Letters from NYC

An Unplanned Thanksgiving

Today was a very strange day. Nothing went according to plan and it was one of the best holidays ever since all my friends passed on.

Since plans A to C fell through due to technical problems and illness, my son asked on Wednesday morning if instead we could volunteer at the homeless shelter and give out food as we had done once before. That so warmed my heart that I gave him a big hug and a big kiss.

The only issue: he was getting slight fevers since Tuesday night after his flu shot, so we had to wait and see. This morning we got up early and since he woke up without a fever we were at the shelter by 8:00am and worked for about 2hrs when I was called up to the church and asked to fill out the choir. I used to be their Lead Alto and remembered all the songs so it was a nice easy thing for me to do and it gave my son an opportunity to see his mommy in a different light.

Afterwards we headed home and began to get lots of calls wishing us a happy day and a few requests to stop in from the kids I’ve mentored in the past and those that I mentor now. So as the number of people increased I realized that I needed to add more dishes to those I had already planned serving. As each mentee arrived I had already planned in my head what they could do to help. All pitched in and in the process learned about cooking. By 6:00pm dinner was on the table and we were all enjoying ourselves, with great conversation and some wonderful instrumental music in the background. Afterwards all pitched in to clean up and we had the kitchen spotless and the dishwasher running in 20 min flat. Yes, I run a good ship. One of the kids had brought with them a dvd of Ice Age The Meltdown which we saved for after dinner. I learned today that part of the reason they love coming to visit is because they love my home theatre system with wide screen tv. Me: I love their company and LOVED the movie!!!! It’s a side-splitting funny, well produced, wholesome movie that kids of any age can watch. I think I’ll watch again tomorrow night because there were some funny parts that I missed.

Just to show RSM is not the only culinary overachiever in the blogosphere, this is what I threw together from the things I had in the kitchen:
As appetizers we had a choice between: white bean and olive tapenade on plain baguette toasts and cheese toast points:
Then we had the Corn and Crab Chowder Soup, and moved on to the main course where there was a choice between 3 entrees: Marinated Tempeh Roast w/Tahini dressing (Vegan), Slow roasted Herbed Turkey Breast with a light Wild Mushroom Sauce and
Grilled Butter-herbed Swordfish.

For the side dishes we also had 3 choices: Biryani Jasmin Rice, 4 Cheese Baked Macaroni, Edamame Salad and a mixed green salad.

Yes, it’s a very eclectic menu from all around the world but the suprising thing is that it all worked well together. Desert was somewhat traditional as I baked an organic green/red apple pie and a pumpkin pie. I’m sorry Richmond but I couldn’t find my recipe for my chocolate pumpkin pie. The kids decided to sweeten the pies by topping them with ice cream and a maraschino cherries.

But perhaps the best part of the day was not so much the food or the company, it was learning from the kids their most recent achievements since Sept. Of the 8 that were present 2 have been nominated as Rhode Scholars, and the remaining 6 were all on their school’s honor rolls. These were the same kids that everyone else had given up on years ago because they had come from either the foster care system or teen homeless shelters. This is proof of what discipline and unconditional love, can do in a person’s life.

I had always wanted to have a big family and as I looked around at their smiling happy faces I realized God had indeed blessed me with a wonderful brood of kids. For this I am very thankful!

Posted by Michele at November 23, 2006 08:41 PM