It was nice to spend the day relaxing. I 'borrowed' a friend's kitchen, and we made green bean casserole (his favourite) and sweet potato casserole. Both recipes were really easy. The green bean casserole used an 8 oz. package of frozen green beans, 3/4 c milk, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, and french-fried onions. That's it. I added a bit of paprika, mustard powder, and a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce to the milk/cream of mushroom mixture for added flavour. All were mixed, placed in a baking dish, then baked for 30 minutes. Then I removed the dish, added more french-fried onions, then placed back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
The sweet potato casserole was even easier. I took 3 medium-sized sweet potatoes, cut them into cubes, and boiled in them in salted water for 20 minutes. After draining them, I returned them to the pot and mashed them with 2 tablespoons of butter, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and 3/4 c brown sugar. After placing them in a baking dish, I put a layer of mini marshmallows, put the whole thing in an oven and baked for 10 minutes.
It was a relief that both dishes required the oven to be at 350 deg. F. That made life a little easier. :)
Here's a picture of the sweet potato casserole. (I'd forgotten to take a picture of the green bean casserole.)
The meal was shared with the homeless people who live on the grounds. They were very, very thankful for the abundance of food, and they were also very thankful that we were generous to share it with them.
A friend of mine was quite affected by the beginning lines of Psalm 72 (quoted from the New American Bible:
O God, give your judgment to the king; your justice to the son of kings; That he may govern your people with justice, your oppressed with right judgment, that the mountains may yield their bounty for the people, and the hills great abundance, that he may defend the oppressed among the people, save the poor and crush the oppressor (Ps. 72:2-4).
He was formerly homeless, and he remembered the trauma of having lived out on the streets. It made him very thankful that he is where he is now: in a house with a job he loves.
I had to go into the office briefly to retrieve a few music files since there was a requests for the hymns for Sunday. Since a good chunk of my choir will be away on Sunday, I decided to find something Taizé for Communion. I wanted something that might be appropriate for Advent, like maybe something to do with Sleepers Awake or some such thing like that. No such luck. So I chose the next best thing: "Eat this bread, drink this cup, come to me and never be hungry..." I think I'll have enough choristers that, if I sing whilst playing, we'll be able to do some sort of harmony.
Anyway, as I was leaving the office, I drove along the Downtown Loop and noticed they had already turned on all the outdoor lighting. I figured this was the best time to capture pictures of it: when there are no cars out and about.
I will leave you with the pictures of the lights along the Downtown Loop:
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