Baby Slippers and Blanket Squares

I am making little baby slippers!

Ravelry here.

This yarn is even more beautiful in colour;

a bright ruby red...

It is being made into squares for a small blanket.

I am making a baby blanket of blue and yellow squares...

my cousin is having a baby boy... :)

I am finally getting around to reading

Mat. Constantina's book

Scent of Holiness.

(Some of my Orthodox blog friends have already 

written on this book, here and here).

*

It is an easy read, like the longer Russian book 

Everyday Saints.

Simple stories that teach things gently...

I am finding it encouraging and engaging. 

*

Great Lent is coming soon ~ and I am finding this 

read to be something that is preparing ~ and encouraging ~ 

me for this.

*

I have sock yarn coming in the mail... with

size 1 DPNs... 

I am hoping to start on these

 by the beginning of Lent...

Mr. Husband only wants me to knit him socks,

so socks it will be! 

*

I am using an older pattern from my Oma's 

knitting book 

that I was given for my birthday

and am really excited about this.

*

What are you reading and creating?

Yarn along with us!

Around the house...homemaking...

Mat. Emily recently touched on something

I have been thinking about...

that is, how do we keep our homes running smoothly?

There can be so many stresses...what can we do to 

make things go more easily?

*

I struggle with this a lot...

how do I best use my time?

Esp. when my time is so open ended?

*

I've been thinking about the schedule I had made for 

the Nativity Fast.

*

I felt so much more excited and focused with 

this schedule in place...

Things seemed to fall apart after Christmas...

partly I got really tired...after doing so much...

and traveling to Ottawa and my time there was 

peaceful but tiring... and so it went...

*

I am hoping that I am on the upswing of this now;

I've had a lot of up and down days...

Today was a good day though.

*

I had a check list of the few things I wanted to get done.

I wrote it so that it was reasonable for me to get done,

without being overwhelming.

*

I fixed a few kids books from our church kids basket 

that were in need of repair;

I did laundry; took a small walk; ate a good lunch with

salad... the main thing of my day is that I was 

actually doing things that I meant to do.

So I am going to be pondering how to make 

this happen more.

Meanwhile,

this is a belated picture of my friend's 

most wonderful cheese ball...

I still need the recipe!! :)

I have had this purse since my work in the 

corporate world as a librarian;

it seems so long ago;

it will be six years ago this summer since I got this bag;

Lord have mercy, what a lot has happened between then and now!

Anyway, I got this purse handmade in the byward market in Ottawa...

when all seemed hopeful and I just landed my permanent job...

not knowing that I would have that job for such a short time...I got it

with a friend... I had wanted a purse that could be life long...

I went to get it fixed (the one zipper was going)

and it was repolished, etc...

It looks new now; I am sure if I keep caring for it, it really will

last my life time...

of course I know I just got my red purse...

I am glad for this purse also; it is going to be my traveling 

knitting bag as well... it's wonderful also...

anyway; I now have all that I need in that department!

*

I've been thinking about this again,

the want of getting things.

Sigh.

I have a long ways to go, but see some small progress,

at least in some areas...

*

I have so much to be thankful and grateful for... 

Last week as St. Xenia's Day.

She is such a wonderful Saint.

Known for helping people find: 

spouses, work, housing;

she helps families! 

*

Here's the Akathist to her in English.

I still have my Christmas things up.

It is tradition to keep them up till Candlemas,

as it is called in the West...

which for us is this Saturday.

*

We are due for some bad weather on Thursday,

so they are saying; prayers for wisdom on travel 

for us for the Feast later that week are much

appreciated... 

Did I ever show you my new canisters??

There they are in all there glory...

The new ones are the ivory coloured ones;

a belated wedding gift we got at Christmas time this year!

I store various GF flours in there; 

they are working wonderfully.

Soon I will be moving this Christmas

candle stand back to it's place,

and changing the table cloth.

*

Lenten icons will be put out, 

my red lampadas for fast periods,

I will be off FB for the most part;

it will be a time of extra church services,

Lenten cooking, prayers, 

focused spiritual reading...

*

I am slowly gearing up for this and am 

looking forward to it, 

thank God....

*

God is with us in all times and seasons.

May we have God's mercy with us all the days of our lives!

Encouragement in daily life: bakers on a mission

My husband came home one day 

with this bracelet for me from a bakery

what has opening hiring (i.e. they 

will take people on as they can

without questions and so serve the 

disadvantaged, homeless, etc.)

*

Bakers with a mission.

*

It's pretty cool.

It's nice to know that there are places that are doing things

that focus on caring for people 

rather than profit or some sort of end result that

is computed only in an office...

*

I hope that my baking can be used for good as well.

I keep the bracelet from this bakery

on my stove top now,

reminding me that anything I do

can be used by God to bless others.

*

I am seeing this theme,

of God working through ordinary events and 

routine doings,

like baking or washing dishes,

through a book I just finished:

The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and "Women's Work" (Madeleva Lecture in Spirituality) by Kathleen Norris

and a book I finally am able to read...

Mat. Constantina's

Scent of Holiness: Lessons from a Woman's Monastery.

*

It is wonderful to remember that our little lives,

with the dailiness of routines, dishes and cleaning,

can be used for our salvation and 

the blessing of others.

Encouragement in daily life

I woke to sunshine 

and birdsong.

And to Mr. Husband about to leave for work,

having found my sapphire earring that my Mom

gave me years ago*.

*

I have not found a earring back yet that keep

earrings from falling out.

Years ago I did not have this problem, but now...

and perhaps with this pair in particular, I do...

*

I was so happy to know that I had it again.

*

I would love to hear any suggestions on how to NOT 

lose these earrings.

*

Meanwhile,

I am thinking of doing some blog posts on

things that I find encouraging,

simple things found in daily life.

*

Do join me if you'd like;

as winter continues and Lent is near,

I think remembering and focusing on seeing that 

which is encouraging is

a great blessing to us.

*Mr. Husband still writes me notes most days that he

goes to the office; recently a women about my age

who wishes to be married said she wished

for a husband who wrote her small

poems before work.

So this post really is about two pieces of encouragement I found

upon waking. 

Rest....

I was given these roses the evening

of our Christmas dinner.

They are wonderfully fragrant

and the scent of roses 

is deeply uplifting to me.

Juliana blogged about this blog post on 

the faith and the courage to rest.

*

I am finding this very timely.

Do read it, as it will challenge our 

'run and do everything' lifestyle that many of us 

live within.

Since the Christmas dinner on Monday,

I have had times when I am feeling quite tired...

So I am resting...

...not expecting great things 

out of myself...

actually, I have been thinking a lot about my life

and the smallness of it.

And you know, that smallness of it is wonderful.
*
We may be having a snow storm this weekend...
I hope to have the strength to go to the store this afternoon
to get a few things to be sure we are ready for it.

*

I am grateful to be alive, 

to be married to Mr. Husband and have

a small life lived with faith in God.

Second NYC GF Cheesecake

I made my second NYC Cheesecake.

This time I used the tart shell crust.

From the Gluten-Free Baking Classics that Ginny 

recommended on her blog.

I mixed up more of the GF brown rice flour mix.

It's really easy.

I shaped the tart crust in the 

9 inch spring form pan. 

I made this cheesecake last Friday

to eat for our Monday belated Christmas feast.

It takes 5 of the 8 oz cream cheese boxes!

I am thankful for my egg separator. 

I forgot to add the ingredients one at a time

so it was a bit of a hurried cheesecake.

It was not as uniformly creamy because of this...

 

This time the cheesecake did crack on top...

I am wondering if it was because of the difference in 

how I mixed it or if it was because I used the tart crust,

which did not go all the way up and was a much lighter

delicate crust,

so it would not of helped hold the cheesecake in a 

very firm way inside of the springform pan.

None the less,

it was a lovely cheesecake,

more summery and light because of the 

lighter tart crust.

An enjoyable finish to our belated Christmas dinner!

GF Yams with Cranberries ~ a wonderful part of our belated Christmas dinner

A snowy NJ was beautifully with me

as I prepared for our belated Christmas dinner.

I got this recipe from one of my NJ friends:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup oatmeal, uncooked

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup butter

2 (17 ounce) cans yams, drained

2 cups cranberries, raw

I used GF all purpose flour and GF oatmeal.

Mix flour, sugar, oatmeal and cinnamon together.

{I accidentally forgot the sugar and cut it in at the end.}

I bought one 19 oz tin of yams in pear juice and syrup.

I drained the liquid and lightly rinsed the yams.

So you make the crumb mixture first,

then cut in the butter and toss with yams and cranberries.

I added extra crumb mixture to top and more cinnamon. 

On Mr. Husband and I's honeymoon in Quebec City,

one of our waiters at a nice restaurant said to us

everything is better with butter.

I agree, and would add for these yams,

everything is better with butter and cinnamon. 

Of course not overly cinnamon-ing the dish,

but sweetening it.

Hard to see, but there it is on the table,

hot and ready to eat.

*

This dish is a wonderful compliment to a festive meal!

Our Lovely {Belated} Christmas Meal {cauliflower, yams, lemon and sage roast chicken}

Such beautiful snow these days.

I had a wonderful afternoon preparing for this 

dinner.

*

I must say however that my good friend brought over

the best cheese ball I have yet to taste

and I failed to get a picture of it.

*

Suffice to say that GF bagel chips and the cheese ball

were enjoyed by all before the actual meal began.

*

So about this meal...

I made my Ottawa Ukrainian Mother's 

breaded cauliflower for our Christmas meal.

*

Here's the recipe:

1. Boil cauliflower (whole), so it becomes softer, but not too soft.

2. Cut on smaller pieces

3. have eggs in one bowl (start with 3 and beat them) and 

breadcrumbs or cornmeal to its mix in other bowl

4. dip cauliflower in breadcrumbs first, in eggs after. Do it 2 times.

5. fry it. The best result will be if you fry it in butter or oil and butter.

*

The cauliflower was soft enough for me to easily cut

off the end of it and break them into smaller florets,

but not so soft that it was at all disintegrating. 

*

I used cornmeal so that it was GF and added one or two eggs

as I went along.

It is surprisingly thick egg with cornmeal but when it fries up

it looks like slightly burnt roasted cauliflower and 

the breading is just right.

*

I choose to fry it in ghee

as I knew it would not cause smoke issues while frying.

It worked really well; I did find that between

all the dishes I had in the oven (4 others)

and the two pans of frying cauliflower that

I opened the windows for a little bit to clear the air of

the added heat and food smells.

*

It worked wonderfully and was very much 

enjoyed by our guests.

We used my Grandma's dishes for the Christmas meal.

The fried cauliflower was great on our white platter.

It's a great dish as it's texture is more

firm and with a nice light crunch.

We used a very special Romanian wine for our Christmas meal,

one that I was given over a year ago by dear 

friends in Ottawa.

We had a Romanian at our meal who 

asked where I got it from and said that it was

indeed a very good wine.

It was greatly enjoyed!

I also served a green salad, 

baked carrots with an orange and ginger glaze,

GF stuffing,

and the cranberry and yam dish 

(I will blog about how I made this later this week DV).

I made a lemon and sage chicken

that was roasted, basting once with the juices.

Recipe inspired from this one.

*

Here is how I did it:

I cut up a large onion

and place the onion inside the chicken with much of the sage, 

and a little lemon.

Under the skin was lemon slices, sage and garlic.

I put butter on the skin...

Onion was around everywhere, spilling out and wedged in 

by the wings.

 After buttering the chicken, 

lemon juice was poured over the chicken,

before I put minced garlic and more salt and pepper on the top of 

the chicken before pouring around half a cup of chicken stock

in the pan after the chicken was already in the pan,

ready to be roasted. 

It was roasted at 450 F for about 30 or so minutes.

Then I turned the oven down to 375F and put back the 

already partially baked stuffing, carrots and yams,

all covered in tin foil

(other than the chicken).

These all stayed in the oven for perhaps a hour or less.

It was a lovely and very festive meal.

Cheesecake followed with a mint tea with rose petals

and coffee.

*

Much talking, discussing and laughter was present...

life with all of it's joys and hopes were there,

with friendships deepening and 

talk of church, priests and family interweaving in 

the conversation as the meal was enjoyed by all.

A belated Christmas dinner, snow and lightness

I made meatloaf this past weekend.

Something I enjoy from my growing up years...

*

Recipe as follows:

Elizabeth's Mom's Meatloaf:

1 to 1.5 lbs of ground beef

1 cup milk

3 medium pieces of bread torn into pieces 

1 egg beaten

1/4 tsp of pepper 

1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce 

1 tbsp ketchup

Mix ingredients thoroughly.

Spread in ungreased 9x5 loaf pan.

Bake at 350 for 1.5 hours.

*

I like it with a bit of mushroom soup on top;

Mr. Husband with some ketchup.

*

I enjoy it with a salad, apple sauce and baked potato.

A simple and fast meal to prepare.

*

We are grateful for it as today it is snowing

and Mr. Husband was unexpectedly home for lunch... 

much to my delight,

as I am cooking in the kitchen today for tonight's

DV belated Christmas dinner.

*

Menu includes:

~baked cauliflower with cornmeal

~orange and ginger glazed carrots

~GF stuffing 

~GF yams with cranberries

~A lemon and sage roast chicken

~NYC cheesecake with raspberry sauce for dessert,

with choice of tea or coffee. 

YAY!

*

On to other things...

in general I am trying to stay off FB and

do not care for all the picture-clutter...

but I did like this one...

Cleo has often loved that laser toy herself... :)

Nice to have some light humour in the day...

It is snowing thick clumps of white...

Everyone is still planning on coming over for dinner... 

three baked dishes are in the oven at present...

the chicken is ready and waiting in the fridge,

the cauliflower has to be done yet...

*

I am grateful for this day.