I knew this word right away, but am including it here because it is somewhat obscure and because I had the pronunciation wrong.
Wednesday, December 04, 2013
Today's word
benefic \buh-NEF-ik\ - producing good or helpful results or effects : beneficial
Apropos reading
How odd that this should be the first reading at the mass being offered for my friend's grandmother, when I was also praying for another friend who is struggling with the passing of a loved one at a young age:
On this mountain the LORD of hosts
will provide for all peoples
A feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples,
The web that is woven over all nations;
he will destroy death forever.
The Lord GOD will wipe away
the tears from all faces;
The reproach of his people he will remove
from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken.
On that day it will be said:
“Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!
This is the LORD for whom we looked;
let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. - Is 25, 6-10a
Tuesday, December 03, 2013
Today's word
lacuna \luh-KOO-nuh\ - 1. a blank space or a missing part : gap; also : deficiency, inadequacy 2. a small cavity, pit, or discontinuity in an anatomical structure
So, would "lacuna matata" mean a worry gap?
Monday, December 02, 2013
Today's words
foison \FOY-zun\ - 1. archaic : rich harvest 2. chiefly Scottish : physical energy or strength 3. plural, obsolete : resources
An archaic, a Scottish, and an obsolete definition. Good thing it's an interesting word, and one of its example sentences led to another one:wain \WAYN\ - 1. a usually large and heavy vehicle for farm use <a hay wain> 2. capitalized [short for Charles's Wain] : Big Dipper
Didn't know this one, either, and had definitely never heard this expression for this constellation. Other interesting history here on ancient references to just these seven stars as the Bear, which we now apply to a larger constellation . . .
Sunday, December 01, 2013
Food for the weekend
Okay, I'm griping a little here, so if you're not up for that, go away.
As we were eating my soup at my wife's cousin's house on Friday, I turned to her and asked, in all earnestness, "May I please be finished cooking for the weekend?" I like to cook, but I've had a full slate of it this week, so after missing out on watching The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey while I picked turkey bones out of the meat (or vice versa), I was ready to be done. She agreed that would be fair.
Fast forward to Saturday evening at home. Around 3:30 I went out for a short bike ride after the Big Game, then started watching the Iron Bowl because there wasn't anything else going on. I've really watched very little college football - and only a few pro games, too - this year, so I didn't feel too badly about indulging in another game. A while later, maybe close to 6, my wife said she was going next door for a minute, which I mistook for "going to the store," and asked her what she was getting, thinking she'd decided on something to cook. She repeated herself for my clarification, left for next door, and came back without my noticing. When I started feeling really hungry, about 7:45, I went upstairs to check on what our dinner plans were. Seeing that she was in the bathroom, I knocked on the door and started to open it, at which point she yelled and I realized she was trimming up the dog a bit more; I knew he was going to need a little finishing up following my start of the job earlier in the week, but in my opinion the timing wasn't so great.
So I went into the kitchen and got myself a bowl of leftover soup and sliced a piece of bread, since it was apparent that although I wasn't having to cook, neither was she going to. I was pretty irritated, actually. A while later, maybe after I'd gone crazy at the incredible Auburn touchdown at the end of the game, she came down and explained that she hadn't been yelling at me, but had dropped the clippers when I started to open the door and just hollered in reaction.
And it seems that she had gotten herself a "snack" and had been in the middle of eating it when she noticed that it was 5:30. Instead of mentioning that and telling me that I was therefor on my own for dinner, I guess she just left me to figure that out on my own.
After having it in one form or another for five meals since Thursday, I am not eating turkey tonight.
(On an unrelated note: when I float the cursor over a capital "I" with the bottom and vertical bars aligned, it looks like a mini-ellipsis.)
As we were eating my soup at my wife's cousin's house on Friday, I turned to her and asked, in all earnestness, "May I please be finished cooking for the weekend?" I like to cook, but I've had a full slate of it this week, so after missing out on watching The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey while I picked turkey bones out of the meat (or vice versa), I was ready to be done. She agreed that would be fair.
Fast forward to Saturday evening at home. Around 3:30 I went out for a short bike ride after the Big Game, then started watching the Iron Bowl because there wasn't anything else going on. I've really watched very little college football - and only a few pro games, too - this year, so I didn't feel too badly about indulging in another game. A while later, maybe close to 6, my wife said she was going next door for a minute, which I mistook for "going to the store," and asked her what she was getting, thinking she'd decided on something to cook. She repeated herself for my clarification, left for next door, and came back without my noticing. When I started feeling really hungry, about 7:45, I went upstairs to check on what our dinner plans were. Seeing that she was in the bathroom, I knocked on the door and started to open it, at which point she yelled and I realized she was trimming up the dog a bit more; I knew he was going to need a little finishing up following my start of the job earlier in the week, but in my opinion the timing wasn't so great.
So I went into the kitchen and got myself a bowl of leftover soup and sliced a piece of bread, since it was apparent that although I wasn't having to cook, neither was she going to. I was pretty irritated, actually. A while later, maybe after I'd gone crazy at the incredible Auburn touchdown at the end of the game, she came down and explained that she hadn't been yelling at me, but had dropped the clippers when I started to open the door and just hollered in reaction.
And it seems that she had gotten herself a "snack" and had been in the middle of eating it when she noticed that it was 5:30. Instead of mentioning that and telling me that I was therefor on my own for dinner, I guess she just left me to figure that out on my own.
After having it in one form or another for five meals since Thursday, I am not eating turkey tonight.
(On an unrelated note: when I float the cursor over a capital "I" with the bottom and vertical bars aligned, it looks like a mini-ellipsis.)
More Thanksgiving 2013
What a great weekend, with very little thought of the dark past.
First, the relatively inconsequential stuff. Even though the bird was more done than I was going for as a result of losing track of time when my cousin-in-law and his wife got here, it didn't get dried out because of it. I almost decided against using my frozen mincemeat from last year because I thought it looked too mushy, but changed my mind after test-tasting it. What a great decision. And I remembered from last year that even though the pie crust recipe says to roll it out to a quarter-inch thickness, that's really too thick. I rolled them that thick, then took the guide wheels off the rolling pin to roll it just a bit thinner. Turned out perfect, for both my mince pie and the two pumpkin. The decision to get an extra turkey breast also turned out great. I don't think we'd have run out of meat, but wouldn't have had much left over for soup and sandwiches. I also remembered to add a bunch of broth to the fabulous stuffing that I reprised from last year, since I don't cook it inside the bird. It was much moister as a result, and I also remembered to add an extra cup of diced apple; between the two corrections it was even more delicious this year than last! I did forget about the strawberry applesauce I'd planned, but it isn't as if anyone lacked enough to eat.
It was fabulous having our oldest and her children with us, and our oldest grandson's girlfriend, too. I don't think that our daughter realizes that she was the main reason why dinner was so late getting to the table - we couldn't really proceed without the mashed potatoes, and she didn't get here in time to have them done at the time we specified for dinner, but that wasn't the end of the world, either, and the only complaints about dinner being late were from her kids.
After dessert and a minor panic when our oldest daughter mistook some splatters on the side of her truck for scratches in the dark - and let's spare her the speculation over where I think the roots of that might lie - we headed south to Tim and Kathie's place to hang out with them for another day. Our dog did great on the drive, and once he got used to being around the other dogs he had a nice visit, too. We got there too late to watch the entire DVR'ed Ravens' game, but I had listened to it in the car and knew the outcome. We speed watched the first half, then saved the second for Friday morning while Kathie was replacing the ingredients I'd left behind in our efforts to get out the door. The soup was better than ever, thanks to some fresh sage and Kathie's recommendation to use frozen noodles rather than dried. Oh, my, what a difference the latter made! We finally got my wife caught up on An Unexpected Journey while I worked on the soup. Then started in on The Hunger Games while waiting for it to be time to head out to Thor, The Dark World. It was a nice piece of entertainment; they're making some nice comic-book movies lately, but let's face it: they're comic book movies. Still, we all enjoyed it, so that's more of an observation than a complaint. Then we headed home, where we finished watching The Hunger Games with a piece of pie and, for those of us so inclined, a glass of port.
Kathie was scheduled to work on Saturday, and Tim was slated to be at the model race car track, so we headed toward home by around ten. It was a gorgeous, sunny day for a drive, and we listened to the Big Game along the way, which I watched the rest of when we got home. In our 27 years here I've successfully avoided being infected by Buckeyes' fanhood - which will pay off as Maryland joins the "B1G Ten," but it seemed unfair to me that a team could not lose a game in two years and still get shut out from a shot at the national title (even if last year was their own fault because of sanctions). The game was thrilling. I then got in a short bike ride, and after getting home watched the Iron Bowl, which turned out to have an even more exciting finish than the OSU-UM game. Wow. The Buckeyes still have business to take care of next week, and I won't be heartbroken if they should lose, but they belong in the title game if they win, and now they should be there. I can't imagine a one-loss Auburn team would beat them even with their victory over the Tide.
Now, to shower and get to mass for the first Sunday of Advent.
First, the relatively inconsequential stuff. Even though the bird was more done than I was going for as a result of losing track of time when my cousin-in-law and his wife got here, it didn't get dried out because of it. I almost decided against using my frozen mincemeat from last year because I thought it looked too mushy, but changed my mind after test-tasting it. What a great decision. And I remembered from last year that even though the pie crust recipe says to roll it out to a quarter-inch thickness, that's really too thick. I rolled them that thick, then took the guide wheels off the rolling pin to roll it just a bit thinner. Turned out perfect, for both my mince pie and the two pumpkin. The decision to get an extra turkey breast also turned out great. I don't think we'd have run out of meat, but wouldn't have had much left over for soup and sandwiches. I also remembered to add a bunch of broth to the fabulous stuffing that I reprised from last year, since I don't cook it inside the bird. It was much moister as a result, and I also remembered to add an extra cup of diced apple; between the two corrections it was even more delicious this year than last! I did forget about the strawberry applesauce I'd planned, but it isn't as if anyone lacked enough to eat.
It was fabulous having our oldest and her children with us, and our oldest grandson's girlfriend, too. I don't think that our daughter realizes that she was the main reason why dinner was so late getting to the table - we couldn't really proceed without the mashed potatoes, and she didn't get here in time to have them done at the time we specified for dinner, but that wasn't the end of the world, either, and the only complaints about dinner being late were from her kids.
After dessert and a minor panic when our oldest daughter mistook some splatters on the side of her truck for scratches in the dark - and let's spare her the speculation over where I think the roots of that might lie - we headed south to Tim and Kathie's place to hang out with them for another day. Our dog did great on the drive, and once he got used to being around the other dogs he had a nice visit, too. We got there too late to watch the entire DVR'ed Ravens' game, but I had listened to it in the car and knew the outcome. We speed watched the first half, then saved the second for Friday morning while Kathie was replacing the ingredients I'd left behind in our efforts to get out the door. The soup was better than ever, thanks to some fresh sage and Kathie's recommendation to use frozen noodles rather than dried. Oh, my, what a difference the latter made! We finally got my wife caught up on An Unexpected Journey while I worked on the soup. Then started in on The Hunger Games while waiting for it to be time to head out to Thor, The Dark World. It was a nice piece of entertainment; they're making some nice comic-book movies lately, but let's face it: they're comic book movies. Still, we all enjoyed it, so that's more of an observation than a complaint. Then we headed home, where we finished watching The Hunger Games with a piece of pie and, for those of us so inclined, a glass of port.
Kathie was scheduled to work on Saturday, and Tim was slated to be at the model race car track, so we headed toward home by around ten. It was a gorgeous, sunny day for a drive, and we listened to the Big Game along the way, which I watched the rest of when we got home. In our 27 years here I've successfully avoided being infected by Buckeyes' fanhood - which will pay off as Maryland joins the "B1G Ten," but it seemed unfair to me that a team could not lose a game in two years and still get shut out from a shot at the national title (even if last year was their own fault because of sanctions). The game was thrilling. I then got in a short bike ride, and after getting home watched the Iron Bowl, which turned out to have an even more exciting finish than the OSU-UM game. Wow. The Buckeyes still have business to take care of next week, and I won't be heartbroken if they should lose, but they belong in the title game if they win, and now they should be there. I can't imagine a one-loss Auburn team would beat them even with their victory over the Tide.
Now, to shower and get to mass for the first Sunday of Advent.
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