artwords

feast or famine

that's what i commented to our two guests (and a couple at that) at this friday's potluck friday.  i said "well, it looks like it's feast or famine around here.  last week, 14 people around the duncan.  this week, four."  so, yeah.  beyond being just insensitive to call my lovely guests "famine," i was just plain wrong. 
we had a wonderful time.  and boy did we eat well.
i know they say that you're not supposed to talk about what you have for lunch on your blog, but i'm going to break that rule. 
here's what a "famine" looked like at the duncan on friday night:
homemade sourdough bread (the best batch i've made yet), sage sausage quiche, spanish-style olives, and this amazing salad leigh made that if i told you the ingredients it wouldn't sound amazing, just yummy, but something about the combo of flavors was fabulous.  oh, and the winkin owl.  the duncan wouldn't be complete without an owl.
there's something about fabulous food to bring people closer together.  so, when you are already close, having been through culture shocks and strange beach people and medical issues, like leigh and i have, then it just makes this sharing of bread and wine a real communion.   so i realized, they were both feasts.  the full table and the four of us.   there is no famine at the duncan on potluck fridays. 

leigh salad
-head of iceberg lettuce, chopped loosely
-bag of spring mix lettuce
-green bell pepper, chopped in small chunks
-red bell pepper-cut in strips
-craisins
-feta cheese, crumbled tomato basil variety
-unsalted mixed nuts, toasted in olive oil
-torn fried chicken (leftover cold chicken, tear into bite-size pieces off the bone, leave the crispy skin on)

toss all and serve with balsamic viniagrette or your favorite dressing.

changing the world, one meal at a time.

that's what carrie says we're doing.  and, it seems, nearly a month after we envisioned this revolution of potlucks in our home, mars hill thinks it's a pretty good idea as well.  (you can listen to last week's sermon, by kent dobson on oct 15 here-it will give you a very good idea of what i had in mind when potluck fridays was thought up.  much more eloquently than i can fumble through the explanation.  thanks, kent.)

potluck friday, my dear friends who did not get the chance to join us, was a smashing success.  14 people filling my duncan phyfe table.  duncan was happy to finally be fulfilling his purpose in life.  there was lots of laughter, lots of new people to meet, some good ol' winking owl, and much yummy food. 
kellie, that wonderful girl, helped me overcome my time crunch after losing track of said time whilst hitting all three division street thrift stores in anticipation of the large party to be entering my home.  then they started trickling in, and before you know it there was no more room for food on my counters, my stove, the little ledge by the coffeepot....it was all full.  julie had brought some really quite fabulous crackers and cheese, and those were in the living room because, honestly, there wasn't room for them in the kitchen anyway. 
one thing that did seem funny to me:  we were very midwestern.  the women were either in the kitchen or  chatting around the appetizers in the living room.  the men were off on the back porch.  ha!  you can take the girl outta iowa.....

it's a new kind of revolution, i'm telling you, and we plan to continue past the one-month trial period, for sure.  because i really do think i may have finally found my calling.  sharing meals in my home.  that is what i was designed to do.
thank you to those who came, and allowed me to do what i love.   i hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as i did.

the young generation

i am here to tell you i have full faith in our younger adults.  specifically, those kids about 10 years younger than i, they seem to have it all together.  or at least, they're really cool.
thanks, kellie, for a wonderful tea time.

bits here and there

reading:
walking with the poor, working with the poor- bryant myers.  steve made me

listening:
radio deliro (french station, music before the 70's), african music radio (we think it's from senegal, it's in french as well), both from iTunes.   gotta say, loving my 25 dollar garage sale computer.  and i must admit, i am officially not a young person as these are my preferred stations....that and national public radio.

watching:
jericho (creepy and stupid but we wanna know who else was bombed), gilmore girls (yep, again stupid, but i do love those adorable gilmore girls), the food channel (who can resist a competition to create the best birthday cake that's judged by an 8 year old?).  oh, and trying not to watch those annoying political campaign commercials.  i mean, it just makes me not want to vote for Any of them.

voting:
speaking of which, even if you don't like any of the candidates, there are some interesting ballot proposals up for vote this year.  if you live in michigan, i think you might want to look them up and decide where you stand.  some important stuff.

crying:
for the poor, and the fact that people get so excited about a game (tigers) but don't seem all that moved by the fact that people are going hungry.  i believe those were angry tears.  if you saw me after church on sunday, there's your explanation for the blotchiness.

painting:
forget canvas, i'm working on vintage fabrics found at the thrift store.  with house paint.  yes, kids, i'm very avant garde.  you heard it here first.

missing:
my niece and nephew.  you can see why:



 

also missing meson david restaurant in barcelona, the mercado, and a few wonderful people that live there (but not much else),  and i am missing the lovely kellie, and that's just not right because she lives about 5 blocks away from me.

i wish my life felt more like this

but alas, it does not.  right now, as i get ready to go into work on a saturday morning and stand on cement and lift 40 pound bags of soils etc, it does not feel like smooth slow but constantly in flow...
in fact my back tells me quite otherwise.
howEver, when i get home from work i plan to (first shower) and then spend some good time with a cup of tea and a good stare at the lava lamp:  a little centering for the hippie in me, you might say.

potluck fridays

this is my newest great idea.
we're just going to invite everyone we know (that lives in the area or will be in the area on a friday night) to our home for a potluck.  pretty much every friday night unless we have something we have to attend. 
oh, and everyone we know can invite anyone they know, too.  as long as they bring a dish to pass, it's cool.

here's the thing.  on friday night most people are too tired to cook a full meal.  and most yunguns that aren't so young anymore, also too tired from the week to do anything too crazy.  but anyone can come over for dinner!  make one thing, hang out around our big table, it's all good.
here's the other thing.  for the past three weeks, we've had our night schedules full, mostly because people that we want to see and break bread with were coming over for dinner on different evenings.  Every Single Time we thoroughly enjoyed having people over for dinner.  sometimes it was potlucks, sometimes it was not.  it was always a good time.  in consideration of our sanity and our finances, we decided to make a weekly potluck thing of it, only expand the invite list a little. 
here's yet another thing:  we are in the process of creating community in our new lives (in the states, in grand rapids, in the 'hood...you get the idea).  i know of no better way to create community than to share food.  especially when it's cooked and ready to eat.

so, if you're going to be in grand rapids michigan on a friday night, and you can bring a dish to pass, join us. (just email me and i'll send you an invite with all the details! )

potluck fridays:  it's a new kind of revolution.