July 4th, 2007

I had a BBQ yesterday on July 4Th. Here is the menu: BBQ lamb, salmon, salad of Romaine lettuce, radicchio and fennel, cucumber pickles, pasta with shrimp, grilled peppers, Blueberry gingerbread, vanilla ice cream and pouring cream. Sophie, my sister in law made the pasta and the grilled peppers. The gingerbread recipe came from an old cookbook that I love and have always cooked from. It's about puddings, crumbles, crisps and pies. I've had it forever. I wanted to take pictures of the whole meal from preparation to the end. I was so busy supervising the grilling and than we ate. When I remembered about picture taking, we'd already finished and

the opportunity passed.

It was a small family gathering, my 2 brothers and their spouses and one of my 2 nieces, the other was at a band performance. Family gatherings are important to me, it is a time for me to influence them for the Lord and to imbue into them my brand of conservatism. I've always been like this, the big sister, the mother hen. I am shameless when it comes to my beliefs, I am not ashamed of the gospel.

I brought up the indiscretion of the mayor of Los Angeles. Of course we all are brainwashed into thinking his private life doesn't affect his politics. I tend to think of people as whole persons, their outer life is a reflection of their inner life. Proverbs says, 'delight in the wife of your youth....may her bosoms satisfy you always.' Psalms says, 'how can a young man keep his ways pure, by living according to the word of God.'

We talked about politics and the choice of a presidential candidate. I am an unrepentant conservative, cut me up and I bleed 'red' conservative blood. I never let any opportunity pass without speaking my mind on religion and politics. I guess this is a dinner conversation taboo. I like to turn all taboos on their heads and I do.

Well, we had a very pleasant family gathering. I gave my 2 nieces $40 each and some books to read during the summer. What are aunts for? I'm taking them to Italy next spring. Again, I'm in the process of mentoring them, I don't want to miss the opportunity, they're 16 and 14.