Lulu Cooks and Tells: November 2019

I love Tom Yum soup. It is for me the ultimate comfort food. I particularly like the one that is served at the Thai restaurant, Green Mango, in Monroeville, PA. It has just the right amount of heat and coconut milk in it.

Since I cannot go to Green Mango every time I have a craving for this delicious soup, I searched the internet for ways to prepare it. I wanted a recipe that is simple that does not need a special trip to an Asian store. I found this site that uses the Instant Pot, my new kitchen toy. I tweaked the list of ingredients. I made it vegan by not using chicken. I skipped any ingredient like lemon grass that I ordinarily do not have on hand. Here is my adaptation. It is good!

Instant Pot Vegan Tom Yum Soup

Adapted from this site

Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegetable broth
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 onion, diced
3 tbsp ginger, finely minced
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch thick sticks
2 cups chopped cabbage
8 oz sliced mushrooms
3 green onions stalks, sliced
4 dry chili peppers, cut in half
4 cups more vegetable broth
1 cup canned full-fat coconut milk
juice of one half lime
2 tbsp fish sauce or soy sauce to taste

For serving: cilantro, lime and sriracha and more fish sauce.

Using the Sauté setting, heat the vegetable broth in the bottom of an Instant Pot. Add the diced onion, and minced garlic and ginger. Sauté until onions are translucent.

Add carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, green onions, dry chili peppers, broth, coconut milk, lime juice, and fish sauce.

Place lid on Instant Pot and turn to the “Soup” setting and set the timer to one minute. Be sure the vent is on the sealed position.

When the timer goes off, quick release the pressure using the venting position.

Serve hot topped with cilantro, a squeeze of lime, a drop or two of Sriracha and more fish sauce to taste.

The following flyer of the memorial day prepared by our graphic designer, Linda, summarizes the topic and the background of the speaker, Eileen Colianni.

To have an overview of the day, here is the agenda. To get the most of this blog post, I suggest following the sequence of the event. Doing so will take you to the place where attendees went to during the day.

With Natalie leading, the audience sang a capella the following song which implores the Holy Spirit to "come and fill the place".

Memorial Day Ritual

The introductory song was followed by the traditional, yearly ritual commemorating the deceased members of the Association and the Sisters who walked with us. Here is the text of the ritual and list of those remembered that day. Let us pray and remember.

Talk on "HOPE for...BECOMING LIKE CHRIST" by Eileen Colianni .

The morning session focused on tips on preparing the vessels of Christ, our mind and heart.

A. Here are my notes on how to control our thoughts.

Eileen pointed out the fact that we have 65,000 thoughts a day. We have the power to choose our thoughts. We can stop negative thoughts using the Triple A approach. Aware. Accept. Act.

Fear is a liar that can drive us to pasterurize or be obsessed with the past and forget to embrace the sacrament of the present moment..

We can also suffer from the what if syndrome. We can evict this fear using the mind of Christ.

We can also be riddled with thoughts of unforgiveness which Eileen gave tips on handling them in a handout to be given below.

Negative thoughts can also reject you. To offset this begin with the loving gaze of a parent or other caring persons in our lives.

Let go of fear by acting on it, Example a fear of cancer can be lightened up by learning about it, getting support, praying and letting go of the fear.

Practical tips:

Shift negative thoughts to gratitude. Wake up and give thanks for three things Do it again at night. Studies show that one would be more optimistic in three weeks.

Go out and see nature. Creation is the first scripture. Say hello to God when you see the sunset.

Call a friend. Read a good book like "Jesus Calling"

B. How to forgive for good.

The following handout summarizes the points she made when covering this topic. Let us read and learn.

Here are my additional notes on forgiveness:

Tears are not sign of weakness. Tears are God's holy water.

If you express what is in you, will save you. If you do not express, will not help you.

If you do not forgive yourself, you are putting yourself above God who forgives us with his unconditional love.

I am forgiven. I am accepted by Christ. Time to let go.

Reliving is sometimes necessary. Get the story out of your body.

Without God we cannot, without us God will not. Richard Rohr

Realize the offender is a child of God also.

Sr. Paula pointed out that reconciliation is different and needs two people.

Lunch break and afternoon session.

We had lunch to take care of our body too and visit to the Book Nook and started the afternoon with the song of unity:

C. Becoming like Christ

After our mind and heart were prepared by the morning session and our body by the delicious lunch, the attendees were ready for the Words straight from the Lord's mouth on Becoming like Christ (see handout below). What better source of wisdom. Let us reflect.

Eileen openly and skillfully fielded sharing from the audience like she did in the morning. This is her forte. The discussion in small and big groups greatly enhanced the transformation happening that day.

The day ended with this prayer.

All of what is asked of us during this memorial day takes humility which Jesus showed us as He washed Peter's feet in the last supper. It is challenging but with Jesus within us we can do it. (Picture shared by Eileen that day).

Thank you's.

Thank you Eileen for your time and effort to make our Memorial Day fruitful and meaningful. Below are photos of Natalie presenting Eileen with gifts as tokens of our gratefulness: the bowl created by Sr. Sue; the plaque with the words "Take the time to be silent. God speaks in whispers"; and a cutout picture of flowers created by the late Sr. Melania..

As a thank you gift, Eileen gave everyone a band saying Put On Christ Mind Heart Image. Thanks Eileen!

Thanks to the people who helped make the day wonderful for all of us. Natalie and Gene for a) creating the beautiful peaceful ambience by coming the day before the memorial day in order to place the pink tablecloths provided by Sr .Sue on the tables and b) the next day bringing bags of food and decorations for the two beautiful main tables, and individual tables. Thanks to Natalie, Lulu, Chris, Carla and the Baden group and the Cafeteria staff for the food and drinks. Thanks to Sr. Paula for her support, Linda for the flyer and Kathy for collecting the money and working at the registration table. To all who attended your presence is appreciated and as well as your generous sharing of your thoughts and feelings. The Holy Spirit indeed filled the place that day. To all who are reading this blog post, God bless. We are all one, Happy Thanksgiving.