Keep Calm and Carry On - Part II

Another lovely winter day.  After Danish class we hurried over to the center and started right in.  SK peeled 15 pounds of potatoes for an hour, and I made 300 meatballs.  We got to the center at 3:30 and served dinner around 8:30.

The meatballs turned out quite well....and SK did a superb job peeling and cutting.  We put the potatoes on to cook at 7:00....thinking that we would drain them and let them sit in the pan until we served them.  OK that was naive.  We had all of them in a very - very - very large pot.  By 8:00 the water had not come to a boil.  I was nervous and SK was nervous.  We not only needed them to get done, but we needed the burner on the stove for other things!

The meatballs in gravy had thickened up nicely but were somewhat bland, so SK and I began throwing seasonings in and finally just decided everything was good to go.  By 8:15 the water had begun to boil. We began cooking a large bag of green beans in the microwave oven because the potatoes were taking up space on the stove top.  It didn't seem to be cooking the beans....they took a long time to get done in that microwave.  By 8:20, the class was over and the YSAs came out into the eating area ready to eat!  We carried the meatballs out, sliced the warm baguettes and put the green beans out.  At 8:22 the potatoes were done and we drained them and served them.  Whew!

I thought I had prepared enough for 40 people....but with about 27 eating, it all went.  I don't know what we'll ever do if 40 actually show up!

We put the carrot cake out at the same time, and it disappeared too.  Well....that meal went alright, but I am not sure it was the most well-received of meals.  Mealballs is a Danish dish and so I don't know how critical the YSAs might be.  But I do know that when someone sees something that wasn't done right, they are wonderful in how they tell me.

Tonight we served raadkaal...or something like that.  Pickled red cabbage.  It is very good.  We bought two one-pound bins of it.  You just open it up, put it in a bowl and serve!  After dinner was over, one young woman came into the kitchen and put her arm around me, and then said in a low voice, "Everything was really good.  But just so you know...when we eat raadkaal, we usually warm it up first."  She was so sweet about it, all I could do was laugh.  It was eaten, and I wonder if they all thought I had lost my marbles!  It says right on the little bin, "Warm up before serving."  We have had it, but it has always been cold, so I never even looked at the package.  (Besides...it was in Danish.)

On another note, I told my Italian friend (from the Danish class) about our dinners.  She said, "If you ever need help, I would love to come and help you."  So I said, "How about next week?"  She said yes!

I hope that really happens....not only because I would so love the help, but also because I would love to see how an Italian goes about cooking the dishes she has talked about.  AND I also think it would be wonderful if she could come to the center and meet these YSAs and feel the great spirit there.  How could she not love it?  She is 40 and a little old for the center, but it would still be a great intro for her to the Church.

And we had a visitor tonight at the center from Northern Italy....Jonathan.  He didn't know Lia...who served a mission there, but it is ...afterall....a big place.

I sat with 3 YSAs for an hour tonight talking about the Thorvaldsen sculptures which will be replicated for the Rome visitor's center.  One of them was a part of the team who took detailed measurements of all of the sculptures.  He showed us slides....it was fascinating.  I love to be a part of those conversations.  The same young man served a mission in Greece.  He said it was such hard work, and he came home absolutely depleted of strength...exhausted.  But it was a great experience.  By the time they had left, they had taught and baptized enough people to make a ward....in China.  And they were told that they were laying groundwork, the fruits of which they might not see for many years.  He is a good young man.

The couple we replaced, the Telfords said that this is the best mission on earth.  I agree.