third sunday in lent

Friday was my birthday.

After our morning delivering Meals on Wheels (which you can read about here), Suzy gave me my present:

A framed collage of photos of family members holding Happy Birthday signs, posing in food pantries with their donations.

She had planned this for weeks, getting my family and hers to take the money they would have spent on a gift that I didn't really need, and instead to donate food to United Ministries and other food pantries. And not just donate food, but deliver the food, see the facilities, meet the people. Even Suzy's German sister, who's only in the country for a couple of weeks, participated.

I know it sounds overly pious and cheesy to say this, but I did not care one bit that this was my only present. It was all I needed, to know that about 100 people could be given a bag of food, and all because the people that closest to me care enough to care for others.

Fast forward to that night...

Suzy knows that to show how much she cares for me, all she has to do is take me out to eat at a fancy restaurant (I'm easy like that). I've eaten some amazing meals at some really nice restaurants in major cities in the US, but my birthday dinner Friday night topped 'em all.

Suzy and I went to American Grocery, my favorite restaurant in town. It's a farm-to-table restaurant serving American seasonal cuisine, owned by a husband (the chef) and wife (the sommelier). The food is outstanding, and the atmosphere was made for me. The exposed brick walls, unfinished woods, and dish-towel linens, balanced with the industrial-style ceiling and contemporary accents, give the place a modern-rustic feel I love. And when I heard Ray LaMontagne, Coldplay, and Ryan Adams on the playlist, I knew this was my kind of place.

So here's what we had:

Negro Tinto, a Malbec from the Mendoza region of Argentina.  Dark, flavorful, and smooth, it was a great pairing with our meal.

Starter: Flash-fried pork belly and grilled apple slices over creamy grits with a pecan-bourbon maple syrup.  Perfect combo of savory, fatty, tart, nutty, and sweet.

Suzy's entree: Wild striped bass, green garlic (mild) risotto, fiddleheads (taste like asparagus), chanterelle mushrooms, lobster nage (cream sauce). Light but rich flavors.

My entree: Braised beef tongue (don't be grossed out...it's delicious, super tender and juicy), black pepper gnocchi, arugula, smoked tomato cream sauce. Meaty, peppery goodness.

Dessert: seasonal fruit (apple) cobbler. The cobbled part had to be 2 inches thick, the top covered with packed raw sugar. Served hot with two scoops of melting cinnamon-vanilla ice cream.

I'm aware how hypocritical it is for me to advocate giving food for people in poverty and going out to one of Greenville's best (and more expensive) restaurants. Believe me, I know. But it does make me feel a little bit better that the restaurant helps to support local farms and farmers, since almost every ingredient comes from farms and artisan food producers in South Carolina. Even as we enjoyed this delicious, extravagant, and completely unnecessary meal, I was reminded that food justice does not only concern how it is consumed or distributed, but also how it is produced - with care for the environment, the food itself, and the consumer in mind.

Care. Food. Culinary care. This day had it all.

day fourteen: a saint of a man

I first met Father Patrick when I was enlisting a group from his parish, St. Anthony of Padua, to participate in the Walk for the Homeless. Little did I know that he would end up DJ-ing at the end of the walk, leading the Electric Slide in wayfarers, an afro wig, and his cassock.

Father Patrick, posing with a very sleepy baby boy. And yes, he dresses like this every day.

Father Patrick is a Franciscan monk and the priest of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church and School, located in a poverty-stricken area of the West End of Greenville. The food pantry the church runs is just one of many ministries to the homeless and poor in the area.

Our donation for today

St. Anthony's food pantry, which gets restocked once (sometimes twice) a day

Dropping off the food is the easy part. Walking away is what's hard.

There are people in our lives who, although they never intentionally make us feel inadequate, simply by virtue of who they are and what they do make us feel like we don't measure up. Father Patrick is one of those people. Anytime I go by St. Anthony (which, sadly, is not very often) or see him at a United Way meeting (yeah, he does that, too...check out this article about one project from a couple years ago), I feel like I should be doing so much more than I am.

Even while we were there, Father Patrick talked passionately about other needs the church is trying to meet. They are providing dentures for the poor, at a cost of $300/set, because free clinics, Medicare, etc. will take care of pulling teeth but will not cover giving teeth. St. Anthony's is trying to cover a couple of sets a week, and they have a waiting list of hundreds. Can you imagine trying to eat without teeth?

Father Patrick also told us of people who sit in their parking lot and are so hungry that they eat dry Ramen noodles. Sure, they could get something to eat somewhere, but so many organizations make them jump through hoops or say prayers or confess sins. St. Anthony's Church just shares what they have and helps however they can...no stipulations. It is probably the purest ministry I know of in town.

Father Patrick is a saint of a man - a person who truly lives out the call of Jesus, taking Jesus' words seriously when he says, "Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor...then come, follow me" (Lk 18:22). He owns nothing. Everything he has was given to him as a gift. 

And what if we all lived like that? Not like a monk, per se, but as if we own nothing for ourselves, as if everything we have is a gift, to share what we have and help however we can...no stipulations? 

What if?