The Past Few Weeks

I admit, it has been a while since I've last written a post, and tomorrow we hop on a plane to Columbus for a couple of weeks over Thanksgiving.

A few weeks ago, we went to Dyrham Park, a National Trust property about 20 minutes from our flat. It was just a nice way to spend a Friday afternoon, see the countryside around us and spend time together.

We took a drive over to Cardiff to visit Chakri and Karin Dussa and their daughter Anusha who were in town for 5 days while Chakri attended a conference in Northern Wales. We know them from MICC in Munich, but they now live in Prien on Chiemsee in Germany. It was nice to spend the day with them and catch up. We went to a pub called "The Traveller's Rest" for lunch.

This week, we were in Preston from Monday through Thursday, because Jeff had training for work. I got to go along for the ride and enjoy seeing friends. Tuesday evening we went to dinner with David and Sharon Palmer, Colin and Gill Cluskey, and Richard and Liz Laird.

David and Sharon Palmer

Colin and Gill Cluskey

Liz and Richard Laird

On Wednesday, I drove down to Manchester to meet an acquaintance, Maike, for lunch. She and I were each other's contacts when I worked for Sixt. She works for Travel Jigsaw in Manchester. I also got to meet others who I also worked with. Before meeting with Maike, I had a stoll through the Christmas market! It was quite international with people selling items and food from countries such as France, Germany, Spain and Belgium. At least I got to smell Gluehwein and smell bratwursts cooking away on a giant grill.

A Few of Our Favourite Hymns

While I was singing in church on Sunday, I thought of adding a few of our favourite hymns to the blog to share with you. Many times my eyes have filled with tears while singing these songs. "In Christ Alone" and "Be Thou My Vision" are my favourite, not only for the songs themselves, but for the words. Each are so meaningful and I feel I can truly glorify God with them. Both of these songs were also sung at our wedding. "And Can It Be" is Jeff's favourite. I'm not sure that "From the Inside Out" can be considered a hymn, nevertheless, I'm including it as one of my favourite.

In Christ Alone by Stuart Townend
Listen to this song by clicking here.

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

Be Thou My Vision, Irish Folk Song
Listen to it here.

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
be all else but naught to me, save that thou art;
be thou my best thought in the day and the night,
both waking and sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word,
be thou ever with me, and I with thee Lord;
be thou my great Father, and I thy true son;
be thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.

Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight;
be thou my whole armor, be thou my true might;
be thou my soul's shelter, be thou my strong tower:
O raise thou me heavenward, great Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise:
be thou mine inheritance now and always;
be thou and thou only the first in my heart;
O Sovereign of heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of heaven, thou heaven's bright sun,
O grant me its joys after victory is won;
great Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be thou my vision, O Ruler of all.

And Can It Be by Charles Wesley, 1738
Listen to this song here.

And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood!
Died he for me? who caused his pain!

For me? who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

'Tis mystery all: th' Immortal dies!
Who can explore his strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
to sound the depths of love divine.
'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
let angel minds inquire no more.
'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
let angel minds inquire no more.

He left his Father's throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
emptied himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam's helpless race.
'Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!
'Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
fast bound in sin and nature's night;
thine eye diffused a quickening ray;
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
my chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in him, is mine;
alive in him, my living Head,
and clothed in righteousness divine,
bold I approach th' eternal throne,
and claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th' eternal throne,
and claim the crown, through Christ my own.

From the Inside Out, Hillsong
Listen to it here.

A thousand times I've failed
Still your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in your grace

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
my heart and my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Your will above all else, my purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
In my heart, in my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise
From the inside out Lord, my soul cries out

Days Out with Friends

A couple of weekends ago, Jeff and I drove up to Cheltenham, just north of Gloucester, to visit the Gilchrist famiy - Kevin and Christina, and their daughters Grace, Rose and Pearl. Kevin is a friend of Jeff's from university, and Christina is from California. We've been trying to spend as much time with them before their big move to Kansas City within a month or so.

They took us on a walking tour of Cheltenham. This is quite a "posh" town where royals, celebrities and other posh people send their kids to school. There are many Victorian-style buildings and houses, as well as small boutiques and cafes.

A week ago today, I got to spend the afternoon with Ally and Jane. Jane was over visiting Ally and Paul from Belfast. I met Jane during our trip to Scotland in March, and again in Belfast in July when the Ardverike group got together for dinner. Ally wanted to take us to a cute village that has a good tea house. "Sounds good to me!", I said. So, we drove to Marlborough, which is about an hour southeast from here. Ally was right... the village was cute and the tea house was good.
We were only there for a couple of hours, but it was fun to spend time with Ally and Jane and to see a new place!

The Big Apple Festival

On Saturday, we drove about an hour north of Bristol to a village called Much Marcle, near Hereford where the Big Apple Festival was taking place. The festival is "a harvestime celebration of English apples and cider in the Herefordshire parishes of the Marcle Ridge."Our day began at Westons English Ciders where we enjoyed a coffee and tea in the cafe before the tour of the Cider Mill. Westons also produces perry, which is like cider, but made from perry pears.
The tour guide explained the traditional way to produce cider (alcoholic). The apples would be put into a large circular trough, and a large stone wheel would be rolled along the trough, thus squishing the apples. The apple pulp would then be put into muslin cloth and squeezed by a press. The juice would then flow into a bucket in front of the press.
Once the demand for cider increased, the mechanized presses were used; the one below was used until 1999!
Although Westons has its own orchards, most of the apples are brought in from orchards up to a 40-mile radius from the cider mill. All types of apples are dumped into the huge baths to be washed.The cider is still fermented in HUGE, multi-story oak barrels as you can see in the background. These are the three oldest barrels, which date back to the late 1800's and are still in use!
After the tour, we drove to Awnells farm nearby. We got to meet Daniel the Hereford bull and other Hereford cows.

I told the cows to say "cheese"... little joke.

We then walked through the farm's orchard, picked a couple of apples, though they weren't too nice.
Here I am picking a perry pear; it wasn't very nice either. We looked for a partridge in the pear tree, but didn't see one... okay, another wee joke.

At the back of the orchard was a hedge of blackberry bushes! Of course, I helped myself to those as well!
Our next stop was St. Batholomew's church. There were a few vendors inside, so I bought a jar each of homemade raspberry jam and chutney and also a little pumpkin.
We climbed up 50-odd stairs to the middle of the bell tower and were given the chance to ring the bells!
Not only were there hundreds of years-old grave stones, but also this rather large tree.

We enjoyed the Big Apple Festival along with the beautiful weather and scenery and look forward to exploring more of the area once we move up to Gloucester.

Golden, Sweet Cornbread

I want to share with you our favorite recipes, and this is definitely one of them! I adapted this recipe from another recipe I found on All Recipes; I've simply reduced the amount of oil and sugar in the recipe so it's a bit healthier. This recipe couldn't be simpler. We love to eat this with my chili, which I'll post the next time I make it. We ate it the other night with baked salmon and veggies. Enjoy!

Golden, Sweet Cornbread

Serves 8

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal or dry polenta
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray or lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

A Day of Cheese in Cardiff - 26 Sept.

The weekend before last, Jeff and I drove over to Cardiff in Wales for the Great British Cheese Festival. This was my first time to Wales, so I was quite excited!

The Cheese Festival took place at the Cardiff Castle. We arrived just as the first visitors were being let in, but saved touring the castle for another day.














The main attraction was the large tent containing "Britian's Biggest Cheese Market, where you can buy over 400 different cheeses, meet over 100 British & Irish cheese makers, taste the strongest cheese in Britain or try this year’s new kids on the block."
Each producer set out multiple plates of each of their cheeses. We could sample as many different kinds of cheese as we wanted. It amazed us how different each kind of cheese tasted, looked and felt from each producer.

Not only were the cheeses different from one producer to the next, but there were also similar, yet different, cheeses from the same producer! One producer, called Quickes Traditional Ltd., offered the following Cheddar cheeses: "Traditional Mature Cheddar", "Traditional Extra Mature Cheddar", "Traditional Mild Cheddar", "Traditional Vintage Cheddar", "Traditional Unpasteurised Cheddar", "Traditional Oak Smoked Cheddar" and "Traditional Cheddar with Herbs".
Of course, there weren't only Cheddar cheeses, but also blue cheeses, Red Leicester, Double Gloucester, goats cheeses, Welsh Caerphilly, cheeses with chutney, dried fruit, onion, garlic and herbs, Brie, hard cheeses, soft cheeses, and spreadable cheeses.

We ended up purchasing the following 6 cheeses:
"Blacksticks Blue": a soft and creamy amber coloured blue veined cheese, handmade in the heart of Lancashire by the Butlers family using local cows milk.
"Dorset Red" from Ford Farm: handmade & matured on the Dorset Coast, a hard English aged cheese naturally smoked over oak chips.
"Innkeepers Choice - Mature Cheddar Cheese with Pickled Onions & Chives".
"Real Yorkshire Wensleydale" from the Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes.
"Real Yorkshire Wensleydale with Ginger".
"Real Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries": the 'crammed berry' cheese.

The men were competing in the cheese tossing championship. The object of the game was to see how far the pairs could toss a large log of cheese. Each time the partner caught the log of cheese, he would take a step back. When the cheese hit the ground, their turn was over and the referee measured the distance between the partners.














In the afternoon, we took two classes at the "School For Big Cheeses". The first class was titled "Science of the Ploughman". We compared the flavor of 5 different Cheddar cheeses to 5 accompaniments: pickled onion, bread, apple, chutney and tomato. The accompaniment brought out different flavors from each cheese.



















The second class we took was called "Singing the Blues" - Steve Peace, cheese maker at Carmarthenshire Cheese, has created several award-winning Blues himself and has gathered together 10 new and traditional British blues to demonstrate their extraordinary diversity and complexity. A unique opportunity for Blue cheese lovers.














We compared 10 different blue cheeses, including a Stilton, a goats cheese and an unpasteurized cheese. We were given huge hunks of cheese, simply too much to consume in one sitting! The "teacher" explained that the process of making blue cheese is different than that of 'normal' cheese and that there is actually mold throughout blue cheese, not just in the blue veins of the cheese.














We are not cheese connoisseurs by any means, but we thoroughly enjoyed the day and have had our fill of cheese for the year... or maybe two!

A Day in Oxford - 19 Sept.

A couple of weekends ago, Ally and Paul invited us to a cookout at Paul's parents' house near Oxford. We gladly accepted the invitation and took the opportunity to visit Oxford... and what a lovely place it is! The University of Oxford is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world (according to Wikipedia) and is made up of 38 colleges. Jeff's sister, Sharon, attended St. Hilda's College.

Our day started out with my first attempt at making a full English breakfast: a fried egg, tomato, sausages, bacon, baked beans and an English muffin, and of course, HP sauce to top things off. Usually cooked mushrooms would also be added, but I didn't have any in the fridge.


This is the Radcliffe Camera which houses the Radcliffe Science Library.

We continued walking around the university, seeing impressive architecture and beautiful parks.