SATURDAY

It has been bitterly cold today and snow is forecast for tomorrow.  I am doing a reading at Emmanuel at 10.30 and e-mailed Tim Sean to say that if it was snowing I won't make it as I can't afford to break a hip, so have resolved not to leave the house in any kind of ice or snow.

 I seem to have spent the latter part of the week catering.  I did the dessert for Wednesday evening and yesterday, Friday, I made supper with Christal for the Family Promise guests.  Christal's mother is Mexican and her father African American,  so she was brought up on Mexican food and suggested a Taco evening, which I was more than happy to go along with.


As an early childhood lesson for her daughter Olivia on serving the community, Olivia made cupcakes.

And here she is frosting and decorating them.   

Olivia is seven, and always has her hair done up in amazing bows and ribbons.  She seems to have a very extensive collection and I asked Christal where she gets them as I haven't seen them in Shawnee, or I'd buy some for my precious grand daughters, but she gets most of them when visiting her family in New Mexico.


And here are some of the elements of the meal.  I should have taken a picture when they were all lined up.

All lined up, the guests put a crispy taco on a plate, then pile it up with chopped tomato, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, salsa and sour cream.  In addition there were beans and Mexican rice.


Christal and I had e-mails on Thursday from Elizabeth warning us that the guests had HUGE appetites.  That evening they had  got through 4lbs sausages, 3lbs bacon, 3 dozen eggs, and 2 dozen biscuits (scone like things, usually eaten with sausage and gravy), and reminded us we were feeding 4 adults, 3 teenagers, a toddler and the 2 evening hosts (and ourselves if we stayed to eat with them, which we did).  On getting Elizabeth's e-mail Christal decided to make the Mexican rice, and I bought some bags of chocolate pretzels to go with the cookies I made and Olivia's cupcakes.   But there was more than enough food to go round, and it was all so good.  I passed up the crispy tacos - I prefer Indian tacos with their soft fried bread.  And I love rice and beans so had plenty of those with all the other accompaniments. 


Usually when Emmanuel hosts Family Promise week I stay overnight, but it is like going away for a week by the time I have loaded the car with my sleeping bag, extra pillows, bedside light, toys, nightclothes, clean clothes for the next morning, toiletries.  I thought helping at a meal might be simpler, and it was.