Saturday Catch Up

Frances, you wanted to live vicariously through me for a moment? We did indeed end up going out for dinner on my birthday. Dh was down in the suburbs when I phoned him at 5pm so we hopped in the car and headed down there to meet him. I needed to go that way for a meeting anyway so it worked out perfectly. We went to a popular eatery that always has good food. I had pork with mustard and maple sauce, served with vegies. Dh and I then shared a not-so-wonderful slice of tiramisu cake. It had cream cheese instead of marscapone and you could tell the difference.

My dear friend Rel managed to get her hands on "Aurora" by Jane Kirkpatrick for me...as well as "A Flickering Light" to review. "Aurora" is a stunning, beautiful book and the minute I have finished my current book I am delving into that one properly. I've flicked through it and ohhhhhh, talk about food for a quilters soul! It is beautiful and I just know the story of Aurora as told by Jane will be worth it.

* * * * * * * * *

My trip to the Naturopath went well. Miss Mischief has come home with some liquid herb stuff to sort out her problem. She says it tastes awful but she is a dutiful young lady and knows that it will be worth the effort if it works for her.

I almost did a happy dance in the lady's office when she said "hmmm, it sounds like something isn't quite working properly" and has requested some investigations be done, both at home and via a lab. I have my own little set of pills and powders to get things on their way to working properly.

We go back in three weeks to see how things are going.

* * * * * * * * * *

I've been fiddling with a new sauce for lamb. Necessity, as we know, is the mother of invention and that is what drove me one day. I didn't have any oranges to make my usual orange and cranberry sauce and stood there pondering for a bit. What I came up with is absolutely luscious and does not require another saucepan. YAY!

In the pan in which the lamb was cooked (chops or roast, doesn't matter), deglaze the empty pan with some red wine and allow to boil for a moment. Add some cranberry sauce and mash so that it is smoother and distributes evenly through the sauce. Bring to the boil. Add a teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary and allow to boil. Add in a knob of butter (about a tablespoon) and stir while the butter melts.

I haven't put down quantities because it really depends on how much you need. We had visitors for a roast lamb the other night and I used about 1/2 cup of wine and 3/4 of the small jar of cranberry sauce and then mounted that with enough butter (2 tablespoons?) to make the sauce. Of course, you could use just a slurp of wine and less cranberry sauce and that would mean you use less butter.

Experiment and figure out how you like it.

* * * * * * * * *

Yesterday I participated in the Primary section meeting at school. They were talking about intergrating Biblical Perspectives into our General Studies units this term. I feel very blessed to have been able to be involved. It was good to hear curriculum brain storming in action.

I was sitting next to the Prep teacher, who is a young, enthusiastic second-year-out teacher. I love her to bits ~ she's just wonderful. She had her laptop open and was searching for resources on 'Water'. I noticed the site name and noted it....she noticed. After the meeting she showed me some other sites that are really helpful for teacher resources. When I told her I was preparing a lesson plan for maths she led me to the resource shelf in Mr Busy's classroom and said "oh here, this book is just what you need". I love her to death!!!! That book has all the ideas I need for an introduction, resources and aids. Perfect.