Easy Pickled Gherkins

I pulled out my heavy farmhouse cookbook but the process seemed too laborious for only two packets of gherkins so I looked up simpler pickle recipes.




A quick and delicious pickle

Wash and cut gherkins. To each medium-sized jar, add a bay leaf and a piece of rosemary / a clove of garlic and a slightly heaped teaspoon salt. Then add the gherkins, fit nice and tightly but not squashed. Then fill the jar about half-way up with (which worked out to about 1/2 cup) with cider or white wine vinegar and then top up with water. Seal and shake a bit to loosen the salt through the mixture. Place in the fridge.

I also added a couple of peppercorns to one of the jars. Delicious crunchy snack within 24-48 hours. So easy... well worth it!

Everywhere He walked

I am reading through the book of Matthew and Jesus is the gospel... the good news and He is the Light and He beams this into the heart of humanity everywhere He walked.

I always pause at the section with the leper... that dear soul who asked 'Are you willing... I know you can but could you for me?'

and our Lord's beautiful response... sweet to the soul and health to the bones, 'I am willing, be cleansed.' He could have just told him that he was healed but he added the the first part, that talks to the heart, the assurance to the questioning soul, yes, yes, yes... I AM willing.

Help us to trust and rest in Your promises,



Thank you Father, for Your willingness,

to drench a thirsty soul and mend bruised and besieged flesh and bring healing.

Weekend games

In a bubble...



The girls got some serious points on the board... but not nearly enough, he was crowned the day's champion.

Mushroom Lasagna

A variety of lovely earthy mushrooms...



My assistant perched on the counter doing the layering and spreading the Bechamel sauce.



The luscious end result.

Friendships

"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends"
~ Ralph W Emerson ~

That was how I felt this morning. Yesterday I had the privilege of spending the better part of my day with close friends... women of integrity and grace, that you can talk with at the speed of light or sit in silence... about the trivial and the compound matters of life.

"whoever walks with the wise becomes wise"
~ Proverbs 13.20 ~

They always talk to Rebecca (and own children) with patience and kindness - so different from how I have seen some parents do it... make it quick, I'm busy/important/tired/uninterested.

Thank you.

The thoughts of the heart

How can we know the deep things of another heart. What they desire. We all have them... these things that we have dreamt of. My dream might not be your dream. What one man discards another treasures.

We bought large pots and a large piece of land... to be filled. To be filled.

How could the mother know... as she spoke of all the voices jostling for her attention, how the noise needed to be stilled. "One person talks at a time", she told her children. It makes sense. I nodded in sympathy, but truthfully it sounded like a beautiful sound to me. A harmony of discord. I closed my eyes for a moment and wondered what it must have felt like.

I felt a tightness in my throat and a emptiness in my stomach. Silly, yes. I hadn't thought of it for so long. That one is so solitary a number. I had passed it on. Trusting His course, knowing that He knew where my precious one would walk and what she would need. Leaning not on my own understanding - with all your heart, trust. Proverbs 3, I think with all our heart because even a little yeast...

We need to be filled with the words that matter, that heal, that really fill, that fill people - not my pots or my land. I sat in my chair while it was still dark and thought and spoke, of forgotten things and fresh purpose.

He never withholds without purpose... for our good always. Its no tactless edict. 'No' really means a 'yes' somehow... because He is for us. Deut 6.24

'Anyone can count the number of seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed' ~ Robert H Schuller



Tonight I lie next to her in the dark. She warm and smelling of soap. She talks before sleep of her dreams, 'Which can I do Mommy, I want to be a soccer player, a ballerina, a home-mom, a spy?'

We talk. I tell her that He know the plans He has for her and they are good, for He is good.
Oh how can we doubt Him!

'Mommy... mom-mmmy, that's one of my favourite words' she says.
He knows exactly what He is doing. I am not empty, I am full.

Weekend fare

The hour was getting later and so burgers came on to the menu... but it turned into a whopper meal... with egg, cheese, softened onion, tomato... you can't even spot the meat under all that!



Every mouthful a bursting with taste!