Treading into the Night . . .

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.'

And he replied, 'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!'

So I went forth and finding the Hand of God
Trod gladly into the night
He led me towards the hills
And the breaking of day in the lone east.

So heart be still!
What need our human life to know
If God hath comprehension?

In all the dizzy strife of things
Both high and low,
God hideth his intention."
~Minnie Louise Hoskins.

I discovered this poem yesterday. I was not yet born when King George VI used these words in his Christmas message to the country, back in 1939. How comforting these words must have been to these people facing the uncertainty they were living in at the beginning of World War 2.



These words can also be a comfort to us today, when we are living in such uncertain times as we are. It is a comfort to me to know that we have a God that cares and who knows the end of the story. With this knowledge, I can indeed step out into the darkness of a day or a year, as yet experienced, and know that, whatever may be, it's in His plan for me. I can know that whatever comes, as long as I am following His guidance and living my life the way He wants me to, then all will be well at the end, even if the journey seems a bit frightening from time to time, and at times seems to be a hard row to hoe.

When I look at the problems I may face from day to day, they pale in comparison to what other's in the world are facing. I have my health and a warm home to live in, food in my belly and I am surrounded by love. I live in a country where I am free to worship, think and pretty much do as I wish within the confines and laws of the land. What else have I need of? The rest . . . is just the icing on the cake.



We are off to Broadstairs today to visit some friends. We've not been there is probably a year or more now! Hard to believe. I just love Broadstairs. It's a lovely seaside town. Charles Dickens used to summer there when he was alive and you can still see his summer home sitting on a cliff overlooking the water. I think it is one of the nicest seasides in the UK. It has a lovely beach and on a sunny day you can walk along a cement walkway all the way to Ramsgate. We often do that when we go down for a visit. You can get really nice fish and chips in Ramsgate you know, a delicious reward at the end of a wonderful walk. I don't think we will be walking in to Ramsgate today, but it will be nice to see our friends and spend a few hours with them.

I made some truly delicious Italian Meatballs the other night and we had them for our supper, warmed up in a tasty homemade tomato sauce. I chose to have mine on spaghetti and Todd . . . well, he had them on rice. This does make a lot of meatballs. The recipe says six servings, but that all depends on how many you can eat. I ended up with a small bag of them that I have frozen to take out another time as a treat.



*Tasty Italian Meatballs*
Serves 6

These are delicious served in a tasty tomato sauce, but I think they would be equally delicious served in a cream sauce or even a sweet sauce. Heck, these are delicious even eaten on their own with no sauce!!!

200g fresh soft white bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
1 small onion, peeled and diced
2 fat cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley leaves, firmly packed
1 pound extra lean ground beef
1 pound lean ground pork
2 large eggs
100g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and black pepper to taste
a bit of oil

Place your garlic, onion and parsley into a food processor or blender. Blitz a few times to chope them up very finely. Add the onion and milk and blitz again to combine. You don't want it all pureed, but you don't want large chunks either.

Place the bread crumbs into a large bowl and pour the blitzed mixture over them. Mix well to combine. Add the meats and cheese and season with a bit of salt and black pepper. Mix all together well.

Using wet hands pinch off walnut sized pieces of the meat mixture and shape into balls. Place them on a baking sheet that you have lined with some wax or parchment paper.

Heat about 1/4 inch of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the meatballs in batches, until browned on all sides, from 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to another baking sheet that has been lined with paper kitchen toweling to drain.

If you are having them with sauce, heat the sauce in a large saucepan and then add the meatballs to the sauce to heat them through while you cook the pasta or whatever it is you are having with meatballs and sauce.



If you are not using them right away, you can freeze them on trays in the freezer and once frozen, remove and seal them in freezer bags. Loosely frozen you will be able to take only as many as you want at any given time out to use.

PS - Want to know more? Click HERE to find out what this is. :-)