Monday the 23rd: St. Polycarp of Smyrna

 St. Polycarp is an important saint as he gives us insight into the second generation of the Church: he was a disciple of St. John, died in Roman persecutions, and left writings that help us see how the Church was surviving amidst obstacles.

He was condemned to death but burning but the flamed did not harm him, so he had to stabbed with a dagger. The account of his death is our oldest account of martyrdom by a single individual.

Quotes from St. Polycarp: 

 “For eighty years I have served him and he has never wronged me; how can I renounce the king who has saved me?”—Polycarp when asked to renounce Jesus

  “For every one who shall not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is antichrist; and whoso shall not confess the testimony of the Cross is of the devil; and whoso shall distort the words of the Lord to his own desires, and say that there is neither resurrection nor judgment, this is the first-born of Satan.”

 “Stand fast, therefore, in [your]conduct and follow the example of the Lord, ‘firm and unchangeable in faith, lovers of brotherhood, loving each other, united in truth,’ helping each other with the mildness of the Lord, despising no man.”—Letter to the Philippians

 

 

Friday the 20th: Shopping and Messes

*Picture 1: family member asked for 2 Ikea sharks and we obliged. They will have a shark family now!

*Picture 2: I went to teach CGS last week and found half of my room covered in scaffolding and building materials. Not the half of my room that I use but in my storage space. I had to do a fair amount of sweeping of my half to get the room ready for the children. 

 

 

Thursday the 19th: Food of the Week

 *Sunday we had stromboli and worked on finishing up desserts (which we finally did on Tuesday). The Son was a little indignant that we still had unfinished chocolate from Valentine's day so we put it in the freezer to keep for Easter.

*Monday the Son made Caesar salad and chicken-less chicken strips.  His Betty Crocker recipe included the raw egg yolk, but overall the dressing was too sour. He likes the idea but we'll try again with a different recipe. The chickenless strips were actually surprisingly good and would be a good meatless alternative if we needed that.

*Tuesday was Fat Tuesday so I made pancakes and bacon.  My current griddle is cast iron and I haven't yet made friends with what temperature it needs so the first batch was a little burned, but these are the Husband's favorite pancake.

*Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. I always make pasta salad; this year I used frozen peas, sauteed (for just 5 mintues) carrot and celery and onion, leftover bottled vinaigrette and a homemade vinaigrette with a little mustard and herbs, and egg noodles (because that's what I needed to use up). It was tasty, but having only one big meal for the day makes almost anything tasty.

*Tonight I have already started the slow cooker for Swiss Steak that I'll serve with rice and a veggie. This will be my second year of trying hard to have a fruit or veggie with every meal. I really don't eat as healthy as I should, and I feel like this also helps me snack less.

*Tomorrow we are having huevos rancheros; to make that happen, I'm going to try to make the salsa part today.  I scramble the eggs before placing them in the wells because most of us prefer all-the-way cooked eggs and that's the easiest way to make this dish and make it happen. It's delicious.

 

 

Wednesday the 18th: Music of the Week

*I thought I had all my solos but got one more new one over the weekend. And it's a doozy! It an orchestra reduction from Haydn and it's going to take a lot of work. That will start today!

 And a holy Ash Wednesday to all who celebrate!

 

Tuesday the 17th: Souper Bowl Food

 *We celebrated both the Husband's birthday food and a big football game with enticing ads. Lunch was beef barley soup and homemade pesto biscuits. Supper was fancy pigs in blankets, carrots and chips with Love dip, snickers salad with pretzels, and peanut m and ms. I already posted pictures of the birthday cake, and I'll eat the last piece today before Lent begins tomorrow.

 

Monday the 16th: Season of the Week

 

Not yet...but Ash Wednesday begins our Lenten season on Wednesday. I heard a really good reflection at my Oblate meeting this weekend that instead of just deciding what we should do or not do for Lent, it's really important to take the time to sit in reflection with the Lord and let Him decide or guide us where we need to grow this Lent. 

 

 

Friday the 13th: Kale Pesto

 I know! But I just finished reading The Everlasting Cookbook by Tamar Adler, and she reminds me that you can use any kind of green, not just basil, and you can really be more flexible with what you have than most recipes would lead you to believe. My only complaint about this pesto was that the sunflower seeds that I used for the nuts, even though I just purchased them, were a little stale and that really came through. Otherwise a quite respectable Friday night dish to eat and watch Olympics.