Some dear friends are arriving later this afternoon from Baltimore and staying until Wednesday.
I've been pouring over my recipe books. I have some wonderful chicken and lamb recipes but, you know, if you come to the Eastern Shore, you expect seafood. Besides, I checked my local seafood market yesterday and there are some really good deals - especially on shrimp and chick lobsters.
So, tonight, it will be Spicy Shrimp and Creamy Grits (from a wonderful recipe I got years ago from my friends in the Low Country of South Carolina) with some Portuguese Rice Pudding for dessert.
Tomorrow, we have another couple joining us for dinner so I'll make a Portuguese Paella (made with saffron rice, shrimp, scallops, crab, mussels, crab and a chick lobster along with some chicken and spicy Portuguese sausage) and a Pavlova for dessert.
I've tidied up the guest room and freshened up the guest bathroom. I've done the marketing for the next few days - dear God, saffron threads have gotten even more expensive, more so than the scallops or lobster! - and, within the next hour or so, will start being my own sous chef. I want to have as much prepared as I can so I am able to enjoy my friend's company.
If the weather behaves, we'll spend some time on Tuesday walking the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach and doing wonderful "touristy" things like eating a big container of Boardwalk Fries sprinkled with salt and malt vinegar all in one go and then munch on a box of Salt Water Taffy for dessert.
So healthy, right? We're walking. We're talking. We're laughing. We're eating. It all evens out.
We'll talk and talk and laugh and laugh as the ocean roars and the sea gulls cry. And, of course, we'll talk politics and tsk-tsk and tut-tut about the election process while making our various predictions about key elections, and, of course, we'd be able to solve all the problems of the world if our national and international leaders were able to listen in on our conversation.
Talking about the church will be unavoidable. On Tuesday night, there will be three priests and one Abbess in the room. I mean, what else do you expect? Given these three priests, however, it won't last long. It's not that we're not interested or that it's not important. It's just that there are other more important things to talk about.
My friends will bring the libations with which we'll wash it all down.
Good food and friends just seem to go together, don't they?
Nothing delights me more than preparing a good meal for good friends. It's really not work when you're doing something you love for the people you love. Besides, the house smells wonderful for days. All that garlic and onion and herbs and spices seem to make a house smell like home.
Good friends, good food, good conversation.
Can heaven be far from sight?
14 comments:
Some dear friends are arriving later this afternoon from Baltimore and staying until Wednesday.
Change Baltimore to Connecticut, and that is our lives. Tom is doing the cooking, TBTG. Shrimp boiled in Zatarain's crab, shrimp, crawfish seasoning along with other stuff is on the menu. Our friends are open-minded Roman Catholics, and I expect there won't be a lot of talk about church.
Your menu sounds delicious, Elizabeth. Have a lovely visit.
Toasting you and yours with the season's debut vegetable soup, fresh from the steamy pot on this first chilly night of fall. But I must say, that Portuguese rice pudding sounds even better!
Mimi- have a wonderful visit with your friends. Perhaps, between the conversations in DE and LA, we just might save the world!
Nan - nothing quite like hot veggie soup on a cool night. Enjoy! BTW, if you search this blog, you will find a recipe for that Portuguese pudding. It was so yummy, everyone had seconds.
Dear Friends, Did my rave about the food and the hospitality get eaten by the ether, or is it in the approval queue! It was wonderful in any case!!
Can Heaven be far away?Depends...what was the conversation about?
This feast was almost as good as the hospitality. Friends together with outstanding food; heaven must be like that. Ron Miller
Hi, Ron. No, I've just been away from the computer for a while. There was a bit of competition between the computer and the stove. The stove won. I think we're all okay with that.
Anonymous: Well, we talked about church the world, politics, our lives, and all like that. It was great.
Next time, please leave your name.
Ron - Absolutely agreed. It was wonderful having you and your beloved here. We'll have to do this again sometime soon.
Luke 12:1-3.
Matthew: So, here's that passage:
Lk 12 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be[a] on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3 What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.
So, what's you're point?
Elizabeth, let me invite you to repent from not just your life of sin but the sin that you lead others to when you occlude the Will of God. You know the Will of God, that nothing must be added to or taken away from His Law (Deut.4:1,2).
I invite you to read these passages for the Love of God and the sake of your eternal soul.
Leviticus 18:22
Romans 1:18-32
1 Corinthians 6:9,10,13
Galatians 5:19-23
1 Thessalonians 4:3-7
Well, thank you, Matthew, for that gracious invitation. I have read them. Many times. I invite you right back to read them, but this time, try to employ what some of us call "critical thinking". You know, considering the context of the passage and the intended audience and the purpose of the original words.
I know that may be a stretch for you, but give it a try. You'll be amazed by what you learn.
Then again, you stretched a blog post about entertaining good friends into a rant about sin, so anything's possible. Even grace.
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