Dead people as friends...St Teresa of Avila

"The highest perfection consists not in interior favours or in great rapture, but in bringing of our wills so closely into conformity with the will of God that as soon as we realize that He wills anything, we desire it ourselves with all our might."

St Teresa is one of my "mentor" saints. I read her writings, I look to her for inspiration.

She is my friend.

Yes, dead people as friends...read my post here.

I think St Teresa may be horrified at parts of who I am, a modern techi-devoted, Singstar and workout devoted,  working and homeschooling, wife and mother...but I like to think we would share the same sense of humour, sense of duty, love for our Faith, love for God.

And so we cooked a Spanish flavoured dinner for St Teresa's feast day, October 12. I shared the recipes in my regular food- for -the -liturgical -year "column" on the Australian Catholic Families blog.

Pope Benedict XVI wrote that St Teresa had a " a profound and articulate spirituality" and reminds us to emulate St Teresa, in  seeking God's friendship every day, in prayer...for time spent in prayer is not time wasted. ( Blog of the MI Australia).

What are we cooking today, Mum?

We cook our way through the liturgical year.

I change our dining table centerpiece to reflect the liturgical year.

This week, we have had a statue of St Michael the archangel on the dining table. Our saints book open for the day. The Dhouay Rheims Bible for St Jerome. The Story of a Soul for St Therese of Lisieux. Today a statue of St Francis.

And our ongoing feature for this month, the month of the Holy Rosary, is a statue of Our Lady, some rosary beads and a missal open to the indulgenced prayer to St Joseph for the month of October.

This week, we have made Devil's Food Cake for the Archangels, quiche for St Vincent de Paul, my grandmother's toffee for St Jerome, a strawberries and cream cake for both St Therese and for the guardian angles...and today for St Framcis?

Well, check out my post on the ACF blog.... Cooking for the Feast of St Francis.

Another Franciscan Saint...

"Let everyone who has the grace of intelligence fear that, because of it, he will be judged more heavily if he is negligent."

St Brigid of Sweden. A Franciscan tertiary. St Brigid devoted herself to a contemplative life. And founded the order of the Holy Saviour ( the Bridgettines). St Bridget is a co-patroness saint of Europe.

St Bridget was married at 13 to her 18 yr old husband Ulf..

In 28 years of marriage she and Ulf had 8 children; four boys and four girls. The two younger boys died young and Karl, her oldest died of a fever just before it looked like he could get into serious trouble over Queen Joanna of Naples.

Three of the girls married -Cecilia, Merita and Catherine- while the youngest, Ingbord, became a Cistercian. Catherine’s husband died while she was with her mother in Rome. She spent the rest of her life with her mother eventually entering her religious Order . She is St Catherine of Sweden . St Catherine is patron of mothers who have miscarried.

O Lord, our God, who through Thine only-begotten Son didst reveal heavenly secrets to Blessed Bridget, grant that, through her loving intercession, we Thy servants may rejoice and be happy in the revelation of Thine eternal glory. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Swedish Meatballs for dinner! Found this recipe for Ikea Swedish meatballs...

The Winner Takes It All

Yes, that song from Abba! But don't worry, this is more of a musing, laughing at self post than a sad, poor me post.

Laughing at self?

Yes, because just as one rocks along, posts happy thoughts... then...

The gods may throw a dice

Their minds as cold as ice

..and things change...just a bit. Suddenly you are not as carefree as you thought you were the day before!

It's simple and it's plain

Why should I complain.

So, no complaining. Laughing at myself. Remembering it is good to have these little things to offer up, to pray for others,. for special intentions.

Tonight, after St Anthony mass and many prayers, I tried to snatch and capture that carefree I capture the castle feeling ( great book and movie by Dodie Smith)...and made Pasta With Garlic Sauce and Vienna bread for dinner-with-Dr-Who (and the kids ).

Nice! And yum!

The game is on again

Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring

From St Catherine of Sienna, Doctor of the Church. Feast day today, April 29.

Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.

It is true, isn't it? Sometimes, our lives need much endurance; circumstances teach us perseverance; we live through esxperiences and learn that there is a light at the end of the tunnel; we find joy via endurance and prayer.

Even in tough times.

As a Kumon Supervisor, I often share with my parents that the time to stop Kumon study is not when it is tough, or when a child makes a fuss about homework. The time to stop is when study is easy; when a child has learned that if you commit and persevere you achieve. And you feel good about yourself. It was a worthwhile experience, a worthwhile achievement after all.

As a parent, I often share with my kids, young adults and teens alike, that sometimes it is better to just commit. It may be hard, it may be tough, but there are joy and smiles even in endurance.

In my vocation, I can see that endurance, with prayer, has its own rewards. I try not to sweat the small stuff. I try to just walk on, looking for and sharing smiles, remembering that hard times don't last forever..there is always good and bad.

I can choose to look at the good.

To a brave man, good and bad luck are like his right and left hand. He uses both.

St Catherine again.

Tonight the kids are cooking dinner. Thursdays are hectic for me! They are making Italian food (Spaghetti and Meatballs) in honour of St Catherine.

St. Catherine was one of the most brilliant theological minds of her day, although she never had any formal education. St, Catherine's letters, and a treatise called "a dialogue" are considered among the most brilliant writings in the history of the Catholic Church. Catholic Online

No formal education? Hope for we homeschooling unschoolers!

For housewives

We made bread yesterday, a cottage loaf sprinkled with a dash of parmesan and paprika.

For St Zita, patron saints of housewives. St. Zita spent her life from age 12 until her death at age 60 as a servant in the household of the Sagrati family. Zita believed that "A servant is not pious if she is not industrious; work-shy piety in people of our position is sham piety." One morning, when she had inadvertently over-stayed in church praying until sunrise, she hurried home to find the bread dough already prepared for the oven. She questioned every one, but no one would admit preparing the bread. It was soon evident that no human hands had shaped the loaves. A delicious fragrance surrounded them, and Zita became aware that angels had been at work while she prayed.

Patron of housewives? Would you say that I am a housewife?

The dictionary to hand defines a housewife as a married woman who manages her own household.

Well, that definitely describes a whole part of my life!

And it makes me think of Mary, Our Lady, praying and working. And loving.

If you put all the love of all the mothers into one heart it still would not equal the love of the Heart of Mary for her children. St Louis Mary de Montfort.

April 25

April 25 is Anzac Day.

Great teacher resources here.

On our bulletin board we have this poster, a recruiting poster from World War 1.

And Thomas made Anzac Biscuits yesterday, for us, and for visitors.

Franciscan Saints

On the Epiphany, we pulled Saints names out of a basket. Saints from the Franciscan calendar. Our Saints, if you like, for the year.

Today, remembering Thomas..Alexander's..Luke's Saints from the Basket, I made a dinner with a bit more effort. More effort than my usual throw together-cum- leftovers.

Actually, dinners with a bit more effort are (almost) becoming my theme song. Last night it was kids' choice of two dishes ~ Risotto and Sloppy Joes, with salad...and a choice of two different ice creams for dessert. To make up for Mum Being Away All Weekend...and Feeling Like A Bad Mum.

Tonight, although it is Lent, we are remembering those Saints from the blog post above. With Pasta and Red Wine and Tomato Sauce, Garlic Bread Rolls, Fruit, Egg Custard Tart.

And with the 2002 film version of The Importance of Being Earnest. Oscar Wilde.

March 1st

And time to update our bulletin board..we always have a monthly theme.

And we remember St David of Wales...with our (nearly always) March 1st dinner of Welsh Rarebit.

Peace

How to achieve peace in our lives?

I found peace, inspiration, love and grace .. on Monday. ( Don't ask about Tuesday, however..)

I prayed at Mass in the Extraordinary Form.

Now, don't take this in a bad way but...I needed that Mass. To worship Jesus, to receive Him, without attendant, unnecessary noise or activity or distractions. Without clapping and jokes. Without a sloppily intoned Alelluia ( not during Lent, of course). Without shaking hands and chatting.

Just praying, silently, reverently, with others, with the priest, before Our Lord.

The sursum corda-the lifting up of our hearts-is the first requirement for real participation in the mass. Nothing could better obstruct the confrontation of man with God than the notion that we "go unto the altar of God" as we would go to a pleasant, relaxing social gathering. This is why the Latin mass with Gregorian chant, which raises us up to a sacred atmosphere, is vastly superior to a vernacular mass with popular songs, which leaves us in a profane, merely natural atmosphere. The Case for the Latin Mass Dietrich von Hildebrand

Yesterday, after a particularly exhausting and draining day, I had a phone call from an always supportive friend. Later that evening, after the weekly Mass and Novena to St Anthony in our parish, I went to another friend's house, watching The Jane Austen Book Club with other homeschooling mothers.

Our world is an English village. The Jane Austen Bookclub.

It is true. Our world is a village, in other words, in many ways, people and relationship and work and life oriented. But is that all there is? I love the friend I spoke to, the friends I spent time with yesterday. I love my family and friends, the little glimpses we give each other of who we really are. I get it ~ that pleasant, social gathering of which von Hildebrand talks ~ and I get more. I get love ( without being too soppy..here..I think).

All Jane Austen, all the time. It's the perfect antidote.
To what?
To life.

It is. But we are made for more. I am made for more. There is that God shaped vacuum of which Pascal spoke, that restlessness of which St Augustine spoke..these can only be satisfied by worship of God. By that Perfect Love.

And, in human, every day terms, by private prayer and public worship. By the sacraments; the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and of Reconciliation.

Which, to quote von Hildebrand again, must be that sursum corda, that rising up of our hearts, that sacred atmosphere.

I think if you read Austen's novels...
Oh, I have. You wanted me to, and I did.
I think you'll see she always writes in favor of order and self-control. Nothing unwise.
So what, this is a rulebook?
We could do worse.

We can have our rules, our Jane Austen code of life....rules and codes are needed. To cast them away, to undertake what amounts to a momentary act of pleasure, without thought for other good, can destroy peace..and thus what appears to bring joy, brings only short term pleasure and gratification and sometimes long lasting sorrow..Which is why I cried out ( apologies to my fellow film watching friends!) Don't when I thought Prudie ( in the film) was going to throw it away, throw away cautions and that rule book, for something temporary and ultimately shoddy....

Prudie didn't. She remembered What Would Jane Do?

We can remember these rules, these codes. Yet, just as we need something more than these human relationships to satisfy our souls thus we need more than rules to live by.

We need a foundation for that rulebook.

A foundation of Love.

That going up to the altar of our Lord, meeting God, heart to heart.

How to achieve peace in our lives?

We find peace with God, with Our Lord.

And we find this peace again and again, within our High school's never over lives ( the Jane Austen film again ), in our prayer and worship, via the sacraments.

In reverent Masses, full of awe .

Worshipping Our Lord.. with the angels and the saints.

When you hear talk about so-called ‘traditionalists', some think that they are a group with a stubborn and nostalgic attachment to the past. That is not true. In fact, here we find ourselves before a dynamic Christian view of the life of faith and devotion, shared by so many families and their children who are attached to those ancient liturgical and devotional forms which have accompanied the Church through centuries of her history and have formed legions of saints. Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos interview for Il Giornale, May 31, 2004

Menu Plans

Menu Plans? Am I sick?

No, just feeling inspired ( or guilty) ...after reading Lisa's blog. Lisa posts a menu plan every Monday..

On Monday nght, after having flown back from Melbourne, gone straight to work, arriving home around 8.30 p.m., we had meat pies from the freezer for dinner.

And I thought about my busy week, and Lisa's influence, and my favourite TV cooks ( Nigella and Jamie) and what we had in the house..and made my own rough, very rough, menu plan.

Lisa, you have encouraged me to post my meagre plans. No comparisons, right?

Monday
Meat-Pies-From-The-Freezer

Tuesday
Welsh Rarebit or Poached Eggs in Bread Rolls ( read here how to poach eggs in cling wrap. A Science experiment all on its own!). Served with or on blessed bread rolls from the St Anthony Mass on Tuesday night. And with a salad of cos lettuce, sliced beetroot, three bean mix.

Wednesday
Use up that pork from the freezer.
Thai Red Pork Curry, using cabbage and carrots instead of sweet potato and snake beans.
Rice. Microwaved pappadums.

Thursday
Women's group and no dinner for me. I planned for the kids to make
Quick Tomato Pasta Sauce, to serve with penne and Garlic Bread Rolls..again using up those bread rolls.

Friday
Vegetarian Zucchini Slice with grain bread ( or The Last Of Those Bread Rolls).

Saturday
St Paul the Hermit... we traditonally serve pork on this day .Still have pork left in the freezer from Christmas..so perhaps Satay Pork with rice and any available salad/fruit/vegetables.
Unless we have friends for dinner..in which case we will do a barbecue, plus bread, salad, dairy free carrot cake with custard.

Sunday
Mmm. Another vegetarian meal. Perhaps
Nigella's Macaroni Cheese or Channa Dahl or Peanut Butter Pasta.

Unless, again, a friend stays for dinner..and then we might have chicken!

Monday again

Use up those Meat-Pies-from-The-Freezer again, after work and an Information Meeting, with any leftovers, including leftover salad, from the weekend. Or cook anything we didn't cook on the weekend!

Should I be daring and plan a menu for next week, too??

Look! I Made These!

I am so proud of myself! I made these for the priests' post Second Rite of Reconciliation supper...and the priests even survived the eating....and, no, I didn't let my dh and kids eat any...they had this (below) for dessert instead! Presents from some of my Kumon students..which I shared, lavishly, with the family.

St Lucy December 13

...And we will make Santa Lucia bread this week...

Make a fruit scone or bread dough..braid...brush with beaten egg..bake..ice or glaze and add small candles.

Our bread never looks this good. But it always tastes nice..... Says she who is stll trying to lose that dreaded 10 kg!

Saint Lucy, also known as Saint Lucia, (283 – 304) was a wealthy young Christian martyr. Saint Lucy is one of seven women, aside from the Blessed Virgin Mary, commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass.

Being Julia

Being Julia. As in Julia Child. Inspired by the book and movie Julie and Julia.

I skipped the pearls.

I skipped the high heels.

But I made stuffed artichokes.

After a very busy, exhausting day, it was even fun.

And yummy. Especially with wine.

I enjoy cooking with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food I'm cooking Julia Child

And Julia's thoughts on dieting?

In spite of food fads, fitness programs, and health concerns, we must never lose sight of a beautifully conceived meal.

So, how does the book Julie and Julia inspire you?

It makes you want to do something with your life.

It makes you laugh at yourself, and at your blogging.

It makes you want to cook.

It makes you hungry...for food, for life...Went to bed, hungry last night, hungry in more ways than one, past midnight, after seeing the film Julie and Julia.

Julia Child wants you -- that's right, you, the one living in the tract house in sprawling suburbia with a dead-end secretarial job and nothing but a Stop-n-Shop for miles around -- to master the art of french cooking. (No caps, please.) She wants you to know how to make good pastry, and also how to make those canned green beans taste alright. She wants you to remember that you are human, and as such are entitled to that most basic of human rights, the right to eat well and enjoy life.And that, my friends, blows heirloom tomatoes and first-press Umbrian olive oil out of the fucking water.Julie Powell

Making Devil's Food Cupcakes

On the feast of the Archangels - St Michael, St Gabriel, St Raphael..St Michael cast the devil into hell..so it is our custom every year to make Devil's Food Cake in memory of heroic St Michael!

On Sunday April 24th 1994, Pope John Paul II recommended this prayer be used by all Catholics as a prayer for the Church when he said:

May prayer strengthen us for the spiritual battle we are told about in the Letter to the Ephesians: 'Draw strength from the Lord and from His mighty power' (Ephesians 6:10). The Book of Revelation refers to this same battle, recalling before our eyes the image of St. Michael the Archangel (Revelation 12:7). Pope Leo XIII certainly had a very vivid recollection of this scene when, at the end of the last century, he introduced a special prayer to St. Michael throughout the Church. Although this prayer is no longer recited at the end of Mass, I ask everyone not to forget it and to recite it to obtain help in the battle against forces of darkness and against the spirit of this world.

Saint Michael the Archangel,defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -by the Divine Power of God cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits, who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.

Remembering the Korean Martyrs

With Korean Meat Skewers as part of dinner.

Marinating the meat with soy sauce, sugar, ginger, sherry, garlic, onion. Note the use of a Tupperware container!

Thread the marinated meat onto skwers before grilling on the barbecue.

Serve with extra marinade ...reduced by boiling...

And we added Chinese takeaway! lol!

Read about the Korean Martyrs here.

Unschooling and Cooking

My kids love to eat. And some of them love to cook.

So, our unschooling life often seems to revolve around food.

What's for dinner? We never have anything I like for lunch! Can I have leftover cake, for breakfast, leftover cake from the supper last night at church, supper on the feast of St Clare ?

Hang on - that cake also had to suffice for dinner, since mum didn't get time to cook dinner!

A lot can be learned from cooking. especially when it is themed to the liturgical year ( bread for St Zita), to a novel study ( Roly Poly Pudding when reading Narnia books), to an interest/rabbit trail (Chinese food when studying Chinese).



And I do cook sometimes. As do some of the boys. Recently? The Best-Ever Broccoli and Cauliflower, with fresh vegetables given to us. Baked Oatmeal for breakfast, doing my 1950s TV housewife impression.




Best Ever Broccoli and Cauliflower

Drizzle olive oil in a baking pan. Add slivers of garlic, florets of broccoli and/or cauliflower, twist of salt and pepper. Bake in a preheated oven 180 degrees Celsius. shaking ocasionally until brown. Sprinkle with a handful of grated cheese, preferably parmesan. ( optional) . Serve. Yum!

Baked Oatmeal

6 cups rolled oats, 1 cup brown or raw sugar, 3 large eggs, 2 1/2 cups skim milk. 1/2 cup canola oil.

Mix together, put in a greased casserole dish, bake 175 degrees Celsius approx 25 minutes. Serve hot or cold with fruit or yogurt and milk.

Unschooling in a Jumble

Unschooling in a jumble of circumstances, when other things are going on, when my mind is elsewhere and I am not truly present ..Yes, unschooling can work even then.

So, among today's jumble, what have we done so far?

Mass, in the Extraordinary Form.

Errands. Friend over for awhile.

Maths, Italian, Chinese, French, Latin...not everyone does everything but each one studies something. Kumon and budget stuff and parish stuff and a Cindy Crawford workout for me...

Computer games. Of course. Trampolining. Blogging. Facebook. Internet searches. Guitar. Reading.

Thomas felt like cooking so made some yummy Snickers Muffins, from How To Be A Domestic Goddess. A domestic goddess he is not but the muffins were nutty, chewy, moist and not overly sweet. Amazingly.

I put some soup in the crockpot for dinner, Spicy Indian Soup, from Twelve Months of Monastery Soups. Sharing quotes and vignettes from lives of the Saints, from this book, as I went.

And my surreptious strewing worked for me. My mind might be a jumble of thoughts but my dining table centrepiece, for the Year of the Priest, meant that Thomas picked up one of the items, a magazine called The Priest and read some articles while eating. Voracious readers can't help themselves. Leave some reading material around and it is bound to be read by someone!

I've read the articles myself and there are some great quotes ~

Even what he cannot understand he can believe to be true; and he believes it to be true because he believes in the Church. Ven. John Henry Cardinal Newman in An Essay in Aid of A Grammar Of Assent.

The sacrament of priestly ordination by virtue of its very nature and of everything that it produces in our life and activity, serves to make the faithful aware of their common priesthood and to activate it...Pope John Paul II, Holy Thursday Letter to Priests, 1979.

So, we jumble along ( I feel like a Womble!), unschooling and learning in spite of and alongside the jumble.

Snickers Muffins

250g SR flour ; 6 tablespoons raw sugar; 6 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter; 60g butter melted; 1 large egg beaten; 175ml milk; 3 x 65g Snickers bars chopped

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Mix all ingredients gently. Dollop into greased muffin cases. Bake 20 - 25 minutes.

Spicy Indian Soup

1/3 cup olive oil; 2 onions chopped; 2 garlic cloves minced; 2 1/2 cups lentils; 8 cups water; 2 carrots sliced; 2 celery sticks sliced; optional 1 cup rice cooked; 1 teaspoon ground coriander, cumin, paprika, curry powder; 3 tablespoons lemon juice; salt, pepper to taste.

Saute onion and garlic in oil, add spices. Put in crockpot with all ingredients except for lemon juice and salt/pepper. Cook in crockpot on low ( all day) or high ( the afternoon). Before serving, stir, add lemon juice and seasoning.

Celebrating "Annes"

The book A Continual Feast: A Cookbook to Celebrate the Joys of Family and Faith Throughout the Christian Year has an entry for yesterday's feast, the feast of St Anne and of St Joachim, parents of Mary, Our Lady. The book quotes an old proverb ~ All Annes are beautiful!

And mentions that in Europe, it was customary to celebrate "all Annes", all pretty girls, all young girls, all daughters, on this day.

My middle name is Ann ( without the e)...

In both France and French Canada what would commonly be served on this occasion is a fruit tart. From the book above..

I made the French Apple Tart from the cookbook. Started it at 6.30 pm, after a Sunday afternoon of Kumon reports, and while watching Merlin on television.

And, hey, our fruit tart for St Anne, and for St Joachim, was eaten while watching Mamma Mia ( and while I was crying during a sad, moving scene, the scene where Meryl Streep sings the Abba song The Winner Takes It All!).

I don't want to talk

Cos it makes me feel sad

From the movie Mamma Mia - The Winner Takes It All

Spanish Dinner

For the feast of St James. My attempt at Spanish cooking.

Spanish Omelette ( tortilla) .

And a sort-of-chicken-paella-rice-dish.

With salad and bread.

And apple martinis ( not Spanish but very nice all the same!).