“The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein!”
Psalm 24:1
The whole Earth is the Lord’s, and on His earth, the first day of the week is the Christian Sabbath! It’s the happiest day of the week when we worship, rest, and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We love it, and we have celebrated in different ways over the years.
This year in our family we have been celebrating the coming of the Lord’s Day most Saturday nights, (as life permits!) with a fun family dinner.
Last week we decided to have a “Moroccan Feast Night” and it was truly educational and interesting! We tried entirely unfamiliar food and played Moroccan music while we ate.
Our new idea is to theme some future Saturday dinners according to other nations of the world. After all, over all the Earth, Jesus Christ is Lord!
I’ll let you know how we go!
09/09/23
Mysterious Morocco
There are 38 million people in this Northern African nation, and Moroccans are predominately of Berber (North African indigenous) and Arabic descent. Apparently, Moroccans like to drink green tea with mint, and sweetened with sugar.
For our Sabbath dinner entree we ate Harira (Spiced Moroccan Vegetable Soup With Chickpeas, Cilantro, and Lemon) which I served with fresh individual scone-dough cheese, tomato and herb mini-pizzas straight from the oven, followed by Moroccan Beef and Vegetable Pot-Roast served with warm herby flatbread. We decided unanimously that Moroccan cuisine is delicious!
We played a variety of Moroccan music, which was unlike anything we had heard before, and we asked the Lord to bless the people of Morocco with the Gospel.
16/09/23
Nibbling Norway
What do Fiscksuppe, Kneipbrot, Kjottkker med Brunsaus, Klubb, Rodkal, Rommegrot, og Pepperkaker have in common? I’ll tell you. We ate them all for dinner!
Norway is a land known best for its fjords, the Northern Lights, and its Polar Bears, Arctic Foxes, and Reindeer. Norway has a population of 6 million people.
When researching Norwegian foods for Sabbath dinner, I did note that sautéed reindeer meat served as a stew and boiled or steamed sheep’s head were among the listed favourite traditional dishes but, perhaps unsurprisingly, I decided to go in a slightly different direction with my meal-planning on this occasion!
We played Greig, (a Norwegian composer), as we ate. The family agreed that the fish soup was delicious. We also agreed that my klubb was not so delicious. (That may have been my fault rather than the klubb’s fault!) We enjoyed the meatballs, vegetables, home-made warm Molasses bread with butter, and the Norwegian pudding and bikkis. The house smelled deliciously cinnamon-y as we prayed for the people of Norway, and the children felt sure that Norway must always smell like Christmas!
23/09/23
Gobbling Greece!
Greece is considered to be the Cradle of Western Civilisation, includes an archipelago of about 6000 islands, and is home to nearly 11 million people, about 80% of whom consider themselves to be Greek Orthodox. It is a beautiful, mountainous nation: an inspiring testimony to its Creator!
Because the Apostle Paul wrote so much that is useful to us from cities in Greece such as Corinth, Philippi, and Thessalonica, and because the children have learned quite a bit about Greece in our Classical Studies, I think we all agreed that Greece was an interesting nation to think about and to pray for, and there was certainly plenty to discuss! We played Greek music of various types, but Zorba the Greek may have featured multiple times.
For dinner, we began with individual layered Greek Dip tasting plates, served with warm olive-oil-and-oregano-brushed flat bread. The dip was a combination of homemade tzatziki with lemon zest and a beetroot hummus, served with finely diced cucumber and tomato, kalamata olive segments, red onion, and a herb and garlic infused olive oil drizzle. Main course consisted of lamb chops infused with a homemade Greek rub and served with lemon and oregano gravy, crispy roasted potatoes, and spinach and feta Spanakopita, served with individual Greek Salads. Dessert was baked warm Greek cinnamon, honey, and crushed pistachio doughnuts, served with vanilla ice cream: yummy!
The girls and I just had so much fun preparing this meal for our family, and we reflected, as we always do, just what a blessing it is to us to have this opportunity. We hope to continue our tradition for many years to come! Praise God for His goodness!
30/09/23
Inspiring Italy
Italy is a nation of 60.5 million people living in 301,277 square kilometres.
Our children, like many others, know a lot more about the way that Romans lived two millennia ago than about the way that they live today, which made Italy the perfect nation for us to talk about and pray for tonight as we celebrated the end of the school term!
We enjoyed minestrone con pizzette, followed by lasagne con pane all’aglio e insalata, and then folletto al cioceolata con finite creme al mascarpone.
We also played Italian folk music and imagined ourselves forming a piano accordion evangelistic band… before quickly deciding that might be best left to the professionals!
It was a lot of fun!
14/10/23
Cambodian Cuisine
Benjamin did our research about Cambodia for this week’s Sabbath dinner. Although there were lots of interesting facts, I think that the children’s favourite was that many Cambodians believe that counting the chirps of a gecko will predict whether they will soon be married!
Cambodia is a developing country and 80% of the population are Buddhist. Missionary work in Cambodia will be on our family prayer list each day this week.
For Sabbath Dinner, we enjoyed an entree of Pork Prahok with Cucumber, then Cambodian Fish Curry for our Main Course, followed by Coconut Glutinous Rich with Mango for dessert.
Caitie did not feel adventurous, but she had a try of each thing. Daddy thoroughly enjoyed both savoury courses, but was not a fan of the dessert. I am thankful for the blessing of the vast variety of foods to try, from the many places in God’s world!
21/10/23
Marvellous Mexico!
As we are getting closer, Lord willing, to our big holiday, it is possible that this might be our last Sabbath Dinner of the year!
We had Guacamole and salsa with salted corn chips for entree, followed by Enmiladas (Chicken Mole Enchiladas) with Chamionones A La Mexican and Mexican rice. We concluded our meal enjoying warm Churros with thick chocolate dipping sauce, which Caitie made for us extremely well. Caitie and Maisie are both becoming very gifted cooks, and we are blessed to be the beneficiaries of their skill.
The Lord has been extremely kind to us, and we marvel at His goodness. Everything we have and are are His good gifts. To God be the Glory!