This is The Friday Tasting Menu, where I provide you with a weekly spread of share-worthy things.
Hope you all had a great week!
If you aren’t aware I love photography. I’m constantly taking pictures of all sorts of things (especially food) that catch my eye and any photos shown are my own. If I do share someone else’s photography I will be sure to give credit and sources. I have so many pictures stored that I’d love to share so I figured why not share them here with you all.
Follow me on Instagram @athoughtfullsandwich
On Today’s Menu
📖a read: An Essay on Atheism By My Course Mate Robbie
📱a watch: Behind The Scenes Of One My Favorite Movies
🎧a listen: New artist discovery-IMRSQD
🍴a bite: Whole Lemon and Herb Roasted Chicken
💭a thought: NFTs?!
🗯a quote: A Poem On Trees
🍞a verse: Ecclesiates 2:11
📷a post: Time Management Post From Monday
📖 a read
My buddy Robbie Laney, who I met through the writing course Ship 30 for 30 wrote this great short piece about C.S Lewis’ faith journey.
Few people realize that the incredible mind behind The Chronicles of Narnia was C.S. Lewis. Even fewer people know that he was an atheist turned Christian and that Narnia is actually a fantastic, creative retelling of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
He wrestled with the great questions we all should ponder and answer. Robbie said that Mere Christianity changed his life and I believe him.
There are answers. Consider getting a copy if you are asking these questions too.
📱a watch
Chef is one of my favorite movies of all time. I stumbled upon this behind the scene footage. I fan-boyed a bit.
It was one of the sparks to rekindling my passion for food and cooking. I pride myself on making a good grilled cheese because of a minute long scene of Jon Favreu’s character, Carl making this magical sandwich for his son.
The man next to Jon in the thumbnail is Chef Roy Choi who coached and directed Jon on how to truly immerse himself into the shoes of a professional chef.
A profound insight to the mind of a chef in the kitchen,
“It’s a lot of staying in one place but moving in your mind.”
-Roy Choi
They since have a launched a binge-worthy, salivatiion-provoking series on Netflix called The Chef Show, where the duo travel across the country cooking with/for chefs, actors, communities and beyond.
I can keep writing ad-nauseum but this definitely won’t be the last time I reference Chef!
🎧a listen
IMRSQD-Hold On
Apple Music / Spotify / YouTube
A refreshing up and coming artist I recently discovered. Love this little 2 minute captivating tune called Hold On off of his latest album Encantado. The retro sounding piano against the guitar in the first 10 seconds…butter.
Give him a follow on Instagram @imrsqd. Show some love and check out the album.
🍴a bite
Lemon and Herb Roasted Chicken with Pan Sauce
I love chicken.
And although I’m big on chicken breast, I’ve recently gotten into roasting a whole one because of how this one recipe can turn into many, it’s extremely cost effective, feeds a family, and chicken is a blank canvas to paint whatever flavors you love on it. Over the next couple of Tasting Menus, I’ll be sharing 2 other recipes of what you can do with the leftovers from a roasted chicken. Next week: Chicken Noodle Soup and how to make Chicken Stock.
The 3 keys to this recipe are:
Seasoning/Dry Brine (seasoning in advance and letting that seasoning penetrate the meat in advance is at the top of the list for a reason. The longer it sits the better the results)
Compound butter (a seasoned butter with herbs and lemon zest to get that delicious browning, gives extra flavor, and moisture to your chicken)
Probe Thermometer, I know this one sounds a bit overboard but trust me if you wanna get moist, not raw chicken it’s important. The one I have is less than 15 bucks and works perfectly fine.
This recipe is a bit longer than I had anticipated and requires a bit more instructions than others. Instead of making this a super long email, I will be sending out a separate email with just the recipe in it.
(Side Note: Is that something you’d prefer moving forward? Dedicated separate email just for recipes?) Let me know!
💭a thought
Does this digital image look dumb, irrelevant, or worth $300,000?!
That’s right you read that correctly. Have you heard of NFTs? I’ve heard the buzz of this more and more recently and began doing some light preliminary research into it and I think it’s quite interesting especially for the creative community.
It’s a lot more complex than meets the eye but is legitimately becoming as lucrative as Cryptocurrencies like BitCoin and Ethereum when they were first skyrocketed but a lot more fun.
I’ve been thinking about this increasingly popular trend and wondered in what ways can average or aspiring entrepreneurs leverage this technology? I’ve even thought of sketching up Sandwich NFTs 🥪😂 (Starting bid $200,000. Reggie and the fam need a house). Who knows? We’ll see.
Nothing too deep to ponder this week more so something I’ve been curious/thinking about and looking into.
🗯a quote
Trees by Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
I don’t recall where I found this but thought it was a nice change of pace in words. I’ve always had an appreciation for poetry and all the different ways it can be presented. This poem reminded me of when I first learned about personification in school. The example used was of trees waving their arms dancing.
Reminded me of simpler times.
🍞a verse
This is one’s a doozy. Many think that the author was actually King Solomon, the son of King David based on the way he opened the first chapter.
He was an extremely affluent person who had all he could ever desire:
Ecclesiastes 2:4-8
[4] I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. [5] I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. [6] I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. [7] I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. [8] I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.
But he has a profound discovery. Despite, all that he had and all the efforts, he called it all vanity. Have you ever tried catching the wind? Pretty pointless exercise, right?
This made me think of Jesus’ words to those who’d consider following Him:
Matthew 6:19-21
[19] “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, [20] but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. [21] For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Whatever “name” or possessions you think you can build up for yourself on this side of eternity, will all eventually fade and pass away but what won’t fade is your soul.
Where is your treasure? On earth or in heaven?
📷a post
In case you missed Monday’s short essay on making time with 5 practical tips.
Check it out👇
Which section do you look forward to each week?
Till next week. Happy Sandwiches 🥪