Celebrating Jubilee: Highs and Lows

Like any vocation (or life, for that matter), The Queen's reign has been punctuated by both low and high points. Here are some of the most memorable moments over her 60 years on the throne.

Photos are courtesy of The Daily Mail, London Telegraph, Getty Images, Corbis, Zimbio, Reuters, LNP, Rex Features, and Press Association.


The music is "Walking to Shoot" by Patrick Doyle and the Third Movement Allegro from the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 6 in B flat major. A larger screen version of this video can be viewed here.

Celebrating Jubilee: The Lighter Side

The Queen may be many things, but insiders all say that she's a woman with a wicked sense of humour. A gifted mimic, well-known for her enjoyment of  minor mishaps at public events (and lively games of charades), she is known to enjoy the lighter side of life. For someone in her late 80s who has been stuck in the same job for 60 years (with no prospect of retirement), I suspect a sense of humour is a necessary thing.

Photos are courtesy of The Daily Mail, London Telegraph, Getty Images, Corbis, Zimbio, Freaking News, Rex Features, and Press Association.

The music used here is the Finale from Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens; Click here to see a larger screen version of the video.

Celebrtating Jubilee: The Modern Monarch

I find it amazing to think about how much the world has changed since the Queen began her reign 60 years ago.  The Queen has been criticized at times for remaining too traditional or old fashioned, but I think she has shown considerable adaptability to technological and social change. Is she in tune with modern times? Perhaps not completely... but she certainly is relevant and remaining relevant over 60 years is an amazing accomplishment.

The music is one of Jeff's favourite retro techno tracks- it seemed rather fitting for our part retro part modern Queen. Click here for a larger screen version.

Photos are courtesy of The Daily Mail, London Telegraph, Getty Images, Corbis, Zimbio, The Sun, Camera Press, Rex Features, Margaret Rhodes, the Earl of Snowdon, Reuters, and Press Association.

Celebrating Jubilee: Family

Because I'm behind on my Jubilee celebration posts and the actual event is happening this coming weekend, this week is going to be Jubilee week! Each day, we'll look at another aspect of the Queen's life and reign in build up to her big celebration.

We're going pick up where we left off, with Prince Philip. Family is clearly important to these two, and while their family has had more than their share of soap opera moments, they seem to be a pretty tight bunch. Beyond being monarch, we've seen glimpses of the Queen as a daughter, sister, wive, mother, grandmother, and now great-grandmother. I think it's a big part of who she is.

Here is a short but very sweet film clip of the Queen, in 1992, taking her grandchildren riding at Balmoral.

And here's some of the rest of the Queen's family. The music used in this video is Waltz No. 1 (Nunley's Carousel) by Billy Joel. A larger screen version can be seen here.

Pentecost

Each year, Pentecost Sunday comes 50 days after Easter Sunday, (hence its name) and celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus after his Ascension. Dr. Timothy Larsen, professor at Wheaton College, explains, "Pentecost is the day that the church was born. Jesus had ascended, but he sent the Spirit so that believers could have the comfort, guidance, and empowerment of God's presence."

To celebrate Pentecost today, Jeff and I have each chosen a piece of new Pentecost music that we really like. You'll notice our choices convey our very different tastes in music style, but I think this contrast makes life and worship interesting (hear that, Music Pastors?! When all church music sounds the same, that is NOT a good thing!). Just click on each song title to hear it. 

 Jeff's pick- a medieval inspired composition, Come, Holy Spirit by Christopher Tye

My pick- When Speaking Has Ceased by Craig Courtney, lyrics by Johanna Anderson

                     When speaking has ceased and the room has grown still,
                      When solitude creeps over valley and hill,
                      The Spirit of God finds a place to alight
                      And puts our vain fears and our trembling to flight.

                      O Spirit of God, fill the earth with Your joy,
                      Give voice to our song that our praise may employ
                      Your well-spring of peace to fill ev'ry bare space
                      With sweet notes of gladness and fair tones of grace.

                      When clamor and noise fill the world with their sounds,
                      When harmony flees and loud tumult abounds,
                      The Spirit of God is not driven away;
                      He quiets our heart and forever will stay.

                      O Spirit of God, rising lighter than air,
                      Lift high to the Lord all the weight of our prayers,
                      No burden we carry is ever unknown;
                      No friend of the Spirit is ever alone.

The final step

What are you doing June 14? I'm crossing a sort of finish line...

Celebrating Jubilee: Partnership

Looking at the Queen's life and accomplishments over the past 60 years, it's impossible to not include Prince Philip.... he's just always at her side. While none of us will ever know the true state of their relationship, they certainly seem to have a silent language between them and have shared more time together than most couples. Queen Elizabeth has said, on several occasions, that Britain owes Prince Philip a greater debt than anyone realizes for the amount of work he has done on behalf of the country... and while he does seem like a cantankerous fellow more often than not, they obviously have something very special between them. I think it's  quite sweet.

UPDATE: A few of you have asked about the music in this video. It's "Waltz of My Heart" by British composer Ivor Novello.

My view Wednesday

After a weekend of busy projects, we've needed a quiet week around here. This post is late getting up today, but shows the true view of my garden this morning. 

the view out my office window

Ascension Sunday

Today is the Feast of the Ascension, or Ascension Sunday. While J.S. Bach wrote several cantatas to commemorate this day, one of our favourite ascension pieces is God is Gone Up, by 20th century British composer Gerald Finzi. It's grand, celebratory and sparkling- everything one would imagine an ascension to heaven might be.

                     God is gone up with a triumphant shout: the Lord with sounding Trumpets' melodies: 

                     Sing Praise, sing Praise, sing Praise, sing Praises out, unto our King sing praise seraphicwise! 

                     Lift up your Heads, ye lasting Doors, they sing, and let the King of Glory enter in. 

                     Methinks I see Heaven's sparkling courtiers fly, in flakes of Glory down him to attend, 

                     And hear Heart-cramping notes of Melody surround his Chariot as it did ascend; 

                     Mixing their Music, making ev'ry string, more to enravish as they this tune sing.

School's out

Yesterday, we received an email.

It was a very happy email.

Jeff passed his Professional Engineering exam (the one he wrote back on April 16, after 6 months of preparation and studying) with flying colours. So, in 2012, one of us gained an MA and the other, a PEng. That means we're both done school. For good.

So how do we feel? Something like this:

My view Wednesday

Instead of posting my view from yesterday, I'm going to post our view from last Wednesday. Jeff took the day off work and we went to Thetis Island, where our nephew was graduating from Capernwray Harbour Bible School. It was our first trip to the island and, as you can see, it's really lovely. Even with a chilly wind and a few minutes of drizzle, it was a very good day.

Infographic

This graphic of Canada has been making its way around email and social media (sorry, I'm not able to cite an original source).  According to this, my old life in smog has been replaced by life as a hippie.

Thoughts, anyone?

A Cheesy post

Our life is dairy free. Jeff is quite allergic to cow's milk, so we steer clear of the stuff. Through trial and error (and google), I have come up with non dairy alternatives to most things, and Jeff now enjoys butter chicken, mac 'n cheese, nachos, pizza and ice cream as a regular part of life. Finding a non-dairy alternative for soft ricotta or paneer, however, was a challenge... until I started making cheese from scratch. It took multiple attempts to finally get it right but my perseverance paid off because this stuff is just delicious.

from... my own trial and error

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (1 lemon)

2 litres (8 cups) full fat goat milk

Juice the lemon (I usually zest it first and put the zest into bread or some other baking because I just can't bear to see it go to waste!) and set aside. Pour all of the goat milk into a heavy saucepan and cook over medium heat. It should build a slow simmer so stir it gently to keep the bottom from scorching.

The second before the milk is about to froth over the side of the pot, remove it from the heat and immediately stir in the lemon juice. Set it aside to curdle quietly by itself. Leave it completely alone for 25 minutes minutes before you disturb it.

After 25 minutes of peace and solitude, pour the separated curds,whey and water into a strainer lined with cheese cloth or a loosely woven clean dish towel. Leave it alone to drain for about two hours. Once drained, the curds will have formed a lovely lump of soft ricotta. If you want your ricotta soft (i.e. on pasta, in lasagna, or as a dip), it's now ready.

If you want a firmer ricotta (for ravioli filling, on pizza, in pancakes, on salad or sandwiches), continue draining. At this point, I replace the draining cloth with a dry one, and weigh down the cheese with a heavy object to help draw out the water. Leave for 1-2 more hours, depending on how firm you want your ricotta to be.

Ricotta, wrapped in a dry towel, and weighted down with  by a full container of margarine

There are two tricks to making perfect ricotta. The first is using fresh lemon juice. For some reason, bottled juice just doesn't curdle milk as well, so go with the real stuff. The second is leaving the milk to curdle on it's own, before straining it. Many recipes I have read suggest straining the milk immediately after pouring in the lemon juice, but it just does not work. If you leave the milk completely undisturbed to curdle, your cheese curds will be twice the size and you will have triple the amount!

For Paneer: 

Follow all the steps as above. Extend the second draining process overnight (I just throw the cheese along with whatever is weighing it down in the fridge overnight). The next day, you will have beautiful and firm paneer.

Constant care

 "He, watching over Israel, slumbers not nor sleeps" Psalm 121:4

"Shouldst thou, walking in grief, languish, He will quicken thee." Psalm 138:7 

So reads the text in a piece from one of my favourite oratorios, Elijah. The pronoun might be male, but the message is one of constant, mothering care, and it seemed especially fitting for today. 

 Happy Mother's Day to our moms (and the many other great moms we know).  

Inspiration

Celebrating Jubilee: The Casual Queen

While the Queen spends a lot of time in a tiara, it's not all glitz and glamour. She is a country girl at heart, and much of what she loves to do is tied to country life. So what does she do for fun? Here are a few things.

                              And of course- she hangs out with her corgis.

                              

There is also great interview here with Prince Philip about the Royal Windsor Horse show, which includes some footage of his great passion, carriage driving.

My view

My view yesterday was not that exciting- I spent the day writing a facilitation plan for an all-day workshop I'm leading with a small nonprofit organization this Friday. I sat at the dining room table for most of the afternoon, typing away and catching glimpses of the last of this year's camellias, picked for the visit of some friends Saturday night.

While yesterday was pretty quiet, Jeff and I are off on an exciting adventure today. I'll post photos on Monday. 

Salmon #9: Blackberry Salmon

I am WAY behind posting salmon recipes for my Great Salmon Challenge... while I continue cooking them, I'm less diligent about posting them. In an effort to get back on track, here is a new recipe. The verdict? It's not our absolute favourite (and I don't think I'll crave it the way I regularly crave these Salmon Tacos), but it was a nice change and an excellent way to combine two very local foods. A solid 7 out of 10. 

Adapted from Sunny Anderson, TV Food Network

1 cup water
12 ounces blackberries (I used frozen ones from last summer and just let them thaw)
1 (1") piece ginger, peeled and sliced into coins
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 (8 ounce) skinless salmon fillets
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine water, blackberries, ginger and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until berries break down, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and strain through a fine sieve, using the back of a spoon to smash the blackberry pulp. Return blackberry mixture to the sauce pot, add sugar and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until reduced by half (maybe a little more), about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. (**This is important. The first time I made this recipe, I only simmered the sauce about 10 minutes and it was not strong enough to stand up to the flavour of the salmon- you could barely taste it!). The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon. Remove from heat and cool.

Place salmon fillets on an oiled baking pan. Brush fillets very lightly with oil and season with salt and pepper.  Brush on half the blackberry glaze and bake at 400 degrees for 7 minutes  Brush on remaining blackberry glaze. Turn oven to broil and broil another 3 to 4 minutes or until glaze is caramelized and the salmon tests done.

You can also reserve some of the glaze to drizzle over the salmon right before serving (set it aside before your brush touches the salmon), as shown in the top photo. The extra glaze worked as a great salad dressing when I served the salmon with spring greens. 

In Bloom

The sunniest Sunday afternoon (yesterday) at our house. 

First of the lilacs 

Confidence

This week will be a busy one for us, and for me in particular. I have a few consulting things happening this week that are making me nervous... until I listen to music like this. Is there any better confidence booster?

Song 1: Nothin' Gonna Stumble (click on the title to hear it)

Song 2: This Little Light of Mine

Coconut Goodness

We share a simple soup and bread supper once a week with the other families in our care group. It's one of my favourite points of the week, and many really great conversations (with 2 year olds and 30-something year olds) have been shared around the table. It's so good to have a place to belong, contribute and grow.

When there is a birthday, we venture away from our group value of simplicity and have cake. We really like cake. A few weeks ago I made pineapple chick cupcakes to celebrate the birthday of one of our youngest members and they were very excitedly received by the birthday boy. When another young member's birthday was ready for celebration just after Easter, I decided to try out a recipe sent to me by my dear friend P (the same P I wrote about yesterday). Armed with this recipe, I  went to Google images for inspiration and came up with these.

They were a great hit, not just with the 2 year old birthday boy, but with everyone in our group. My search for dairy-free frosting options (that do not involve copious amounts of Cool Whip) has been a challenge and this is just delicious.


adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moscowitz
yield: 2 dozen cupcakes

1 can full fat coconut milk                                                        soy or almond milk

1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil                                                 2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour                                                          1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda                                                                  1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup sugar                                                                     2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 F. Shake the can of coconut milk well; open and remove 1/4 cup. Set this aside for the frosting. Pour the remaining coconut milk into a 4 cup glass measure and add soy or almond milk to measure 2 cups. Mix in the oil and vanilla and stir well to combine.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until smooth. Fold in the unsweetened coconut. Fill muffin cups about two-thirds full and bake for 20 to 30 mins; the cupcakes should be slightly browned around the edges and spring back when touched. Cool completely before frosting. At this point, cupcakes can be frozen (and they freeze very well).

Coconut Frosting

1/4 cup nonhydrogenated margarine at room temperature        1/4 cup reserved coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract                                                               2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 cup unsweetened coconut (optional)

Cream the margarine until light and fluffy. Add the coconut milk and vanilla and mix well. Add the sifted confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth. Add unsweetened coconut if you wish (I usually do not because we prefer smooth frosting) and refrigerate until ready to use.

Celebrating Jubilee: More Sparkle

When my dear friend P and I went to England to celebrate our 30th birthdays, we trekked around London to cathedrals, evensong services, museums and all of the Royal Palaces. We happened to be in London for three major exhibits of royal dresses and spent several afternoons unabashedly gushing over the frocks of  Queen Maud of Norway,  Princess Diana, and Queen Elizabeth. P mentioned on the phone the other day that while our feet were sore, we were gloriously happy. It was such a great trip.

The exhibition that surprised me the most was one of  the Queen's ballgowns from the early years of her reign. 1950s couture is something to behold and these gowns were just spectacular. Until this exhibition, I thought that the Queen's ballgowns were more function and less style, but I was wrong. Looking through the Queen's evening dresses over the past 60 years provides an amazing view of how both she and fashion have changed... and a reminder why the 80s are best left in the past.

Photos are courtesy of The Daily Mail, London Telegraph, Getty Images, Corbis, Zimbio, Press Association and the Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor blog. 

My view Wednesday

Camelias.

Celebrating Jubilee: State Glitter

The last two posts in our Jubilee Celebration showed how extensively the Queen has traveled during her reign. These many official tours inevitably involve state banquets; for these very formal occasions, the Queen almost always wears white. White, with diamonds.

But why always white? For state dinners, the dress code is usually white tie and sashes. Sashes are part of the insignia that accompanies membership in an order of chivalry or merit. Most countries, even ones that don't have a monarchy, have some sort of honors to bestow. Each order has its own specific rules regarding who can award it, what it can be awarded for, and who can receive it. The Queen often meets this criteria and by now, 60 years into her reign, she has received an order from just about every country that has one to give. Understandably, the Queen needs to wear these orders when she is visiting the country that bestowed it. The problem, however, is that each order comes with unique instructions of how (or where) to wear it, and a uniquely coloured sash or ribbon. Figuring out gowns to match or coordinate with all of these different sashes simply became too complicated, so our practical Queen Elizabeth took up wearing white evening as it matches everything. I can't say that would have been my choice, but I understand the need for simplicity (because, who ever wants to show up with a gown that clashes with your sash!). Here is a peek at some of the Queen's snowy white gala gowns. 


Photos are courtesy of The Daily Mail, London Telegraph, Getty Images, Corbis, Zimbio and Press Association and the Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor blog.

The Queen wearing sashes from: Jordan, France, Norway, Thailand, South Africa, The UK (Order of the Garter), Poland and Denmark