Delighting in food & friends

Over the past week, I’ve had the opportunity to host a couple of dinners and have loved cooking for our friends!

Today, I started with just some zucchini that I picked up from a local farm – a yellow and a green. I found a recipe for fettuccine with zucchini sauce, and decided to add roasted vegetables – Portobello mushrooms, squash, yam, eggplant, red onion, red peppers, etc. I baked potato bread and made “landscape iced tea” – basically a handful of lavender and mint from our garden, some ginger and roses. Started a salad with just organic lettuce and a tomato – added mint, apricots, blueberries, pecans and seeds, and a red wine vinaigrette. Topped off with red wine, and contributions of steak and brownies from some friends, and voila!

Last weekend we did Greek – steak, potatoes, Greek salad, hummus and pitas – also turned out pretty well!

But what I love most about hosting is the great company. It’s a challenge in BC’s Lower Mainland to maintain contact with friends. Especially with the traffic and bridges, small children’s nap schedules and general busyness. But living life together and breaking bread is really what community is all about – sharing and speaking into one another’s lives.

Connecting with community through meals together is a value I grew to love when we lived in Vancouver and were part of a small church community in the Downtown Eastside. Whenever we gathered we shared food – whatever people had – no one ever left hungry.

So this fall, I hope these dinners will only be the beginning of reconnecting with friends in person, and deepening our sense of community.