treats truck, my butt

As someone who loves baked goods, I want to try out all the good bakeries around and gain some ideas and insights into the bakery world. I recently heard about treats truck, a bakery shop on wheels that parks itself in different locations throughout NYC on different days. Today they were finally parked by my work place, so I decided to make the 4-avenue trek over to see if it was any good.

The line from its 45th St. and 6th Ave location was a good 10 people deep, and they had only been open for 20 minutes. Although I had already looked at their menu online, I was intrigued by their goodies on display in the window of the truck, like their cupcake cone or their peanut-butter sandwich cookies. Waiting in the humidity, I observed as the people in front of me bought cookies by the dozens. But wait, these cookies were tiny, and they cost roughly $1.25-$3 each!! One particularly popular cookie was the "lemon drop," and it was literally a 1/5 inch thick, 3-inch diameter cookie with a light layer of frosting and sparsely scattered sprinkles. Those were going for $1.75 each. o_O After laying down their $25+ purchases for their small bag of brownies and cookies, people walked away with huge smiles on their faces. As my turn quickly approached, I made impulse decisions on what I wanted to try, and I settled on a Mint Chocolate Trucker and a Peanut Butter Chocolate-Creme Sandwich Cookie. The total came out to $3.75, and I cringed a little when I walked away with my tiny, tiny cookies and my slightly thinner wallet.


I waited until I got back to my office to try these. As soon as I bit into the PB cookie, everything crumbled and fell apart. A few nibbles into it, I got a headache from the overdose of sugar. As for the mint chocolate chipper: it was nice and soft, but worth the $1.75? Hardly.

Now, call me strange, but I started to get really angry. Hear me out on this...

I don't understand why people were shelling out big bucks for cookies that were 1) really really expensive given their size and 2) weren't even that good. They would wait in line for 20 minutes and drool over them in line with their friends and talk about how "delicious" that lemon drop cookie looks when in reality those baked goods weren't any better than Subway cookies (which are 3 for $1.29, mind you). Is it because these came out of a truck? Shoot, give me a car and I'll sell cupcakes out of my "Cupcake Cruiser."

I just don't get it... Seriously, $2 for a cookie? I could make a batch of cookies with the money I spent on two cookies.

Okay, I digress...

The point is.... I think I'm angry because I feel the injustice. People are getting ripped off!
Or maybe, I'm angry because I'm envious. I envy the fact that they can rip people off with bad baked goods when all this time I feel like I could feed people so much better, and still make the same amount of $ treats truck makes... It made me envious to see people walking away so happily with their crappy expensive baked goods, because deep in my heart, I wish I was the one that made them that happy.

Yargh. treats truck... *shakes fist in air*

Directive

(For those of you who haven't watched the movie yet, this might contain slight spoilers)
























"After 700 years of doing what he was built for, Wall-E discovered what he was meant for."

There's a critical moment in the movie where Eve and Wall-E are thrown into the trash chute, and Eve must make a decision to either save Wall-E or to bring the plant to the center of the Axiom ship. Wall-E's controller card had been fried by Autopilot, and he was almost at the end of his battery life. Eve, now emotionally invested in Wall-E, insisted on looking for a replacement controller card for him, but Wall-E kept on pushing the plant into her face, repeating "directive... directive" because he knew the importance of the ship returning to Earth, not only for his own sake of getting replacement parts but also because Earth needed the humans to return.

How accurately this can apply to our Christian lives as well...

Wall-E was "built" for trash compacting, but who would have guessed that this humble, rickety, lovesick robot was meant to play a role in the "salvation" of humans out of their own gluttony and laziness and back into experiencing what life truly is -- pizza trees, dancing, and hoe-downs included.


Similarly, we humans may be "built" for schooling, working, producing... but there's so much more. Jesus' last command for us it to: go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matthew 28: 19-20). This is our directive, this is what we are meant for. I mean, let's look at Jesus' directive:

Matthew 20:28
the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

John 10:10
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Jesus came to give us life in all its fullness. What if he hadn't come and made a way for us to have this eternal life? You all felt how incredibly sad it was seeing those people on the Axiom wasting their lives away, but how much more does your heart break for people who aren't experiencing the fullness of God's infinite love? John 17:3 "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Eternal life starts here and now.

Our directive is this: Make disciples of all nations, baptize them, teach them to obey, open their eyes to see the life they can have. What a great privilege it is to do so; it's no wonder Wall-E was willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of the passengers on the Axiom.

So we can choose to be like the old Wall-E, living our lives day after day comfortably compacting garbage, but I believe that in our hearts there is a deeper aching for something greater, something of far worthier purpose.

#3 again!

I love telling people that I grew up in the 3rd best place to raise your kids, and we made the list again! We're not only known for the really bad dance crew, Extreme Dance Force... Hahaha


No. 3: Naperville, Ill.

Population: 142,900

Miles from Chicago: 26

Job growth: 18.8% since 2000

Public library: Ranked No. 1 among small cities

Pros: Topnotch schools, abundant parks, a booming downtown

Con: Lots of traffic

When Pete Makris’ employer, a large winery, transferred him to an office in Chicago’s populous western suburbs last year, he and his wife Libby had their pick of towns to live in. Naperville won in a landslide. “The education and the services here just blew away any of the other places we could have chosen,” says Pete, 40. They love Naperville’s schools (they have three daughters, Olivia, 8, Anna Grace, 7, and Hope, 3), vibrant downtown and strong sense of community. “You meet incredibly nice, wonderful people almost on a daily basis,” Libby says. “And I think that’s pretty rare.”

No wonder Naperville has made MONEY’s Best Places list three times now. The walkable downtown area is packed with restaurants and shops. Residents point you toward the popular Riverwalk, a nearly two-mile brick path that follows the DuPage River’s course through town. On it you’ll pass Centennial Beach, a swim park fashioned out of an old quarry, and Millennium Carillon, a 72-bell tower that sits at the base of grassy Rotary Hill and plays music three times a day. A renovation, due to be completed next year, will make the path even more scenic.

Naperville’s proximity to Chicago—it’s just 30 miles away—is a plus, but there are plenty of jobs to be had right here. Edward Hospital and Nicor Gas employ more than 8,000 people between them, and companies such as BP America, Lucent and Tellabs have offices in town as well. Graduates of the city’s schools handily outscore state and national averages on college entrance exams. And Naperville residents like to boast that their public library is ranked the best in the nation among small cities by Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings.

On the downside, housing is pricier here than in some nearby suburbs; the typical three-bedroom, two-bath house runs $380,000. And congestion on the city’s major roads can slow traffic to a crawl. But for Kristen Bolduc, 39, a stay-at-home mother of three who moved here 16 years ago, the good things far outweigh the bad. “I’m very lucky to be raising my family in this area,” Kristen says. “We’ll never move.”

From Money Magazine (with more stats): http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/snapshots/PL1751622.html

Psalm 37

During leader's meeting this morning, PB had us all reflect on Psalm 37 for a solid chunk of time. Totally what I needed to hear from God.

4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:

6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.

.......

23 If the LORD delights in a man's way,
he makes his steps firm;

24 though he stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

25 I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.

Lord, would you teach me what it means to delight in you, to commit my way to you, and to trust in you.

How To Date Men

Haha, the title got your attention, didn't it?

I guess working for a professional matchmaker gives me certain... insights to the world of relationships. I am currently putting together an article for Janis by splicing tidbits from her two books, "How To Date Men" and "Get Serious About Getting Married." She gave me a copy of the latter (and if any of you want to borrow it, I won't judge you =P), and just flipping through her HTDM book, I can't help but laugh at some of the ridiculous things in here. To give you an idea, some of the chapter titles are "Even Men Need Hugs (Sometimes): When one of you has a bad week" or "I Won't Laugh at Your Underwear If You Don't Laugh at Mine: Your first night together". Hahahaha

The book is a progression of the dating cycle: where/how to meet men, your first date, subsequent dates, spending nights together, meeting friends, meeting the parents, marriage, etc all with Janis' personal advice inserted in, with a few anecdotes to liven things up. I love this one:

How to flirt with a guy:
- Tell him your name -- always a good place to start!
- Show off your intelligence. Guys will sleep with dumb blonds, but they're not going to marry one.
- Be confident. If you've made up your mind to flirt with a guy, commit to it. Otherwise it's REALLY awkward.

There are more, (are you curious, readers?) but I'll spare you for now... :)