Urgent Appeal

Dear Friends,

We have an urgent appeal for a young student, named Jeremiah Lokol who lives on the border between Turkana and Pokot areas; one of the poorest parts of Kenya. I met him in September when I was on a food relief mission to the people in that area.

Turkana people waiting for food relief

Jeremiah

Jeremiah has just been accepted to the top school in the country and this has made my day with this news.  But he needs tuition and school uniform costs in a matter of days (by the end of this month) so I am making an URGENT appeal to everyone.

Sadly, everything that Jeremiah's family had was stolen by their neighbours just around the time the parents were planning to sell some cows and goats to pay for his education. Some of you will know that in this area the people are pastoralists and they suffer from cattle raiding.

Standing with some Turkana women holding their water cans.

As the boy comes from a family of  9, it looks like his dream of attending the school which is located in Kikuyu town near Nairobi, might not become a reality. He might lose the chance of joining this great school and achieving his dream of becoming a pilot after finishing high school.

What we need to do is gather everyone's support to ensure he can go to school. He needs everyone's support to make this possible.

The fees and costs for term one are 24,943 Kenyan shillings ( $304 Canadian, $275 Australian, $292 US, 222 Euros, 187 GBP) There are additional costs of 6695 Kenyan shillings for school uniforms ( $81 Canadian, $74 Australian, $78 US, 60 Euros, 50 GBP and some modest amount for travelling to the school and making sure he has the other clothing and bedding he needs.

I am praying to God for someone to come forward and answer the prayers for this family and this boy.

Please pray with us and help to raise awareness of the Missions of Hope by using the share buttons at the bottom of this post. If you can do more than pray, please donate now at the donate button on the upper right of this website.

If you have any problem with the Pay Pal button you can send the donation to kerichojoy[at]gmail.com Thank you and may God bless you.

Jonah

What's Happening in My World?

We had another major storm pass through on the weekend. The winds were howling for two nights. I saw on the news that ferries serving the islands off of Vancouver were shut down due to the bad weather and power was knocked out in many places.  I was snug inside and safe from the storms. I was blessed that my power didn't go out at all.

The small amount of snow we had was washed away by the rains and the temperature has warmed up considerably.  I spent the blustery day yesterday making progress on  my goals.

One goal is to finish the baby afghan. I had started out making dishcloth squares in a new-to-me pattern.  One of the ladies in my knitting group suggested I sew them altogether into a baby afghan and I thought that was a great idea. I made about half of the squares last Fall and finished the other squares today. I just have to decide on which colour to use to crochet all these squares together with and I'm leaning toward a cream colour. I also like the blue in the yarn.

I am still a newbie knitter and have only made dishcloths and slippers. I needed to make enough of these squares to practice the stitches but I see I still need more practice*smile.

I also started my second paper book over the weekend (I have a few electronic ones on the go) entitled, Paris, 1919 by Margaret MacMillan.   This one I've had in my library for awhile now and thought I'd better get at it.

Margaret MacMillan's Paris 1919 is a colourful, epic history of the momentous days after World War I that saw U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and the other Allied leaders reshape the world. Wilson arrived in France to referee the Paris Peace Conference only a month after the war's end, sailing into a French port past an avenue of British, U.S., and French battleships. The world, horrified by the millions of war deaths, was desperate for peace and embraced Wilson's call for a League of Nations and self-determination for all peoples. Enthusiastic European crowds greeted the U.S. president and posters bearing his face lined the streets.

It was a conference unlike any other in history: attendees redrew borders, rewrote international relations, and tried--unsuccessfully--to contain German militarism. It unfolded in the midst of massive social upheaval as Europeans awoke to widespread hunger and the inequalities of their age. In the pressure cooker of Paris, this bubbling stew of social and political forces boiled over, and many of Wilson's dreams were dashed. The world lives with the legacy of these few months. Not only did the conference produce a new map of Europe and the Middle East, it led to the infamous Versailles Treaty, often blamed for provoking World War II. MacMillan, a University of Toronto history professor, argues that the Allied leaders did their best, and to blame World War II on them is to absolve Hitler and his appeasers. MacMillan could perhaps be accused of bias: her great-grandfather was British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, one of the main political players in 1919. However, her book has been acclaimed by historians and has won Britain's richest nonfiction award. Complete with backroom intrigue, personal drama, and vivid characters, Paris 1919 is a vital contribution to our understanding of the last century and the current one. (Source: Amazon).

I picked this book up several years ago because I was fascinated to learn that political leaders of the day redrew borders. I didn't learn this in history class. I'm not sure why I waited so long to begin reading it other than I have so many books in my library that I have yet to read and this is just another one. I'm sure I will learn a lot from it.

It's great to feel like I'm making progress on my goals for the year.

Having goals helps keep me focussed on the things I want to do and gives structure to my time.

How about you dear reader? Are you making progress on your goals for 2012?

Click on the badge and join in to see what others are doing around the world.

Basic White Bread

I'm still looking for my favourite bread recipe. One day, I will try making artisan bread because I love crunchy, chewy bread.  For now I am still making the traditional bread loaves and experimenting with different recipes. I often substitute whole wheat or multi-grain flour for some of the white flour in the recipes because of my diabetes.  But in this batch, I only used unbleached white flour. The recipe is from the Robin Hood (maker of flour) website.

Ingredients:

1 tsp (5 mL) sugar
1/2 cup (125 mL) water, warm
1 envelope (8 g) active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp/11 mL)
1 cup (250 mL) milk
2 tbsp (30 mL) butter or margarine
2 tbsp (30 mL) sugar
1 1/2 tsp (7 mL) salt
1/2 cup (125 mL) water, warm
5 1/2 cups (1375 mL) white flour

Directions:

1. DISSOLVE 1 teaspoon (5 mL) sugar in 1/2 cup (125 mL) warm water in large bowl. Sprinkle in yeast. Let stand 10 minutes, then stir well.
2. HEAT milk to lukewarm. Stir in butter, 2 tablespoons (30 mL) sugar, salt and 1/2 cup (125 mL) warm water. Add milk mixture and 2 cups (500 mL) white flour to dissolved yeast mixture. Beat with wooden spoon or electric mixer until smooth and elastic.
3. STIR IN 2 1/2 cups (625 mL) of remaining flour gradually. If necessary, add more flour to make a soft dough which leaves sides of bowl. Turn out on floured board. Round up into a ball.
4. KNEAD dough, adding more flour as necessary, until dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticky (about 10 minutes).
5. PLACE in lightly greased bowl. Turn dough to greased top. Cover with greased waxed paper and tea towel.
6. LET RISE in warm place (75°-85°F/24°-29°C) until doubled (45-60 minutes).
7. PUNCH DOWN. Turn out onto lightly floured board and divide into 2 equal portions. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
8. SHAPE each portion into a loaf. Place seam side down in 2 greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" x 2 3/4" (1.5 L) loaf pans. Cover with tea towel.

The bread dough is ready for it's second rise.  I guess I could have made the loves nice and neat and smoother but I think these will taste the same *wink.

9. LET RISE in warm place until dough rises 1 1/2" (3 cm) above top of pan in centre and corners are filled (45 to 60 minutes).
10. BAKE at 400°F (200°C) on lower oven rack for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from pans immediately. Brush top crust with butter if a soft crust is desired. Cool on wire racks.
11. QUICK NOTE: This recipe makes 2 loaves. You can double the recipe to make 4 loaves.

Cooling the bread. I think it turned out nicely. I gave it a taste test after cooling.
The bread was delicious. It was also soft and moist without being full of air.

Nutritional Information
Servings Per Recipe	8
Per 2 slices (85 g)
Calories	214
Protein	6.9 g
Fat	3.4 g
Saturated Fat	1.9 gm
Carbohydrate	38.9 g
Fibre	1.1 g
Sodium	451 mg
Cholesterol	8 mg
Vitamin A	3 %DV
Vitamin C	0 %DV
Calcium	0 %DV
Iron	12 %DV

 
These did not last very long because the loaves were small. I also made two larger, multi-grain loaves later in the week. Those will last a little longer.

How about you dear reader?
Do you have an easy bread recipe that you believe is tried and true?
I'd love to hear about it.

Baked Beans on a Cold Day

We had a storm overnight. The snow kept falling through the night. Though I see it didn't amount to a whole lot of snow on my patio, the snow did cause havoc on the highway. The sky is dreary and grey and it will start raining soon making the roads icy. The forecast is more rain over the weekend so it should melt all the ice and snow away over that time.

It was, in short, perfect weather for some baked beans. I don't make baked beans very often but I am committed to making and eating more "from scratch" dishes using pulses and grains. Often I use dried peas, lentils, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, barley, cous cous and bulgar.

For people with diabetes, consuming lentils, peas and beans helps control blood glucose management. Compared with some other carbohydrate sources, pulses have a lower glycemic index. Studies have also shown that consuming pulses can result in more stable blood glucose levels after meals.

Pulses are high in fiber and protein, low in fat and moderate in calories. One cup of cooked lentils or dry peas contains about half of the daily fiber recommendation for adults. Foods higher in fiber content usually help people feel “full” or satiated at mealtime.

 (Source: Wikipedia)

Here is the recipe for the baked beans.  I increased every ingredient by 2 1/2 times so that I would have leftovers. I served the beans with some very lean sausage tossed together in a fry pan with shredded savoy cabbage and a small amount of oil. The cabbage and sausage made a nice savoury counterpoint to the sweetness of the beans.

This was a tasty dinner.

Ingredients

• 2 cups navy beans
• 1/2 pound bacon
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions

1. Soak beans overnight in cold water. Simmer the beans in the same water until tender, approximately 1 to 2 hours. Drain and reserve the liquid.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
3. Arrange the beans in a 2 quart bean pot or casserole dish by placing a portion of the beans in the bottom of dish, and layering them with bacon and onion.
4. In a saucepan, combine molasses, salt, pepper, dry mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil and pour over beans. Pour in just enough of the reserved bean water to cover the beans. Cover the dish with a lid or aluminum foil.
5. Bake for 3 to 4 hours in the preheated oven, until beans are tender. Remove the lid about halfway through cooking, and add more liquid if necessary to prevent the beans from getting too dry. 

Notes:  I  soaked my beans for a day and half and boiled them in my rice cooker until they softened. I changed the water half way through as I've heard that this cuts the gas that is often a problem when eating beans.  This approach meant my beans were ready in half the time but I let them cook for 2.5 hours to make them nice and well done. I omitted the bacon because I was making sausage.

Enjoy!

'Twas a Busy Sky Day

On this particular day the skies were busy with planes and birds. Within a few seconds of taking my first photo, I spotted two planes in the air. I was also able to capture some seagulls perched on a building and others in flight. All in all, it was a great day for sky watching!

Can you spot the small plane in the sky?

I wonder where this commercial jet is going? I'd like to be going too.

Click here to sky watch with others from around the globe.