Friday, February 14, 2014

Sacred Arts...... Snow again!


I'm having to look at a calendar to know what day it is, read my blog to remember what I did the day before. Wednesday snow, we got six inches of fluffy white snow man building snow. Thursday started with rain that turned into fluffy big snowflakes that added a couple of inches to the layer already there. This is a pretty snow. Today the sun is shining.

Gerry went out early yesterday and shot news photos all day long. We saw one of his photos on NBC news last night, always a bonus for some hard work! Later in the day after work, he took Wesley and Jamphel sledding. They waited patiently all day for him to get home, Jamphel asking every so often, "when Gerry get here?"



When they got back from sledding, Gerry came in. I looked out the window and saw Jamphel rolling this huge ball of snow. There was a Tibetan monk building a snowman in my front yard. Now tell me, how many of you can say these words?!


They worked so hard and built a fine snow man, I came out with a carrot and some tangerines, scarf and hat for the final touches, and ta da we had a Tibetan snowman in our yard!

When the reality of having two monks stay with us finally hit me, I worried about how we would communicate, what would we do with them. What would we eat, how would we act. Never in my wildest imagination would I have come up with all of the things we have done this past two weeks with them! Build a snowman? Are you kidding me?!

I made lunch for us yesterday, running low on provisions thanks to the snow. I refuse to run out to the store when there is a call for milk sandwiches (bread and milk), I am not going out in the midst of all that. Now is the time for creativity in the kitchen. I had mushrooms, bok choy, ramen noodles and some vegetable broth in the freezer. Soup of course! Cooked the mushrooms and bok choy in a little butter, added the broth and four or five pinches of red pepper flakes, they like spicy. Stir in ramen noodles at the last minute. This was one delicious soup! Wesley made a salad. Chopped red and green cabbage, carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, onion, and green apple, a splash of rice wine vinegar, olive oil and red pepper flakes. Also delicious. I baked some bread and we slurped our noodles while the snow fell.

Last night, Jamphel and Tashi offered to cook supper. Wesley helped. Wesley made the noodles and we had what many southerners would have called dumplins, the kind that go with chicken and dumplins. The kind my grandmother made. My daughter is making dumplings!
Basically it was a thick broth from the addition of an egg, yellow pepper, celery, napa cabbage all stir fried, then water and the egg are added, then toss in the noodles and more red pepper flakes. That was it, simple, homemade noodle soup or Thukpa in less than thirty minutes.
It was zshimpo doog!

Today we are going to try and get them to the Artscenter to finish the sand mandala. Tomorrow is the deconstruction ceremony and it isn't even constructed yet! They will have a long day and work into the night. Gerry is off today and we are going to go have breakfast while Wesley joins the monks. Our first day together without the kids in two weeks. What will we talk about? Our kids of course!



7 comments:

cookingwithgas said...

such a great time!

Sandy Miller said...

All the best getting the mandala finished!!
still snowing here too...... enjoy!!

June Perry said...

What a great snowman! Such fun! We're only getting a lot of rain, probably a good thing, otherwise we'd probably have two feet of snow if it were colder.

Tracey Broome said...

Snow is fun for awhile but I'm glad to see a warm sun today, lots of it melting!

Lori Buff said...

I sincerely doubt I will ever get to say I have a monk made snowman in my yard. I'm so happy that you are able to say those words. This has been really special.

Anonymous said...

scrolling
all the way to the bottom
soaking up
the joy, love and beauty
goosebumps
yes, snow and smiles
what a valentine my friend
what a DREAM
to see this BEing and PLAYing...

enjoy!
love to you,

xox

Tracey Broome said...

Lori, never thought I would say those words either, but so happy to be able to do so!!!
Elizabeth, I have been soaking up the special hearts on your blog as well, Happy Valentines to you!!!