Menu Planning: Week Beginning 28 February

I know it's pretty late for getting around to posting this, but that's probably going to be the way of things for a while.  Late night and early morning postings snuck in before or after a solid block of study time.  My first week of Uni has passed by very quickly.  I think I'm finally settled both geographically in the house and with all the bits and pieces I require to keep my work organised. At this point I'm feeling quite satisfied with my ability to keep up with it all.  It's full, but I'm loving it so far.

In the process, the girls are happily taking over my kitchen.  Miss Mischief has succeeded in baking her first roast chicken meal.  Tonight she conquered the humble rissole.  I keep forgetting that she works slower than Miss Sunshine and I.  But she does it happily, quite content to putter.  I write scant notes for her and she follows diligently with plenty of checking in.  A little challenging when listening to a lecture, but I guess that's the beauty of having a pause button!  Miss Sunshine is easily becoming as efficient as I am and I rarely even check to see if she needs a hand or advice.  I can't believe my baby girls are so very grown up!  Mr Busy is, of course, wanting in on the kitchen action.  He's miffed that the girls weren't cooking when they were just ten!  He has no leverage until about 12.

So this week, between the girls and I here's what we're feasting on this week:
Monday:  Rissoles, vegies (Miss M)
Tuesday:  Chinese corn soup, prawn crackers (me)
Wednesday:  Oven fried chicken, vegies (Miss M)
Thursday:  Pasta bolognaise (Miss S)
Friday:  Homemade pizza (MissS/me)
Saturday: Roast, vegies (me)
Sunday:  Gnocchi (me/Mr Busy)

There you go, Mr Busy does get to help.  He's great at shaping gnocchi for me, so this is often a little job we do together.  He'll be thrilled.  And I need to remember to get Miss Mischief started by 4.30pm so we get to eat at a reasonable time.

One Anothering

I don't know whether my boss coined the term or whether he heard it from somewhere else.  Regardless, I first heard the term "one anothering" from him.  We were discussing Romans 12 during our Work Break in our staff devotions, before beginning the day, and my boss was exhorting us to be those who 'one another' each other.

Romans 12 is full of 'one another' statements.  Statements like "love one another",  "be devoted to one another" and "honour one another".  Indeed there are heaps of "one another" statements scattered throughout the New Testament.  I believe my boss told us how many...but I don't remember the figure.  But there are enough of them that one must sit up and take notice.

What these "one another" statements say to me, apart from their direct instruction of how to behave, is that we are to take care of our fellow believers and to make that a high priority in our day-to-day life.  In Romans 12, the instruction to care for fellow believers comes before instruction about interacting with those in society and the world at large.  Don't you find that interesting?  I do!  As one who has grown up within the church, I have heard many a sermon and much focus on the evangelism of unbelievers, and indeed that is important.  Our message is for the unbeliever as much as it is for the believer.  But there is little spoken of, within the church, about caring for our fellow believers.

Our theme verse of this year's Women's Retreat is Romans 12:10, which says, "Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves."  I wonder how devoted we are to those with whom we worship week by week within our church?  I don't recall the Bible saying to be devoted to unbelievers in this same way.  Devoted to the task, perhaps, but nothing about being devoted to the unbeliever.  The Bible says that they will know us by our actions and how we love one another.  How do we honour one another? Do I take as much care of those with whom I worship and those with whom I work as I do of myself?  Am I prepared to shoulder the burden my brothers and sisters bear, when I am able to do it?  Do they do that for me?

We live in such an individual-focused society these days.  I think, as Christians, we struggle more and more with "one anothering".  We claim busyness and stress and avoid caring for those we share our faith-life with.  My challenge for me, and for you, is to be one who "one another" those you walk your faith with.  Be passionate about your fellow church members ~ they are your family.  Be passionate about those you work with, if you work in a Christian organisation ~ they are your family too. 

Who are you going to "one another" this week?

"Be devoted to one another in love. 

Honor one another above yourselves."

Romans 12:10

The Tragedy of Blog Neglect

What constitutes good design?  

Whimsy & variegated thread!

I can't believe it's already very late on Wednesday and this is the first moment I've had to think about posting here.  I have kept meaning to post a menu plan for this week.  But in reality, I've not cooked so the usual impetus for posting it seems to be missing.

University started on Monday.  I've been plodding my way through each of the four units and figuring out what needs to be done and when it needs to be done by.  Whilst I may be working constantly each evening right up until I go to bed, I'm enjoying it.  I'm certain that in a few weeks time the nuances of each unit's layout will make sense and I'll get myself into some routines that work.  In the meantime, I'm just 'doing the next thing'.

The girls have been wonderful about cooking meals so far.  And they've been so tasty!  Roast chicken thanks to Miss Mischief, frittata and salad from Miss Sunshine and a quick combination tonight.  I did the chicken and Miss Sunshine did the rice.  They're all scheduled for taking care of dishes and the dishwasher.  The roster I set up a couple of years ago is running better than it ever did when I first created it!

The picture above is courtesy of a task I had to complete today for a Design & Technology unit.  I had to take photos of three different objects that I felt constituted 'good design'.  I decided beautiful could be just as important as practical.  Indeed, my quilt is a 'good design' within its quilting niche.  That photo is my favourite of the 12 photos I had to upload.

Melbournian Heritage

The Block Arcade ~ photo from melbourneplaces.com

Over the past two Saturday's I've had reason to travel into the City.  I'm a bit of a lover of old architecture.  Not in the technical sense.  Rather, I just love admire their aesthetic beauty.  Last week I walked past the Rialto.  While the towers are impressive, they are modern and all glass.  The ground-level facade, however, is a stunningly beautiful expression of architectural design.

This week I went on a Chocolate Tour of the city ~ a walking tour that takes you through all kinds of beautiful buildings and history while sampling some amazing, quality chocolate.  One of the places we visited was the Block Arcade.  I know we were there to learn about and appreciate chocolate, but how can you resist drinking in the beauty of an arcade like this one?  Everywhere I looked I was awed.  Have a look at the floor.

Picture from cerebrum.com.au

That intricate pattern you see is made up of tiny mosaic tiles, expertly placed to create these ornate designs.  While the others were wondering why we were bypassing Haigh's Chocolates, I was looking at the floor and marvelling and the skill of those who worked on it.

We are indeed blessed to have such a beautiful city.  I don't go in there very often, but when I do, I'm always in for an architectural treat as I take time to admire the buildings that have stood for many years and continue to serve the people in practical ways, as well as delighting those who take time to admire them.

Of Five Year Old's.

By now you will have gathered that my days at school are rather full-on.  Kids with special needs require all the energy you have.  It's just the way of things.  In the midst of all that hard work there a few little cuties that seem to be just there to make you smile.  In every class I work in there is at least one child who will give me a hug every single day.  Well....one of them belongs to me.  Two of them are very distantly related to me.  But I'm not quibbling over things like that!

And then there are the Prep's.  Those youngest little gems in our school.  The ones to whom the Principal goes to visit when he's having a bad day.  He's a wise man.  Those kids are hilarious in the most innocent of ways.  I have one little boy who waggles his eyebrows at me a number of times in every lesson I'm there.  Then he starts winking.  And then I have to walk away because there's something a little bit unusual about a 5yo winking at you!  But my golly he makes me smile.  He saves his eyebrows and winks for me.  His teacher never sees it.

Yesterday I was in the library on Z-Duty.  Z was happily playing and one of the Prep girls was there trying to draw a picture.  She needed help drawing hands.  So I had Mr Busy go and help her.  Then she came back and needed help drawing a necklace.  I had Miss Sunshine go and help her.  She showed me her picture at the end of lunch time, replete with signatures from all her able helpers.  She was impressed that my kids are so-o-o-o-o big.  And so am I.

Recipe: Beef with Spring Onions

Beef with Spring Onions

Last week I had a few requests for recipes with pictures. Hmmmm. I'm not normally good at last-minute-just-before-it-goes-to-the-table photography. I have too many hungry people hovering around the bench when I'm serving up.  You've no idea of the pressure a Mum can be under 'til you've lived with my children.  They've been known to ask "What's for dinner?" before they've even had breakfast!  Leftovers, however, make a perfect photo opportunity.  No pressure from hungry little people and plenty of time to think about what the photo might look like.  None of that deer-in-the-headlights looking food when you can take your time.

I had planned something else for dinner last night.  But a very impromptu BBQ at my BIL's the other night yielded some steak that wasn't cooked and needed using up.  Well, the perfect thing to do with a small amount (less than 1/2 kg) is stir fry, so out came my "The Food of China:  A journey for food lovers" book and there I found the perfect thing.  Perfect, because I had everything I needed right at my fingertips, plus a few other ingredients to make it the colourful and nutritious meal we needed.

Beef with Spring Onions

500g rump or sirloin steak

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine (any white wine will do)

2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon cornflour

3 tablespoons oil

5 spring onions, sliced

Sauce:

3 tablespoons light soy sauce

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon roasted sesame oil

1. Cut the beef across the grain into 2mm thic slices, then cut into bite-size pieces.
2. Combine the garlic, soy, rice wine, sugar and cornflour and add the meat.
3. Marinade for at least 1 hour.
4. To make the sauce, combine all the ingredients.
5. Heat a wok over high heat, add the oil and heat until very hot.  Cook the beef in two batches for 1.5 minutes, or until brown.  Remove and drain.
6. Pour the oil from the wok, leaving 1 tablespoon.
7. Reheat the reserved oil over high heat until very hot and stir-fry the spring onion for 1 minutes.  Add the beef and the sauce.  Toss to coat the meat and spring onion with the sauce.

Serves 6

As you can see from the picture, I added carrots and sugar snap peas (between step 6 and 7).  The original recipe also says to drain the marinate and discard it.  I poured the sauce into the bowl after I'd removed the meat and poured the marinade and sauce in together at step 7, plus a little extra water.  You would miss out on so much flavour if you left out that extra marinade.

I'm very excited about next week's menu.  The girls will both be cooking.  Miss Mischief wants to learn how to cook a roast chicken.  I smiled to myself and wrote it down.  Really...the hardest thing is getting that chook out of its shrink wrapped packaging!

Book Review: 'The Telling' by Beverly Lewis

I think this may well be about the last review I wrote over the summer holidays.  If so, this will be the last review I do for Rel until.....maybe midyear?  I feel sad about that.  I've read some amazing books and my shelves are overflowing with them all.  However, everything is for a season and I will return to this one when I can.

In the meantime, you can go here to read my review of 'The Telling'.  A very surprising novel from Beverly Lewis, whose style I had thought was predictable in the most comforting sense of the word.  I can't wait for more of this series.

Perhaps I could just finish reviewing this series.....