Where: some Korean-owned/operated retreat center/cabin site in Running Springs, CA (between Lake Arrowhead & Big Bear)
When: March 4-6, 2011
Why: to meet God, to invite the Holy Spirit, to draw closer as a group
People in Attendance: fluctuated between about 35-40 people
I made my shopping/supplies lists, checked it twice, checked it again, wrote out my menu plan, wrote out my recipes & checked my shopping/supplies lists one more time to edit. Made five trips to Costco (Commerce business center, Fullerton, La Habra), three trips to Smart & Final, two trips to Fresh & Easy, two trips to Hannam Chain, one trip to HMart, one trip to church (for storage purposes) one trip to Albertsons all within the span of 3 days. Why not just delegate some of the shopping responsibilities? I did (for things I didn't really need to keep count, i.e. bottled water & snacks). However, in order to keep track of the budget & quantity needed of ingredients I needed to do the bulk of the shopping myself. Each time I went shopping I had a calculator in hand to make sure I was going to be within the alloted budget. I was watching every penny b/c in times past I've been a few dollars over budget so I REALLY made an effort to stay in the black as opposed to the red. After the essential shopping was done I realized I was WAY UNDER budget so I had a little fun picking up some extra snacks & drinks
The hard part wasn't trying to find the space to store everything but rather packing everything in the van; it was like those logic puzzles we had to do in grade school for those multiple choice "intelligence" tests & Tetris (the background music was playing in my head). We finally loaded all the cargo & luggage into the van & cars then did a headcount... I would need to drive our pastor's sedan to the retreat site.
Friday late-night snack: Korean instant noodle bowls, chips, homemade cookies, Honest Kids lemonade & tropical punch drink pouches
Saturday breakfast: milk & cereal, whole wheat toast w/ PB&J (and I even brought out my personal Nutella stash) coffee/tea/orange juice (a few of us had oatmeal as well) and bananas
Saturday lunch: tonkatsu (pan-fried breaded pork cutlet) & korroke (potato croquettes) w. homemade tonkatsu sauce (for the amount I needed I realized it was easier, cost-efficient and healthier to just make my own) w. cabbage salad. A few people couldn't eat pork so I also prepared chicken katsu as well.
(sorry but this is one of the few pics some people took of the food)
korroke, katsu, homemade katsu sauce, cabbage salad & quick dressing
Saturday dinner: Guinness beef stew (but it actually turned out like soup, but I already know why it didn't thicken to stew, so i'll adjust for that the next time I make it)
Saturday late-night snack: true to the last night of retreat tradition all the snacks were laid out on a table so everyone could go in for the kill; a snack buffet if you will.
Sunday breakfast: same as Saturday, a few people had some leftover beef stew for breakfast so I added in some oatmeal while reheating to make it more substantial, brought out more bananas & some oranges too.
Sunday lunch: Italian sausage & peppers on a hotdog bun w. french fries and Gala apples.
My menu plan was to make each meal simple, economical, hearty but mostly nutritious. I made sure that the dinner & lunches had some beef/pork/chicken (more to my pastor's taste than mine...) In the past I made a full hot breakfast only to have half of it go to waste b/c people were just too groggy to eat that heavy first thing in the morning (or some people just slept through breakfast time)
In order to cook the food on time for the meals I unfortunately had to skip one or two of the worship services. I was able to hear the Saturday evening service in its entirety and I listened to the Sunday service from the kitchen. My pastor reminded me not to be like Martha - not Stewart but the original... There is a story in the Bible of two sisters, Mary & Martha. Jesus went to their house to teach, fellowship with people & eat a meal. Martha was busily preparing the meal in the kitchen by herself while her sister Mary sat at Jesus's feet attentively listened to what He had to say. Martha complained that she was alone in preparing and that her sister should get up and help her but Jesus reminded her that while serving is important the lessons from God take precedence over everything.
All in all, the retreat was a very blessing experience. I think everyone enjoyed the food too. *Yawn* Please don't wake me until the next family meal for the EM... **recovery mode**
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