Wir Singen dir in deinem Heer

Winter Nights

“We sing to Thee amidst Thy host”…  From Bach’s Christmas Oratorio Part II.  And sing we did….  But more on this later…

We have not had an update in a while.  Partly due to the flu and partly due to a whole lot of rehearsals. We missed a Monday, while we were sick, but we prepped a great meal, before giving in. We planned Braciole braised in red wine.  It was nice to have this new comfort food, with pasta, to feed us while we recovered. I am sure this dish will appear on another MondayNightDining menu.

Braciole

Browing Braciole

Sliced Braciole with pasta

Rolling Braciole

Braciole

Rolling Braciole

This week, we moved Monday night dining to Tuesday, due to orchestral rehearsals, but we felt we still needed to have our weekly gathering, even if on a different night. So on a cold Tuesday our trio gathered for a warming Monday Night Dinner.  Since Shawn and I were not quite up to full speed, Shawn checked the freezer and lo and behold there was Pasilla sauce, so our appetizer was a favorite, shrimp crepes with pasilla sauce. Lovely and creamy.

Crepas de Camaron Con Salsa de Chile Pasilla

For our main we had chicken supremes on hand and coated them with a Dijon mustard coating, served with bay scented fingerling melting potatoes, haricots verts and sautéed mushrooms. This is perfect cold weather food, to warm you up and carry you through the night.

Mustard coated Chicken Supremes

For dessert, we had the dessert we had started for last Monday’s cancelled dinner. Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta with Rasberry and Port Reduction.  We did not have the Ruby port that the recipe called for, so instead we used our 10 year old tawny port. It may have been overkill, but it was well worth it.  The raspberry port sauce (really just port and little sugar reduced to a syrup) was simply amazing and drizzled over a light chocolately panna cotta.  This may be a new favorite!

Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta with Rasberry Port Reduction

We had a lovely time over dessert and tea, while catching up after our missed week. There was lots of activity to plan, for the coming week and our upcoming shows, but a time of fellowship, breaking bread and sharing, helped to ground us, for the busyness ahead.

Now posting this, after the week has already passed, we are pleasantly exhausted,  and musically and convivially fulfilled. We have sung Bach and Martin for audiences in 2 different cities. We have shared our joy and passion in music and poetry, but there was a moment tonight, while singing Steph’s composition, where I just felt the joy and passion of the text…..   I realized that the moment we were experiencing….  that particular moment….  the connection between the singers, the orchestra, the conductor and most importantly the audience was ethereal…  It was a moment in time that could never be repeated. I looked out at the people I love, experiencing with me a moment in time, a momentary connection in our busy day and I got it…     Why we do this. It’s not about putting on a show, or being perfect, although we strive for those things.  It’s about connecting to something larger. “Wir Singen dir in deinem Heer,”  “We sing to Thee amidst Thy host.”          This may have lasted only a moment, while singing one of my favorite lyrical lines of the night “though love and all his joys…”, it just goes to show that if we pay attention, those moments are there for us. We just need to look up, and see them when they do.