Camp Cuisine

Okay, as promised: here are Pád's recipes from Greenbelt. And yes - we really did eat like this. The campsite looked like a Keith Floyd outside broadcast. We had at good dozen folks eating together every evening.

Pád always does a bit of a Nigella Lawson, and indeed like the aforementioned Keith, is a bit vague about amounts. So you just kind of throw in what looks or feels right.

These 3 recipes are simply named after the sauce they were cooked in. We had the vegetarian option of each.

Bon appetit!


Oyster, Ginger & Coconut Sauce:

Fry onions, garlic and Ginger all together. (also fresh chillis if you're looking for Heat)
Throw in lovely amounts of Oyster Sauce, sweet chilli sauce and Coconut milk, and cover - leaving it heat up.
Add in vegetables - the ones that'll take longer to cook first (give anything like chopped potatoes, carrots etc. about 20-25 minutes) and other lighter vegetables anything from 5-10 minutes, depending on how crunchy you like them.
When adding in the lighter vegetables, add in some nuts - peanuts are fine - cashews or almonds are delicious.
At the last minute, add in some sesame oil and some freshly chopped corriander.
I don't think this dish needs any extra salt - although you may want to put some in.

You can add in some pan-fried chicken too - that's nice.

Serve with Nooooodles.

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Tomato Sauce

Fry onions.
Add in Garlic.
Add in 3 tins of chopped tomatoes.
Add in 1 glass of red wine, one spoon of salt, one spoon of sugar.
I like to put in Tomato Paste to thicken it a bit, and strengthen the Tomato taste - it can reduce the watherey taste.
If you like, add in one spoon of soy sauce instead of the salt.
Add in chilli - optional.
A nice thickener is anything that resembles Philadelphia (the cream cheese, not the city). Otherwise, the old Cornflour trick is good.

If you'd prefer it to keep a strong red colour, use white wine instead of red, add in extra red peppers, and semi-sundried tomatoes, and don't use soy sauce.

Same as the Oyster sauce - add in the heavier vegetables, giving them about 20 minutes to cook, and the lighter ones will cook in anything from 5-10 minutes.

If you want to use meat with it, here's an Italian trick - fry the mince meat just as it is, with no flavourings, and pour off the fat. Then put it back on the heat, with a cup of milk per 300g's of meat. Boil it until the milk is absorbed into the meat. Put it aside, and add it into the sauce about 20 minutes before you serve it.

Whatever the weather, throw in heavenly amounts of Basil towards the end.

If the sauce is looking a bit heavy, and you want to water it down a bit, you can put in either milk, or else some of the water that your pasta is boiling in - the starch in the water makes it a very good addition.

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Mango Chutney sauce:

Fry onions, garlic, ginger and chili.
Add in Mango Chutney, and some Elmlea "Cream" - that's for Mike the Snob, who turned up his nasal slits at the idea of Elmlea last year....but it doesn't curdle, (mostly because it has nothing that actually resembles cream in it...it's somehow from vegetables)
Add in any vegetables you like - same as other recipes.
You can also add in some nice pan-fried chicken.
Put in some Sesame Oil last thing.

A few varieties of that one can be to add in some chopped apples towards the end.
or, you can use Apricot or Plum Jam instead of Mango Chutney - make sure it's good quality stuff though, with lots of fruit, otherwise the dish can taste far too syrupy.
Tomatoes add a nice flavour, and they do take away from the overt richness of the chutney-esqueness.

After frying the onions, and putting in the chutney and cream, you can bung it all in the oven for 90 minutes, along with the vegetables.

You can try it with sour cream, or even natural yoghurt too. Just make sure to add in the yoghurt very slowly, and to keep stirring like a mad thing.

You can serve it with spuds, rice, or noodles - a versatile dish.

It's the great I am

When? Thursday 13th October
Where? Spring and Airbrake, Belfast
Who? Sufjan Stevens

tickets purchased.
doin' a li'l dance . . . :0)

'nuff said.

LB, x

p.s. things are lookin' up. keep prayin'.

4 days in a field . . .

It’s an unusually humid day. The air is filled with the rolling crack of thunder and hold it. . . yup – the heavens have opened and we’re getting flashes of lightening. Brings back memories of childhood summers in the south of England. this is not typical belfast weather. well, except for the rain bit.

So. Back from Greenbelt. wearing my new t-shirt. Here are the highlights:

• Camping with a fabulous bunch of folks. Props to Jude for organising the enclave. great set up. Great location.


• Eating dinner with a fabulous bunch of folks. Props to Pádraig for chef duties. Menus will be published here in due course. Pád has revolutionised our GB eating habits.


• Quality chat with friends and meeting new folks and putting faces to names. (Fellow timebeinger) Steve Lawson encounter was a gem. He finally put my face with my name. Much hugging and animated chatter ensued.


• Ikon’s ::Queer:: service. Ben used a visual taken from Tom Will’s hard drive. It was as breathtaking a backdrop as we’ve ever had. And that was just the walls. Whole thing as an installation and ritual and some kind of worship was even more beautiful than I could have imagined it. Proof that when you have an idea, even if you think it’s “a bit out there” you should be brave and unashamed and say – “Hear me out / Would it work if we. . .?/What do you think about . . .?”. Be brave.


• Being sick and being surrounded by a caring community that gave me just the right doses of tlc and space.


• Emiliana Torrini on stage one. One of the most amazing gb performances i've ever witnessed. Bjork, Stina Nordenstam and The Sundays have a child as a result of a bizarre musical love triangle. Had heard her album a couple of times over the summer but the live experience was the clincher. Completely captivating and convincing. Viewed on the big screen while lying on the grass in the dying evening light. Blissful.


• The big screen. Hallelujah! No need to stand on hard concrete to watch stage one.


• Duke Special. Did the homeland proud.


• Hearing Jonah Fry (not yet two) sing Biffy Clyro and animatedly calling our names. He got them right every time. Although we still haven’t worked out why he insisted on calling Michael “Daddy” for two days.


• Playing library with Daniel and Jude. The rules are you play with the books and you have to whisper. Daniel, as far as I can tell, made it up.


• Didn’t get to a single seminar but plan to download later. Thank the Lord for MP3s. They mean I could get quality time with friends in a slothful manner and not miss out on the inspiration. i can't wait to hear richard rohr.


• Seeing Andy Thornton smile.


• The last night party in the organic beer tent. The Belfast crew showed ‘em how it’s done. We put the bump to the grind. Uh huh.


• The weather.

Not so good:

• Feeling sick and basically losing a day of the festival and lying in tent all day instead.


• Queuing for shower on Sunday morning and having to endure the accompanying cleaning of the portaloos not ten feet away. It’s what hell will smell like.


• Flight delays on way home. I hate air travel and all it entails with a passion normally saved for right wing American foreign policy.

Overall, a great festival.
Lots of changes. And changes mean adjusting. GB is steadily becoming a backdrop to time spent on community holiday. Not sure I’d want it to get a whole lot bigger. There were a lot of people I never even saw in passing. That’s a first in 13 years. Recognisable faces got lost in the sea of the crowd. Didn’t see Pip Wilson once. I was looking forward to his smile.
GB always brings with it some kind of lesson. Not yet sure how to articulate what this year’s was and I wonder if this year’s will not so much be from the festival but from conversations with friends and from reflecting on my sense that I am, more than ever, disconnected from church.
I’ve got the community. GB and Belfast have allowed me the privilege of getting to know some exceptional human beings. They are a living witness and provide me with a strength that I don’t always feel within myself.

But I’m thinking I want more God in my life. I’m sick of trying to make it on my own.

The only way past is through. Which means it can be a tough road we have to travel on. It’s inevitable. So be bubble wrap to one another and remember to allow yourself to be taken care of. (Or is that last bit my lesson?) Thanks to those who have shown me so much protection and care these past few days, even those who are far away. You feel much closer.

I’ll leave you with my favourite story of the festival:

Daniel Fry (recently turned four) accompanies his father, Chris, through the campsite as evening falls. No doubt due to hearing us loudly praising an awesome sunset the previous evening, Daniel comments that the sky is lovely. Chris replies that yes it is and that God made it that way.
Conversation turns to the grass: God made the grass too.
“No”, Daniel says, “God didn’t make the grass.”
“Who did?”
“Mr Dixon.”
“Who is Mr Dixon?”
“Oh, he’s the man who helps God, making things. Like the grass.” He continues on to explain the various things that Mr Dixon does to help God and paints a rather vivid and exciting picture of this mysterious character and his exploits.
Chris is highly entertained but curious:
“Where did you hear about Mr Dixon. Who told you all this?”
Daniel replies rather matter of factly, “Oh, no one. I produced it myself.”

:: ALPHA. YHWH. AMOR. OMEGA ::

LB. x

i is back . . .

today i was handed my bright orange wristband for greenbelt 2005.

festival starts in 48 hours.

bring it on! may this mark a turning point. . .

x.