Dear Reader,

It’s a cold, cloudy day in Canberra, with a maximum forecast temperature of eight degrees Celsius today. That’s 46 °F for any reader in the USA, Liberia, and Burma.

It felt like a good day to have the slow cooker on as well as the heating.

While grocery shopping this morning, I saw a nice lump of rump which looked like it would be perfect for this week’s meal planning.

I hope wherever you are, that you are warm and comfortable.

Have a good weekend.

Gaz

Ingredients

• Rump roast
• Barbecue sauce
• White onion
• Beef stock
• Lentils
• Potato
• Instant gravy
• Baby green peas

Instructions

Slow cooker

1. Empty a tin of lentils into the cooking vessel.
2. Lay the rump roast on the lentils.
3. Cut a potato in half and place it into the cooking vessel.
4. Cut the onion in half and put it into the cooking vessel.
5. Squirt a good glug of barbecue sauce into the cooking vessel.
6. Add a cup of beef stock to the cooking vessel.
7. Cook for eight hours.

Baby green peas

• Cook the frozen peas with microwave radiation.

Instant gravy

• Prepare as per the instructions for use on the packaging.

Plating up

1. Divide the rump into pieces for meal planning for the week. My plans include a pasta dish, some cold slices and salad for lunches, and perhaps a noodle soup.
2. Divide the lentils and keep some aside for dinner putting the rest into a container.
3. Slice a small piece of beef and put it onto a warmed dinner plate.
4. Serve a spoon of lentils and the potato onto the dinner plate.
5. Put the baby green peas onto the dinner plate.
6. Pour the gravy over the meat and vegetables.
7. Give thanks to the Lord for wages earned to buy food, cook food, and eat food to nourish my body and my enjoyment.

This week’s highlights in life

• Work has been good. I remain blessed to work with amazing people. 
• It’s reassuring to see people in Canberra more aware of their health and safety and cognisant that the δ (delta) variant must be respected. This week, I read a paper that revealed that the viral load associated with the δ variant is about 1000 times greater than with the original virus recovered from the beginning of the pandemic. Without wanting to be morbidly crass, I’m in awe of the biology of SARS-COV-2 and the ability of this virus and the infection it causes (COVID-19) to change and adapt. I’m sure if I wasn’t in a sequestered, safe bubble, like Canberra, I’d be feeling more anxious and worried. ^
• It’s been worrying seeing what has been happening in NSW, Victoria, and Queensland.
• I started reading John Owen’s Overcoming Sin and Temptation. This book is a collection of three of Owen’s seminal works on the “Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers”, “Of Temptation: The Nature and Power of It”, and “The Nature, Power, Deceit, and Prevalency of Indwelling Sin”. It’s a challenging read in a couple of ways. Owen writes in an archaic style, and the subject matter penetrates deeply. 
• I’m also reading Tim Keller’s Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God. The two works are complementary, in my opinion.
• I received a bunch of fresh free-range eggs from a friend this week. Fresh eggs are the best!

Final thoughts

• Have you enjoyed fresh free-range eggs? How do you like to cook them?
• How have you been coping this week with the pandemic?
• Are you in an area where the δ variant is circulating in your community?
• What’s the weather like where you are at the moment? Let me know in the comments how you’re enjoying the weather (or not).

^The Bible App I use today presented me with Proverbs‬ 12:25‬. (‭ESV)‬‬

“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.”

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