Discipleship in Action

     The Core Event strategy is when a mature believer and a young believer work together to to share Jesus with a non believer. We are excited to hear how this strategy is happening by a few locals in Central Asia. Two local coffee shop workers, “Kristina” and “Evelyne” have been encouraging each other in their faith as Kristina’s disciples the young believer Evelyne. 

     A few months ago, the women worked together to share the good news of Jesus with “Xana”, a non believer who is closely tied to the cafes.  Evelyne learned a lot from how Kristina comfortably wove the topic of Jesus into conversation without intimidating Xana.  It is really exciting to hear how nationals are practicing their faith by the initiation of discipleship and evangelism to non believers on their own. 

Please pray for this Core Event strategy to grow among nationals in the coffee shop and the believing community. Pray that God would soften Xana's heart to receive His grace, and that she would experience the joy of being part of the body of Christ. 

Sunshine Tart

     Today we tested the Sunshine Tart.  It is made with puff pastry, caramel, vanilla cream and orange supremes.  Below are some pictures from our experience as well as a video on how to supreme or segment an orange for desserts just like this one!  If you would like the recipe for this or anything else we post, let us know and we will explain everything in more detail.

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Recipe Testing: Bialy

Today we tested the Bialy.  A Bialy is a dense Jewish bread that is topped with onions and poppy seeds.  We added some fresh springs of dill for additional flavor and presentation.  You will notice that the dough is the same as the bagel recipe but there are modifications in the procedure and toppings.

Ingredients:

Bialy Dough

1 1/2 Cups Warm Water

1 Tbsp. Dry Active Yeast

1 Tbsp. Sugar

1 Tbsp. Melted Butter

2 tsp Malt Syrup (find at specialty grocery stores like whole foods)

2 tsp Salt

4 1/2 cups Unbleached Bread Flour

Topping

3 onions (medium diced)

3 TB olive oil

2 TB poppy seeds

1/4 cup corn meal

T.T. salt

Fresh dill sprigs to garnish

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Mix warm water, yeast, sugar and allow the yeast to bloom for 5 minutes. 
3. Stir in the melted butter, malt syrup, salt and 1 cup flour.
4. Slowly mix in enough flour to form a stiff bagel dough (reserve the rest of flour if there is any for shaping and kneading the dough, you may need more flour for kneading if there is none left)
5. Knead the dough for 10 minutes.  Set aside in a warm place and cover with plastic wrap or a cloth.  Allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, place a saute pan over medium heat adding 1 TB olive oil.  When the pan starts to get hot add your onions in and cook them until they are a caramel brown color.  Stir in the poppy seeds and set the onion poppy seed mixture aside.
7. After the dough has risen for 30 minutes, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces.  
8. Shape each piece by following the Bialy Shaping video below.
9. Spoon the caramelized onion mixture into the center of the bialy, and repeat until you have evenly filled all of the bialys with caramelized onions.
10. Now place parchment paper or silpats on the bottom of two half sized sheet trays (cookie sheets) and spread the cornmeal over the bottom of the two trays.  If you dont have parchment paper or silpats just use extra cornmeal on the bottom of the pan to prevent them from sticking.
11. Place the bialys on the sheet trays spacing them out evenly.  With the remaining 2 TB of olive oil brush the top of the bialy dough. Sprinkle the tops with a little bit of salt.
12. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the dough is golden brown.  Upon removing from the oven garnish with fresh dill sprigs.  Eat with Cream cheese, butter, or just as is.  

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Sam's Bagels

Sam's recipe that we use for making bagels in the cafes.  Today the Lord reminded me that there is something about good food that enables people to share community and love with one another.  Give this recipe a try and while you are making it (and eating it), pray that God would use those making the same recipe in Central Asia to make an impact for His kingdom!

Sesame Bagel

Sam’s Bagel Recipe

Yields 8 Bagels

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cups Warm Water

1 Tbsp. Dry Active Yeast

1 Tbsp. Sugar

1 Tbsp. Melted Butter

2 tsp Malt Syrup (find at specialty grocery stores like whole foods)

2 tsp Salt

4 1/2 cups Unbleached Bread Flour

Toppings as desired such as:

Cinnamon Sugar Bagel

Cinnamon sugar

Sesame Seeds

Poppy Seeds

Cheese

Boiling Water Ingredients

4 Quarts water

2 TB Malt Syrup

1 Tsp Salt

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Mix warm water, yeast, sugar and allow the yeast to bloom for 5 minutes. 
3. Stir in the melted butter, malt syrup, salt and 1 cup flour.
4. Slowly mix in enough flour to form a stiff bagel dough (reserve the rest of flour if there is any for shaping and kneading the dough, you may need more flour for kneading if there is none left)
5. Knead the dough for 10 minutes.  Set aside in a warm place and cover with plastic wrap or a cloth.  Allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, mix the Boiling Water Ingredients together and place over high heat on the stove.
7. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape:  Shape the dough by taking one of your eight pieces and rolling it into a long even cylinder (about 10 inches in length.  Taper the ends of the cylinder. Wrap the dough around the middle of your hand and roll the two tapered ends together so it forms the bagel shape.  Check out my demonstration video on how to shape bagels below)
8. Once you have shaped the bagels.  Allow them to rest for 20 minutes.
9. Boil the bagels two at at time for 1 minute on each side (flipping them halfway through)
10. Remove them from the water and immediately dip them in your desired toppings, after the topping is applied, transfer the bagel to baking sheet and repeat the process with the remaining bagels.
11. Bake at 425 until golden brown (17-25 minutes)

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Jesus working through dreams and businesses

   “Lilly” was in for a surprise as she began to frequent one of the coffee shops in Central Asia. What was once her stop for in-house roasted coffee and delicious pastries or sandwiches soon became a chance to improve her ability to speak English. She found out that right above the coffee shop, was an English School.

     A couple semesters back, Lilly began taking English classes and even has brought her son and daughter to an English camp. The English school and Cafe have provided Lilly with an environment to make many friendships. These friendships have allowed for much conversation, in which Lilly has shared an interesting dream that she experienced. We have met and heard of many people from this culture that have experienced very powerful spiritual dreams, often in which Jesus appears to them. 

In the dream she saw herself surrounded by trash (which she interpreted as the bad in her life), but a spring of refreshing water near as well. The trust and friendship our team has made with Lilly has allowed for them to tell her about Jesus being the living water. They have given her a Bible and she continues to investigate more truths about Jesus as well. 

We are strong believers in how the teamwork of the English school and cafe ministries are used by Jesus to change lives in such an unreached area of the world. Lilly’s story is an exciting example of what we are eager to be a part of. 


For more amazing stories of Jesus working through dreams and visions in the muslim world check out this book:

Dreams and Visions: is Jesus Awakening the Muslim World?

http://www.amazon.com/DREAMS-AND-VISIONS-Awakening-ebook/dp/B0078FAA3M

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Recipe Testing- Strawberry Napoleon

Today we started the process of recipe testing for use in the cafes.  Over the next few months we will be testing our recipes and passing out our culinary creations to get feedback.  We will use the feedback we get to create the best possible products to serve at the cafes in Central Asia.  If you are lucky you might get to be our taste testers!  Here are some pictures of Heather's Strawberry Napoleon.  It is puff pastry with strawberries and a diplomat cream (mixture of pastry cream and whipped cream)  

What do you think?  

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