Gossip leaves a wide trail of devastation wherever and however it goes – word of mouth, email, blogging, YouTube. It erodes trust and destroys morale. It creates a social environment of suspicion where everyone must wonder what is being said behind their backs and whether appearances of friendship are sincere. It ruins hard-won reputations with cowardly but effective weapons of misrepresentation. It manipulates people into taking sides when no such action is necessary or beneficial. It unleashes the dark powers of psychological transference, doing violence to the gossiper, to the one receiving the gossip and to the person being spoken against. It makes the Body of Christ look like the Body of Antichrist – destroyers rather than healers. It exhausts the energies we would otherwise devote to positive witness. It robs our Lord of the Church he deserves. It exposes the hostility in our hearts and discredits the gospel in the eyes of the world. Then we wonder why we don’t see more conversions, why “the ground is so hard.”

Ray Ortlund

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Fruits, Grains	Chinese	Desserts, Cakes, Fruits, Chinese, Myan	8	Servings

INGREDIENTS

3		Phyllo dough, sheets
1/4	c	Butter, melted
1/3	c	Coconut, toasted, shredded
2	c	Lyche, seeded, halved
1/4	c	Walnut, roasted, chopped
1/4	c	Raisins, soaked in plum wine
3	tb	Ginger, candied
1 1/2	c	Asian pear, peeled, diced
1	ts	Zest, lemon
1	tb	Sugar
1	tb	Juice, lime OR
1	tb	Juice, lemon
1	ts	Five spice, powder
1	tb	Wine, plum
		Sugar, confectioner's

INSTRUCTIONS

Filling: ========
Soak your golden raisins in plum wine overnight or longer.
Depending on the ingredients available to you, mix appropriate
quantities up so as to fill the dough. You can certainly use more or less
of each ingredient to suit your individual tastes. You'll need about four
cups total filling.
Assembly: =========
Spread the two sheets of phyllo dough out on your work surface, one on
top of the other.  Paint the top layer of dough with some of the melted
better and then spread a nice thin layer of toasted coconut over the entire
pastry.
Pour your filling along the long edge of the phyllo dough, and roll
the dough up as tightly as possible (remember to fold in the ends as you
roll so the ends are "sealed") and put on a non-stick baking sheet.
Paint the top of the roll with melted butter and bake at 350 F until
the dough is golden brown.
When done, take the strudel out of the oven and let it cool on a rack.
Just before serving, sprinkle a little powdered sugar over the top. Slice
the roll on a diagonal for a more attractive presentation.
For elegant presentation, you might serve the strudel pieces on a
plate with slices of kiwi, orange, lemon, and pear as garnish.
Source: "Yan Can Cook,"  Martin Yan
:       PBS Series, 11/8/94
From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

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