pieces and bits: the fourth week of lent

This was a wild, wild week.  Monday's weather started it all.  Snow squalls and freezing temperatures and sunshine and crazy, whistling wind.  On Wednesday, I froze at the playground.  Thursday was 70 degrees with thunderstorms. What.  I mean, it was March, but late March.  Isn't it supposed to go out like a lamb?  I spent wild Monday knitting and re-knitting part of my Sayer, taping a plastic bag over a window pane my boys broke with a dryer ball (so classy), and fielding texted pictures of the delicious pistachio toast my husband enjoyed at an upscale cafe while he waited for his car to be serviced.  At the playground on Wednesday, I was the only adult available when one of the boys in the pick-up football game broke his nose.  All of that and several more unpredictable events this week leave me afraid to ask what else the universe will be sending my way. (And praying for the strength to meet it with peace and equanimity.)

Our teens are taking part in the arts festival/competition put on by all the Greek parishes in our area. We've got one more week chock full of rehearsals.  We're working on skits in Greek and English, a liturgical choral piece, Greek dance, and choral speaking.  I direct choral speaking, which is like choir, with parts in unison, small groups, and solos, but everything is spoken.  Z and M suggested what we're working on, a mash up of the spoken bits of A Lincoln Portrait and the entire Gettysburg address.  Wow.  After months of practice, everything's finally coming together and looking and sounding fantastic.  The t-shirts they're all wearing for the performance arrived the other day. 

My brain is brimming with creative ideas right now which, given the amount of time I do NOT have for pursuing all the ideas, is a little stressful.  This book arrived last week, and I have lost several hours of cleaning to sewing quilt blocks using scraps.  Foundation piecing is my new favorite.  All the blocks are 18" x 18", and will be sewn into two big squishy quilts when I have enough of them.  For the filling I have two old Ikea duvet inserts.  I pulled them out of storage to help shape the bottom of the giant quilt basket in the living room, and M and Fr. G kept pulling them out from under all the other quilts to use.  They claim they're the best blankets we have for lounging. The duvet inserts embarrassingly yucky looking, though, so I'm working as fast as I can to cover them. 

On the menu:

~ Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff (I use part vegan butter instead of oil, flour instead of cornstarch, and add fresh dill.)
~ Maryland Crab Chowder*
~ Ramen Stir Fry with Shrimp, Charred Scallions, Green Beans, and Chili Oil

~ Crockpot Vegetable Soup (with star pasta)

~ Fried Shrimp, French Fries, and Cole Slaw (and vegan cake!) for the birthday girl, who's turning 7

* I had some random crab legs and shells left over from last week.  I boiled them with onion, carrot, and celery to make a broth, then strained out the shells.  Into the pot went Old Bay, chopped red pepper, a bag of frozen corn, and leftover roasted potatoes, along with a bag of small scallops.  It smelled to high heaven but tasted fabulous.

Some tasty bonus dishes:

My people complain that vegan food all tastes sweet.  I get it.  Meat gives everything umami.  But there are ways to boost umami without breaking the fast.  For breakfast the other morning I made fried potatoes generously sprinkled with Mushroom and Co.  BIG hit.  I should've made more.

This Cashew Queso is so good.  I typically soak my cashews overnight and use chile in adobo rather than harissa.  I also omit the garlic after the pointed comments about the chimichurri I made last week.  The "queso" is great with chips and has been my lunch staple recently.