Cookies!

We Gathered.

We huddled, prepared, and watched.

All hands in!

These hands made Lovella’s Nanaimo Bars, Marg’s Tee Gebaeck-Linzer Cookies, Anneliese’s Peppermint Cookies, Judy’s Peppernuts/Pfeffernuesse, Julie’s Chocolate Chocolate Gluten Free Cookies, Bev’s Honey Cookies. We also served appetizers (Red Pepper Jelly tarts, Judy’s Christmas Tree cheese board, Lepp’s prepared platters of cured meats, and Marg’s Apple Spiced Cider that was posted on the blog yesterday)

Each baker had her time in the spotlight!

Work continued out of the spotlight.

Judy had her own personal sous chef.

Even though I didn’t bake any of the cookies I got to stir!

I watched and smiled because for a change I brought along my own personal photographer. Note to sassy looking self standing behind Lovella: When you are behind the scenes and someone is taking photos you should always remember your weird expressions will get caught on film.

Favorite moment of the night…laughing about Anneliese’s good old pans!

When everything was said and done each guest at the cooking class got to take home one of these beautiful baskets of cookies the the girls had prepared ahead of time! All profits from last nights cooking class will be going to Matthew’s House in Abbotsford a non-profit help to families of children with disabilities.

Lovella took this next photo of Katie, my personal photographer for the evening. It was wonderful to have a traveling companion for the 200 mile round trip to the cooking class.

I managed to get one photo of my personal photographer before the class when we stopped for tea at Clayburn Village Candy shop where we had a lovely meal and we shared sticky toffee pudding for sweets before the sweets!

Dear and I are headed North again today. I’ll share more tomorrow on our adventure. I’m real happy someone else will be doing the driving the next couple of days.

Hope you all are enjoying some sweet moments in the bustle of this joyful time of year! Blessings…

In the Kitchen…

…at the West Coast Women’s Show in Abbotsford, B.C.

After the Kitchen Demonstration on Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, Grilled Lattice Topped Apples, and French bread (all from our new cookbook, Celebrations) We headed back to the Winks Booth at the show.

I was happy that our daughter Katie was able to make the drive with me this time to Canada. It really makes the time go by faster when you have a traveling companion.

Before we headed to the show we stopped in at Lovella’s and she had a lovely table set for us and served us Roasted Butternut soup with homemade buns. Delicious. Then we even got a cranberry scone to top it off. Thank you Lovella. We appreciated your hospitality!

Today (Saturday) the girls will be demonstrating 5 different things to make from biscuit dough at noon in the Kitchen theater at the show. Make sure you stop by if you are in Abbotsford!

We are getting things ready at this old house for a little reunion of some of our daughter’s friends from high school. Dear and I will escape upstairs to our loft after the small reunion gets started later tonight. What’s on your Saturday agenda?

Helping Hands…

…and open hearts that I am so thankful for.

On Sunday we were invited to a get together with dinner on Hatzic Lake in British Columbia. Anneliese and her dear husband put the invitation out for an end of summer celebration with any of us “girls” and our husbands that were available. So thankful for their open home and hearts for hospitality!

Dear and I were the last ones to arrive after a long wait at the border crossing. Thankfully we realized just a mile from home that we had left our passports at home and turned around to retrieve them. Sheesh…that would not have been a sad discovery if we were farther up the road.

Anneliese and her H had made preparations for us and also made sure we had everything we needed while we were there.

Such a beautiful peaceful setting to enjoy time together.

Thankful hands received all that was prepared for us to enjoy starting with appetizers.

Bev prepared the marinade for the salmon that her husband Harv caught and then prepared on his smoker grill for us. So thankful for these generous and helpful hands that are always ready to serve us.

Judy and her dear husband Elmer just home from a trip East brought the famous and fresh Chilliwack corn for us all to enjoy. So thankful for these hands that are always open to blessing me with a place to stay when I come to B.C.

Anneliese prepared several side dishes for us to enjoy with the salmon. Thankful for her generous hands.

I am so thankful for friends that speak my love language of enjoying food together and their hands that don’t tire in preparing dishes for us to enjoy.

We enjoyed the meal together after we sang “Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow”

Our canopy at the dinner table was a beautiful very old Walnut Tree.

We enjoyed several different trees during our time together…

This is an interesting tree that has fallen over but is still producing fruit. Julie wrote a great post about it and if you click here you can read it.

Who knew this swing would be a temptation to our group?

Anneliese and Judy got us going enjoying the tire swing that one of the large trees supported. You can see more fun on the tire swing at Lovella’s blog post.

The fire was lit just before we sat down to enjoy dessert that Lovella’s and Julie’s hands prepared for us.

Lovella made a delicious Coconut Cream Pie.

Julie made her Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake from the cookbook (gluten free, of course!) Rich and Yummy!

Just before we left to cross the line back to the U.S. Dear and I took a short turn on the tire swing, too.

On the road back to the border we were able to enjoy a double rainbow reminding us again of God’s goodness to us.

We had 2 long border crossing wait times this time around but it was worth the time to enjoy these cherished moments with our “Canadian Cousins”.

A Surprise…

I had no idea of the scope of the Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach. When we pulled up in front I still didn’t realize what was waiting to explore within and beyond the museum building. For this post I’ll just share the Center and the Museum with our signing photos and in another post I’ll share the Village and the Barn Restaurant where we enjoyed some heritage food.

The Village Centre contains the main exhibit telling the Mennonite story from the 1500s to the present.

The whole time we were in the center signing books there was a steady stream of elementary students arriving in school buses to have a tour of the center and village.

The Museum gift shop had a great collection of Mennonite books and they had our cover aprons from our first cookbook for sale in different fabric patterns.

A walk through the museum took you on a time line of the migration of the Mennonite People over the years. There were many great photos and items from Russia in the museum.

Even though I am not Mennonite these photos could have been a photo of my relatives from Russia. They look so similar to the few photos we have from our ancestors in Russia.

Kathy’s cousins came to the center and it was fun to take this photo with Kathy holding her cousin’s Draft Horse Calendar that is sold in the Heritage gift shop.

It was fun to meet Jeanine from The Baking Beauties who is actually only one baking beauty right now. She has a great Gluten Free Baking sight and you can click over to check it out. She’s in the middle in the back row.

When we were done with our signing slot we headed out the back doors of the center and I was pleasantly surprised with the sites I saw. I will share more in my next post.

We are busy now working on options for easily storing some of our larger pieces of furniture while we have all of our floors replaced. We are having it done in two stages and will be moving things in and out for the hardwood floors first and then following up with the carpeting. We are still trying to choose the color and pile we want on the carpeting. Everything you do opens up the door to more things that need to be done. Any big projects at your house?

At the Villages

During our short time in Winnipeg and Steinbach we had book signings in 3 different Ten Thousand Villages. Each one of the stores served food that the staff prepared from our cookbook. If you aren’t familiar with Ten Thousand Villages here is a short description of who they are.

TEN THOUSAND VILLAGES

A Fair Trade Retailer We create opportunities for artisans in developing countries to earn income by bringing their products and stories to our markets through long-term, fair trading relationships.

You might want to have something to eat before you scroll through this post. Just thought I’d give you fair warning..

At two of the stores we ended up right next to the jewelry. I ended up coming home with 4 pieces of jewelry. That was good marketing for sure.

Have you shopped in a Ten Thousand Villages store? This was the store in Steinbach. Our last 2 signings of our days in Manitoba were at 2 different Ten Thousand Villages in Winnipeg.

This time we were right across from the jewelery instead of sitting in front of the jewelery. At this store we met many people who had connections to some of our own girls. This was TTV Henderson.

A little guy was my favorite fan for sure. He was so interested in getting one of our books and being able to enjoy some of the recipes. He never left our table even when his sister next to him found toys to play with in the store. He was more interested in making sure he got a book from us.

He watched each of us intently to make sure we signed the book just right. It was so much fun to talk to him.

Our next signing would be at the larger Ten Thousand Villages in Winnipeg but before we headed there we were invited to lunch at Margaret’s home who is Charlotte’s cousin. She was working at the store the whole time we were signing and left just minutes before we did but still had a wonderful table and food ready for us at her home nearby

We had a wonderful time at Margaret’s table, thank you so much! This was the first time that I had Obst Moos (a cold fruit soup) and it was delicious. Margaret said she followed Charlotte’s recipe in our first cookbook. From here we went to our last signing in Winnipeg (TTV Plaza Dr.) where more dishes from our cookbook were served.

Genevieve made my Dear’s Tomato Rice Soup and it was delicious. I wish I would have thought to take a photo of sweet Genevieve next to the soup. By this time my head was spinning from all the fun! I still have a couple more adventures to document from the Mennonite Girls trip to Manitoba.

In the meantime my Dear is back from France and we spent a nice Father’s Day at church and brunch and then enjoying some relaxation as each of our kids called to wish him a Happy Father’s Day. We’ll celebrate next weekend with our kids who are near. On Saturday to help the hours go by before Dear came home my sister Lana and I went on a Secret Garden Tour in a neighboring city. We had a great time and I’ll be sharing about that soon, too. Hope you had a nice weekend. Spring is coming to an end. What are your plans for the last week of Spring?

Welcome Here!

Everywhere we went in Canada I was struck with this greeting “Welcome Here”. It’s not a greeting used across the board in the U.S.A. but I’d love to start using it at my house. This post is about the places were were “welcomed here” apart from our book signing locations. I’ve already shared about Charlotte’s home and our wonderful lunch there.

We were also treated to a wonderful meal at the home of Betty’s sister, Norma. What fun we had as Norma’s dear husband served us the meal she planned and prepared. (The Photo above is from our Women Refreshed at the Well Lodgings)

Jack and Norma

A lovely table set for all of us with appetizers before our main meal began.

Not only did Jack serve us but he also washed up all the dishes while we had dessert in the Sun Porch. A great example of a servant that we are all called to be…

All Eight of us tried to trick Norma into giving us the recipe for this delicious pasta dish she made but she held her ground and kept her secret…so far. Time will tell if we can replicate it!

We were going to take these great little pudding/yogurt pies home with us to have at our retreat center but it turned out that we had time enough to eat them in the Sun Porch. Delicious! Aren’t they packaged nicely? That little pouch on the side is granola.

We were so glad to be able to spend time with Betty’s sister and Jack. Thank you so much for welcoming us here! Aren’t these sisters beautiful!?

Dear called from France today and it was so good to hear his relaxed voice. Things are a little quiet at his conference since so many travelers were delayed because of air traffic strikes in France. He’s eaten some Octopus and a Risotto dish that he sent me photos of. He sees me take so many photos of food that it has rubbed off on him. Here’s a photo that he took just outside the conference center.

Marseille, France

Tuesday night I was able to do something that qualifies for my bucket list and I’ll be sharing the experience really soon with lots of photos.

I’m watching and praying for many of our blogging friends in areas of extreme weather and in areas where wildfires are raging. May lives be spared and damage minimal. Blessings and remember you are “Welcome Here” anytime…

Refreshed…

What a difference a good 8 hours of sleep makes. Monday was such a contrast to Sunday in body and mind. While we were in Winnipeg and Steinbach we were able to stay at Women Refreshed at the Well. The retreat center is the vision of the owner Joy who lives up to her name.

Oh here I am getting ahead of myself. I’m showing you the inside common living space before I even show you the front door but it’s hard to take a photo of the front door when you are toting in your luggage to get settled in…

It was a very welcoming door and the view as the door opened was just as welcoming.

We entered and met the owner Joy and were shown our rooms. Four of the rooms were decorated for each of the seasons.

My room was Spring which I enjoyed.

Marg was assigned to Summer and it suited her well.

Bev had the Autumn room and again I think it was just right for her.

Judy embraced her Winter room and even modeled her winter halo for us!

Lovella was assigned the Restore room with the ensuite. I think it was perfect for her.

I’m sad to say I did not take a photo of the Chapel where our Betty slept next door to me.

You can see into Betty’s room on this shot upstairs at the end of the hall through the door with what looks like blue walls..

We had some great prairie views from the windows at the retreat.

Kathy and Marg relaxed quickly and then kept us all giggling for different reasons throughout our time in the Prairies.

We were all thankful to Joy and the refreshment we were able to enjoy at her retreat center. I’ll be sharing more in another post about the wonderful food we were served, too.

I’ve been paying close attention to the Air Traffic Control strikes that are scheduled in France. Dear is traveling there as we speak and we are waiting to see if his flight might be cancelled into Marseille. Update: Dear is in Marseille. Many other conference participants were delayed in getting to the meeting so sessions this morning had to be cancelled. Maybe with his extra time he’ll be able to take some photos of the area. Time will tell.

In the meantime I’m working on emptying out some cabinets as we are getting ready for new floors to go in this old house and we have to move cabinets out of the spaces where the floors will be going in…

What’s going on in your neck of the woods as we approach Father’s Day weekend?

Traveling With Girls…

What a fun way to travel. We had a very girly time everywhere we went. Once in a while a great guy would pop in either cooking for us, organizing something for us, taking photos for us, or getting his book signed by us. We know there are lots of guys out there that love to cook and do it well!

I’ve never flown in Canada before and I enjoyed the laid back security and fun flight attendants on Westjet.

We are approaching summer fast and furious but there still is a lot of snow capped mountains in the Cascade Mountain Range. I was happy to get a glimpse of the Mighty Columbia River that flows close to where our son lives in Eastern Washington. He might have even been fishing in that river the day I flew by…

I found out real quick that for Canadians Tim Horton’s is the place to stop for a coffee and snack. We girls really made a statement early on in our traveling as 4 out of the 6 of us ended up at the wrong gate in Calgary. When we finally realized it was boarding time and nothing was happening we found out our plane had boarded everyone but the 4 of us at a different gate and we high tailed it hoping they wouldn’t leave us behind! Oye! The gate agents said “you must be the Mennonite Girls Can Cook” didn’t you hear our pages for you? We laughed and said we hadn’t heard anything on the loud speakers in the wing we were sitting in. Onward and upward we went…

After we arrived in Winnipeg Betty, her daughter Alison, and Charlotte met us to take us to our first stop. We arrived at Charlotte’s home for a wonderful meal. Charlotte’s husband Tony made us his special Campers’ Stew from page 145 in our new cookbook. Delicious! We enjoyed all the lilacs that were in bloom in Winnipeg and Steinbach and we also saw lots of rhubarb plants. This one is Charlotte’s. From lunch we would head off to our lodgings for our nights in Manitoba. I’ll share about that soon.

Today Dear is at the airport waiting for the first leg of his flight to Marseille. I hope he’s at the right gate. He just called to say that they have been alerted about an impending strike at all French airports. Double oye! Now he’ll be checking at the airport in Chicago and London to see if he should continue on or book a flight right back home. Shhhh…don’t tell but I’m really hoping he has to turn around and come home…

Traveling ThroughTime Zones…

I’m a bit dizzy headed and hope to have some clear thoughts soon to share about all the wonderful people we met and places we saw while in Winnipeg and Steinbach. We arrived from Winnipeg back to Abbotsford late on Saturday night and after a quick sleep at Judy’s I drove home to Seattle. I pulled into my garage at 6:30 a.m.

A doctored up shot of the sunrise from I-5 this morning. After a full nights sleep tonight I’ll be catching up with what I’ve missed while traveling cyber free.

Driving, Flying, Signing…

…and I’m sure we’ll be eating, too.

I wonder if these gals will be hot on our trail? We never know where they might show up.

We’ll be doing lots of this at the following locations…

Celebrations Book Launch Events

Manitoba

Eight of the Authors….

Thursday June 6
Winnipeg McNally Robinson 6-8

Friday June 7

Steinbach Heritage Museum 11-1

Steinbach Ten Thousand Villages 3-5

Saturday June 8

Ten Thousand Villages Winnipeg ~ Henderson 11-1

Ten Thousand Villages Winnipeg ~ Plaza Drive 3-5

If you live in this area, we would love to meet you!

I’ll mostly be off-line until Sunday. Hope your week ends well!

Photobucket replaced many of my photos with blurred out versions and photobucket stamped versions. They are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Mennonite Girls Can Cook