Hallelujah, Christ is Risen!
Hello Blog Friends. It is hard to believe we have already come to the climax day of this major festival in the Liturgical Calendar. Easter is pretty early, this year, so, in the frozen North, it is not yet very “Spring-like” outside; however, I did take a photo of the first snowdrops that are peaking up in my garden and there are certainly plenty of Easter decorations indoors, to make up for the grey exterior views!
Despite just completing Holy Week, there are still a lot of loose ends to wrap-up. I thought there wouldn’t be much activity, but lots of general office work appeared, plus several long days were spent completing the Backyard Program Daily Schedules. These documents are needed by Miriam, who will be creating slides, used each day for the opening and closing sessions. She will also be designing the slides for the Main Presentation portion of the Classic Program, so I have been checking back and forth with her to make sure she has access to all the content. The song recordings have not yet been made but at least we have all the titles so it will not be too difficult to add the MP3s, once they have been recorded.
Wednesday, Jillian and baby Clara joined me for a short lunch visit, which made a nice interlude and, that evening, there was the monthly DC committee meeting. Sadly, one member who is dealing with health issues, was not able to join and Christopher, whose wife is expecting their second child at any moment, is now, and for the foreseeable future, on sabbatical from the committee, in order to share with parenting. Another member, who has also recently had surgery, did, bravely, join us and one other person was AWOL but the four of use who were present still managed to cover a fair amount of the agenda, which was encouraging.
Junior Youth Camp would like me to formulate a donor letter for them to send out, so I devoted most of Thursday to working with the ministry directors on exactly what they needed and to formatting the letter in an attractive fashion! A draft was shared with them and I fervently hope it does not bounce back to me for further changes!
Of course, yesterday was Good Friday, so I really wanted to log on to the livestream from Canterbury to join the 3-hour service. Unfortunately, some other Christian denominations do not observe Good Friday so my plan was somewhat thwarted by various messages, from people who were expecting responses. I managed to, mostly, stay focused but, on a few occasions, had to rewind the video in order to catch a bit I had missed. Sigh.
Today, Mae Anne is coming for our monthly lunch visit. We will be having Thai Coconut & Fish Stew, with Fluffy Bao. I, originally, made the stew for lunch when Jillian was here, but it made such a nice big pot that, with some fresh Bao, it will work perfectly, today too! It is very yummy so do give it a try.
Thai Peanut Fish Stew
- 1lb skinless white fish, cut into 2-inch cubes
- 2tsps sea salt
- 1tsp ground black pepper
- 1 red onion, roughly chopped
- 1-14oz tin plain tomato sauce
- 4 large garlic cloves
- 1-3” piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2tsps chili powder
- 1tsp smoked paprika
- 2Tbsps olive oil
- 1Tbsp chicken bouillon powder
- ½cup chunky peanut butter
- 1-14oz tin unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 large red bell pepper, halved and thinly sliced
- ½cup, each, unsalted raw peanuts & chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish
Season the fish with 1tsp of salt and ½tsp pepper and set aside. In a food processor, combine the onion, tomato sauce, garlic, ginger, chili powder, paprika, and peanut butter, plus the remaining 1tsp salt and ½tsp black pepper. Purée until smooth, 1½ to 2 minutes.
In a Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium until shimmering. Pour in the paste directly from the processor bowl, sprinkle with the chicken powder and cook until fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to ensure that the paste doesn’t scorch. Add the coconut milk and whisk until well incorporated. Add the red pepper and cook for another 3 minutes. Gently place the fish pieces into the sauce, nestling them so that there’s a good amount of space between each piece. Allow the fish to poach in the sauce until just firm and well-coated in the sauce, about 5 minutes. Garnish with fresh cilantro and chopped peanuts. Serves 4-6