Wednesday I spent lots of the day baking. The Brown Sugar Rhubarb Muffins were good [since you asked ;) ] ; I think they would have been better with fresher rhubarb (a-hem), and more of it. Before I started mixing it up, I didn’t check how many the recipe makes! 20!! Eek! So since I’d been wanting to make poppy seed bread for a while, I mixed that up (super-easy recipe) and baked it, too. Jeremy had been invited to be the guest speaker at the campus ministry’s Wednesday Praise tonight, so after a quick call to Jesse (campus minister) to confirm how many college kids might be in attendance, I made up baked-goods bags for everyone! I really like doing stuff like that; it seems to be an appreciated and fairly unique gift ... possibly since there aren't as many people baking at home these days...? Also on Wednesday, we prepped a plate of Valentine’s Day sugar cookies (and one of the plethora of muffins) to take over to Wayne. We got to visit with Wayne about 30 minutes and then drove over to meet Jesse at his house … to follow him to campus so he could help us a.) know where to park, and b.) find the building in which the classroom was located where Wednesday Praise is held. I think I have not been on a university campus in something like seven years, I realized.
There were 12 college students at Wednesday Praise. For a campus ministry that has been successful for a while, 12 isn’t very much. However, this campus ministry has suffered greatly in recent years, so Jesse started out his tenure as campus minister with 4 students. Typical get-togethers are now averaging between 15 and 18 (A few were out of town last Wednesday.)!! One young man we have met twice now (Lock-in was the other occasion) is a Muslim who decided he wanted to learn about Jesus. (blink, blink) Amazing.
The other kitchen work I had to do on Wednesday involved prepping for a meal and a half to be eaten in the car. We had the second half of our lunch on the way to Wayne’s; then, since Wednesday Praise starts at 7:30 (We had to be there by 7.), and goes 90 minutes, there was no other time for us to eat our supper except in the car on the (long) ride home. Argh…. Lots of thinking and prep go into meals that have to be eaten on the run….
Arriving on the UA campus at 7:00 when there were 30 minutes still before Wednesday Praise started, gave the children and me half an hour to explore while Jeremy and Jesse got the room and electronics all set up. N, J, and I walked all out and around the building. It was four stories high, with some inside and some outside flights of stairs, with balconies to overlook the campus. [I haven’t done four flights of stairs in a row in a llllong time and my quads were TELLING me about it!! lol] We got to touch palm fronds because there is a palm tree planted in a landscaped area on the bottom level that grows very close to one of the balconies of the second level. There is also an interesting piece of art just to the south of the building. I was so pleased I remembered the camera; I’d planned to take pictures after Wednesday Praise, but I took the following two pictures of the sculpture and the batteries died, kaput. argh
Now, before I explain what happened next I have to give a tiny explanation. A young man about our age who has not been attending services for a long time (details upon request) has begun attending again. It’s actually a really interesting story, just one I can’t post online…. Anyway, he is into video games, so when he found out that Jeremy is too, this guy loaned Jeremy one of his movies, Final Fantasy VII (I think), the movie…? Jeremy decided to watch it on his laptop in bed while winding down on Wednesday night, so since his love language is Quality Time, and I was ready to wind down as well, I attempted to watch that movie with him. Shockingly, I fell asleep and stayed asleep. Jeremy woke me enough to ask me if I wanted him to put the dogs to bed. I was so thankful he was willing to!!!!!!!! So, that turned out to be an early night for me! Yay! I must have NEEDED it.
Thursday, Valentine’s Day, was fun in this house. Jeremy had the day off, so in the morning he took Justus to town with him and they came back with flowers for Natasha and me!! Jeremy placed the dozen multi-colored roses he bought for me (gasp!) all through the house like a trail of bread crumbs for me to find when I got out of my shower. It was really nice!! Natasha's flowers are called "Pom-poms".
Here is Jeremy's "picture flipper", a photo I've been meaning to post, at request, for ... a long time.
The rest of Thursday passed in a blur as we just took care of house stuff and prepared for our weekly Bible study in the Balderrama home. We had two errands to run before we got there, so we ended up leaving even earlier than usual. Woah, though, we had a more-fun-than-usual time with them, since we took our Guitar Hero controller so we could do co-ops and battles, since they have the game and their own controller too. I’d replaced the camera’s batteries by then, so I do have pictures of that … which I will post later this week.
A funny from J. I was taking food out of the oven at the same moment Justus dropped a spherical shiny, silver magnet, which bounced into the crack where the oven door attaches. Justus was extremely concerned as we tried to locate it. When we didn’t immediately find it, J became resigned. “Oh well,” he said, “I guess it’s gonna get baked!”
I decided to share the Poppy Seed recipe. It is completely unique. I have never liked anything “poppy seed” I’ve ever had because I had this first and nothing holds a candle. People take a bite and are shocked that they actually like something “poppy seed”. This recipe is as indispensable as Tisha’s Banana Bread recipe, seriously (well, IMO). It’s totally simple, the glaze is a cinch, and it freezes GREAT, so if you don’t want to/can’t bake a fresh, unique breakfast (for example, for company), just pull a loaf out of the freezer the night before and your baking is done (learned this trick from Mom … credit where credit is due)!! I haven’t yet tried making it substituting in some whole wheat. That will be an experiment for a different day. A funny thing that happened at Wednesday praise is that Joanna (whom I would greatly enjoy writing an entire paragraph about!!) was H-U-N-G-R-Y at the end of Wednesday Praise when the treat bags were being passed out. She dug right into hers, and then started raiding everyone else’s bags for their Poppy Seed Bread! lol Since most poppy seed bread isn’t worth the poppy seeds in it, everyone was happy to give her theirs and she was chowing down. LOL so funny.
Poppy Seed Bread
Makes 2 loaves, Freezes great
3 c. flour
2 ¼ c. sugar (may reduce to at least 1 ¾ c.)
1 ½ t. salt
1 ½ t. baking powder
2 ½ T poppy seeds
1 ½ c. milk
1 1/8 c. oil
3 eggs
1 ½ t. vanilla
1 ½ t. almond extract
1 ½ t. butter flavoring (Find it at the grocery store by the vanilla/extracts.)
Beat ingredients together for 2 minutes.
Pour into greased & floured 9x5x3” (large size) bread pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Glaze:
¼ c. orange juice
¾ c. powdered sugar
½ t. vanilla
½ t. almond extract
½ t. butter flavoring
Pour over bread while still warm in pan; leave until cool.
To freeze, wrap in foil before sealing in a freezer-quality plastic zip bag.
4 comments:
What beautiful flowers! Thanks too for the picure-flipper picture and all the pictures!
I already have and appreciate the poppy seed bread recipe. Wonder why! We were RAISED on that stuff - well, only when we had company. So, yea, we were raised on it.
I can't wait to try the poppy seed bread. It does sound good and I usually like that kind of thing (if made right!) As for the rhubarb muffins, I have found that most recipes don't have enough rhubarb.
Glad to hear about the college kids since that is where we are putting our energy. I wish we could get more energy/enthusiasim in that area of work! (Coming from Laramie which is very active, once or twice a week is just not enough!)
The campus ministry here, when my brother began attending/participating, was only a group of about three or four. Brent was taken on to boost it back up. Most all his work there was focusing attention on a group of about 12 devoted students to be group leaders. This worked so well, his training them to be knowledgeable, WELCOMING, inviting, INITIATING (the hardest goal in this culture where parents write their children's papers for them)... that when he left for other employment, there were about eighty students weekly. This does not include MANY others throughout the week. It took a few years. Tell him to hang in there.
Thank you for the recipe! What a blessing for you to bake for everyone!
And good job Jeremy! Good man.
And Justus' story about baking magnets was really very fun. Would a magnet be as effective afterwards, do you think?
We're loving you all!
BEAUTIFUL flowers!!! For both of you! :)
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