This month I did a better job of planning meals to help us remember and celebrate the saints' feast days. Planning being the operative word; sometimes we wound up skipping those meals, or they got shuffled to other days. But at least we're taking steps in that direction! We did manage to make a few of the planned meals, and those nights we definitely did take note of the saint whose day we were celebrating, so I'm hoping I'll do a better job of actually making these meals happen in September!
(Today being the commemoration of the beheading of St John the Baptist, I'm slightly afraid to do a Google search for other people's meal ideas. Thankfully I'm off the hook for dinner prep at all tonight, because Matt is working late!)
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August 14: St Maximillian Kolbe.
The plan was to have polska kielbasa and pierogi, but as I went to put the sausages in the pan, I discovered that I'd thawed bratwurst instead. Close enough!
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August 23: St Rose of Lima.
For my nameday, Matt grilled chicken breasts stuffed with Swiss cheese and coarsely-diced garlic. He added hickory chips to the coals to give the chicken a smoky flavor, and it was amazing! Not exactly Peruvian, but making a nice dinner on a day of the week that we normally don't put that much effort into cooking certainly helped to make the day special.
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August 26: Our Lady of Częstochowa.
This has always been one of my favorite images and stories of Our Lady: the miraculous image received the two scars on her cheek when Hussites tried to steal the icon in the 1400s, and she saved the Jasna Góra monestary from invading Swedes in the 1600s. We did manage to thaw the Polish sausage this time, and enjoyed it with some Bavarian sauerkraut because I'm apparently incapable of keeping German food out of my Polish menus.
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I've been away from the Lower 48 for long enough that it's surreal to talk to my siblings at college in Ohio and hear about their weather. August is the hottest month there, and they are complaining about 80s and high humidity while in the same breath being grateful that it's not over 100 F. It's so weird; I was wearing a sweater yesterday. There is a frost warning for the next couple of nights, and we aren't really expecting to see the thermometer hit 60 degrees (above zero, at least!) for the next eight or nine months. I love these cool, crisp days we've been having, light rain, actual wind, the birches outside our bedroom window turning golden leaf by leaf. Maybe—okay, most likely—I'll be missing Ohio in October or November when they have cool weather and pretty trees, but right now I'm sure glad to be here instead!
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What is your favorite fall drink? We have been enjoying the apple cider Matt accidentally brought home last week instead of apple juice! I picked up a small tin of hot cocoa mix at the grocery store earlier this week, too, but haven't made any yet for Little Bear.
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Behold, Cinderella in athletic socks. Good to know my fun shoes see the light of day every once and a while...
Your meals look delicious, especially the stuffed chicken! Yum!! And Poles eat a lot of cabbage, so maybe the sauerkraut was ok? :) Haluski would've been better. Yummm!
ReplyDeleteI love hot spiced apple cider in the fall! Yummm! (chances are fairly high there will be some at Elizabeth's baptism reception) And hard apple cider. :) That's always something we treat ourselves to. I've never been into the pumpkin lattes that are so popular. I even have tried making my own. It's eh. I guess I think fall = apples.