God-Given Hunger

March 6, 2018

Beloved:

    For February Wednesday Night Supper I tried a new smashed potato recipe.  It was good, but I had imagined it would be better.  Yesterday for supper I made it so much better.  See recipe below, unless you are on a low-salt diet – in which case, ignore altogether.


    I read once that the emergency rations soldiers carry are nutrient-dense but don’t taste very good, so men only eat them once they are really hungry.  I’m ever amazed that human beings are not satisfied simply to eat.  Once past subsistence, we crave food that is more complex, beautiful and tasty than is required to keep us alive.  The same is true with art.  Since forever, women have sewn quilts from scraps of fabric or spent precious labor to dye and weave a pretty rug.  The most humble homes have ditch flowers on the table or a picture on the wall.  Our spirits crave beauty like our bellies crave calories.  Too long without either, and we human beings starve – with all the attending maladies therein.


    Good worship satisfies this longing of the spirit.  So does walking on the beach at sunrise,  sitting in the woods or rocking a sleeping baby.  Creating almost anything, a salad or a sculpture, can give a glimpse of beauty that hints at the Divine hiding just beyond our sight.  Silence, silence of the mind most especially, is an unending source of confluence between the reality we can hear and touch and the one just beyond our reach.


    These hungers are God-given, I am very nearly sure – one of the tweaks that make us positively human.  They are to be managed well, of course, accommodated with good boundaries and respect for collective human hunger.  All I see is not mine to take and eat, but rather to discover the greater joy of eating with others as often as possible – whether the meal is food or beauty or both.  

~ peace & prayers,
pastor annette
   
Mashed Potatoes w/ Twice-Cooked Skins
Serves 4
Note:  I didn’t actually measure anything, so these butter, yogurt and half & half amounts are estimates.

Ingredients

• 4 medium potatoes
  
• 5 Tbsp butter
  
• ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
  
• ¼ cup half & half
  
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
  
• Lots o’ salt
  

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  
• Line small baking dish with foil and cover bottom with salt.  
  
• Roll damp potatoes in salt, leave on salt bed and bake until skins get crackly ( about 90 minutes)
  
• Remove from oven and cut in half.  When cool enough to handle, peel potatoes and set skins aside.  
  
• Push potato through ricer or mash, add 4 Tbsp butter, Greek yogurt, half & half and salt to taste.  Throw away foil and spread potatoes in same dish. 
  
• Chop skins into bite-size pieces.  Heat olive oil and remaining Tbsp butter in skillet; fry skins until crisp.  Spread over mashed potatoes and put into oven to heat through.
  

One More Thing:  
Would you help me out with a ministry project?  Our Global Women's Gathering ministry really does get a lot of traction through Facebook contact but we need more Likes so we can show up on our GWG friends' feeds more regularly.  Would you take a minute to click on the GWG link and then like our page?  We only post about once a week, so your feed won't get flooded if you are also willing to follow us.  Thanks!  Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/Global-Womens-Gathering-at-University-Baptist-Church-497495550600810/