Saturday, May 06, 2006
The Kitchen Prayer
I haven't much time this week to talk about cooking. We're working on our herb and vegetable garden, and that is keeping us busy...no time to be creative in the kitchen. I did start another blog this week Family in Feast and Feria to give an outlet to the other musings I have about our family life, not just in the kitchen.
Two of my sisters and I have been recently talking about the Prayer Plaque over my mother's sink. All the years we helped Mom with dishes we could look up and read the comforting prayer.
Last evening we went to our parish Church's spring festival, and at the White Elephant sale I found a copy. One could probably say it's a bit "kitschy" in looks...but the prayer I love. I'm going to make this copywork for myself to do in calligraphy, and perhaps present a copy to my sisters to put over their own kitchen sinks. But I'll think about that another day...after my garden is in the ground.
Kitchen Prayer
Lord of all pots and pans and things,
Since I've not time to be
A saint by doing lovely thing or
watching late wtih Thee
Or dreaming in the dawn light or
storming Heaven's gates
Make me a saint by getting meals
and washing up the plates.
Although I must have Martha's hands,
I have a Mary mind.
And when I black the boots and shoes,
Thy sandals Lord I find
I think of how they trod the earth,
each time I scrub the floor
Accept this meditation Lord,
I haven't time for more.
Warm all the kitchen with Thy love,
and light it with Thy peace
Forgive me all my worrying and
make my grumbling cease.
Thou who didst love to give men food,
in room or by the sea
Accept this service that I do,
I do it unto Thee.
--Klara Munkres
13:55 Posted in Chat , Meditation | Permalink | Comments (6) | Email this
Monday, May 01, 2006
Vegetable Gardening
We spent this weekend working on our garden. We recently moved, so much planning is involved. Not only do we need to spruce up our front yard, but we have to have a vegetable garden this year. We had none last year and the home grown tomatoes were sorely missed. We're running a bit behind the ideal schedule, but our Square Foot Garden is halfway there. Homemade salsa is a must this year.
Ds (2 1/2) is all excited about gardening. Right now he's mostly moving dirt from one spot to another and playing with all the hand tools. This week will be the actual planting. This will be his first vegetable garden that he can remember. He was less than a year old when we took these pics from our last house.
He talks to me about what he wants to grow:
Tomato
Pepper
Onion
Salad
Blueberries (maybe some day!)
Flowers
Tulips and
Jellybeans
08:30 Posted in Chat | Permalink | Comments (4) | Email this
Friday, April 28, 2006
A Ladies' Luncheon
Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the Congressional Club First Lady's Luncheon. I had a wonderful day with 3 of my sisters. In fact, that was probably the only "downer" of the day, that we couldn't have all 5 girls together. The ballroom at the Washington Hilton looked just stunning, with over 150 tables with gorgeous tall silver centerpieces with a beautiful flower arrangements, burgundy colored irridescent tablecloths. To look over the room and see all the lovely women in the luncheon garb with the table decorations was a wonderful sight.
The theme of the luncheon was "The First Americans." For those studying Native Americans, here's the menu to inspire you, created by Chef William Miller, of Hilton Washington:
5 Tribes Salad
Wild and Dandelion Greens, Presented with
Sun Dried Cranberries, Gala Apples,
Corn, Squash, Beans & Pine Nuts
Dressed with Roasted Turnip Vinaigrette
Sequoyah Supreme
Succulent Sage and Lemon Citrus Chicken
with Huitlacoche Demi
Blue Corn & Wild Rice Pancake
with Corn Souffle Stack
Sunburst Patty Pan Squash, Baby Zucchini & Red Bell Pepper
One Spirit Surprise
Maize Infused Ice Cream with Berry Relish
Served in a Pecan Laced Cookie Shell
Corn Muffins Three
2004 Pinot Gris and Scharffenberger Brut
Coffee and Tea
I enjoyed figuring out which foods were the native American influence.
I couldn't help smile to see corn muffins at this luncheon -- after baking them for ds and hearing him talk about his "Special bread" just the day before.
I do not recommend infusing corn in your ice cream, unless you just can't get enough of the taste of corn.
The main meal was delicious and even though it was a ladies' luncheon, we didn't leave the table hungry.
Before leaving I bought a few copies of The Congressional Club Cookbook, one for me and others as gifts. I couldn't resist -- I really don't need one more cookbook, but it's just gorgeous, with leather binding and gilded pages, and quite thick. It's full of recipes, but also nice pictures of former First Ladies with their husbands and little tidbits from past years at the White House.
What a wonderful day to be with sisters and enjoy the food and entertainment, see the First Lady Laura Bush and other distinguished guests, and just savor the moment.
08:45 Posted in Chat , Family | Permalink | Comments (6) | Email this
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
"Special Bread"
Serving ds the corn bread muffins tonight was a snapshot into being a parent of a food allergic child.
Even though only 2 1/2, ds knows what he can and can't have. He often says "I can't have bread, I can't have milk, I can't have eggs...." and I'll finish with positives "...but you can have Italian Ice! And you can have chicken and rice!..." and so on, listing his favorite foods.
We don't have safe breads around the house very much. I've been stymied somewhat by not finding the right balance of substitute flours, eggs and milk so most of my tries were flops.
So the corn bread muffins tonight were a special treat. And they were yummy...and just the right size for little hands.
But how bittersweet it was to hear repeated so many different times:
"This is my special bread."
"I like my special bread, Mommy."
"And Daddy and you can eat it, and I can eat it."
"My special bread is yummy."
"Thank you, Mommy for making my special bread!"
I need to make "special bread" more often.
19:49 Posted in Chat , Family , Food Allergies | Permalink | Comments (4) | Email this
Family Cookbook -- Blurring of Lines
A long-standing project I've been working on is compiling family recipes into a cookbook. I'm using software to speed up the process, and plan on printing out various copies for family members. But the project keeps mushrooming....and so I have delays in the final product. What started out as a collection of favorite recipes from my deceased paternal grandmother has expanded to include our own family recipes, my recently departed maternal grandmother's recipes...and some of her mother's and aunt's recipes and children's recipes. Now I want to compile my husband's family recipes! We keep finding more, and think of more to add. New extended family members love the idea of the cookbook, so then it takes another twist.
The interesting aspect is that it's very difficult to draw the line to where one family ends and the other begins. My mother learned many methods of cooking and recipes from her mother-in-law, but in turn, her mother-in-law used many of her recipes. My aunts want to make sure that "suchandsuch recipes" are included, as their mother just loved cooking them...but they were actually some of my mother's!
The same can be said for my family. I have 7 siblings, now all married with children. We can compile a family cookbook of favorite recipes, but where do we draw the line? Do we say recipes can only be before anyone got married? No added recipes from other in-laws, no current favorite recipes, no current adaptations? The way I cook now reflects my union with my husband. I use recipes from his mother, and choose foods and combinations I know he enjoys. So do I share these recipes, and which cookbook do they belong? My family? His family? Both?I know I'm making the rules, but deciding is hard!
Our family recipes have become a melting pot, and it's hard to separate one from the other. When I think about it, the actual people in a family should be doing the same thing. Marriage is a beautiful gift from God, uniting a man and a woman...but in the union it also brings together two families. And then with baby (or babies) we add more to the new family. We all share in this union -- in-laws, husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces...whatever you are in the family, it's shared. So I can learn a lesson from our little family cookbook that there shouldn't be lines drawn. Love blends all and blurs all lines. We are all one in the Mystical Body of Christ, and our family should reflect this unity.
08:00 Posted in Chat , Family | Permalink | Comments (6) | Email this