A friend invited the ladies class and friends to her house for a cooking show. She based her lesson in the many Biblical references to food, both physical and spiritual. As we are always keen on identifying figures of speech in the Bible (similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, etc) we enjoyed this very much. She talked about flavor and savor and many other things to do with tasting.
The demonstration included a salad and an entree, which she made and then served to us. The salad, above, was a mix of greens, strawberries and mangos, with raspberry vinaigrette.
The entree, baked skinless-boneless salmon in parchment, was demonstrated step-by-step.
It is surrounded by Redmond green bell pepper slices (capsicum) and blanched baby asparagus spears...
.....and a sprinkle of fresh chopped green onion stems...
...and then she demonstrated how to make an envelope out of the parchment baking paper the salmon was prepared on. The booklet, below, gives the instructions and oven temperature.
One good tip for doing well with cooking, was to wear the cutest apron and dress well, fix your hair, erc. If you try to look as cute as possible, it was emphasized, you will be happier in the kitchen.
I am sorry I did not get any photos of the food serve on e plate, but I assure you it was delicious.
Above: everyone served themselves from her buffet table....
...and below, a separate tea table which all the visitors frequented before the cooking show and during breaks. She had Yorshire Gold, Raspberry, amd Birthday Cake flavor of pots of tea.
I wanted to stay longer after lunch and have a leisurely cup of tea with this lady, (who me my family has known nearly 50 years including church activity) but some of the ladies who were with me needed to get back to the farm and feed their animals.
This lady lives way up in the hills and I live down in the flats, in a valley, so it is rare we get to see each other. One day I will take a friend and go visit her and stay longer. Her home is like visiting a lodge in the mountains and I especially relish going there in autumn.
Here is the booklet she made for the event, which I unceremoniously and unfortunately stuffed in my bag. I probably should have ironed it before taking the photo.
Let me take a few minutes here to emphasize the importance of hospitality. Some women do a lot of home keeping and cooking and also serve others in churches, but they do not get much opportunity to attend something that is for their own recreation. Our host and her daughters made an atmosphere for all of us that was just right. We may have been able to find a commercial type cooking class elsewhere but it would not have had the same effect as this. We all believe the same things and we were of one accord and enjoyed the fellowship.
No one can really describe how renewing this was for all of us and what a blessing it continues to be. I only regret I forgot to film it! It is so good to be invited to someone's house, even for a cup of soothing tea. So don't neglect hospitality. You do not know the tremendous good it can do. And if you cannot extend hospitality to anyone nearby, why not package up something and send it in the mail for someone you want to bless and encourage.
Pack up a box of things that will help someone, and use anything from books, a letter, tea and infusions, maybe even a cup you get at the thrift store, a tea towel, a little mat for the tea cup, some gourmet packaged foods, etc., a musical cd, and so much more you can find for little expense. What about a phone call or a skype visit, or a nice email with pictures? There is so much more to hospitality that many books have been published on various aspects of it.
One of the nicest things anyone ever did for me, was when this very same lady came to my house a few days after we moved in. As you know, it was not a good time for company. She brought a table and folding chairs, and a picnic hamper full of things for a teatime buffet. She even bout her own hot water to make tea.
As I said, we just don't know how hospitality touches people and eases their burdens, their health and their grief. If someone has crossed your mind recently, you might take that as a nudge to extend some kind of hospitality.
7 comments:
Dear Lydia, Thank you for reminding us all about how this gift of hospitality can help and minister to our friends and sisters in the Lord. I believe this did me a world of good and will take it to heart! Roxy
Could you share some of the Bible verses she used, as I think this might be a nice idea to duplicate with my friends? Thank you
I love this post Lady Lydia. Your words and pictures were both soothing and inspiring. Thank you.
What a delightful visit you had! It was really very enterprising of the hostess...
And I am sure she had a very responsive audience.
As many times before, I am inspired by reading your post. I don't know any ladies who would put on a cooking show, but I appreciate the smaller ideas you included for hospitality.
Many thanks for this fun read, Lady Lydia :)
I am thankful you have reminded us to show hospitality...and various means to do so....it is inspiring to know your different methods....thank you, Lydia.
I agree that being able to attend a nice event such as the cooking show, or go to someone's home for tea or just to have a good visit with pleasant conversation is so refreshing and inspiring.
Very enjoyable to see how other women decorate, make crafts or gardens, and how they prepare some dessert or meal. Its interesting to see how others do the same things you do, only differently and always a privilege to be invited to another person's home.
Your hostess and her daughters did a great and thoughtful job making others feel welcome. I did not attend this event, but I feel blessed to have read all about it and viewed the photos.
Thank you for sharing, Janet.
I did not take notes, and the verses were some she looked up in her concordance. She used words like taste, eat, and food. She spoke of the figures of speech in the Bible that referred to eating--even the words bite and devour. She taught a lesson on how heat binds the ingredients together. She did a layered dish a spoke of the oil of gladness and the nourishment of food,min relationship to the nourishment we get from Gods word. She used a lot of New Testsment scriptures. One of her daughters spoke of the tongue in a metaphor, and referred to James. She demonstrated the different flavor a the tongue can taste, giving us all little bits of food of different textures and flavor a, both bitter and sweet. If you want to do something like this, you could easily imitate it by first getting all references from the Bible to food. She mentioned Mannah and angels food, and the food given to Elijah by Ravens. But she kept cooking while she was talking. She had done this a couple of times already for ladies groups and has memorized it. She taught the importance of reading Gids word as spiritual food.
Post a Comment