funeral etc

( visitation )

( funeral )

( an observation about music )

( an observation about eulogies )

( later )

Today ian_gunn and eclectic_1 came for lunch with their two daughters. It was nice to have some time to catch up with them; we pretty much never get up to New Hampshire and with small children they don't always get to Pennsic. It's unfortunate that a sad occasion brought us together, but at least we did manage to get together.

The burial is tomorrow in Johan's home town, so the family went there today. Ian and Eclectic One are staying at the house through the weekend, which works out well for everyone -- they get a place to stay and the house isn't looter-bait. (I'm horrified by the apparent trend of people scanning obituaries and robbing houses during funerals.)

vegan stew

Here's what I ended up doing for Shabbat lunch, as best I can recall.

Friday mid-day: put following in crock pot on high: two diced sweet potatoes, two diced white onions, one can diced tomatoes (not drained), one can great northern beans (all beans drained), some black pepper. Ran out of time; planned to do more later.

Picked up four more guests for lunch.

Added two more diced sweet potatoes, one can kidney beans, one can black beans, half a bag of fresh spinach, about two cubic inches of chopped ginger, about a cup of peanut butter (wanted more but ran out). Meant to add more onions and some red bell pepper but forgot. Decided against fresh broccoli in a Shabbat stew. Considered coconut milk but there was already a fair bit of liquid so didn't. I have a vague feeling that there was another vegetable involved but I can't recall it so maybe not.

Cooked until Shabbat was imminent (= about another hour), then took out crock, put heating unit on low, and put on timer to come on Shabbat morning. Inserted pot before leaving for services; probably cooked for about three hours or so before we ate. Served over brown rice (cooked before Shabbat and kept kinda warm). Also served fresh papaya (not a hit), carrot sticks (more of a hit), and apples (definitely more of a hit than the papaya). I'd considered making a spinach-based salad with fruit but didn't have time.

The adults mostly seemed to like the stew; I couldn't tell if the kids did. The kids seemed to think the papaya was weird (hence the apple), which doesn't surprise me. I think I was an adult before I ever encountered papaya other than as juice.