January Blizzard

Good Morning,

This week we experienced the first blizzard of the winter season. It was beautiful, and offered a bit of quiet respite, as we tucked into our homes. It was a good day to make Coq au Vin. Over the course of the afternoon, the house filled with the most wonderful aromas. It was the perfect antidote, after shoveling all that magnificent snow. You will find the recipe below.

           Paperwhite Narcissus on the Windowsill After the Storm

Coq au Vin

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil, divided

1 whole chicken cut up or 4 chicken-leg quarters (about 4 pounds)

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons black pepper

8 ounces thick bacon, cut in 1 inch slices

4 shallots, peeled and cut in half

4 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half

12 ounces of baby carrots, cut in half (the colored ones a nice option)

1 - 2 large white onions, halved and sliced

2 cups chopped celery

1 cup chopped red onion

4 springs fresh thyme

4 springs fresh rosemary

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried red pepper

2 cups Riesling

3 cups chicken broth

Fresh rosemary for garnish if desired

Preparation: 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Using a Dutch oven over medium high heat, heat 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil. Season each chicken piece on both sides with the salt and pepper, divided evenly. Place the chicken skin side down, in the Dutch oven. Brown on both sides, remove from the pan, and set aside to drain. Drain the grease from the pot when it it cool enough to handle safely.

3. Add the bacon to the Dutch oven and cook, stirring frequently until browned. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon and set aside to drain on paper towels. Discard the remaining grease.

4. Add remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pot and place heat on medium high. Add garlic, shallots, and white onions ( or cipollini onions), and cook until lightly browned, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add carrots, celery and red onion, and cook until lightly browned, stirring occasionally.

5. Add thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, red pepper, and wine. Simmer over medium-high heat, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits. Add bacon and broth. Place the chicken in the pot in a single layer. Bring mixture to a simmer over medium high heat.

6. Cover and transfer to the oven.

7. Braise chicken for 45 minutes, or until a meat thermometer registers 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest portion of the thigh. . Remove from the oven and cool slightly.

8. Transfer chicken and vegetables to a platter. Strain the sauce and place in a medium saucepan. Cook over high heat until the reduced to about 2 cups. Serve sauce with the chicken.

Enjoy!

Working Toward Forgiveness

Good Morning,

The New Year has arrived and I had been wondering about what I might want to do in the coming year. This was not quite in the realm of New Year’s resolutions, but something more akin to deciding what to work on in 2015.

Inspiration arrived while reading Anne Lamott’s latest book, Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace. Each chapter deals with a different subject. On the evening of the second day of the year, I read the chapter entitled Forgiven. This was not new ground for me. I have read quite a bit on the subject of forgiveness and have given it a great deal of thought over the years. There is a strange phenomenon that sometimes occurs when we read or hear something that had been presented before. For some reason, the content takes hold in a different way and it is processed as though it is new. This was the case with Lamott’s thoughts on forgiveness.

One of the things she said in this chapter, was that it might make sense to begin first with the little things we want to forgive. She quoted C.S. Lewis’ book, Mere Christianity, where he wrote “If we really want to learn how to forgive, perhaps we had better start with something easier than the Gestapo.” It was delivered with humor and sheer brilliance. Lamott said that not forgiving it is “like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die”.  She had provided the inspiration and now it was time for me to run with it. How, then, do we negotiate the troubled waters of forgiveness? 

I decided that my mission in the New Year is this: to, one by one, work on shifting my thinking toward the healing of old complaints. I chuckled as the thought crossed my mind to call it, ‘My Forgiveness Project of 2015’. I was aware of the reconciliation work being done in South Africa and the heroic efforts of Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, and others, to bring truth and reconciliation to the people there. I felt sure that someone had used the term The Forgiveness Project before, so I did an Internet search. I discovered a program called The Forgiveness Project, which was started by a journalist in the U. K. named Marina Cantacuzino. They have done a You Tube series of 10 panel discussions on various subjects related to forgiveness. They are doing remarkable work with victims and perpetrators. Victims of war crimes, acts of terrorism, or other crimes of violence, have been brought together with their perpetrators to promote healing. The You Tube discussions cover subjects such as: Can forgiveness repair communities? Can radical compassion win the war against violent extremism?  Do you need God to forgive?  Does knowing a person’s story make it harder to hate them? How do we deal with unresolved pain and trauma?

Recurring themes in the videos are those of trauma and dehumanization, communication and mutual forgiveness, and strategies for healing. My petty complaints are a speck of sand on the beach compared to those of these heroic individuals. Does the time we felt betrayed by a friend or colleague really count? Do our unresolved disputes with neighbors make a difference? Small and petty as these seem, I believe that this is precisely where we need to begin. What we harbor serves as a destructive force, no matter how small. These small conflicts build up and gather momentum over the course of a lifetime. Our accumulated unforgiven complaints, result in an avalanche that smothers us all.  No corner of the globe is unaffected. 

If you want to learn more about the The Forgiveness Project, go to You Tube and listen to The Forgiveness Project videos. In addition to the videos mentioned earlier here, you will find personal stories of trauma and healing. Their mission of working toward conflict resolution, reconciliation, and victim support will be evident. 

The posting on the first of January was on the necessity for hope in order for the human race to move forward.  The work being done by The Forgiveness Project serves as a hopeful reminder that change is possible.

http://theforgivenessproject.com

And So The New Year Begins

Good Morning,

The New Year arrived last night at an annual dinner party hosted by friends. They have graciously offered their home for more years than I can remember. Despite, the balmy temperatures of recent days, winter made an appearance last night with great gusto. The temperature was in the single digits and the air was dry. The wood stove in their kitchen was humming away when we arrived. It offered a hearty welcome. Somehow everyone managed to dress with a bit of sparkle. This is no easy task in New England. Our inclination is toward layers of wool, polar fleece, and gum sole boots. But for this one night, black velvet, wool gabardine, and silk scarves were donned. It gave the evening a celebratory air.

At dinner, our host posed the question; what do you hope for in the coming year? The discussion lasted well into the evening and headed off in many different directions. It encompassed the idea of ‘personal hope’ and hope for things larger than ourselves. We touched on the usual subjects of economic disparity, greed as a destructive force in society, the environment, politics, and the need for social change. Community Supported Agriculture was raised as an example of a grass roots movement that has taken form. This provided hope for many in the group. We spoke of the extraordinary young people we know who are working toward social change. Some are creating new business models that are friendlier to the workers. Others are working in agriculture, the arts, law, education, and medicine. They are bringing creativity, courage, and strength to their chosen fields.  They are our future and this gives us hope.

On a number of occasions we returned to the subject of the disempowerment of the worker across cultures. Machines replace people, a period of poor health often ends in termination, and pension plans are a thing of the past. Workers feel a sense of disrespect, despite the fact that they play an essential role in creating the product. The gap in the distribution of wealth widens. Some believe that the middle class is disappearing.

Where then, does hope lie? Where do we find the inspiration and the tenacity to work toward creative solutions in our modern world? The group sitting at our New Year’s table represented a variety of educational and professional backgrounds. There were several teachers, artists, a PhD in Philosophy, a Social Worker, a PhD in Chemistry, and a banker.  What tied us all together was a common vision. We all share a love for the arts and the belief that it can heal. We all believe in something larger than ourselves and feel a certain responsibility for others. We are all working in our various ways to create change in our world.

If I had to choose just one thing that I am hoping for in the coming year, and for every year to come, I think that it would boil down to this; that we never lose hope. Hope in itself is enough. It is at the root of life itself. It gives the human being the resiliency to recover, again and again. It gives us the ability to carry on. It promotes change and fuels creativity. It gives us a purpose and helps us to bring our dreams to fruition.

Aristotle once wrote, “Hope is a waking dream.” May we never stop dreaming.