Book Reviews

I've read two books over the past couple of weeks. It's complicated having two books going at once...but I press on regardless.

"The Rook": The first I'll review, is "The Rook" by Steven James. This is the 2nd book in the Patrick Bowers Files series, which is up to 4 books at this time. In this installment, Agent Bowers is in San Diego, investigating a string of 14 fires that the San Diego police believe to be the work of the same arsonist. At the same time, Bowers stumbles across some mysterious murders, and a possible corporate/government cover-up. All the while, the mysterious "Shade" seems to be pulling every one's strings. This is a fast paced thriller that didn't disappoint after the successful first book, "The Pawn". I look forward to reading the next 2 books in this interesting, thrilling series.

"Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor": In "Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor" by Allen Hunt, we see the story of the 15 year conversion process of the author, a former Methodist Pastor at a church of 15,000 in Atlanta to a member of the Catholic Church. This is one of the books that I picked up at the Matthew Kelly conference a few weeks back, and I'm glad I did.

I'm not going to sugar coat it...the biggest reason I became Catholic 8 years ago was because my wife and son were Catholic. We had another baby on the way, so I figured it was time to convert. I wasn't that serious about my Lutheran faith anyway...I think we all go through that in our 20's. At least most of us. Over time, I've come to feel at home in the Catholic church, and I really believe it is the best place for me to grow in my faith and become the person I should be. However, having rather shallow reasons, initially, for converting, I always like to hear conversion stories of people who genuinely discerned the will of God in their life and came to the conclusion that the Catholic Church is home.

This is one of those stories. Allen Hunt masterfully mixes storytelling, with a little bit of apologetics, and a whole lot of appreciation for the "Hidden Treasures of the Catholic Church." Hunt describes the Catholic Church as an "old house", and walks through the rooms of the "old house" to discover that it had everything he needed all along. I expected chapters on Mary, Papal Infallibility, Purgatory and Praying to Saints, which are the 4 areas that Protestants get hung up on. Instead, I got an entire book devoted to the Eucharist, the Holiness of the Church, it's Authority and it's teaching, along with some discussion of the problems with having 33,000 different types of Protestant faiths. This was definitely a surprise, but as Hunt put it, (I'm paraphrasing) 'once you've come to realize that the Church is right about the big things, everything else falls into place.' Not what I expected, but also so much more than I expected.

"Confessions of a Mega Church" pastor is just a really good book and one that I'd be happy to loan out, after my wife finishes.

Top 5 Bill Murray Movies

In honor of Bill Murray winning the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am a few weeks back, I decided this week, I'd hit the top 5 movies from the distinguished career of Bill Murray.

Here's the list:

5 - "Zombieland": Yes, it was just a cameo appearance, and yes, he was playing himself, but it was possibly the greatest cameo appearance in movie history. And, the fact that it was in a really funny movie makes it that much better.

4 - "Caddyshack": "Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac... It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole!". Many of the great quotes from "Caddyshack" were uttered by the groundskeeper, Carl Spackler. Murray's character is the best character in a really good movie.

3 - "Groundhog Day": As Phil Connors, Murray is stuck living the same day, February 2nd, over and over again in Puxatawney, PA, home of the official groundhog day groundhog. The transformation of Phil from a self absorbed jerk to a character you root for is outstanding...and this is just a really funny movie.

2 - "Scrooged": When people ask me to name my favorite Christmas movie, "Scrooged" always tops my list. Bill Murray portrays Frank Cross, a TV executive who has forgotten what is important in life. In a great retelling of Dickens' "Christmas Carol", Frank is visited by the 3 ghosts and discovers what is really important in life and in Christmas. "Scrooged" is funny and touching. If the final scene doesn't get you, you've got no heart.

1 - "Ghostbusters": Was there any doubt? Peter Venkmen is one of the greatest characters in movie history, and it's Bill Murray at his sarcastic, deadpan best. "Ghostbusters 2" would have made this list too, but I figured one movie from the series was enough. Murray pulls off some of the greatest one-liners in this movie, and along with Dr's. Raymond Stantz and Egon Spengler, we get a great "underdog hero" movie. One of the best movies of the 1980's.

A Couple of Family Favorites

I thought I'd share a couple of our family favorite recipes. These are two of our "go to" meals that are healthy and taste pretty darn good. I hope you'll enjoy these recipes as much as we do.

Homestyle Turkey/Chicken Hash:

Ingredients:
2 Cups Pre-cooked/Cubed Chicken or Turkey Breast
1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
1 Green Bell Pepper, diced
1/4 of a Red Onion, diced
5 strips turkey bacon
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups frozen potatoes (we like potato rounds from Schwan's, but breakfast potatoes will work too)
1 cup prepared turkey gravy

Directions:
1. Cook potatoes according to package directions.
2. In a skillet, cook the bacon and then set aside to cool. Once cool, dice the bacon into 1/2 inch strips.
3. Add olive oil to the bacon drippings as needed to ensure about 1 tablespoon of oil in the skillet.
4. Add Red Bell Pepper, Green Bell Pepper and Red Onion to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes
5. Add bacon and chicken to the vegetables in the skillet and cook for 2 minutes
6. Add potatoes and cook for another 2 minutes

Serve with the gravy. This is good for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I like to cook this in my cast iron skillet...it just adds a little more flavor.

Italian Chicken Pasta Toss:

Ingredients:
6 oz. uncooked bow tie pasta
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 small red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 lb. pre-cooked chicken breast, cubed into 1/2 to 1 inch cubes
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2-4 large garlic cloves, minced (depending on how much you like garlic)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1) Cook pasta according to package directions.
2) Heat the oil in a skillet, then add garlic, onion, zucchini, bell pepper, peas, Italian seasoning and salt. Stir-fry for 2 minutes.
3) Add tomatoes and chicken and cook for another 1-2 minutes
4) Stir in warm pasta leave on heat for 1-2 additional minutes

Serve with fresh grated Parmesan cheese. The bow-tie pasta really makes this dish. It's very healthy and really easy to pull together on a week night.

Double Moview Review

I'm not quite turning into Nuke yet, but here I go with another multiple movie review.

"Red": This movie is just a good time. "Red" stars Bruce Willis as Frank Moses, a retired CIA operative trying to adjust to life as a retired person. But, retirement doesn't last long for Frank, after some unknown person tags him for assassination. Now, Frank needs to get the gang back together to figure out who's trying to kill him, and his new love interest (Mary Louise-Parker). Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren comprise the gang. What follows is a bit "Ocean's Eleven" and a bit "Die Hard" and a lot of fun. Karl Urban and Richard Dreyfuss star as the opposition/villains in "Red". This is a 4 star movie, filled with 2 hours of fun movie watching.

"Astro Boy": We watched "Astro Boy" on Friday night as a family. I had relatively low expectations, and was pleasantly surprised by this movie. After losing his son in a freak accident, brilliant scientist, Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage) constructs a replacement robot that he implants with his son's memories. To keep him safe, Tenma equips his new son with all the state of the art defense systems. However, Tenma quickly discovers that, despite his best effort, he couldn't truly duplicate his son, and rejects him. Sent out into the world, "Astro" struggles to find his place, until meeting with some other orphans. In these new friends, "Astro" finally discovers his place in the world. My kids rated this one 5 stars, I'd probably give it 4. We really enjoyed this movie, and were able to use to story to draw some good biblical parallels for the kids. Just a really nice movie.