The Prayer Gathering

The Altar

Yesterday's prayer gathering went off very well.  I cleaned the house in the morning and picked up my friend in the afternoon.  She helped to make the salad and assembled the fruit platter, while my daughter cooked the cocktail sausages and I cooked the garbanzo beans, lentils, and rice.  My other friend, who made the fish curry and meat curry for me, came over around 7:30 p.m. with the food she had prepared.  The other participants arrived later.  There were a couple of last minute calls from people saying they will not be able to attend (and a couple of people never bothered to call to let me know they were not attending).  We were about 15 people when we sat down to say the prayers.

The cocktail sausages and sauted garbanzo beans were served as snacks when guests arrived.  A dish of each was set on the coffee tables in the living room and family room, so guests could help themselves.  The various drinks were set up in the family room.  All the prepared food was kept in the kitchen or on the table in the family room until after the prayers were said.

Once the prayers were over, my daughter, cousins, and friends helped me to place the food on the dining table:  basmati rice, honey-sesame chicken, beef curry, fish curry, green beans curry, salad of hard boiled egg halves placed on a bed of sliced cucumber, tomato, and red onions and lentil curry.  There was tomato chutney, as well, but I didn't have the papadums I had earlier planned to serve, because I got too tired to fry them. 

There were one or two comments on earlier posts about the variety of food items I was planning to serve.  This is how my mother entertained and this is how I learned to entertain: a variety of dishes, a choice of meats (some won't eat beef, some won't eat pork, others won't eat chicken), enough vegetarian dishes, and plenty of everything! 

The dinner was served buffet style; one or two of the aunts and uncles sat at the table to eat; the rest of us sat around in the living room and family room.

Afterwards, the desserts were brought to the coffee table in the living room: my friend brought a pecan pie and a pineapple pie, one of my cousins brought a pumpkin cheesecake, my daughter helped me make the gelatin dessert, and my friend assembled the fresh fruits platter (grapes, strawberries, and blackberries).  Usually I love cheesecake and pies, but sadly, they still don't taste so good to me.  I persuaded my cousin to take the remainder of the cheesecake home with her, since my daughter doesn't like cheesecake. 

Most of the guests left shortly after 10:30 p.m.; some of them had an hour-long drive home.  Two of my friends stayed behind to help put away the food and wash the dishes.  Actually, they and my daughter did most of the cleaning up.  I was too tired by then to do much.  It was a lot of work to prepare for the prayer gathering, but I did it in memory of my mother, who would have turned 96, this week, had she lived.

Today, I woke up feeling tired, so I took it easy and rested.  I put away one or two of the washed items, washed the stem glasses, and did a load of laundry.  One of my neighbors called to check on me and later, I called my friend who came to help me with the preparations, yesterday, to check on her and thank her for her help.

Later in the evening, my daughter's toilet flush stopped working!  I called one of my neighbors across the street; he came over and said I needed a fill valve and offered to get one from the hardware store nearby.  I gave him the money for the part and he replaced the whole thing for me.  Have I mentioned that I am blessed with good neighbors?

One of my daughter's friends dropped by to see her this afternoon and we sent a container of the honey sesame chicken and some of the pineapple pie home with him.  I will take more of the pie to my neighbor, too, tomorrow.  

Today, I am grateful for:


- A good prayer gathering and get together
- Being well enough to host the prayer gathering
- All the help I received from friends and family at yesterday's prayer gathering
- Helpful neighbors
- Spending the day relaxing at home with my daughter

How was your weekend?