blessings

[bronze_ribbons]

As always, there are worries and fears and aggravations. But there are also pleasures and joys:

One of my favorite older men turned 84 today.

Overheard, from the row behind me:

"Even if we had twelve sopranos, it wouldn't be enough."
"Dayenu!"

My church's Green Team was in charge of our food table today, and someone had supplied extra-garlicky hummus. Oh, bliss.

Catching up with friends Friday night at Siam Cuisine and Saturday night at Margot Cafe. At the Thai place, we shared steam dumplings, spicy eggplant, chicken curry, and chicken pad thai; at Margot's, the BYM tried their sazerac and declared it the best he had had away from The Court of Two Sisters, ordering a second for dessert. The appetizers included fried green tomatoes, chips with aioli, and scallops with mushrooms. Two of the guys ordered chicken breast with dandelion greens (plus other sides), and S. and I both opted for the cotechino sausages (one of the chefs home-cures meat as a hobby) with roasted fennel, white beans and cipolline onions: in essence, it was like a very rich stew, and I only finished half of it (am noshing on the rest right now as part of a late lunch). For dessert, two of the guys split a "Baked Hawaii" (like Baked Alaska, only with a pineapple-sorbet filling instead of ice cream) and I had walnut gelato.

My friend Scott sold eight paintings last week. Woot!

The proposal for updating my church's board + council + committee structure looks really good. (I've chaired the Administration Committee the past three years, and the restructuring is definitely needed.)

From the closing words of today's service: "Liberal theology is not for the faint of heart. It refuses to make our commitments for us, but holds us accountable to the commitments we make." - Paul Rasor

Collected checks from two clients this weekend, and just received the corrected address list I needed from a third. Heigh ho, heigh ho, to ink and nib I go...

Comments

[aunty_marion]

Your comment about the garlicky hummus made me grin. I used to be able to buy a very nice aioli at the supermarket, and took it to a singing meeting once. There were complaints. People said there was too much mayonnaise in the garlic.

[qrssama.livejournal.com]

What you need is SKORDALIA

4 md Potatoes 1/3 c White vinegar*
6 Cloves garlic (or more!) 1 pn Salt
1/2 c Olive oil

*Note-- Lemon juice may be substituted for part of the white vinegar. Peel potatoes, boil, then mash. Let cool. In blender or food processor, process the garlic with a bit of the oil til almost paste-like. Transfer to electric mixer bowl. Add potatoes, beating until mixture resembles a paste. Gradually add remaining olive oil and vinegar/lemon juice, beating thoroughly until well absorbed. Add salt, taste for seasoning, and beat until the sauce is very thick and smooth, adding more vinegar if necessary.
Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

The family story here is that my dad (full Greek) made this for the first time when he was in 4th grade, and did not know the difference between cloves and bulbs of garlic. So, he made this recipe with four bulbs. And ate it all. And was subsequently not allowed to go to school for the rest of the week because he reeked from the pores.

[mechaieh.livejournal.com]

I need to remember to pass this anecdote on to the BYM. He's never quite recovered from the time I made myself garlic soup when I was down with something flu-like -- goes all skittish whenever I even look at a bulb.

[aunty_marion]

Hee! I have a recipe for garlic and tomato soup. The original newspaper cutting has a little note at the top, something along the lines of: "Note: This recipe does NOT contain a misprint. It really does use TWO WHOLE HEADS of garlic."

[mechaieh.livejournal.com]

MY PEOPLE!!! :-D