My garden is doing so well! I wish I could post pictures but my camera still isn't acting like it's connected when I plug it into the computer. I'm going to try to get it into the shop tomorrow.
I'm so thrilled that every day, almost, we've got yummy homegrown tomatoes! Tonight I used some in a garden stew with polenta, with my garden peas, basil, squash, rosemary, and some broccoli that came from...well, I don't know where it came from. It appeared in my fridge. Maybe from my mother-in-law. :-) It was yummy! Last night I had a couple tomatoes sliced to go with our cheesy walnut burgers, and the night before there were enough to make the ranchero sauce for our chiles rellenos.
My three tomato plants: the one I'm getting all the tomatoes off now is the little, but hard-working, stupice heirloom plant. I also have a cherokee purple plant that I've gotten two or three off of. My brandywine tomato plant took a long time to set fruit, but it finally has lots of nice green fruit that's all going to be HUGE.
3 of my 6 squash plants are bearing really well, too. I've been using the little tiny ones, and a few days ago I made Squash Blossom Soup with all the blossoms I could find and some big squash I came home to. I love that soup!
I have three green basil plants, and one opal basil plant. I'm able to harvest enough basil each week for pasta with pesto, which is as often as I like to eat pasta with pesto in the summer time, along with good cherry tomatoes. (I buy the cherries from the farmer's market, since I don't have a plant.)
The mint is doing really well, of course, and I don't have enough uses for it. I can only drink so many mojitos. :-) I need to find more uses for fresh mint.
The cucumber plant isn't doing as well....but we did have a couple of cucumbers off it to eat last week, and one more is growing right now. I'll take what I can get.
*************************************************************************
In other news, and in other reasons why I'm bummed that I can't post pictures: my children got the brilliant idea, in their little pirate minds, to build a sailboat. They came up with this while we were at Clergy Laity, and told me over the phone. I was thinking of the huge ones that fit a whole crew and tons of cargo. But no, they sent me a picture of it and it's a cute little thing. Paul bought into the idea (um, I mean that literally...) and they are out there right now working on it. I have no idea where they're going to sail this thing when they're done, but I'm sure they'll figure something out. It's something nice that dad and kids can work on together. They are making a PDRacer.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Nuns in Nightgowns
So, I saw Susan today at the Limnes picnic, and realized that I've been putting off for much too long the story I teased about with Christina that I was going to tell her sometime. I said then that I'd tell her in person, because I didn't want to put it in a blog, but I think I can make it so that no one's privacy is violated too much, and besides, it's a good story!
This is a story about when we lived at St. Nicholas Ranch and Retreat Center in central California. It was a retreat center/camp, and next to it was the Monastery of the Life-Giving Springs. We had a very small little community there. At the end of our road was the retreat center and across from it, the (then) future site of the monastery. Before you got to that, there were two houses, ours and the house where Mike and Elizabeth Tervo (now Fr. Mike who serves as second priest in Oakland) lived. Before that, the house that was the old convent for the nuns, where they were living at the time. Across from them, there was a non-Orthodox family, and right beside them lived the H family, J and C with a lot of small children. Now, the H family had moved there kind of recently, and J still held a job about a 3 1/2 hour drive away, so he stayed down there half the week and worked from home the rest of the week. So he was gone a lot and C played single mother during those times.
Because it was such a small community, Paul was able to play things kind of spontaneously; he didn't have to set a schedule for weeks in advance for the liturgical cycle, he could pretty much just let everyone know the night before when services would be. But one night he remembered that Gerontissa (the abbess) had asked him to hold liturgy the next morning and he'd told her "maybe" but now he knew he just couldn't because he was too busy that day. We looked at the clock; it was around 9:30. We knew it was too late to call the nuns, because they went to bed early and rose at around 2 am. (No, it's not a typo...) But Paul was concerned for the H family, because they would usually come for the very early services (6 am I think) and bring all their children. He didn't want them to drag the kids out of bed and there not be services. So I suggested that he just go to their house and see if there were lights on. If there were, he could tap lightly so as not to wake the children. Then he could let them know that there would be no service the next day.
So, he went down there and came home saying that there were indeed lights on, and he'd tapped, but no one answered. Oh, well, I guess I can't warn them tonight. We thought that wast he end of it.
A short while later the telephone rang. It was Gerontissa. "Please come quickly, Fr. Paul! There is a man outside of C's house, and he is going to violate her!"
It took a half a moment for the whole scenario to register to Paul....he was that man!
He went down there and all the nuns were outside, most of them wearing their nightgowns! He very delicately explained what had happened, and of course, everyone was relieved. I think it did help J and C to realize that they really needed to figure out a different arrangement for the job situation, because poor C was scared out of her mind being all alone way out in the middle of nowhere with all those small children.
I've got other stories about living there....lots, in fact. One funny was right after we'd seen a calendar called Nuns Having Fun, showing nuns roller skating and such. We were heading down to the ranch, and we saw the nuns in the field where they'd recently planted some orange trees. The trees weren't doing very well. So, over each orange tree, the nuns were putting up umbrellas. :-) We just stopped and enjoyed the sight for a minute, then headed on down the road.
This is a story about when we lived at St. Nicholas Ranch and Retreat Center in central California. It was a retreat center/camp, and next to it was the Monastery of the Life-Giving Springs. We had a very small little community there. At the end of our road was the retreat center and across from it, the (then) future site of the monastery. Before you got to that, there were two houses, ours and the house where Mike and Elizabeth Tervo (now Fr. Mike who serves as second priest in Oakland) lived. Before that, the house that was the old convent for the nuns, where they were living at the time. Across from them, there was a non-Orthodox family, and right beside them lived the H family, J and C with a lot of small children. Now, the H family had moved there kind of recently, and J still held a job about a 3 1/2 hour drive away, so he stayed down there half the week and worked from home the rest of the week. So he was gone a lot and C played single mother during those times.
Because it was such a small community, Paul was able to play things kind of spontaneously; he didn't have to set a schedule for weeks in advance for the liturgical cycle, he could pretty much just let everyone know the night before when services would be. But one night he remembered that Gerontissa (the abbess) had asked him to hold liturgy the next morning and he'd told her "maybe" but now he knew he just couldn't because he was too busy that day. We looked at the clock; it was around 9:30. We knew it was too late to call the nuns, because they went to bed early and rose at around 2 am. (No, it's not a typo...) But Paul was concerned for the H family, because they would usually come for the very early services (6 am I think) and bring all their children. He didn't want them to drag the kids out of bed and there not be services. So I suggested that he just go to their house and see if there were lights on. If there were, he could tap lightly so as not to wake the children. Then he could let them know that there would be no service the next day.
So, he went down there and came home saying that there were indeed lights on, and he'd tapped, but no one answered. Oh, well, I guess I can't warn them tonight. We thought that wast he end of it.
A short while later the telephone rang. It was Gerontissa. "Please come quickly, Fr. Paul! There is a man outside of C's house, and he is going to violate her!"
It took a half a moment for the whole scenario to register to Paul....he was that man!
He went down there and all the nuns were outside, most of them wearing their nightgowns! He very delicately explained what had happened, and of course, everyone was relieved. I think it did help J and C to realize that they really needed to figure out a different arrangement for the job situation, because poor C was scared out of her mind being all alone way out in the middle of nowhere with all those small children.
I've got other stories about living there....lots, in fact. One funny was right after we'd seen a calendar called Nuns Having Fun, showing nuns roller skating and such. We were heading down to the ranch, and we saw the nuns in the field where they'd recently planted some orange trees. The trees weren't doing very well. So, over each orange tree, the nuns were putting up umbrellas. :-) We just stopped and enjoyed the sight for a minute, then headed on down the road.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Winding down this leg of vacation
Pheeeeewwww.
We're home from Nashville, home from the coast, and beginning to say goodbye to the last bit of Paul's vacation in July. (We get two more weeks in September.) It's been nice, but kind of frenetic!
First I'll report on Nashville, what I didn't tell you already. We never ordered room service ice cream sundaes--sorry, Theophilus. We just never had opportunity. Lots of evenings were taken by big dinners, that had dessert with them already, and the other evenings we were out on the town getting back late. I suppose I'll have to say "next time" on that....but when would that be? Heavens, I don't expect to stay in such a hotel again in my life.
I'd left a comment in the last post about Paul asking the archbishop about altar girls....he just brought up female deacons, didn't ask about them, because female deacons in this country is further off, and he wanted to focus on what's closer. Plus they already have female deacons in Greece, in an exceedingly limited fashion. The archbishop said four words that Paul said he'd hold onto: "It might be feasible." Well, it's something. Really it's the same kind of answer that's been given for a long time--maybe, wait, not yet.
On Thursday was the Grand Banquet, which I said I might just cut and run from. As it turned out, they held us captive in two ways: first, they had the program between the salad and the entree, so we couldn't leave unless we didn't want to eat. But second, it was an amazing program! It didn't drag on and on like usual. They had the Victory Choir, which is an African American choir singing traditional black gospel music. Wow, were they great! And even more interesting than the actual choir was the Greek response. I wouldn't have expected it....some were just sitting not reacting, but a lot were up on their feet, clapping, moving to the music.
Then there was the keynote speaker. He was from the First Amendment Center and he was amazing. Paul's and my reaction to his speech, without coordinating it, was to immediately jump up to give him our highest applause in a standing ovation. He brought up so many issues of social justice, racism, and poverty that we as a church need so badly to focus on, and have been remiss in not doing for far too long. Of course, he had the beloved Archbishop Iakavos to give as a shining example of someone who marched with Martin Luther King.
On Friday we had some time to do shopping at the hotel and then it was off to the airport. Paul had said hang it all, he was wearing his tie-dyes, not clerical wear. But at the airport, we ran into none other than the archbishop, Met. Nicholas, and the whole retinue. Oops! Paul spent the first bit of time trying to have them not notice him, and ended up just walking up and greeting the archbishop as is. :-) Oh, we also saw, at the airport, an old friend from seminary. We'd actually seen him in the altar on Sunday, but only recognized his beautiful chanting--he's grown a full beard since then and we didn't think it looked like him. It was nice to see him. He's in Greece now but is returning to the states soon.
Oh, Mimi--I tried to have some sweet tea at the airport while Paul got his last thing that he wanted from Nashville: a shot of Jack Daniels. :-) But all they had there was Snapple. Not what I was looking for. I did have some sweet tea with some fast-food Chinese just before the NashTrash tour. And the fruit tea was sweet, but not exactly what I was thinking of.
We returned to blistering weather (it had been blistering in Nashville, too, but we lived in the unreality zone of the air-conditioned outdoors at the Opryland Hotel--or as Theo Nikolakis called it, the Biosphere) in Portland. We got out as soon as possible on Saturday, with kids and Paul's parents, to the coast. We didn't really do anything there but relax on the beach. On the way back we stopped at the Evergreen Aviation Museum, which houses the Spruce Goose. Paul's dad worked on planes in the military, and some of the models there were models he worked on. So, even though the hangar was not air-conditioned, we enjoyed some time there before we escaped back to our air-conditioned cars. :-P
Paul's parents went back to Tucson on Tuesday, and we've spent the week being tourists in our own city: we went to the falls on Wednesday, and walked around downtown yesterday. Had dinner at Bombay Cricket Club, an Indian restaurant. We've been trying to get over there for awhile....I'd read the service left something to be desired, but I found the service to be almost over-attentive. But some of the food wasn't as good as I've had: my favorite, saag paneer, wasn't very good. But the naan was delicious, and so were the pakoras and samosas.
Alas, today we have an unpleasant task ahead of us. We returned from the coast to find that a couple from the parish lost her son to suicide. His funeral is today. This will be difficult. Please pray for Toby, the son, and Dennis and Cherie. I know Dennis from choir.
Paul is out with the kids working on their newfound passion: building a sailboat. It's a small job, just big enough for the two kids probably. So they're looking for materials at the Rebuilding Center and the Restore Center, both places for recycled materials that benefit Habitat for Humanity.
Sunday we'll be back at church, and Paul's vacation will be over! But I think we're ready. Hibi's going to the Rock and Roll Camp for Girls in a week and a half, and then the kids with both go to church camp. I think we've got a good August coming up.
We're home from Nashville, home from the coast, and beginning to say goodbye to the last bit of Paul's vacation in July. (We get two more weeks in September.) It's been nice, but kind of frenetic!
First I'll report on Nashville, what I didn't tell you already. We never ordered room service ice cream sundaes--sorry, Theophilus. We just never had opportunity. Lots of evenings were taken by big dinners, that had dessert with them already, and the other evenings we were out on the town getting back late. I suppose I'll have to say "next time" on that....but when would that be? Heavens, I don't expect to stay in such a hotel again in my life.
I'd left a comment in the last post about Paul asking the archbishop about altar girls....he just brought up female deacons, didn't ask about them, because female deacons in this country is further off, and he wanted to focus on what's closer. Plus they already have female deacons in Greece, in an exceedingly limited fashion. The archbishop said four words that Paul said he'd hold onto: "It might be feasible." Well, it's something. Really it's the same kind of answer that's been given for a long time--maybe, wait, not yet.
On Thursday was the Grand Banquet, which I said I might just cut and run from. As it turned out, they held us captive in two ways: first, they had the program between the salad and the entree, so we couldn't leave unless we didn't want to eat. But second, it was an amazing program! It didn't drag on and on like usual. They had the Victory Choir, which is an African American choir singing traditional black gospel music. Wow, were they great! And even more interesting than the actual choir was the Greek response. I wouldn't have expected it....some were just sitting not reacting, but a lot were up on their feet, clapping, moving to the music.
Then there was the keynote speaker. He was from the First Amendment Center and he was amazing. Paul's and my reaction to his speech, without coordinating it, was to immediately jump up to give him our highest applause in a standing ovation. He brought up so many issues of social justice, racism, and poverty that we as a church need so badly to focus on, and have been remiss in not doing for far too long. Of course, he had the beloved Archbishop Iakavos to give as a shining example of someone who marched with Martin Luther King.
On Friday we had some time to do shopping at the hotel and then it was off to the airport. Paul had said hang it all, he was wearing his tie-dyes, not clerical wear. But at the airport, we ran into none other than the archbishop, Met. Nicholas, and the whole retinue. Oops! Paul spent the first bit of time trying to have them not notice him, and ended up just walking up and greeting the archbishop as is. :-) Oh, we also saw, at the airport, an old friend from seminary. We'd actually seen him in the altar on Sunday, but only recognized his beautiful chanting--he's grown a full beard since then and we didn't think it looked like him. It was nice to see him. He's in Greece now but is returning to the states soon.
Oh, Mimi--I tried to have some sweet tea at the airport while Paul got his last thing that he wanted from Nashville: a shot of Jack Daniels. :-) But all they had there was Snapple. Not what I was looking for. I did have some sweet tea with some fast-food Chinese just before the NashTrash tour. And the fruit tea was sweet, but not exactly what I was thinking of.
We returned to blistering weather (it had been blistering in Nashville, too, but we lived in the unreality zone of the air-conditioned outdoors at the Opryland Hotel--or as Theo Nikolakis called it, the Biosphere) in Portland. We got out as soon as possible on Saturday, with kids and Paul's parents, to the coast. We didn't really do anything there but relax on the beach. On the way back we stopped at the Evergreen Aviation Museum, which houses the Spruce Goose. Paul's dad worked on planes in the military, and some of the models there were models he worked on. So, even though the hangar was not air-conditioned, we enjoyed some time there before we escaped back to our air-conditioned cars. :-P
Paul's parents went back to Tucson on Tuesday, and we've spent the week being tourists in our own city: we went to the falls on Wednesday, and walked around downtown yesterday. Had dinner at Bombay Cricket Club, an Indian restaurant. We've been trying to get over there for awhile....I'd read the service left something to be desired, but I found the service to be almost over-attentive. But some of the food wasn't as good as I've had: my favorite, saag paneer, wasn't very good. But the naan was delicious, and so were the pakoras and samosas.
Alas, today we have an unpleasant task ahead of us. We returned from the coast to find that a couple from the parish lost her son to suicide. His funeral is today. This will be difficult. Please pray for Toby, the son, and Dennis and Cherie. I know Dennis from choir.
Paul is out with the kids working on their newfound passion: building a sailboat. It's a small job, just big enough for the two kids probably. So they're looking for materials at the Rebuilding Center and the Restore Center, both places for recycled materials that benefit Habitat for Humanity.
Sunday we'll be back at church, and Paul's vacation will be over! But I think we're ready. Hibi's going to the Rock and Roll Camp for Girls in a week and a half, and then the kids with both go to church camp. I think we've got a good August coming up.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Reporting from Nashville!
Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you know that we are in Nashville and enjoying! Wow, what a place!
First off, the hotel. Oh, my. What a place! You just have to see it to believe it. Theophilus, I haven't yet ordered an ice cream sundae from room service, but I hope to before we leave. Um, that leaves either tonight or tomorrow night. It'd probably have to be tonight because tomorrow is the Grand Banquet, and we'll already be overfed, and have a long program, as always. (Unless I cut and run, which I just might.)
I have to tell you about some of the things we've done off-site. Of course, I've been enjoying seeing everyone here at the conference, but I sure am glad we took the time to do some fun things in Nashville!
On Saturday we took the city bus (yes, Bruce, the city bus has a stop right at the hotel and takes us to downtown!) and saw the Tennessee State Museum. It's a free museum, and when we first walked in we thought it was going to be well worth the admission price. ;-) But as we went through it, we saw that there is a ton of information there, and really found it to be a great untapped resource. There's a lot of info about the civil war and presidents from the South and the whole slave issue. It was very informative.
After that we went chasing a vegetarian restaurant that I'd found online, that's on the campus of Vanderbilt University. But it was closed for the summer. However, we found, by asking about that veg. restaurant, another place that served a lot of vegetarian food, and even had some specifically vegan meals on the menu, called Calypso Cafe. Yum, the food was good! We ordered the "beans and three" which I think was a take-off on the "meat and three" that you can find around here. (Not sure if that's a more general Southern thing or specific to Nashville.) A meat and three is meat plus three side dishes. Well, we had Cuban Black beans along with: cole slaw, corn muffins, mashed sweet potatoes, calalloo (mustard green dish)....um, two other things that I can't remember. It was all delicious. Oh, and we ordered iced tea and they asked if we wanted unsweetened or "fruit tea." It's got pineapple juice and another kind of juice in it. We had that and it was very interesting! I'd never heard of that. And when the bill came my jaw dropped. All that for $14 and change.
After that we went back into downtown and bummed around the touristy section of Broadway. We walked along the river, and then saw the back of B.B. Kings Blues Club. We went around front, and found that there was a concert going on--almost over. A band was playing the blues, and the singer was taking the microphone around and just handing it to people in the audience and saying, "sing the blues." And the amazing thing: it was great! Amazing! I guess everyone in Nashville is just oozing with talent.
We went back last night to B.B. Kings and took two parishioners with us. They were playing motown music, and one of the parishioners grew up in that era. He visibly just had a great time listening, and was singing along with every song. He got me and the other parishioner to come and dance with him, and I suspect it was all in order to be closer to the band. :-) It was really great.
On Sunday night we went to the Bluebird Cafe. I highly recommend that place! It was songwriters' night, and there was a lot of raw talent there, plus a guy who has written songs sung by Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris, Patty Loveless, and many others. Oh, good food at the Bluebird, too! The eggplant parmesan was delicious.
But the big hit of the week so far was yesterday's NashTrash tour. Oh, my, what a couple of comedians! You can click on the link in my previous post to see the video of their show, which is what it is, a show. They supposedly were showing us the sites, but I didn't want to look out the window for fear of missing their hilarious antics. They were finding something to mock about everyone's names (which is, I think, how they learned all of them) and I wondered what they were going to say about us. Well, we were wearing our tie-dyed shirts, and so we were the hippies! Okay, hippie couple, where are you from? Oh, Portland, OR! that's where all the hippies are. During the break, they came over and asked what we did in Portland OR. Paul had already said, I don't want to tell them I'm a priest, or I'll never hear the end of it! But he told them. Then he became the hippie priest from Oregon! And we're not going to clean it up just because a priest is on board! Heehee. It was very risque, wicked humor. And we loved every minute of it.
Anyway, that's it for now!
First off, the hotel. Oh, my. What a place! You just have to see it to believe it. Theophilus, I haven't yet ordered an ice cream sundae from room service, but I hope to before we leave. Um, that leaves either tonight or tomorrow night. It'd probably have to be tonight because tomorrow is the Grand Banquet, and we'll already be overfed, and have a long program, as always. (Unless I cut and run, which I just might.)
I have to tell you about some of the things we've done off-site. Of course, I've been enjoying seeing everyone here at the conference, but I sure am glad we took the time to do some fun things in Nashville!
On Saturday we took the city bus (yes, Bruce, the city bus has a stop right at the hotel and takes us to downtown!) and saw the Tennessee State Museum. It's a free museum, and when we first walked in we thought it was going to be well worth the admission price. ;-) But as we went through it, we saw that there is a ton of information there, and really found it to be a great untapped resource. There's a lot of info about the civil war and presidents from the South and the whole slave issue. It was very informative.
After that we went chasing a vegetarian restaurant that I'd found online, that's on the campus of Vanderbilt University. But it was closed for the summer. However, we found, by asking about that veg. restaurant, another place that served a lot of vegetarian food, and even had some specifically vegan meals on the menu, called Calypso Cafe. Yum, the food was good! We ordered the "beans and three" which I think was a take-off on the "meat and three" that you can find around here. (Not sure if that's a more general Southern thing or specific to Nashville.) A meat and three is meat plus three side dishes. Well, we had Cuban Black beans along with: cole slaw, corn muffins, mashed sweet potatoes, calalloo (mustard green dish)....um, two other things that I can't remember. It was all delicious. Oh, and we ordered iced tea and they asked if we wanted unsweetened or "fruit tea." It's got pineapple juice and another kind of juice in it. We had that and it was very interesting! I'd never heard of that. And when the bill came my jaw dropped. All that for $14 and change.
After that we went back into downtown and bummed around the touristy section of Broadway. We walked along the river, and then saw the back of B.B. Kings Blues Club. We went around front, and found that there was a concert going on--almost over. A band was playing the blues, and the singer was taking the microphone around and just handing it to people in the audience and saying, "sing the blues." And the amazing thing: it was great! Amazing! I guess everyone in Nashville is just oozing with talent.
We went back last night to B.B. Kings and took two parishioners with us. They were playing motown music, and one of the parishioners grew up in that era. He visibly just had a great time listening, and was singing along with every song. He got me and the other parishioner to come and dance with him, and I suspect it was all in order to be closer to the band. :-) It was really great.
On Sunday night we went to the Bluebird Cafe. I highly recommend that place! It was songwriters' night, and there was a lot of raw talent there, plus a guy who has written songs sung by Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris, Patty Loveless, and many others. Oh, good food at the Bluebird, too! The eggplant parmesan was delicious.
But the big hit of the week so far was yesterday's NashTrash tour. Oh, my, what a couple of comedians! You can click on the link in my previous post to see the video of their show, which is what it is, a show. They supposedly were showing us the sites, but I didn't want to look out the window for fear of missing their hilarious antics. They were finding something to mock about everyone's names (which is, I think, how they learned all of them) and I wondered what they were going to say about us. Well, we were wearing our tie-dyed shirts, and so we were the hippies! Okay, hippie couple, where are you from? Oh, Portland, OR! that's where all the hippies are. During the break, they came over and asked what we did in Portland OR. Paul had already said, I don't want to tell them I'm a priest, or I'll never hear the end of it! But he told them. Then he became the hippie priest from Oregon! And we're not going to clean it up just because a priest is on board! Heehee. It was very risque, wicked humor. And we loved every minute of it.
Anyway, that's it for now!
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Making Jesus
I have been so crazy busy I've hardly had time to do my normal, everyday things, much less blog. I thought I'd tell you all that I'm not going to be able to blog a whole lot here, because I'm headed for Nashville on Friday, helping out with Vacation Church School this week, and Paul's parents will be here tomorrow to stay with the kids while we're in Nashville. I wrote something yesterday, and blogger said it posted but it didn't. :-(
But I have to tell you all a funny story about what happened today. As I said, I've been helping out with VCS. On Monday and Tuesday I helped with the preschool class (which meant I got some quality time with Christina's Pavlos). It's been a lot of fun, but my original commitment to VCS was helping the kids make prosphora, communion bread. We started that today, with the preschool kids, and tomorrow the older kids will make prosphora. So, I was there early this morning getting everything ready for the kids to make prosphora. Everything was set out: bowls, spoons, yeast, salt, flour. One of the moms came over and said that her son was so excited that he was going to be able to make the bread that, in our church, would become the body of Christ. I went back in the kitchen to get something else, and when I came back out, her son was poking his finger in the yeast. I went over and told him that it was for later, when we made prosphora. He said to me, excitedly, "I'm going to make Jesus!" I couldn't help but laugh, and I told him that he sure was.
When Paul came home tonight, I told him the story, but he'd already heard it. ;-)
My kids have been having a lot of fun with VCS, too. Zac is a participant, and Hibi is too old to participate in the receiving end, but she is a group leader. From everything I'm hearing, she's doing a great job with it, and really enjoying it! Zac has been staying late every day, to play with the kids whose moms stay late and the neighbor parishioner kids. Both Zac and Hibi have been involved in the skits, which are really impressive! I've been amazed at what they can put together in just an hour or so.
I won't post again until after we return from Nashville....and after Nashville we're heading to the coast with Paul's parents for a couple of days. I'll see you when I see you!
But I have to tell you all a funny story about what happened today. As I said, I've been helping out with VCS. On Monday and Tuesday I helped with the preschool class (which meant I got some quality time with Christina's Pavlos). It's been a lot of fun, but my original commitment to VCS was helping the kids make prosphora, communion bread. We started that today, with the preschool kids, and tomorrow the older kids will make prosphora. So, I was there early this morning getting everything ready for the kids to make prosphora. Everything was set out: bowls, spoons, yeast, salt, flour. One of the moms came over and said that her son was so excited that he was going to be able to make the bread that, in our church, would become the body of Christ. I went back in the kitchen to get something else, and when I came back out, her son was poking his finger in the yeast. I went over and told him that it was for later, when we made prosphora. He said to me, excitedly, "I'm going to make Jesus!" I couldn't help but laugh, and I told him that he sure was.
When Paul came home tonight, I told him the story, but he'd already heard it. ;-)
My kids have been having a lot of fun with VCS, too. Zac is a participant, and Hibi is too old to participate in the receiving end, but she is a group leader. From everything I'm hearing, she's doing a great job with it, and really enjoying it! Zac has been staying late every day, to play with the kids whose moms stay late and the neighbor parishioner kids. Both Zac and Hibi have been involved in the skits, which are really impressive! I've been amazed at what they can put together in just an hour or so.
I won't post again until after we return from Nashville....and after Nashville we're heading to the coast with Paul's parents for a couple of days. I'll see you when I see you!
Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Fourth of July happenings
Wow, what a fourth! We decided to sit around and relax in the morning, and I got some planning done for going to Nashville. I came across this funky little tour of Nashville--looks like a hoot! My dear husband isn't so sure about it, so I may just reserve two spots and see who wants to go with me. :-)
In the afternoon we went hiking in Forest Park--a humongous park that's right in Portland city limits, but looks like it's way out in the woods. It was beautiful yesterday. We saw lots of interesting plants, with flowers and berries, and wildlife--well, big old slugs and millipedes. But somehow we got messed up on the trail. The book we have had the map drawn in a confusing way--at first I thought it must have been mirror-image--and we should have started out by going left instead of right on the trail. So, we ended up back at the main road, thankfully, but way off from where we'd thought we were. So it was decided that we'd just walk on the road back to where our car was. Two problems with that: the road has no sidewalk and not much shoulder, so street-phobic Zachary was freaking out from the time we started, even though not many cars drive that road and most that do drive slowly. Second, I suppose that they don't expect people to be walking on the road....and they don't clear the stinging nettle from the roadside. We found that out the hard way when Zac brushed his hand on some. Then we had a boy freaking out because of walking on the road, plus his hand was hurting like crazy. Finally Paul had to tell him in no uncertain terms that he HAD to stop screaming, that he was being more of a danger to himself in that condition, that if it hurt he could say OW but not scream or yell. That seemed to do the trick, and we got back to the car safely where we had some medicinal cupcakes, cookies, and vegan pie for Hibi waiting for us. :-) Zac said he had fun in spite of the stinging nettle.
We'd talked about where to see fireworks. I suggested that we go to the blues festival, where they were shooting fireworks from, but Paul didn't seem too keen on that. So I suggested that we just go to the river anywhere to watch. Paul was remembering time after time of being in the midst of so many people, and having to sit in traffic getting back. Last year we went to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco to see the fireworks, which was great up until it was over. Then there was a mad dash of hundreds, thousands of people trying to get on the buses to get away from Fisherman's Wharf. It got a little out of hand with people pushing and yelling and getting angry. I certainly didn't ever want to do that again either. So it was decided that we'd just walk down to Grant Park and sit on the lawn. Paul was sure that we'd have a good view. I was unsure of that, and it turned out that we were both partially right. The waterfront park fireworks were mostly behind the trees for us. But there were so many other fireworks going off, we had a panoramic view of lots of fireworks.
None of us could believe the number of private fireworks going off. Back in San Francisco, where it's illegal to sell any fireworks, you'd maybe hear one go off every 5 or 10 minutes. Here, as soon as the sun started setting, it was constant. Never did a second go by that I did not hear a firework. Most of it isn't legal to sell in Oregon, either, but Vancouver Washington is just a 10 minute drive across the border. Even in Fresno county, in California where I grew up and fireworks are legal, it was nothing like this.
So, we had a good fourth, despite lots of things! How was yours?
In the afternoon we went hiking in Forest Park--a humongous park that's right in Portland city limits, but looks like it's way out in the woods. It was beautiful yesterday. We saw lots of interesting plants, with flowers and berries, and wildlife--well, big old slugs and millipedes. But somehow we got messed up on the trail. The book we have had the map drawn in a confusing way--at first I thought it must have been mirror-image--and we should have started out by going left instead of right on the trail. So, we ended up back at the main road, thankfully, but way off from where we'd thought we were. So it was decided that we'd just walk on the road back to where our car was. Two problems with that: the road has no sidewalk and not much shoulder, so street-phobic Zachary was freaking out from the time we started, even though not many cars drive that road and most that do drive slowly. Second, I suppose that they don't expect people to be walking on the road....and they don't clear the stinging nettle from the roadside. We found that out the hard way when Zac brushed his hand on some. Then we had a boy freaking out because of walking on the road, plus his hand was hurting like crazy. Finally Paul had to tell him in no uncertain terms that he HAD to stop screaming, that he was being more of a danger to himself in that condition, that if it hurt he could say OW but not scream or yell. That seemed to do the trick, and we got back to the car safely where we had some medicinal cupcakes, cookies, and vegan pie for Hibi waiting for us. :-) Zac said he had fun in spite of the stinging nettle.
We'd talked about where to see fireworks. I suggested that we go to the blues festival, where they were shooting fireworks from, but Paul didn't seem too keen on that. So I suggested that we just go to the river anywhere to watch. Paul was remembering time after time of being in the midst of so many people, and having to sit in traffic getting back. Last year we went to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco to see the fireworks, which was great up until it was over. Then there was a mad dash of hundreds, thousands of people trying to get on the buses to get away from Fisherman's Wharf. It got a little out of hand with people pushing and yelling and getting angry. I certainly didn't ever want to do that again either. So it was decided that we'd just walk down to Grant Park and sit on the lawn. Paul was sure that we'd have a good view. I was unsure of that, and it turned out that we were both partially right. The waterfront park fireworks were mostly behind the trees for us. But there were so many other fireworks going off, we had a panoramic view of lots of fireworks.
None of us could believe the number of private fireworks going off. Back in San Francisco, where it's illegal to sell any fireworks, you'd maybe hear one go off every 5 or 10 minutes. Here, as soon as the sun started setting, it was constant. Never did a second go by that I did not hear a firework. Most of it isn't legal to sell in Oregon, either, but Vancouver Washington is just a 10 minute drive across the border. Even in Fresno county, in California where I grew up and fireworks are legal, it was nothing like this.
So, we had a good fourth, despite lots of things! How was yours?
Monday, July 3, 2006
Baked Goat Cheese and Sliced Tomato Salad with Pesto
Mmm, now I have something real to post about--our dinner tonight. I tried a new recipe from my Jack Bishop cookbook, A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. How I first came to find Jack Bishop's excellent vegetarian cookbooks is like this.
A little over 4 years ago, my step-grandfather died--the third husband of my grandmother, the one who is 101 years old now. On the day of the funeral I invited all of our family who would still be around for another day to come for dinner the next day. This included my biological maternal family members, plus my grandmother's second husband's family, who technically are not related to us, but we keep them close as real family. Unfortunately, though we all regarded my grandmother's third husband as father and grandfather and loved him as such, and he loved us as such, his original family never seemed to see it quite like that. But we still have good memories of Barney, and he was my grandpa since I was 17 years old.
So, a large number of people were coming over for dinner. I had never cooked for such a crowd, and still haven't since. This was when we lived at St. Nicholas Ranch, an hour from Fresno where we did all our grocery shopping. I looked at what I had on hand, and decided the week had already been stressful enough without an added trip into town, plus it would take too long--two hours just for driving. I had several days of dinners planned and ingredients for them, so I decided to just cook everything I had planned for several days, all in one day. I started cooking first thing in the morning, and cooked all day long. It was cheese-fare week--in the Orthodox church, cheese fare week is the week we "say goodbye" to cheese and eggs just before Lent; we've already said goodbye to meat the week before--as vegetarians, it seems a little extraneous, but we do have special cheese-fare meals anyway, that we only eat during cheese fare. I remember one of the dishes was blini, which is a traditional Russian Orthodox cheese fare meal. Another that I made, just to round out the meal, was spoon bread--a cream-topped creamy corn bread.
I was terrified I wouldn't have enough food, so I just kept cooking! And of course we had plenty, with lots of leftovers. I think that everyone enjoyed it, and I know that my aunt and uncle from Minnesota did. When they got home, they sent me a thank-you card with a gift card for a bookstore, telling me that they so enjoyed my vegetarian cooking and they wanted to encourage me to continue expanding my cooking repertoire, and that I should use the gift card to buy myself a cookbook that looked good to me. So, I chose Jack Bishop's The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook. I so enjoyed it that I bought another of his when it was published: A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. And so I bring you this recipe that we enjoyed tonight.
First, don't attempt this recipe if you don't have access to wonderful, summer-sun ripened tomatoes. It just won't be the same with supermarket tomatoes.
I looked for the type of goat cheese suggested by the recipe, but didn't find it. I did find a wonderful wine-rinded aged goat cheese. The secret here is that you want aged, not fresh, goat cheese.
Finally, the only cooking this recipe requires is to bake the cheese, and it requires such a small baking dish I used my toaster oven. Perfect for a hot summer evening. Very simple and quick.
Baked Goat Cheese and Sliced Tomato Salad with Pesto
Pesto:
Put 2 cups fresh basil, 1 tablespoon pine nuts, and 1 small garlic clove into a food processor. Process until finely chopped. Add olive oil, up to 6 tablespoons, as the motor is running, scraping the sides as needed. (I didn't process until quite smooth, as I used part opal basil, and I wanted pretty flecks instead of muddy paste. :-) Add salt to taste.
Goat Cheese:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cut 12 ounces of aged goat cheese (preferably Bucheron) cheese into four rounds (or if wedges, like mine, just slice the wedges into smaller wedges). Pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a small baking dish, just large enough to fit the cheese in a single layer. (The recipe says put 2 tablespoons of the oil in a separate dish for breading the cheese with, but I found this to be a dish-saving measure that was very easy.) Coat the dish with the oil. Place 1 cup of bread crumbs on a dish. Dip each piece of cheese into the oil and then into the breadcrumbs. Press bread crumbs onto the cheese. Put the cheese into the oiled dish and sprinkle any remaining bread crumbs over the cheese. Bake until the cheese is light golden brown (mine melted gloriously), about 10 minutes.
Tomato Salad:
Meanwhile, slice four good-sized tomatoes. Smear a scant teaspoon of pesto on each slice.
To serve, place 2-4 slices of tomato on each plate, and set a piece of goat cheese in the middle of the tomatoes.
I served this with bread, and Hibi had nuts instead of cheese. I think next time I might bake her some oiled breadcrumbs to have with it, because those really added to the dish.
A little over 4 years ago, my step-grandfather died--the third husband of my grandmother, the one who is 101 years old now. On the day of the funeral I invited all of our family who would still be around for another day to come for dinner the next day. This included my biological maternal family members, plus my grandmother's second husband's family, who technically are not related to us, but we keep them close as real family. Unfortunately, though we all regarded my grandmother's third husband as father and grandfather and loved him as such, and he loved us as such, his original family never seemed to see it quite like that. But we still have good memories of Barney, and he was my grandpa since I was 17 years old.
So, a large number of people were coming over for dinner. I had never cooked for such a crowd, and still haven't since. This was when we lived at St. Nicholas Ranch, an hour from Fresno where we did all our grocery shopping. I looked at what I had on hand, and decided the week had already been stressful enough without an added trip into town, plus it would take too long--two hours just for driving. I had several days of dinners planned and ingredients for them, so I decided to just cook everything I had planned for several days, all in one day. I started cooking first thing in the morning, and cooked all day long. It was cheese-fare week--in the Orthodox church, cheese fare week is the week we "say goodbye" to cheese and eggs just before Lent; we've already said goodbye to meat the week before--as vegetarians, it seems a little extraneous, but we do have special cheese-fare meals anyway, that we only eat during cheese fare. I remember one of the dishes was blini, which is a traditional Russian Orthodox cheese fare meal. Another that I made, just to round out the meal, was spoon bread--a cream-topped creamy corn bread.
I was terrified I wouldn't have enough food, so I just kept cooking! And of course we had plenty, with lots of leftovers. I think that everyone enjoyed it, and I know that my aunt and uncle from Minnesota did. When they got home, they sent me a thank-you card with a gift card for a bookstore, telling me that they so enjoyed my vegetarian cooking and they wanted to encourage me to continue expanding my cooking repertoire, and that I should use the gift card to buy myself a cookbook that looked good to me. So, I chose Jack Bishop's The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook. I so enjoyed it that I bought another of his when it was published: A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. And so I bring you this recipe that we enjoyed tonight.
First, don't attempt this recipe if you don't have access to wonderful, summer-sun ripened tomatoes. It just won't be the same with supermarket tomatoes.
I looked for the type of goat cheese suggested by the recipe, but didn't find it. I did find a wonderful wine-rinded aged goat cheese. The secret here is that you want aged, not fresh, goat cheese.
Finally, the only cooking this recipe requires is to bake the cheese, and it requires such a small baking dish I used my toaster oven. Perfect for a hot summer evening. Very simple and quick.
Baked Goat Cheese and Sliced Tomato Salad with Pesto
Pesto:
Put 2 cups fresh basil, 1 tablespoon pine nuts, and 1 small garlic clove into a food processor. Process until finely chopped. Add olive oil, up to 6 tablespoons, as the motor is running, scraping the sides as needed. (I didn't process until quite smooth, as I used part opal basil, and I wanted pretty flecks instead of muddy paste. :-) Add salt to taste.
Goat Cheese:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cut 12 ounces of aged goat cheese (preferably Bucheron) cheese into four rounds (or if wedges, like mine, just slice the wedges into smaller wedges). Pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a small baking dish, just large enough to fit the cheese in a single layer. (The recipe says put 2 tablespoons of the oil in a separate dish for breading the cheese with, but I found this to be a dish-saving measure that was very easy.) Coat the dish with the oil. Place 1 cup of bread crumbs on a dish. Dip each piece of cheese into the oil and then into the breadcrumbs. Press bread crumbs onto the cheese. Put the cheese into the oiled dish and sprinkle any remaining bread crumbs over the cheese. Bake until the cheese is light golden brown (mine melted gloriously), about 10 minutes.
Tomato Salad:
Meanwhile, slice four good-sized tomatoes. Smear a scant teaspoon of pesto on each slice.
To serve, place 2-4 slices of tomato on each plate, and set a piece of goat cheese in the middle of the tomatoes.
I served this with bread, and Hibi had nuts instead of cheese. I think next time I might bake her some oiled breadcrumbs to have with it, because those really added to the dish.
This and That; a post on nothing much
Wow...haven't posted in a while. I was going to post about going berry picking on Thursday, but I wanted to post pictures, and when I went to upload them my camera wouldn't do it. Doesn't seem the USB cord is working right, or maybe it's the connection on the camera that isn't working right. So, anyway, we went to a u-pick farm in Hillsboro and picked boysenberries, raspberries, and a small amount of tayberries, which are a cross between blackberries and raspberries. They taste unnaturally sweet to Paul and me, and we'd not have taken any at all but the kids didn't think they tasted weird. We got a whole bucketful of boysenberries, because I could make my very favorite kind of pie with them. And indeed, I have used them all up, even though I'd frozen some--but I needn't have bothered. We went over to some friends' house last night and I brough two pies there, where they were oohed and ahhed at. :-) They were fairly swooning! I *love* boysenberry pie. And we had such a wonderful time with our friends--we knew the husband from seminary, and we've only just started to get to know the wife, and am happy to know her.
So, anyway....sorry, there's no real point of this post, which I don't usually like to do, but I thought I'd let you all know we're here and well and enjoying the wonderful weather.
Paul and I are preparing to head to Nashville for the GOA's Clergy Laity Congress. (If you're not Greek Orthodox, read that as "humongous church conference.") Neither of us have ever been to Nashville, and we're getting excited about it! I know it'll be hot and humid, but I suppose we'll just have to deal with that. If anyone has any suggestions for must-sees, I'd appreciate it! We've bought tickets to the Grand Ol' Opry, even though it seems like it might be just a tad cheesy....(Gaither Trio is playing the night we go....one of my parents' favorites....I never had any aspirations to see them in concert. ;-) and we are planning to go to the Bluebird Cafe, where they have live music every night and a lot of big name musicians had their start. We hope to go on a Sunday night, which should be a little tamer than Friday or Saturday, and they showcase up-and-coming musicians. They do take reservations, but only up to a week in advance, so I'll have to call next Monday.
It'll just be Paul and me going (and several hundred other Greek Orthodox clergy, clergy families, and lay people...) and Paul's parents are coming from Tucson to stay with the kids. Everyone will have a great time, I'm sure!
Oh, I forgot to say that Paul is presenting his translation work at Clergy Laity! He has been translating four homilies of St. Basil that haven't ever been translated into English before, on the topics of poverty and social justice. He's close to being done...he just needs time to finish it up. But he'll be giving a 20 minute talk with a 10 minute question and answer session, about St. Basil's work and how it relates to ministry to the poor. Very cool!
Have a happy Fourth of July, everyone! We haven't decided what we're doing yet, but hopefully it'll culminate with some fireworks. :-)
So, anyway....sorry, there's no real point of this post, which I don't usually like to do, but I thought I'd let you all know we're here and well and enjoying the wonderful weather.
Paul and I are preparing to head to Nashville for the GOA's Clergy Laity Congress. (If you're not Greek Orthodox, read that as "humongous church conference.") Neither of us have ever been to Nashville, and we're getting excited about it! I know it'll be hot and humid, but I suppose we'll just have to deal with that. If anyone has any suggestions for must-sees, I'd appreciate it! We've bought tickets to the Grand Ol' Opry, even though it seems like it might be just a tad cheesy....(Gaither Trio is playing the night we go....one of my parents' favorites....I never had any aspirations to see them in concert. ;-) and we are planning to go to the Bluebird Cafe, where they have live music every night and a lot of big name musicians had their start. We hope to go on a Sunday night, which should be a little tamer than Friday or Saturday, and they showcase up-and-coming musicians. They do take reservations, but only up to a week in advance, so I'll have to call next Monday.
It'll just be Paul and me going (and several hundred other Greek Orthodox clergy, clergy families, and lay people...) and Paul's parents are coming from Tucson to stay with the kids. Everyone will have a great time, I'm sure!
Oh, I forgot to say that Paul is presenting his translation work at Clergy Laity! He has been translating four homilies of St. Basil that haven't ever been translated into English before, on the topics of poverty and social justice. He's close to being done...he just needs time to finish it up. But he'll be giving a 20 minute talk with a 10 minute question and answer session, about St. Basil's work and how it relates to ministry to the poor. Very cool!
Have a happy Fourth of July, everyone! We haven't decided what we're doing yet, but hopefully it'll culminate with some fireworks. :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
