Chuck’s World

Pedestrians walk across Westminster Bridge as snow falls, in central London.

REUTERS/ Eddie Keogh

I hope to stroll this boulevard with my wonderful wife one day!

flickr Photo Link

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup shelled pistachio nuts (about 1/2 pound in shell)
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup dried, sweetened cranberries

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the oven to 350° and lightly toast the pistachio nuts on a baking sheet, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let the nuts cool.

2. Melt the semisweet chocolate in the top of a double boiler set over simmering water, stirring until smooth. Or microwave it, in a dry microwave-safe bowl, uncovered, on medium power for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring once. Remove the chocolate from the microwave and stir until smooth. Melt the white chocolate separately, following the same directions.

3. In a small bowl, combine the nuts and cranberries, then stir half of them into the semisweet chocolate. Using a spatula, spread the mixture to about a 1/2-inch thickness on a large cookie sheet. Drop the white chocolate by tablespoonfuls over the dark. With the tip of a butter knife, swirl the chocolates together to create a marbled effect. Sprinkle on the rest of the nuts and berries.

4. Refrigerate the bark for about 1 hour or until firm, then break it into pieces. Store the bark in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a month. Makes about 1 3/4 pounds.

Courtesy of NewYorkology

If you’re looking to simulate the New York shopping experience without the weather, the transportation or people, here’s the list of online NY shops you need. This year’s additions include the chance to buy pieces of Shea Stadium as it’s torn down, the sign from Barrymores and NYC manhole cover coasters.

The list:
Shea Stadium
Local Labels
Artez’n
NYC.gov’s CityStore
Strand Books
Pearl River Mart
Tiffany & Co.
Manhattan Portage
Flight001
Elsewares.com
Refinery 29
Kiehl’s
Bliss
CB I Hate Perfume
C.O. Bigelow Chemists
Caswell-Massey
Kate’s Paperie
FAO Schwarz
Abracadabra
Robot Village
Barneys New York
Bloomingdale’s
Bergdorf Goodman
The New Yorker store
Coney Island USA
“I Can’t Afford to (heart) NY” T-Shirts
Live Poultry’s Brooklyn Ts
Ciara Eland’s Queens Ts
Brooklyn Industries
Transportation Alternatives
Neighborhoodies
Juilliard Bookshop
Independent Booksellers of NYC

Food and drink:
Junior’s Cheesecake
Irving Farm Coffee
Dylan’s Candy Bar
Veniero’s
Russ & Daughters
Citarella
Zabar’s
Fairway Market
Vintage New York wines
Kalustyan’s spices

Li-Lac Chocolates
Murray’s Cheese
Sarabeth’s Kitchen
Rao’s
Guss’ Pickles
Cooperstown Cookie Co.
Fat Witch Brownies
MarieBelle
Dean & Deluca
Jacques Torres
Teany Cafe
Hamptons Honey
Eileen’s Special Cheesecake
Baked
One Girl Cookies
Little Pie Company

Home:
Old Goode Things
Broadway Panhadler
Mxyplyzyk

Museums, galleries and gardens
Museum of Modern Art
Met Museum of Art
New York Public Library
New York Transit Museum
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
New-York Historical Society
Guggenheim Museum
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
Jewish Museum
Mt. Vernon Hotel Museum
Italian American Museum
Neue Galerie for German and Austrian Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
International Center of Photography
NY Hall of Science
China Institute
Asia Society
Frick Collection
Wave Hill
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
New York Botanical Garden
Bronx Historical Society
Central Park Conservancy
Intrepid Museum
Lincoln Center
Queens Museum of Art
New Museum
Museum of Biblical Art
The Morgan Library
Museum of American Finance
National Jazz Museum in Harlem
Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation

Hotels:
Waldorf-Astoria
W Hotels
The Benjamin

Returning Soon:
Met Opera Shop
2nd Ave Deli
Museum of Sex
Ritz-Carlton

Additions:
TKTS theater gift certificates
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Trinity Wall Street
J&R
B&H
Moss
Meatpacking District shops online (via Budget Travel)

by Van Walton

“What matters is not your outer appearance… but your inner disposition.”  1 Peter 3:1 (MSG)

Devotion:

This year I am tempted to keep a close count of the number of times I hear the question, “Are you ready for the holidays?”

What does that mean exactly? If I were to guess what people mean when they ask one another if they are “ready for the holidays,” I would say most are not talking about spiritual readiness. I bet what they typically mean is, “Have you made a list of all the stuff you need to do before the 25^th and have you checked it off?”

Usually the answer that follows is a long list of to-do’s before Christmas day. Baking, sending Christmas cards, buying and wrapping gifts, hiding presents from the children, or delivering them to neighbors, choir or play practice, preparing for guests, or preparing to travel. My list also often includes planning and attending parties, house cleaning, and finally – my favorite – decorating.

I wonder, if Jesus were making a holiday preparations list, what would He include? What if those who were there on Christ’s birth day could advise us on getting ready for Christmas? What would be on their list?

Joseph might recommend we listen closely to the voice of God to prepare.

Mary may suggest we ponder the miracles of heaven.

Perhaps the angels would propose we sing about the King.

The shepherds may gently guide us to follow their act of worship.

Possibly the wise men would teach us to give Jesus our most valuable gifts.

The innkeeper may suggest “Hospitality: open your heart and home.”

And Jesus’ list would likely encourage us to be a light on the hill pointing the way for others to know Him.

Comparing my to-do list to the ones above, I wonder if I lived at that time, would I have missed Christ’s birth? Would my busyness have kept me from slowing down to take time to worship in the stable? Unfortunately I have “missed” many Christmases in the here and now because I’ve not slowed down long enough to bow my knees and experience the miracle.

I want Christmas for my family to be more about an act of worship and awe than a frenzy to decorate, shop, and jump through the world’s hoops. I don’t want to miss the true reason we celebrate.

A few years ago I set out to purposefully plan the way I celebrate. As a result, my Christmases have become increasingly simpler and at the same time my heart has become increasingly more satisfied.

Are you ready for the holidays?

3 cans of buttermilk biscuits

½ cup of sugar

½ teaspoon of cinnamon

1 stick of butter

¾ cup of sugar

¾ teaspoon of cinnamon

Put ½ cup of sugar and ½ teaspoon of cinnamon into a paper grocery bag. Cut biscuits into quarters and shake them, adding a few at a time, in the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Put the quartered biscuits into a greased and floured Bundt pan. Melt the butter; Add ¾ cup of sugar and ¾ teaspoon of cinnamon to the butter; Mix together and pour evenly over biscuits. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 35 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes and then invert onto a cake plate.

Enjoy!!!

by Gwen Smith

Today’s Truth
“Better one handful of tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.”
Ecclesiastes 4:5 (NIV)

Friend to Friend
Ah, Christmas!  What a joyous time of the year!  What a busy time of the year!  What an expensive time of the year!  Yikes!

A family friend of ours is going through a tight financial season and is concerned about what he and his wife can afford to buy their children for Christmas.  He has been talking with his seven-year-old son about the spending limitations they are bound by, hoping that these talks will diminish the child’s expectations of a lavish Christmas.  Regardless of the monetary dialog, his son is still determined to get an electronic toy that is very expensive.

Over the past few weeks, this resolute child just could not stop talking about, longing for and thinking about this toy.  My friend was amused and surprised the other day when his naïve son burst into the room with excitement, exclaiming “Daddy!  Daddy!  I figured out a way!  I’ve figured out a way!  I can still get my toy and you won’t have to buy it!  You won’t have to spend your money!  I’ve decided to ask Santa for it!”

At times, we can long for something so desperately, that we just can’t stop thinking about it.  The problem with me is that I’m often longing for vapors.  I want things that are neither eternal nor important in the grand scheme of things.  King Solomon referred to this in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes as “chasing after the wind.”  It just seems that my flesh is constantly battling the God-seeker in me.  Can you relate?

At Christmas time, longings attack our contentment.  Whether they are longings of a material nature or emotional nature – tangible or intangible.  Our desires are often heightened by the commercial status of this flesh-driven culture.  I’m compelled this year to pray specifically that the God-seeker in me would be strengthened.  I want to want Christ more.  I want a heart that is satisfied with Him.

There’s an old hymn written by the late Charles Wesley that is perfect for both Christmas time and all year round: “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus.”  It was the cry of those anticipating the arrival of a coming Messiah more than 2000 years ago and it remains our cry today as we celebrate the birth of baby Jesus and anticipate His return as our King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free
From our fears and sins release us
Let us find our rest in Thee

Israel’s Strength and Consolation
Hope of all the earth Thou art
Dear desire of every nation
Joy of every longing heart

Born Thy people to deliver
Born a Child and yet a King
Born to reign in us forever
Now Thy gracious Kingdom bring

By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone
By Thine all sufficient merit
Raise us to Thy glorious throne

The purposed love-mission of Jesus wrapping Himself in flesh and clothing Himself in humanity was for us to be reconciled to the loving heart of God the Father.  Hope came as a babe in a manger and will be returning soon to take us home.   Now THAT is something to long for…

by Sharon Jayne

Today’s Truth
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)

Friend to Friend
With Christmas just around the corner, it is easy to get so busy with the cooking, decorating and shopping that we forget why we’re doing all this in the first place.  Sometimes, the very people we love get lost in the hustle and bustle of packed schedules, holiday parties, and Christmas musicals.  This Christmas, let’s keep our focus on Jesus and celebrate the reason He came.

Today, I want to share a poem that I wrote a few years ago that helps me keep a proper perspective.

1 Corinthians 13 Christmas Style
©By Sharon Jaynes

If I decorate my house perfectly with lovely plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights, and shiny glass balls, but do not show love to my family – I’m just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family – I’m just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family – It profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the choir’s cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn’t envy another home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of the way.

Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Love never fails.  Video games will break; pearl necklaces will be lost; golf clubs will rust.  But giving the gift of love will endure.

by Lara L. O’Brien

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 (NIV)

Devotion

Have you ever felt like one of those toys from the Land of the Misfit Toys in “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer?” Boy, I sure have! Growing up, an overwhelming sadness haunted me. Inferiority and worthlessness were constant companions and I wondered if God had been sleeping on the job when He created me. Those feelings manifested themselves in a deep depression.

By the time I was a teenager, anorexia consumed me and I was determined to destroy myself. Because my life felt so out of control I needed something I could control. In my case, it was what I did or did not put in my mouth.

Years spent in my anorexic prison molded my self-image into one of self-hatred. Why would anyone want to be with me? Why am I here? Do I even want to live anymore? These were just a few of the questions that constantly bounced around in my head. Feeling like a square peg in a round hole, I quite honestly wanted to die. The pain of day-to-day living was so hard for me.

Despite being surrounded by amazing family and friends who loved me, I believed many things that were not true. I whole-heartedly believed I was a mistake. I believed I could get the affirmation I desired from guys, most whom were abusive towards me. I believed I was worth nothing and deserved the hits, scratches, and horrible, hateful words. I thought they were my rightful punishment.

Growing up I believed something else too…I believed in God. But did I believe Him? Did I believe all His wonderful promises were meant for me personally? Did I believe God could love me when I was such an absolute mess?

After years of depression, suicide attempts, abusive dating relationships, and starvation, I had an encounter with my Savior. I met God with my pain and messy, mixed-up life and He met me with His love and acceptance. He showed me I was His child, made in His own image. The Lord also led me to an amazing Christian counselor. Revisiting my painful past through counseling was a hard journey, but well worth it. I felt God’s infinite healing and love for me, and for the first time I began to believe that God had a plan and a purpose for my life.

The Lord is now using my life and experiences for His good. I have a passion to minister His healing and love through written and spoken words to those who suffer or have suffered as I did. How about you? Are you hurting? Do you feel worthless and like you do not matter? Please don’t. You are not a misfit toy.

A friend once told me that if God had a refrigerator, my photo would be on it. Your picture would too! God loves you so much and created you in His beautiful image. His Word says you are made with love. Choose today to believe it.

by Micca Campbell

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Luke 6:37 (NIV)

Devotion:

God gave each of us what we needed most—a Savior to save us from ourselves. Therefore, the holiday season should be a time of cheer. For some, however, it can be lonely and depressing. While the days leading up to Christmas should be filled with peace, joy, and hope, sadness over past mistakes can hover like clouds on a rainy day. We all have a tendency to define ourselves by what we have or haven’t done.

We tend to label ourselves by our past mistakes, and then we wear these labels as if there were no alternative. Failure; Unfaithful; Unfit Parent; Liar; Gossip; Addicted; Bitter.

The Bible tells us that as a person thinks, so they become. Therefore, if you want to live an unhealthy life, you can. If you want to punish yourself, you will. However, being self-destructive is not God’s plan for your life. In fact, to think this way is to see yourself outside of God’s saving grace.

That’s why the Christmas season offers such hope … because God gave us what we needed most—a Savior to save us from ourselves. The key to putting your past behind you, and moving forward with a bright and hopeful future, is to accept Christ’s forgiveness for you.

You’ll find it comforting to know that you are not alone in your troubles. The Bible tells us, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, NIV). That means there is not one perfect person in the entire world. We have all made mistakes. I know I’ve made my share. Still, no matter how hard we try to do everything right on our own, we can’t. So God gave His only Son as payment for our sins. In other words, Christ paid our debt. This payment is a gift of God which He freely offers to you and me.

The awesome thing is, we don’t have to earn this gift. Through Christ’s death on the cross, God simply says, “Your sins are paid in full.”

All you and I have to do to receive His forgiveness is to agree with God about our sins. You might say something like this in prayer. Yes, God, I did that thing … I receive your free gift of forgiveness for the wrong I have done, and I accept heaven as my eternal home. Cleanse me and change my life. Fill me with your love, hope, joy and peace.

If you sincerely mean what you’ve confessed, then you have been forgiven. Your slate is clean. God remembers your sins no more. It is as if they never were. That’s the good news of Christmas and the open doorway to peace!

The next thing you must do is forgive yourself. You will stay in bondage if you continue to label yourself as a bad or unworthy person for what you have done instead of focusing on the changes God can bring about in you. You must stop defining yourself by your past and read the Bible to learn how God defines His people.

Just think; this could be a Christmas where you experience real peace, joy, and forgiveness. It’s why Christ was born … to set you free.