What to do with a plant pot of Basil?

In order to make the summer couscous salad of my last post, I bought a rather hefty pot of basil from the supermarket and only used 1/12th of the pot. So with the remaining 11/12ths I decided to make fresh pesto. This is a seasonal recipe with new potatoes and green beans. Mine is a simple version. Some pestos have fresh garlic, some use a pestle and mortar but I have gone for the easy method with pine nuts, cheese, basil and oil – this lets the flavour of the basil sing.

Tagliatelle al pesto

350g – 400g Tagliatelle
100g pine nuts
50g grated parmesan
a very large handful of basil leaves
a handful of green beans
some halved new potatoes
olive oil

 In your blender, place the basil, pine nuts, olive oil and parmesan. Whiz it up until it is a paste and as coarse or fine as you prefer. Add more olive oil to loosen the paste and place in a bowl to one side. Steam your green beans and new potatoes and cook the pasta accoring to instructions. When both veg and pasta are cooked and drained, transfer the veg to the pasta pan. Mix up the pesto again if it has seperated slightly from the oil then stir into the pasta and veg, serve in bowls with more grated parmesan on top.

Being in a food rut

Scanning back through recent posts, I realise I’ve become a bit of a naval gazer, wallowing in my holy thoughts(!) and haven’t posted any decent recipes. I think it is due to the fact that Dave and I have been so busy with his selection conference and attending weddings (the figure for this year is now 12 weddings) and being away from home and attending countless meetings that I haven’t had the energy to try lots of different recipes. I’ve found myself embedded in a food rut where it is simpler to use oven chips and jars of sauce to compose a meal than really make an effort -although I despise them. You haven’t really got a clue what you’re eating if you use these convenience ingredients so I do prefer to make dishes from scratch.

This weekend, as well as going to the Jarrett’s wedding, (Paul and Fiona have long been known as the Jarretts, when they first got together even though she has yet to relinquish her surname!) where they will be having a hogroast(yum!), we will be hosting friends for Sunday lunch, Ian and Colleen and baby William. Ian is vegetarian and Colleen can’t eat dairy so I shall have my work cut out for me! At least I don’t have to consider baby food as they will bring something for William to feast on. 

I think I’m going to roast some salmon and do a summer couscous dish that I have adapted from Jamie Oliver. For me, the couscous dish reminds me of many happy of barbecue parties with friends such as Jo and Paul when we all lived in Leeds.

Roast Salmon and Summer Couscous

Serves 4

4 salmon fillets or steaks
255g couscous
1 red pepper
2 courgettes
a bunch of asparagus if available
2 spring onions
fresh basil, mint and coriander
lemon juice
olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

Jamie’s recipe requires you to char the peppers, remove the skins and chop, which is very labour intensive. I have a cheat’s method – I find it easier to chop the pepper, courgettes and asparagus in to bite size chunks, drizzle them with a little olive oil and roast them in the oven (200 degrees celcius) in a baking dish for 10-20 minutes until they are soft and slightly blackened.Once they’re done, set them aside to cool. Place the salmon fillets on a roasting tray and put in the oven at 200 degrees celsius for about 16-20 minutes. Whilst the salmon cooks, put the couscous in a bowl and pour over 1/2 pint of cold water and leave it to soak in to the grains. Chop the herbs up finely and cut the spring onion into thin slices. When the couscous appears to have absorbed the water, stir in the roasted veg, the chopped herbs and spring onions. Then season with a few tablespoons of lemon juice, the olive oil, slat and pepper and red wine vinegar. As the salmon is ready and serve it up on plates with a large spoonful of the couscous salad and some watercress salad. This is a really eye catching, mouth watering dish full of red, green and yellow hues.

Stepping Stones

In the past week I have had glimpses of suffering, short sharp revelations of emotions; fear, sorrow, anguish- people dying, friends being ill, depression. There is nothing terribly wrong in our life at the moment; I believe these sensations of tragedy befalling those whom I love are preparatory ‘visions’, rather like vivid dreams that wake you because they are so real. God is opening the way for Dave and I to move forward with him to a place where there will be many occasions for us to take up our own crosses and shoulder the crosses of others who are too weak to carry theirs. This I find quite daunting; the thought of anyone I love suffering churns me up inside.

The feelings of fear and anxiety that have troubled me the past week came to a head on Sunday evening when James spoke on Philippians 1 v27-30. Learning to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. In all circumstances, whatever happens. His talk should be posted on St Georges site shortly and I recommend you listen to it, it was excellent. Anyway, afterward I went for prayer and Ann who prayed with me had a picture for me of the stepping stones at Bolton Abbey – a derilect priory by the River Wharfe in Yorkshire. Across the water, there is a row of large stones and recently she said there had been one missing. As people tried to cross on the stones they would take large strides to each stone but when they approached the gap, they would falter. It was possible to cross but they needed to make a standing jump to leap across. The picture was for me for when I reach the points of difficulty where I would be pushed out of my comfort zone, handling situations that alone I couldn’t cope with. When I come to the gap in the path where I have to take a leap of faith, God will be beside me encouraging me on, telling me that I could do it not in my own strength but with his strength. Its the verse from Philippians 4 that I keep returning to ” I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

In the future, with whatever happens in this life, I hope that I will have the grace to relinquish any notion that I have the strength to cope and be able to rest myself in a place where Christ is all I need.

Dying…

I feel that God may be saying something to me about dying.

First, Jonathan preached on Philippians last night, about Paul’s positive attitude to death. Death, the ‘ultimate enemy’, has been defeated by Jesus Christ. We have nothing to fear because the worst thing that could happen is in fact the best thing to happen by far. A follower of Christ when they depart this life will be with Jesus.

Second, at home that night I read a poem by Mary Oliver that spoke to me about living this life to the full. Here’s an excerpt from the poem ‘When death comes’

“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it is over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”

Then finally this morning, in my inbox was this Henri Nouwen meditation for the day

“Praying to Die Well

Many people say, “I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of dying.” This is quite understandable, since dying often means illness, pain, dependency, and loneliness.

The fear of dying is nothing to be ashamed of. It is the most human of all human fears. Jesus himself entered into that fear. In his anguish “sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood” (Luke 22:44). How must we deal with our fear of dying? Like Jesus we must pray that we may receive special strength to make the great passage to new life. Then we can trust that God will send us an angel to comfort us, as he sent an angel to Jesus. “

I am hearing three messages: Death is not the end, live this life to the full and in dying, pray for strength and God’s comfort because both are there waiting for you to receive them. I won’t speculate as to whether these are for now or for the future. I just know that God is speaking to me loud and clear. 

Only Dead Fish….

CNV00183, originally uploaded by joyoung81.

This was taken in Alnwick Gardens, at the entrance to the Labyrinth, on our holiday and I love it.

What a quote – only dead fish swim with the stream! It reminds me of times when I get involved in dead end conversations at work where I’m tempted to have a moan or gossip about others. Sometimes it seems easier just to do what everyone else is doing yet you always feel a bit dirty and uncomfortable about it afterward. I want to be someone who is known for not saying unkind things about her colleagues, being slow to criticise and quick to praise.

In life, if you’re dead to what Jesus is doing within you and if you want to have your own way all the time, you will float along caught up in the stream of what the world is doing around you. It is almost laziness, letting the tide carry you on. You might have company but it will never be amazing. This is a common experience.

Yet if you entwine yourself in the source of new life, in Jesus, constantly having your mind renewed, you’ll find the strength to stand with integrity against the current. Through quiet devotional time, serving God and other people, your life can’t fail to change. You’ll find direction, satisfaction and purpose. Best of all, even if the world were to desert you, you would never be alone.

I don’t want to be dead fish lost in the labyrinth of life. I want the good shepherd to lead me, to provide me food and to bring me safely home.

Northumbria

CNV00023, originally uploaded by joyoung81.

I meant to write many moons ago about our Easter holiday to Northumbria. We stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast guesthouse near Lindisfarne and spent 3 days exploring the coastline there. We walked from Craster to Dunstanburgh Castle and the beach, visited Lindisfarne Priory and said Evening Prayer in the parish church of Holy Island. We visited Berwick and walked the town walls in L.S.Lowry’s footsteps. We braved the sea mist and rain to visit the Scottish coast. We went to Alnwick Gardens, relaxed in glorious sunshine and visited the largest secondhand book store in the country, housed in a former railway station. The North East of England is a gorgeous place to visit. I cannot wait to live closer.

Most of all, holiday is time to refresh yourselves and step away from the routine of the everyday. I love holidays and intend to make them a priority especially now Dave is entering a profession where taking leave is a hard thing to do.

Looking to the future

Long before we met and got married, Dave started to explore the possibility of being a minister for the Church of England. I believe it was one of the reasons we got together, despite the fact that I would never make an ‘ideal’ vicar’s wife – too gobby , and I knew that this might be a reality when we got married. 3 weeks after the wedding, Dave recieved a letter asking him to attend a 3 day selection conference in April.

I haven’t mentioned this here before because Dave and I have been playing a waiting game.

So two weeks ago, after 2 years of working for a church, several assessments & interviews with Diocesan Officers and much prayer, Dave went forward to the selection conference in remote Staffordshire.  Whilst he was there he gave presentations, participated in group discussions and had several long interview sessions for the Assessors to see whether he was suitable and whether he was called to be a vicar. Needless to say it was very nervewracking and though he came home feeling that he had conveyed all the heart he had for this vocation and of his own call, we had to wait 10 days to find out the answer. Waiting for the answer was taxing and people kept asking Dave how it had gone, some even assuming that he’d already been accepted.

Last Friday the Bishop’s Diocesan Officer for Ordinands from Ripon and Leeds called and told Dave that he had been recommended for training. Which means this Summer we will be moving north to Durham for Dave to start his 3 years formation at Cranmer, part of St John’s college at Durham University.

This is a very daunting prospect for us both particularly as I, as yet, do not know what I will be doing next, but I know that this is the right thing and God brought us thus far. We are both elated that Dave has been selected and I can’t wait to see what will happen next.

I wanted also to write and thank any of you who read this and know about what has been going on, for your prayers and support. We’re going to need much more of it in the future!

 God is Good!