Eating My Words

Let it not be said that I am not willing to eat my words (actually, there's very little I won't eat!).

I posted last weekend about making krumkake with DearHusband, noting that our krumkake turned out pretty well, colorless and tasteless, like all good Scandinavian foods.

Well, I had lunch with my friend Dwight the other day and he brought me a Vinarterta, an Icelandic dessert which he had made himself - to show me that not all Scandinavian desserts are tasteless and colorless. Vinarterta, Dwight said, means "vienna torte" - strange name, he said, for it's neither Viennese nor is it a torte. But it is - in fact - delicious. It is made of alternating layers of cardamom cookie and prune filling. We served it up for dessert and found it to be simply delicious.

So I'm willing to eat a little crow on this one - delighted to eat a little Vinarterta, too!

A White-Knuckled Christmas

Not exactly what we were dreaming of.

It was a busy Christmas for the Transposzing family, topped off on Christmas evening by an absolutely harrowing long drive home from southwest Minnesota on snowy and icy rural highways last night. At one point, I was certain we'd end up in the ditch on a remote and dark highway in southwest MN. DearHusband was certain, too - as we both simultaneously made the sign of the cross and audibly uttered the same one-line prayer: God help us.

While I am eternally grateful that this did not happen, I could not help but think what a fitting conclusion to Christmas Day this would have been. Run, run, run for an entire month. Then run faster, run faster, run faster during Christmas week, right up through Christmas night. If we had gone into the ditch, there we'd have sat in a motionless car. No longer able to run anywhere. Stopped. Stuck. An abrupt and ironic end to all the running.

Once we got to the outskirts of the Twin Cities, the driving was still treacherous and traffic was heavy - but at least there were lights on the highway. This, along with the knowledge that roadside assistance would be more immediately available (and the knowledge that we were once again close enough to home to have service on our cell phones) was at least a little bit comforting.

We arrived at Sis' place across town from our house to pick up our dog (who was having a play day with his adoptive canine cousin). There was a warm fire in their fireplace, a good, stiff hot brandy waiting, some nice munchies and great company - all combined to take the edge off my absolutely harried and completely stressed-out self and spouse. We stayed for a little bit, packed up the kids and the dog, and arrived at our own home about 20 minutes later.

An hour after that, I was in my jammies, konked out under a warm blanket in the recliner.

I can't help but be struck by how weird all of the month-long Christmas hubub is. We spend weeks endlessly going. Going to concerts, going to parties, going to programs, going shopping, going here and going there. This is how we modern Americans prepare for the celebration of God's coming to us. By going. It's an interesting juxtaposition.

Anyway, with God's help, we have safely arrived on the other side of December 25. My husband and children are safe and warm and sleeping peacefully in their beds. I need to get off the computer and get ready to go to work.

It is December 26, and just when things should be ramping up in celebration, they have wound completely down. Things are somehow magically back to normal.

Glory to God for all things.

Christ is Born!

Snowy Sunday Before Nativity

We've had a bout of lousy winter weather this weekend, which hasn't been the greatest asset for getting out and getting last minute Christmas things done. But it has allowed us to stay in and get some things done around home. (Sadly, what we've gotten done around home this weekend are the fun things, like cooking and wrapping presents, and not the more important things, like housecleaning!)

When we awoke this morning, it was cold (9 degrees the thermometer read), snowing and blowing like crazy. Not weather which is generally great for the 20 minute trip to church - but the drive wasn't as bad as we feared and many more than we anticipated made the trek to church today. It was a lovely liturgy, too (it always is!).

Once we got home from church we didn't feel like going out again, so we decided to do some Christmas baking. We didn't happen to have alot of Christmas baking supplies on hand, but we had enough to whip up a batch of krumkake, which ended up being sort of a fun thing to do on a snowy Sunday afternoon before Christmas.

We haven't made krumkake in a couple of years, and the iron we'd been using was an old cast-iron krumkake iron which was, sadly, just a wee bit warped. The old iron was given to us by a friend, who knew it was warped, but who also knew that it still worked pretty well, which it did. When we went down to look for the ancient and slightly-warped old iron (which we couldn't find), we saw on the shelf a krumkake iron we'd picked up at a yard sale a year ago and forgotten about. This iron - a genuine NordicWare krumkake iron, was used but still in the box when we bought it for only $3.50.

Turns out that the yard-sale iron was a great investment. It worked wonderfully - and we have a fine batch of krumkake for the holidays.



The treat with this confection is in the texture, which is very light and crisp. Like most Norwegian foods, krumkake is supposed to be very light in color and fairly tasteless. The whiter and less taste your Norwegian recipe comes out, it seems, the "nicer" it is. Now I happen to like my krumkake with just a little bit of color - a light golden brown (what can I say? I'm not Norwegian. Golden brown is the way the Irish prefer their krumkake - or at least the way this Irish person prefers it). Our batch today has a little something for everyone: some nice and white, and some just a bit golden brown, for those who are a little less Norwegian.

Handelightful!

I just saw this link on the blog of someone I read all the time and now I can't find it again (or I'd link to that person's blog). But this is too good not to share.

Too fun!

(You'll notice after the first minute or so that there's a "nun" or two out of view on the left...)

Please stand.

All I Want For Christmas

Each year we ask our boys to assemble a wish list for Christmas, in order that what we get for them can actually turn out to be something they want to receive as a gift. We let them know that they won't receive everything on their lists, but that the lists will help serve as a guide from which we can select some things. They usually work on this list for about a month, revising and reprinting it and posting it on the refrigerator - in very plain view.

Last night we began the annual Christmas shopping extravaganza. Part 2 of the experience (hopefully, the final chapter for this year) will be this evening.

This year their Christmas wish lists are at least practical - some years they haven't been.

ElderSon's list includes: "New Hockey Skates, with sharpening, $50 cash, A new bathrobe and slippers, Fishing Stuff, and Tickets to a Hockey Game (who is playing is not important)"

YoungerSon's List is as follows: "A red military watch from Sports Authority, lots of money - 45 dollars or more, ice fishing stuff, Spongebob slippers, a red zip-up sweatshirt, lots of string!!!!, mechanical pencils and some pens, a wallet that folds in half, and gum."

We should be able to work with this, I think.

Gotta wonder what he wants the string for, though ...

Principals of Iconography - Class #6

This afternoon was our final session in the iconography class I've been taking this fall. We pretty much finished our icons, though the window is still open if we wish to touch up our work.

Today we finished blending the colors in the flesh areas, added small white lines (called "assist," she said) in various places on the flesh to help create dimension, added gold leaf to the nimbus of the father figure, and then spent awhile talking about our experience of the class.

So here's before and after, the last session of the iconography class. Before class today:



And at the end of class today:



Am I done with mine? I think I am - there are things I might like to alter, things I think I might do again better, things I'd change a bit - but I fear making it worse by messing with it. At the end of the day, it is what it is.

I have several observations and thoughts about the entire experience, and will attempt to form some cohesive thoughts about it and address at least some of them in an upcoming post.

This Made Me Laugh

Brought to you by the wonders of PhotoShop - I presume.

At least I hope so.

Another Good Recipe for the Fast

DearHusband made this dish for supper tonight and I thought it was wonderful! Unlike most fasting recipes, I'd eat this anytime! Awesome and pretty simple.

From A Lenten Cookbook for Orthodox Christians, St. Nectarios Press, Seattle (1982):

Cabbage Rice
3 cups chopped cabbage
3 T. tomato paste
1/4 cup olive or other oil
1-1/2 t. salt
1 cup long grain rice
2 cups water
2 t. chopped parsely
1/4 t. pepper

(He added a little shredded carrot and a bit of crushed red pepper flakes, to perk it up a bit).

Cook chopped cabbage and seasoning in oil over low hear for about 20 minutes. Add water and tomato paste; bring to a boil.
Add rice, reduce heat, cover and simmer until rice is light and fluffy.

And as if that weren't good enough, DearHusband also made a wonderful dessert - gingerbread (my favorite!) I didn't know there was a decent fasting gingerbread recipe out there. This recipe's from Food For Paradise (compiled, it says, by the Orthodox Church of St. John the Russian, Ipswich, MA - 1980):

Fasting Gingerbread
1 c. molasses
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. vegetable oil
3/4 t. cinnamon
3/4 t. nutmeg
1 t. ginger
1/2 c. boiling water
2-1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
granulated sugar, optional

Combine molasses, brown sugar, oil and spices. Stir in boiling water. Mix in flour. Add baking soda and stir until mixed. Pour into well-greased 8x11 pan. Sprinkle the top with granulated sugar (or not) and bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve warm.

(Disclaimer: The photographs which appear here were not taken of our supper. Didn't think to post these recipes until the leftovers were put away and dishes were done. But they look pretty close. Visual results may vary).

A Fun Holiday Listen

Now I am generally no fan of listening to Christmas music until just about the week before Christmas, but I confess that I do listen to this recording during much of December most years. Sure, I suppose there are some churchy Christmas carols on it, but mostly it's just decent old jazz from the original movie, "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

Charlie Brown is certainly secular enough, so I put this recording more into the realm of nostalgia or just plain jazz than I do into the genre of Christmas music.

But one way or the other, it's a fun listen for those of us old enough to remember when this yearly special was fairly new!

Iconography Class - Session 5

Today was our fifth of the six sessions in the "Principals of Iconography" class I am currently taking.

Our class today began with a brief presentation on this icon, Pantocrator (which means Ruler of All). This particular Pantocrator (Sinai) was miraculously saved from the ravages of the iconoclastic period by St. Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai. It is reputed to be one of the oldest existing icons of Christ. A large copy of this icon was displayed during class.

Practically speaking, today we worked intensively on the faces and exposed flesh of the figures of father and son in our icons of the Prodigal Son. It was the session I anticipated with much fear and trembling - faces are so hard. They say so much without saying anything.

Once again we utilized the building up of color to form the depth of the facial structure of brow cheekbones and chin. We started with a solid dark sienna (brownish) tone on all exposed flesh and worked to add several layers, building it up in those areas to paint the face. We added the outlines of the faces, hands, legs and feet of the father and the son, which helped considerably. We also added the facial features. The exposed areas of flesh still look a little rough on my icon - particularly the faces, but the instructor said that we'll smooth that ourt next week, and also add the gold leaf to the nimbus of the father.

So here's today's progress. First, the icon before class today:



And then after class today:



Homework for next week is to paint the scarf/headcloth on the father, and to straighten the lines which frame the icon (which I meant to do before today).

Let's Go Band!

Tonight my family attended YougerSon's
"Winter Concert" at his elementary school. Both Younger and ElderSons are trumpeters in their respective school bands and while I always rather thought that ElderSon was the more musical of the two boys (YoungerSon being the more artistic), seems this low-key sort of kid had kept his musiciality under wraps!

He actually played a solo at this evening's performance and we were both delighted that he played his little bit marvelously. Some adults who weren't even his parents stopped him after the concert and commended him on the fine job he did.

While I will likely never again hear the beginning of "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (you know the part I mean: "You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen...") without thinking of this concert, DearHusband and I mused about just how many more times we'd sit in a gym and listen to yet another rousing rendition of "Let's Go Band!" It was their finale this evening.

Of course it was.

It always is.

A Visit from Saint Nicholas

My parish annually celebrates the Feast of St. Nicholas on the Saturday closest to December 6 (which, this year, was last night).

After Great Vespers, all the children remove their shoes and bring them to a designated place, and gather to learn a little about the life of St. Nicholas. All present are taught the following song:

O who loves Nicholas the saintly,
O who serves Nicholas the saintly,
Him will Nicholas receive,
And give help in time of need:
Holy Father Nicholas!

He who dwells in God's holy mansions,
Is our help on the land and oceans,
He will guard us from all ills,
Keep us pure and free from sins.
Holy Father Nicholas!

And each year at the singing of this little song, we are blessed with a visit from St. Nicholas "himself." During his brief visit with the children and adults gathered, the shoes of the children are "magically" filled with candy and he presents the parish with a gift - this year, an icon of St. Nicholas!

Following St. Nicholas' visit, we gathered for a great potluck supper together before heading home for the evening.

Even though our sons are getting a little older, they still look forward to this annual event at church.

A good time was had by all!

You Can Take the Protestant Church Musician Out of the Protestant Church ...

... but she may always think this Anglican Chant weather forecast is very funny!

(And she may always love Anglican chant - at least deep down inside).

Common Sense Wisdom

From Fr. Stephen's blogpost for today:

Love God. Say your prayers. Go to Church. Keep the commandments. Forgive everyone for everything...

Such important and common and wise advice. So simple and yet so difficult to do.

I once crabbed at a pastor for telling me this (only not in the same words).

Lord, have mercy.

Darkness to Light

I saw this great video on YouTube which excellently (and speedily!) shows the building up of colors from dark to light, adding depth and dimension in iconography.I tried to describe it in previous posts, but this process is what I meant.

This is obviously a time-lapse photography sort of video, but it's a great 5-minute look at a process which takes a lot of time, and, in fact, much more than just time.

Lovely work - not sure I'd have set the little video to this music, but still well worth a look.

St Nicholas the Wonderworker and Archbishop of Myra in Lycia

Troparion
In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith,
an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence;
your humility exalted you;
your poverty enriched you.
Hierarch Father Nicholas,
entreat Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion
You revealed yourself, O saint, in Myra as a priest,
For you fulfilled the Gospel of Christ
By giving up your soul for your people,
And saving the innocent from death.
Therefore you are blessed as one become wise in the grace of God.

Who was St. Nicholas REALLY?

What has become of St. Nicholas in our consumerist American society?

There's a metaphor here.

A Hymn for Evening

I may be learning to sing in a new key and all, but there's still a few hymns in the old key that I hold dear. Here is one I think of often:

The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended,
The darkness falls at thy behest;
To thee our morning hymns ascended,
Thy praise shall sanctify our rest.

We thank thee that thy Church unsleeping,
While earth rolls onward into light,
Through all the world her watch is keeping,
And rests not now by day or night.

As o'er each continent and island
The dawn leads on another day,
The voice of prayer is never silent,
Nor dies the strain of praise away.

The sun that bids us rest is waking
Our brethren 'neath the western sky,
And hour by hour fresh lips are making
Thy wondrous doings heard on high.

So be it, Lord; thy throne shall never,
Like earth's proud empires, pass away;
Thy Kingdom stands, and grows for ever
Till all thy creatures own thy sway.

Seems that even though I learned to sing them in the old key, they are at least as rich in meaning as I learn to sing them in a new one. Sometimes even richer.

Principals of Iconography - Class #4

Today was our 4th of 6 sessions in the iconography class I've been taking during the past weeks. Class discussion today started with a presentation about icons of the Theotokos - this icon was displayed for the discussion.

Practically speaking, today we added the robe lines to the garment of the father. Garments are hard - at least I thought so. The fluidity of a garment in motion is important, yet difficult to depict. We used the same technique for the green robe as we used for the landscape last week, building the colors and giving the fabric depth by adding layers of paint in lighter and lighter hues.

It was important to note, our instructor said, that the lightness - the brightness - must come from within the person wearing the garments, not necessarily from a consistent angle of light from outside the person. And where the garments bunch, more light layers of lighter color are needed.

Also, I had apparently ommitted a little portion of homework from a previous week. At some point I was to have painted the garment of the son white. Because the board was white, it was easy to miss the fact that I hadn't painted it. In consultation with the class instructor, instead of just painting the son's garment white, I asked if I might do the color build up that we had done on other portions of the icon - it seems to add a great deal of depth to the colors. She encouraged me to do so, mentioning that she'd only omitted this step on the son's garment to save time (six class periods is not alot of time to paint an entire icon, even one as simple as this one). So with her permission, I started painting the sons garment with blue and got it built up to light blue. I have several layers to go until it's white, but I am glad to do them.

So here's this weeks progress. First, the icon as it was before class today:



And then after today's session:



Homework for next week is to finish building up the white garment of the son and to add the garment lines. At some point, either this week or next, I will need to straighten the lines which frame the icon, too - perhaps sooner is better than later.

Next week we will do the faces and the exposed flesh of both father and son. The instructor warned us that it will be an intensive week. Giving them faces is what has made me the most nervous of all, but with God's help and some extra prayers, I'll do it next Monday.

The final week will be adding the gold leaf to the nimbus of the father. But I have much work to do before then.

Pray for me!

A Good Salad Recipe for a Sunday in the Advent Fast

... when oil is allowed.

BASMATI AND WILD RICE SALAD
(from Fresh and Fast Vegan Pleasures by Amanda Grant)

I personally thought this salad was a little heavy on the horseradish, but several from church, including DearHusband, disagreed. Also note that if you leave the salad sit for any length of time the rice turns a bit pink from the beets – not that there’s anything wrong with that…

10 T. (5 oz.) basmati rice (I used brown basmati)
4 T. (2 oz.) wild rice
7 radishes, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips (I used a half a pepper)
2 medium sized cooked beets, cut into small chunks
1 red onion, sliced (I used half an onion)
large handful of fresh chives, finely chopped (I used parsley because we had it on hand)

Dressing
4 T. white wine vinegar
2 T. grated horseradish root
1 squirt of whole grain mustard (I used smooth dijon)
1 t. turbinado sugar ("Sugar in the Raw")
1 t. sea salt
1 t. freshly ground black pepper
4 T. extra virgin olive oil

Cook the rices according to the package instructions. Let cool, then transfer to a serving bowl.
Meanwhile, make the dressing - put all ingredients in a jar with tight fitting lid and shake vigorously until thoroughly blended.

Add the radishes, red pepper, beets and onion to the rice and mix well. Scatter the fresh chives (or parsley) over the top.

Pour the dressing over the rice mixture. Mix well, and serve.

The recipe says it serves 4, but I'd estimate it serves a lot more than 4. I doubled this recipe for the potluck at church and it made a very large bowlful.

Don't beets rock?

Heck, could we all not use a fresh fasting recipe or two? I'd like to start a meme (never done that, you know!). So for this first attempt, I'll tag Dixie, Mimi, and Deb. If you want to play, simply post a favorite fasting recipe to your blog and tag a couple of others to play along. If you don't want to play, the Transposzing family will stick with the same old tried and true fasting recipes. But remember, Lent is coming and such a meme might just come in handy later, if not sooner.

Angel Anxiety

Emily has a thoughtful post today on angels which brings to my mind all sorts of thoughts and interesting angelic things to ponder.

Can little children actually see their guardian angels? I don't remember ever having seen mine as a kid (as a little Lutheran I think that if I had, I would have been scared to death! The notion of angels always made me a little fearful when I was little). I certainly was never told that I had one.

All good Lutheran kids know that angels only come around once a year - at Christmas time. An angel appears to Mary to tell her that she will give birth to the Son of God, the Savior of the world (would this not be scary??). The angels are mentioned at church in the Gospel reading for Christmas Eve from Luke 2, when they appeared to the shepherds, telling them first not to be afraid (see? They were sore afraid, for crying out loud! If angels could scare some tough old grown-up shepherds, think how horrifying they'd be for a little Lutheran kid with an overactive imagination!) And finally, an angel appeared each year of my childhood on the top of our Christmas tree. This angel was scary in her own way:



Yep - this was her. Oh, every 4th or 5th year she'd fall apart and have to be replaced with another angel who might have had a different shade of blonde hair, or a different colored dress - but they were all alike. I suspected they were all angel sisters. Now if this is the imagery that came to mind when you thought about angels, would it not scare the bejeebers out of you if one actually appeared - full sized - in all of her lit-up, fluffy, plastic-y-faced, painted on lipstick-y perfection?? I don't think I'd care to be visited by an angel like her even as a grown up! But from the time I was very young, I always thought that if I ever saw an angel, the best thing for me to do would be to turn around and run away as fast as I could. I at least had a plan.

But artificial and glitzy as the angel on the top of our tree was, I suppose it would have been better to have seen a guardian angel that looked like her than one that looked like Jane West. I could run away all I wanted, but she could just capture me with her lasso:



or like her (she has no flesh on her arms!!!):



Well, maybe if I did see my guardian angel when I was a little child, my fearful brain suppressed it ... because I have no memory of it now.

I guess that I admit that I'm glad that our kids are growing up with this angel-imagery instead:



Funny. They don't seem to carry the strange angel-baggage I had when I was a kid.

I Think This is a Problem

Proudly?

How can anyone enter a church proudly?

I think this is a huge problem, actually.

I find it disturbing (and I find this image of Jesus Christ sort of disturbing as well).