My son Micah is due to begin learning Latin in the fall. I have decided to learn along with him (though I’ll be at work during the day while Shari is teaching.) I considered trying to get a head-start, but decided instead to plan ahead for a few years down the road and learn Greek. Oddly enough, I learned the Greek alphabet in grade school as a project that myself and another young schemer dreamt up for using as a secret form of communication.

A month or two ago while visiting a Greek Orthodox church I found that I still remembered the letters and their pronunciations and could figure out who the icons were on the onion dome since the names we use for them are simply transliterations.

There are quite a few great resources on the net for learning Greek and Latin. My personal favorite is Textkit. For pronunciation practice I found some great tutorials with audio samples. My plan is to learn Homeric Greek so that I can start with Homer. My goal is to eventually be able to read the Septuagint, the New Testament, and the Fathers of the church in the original languages. I am starting with Homeric Greek: A Book for Beginners by Clyde Pharr, which is a free download from Textkit.

During the summer in order to make up for lost time Shari and the kids are working through The Story of the World Volume 1. I have begun a nightly reading ritual and began with The Great Divorce by C.S.Lewis, which was a little over Hannah’s head and sometimes Micah’s, but still worth reading. Now I’m reading a children’s adaptation of The Iliad. We have also begun following the Orthodox lectionary, which has daily readings from both the Gospels and the Epistles.

I had read about traditional education in some of the books I had read in the not too distant past (“How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization” for one). It had interested me, but I had not realized that such a classical education was feasible today or that Shari would even consider such a thing. It turns out that there is a movement attempting to resurrect the classical methods. These methods include the study of Latin, grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric as core subject areas.

What astounds me is that while I started this blog to talk about food traditions, it has expanded to include much more. It seems that this culture has consistently sought to strip the nourishing elements not just from our diet, but from every part of our lives. This tendency comes from a lack of humility and a complete disrespect for the giants upon whose shoulders we stand.

The path that began as a search for a healthy diet has turned into a life’s journey for me. As I began to understand tradition more and more it began to seep into other parts of my life. It moved me to study my Christain faith and depart protestantism for the rich and nourishing tradition of Catholicism and Orthodoxy. It is now moving my family to leave behind the broken system of education we have today in favor the traditions of our past.

I took a job in Denver, CO at the Rocky Mountain News in September of 2008. As you may know, the Rocky was closed by the parent company E.W.Scripps because it was losing them millions of dollars. It has been quite a ride since.

While in Denver area we lived in a rather small basement apartment while hunting for housing. Fortunately we never purchased a home and weren’t trapped there. We had been unable to sell our Michigan home because of the dreadful housing market there and kept postponing a purchase hoping it would sell.

I put out feelers for jobs in the area, but I ended up taking a position at the Naples Daily News in Naples, FL. We are now living in an RV park and have been for the last 2 months while shopping for a home. We made an offer on a home and it is now under contract. We should be living in it in 30-60 days.

That said, it has been very difficult to do anything creative at all in the cooking department. In our basement apartment we had no oven (we made do with a toaster oven) and in our camper space is so constricted that we basically live on burgers, hotdogs, spaghetti (brown rice of course), and simple foods.

In addition to all that, as I mentioned earlier last year, I decided to more deeply investigate traditional Christianity. That study has taken a front seat and put innovative cooking in the back seat for a while. At this point I will just say that while I have not chosen a final destination in Orthodoxy or Catholicism, I have left protestantism behind. My understanding of the problems with the ancient church were based in ignorance. Most people who criticize the church don’t really understand what it teaches.

Many of you may have been wondering what happened to me. That is the short version. I do plan to go back to more regular posting sometime after life settles down.

• 3T raw unfiltered honey
• juice from 2 limes
• 1/2t celtic sea salt
• 2 liters of water (or dilute the above ingredients to taste)

This is good, but I don’t think it’s as good as the previous. I got a cramp in my calf on mile 15 with this. Of course that might have more to do with the change in altitude. But it sure does taste good.

• 2 liters of water (I carry mine in a Camelbak)
• 3T blackstrap molasses
• 2T raw apple cider vinegar
• 1/2t celtic sea salt

I’ve done this with honey as well, but have occasionally experienced heartburn with the honey. The molasses didn’t do that and I also seemed to have more energy. The molasses is probably higher in numerous minerals (e.g. potasium) so that may be what does it.

The taste isn’t the best at first, but during the run you actually grow to like it. I think your body craves certain substances and your taste for it grows.

I got to thinking about those. Basically what those are is melted marshmallows mixed with Rice Crispies. Would my great-great-grandmother have been able to make those? Nope. They are made from a highly processed cereal and a highly processed “candy.” Each of those things are made out of highly processed other ingredients (the marshmallows are largely corn syrup from corn). When my great-great-grandmother was alive, Rice Crispies hadn’t even been invented.

This is how people cook these days. For most modern home cooks, raw ingredients are the things that come in boxes at the grocery store. They take highly processed foods and then process them some more. For my great-great-grandmother, raw ingredients were things that came out of a field or garden – with the exception of sugar and flour. My great-great-great-great-grandmother probably wouldn’t have even had those.

While I actually quite like those Rice Crispy treats, for the most part foods that are made with raw ingredients that come out of the ground or from some animal instead of a factory are far better not only in the health department, but taste, texture, and smell. Now I’m unusual in this regard because the vast majority of people have become so accustomed to processed foods that they actually prefer them. Velveeta is a prime example. I still don’t understand how anybody can confuse that stuff with cheese…

Insert your pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500F. Let it pre-heat for at least an hour.

Follow my no-knead bread dough recipe. Instead of shaping into bread loaves, cut the dough in half, fold it a few times, and stretch it out into pizza shapes. (I won’t describe that as I’m not very good at it yet). Place on a well floured pizza peal or an edgeless cookie sheet and let rise for about 1 hour.

• 2 tomatoes (mine aren’t ripe yet so I bought some)
• fresh oregano (from the garden)
• fresh basil (from the garden)
• garlic
• onions (from the garden)
• 1lb good quality whole milk mozzarella
• good quality Parmigiano-Reggiano
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Slice the tomatoes into about 1/4 inch slices and salt both sides. Lay out on a kitchen towel to dry for at least 20 minutes (hat tip to Chef Snow for this tip.)

Just before baking, top the pizza. Chop the herbs and spread directly on the dough. Mince the garlic and spread it with the herbs. Shred the mozzarella (I used my Cuisinart food processor) and put half on each pizza. Slice the onions and spread on top of the cheese. Lay out the tomatoes as in the picture on the very top. Drizzle olive oil over the top. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top.

Slide the pizza (bake one at a time) onto the hot stone and immediately close the oven. I did not fill the oven with steam as with my bread recipe. Turn the oven down to 450F and bake for about 12 minutes.

Grate Parmigiano-Reggiano over the top. Individuals may enjoy adding garlic salt or red pepper flakes.

Slice and serve.

Last Sunday I ran 10 miles with a pace of 9:57 minutes per mile. That’s certainly not going to break any records, but not bad for a first. Let me tell you though, 1 hour and 40 minutes of running seems like a long time. I’m following the Hal Higdon novice training program. This weekend I will be running 10K in the Kelly Carter Scholarship Run in Tecumseh, MI.

I have scaled back my weight lifting to once per week in order to maintain what I have gained. I am making very little to no gains, though I seem to have made some minor gains on chin-ups. But the goal here is simply to maintain.

Shari and I took a Chi-Running class. It has been very helpful for me in implemented the Chi-Running form. This form has made running more enjoyable and easier. It has also helped to improve my Taiji.

Weight loss has not occured. In fact I have gained almost 5lbs. Some of that is no doubt muscle, but this much activity has simply made me a lot more hungry all the time. If I listen to that hunger I eat and I gain weight.