Sunday, August 31, 2008

Youth Awards Dinner reminder

Don't forget for our Youth Awards dinner this Sat 6th Sept at 6pm at the chapel. If you have not RSVP to Jayne Christie then DO IT. And don't forget to bring a bottle of bubbly (non-alcoholic wine like Maison) for the toasting.

Stake Helping Hands Day

We had a very busy day on Saturday at the Stake activity in aid of National Helping Hands Day. It was held at the Newstead Heights School and the Devonport Stake had invited as many families as possible to participate. I think we had well over 100 people attend on the day. It was held in two three hr shifts and our job was to make up 100 communication books for kids with disabilities who attend Newstead Heights and St George's Schools. We had to cut, laminate and cut pages again. Each child had around 100 pages in their book - all of which had to be laminated and cut out. It was a very enjoyable day with everyone getting into the spirit of things. You can see the joy that comes from service as the mood and spirit of the day was very uplifting as everyone worked together to make a difference in the lives of these very special children.

Here are a few pics of the busy workers..................





These are some of the equipment that the kids had a ball on and some of the big kids too...............


Thursday, July 17, 2008

African night

Last night for our cooking group, we went to Francesca's house to learn how to make African stew and African soup. Francesca's family is from Nigeria and it was absolutely fascinating to learn about the foods from her culture. She said they had so much more variety of seeds, roots, spices than over here. Just with mushrooms she could reel off 100 different types which all had completely different tastes.

Francesca said the main staple meals were stew and soup but that you could make so many varieties of them to keep them from being boring. One of the side dishes she made was semolina mixed with water which turned out a bit like mashed potato but more dense. Over in Nigeria they eat with their hands and they would dip the semolina into the soup to eat.

A big thankyou to Francesca for a wonderful night that we could all learn and appreciate a different culture.



groundnut soup and semolina

chicken stew


STEW

1 large chicken or 10 pieces of drumstick chicken, 1kg beef, pork, goat meat (lamb), sheep or kangaroo.
225g fresh chillies or pepper (optional)
1.5kg fresh tomatoes (put thru blender) or tinned
2 large onions sliced
4 cloves garlic
2 small tins tomato puree
1/2 to 1 tsp thyme, coriander seeds, chilli powder, ground ginger, Allspice, ground parsley flakes, cinammon, mixed herbs, curry
250g mushrooms
salt to taste
500ml oil

Wash and cut meat into pieces (not drumsticks) Season with salt, onions and other spices. Add mushrooms and cook in 1/2 to 2 litres of water for 20-30mins until meat is tender. Use 1/2 the oil if you then want to fry cooked chicken until brown (this is optional). In another pot, heat 250ml oil and fry onions, garlic, chillies and fresh tomatoes for 10-20mins until fairly dry. Add tomato puree and chicken stock (what is left after chicken or meat removed) next. Stir thoroughly and add chicken or meat pieces. Simmer gently for 10mins until well blended. Drain off excess oil and stir in any chopped vegetables you want. Serve with boiled rice, semolina, sweet potato.

In Africa they serve it with yam cocoyam, cassava or cooked or fried plantain.

Groundnut Soup

500g roasted groundnut (peanuts) blended in processer
1litre of chicken stock (use from chicken stew)
4 fresh tomatoes.
Spices if desired.
Silverbeet
bok choy
fresh mushrooms
50g blended fresh or dry pepper
2 onions
1 capsicum
salt to taste
Optional - washed meat or fish, dry crayfish

Place wash meat in pot and add chicken stock. Season with salt and spices, mushrooms and pepper and boil for 10-20mins. Add fish and cook for another 5-10mins. If not using meat or fish, go straight to boil blended fresh tomatoes, onions, pepper and groundnut for 5-10mins until smooth. Add vegetables and rest of stock and simmer for 3 mins. Serve with same side dishes as above.

VT Dinner

On Saturday The 28th of June, we held our visiting teaching gratitude dinner. Instead of a convention this year, we decided to put on a dinner for the sisters to say thankyou for all their efforts and time and sacrifice that they put into supporting each other and their leaders in the VT programme.

So my counsellors being, Kit Porter, Mel Corona and secretary Barbara Young and I cooked up a storm for the night. Barbara came up with the beautiful table decorations. We just did as we were told and put plates, serviettes, etc where she said.



On the night we started with nibbles (thanks Deidre) and then moved onto mains - lasagne, one of which was this most scrumptious vegetarian one, salad and garlic bread. For dessert we had a choice of mudcake, strawberry and white chocolate cheesecake and a peach cobbler with ice-cream. Jackie and Vicki did the drinks which was so yum - a punch made up with mixed berries. In between the main and dessert we just went around the room and said what it was about the VT programme that we were grateful for.


Phyllis and Jackie cleaning up

Emma Porter with Tyren Corona

Nan Triffitt, June Bounds, Peggy Pitcher, Bev Scott, Phyllis Moores, Ali Christie
The sneaky part so that we were not left with the dishes was announcing at the end that, you had to wash the dishes of your visiting teacher that visits you to say thankyou. That way we weren't left with a HUGE pile of dishes. That was probably the best idea of the night.

It was a great evening and sharing our positive thoughts and blessings of the VT programme brought a warmth and the Spirit to the room that we could all bond and share together in. Special thanks go to Deidre Triffitt, Jackie Webster, Vicki Ziesel, Rikki Wilson, Emma Porter, Peggy Pitcher, Barbara Young, Kit Poter and Mel Corona for bringing the night together so succesfully.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Relief Society is growing!

On Tuesday 12 Feb, Melanie and Dean, along with Jackson, Charna and Kealin, welcomed little Tyren Dean Richard Corona into the world at 12.57pm weighing 8.87 pounds. Congrats guys.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

REMINDER

Don't forget the Stake swim night on Feb 8th at the Devonport Olympic pool at 7pm

A reminder to bring birthday presents for our birthday box this year

If you are planning on coming to the Stake RS overnighter on the 1st and 2nd of Feb then bring all $ by Sunday 27th. See you there!