Summer Olympics Hodgepodge

I’m joining Joyce who blogs at From This Side of the Pond for Hodgepodge Wednesday. Joyce comes up with the questions and we come up with some answers. Thanks Joyce! I’m early this week…

1. Are you watching the Olympics? Your favorite summer Olympic event? I read recently a list of the most iconic Olympic moments in history…what stands out in your mind as a great moment from some past summer Olympic games?

We are catching some of the Olympics. Swimming, Gymnastics and Soccer are my favorite events.

The moment that will always stand out in my mind is watching Dear as a Torch Bearer in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Because he won the honor to run with the torch it brought the Olympics into our home in a special way.

2. Have you ever been to Rio? How about the place that started it all-Greece? Have you ever been to any of the Olympic Games in person? Is that something you’d like to do? Have you ever met an Olympian in person?

Never been to Rio or to Greece but I have been to an Olympic event at the 1984 Summer games in California. Our family and some of our extended family were able to attend a rowing event at Lake Casitas in Ventura County.

3. The ball’s in their court (tennis), cross the finish line (track and field), on target (archery), make a splash (diving), on a roll (gymnastics), out of one’s depth (swimming)…which Olympic-related idiom best applies to your life right now? Explain.

I’m going to go with out of one’s depth as Dear and I are thinking about the fact that he might be retiring earlier than we expected. He’s been unemployed for a couple of months and if nothing happens employment wise by his birthday we’re considering retirement and who knows what all that means! Yikes. We know who holds our future so we aren’t going down the anxious road but we are going down the unknown road.

4. What have you earned a ‘gold medal’ in recently?

My Gold Medal comes to me through blogging and the fact that God plopped me into the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog through my personal blog and my Russian heritage and family recipes. I’m one of 10 gals who post on that blog and we have authored two cookbooks, a just released devotional book and unbelievably a play about us will be released the end of September. What? Our author royalties have all gone to help feed widows and orphans and to help provide clean water to families in Kenya.

5. What is it (or who is it) that motivates you to eat right, exercise, and do what you can to be healthy?

The mirror motivates me when I don’t let the mirror completely discourage me. It does help to have a partner in the endeavor to eat right and exercise.

6. Are you young at heart or an old soul? Explain.

I think I’m young at heart because I still want to try new things and learn new things.

7. It’s National S’mores Day (August 10th)…are you a fan? Will you celebrate with a s’more today?

Not a fan but I can provide the ingredients for anyone who wants them!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

This post made me start singing that song from Sunday School that comes from Acts 3:6, a verse in the Bible.

Silver and Gold have I none/ but such as I have give I thee, /in the name of Jesus Christ/ of Nazereth rise up and walk./ Walking and leaping and praising God./ Walking and leaping and praising God./ In the name of Jesus Christ/ of Nazereth rise up and walk!

The Journey…

Dear and I packed up early on Wednesday morning and headed across the line to Canada.

We found our way to Central Heights Mennonite Church to attend the Celebration of Life for Kathy’s (one of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook) dear father. After the service Dear and I headed to Bakerview MB church and found the other Mennonite Girls and their spouses for the reception. One of the things we learned about Kathy’s father Helmut during the many tributes expressed about him was that he had the “gift of encouragement” along with other “gifts”. We think our Kathy has received this “gift” and learned a lot about how to share this gift because of her dad. Here’s an email from Kathy’s dad to his kids after he learned to use email in 2015.

“Let’s remember that , ‘Godliness with contentment is great gain.’ We are totally dependent on the Lord for life and breath and the service we are to render to our family members and other folk. One of my challenging verses that JESUS gave us is recorded in Mark 10:45. ‘For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give HIS life as a ransom for many.’ Let us be faithful servants, managing our time, talents and resources well. God help us to be good witnesses for HIS glory. Love you all lots and pray for you daily. Dad/Helmut”

What a treasure to have a legacy of a faithful father to pass on. We know you will miss your dear dad, Kathy, but that you also rejoice because he is home with his savior.

After the reception Dear and I found our way to Anneliese’s home where she and her dear H treated us to a nice dinner before we headed to our next big event.

We followed H and Anneliese to the Mennonite Heritage Museum in Abbotsford, B.C. where our newly released book, Bread for the Journey, was to be dedicated and launched.

We were met by two bouquets of flowers lovingly and thoughtfully sent by friends of the MGCC girls. Thank you so much Richard, Dorothy, and Rosella.

Under watchful eyes Anneliese prepared for the Zwieback demonstration.

Judy and Lovella’s hubbies maned the parking lot helping our guests find a place to park.

A wonderful crowd appeared and watched carefully as Anneliese showed her method of making Zwieback. Lovella helped with the narration.

Each of the seven of us who could be at the museum had our part to play. Some of us read from our family stories and some of us read one of our devotionals.

I made my confessions and read a brief story about my family’s “Movement” from Russia, to Iran and finally to the U.S.A. I’m not going to lie, I was happy when my “spotlight” moment was done.

After we were done with our stories and devotionals we had a special treat of music. We were blessed with Father’s Daughter singing “Little is much when God is in it”. Wonderfully musically talented family.

Here’s what Lovella had to say about these moments caught in the collage above. “I wanted to read the dedication at the end before Gerry prayed but just couldn’t even get it out. My heart was so full. Gerry couldn’t read it because he didn’t have his glasses so he borrowed mine to read.” Lovella was hoping someone captured these moments and Bev’s husband Harv did so I borrowed his photos.

The dedication reads: “We dedicate this book and our royalties to orphans and widows who face each day in need. Our prayer is that they would see the love of Jesus extended through caring hands, one home and one heart at a time.

After reading the dedication with Lovella’s glasses, Gerry prayed a prayer for God’s blessings on our book.

We signed books for anyone who wanted us to while the great crowd that attended enjoyed coffee and Zwieback.

We were surprised at the number of people who showed up and also surprised that the museum store was soon sold out of our book.

At the end of the evening we took some group photos. We always wish the 10 of us could all be together for these special events but miles and life events have a way of keeping some of us away.

All of our hearts were full from the beautiful blessings we enjoyed on this day in Abbotsford.

Some of the photos in this post were taken by Bev’s husband. Thanks for sharing Bev. Some were taken by my Dear and myself.

Dear and I crossed the border into the USA at 9 pm and were home in bed before midnight. We are generally early to bed people. Today is a day of recuperating for me and I have another confession to make and that is that I am still in my robe and it is the afternoon already! Oops! I running upstairs now to get ready for the rest of the day!

A New Journey…

On Monday the 18th of July nine of the Mennonite Girls and their husbands gathered at Marg and John’s home for dinner because Charlotte and her husband Tony were in British Columbia for a family reunion. It was providential that the author copies of our soon to be released book arrived on Lovella’s doorstep a few days before our scheduled dinner. The only couple missing from our dinner party was Betty and John from Steinbach.

Marg and Judy got together ahead of our dinner and planned what we would be eating. They decided to ask us to bring dishes that are featured in our new book. The table setting was focused on the theme of our new book with small loaves of bread and jam that Judy made for each of us, stalks of wheat and kernels of wheat on the table.

Marg and Judy got together ahead of our dinner and planned what we would be eating. They decided to ask us to bring dishes that are featured in our new book. Marg’s John barbecued a beautiful cut of beef for all of us.

When we were done with dinner we opened the box of books together so we could all see it for the first time.

Bread for the Journey is a book of devotionals and stories of how our families journeyed (escaped) out of Russia. There are several recipes included, too. The above photo is not my photo and I’m not sure which of the girls took it. Thanks to whoever did (Anneliese?)

It was fun to get our hands on it and peek inside.

We strolled out to the wheat field to take some more photos. We thought the wheat was a good photo op for our book called Bread for the Journey.

We gathered around the fire to enjoy our desserts.

Our new book is set to be released August 2nd. On August 3rd we are having a book signing at the new Mennonite Heritage Museum in Abbotsford.

You feed your loved ones. But how do you nourish your soul?

Strengthen your relationship with God. Savor everyday moments. Deepen your faith. In this heartfelt book of meditations for women, the bestselling authors of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook series serve as friends and companions on your spiritual journey. The 90 daily devotionals provide morsels for inspiration and reflection, all drawn from God’s unending promises in Scripture. Interspersed throughout the devotional are favorite recipes, inviting us to extend our tables and share God’s blessing with others.

My Five thankfuls for Five on Friday with Amy and Friday’s Fave Five with Susanne are…

A wonderful gathering of friend’s brought together because of similar life journeys, a delicious meal to share together, a new book to be released with our author royalties again going to help widows and orphans, that Charlotte and Tony could be at our celebration all the way from Manitoba, that our book arrived just in time for the dinner that was planned in honor of Charlotte and Tony being in British Columbia so that we could all see it for the first time together. Lovella sent a book to Betty in Steinbach to open the same time we opened up the box. God is good.

Click over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook to see some more details on our book launch in Abbotsford.

Some Sizzling News…

Click over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook to see my recipe for these delicious meatballs to make an Italian meatball sandwich with!

And check out some exciting news on a one act play, Mennonite Girls Can Cook, inspired by our blog and cookbooks premiering in September in Shipshewana, Indiana and Sugarcreek, Ohio.

A Lovely End to May…

On Tuesday May 31st I headed out early driving north to Canada to meet up with four of the Mennonite Girls and one of our favorite bloggers from Ontario, Canada.

We met at a beautiful park and Kathy put together a lovely spread for us to enjoy.

Scones, fresh fruit, jams and clotted cream plus cookies.

Rosella from Rhubarb and Roses blog has been faithful with comments on the MGCC blog and our personal blogs, too.

How apropos to meet at a park with beautiful roses in bloom at Gwynne Vaughan Park in Chilliwack, B.C.

I came home with some yummy gifts from Rosella and another gift from Anneliese’s daughter who is home on furlough from mission in Indonesia. The trivet from Indonesia is perfect on my current tablecloth. Soon we’ll enjoy the Ontario pure maple syrup from Rosella on Dear’s Swedish pancakes. Thank you Rosella! Thank you Julene! Thank you Kathy for organizing this lovely visit. Thank you Lovella for driving from your place to the park.

My 2 hour drive north and 2 hour drive south was uneventful and easy because of free flow of traffic and great weather. The border crossings were quick with no waits at all. I even made it home in time for Dear and my regular Tequila Tuesday at our local Mexican Restaurant.

Friday the 13th!

So happy I’m not superstitious. I still have to share 5 more hats I’ve worn or am wearing but my creative juices aren’t flowing these days but rather they are dribbling. I’ll get back to those hats at a later Friday. So here are five favorites from this past week.

#1. Mother’s Day brunch with my kids that are on this side of the mountains.

#2. A few hours with these girls on Tuesday in Canada. The tall blond on the left that you probably don’t recognize is a writer who is writing a play about the Mennonite Girls Can Cook that will be staged later this year in Indiana and possibly Ohio.

#3. Lovella opened up her home for our meeting with the writer and cranked up her oven to treat us to coffee and these delicious rhubarb rolls for our morning coffee time. Delicious!

Then Lovella and the B.C. girls that were free to come for lunch offered up these delicious salads and other goodies.

#4. Our new book is in the works and we got a preview on what it is going to look like. I’ll share more about this soon.

#5. Today (Thursday) Dear and I worked outside mowing and weed whacking and then we brought down our deck furniture and set it out for the season.

We are thankfully heading into a quiet weekend. We have been processing lots of emotional things this week in our extended family and quiet is good to look forward to. Of course we know that just because we think it will be quiet doesn’t guarantee it. The other thing we know is that God is in control of everything that is allowed into our lives.

I’m linking up with Five on Friday with Amy at Love Made My Home and with Friday’s Fave Five with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Mennonite Girls Can Cook

M is for the Mennonite Girls Can Cook! I am one of the ten girls who have a blog we collaborate on to post a recipe a day and a devotional on Sundays. That blog is called Mennonite Girls Can Cook. We also have two published cook books, Mennonite Girls Can Cook and Mennonite Girls Can Cook Celebrations. Both of these books are available on Amazon.

Anneliese, Judy, Lovella, Kathy, Bev, Betty, Ellen, Julie, Charlotte, and Marg.

Sometimes my meme buddies think that MGCC is my blog and all the recipes are mine because of my blogger comment link that will take you straight to MGCC. If your blog has the (name/url) option to click on when I comment everything works great for memes because I can put in the url that will take you straight to my ABC Wednesday post, etc. My personal blog is The Happy Wonderer, ellen b. but blogger/google has hijacked me and will send you straight to the MGCC blog if you click on my comment name when I don’t have another option in commenting. Does that make sense? Enough of that…back to the Mennonite Girls.

In 2010 all ten of us got together for the very first time to sign the contract for our first cookbook. Nine Canadians and one American, me. The nine Canadians hail from Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Winnipeg and Steinbach.

Here we are with our first cookbook in hand. It’s easy for me to get together with the girls from British Columbia and we cherish the few times all 10 of us can be together since Betty and Charlotte are over 2200 miles away from us. Along our cookbook journey we’ve had some fun book signings at farm markets, 10,000 Villages, bookstores and more…

Barnes and Noble in Bellingham and Ten Thousand Villages in Vancouver.

We’ve also done cooking demonstrations at the West Coast Women’s Show, Lepp Farm Market, Mennonite Relief Sales and on Global T.V.

In July of 2012 we signed a contract for our second book “Celebrations” which would be released in Spring of 2013.

Since this book was first published the cover has changed.

The West Coast girls traveled to Manitoba for book signings at several locations around Winnipeg and Steinbach so Charlotte and Betty were our hostesses for this great trip. I drove up to Abbotsford, B.C. to hop on a plane with the west coast girls for this trip to Winnipeg.

I never dreamed blogging would bring this whole new world of Mennonites and Cookbooks into my life. This journey started with me contributing some recipes to the newly formed Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog that was inspired by a Paska Post on Lovella’s blog. Because the girls and I have family recipes that are very similar I was invited to be one of the contributors on the newly formed Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog even though I am not Mennonite. The ten of us remained faithful to the blog and soon a publisher came knocking at our door. Beyond publishing and blogging we have formed lifetime friendships with each other. The girls call me their adopted American cousin.

It’s not just the girls who enjoy our times together. Our husbands get to come along for the ride, too. We get together for events that have nothing to do with our cooking blog, too, but there is always good food to be eaten whenever we gather together!!

All this fun has not stopped yet because in August we will be published again with a smaller Devotional book with some recipes included.

I’m linking up to ABC Wednesday started by Mrs. Nesbitt and carried on by the masterful Roger and the ABC team. Thank you!

Super Lunar New Year!

We had a fun celebration on Super Sunday starting with a exhilarating church service. Two of our pastors squared off with a sermon duel with the theme of finishing strong. Quarter one was about Solomon and his varied appetites that kept him from finishing strong. Quarter two was about Moses and his anger that kept him from finishing strong. Quarter three was about Judas and his greed that kept him from finishing strong. Quarter four was about Jesus and although it seemed that He wouldn’t finish strong because of his crucifixion he rose again to victory over death and sin. In order for us to finish strong we need to follow Him. There were penalties thrown and commercials in between quarters, a half time show, and Bibles with football binding given out to kids in the end zone after touchdowns! In the end and maybe a bit prophetic Pastor Alexander with the help of his stand in after his injury on the field (sprained tonsils), pastor Goetze, edged out Pastor Wolfgang for the win.

We came home pumped up and started a few preparations for our Super Lunar New Year Bowl party.

It was fun to gather up goods to set a Chinese New Year themed table for our party. This inspiration started in January while I visited San Francisco’s Chinatown with an old friend of mine.

These three wine covers were the instigators for the table. A large variety of these were offered for sale in every shop Alice and I went into on our visit to Chinatown. I kept handling them but walking away. Finally in the last shop we visited my resistance was depleted and I bought these three. Look at those little hats with the braid attached! They were only $1.99 each!

Now I was in search of more items to complete my table and room decor. There are several large Asian stores around our area and I went to one where I found the Lucky pockets, candy, almond cookies and fortune cookies.

The lanterns, dragons, plates and napkins came from a party store.

Before hand I queried each of our guests for the party about their favorite Chinese take out dish. We ordered each of these dishes and picked them up just before our planned start time. This take out idea really made hosting the party easy peasy. We heated up the Panko shrimp from the frozen section at Costco that went real well with sweet chili sauce. We would recommend it if you ever need an appetizer for a party.

The one thing I prepared from scratch for our party was this Egg Flower Soup. You can click over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook to get the easy recipe today!

Happy New Year to all our Asian friends who are celebrating today!

Raclette and the Mennonite Girls…

ra·clette (rä-klĕt’) noun

1.a dish, of Swiss origin, similar to a fondue, consisting of melted cheese traditionally served on boiled potatoes and accompanied with pickles

Raclette is a Swiss Cheese dish that has been popular for centuries. There are different opinions about who started it. Some say shepherds in the mountains, other say it was the grape harvesters in the vineyards of the Valais region of Switzerland. No matter who, the fact is that after a hard days work, they gathered around a campfire and enjoyed a Raclette.

Everybody agrees, that it took place in the Valais region of Switzerland and that the original cheese was made there.

Raclette has more than one definition. Raclette is a Swiss cheese dish, a cultural land mark, the name of a cheese, a table top appliance, a dining experience, a great time!

This past Friday Dear and I joined the British Columbia Mennonite Girls for an early Christmas Raclette party at Bev and Harv’s beautiful home in Chilliwack. For most of us it was our first experience enjoying this type of meal where meat, cheese, vegetables, and pickled accompaniments are provided but each individual is responsible to cook and melt their choices for themselves on an electric Raclette grill.

We had thinly sliced and marinated flank steak, shrimp, sausage, jack and cheddar cheese (instead of the raclette cheese), mushrooms, broccoli, peppers, scallions, dill pickles, baby gherkins, pickled onions and of course the boiled potatoes and fresh baked french bread.

But…first things first.

We all sat down in the Russian style with the men together on one end of the great huge table and the girls on the other end!

Instructions were given on how to use the grill and melt the cheese. We sang Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow for our Grace and the new culinary adventure began.

We started with a delicious salad that Bev put together for all of us, greens, pineapple, beets, goat cheese and nuts with a homemade dressing that was so bright and delicious.

Anneliese baked the bread for our evening.

My messy plate full before I scraped the cheese onto my bread.

There was lots of busy fun around the whole table.

We had to make room for two desserts, too. This one was a delicious gluten free caramel cake that Julie baked.

And Anneliese made a Beautiful Black Cherry chocolate trifle.

We ended the evening with our gift exchange. A wonderful variety of thoughtful gifts were opened and enjoyed.

The celebrations went late and Dear and I were happy that Judy and Elmer provided us with a room for the night. When we woke up on Saturday morning we were served a delicious breakfast before we hit the road for the U.S.A. on Saturday. It was another hearty and hardy experience for us with our Mennonite friends!

As soon as we crossed the line from Canada into the U.S. I turned my phone back on and researched where we could buy a Raclette! We’re still celebrating at our house as today is our 41st Anniversary. I’ll share our anniversary celebrations later in the week…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site. All my photos that I stored and uploaded from that site are now big ugly black and grey boxes with a message to pay big bucks to get them restored to my blog. It will take me a long time to restore thousands of posts.

Promises Kept…

This recipe has been around the block a few times and I finally tried it and served my extended family this for dessert last Friday. I’m not saying who but one of my guests went back for a second serving. This recipe is enough for probably 16 and would be a nice alternative for Pumpkin Pie at Thanksgiving…

The recipe is on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog today. Click over and enjoy. I’d like to wish our Canadian friends a very Happy Thanksgiving weekend coming up!

The card in the background is of a still life Dear’s Aunt put together for this photo card. She’s an artist and usually paints but enjoyed this still life photo shoot. The recipe for the Pumpkin Surprise was on the back of the card and I tweaked the recipe just a bit.

We are a bit foggy and gloomy today. I’m hoping to get out for a wee drive somewhere with Dear since there is no construction going on again today. He did just construct me a breakfast burrito. He’s a keeper for lots of reasons…

Have a wonderful October day!

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Mennonite Girls Can Cook