Book Review: Beyond Opinion, edited by Ravi Zacharias

Those familiar with the work of Ravi Zacharias know that he is one of the leading Christian apologists today.  This book is edited by Ravi, but most of the chapters are written by other Christian apologists.  Ravi did write two of the chapters, and we can assume he "okayed" the others.  However, this book is does a good job of addressing the leading assaults against the Bible and the Truth.

The chapters are divided into different challenges: i.e. "Challenges from Youth", "Challenges from Islam", etc.  This is helpful as a reference. 

This is not a light read, of course, as it does deal with apologetics.  This is such an important area for Christians to know, however for those not familiar with apologetics, this might be a difficult book to get through.

Of course having a different author for each chapter has its advantages and disadvantages.  Each chapter is penned by someone with extensive experience in that area.  The disadvantage is that the writing style is not consistent due to differing writing styles.  I think I would have preferred the consistency; still, there was a ton of great answers and challenges to those that belittle or attack the gospel.

I received this book from Thomas Nelson in exchange for an unbiased review. 
The opinions expressed are my own and were not influenced in any way. 

School has begun!

As of September 1st, we all attend school on a daily basis.

Here Emi is modeling the school uniform.  It is kind of nice that we all can walk to the school together-- I used to drive off by myself and not see the fam for 8-10 hours. Now we can see each other a little during the day.

The girls are doing okay in school. They really like their teacher (Ms. C), and so do we.  They also like their Phonics teacher (Debe).

Being a small school, you can really get to know everyone.  Please pray that we will shine the light of Jesus here in Cascais, Portugal.  God is definitely using this school and church and we feel privileged to be a part of it.

Book Review: The Boy who Changed the World

I received this gem in the mail the other day.  Andy Andrews', The boy who changed the world, is a children's story.  It is the true story of Norman Borlaug, who was the man who developed "Super plants" which saved an estimated 2 billion lives.  However, the book goes on to describe the man who influenced Borlaug: Henry Wallace.  Henry was influenced by inventor George Washington Carver, who was influenced by Moses Carver.

The moral is spelled out quite clear: your actions matter.  The choices you make will have an impact on the world.  The story is told in a simple enough way that my 3 and 5 year old enjoyed it until the end.  The rich, detailed drawings only enhanced the overall product.  This book will is enjoyable for adults as well.

I found that the book did a great job of showing how one life can affect another.  The message was strong morally, although not necessarily religious.  I appreciated the challenge at the end: "decide now to change the world."

This book was provided to me in exchange for an impartial review. The opinions expressed were in no way influenced by this fact.

Some Sights Around Town

Until we are able to get a car, we are doing things by foot.  It is good exercise, plus, you get to see things you might miss if you are driving.  Especially if you are driving over 120 km/hr as many here do.

Here are some things in our town within walking distance:

There aren't a lot of parks, but this one is really nice.

It is located in Parque de Carmona, known locally as "Peacock Park."  And yes, there are peacocks roaming around.

This is a Japanese food store.  Probably it supplies the Japanese restaurants.  We can also get Japanese goods at the grocery store.  It's nice to know it is here, although I cannot imagine paying over 6 Euros ($8) for umeboshi!

It's a good thing the local food is delish!

Also, they don't have mugi-cha, so we might need someone to send us some when our supply runs out...

This is "Cascais Villa", a shopping mall.  The shops are a bit high priced as it is located near the tourist stops.  Still, it is free air conditioning!

Right across the street is Jumbo, which is one of our favorite places to get things we need.  It's like a Walmart.

Summer Days

School starts soon (for teachers anyway), so we thought we would check out the beach. 

It's a nice beach (although we've been spoiled by the beaches in Hawaii & Okinawa), but the water was pretty cold!  Still, the girls enjoyed building sand castles and collecting shells.

The sun gets pretty hot here so we didn't stay too long.

In the evening we had some friends over for dinner, so we bought a watermelon.  They are so inexpensive compared to Japan: 1.30 Euros (less than $2)!  Mmmm, sweet watermelon.

Belem (Bethlehem)

Today we decided to visit Belem, about 30 minutes away by train.  Belem is Portuguese for Bethlehem, which tells you something about the rich "religious" heritage of Portugal.




We first walked past the "Discoverer's Monument".  It's hard to tell from the photo, but this thing was huge!  It depicts the many famous explorers from Portugal (Magellan, de Gama, etc.), as well as other prominent people (Francis Xavier).













Then we headed over to Jeronimo's Monastery.

Built in the 1500's, this monastery is also the final resting spot of Vasco de Gama.  Pretty cool, huh?











It was an impressive building and we only saw a portion of it.
















Afterwards we tried another famous thing in the area: "Pastel de nata."  These rich custardy partries were created by nuns from the monastery in the 1700's and are now popular all over Portugal.  They were delicious

It was a fun, educational day!

Curry from Scratch

One thing that we miss about Japan is the food.  We used to eat a lot of fresh tofu, goya and curry, but those items are not available here.  Solution: make your own curry roux!

We love curry; Thai, Indian and Japanese.  This was our first attempt at homemade Japanese Curry.

It turned out pretty good-- I'd say a B+ for taste (room for improvement) and an A for effort.

Well, here's the recipe we tried in case you'd like to give it a go.  Or perhaps you have some advice on improving it!

Japanese Curry

1. Cook up your meat and veggies as usual.

Roux
3 TBSP Butter
3-4 cloves Garlic (more is okay, too)
1/4 cup flour
2 Tspn Curry Powder (or Garam Masala)
Cayenne Pepper (to taste)
Bit of chocolate
1 TBSP Ketchup
1 Tspn Worster sauce
Black Pepper


2. Fry up crushed garlic in butter.
3. Meanwhile, add just enough water to curry powder to make a thick paste.  In a separate bowl, mix flour with just enough water to make a thick paste.  Add curry paste and flour paste to garlic.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients to your tastes.  We added some chutney to make it sweeter for the kiddos.


Well, if you try it, let me know how it came out!