“Music is our Winter Fodder!”—a wizened man in a pub in Ireland to fiddler Nora Revenaugh

Greetings Dear Ones!

Sadly, recovering from getting 130 people to eat over three-hundred pounds of potatoes in three days has taken me longer than I thought, or I would have written sooner. The burns and scratches on my arms are fading (golly, it sounds like I was force-feeding a violent mob!) and the time looms suddenly for the Grand Opening of my shop.

Pretending to be a cook for a large camp is a REALLY fun game—almost as much fun as the game of being a Seamstress—and it turns out that one learns pretty much the same life lessons, though taught in food metaphors, rather than seam allowances. For many years now, this “Tribe” has been gathering in the dark of winter to feast on tunes and leftovers turned into soups we call “Cream of Yesterday.” We had your usual Venn diagram of dietary restrictions to consider—vegans, dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, sugar-free, (with each thing some contingent of the population was “free” of, we cooks were more constrained) luckily, we could all agree on POTATOES, so we served them three times a day and at midnight. (And Beans. But more on this later…) As A.A. Milne pointed out, “What I say is that, if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.” Or a Scottish Fiddler!

I am a pot so full of ideas at the moment—ideas about Tribe, Food, Music—how the three come together in Sacred Sharing that tells each participant: You are Home; you Belong; LIFE is SO DELICIOUS; Come and be FED. These ideas simmer in a rich stew that I don’t know if I can bring myself to serve up yet. It’s all still a little raw and needs spicing. But time is getting away from me and I must dribble Big Things thinly into gruel and the few words that come. For now, I’ll just give you the random pop Quiz to prove to you that all the Wisdom you need is within you already anyway. You don’t need me to digest it for you:

PDB Quiz:

1. PDB stands for:

a. Potatoes Diced Badly

b. People Dancing Beautifully

c. Perfectly Dropped Beans

d. Pure Dead Brilliant

2. Pure Dead Brilliant is Scottish for:

a. Unsullied, Perished & Luminous

b. Flawless, Lifeless & Dazzling

c. Unadulterated, Deceased & Radiant

d. Just plain WICKED AWESOME

3. The Staff at the Grotonwood camp graciously allow us to rent their kitchen for the weekend so that we can (in their words) “use it to provide our people with our own unique ethnic Scottish foods.” These “Scottish” delicacies are:

a. Baked Potatoes, Salmon & Oatmeal

b. Spanish tortillas

c. Lamb CURRY

d. All of the above

4. Potatoes are a major staple of the event. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

a. This crowd eats approximately 50-60 pounds of potatoes per meal.

b. We have been known to serve at least two species in as many as three different forms all at the same meal: boiled, baked, and fried.

c. What you don’t eat at dinner just gets cut up smaller and turned into home fries for breakfast

d. We even sneak them into the fruit salad

5. The official mission of this weekend is to:

a. Present, Invent, Preserve, and Promote Scottish music in North America

b. Have advanced, late-night jams at unholy speeds until all hours of the morning

c. Keep North American potato farmers in business

d. All of the above

6. The spices we use to enhance our “Scottish Cuisine” are:

a. Oregano, Basil, Parsley—if we want to make it taste Italian

b. Tarragon, Thyme, Bay—if we want to make it taste French

c. Coriander, Cardamom, Cumin—if we want to make it taste Indian

d. Cilantro, Chili powder, Cumin—if we want to make it taste Mexican

e. GARLIC—if we want it to taste GOOD.

7. Hair must be tied back and covered in the kitchen

a. Because Nancy is a control freak who secretly enjoys seeing people look ridiculous in hats

b. She figures if she looks terrible, so should everyone else

c. To prevent accidental shedding of other people’s gross hair into YOUR food

d. It’s the Rule in every good commercial kitchen, including this one.

8. People must wash their hands before preparing food because:

a. They have been touching cell phones, noses, and other vile things we’re too polite to mention here

b. Good hand hygiene helps reduce the risk of things like flu, salmonella, and other infections

c. We don’t want to be responsible for anyone’s blow-out diarrhea—it’s bad enough we serve them beans three times a day.

d. All of the above

9. Making Food together:

a. Brings nourishment not only to our bodies but to our spirits

b. Builds deep bond of friendship and community

c. “Is a way of loving others, in the same way that feeding ourselves is a way of honoring our own createdness and fragility.”-- Shauna Niequist, author of Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way

d. Gives people too tired to fiddle and too over-stimulated to sleep something to do in the mean time.

e. All of the above

10. There is no question that good food heals. In addition to being Delicious, Garlic has many anti-microbial properties. As a health precaution, to protect our dear “family” members who have flown in from around the globe, who are over-tired or immune-suppressed, we add garlic to pretty much everything. After much discussion amongst the Kitchen Magicians, we determined that The Correct Amount of garlic in any dish is:

a. Enough to make a dish taste flavourful but not be overpowered

b. Ok, a little over-powering is not such a bad thing

c. Hell, let’s make it a truly Anti-Fornication Amount and then we won’t have to worry about anyone having carnal desires for each other

d. All of the above

11. People I fall madly in love with on the spot

a. Those who say “here, I see what you’re doing, I’ll take over. Go do the next thing.”

b. People who CLEAN any thing, any time, any where

c. People who see what needs to be done and do it without being told—they sweep, chop, light sternos, label food—they say music to my ears like “that job you taught me how to do yesterday? Well, I figured it had to get done today too, so I did it already.”

d. Anyone who knows how to make a horrible chore FUN (like those who totally ROCKED it with the dish washing!)

e. All of the above

12. People who contribute significantly to the growth of my soul, who make me realize I am dangerously susceptible to unfair judgments, uncharitable thoughts, and not-easily-repressed urges to bop someone over the head with a frying pan:

a. People who expect other people to clean up after them

b. People who smirk and say “I’d love to help in the kitchen but I just don’t want a hat to ruin my hair”

c. Those who say, “I’d love to come help you. Just come get me whenever you need me. You tell me when. If you need anything, just let me know—I’m here for you…” like I’m supposed to leave ten pots boiling while I roam the campus searching for them…

d. Those who criticize what they have not attempted to fix first

e. All of the above

13. In addition to three hundred pounds of potatoes in three days, this clan also consumed

a. An average of 16 pounds of beans per meal

b. 75 pounds of chopped onions (Blessings and eternal gratitude Dear Onion Choppers!!!)

c. 25 pounds of steel cut oats

d. All of the above

14. The recipes we served were

a. Carefully researched

b. Accurately measured

c. Thoroughly planned ahead of time

d. Absolutely NONE of the Above

15. Each and every soup (apart from Katie Bell’s mushroom soup on Friday night) was called “Cream of Yesterday” because

a. It contained all the leftovers we didn’t know what to do with

b. It was as ephemeral, collaborative, magical, and “once-upon-a-happening” as the music sessions themselves and depended entirely upon who was there and what spices she/he chose to toss into the pot

c. Can never be repeated

d. All of the above

16. Many people feel a sense of bereavement at the end of the weekend

a. Mainly because they are exhausted and need a big fat nap

b. Because they must now say farewell to dear friends who live far

c. It’s over and they have to return to their “primary” lives/spouses/jobs/children

d. All of the above

17. When one is recovering from such an event, the best thing to do is

a. TAKE a NAP!!

b. Eat some leftover potatoes

c. Watch Facebook uploads of all the moments you missed while you were having too much fun doing something else.

d. Open your own Tailoring shop in five days’ time!

(ok, maybe the last one is just me…)

18. Whatever you do,

a. Be Gentle with yourself and others until you re-acclimate. You are like a newly-bought fish from a pet-store being introduced to a tank that is not the right temperature for you yet. Stay in your little bag until it is safe for you to swim out without shock.

b. PRACTICE your new tunes!

c. Practice your old ones too!

d. Bring that love and light back into your own home community and Share It

e. All of the Above

In the meanwhile, I’m going to keep Digesting…Oh, yeah, and scrambling to clean my little shop for its Grand Opening TOMORROW! (Yipe!) (Why did “January Nancy” think that opening a business four days after returning from an Epic Weekend of 4 18-hour days in a row made perfect sense to her?)

I’ve misplaced 250 strut hangers, and might not be capable of doing any actual sewing tomorrow but we shall make an Event of it. My dear friend Amanda has agreed to come help us “Sing” this shop into being with her vast repertoire of appropriately-themed songs and her gorgeous voice. There will be scones and cider, apples and a happy welcome for those who can come join us any time between 2-4:pm. (I promise, NO curry, garlic, or potatoes!!) There might even be door prizes if I can get off the computer and get my act together! Stop by or think of us from wherever you are.

Alright then, my lovelies, Let the Mending continue!!!

With so much love,

Yours aye,

Nancy

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”― J.R.R. Tolkien