Food and Community

Every month I help coordinate a potluck dinner at our community league, followed by some activity that is usually physical.  I'm not sure why this monthly event is attended by so few people, but those who come always have a good time.  We may just have to move it into rotating homes for the three regular families.  It's much cosier in our houses.

However, we soldier on.

Last night we had four families there and it was tough to get some of us to leave the hall at 8:00 to get the kids to bed.

The food is always fabulous, but I go for the people.  The kids all play with each other, and it's one of my only interactions with little kids.  The one girl so proudly can now pronounce my name that she comes to talk with me all the time.  It's really cute. 

And the activities vary a lot.  Last night wasn't so "active" and I wasn't even that thrilled with the idea.  Making cards?  I really don't like scrapbooking and stamping. 

Or maybe I think I don't like it, because I was far from done by 8:00 and we planned a Saturday to get together and continue where we left off. 

Here's my work. 

I wasn't allowed to look at what the girls did but I should see a couple of cards on my birthday this year! 

If you want to read an article about our event, last month an interviewer from a student newsite came to eat with us and report on the evening.  I thought some of my comments were taken a bit out of context, but it's not terrible.  Read it here:  West Edmonton Local 

Next month we are making Psanky (Ukranian Easter Eggs).  After that I hope we can get outside for a bike ride or playing badminton on the tennis court.  The idea is to do something active, but we're a crafty group of attendees.

Blessed meal

How is it that I've been gifted with a meal from someone I hardly know? I have been blessed by this friend-of-a-friend before.


I just had to accept the gift with grace, because we often don't deserve the things we've been given. At least I don't.


Through my drywalling friend (and there's another blessing I don't deserve), this friend-of-a-friend...

Hang on. This is too hard. She needs a name. Because I don't know how she feels about being named in this public (!) space, I'll call her...Deidre.

Start again.


So, through my drywalling friend, Deidre has been hearing about my bathroom reno. Knowing the stress that renos can cause, Deidre thought she'd forward a care package so that at least one meal this week would be off my mind. She's very generous and thoughtful that way. I can learn much from her. I still had to cook it, but it was easy to prepare. The main thing for me was that all of the thinking was done and all of the ingredients provided. It's the planning and thinking about meals that tires me out, so this was perfect.

Deidre has only met me on a few occasions, so she probably doesn't know that we don't really eat many lentils. It's one of those ingredients I'd love to love (like squash), but I haven't enjoyed them much in the past. I did, however, just buy some mixed lentils last week to try again. I keep trying.

The recipe included simply said "Lentils". I didn't know if I should expect it to be like a vegetable side dish, or soup or stew. Just "Lentils". Whatever. Like a good girl, I followed the instructions exactly. Still full of doubts about the taste, I made two big pork chops to accompany the dish in case we didn't like it or it needed something more to fill out the meal.

There was no need. This meal was awesome and filling and full of good nutrients. I ate my pieces of meat, but I won't bother next time. And there will definitely be a next time. I think we all had seconds, even a picky six year old and a guest who'd never had lentils, and Beth requested a bit saved for her lunch.

Our guest went home with the recipe, and enough cumin and lentils to make this for herself later. I can't give you the ingredients here, but here's the recipe:

Lentils

2-3 cups red lentils
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 - 28 oz can of tomatoes
1 box vegetable stock
cumin and coriander to taste
salt and pepper if you like

Wash and rinse the lentils.

Saute the onions and garlic until translucent. Add the washed lentils. Add
the rest of the ingredients.

Simmer until done (mine took about 1 1/2 hours). How easy is that? Eat and
enjoy, even if you don't think you like lentils. You will be converted.

We ended the meal with a cheesecake that our guest brought with her. Could things get any better? It was a great meal and I had nothing to do with it.

This is the bag it came in. It was almost perfect, but it should have said this:

A gathering of saints

Although we did mention All Saints Day at church, and I always think of Reformation Day and my grandparent's anniversary, it's still Halloween to us. Sacrilegious, maybe. Fun, definitely.

We went around our neighbourhood in a group. Two friends independently called us in the late afternoon deciding that it would be more fun to Trick or Treat together, so we went as a big group. It grew by one even before we left the door as one of Beth's friends showed up. Apparently our group looked better that her mom and three little siblings. The more the merrier!


By the end of the night Beth and another friend joined us too, but we missed taking any pictures of Pirate Beth and Professor Trelawney, and the Eskimoes fan who took this picture.

It just occurred to me - 11 girls and one boy by the end of the night. He was too young to care and way too young to think this was a good thing.

Hope your Halloween was good too!

Lunchin' Ladies Again

We lunched again. We schemed and planned and dreamed. It's what we seem to do when we're together. I wouldn't do it on my own, but Rosa is inspirational.

And the food was awesome. My stomach is still full because I ate all of my lunch and all of my sticky toffee pudding. That was probably unwise, but it's what I do.

Thanks, Rosa!

Treasures

There are always some friends in my life whom I see on a regular basis, whose lives intercept with me in many places and ways. Whether it's because our kids are friends with each other, or we have many similar interests resulting in shared activities. Or we're going through the same "stuff" together (bed-wetting kids, lack of sleep, financial struggles, whatever it is at the moment).

I need those friends to keep me sane from day to day. They make me realize that I'm not alone or struggling in ways that cannot be overcome. Or just make the nasty parts of life laughable. Being a mother has brought some wonderful people into my life who aren't afraid to talk about anything.

But sometimes these everyday friends become less frequent visitors in our lives, either through changing interests, jobs, locations. What's great about some of these friends is that no matter how infrequently we meet, the love is still there, the laughter and the knowledge that we are actually still there for each other. Nothing has really changed.

This weekend we spent time with some friends we hadn't seen in a long time. And met and visited with new friends while there. And chatted with another on the phone and caught up on a year's worth of news. And had an awesome dinner with another family whom we see regularly.

They are all different kinds of relationships. All necessary to us. And all loved. It was a great weekend!