Life is not always fair . . .

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One of the earliest lessons in school which I learned was that life isn't fair. Up to that point, I'd been under the mistaken impression that things in life were pretty much even-stephen, or should I say . . . even-steven.

I'd learned that candy was something you shared equally among your siblings and friends, along with your toys and games. I had learned that the oldest child gets to enjoy privileges that the youngest doesn't . . . that you don't get dessert unless you eat the main course and all of your peas and carrots . . . that Santa Claus leaves the same amount of presents for everyone in the family . . . that mom and dad love you equally as much as your brother and your sister . . . that grandma's think you are the greatest thing since sliced bread . . . as do grandpa's.

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Starting school, however, was a really a bit of a rude awakening. I learned that the cake is not always divided into equal pieces. For instance . . . some kids got to go on cruises or to Disneyland for their summer holidays . . . whilst I got to spend one day at the local beach . That made writing the "What I did on my Summer Holiday's" essay real interesting in comparison . . .

The popular kids at school get picked first for EVERYTHING, even if you are more athletic, smarter or more talented . . . popularity is always a huge draw. Being picked last means you always get stuck with the one partner nobody else wanted either. Looking back on it . . . I don't think that's such a raw deal . . . but from an 8 year old's stance . . . it kinda sucks.

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Having to wait in a queue means that the kid in front of you will get the last cookie with the M&M's on it that you've been eyeballing all morning . . . and you get stuck with the oatmeal cookie that somebody else has already picked the raisins out of . . . or worse yet . . . the raisins.

If your last name begins with a V, like mine did . . . sorry to have to tell you this, but . . . A to U come before you (the only good thing about that was that WXY and Z were slightly harder done by ) . . . it also meant that if you had to give an oral composition . . . instead of getting it over with quicker . . . you had to suffer through almost everyone else's as you got nervouser and nervouser, before you could get up to give your own.

Sometimes you get the box of broken crayons in art class . . . the cute girl always gets asked to the Prom first . . . some kids have to work harder to pass . . . and sometimes your friends decide they don't really want to be friends with you after all, and exclude you from everything.

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The minute you get to the front of the line to take your turn at skipping during recess . . . the bell rings, or someone shouts out "No more joiners!" . . . nobody will see that big kid stomping on your foot during line up to go back in to class, but the minute you decide to retaliate and stomp back . . . all eyes are on you!

The day you get a really big zit on the end of your nose is the exact day you will be picked to get up in front of the class and read, write, draw . . . anything. Or the day you get picked to read your poem . . . is the day you forgot to write it. The day that really cute boy you've had a crush on all year decides to sit next to you at lunch . . . well . . . it's the day your mom made you Egg Salad sandwiches!

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Sometimes though . . . when you go to your fiftieth class reunion, if you are brave enough to go at all . . . you discover that those formerly mean, popular friends with names that began with the letter A, that always took the fabulous summer holidays, and always got the good cookies . . . well, they ended up old, fat and ugly too!

Now that . . . my friends, is fair!

Just a bit of humour this morning friends. Something that I wrote a long time ago on my Marie's Muses blog. I polished it up a bit. I am running really late this morning because I slept in! I know . . . how dare I!!!

Before I go though, I do want to show you my latest creation:



I saw this quote on the cover of a notebook yesterday morning and it was all I could do to get through all my chores and everything so that I could get into my craft room and put it to paper! My fingers were just itching to create something to go along with the words . . .



I think that this is one of my favourites thus far! What do you think??? I just love how her hair turned out and her wings . . . oh and the flower and her boots. I guess I just love it all! As usual it's available as a print or a card.

Now I'll leave you with my recipe for the day, again . . . from my old Marie's Muses blog. I hope you don't mind. It's not the best food photo in the world, but I think the recipe will speak for itself . . . not only does it have a scrummy name, but it is also delicious. I just adore mashed potatoes when it is mixed with mashed turnips and to add cabbage and cheese to the mix, well, it's just gorgeous!



*Rumbledethumps*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This is a variation of a much loved Scottish border dish. It is delicious! We love it. It can be prepared in advance and popped into the oven at your convenience. I think the name comes from the noise your tummy makes a few hours after eating it. RUMBLEDETHUMP - oh, excuse me. (tee hee)

2 ½ pounds potatoes
1 ¼ pounds turnips
4 ounces butter
14 ounces Savoy cabbage, finely sliced
Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 ounces cheddar cheese, grated (I probably use more, but then…I AM a glutton)

Peel and chop the potatoes and turnips and boil them together in a large pan of salted water for 25 to 30 minutes until tender.

Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F.

Drain the vegetables well, return them to the pan and cover tightly, then shake over a low heat to dry them off completely.

Heat half the butter in another pan, add the cabbage and cook until just tender, but still bright green (about 3 to 4 minutes) Tip all the buttery cabbage into the potato pan and add the remaining butter.

Roughly mash everything together and season to taste with salt and pepper. Tip into an ovenproof dish, top with cheese and bake for 30 minutes. Before serving, preheat the grill and flash under the grill for 5 minutes to brown the top.



Cooking over in The English Kitchen today . . . delicious Apples in Custard.

“We have a choice. We can seek for the bad in others. Or we can make peace and work to extend to others the understanding, fairness, and forgiveness we so desperately desire for ourselves. It is our choice; for whatever we seek, that we will certainly find.”
― Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Look not behind thee . . .

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Yesterday I took down all the old calendars and put up the new ones for 2012. It was nice to see some thing new and fresh hanging in the spots where the old calendars had hung . . . the written over, dog eared and old was gone, replaced with nice pristine, clean and crisp pages. How clean and bright the new ones look!

They seem to symbolize the high hopes of the new year. As I flicked through the pages of one of them I suddenly became aware of the mysteries of an unknown future . . . all those clean pages representing unlived time, all the promise of the seasons to come and not yet fulfilled dreams of the future . . . days not yet granted, which are still God's secret . . . it is quite awesome and wonderful to think about. What amazing and wonderful things will this year hold for each of us.

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We had a very good lesson in Relief Society yesterday. The teacher began by writing these words on the white board: "Look not behind thee." We then read the story of Lot and his family who had been living in the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were very wicked places and how they had been visited by Angels and told that the Lord was going to destroy those cities, but because they were righteous that they were to flee immediately, leaving everything behind . . . but also warning them not to look back, or they too would be destroyed. When they were fleeing Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a Pillar of salt. You can read the whole story in Genesis, Chapter 19 in the bible. Here are the angel's exact words:

Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

That is some pretty heavy duty warning . . .

For the remainder of the lesson we sat and talked about the ways this warning can still pertain to us today, in today's climate of fear and uncertain times. As I sat there listening to the other sister's speak . . . the thought occurred to me that this story could also be an allegory for our own pasts . . .

We all come with one. Our pasts stretch behind us like the written on pages of a calendar . . . the pages all spotted and tattered . . . words and works scribbled all over them . . . some pages dirtier than others. Sometimes it seems that we can only remember the things that we have done that we may be ashamed of . . . and we carry them into our futures like badges of dishonor, bringing them out every once in a while to beat ourselves with . . . or I do at any rate. I have made some terrible choices and mistakes in the past . . . things I cannot change or undo . . .

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Things I am terribly sorry for and that I have repented of . . . but still I cling to them, allowing them to punish me even now. The thought occurred to me as I was sitting there . . . that as long as I clung to the past that I have no power over . . . I risked turning my present and future into a pillar of salt . . . just as Lot's wife had done in turning back to look towards Sodom and Gomorrah as they escaped into the mountains.

When I was Baptised . . . my sins were washed clean from me . . . "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." (Isaiah 1:18) Why do I still lug that past along with me? I have no need to . . . in Baptism I was given a new life . . . a fresh life and I am a new person. It is time to forgive myself, and even if there are still people in my family who wish to use and hold some of these things against me, I just have to move forward and stop looking back at things which I should have done differently, or things I should not have done at all. I should not let the narrow mindedness and unforgiving natures of a few people colour my future or write on my pages. Let this be their sin . . . for it is no longer mine.

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Anyways, that was my thoughts . . . and I just wanted to share them with you. We all have a past. We all have a future. Let us move into our futures embracing all the promise and hope that they hold, leaving behind the things we cannot change.

"Look not behind thee." Don't you think it's time?

Here's a tasty way to dress up plain old ordinary oven chips. I always buy the low fat ones . . . the ones with less than 5% fat. I feel better inside myself when I do so, because every little helps. In doing so I don't feel as quilty covering them with cheese, lol. Seriously this is a delicious way to dress them up and if you use the half fat cheese, well . . . how bad can that be?



*Spicy Cheese Fries*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

These are delicious. I make good use of low fat oven chips and also half fat cheese, so that I can do as little damage to my hips as possible! You can serve these with a dip if you like.

1 4-serving size bag of frozen low fat oven chips, crinkled or not as you desire
mild chili powder
oregano flakes
salt
pepper
garlic powder
grated half fat strong cheddar cheese (a good handful)

Preheat the oven according to the package directions for your oven chips. Line a large baking tray with foil. Pour the chips on top of the foil. Sprinkle with the chili powder, oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to your own taste. Some may like more than others. I like mine with lots of flavour.

Bake in the heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until the chips are golden brown, but not overly crisp. Have the cheese ready. Remove the pan of chips from the oven and immediately sprinkle with the grated cheese. Let sit a few minutes to melt the cheese and then serve immediately.



Over in The English Kitchen today . . . Flat Meatballs & Gravy!! Comfort food at it's best!

“The heavens will not be filled with those who never made mistakes but with those who recognized that they were off course and who corrected their ways to get back in the light of gospel truth.”
― Dieter F. Uchtdorf

The season of blah???

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Imagine what the world would be like without the varying hues of it's colour . . . . the purples . . . the yellows . . . the crimsons and the blues . . .

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How very dull and drab it would be without the colour tones that surround us each day. Oh, we may feel like we are in the season of blah . . . dull, sodden . . . cold. But there is colour there . . . if we perchance to look . . .

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Nature paints the dried seed pods and leaves that cling to bare branches . . . different hues of brown and gold . . . the odd flower that blooms in confused splendor. Has it forgotten that winter is upon us?

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So too has nature painted the shells we find strewn along a deserted beach front . . . the stones that lay all smooth and polished by the waves of the sea . . . the lichen on the rocks and drying bits of seaweed . . . the water all dark and glinting off in the distance, the tide having carried it out.

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Gemstones . . . dug out of the earth and rocks . . . they are coloured in a myriad of ways . . . even pearls come in many hues, each one soft and warmly glowing . . . sapphires of dark and light blues . . . turquoise and silver . . . coal black and purple amethyst. The beauty of a desert rose . . . in many colours . . . gypsum formed into unique and flower-like crystals between the grains of sand . . . miracles of nature.

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Even we are not the same . . . each of us bearing a different hue and colour, according to our race and genetics . . . black and white, dusky brown, blonde and brunette . . . gorgeous reds and auburns . . . freckled or not. Tall, thin . . . short and round, and everything in between.

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God carries out His colour schemes throughout the earth . . . nothing is forgotten, not even the tiny feathers of a sparrow's wing. Is it not all beautiful?

I think so . . . and I so enjoy and give thanks. There is no such thing as a season of blah . . .

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Latest news on my father is that he is now home and resting well. Apparently he called my brother to let him know he was still alive. That's great news and I just know that the prayers of you all and more throughout the world helped carry him (and us!) through this latest episode. I think I will call him myself later today just to hear his voice. I am so happy to still have him with us.

We went to post our packages at the post office yesterday and they wanted £60 for one of the packages! Outrageous. I went out and bought smaller boxes and broke it all down and in 4 smaller boxes that one box ended up only costing £20 altogether! When you are talking about the Royal Mail, size DOES matter! Lesson learnt and all the other boxes have been broken down into smaller ones as well.

This is one of Todd's favourite supper dishes. We are both potato people and so I confess to having a soft spot for it as well. Simple, comforting and warming on a cold night. We always enjoy . . .



*Potato Pie*
Serves 4 - 6
Printable Recipe

This has to be my husband’s favourite supper dish. I just can’t make it for him enough. Simple, yet hearty…there’s no need for meat. I like to serve it with buttered slices of a crusted and hearty whole wheat cobb and pickled beets. Sometimes simple really IS best.

2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
½ cup milk (¼ pint)
1 ounce butter (2 TBS)
4 ounces grated strong cheddar cheese (1 cup)
Salt and ground white pepper to taste
2 to 3 ounces fresh white bread crumbs, lightly crisped
Melted butter to brush on top

Pre-heat oven to 205*C/425*F. Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender.

Drain well and mash with the milk and butter until smooth. Stir in the cheese and seasoning to taste.

Butter a square 1 ½ to 2 pint casserole dish and sprinkle with the crisped bread crumbs, pressing them to the base and sides with the back of a spoon.

Spoon the potato mixture into the dish….there is an art to this…I spoon 9 large dabs into the dish along the sides and then the rest of it into the middle…that way I can spread it into the dish evenly without disturbing the crumbs too much.

Rough up the top with the tines of a fork and brush with melted butter. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Sometimes I make a basket weave pattern on the top, depending on whatever strikes my fancy at the time.



Over in The English Kitchen today, some delicious Pear Ginger Streusel Muffins, oh so moist and spicy good!

Lessons from a father that loves me . . .

This is my dad. I love him with all of my heart. I last spoke to him one afternoon last week. We spoke for about an hour. It is always nice to hear his voice and pass some time with him . . . even when he is thousands of miles away.

My father has always been my biggest fan. Always. He's always terribly interested in what I'm painting now and in seeing the ones that I have done. I gave him a winter landscape painting I did when I was a teenager and he still has it, framed and hanging on his wall. He loves it and I love that he loves it. When I look at it now, I think to myself . . . it wasn't really all that good . . . but he thinks it is and that's special to me. I am grateful that he is my biggest fan . . . you couldn't ask for a better one.



My father taught me that men can cry. I remember the first time I saw my father cry . . . it was when his own father had passed away. His father died the same day as President Kennedy . . . so there was double sorrow in our home. I was 8 years old, and so I remember it vividly. It broke my heart to see my father sobbing . . . but it taught me that men can cry and today I am proud of a father that showed me that it's ok for a man to cry. My father cries at sad movies and whenever his heart it touched. I am grateful for a father who is not ashamed to show his feelings.

My father taught me how to laugh. My father has the nicest laugh. I have fond memories of him watching Jerry Lewis movies when I was growing up and he would laugh himself right off of the sofa. My father's laughter is a beautiful sound to me. I am grateful for a father who laughs.



When I was a child my father always told me that:

1. It takes two to tangle. Fights never get started or stay started on their own. It always takes two.
2. You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Being nice always gets you further.

I am grateful for those lessons.

I can remember one time when I was a teenager and I had had my heart broken. My father cried along with me. He was not afraid to show me that when I was hurt, he was hurt too. I am grateful for a father who cared enough to show me that.

My father taught me how to ride a bicycle, play the clarinet and how to spell. When we were children and we would ask him the meaning of a word or how to spell a word . . . he would always tell us to look it up in the dictionary. I am grateful for that . . . and for the hours we spent playing word games together as a family. He always picked the hardest words and made us work hard to discover what they were. The name of that particular game eludes me now . . . but I'm sure I will think of it later on.



My father has always been a voracious reader. I am a voracious reader. I guess I get that from him! I cannot remember my mother ever reading a book, but my father always had at least one or two on the go. Sadly because of his cataracts he hasn't been able to read these past few months . . . and once his eyes were operated on, he still couldn't read because he was waiting for new eyeglasses. I hope that he is able to get them soon, because he does love reading so very much. I am grateful for a father that taught me how to love reading.

My father taught me how to love music. All kinds of music. That is a love that we share. My father always played in the RCAF Station Band wherever we lived and I can remember going to watch him march and play in lots of parades as a child and being so very proud of him as he would march past. He could play the clarinet, trumpet, saxophone and harmonica and when I learned to play the clarinet in later life . . . we spent many hours playing together in two parts. It was so much fun and I am grateful for those memories. My father loves Susan Boyle. I always send him the latest Susan Boyle albums and I have one sitting here waiting to post to him . . . her latest one. I know he will love it. Today I am wishing I had posted it a few weeks ago when I first got it . . . instead of procrastinating . . .



I had a message from my sister this morning to tell me that my father had been taken in to hospital, and that they are going to fit him with a pacemaker today. I would ask please if you could all pray for him. His name is Tony. He is 77 years old and not the greatest of health, overweight, diabetic, etc. and he has a bad heart. (Obviously worse than we thought.) I hope sincerely that the last time we spoke was not the last time . . . our last words in that conversation. I love you.



My father taught me that he loved me. I am grateful for that.



This is my latest piece that I did yesterday afternoon. I hope that I have a chance to show my dad. I know he would love it. I thought the apples in her basket turned out perfectly and I love her little red shoes. When I was a little girl I would have loved to have a pair of red shoes. As always it is available as a print or a card.

We love potatoes in this house. You can take away my sweets, and my meat . . . but don't ever try to take away my potatoes. I think they are the one thing I could never live without. These ones here today are fabulous. Boiled potatoes, crushed whilst warm on a pan, sprinkled with herbs and spices, baked until the crags and crannies get all crispy and then topped with cheese and spring onions. Oh my. Some good.



*Dressed Road Kill Potatoes*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Everyone always loves these potatoes. They aren’t really road kill, but I guess they resemble road kill somewhat, only a lot more delicious and appetizing! People can’t get enough of these! You can really make as many or as few as you want, but I am thinking you will need more instead of less!

2 medium potatoes per person
Garlic granules, sweet paprika, mixed herbs, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Olive oil for drizzling
8 ounces grated strong cheddar cheese
4 spring onions, chopped fine

Put the potatoes in a large pot of salted water and bring to the boil. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until just barely tender when pierced with the tip of a knife. Drain well and set aside to cool.

Pre-heat the ovento205*C/425*F. Line an oven tray with parchment paper or grease it really well.

Take each cooled potato and smash it down onto the tray (hence the road kill) with a potato masher, without totally obliterating them, but leaving them with a nicely roughed up texture. Sprinkle them with the spices and herbs to taste. Drizzle them liberally with olive oil and place the tray in the heated oven. Bake them for 35 to 40 minutes until they start to get all browned with nice crunchy bits. Remove from the oven and sprinkle immediately with the grated cheese and the chopped spring onions. Serve.



Over in The English Kitchen today a soul warming Creamy Sweet Potato Soup . . .

Bees, anger and other things . . .

Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. ~Proverbs 16:24

A few days ago a Tractor Trailer Truck transporting 25 million honey bees over turned on a major thoroughfare outside of St George Utah, snarling up traffic for miles and miles . . . and unleashing it's swarming, stinging payload into the immediate area. One can only imagine the chaos involved. I know what it is like on a motorway over here when there is an accident. It can create a tailback on the motor way for a great many miles, but when 24 milllion honey bees are also involved . . . well, the thought just boggles my mind. What a scary and dangerous situation that must have been for everyone concerned! I do hope that they have been able to round up all those bees!

Over here a great harbinger of spring is the bumble Bee and our garden is always filled with them in the spring and summer . . . and with their cousin, the honey bee, although thankfully not 25 million and thankfully not all at once! I am totally fascinated with the life of bees. In the darkness of the hive and in the light of day, these industrious little souls go about their work with a steadfast devotion that is hard to comprehend! Each has a job to do and they do it well, which is a lesson and example we could all take something from!



There is something else though, about the honeybee, which can also teach us an important lesson. Did you know that when a honeybee stings someone, the sting is always fatal to the bee???

How very much like us that is . . . when we respond angrily and hurtfully to those who have wronged us. Our natural instinct is to want to hurt them back. We may want to sting them with anygry words and hurtful actions. The truth is that in doing so . . . we often do much more damage to ourselves than we manage to inflict upon them . . . and like the honeybee, bring death to any friendship or relationship which may be involved.

Would it not be better to take a few breaths and ask ourselves what would the Saviour do??? And then . . . when the answer comes, do just that.

Be you all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brothers, be pitiful, be courteous;
Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing . . . but contrariwise blessing; knowing that you are thereunto called, that you should inherit a blessing.
1 Peter 3:8-9

I believe we will be blessed for doing so. That is the promise after all!

We had our new washing machine delivered yesterday and Todd hooked it up and we gave it a go. What a mistake! Obviously there was a very good reason that it was marked down as much as it was. Even sitting on it, Todd could not keep it from jumping across the kitchen when it was doing it's final spin. We were both trying to hold it down and it still managed to gouge two holes in the floor . . . we have never seen anything like it. It was quite frightening. Needless to say, not quite normal and so we went back to the shop and told them we want them to come and pick it up. It is not the washing machine for us, no matter how cheap it may be. Something essential is obviously missing. Seriously, it was terrifying!! So much for dent and scratch! They will be picking it up tomorrow and then perhaps we can look for something that doesn't sound like a jet taking off, or carry us about the room!

I did another little painting yesterday afternoon.



How often have we wanted to give someone we care about the moon and the stars, well . . . now you can! I was not sure if I really liked it that much when I was done, but I am kind of warming to it now.

I am off to the Doctor this morning. Wish me luck. I hope that the news is good news, and nothing to be concerned about. I have my fingers crossed!

Here's a delicious salad that makes a great side dish to most anything. If you don't want to go to the bother or expense of cooking artichoked from start . . . then do feel free to substitute a good quality tinned or jarred artichokes. Just drain them really well and pat dry. Frozen would also be good, Just cook and then pat dry. I just adore artichokes. Can you believe I had never tasted one before I moved over here??? I know! How strange is that!!



*Charlotte Potato and Artichoke Salad*
Serves 6 to 8
Printable Recipe

This is a delicious lemon and oil dressed potato salad with a bit of a mediterranean flavour to it.

2 3/4 pounds of charlotte potatoes (Or any waxy
salad potato variety)
1 lemon halved
4 large artichokes
1 2/3 cup water
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup dry white wine
6 whole peppercorns
6 coriander seeds
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/2 red onion, peeled and very thinly sliced
3 green spring onions, thinly sliced diagonally
2 handfuls of cherry plum tomatoes, halved
15 black brine cured black olives, such as kalamata or Nicois, pitted and chopped
6 fresh basil leaves, finely sliced into chiffonade
DRESSING:
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 TBS Dijon mustard
3/4 cup olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cook the potatoes in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 20 minutes or so. Drain well. Cool and then peel as soon as you can handle them. Cut into halves.

Halfway fill a large bowl with cold water. Squeeze in the juice from half of the lemon. Cut the second lemon half in half. Cut off the stem from 1 artichoke and rub the exposed area with the cut side of a lemon piece. Starting from the base of the artichoke, bend each leaf backward and snap off where the leaf breaks naturally. Continue to do this until the light green leaves are exposed. Using a small sharp knife, cut off all the dark green areas. This is the artichoke heart. Cut the heart into quarters. Rub all cut surfaces with the lemon. Cut out the choke and pink inner leaves from each section and discard. Place the artichoke heart sections in the water with the lemon juice. Cut off top two inches of artichoke. Repeat with the remaining artichokes.

Combine the 1 2/3 cup of the water, olive oil, wine, peppercorns, coriander and thyme in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Drain the artichokes and add to the saucepan. Cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain well and cool. Cut into slices

Mix the potatoes, artichoke slices, red onion slices, spring onion, tomatoes, olives and basil in a large bowl, tossing gently to blend well.

Whisk together the lemon juice, Dijon mustard. Gradually whisk in the olive oil. Pour over the salad and mix gently together. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.



Cooking in The English Kitchen today a delicious Pumpkin and Chard Gratin!

God loveth a cheerful giver . . .

We live in such uncertain times these days. Prices of everything are increasing with untold speed, and financial calamity seems to be threatening us with every corner we turn. It can be so very frightening indeed . . . I think one of the greatest adventures we have available to us in this special lifetime of ours though . . . is in learning to trust our Heavenly Father respect to our finances, our time . . . our energy. Giving from our wealth . . . no matter how much or how little we may feel that we have, is not truly a gamble. We may be dealing with the great unknown, but that is only because of our own limited vision. God has promised to meet our needs and as we know . . . God always fulfills His promises to us.

But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
~2 Corinthians 9:6-7



You don't have to have untold wealth to be able to give. Giving can be something as simple as merely helping a neighbour or a friend, who has been a little bit under the weather, to fold her laundry, or to watch their children so they can go off and do something special just for themselves. It could be cooking a meal for someone who has been ill, or who is going through a rough time. It could even be as simple as picking up the telephone and giving someone a call just to let them know that somebody cares . . .

Giving freely of the resources I have been given . . . be it financial, my time, or otherwise . . . brings me great joy, and is made even more so because of the trust I have in my Heavenly Father and in Jesus Christ. I figure if Christ can turn water into wine . . . and feed 5,000 with a few loaves and fishes, then He has also the power to meet all of my needs. He's got the goods and the power to do just that and I can name countless times thoughout my lifetime where He has done just that! They have replenished my well of money, time and energy time and time again, their bounteous goodness constantly rains down on me . . .



The more that I learn to trust in them, the more that I give freely of what I have been blessed with . . . the greater the blessings I receive, and the sweeter the joy. It's funny how that goes . . . or maybe it isn't. I don't know exactly how it works, but only that it does work.. Forty years ago I may have had to stop and ask myself before I gave generously of anything I had . . . but time and experience . . . and my faith have taught me not to question my compulsions to give, but only to give . . . and to trust in that higher power, for He has given me a well that truly never runs dry. On that, I can depend. I guess it's all a matter of faith.

Yesterday I decided that I am going to go to both my children's weddings in 2012. I have a bit of savings and I will use it to do just that. Todd won't be able to go, but he is not really bothered overly much, and we just cannot leave the dog with anyone for that long, nor can we afford a kennel (not that we would ever want to put her in one of those). He and Mitzie will stay home and keep the home fires burning. I will be gone approximately a month, but it will be good and it feels in my heart like it is the right thing to do, no matter how out of place I may feel, or how other's may make me feel like I don't belong. It is not about me . . . it is about my children and my love and support for them. I'll also stay over for my mother's 80th Birthday so that she is not alone on that day. I am rather excited about it all now I've made the decision and it has given us all something to look forward to!

Here's a tasty and economical meal for those days when we are really feeling the pinch. Eggs are quite expensive over here these days, especially if you choose to buy free range one, and I do . . . but they still make an economical supper when you compare the price of them to the price of a piece of meat! This is kind of like an upscale version of egg and chips! (Eggs and potatoes I always have, and like the loaves and fishes, I can always expand to feed more!)



*Crispy Fried Potatoes With Eggs*
Serves 2
Printable Recipe

Simply decadent and satisfying, this is one of my favourite suppers. How can one fail to enjoy the crispy edged potatoes doused in the richness of the golden yolk of the egg . . . ahhh . . . heavenly bliss . . . You can leave the egg out and just fry potatoes if you want, doubling the amount and adding an extra spoonful of oil, but I wouldn’t . . . the eggs are what really make this dish!

500g (1 lb. 2 oz) potatoes, peeled and cut into approximately 1 inch chunks
2 TBS olive oil
A large knob of butter (about 20g)
2 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole and smashed
3 sage sprigs
2 eggs

Boil the potato chunks in salted boiling water until just tender, about 8 minutes. Drain very well then throw immediately into a 12 inch non-stick skillet that you have been heating the butter, oil, garlic and sage in. (I put this pan on just when the potatoes are about ready and heat it until the butter starts to sizzle) Start them off on high heat and cook until they start to look golden brown, then lower the heat slightly and continue to cook them until they get really crusty, tossing them about carefully from time to time. Be very careful not to mush them, although mushing them a little bit is good as it gives you more crispy edges and bits to enjoy. Try not to let the garlic or the sage burn. If it looks as if they are getting too done, lift them onto the top of the potatoes.

Once you have the potatoes all golden and crispy it’s time to cook the eggs. Move the potatoes over in the pan , making two big spaces for the eggs. Drop another bit of butter into the empty spot and crack in two eggs. Sprinkle a bit of sea salt over all and continue to cook over medium low heat, until the egg whites set and the yolk is as done as you like it. If you like you can pop a lid briefly over top, but try not to leave it there for very long as you don’t want the potato to get soggy. Serve up immediately, trying hard not to break the egg yolks. They go meltingly nice with the crispy potatoes.



In The English Kitchen today, delicious Blue Cheese and Cheddar Stovies!