I’ve uploaded a few more photos to my AC Facebook album, sorry Flickr folks I haven’t sent any your way. I’m going to try to get some better (non-camera phone) pics to upload soon. Also, if you’re interested in more general reports of what is happening here at Conference, along with some more pictures, be sure to check out the official Annual Conference news page which is updated every evening.

One part of Annual Conference is the numerous insight sessions that take place on various topics of interest. I enjoyed going to a couple such insight sessions today, titled “Sharing the Good News Within and Beyond our Communities of Faith” and “Engaging our Communities with Jesus.” However one of my favorite events today was an opportunity tonight for those of us who are interested in the emergent church conversation to get together for our own conversation.

This was a special opportunity for me to sit down with people from across the country who are interested in some of the same trains of thought that I am interested in. I read many blogs that deal with the emergent church and I’ve really enjoyed reading the Emergent Brethren blog over the last several months. After tonight I’m going to try much harder to become a regular part of that online community as we work together to see what the emerging church looks like in our various Brethren contexts.

I’ve also purchased a stack of books (many of which are emergent or missionally oriented) and I hope to review some of them here in the coming months. I really do think that the emergent / missional conversation and movement is where the church is headed in order to be relevant and authentic in our society and culture. I see many ways in which the Church of the Brethren, both historically and currently, resonates with this supposedly “new” movement. Expect to hear more from me about this in the future!

One last note about my dining adventures while here in Richmond – last night we ate at the Strawberry Street Cafe and it was wonderful. It’s located in an area of Richmond near Monument Ave. known as “the fan” and has been a favorite eatery there for the last 30 years. Since I normally live quite a bit farther from the sea I took the opportunity to sample some of their crab-based dishes (crab soup, crab quiche, and crab cakes) and they were all splendid. I also got to taste some of their other offerings, all of which were quite good as well. I would definitely recommend it as a nice locally-owned place to check out if you ever happen to find yourself in Richmond, VA!

It was a long drive from Richmond (IN) to Richmond (VA) yesterday, but thankfully I had a friend travelling with me which made the trip much more enjoyable. I’ve been having fun already using my Blackberry to post pictures of my trip online. I tried using the Flickr app that’s available for Blackberry and uploaded a few photos from that. I may upload some more to Flickr, but I think that for the most part I’m going to use a different solution.

Another of the fun, addictive apps for Blackberry is a well-done facebook app that allows you to send messages, post to people’s wall’s, and upload photos. It has allowed me to easily create a new album, tag people, and upload photos almost as soon as I take them. If you’re on facebook, look me up there. If you’re not, don’t worry, not all is lost. There is a publicly accessible version of the photo album!

Last night we had a great worship service and I went with my folks to Sine’ Irish Pub and Restaurant for dinner. The atmosphere was awesome, the pricing was reasonable, and the food was great (though not all that Irish.)

Thus far I’ve spent a lot of time reconnecting with people and visiting the exhibit call. If you’re at Annual Conference and you want to connect, drop me a line here, give a call, send me an email, or leave me a message on the board and we’ll try to cross paths.

I’ll be updating this page occasionally with highlights of conference, so check back soon!

1. Cook’s Illustrated

I know some of you may balk at the idea of paying to access a web site full of recipes when there are so many free sites out there. Hear me out. I have had a subscription to the print version of Cook’s Illustrated for a few years now and I love it. I have gotten more great recipes from them than from any other resource. About a year and a half ago I bit the bullet, tried the 14 day free trial, then paid for a year’s membership to the website as well. Neither are particularly cheap, the magazine is $24.95 for one year (six issues) and the site membership is another $24.95 annually.

It’s worth it. Like Consumer Reports, Cook’s Illustrated does not accept any advertising, so the only thing they are interested in selling you is more of their own products. Because of this I highly respect their recommendations on what kitchen gear and ingredients are best. All of their recipes are tested many, many times over and tasted by a panel of “real people.” Though some of their ingredients and methods may border on the fussy side, I have yet to fix a dish of theirs that I haven’t loved. Enough with the gushing … check them out! (If you live nearby and want to borrow a couple of the print copies, let me know.)

2. All Recipes

Here’s a freebie for ya. Though there are lots of websites full of user-submitted recipes on the ‘net, I always find myself coming back to All Recipes. In addition to tons of user-rated and reviewed recipes the site features robust tools for meal planning, grocery shopping, and storing favorite recipes. I also like that they have a good selection of world and ethnic foods. One of the features I’ve tried to mixed success is finding recipes based on particular ingredients, which I suppose could come in handy if you have a pantry full of food and can’t figure out what to fix. The one time this did come in handy was dealing with last year’s abundance of yellow squash from our garden.

3. Cooking for Engineers

This one appeals to my geeky side. If you’ve got a geeky side too, you should definitely check it out. The article on kitchen scales was one of the main factors in my decision to choose the kitchen scale I did when I finally bought one. They have lots of good gear reviews and recipes, all with lots of great pictures and instructions. The folks who run the site have even created a new way of writing out recipes for quick reference which has to be seen to be believed. If you’ve got an analytical mind and a culinary passion, this site is for you.

4. Cooking.com

Yes, I’m including an online retailer amongst my favorite cooking websites. Cooking.com carries an amazing array of cooking-related gadgets, gizmos and gear. And I’m a sucker for all 3. They also have some gear reviews, though I tend to rely on their reviews less than Cook’s Illustrated. If you’re looking for hard-to-find tools for cooking, this site should be on your short list. In my experience their prices tend to be very reasonable. This is particularly true if you shop their extensive clearance & sale sections. It’s the first place I head when I’ve got some spare change to spend on kitchen toys. However, it’s not the only …

5. Cutlery and More

While it’s not as glitzy and full-featured as Cooking.com, Cutlery and More is definitely an A+ site for procuring cooking gear. My most recent order from them was mostly cutlery, appropriately enough, but I must admit that I’ve ordered more gear from them lately than I have from Cooking.com. They have a great selection of MAC knives and Forschner Fibrox, which are recommended by Cook’s Illustrated and just might be the best cutlery value out there. Do yourself a favor and check them out the next time you get ready to head to the store and buy a new kitchen knife. You’ll get way more for your money here.

Do you have any favorite cooking sites you’d like to share? Any experiences (good or bad) with the sites I’ve listed? If so let’s hear about it in the comments …

1. Not reading through the recipe all the way before starting.
2. Overcrowding the pan.
3. Not preheating the pan.
4. Not using a large enough pot for cooking pasta.
5. Sautéing wet greens.
6. Substituting dried herbs for fresh without properly compensating.
7. Frying food in oil that is not hot enough

Even as an experienced home cook I sometimes fall prey to a few of these easy-to-make mistakes, such as pan overcrowding and not waiting long enough for oil to come up to temperature. In addition to naming each mistake the article also goes on to give tips on how to avoid making the mistake in the future. It’s well worth reading, so check it out:

7 Common Cooking Mistakes – Real Simple

All natural, organic, whole, free range, grain fed, locally grown, the list goes on and on. I often find myself wondering what is just marketing hype and what may actually impact the world we live in. I’m far from an expert on this, for sure, but I can offer what little wisdom and insight I’ve managed to glean. First let me disclose that I buy organic foods when I can, I’m a member of the local food co-op, I do a little gardening of my own, and I try to avoid red meat most of the time. I am not in any way a radical environmentalist, but one of the primary reasons I shop and eat the way I do is because I think it is important for those of us who are able to be mindful of our impact on the environment and act accordingly. Read on for why I think my decisions reflect such mindfulness …

I know some folks tend to think the whole organic movement is all about people being afraid of ingesting fertilizers, pesticides, and other not-so-pleasant byproducts of the modern industrialized farming movement. While I don’t deny that this is definitely part of the allure of organic problems, it is not my primary motivation. By and large organic farming is much more sustainable than most modern industrialized farming practices. Such modern farming practices rely heavily on fertilizers and other chemicals to grow more than the land can naturally bear. It is my hope that by supporting the organic movement that I am supporting farmers and a way of life that will help preserve the earth’s capacity to food for future generations.

I support the local co-op not only because I happen to be good friends with many co-members there, but because I believe in the ideals of being member-owned and operated and providing products that are natural, whole, organic, vegetarian, and environmentally friendly. I also appreciate the fact that I can buy things like flour, sugar, oil, rice, and sugar in bulk in order to cut down on excess packaging. There are also items like locally-produced butter, cheese, eggs, and milk that come from people who care about the environment and not just profit for profit’s sake.

As a small child growing up in Virginia I remember a few years when my family did some gardening. I’m not sure how old I was, but I know it was before I started high school. It wasn’t until last year that I ever did much gardening for myself, starting with a small 4′x8′ plot in the back yard. Last year we grew more yellow squash and tomatoes than we could possibly eat, in addition to some smaller crops of green beans, beets, green peppers, and salad greens. Locally-grown produce doesn’t get much closer than your own back yard! My wife and I both learned a lot about gardening last year and are looking forward to doubling the size of our garden plot as we begin the growing season in the next couple weeks. By growing a few things in our garden I know that we used less gas driving to the store, made better use of the land we live on, spent less money on food, and ate better too!

Many Americans’ diets center around large amounts of red meat. I recently read that raising a 1,200 pound beef steer requires almost 800,000 gallons of water, 35 gallons of petroleum, and 8,000 pounds of corn! I’ve also read that it takes about 15 pounds of grains to produce a pound of beef and only two per pound of poultry. This is hard for me to hear, because I like eating meat.

Recently I have come to realize that enjoying meat can still be done in an environmentally mindful way. One popular way to do this is to change the way we think about meat in relation to the rest of our meal. If we treat meat as more of a condiment, something we add to the meal to make it more flavorful and enjoyable rather than the main focus of our meal, then it becomes easier to reduce our consumption. So what does this all mean in terms of practical application? I most often use ground turkey in place of ground beef, if I’m hankering for a hunk of meat I’ll go for a small portion of lamb or pork before beef, and I intentionally try and eat vegetarian a few times a week to help balance things further. I used to really miss steak, and I still enjoy a nice hamburger every now and then, but I do so with a mindfulness of the impact of my food-related decisions.

I’m trying to include some links for additional reading at the end of all of my earth day posts, so be sure to check out New Community Project’s educational materials, Eco Eats at Ecologue, information about locally grown products at Local Harvest, and The Simple Dollar’s post on Planning a Kitchen Garden.

Do you try and eat in an eco-friendly way? Maybe you think this is all a bit ridiculous. Let’s hear about it in the comments.