Your Summer With The YAG

We just had a meeting last week to discuss events for this summer. Here are the meeting notes.

Some highlights:

Monthly Recurring:
Second Sunday Suppers - These will continue during summer
Third Taize Tuesday - Ditto

June
San Diego Fair to watch Switchfoot (6/24)

July
World Cup Final Viewing Party (7/11)
San Onofre Beach Camping Trip (7/16 - 7/17)

August
Del Mar Races for Brew Festival and WEEZER (8/21)

September
Padres Game (9/9)

Please go to the blog and check up with the emails for more detailed information as events get closer. If you have an idea for an event and would like to coordinate please feel free. It's your community. We can make it whatever we want.

God bless you all,
Huy

Second Sunday Supper (5/9)

The YAG group will be having our next Second Sunday Supper after the 5:30pm mass on May 9th. The cost of dinner (pizza & salad) is only $7. Please sign up on this form to help us have an idea of how many people to get food for!

Volunteers needed! If you are interested in taking up the torch and giving a talk + leading a discussion on your favorite saint for an upcoming Second Sunday Supper (May 9, July 10 or beyond), please contact Danny (darichter@gmail.com) with your topic/preferred date. If you are interested in bringing food for an upcoming supper, contact Stephanie (stephanie.nissen@gmail.com)!

Easter Sunday 2010 recap: Earthquakes and Other Divine Intervention

The lily that Kelcie brought. (Thank you for reminding me of my Grandmother & old Easter traditions!)

So I have a confession to make: One of the best Easters I ever experienced was spent up at a beachfront house with 4 people who didn't do the whole Catholicism thing. Or the whole Christianity thing, for that matter. We spent the day enjoying God's amazing sand and sky, just taking our time. We made risotto (the stir-forever Italian way), marinated spareribs & portobellos, drank mimosas and used the sun-filled hours as an opportunity to be grateful for the chance to get to know each other better. Every year when Easter rolls around, I'm reminded that our celebration should be one we share with the rest of the world, and not just by the music streaming out of our church doors. It is so wonderfully amazing to me how much the YAG (and friends) community really took that to heart this year.

It all started when Jeff (re)offered his home as a location this year. He and his roommate had done a major overhaul to the backyard, and it proved a great place for people to gather as they flowed in and out of the house. Also, a it provided the opportunity for old hats and newbies to get acquainted using a universal language (that would be futbol!).

Kristina shows our newcomer (John) the ropes.

The backyard was also a great intermittent escape for those who spent the afternoon in the kitchen. I don't want to bore everyone with a minute list of each thing that was prepared (and the symbolism behind each dish), but I did want to mention one thing-- pumpkin kibbe. According to the Aussie-based Lebanese guy I co-opted the base recipe from, it's a very popular Lenten dish where he grew up as almost everybody there gives up meat for the entire duration of Lent. That said, have you ever tried to find a pumpkin (or even non-pie-spiced canned pumpkin) in San Diego in April?? I have. And you can imagine my surprise/Snoopy dance of joy when Daniel mentioned he just happened to have one in cold storage! God provides in sometimes the most obscure ways. =) The kibbe were small things, but deep-fried with great love.

Brian and Anne hard at work.

When you're trying to feed 30 people, though, kibbe only goes so far. Here are a few pics of our wonderful cook crew, who all pitched in to create a wonderful feast. Brian, Anne, Jake, Suz, Jeff, Kristy, David, Dre, Aaron, Anna, Daniel, Andrea (aka Priscilla-- confirmed this year!), Jen & Jenny all had a hand in prep, and I'm not sure if there was a single dish we prepped at Jeff's that was entirely the work of one person. They were joined by an equally stellar clean-up crew: Steph, Tony, Sean & Tara... *after* the earthquake. It was actually the first earthquake for a number of people there, and I'm glad that they didn't have to experience it alone. Interestingly enough, Dre ran across a reference to Revelations a few days later that said earthquakes used to be interpreted as a sign of God's physical presence. Sounds good to me. ;^)

Who'd have thought pumpkin goop would be so much fun (and so tasty!)

One last note about God's presence-- we placed a jar at the door so people could donate towards food costs, and actually ran over a bit. So a donation has been made ($35) to Mama's Kitchen, which delivers meals to people with AIDS or cancer. It's not 12 baskets full, but I'm glad that there was a tangible benefit to the rest of our SD community as a result of our celebration. You know, we sing in church that God is Love-- but love requires us to be in relationship to each other, in community. In the words of a good friend, it's something you "have to seek out and create." Looks to me like the YAGs (and friends) have started off the Easter season very creatively indeed.

- Shannon

This recap post and pictures were contributed by Shannon, our organizer extraordinare for the YAG Easter Dinner. Many thanks to all the effort she made to put together an amazing evening of tasty fare and great company!

Second Sunday Supper - April 13

Last Sunday, Anne gave a great talk introducing the life of Sr. Dorothy Stang and provided 3 rounds of discussion questions small groups gathered to talk about. More information about the life and martyrdom of Sr. Dot can be found in the following podcasts from Provoke Radio:

"Modern Day Saints and Martyrs: The Life and Death of Sister Dorothy Stang" Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

It was a great start to our discussion topic for this year's Second Sunday Suppers on the lives of saints / holy people who inspire us! If you are interested in taking up the torch and giving a talk + leading a discussion on your favorite saint for an upcoming Second Sunday Supper (May 9, June 20 - a "Third Sunday", July 10 or beyond), please contact Danny (darichter@gmail.com) with your topic/preferred date. If you are interested in bringing food for an upcoming supper, contact Stephanie (stephanie.nissen@gmail.com)!

Feeding America volunteer opportunity

This spring, the YAG group will be volunteering two weekday evenings with the local organization Feeding America (feedingamericasd.org). The projects there are geared around sorting, boxing and bagging more than 1,000,000 pounds of food a month as part of their mission to feed the hungry families of San Diego.

The evenings we have committed to are:

Wednesday April 28, 6-8pm

Thursday May 13, 6-8pm

Feeding America's address is 9151 Rehco Road, San Diego, CA. Since the warehouse is not far from Good Sam's, those who want to carpool can meet at Good Sam's at 5:45pm that evening.

Sign up on this form to give us an idea of how many people might be coming, who might need to carpool, and what times might be good for future volunteer events. The volunteer information sheet for Feeding America San Diego can be viewed here. Please remember to wear closed toe shoes!

Questions? Contact Stephanie (stephanie.nissen@gmail.com).

Mountain Getaway Recap

The YAGS mountain getaway was a huge success. The weather seemed to turn to spring just as we arrived on March 12 so sunny moderate mountain weather shone down for two days of slopes, fellowship and excellent eats...those who missed it can only wait until next year, training for the mountains by sharpening their snowboarding skills on “practice” trips.

Tiffany provided the housing hookup in scenic Big Bear at a discount price due to her many high-placed connections. Laura was all over the food and designed gourmet meals, highlighted by four huge lasagnas on Saturday night. Sean provided critical beverages. Father Joseph said Saturday and Sunday masses so we could get our spiritual fix. Jake provided the soundtrack.

In the hills, Steph and Tony led a crew on a hike of a trail that turned out to be half mud, half snow. Tony also built a snow cave and went for a run, completing the tri-fecta of mountain activities.

On the slopes of the Big Bear resorts Huy led the pack of snowboarders with Andrew, only in his first season, not far behind. Tara, Christina and Ben rounded out the experienced boardercrew, with the lowlight being Ben landing on his head after catching too much air on a jump...only to be saved from injury by the helmet Huy had recently given to him...

Mark was an ace on skis on the double diamonds and inspired 5 beginners making their ski debut, led by Martin, the natural, who didn't even fall once on his first day, except at the end just to check how it was done.  Anisha, Srikanth, Ewa and John also started their addiction to downhill sports. Tina probably would have been the downhill queen but elected to read objectivist propaganda rather than embrace the perfect weather on the slopes. To give her credit, she made the trip on extreme sleep deprivation and it was surprising she made it through the weekend awake.

At night, Tara and Jake were the pros of the evening game with probably as many points as the entire other team. Other late night shenannigans included snowball fights and snowman building. In the morning, Ewa cooked some tremendous pizzas, and the eggs and pancakes rounded out the perfect brunch with John and Andrew slaving over the stovetop. Ben and Christina closed out the weekend with a jump into big bear lake for a brief 33 degree swim.

In short, the weekend was the best YAGS overnight of the year...until next month, at Joshua Tree... 

Pictures:

Ben's

Christina's

Martin's

- BenJammin'

Second Sunday Supper - March 14th

This Sunday, March 14th, the YAG group will be having our next Second Sunday Supper after the 5:30pm mass! Come for good food, great discussion, and fabulous company. This month's speaker is Fr. Joseph; he'll lead a discussion on a parable. The cost of dinner is only $7.

Please sign up on this form to help us have an idea of how many people to get food for! Other questions? Contact Stephanie (stephanie.nissen@gmail.com).