A Seven Quick Takes for St George's Day

Should I get to posting this today, an astute reader might ask, "But isn't St George's day tomorrow?" To which I would respond, "Great question, astute reader! I'll answer it shortly, but first, I must genuinely ask... who are you?? Because I noticed my blog has received over 3000 views since I've started it - and I know my sisters and mom can't possibly be logging in all that many views. Maybe you'd like to leave a little comment at the bottom? They're always nice." (By the way, hi Mom and sistahs! xo)

But yes, St George's day is tomorrow (or the 23rd, depending on when you read this) and the only reason why we're celebrating today is because we will have a very full day tomorrow that won't allow us to celebrate in our (now) traditional way. Yes, that's right, this is the 2nd year that we have celebrated Georgie's day so I think we can call it a tradition. Here's how it went down:

- 1 -

Woke up this morning and realized, "Nuts. We're supposed to be celebrating St George's day today" and quickly printed off some colouring (coloring) pages:

Maybe next year we'll actually finish one!

This year, the Spitfire was somewhat interested in actually colouring said pages! (And she also wanted to trace some letters of the word 'dragon'! I didn't even tell her that that was what the letters were there for! #proudmom)

- 2 -

We also had my niece over for a little bit this morning since she had no school. This resulted (as it so often does) in an impromptu dance party. Our soundtrack included America's "A Horse with No Name", the Mamas and the Papas' "California Dreamin'" and ABBA's "Dancing Queen" - and lasted right up until Little Dude's morning nap.

(The Astute Reader now asks, "How does this have to do with St George?" Patience, dear reader.)

On finding all these songs on YouTube, it occurred to me that there might also be St George cartoons to watch as well! And there are! First, we watched this one - which is oh, so cute because children. With accents. (God bless you, wee Millie!)

But it wasn't received all that well (especially by the soon-to-be-9-year-old). So we found this one, which was liked *much* better:

However, I think we may have watched it one too many times, because tonight as Paul was putting the wee girl to bed she asked him, "I don't have to dream about the dragon do I?"  "No, honey, you don't have to dream about the dragon."  "I can dream about planes?"  "Yes, sweetie. You can dream about planes instead."  Bless her heart.

- 3 -

And that was that! Til dinner time, when I began to make our (now) traditional Cottage pie (not Shepherd's because we didn't use lamb, we used ground beef). I made a few changes to the recipe this year that I really liked:
1. added 2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables (a tip well-received from Under Thy Roof)
2. swapped out the onion for a leek
3. used gruyere in place of the sharp cheddar
Little Dude (when he finally decided to try it) made an absolute mess of himself gobbling it up - and the Spitfire required some coaxing but eventually choked it down. So... win! (Someone please tell me the feeding children thing gets easier...)

- 4 -

Normally, while cooking, I like to listen to a Pandora station I call "Mambo Italiano" but for some reason, it really didn't seem appropriate for today. (ya think?!)  So instead I quickly typed in the most English thing I could think of... "The Beatles" and that did quite nicely. But I also did a google search on "Music for St George's day" and surprisingly, there were a few hits! I'll have to look at them more closely for next year, methinks.

- 5 -

Table decor is not usually my thing, but this year I remembered I had red gingham cloth napkins (George is the Red Cross knight) - so I pulled those out. And earlier today I had seen on Pope Francis's Instagram that St George's day is his name day (Jorge == George, duh Sara!). So I quickly printed up a page of "Our George's" to hang by our table. Grandad, of course, topped the list. :) We lit our candle and said our prayers for them tonight.

If I really had my game on, I would have gotten a white candle. Oh well. Can't win 'em all.

- 6 -

Gotta love Cost Plus World Market to bring us all the comfort food from home! Blackthorn cider, McVities' digestives, Jelly Tots, PG Tips tea, a nice glass of Zin... (OK that last one was from Costco).

- 7 -

And last, but not least, in another thanks to Instagram - I learned that there is actually a Novena to St George:

St. George's day is next Saturday! This is one of our favorite feast days of the year! Mostly because it usually involves swords of some kind! Maybe I'm a day late, but there no official start day for the St. George Novena. So start it with me today and we'll complete it the day after his feast day. This novena bracelet was created to help us forgetful types, to keep on track through the 9 days! Day 1 “Faithful servant of God and invincible martyr, St George, inflamed with a burning love of Christ, you fought against the dragon of pride, falsehood, and deceit. Neither pain nor torture, nor the sword nor death could part you from the love of Christ. Pray for us, glorious St George, that through your intercession and example, we may work with all our strength for God’s greater glory, and continue unto death in imitation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Our Father…, Hail Mary…, Glory be…)

A photo posted by Shannon (@organicmamasshop) on Apr 16, 2016 at 5:37am PDT

Paul and I have been praying it since the beginning of the week - and I have loved it. It has really tied everything together for me - why we live liturgically, why telling (and re-telling) the stories of the saints matters, what this life is about. While the story of St George and the Dragon is clearly a fiction (the dragon part, at least), his virtues are not. And those are the virtues that I want my family (and myself) to strive for - or as another mama put it: I want my children (and myself) to have the courage to strive for the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. God bless us all as we seek to follow Jesus Christ - our highest good, truth and beauty!

St George, pray for us!

(and all the other goodly folks who write 7QTs over at This Ain't the Lyceum)

Easter, Divine Mercy and Våffeldagen - a Seven Quick Takes

Happy Easter to you all!

- 1 -

I love that we will get to say this for 50 days! Prior to starting to live along with the liturgical calendar I was only aware of the church celebrating Easter for - oh, I don't know - maybe a week or so after the actual date. But now this will be the first year where we try and hold space for the season for all 50 days. One of the ways that I've considered doing this is by greeting fellow believers with "Happy Easter!" all Eastertide long. So far, it doesn't sound too weird to anyone I've wished it to this week, but I'm thinking that next week I might start to get some strange looks... that is if I don't chicken out by then.

- 2 -

In any case, Easter was lovely! So much so that my children decided they would rather look at the beautiful church than the camera...

We had my sister and her family over, as well as another guest, but it still wasn't enough to take care of The Ham. Once again, I overbought (though not in the same way as I did at Thanksgiving - a story for another time) and brought home a ham that could feed 10-12 people. Which wouldn't be too bad if we were feeding 10-12 people. But, really, we were feeding 5 (the kids hardly made a dent here). Oops. So that got me looking for ways to use the ham...

- 3 -

And while poking around the internet looking for hamspiration I came across this tremendously yummy looking recipe for Monte Cristo waffles...

Yummmmmmm...... (photo from The Kitchn)

... which triggered my memory about eating waffles for dinner for the Annunciation. Bingo! A way to use the ham and live liturgically! I love it.

- 4 -

This year we celebrate the Annunciation on April 4th. Back in January when I was planning our Liturgical calendar I didn't know any better, so I didn't catch that this was actually not the normal day that we celebrate it. It's normally celebrated 9 months before Christmas on March 25th - but this year that day was also Good Friday. Laura from Mothering Spirit wrote an achingly beautiful piece on this overlap of days here. I shared it on Facebook (since I could - Lent was finished on Holy Thursday night, after all) but I feel it's so worth reading, it deserves a second shout-out.

- 5 -

So someone might ask, why waffles on the Annunciation? Well, because Kendra does it. (Obviously. That's why we do anything around here. ;) ) But in addition to that, the tradition comes from Sweden and anything that comes from Sweden has a small piece of my heart. Still confused? Here's the deal: in Sweden, March 25th is called Vårfrudagen (literally, "Our Wife day" or "Our Lady's day") but if you say it quickly/mumble it a bit, it can sound a bit like Våffeldagen (literally, "Waffle day"). So there you go. Våffels till Vår Fru. Var så god.

- 6 -

When sharing all this with my younger sister she asked if I had seen the Alton Brown episode on waffles. I hadn't. But then I looked it up and YouTube...

Skip the opening bit. It's too corny for words. But would you believe that, in a way, we even have the Catholic church to thank for waffles?! Look for the bit with the nun (about a couple minutes in) to get the lowdown.

- 7 -

This Sunday is also Divine Mercy Sunday. Paul and I have been praying the Divine Mercy Novena, and I think the Divine Mercy chaplet has become one of my most favorite prayers. To celebrate we will either have this cake from Better Than Eden or these Divine Mercy Sundaes from Catholic Icing. If you'd like to read just a wee bit more about Divine Mercy Sunday, click on that link from Better Than Eden above. And if you've made it this far in my 7QT, I welcome your vote! Cake or ice cream?

Head over to This Ain't The Lyceum for more 7QTs, and again... happy Easter! :)

Triduum thoughts

Triduum = Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday - the last three days of the holiest week of the year.

Holy = sacred, set apart

This week...

... Well, this week has certainly been "set apart" but not at all in a sacred sense. Maybe it's the weather, the sick kids, or just that end of a long Lenten season that doesn't ever feel like it will end... But whatever it is, I have had the hardest time keeping to those Lenten promises that I made back in February. Life's "stuff" has kept me from my devotional, anger has been rearing its ugly head, and I've been tempted like never before to just open up Facebook and vent about it/scroll away. I'm not at all proud of myself.

I feel like I'm not alone in this though. Just chatting with the woman who does my hair today, we commiserated that this week has felt like the hardest in the whole of Lent. And after reading this from Whole Parenting Family, and this from Fountains of Home I'm encouraged that even some of the Catholic mommy bloggers I admire the most are having a rough-go of it. No one is getting off easy here.

It also occurs to me that maybe, just maybe, this could be a spiritual attack. I mean, wouldn't it just make sense that the devil would pull out all the stops to attack and distract and discourage Jesus's followers during this holy week? The devil doesn't have to distract those who don't care. And as Carolyn from Svellerella so eloquently put it, "especially during the holy days of the Easter Triduum, everyone the world over is saying the same prayers, contemplating the very same events in Jesus's life, all while offering our own prayer."

Something I cherish about the Catholic faith is knowing especially during the holy days of the Easter Triduum, everyone the world over is saying the same prayers, contemplating the very same events in Jesus's life, all while offering our own prayer --it's not that mindless babbling, that rote, uber-traditional boring nonsense that I've heard people think it is, but instead it is a universal brother and sisterhood: spoken in every language, and we all know, we all know exactly what is going on. The Mass, the greatest gift from Jesus's salvation; what He left for us here to do while we await His return, is truly the universal prayer.

A photo posted by Carolyn Svellinger (@carolyn_svellerella) on Mar 24, 2016 at 3:08pm PDT

Well, with God's help, I'm not going to let discouragement keep me from continuing to honor God with what I can offer - my life, my little sacrifices, my self. And I'm certainly not going to let discouragment separate me from God's love and the knowledge that I am secure in my relationship with Him.  Easter happened for such a time as this. I pray you won't either.

May God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless us all as we seek to honor Him with all that we do. And may God be especially honoured when we give grace to ourselves and others when what was planned does not come to pass - when we are merciful as the Father is merciful. Amen?

Palm Sunday - the tastiest day of Holy Week (thus far)

If every Sunday is a little Easter, then we shall consider this Palm Sunday (2016) a practice run for the Easter feast - because whooee, did we eat some good food today!

Whole wheat apple pancakes with homemade whipped cream, straweberries and (empty) mug of tea

Clearly, I am no photographer. And I'm usually not one to take pictures of my food either, but there's just something about making food myself, with real ingredients, that makes the little girl in me want to hold up a picture and proudly say, "LOOK! I DID IT MYSELFS!" So that is exactly what I'm doing here. (Don't worry. I've already given myself a gold star on my sticker chart too. :) )

So, the food. Breakfast was warm and cheery - what with the strawberries and cream and all - but it was rainy and cold all day today. Got rained on on the way into church. Rained on on the way out. And when it came time to make dinner, it was still raining and I wanted something warm and comforting again. As I was digging through my recipe book I found the Sunday Night Stew from the Pioneer Woman and I remembered that we had some leftover colcannon (mashed potatoes with cabbage) from St Patrick's day that we needed to eat. (Really, who has leftover mashed potates?! This should be a crime against humanity - but blame my kids. Right now, they're on a potato strike). The colcannon recipe comes via Saveur.com, and all of my tweaks are written in below. Hope you love it as much as we did - or at least as much as the hubs and I did, as the kids ate none of it! (Silly kids.)

Rainy Day Beef Stew with Colcannon

Irish colcannon (mashed potatoes & cabbabge) and beef stew come together for a comforting and hearty cold-weather meal.

Source: Pioneer Woman and Saveur.com

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• STEW
• 4 tsp Olive Oil
• ¹⁄₂ Tbsp Butter
• 1 pound Beef Stew Meat cut Into chunks
• Salt And Pepper
• 1 medium yellow onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 ounces tomato paste
• 2 cups Low Sodium Beef Stock or Broth, more if needed for thinning
• Several Dashes Worcestershire
• ¹⁄₄ tsp molasses
• 2 whole carrots peeled and diced
• 1 whole rutabega peeled and diced
• 1 Tbsp flat-leaf parsley (optional)
• COLCANNON
• 2 ¹⁄₂ pounds russet potatoes peeled and chunked
• 8 Tbsp. butter plus more for serving
• ¹⁄₄ medium head green cabbage cored and thinly shredded
• 1 cup whole milk
• ¹⁄₃ cup heavy cream
• Chives finely chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

STEW

1. Salt and pepper stew meat. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add butter, and as soon as it melts, brown half the stew meat until the outside gets nice and brown, about 2 minutes. (Turn it as it browns.) Remove the meat from the pot with a slotted spoon and put it on a plate. Add the rest of the meat to the pot and brown it, too. Remove it to the same plate. Set the meat aside.
2. Add the onion and garlic to the pot, stirring it to coat it in all the brown bits in the bottom of the pot. Cook for two minutes, then add the tomato paste to the pot. Stir it into the onions and let it cook for two more minutes.
3. Pour in the beef stock, stirring constantly. Add the Worcestershire and molasses. Add the beef back to the pot, cover the pot, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours.
4. After 1 1/2 to 2 hours, add the diced rutabega and carrots to the pot. Stir to combine, put the lid back on the pot, and let it simmer for another 30 minutes. The sauce should be very thick, but if it seems overly so, splash in some beef broth until it thins it up enough.
5. When the carrots and turnips are tender, stir in minced parsley (if using). Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve piping hot in a bowl with colcannon, letting the juice run all over everything.
COLCANNON

6. Place potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water by 1"; bring to a boil over high heat, and cook until tender, about 20-25 minutes. My test is to pierce a chunk with a fork and lift - if the potato was tender when piercing and if it falls off the fork on its own, then you're good to go.
7. Drain, remove to a plate and set aside. Return pan to medium-high heat, and add butter. When melted, add cabbage, and cook, stirring, until wilted, about 5 minutes.
8. Add milk, and cream and bring to a boil; add back the potatoes, and using a potato masher, mash and stir potatoes until smooth and evenly incorporated. Season with salt and pepper, and decorate with chives.

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Slow Changes for a Seven Quick Takes

- 1 -

When I first met my husband, we corresponded back and forth by email. Back then all his emails had the postscript: "Change is inevitable, except from vending machines." And hasn't that just been the truth. These last few weeks I've definitely felt the tides shifting, all these little changes that are adding up into signs of bigger things. For instance, the little girl is using her potty more and more. I can almost see the finish line ahead - no more diapers! (for her at least)

Now if we can just get her to stop wearing undies on her head...

- 2 -

And the little dude has been sleeping better. Still up at night... maybe once... maybe twice - but I realized yesterday that it hasn't been a 3-or-4-times-a-night kind of night for a while now. That realization totally took me by surprise because the funny thing is, even though I've been waking up less, I'm feeling just as tired (and sometimes, more so) than when I was getting up more often. Someone with more education/experience will need to tell me why this is so - because it just doesn't make sense to me.

- 3 -

The little dude is also walking better! One of the ladies in the Lenten devotional group that's been meeting at my house commented, "He's walking just like me!" So, I guess it's less "drunken sailor" and more "elderly with a knee replacement"? That's progress, right?

- 4 -

The devotional group has been a wonderful place of encouragement for me too. I told the ladies recently, "I really hope you've found this to be worth your time!" because it's not like any other group I've been a part of, or done.  There is no strict "Bible study" that we are doing... I just knew I needed some women to process this devotional with - and I'm really encouraged by what we're doing together, so I hope they are too!

- 5 -

I also feel like I'm getting a grip on this "liturgical living" thing... which is to say I'm doing less "2 days in advance" planning, and more "1 week ahead" planning. (Except when it came to covering the crosses in our house in purple. That happened 2 days after Passion Sunday. Don't tell the Pope!) I guess until feast days and solemnities become actual traditions in our house, this is the best one can expect.

Credit to Catholic All Year for the prayer-print & the info about draping crosses in purple.

- 6 -

The St Patrick's day tea party (also à la Catholic All Year - gosh, where would I be without her?) was a lot of fun, me thinks! 5 girls and one little dude all running around... except when they were making crafts...

eating food...

What? You don't serve your kids raw potatoes with your Irish soda bread?

or watching the movie about St Patrick! I got some nice chat time in with my friends too. For dinner that night, we had colcannon and sausages (aka "bangers and mash" - though mash is usually just mashed potatoes), and the obligatory Guinness.  Lovely day!

- 7 -

That just leaves St Joseph's day, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and, hold on, I think I'm forgetting one... oh yes, EASTER! Definitely looking forward to that one. Don't be surprised if you don't hear anything from me until then.

Head over for more Quick Takes at Kelly's This Ain't the Lyceum. You can tell her I sent you. (Though I doubt that will win you any favors. ;) )

a recipe, a song, a photo, a quote

Volume 1 - because I hope Anna of The Heart's Overflow will do this link up again soon!

R E C I P E - this one has been around since college! Back then Good Seasons made an Oriental Sesame dressing mix that was the base of the sauce, but my mom, being the resourceful woman that she is, found a sesame dressing recipe in one of her Sunset cookbooks that we have used ever since. The mom in me also appreciates that this change makes everything 100 Days of Real Food compliant (or at least can be if you use all honey as the sweetener).

I will say that I usually only make this meal when we have leftover chicken from a roast chicken - then the only thing to do is make the dressing, boil the noodles and chop/grate the veg. Easy peasy. But adding the cooking chicken part doesn't add too much time to the whole thing - so I would still put this under the "quick and easy" tag.

Thai Chicken and Sesame Noodles

An Americanized version of chicken satay with noodles that are "pad thai" - ish.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Asian

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup Sesame Dressing divided, see below
• 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast halves cut into strips
• 2 Tbsp. chunky peanut butter
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• ¹⁄₂ tsp. crushed red pepper
• 8 oz. Whole wheat spaghetti cooked, drained
• ³⁄₄ cup carrot grated
• ¹⁄₂ cup green onions sliced
• ¹⁄₄ cup cilantro chopped
• Sesame Dressing
• ¹⁄₂ cup salad oil divided (I use avocado oil)
• 3 Tbsp sesame seeds
• 5 Tbsp soy sauce
• 5 Tbsp white wine vinegar or rice vinegar
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• ¹⁄₂ tsp salt

Directions

1. Pour 1/3 cup of the dressing over chicken in medium bowl; toss to coat. Cover. Refrigerate 1 hour to marinate.
2. Mix remaining dressing, peanut butter, honey and pepper; set aside.
3. Cook chicken and marinade in large skillet on medium-high heat until cooked through. Mix spaghetti, chicken, carrot, onions and cilantro in large bowl. Add peanut butter mixture; toss to coat. Serve immediately.
4. For the dressing:
5. In a small frying pan, combine 1/4 cup of the salad oil and the sesame seeds. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until seeds are golden (about 2 minutes). Let cool. In a 2 cup container, combine the remaining salad oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and salt. Add the seeds and oil once cooled and stir well.

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S O N G - all I really get to listen to these days is kids' music. Fortunately my friends/family (who are the ones who've given us the only CDs in our children's CD collection) have really good taste - so when this particular song goes on repeat, I don't mind too much. (Verse 3 is my personal fav :) )

P H O T O - this one was actually just taken today in my neighbor's yard. I wish I knew what these little flowers were, because their smell was heavenly! My little dude had to toddle over to see why I was sticking my nose in them.

Q U O T E - I haven't written down any good quotes lately, so I had to go back into the archives to find one to share... Here's one from Lauren Winner, in her book Wearing God:

Thanks to Anna for the link up! Head over there for other posts like this one (I'm personally looking forward to seeing other people's recipes!)

The Spitfire Goes to Preschool

Well, in August of this year. Maybe. I'm still a bit on the fence about it. But after receiving a professional's "strong recommendation" the hubs and I are looking into options for our wee girl.

As I was telling my sister-in-law - we are both amazed at just how much it all is...

First, the cost. This wasn't as much of a surprise to me as it was to my husband, who comes from the land of 1-year maternity leave, health care for all, affordable college, oh and FREE preschool. (Why do we live here again? #kiddingnotkidding ) But once I actually sat down to look at the numbers for just 2 half-days a week... wow. Anywhere from $190 to $365 a month. The $190 looked particularly awesome until I read...

"Many parents sign their children up shortly after birth, so planning ahead is advised."

Seriously?! Forget that people. Moving on.

We've now found a few that we're willing to apply for - and again - I'm surprised by some of the things being asked for: 4 emergency contacts? Personal statements? Copies of baptism certificate? (Yeesh. Good thing I kept that one!) Why do I feel like I'm applying for college all over again?  Oh, and a "snapshot of your child".  Well, at least this should be easy enough to complete...

"Ok honey... come stand over here. I'm going to take a quick picture of you."

"Look at the camera honey."

"Ok. Now can you smile please?"

"Honey. You need to look at the camera."

"Look at the CAMERA." 

"Open your eyes please"

"PLEASE. Just open your eyes, look at me and SMILE."

"Ok. Great. Thanks honey. That'll do just fine."

*sigh* Oh, preschool... August can't come soon enough. ;)