A Day Of Unfolding Prayer

A Day of Prayer

It has been a noisy few weeks around the house with a new metal roof being put on to replace the 26 year old cedar shakes, and then the next week new windows replacing the 26 year old ones that were no longer efficient. That work was finished this morning and so this afternoon it is finally quiet. My husband has not slept well for a number of nights and now he reclines on a steamer chair out on the deck, with Astrophe the 20 year old cat snuggled up on his legs. An empty cider bottle, plates that held our afternoon snacks of blueberry cheese cake are now empty. The sounds of nature surround me as I write.

There is so much work to do and the house is chaos with what had to be moved for the new windows to go in. Piles of chopped wood still need to be stacked, there is a lot of gardening to do. I listen to my husband gently snoring and am glad he is catching a little sleep.

Yet in this moment, simply being present, waiting, listening…it feels like Holy Presence, like prayer without words. Being this quiet feels quite decadent and indeed it is! But stepping back from all the work is very intentional and Barbara Brown Taylor writes about it as “the practice of being present to God.” This day holds the gift of being awake, being aware, and of listening to life around. The sunlight makes visible a multitude of insects dancing in the air. The light is filtering through the purple anemone flowers in the deck boxes and the little veins in the petals are visible. Tulips have been beautiful but now they are almost done. Nasturtium seeds have come to life crowding each other out as they reach for life. I am awaiting those beautiful yellow, orange and red flowers that can be picked regularly and used on summer salads. Spider wed threads, so fine and almost invisible stretch from the deck table over to the anemone - how do they get there and how do they stay so strong? Is this not an amazing little miracle of life and beauty? Is not all this life I can see, hear, feel, smell and touch as I sit quietly here holy? When Jesus said that he came to give us life and give it abundantly maybe it was a day just like this - full of colour, sound, beauty, peace and pulsing vibrant life.

Today feels like a day of prayer, of listening, and of love. My husband suggested we go for a late breakfast and so we ate at a funky little restaurant in lower Gibsons. The sun was shining on the harbour, sail boats rocked gently, and we watched people walking along the path by the waters edge. I sipped my coffee, he his tea as we waited for our food and we chatted letting our conversation meander gently. When I feel this awake to life it is holy presence for me. Today I feel deeply, fully awake to life, and to the presence of God. This openness to life invites me to be still and in this place to know God. God is here in the chaos, in the midst of afternoon beverages and snacks and glorious sunshine with insects dancing in the breeze. Today I am practicing being present to God and to all that that makes real to me.

A Surprising Beauty

The colours of spring have delighted me incredibly this year. There have been many holy moments where I have just stood still in the open door with a reverence for the profusion of colour in the new life of the garden along with songs in abundance from the birds who gather to feed around the property. Amid all the earthy colours of the tulips a celestial colour has appeared and this lone blue poppy has been released to give a particular beauty to the morning view.

I Want A Lot

You see, I want a lot.
Perhaps I want everything:
the darkness that comes with every infinite fall
and the shivering blaze of every step up.

So many live on and want nothing
and are raised to the rank of prince
by the slippery ease of their light judgments.

But what you love to see are faces
that so work and feel thirst....

You have not grown old, and it is not too late
to dive into your increasing depths
where life calmly gives out its own secret.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~

(Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. by Robert Bly)

The Cooks Who Have Influenced Us - Remembering Malvina

The Cooks Who Have Influenced Us

This week I have been realizing to a greater degree how much each piece of my life is coming into play in what I do now, who I am and how I react to situations, the way that I love, the way I carry joy and pain in life. How I cook has been influenced by so many women along the way, and I actually don’t have many men who have influenced my culinary skills – except for the chefs at cooking school and they were at a theoretical level, not a heart level.

Today I heard about the death of one of those women – Malvina Rose. Many years ago I used to babysit her children. She and her husband were very involved in the Hungarian Canadian club and she so often was taking large trays of food out the door as they headed to a gathering. Their house was always filled with the aroma of something wonderful from the kitchen. She shared her recipe for cabbage rolls and it is the one have had the most success with. In fact I always think of her and her warm dark eyes and lovely laughter whenever I prepare cabbage rolls her way.

There are so many stories, places, faces and warm kitchen memories come alive when I meander through the recipes in the old tin box in the cupboard - a wonderful melange of pieces of paper from the cooks in my life.

I don’t have a written recipe for Hungarian Cabbage rolls, but aside from those Malvina made, I have eaten fabulous ones in a little restaurant in the centre of Budapest Hungary, as well as at a self serve restaurant in the centre of Kiev Ukraine.

Thanks Malvina for introducing my palate to the delights of Hungarian traditional dishes! My thoughts are with her husband and children as they move through this sorrow.

Here is a traditional recipe for Hungarian Cabbage Rolls from recipes.epicurean.com
Ingredients:
1 medium head cabbage
3 lbs. ground beef,veal,pork mixture(sometimes I use all ground pork from the tenderloin)
1/2 cup Uncle Ben's rice
1 egg
1 medium onion (chopped)
4 cloves crushed garlic
6 slices bacon
1 Tblsp. paprika
1 large can tomato sauce
1 large jar Vlasic sauerkraut
1 small piece of jowl bacon for seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 quarts water
Directions:
Core head of cabbage and boil in large pot until cabbage becomes soft in the middle of core. Do not over cook or cabbage will fall apart when wrapping. When cooled separate leaves and slice off some of the thick vein. Set aside.
Fry bacon, remove when crisp. Keep grease in fry pan. Add chopped onion and garlic. Cook in grease until tender but not brown. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl
, combine meat, egg, rice, salt, pepper, paprika. Mix ingredients together, add cooked onion/garlic mixture, grease and all. Mix until mixture becomes a little sticky.
Rinse sauerkraut in a colandar, squeeze excess water out. Sprinkle kraut on a bottom of a 6 qt pot, add the jowl bacon for flavoring only.
Assembling cabbage rolls:
Place cabbage leaf in left palm, place a small handful of meat mixture in right hand (about the size of a large meatball) Press down on cabbage leaf. Lay one end of leaf over meat and roll up then secure other end of leaf pushing into the meat. Lay seam side down on top of sauerkraut. Continue until all the cabbage and meat is used up. Cover cabbage rolls with water. Add one can tomato sauce to give it color. Sprinkle with garlic powder and paprika if so desired.
Cook on top of stove for about 3-4 hours or longer to acquire a better flavor

Serves a large crowd 15-20.. depends on size of cabbage roll. Can be frozen and reheated in oven.
My mother always made it on top of the stove but some people prefer baking in the oven. I like it both ways. The meat is a little more tender if baked in the oven. Also, the less beef used, the more tender the roll. Good luck!

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For A New Beginning

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

~ John O'Donohue ~

(To Bless the Space Between Us)