FReeper Canteen ~ Favorite Christmas Treats ~ 23 DEC 2008

Serving The Best Troops And Veterans In The World | The Canteen Crew

[laurenmarlowe]

 

 

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~

Favorite Christmas Treats

Gingerbread has been baked in Europe for centuries. In some places, it was a soft, delicately spiced cake; in others, a crisp, flat cookie, and in others, warm, thick, steamy-dark squares of "bread," sometimes served with a pitcher of lemon sauce or whipped cream. It was sometimes light, sometimes dark, sometimes sweet, sometimes spicy, but it was almost always cut into shapes such as men, women, stars or animals, and colorfully decorated or stamped with a mold and dusted with white sugar to make the impression visible.

During the nineteenth century, gingerbread was both modernized and romanticized. When the Grimm brothers collected volumes of German fairy tales they found one about Hansel and Gretel, two children who, abandoned in the woods by destitute parents, discovered a house made of bread, cake and candies. By the end of the century the composer Englebert Humperdink wrote an opera about the boy and the girl and the gingerbread house.

Cookies appear to have their origins in 7th century AD Persia, shortly after the use of sugar became relatively common in the region. By the 14th century, they were common in all levels of society, throughout Europe, from royal cuisine to street vendors.

With global travel becoming widespread at that time, cookies made a natural travel companion, a modernized equivalent of the travel cakes used throughout history. One of the most popular early cookies, which travelled especially well and became known on every continent by similar names, was the jumble, a relatively hard cookie made largely from nuts, sweetener, and water.

Cookies came to America in the very first century of English settlement (the 1600s), although the name "koekje" arrived slightly later, with the Dutch. This became Anglicized to "cookie". Among the popular early American cookies were the macaroon, gingerbread cookies, and of course jumbles of various types.

The most common modern cookie, given its style by the creaming of butter and sugar, was not common until the 18th century.

The earliest Fruitcake recipe from ancient Rome lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins that were mixed into barley mash.

In the Middle Ages, honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added and the name "fruitcake" was first used, from a combination of the words "fruit" (Latin: fructus, Old French: frui), and "cake" (Old Norse: kaka, Middle English: kechel).

Fruitcakes soon proliferated all over Europe, however recipes varied greatly in different countries and throughout the ages, depending on the available ingredients as well as in some instances on church regulations of the use of butter, regarding the observance of fast (e.g. "Butterbrief" or butter letter by Pope Innocent VIII). Pope Innocent VIII, (1432 – 1492), the Holy Father softened his attitude and in 1490, he sent a permision known as the “Butter Letter” to Saxony, stating that milk and butter could be used in the North German Stollen fruitcakes.

Starting in the 16th century, sugar from the American Colonies, and the discovery that high concentrations of sugar could preserve fruits, created an excess of candied fruit, thus making fruitcakes more affordable and popular.

In the 18th century in some areas in Europe, fruitcakes were made using nuts from the harvest for good luck in the following year. The cake was then saved and eaten before the harvest of the next year.

What is your favorite Christmas Treat?

Merry Christmas!

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT~Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allies military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before. 

Please remember: The Canteen is a place to honor and entertain our troops. The Canteen is family friendly. Let's have fun!

We pray for your continued strength, to be strong in the face of adversity.

We pray for your safety, that you will return to your families and friends soon.

We pray that your hope, courage, and dignity remain unbroken, so that you may show others the way.

God Bless You All ~ Today, Tomorrow and Always

 

 

[luvie]

...to you, Conor!
May it be the best one ever!

[SandRat]

Can You Hear Me? -- U.S. Army Capt. Lori August and Capt. Ramona Toussant show a hearing-impaired Iraqi girl from Rumaythuh, Iraq, how they administer a hearing examination, Dec. 11, 2008. The Iraqi girl is visiting Combat Operations Base Adder in Tallil, Iraq, to be tested for a hearing aid. August and Toussant are assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division's Company C, 27th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Brendan Stephens.

[ConorMacNessa]

You're doing it to me again - no watermelons like those of my youth! The seedless ones are tasteless and the available seeded varieties are hybrids not worthy of notice, IMHO.

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[luvie]

Awwwww...wish ya didn’t have to run off! Darn ole meetings!

I AM hanging in there. It’s just crazy, but I keep thinking
that it’s almost over. The customers, for the most part, have
been pretty nice. :D

(((hugs)))

[ConorMacNessa]

Thank you, Luv - It will be, I'm sure, and I hope the same for you and yours!

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[SandRat]

JINGLE ALL THE WAY -- U.S. Army Sgt. Anthony Ward, dressed in the Santa suit, and 1st Lt. Philip Vrska, in the Christmas package, bring some holiday cheer to a 5K “Jingle” race sponsored on Camp Ramadi, Iraq, Dec. 20, 2008. Ward and Vrska are assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1. While the festive pair didn’t place in the field of 64, they did complete the entire run in costume. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Emily Suhr

[luvie]

Thank you! We are planning on it! My MIL, who I love dearly,
will be here with us, so that is good!

[ConorMacNessa]

THE SOLDIER’S CODE

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The Soldier’s Code

1) I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.

2) I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender my men while they still have the means to resist.

3) If I am captured, I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.

4) If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information or take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me, and will back them up in every way.

5) When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am bound to give only name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies, or harmful to their cause.

6) I will never forget that I am an American fighting man, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, August, 1955.

[MHGinTN]

You will love it, I guarantee! I make it with a coolwhip and peanut butter topping and several different puddings, like Devil’s Food chocolate.

[The Mayor]

Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list

December 23, 2008

Invisible Man

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READ: John 14:5-20

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. —Hebrews 12:2

As a boy, I was fascinated by the book The Invisible Man. The main character played an elaborate game of hide-and-seek, staying just out of reach of mere mortals “cursed” with a visible nature. To have a physical presence, he wore clothes and wrapped his face in bandages. When it was time to escape, he simply removed everything and disappeared.

I wonder if we have similar thoughts about our unseen God. We feel He is beyond our reach and express it in song with one of my favorite hymns:

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible
Hid from our eyes.

Yet, while declaring the wonder of God, the hymn speaks of a God who is not just invisible:

All praise we would render—O help us to see
’Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee!

We perceive that God is distant, far off, inaccessible, and hidden. But we need a God who is accessible, and we wonder how to have a meaningful relationship with Him.

We will never fully comprehend what God is like. Yet He Himself is accessible to us. In part, that is why Jesus came—to “show us the Father” (John 14:8-11) and to bring us close to Him, because “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Col. 1:15).

Our God is an invisible God, beyond our limited comprehension. Thankfully, Jesus came to show us how near to us He really is.

God’s presence with us is His greatest present to us.

Bible in One Year: Zechariah 7–9; Proverbs 29:21-27

[BIGLOOK]

Aloha Alfa6!

Check post #72 from JJ.

Mele Kalikimaka, Alfa6!

(Can the Raptor really pull all those manuvers? Know they can do a Cobra but the rest?)

[TheMom]

No doubt my family favorites are buttermilk pie & divinity!

[SandRat]

DEAR SOLDIER -- Soldiers on Camp Liberty, Iraq, displayed this letter of thanks from a child at Grenada Elementary School in Mississippi on the wall of the Forward Support Company Tactical Operations Center in the motor pool on Camp Liberty, Iraq, Dec. 14, 2008. The soldiers there are assigned to the 890th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade and are from Mississippi. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Catherine Graham

[RepoGirl]

My mom used to make the most amazing pfefferneusse cookies. Peppermint meringues, too. Wonderful stuff.

[mylife]

Merry Christmas Mayor

[ConorMacNessa]

I'm speechless in the face of this child's eloquence. Thanks for posting it, Sandy!

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[SandRat]

STORY TIME -- U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Brian Jopek and Spc. Erica Isaacson take time out of their morning, Dec. 9, 2008, to read to a second-grade class at W.T. Sampson Elementary School at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The soldiers are assigned to the Wisconsin Army National Guard's 112th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Carlynn M. Knaak

[Aliska]

They aren't as good any more, but they grow what they think people will buy. Well as if we haven't mucked up watermelons enough, look what the Japanese have done to them. This is for real, article at link.

At least I've posted the obligatory photo.

Square fruit stuns Japanese shoppers

[SandRat]

Go here http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=news/news_show.php&id=27938 and swell with pride.

[luvie]

Michael Buble~Let It Snow

Neil Diamond~Winter Wonderland

Bing Crosby~White Christmas