Feb. 18 Ash Wednesday

[donna]

Today is Ash Wednesday. It time to post some Lenten Dishes.

Ash Wednesday is the Christian holy day marking the beginning of Lent, a 40 day season of fasting.

It is considered preparation for Holy Week and the celebration of Easter.

Scholars say it originated in 325 A.D. Lent mirrors Jesus' 40 day period of fasting in the Wilderness as reported in the book of Matthew.

Christians have ashes in the shape of the cross placed on their foreheads. The words from Genesis 3:19 are spoken: "You are dust, and to dust you shall return".

There are different fasting requirements during Lent. The most observed are no meat on Friday and only one meal allowed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Many also give up other things, like candy and desserts.

Hope that many of you will post different recipes you serve during this season.

I usually never say anything considered political. However, I am praying for the Egyptian Christians who were beheaded for their belief in Jesus. May God bless them and their families. As a Christian, I pray for all Christians who may be in this area of the world. God help all of us.

 

[MRB1863]

What are members giving up for lent? I am refraining from eating pie. It will be a sacrifice,,,but 'tis the season.

 

[kevikens]

Today is Ash Wednesday. It time to post some Lenten Dishes.

Ash Wednesday is the Christian holy day marking the beginning of Lent, a 40 day season of fasting.

It is considered preparation for Holy Week and the celebration of Easter.

Scholars say it originated in 325 A.D. Lent mirrors Jesus' 40 day period of fasting in the Wilderness as reported in the book of Matthew.

Christians have ashes in the shape of the cross placed on their foreheads. The words from Genesis 3:19 are spoken: "You are dust, and to dust you shall return".

There are different fasting requirements during Lent. The most observed are no meat on Friday and only one meal allowed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Many also give up other things, like candy and desserts.

Hope that many of you will post different recipes you serve during this season.

I usually never say anything considered political. However, I am praying for the Egyptian Christians who were beheaded for their belief in Jesus. May God bless them and their families. As a Christian, I pray for all Christians who may be in this area of the world. God help all of us.

Sometimes, in the heat of battle, officers lose control of their men and they do atrocious things. Thank heavens such occurrences in our Civil War were uncommon and aberrations. In that part of the world, however, they have increasingly become the norm. What war has shown us is that given the right circumstances and the wrong leaders in a bad cause humans can do some very inhumane things. I don't know how this one is going to turn out but I fear their version of Reconstruction is going to a lot more difficult than ours was.

 

[samuel orris]

Today's my birthday . . . I can't give up anything.

 

[MRB1863]

Today's my birthday . . . I can't give up anything.

Happy Birthday, Samuel!! May your special day bring happiness. Wish you many more.

 

[donna]

Happy Birthday Samuel.

 

[Blessmag]

Having not been raised in a faith that practices Ash Wednesday, in 1983 my bride and I went to a Long John Silver's one Wednesday night and noticed several people with 'dirty' foreheads. We had no clue what it was until later in evening when someone stated it was Ash Wednesday. DUH!

 

[Allie]

It's common for restaurants here to have a fish special on Fridays throughout Lent.

I generally give up sugar-laden beverages.

 

[southern blue]

I am giving up sweet tea. Big sacrifice for me And not just because I'm a southerner. I could drink it morning noon and night. My family jokes about how picky I am about it and how I judge restaurants by the quality of their sweet tea. It has to be the right amber color and the right amount of sugar. It should be brewed so you taste the tea first..then the sugar. ☺

 

[donna]

I am trying to eat more healthy foods. Give up some sweets and sweet beverages.

 

[donna]

Monk Fish, the Poor Man's Lobster

1 1/2 lbs Monk's fish fillets. 1 inch thickness
1/2 tablespoons black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 bay leaf
dash of Tabasco sauce

Add all seasonings to 4 cups water and bring to a boil. Put in Monk fillets and boil 5 minutes. Drain fillets and place in broiler with pat of butter. Broil 5 minutes or until brown on top. Serve with lemon juice and drawn butter.

 

[kevikens]

It's funny to read about a "poor man's lobster". In Colonial New England the people were sick of lobster, it was so common. They often caught the things for no other use than to spread them out on their fields for fertilizer. And on average they were several times the weight that we commonly eat today. Oh, I was born too late.

 

[Allie]

It's funny to read about a "poor man's lobster". In Colonial New England the people were sick of lobster, it was so common. They often caught the things for no other use than to spread them out on their fields for fertilizer. And on average they were several times the weight that we commonly eat today. Oh, I was born too late.

I've read that people in Maine used to bury the shells rather than set them out for the trash because eating lobster meant you were poor and you didn't want the neighbors to know!

 

[Pat Young]

One year I was teaching during Ramadan and I had the head of the Muslim Law Students Association in my class. She had to fast from sunup to sundown. Since it was Sept, that meant a very long fast.

She told me that most of the students were not very religious so they had no experience with fasting, but that as a Catholic I had to fast throughout the 40 days of Lent. That was even longer than Ramadan. I told her that while I abstain from meat on Fridays, I only had to fast for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. "Well at least on those two days you know what I go through", she said. I said that on Fast Days I was still allowed to eat one large meal, and two small meals."
"That's three meals", she replied, "How many meals a day do Catholics normally eat?"

 

[samuel orris]

I am giving up sweet tea. Big sacrifice for me And not just because I'm a southerner. I could drink it morning noon and night. My family jokes about how picky I am about it and how I judge restaurants by the quality of their sweet tea. It has to be the right amber color and the right amount of sugar. It should be brewed so you taste the tea first..then the sugar. ☺

No! Not sweet tea!!! I fell in love with the stuff when I spent a month in Albany, GA on business. How 'bout grits instead?

 

[southern blue]

No! Not sweet tea!!! I fell in love with the stuff when I spent a month in Albany, GA on business. How 'bout grits instead?

It's supposed to be a sacrifice.

 

[MRB1863]

Monk Fish, the Poor Man's Lobster

1 1/2 lbs Monk's fish fillets. 1 inch thickness
1/2 tablespoons black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 bay leaf
dash of Tabasco sauce

Add all seasonings to 4 cups water and bring to a boil. Put in Monk fillets and boil 5 minutes. Drain fillets and place in broiler with pat of butter. Broil 5 minutes or until brown on top. Serve with lemon juice and drawn butter.

My Mother makes this dish. Everyone who has tried it likes it. Very tasty.