Dinner Time

What's your meal time like? Does everyone gather around the table to eat or do they pick up their  plate and go to their room? With life becoming busier and hectic, the art of dinner time is becoming lost. At my house, we all sit down at the dinner table, even if we're busy. On Sundays, we have a pretty long dinner. I don't know if it's because my family and I are tired at the end of the day on Sundays, but we eat slowly and also enjoy conversations.

Did you know that Children who do not eat dinner with their families are 60% more likely to use alcohol, tobacco and/or illegal drugs? And children who eat dinner with their families are 20% less likely to drink, smoke or use illegal drugs.   


So, there's a whole bunch of positive things that can happen when a family sits down for dinner as a family. Eating together encourages communication. Sitting down for a family meal can provide a real quality time . Serve a meal that everyone will love and make dinner time fun and everyone will be looking forward to eating with the family. 

As I've said earlier, Sunday dinners are a bit different. I cook a fairly big meal, just last Sunday I cooked some mashed potatoes, broth blanched brocollis, spring salad, cauliflower soup and meatloaf. I'll share the recipe for the meatloaf.


Meatloaf

Ingredients
3 slices white bread
1 large carrot, roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
½ medium onion roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, smashed
½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, loosely packed
½ cup plus 3 tablespoons ketchup
4½ teaspoon dry mustard
8 ounces ground pork
8 ounces ground veal
8 ounces ground round
2 large eggs, beaten
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon hot sauce
½ teaspoon chopped rosemary
2 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small red onion, cut into ¼inch-thick rings


Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Remove crusts from bread; place slices in the bowl of a food processor. Process until fine crumbs form, about 10 seconds. Transfer to a mixing bowl.


2. Place carrot, celery, onion, garlic, and parsley in the bowl of the food processor. Process until vegetables are minced, about 30 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl once of twice. Transfer vegetables to bowl with bread crumbs.


3. Add ½ cup ketchup, 2 teaspoons dry mustard, the pork, veal, beef, eggs, salt, pepper, hot sauce, and rosemary. Using your hands, knead the ingredients just until throughly combined. about a minute. Co not over knead; doing so will result in a heavy and dense loaf. The texture should be wet, but light enough to hold a free-form shape.


4. Set a wire baking rack in a 12 x 17-inch baking pan. Cut 5 x 11-inch parchment paper, and place over the center of the rack to prevent the meat from falling through. Using your hands, form elongated load covering the parchment.


5. Place the remaining 3 tablespoons ketchup, the remaining 2½ teaspoons mustard, and the brown sugar in a bowl. Mix until smooth. Using a pastry brush, generously brush the glaze over the loaf. Place the olive oil in a medium saucepan set over high heat. When the oil is almost smoking, ass the red onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and golden in places. Add 3 tablespoons water and cook stirring until most of the water has evaporated. Sprinkle the onion over the meatloaf.


6. Bake for about 55 minutes until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of the loaf reads 160ºF. Let the meat loaf cool on the rack, about 15 minutes. Serve.

My Adorable Nieces

Just made a collage of my adorable nieces. I miss them~

Flower of the Week / 今週の花

Japanese Snowbell

Styrax japonica

Japanese Snowbell Styrax japonica, native to China & Japan – Perfect white bell-shape flowers with light fragrance nod gracefully along the branches in May. Dark green leaves about 2” long turn yellow before dropping in autumn. Decorative green fruit follows flowers into summer. The overall shape is upright and pyramidal with horizontal side branches, making a nice canopy. I bought Pink Chimes this year, so I'm excited to see it flower this year.

Pink Chimes

エゴノキ

日本、朝鮮半島、中国などに分布する落葉性の高木です。日本では北海道の一部～南西諸島まで幅広く分布しており、山野の雑木林などでごく当たり前に見かけます。

5～6月になると、葉の付け根あたりから花茎を伸ばして可憐な白い花を下向きに咲かせます。満開時期は枝が花で埋まるほどたくさん咲かせます。また、初夏の日射しが花にあたると透き通るような白さがさらに増し、新緑とのコントラストもよく、下から見上げるととてもきれいです。花の後には長さ1cmくらいの丸い卵形の果実を付けます。

基本種の花色は白ですが、桃色の花を咲かせる’ピンクチャイム（通称アカバナエゴノキ）’という園芸品種があり、庭木として利用されています。エゴノキの名前は果実を口に含むとえぐ味がある（えごい）ところに由来し、果実には有毒のサポニンが含まれています。

Snow...

I haven't been updating for a while... sorry. Things have been pretty busy and I'm trying to get organized on what to post. Anyways, it snowed a lot last week, so uploading the pics. Will update more soon.

Think Outside the Chocolate Box!

It's almost Valentine's Day, some of you may be thinking about Valentine's Day plans. Have you grown bored giving or receiving boxed chocolate? Why not try something new this year for Valentine's Day, like an elegant and delicious chocolate raspberry mousse cake. Your Valentine will enjoy a sweet treat not only for the taste-buds, but also for the eyes.

Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake

Ingredients

BTW, St. Valentine is...

By the way, Saint Valentine is patron saint of affianced couples, against fainting, bee keepers, betrothed couples, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greeting card manufacturers, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers, young people,

Almost Valentine's Day もうすぐバレンタイン

Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs, Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 500 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance is still permitted. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.


Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae) and Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae). Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome, and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.


Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni (Basilica di San Valentino).


The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a third saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, but nothing more is known about him.


No romantic elements are present in the original early medieval biographies of either of these martyrs. By the time a Saint Valentine became linked to romance in the 14th century, distinctions between Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni were utterly lost.


In the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feastday of Saint Valentine on February 14 was removed from the General Roman Calendar and relegated to particular (local or even national) calendars for the following reason: "Though the memorial of Saint Valentine is ancient, it is left to particular calendars, since, apart from his name, nothing is known of Saint Valentine except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14. The feast day is still celebrated in Balzan (Malta) where relics of the saint are claimed to be found, and also throughout the world by Traditionalist Catholics who follow the older, pre-Second Vatican Council calendar.


バレンタインデー あるいはセントバレンタインズデー（St. Valentine's Day）は、2 月14日に祝われ、世界各地で男女の愛の誓いの日とされる。もともと、269年にローマ皇帝の迫害下で殉教した聖ウァレンティヌス（テルニのバレンタイン）に由来する記念日であるとされているが、これは主に西方教会の広がる地域における伝承である。聖ウァレンティヌスを崇敬する正教会の広がる地域では、西欧文化の影響を受けるまでこのような習慣はなかった。

バレンタインデーの歴史は、ローマ帝国の時代にさかのぼるとされる。当時、ローマでは、2月14日は女神ユノの祝日だった。ユノはすべての神の女王であり、家庭と結婚の神でもある。翌2月15日は、豊年を祈願する（清めの祭りでもある）ルペルカリア祭の始まる日であった。当時若い男たちと娘たちは生活が別だった。祭りの前日、娘たちは紙に名前を書いた札を桶の中に入れることになっていた。翌日、男たちは桶から札を1枚ひいた。ひいた男と札の名の娘は、祭りの間パートナーとして一緒にいることと定められていた。そして多くのパートナーたちはそのまま恋に落ち、そして結婚した。


ローマ帝国皇帝クラウディウス2世は、愛する人を故郷に残した兵士がいると士気が下がるという理由で、ローマでの兵士の婚姻を禁止したといわれている。キリスト教司祭だったウァレンティヌス（バレンタイン）は秘密に兵士を結婚させたが、捕らえられ、処刑されたとされる。処刑の日は、ユノの祭日であり、ルペルカリア祭の前日である2月14日があえて選ばれた。ウァレンティヌスはルペルカリア祭に捧げる生贄とされたという。このためキリスト教徒にとっても、この日は祭日となり、恋人たちの日となったというのが一般論である。


上述の逸話には歴史的背景の説明が必要である。初期のローマ教会は、当時の祭事から異教の要素を排除しようと努力した跡がみられる。ルペルカリア祭は排除すべきだが、ただ禁止しても反発を招くだけであったため、教会にはこの祭りに何かキリスト教に由来する理由をつける必要があった。そこで兵士の結婚のために殉教したとされるバレンタイン司教の助けを借りることにしたと考えられる。こうしてキリスト教以前からあったルペルカリア祭は、バレンタイン由来の祭りであると解釈を変更され、祭りはその後も続いた。前述のくじ引きでパートナーを選ぶ話も、ローマの宗教行事は野蛮であるという印象を与えるために初期キリスト教会によって創作されたものである可能性もある。


カトリック教会においては、第2バチカン公会議後の典礼改革で、史実の上で実在が明らかでない聖人たちが典礼暦から整理された際に、 2月14日のウァレンティヌスの記念日は取り除かれた。このため現在、カトリック教会では公式には祝日として祝われていない。事実、聖バレンタインに関する伝説は複数あり、没年が異なっていたり、細部が異なっていたりするものが複数伝えられているため、ウァレンティヌス自身の信憑性は低い。

Flower of the Week / 今週のお花

Monkshood 

Monkshood, also known as Wolfsbane, Leopard's Bane, Women's Bane, Devil's Helmet or Blue Rocket, Aconitum is a genus  of flowering plant  belonging to the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). These species are natives of mountainous regions throughout the northern hemisphere and are members of the Buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. They have held important status as medicinal plants among some early peoples but, most famously, the sap of Aconitum has been used as an arrow poison by early hunters. There are over 250 species of Aconitum.

The roots of Aconitum ferox supply the Nepalese poison called bikh, bish, or nabee. It contains large quantities of the alkaloid pseudaconitine, which is a deadly poison. Aconitum palmatum yields another of the bikh poisons. The root of Aconitum luridum, of the Himalaya, is said to be as poisonous as that of A. ferox or A. napellus.
 

Several species of Aconitum have been used as arrow poisons. The Minaro in Ladakh use A. napellus on their arrows to hunt ibex, while the Ainu  in Japan used a species of Aconitum to hunt bear. The Chinese also used Aconitum poisons both for hunting and for warfare.
 

The most common plant in this genus, Aconitum napellus (the Common Monkshood) was considered in the past to be of therapeutic and of toxicological importance. Its roots have occasionally been mistaken for horseradish. When touched to one's lip, the juice of the aconite root produces a feeling of numbness and tingling. This plant is used as a food plant by some Lepidoptera  species including Dot Moth, The Engrailed, Mouse Moth, Wormwood Pug, and Yellow-tail.

Floriography - Beware, A Deadly Foe is Near, 

トリカブト

トリカブト（鳥兜・学名Aconitum）は、キンポウゲ科トリカブト属の総称。日本には約30種自生している。 花の色は紫色の他、白、黄色、ピンク色など。多くは多年草である。沢筋などの比較的湿気の多い場所を好む。

塊根を乾したものは漢方薬や毒として用いられ、附子（生薬名は「ぶし」、毒に使うときは「ぶす」）または烏頭（うず）と呼ばれる）。ドクゼリ、ドクウツギと並んで日本三大有毒植物の一つとされる[1]。

トリカブトの名の由来は、花が古来の衣装である鳥兜・烏帽子に似ているからとも、鶏の鶏冠（とさか）に似ているからとも言われる。英名は「僧侶のフード（かぶりもの）」の意。

花言葉 - 美しい輝き, 厭世家, 人嫌い, 復讐, 騎士道, 栄光