World Youth Day Krakow 2016

Let us join the Pilgrims by reciting this prayer for WYD 2016  

                                                     

Official Pilgrim Prayer

 

God, merciful Father,
in your Son, Jesus Christ, you have revealed your love
and poured it out upon us in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter,
We entrust to you today the destiny of the world 

and of every man and woman”.
We entrust to you in a special way
young people of every language, people and nation:
guide and protect them as they walk 

the complex paths of the world today
and give them the grace to reap abundant fruits
from their experience of the Krakow World Youth Day.

Heavenly Father,
grant that we may bear witness to your mercy.
Teach us how to convey the faith to those in doubt,
hope to those who are discouraged,
love to those who feel indifferent,
forgiveness to those who have done wrong
and joy to those who are unhappy.
Allow the spark of merciful love
that you have enkindled within us
become a fire that can transform hearts
and renew the face of the earth.

Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray for us.
Saint John Paul II, pray for us.
Saint Faustina, pray for us.

I am stuffed

I really love mushrooms.

This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate.

And I found this out via my best friend Kevin when I was a young spry 20 year old. We had been hiking in the Allegan woods for days, eating MRE's and dried things the names of which I cannot remember. At some point we decided to leave the woods and get some real food; we found a diner not far away. What we ate I also cannot remember, except for a large oval plate of fried mushrooms - covered in a batter crust and greasy hot. We devoured our food quietly, and I will never forget that meal.


Thank you to Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman, for this recipe. I will present it in its fullness as I approached it from my kitchen in Whitmore Lake, Michigan, but she gave me the idea.

The ingredients are all to be found in the fridge or pantry: 

salt

ground turkey

fresh sage

chopped sage

chopped thyme

rosemary

To make the sausage, I used a pound of ground turkey, and much seasoning.

a cold beverage is essential during the cooking process

garlic and onion for the stuffing

Kroger is our favorite

pull the stems out of your shrooms

cook the sausage, until it is no longer uncooked

at this point, it is smelling like sausage. when it is cooked remove it to a bowl

cook the diced onion and garlic in the same pan

add a bit of the chicken broth - or use white wine like Ree does

add those chopped up mushroom stems

cook

and then remove to a plate for cooling

in a clean bowl, start with an egg yolk and a brick of softened cream cheese

mix together and add about a cup of Parmesan cheese

then add the sausage to the bowl

mix well

keep mixing weller

then add the chopped mushroom stems

oh it is looking almost ready

shove the mixture into each of the caps

ready for the grill

our Kroger corn, also ready for the grill

the grill, getting ready for the corn and shrooms

love that warming rack

yum, yum, yum

land of the moving daisies

pikel resipee

top secret so shhhhh....
for the brine:
2 c water
2 c white vinegar
~1.5 tbs coarse kosher salt
for each jar:
cucumbers to be sliced any which way you can
2 cloves garlic
1 dill frond
small dash of course ground black pepper
very small dash of ground coriander 
very small dash of red pepper flakes
1 Allspice berry


First cut up the cucs and make sure you have enough brine to cover the jars to the top. Fill the jars with the garlick and dill and seasonings; then cram the cut cucumbers in.

The brine then gets boiled. This gets heated in the microwave, due to the fact that you get oxidation - and the resulting cloudiness in your brine - if you cook in a metal pot. When hot, pour over the cucumbers and fill the jars, then screw on the lids.

Let them cool just until you can put them into the fridge and let them rest for three days in the back of the fridge at the bottom so you don't always see them and say 'dam i want to try one'.

and life is good

We have been busy at work and, as such, the evenings have been restful and fun for me. I've worked on my genealogy and almost finished the main part of Grandpa Frank's section; I shored up my fantasy baseball team with hotter closers and a very hot Jedd Gyorko for my infield; and I've spent time each day with my herbs and vegetables - chatting quietly and letting them vent, as the birds are not very good listeners.
I found a Pioneer Woman stuffed mushroom recipe i am looking forward to trying this afternoon, and we've been pleased with our winning Tigers all week.


A couple weeks ago a large population of very small black ants found the hummer feeder hanging from a wire outside our kitchen window and I was sad. I cleaned the feeder and made a fresh batch of nectar and hung the feeder back outside on another wire near the first one. It only took the little effers about a day to find it again and lo! the water was soon full of dead and dying ants - certainly an unfit meal for our precious hummers. I brought the feeder in and cleaned it once again; but before I filled it and set out more ant-food, I consulted the forum where everyone has an opinion and the most vocal are usually the closest you can get to garbage: the WORLD WIDE WEB!
Besides water moats, pesticides, Vaseline, and double faced tape (all of which I've tried - with minimal success), a new suggestion (to me) seemed to make sense. Instead of wire, someone used fishing line and said the ants can't march on such a small road. Well, let me tell you, the hardest part was tying the picture hook with a good knot in my four pound test to hang the feeder from. But once we got the food hanging, our colorful chirping friends returned and have been back ever since (this was about four or five weeks ago). The funny thing at first was he (mostly the male did this) would land, which would cause the feeder to rotate slightly So he would hop to the next hole to be in roughly the same 'position' relative to the house and the open space opposite it. One or two seconds later, he'd be turned too far again so he'd hop to the next clockwise hole; this continued until he finally learned that it didn't matter really where he was geographically, as long as he was getting a good drought of that four to one sugar water. The main point is that the ants have not been back and life is good.

Oh, David; Remember This!

 

Although I have lived through much darkness,...I have seen enough evidence to be unshakably convinced that no difficulty, no fear is so great that it can completely suffocate the hope that springs eternal in the hearts of the young...Do not let that hope die! Stake your lives on it! We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son.

 

 

 

-  Saint Pope John Paul II

Virgin Pickling Fun

Cucumbers from our garden and a couple from my buddy

Four jars chosen for their pickle-ability

Vinegar and pickling salt, to make the brine

Add the above to water and boil it so fine

Coriander, pepper flakes, garlic and dill

Each glass jar then gets their fill

Slice the cuc's once, twice, thrice

Then shove in the jars - oh so nice

Little chunks will make a good snack

You use less brine the tighter they're packed

Boil the brine til the salt dissolves

Pour over the pickles, make sure all are covered

Screw on the lids tightly, then allow to cool on the board. Then refrigerate for three days...