In Response to Your Inquiries…

…I found a few moments to spare you all from my biking, swimming, cenote snorkelling, AND TACO EATING!  (And yes, Marcia, the food is DELICIOUS!)

We are having a great time!  So far we have seen the beaches of Soliman Point and Soliman Bay; browsed through the pueblo of Tulum; seen the incredible Mayan ruins at Coba (which was a great day, and quite a change as Coba was a quiet little ranch town, and very traditionally Mayan); and then today we swimmed and snorkelled in the Gran Cenote (Freshwater sinkholes…like caves below the ground that are also waterways).

Some highlights would be Coba where we saw Mayan pyramids, and many current area houses constructed of stick walls and palm leave roofs…called palapas.  This seems to be the style of construction here in southern Mexico…very interesting.  Also many ladies are seen in the white cotton and bright flowery dresses…just going about their daily duties –again seems to be part of the culture down here.  (It is quite different here in the Yucatan than in other areas of Mexico.)  We ate lunch at a loncheria (“lunch”-eria!!) and had Mayan chicken tacos.  They were shredded chicken seasoned with red tomato and spices then covered in cheese.  The salsa served was fresh chopped red tomatoes and onion, lime juice, and diced habanero peppers.  Dustin and I both liked the salsa very much!

Then today, we swam for the first time ever in a Cenote.  It was beautiful.  I was a bit leery of snorkeling far back into the cave openings, but once I got my goggles on and saw in the crystal clear water, there were no worries!  God’s Creation is breath-taking above and below ground; in the outside air, and below the water’s surface!  After biking back into town, we ate some lunch at Subway –yes, there is Subway in the Yucatan Peninsula, though no other American fast food here in Tulum pueblo!  And this evening we plan to head out for some great tacos…might venture out for some seafood tacos!

All in all, we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves, and look forward to sharing more as the next few days pass by!  Oh, and I am soooo sorry not to be there for the huge snow blizzard…I guess you cannot have your (canned) cake and eat it too!  Please do a lot of sledding for me, Marcia!

Dustin and I at the Blue Sky Restaurant...even in Mexico, Dustin found a place that serves Brick Oven Pizza!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words…

…But being here is worth a million.

This is what we woke up to this morning.

High Tea

Well now, I simply must inform you that I have recently joined high society here in Brogue.  And yester-evening I had the pleasure of attending a Tea!  Of course, it must be admitted that truly, we here at Mt. Zion Baptist Church are not assuming women who put on airs merely to be thought wealthy or of position.  We are simple ladies who try to follow our Lord and love our families, and being all of that same mind, we enjoy one another’s fellowship along the way.  Now, there are some among our company who delight themselves in the English custom of Tea!  They then, have the utmost kindness to introduce others of us, such as myself, to the practice.  We enjoy tea together once every couple of months or so; and the hostesses, might I share, truly exert themselves to ensure it is a most delightful time for us all.

Yesternight was our first Nutcracker Tea.  It was to be filled with “sugar plum fairies and nutcracker sweets” according to the invitation –which, I might add, was quite a beauty in itself!  And it was a splendid evening, I mean a splendid one!…complete with baked potato soup in bread bowls with all of the condiments, pesto/basil mini sandwiches, mini quiches, and numerous delectable desserts including three varieties of chocolate truffles, raspberry-almond tarts, strawberry shortcakes, and others.  And the fellowship –did I mention the fellowship?  It was just as pleasant if not more so than all of the tasty trifles!

Place setting

My chocolate truffles! RRRich!

Strawberry Shortcakes --a work in progress!

Our two hostesses, at right

Pesto-Basil Mini Sandwiches being made

All of our tea cups and saucers...waiting for use!

The little ladies having a party of their own, cracking the nuts!

All of the dainites

Christmas Ponche — A La Americana

Well, while Dustin was studying recipes for Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizza, I had a recipe search of my own.  I love hot drinks, but with a cold and sore throat, I have been trying to avoid milk-based drinks.  After a while, plain black tea or even herbal and flavored teas get old to me.  I had a taste in my mouth for PONCHE NAVIDEÑO, a hot fruit punch served at Christmas in Mexico.

I had looked around for recipes, and all or most called for the traditional ingredients of tecojote (a small fruit similar to crabapple) and cana (small pieces of sugarcane) among other things.  Needless to say, I had neither on hand, nor do they grow in our garden! –Not only would they probably not survive in the south-eastern Pennsylvania climate, but neither do we have a garden or yard outside our house!

I had read in one recipe that if you did not have a specific ingredient, it might be omitted from the recipe.  So I decided to simply try a punch with the fruits I had on hand.  I had about a pint and a half of mango syrup/juice from canned mangoes, a few frozen peach slices, some frozen blueberries, a chopped apple and a chopped pear, juiced one pink grapefruit and two large oranges, made a concentrated quart of cranberry-jamaica tea, and used one cinnamon stick.  I placed all the ingredients into a medium crockpot and turned on high since it was already after dinner, and I wanted to try some before the evening was over.

After about 2-1/2 hours, it was bubbling around the edges, and I decided it was ready.  After a quick taste, I decided to add a little brown sugar, and —Hmmmm!  It was yummy!  Even Dustin really liked it, and he is a bit leary of eating new things!  So instead of trying to search for all of the traditional Mexican ingredients, now I know you can use whatever fruit you have on hand, some cinnamon, and sugar or honey to taste!  (I would definitely advise using some kind of apple(s) for the rich, tart flavor, and a good amount of citrus juice at least, along with whatever other fruits you decide to add; and for myself I decided not to use rasberries or blackberries because of their seedy properties!)  

To serve, you may strain out the fruit pieces or serve them in the glasses as well!

The Creation of a Deep Dish Pizza

Wow!  What an afternoon!  You see, my wife and I tend to have strange cravings for food here and there.  Once it was baked pretzels, then it was brick-oven pizza, and of course southern style biscuits.  Yes, I know that you can buy these things in the frozen food section; but you know as well as I do that they could never compare.  So, today I had a day off from work, and we had one of those cravings.  This time it was the famous Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza.  Once that craving comes, however, it is near impossible to stop!

This time, it was my turn to fulfill the craving!  I went out shopping at one of our local markets for cornmeal, Italian sausage, and cheese.  Thankfully, every item I was looking for was on sale, which made the purchasing of it a lot easier.

I imagined that I should share the recipe with all of our readers.  Here it is (with some pictures that we took):

Pan Dough:

• 1 cup warm tap water (110−115ø)
• 1 pkg. active dry yeast
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup coarse ground cornmeal
• 1 teas. salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Pizza Topping:

• 1/2 lb. mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 lb. Italian Sausage, removed from the casing and crumbled
• 8 slices sandwich pepperoni
• 1/2 quart can of whole tomatoes, drained and coarsely crushed
• 2 cloves Garlic, peeled and minced
• 3 fresh basil leaves, chopped fine
• 1 teas. fresh dried oregano
• 4 tbls. Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl and dissolve the yeast with a fork. Add 1 cup of flour, all of the cornmeal, salt, and vegetable oil.

Mix well with a spoon. Continue stirring in the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.

Flour your hands and the work surface and kneed the ball of dough until it is no longer sticky.Let the dough rise in an oiled bowl, sealed with a wet towel, for 45 to 60 minutes in the oven with just the light on (the oven turned OFF!), until it is doubled in bulk.

Punch it down and kneed it briefly. Let it rise agian for another 30 minutes. Punch it down and press it into an oiled 15−inch deep dish pie pan, until it comes 2 inches up the sides and is even on the bottom of the pan ( about 1/8 inch thick). Let the dough rise 15−20 more minutes before filling.

Preheat the oven to 575 degrees. While the dough is rising, prepare the filling. Cook the crumbled sausage until it is no longer pink, drain it of its excess fat. Drain and chop the tomatoes. When the dough has finished its rising, lay the cheese over the dough shell.

Then distribute the sausage, pepperoni, and garlic over the cheese. Sprinkle on the seasonings and Parmesan cheese.

Top with the tomatoes.

Bake for 10 minutes at 475 degrees. Then lower the temperature to 400 degrees and bake for 30 minutes longer. Lift up a section of the crust from time to time with a spatula to check on its color. The crust will be golden brown when done. Serve immediately. And that's that!

I will say that it was a blast making it; but it was by far the best eating it.  It turned out pretty close to perfect for us.  As you can see, at least someone liked it..

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We also shared with some of our friends; one of which has never had Chicago-Style Pizza before!  We’ll see if they like it.  Some of you may be wondering why we didn’t offer you any…well, come out and visit, and we’ll be honored to share!

By the way, Andrea’s sister Sharon got us the pizza-themed plates for Christmas.  Yes, they’ve already been of good use!

Merry Christmas 2009

All the family together...the main thing!

Linz and her new red blanket!

Welcome to Country-ville, USA, Cha! (We're not making fun, Marcia! Just celebrating Pennsylvania traditions!)

It's snowing! -- Packing bubbles!

The Chief cook!

My first Christmas Ham...deliciosisisisisisimo!

Binzy Bop and J'Bop

Sisters forever! And do we ever love our Dad!

Me and Binz...constructing a Gingerbread House/Birthday Cake!

Happy Birthday, Linz!

Sibling fun!

"Me and my Daddy go together like peanut butter and jelly"...still sayin' it twenty years later!

We're just so photogenic!

Us too!

Stop showing your cards, Binzy Bop!

Is there something fishy going on here?!?

I wish you all the same wonderful Christmas we had.  A good family, and a great God, and a Saviour, Jesus Christ the Lord.  Truly we are rich!

Matthew 1:21

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Do you have this Saviour?  Repent and trust Him today, for only in Him are true riches found.

Updates in the Speckhals World

Well, we hope that everyone had a “Right” and Merry Christmas this year!  We have been pretty occupied as of late due to family visiting and things going on at church–therefore the lack of posts and updates lately!  I think that Andrea is going post about her family’s visit tomorrow, then I have a few things on my mind as well.  The top of my list, though is changing our Be Instant banner and color scheme you see to something more…season appropriate.  But until then, I simply wanted to say that, contrary to popular belief, we are still alive and well, and have not stopped posting because of religious convictions due to converting to the Pennsylvania Amish!  We’re still the same here!  Actually, we got a new Nikon L100 camera as a gift this year, and we’re really looking forward to using it a lot, and posting some good pictures.

Our church’s Christmas program went very well, with lots of visitors, including our landlord and his wife, and a lady we met while going door-to-door a couple of months ago.  Praise the Lord!

Have a happy New Year!

"Silver, Wood, and Ivory"

Gina, Marcia, and I

Two good friends treated me to a fantastic dinner concert Friday evening.  ”Silver, Wood, and Ivory” was an incredible performance I would recommend in a heartbeat.  Tracy and Cindy are the names of the two musicians which form this very talented flutist/pianist duo.  You can see their website at  http://www.silverwoodandivory.com/.

Cindy (playing the harp, here) and Tracy (playing the bass flute)

The piano is beautiful, and Tracy’s collection of flutes, recorders, pennywhistles, and other unique pieces including a bass flute and six and a half foot tall contrabass flute is beyond compare!

Tracy's collection

The contrabass flute...taller than I! How I would love just to try playing this once!

We went to Cindy’s home in Lititz, Pennsylvania where we ate a delicious dinner served by a husband-wife chef pair, mingled with Cindy (the pianist) and Tracy (flutist), enjoyed coffee and dessert, browsed their products for sale, then joined the others in the sun room for a thrilling Christmas music celebration!

Our chefs

Their rendition of Sleigh Ride was complete with two sets of sleigh bells;  one Cindy strapped onto her hand while she played the piano, and the other Tracy strapped to the arch of her foot and proceeded to beat out a steady rhythm almost throughout the entire song while still playing the flute!

Tracy's sleighbells!

Tracy playing the bass flute once more

When they began O Holy Night, my mind was transported back to that humble and lowly stable where our Lord and Saviour was born, an outcast among men.  It reminded me of our human plight, doomed to sin and destruction, until our glorious Redeemer was born!  What a merciful God is ours!  What a costly sacrifice!  Such unworthy sinners!  Such amazing grace!  It brought tears to my eyes!

We thoroughly enjoyed the evening and I look forward to the day I can attend another of their concerts, perhaps to treat a friend of mine!

"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"

…So the song goes; and so it goes here in York County, Pennsylvania!  Andrea has been dreaming of snow for a while now, and fretting a little that we may not get as much here as we grew up with in the Great Lakes region.  However, we woke up this morning to a couple of the first snow flurries of the season.  Not much, but enough to make you want more.  The forecast said that it would probably end around 9:00am.

We drove to church to go soulwinning around 10:00am this morning, and guess what?  It was still snowing a little–and maybe even more than earlier.  We kept saying, “Ahh, it won’t stick.”  Much to our surprise, it began to snow harder, and it did stick!  From what I here, we just got our first snow before our families in Northwest Indiana.  Just a few minutes ago, we took these pictures just outside of our home:

Den Tannenbaum der Speckhals

English- “The Christmas (Fir) Tree of the Speckhals’”

I am a big fan of real Christmas trees.  So that’s one thing that I planned to do when I had my own home.  Locally, there are not a lot of Christmas tree farms, so we went and picked one up from a local grocery store lot–benefits going to the York County Food Bank.  We left the house around noon yesterday to pick out our tree…

After eating some pizza for lunch, we went hunting–for a tree.  Our ceiling isn’t too awfully high, so I knew we couldn’t have some enormous one.  After choosing which type we wanted (Fraser Fir), we had to pick the perfect one.  After just five or so minutes of deliberation, we found “the one.”  It’s a 7 foot tall beauty!

After that, we drove the two miles home, and carried it up the stairs.

Then came all of the light wrapping and decorating, and finally the finished project…

It ended up being far better than we could have expected and more than we deserve!

Mine and Andrea’s wedding presents from each of our respective parents was conveniently our childhood Christmas ornaments that had been saved up through the years.  With that, and some Andrea has collected over the last year, our tree was was abounding with decorations.

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We look forward to having our Christmas tree be a part of our family for the next month.