*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.
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.
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.
*Tomorrow we're having picadillo, similar to this recipe but no olives and craisins for raisins.
*Tonight is sweet potato broth and peanut chicken stew. It makes plenty so we should have leftovers for next week. I need to look at freezing some of it, and some of our bolognese, so we can buy less groceries in March.
*Yesterday we had Arby's as I had teaching until 5 and the Son had to leave for work at 5:10. He was nice enough to pick it up and leave me mine on the counter.
*Tuesday we had scones and pizza. A weird combination, I know, but the Son wanted to make scones and we needed something else to make it a full meal. So there we are.
*Monday I made burgers and fries. And a salad kit. It was really tasty! I used my cast iron griddle and the burgers had a lovely crust on the outside. The stove was also a mess, but that's the way of it sometimes.
*Sunday lunch was beef barley soup, and supper was pigs in blankets and dip and chips and m and ms and birthday cake and ice cream. The cake is peanut and chocolate, and it's still really tasty.
*I just got a violin accompanying piece for solo festival, so that's now 19 pieces for solo work. Our first spring concert for our two small choirs is on March 3, so we are moving ever closer!
Part of spring semester for us is teaching solos to those who choose to take two memorized songs to small group regionals and potentially state. One of our students is doing a song in German so he got a crash course in German vowels a few weeks ago to start learning his song.
My favorite story about St. Scholastica, co-patron of Benedictines with her brother, St. Benedict, comes from St. Gregory the Great:
Scholastica, the sister of Saint Benedict, had been consecrated to God from her earliest years. She was accustomed to visiting her brother once a year. He would come down to meet her at a place on the monastery property, not far outside the gate.
One day she came as usual and her saintly brother went with some of his disciples; they spent the whole day praising God and talking of sacred things. As night fell they had supper together.
Their spiritual conversation went on and the hour grew late. The holy nun said to her brother, "Please do not leave me tonight; let us go on until morning talking about the delights of the spiritual life."
"Sister," he replied, "What are you saying? I simply cannot stay outside my cell."
When she heard her brother refuse her request, the holy woman joined her hands on the table, laid her head on them and began to pray. As she raised her head from the table, there were such brilliant flashes of lightning, such great peals of thunder and such a heavy downpour of rain that neither Benedict nor his brethren could stir across the threshold of the place where they had been seated. Sadly, he began to complain.
"May God forgive you, sister. What have you done?"
"Well, she answered, "I asked you and you would not listen; so I asked my God and he did listen. So now go off, if you can, leave me and return to your monastery."
So it came about that they stayed awake the whole night, engrossed in their conversation about the spiritual life.
Three days later, Benedict was in his cell. Looking up to the sky, he saw his sister's soul leave her body in the form of a dove, and fly up to the secret places of heaven. Rejoicing in her great glory, he thanked almighty God with hymns and words of praise. He then sent his brethren to bring her body to the monastery and lay it in the tomb he had prepared for himself.--from Dialogues by Pope Saint Gregory the Great
(Picture on Pinterest from http://www.clydemonastery.org/StoneStories/?p=1273)
We went out to eat the evening of January 31 in the South Plaza and got to witness this explosion of decoration. It's not my thing but I also appreciate those who really like to decorate. It was amazing.
*Friday I'm making cheese ravioli (from the freezer) with kale and sunflower seed pesto. Kale is much cheaper than basil right now.
*Tonight is fast food after we all work at the regionals Scholars Bowl tournament. This weekend we'll celebrate the Husband's birthday with a chocolate and peanut butter cake. I just finished making the cake rounds; I'll freeze them and make the frosting tomorrow, then refrigerate it again and put the drizzle on on Saturday.
*Last night I made broccoli and cheddar flan and it was delicious! The hardest part is finding the chopped broccoli in the freezer section and then cleaning the pan after.
*Tuesday the son made Crunchy Pea Salad and picked up chicken strips for us. We ate while watching the middle third of Rogue One.
*Monday we had another breakfast dish, a breakfast hash with potatoes, onion, bell peppers, seasoning, and then I added eggs and cheese. We ate up every bite.
*Sunday we enjoyed a slow cooker bolognese that I cooked all day on Saturday. The house smelled amazing and finishing the meal on Sunday (in between 3 Masses and with help from the boys) was easy.
*I just finished making copies for our solos for regionals and (hopefully) state. We have two copies of each book, but for ease of transport we make copies for me and for the soloist.
*I think (?) we have all songs selected for small and large group state.
*I only have one Mass this weekend at one parish and my music is pretty much ready to go.
Trying to show my sister how I organize my books and piano stuff. I know it doesn't look organized! But all my piano books are mostly on the lower two shelves to the left; the books I play every day are on top; my church binders are to the right.
*Luke 2:22-24 tells us about the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, the feast for today. This was traditionally Candlemas, a day to bless the candles to be used for sacred purposes for the rest of the year, and a traditional day to enter the Church. Here we see Mary and Anna blessing the child and the couple, recognizing Jesus the Light coming back to the Temple.
(picture: http://www.balamand.edu.lb/theology/iconentrance.jpg)
*For Christmas my Husband bought chocolate from 3 fancy places so we could compare.
*Before the snow day I made a lemon sweet potato chicken soup that we ate on for days. It had such a nice broth and was filling but delightful.
*Tomorrow we're having braised white beans and fennel, but with celery and fennel seed because fennel is really hard to find. I will probably have the husband pick up something as a supplement.
*Tonight is buttermilk poached chicken and salad. Even though it's a slightly long ingredient list I can make the dressing while the chicken is poaching.
*Last night we had lasagna that I made just after Christmas. It was so nice after a long day to have a really good supper.
*Tuesday the Son made udon noodle bowls. He really liked them; they were okay to me? Just not quite my thing.
*Monday I made turkey biscuit potpie. It's really simple even with a little zhushing, and there was only one serving leftover, and it's already gone.
*Sunday we had Thai chicken stir fry from Cook's Illustrated. We didn't have quite enough basil, but the sauce is so potent it's still quite good. I made it with rice.
*I have 3 Masses at 3 parishes this weekend, so I'm working through that pile of music.
*For "fun" I'm still working on Vittoria's Toccata, FFIX music, and G minor Hanon 4 octave scale.
*For work I've added Ad Astra from the fall, Vive La Compagnie arranged by John Leavitt, and Hold Fast to Dreams by Susan LaBarr.
*We are less than a month from Barbershop Explosion which starts off our "concert/festival" season for third quarter; we don't have one big event but many many smaller events.
Today is the memorial of Sts. Timothy and Titus. It's also the beginning of Catholic Schools Week, and we're beginning with a snow day. I personally feel it's the best way to start this week. I'm grateful for the day off!
Timothy saw Paul in Ephesus and converted; he is mentioned in 11 of the 14 Paul-written epistles, in 6 as co-sender. Titus was bishop of Crete and also friend and disciple of Paul; Paul wrote the Letter to Titus to him; he was eulogized by John Chrysostom and Jerome when he died in 105.
(From Pinterest traced to https://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k27/jakyl32/365%20Rosaries%20YEAR%202-%20january/126timtitus2.jpg)
