Nothing says loving...

Freshmen year in high school was a major awakening for me - I discovered the power of food, particularly homemade food, to craft connections, however fragile.  

Over the years, I baked for my class, for our local high school & college dorms, for the classes I taught, my co-workers & friends.  

 

John met my friends at my first Everyone's Birthday Party Party, that would become a Murphart tradition (pre-cats).  

Our wedding weekend featured no fewer than six different parties!  For our post-wedding ceremony reception, I'd whipped up the cherry tartlettes, the lemon bars, cookies & brownies ~ only the tea sandwiches & the wedding cake were baked by someone other than the bride.

Squirrel Haven, pre-cats (some of our closest friends are wildly allergic), was a center for entertaining, at least four parties a year.  All featuring homebaked nibbles & goodies.

 

Today, parties at our home are a cherished memory.  Now, I bake for post-Sunday service gatherings, for our local high school & especially college, for the cozy senior residence that's literally in the heart of our little hometown.  

All are dear to me, but none more so than our senior residence.  The men & women who live there, and tucked away in their own homes throughout my hometown, are heroes to me, role models for lives well lived.

It's small wonder that my dream is for more of friends & pleasant acquaintances to share the rewards of crafting special events for them, held in the senior residence yet open to all the oldsters & ancients in our town.

There's great truth to the saying, Nothing says loving like something from the oven.  One of my most precious dreams is for the youngers in our community - including kids of 63, like me - to put on Soup Suppers with delicious homemade soups & bread, Pie Parties with a glorious offering of pies (with an optional scoop of ice cream on the side), summertime barbeques, afternoon teas. Or some of our town's fabulous bakers - guys & gals - taking over the kitchen for cooking lessons.  Remembering the mantra -  keep it simple, minimal fuss. 

 

Food connects people, people of all ages.  Yes, many of my friends feel maxed by all the demands on their time, but doing a food-connected something for the people who nurtured us can be uplifting, downright energizing.  

Our community has the Pay It Forward Crew, which is a terrific initiative for giving back.  This is separate from that, not a "society use," but rooted in different people deciding, "Let's do this!"  Social media makes that sort of thing gloriously possible.  

I embrace the saying, "It matters less what's on the table & more who is around it."  Yes!  In my parents' day, entertaining was relatively formal.  So few people entertain these days, the food matters less than the friends.  Less fussy, more fun.  

Food is at the heart of my dream of our community becoming a Blue Ribbon Town for Aging Expansively.  Not fussy, formal food, but organic, natural, personal.  Not a lot of work, just a lot of love. 

Food is community – people connect over food.  With today’s busy, over programmed lifestyles becoming the norm, it’s more important to stop and gather around a table and share a meal with family and/ or friends. For many people, this might invoke feelings of stress or panic but in reality, a “gathering” doesn’t need to be stressful – remember the old adage, ‘It’s not what’s on the table, it’s who’s at the table.’  Modern entertaining is less about fussy, fancy dinner parties and more about the act of getting together with the people we care about to have a good time (and enjoying some good food along the way).
Food is a natural part of special celebrations, obviously but more and more, sharing a meal is a way for people to gather for more casual events – from backyard barbecues to book clubs. Not every occasion has to be a “special” one.  Yet still, many people shy away from entertaining because they feel it’s too much work – here’s where Jan Scott and Julie Van Rosendaal’s new book, Gatherings, comes into play.
- See more at: http://recipegeek.com/trending/cookbooks-we-love/cookbooks-we-love-gatherings#sthash.jM5xbNBx.dpuf

Food is community – people connect over food.  With today’s busy, over programmed lifestyles becoming the norm, it’s more important to stop and gather around a table and share a meal with family and/ or friends. For many people, this might invoke feelings of stress or panic but in reality, a “gathering” doesn’t need to be stressful – remember the old adage, ‘It’s not what’s on the table, it’s who’s at the table.’  Modern entertaining is less about fussy, fancy dinner parties and more about the act of getting together with the people we care about to have a good time (and enjoying some good food along the way).
Food is a natural part of special celebrations, obviously but more and more, sharing a meal is a way for people to gather for more casual events – from backyard barbecues to book clubs. Not every occasion has to be a “special” one.  Yet still, many people shy away from entertaining because they feel it’s too much work – here’s where Jan Scott and Julie Van Rosendaal’s new book, Gatherings, comes into play.
- See more at: http://recipegeek.com/trending/cookbooks-we-love/cookbooks-we-love-gatherings#sthash.jM5xbNBx.dpuf