Today:

~ I am thinking anew of how I need to be more disciplined
in my days.

~ Rest of ch. 4 of Orthodoxy needs to be read for
book club tonight.

~ Gluten Free Apple Crisp to be made.

~ I talked to my sister in Romania yesterday. This was very good.

~ I am reading slowly an astounding book:

Like a Pelican in the Wilderness.

~ Making work slowly at a God-willing future monastery visit.
It is needed.

~ I am hoping to make applesauce with a friend in the next
few weeks...

~ Am working on straps for my knitted bag.
The cowl I started failed and I will probably need my knitting teacher
to help me restart it.

~ We must never give up hope in the mercy of God.

Continued Prayers Needed for Noah

 

Please keep praying for Noah:
*
From Kate's FB and Blog:

"OK prayer warriors . . . Noah is resting right now. He's not running a fever but is very tired.

He's scheduled for a PICC line at 2 PM. This is a line placed in his arm like an IV but threaded up to near his heart like his central line. They cannot pull the infected line until this is in because they cannot meet his medical needs without some kind of central access.

This is generally done under sedation but he is not considered a candidate for sedation (far too risky). They'd do anesthesia in the OR but the OR IS hopelessly backed up today and there's no way to get him in - and they need to get this infected line OUT.

This is going to be asking a lot of Noah. It will be painful and it will be scary. We are doing everything we can to minimize fear and discomfort but it will still be hard for him.

Please pray that they can do this as quickly and painlessly as possible with as little trauma as possible. He's already far more stressed than we usually see.

An Infectious Disease specialist is going to be consulting to see what we can do to get these infections treated sand get him healed enough for surgery for a new line as soon as possible."

Today is a feast of a dearly loved icon: Mother of God Assuage My Sorrows

Assuage My Sorrows ~ an Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos

*

"The very name of the icon is a prayer to the Mother of God for deliverance from many illnesses and physical and spiritual sorrows. This wondrous icon was found in Moscow, in the church of St. Nicholas across the Moscow river, where it was brought by the Cossacks in 1640. The miraculous power of the icon was first manifested at the end of the 17th century under the following circumstances.

A certain woman of noble parentage, who lived far from Moscow, suffered for a long time from paralysis of her entire body. Possessing many material advantages in life, she did not have the most important - health. She consulted many physicians, but did not receive help from any of them, so that she already lost all hope of getting well. And at this difficult time she heard a voice in her dreams, saying to her: “Order yourself to be taken to Moscow; there, in the church of St. Nicholas, you will find an icon of the Mother of God with the following inscription: ‘Assuage my sorrows’; pray before this icon and you shall be healed.” At these words the icon itself appeared before her.

The vision ended. Upon waking up, the sick woman ordered herself to be taken to Moscow, which was done. The church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was finally found and the paralyzed woman carried inside. However, after examining all the icons, the woman did not see among them the icon which had appeared to her in her dream. Then her vision was described to the local priest. He ordered the altar attendants to bring down from the bell tower all the old icons of the Holy Virgin which were kept there. Among them was finally found an icon with the inscription “Assuage my sorrows,” covered with a thick layer of dust. But upon seeing it, the sick woman joyfully cried out: - It is She! It is She! After a moleben was served before this icon, the sick woman stood up on her legs without any help and then, shunning all support, left the church on her own. Finally, by the mercy of the Queen of Heaven and by her ardent faith in Her, the sick woman returned home completely well.

The depiction of the icon “Assuage my sorrows” shows the Mother of God with Her left hand placed under Her slightly tilted head, suggesting that the Queen of Heaven listens to the tears and the prayers of all the faithful who appeal to her with their needs, woes and sorrows. With Her right hand the Holy Virgin holds onto the Divine Infant. The Saviour holds in His hands an open scroll before Him, on which the following words are inscribed: “Judge righteously; each show mercy to one another; do not offend widows and orphans, and do not keep malice in your heart towards your brother.” " 

~from here.

Troparion: 

Sooth the pains of my much-sighing soul, O thou who hast wiped away every tear from the face of the earth: For thou dost drive away the sickness of men, And quench the afflictions of sinners. We have obtained hope and support in thee, O most holy Virgin.

Kontakion:

O holy Lady, do not entrust me to human protection, but accept the prayers of thy supplicant. I am fettered by sorrow and unable to endure the demon's darts. I have no shelter, nor place to run, I am wretched. My enemies are on every side, And I have no consolation but in thee. Mistress of creation, protection and hope of the faithful, Do not turn away when I pray to thee; do that which will profit me.

Prayer:

O my All-gracious Queen Theotokos, my hope, who befriends orphans, and intercedes for strangers, Joy of those who sorrow, Protectress of those offended, look upon my troubles and see my sorrow: help me for I am weak, guide me for I am wandering: for you know my offense, resolve it as you will: for I have no other help than you, no other intercessor nor good comforter, only you, O Mother of God, may keep and protect me, unto ages of ages. Amen.

~ Prayers found here.

*

I could not find an online version of the Akathist for this Icon.

However, you will find it

 in this book of Akathists published by Jordanville;

FYI: you can buy it here, here, here, here or here.

My Ukrainian Mother's Pancakes

When I first moved back to Ottawa,
after being there for the fall and winter
semesters when I was still in library school,
I lived with my Ukrainian family for about
1 month or so before I landed my next apartment
and got my first job,
which to this day remains one of the ones
I loved the most.
*
One of the things we would do was
having pancakes with local honey,
fresh sour cream, berries... pots of tea
(they were very hospitable and taught me
a lot about hospitality, and had tea just for me,
since I never have caffeinated teas).
*
I remember eating at their table,
first a white one with a tile top and later
a wooden one of the same size,
I remember not only the food being
so warm and delicious,
I remember the love and quiet close
society this family had with one another.
*
I, who have always been on the more willowy side,
was always told to eat more!
*
Well, one of the things I asked my
Ukrainian Mother before I left was to come over
one last time and for her to teach me how
to make her pancakes, along
with a few other dishes.
*
Finally this weekend I made them!

What I loved was that I got cooking lessons
that were from scratch, not from a book.
I am slowly making my way through
Stand Facing the Stove: 
The Story of the Women Who Gave America The Joy of Cooking 
and one of the things that I am learning through it is
culinary history and how cookbooks
were not always standardized and that
women taught other women as they had
big kitchens as before everything changed,
food was not pre-canned, chickens were not bought plucked,
not to mention de-boned and ready to be cooked immediately.
One of the things we have lost through these changes,
though there are many new conveniences and things
we take for granted, like sugar being inexpensive
and flour being prepackaged and ready to be used with ease.
*
The way my Ukrainian Mother taught me
was the old way.

1 liter of milk
melt some butter/coconut oil/olive oil and add it
(all three oils together being best)
Lightly lightly oil the pan,
adding more oil, almost no oil at all,
with a bit of cheese cloth, being careful as the pan
will be already hot,
(I used paper towel scraps to lightly re-oil with a bit of butter)...

I melted the oils.

Added the three eggs and beat them in the milk
and oil...

The flour you add last
and add it until the mixture,
with the three eggs added already,
until it is the consistency of a fresh (liquid) sour cream
(that I had many times there) or pourable honey.
I think I added about three cups,
but I did it a bit at a time and tested the consistency.
I did not have enough easy arm power
to get the mixture smooth, as my first
dump of flour had been too much at once,
so I used a blender to mix the batter and then
poured it back in my shorter but still substantive
8 cup Pyrex measuring cup with lid.
Once it had just a little bit of give when I
used my wooden spoon to stir the top
of the mixture while still in the blender,
and it was not at it's most 'runny' stage,
but more like a runny sour cream or liquid honey,
I called it good and was ready to use it.
 

Mr. Husband wanted savory ones
so this was my own addition to
this particular recipe...
based on crepes we had previously.

FYI, when I was first making the pancakes,
I realized that the batter was frying up a bit 'dry'
and I added a little bit of olive oil to the batter,
which righted the matter immediately.
*
It finally dawned on me to fry up the
non-hormone laden turkey bacon
before adding it to the finished but still
in pan crepe/pancake/blini. 

Put some fried turkey bacon, some
(we had organic) mozzarella cheese in the middle,
carefully flip over half the crepe...

Have it melt a little bit
and quickly but carefully move to the waiting plate.

I covered this plate with another while
making others,
so that they would all stay warm.

 

The savory pancake I enjoyed with some
Canadian Maple Syrup
and the plain ones I loved best with
sour cream and honey!

Urgent Prayer Request for Noah

 

From Kate's Blog:

Noah's new central line is red, swollen, bleeding, and oozing pus. He's being admitted to Columbia (Palmetto Children's Hospital). The line will be removed and he'll be without it for at LEAST 3 days before he has surgery again to place a new line. They will need to try to get a PICC line in him so he can get TPN. If they can't get a PICC, it will be very difficult and tricky to manage him. They will be consulting with Infectious Disease to try to figure this out. He is on the highest-level antibiotic he can take (multiple antibiotic allergies) but sometimes I.D. can come up with great ideas.

This is very serious. Please pray.

A Lovely Weekend

Saturday morning I made
whipped cream...
Mr. Husband was already having his
breakfast, anticipated all week,
of apple pie and ice cream,
instead of his usual Saturday morning breakfast fare.

Bread baked this week with tea,
OJ, banana and Peanut Butter
were more my liking...

             
For lunch we fried up some potatoes and
mushrooms...

I love my two cast iron pans...
Speaking of such things,
I've decided that at least for the foreseeable future,
I am not going to get an enameled dutch oven.
Where to put it, that I already have my two fry pans
on the stove all the time and my red kettle,
I am going to just make do with what I have
and to be honest, I have more peace at NOT
getting this pot than with getting it,
which in the end was the biggest part of the decisions,
other than the reasonableness of not getting one.

It was a joy to have a simple meal of
fried potatoes and mushrooms.

Finished up the apple pie for dessert :)

 

We stayed in town this weekend and went to
our near-by church.
It was cooler weather, sunshine and just a lovely weekend.
I am so thankful!

A Love Poem Mr. Husband left for me

 

 

*
A more witty Mr. Husband
I could not wish him to be
and in this he pleases me.

Yesterday and Today

Thanks everyone for your words
on chicken stock
and avoiding freezer burn
on frozen things...
*
I will be using freezer bags more
and will let you know about the chicken stock,
I may try again next week.
*
So yesterday before knitting class,
since I was as done with the bag as much as I knew how
to do before hand,
I baked with lemons that I got a while back
that Mr. Husband keeps asking me to use up...
He also loves the lemon bars I made a year ago.

So I went to the grocery store to get some
margarine; perhaps butter would work too
but my Great Aunt P.'s recipe calls for
margarine and I just went with it.
By the way,
after my mono episode,
just going to the grocery store on a
Thursday afternoon after lunch
is heady stuff.
I am so glad to be able to do this again.

Lemon bars are such a wonderful airy bar.
I had forgotten that the bottom of it is just
powdered sugar, flour and cut in margarine. 

I think my Mom gave me this for cutting in
butter and margarine some years back.
So simple, I love it.

The crust before it is patted down.
Here's the recipe again for those who want it:



I stole my own pictures from a year ago.
Actually I could not find the recipe in my box
and did not remember what it looked like.
So I googled my blog and found it,
realized I did not have it listed in the recipes page and promptly
put it there.
And I found the actual recipe since
I then knew what I was looking for,
paper wise.



So now you have it again also!

I made bread again yesterday.
Actually in the middle of making lemon bars,
I was multitasking.
While listening to more on William Wilberforce
on Audible in the kitchen.
It's a great listen by the way.
So about bread,
I keep forgetting to score the bread.
The bread yesterday I had to bake longer as
I was making three,
hurriedly scored it when it was already on the hot
pizza stone,
lost too much heat and had to rebake....
These loaves are already gone to where they were going
and I do hope they were worth the going...

So the lemon bars.
Beating in eggs and siring in sugar is quite satisfying I must say.

I zested two lemons and used the juice
and saved the zest.
Hoping to do more baking today...
*
Speaking of lemon zest,
do you freeze yours and how?

The crust after it is baked.

The lemon bars after the lemon, egg, flour and sugar topping
is poured on and baked.

So I made bread again today.
Just one loaf.

 

There it is.
I totally forgot to score it,
did not bother putting water under it as
it seemed too much trouble
and just sprayed some water in.
We will see how it is for dinner.
*
I finally had a night sleep that was not interrupted but
was still just a little too late for the bread for lunch,
bummer as it would of been great to eat
fresh out of the oven.
*
I learned how to do the pattern for
the cowl and now I have a lot of work to do on it.
I have more yarn in my stash for scarves and/or cowls.
Any patterns (not too intricate but still with a bit of learning
to be done) that you would recommend?
*
So I am still thinking on that
enameled pot.
Actually torn about it, the 7 quart one
seems to be the one I would get,
bigger than a 3 or 5 but not but almost as large as a 9...
I like this one in blue (and it is cheaper in blue than red,
wonder why?)... it is made in China,
though to have it not made in China, well... more money then.
I've seen them used for bread, for chicken,
for soups simmering for hours on the stove,
for apple sauce, for chicken broth.
Anyway, just not sure.
I have my crock pots.
By the way, this is my favourite cookbook for crock pots,
with a carrot recipe I am hoping to try soon...
*
Mr. Husband found this song online today
and it made me even more ready for Christmas.
*
What are you waiting for these days?

Yesterday, today and tomorrow...

Yesterday was an easy lunch day...

It's good to have a pantry with a few items
for a quick lunch.
For various reasons, I am still being
hit with insomnia.
I was so hoping for an uninterrupted sleep last night,
but apparently it was not to be.

I woke yesterday to Mr. Husband having
gathered the lids for these two containers,
which previously had been in my
knife, cooking and baking drawer.

I've since taken them out, as well as anything
I am not using on a regular basis.

I changed my cookbooks to all upright and am loving them
that way; so much easier to grab.
I moved my less-used-cookbooks to another cupboard,
as I have some new-to-me cookbooks that I hope
to get out soon, that were got at a library book sale
a few weeks back.

Mr. Husband came home on Tuesday with many
wonderful farmer's market tomatoes.
I am quite pleased.

 

I am slowly learning more about soup broth/stock.
This time,
before I put the chicken bones and juice in the freezer,
I took off the skin and skimmed fat off the juice,
as was suggested by a friend whose stock I loved.
*
I am having a continual problem with freezing
baked chicken in the freezer - it keeps getting
freezer burn...
any suggestions?
*
I am thinking of getting a large enameled pot, perhaps a 7 quart,
for cooking soups,
applesauce, using to learn to roast chickens in
a variety of ways, like this one...
I told Mr. Husband that I am thinking of this pot
and he commented that I've been wanting one for
sometime now...yes...
I actually was thinking of getting one for bake bread
right before I got mono...
*
I have put in an order for this book on canning at my
local library... (thanks Ira!)...and
have been picking a good friend's brain about
apple sauces and how she has done it...
*
Meanwhile,
I am researching soup stock and bone broth.
would love to hear how you do it.
*
My bag is done other than the handles;
I tried beginning a new scarf on some cheaper yarn
and before I even began, I ended up not finding the end to the yarn,
had to unravel the whole skein and then balled it up with the
outside end of it being the only end in sight;
I started a scarf on US 11 needles and realized I needed
a 10 US instead and so frogged the little I had done...
It seems that this is how my day is going;
a long list of things that is just not going anywhere...
though my laundry is mostly done,
the kitchen clean, cookbooks read,
lunch eaten, candles lit...
yet the list is long...

And the list gets longer

Yesterday the dishes were all washed and
in process of being put away.
Wax scrapped from candle holder,
roses beautiful as always.

My buffet that I got years ago in Ottawa
holds all of my China dishes.
I got them for my beautiful green and blue
Ottawa apartment that I ended up only having
for 1 year, it was so beautiful.
Here are the first pictures of my then fairly new furniture.
I can see that I need to polish my silver candle holders,
I forgot how they gleamed years ago!

Tea cozies;
the thick sewn one was a gift from a friend
that I knew in Ottawa from my Calvin College years,
back in the mid-1990s.
The top one was a wedding gift and the middle
blue and white was the second tea cozy my Oma
hurried to knit for me,
as I asked her for one as the other one I thought I had lost,
but happily later found.
She would push herself with her knitting,
wanting the family member to have what they requested.
*
Looking back at the old blog posts like I have done
has brought back so many memories.
It's funny how one cannot stuff oneself back
to an earlier time.
I still miss Ottawa, esp. in Autumn.
It just does not get cold her in NJ
or not that often and I find myself pining for
Ottawa's autumns, as I remember them...
*
There is something powerful that
I am seeing as I look through my blog.
First, what wonderful friends I have had along the way.
Second, the first dinner party I had and photographed
was just about two weeks after I lost the job
I had for about 9 months in the corporate world as
a librarian.
So I see now how in the time of great distress,
and that year was a year of deep struggle for me,
something beautiful came out of it,
that I hope to continue for the rest of my days ~
opening my home to others,
to feed, invite conversation and provide not only
good food but a beautiful table and setting.

To that end...
I got my first Amazon order of
Gluten Free flours, starches, etc.

I hope to make some GF bread for book club
this coming Tuesday.

 

I am loving hearing about the book 
joy of cooking
especially as it is a book about how
beauty was created in a time of hardship and loss.
*
I am making lists for what to do with my days.
I had a rather bad night sleep
again last night and today
I am just dragging...
*
Time to put the kettle on,
brew some mint tea
and get on with it.