The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
(This will all look and work better if you click on the actual post and do not remain on the main page.)
Happy New Year! And happy Epiphany!
A few little shots of holiday doings…
We attended a lovely “community” wedding, by which I mean that the bride's community — and ours — contributed in all sorts of ways to her vision of a day in which many, many people would come together as a real family to celebrate. It was great fun and most joyous. I couldn't resist taking this shot of the side of salmon I brought:
That's my biggest “caterer's” platter! Those are big lemon slices! I had to time the cure, which meant that for a wedding on the 28th, the salmon had to go under the salt by Christmas. So I bought the filet a couple weeks before and froze it, plunking it in its pan on Christmas Eve to cure without even trying to thaw it!
It's been so cold here (and I had so much food in my extra fridge) that I left it on the floor in the mudroom and it was just dandy! (The method for doing this is in this post. The black spice there is juniper, some of which I crushed up to add to the brine.)
We are drowning in cookies. Send help!
What with family and company and a lot of “visiting” crammed into a long week, and the wedding, and not sure of who would be around for New Year's Eve, we exhaustedly forewent our huge party and did it up “koselig” with lots of “hygge” — and good thing too — it was so bitterly cold that I wouldn't have wanted dozens of guests to be parking who knows where.
Not a good picture, please forgive me.
Here is what all is on that little table, clockwise from the top: Aged swiss and cranberry-studded cheddar, grapes, and pomegranate. Roasted broccoli and red onion. Cranberry and onion compote (for the ham). Spinach and artichoke dip (which always seems like it's going to be trite until you have some and then oh my). White bean and pesto dip; liver paté (this time with curry, coriander, and cumin; prunes; and pomegranate molasses, which is just a reduction of pomegranate juice that's very sweet and sour, you buy it in a bottle; red pepper hummus); ham, sourdough bread of deliciousness (I've been getting better at my starter, must post about that soon), butter. Crackers. Mulled wine, wine, cider…
For dessert we had cookies, fruitcake, and bûche de Noël. Champagne!
I had to laugh because I've been obsessed with the Smorgasbord thing (in part because the wedding was Swedish-themed, and also because Sukie has been doing this for Christmas for a while, since her husband is so often on call), so now that you can choose a hashtag to follow on Instagram, a lot of my feed has been just that. Photo after photo of cozy platters of goodness.
The other day I found myself scrolling and thinking, “Wow, this Smorgasbord idea is super viral right now!” Duh, yes, you set it up that way…
On to our links!
- Evelyn Waugh's Helena prays for the conversion of her son at Epiphany.
- Manhood is Not Natural — Super important read. “A good man is the fountain, not the drain. The formation of such men is the first task of human civilization, and its largest threat when ignored.”
- Obscure homeschool resource alert: A site with all sorts of information about Anglo-Saxon history and literature! Here is the poem The Wanderer, with its intriguing footnote: __line 92a: In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, in chapter six of The Two Towers, Aragorn sings a song of Rohan (itself a version of Anglo-Saxon England), beginning “Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?”. The song clearly comes from this section of The Wanderer. (A more strictly literal translation of “mago” would be “youth”, hence “Where is the horse gone? Where the young man?” — but since the horse and the youth appear in the same half-line, Tolkien's rendering “rider” is very hard to resist.)__
- A hilariously click-bait-y title for a rather arcane subject, but David Clayton writes about an ancient way of keeping a choir (and the priests!) on key in church: Using Drone Warfare in the Battlefield of Sacred Music. I agree with him that it's far preferable to using an organ — and there's a reason why. Organs are tempered instruments — their tuning is not exactly on pitch to compensate for the vibrations of the pipes. Whereas the human voice uses “just” tuning. So when instrumentals accompany the voice, the voice must compromise. It's true that many do not sing with good pitch, so using the organ or piano keeps things on an even keel. This is where acoustics come in — a church with good acoustics can vastly help the singers actually hear themselves and each other, thus staying on pitch better. Anyway, the drone is a good way to solve this problem.
- This is my last chance this year (maybe even beyond my last chance) to plug Epiphany: Counting Christmas: Celebrating the Twelfth Night. And don't miss the embedded link to a beautiful piece: Christmas Traditions – Christmas With Charles Dickens, by Mamie Dickens, his daughter.
- This article posted by Patrick Madrid about Facebook when you're married reminded me that actually, the issue is the groups where people complain about this or that and get bad, bad advice, whether it's about their baby's sleep or their spouse's transgressions or what have you. When you have a problem, it's on you to find someone trustworthy to discuss it with. You have to know that people as a group and in a group can't help feeding discontent, and they also tend to be super ignorant. Stay out of groups that aren't something like how to knit socks or whether your old wood stove is worth saving, to name two of my favorites, not that I spend much time even on those. Sharing your problems about your bees is one thing; sharing your problems about your husband is another, and leads to disaster. Good New Year's resolution: Just say no to those groups, which are the opposite of support.
- Do you ever worry that you will die a sinner, without a priest? That sounds strange to throw that out, I know. Do you ever worry that you will be with someone who is dying and not know what to say to them? Also a bit awkward, sorry… but here is a short audio version of a little booklet from St. Alphonsus Liguori on Perfect Contrition, which simply means repenting and being sorry for our sins — sorry because of God's great love for us. We can help ourselves and help others if we are in the habit of talking to God about our sorrow and repentance — we can even get to Heaven this way, and get them to Heaven too! It's in this post — do give it a listen. It's very old-fashioned, but sometimes I think that in our effort to put everything in a contemporary mode we lose some of the simplicity and power of the old teachings. See what you think.
I love St. André, and of course it's the Epiphany Sunday (lots of wiggle room on this celebration when the 6th falls on the weekend!).
From the archives:
- I'm sorry, it's so stunningly cold here that Auntie Leila is just worried you aren't dressed right and so has to keep reposting this post about it. It's all “my kid is FINE in a t-shirt, you busybody” until the wind chill is well below zero.
- It was a year ago that Crisis published my article about the three liturgical changes we need now. In theory, these articles just float down the river and are forgotten, but until the changes are made, I'll keep thinking this is just what I want to say, right now.
- These days when a pot of soup or a bubbling casserole would hit the spot, it might be helpful to revisit the idea of stocking your freezer — not with pre-made meals, an idea that doesn't appeal to me much, but with the prep work all done for meals for you to put together with little effort.
While you’re sharing our links with your friends, why not tell them about Like Mother, Like Daughter too!
We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).
Erin says
We had a “community” wedding too (didn’t know I had a choice at the time, it’s just the way we do things), and my only quibble with such a procedure was that nobody did up any fried chicken, which I would really have been hoping for! I remember having a “dip party” at my mom’s house once to reunite all the friends home from college, and that was super fun too! We made tzatziki, and several other dips, and rice pudding for dessert, and everyone brought something to dip.
I have a question: what if your house is too cold for bread? I tried to culture some sourdough one winter, and even leaving the jar a few feet from the woodstove, nothing would live. I wound up making soda bread all winter because a yeast bread wouldn’t rise either.
Dixie says
Two ideas: 1. A yeast bread will sometimes rise well in an oven on the “keep warm” setting or lowest heat. If it’s too warm, crack the oven (at a time when no little ones are around, of course). 2. If you have a microwave, heat a cereal bowl or glass measuring cup with a cup of water in it for a minute or two in the microwave. Then put your dough in there, leaving the cup of water in there with it, close the door, and let it rise with the microwave off.
Otherwise, you may just need to leave it a really long time to rise at your room temperature (several hours). It will rise even in the fridge if you wait long enough, so a cool room should eventually work.
Leila says
Erin, Dixie’s ideas are good. I find that even though my oven has a “proofing” setting, I still just have to turn it off once it warms up (AND DON’T FORGET THE DOUGH IN THERE — I also always have the tendency to crank my oven on as I’m going about making dinner — yikes for the dough! Leave a potholder in the door or something).
Feed your starter with rye flour for a while.
And assume that any rises will take WAAAY longer than expected. I do mine over two days, with the first rise (after folding during the fermentation) happening overnight with the dough in the cold mudroom and then more hours on the butcher block in the kitchen.
Erin says
Thank you ladies!
Adele says
A trivet on top of the stove could also help if the issue is the house not on top of the stove it too cold. We have lovely warming racks on top of our wood stove and they are heavily used for dough, melting butter, rice bags, warm milk and keeping a pot of tea always hot. Perhaps a warming spot on the wood stove will be useful whether or not you can get your dough to rise properly. Good luck.
Melisa says
Hi, Auntie Leila,
Happy Feast Day of St. Andre’! I’m tickled to share that I married into a family that has a direct link to St. Andre’. On Christmas Day (2017) my sister-in-law shared with me the family genealogy that a deceased family member put together for her. I took some notes, and hope you don’t mind me sharing some of the info. about St. Andre’ I also have a copy of the family tree, with copies of St. Andre’s birth record, his parent’s birth records, his brother Joseph’s birth record his parent’s marriage record sitting right in front of me as I type! I’d sure like to be able to read them, but they are in French.
St. Andre’ was born Alfred Bessette on the 9th of August 1845 in St. Gregorie, Quebec, Canada. His parents were Isaac Valentin Bessett (born 1807 in St. Nome de Marie, Marieville, Quebec, Canada) and Clothilde Foisy (born about 1814 in St. Joseph, Chambly Canada). According to the records I have, he had 11 siblings, and their names are (I don’t recall if this is any particular order): Clothilde, Leocadie, Isaic, Napolean Leon, Joseph, Claude, Marie Rosalie, Alphonsine, Josephine, Rosalie and Elisa. I’m told the last names are spelled differently because 2 of the Bessetts worked in the same factory, and the paychecks kept getting mixed up, so the spelling was changed. I think one was St. Andre’s brother Joseph, as it lists his last name having been changed from Bessette to Brissett. Variations of Bessett include Bessette, Brisset, Brissette and Bissette. So, my husband’s mother’s maiden surname is Brissett (sadly, she passed when I was pregnant with our first child) and she is the great-great-great-great niece of St. Andre’, which makes our children the 6X great nieces/nephews of St. Andre’. We hope, someday, to visit St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal. When we heard Blessed Brother Andre’ was going to be canonized, we were pregnant with our 6th child, so decided to give him Andre’ as his middle name.
Such a blessing to have married into such a family, especially when I consider my colorful past, as having a great grandmother who was a lounge singer in speak-easies, and personally knew such gangsters as Babyface Nelson and others… (This will be an interesting genealogy to put together someday!)
Oh, and I have a copy of an article about St. Andre’, source unknown, that mentions a biography entitled, Blessed Andre’ by Katherine Burton if anyone would like to read more about him. It’s mentioned in the article that St. Andre’ was the last of only 6 children, but I’m not sure why the discrepancy there.
God bless!
Melisa
Leila says
Thanks, Melisa! We visited his shrine long ago. I love him!
Leigh says
Your salmon platter is absolutely gorgeous! It sounds like a beautiful wedding. Thank you also for the reminder to stock my freezer with tasty odds and ends…I reread your old post and am feeling inspired to be better about this. It’s one of those things that you learn from years of experience in the kitchen. Have a wonderful weekend 🙂
BridgetAnn says
From my own search of the archives today: Deirdre’s crown cake for the Epiphany. Wow! SO yummy!
http://likemotherlikedaughter.org/2014/11/a-crown-cake-for-the-feast-of-christ-the-king/
BridgetAnn says
So, I searched the archives today for what I thought was an Epiphany cake… Deirdre’s crown cake that I just realized was actually for the Feast of Christ the King. But! It is awesome and definitely works for Epiphany 🙂
http://likemotherlikedaughter.org/2014/11/a-crown-cake-for-the-feast-of-christ-the-king/
Leila says
Oh, BridgetAnn, you are so right — I should have included a link! Glad you found it!
Kelsey says
I love all your food pictures! I need the inspiration. Your broccoli and red onion dish sounds intriguing…any recipe? And do you have a recipe you like for the mulled wine as well? We are hosting our rosary group this week and I would love to serve mulled wine.
Leila says
Kelsey, the roast broccoli is so easy. You just need about double or triple the broccoli that you use when you just boil it. Wash, and trim the bottoms. Cut it up into bite-sized pieces — you want bigger and littler pieces so don’t worry about it. Cut up your onion — you can use any onion, and I usually use yellow, but this time I was being fancy with the colors. Slice not too thinly. Toss with olive oil and spread out in your biggest baking tray/lasagna/roasting/jellyroll pan. Put in a pre-heated 400 degree oven and occasionally toss around. It takes about 20 minutes. I think.
The mulled wine is also easy. I used the recipe in A Continual Feast, but basically it’s 1 1/2 liters of red wine, a cup or so of brandy, a little cider if you like (which for the ladies in the daytime might be a good idea!), some spices like cinnamon stick, cloves, star anise, juniper, nutmeg, tied up in a muslin or gauze bag, and orange and/or lemon slices. The recipe calls for more sugar than I ended up adding — try 1/2 cup and taste. Don’t overdo the spices — I’ve had mulled wine that sort of coats the inside of your mouth with cinnamon… I used about 2 small sticks and a little of the others. Gently — gently!! never boil! — warm all this up for at least an hour to steep everything together. I did it in a pot on the stove because my small slow cooker isn’t very presentable and my dutch oven is. It was yummy, I thought!
Kelsey says
Thank you! Both of these will be tried out this week.
Kelsey says
P.S. New undershirts arriving tomorrow 😉
Leila says
Kelsey, I left out the sugar when I gave you the mulled wine recipe! I’ve edited my comment to include it now!
Amy says
Hi Leila,
Thanks for your blog! I appreciate all the practical wisdom you share concerning child rearing, homemaking, etc. In regard to your question… “Do you ever worry that you will die a sinner, without a priest?”, I just wanted to share a couple Scripture verses for you to consider. I Tim. 2:5 says “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” And also, Hebrews 7:24-25 “But this man (speaking of Jesus), because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Jesus Christ is the only priest we need to gain direct access to the Father.
Leila says
Hi Amy! Thanks for your comments! On the one hand, you are right of course. If you listen to the audio book you will learn that this is what the Church teaches, that if we make an act of contrition (tell God we are truly sorry for our sins because of His goodness and the intercession of Jesus Christ), we have nothing to fear.
On the other hand, Jesus Himself left us a priesthood to give us the sacraments, one of which is Reconciliation, by which we are re-incorporated into His body when we fall short, as of course we are always doing.
It’s simply an act of obedience to avail ourselves of this means. And of course, God, all through Scripture, shows us that He chooses to act this way, through intermediaries. For instance, you will notice that Jesus heals a woman by means of his garment (Mark 5:24-34)… The priest when he is acting sacramentally, however, is acting in the Person of Christ, by His authority in the Gospel.
I can only say that until one experiences the sacrament of Confession, it’s hard to convey the reality of it. And I myself have been very near death, and I am here to say that it is indeed frightening how alone one feels, and how immensely comforting the presence of the priest is.
What is good about this teaching of St. Alphonsus Liguori is his insistence that we have the habit of making this act of contrition so that we will be prepared when the time comes for us or for someone we love. Give it a listen! God bless!
priestswife @byzcathwife says
that salmon…..yummmmmy…. (I would be tempted to throw some capers there- I love an excuse to eat capers! Blessed new year!
lisa says
Hello! Enjoy following your blog from time to time.. checking out the links and lovely pictures! I was wondering if you could tell more about what a community wedding is? I’ve never heard the term.. but it caught my eye as we have five daughters (and four sons)!!