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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Weekend DIY

'Tis the season of goodbyes. Last Sunday afternoon there was a tea for the Bransfords and the Riches, with a combined years of service something like 60. Jacqui and Sue created a spread fit for a magazine from local fabrics and flowers, and everyone contributed homemade cookies and fruit. Yesterday Jack's 8th grade class had their celebration, a rite of passage to high school. No catering, no restaurants, so here you see many parents and students in the RVA school cafeteria kitchen (an impressive facility, pretty new, my first time behind the scenes) doing food prep. We served salads, breads, a main course of grilled beef fillet, linguine alfredo, and parmesean tomato. Then for dessert . . I did mousse duty with Jacqui, creating 50 mousses from local chocolate bars, cream, and eggs. I had never made it before but by the time we worked our way through four double recipes I got the hang of it. Jack at his table, wearing Scott's tux jacket from college over his best shirt (we didn't really get the formal aspect until the last minute). The kids did a drama and Jack was the star of act 3, a talent I suspect we'll see more of in the future. After kitchen duty in the afternoon, I worked as a server in the evening. I did leave a little early to get home by 8 for the birthday dinner Scott and Luke had cooked me! DIY celebrations. Caleb was on choir tour all weekend--here is a preview shot from church last week. He is not yet back from the third straight day of going to schools, churches, slums. They are presenting a drama based on Job, with music. DIY entertainment and enrichment. Caleb's class party: all the girls got to choose (somewhat athletically, like a major capture-the-flag week-long contest where the girls trap boys and tie a scarf on them) a boy to be their costume partner. Caleb's was pretty fun and benign, as Mr. and Mrs. Santa, pictured here with Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. DIY costumes. The latest on the pizza oven, Scott with the kids, enjoying the project and the time together. DIY pizza, someday. Tomorrow we have another goodbye party . . . and everyone is supposed to bring lasagna. So here is DIY lasagna in process. Ricotta made two nights in a row from two days' worth of fresh milk, tomato sauce made from scratch this afternoon, pasta made by hand, and local sausage and cheese. Rolling out the pasta. The pictures are from my phone, which explains the low quality . . . and I do not include the approximately 16 hours spent in the hospital Sat and Sun (so far) . . including middle of the night last night . . . DIY doctoring. One of the challenges of missions is that if you want it, you have to make it. It's also one of the joys.

1 comment:

Nohemi Tutterrow said...

Nice! You must’ve been glad to see how your family helped each other to build your own brick oven. Your son looks so happy and proud of their work! :D I already know the wonderful treat you gave to them after they finished it. Hmm, what else, but a super scrumptious pizza! :D