Category Archives: Mennonite Girls Can Cook

Party Crashers!

It seems as though every time the 10 Mennonite Girls Can Cook get together these two party crashers show up!

They always have a lot to say.

They made hints that we slighted them and ignored them while they were traveling through Chilliwack on the train. They claim they saw us and waved and we ignored them.

They travel with the latest “Herald” magazine in hand and always have a loaf of bread with them.

It is quite uncanny that they can find our gatherings no matter how remote…

 We always enjoy their brief appearances!

I’m beginning to wonder if they are long lost relatives of our own Kathy and Marg…

I Never Dreamed…

…”Mongolia” could come to your own backyard. The Mongolian Grill guy and his sweet wife came to Marg and John’s lovely yard to prepare a fun meal for all of us.

The grill is the Mongolian Guys own creation and the men folk were very interested to see how it was put together. The grill surface is a saw blade re-purposed for cooking on. You push down on a pedal with your foot to turn the saw blade. Reminded me of a sewing machine pedal.

Rocks played a big role for our outdoor meal, too. Different sized and shaped rocks helped to identify whose bowl of goodies dumped on the grill belonged to who. That lovely pile beside the big rock was my meat and veggie choice. I’ll show you the choices of veggies and meat and sauces we had after I show you the other role the rocks played…

Thankfully on this warm evening there was a very nice breeze so the rocks were stationed strategically to hold down the table linens! The wind also kept some mosquitoes at bay.

Marg thought of everything in creating a wonderful atmosphere for our evening meal together.

Her “appy” table was filled with yummy spreads and salsas and Rainier cherries.

When the grill was hot and ready to go we got our instructions on filling our bowls with our choices of veggies, nuts, seeds, hard noodles, and raw meats. I chose celery, bean sprouts, baby corn, zucchini, water chestnuts, almonds, and beef.

Now it was time to pick the sauce…

I picked the lemon ginger soy and headed out to the grill.

I fought my way to the front and dumped my bowl of goodies on the grill.

The “Grill Guy” did the rest and it was cooked to perfection. You can see why I picked the large rock to identify my portion. There was no missing it for sure!

After the grill was shut down it was time to set the island for dessert!

“Many hands make light work”

Thank you Marg and John for an unforgettable evening.

More to come…

Back in the U.S.A.

Oh the fun we packed into our time together in Canada. This shot of the MGCC was taken at Marg’s house on Wednesday night. It’s always quite special when the 10 of us can get together. Not an easy feat for sure.

On Thursday morning I said goodbye to Canada and was welcomed back into the U.S.A. with a smiling Border Agent who told me to have a nice day.

On Saturday I’m headed to Canada again to a meeting at the MCC Conference in Vancouver. Pretty soon I’ll be speaking Canadian…eh!

Hope you all have a nice day, too!

A First For Me…

On Thursday morning I boarded a plane to Fresno, Ca. to meet up with Lovella, Anneliese and Judy to attend the MCC West Coast Mennonite Relief Sale and Auction.

Mennonite Central Committee was established in 1920 to provide relief for hungry families in southern Russia. Since then it has sent food, clothing, medical supplies and more to suffering people around the world. MCC works in partnership with local churches, community associations, government agencies and international organizations. All is done in the name of Christ.

Local farmers donated some of their crops of raisins and almonds to sell. Pies were baked from scratch with fresh ingredients from the area to raise money. Apricot, Rhubarb, Boysenberry, Peach, Cherry and Apple pies were tempting us all day long. Handcrafted cheese and jams were also available for sale. Frozen Vareniki and German Sausage was sold frozen by the dozen.

Hundreds of people gathered on the main campus of Fresno Pacific University to bid on handmade quilts and other hand made items.

A variety of ethnic foods were available for purchase including many Mennonite favorites like Zwieback, Borscht,  Vareniki and Portzelky.

Vareniki with a meat sauce and German sausage. Pluma Moos is in the bowl (a cold fruit soup).

So what were the Mennonite Girls doing while they were in Fresno at the sale?

First off we were being amazed at the downpour of rain on Friday. The out of the ordinary deluge put a damper on the beginning of the sale with many events being cancelled and others brought indoors. We presented our story on Friday night and signed books for anyone who was willing to brave the flooding streets and soggy grounds.

On Saturday morning things looked brighter and we had a very good turnout for our cooking demonstration.

We demonstrated another Mennonite favorite called Rollkuchen and served it with watermelon which is a classic summer treat.

We met many wonderful people and were treated so kindly by the couple who coordinates the event and makes it run smoothly. Kevin and his wife Rose were amazing. In the midst of everything they were in charge of they made us feel like we were their top priority. How they pulled that off put us in awe of their work ethic and dedication to this volunteer job. This is Kevin’s wife Rose with us along with their extended family. Rose made the aprons for all the girls in her family. Here’s Kevin introducing us to the crowd in the auction hall.

We were blown away when some of our books were auctioned off for a direct donation to the Good Shepherd Shelter in the Ukraine (a MCC project). One participant bid $1000 for a book. At least $2000 was raised for our Green House Project at the Good Shepherd Shelter.

We also had so much fun talking to people who came to our table to get their books signed.

My friend and cousin by marriage lives in the area and I got to spend some time with her. She and I were Home Economics Majors at Cal State L.A. and became good friends and then she married my cousin. One of my good friends from our former Seattle church texted her cousin’s family who live in Fresno and told them to make sure to look me up at the sale. It was so much fun to meet them.

When we weren’t busy at the sale we had some good brain storming times for some future obligations. We also had time to enjoy some good meals out. We all were on the same plane from Fresno to Seattle and sat together and debriefed. I left the girls when we touched down in Seattle and they rushed off to catch their connecting flight to Vancouver.

It was a rewarding 4 days and we are thankful to God for our safe travels in the air and on the ground in Fresno, especially during the rain storms that flooded many streets in the Fresno area. Here’s a photo Lovella took from the car on Friday on the flooded streets! Judy from My Front Porch has a wonderful recap with a great flood shot, too. One more recap to share with you. Here’s Anneliese’s story…

I’m adding some of the other girls photos to my post so I have them all here together for my memory of this event.

It’s good to be back home again. After Dear picked me up from the airport we headed north to La Conner for lunch and some time at the tulip festival. I’ll show those photos later.

I’m linking up with Mary for Mosaic Monday. I hope to be around soon to see what everyone has been up to.

A Treat For You…

Head over to MGCC Blog to get the recipe for these date balls. They can be made gluten free if you use the new Gluten Free Rice Krispies. Enjoy!

We are busy doing the last minute fresh food shopping for our all day event before the Wedding. Andrew is flying in tonight and Katie is more excited about seeing him than she is for the wedding on Sunday! Life is rich!

2 more days!

FFF ~ Food, Friends, Fun

Friday is here and it’s time to join Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to share our favorites from this past week.

Uno ~ Oh my what is it about clean windows that make me happy. Makes me want to stop and sing “I can see clearly now, the rain is gone…” Dear washed the windows in our new spare room (formerly Katie’s room). I want to sing every time I walk in there. Since it is the new office, too, and I was going to see the Tax man this week, I had a lot of time in there enjoying the clear views.

Dos ~ A good long walk with one of my walking buddies. We had a stretch of beautiful dry days up here in the Pacific Northwest and that made the walk even more pleasant.

Tres ~ Experimenting with foccacia bread to make a pizza sandwich. It was interesting flipping it to get both sides of the bread nicely baked. Even though the experiment isn’t something I’d be too keen on trying again it was real tasty and satisfying as a meal! The thing we didn’t like was how hard it was to eat without all the innerds squirting out.

Cuatro ~ On Sunday and the reason for all my Spanish numbering this week we were invited to a party by our favorite waitress at the Mexican restaurant we frequent. We were honored that she’d even think to invite us and more honored when we got to the party and we were the only fluent English speaking people there except for her 20 year old son. Everyone made sure we were comfortable and had enough to eat and drink. Her son kept us in the loop explaining who everyone was. Her parents are visiting from Mexico for 2 months and one of her nieces was being baptized that day so this was a party in honor of that occasion. A Mariachi band came later and that’s when all the dancing and singing started. Such suave dancing with twirls and steps and turns with smooth transitions. It was kind of like watching dancing with the stars.

Cinco ~ Decorating a little for Valentine’s Day and  Chocolate Fondue! If you’d like to see the recipe hop over to Mennontie Girls Can Cook! It’s a good treat to serve for Valentine’s Day!

Our weekend looks pretty free and laid back. Hope your weekend is relaxing and rejuvenating!