Author: thestampsinmypassport

A professional serving the travel industry for 25 years. Expertise and knowledge in sales, customer care and knowledge of the world. Sharing my knowledge, travel stories and tales from around the world in an engaging way.

One pot dinner – Spanish Beef Rice

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I remember when I was growing up, we ate home cooked meals all the time. Going out, I know we did go out, but it doesn’t seem to be nearly as often as families seem to go out today. There were staple meals, like spaghetti and meat sauce, meatloaf, of course chicken on Fridays. There was also grilled cheese and tomato soup, and KD and fish sticks (yes, together in one meal).

My mother is a good cook. She isn’t as adventurous as I am and doesn’t like as much ‘prep’ work as I am prepared to do for dishes or a meal, but her food was always tasty, and plentiful. It still is. I can cook many great meals, but I can’t beat her brisket. She is the winner, hands down.

One dish she frequently made for us seemed to have everything in one place – there was ground beef, rice, tomatoes and veggies. This easy one pot meal is called Spanish Beef Rice.

I am not sure if the folks in Spain make this dish, or what they would call it, but as per my Jewish Cookbook Bible (Second Helpings) says, this is the name of this dish/meal.

It really could not be any easier. It is 10 minutes prep, 30 minutes to cook (in one pot) and you are done.

spanish3Here is the recipe:

1lb.  ground meat ( Could be beef, chicken, turkey)

3 tbsp. oil

2 medium onions diced (I usually use 1)

1 green pepper diced

2 stalks celery

20 oz. tin tomatoes (Diced or whole, seasoned or not)spanish2

1 tbsp. salt (way too much)

¼ tsp. pepper

1 c. raw rice (I used brown)

Method:

Brown meat in hot oil. Add remaining ingredients and cover tightly. Simmer for ½ hour, stirring occasionally. Serves six.

Note: make sure you simmer on low, because if it overcooks, it sticks to the bottom (from personal experience).

Once it the rice is cooked all the way, the liquid is all gone, it is ready to serve.

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Eating for a mission at 541 Eatery

On By thestampsinmypassportIn Uncategorized1 Comment

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After attending the beautiful Ordination ceremony last week, Anita invited her friends and family to continue the celebration for a light meal. The restaurant was in Hamilton and it is called 541 Eatery and Exchange.

Before I share my experience with you, please watch this video about 541:

I was with Anita’s daughter on the way to the restaurant. I have to be honest with you, while we were driving there I felt like I was in another country. Maybe that is a naive thought to be having, since we WERE in Hamilton, but it didn’t feel that way. It felt like we were in a movie set of small town USA that had been forgotten about.

When we arrived, I parked on the street. Just to acknowledge my point about feeling like I was somewhere else, there were parking meters, as you can see here on the right. When was the last time youParking11027506_10155681300395192_69297465955091130_n saw a parking meter like this? Anita’s daughter (15) has probably never seen one of these. I put my toonie in and on the meter it started flashing 2:00 (it was $1 per hour). If you think back to those ‘back in the day’ meters, the time counts down from your starting point.

When I walked into the restaurant, my first reaction was, wow, it feels like home. I am not trying to sound trite or stuck up, but it felt like you were walking into someone’s kitchen, family room, home. In the centre of the room was a long wooden table with benches. That table was reserved for our party, but you could see that it was the focus of the community space. Above that table was the sign that read, The Meeting Place. Several times while we were waiting for our party, people tried to sit at our table.

mission7As the video said, 541 is a full service restaurant, with good quality foods. For some, this may be the only ‘home cooked’ quality meals they may eat. There were plenty of options. There was soup of the day, chili, personal sized pizza, roast chicken and salad, and so much more. Because of their mission statement, nothing was over $5. Which of course leads me to the next part of this amazing restaurant – the button payment plan.

What is the button payment plan? Very simple actually. There are two jars on the counter – Use a button or buy some buttons. If you can’t afford to pay for your meal, you can take up to 4 buttons per day andmission4 pay for your food with buttons. One button = $1.

If you can afford to pay and even pay it forward, you can buy some buttons for others to be able to eat. Pretty humbling, right? Think about that for a moment. How much did you spend on your last Frappuccino at Starbucks – at least $4, right? There are people that could eat for a day on that same amount of money.

There is no class distinction at this restaurant. You would never know who used a button, who paid for their food and/or paid for others to have buttons. What if the jar is empty and someone wants to eat and can’t pay. Anita said that if that was to happen, they would always get a bowl of soup and a piece of bread. No one should go hungry.

When Anita arrived we all started to order our food and started to celebrate. She immediately gravitated to this table full of children. I had been watching them for a while. One of the young girls drew a picture for Anita. I really got a great understanding of why she chose that place for us to celebrate her new life with her. She requested on the invitation that we don’t bring her gifts, that our gift to her would be to buy buttons at the 541 Eatery. Each of us ordering, asked the cashier the same question, “can we buy our buttons now?”

Some of us found out from Anita later that while she was talking to the children, she noticed that they Mission3didn’t really have food on their table, just a couple of milkshakes. The twelve year old sister told her that she brings her siblings here every night for dinner. Anita asked what they ate that day. They said, cereal at breakfast. Anita ordered grilled cheese sandwiches for them. Got the message, loud and clear.

It really was a wonderful experience. I know that I left the restaurant, full. Full with a good meal, and full knowing that I will help someone else have a meal as well.

I know that Hamilton isn’t around the corner from where we live, but if you want something special to do with your kids this summer, take a drive out to Hamilton and treat them to a life experience. Maybe phone ahead and find out if they accept donations of colouring books and crayons for the children in the community. Even if you don’t have kids, or they are grown, the next time you are on your way back from a shopping trip in Buffalo, go to the 541 Eatery and leave some of your money there. You will feel great for doing so.

 

 

 

Be there for the Journey

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“Life is a journey, not a destination” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

bible I think it is pretty safe to say we all realize that life is a journey. We are constantly  on a path to somewhere, reaching for something, with hopes of becoming greater  than we are today.

Journeys in our lives take shape in many different ways. For the purposes of this  post, let’s use education as this example. I will be even more specific, I am going to talk about my friend Anita Walker and the completion of her journey that I had a great honour of being a part of this past weekend.

Let me take you back about six years. I was out with my friend and she told me that she was going back to school for her masters degree. Fantastic I replied. A masters in what? She replied – A Masters in Divinity. Divinity, I asked, what is that? She went on to explain what it was and at the end of her Masters she will be a Minister. Wow, a Minister I thought.

Let me take a step back for a moment. My friend Anita is a full-time businesswoman/entrepreneur, she is a full-time mother and was taking on this task at becoming a full-time student again as well?  Of course she was. Which is a very strong lesson to learn. If you put your mind to it, you can make it happen. But you can’t do it alone. Everyone’s journey is made up of a team of people to make it happen.

She began her learning, and working and continued to do all the things she had always done. Just with a greater purpose. In the thank you note that she gave to all of us on Saturday, was filled with thanks and praise to all the people in her life that made up her “Team Anita”. Her Spiritual guidance, her family, friends, congregants and so many others that silently (or not so) help pave the way so that we all can succeed in our goals.

I remember a few years back Anita and I were talking and she was telling me about one of her classes she needed to participate in an alternate service and of course as her Jewish friend if she could come to a service with me. I took on her to a Shabbat service with my mom. Not just any Shabbat service – a Shabbat on Sukkot, with a Bar Mitzvah. She enjoyed the ‘marathon’ service (her words). She invited me the next day to hear her preach. She told me not to worry, that our services are one hour, start to finish, all in English so I would have nothing to worry about.

I remember returning from Israel, and having many conversations with Anita regarding my experiences and what I saw and learned about. Even with my continued learning the past three years. All of this made this past weekend even more meaningful.

It was a beautiful service. Songs and hymns, with worship and scripture in between. The key-note sermon was given by the Very Rev. Lois Wilson. Rev. Wilson was the first female moderator in the United Church. While she spoke about a lot of things regarding the state of religion and prayer today around the world. Because all of the individuals that were being ordained all had an army of people in their corner (mentors, ministers, family, friends) she asked the following questions:

Who opened your eyes? Who’s eyes are you opening?

Who mentored you? Who are you mentoring?

Take a moment and think about those questions how it relates to your own life.

After all of that began the Ordination part of the service. Each candidate was called up with their bible2spiritual guides and a couple of hand chosen people for the ceremony. The Reverend and family put their hands on the head and shoulders as they are knelt down and say a prayer for them. If there was a dry eye in the house, I didn’t see one. Considering I have never seen this done before (live) it was very powerful. For me, to see Anita kneeling there, knowing that is the completion of journey into Ministry for her.

After each obible3rdination, there was a song sung for them:

Yahweh be praised in the heavens, Yahweh be praised in the streets.

Yahweh be praised with our singing. Yahweh be praised in worship when we meet. 

Of course, being Jewish this experience was not anything I was accustomed to. I consider myself to be a spiritual person and very in tune with other spiritual people. It is unspoken, but present all the time. I felt that throughout the rest of the day when I spent time with Anita’s friends and people around her. Some of them I had met before, but others it was my first time. I walked away knowing I had learned something by knowing them, and I gave that back in return.

After the service was over there was a reception for all the candidates for their friends and family. After I gave Anita a congratulatory hug, I asked her, “what do I call you?”

Let me introduce to you:

Reverend Anita Walker – ordained into the Ministry of Word, Sacrament and Pastoral Care. 

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