Tuesday 9th March:

my due date is next wednesday but I am expecting the baby to come this Friday because this Wednesday and Thursday is not so practical for our schedule. I just want to be back to a normal state so I don’t need to make a determination to stand up again after sitting down. Last two weeks were quite tough in that sense.

This pregnancy I received lots of blessing from lots of people especially from children’s classmates’ parents. They are all really excited about the baby.

I was a super healthy eater in the last 9 months and only ate out 4 times, once in McDonald’s, twice chinese, and once Simon took me to the River Cafe. I cooked really healthy meals everyday for 9 months.

Wednesday 17th March

I just need to do one more load of laundry and just go and buy and prepare a birthday present for one of kids’ friend’s party, all these kind of practical things….I just want it to be quick now, don’t want to wait longer. However, this afternoon, I went to the hospital and it looks like we have another week or so to wait until the baby is born.

i thought it was going to come much earlier. …my life is good, there is always a lot to laugh about with Simon, especially about the kids and all the things they say and do.

We still haven’t found a name.

Planning to start writing more often, if Simon helps me.

me and the boys in the British Museum (Simon is behind the camera)

Dear sisters and brothers,

80s pop music: Bananarama

Recently I started to attend some classes at the gym. There is a class called Step, and basically you have a low stool in front of you – a step, and you do all sorts of steps together with music. Only this particular class is totally pact, and if you are two minutes late you cannot get in anymore.

There is a reason for this. Normally the instructors where very tight outfits and you can tell who is the instructor very easily. The man who is the instructor for the Step class is in his mid forties, I think. He is bald and he wears just baggy trousers and a t-shirt, so you cannot distinguish so easily that he is the instructor.

But once he turns his music on he suddenly becomes a charismatic person. His favourite music is 80s pop and 90s euro beat. He is like a DJ as he introduces each song and even knows the year when each song was released. He shouts: “Are you ready for Pet Shop Boys, Wooah!?” and ”Here comes Bananarama!”
The first time I saw him it made me laugh many times. But I learnt that when you see somebody doing something with passion, whatever it is, you get very attracted.

Since tomatoes and summer vegetables are in season I wanted to introduce one of my favourite summer pasta dishes from River Cafe (a famous restaurant in London).
It’s so easy and takes about 15 minutes all together:
You need:
Egg tagliatelle 320g
Fine green beans 300g
Plum tomatoes 6
Parmesan cheese 50g
Garlic clove 1
Double cream 150ml
Fresh Basil leaves 3 tablespoons

look for ripe tomatoes, but it is not essential that they are of the 'plum' variety

1. Top and tail the green beans, cook in boiling salted water until tender, then drain.
2. Cut the tomatoes in half, remove the juice and seeds and chop them coarsely, then season with salt and pepper.
3. Grate the parmesan cheese.
4. Peel the garlic, and add it to the cream in a small sauce pan and then bring to the boil. Season, remove the garlic, and add the tomato, green beans and basil to the cream, and stir.
5. Cook the tagliatelle in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain and add the pasta to the tomato and bean sauce. Serve with the grated parmesan.

our local shop

Dear Sisters, and brothers,
It was a warm sunny afternoon when I was picking the boys up from school recently. I quickly drove over to Westfield (one of the biggest shopping malls in Europe which is located near our house) with 3 elder boys to buy toys as a reward for completing their homework charts. When we got to the toy shop the middle aged shop keeper immediately asked one of the boys: “are you going to Wendell Park Primary School? I went there as well,” with such a big smile while looking at the boys’ school jumper. When we were at the check-out this guy gave the boys a present of their most favourite toy just because he had been to the same school as them.
On the way back home they started to say that the shop keeper was sent by God. I was laughing thinking how cute they were, but when I realised he had given them four toys worth £20 despite me bringing just three of our children, how could he have known that we actually needed four, since one was at home. Also, how did he know that their most favourite toy was Bakugan?
Now I also think that God sent that man. And I didn’t even need to pay for the parking, because without me knowing there was 2 hours free parking at Westfield. I had such a good day.

delicious with garlic and oyster sauce

I am not a big fan of broccoli but with this recipe I can really enjoy this vegetable. I steam or boil the broccoli. Meanwhile fry a generous amount of chopped up garlic until it is light brown (be careful to not to burn it as it makes the taste bitter, also you need to put the garlic in the pan while the oil is still cold, and also fry it slowly.)
Add the oil and garlic to the broccoli and then pour oyster sauce on top. Delicious.
(You can buy oyster sauce in any super market.)

Chieko

Dear sisters and brothers,
It was very good that Reverend and Mrs Kim could visit the UK for 3 weeks. One of the things that caught my attention the most was that they never ever said any negative words about anybody. They find only good points of brothers and sisters, and praise them 10 times more than might be needed. I thought that if we can all practice this we can make our movement a better place.

Today I want to share my most favourite super fast menu which you can prepare in 3 minutes. I got it from my Korean friend: Salad Bibinpap. Fry the egg. Meanwhile put the ready made hot rice in a big bowl, and put a handful of pre packed salad on top. Put the fried egg on top of the salad. Then add Kogichan (hot red pepper paste), sesame oil and a bit of soya sauce on top. Stir it all well.
In the beginning I could not imagine to eat hot rice and salad together. But they absolutely go well. But, I can probably only recommend this to Orientals or oriental food fans since my husband doesn’t like it so much.
Have a nice week.
Chieko

Dear Sisters and brothers,
Recently when I do meditation and visualisation I immediately imagine heaven. I am in a huge field with flowers everywhere, and a very clear blue sky. People are sitting together being relaxed, and children are running around together. Everybody is happy and there is no hatred, jealousy, or worry about life at all. Just there is love, happiness, and care. They are all brothers and sisters who I know, and even my neighbours, and relatives. Everybody is smiling and laughing together. When I imagine this always tears come to my eyes and I absolutely want to go there. Then I think I should not be getting upset by or cursing the driver who stuck his middle finger up at me from his car.

When the kids need a quick snack I often make a small thick pancake about 10cm in diameter. I don’t use oil for this, so that the children’s hands don’t get all greasy and even it does not make any crumbs, so I don’t mind them eating it on the sofa.
120g self raising flower
60g sugar
1 tablespoon of honey or golden syrup
2 eggs
100ml milk

Break the egg and whisk it. Then add the sugar, and whisk until it is thick and pale. (If you have an electric whisker it is much quicker.)
Add all the other ingredients and mix well. On a heated Teflon coated frying pan pour roughly two tablespoons worth of the mixture into the pan.
Fry on a low heat and when you start to see a lot of holes on the pancake turn it over.
I like eating it with whipped double cream with sugar in it and also fresh strawberries on top.
Have a nice weekend

Dear sisters and brothers,

When I was a student in Italy I used do interesting part time jobs. One of them was as an assistant to a famous Italian painter. He had a secret picture storage space in the basement of his studio, and I was the only one who was allowed to go in. When clients came my job was to go and fetch pictures from the secret storage that they might like to see. He was old so he could not see the colour very well, so I had to prepare the different coloured paint for him and also take care of the studio.

He had a lot of celebrity and super rich clients, so I had a chance to observe these people. One thing I notices was how despite their fame and wealth they all seemed to struggle with the same things that we all struggle with such as worrying about their money and overcoming difficulties in their human relationships. Until that time I had always seen such people as being in a different class, however, after that part time job I was never interested in celebrity magazines anymore. Still now I never get nervous if I meet any so called VIP.

Perfect roast potatoes

First of all I believe buying good potatoes makes quite a difference. Peel the potatoes and cut them to the size that you like (I like big chunks.) Put them in enough cold salty water to just cover the potatoes (to avoid all the goodness in the potatoes you are using as little water as possible.) Bring to boil and boil for 4 minutes.

Meanwhile heat a good amount of oil on a roasting tin (either olive or sunflower oil) in the oven. Should be 200 C. /gas mark 6. Drain the potatoes and put them back in the empty pot, put the lid on and give them a good shake to help them lose their edges. Then transfer the potatoes onto the roasting tin and coat them with the hot oil by turning them over a few times.

Cook for about 1 hour (depends a bit on the size of the potatoes) until they are crispy golden brown.

Have a good week.

Chieko

Dear sisters and brothers,

Recently I came to a realisation. On Saturday at my parents in law’s house I was looking at a hard back copy of LIFE magazine called the Best of LIFE, which spans most of the 20^th century. There were so many pictures of corpses, and images of death. I remember seeing exactly the same book when I was very small, and experiencing that shocking and scary feeling stuck in my mind. But this time it was very different, I thought to myself: “I never know when I will die and my time can be very short.” Deep down I used to worry about how people think about us and our image as Unificationists, especially in respect of neighbours, and parents from my kids’ school, etc.

As I looked at the images in The Best of LIFE I felt that the previous feeling of anxiety was gone and instead I felt that the pillar of our daily life of being a Unificationist is most important.

I do not want to waste a lot of time in my short life just worrying about what people think of me, which might anyway be untrue. But now I worry more about how I don’t want to pass on my fallen nature to our kids and rather pass on some attractive tradition of living more with God.

Today I want to share my best ever omelette:

 Break 2 eggs (please buy at least lion mark quality) in a bowl.

3 table spoons of milk, salt, melt the butter in a large frying pan, pour all egg in, leave it on high heat, stir it constantly so that egg can be equally heated, when it is only half cooked put the Emental or gruyere cheese (or whatever u like) on half of the egg, fold it over with the other half to make a semi circle or sandwich, leave it for a couple of seconds to melt the cheese and then quickly put it on the plate, serve immediately because the egg keeps cooking by itself with the heat. When you cut it the egg should still be a bit runny in the inside.

Have a good week,

Chieko

Dear sisters and brothers,

Recently we had an interesting experience. We had one couple for dinner who Simon had met recently based on having known one of them from when he was younger and them saying hello on Facebook.

They were very interested in how Simon met our Unification movement and he was talking about how he asked someone for directions in Manhattan and that person invited him to listen to a presentation about the Divine Principle. They kept saying what an amazing coincidence that was and how his life was destined to be the way it was. If Simon did not ask for directions at that moment to that particular person he and I might not be together and our family would not exist here. We really felt God speaking to us through them.

Very cheating stew

This is the menu I make when I do not have any desire to cook, but it still tastes like a 5 star meal. It is incredibly easy. Fry chopped casserole meat. Put them in a big pot. (I use a slow cooker and turn it on in the morning and set the timer for dinner.) Meanwhile make lots of gravy using something like Bisto gravy granules. Put the gravy in the big pot with a tin of chopped tomatoes (the quantity of chopped tomatoes can be same as gravy or less, depending on your taste.) Put chopped up root vegetables and simmer for a few hours. If you add bay leafs or other herbs it will make it taste much better. I normally add the potatoes in the last half an hour so that they do not get broken. I can’t believe I can make this nice taste using gravy powder.

Have a nice week.

Chieko

Dear sisters and brothers,

I want to talk about the visit of Hyun Jin Nim and Jun Suk Nim. It was a very intense but also a wonderful experience for me. My responsibility was hospitality. Basically my job was to make sure that Hyun Jin Nim and Jun Suk Nim and any guests visiting their rooms were taken care of and were served tea or coffee etc. One thing I could witness was the standard of their life style. From when they arrived at the hotel until when they left they had visitors in their suite almost without any break. Their suite had a small living room and you could see part of the bedroom from the living room. Many times Jun Suk Nim was sitting with Hyun Jin Nim when there were guests, but sometimes she was not, and I am sure they had jet lag and I am sure she wanted to lie down a bit, and of course she also had their six month old daughter with them. I just felt if I was in that circumstance I would not feel able to relax very well. Also, I am sure it must be exhausting talking with people and giving guidance throughout the day. I had one experience when I had to go into their suite when no guests were there for half an hour, to clean up the coffee table. That was the only break time I saw them take during that four days, and I wish I didn’t need to go in to disturb them during that short time. I tried to not make any noise. Both of them were in the bedroom, and Hyun Jin Nim coughed once, as if to clear his throat, to let me know they were there. I felt such a pain in my heart that they cannot relax fully even for that half an hour. Where ever they go everyone looks at them and there is always a storm of camera flash lights. I am sure their whole life is like that. I don’t think I would be able to live such a public life; it was a special experience for me to deeply respect them.

We cannot afford the local organic butcher of fishmonger, but whenever we see the posh French bakery like Paul, Maison Blanc, Le Pain Quotidien, we always stop. Especially we buy the sour dough or French stick. I don’t know how they can make such wonderful bread. Have a nice week.