Pie for Pi Day, gołąbki, drive-through confession, and Harry & Meghan (7 Quick Takes)

~1~

Pi Day is March 14, and the only question is how much pie—and which flavors—are we going to bake and eat this weekend. I have a dish to return to my brother-in-law George, and I’m really tempted to fill it with a rectangular pie—and make one for us at the same time.

Last weekend I made an apple pie when returning a pie plate (and a stack of other dishes) to my friend Katie who had made us a chicken pot pie. I made one for us at the same time, and it was very popular with 75% of our household.

Now we have the excuse of Pi Day. If you’re looking to make a pie from scratch, this is the apple pie recipe I use.

~2~

The reason we have a dish to return to George is that he made us some gołąbki. Gołąbki is a Polish dish, and John and I had never tried it. The gołąbki that George made was delicious, with cabbage wrapped around ground meat and rice and a delicious tomato sauce over everything. Yum.

This was an extremely busy work week (which I may have been saying for more than a year now), and this was not my best week for making home-cooked dinners. Still, I just had to put these in the oven and we had a warm, home-cooked meal an hour later.

For whatever reason, gołąbki rhymes with Krupke, so I have had “Gee Officer Krupke” running through my head since George delivered them to our porch.

~3~

My sons and I went to drive-through confession at Holy Family in Davidsonville, Md., last weekend, and it was a wonderful experience. We took turns standing outside the car and confessing to the pastor there. He was so gracious and kind and gave us each more time than I had expected.

When you think of a drive-through experience, I think you might think it would be fast and impersonal. But I felt so seen and heard and compassionately considered as a child of God. My pre-Covid self always liked to go invisibly behind a screen, but this is how I feel comfortable receiving the sacrament right now, and it makes me feel both vulnerable and seen. I see so few people live and face-to-face, but I go to confession this way. Pandemic life can be a bit of a paradox.

If you’re looking for drive-through confessions, I highly recommend Holy Family. A friend told me they also have drive-through confessions at St. John’s in Hydes, Md., and I confirmed that on their site.

~4~

Other things I’ve done in my car this week include working for two-and-a-half hours while my son was undergoing academic testing at his school.

For some reason, I had to stay on the school property while he was going through the testing. So, I set up my office in my car, turned on my hot spot (which miraculously worked), wrote, took calls, texted, and participated in a couple of Zoom meetings.

It’s certainly not the first time I’ve worked from my car, but I do feel the pandemic has made me a more versatile, nimble employee. And the time just flew.

~5~

Did you watch the Oprah interview with Harry and Meghan? I may have been one of the last people to watch it, but I did finally see it, and I have so many thoughts about what they shared and how they shared it.

The most important to me: I am grateful to people who talk publicly about their own experiences with mental health.

But also, even people who aren’t trapped in a royal family often have trouble getting access to mental health services—and good, affordable services—quickly.

~6~

I ordered 15 pounds of ground beef from Bell Road Beef, and it arrived this week.

I’m so excited for tacos and stir fry and burgers and meatloaf and…and…and who knows what else.

I’ll be googling a bit this week looking for some other good ground beef recipes.

Ordering lots of beef during Lent might seem counterintuitive, but we can eat meat this Friday because it’s a solemnity—the feast of St. Joseph! So, that’s pretty exciting.

~7~

During one of my work meetings this week, my younger son came running to tell me there was a cat or a raccoon outside going through a trash can. I did what you do when that happens. I handed him my phone and went on with my meeting.

Later, he showed me the photos he had taken of the animal running away. I suspect it’s a cat, but it was exciting. And it reminded me how much more aware we are of nature in this time when our world is so much smaller.

It’s so hard to believe we’ve been doing this for a year. Hooray for spring and lots of light and hope on the horizon.

Find more quick takes at Kelly’s blog, This Ain’t the Lyceum, and have a wonderful weekend.

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