meal, tried with our closest friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Now before you ask, we had opened both bottles of beer and wine to enjoy with the meal, but neither factored into the ensuing mayhem.

The evening started off with two attempts at the toffee. As anyone who has ever made candy can attest to, it's a challenge to make and work with candy. The proper temperature is everything. Shauna's recipe skips the candy thermometer altogether, a fact that both delighted and worried me.

The recipe itself is insanely simple. Dump in butter and sugar, heat, spread in a pan, cool, and top with melted dark chocolate and sea salt. My first attempt resulted in a crystallized candy that, while tasty, clearly was not toffee. After consulting with Jennie and Courtney, I made a second try and when I appeared to be going down the same path, Courtney jumped in and, between the two of us and some quick searching on the Internet, we saved the second batch from the fate of the first.

At this point, Courtney made the salad and, after we pressed in the requisite peppercorns, Adam moved onto grilling the steak (ignoring for the moment that, per the recipe, the steaks were to be cooked in a pan and the remnants were to be utilized in the cream sauce).  Adam returned with grilled steak and Courtney moved to finish the preparations by preparing the sauce.

At another time, I may expound upon the evening, but for now, I will let the pictures speak for themselves with a minimal introduction.

1) We love Adam, but he did smoke the Steak Au Poivre (not suggested);
2) When viewing the below, remember that three of us would not have pulled the trigger and one of us abides by the better-safe-than-sorry motto;
3) We cleaned well into the night, though we were blessed to have the salad, the wine, the steak and the potatoes either covered, in another room or in the oven;
4) This evening is up there with the time the four of us were sharing a hotel room at a friend's wedding and Adam briefly thought he had forgotten to upload his bar exam to the Georgia bar examiners.  The moment of fear left Jennie and I caught in no man's land and Adam fearful for his life, before Adam located the glorious confirmation that he had, in fact, completed the upload in a timely fashion; and
5) Memories are made from nights like this.

And because the Lord is good ....

Brianne's Grilled Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin

A few summers back I was reading recipes I wanted to try and decided to combine a bunch into something I thought I'd like. Here's my outcome, and it is still one of my favorite grilled pork items.


Ingredients:

Teriyaki Sauce
Crushed Garlic (I use 3-5, depending on size)
Salt
Pepper
Onion Powder (optional)
1 pork tenderloin

Directions:

In a gallon ziplock bag, combine all ingredients. Add enough teriyaki to coat the pork. Add seasoning to taste, but do not add too much salt (the teriyaki is salty by itself). I add a ton of garlic and pepper.  Squeeze all the air out of the bag and shake to mix. Place on a plate and place in the fridge overnight or at least 2-4 hours. Flip every so often to ensure the entire tenderloin gets coated. Grill until done.

Bar Exams and Book Reviews

Hello family!

This is a slightly odd medium for the first part of this communication, but I swear there is a reason. I wanted to update everyone regarding the bar exam and to share with you an up coming new feature for Schrock's Shack!

First, the bar. Specifically, the North Carolina bar. The key bit of news is that I'm done! I have absolutely no idea how I did but the results will be out in approximately five weeks. This time around was a different experience as my whole "job" during the summer of 2007 was to study for the Delaware bar. As such, I felt far more prepared my first time around but I did have the advantage of knowing, more or less, what was coming. This time I on and off studied during December and January but I did not study in full earnest until the two weeks leading up to the bar. Things were complicated a bit by a case that blew up in January. The two weeks prior to the exam truly felt like cramming except instead of having to know a single subject you have to know 18 (or more, depending on how you count), some of which are traditionally taught over two semesters in law school. Effectively you're tested on over two years of law school in two days. Having practiced the last five years helped a bit (especially on a civil procedure question on Tuesday afternoon), but most of what I do day in and day out has very little to do with what the test covered.

Per the wise counsel of Jen, I ended up heading to Raleigh on Sunday, two days prior to the beginning of the exam. After checking out the NC State conference center hosting the laptop-test takers (those writing their essays by hand took their test at another location), I checked in to my hotel and essentially studied that night and through Monday.

The essay portion of the exam was on Tuesday with six questions in the morning and six in the afternoon, three hours per session. The essays cover North Carolina law. 200 multiple choice questions on more general "common law" (i.e., generically accepted law in the US) came yesterday in two three hour, 100 question sessions.

Most of the people taking the test with me seem to have been taking the NC bar for the second time, which made for a very different environment from my prior experience.

Having checked out of my hotel yesterday morning, I left Raleigh as soon as I could and made it home at 8 last night. I made it home just in time to kiss Cooper good night. In short, I'm glad it's over and I'm not sure what I'll do if I don't pass ...

Regardless, your prayers throughout this week were felt, appreciated and needed! The good Lord blessed and I'm done.

Today was a lot of relaxation, a good lunch with Jen and Miss Billie (who is in town until Monday), picking Cooper up from school and a much needed workout. Coop and I are going to visit Mom and Dad tomorrow afternoon with Jen and her mom shop a bit all six of us are having dinner in Tega Cay on Saturday.

Unfortunately, my back went out tonight. I was picking up Cooper when my lower back objected vehemently. I'm currently making good use of a heating pad and a mix of good Irish beer and Advil. If any of my words above are odd or strangled, I blame both the post-bar fatigue and my back.

I'm sure there is a fair bit more to update everyone on, but a) I'll stop boring you now and b) I wouldn't mind updates from everyone. Moving to Charlotte (or relatively near by) would make this so much easier, if you guys wouldn't mind. Can you make that happen??

On to our blog:

I mentioned this to Brianne, who, I believe, approves of the idea. In a combination of: i) the purpose of this blog (Brianne's idea was, to my mind at least, to have a family discourse on recipes both new and old, mixed with a bit of family stories related to the recipes (including fond memories and the like)) and ii) one of my true passions (books, reading and most things literature), I intend to review, on occasion, books that discuss food/recipes, and their relationship to life and the like.

At a point later in March, I will post a review of Shauna Niequist's soon-to-be-released Bread and Wine. Jennie and I submitted our names to review the book prior to its release and we were given the honor to do so and to post the review here. We're in the process of reading the book and I will be posting a review in late March and, if we're luck, Jennie will as well. Shauna has written two other books Cold Tangerines and Bittersweet, of which Jennie has read both and I've read the latter. One of Jennie's friends put her onto Bittersweet. The book is a collection of essays. Shauna presents a very real, very truthful, and very honest look at the balance of joy and hardship in our lives and the grace of God that flows from and through hardship. I'm not doing the book, or Shauna, justice but I highly suggest it for anyone who is dealing with the valleys of life and wonders why, why is God allowing this?

Of note, Shauna is the daughter of Bill and Lynne Hybels. Bill founded, along with Lynne, and pastors Willow Creek Community Church . Lynne is known in her own right for various ministries. Shauna's husband is a musician and they have two active boys.

Prior to the Bread and Wine review, I intend to post one or more reviews of books similar in nature that I have thoroughly enjoined. More then likely, the first will be A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenburg. Molly, like Aunt Jen, is the youngest of her family by a fair few years and, though not a Christian, writes a warm and insightful book on family and food. She gives a wonderful picture of her very quirky father and their connection through food. Her description of Burg, her (somewhat inexplicable) nickname for her father, is reminiscent of Grandpa - a point that in and of itself may pique your interest. Every chapter/essay is finished with a recipe that was either discussed within the chapter or that relates to the topic at hand.

Another possibility is Confessions of a (Closet) Master Baker, written by Gesine Bullock-Prado. Gesine's memoir focuses on baking, fittingly as she owned a bakery in Vermont for some time. The book strikes a chord with me especially because she was an attorney prior to her massive career switch. The book may be of even more interest to all if you take into account the fact that Gesine is Sandra Bullock's sister and that she used to handle certain of Sandra's affairs. Of note for Josie, Gesine is an avid runner and, consequently, has a firm grip on balancing the enjoyment of good food and life with staying fit.

Please accept my apologies for this lengthy post. Apparently the effects of the bar are still present and coursing through my veins. Love to all.