Monthly Archives: October 2011

Real Halloween Nightmares

Posted on by under activism, candy, children, chocolate, fair trade, Justice

I have always loved candy, but I wasn’t allowed to go trick-or-treating when I was a kid. The prevailing sentiment in the churches we attended was that Halloween was a “devil’s holiday.” We had “harvest parties” instead. I certainly never was lacking for candy around the 31st of October.

My kids haven’t gone trick-or-treating either, but that’s mostly because we’ve lived overseas for most of their lives; last year, we were here, but Aidan had a broken leg and getting him around to go trick-or-treating was pretty much out of the question. So far, then, I haven’t had to give a great deal of thought to Halloween candy.

If you’ve read my blog before, you know I’m not opposed to letting my kids have sugar. We went to an Easter Egg hunt at the state park in springtime, which (brilliantly, I thought) had receptacles for unwanted candy to be redistributed to needy kids who hadn’t been able to attend. I think the food traditions in a culture–trick-or-treating, cupcakes at school for birthdays–are kind of nice. If there’s any beef I have at all, it’s that the ordinary days are a bit out of control.

[What’s the point banning birthday cupcakes at school if the kids get access to soda and sweet snacks from vending machines at school?!?]

Simplify our ordinary days, that we may be able to enjoy a good celebration.

The last thing I want to do is be a killjoy who takes candy from kids. But what if that candy takes kids from their parents?

In West Africa, an estimated 200,000 children are enslaved on cocoa plantations. And major chocolate producers like Hershey’s get their cocoa from these places.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Fair trade chocolate exists. When you buy a certified fair trade product (like chocolate or coffee), you pay a little extra, but it means that the working conditions have been found to meet certain minimum criteria, and that the workers have been fairly compensated for their work, and, most importantly, that they are not victims of trafficking. (People who have been moved to a different location and/or held there under force, fraud, or coercion.)Chocolate’s no longer an exotic luxury; for most of us, it can be had pretty cheaply. But the mini-bars and fun-sizes come cheap at a very, very high cost to the children whose labor brings them to us.

I want my kids to have a fun and safe time on Oct. 31.

But I want that for all God’s kids, too.

You can sign a petition asking Hershey to begin sourcing Fairly Traded chocolate here.

You can watch a whole documentary on child slave labor on cocoa farms here and below.

Connecting/Celebrating

Posted on by under autumn, children, Connecting, Family, Joy, Table Talk

I’ve decided to take Sundays off from writing and, instead, post a single photo capturing some aspect of Sabbath–rest, peace, comfort, connection, praise, help–things like that. Today’s is about connecting/celebrating.

“Grandpa, hold me like this and then raise your glass!”

When Jesus Was Our Guest

Posted on by under Anticipating, Bread of Life, Eating Together, Faith, Food, Grace, Joy

The other night we had a fellowship meal at church. The best part was that the boys got to run around and play for an hour beforehand, which helped pique their appetites considerably.

We got to catch up with friends with cute, long-distance grandchildren:

Turns out the HVAC guy + my dad make pretty good spaghetti sauce!

We broke bread together. We reflected on the early church’s practice of love feasts and on Jesus’s promise to be with us when we gather in his name.

And we cleaned up together.

And Christ was with us:

Come Lord Jesus, be our guest,
May this food by you be blest,
May our souls by you be fed,
Always on the living Bread.

Come Lord Jesus, be our guest; Come Lord Jesus, be our Guest

Amen.

(attr. Martin Luther)

here’s the tune you can sing it to: Redhead 76

Here you can watch it in sign language:

A Mouthwatering Work of Culinary Genius

Posted on by under autumn, Food, Grace, gratitude, Joy, Local, north fork, long island

So between my birthday (last month) and Tim’s (yesterday) and the book contract, we had the opportunity to do some serious celebrating.

Not far from us is one of the very finest restaurants on the East End. We’ve eaten there twice before (well, three times if you count the time we went only for dessert) but only during ‘Restaurant Week,’ during which they feature a different menu with smaller portions.

Each time was nonetheless thrilling–to put it in the form of an analogy:

GREAT HOME COOKING : NORTH FORK TABLE’S FOOD ::

is as:

is to:

The food at the North Fork Table is kind of in a different category from other food. There are a lot of reasons why that’s so, but all I can say for sure is that when I eat it, I’m thinking, “this is so good that it can hardly be for real.”

And this time–with the fuller menu–it was, if possible, even better. It’s almost embarrassing to admit how enjoyable this is because I think our culture doesn’t allow us to speak lyrically about food without branding us ‘foodies’ or ‘snobs.’ Improbable though it may seem, the atmosphere and presentation is unfussy. It’s just really good food.

And without further ado:

the atmosphere is beautiful...the champagne is beautiful...even the menu is beautiful!

tuna tartare for tim

house-cured charcuterie for a between-course treat

a second course of squab on butternut squash for tim

and a second course of locally caught striped bass atop brussells sprouts and parsnip puree for me

long island duck for tim

and humanely raised veal for me

I forgot to take a picture of the dessert before I decimated it...

and they sent us home with house-made mallomars.

One of the things I love about going there is how serious, yet joyful, everyone is about their work. They’re artists, and creating things of beauty–even if those things are edible and consumable and fleeting–consumes them. I love that. I’m grateful for them. I’m grateful for the bounty of where we live.

I’m grateful to the Giver of All Things.

No Peace at the End of Anxiety

Posted on by under anxiety, Grace, gratitude, Joy

So I signed a book contract this week.

I don’t want to share the details widely (yet) but I do want to tell you that the book came before the blog.

[If/when] you read it, you won’t be all “but this is all stuff I’ve already read on the blog!”

At least, I hope not. But I’m trying not to worry about that.

I’m trying not to worry about all of this.

Because I think I’ve learned something important this week:

there is no peace at the end of anxiety and worry.

I’m basically a happy person. I want to ‘live with joy’ all the time.

But even though I’m happy, it’s easy for me to fall into worry-traps–and worry is a trap.

I get a contract with the perfect publisher for my book…and then I’m thinking:

“what if I can’t finish this book?”

“what if my sales numbers are bad and I can never publish another book?”

“what if I never have another idea for another book?”

But the ability to read, to think, to write? Are they really mine, anyway?

Are the things I do merely a product of my own efforts?

No: my life–right now–is a gift.

There’s no peace at the end of a worry-strewn journey; there will always be more to worry about.

(Ha! Because just a short time ago I was worried I’d never get a book contract!)

So I’m trying to be grateful in this moment, and the next, and the next.

Because how much more does the God who clothes the lilies and feeds the birds delight to care for us?
{Um, readers? I didn’t suddenly turn into Rob Bell, although I realize that the style of this post might’ve confused you on that point.}