Christmas Eve Fondue Fantasticness 2011

Huzzah! Christmas Crackers this year! Complete with party jokes, little hats and a toy! I had very much wanted Christmas crackers last year because I really enjoyed them the Christmas I was in the UK. Seemed a festive way to celebrate and not take yourselves too seriously... plus... did you read it? little toy? joke? Fun for everyone. Erik and I tried to get the perfect Christmas Eve dinner photo...I think the one above is the best, but perhaps the three below are tied for a close second?

The "sleeping Rachel and genuine Erik smile while talking" entry... pretty good.

The "Rachel compensating for her eyes being shut in the previous photo and Erik laughing" photo. not bad... not bad at all.

British Smiles- enough said.

Kelly had a great idea to have cheese fondue for dinner Christmas Eve and after I royally botched up the readings at the Christmas Eve service (I embrace my role as a living example of the fact that you don't have to be perfect for God to love you! (I just happen to be particularly lucky because my family loves me too. :))) Above are Jonathan and Kelly enjoying our Christmas eve feast (with festive hats.)

Beatrice also liked to wear her party hat and she did wear it for most of dinner. It was adorable! Though this is the best shot that I got of her from the other side of the dinner table. :)

Okay... enough about hats and back to the fondue. As I said, it was delicious. These next photos are probably my favorite shots of Christmas Eve. I like to call them: "Ron and Linda: Fondustic!" My mom said I couldn't put them on facebook, but she didn't say no to me putting them on my blog; that is like saying yes.
First they dip the bread into the cheese...

Quick like a bunny dad pops the tasty cheese covered vegetable in his mouth... might have been a bit too warm.

Mom tries a different strategy with the over the head positioning of the cheese... probably to cool it down.
I would really recommend Fondue for your Christmas meal. It is vegetarian friendly, a great laugh and darn tasty! If you are thinking that it would not be filling enough then I have a tin of cookies for you to augment your meal (seriously, we have so many cookies.)

On a side note, Beatrice the great in her Christmas dress loved staring at the fire. I like this photo because I like to watch fire that intently too. Christmas Eve with the Family- win.

Snowy Adventures!

It has been a lovely holiday break in Washington. The few short days I've been here I managed to go out into the woods twice to enjoy the snow and fresh air. Both times were up near Snoqualmie and with great fun-loving ladies. I thank my lucky stars to have such lovely outdoorsy women in my life. Tracey and I headed up with little Sylas for some snow shoeing only to discover the lodge was closed on that particular Tuesday so it wasn't possible for me to rent snow shoes. Luckily, we found a trail just across from the alpine center where the snow was perfectly trek worthy with just hiking boots and waterproofs. Fantastic!

This is Sylas running his fingers through my hair where we stopped for lunch.

Sylas loves to fly.

The gang starting out. Sylas is making a little snack out of his carrier, but Tracey assures me that is what those Velcro-on-fabric-bits are for... snacking and then washing. He seemed pretty content.

Another adventure! Cross Country Skiing on Iron Horse up near Snoqualmie. Both days of snowtastic fun involved GREAT weather.

This picture above is totally posed, but we really did ski the whole day. I saw people using this ski skate things and I think I would really like them. It looked like rollerblading on the snow! How great is that? Maybe next year. :)

Always a pleasure to hang out with my cousin, Krissy and her friend, Val. They are a hoot. :)

Jurgen Moltmann and the end

I'm working on my Systematic Theology final and reading some work by Jurgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope. I really like it, here's a snippet:

“The Christian hope is directed towards a novum ultimum, towards a new creation of all things by the God of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It thereby opens a future outlook that embraces all things, including also death, and into this it can and must also take the limited hopes of a renewal of life, stimulating them, relativizing them, and giving them direction.” (Moltmann, p. 33-34)

pretty beautiful and a nice balance to reading stuff like this (which is from another book for same essay):

"Posttribulationism, like pretribulationism, is primarily a subdivision of premillennialism. Technically all nonpremillennialists are posttribulationists. Few nonpremillinnialists, however, concern themselves with the idea of a tribulation. Thus we may safely limit our treatment of posttribulationism to posttribulationists of premillinnial variety."

When coming across the second section at 10:30pm after working on a paper for hours it is entirely possible that I uttered "s&it" and laughed at the same time. In fact, that is exactly what happened. Then I made another cup of tea. I certainly won't use that quote in my essay, but I have taken some time to parse it out and it is not so crazy as it first reads. But, I won't leave you with that one, here is another from Moltmann:

“Finally, the believing hope will itself provide inexhaustible resources for the creative, inventive imagination of love.” (Moltmann, p. 34)

Wish I would have read that before sending out my Christmas cards. That's all... short blog post as I must return to this essay.

Danny Macaskill - Industrial Revolutions

Apparently, the UK, Danny Macaskill a "household name" according to my friend Jim. However, his cycling trick skills were new to me and I am really enjoying using this video as a study break during finals week. The beauty in the connection between rider in bike is what keeps me cycling. As if my bike where as part of me as my foot or arm. I can't do tricks like Mr. Macaskill is able, but I certainly love the way this video presents the playful interdependence between a bike and its rider... it is a video of what it feels like for me to be sailing down through the streets of Berkeley- a little bit of bliss in this world... Poetry in motion.

It was also great to discover the musician featured in this video. Ben Howard, also new to me, is the music you hear in the background of Macaskill's magic. His album, Every Kingdom, has been the soundtrack to the essay writing marathon that is my life this week. Check him out. If you live in Europe, you might be able to catch a show. If you live in the states, you can listen to him on spotify for free. :) If you live anywhere else... well... there is always his myspace page, I like "The Wolves" (which is what is on the video) and "Old Pine" best thus far.

Laughter came from every brick

During Clinical Pastoral Education last summer (my internship as a hospital chaplain) I spent a good deal of time reading poems and practicing yoga. As I had mentioned in a previous post, Advent seems to be filled with poetry for me, and I have frequently turned to one of my favorite recently acquired collections of poetry edited by Daniel Landinsky called Love Poems from God (which I purchased at my yoga studio.) I have frequently turned to its pages for words from Rumi, St Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila to fill my spare moments. It is really easy this time of year to surrender to the stress of finals and the end of the semester... to focus on making plans instead of living out the plan that God set in place for me... let me tell you, so much easier to focus on the doing than the being. Poetry helps keep me in check remember to enjoy the passing moments even if they are filled with essays, research, sleepless nights... they can also be filled with nights out to dinner with friends, making Christmas cards, singing carols, bike rides in the winter sunshine and moments of peace... I've found that moments of peace arrive in the most surprising places.

LAUGHTER CAME FROM EVERY BRICK

by: St Teresa of Avila

Just these two words He spoke
changed my life,

"Enjoy Me."

What a burden I thought I was to carry -
a crucifix, as did He.

Love once said to me, "I know a song,
would you like to hear it?"

And laughter came from every brick in the street
and from every pore
in the sky.

After a night of prayer, He
changed my life when
He sang,

"Enjoy Me."

modern Psalms in surprising places.

when I don't have words that can express my emotions, frustration, joy, praise, there is... as my classmates and I use to joke... a Psalm for that. It is one of that aspect of the psalms that I love the most. One of the categories for Pslams found in the Hebrew Bible are those for Lament. You can choose from your garden variety or group wailing if you really want to have a proper bemoaning of life... and let's face it: sometimes it feel GREAT to just let it all out. What I like about the Psalms? It is one of the parts of the Bible that remind me that I don't have to be happy all the time; that God wants all my emotions... all of ME... and not just when I am hippy skippy happy healed. Being a Christian certainly does not guarantee a happy ride through life, but I do embrace the comfort offered in Christ's presence and Christian community that I don't have to go through it alone.

A few weeks ago I went to a pretty terrible lecture on hymnody where there seemed to be a chorus of "where are the poets?" "where are the poets?" "Who will put the words of this generation to music that we can use for worship?" etc etc. I really wanted to stand up and say, look around you! Turn on the radio, read a book. Poets are everywhere. You know where you are less likely to find them? In a place that dictates what worship with God needs to look like. I am not against liturgy, the opposite, actually... I love liturgy so much that I believe it needs to be allowed to grow and breath and become part of the worshiping community in a real and authentic way, reflecting tradition and the people gathered.

After all.. God is everywhere and that means in you and in me... so perhaps we should be looking for songs and psalms that can give us words to talk about how we are experiencing God in the world and with each other right now. maybe turn on the radio? **


**also acknowledging that there are lots of crap songs on the radio and lots of commercials as well... etc etc... but hey, sometimes i feel like those crap songs do a better job at meeting me where I am... even when I am kind of angry. One of those songs would be, Jenny Owens Young: "F%^k Was I" I like the female vocals and the cello juxtaposed with the harshness of the lyrics; gives the song a kind of fullness, if you ask me (and you kind of implicitly did because you are reading my blog.)

Advent.

I've been thinking a lot about Advent lately. I've grown a new appreciation for Advent as a church season. I might even say that I have come to love it. This season of waiting that precedes Christmas where we anticipate the coming of Christ; the word manifest. It is a season of hope. Hope that no matter how gray and dark things may seem to be... the trees bare, cold wind, the sky a bit overcast and perhaps you feel alone this holiday season, perhaps you are alone. Then the holidays that are meant to be a joyful time to be with those that we love, are sad for those of us that have lost...and I would reckon that would describe more people than you know. Please don't mistake this for some exposing of emo bs, and I am not saying you need to believe what I do, beleive what you want and read another blog... but, for me, Advent...the coupling of love and sadness is beautiful... it is breathtaking and it is hope and sadness together. Because as soon as we anticipate Christ's birth, we know that death is around the corner, as it is for each one of us.

No wonder I seem to want to read poetry all through advent... poetry reminds me that there is a living word right now. In the words of poems, in you. in me and in the hope that after winter, there is the coming spring... there is new life. So I start off this Advent (a bit late, I know) with a poem from one of my favorites, Mary Oliver:

Spring

Somewhere
a black bear
has just risen from sleep
and is staring

down the mountain.
All night
in the brisk and shallow restlessness
of early spring

I think of her,
her four black fists
flicking the gravel,
her tongue

like a red fire
touching the grass,
the cold water.
There is only one question:

how to love this world.
I think of her
rising
like a black and leafy ledge

to sharpen her claws against
the silence
of the trees.
Whatever else

my life is
with its poems
and its music
and its cities,

it is also this dazzling darkness
coming
down the mountain,
breathing and tasting;

all day I think of her –
her white teeth,
her wordlessness,
her perfect love.

~ Mary Oliver ~

Happy Birthday Dad! The Brunch!

Last Weekend was the birthday celebration of one of my favorite fellas in the world: my dad. :) We surprised him for his 60th birthday weekend by flying me home so we could all be together. It is weekends like this, with my family, that make me remember everything good in the world. Above is the picture of the restaurant where we went to have the most delicious, posh, elaborate brunch in town: Salty's... with its view of Seattle dining here is certainly a treat for everyone.

While we waited for our seats, we enjoyed the scones, hot chocolate, and coffee they had in the waiting area. I love this picture of Kelly, Bea, and Dad. That little face enjoying the scone with a great big bow? How adorable, right?

Mom and Dad at the end of our meal. As you can see, the sun did come out and with the great big windows around the restaurant it was bright light and lovely!

Above: The Parents
Below: The Siblings(/Children?)

One thing I love about my brother is that he gets his money's worth at a buffet. Salty's is all you can eat, but not in the typical all you can eat way... in the "oh my goodness they have oysters on the half shell, blackened salmon, two kinds of eggs Benedict, all kinds of carvery meat, a pasta bar, omelet bar, etc" and that is not even mentioning the desserts! Needless to say, we all ate our fill, it is just that Erik has the magical ability to eat more of his fill than anyone I know... impressive! Makes up for me being a vegetarian at an all you can eat buffet. :)

"Did somebody say Bacon?"

Beatrice helped dad open his cards. What a great meal; what a great family. Happy Birthday Dad!

Oh Broccoli, you're so saucey.

I was gifted a Costco size bag of broccoli florets last Friday and have spent the subsequent week working out ways to eat them and glean all that broccoli goodness. However, as someone who is not a fan of the cheddar broccoli combo nor a fan of quiche (especially quiche with broccoli! yikes.) there are a limited amount of recipes that tempted me. I very much enjoy our friend, broccoli on its own merits, but wanted to mix it up and see what sauteing could do to one of my favorite vegetables.

I started yesterday with making a peanut sauce. It was pretty tasty and easy to prepare. Those packets and jars in the store are so expensive and I was able to make this with all ingredients I had to hand... with a few modifications which I will note below:

Broccoli in Peanut Sauce

The Sauce

• 1/2 cup unprocessed peanut butter (I used almond butter)
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons tamari (I used soy sauce)
• 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

The Saute

• 1 (1 lb) bunch fresh broccoli
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 8 cloves garlic, minced (yay! ( love garlic!)
• 1 lb tofu, cut into small cubes (I omitted this and it was delicious)
• 3 dashes salt
• 2 cups thinly-sliced onions
• 1 cup coarsely-chopped raw peanuts (or almonds)
• 2 -3 tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce)

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, whisk together the peanut butter and hot water until uniform in consistency.
2. Whisk in the remaining ingredients. Set aside.
3. Cut off the bottom half-inch of the broccoli stems and dice them into bite sized slices; it works well to cut the stalks diagonally into thin slices and coarsely chop the flowerettes.
4. Set aside.
5. Begin heating the large skillet. When it is hot add 1 tbsp of the oil.
6. Add half the garlic and salt lightly
7. Sauté over medium heat for 1 minute, then add the tofu chunks (if using)
   
8. Turn the heat up a little, and stir-fry the tofu for 5-8 minutes.
9. Transfer it, including whatever liquid it might have expressed, to the saucepanful of peanut sauce.
10. Mix together gently.
11. Add the remaining garlic to the now empty pan.
12. Add the onions, and some black pepper and sauté, stirring frequently, over medium heat, until the onions are soft.
13. On another burner, begin heating the peanut-tofu sauce on a low heat. It shouldn't actually cook-it only needs to be warmed through. Add the broccoli and the chopped peanuts (or slivered almonds) to the skillet.
14. Add 2-3 tbsp tamari (soy sauce) and stir-fry over medium-high heat until the broccoli is bright green and just tender.
15. Pour the heated peanut sauce over the sauté.
16. Toss everything gently until everything is coated with everything else.
17. Serve over long-grained white or brown rice (basmati is good).

So that is the fancy way of doing it with lots of directions. I just kind of put it all in the pan, sauteed and added the sauce and simmered. Either way... delicious!

Alright, but the real winner for the evening was the Broccolli in Garlic Sauce... was very nice. I would have taken a picture, but we ate it too quickly.

Broccoli in Garlic Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• approx 2 cups broccoli, chopped
• 1 can of chick peas or whatever beans you have around.
  
• 1 1/2 tsp ginger powder (a little fresh ginger finely diced made a good addition)
  
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 3 tbsp corn starch
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup water

Preparation:

In a large skillet (or whatever pan you have. I only have one... so that is what I use and it still turns out well) sautee onions and garlic in olive oil until onions turn clear, about 3-5 minutes.

Add the chickpeas, ginger, cayenne and broccoli to the pan and continue to cook until broccoli is done, another 6-8 minutes.

In a separate small bowl, mix together the corn starch, soy sauce and water, then add this mixture to the broccoli and chickpeas. Cook until sauce thickens, then remove from heat. At this point I added a little freshly chopped basil I had in the garden, about 1/4 cup. It was a good addition.

I served this over brown rice and it goes beautifully together. Though, I imagine over noodles or quinoa it would also be a treat.

Now that I (and you!) know how to make these sauces I believe they will go with many seasonal vegetables. They are cheap, cheerful and easy to make in less than 20 minutes (except for waiting for rice to cook.) A dinner time win!

Progressive Dinner! SOUPER!

I interrupt this series of installments regarding my recent visit to the UK to bring you a recipe!

Last Friday night, the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary community partook in an epic progressive dinner. Around 30 of us traveled from house to apartments to house eating, laughing and drinking until the wee hours. It was a proper joyful evening. I felt really blessed to have been able to share my home with so many lovely individuals-kindhearted and exuberant!

I hosted the soup portion of the traveling meal and upon request am putting the recipe up for those who would like to make it. I believe I did some modifying of this recipe as I went along, but I think that even making this recipe below "as is" would be delicious! Though, I do recommend adding the two small heads of roasted garlic that I added to the soup for Friday evening. I think there are lots of variations on South African Butternut Soup... so I made mine--and you can make yours! Enjoy! :D

Ingredients
2 medium butternuts
1 apple
2 medium onions
4 TBSP vegan buttery spread (Earth Balance)
1 1/4 tsp medium curry powder
pinch of ground cinnamon
2 vegetable stock cubes
3 cups boiling water
2 cups of coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
a little black pepper.

Directions
Peel, seed and dice the butternuts. Peel, core and chop the apple. Peel the onions and chop roughly. In a large saucepan, saute the chopped onions in the butter. Add the curry powder and fry the mixture lightly. Add the butternut and apple and saute the mixture for a while. Add the flour and nutmeg and stir-fry lightly.

(If you don't have a pan big enough for frying the squash, you can also cut them in half, core out the seeds, pour a little olive oil on them and fill them with garlic cloves, cover them with foil and stick them in the oven until they are soft. Obviously... turn on the oven to maybe 375 ish and it takes somewhere between 20 and 40 minutes depending on the size of the squash. Then scoop out the squash and follow the rest of the steps below.)

Dissolve the vegetable stock cubes in the boiling water. Add the stock, together with the coconut milk, and salt, to the butternut mixture. Boil, with the lid on, over moderate heat until the butternut pieces are soft. Stir the mixture occasionally. Puree or blend until smooth. The color of the soup should be a deep yellow and the texture creamy. Serve the soup hot.

Hay-On-Wye: Where Books go to Die!

So I kind of got out of order on my blog for our trip, but I also look a bit out of order in this photo, so I think it is okay. I loved Hay-On-Wye. It is a tiny town full of used book shops, including this great oudoors bookshops that is near a huge castle and sells books on a honesty basis. Fantastic.
It was one of the places that I really wanted to go on our roadtrip, so even though it was a bit out of the way, we made a stop. Thanks Tim! I think we both had a good time.


Plus there was a chance to try Welsh cakes! and the more variations of afternoon tea I can consume in my life the better.

American Cookies! and Greenbelt

I love this. One of the food booths from the Greenbelt Festival. I didn't take many photos at the Greenbelt Festival because a lot of the time was spent in talks and prayer, which didn't seem like a place to be photographing. The Greenbelt Festival is a Christian festival that takes place outside of Chelthenem. The festival had its highlights... two of which were the fantastic vegetarian savory pies and the hemp clothes booth (excellent!) but I was disappointed that there wasn't more chance for conversations between people about what Jesus is doing in their lives and more testimonies or preaching.

There is a real call for a place where people can feel safe and connected to God; the meditation tent as well as the meditation floor were packed for most of the weekend as people gathered together in prayer. That was my favorite bit of festival life. That, and the fact that we pre-booked our showers (you camp when you go to festivals) so we didn't have to wait in line! Most excellent.

I also enjoyed running into friends from Christchurch (Chester) who were volunteering or attending the festival. Tim and I came across a band called Hope and Social and they were definitely worth a listen. They did a pretty fantastic cover of Paul Simon mixed into one of their songs. I don't suppose they can put that on their albums, so I recommend seeing them live if you can.

Another highlight was hearing a talk by Pastor Nadia Boltz-Weber on Preaching. She represented ELCA Lutherans well and her talk not only illuminated the process of preaching, but also shared her personal story and relationship to the Gospel and to Jesus Christ. I appreciate the honesty and vulnerability with which she speaks. I have met her a few times before at PLTS and it was nice to run into her in this other context where she was a familiar face and one of the few fellow Lutherans at the Festival.

Pembrokeshire Coastal Path

These are some seriously over-due photos of my trip to Pembrokeshire in August. The walk was gorgeous. We left straight from our campsite which connected to the Pembrokshire Coastal Path at St David's and enjoyed a whole day of cliff hiking beauty!

Also, there were cows. (above.)

Every view was pretty breathtaking. This is one of many of those crashing coastlines. I wanted a picture with me in it so I could remember that I didn't just download these photos off a tourism website. :)

Tim takes the lead! And the backpack for a bit :)

To the left of the path was the water. To the right there would be cows, sheep, and (my favorite) beautiful fields of heather.

Above is a picture on one of the little outcroppings along the path. There was a bay that went inland quite a ways and end in a little harbor where there are lots of little sail boats kept.

Monkeys (above)
Sheep (below)

I couldn't get enough of the views coastal path. While walking along, it seemed that around every corner I said, "oh what a great view!" of "gorgeous!" Because they were all great views. It helped that the weather was just overcast enough to keep the sun off a bit and clear enough so that the horizon was visible.

St David's

Camping! Tim and I drove to St David's where we camped for three days and two nights. I had found Caerfai Farms on the internet and we pre-booked our tent pitch. I recommend this, as the site was fairly full when we arrived. Not only was it a beautiful campsite, right on the coastal path, but also the office had a little shop with fresh croissants each morning! Delicious! That is my kind of camping for certain. Here is me outside the little shop after purchasing my breakfast! Delicious!

Another nice aspect of the camping spot is its proximity to the city of St David. St David's is a tiny city and as you can see the cathedral is huge. It almost seemed that the cathedral took up at least 1/3 of the city. Tim and I walked down to join in their evening vespers service and I was renewed in spirit through the chatting of the psalms in particular. I forget how much I enjoy psalm chanting, but when it echos through that old cathedral it moves the spirit.

Below is the picture of the beach next to our campsite. So close! and so protected! Just a short walk away. I borrowed Tim's warm top thing for the water to wear while playing in the waves and thought it was pretty humorous that it could double for a dress. Beach to town in own outfit. Fantastic! :)

Above is a shot from inside the tent to show you how close we are to the beach. We were really lucky to have such sunny weather, especially the first few days. Below is Tim expertly BBQ-ing the skewers that I helped prepare. We had an absolute feast on this little bucket BBQ and got quite a bit of use out of it throughout the week. So though we forgot to pack plates (easily replaceable!) I am really glad we had this BBQ. Roasted veg with halloumi on couscous? I love that any day of the week, but is especially nice to enjoy while camping :)

Aberystwyth

Proof that there is sun in Wales! On the way from Chester to St David's, we made a stop in Aberystwyth. This is a coastal town in Wales that is best known for where my friend, Fiona, went to her undergrad university. Well, that last part might not be true for others, but that is how I think of it and its my blog.

I am not sure what these old buildings are for (such a good travel blog) but they are damn pretty.

Some of the local scenery here on the promenade. I reckon that this guy comes out here everyday. As you can see from the surrounding people, it wasn't that warm, but I appreciate his gusto.

This was on the gate outside one of the many churches here in Aberystwyth. I really like it, made me pause and stare for at least 30 seconds which means it was pictures worthy.

I am a big fan of baking. All over Aberystwyth we saw organic health food shops! This is a picture of the window of a particularly flour filled shop. We were only in this town for an hour or so, but I really enjoyed it. Don't think I could spend years living there, but it is certainly worth another visit one day!