Victual Rituals

Just got back from the grocery expedition, which in this house is sometimes a divide-and-conquer mission. I went to a food warehouse called Chesapeake Quality Traders for meats, bulk veggies, restaurant quality soups, bread, Naked smoothies ($1 apiece) and frozen pizzas. Meanwhile two other family members took their beloved father-daughter road trip to PA for drinks and breakfast items and glass-bottle milk in Amish country.

I ask you, is it not a ritual in feeding oneself and family that starts long before the fork is picked up? Indeed, I submit that it is. Plotting and planning, hunting and gathering, paying and grimacing, loading and unloading, organizing and storing, preparing and serving, setting up and cleaning up. No wonder that actually putting the food in one's mouth feels so rewarding.

Surely I can make a meal plan out of these victuals.

For 11/19 and following:

19 Saturday: Potato Cheese soup, oven rolls, pepperoni-veggie pizza
20 Sunday: Lunch: Chicken Broc in the Wok (recipe Paul and I made)
Dinner: Chicken Caribbean Salad
21 Monday:chili and cornbread
22 Tues:chicken marsala,linguine,salad, garlic bread
23 Weds: leftovers
24 Thurs: THANKSGIVING HERE!!!turkey,stuffing,green beans,edamame,sweet potatoes,mashed potatoes,rolls,gravy,sauerkraut, kielbasa, fake meat for M,D,J; olives, coconut creme pie, pumpkin pie, apple crisp, vanilla ice cream
25 Friday: leftovers
26 Saturday: Spaghetti
27 Sunday: leftovers
28 Monday: Lemon-Pepper Chicken, peas, baked potatoes
20 Tuesday: date night
30 Wednesday: Cream of Crab soup, salad,bread

Dec
1 Thurs: Seasoned Cod, mashed potatoes, salad
2 Friday: pizza
3 Saturday: C.O.R.N. (Clean out Refrigerator Night)
4 Sunday: Venison Sloppy Zo's, cole slaw, applesauce
5 Monday: Caribbean Chicken Salad
6 Tuesday : date night
7 Weds: Sweet 'n Sour Beef, pierogies, salad (double portion--Michelle's family)*
8 Chicken 'n Dumplings
9 Spaghetti Pie


*Please keep my friend Michelle in your prayers. She is expecting her 11th child and
was recently hospitalized with compherlications. Doctors would like her to remain there until at least her 34th week when she can safely deliver. That means she'll be in the hospital all through the holidays. Our church family is providing meals five days a week for as long as it takes.

Her situation gives me fresh appreciation for being able to do for my family what I couldn't do for about six weeks postpartum in 2002. I feel grateful today for the strength and wherewithal to provide a service that seems often unappreciated...until it's divinely interrupted.

Here's to the rituals of victuals!