Sabbath Meal, Week 4

Week Four

01.23.10 to 01.24.10

Evening

… still running to the market for ingredients, still determined to set the table (not so fun Saturday at 4:30!). Tonight we made totally Trader Joe’s soup: Chicken broth, a can of diced tomatoes, fresh spinach and basil, pesto tortellini and Parmesan cheese for the top. I threw a loaf of crusty bread in the oven, lit a fire in the fireplace, and called the family to the table near the couch, then caught my breath. I am pretty sure that the next hour was relaxing.

Morning

Slept in, much needed (no guilt).

Willie made fried up some potatoes and grilled onions, starchy and sweet. We had the perfect balanced Sabbath plan: A cozy family breakfast, a trip to Barnes and Noble to browse travel guides for the up and coming trip to England, maybe afternoon tea (at Starbucks? It’ll have to do…) and swing by Costco for the rest of the weekly shopping.

We were informed Hannah needed the car to teach a make-up piano lesson at 1:00 (smack in the center of the day).

Best laid plans… that's how it goes.

We sat together for breakfast and then s-c-r-a-m-b-l-e-d!

Evening

Willie BBQ’d with the boys while Hannah prepared the veggies and salt-free fries and I completed lesson plans / grades / and checked in briefly with my MFA program. Again landed at the table breathless, but together.

Thursday Morning Images

Thursday Morning

01.21.10

I ran out of baking soda at last which means… I'm baking again!

I'm no less busy... filling the (relatively) unscheduled spots with meaningful moments, maybe just recognizing that those moments exist!

First Three from Memory

01.02.10 to 01.03.10

Evening

I remember running to the market for ingredients, determined to set the table… first Saturday, first Sabbath meal. I am pretty sure I cooked, but I can’t remember what I cooked three weeks later. Evelyn was at the table. We were seven. While it was the one of the busiest Saturdays I can remember (literal here), the dinner was an enormous luxury. Leisurely. I remember the banter, smiles etched in my mind all these weeks later. I remember a cake. Hannah and Evelyn baked a cake.

Morning

I remember two things:

1. From waking up to driving home, the mood was pleasant.

2. Every so often the pastor asks us to call out hymns to sing, in between songs asks people to call out prayer and praise. A woman sitting next to her husband said she was thankful that her son is clean from drugs and alcohol for six months. Sobering.

Evening

I remember thinking that I could not remember working as hard as I was working on this Sunday­– in the midst of processing 75+ student submissions for Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards, getting ready to get back to teaching in a couple handful of hours, trying to formulate a plan to accomplish my MFA responsibilities (wondering why I volunteered to lead the January group discussion), laundry.

01.09.10 to 01.10.10

Evening

I remember running to the market for ingredients, determined to set the table… first Saturday, first Sabbath meal (yes, begins the same). Sara and Hannah cooked together in the kitchen while I, you guessed it, worked on the Sabbath. But listening to Sara and Hannah chat about music (Ear Candy was born from this conversation), knowing that dinner was coming, made the work bearable. Lemon-off-Sara’s-tree chicken, roasted Brussels sprouts with carrots and onions, mashed potatoes and butternut squash, wild salad (from a Fresh and Easy “ready” bag), and homemade caramel sauce on ice-cream for dessert. Sara was at the table. We were seven.

Morning

We didn’t make it to church. We needed to sleep. This day was consumed with more work made bearable by the promise of Sabbath pockets.

Evening

Made soup from broth that we simmered all night.

01.16.10 to 01.17.10

Liam and Tayor left for Mammoth. I think Søren stayed behind to enjoy the silence. Hannah is a responsible college student.

After six weeks of non-stop, I spent the day with Willie… camera shopping.

Evening

Søren set the table for three. We were three. Made a soup that Søren and I watched Giada prepare (I doubled the carrots and can’t imagine it with fewer).

Lemon Chicken Soup with Spaghetti

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

• 1 dried bay leaf

• 1 (2-inch) piece Parmesan cheese rind, optional

• 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch pieces

• 1 cup (about 2 1/2 ounces) spaghetti, broken into 2-inch pieces, *see Cook's Note

• 2 cups diced cooked rotisserie chicken, preferably breast meat

• 1 cup grated Romano cheese

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

• Kosher salt

Directions

In a large stockpot, bring the chicken broth, lemon juice, bay leaf, and Parmesan rind, if using, to a boil over medium-high heat.

Add the carrots and simmer until tender, about 5 to 8 minutes.

Add the broken pasta and cook until the pasta is tender, for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken and heat through, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and the Parmesan rind and discard. Stir in 1/2 of the cheese and the parsley. Season with salt, to taste. Ladle the soup into serving bowls and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

*Cook's Note: You can use any short pasta from your pantry as a substitute for spaghetti.

Morning

Did not make it to church. Got the shopping done. Went to the gym. Checked in with my MFA group, posted some comments on the discussion. Worked (as fast as I could hoping there would be time to spare to mix a palatte with Søren). Helped pack the Christmas fa la la into the red and green boxes.

Evening

Enjoyed leftover Giada soup in the living room next to a roaring pressed log fire.

And these are the events of the first three Sabbaths, to the best of my recollection.

Blue Moon 12.31.2009

12.31.2009

Once in a Blue Moon (Really)

The list was bellowing:

1. Another trip to Trader Joes

2. Begin outlining critical paper and write a poem or two

(in reality I need 4 or 6…) for MFA

3. Deal with dirty laundry… sort, wash, fold,

and practice Lamaze breathing until piles get put away

4. Format nearly 100 writing and art submissions

(at least it seems like 100) for Scholastic Arts and Writing

5. Worry about a bank account thousands of dollars in the red

due to NSF charges on $37 worth of overdrafts

6. Plan lessons and create January billing for ISP clients

8. Draft a marketing plan, outline an online journal,

and suggest web updates for collectivebanter.com

9. Dust under the bed

10. Pull out tomato plants (4 months past due)

11. Worry about children

12. Be bothered by messy drawers and missing socks

Instead I took a sabbatical this week… I think.

For the past few years, Willie and the boys have headed to the wilderness on the 27^th of December. They return on the 30^th leaving Hannah and I with a delightful dose of girl time. Historically speaking, the week between Christmas and New Year’s is tinged with melancholy. I suppose this is hyperbolic, but traditionally the week is tragically anticlimactic. What is up with that?

The 27^th began with a double feature at my mother-in-law’s­—Julie and Julia, 500 Days of Summer— a diversion to cut the edge. We ate leftover turkey dinner, and pumpkin pie and relaxed for exactly 218 minutes at which point we jumped from our seats, scraped plates, distributed hugs and stepped back into reality. The next day I spent the morning shifting the order of “To Do” items on my list while sipping tea and listening to bees hum in my hollow brain and scooted out the door as soon as Hannah woke up. I thought Century City would be a good idea, that Christmas would still be alive in that socioeconomic neck of the woods. We grabbed a $6 cup of coffee and wandered into Sherlock Holmes. Diversion #2 did not divert. I was solidly in the between week.

Once home, I peeked at the list, responded to a couple emails, returned a call to a friend who was more depressed than me (bummer), put cookies on a plate and boiled water for tea for a visit with Christian due to arrive in 10 minutes. I picked up the phone to call Sara and told Hannah to start packing. The doorbell rang. Christian and I discussed our battle wounds a bit, purposed to read about happiness, and to take a trip to the Getty. Hannah and I arrived at Sara’s just after midnight. I fell asleep starring at a glowing moon instead of QVC.

San Luis Obispo hasn’t been home for 10 years, it’s home though. I love waking up surrounded by low rolling mountains, moist and green this time year. I love that I fall right in with my friend, not a beat to spare. Our first morning began tossing around item 8 on the list while nestled in a cozy table at The Cakery off Football. (Yum.) We spent the rest of the day enjoying spontaneous beautification… haircut, shampoo, blow dry, flat iron, all the tricks of the trade! Back at Sara’s it was time to dig into item 4 and work on poetry with Evelyn. Went to bed by the light of the moon instead of an LCD.

The next morning back to item 8, an item, I am happy to report, progressed. I sensed that the bees were leaving, the brain less hollow, no longer welcoming. After a leisurely Thai dinner downtown with John and the girls, Sara and I sat at the table that Willie made out of Sara’s dad’s hickory and she began to read (God knows why) about Sabbath. The chapter is actually entitled, “Discover the Rhythms of the Daily Office and Sabbath. “ When I heard, “Reorientation,” something clicked. I’ll do it God. Sabbath for a year, and I’ll write about it. So here I am.

This morning on my way to Starbucks a cranky old cowboy honked and yelled at me out his window because I didn’t stop long enough at the sign on Orcutt. I smiled because he was right. The old cowboy was simply confirming what I decided last night, wet fleece, if you will. There are lots of things I don’t slow down for, hopefully that will change with this experiment. It’s New Year’s Eve, tonight the moon will be blue, not me.

Where it all began...