Food

Herbs, if you use a little or a whole lot they transform your everyday dish adding a unique freshness and aroma while being amazingly beneficial for our bodies too.

While living in India I was already familiar with a few varieties that my mother would use in her everyday kitchen like coriander, dill, mint, bay leaves, and on rare occasions, basil. However, when I moved to the Middle East and began cooking my meals regularly I gradually developed a full appreciation for these fragrant and delicate group of ingredients. With nationalities from all over the world, this region is blessed with a treasure of produce leaving a novice or an accomplished cook plenty to experiment with at reasonable rates. Also for the people of this region herbs are an important part of their everyday meal and this in turn opened my mind and palate to a whole new world of food.

As I began experimenting in my kitchen I was thrilled to discover that just a few sprigs of a herb could bring so much magic to an otherwise mundane dish. On our travels around the globe, my favourite thing was to head to the botanical gardens and just walk past the herb bushes gently brushing the tops taking in that amazing fragrance or to sink my head into a bunch of freshly bunches excited to discover new varieties at the local markets.

Varieties and types.

We have finally started to notice that there is real curative value in local herbs and remedies. In fact, we are also becoming aware that there are little or no side effects to most natural remedies, and that they are often more effective than Western medicine. – Anne Wilson Schaef

Parsley, Chives, Tarragon, Sage, Rosemary, Oregano, lavender, the list is endless especially once you start looking beyond the supermarket and more into local or indigenous herbs. 

Have you heard of Loveroot, Horsemint, Wild mint, Sagebrush, Juniper, Wild Onion, Lemon Myrtle, dandelion, comfrey, sage, chamomile, juniper berries, or mugwort? 

Spread the love ♥
  3    
3
Shares
Continue Reading
Art/ Heritage

THE BOMBAY SEMINARY: Cutting the First Sod

 In February 1956 the Diocesan Council received thrilling news. A plot of nearly thirty acres had been discovered at Goregaon. The site was suitably situated and reasonably priced. H.E. Valerian Cardinal Gracias described these marvelous moments in the following words:

‘Through no merits of my own, it was left to me to undertake this project and to fulfill the dream of my predecessors. We owe it to the Broker, Mr Patrick Coelho…to have discovered this ideal site, and to Mr Agaskar, the Vendor, who was happy that his property would be used for a sacred purpose. Actually, I was in Burma at that time. On arrival at the airport, I was whisked off to inspect the site. My reaction was that of love at first sight, which though in most cases is blind, in this is not.’

Let’s now consider the site in question. In the mid-twentieth century, Goregaon was still a village but also a railway station. The property lay half-a-mile from the station and measured around 30 acres and 18 gunthas. It was not symmetrical though roughly rectangular. To its southern boundary was the straight public road, the Aarey Road which derived its name from the sprawling acreage of the neighboring Aarey Milk Colony.

In the 1950s the land was occupied by a single-storeyed country-house surrounded by the natural world. As recorded – ‘The property consist of rather neglected orchard land, planted with low and gnarled mango trees with tall, straight palmyras. The open spaces between the trees are bare in the dry season, except for the Kala Kuda shrub. When the rains set in, dormant nature awakes, and changes the barrenness into a paradise of flowers: balsams and forget-me-nots, glory lilies of India and spiderworts, and everywhere grasses, outstanding among them Job’s tears…’

Spread the love ♥
       
Continue Reading
Faith

Mission Accomplished – Saturday, 26th week in ordinary time – LK 10:17-24

Jesus has begun his journey to Jerusalem having completed his Galilean ministry (Luke 9:51). On ‘the way’ he sets out to teach the disciples while at the same time sending them out on mission as they walk along.

He had sent the seventy out in pairs to every town and place that he himself intended to go (10:1-2). Often, the first face of Jesus that some would ever see is the face of the disciple sent out; namely your face and mine. In that we can become the best or the worst advertisers of the Good News to others.

What  also strikes us  as we read this text is the privilege we share when we are called to minister for Christ in his vineyard. Earlier in Chapter 9:1 the twelve were given power over demons and to cure diseases. While the seventy disciples did not receive the exact mandate,(10:9) their reporting of their mission indicates that this mandate to the twelve was extended to them.

Clearly, the all-inclusive Gospel proclaimed by Luke is not merely limited to the a limited audience of faith seekers but also a wider circle of those who will minister in the vineyard. The appointment of the seventy, close on the heels of the calling of the twelve apostles, is a clear indication that the little inner circles that run rings around Church leadership is not what Christ desired. In short Christ chose the ‘more the merrier’ policy when it came to ministry rather than the exclusive cosy clubs that certain faith groups have come to be.  

Spread the love ♥
       
Continue Reading
Art/ Heritage

‘As Eden was the Paradise of Creation, Mary is the Paradise of the Incarnation, and in her, as a Garden were celebrated the first nuptials of God and man’ – Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

Born in 1452, Leonardo da Vinci (literally of Vinci, a region near Florence, Italy) had an uninhibited search for knowledge. A multifaceted genius and a blue-sky thinker, his interest in architecture, engineering, sculpting, mathematics, science, anatomy, biology, astronomy, etc. earned him the epithet ‘The Renaissance Man’. His absolute thirst for unending knowledge and his infinite ‘whys’ produced several substantial cross-disciplinary connections that unraveled the science of art and the art of science. To date, most of his works continue to stir controversies, theories, feuds, and fantasies.

One such masterpiece was executed by this creative genius during his stay in Milan. Titled ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’ the painting was commissioned by a confraternity devoted to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. The painting was meant to be the main altarpiece in their newly built chapel in the Church of San Francesco Grande, Milan. However, when the patrons refused to pay what the artist considered a fair price, Leonardo sold the painting to another customer.

A few years later the confraternity obliged and persuaded the artist to paint a second version. Today the former is on display at the Louvre, Paris while the latter now hangs in the National Gallery, London. The two versions are almost identical but for the angel, who in the Paris version gazes at the viewer while pointing towards St. John the Baptist. In this article, we will consider the painting at the National Gallery.

At first sight, we are captivated by the Blessed Virgin who dominates the center of the scene. The Blessed Mother is seated not on a royal throne but the throne of nature. This depiction of the Virgin seated on the ground was popularly recognized as ‘The Madonna of Humility.’ Her gestures are incredibly beautiful. Dressed in blue, the Blessed Mother tilts her head to the right, wrapping her right arm around the little Baptist, almost directing him towards Christ Child.

Spread the love ♥
       
Continue Reading
Art/ Heritage

 “In 1953 as a desperate measure, the theologians were shifted to the ‘Pilgrim House’ at Mount Mary’s’, Bandra, but soon even this became too small. We have now reached a pitch when we can hardly wait anymore. At this distressing juncture, God has come to our aid.”

 On June 13, 1958, as H.E. Valerian Cardinal Gracias penned down the above words at Archbishop’s House, he rested back in awe and gratitude at the wonders of the Lord. For centuries Bombay had fostered a dream that embraced the very life of the diocese. The struggle for the Bombay Seminary was real and the dream drifted along the deserted path. But who can fathom the ways of the Lord? Who can understand the time set for every purpose under heaven? As memories of the past flooded the room, the Cardinal silently repeated – ‘God has come to our aid.’

What was this divine assistance that the Cardinal referred to?

‘When in October 1955 His Eminence Cardinal Gracias went to the United States, accompanied by Msgr. V. Dyer, he got a wonderful reception all over the country from the American hierarchy who had invited him. A memento of this visit is the offer of help towards the building of our new seminary. Archbishop Cushing was so encouraging and generous that he put heart into the move, and gave very substantial aid. The most prominent names that come to mind are Cardinal Spellman of New York, Cardinal Mooney of Detroit, Cardinal McIntyre of Los Angeles, and the late Cardinal Stritch of Chicago.’

‘How did this donation to the Seminary come about? Our Cardinal was there on a purely social invitation. His absorption in the US Seminaries, when shown around, was natural. In every diocese, the Seminary occupies pride of place in the bishop’s heart. Tell us something about the Bombay Seminary, was how these visits wound up, and that led to this very noble offer of help.’ (Mascarenhas, 1958, 33)

Spread the love ♥
       
Continue Reading