TJ Hirst

I notice people. I observe them and consider them and learn from them. Unfortunately, though, I stopped observing life.  I don’t mean life in the big picture, the cause and effect, or its purposes. I mean life in its smallest and simplest forms. Life like a child sees it for the very first time.

The baby who came to play at my house this week sensed life. And through his eyes, I sensed it too. He touched the water pouring from the faucet and let it run through his fingers. When I changed the temperature, he startled at the cold.

He heard the whir of the furnace from the vent, held his face over to look down inside and and felt the soft blow of warm air in his hair. He listened to the oink sound of a plastic toy and shook his hand to hear it and laughed.

He chewed the crusts of wheat bread and made a game of the extra pieces. He absorbed the colors of the books we read and tried to pull the animals off the page to play.

At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,

And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:1-4

At this time of year, my husband especially wants the nostalgic food from his Finnish family traditions. Paul’s mom taught me to make her Cabbage Rolls one fall Saturday standing together at her kitchen counter. Last Saturday when my son sat on our kitchen stool watching and photographing me making them, I promised I would teach his wife someday, too.

Cabbage rolls are essentially an oblong meatball wrapped in a cabbage leaf and baked in the oven. Maple syrup, added to the bottom of the baking pan, gives the distinctive flavor that makes them different from most other cabbage roll recipes. This recipe makes quite a few, so we often roll and bake them on Saturday and invite company to share them for Sunday dinner. I turn this into a not-so-modern meat and potatoes meal with a big pile of real mashed potatoes on the side.

Finnish Cabbage Rolls

2 heads cabbage
3 lbs. ground beef
1 finely chopped onion
2 eggs
1 cup cooked rice
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. salt
maple syrup (imitation is fine)

First, boil the cabbages in one or two large pots of water for about 30 minutes, until the leaves are tender. When the cabbage is cooked, drain most of the water from the pot, saving at least 1 or 2 cups of cabbage water in the bottom. Lift the cabbage heads out of the pot with a couple of big spoons and set onto a towel or clean counter. Allow to cool while you mix the other ingredients.

Second, mix the eggs, onion, salt and pepper, ground beef and cooked rice in a bowl, and set aside.

Third, turn the cabbage heads bottom up.

Carefully peel back each cabbage leaf. The first few leaves will be softer and more difficult; you can discard these if they tear apart. The next leaves will be firmer and not as soft and will retain their shape.

Cut it from the base of the stem with a small knife. Going around the base of the cabbage, cut off about 2/3 of the leaves on each cabbage, one-by-one.

Trim the hard ribbed edge off the back, and then set in a pile to the side. You may leave the harder, smaller leaves toward the center attached and use them for something else.

Fourth, when you have a good pile of cabbage leaves for rolling, prepare your baking pan. We use a large rectangular jelly-roll baking sheet with about 1-inch sides. Pour at least 1 cup of the cabbage water in the pan. Pour 3-4 tablespoons of maple syrup and a few dashes of salt over the water.

Fifth, take one cabbage leaf and lay curled side up on the counter.

Put a large spoonful of the meat mixture on the top of the cabbage leaf, near where you cut it from the stem.

Fold in the sides and roll to the end. Place seam side down in the jelly roll pan. Repeat with the rest of the meat mixture and cabbage leaves.

Sixth. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Baste with juice after 30 minutes. You may either serve them at this point or use this double-cook method for a softer and more tender cabbage roll: transfer them to a large pot, along with the juice from the baking sheet, refrigerate and reheat the nest day in the same pot by boiling on the stove for thirty minutes for 30 minutes. Save the juice from the pot, and served it alongside the cabbage rolls and mashed potatoes.

The Question: Have I seen the Hand of God Reaching Out to Touch Us Today?

Truthfully, I’m a little rattled this week. An old friend approached me trying to clear the air over a long disagreement while I held another friend’s crying baby in my arms. My new doctor informed me at a routine check-up that she found something that might really be nothing but that I would need further tests. And, my flu shot brought me a fever, aches and a sore throat.

Blessings abound, but they seem diminished by my anxious soul. In the midst of the sicky chills, I considered all-the-ways-I’m-going-to-die-from-whatever-it-is-I-possibly-may-have-but probably-don’t in between reciting lines of what I could have said during the confrontation.

All this just before I kneel to say my nightly prayers. Probably not my best moment before God. How can I answer the question, let alone pray with gratitude?

Paul answered for me, “The crying baby restrained you from saying something stupid.”

He’s right. The anxiety of these moments can be erased with the realizations that God was really there.

First, during that heated moment, the baby had all the emotion the room could handle. Ironically, the more emotionally charged I wanted to be, the louder the baby cried. But I didn’t lose control because he needed me to be an adult.

Second, I’ve never gone to a female doctor before, and my new doctor is a woman. Her reassurance in a moment of uncertainty mattered to me. I just allowed my mind to wander down the wrong road after I left her office.

Third, if my 12-hour “mini” flu reminds my children what it’s like for mom to get sick (Eh thanked me for making dinner even though I felt icky), it is worth it.

“I just want to lay under those trees and take a picture,” my teen told me.

And so I did.

Now, I’m can share a playful Wordless Wednesday.

Try-It With-Me Tuesday, an interactive weekly time and place to foster connections that challenge and encourage the process to become a well-rounded person.

The first Try-It-With-Me Tuesday Book Club discussion happens next Tuesday, October 28th right here at tjhirst.com. We’re reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau.

I hope I don’t discourage you from trying it with me, but I am still trying to finish it in time. It’s harder than I thought it would be. My goal stretches me to settle down my busy schedule and make time to read it. Finding time to sit and read a book about a man who simplifies is ironic, isn’t it?

My copy is just about 300 pages, which isn’t that long, but modern writing conditions me to expect a fast-paced story and easy language that moves it along. Reading an older piece like this is causing me to slow down and think, which is difficult to do, but a worthwhile process I want to learn.

So far, I value what I’ve read and the questions I’m considering regarding how I live in our modern culture and material lifestyle. I’ll tell you all about it when I publish my review next week.

Are you trying it with me? If so, how are you doing? Anyone is welcome to read with us this week or discuss next Tuesday. Please come back and comment if you’ve ever read the book before; I’ll need to bounce some ideas around once I finish.

If you want to write a post, I want to publish your link so we can visit your website and see what you have to say. Please email me your permalink to tj (at) tjhirst (dot) com no later than Monday, October 27 at 12 a.m. (Central Time). If you don’t make that deadline, just leave the link in your comments on the Tuesday post.

Join by trying the challenges with me, commenting, linking, or suggesting a challenge. If you want to write a post on your blog about what happened when you took the challenge, I will publish your link. Just link to my website in your post and send me your link. Feel free to use the TIWMT image in your post.