Snowbound! Heaven Bound?

Yes, that was one heck of a snowstorm that we got over the week-end. As predicted, snow started to fall before noon of Friday, became fast and furious in the afternoon, and lasted until Saturday afternoon. After 30 hours of snowfall, we had two feet on the ground and it was enough to land third in the record books kept since the late 19th century. Thank God we didn't lose power. So for four days now, we have done nothing but cook, bake, eat, watch movies, play with Joaquin and sleep.

On Friday, work was already called off so I made champorado for breakfast (from a package mix which was really good it tasted like it was made from scratch but unfortunately no "tuyo" or "dilis" to go with it since the smell would have been unbearable), arroz caldo for lunch made with sticky California rice (yummy!), and adobo for dinner. Saturday morning was French toast for breakfast, sinigang na salmon head and left-over adobo for lunch, and a delicious coq tagine which I made for the first time for dinner. It's a Mediterrenean recipe with chicken breasts cooked in olive oil, with red pepper, tomatoes, and olives; and spiced with paprika, cummin, and cinnamon. It was so flavorful!

Sunday was egg salad sandwich for breakfast, leftover tagine and adobo for lunch, and beef stew for dinner. I originally planned to make nilagang baka but itched to try something new. So I got a beef stew recipe from allrecipes.com and it was different in that the beef cubes were first dredged in flour and ground pepper and then well-browned before boiling in beef broth with potatoes, carrots and celery. It was very good too. Manny loved it so much he had several servings. Today is still another no work day. We had another comfort food for lunch - arroz ala cubana - and salmon baked in olive oil, basil and parsley for dinner. In many of my previous blogs, I had written about what I ate. It now feels great to be able to write about what I have cooked. :-)

Apart from the cooking, we also did some baking. I baked chocolate chip muffins on Friday morning, and Anna found her baking skills again and made a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting on Saturday morning. Both were very good. We also watched movies: Chocolat which I had not seen before and which I liked for its textured performances, and Da Vinci Code which James had not seen before. And of course, last night was the Super Bowl and it was my first time to watch football. With coaching from Anna, I was able to follow it and was so happy when the Saints won. And I loved Drew Brees and the picture of him with tears in his eyes while carrying his baby boy is priceless. And of course, entertainment was also provided by Joaquin whose smiles never fail to send me over the moon. I'm sure you'll agree when you see this 3 second video.



So we have been weathering the storm well and haven't experienced cabin fever yet. But another snowstorm is coming tomorrow night and will last until Wednesday morning, and the prediction is 10 to 15 more inches of snow. If we do get that much more snow, this winter will be the most snowy winter since the 1870's! In fact, the federal government has called off work again tomorrow so all of us will be home. Here are some pictures taken by our neighbor around Middlebridge, Anna's and James's village, with funny captions too; followed by James's time-lapse video of the snow accumulation on the ledge of the deck behind the house.





Since we were snowbound, we weren't able to go to church last Sunday. Early in the morning, I checked the Archdiocese of Washington website for news about masses. They had an announcement that Catholics were exempted from Sunday obligation because of icy, treacherous roads but were encouraged to watch the 10:30 AM mass on TV. So that's what we did. We gathered around the breakfast nook table in front of the TV and heard mass which had been recorded last Thursday at the Crypt Chapel of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. It was a beautiful mass and there was a sense of intimacy too because there were just the four of us with Joaquin sleeping in his stroller and we were so close to the TV.

The Gospel was about the crowd pressing on Jesus eager to hear Him. So He repaired to one of two boats which were on the shore and asked Simon to row the boat back to the water from where he preached. After preaching, he asked Simon to go out into the deep and cast their nets again. Simon remonstrated and told Jesus that they had been fishing the whole night and caught nothing. But at Jesus's request, he went into the deep and caught so much fish that their nets almost broke. Then Jesus told him that from then on, he would be catching men. And the reflection that immediately came to me was that without Jesus, we can do nothing; but with Him we can do everything.

Then the priest gave his homily and it was very powerful. First he said the obvious -that the boat is the church, Peter is the head of the church, and the fish is all the people. Then he said something new (at least to me). He asked, "What about the nets? What are the nets?" He said, "The nets are the sacraments!" Indeed, to reach the church, we need the sacraments. And it occurred to me that all the great religions have their "good book" - the Bible, the Qur'an, the Torah. But only the Catholics have the sacraments. The "good book" is like a map. It shows you how to get to your destination but you have to know how to read it and interpret it correctly. But the sacraments are like a GPS! If you are not going in the right direction, the priest who is divinely inspired at confession can tell you you're off course and get you back on course. During mass when we receive the body and blood of Christ, we take part in His divinity and receive infinite grace to help us cope with the struggles and temptations of life. Just as every other sacrament gives grace. Thank God I'm a Catholic! Would that all Catholics know their faith, appreciate it, and spread it. I'd like to end with this bumper sticker which has stuck in my mind for over 12 years now. "Heaven. Don't miss it for the world!"