Wednesday Ponderings . . .

We had the missionaries here in our home for dinner last night. There are two young sister missionaries serving in our Ward (church congregation) right now. They're so nice and I really enjoyed their company. It makes a change from young men actually, although all the missionaries are all pretty special in my books. I just love that wonderful spirit that they bring into our home, and it is nice to have some younger faces sitting at my kitchen table, ready to share a meal and their hearts with us.

They always like to share a spiritual thought after dinner to help show their appreciation for the tasty dinner which you have just served them, and it is a part of the evening that I always look forward to. Last night was no different.

Sister Chase wanted to share her favourite scripture with us. She said it was from when she was waiting for her visa to come over to England at the Missionary Training Centre in Provo, Utah that she had come upon this particular verse. She had been feeling very homesick and a little afraid of what the future might hold. It didn't help that her parents lived in Provo and that she knew they were so close . . . and yet she could not see them. These words gave her great comfort, at a very lonely time.



These are the words of the Saviour.

"For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the child of her womb? Yea, they may forget, but I will not forget thee, oh House of Israel. Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me."
~1Nephi 21:15,16



You know how you can read a piece of scripture a thousand times and it is only words on a page, and then all of a sudden you read them again, and they reach up and slap you in the face??? So it was with me last night. I must have read these words a bazillion times in my Book of Mormon, and it wasn't until Sister Chase read them to us that the deep meaning of them struck me, and I thought about how very much He loves each one of us.

I thought about His great gift to us in His atonement, His great gift of love and mercy which is engraved and held in the very marks that were left in His hands by the nails which held Him to the cross, my name being a part of those marks amongst the millions of other names . . . held in His hands.



It was a wonderful thought and I will never look at those marks in quite the same way again.

Marks of love . . . my name . . . held in His gentle and loving hands.

How very powerful.

I had made a big pot of corn chowder last night, along with some scones and a tasty dessert. I thought it would be very warming for the girls, as it has been quite cold and a tad miserable lately. I've already shown you my corn chowder recipe before on here so I won't show it to you again, but here is a very tasty recipe for a baked chicken curry that I made the other night for Todd and myself. They had chicken parts on offer at the grocery store the other day. You got four nice big chicken quarters for a fiver. I separated the legs into thighs and drumsticks and then there were two lovely breast pieces. This curry went down a real treat and I was able to put half of it into the freezer for another night. I just love curry. It's one of my favourite things about England. I adapted this recipe from one I found in Hugh Fearnley's Whittingstall's new book, River Cottage, Everyday. It's not much to look at, but boy was it good!



*Baked Chicken Curry*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

Sure, you could open a jar of curry sauce and use that, but why . . . when you can make this delicious curry with a minimum of effort. It tastes so much better than any jarred sauce ever will!

1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 heaped tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp ground tumeric
2 tsp ground fenugreek seeds
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 2 inch piece of fresh ginger-root, scraped and roughly chopped
1 large green chili, seeded and roughly chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
3 to 4 TBS sunflower oil
6 skin on, bone in pieces of chicken
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
400ml tin of coconut milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste



Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/375*F.

Pound the cumin, coriander, fennel, tumeric and fenugreek together until the fennel seeds are powdered. Set aside. Place the onion, garlic, chili and gingerin a food processor and blitz to a coarse paste, stopping to scrape the sides a few times. Set aside.

Heat half of the oil in a large skillet. Once hot, add the chicken pieces a few at a time and brown them well on all sides. Transfer them to a large roasting tin and repeat until all the chicken pieces are browned. Season well with some salt and pepper.

Reduce the heat under the skillet to low and add the spice mix. Cook and stir for several minutes, until quite fragrant, then add the blitzed vegetable mixture. Fry, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or so until very soft and the vegetable mixture has reduced in volume. It should smell very good. You can add a bit more oil if it seems to be sticking.

Tip the tomatoes and coconut milk into the food processor (no need to clean). Blitz to combine. Pour this mixture into the skillet with the vegetable mixture and cook and stir until it comes to a simmer. Season with about 1 tsp of salt and a good grinding of pepper. Pour this over the chicken pieces, making sure they are well coated with the mixture.

Place in the heated oven and roast for 1 hour or so, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through and the juices run clear. Serve with rice.



There is a delicious cake waiting for you over on The English Kitchen. What are you waiting for? You know you want some of it!