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!

Sheffield

On my first few jet-lagged days in the UK. I headed with Tim up to Sheffield! Sheffield is a northern town known mostly for its cutlery industry, back in the day. The location of Sheffield is great because just outside of town you can go on walks through the woods on Rivelin Valley Path- nice combination of city and countryside.

Above is himalayan balsam. My friend, Jim, introduced me to this invasive species when I first lived in Leeds. It is a crazy flower because when you touch the pods they BURST open to send out their seeds to the world. It always gives me a jump!

This waterfall makes me look like a giant... which I kind of think is funny. It is actually the waterfall that is small and not me having grown to be larger than life. :)

Tim walking across the water over one of the abandoned stone paths.

Inside the Sheffield Cathedral (above) outside it (below) I think that they are on to something with the decorating. Perhaps I will add a similar tribute to my new apartment.... probably not... But it was really beautiful inside. I took many photos, but it didn't seem to do the stained class justice. You'll have to go see it for yourself. :)

As I said, Sheffield has a history with industry and the city has recently pumped quite a bit of funds into revamping the city centre. I think that they did a good job of reflecting the industrial past of Sheffield in the public art instillation around town. Many of the pieces had both steel and water in their composition which gave the art of the city a unified feel.

This one was my favorite. At night, lights would illuminate this field of steel spheres and water.. it was really beautiful.