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If you have the opportunity to take a cooking class at Central Market, do it. We attended COUPLES: STEAKS ON THE GRILL, during their Passport Argentina celebration. Naturally, everything was Argentine themed.

Besides learning to make specific dishes, we also learned cooking techniques such as the proper way to hold a knife, core a bell pepper, crack and chop fresh garlic, season a grill, know by touch how well-done a steak is, etc., etc. The little tips and tricks alone made the class worth it.

Our appetizer was Crudites with Romesco Dip. The dip included toasted almonds, garlic, cayenne pepper, red wine vinegar, and a couple other seasonings. We then had zucchini, tomatoes, cauliflower, and mushrooms to dip and eat as we made the rest of the meal.

Then we prepared the burnt tomatoes, which are exactly what they sound like. Tomato halves, olive oil, black peppercorns, salt, and fresh oregano leaves. The tomatoes were seasond and placed in a pan until the cut side started to burn. Then they were taken off the heat and drizzled with freshly chopped oregano. Yum. We then made our Chimichurri sauce and Crillo salsa to put on the steaks.

The steaks were thick-cut ribeyes. But this wasn’t just any ribeye. These were imported from Argentina. Argentina eats a LOT of beef! Because they are highly self-sustaining, they don’t export much of what they grow and raise, so this beef is a rare treat in the US, as are many Argentine products. You could tell the difference in the meat just by the dark, rich color. And, man was it ever tender!

For desert we made Orange Flan, with whipped cream (it took 3 of us to finally get it thick enough…use an electric mixer next time!), and orange supremes (how the orange was cut…interesting). The whip cream was awesome because we added vanilla. Our instructor did give us an interesting bit of information about vanilla and using it in recipes. It seems vanilla is about 35% alcohol by volume. Bourbon and several other liquors are about 40%, so you can substitute it in a 1:1 ratio in any recipe that calls for vanilla.. I might have to try that some time.

Not only did we have some great food and wine, but we learned a lot. Because Central market is having Passport Argentina, they have a lot of items that will only be available for a limited time. One is the Alfajor, the favorite cookie of Argentina. Double yum! The one we had was coated in chocolate with dulce de leche in the middle. I may move to South America. We bought a couple of boxes of the cookies (last ones) and a big ‘ol jar of the dulce de leche that we can put on all kinds of stuff. We also picked up a bottle of the red wine, Tapiz Malbec, as it is one of the best I’ve had.

Last year, my wife was nominated on her campus for teacher of the year on her campus. Long story short, for several reasons, she withdrew her name from eligibility.

This year, she moved up to 6th grade, thus keeping the same kids. She was nominated by a parent whose child previously hated math. However, my wife (who is responsible for teaching math to the entire grade level) worked with her and was able to help this student achieve the “commended” level on last year’s TAKS test!

So today she is told there will be a student observer in her classroom. However, instead of a student, the Superintendent showed up with an entourage, a video camera, a bouquet of flowers, and two tickets the education foundation gala…all for being TEACHER OF THE YEAR! Congratulations to my amazing wife! Apparently, she is as great of a teacher as she is a wife.

Now she waits to see if she will be selected as teacher of the year for the district.

Last week I posted on Facebook and Twitter about the daughter of the former preacher where my wife and I used to attend church. She has been in the hospital for over a week now and is nowhere near being “out of the woods”.

She contracted the flu, and later went into sepsis, sending her to the hospital. Her heart, lungs and kidneys began shutting down. Over the next few days, her blood pressure dropped dangerously low and could only be maintained with several risky medications. She has also been on a breathing machine because she cannot breathe on her own. Then her hands and feet began to turn black due to lack of circulation. It has been a very up and down hour to hour situation.

If you would, take a few minutes to read some of the updates on her CarePages Site. You can avoid registration by using the login name Jenny@Bizaillion.com and password Friends. The family has been updating very regularly. The comments and posts show how many people are praying and keeping vigil for Jenny.

The following is a letter from one of the Shepherds at the Decatur Church of Christ where Jenny’s father is the preacher. If you are able to help, please do. Also repost this on Facebook and Twitter. I was without health insurance for over two years and it is by the grace of God that nothing serious happened to me. I cannot imagine the stress financial worry would add on top of the medical situation of a loved one.

The past several days the burden of this hospital bill has been weighing on my heart. David & Jenny have no medical insurance. When they first arrived, the hospital assured David not worry about how they would pay for her stay and that the quality of Jenny’s care would in no way be diminished due to this fact. We have been earnestly praying for a week for God to miraculously heal Jenny.

It is obvious that He has heard our leading by the fact that she is alive right now. Wouldn’t it be an incredible witness to this world for the 4,000 plus people who have been praying to each contribute $100? Let’s challenge ourselves, be diligent, and act quickly to ease this burden from the family. We can return this hospital’s generosity to the Bizaillion family by helping take care of this debt. The hospital didn’t hesitate to take care of her, let’s not hesitate in giving sacrificially. Please give something even if its not $100. Our goal is $500,000!

Here’s the simple process: Go to the Gregg Pearson Foundation at www.greggpearson.org, click on “donate”, during the donation process click on “special instructions” and type “Jenny Bizaillion”. 100% of what is donated will be given to David and Jenny. The GPF is a tax deductible 501c3 organization.

From Russ Hamilton, Shepherd at Decatur Church of Christ

There are also links below this (and every) post to make it easy to send it to others.

In an effort to pay off our vehicles, student loans, and few small debts, the wife and I have developed a budget and have stuck to it for the last month. One way we have reduced our expenses is to limit the number of times we go out to eat each month.

My problem was buying breakfast and lunch every work day. Now, I grab something at home for breakfast and take my lunch to work. The problem is I WILL NOT make my own lunch. I don’t know why this is, but I have some mental block that prevents me from doing it.

Anyone that has been married any length of time will tell you that it’s the small things that really show how much your spouse loves you. For example, no matter how tired she is, my wife makes my lunch every day so that I don’t have too.

Now here’s is the problem. Because I am new to taking lunch, I run out of the house occasionally and get to work only to realize my lunch is still at home. Then I have to go buy lunch. Ugh. Well, I did this again last week so I decided to put a sticky not in my truck to remind myself. However, those things don’t stick anywhere in my truck. I even tried tape, no help.

This morning, I walked out to my truck to find the note pictured below. Yes, my wife is an elementary school teacher. Yes, I need this level of handholding on some things. Anyway, this is another example of why I love my wife and how I know she loves me.

What little things does your spouse do that show you how much they love you? (And Trey, keep it clean!)

1. Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

2. Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3. Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

4. Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don’t Do It!

5. Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)

6. That’s Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7. Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you’re welcome. (I want to add in a clause here – This is true, unless she says ‘Thanks a lot’ – that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say ‘you’re welcome’ . that will bring on a ‘whatever’).

8. Whatever: Is a woman’s way of saying Forget YOU!

9. Don’t worry about it, I’ve got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking ‘What’s wrong?’ For the woman’s response refer to #3.

I read a post tonight on Building Camelot called “5 ThingsThat Surprised Me Most About Marriage”. I could identify with all of them. A friend of mine got married a few months ago. In the weeks before his wedding it was funny to hear him talk of things he was going to do “once they got settled in”. The rest of us, all married, just smiled as we looked at each other. He had no idea what was in store.

Now, I don’t mean that in any negative way. But marriage is different than what you think it is when you have never been there. I know I always thought it meant coming home from work, having dinner, watching some television, going to bed and talking about the kids after they are asleep. I saw it as a routine that you fall into and coast along normally, sorting out the bumps as they come up. Unfortunately, that is what too many marriages are. And that’s also why they fail.

Marriage is not always easy. It is not a ride you get on and expect it to operate on it’s own course. Being married means work. Stop right there! I know what you are thinking. “He called marriage work! Work is bad! He doesn’t like being married.” Wrong! I absolutely LOVE being married and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. But the marriage ride needs constant maintenance, just as a ride at Six Flags does.

But it isn’t always easy and you HAVE to work at it. A marriage is a living organism. It grows, it changes, it gets sick, it gets better, it learns, it becomes strained, and it becomes stronger. You don’t expect to get stronger without working out, do you? Then how can your marriage be strengthened if you don’t work on it as well?

The good news is there is great joy in putting in the effort to grow your marriage. It leads you into discovery about yourself and about your spouse. When you work together you never stop learning about the other. In the last few years, my wife and I have really worked at becoming a better us. We will celebrate our ninth anniversary in December and I can tell you that I have never loved my wife more than I do now. And I am excited to know that bond will only grow over the next sixty or so years.

I am currently reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm and one section deals with memory in an interesting way. Gladwell states that “An awful lot of what we remember is actually stored outside our brains.” He says we don’t memorize all the phone numbers we need because we memorize where to look them up. But he then goes on to describe how we use other people, such as our spouse, to extend the power of our memory.

For instance, last week I asked my wife if she would drop off and pick up some pants for me at the cleaners. When she came in with them on Monday, I had totally forgotten they even went to the cleaners. They would be there until they donated them if I had to remember to pick them up. According to researchers in transactive memory, this is because one the task was assigned to my wife to remember, I moved onto other things. As partners, we create an implicit joint memory-sharing system between us. We each intrinsically know what the other is going to remember and we remember things that are “our job” to remember.

This is one of the beautiful things about marriage. It is also why when a spouse dies, moves away for a long period of time, or when there is a divorce, we feel as though we have lost a part of ourselves. I know it has become a punch line when we tell someone “You complete me”, but with a marriage, that should be the case. And when it is, it is a wonderful and powerful thing.

For some great reading about marriage, go check out that article at Building Camelot. Then head over and check out this list of articles by Trey Morgan. Great stuff guys. Thank you for inspiring me through your writing to be a better husband.