The rains have been beating down relentlessly over parts of England and there is serious flooding in many communities. Whenever I read or hear of such flooding it reminds me of Noah’s Ark. It tells us that even from the beginning, God found that the humans he had created could be a cause of disappointment. On the one hand, it is good to give us humans the freedom to choose our own paths. On the other hand, it is a grievance to God when we choose the path that doesn’t best help us thrive for the way we are designed.
The world was created perfect with God and man in a right relationship. Sin came in and destroyed that relationship. When you play a computer game, if things go really wrong, you can press the reset button. Sending the great flood to wipe out all of humanity was God’s way of resetting the world and starting again.
Many people are aggrieved by this word ‘sin’ and do not trust that there is a God out there who will judge the wrongs we have done. But really, every time you are shocked and sickened by yet another story of a killing (knives in the UK, guns in the US) or abuse or scam, you are actually feeling something of what God feels. We are all made in the image of God and even if we want to keep our distance, unavoidably built into our DNA is an inner machination that tells us there is right and there is wrong.
Noah was described as a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. In order to be saved from the flood, God gave Noah a long list of things to do (the original To Do lists) which he carried out to the letter. One particular instruction was that Noah was to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female: two of every kind of bird, animal and every kind of creature that moves along the ground. It is this instruction that gives rise to the popular imagery that the animals were all queuing in one long line waiting to enter the ark two by two.
I thought of this as I put in a succession of vegetables into my oven as part of an Ottolenghi-based dinner with friends last night. As I was working on my own, I had to prepare the vegetables one by one. These entered the oven one tray at a time whilst I prepared the next vegetable and sauce. In the end, after assembling, there were five dishes. Through this meal, we ate 23 out of the recommended 30 plants a week. For dessert I made a Bramley Apple Cake, with cognac this time instead of soju.
Roasted butternut squash which I added to a tomato and onion sauce, along with chickpeas and some thick pieces of cod before cooking the whole dish in the oven
Marinated aubergine with tahini and oregano
Chargrilled cauliflower with tomato, dill and capers
Kosheri made over the stove with basmati rice, green lentils, vermicelli and deep-fried shallots
There were copious leftovers for several more meals
The one that got away: I completely missed taking a photo of the plated courgettes roasted with lemon and chilli, served with Greek yogurt and harissa
Our diary is cheerfully busy for the month of January and I am very grateful for this. The days are short and dark and the weather is grey and bleak. Meeting up with friends, celebrating Mr Gochugaru’s birthday and the Chinese New Year as well as having some required medical treatments and physiotherapy help keep us occupied and out of trouble. This is exactly how it should be with our lives: a constant striving to keep out of trouble.