Friday, March 4, 2011

Our Daily Bread

On Thursday, our neighbor's daughter spent the morning with us while her mother taught a Bible class. She is a lovely young girl, about a half year younger than my daughter. I promised to feed the young lady lunch because her mother expected to return just before one in the afternoon. Lunch was going to be simple. Ham sandwich and grapes, along with a glass of cold milk. Alas, at night I realized I was out of bread. No problem. With my trusty, and much loved KitchenAid Stand Mixer I was just going to whip up some bread. And I did. A simple 50-50 wheat-white bread which I made in the span of 3 hours without much effort at all. Her mother  thought I joked when I said: 'Oh, I was out of bread, so I quickly made some.'

What has happened to us? For thousands of years we baked our own bread.

Breaking bread together at the table was synonymous with inviting someone to friendship. It implied trust and welcoming.



The Bible is full of references on sharing bread. Apparently to ancient people of that region, bread was an important thing.

Now, bread has become something we pick up at the store. Wrapped in sanitary plastic and with a list of ingredients ranging from 9 to 39 ingredients. And we have lost our connection to it.

Let us break bread together.

The simple act of pulling apart a loaf of fragrant Challah bread, fresh out of our own oven, or slicing into the brown goodness of a loaf of wheat bread should be something we can all come together over. Bread is something found in just about every culture. It keeps well, it travels well and it can be eaten plain, by itself or with an array of other goodies.  It can be simple with no more ingredients than grain, water and maybe some salt. It can be fancy with eggs, butter, milk and wonderful seasonings. Oftentimes, when we celebrate a special occasion, our daily bread takes on a celebratory shape. But  whatever the shape, Bread is something basic that belongs to all of us.

Bread can be flat like Chapatis or Pita.  It can be fancy and artfully styled like a braided loaf of yeasty goodness. You'll come across rustic loaves that crackle under your hands and those whose silky smoothness leaves you swooning in a fog of carbohydratic intoxication. I made the last part up but you have to admit is sounds gooooooood. Doesn't it?

My mother, who grew up in postwar Germany,  remembers the women of the village  walking to the community baking oven every day to bake their families' daily bread.  The community oven was  similar to the coffemaker of todays' office community, a place to gather and communicate. While the bread baked, women caught up on gossip, news and traded tips and ideas.  My mother remembers all kinds of breads coming out of that oven. Some women made simple, rustic loaves with the family's initials on it. Or a particular style of scoring which easily identified the owner of that bread. Other women were careful to lovingly shape and style their bread. And during Easter, breads were woven and baked with colored eggs embedded in the dough. 

Our Daily Bread.

I will try to bake bread at least once a week now and try and share it with someone other than family alone. Who knows, maybe at least in our family, we'll find our connection to that communion again.

Let Us Break Bread Together.

Communion  may be a Christian term now but it is a word derived from the  latin communio  or 'sharing in common'.  If you bake this week, take a portion of your bread and share it. Maybe it will be with your co-worker. Maybe you choose to break bread with your neighbor.  Whoever who decide to break bread with, whether you are a Christian, a Hindu, Wiccan, a follower of Islam, or Buddha, be blessed. Even if you are agnostic or atheist, the meaning of breaking bread transcends all levels of belief. It is something that is part of us as human beings.

Bread is in our DNA.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Geography Quiz - Answers!

Here are the Geography Quiz answers. Hope you had fun!

The island of Svalbard sits north of which country?
Hint Svalbard is located between Longitude 0 and 30E North of the Arctic Circle. It is owned by that country.  
 Answer: Norway


The city of Hanoi sits by a river which empties into which Gulf? Hanoi is a city in which country?  
Answer:  Vietnam, Gulf of Tonkin

Which country would you find south of Nicaragua.      
 Answer:  Costa Rica


Which states border Colorado?
 Answer: Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Nebraska, Oklahoma


Ulaan Baatar is the Capital of which country?
 Answer:   Mongolia


Where would you find the highest navigable lake in the world and what is it’s name?
 Answer:   Lake Titicaca in Peru and Bolivia


Chad is a country in which Continent. Who are it's neighbors? 
 Answer:   Africa. Libya, Niger, Sudan, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria


Which seas surround Italy?
 Answer:  Adriatic Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Ionian Sea


On which island would you search for Mt. Etna.
 Answer: Sicily.


Which islands would you find if your ship drifted just south of the Tropic of Cancer just west of 150W Longitude? 
Answer: Hawaii


The Suez Canal is found in which country? 
 Answer: Egypt


Which countries belong to the 'Skandinavian Countries'?
 Answer: Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway


The city Minsk is the Capital in which country just right of Poland?
Answer: Belarus


What and where is the Bosporus?
 Answer:  The Bosporus Straight, Also known as the Istanbul Straight, is one of the narrowest navigationable straights in the world. The Bosporus separates the Black sea from the Aegean Sea and from there the Mediterranean Sea.


The Euphrates is a river in which country?
 Answer: Syria and Iraq.


Which countries would you find clustered around the Caspian Sea?   
 Answer:  Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbajan


The Strait of Gibraltar separates which two continents and which two countries?
 Answer:  Africa and Europe. Spain and Morocco.


Don't forget to enter the give-away a few links down!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Geography Quiz

Here is  Geography Quiz I wrote for my daughter a while ago.  Take a stab at it and see how many questions you can answer. If you want this in a printable format with answer key for your kids send me a comment with your e-mail address and I'll send you a PDF file. Use your globe and atlas to find the answers to this quiz.

Have fun!

I will post the answers tomorrow!


Geography Fun # 1


The island of Svalbard sits north of which country?
(Hint Svalbard is located between Longitude 0 and 30E North of the Arctic Circle. It is owned by that country. )
Answer:

The city of Hanoi sits by a river which empties into which Gulf? Hanoi is a city in which country?
Answer:

Which country would you find south of Nicaragua.
Answer:

Which states border the state of Colorado (US)?
Answer:

Ulaan Baatar is the Capital of which country?
Answer:

Where would you find the highest navigable lake in the world and what is it’s name?
Answer:

Chad is a country in which Continent. Who are it's neighbors?
Answer:

Which seas surround Italy?
Answer:

On which island would you search for Mt. Etna.
Answer:

Which islands would you find if your ship drifted just south of the Tropic of Cancer just west of 150W Longitude?
Answer:

The Suez Canal is found in which country?
Answer:

Which countries belong to the 'Skandinavian Countries'?
Answer:

The city Minsk is the Capital in which country just right of Poland?
Answer:

What and where is the Bosporus?
Answer:

The Euphrates is a river in which country?
Answer:

Which countries would you find clustered around the Caspian Sea?
Answer:

The Strait of Gibraltar separates which two continents and which two countries?
Answer:



Don't forget to enter my Give-away which ends March 15, 2011 for a chance at winning a $20 coupon code for CSN stores. http://itchyhomeschooler.blogspot.com/2011/02/site-review-and-giveaway.html