Feast of Thomas potpourri

Now in French, 'pourri,' means rotten so I have always been amused that those sweet cachets of lavender and other flowers have morphed into potpourri. In any event, here is my mixture on the feast day of Thomas, apostle and best known as doubter.

I have quasi been living mentally in Paris (as I did so many years ago), having just bought a fabulous and dense book on the Parisian Métro system (Mark Ovdenden, Paris Underground: The Maps, Stations, and Design of the Métro, Penguin, 2009. It has more maps than one can imagine, an exhaustive history of the creation of the Métro and all manner of trivia... in other words, perfect for a Métro fanatique but probably dull to anyone else. It makes me pull out my Plan de Paris par Arrondissement et Communes de Banlieue... published by A. LeConte. My copy (a burgundy coloured hardback book) is so battered that it is held together by packing tape but now that that tape is 32 years old, it has come unstuck. Even Parisians use this sort of book to get around so I did not feel as though I screamed out, 'tourist,' when I pulled it out of my cartable (bookbag/briefcase). The sad thing I now realise is that I can no longer read some of the fine, fine print (about 4 pt) for many streets. Aïe. I could move back to Paris in a heartbeat (no secret really).

So as I walk through the day, thinking of the solstice of so long ago, je pense à la belle Paris. Perhaps my thinking goes there because I hung in my home office this photograph I took 32 years ago today at about 15h00 up by the l'Arc de Triomphe.

Meanwhile, it was fitting on this feast day first to talk with a college student, totally unchurched, who is doing an anthropology paper on the Episcopal rite of Holy Eucharist. She was FULL of questions because she has absolutely no starting place as a point of reference. In some ways, it is easier talking with someone who hasn't been biased by all the sick theology out there. We spent 90 minutes exploring her questions and raising more. I won't presume that this initial conversation will result in a church-goer but one always can hope.

After her, came talking with the mother of a ten year-old who sings with the Treble Choir of our church. This child wants to be baptised — she saw how her friend, also the same age, also in the choir, was baptised on All Saints' Day so she wants to be, too. We'll welcome her into Christ's body on the Sunday of the Baptism of Christ, 10 January. The mother wanted to know if I spent a lot of time talking about the devil. No. She was relieved.

Home, rowing in a new place. It was so hot in the room where I had it (the room is overheated because it is over the garage and it can get up to 76 degrees which is outrageous; the rest of the house is 60, the temperature at which I keep the thermostat) that I couldn't row. And it just didn't feel right. Last week I dragged the erg into my study and although that inclusion has raised havoc with the organisation of this room, it feels right. So here's the new landscape as I row away. I will make the 100K challenge this year but not the 200K… kind of wimping out but at least I am attempting.


Here is what is in front of me... totally inspiring... two printers and a whole lot of paper but at least I can pretend I am rowing to El Salvador.


Meanwhile, I can look over at the mess on my desk and think of all the work I have to do while considering the photo of the l'Arc de Triomphe, Esther's cross, the certificate I received when I became Canon Missioner in El Salvador and some Guatemalan telas. What the photo does not show is that Young Guy was sitting on my chair, hidden by the computer.

My reward for rowing was fooling around in the kitchen. Try this out as a recipe (it's a variation on 'Fiery Chicken Vindaloo':

skinned chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cayenne pepper
5 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp curry paste
2/3 cup olive oil
small potatoes (as many as you want)

To save time on this recipe which wants you to simmer all the ingredients for an hour, I grilled the chicken and boiled the potatoes first and then threw them into the above mixture. I added in tomatoes, and then let the whole mess simmer for 20 minutes. It is not hot by my standards but the flavouring is good. Next time I will add in some more peppers; I only put in one dried serrano pepper.

Later some feline fotos.