Glenstal Reading

I have an attachment to Glenstal Abbey I can only barely explain. I went there the year my Nana died. It was summer. That is the only time I have been there. A family friend is the Master of Novices there -  I do not know him well. But, he has always held our family close to his heart.

Glenstal Abbey is a Benedictine Monastery in Ireland, btw.

The reason I mention it is because I have a book called 'The Glenstal Book of Readings for the Seasons', which is, quite simply, genius. I intend to read it again this coming Lent through till Easter.  I mention it now because I think it is worth getting hold of before the beginning of Lent. It is not expensive, and has some really brilliant theological thoughts. I will probably use the thoughts therein as a structure to whatever I post in Lent. Just saying. :)

Polycarp - sounds a bit fishy to me

I have been thinking that all day today and laughing to myself. Fortunately I have been busy, and so have not had time to create any mad posts.  I just can't resist having it as a blog title.

The early Christian acrostic 'ichthus', which means 'fish' and stands for
Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour

For the record, St Polycarp was a disciple of the Evangelist, St John. He was martyred c. 167. His feast day is today. In his life he was tasked with faithfully passing on the teaching of the Gospels. He must have done this very well indeed because it got him killed. That is what happens to the best bishops. Seriously though, his story can be found here.

You could cook carp in his honour, but I don't think it tastes good. Settle for something more simple and delicious. Keep it fishy and you can make my joke. It made me laugh. :)

The Chair of St. Peter: Roaming Rome and Eating Roman

It is a funny old feast day this one. You see, there is a chair in St. Peter's, Rome. It is very ancient, fairly simple and wooden. It was built to travel - sturdy and portable, but, it is conserved in a gilt bronze casing designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and I am not sure it can go anywhere much now. A chair is a symbol of teaching and authority. And, this chair is a very important one. It is said to be the chair on which St. Peter sat to teach the faithful. If you have ever been into St. Peter's you will know where this chair is, but the actual object is hard to see. You just have to know it is there, underneath an extravagance of Baroque and gilt, simple, wooden and silent. Around the apse are the words of Jesus to St. Peter, inscribed in Latin: 'You are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. To you have I entrusted the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.' Today, 22nd February, is the day the Petrine ministry is celebrated. The handing on of the teaching of Jesus through the successors of Peter. I find thinking of the simple, quiet, portable wooden chair surrounded by fixed loud Baroque decor and choruses of 'Tu est Petrus' unhelpful here. Just keeping it simple, the quiet and the unseen almost always more truthful and telling than the loud and brash. The wooden chair reminds me of a God made man, a carpenter, someone with the 'common touch' to bring people in to relationship with others. The gold has resonances of power which I find more difficult or sinister. Of course, exploring all things Roman is another way to go....

Just getting lost along the way, a typical Roman day

This is St. Philip Neri, who I went to see

I have been to Rome a few times, most recently in 2009, where I made the above immaculately planned journey. I went to see the Chiesa Nuova, the parish of Santa Maria in Vallicella and home of St. Philip Neri. Having throughly explored the Church, and paid due respects to saints there present, myself and my friend headed off in search of dinner. As always in Rome, we had seen and heard too much to be able to make sense of the outside world. We had a plan to go to a particular restaurant, but we got very lost (see above, click to enlarge). Eventually, hungry and a little grumpy, we turned a corner expecting to see the restaurant we were looking for. Wrong turning, again! But, this little side street had a crowd of lively Romans queueing outside a little restaurant with no name, few tables and plastic tablecloths. There was no menu, and only one very busy waiter. We are onto a winner here, I thought. We joined the queue, and some time later, were served with the most delicious meal ever. It was rabbit, very Roman - the Romans popularised the eating of rabbits and chickens. And, it was beautiful. Below, is my best attempt to recreate the dream.

Rabbit Pappardelle (Roman Rabbit)

Serves 4-6

You can do this with a whole rabbit, but some parts of the rabbit will take longer than others. Sometimes it is easier to just use legs. It depends on what your butcher has available.

500g pappardelle
4 rabbit legs
50ml olive oil
knob of butter
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 tsp tomato purée
½ glass white wine
about 250ml chicken or vegetable stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated Parmesan, to serve
small handful freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve

Season the rabbit legs. Heat the olive oil and butter in a pan, add the rabbit legs and brown on all sides.

Remove the rabbit from the pan, add the vegetables, garlic and herbs and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until evenly coloured.

Return the rabbit legs to the pan and add the tomato purée. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the wine and turn up the heat to bubble then reduce.

The Infernal City :)

Pour over enough stock to cover, then place a circle of baking parchment (cartouche) on top and cook on a low simmer until the meat comes away easily from the bones. This will take about 45 minutes.

Remove the rabbit and set aside until cool enough to handle. Lightly shred the meat into small pieces. Discard the bones.

Strain the stock, discarding the vegetables, and return to a clean pan. Add the rabbit pieces to the stock and place over a medium heat. Simmer until reduced and thick.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pappardelle for 4-5 minutes, or until al dente. Drain and toss with the rabbit sauce. Serve scattered with the freshly grated Parmesan and chopped parsley.

I confess

I Confess - Alfred Hitchcock (If you haven't seen it, find it and watch it).

I was away with my girlfriends from school this weekend. The trouble with my very good friends is that they know me very very well indeed. That is why I love them. They read this blog. I have known them since I was 9, when I went to school in Bedford. Their verdict on my online activities? Too *expletive* saintly. Who do you think you are? We know you drank strongbow all through your A Levels and Uni. The first drink you ordered in front of  the Claretian Missionaries you were about to volunteer for in your Gap Year was Snake Bite and Black. It is a *expletive* wonder they ever employed you. The basic gist of the conversation was that it was time to confess, before Lent, of all my genuine bad food habits. Some of them are truly terrible, some of the are horrifying. 

Food, to me, is, first and foremost, social. The sociality of it keeps it seemly. This weekend, for example, we had some of the best food I have had in a long long time. Girls cooking together makes for a very decent feast indeed. I was happy :)

The things I eat on my own are my most guilty pleasures. It can go one of two ways. If I am feeling down I will either eat nothing, little or rubbish, or there will be a round of scallops and a bottle of Sancerre on the go. Both are worthy of confession. The first is a blatant neglect of self, as if, when I am just feeding me, there is no point 'going to any trouble' or, indeed, seeking proper nutrition. The second is the other extreme; the height of luxury just for me, gluttony and excess to lift my experience of being all by myself. Indulgence of the highest order.

So, what, with the help of my friends, can I confess to? Food wise the list is long. This blog always has fairly elaborate recipes, often full of luxury and calories, which take ages to prepare, and are stuffed full of things that are hard to find, or take ages to grow. Some of the recipes, such as the breakfast prepared for St. Lucy, take ages, but are for eating early in the morning. Seriously, how often am I going to do that? Once every few years is the answer there. There is never a mention of frozen food, instant junk or flavourings? Is that a true reflection of me?

In a word? No.

I have eaten Super Noodles on thickly buttered toast many times (the last time was in August). I love it. My favourite flavours are Barbecued Beef and Bacon. I like the Mild Curry ones, but it freaks me out that they dye everything they touch bright yellow.

I like Pot Noodle (and have eaten one in the last academic year), I think it was curry flavour.

I like the cheapest vanilla ice cream (expensive stuff is wasted on me). I still pour Amaretto over it though. I have done this often in restaurants. 

I have bought Greggs' large sausage roll and a cup of tea when hungry in town many times. It is my 'caught on the run' guilty pleasure.

Every now and then I make 'muck' (Nescafe) coffee with three sugars and eat a pile of chocolate biscuits.

I like Primula Cheese and Prawn spread on buttered toast for breakfast (but I haven't had this for years).

Breakfast mostly makes me feel ill, I don't often eat before Midday. This goes for every weekday since forever.

Angel Delight, I last ate this around this time last year, but it was good.

If I am feeling under the weather, making a whole bowl of custard from Bird's Custard Powder makes me happy.

I have bought 6 scallops from the Covered Market and eaten them all.

I drink hot milk and honey when I am tired.

I love Maggi, which is basically liquid MSG.

When I was vegetarian I loved Tivoli sausage sandwiches if I had a hangover. Now, all I crave is bacon.

When I am very busy I do not eat, but live on tea and wine.

I will eat houmous and crisps washed down with white wine for an evening meal, if I am pushed.

I dip chocolate biscuits in red wine. The taste of watercress, rocket and a deep red wine sends me to heaven and back again quickly. I love it :)

As an ex-vegetarian I always feel very guilty about ordering steak, but I will always answer 'rare' to the question, 'how would you like that prepared, Madam?' In fact, I hardly like it cooked. Just bring me the meat and a deep red wine. I'll be fine. *is taken away in fantasy by the sheer thought of it* * worries this tendency is almost vampirish* *back in the room*

Any pretence I make a as a 'foodie' can be instantly destroyed by pointing to my passion for the following preferences: white bread over brown bread, plastic cheese on burgers, marmite on toast with industrial strength tea over latte's and croissants, a custard cream over any other biscuit.

There, I am beginning to run out of things to confess. What strikes me is that I think that most people either neglect themselves when they cook for one, or go overboard. Sometimes, cooking for one is just a time to take back some 'me' time. A perfectly balanced individual would do that by cooking good, simple, nutritious food well. That is what I should aspire to.  I double dare you to share your confessions in the comments before the onset of Lent, when I will take on the task of explaining 'the great fast' and my attitudes to it. :)

The gourmets failure to think in moral terms...

This article is a good read, especially for those of us (viz. me) who have abandoned almost 20 years of vegetarianism relatively recently. I still like to eat seasonally. My twin sister taught me the habit of looking to see how far a vegetable has travelled before I eat it. But, it does surprise me how eating meat has come so easily. Yes, I am fussy about how an animal is reared. But I would eat most meats I thought had been produced 'responsibly'. What does that mean? I still err on the side of vegetarian for the quick sandwich on the run, you never know where the meat in those things hails from.  And do I feel sorry for lobsters? Well, I have never eaten one. But, probably only for a moment before working out how to eat him. Once more into the moral maze my friends. This time at the dinner table. It is worth revisiting these themes every now and then. As for the morality of feasting and fasting, I have more to say on that, but I am saving it for Lent. :)

Fleeting beauty - Cleansing the palate with citrus

If I wrote a blog about how the hotels in Lourdes serve the greatest food in the whole of Southern France, it would be a big fat lie. And that won't do. My abiding memory of Lourdes food is that three meals are served a day, and I struggled to eat any of them. I distinctly remember trying to discretely get rid of a seemingly endless pile of brussels sprouts that appeared as the 'vegetarian option' one year. Brussel sprouts - in August!  I believe they were served with an equally large pile of potato croquets, deep fried. Lourdes is one of those places where you walk around hungry and tired all the time but you neither sleep nor eat. You long for your creature comforts, but you are abroad and so your creature comforts don't exist. My nana used to pack sausages, rashers and tea to go to Lourdes. She was a very wise lady. There were days in Lourdes where I would have done anything for a decent cup of tea. I understand that there is a hostelry for Irish pilgrims which specializes in serving up 'tea you could trot a horse across' - pots of perfectly brewed warming goodness, but I never found it.  Don't let me mislead you. I loved Lourdes, and I have written about it plenty of times. It is just that the great healing and comforts of that place are not ministered through the food.

So, what to cook to celebrate Our Lady of Lourdes on 11th February? I think I am going to have to go for something that is the complete opposite of that which you are likely to be served up in the local hotels. Lourdes hotels specialize in utilitarian stodge that can be kept warm for hours. It keeps your body and soul together, but that is about it. Our Lady of Lourdes was the beautiful, fleeting 'aquero' that brought gentleness to a life of hardship. I think you need a light cleansing flavour to reflect that; nothing heavy or lingering; a recipe that speaks of health and goodness, something fleeting but beautiful, something cleansing.

Tagliatelle with lemon, cream and parsley (for 6)

I chose this also because, at the beginning of February here, the flat leaf parsley in my garden has just got shoots of new growth and looks great. I just went out and checked. OK, so you need a weekend full of time, and a waiting audience to pull this off, but it is worth it :). Or cheat, go to your local Italian deli and buy freshly made pasta. In Bedford I could do this and know it would still have been made by hand just hours before I cooked it. In Oxford I haven't found anywhere to do that, so I have to do it all myself. Bah!

Ingredients

Rich egg pasta (see below)
Maldon sea salt
300ml double cream
120g unsalted butter, softened
zest and juice of 4 large and juicy organic lemons
6 tablespoons of roughly chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
150g Parmesan, freshly grated

In a large thick bottomed saucepan, gently heat the cream. When warm add the soft butter, lemon juice and zest. Stir briefly together until the butter is completely melted, then remove from heat.

Cook the tagliatelli in a generous amount of boiling salted water until al dente, and then drain. Stir in the warm cream, and season with salt and pepper. Add half the parsley and toss together. Serve immediately onto warm plates with the remainder of the parsley and the parmesan.

Rich Egg Pasta (for 6)

400g '00' pasta flour, plus 100g for dusting
20 large organic egg yolks
1 tablespoon Maldon sea salt

Put the flour in the largest mixing bowl you have. Make a well in the middle and add the egg yolks and the salt (yes, you are going to have to think of a recipe to use the egg whites, it is part of the charm of making home made pasta, go mad, make baked alaska :)). With the dough hook attachment on the mixer knead the mixture to a dough. This takes about 10 minutes. Remove from the bowl, wrap in cling film and leave to rest for 1 hour.

Dust your work surface with the remaining flour. Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Pass the pieces through your pasta machine set on the widest setting, at least 10 times, folding the dough and turning it each time. The dough should feel silky. Then reduce the setting gradually until you have long sheets. Do not make your final sheet too thin, about 2 - 3mm, or No. 1 on your machine.

Fold the pasta sheets over three or four times on themselves, then cut the pile as finely as you can into tagliatelli, 1 cm wide, or use the widest cutting setting on your machine. Toss the cut tagliatelli to loosen individual ribbons and lightly coat with flour. Use as soon as possible.

Wasabi Slaw (Reprise)

Back when I had a blog that was called Lost Causes, there was a post about my addiction to coleslaw which made an appearance at the beginning of February 2008. I think it is time it made a come back. The first of February is, in my head at least, always the First of Spring. All the leaves have fallen from the trees, the snowdrops are out, it is my big brother Stephen's birthday and soon there will be lambs gamboling in the fields. The sun is shining at the end of the garden in Shipton today, and it feels quite warm if you stand in it. If you move into the shade by even an inch though, you freeze! Anyhow, this recipe makes me happy :) I like to make it when I have friends over and we can have lunch and a glass of wine. If you hang on until the 3rd February you could go a bit wild with the wasabi and get a bit of fire in your throat in honour of St. Blaise. (The blessing of the throats, traditional to 3rd February, always strikes me as a trust excersize. There are really very few people I would let anywhere near me with lit, crossed candles! ). Here is the post as it was on Lost Causes, back in the days of living in Bedford with Gemma :) 

This a new, but I think very addictive version of 'not quite junk food'. Gemma and I have long been fans of the coleslaw combo - coleslaw on toast, chips, roasties, baked potato, etc. However this has taken our 'slaw junkie habit' to a new, and if I may say so, dizzying height.

110g Red Cabbage 

110g White Cabbage

1 Carrot

3 Spring Onions

150g Mayonnaise

1tbsp Wasabi Paste

3tsp Maggi Vegetable Seasoning

Plenty of Salt and Black Pepper

Finely chop the cabbages, carrot and spring onions and mix them with the mayonnaise, wasabi and Maggi. Season with salt and pepper.

Truly, this is both addictive and divine. Wasabi has a taste that if fiery and morish - its wills you to eat more. If you have not come across Maggi before, it is time you found a home in you cupboard for this winner of an ingredient. You can use it in everything, and on everything - including cheese on toast!

We served our yummy concoction with salad, dressed with rapeseed oil and home made chips. If you need instructions to make chips, here they are: Get a big potato - chop into fat chip shape. Heat vegetable oil till it is very hot and then put the chipped potato in it till it goes brown. Do not burn yourself, or set the house on fire.

Inspirational Educators

Three saints this month caught my attention. That is not to say there was not a wealth of excellent folks from which to choose to take inspiration, but that my mind was focused on a particular theme. It won't surprise you to know that the theme was education and teaching. I can't help it. Anyhow, the inspirational folks and the food. Let's talk about those. Inspirational folks first, food later. The recipe for the brownies is below this post - scroll down if you must :)

First, the inspirational earthly saints I am actually living with, and for whom I made these brownies. I am lucky enough to have landed accommodation in central Oxford for a few weeks while I complete a temporary teaching post. It is thanks to the generosity of the RSCJ (Sacred Heart) sisters that I have a home close to my work and a beautiful kitchen to cook in. I am learning from those I live with, and so they must be recognized as my primary teachers. People you live with always are; and although who those people are changes (in my case quite often),  I always remember things that happened when I was living with so and so or X. At the moment, two of my housemates are ex-teachers, and philosophies of education infuse the building. I made what follows for the birthday of the good RSCJ friend who thought up the plan to let me stay for a while. So, to her, thanks :). The sisters have also been enthusiastic   about thinking up good food for saints - although they are mischievous. If I had more time on my hands there may well have been a recipe for roast pork for the Conversion of St. Paul!

Next, the heavenly saints who appeared this month and taught me something about teaching.

Angela Merici - 27th January - a hero for women this one. Angela looked around her hometown and saw that girls got no education and therefore, could have no hope of improving their lives from the poverty they were born in to. She knew this was wrong. In the 1500's women were not allowed to teach, and unmarried women were not supposed to go out alone, even to do good works. Nuns were the best educated women, but they were not allowed out of their cloisters. Angela recognised that things needed to change. She brought together a group of unmarried women, Franciscan tertiaries like herself and other friends. They went out into the street, gathered together the girls they met and began to teach them. These women had little money, no power and no social status, but they changed the status quo. Although Angela's Company of St. Ursula was never a formal religious order in her lifetime, the Ursuline Sisters later established themselves as the first order of religious sisters dedicated to the education of women. In Angela's time the thought of educating women was 'radical', her recognition that this was wrong began to change that. So, thanks to her.

Thomas Aquinas - 28th January - If I neglected to mention this chap as a great teacher there would be trouble. After all, the whole point of the Summa Theologica is that it is a textbook - a practical teaching document. However, it is not for all his intelligent, inspired, incisive and, lets face it, lengthy thought that I really love Thomas Aquinas. I really love Thomas because his teacher called him 'a dumb ox'. His teacher was wrong. That is a valuable lesson for all educators. You never know what the students in front of you are capable of. Also, Rosamundi notes Thomas' sage advice that 'sorrow can be alleivated by a good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine'. I tried to find out where the good Doctor wrote that, but I can't. You have to admit though, it is good. And after a long day at work, when nothing seems to have gone quite right, it is genius. 

John Bosco - 31st January - a man full of acrobatic tricks and skilled at juggling who used his talents to catch the attention of street urchins. John Bosco, who founded the Salesians, has got to be my Patron Saint of 'whatever you have to teach, for God's sake, make it interesting!' John  Bosco could do magic tricks, he was a musician and a skilled entertainer. He could keep the attention of his audience - draw them in -and once he had them hooked, teach them! An account of his life can be found here. He is great. He believed education was a 'matter of the heart', and said that students should not only be loved by their teachers, but that they should know that they are loved. Teachers, he said, should speak with nothing but kindness. That was pretty radical for the 19th Century, and I think, it is probably still radical now - a challenge!

I made Chocolate Brownies with Fresh Raspberries and Amaretti Biscuits to go with this post. Why chocolate brownies for the post about teaching? Simple. Teachers need chocolate. Chocolate helps.

Chocolate for Teachers - Chocolate Brownie Heaven

Here is the recipe I chose to celebrate being with good friends in a new house, a birthday and three inspirational educator saints (Angela Merici, Thomas Aquinas and John Bosco)  to help me get through my first month back in the classroom. Read about those who inspired it here. Enjoy :)

Raspberry and Amaretti Chocolate Brownies

250g finest chocolate (go Green and Black's or Divine, 70% min.)

300g golden caster sugar

250g butter

3 eggs, plus one extra egg yolk

60g plain flour

60g finest quality cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

about 5 or 6 Amaretti biscuits

two big handfuls of fresh raspberries

You need a baking tin, about 23cm square. I lined mine with greaseproof paper, and buttered it well before I started anything else.

Preheat the oven at 180C. In a big bowl mix together the butter and sugar with an electric whisk. You need to get it light and fluffy, so keep going until it changes to a nice light colour slightly, and becomes soft and creamy. Meanwhile, break 200g of the chocolate into a small bowl, and suspending it over a bowl of water, gradually melt it over a low heat. Alternatively use a microwave - very modern. Chop the remaining 50g of chocolate into small gravel sized pieces, and leave them to one side. Crush the Amaretti biscuits to about the same size too.

Break the 3 eggs into a bowl, and add the extra yolk. Mix them together a little. Add them slowly, bit by bit to the butter and sugar mixture. Whisk well. Sift together the flour and cocoa mixture, add the baking powder and pinch of salt. Once all the eggs are added and well mixed in, fold in the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Do this with a large spoon, slowly, keeping the air in the mixture. Finally, add the small chocolate pieces, the fresh raspberries and Amaretti biscuits.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin, smooth the top, and bake in the oven for about 30 mins. The brownies will rise slightly, but will look soft in the middle. To test to see if the are done, pierce with a fork, if it comes out sticky, but not with raw mixture attached it is done. If there is still raw mixture, pop it back into the oven for a few more mins. The brownies will solidify as they cool, and this is worth thinking about as you do the test. Once completely cool, slice the brownies into 12 equal slices. Serve with ice cream, or cream or both!

You can make a cheats raspberry sauce to show off. Get a good quality raspberry jam, and in a little cup add a teaspoon of hot water to a tablespoon of the jam. Mix together until a decent dripping consistency and then make artistic designs on white plates before placing the brownies onto them! :)

Teacher's Habits

This blog has been neglected! The shame! Well, I have a fairly decent excuse. I have been settling back in to the teaching routine. I love it! There is something truly brilliant about waking up everyday and heading off to the classroom. I learn more from those I teach than I will ever manage to impart to them, but such is life. All of a sudden I want to read again, and learn and write. My energy levels are back at super high and I wake up early, even if I go to bed late. There is a little robin in a tree outside my bedroom and he starts to sing at about 4.30am, I always hear him. He keeps it up until I am walking out the door near 7ish. I get up and start mooching around about 5.30am, taking my time over my cup of tea. I love to listen to his sing song. It makes a great start to the day.

Going back has triggered some funny habits and accidents these last two weeks. Things that I haven't done for years have suddenly become 'the norm' again. Also, I have observed that the RE Office and Department I am working for now has many of the characteristics of the RE Office and Department I used to work for, and of the RE Office and Departments I have 'temp-ed' in over the years. This has led me to believe that all RE teachers are cut from the same cloth. There are distinct personality traits to an RE teacher. Observing them again has made me laugh. So far, I have concluded that RE Teachers:

1.) Cannot keep a hold of their keys
2.) Never have their glasses, whether they are short sighted or long sighted, to be able to see the thing they want to look at at the correct moment in time.
3.) Have either no pen, or a pencil case full of those belonging to others.
4.) Seem to wear purple - a lot.
5.) "File" by piling things precariously all around a room.
6.) Get flustered by computers, especially in front of a class (this includes me, and I KNOW I am computer literate)
7.) Always carry a cup of tea or coffee, which is usually cold.
8.) Will get distracted by the tiniest tangent in a discussion
9.) Can never find a Bible in a classroom which is full of them.
10.) Only have a vague grasp of what their timetable is, even if they have been teaching it since the beginning of term.

RE Offices contain

1.) A filing cabinet which is empty, except for biscuits and chocolate. The real filing is on the floor - see above.
2.) An irreligious calendar - usually filled with scribbles which say 'E's BIRTHDAY!' rather than anything work related. Important school dates will be in a pile of paper somewhere.
3.) Various holy pictures, but all under books and papers, very few on the wall.
4.) Boxes and boxes of tissues
5.) Tea, coffee, a kettle, mugs, but rarely milk and never spoons.
6.) Piles of paper that no one has moved in years
7.) Bizarre post it notes that say things like, 'Find Religious Experience'
8.) More bottles of perfume and scarves than the department could ever have use for.
9.) Vestments, altar cloths, etc in a cupboard or hanging in a corner -normally looking old.
10.) Very cosy chairs and the heating turned up to tropical.

Is this how you remember your RE teachers? Their offices? I am sure this strange breed of people has not changed in generations.......