the question: What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul?
my answer:
I admit that I love to eat (sometimes a little too much...) but as I thought back over the last year I couldn't pick any one food that melted my mouth enough to write home about. My mom made baked ziti tonight, does that count? It's one of the only foods that seems to excite all the family members these days... I'm also convinced that hot, slightly gooey Trader Joe's banana bread is Heaven in a pan. But seriously, I thought back through different places I've been, restaurants I've eaten at, etc. and came to realize this: most of the time eating really isn't about the food. In the long run, it isn't usually what we ordered off the menu that we remember. It's the experience, the people we ate it with, and the smiles that were brought by meeting together over a good meal. As a true Southern Baptist, I can attest to the wonders of how good food is a key ingredient in fellowship. I like to cook and I like to eat, but I'm no Paula Deen, y'all...
The meals I cherished most this past semester came from a weekly event we lovingly referred to as Dinner Club. Almost every Wednesday night (and sometimes on other sporadic nights of the week) my roommates, my neighbors, and my friend across the street would get together and swap off who cooked so that we could all eat dinner together. In college, this is truly a rare treat. It's nice to come home and have dinner ready for you, it's nice to serve someone else by showing off your culinary skills, and it's nice to have something that feels an awful lot like a family. Growing up, my family at dinner together at the kitchen table every night. It's a part of my life that I cherish and it's something that I fully intend on my family doing one day. There's something that just isn't the same about popping some food in the microwave or having a sandwich by yourself after a long day of classes. I love the chance to sit, put the world aside for an hour, and laugh together while catching up on life.
I think I have two favorite Dinner Club moments from the year, the first one being the night my mom came to town and we talked her into joining us. The two of us cooked sweet and spicy chicken, one of my favorites, in my tiny apartment kitchen together and she joined my friends and I for a family dinner that night. It was such a blessing to have her there. Have I mentioned how incredible my mom is?
The other favorite night would have to land on the time Will and I made spaghetti while my neighbor Jackie worked her Southern Living charm on my back porch. The whole gang sat outside in the warm air with the candles lit in the beauty of our near-ghetto apartment complex. It was beautiful and I loved it. It doesn't take a lot to make me smile and anything that feels like family, good food, and togetherness will surely do the trick.
We need each other in life. I think that's why it's such a blessing to me to just chill out, slow down, and grab a meal together. At the end of the year, I don't remember the delicious things I ate (maybe I'll remember that next time I'm tempted to eat another cupcake...) but I sure do remember the way the Lord uses time spent with other people in my life. That's what touched my soul this year-- the warmth and the love that came with the spaghetti, although I have to admit, we Dinner Clubbers are pretty mean cooks indeed.
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