Gauging Interest in a Puerto Rican Dinner, 2/24

If there’s enough interest, I’m thinking of preparing Puerto Rican meal for 30 to 50 as a fundraiser for the Fellowship on February 24, 2024 at 1 PM. My family emigrated from Puerto Rico to the mainland in 1926 and there are rich food traditions in our culture that I’d like to share. Should be fun and delicious.

Menu:

~Arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas, which is considered the national dish of Puerto Rico);
~Papas con chorizo (potatoes with chorizo), served with tortillas like my grandma used to do;
~Pollo guisado (chicken stew);
~Ensalada verde (simple green salad);
~Habichuelas negras (spiced black beans);
~Tres leches cake, Puerto Rican style (adding coconut milk and whipped cream with toasted coconut sprinkled on top);
~Agua de Jamaica (sweetened hibiscus flower tea, served cold).
~Might also include platanos maduros (fried ripe plaintains, which are naturally sweet).

Cost: $15.00 per person, paid in advance. I will donate all of my time and some of the food so we can donate the maximum. Volunteers welcome.

Unfortunately, due to the traditional menu I won’t be able to accommodate special diets, gluten free, vegan, or vegetarian requests. I’ll prepare a meal that meets these needs at a later date.

Please let me know if this interests you so I’ll know how many people I might expect to serve. Thanks a lot and I hope to see all of you sometime soon.

Ernest Cardona

Mindful Awareness

Mindful Awareness Practice will not meet April 17 or April 24 because Patti White will be traveling. Mindful Awareness Practice will resume with the regular meeting on May 1 at 7 p.m.

Patti White, Mindfulness Coach in the Unified Mindfulness system, unifiedmindfulness.com, leads Mindful Awareness Practice each Wednesday from 7 PM to 7:50 PM. The group currently meets on Zoom. The room opens at 6:40 for casual socializing. The practice is suitable for anyone interested in learning or improving mindfulness skills. Everyone is welcome.

To be added to the group list, email connect@uucorvallis.org

Plant Based Potluck

recurring; 4th Sundays

Join a potluck exploring and learning how to eat more Whole Foods Plant Based meals. It’s new! It’s confusing! It’s good for our health and our planet. No experience needed – whether you are a long time plant based eater, or have never heard of this before, you are welcome here. Let’s eat, laugh, and learn together. Children welcome.

Bring a dish to share, in which all ingredients are plants.

Plants: Grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, nuts & seeds, herbs & spices.

Not Plants: Animal flesh, fluids, and unborn young.

Need ideas for recipes? https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/

Hosted by Ann Marchant.

This is a Connect Up Event, with the purpose of building community within the UUFC congregation. Would you like to host a Connect Up event? Learn more about it here: https://uucorvallis.org/connect-up/

Dream Boards 1/6

9:00 am to 12:30 pm in the UUFC Fellowship Hall

Saturday, January 6, 2024

Envisioning the New Year with Dream Board Making. A fun, creative morning in a supportive environment!

Please bring scissors labeled with your name.

If you wish to bring:

Magazines, stickers, special photos, your water bottle and a snack

$5 contribution to cover poster board, glue and art supplies

Led by Joyce Marvel-Benoist

This is a Connect Up event! Members can offer to host a Connect Up event with the purpose of gathering together and building relationships.

Harvest UU-Pick

Pick fruits and vegetables at our mini farm for your dinner table & join us in a glass of wine or home made peach or grape juice.

The Biegel’s mini farm and orchard, 33073 SE Peoria Road. (.2 miles past Peoria market)

Come visit any day you like, until harvest ends… Call Craig to schedule your visit!

Book Group

a stack of books

The Connect Up Book Group meets monthly on Zoom, January through October.

Books are selected by the participants. You are welcome to join every month, or when the book appeals to you.

Coordinated by Laurie Reed. To get involved, please email connect@uucorvallis.org

2024 Book Selections

January: Hello Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano

February: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride

March: The Secret Life of Sunflowers, by Marta Molnar

April: Unmasked, by Paul Holes

May: Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett

June: Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond

July: Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus

August: Stones for Ibarra, by Harriet Doerr

September: Ava Helen Pauling, by Mina Carson

October: Wellness, by Nathan Hill