Propped up on a chair beside my great grandmother, my arms were covered with applesauce every fall. The kitchen was filled with four generations of the women of the house - my great grandmother, grandmother, mother, and me, all preparing for canning season. Each season brought about a new recipe and new memory. My grandmother's chocolate sauce celebrated the fall, her lemon cake captured the summer, my grandfather's penuche frosting, mom's coconut cake, fajita's, and famous chicken...I don't think the list has an end. Throughout my life, the dinner table has been the common denominator in bringing people together, and to these moments I can trace my great love for not only the enjoyment in sharing a meal but also the preparation. I think I was being prepared for this love my whole life.
Over the years, particularly during high school and then in my years of volunteer service, I was able to travel extensively, gathering new spices and an even greater appreciation for all that goes into preparing a meal and sharing a table. Sometimes the table was a river rock in Victoria, Kenya or a dung hut in Kitwe, Zambia, or even a straw mat on the ground overlooking the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal. I savored the deep yellow spicy curry sauce with fresh but tough buffalo meat during a summer spent in Nepal. Gigantic beautiful green avocados, vibrant sweet mangoes, and warm fresh empanadas were all new tastes from a journey in Latin America. But it was not just the flavors that created rich memories; it was the hospitality I received and the feast we created through our shared conversation. Each table I sat down to became a meeting place in which we shared our lives, 
though we were strangers at first. The conversations began, simmering slowly and tentatively, but the end of each meal found us leaning in closely, adding another ingredient, a part of our own story: ordinary day to day life stories, solemn stories told in reverent tones, irreverent stories told loudly with much guffawing. The conversations were as varied as the rich foods before us. With each bite, we were savoring not just the taste of the food but each other's stories.
Perhaps all of these table journeys are why I roll my sleeves up and prepare one of my favorite feasts each year: the first meal served to newly selected Krista Colleagues. They are invited to come to our Annual Conference on the evening before it formally begins. This time, spent at the Hearth, a guest center behind Jim and Linda Hunt's home, is a chance for them to get to know each other and to get their first taste of The Krista Foundation. In the kitchen, I lay out all of my carefully chosen ingredients; lemon, garlic, fresh wild salmon, basil, tomatoes, and more. I look out across the counter and already there are half a dozen conversations simmering, some around the long chairhugged table, others around the room on deep couches and before the fire place. Even the kitchen murmurs and laughs, as I have already put to work unsuspecting new colleagues at slicing tomatoes. But the room is not just filled with new colleagues beginning their service journey - there are also handful of colleagues who have completed their ‘formal' volunteer service terms and choose to return year after year to share their passion and commitment to global service with the next cohort of young adults. Yes, all the ingredients are here for a full table and wonderful feast.
A meal of salmon, orzo pesto, a great big salad, and fresh bread graces our table. Our hope is that a small taste of the great generosity and hospitality they will receive on their service journey begins here, at the Hearth with The Krista Foundation. I hope you enjoy these recipes from our Krista table.
Hot Spice Wine
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1.5 liter red wine (an inexpensive Hearty
Burgandy or Burgandy works well)
4-8 cups fruit juice of choice (grape juice,
orange, orange/pineapple,
grape/cranberry or raspberry...whatever is in
the house)
3-4 cinnamon sticks
1-2 Tablespoons mixed spices for cider or
mulled wine (these are available
in all grocery and speciality stores and include
cloves, allspice, cinnamon,
nutmeg, orange peel, etc.) placed in a tea
strainer
1/2 sliced orange, studded with cloves
Make a syrup first by heating the sugar and water until the sugar dissolves.
Add wine and 4 cups fruit juice and taste for desired sweetness. Add more fruit juice if desired, usually 2-4 more cups. Float sliced oranges with cloves, cinnamon sticks, and mixed spices in the strainer. Heat on LOW so the alcohol doesn't all evaporate. Simmer for at least an hour, warm up to desired temperature, and serve. Wonderful on a snowy night after sledding, or to welcome guests in from the cold. Krista loved to serve this and while in Bolivia found a similarly spiced nonalcoholic purple corn-based drink called Api which women served at the local market in Comarapa.
A Taste of the Northwest Salmon
1 clove finely chopped garlic
1 sweet Vidalia onion
5 tablespoons olive oil
juice of one lime
1 sliced lemon
1 sliced orange
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 pounds salmon fillet - skin on
1 Tbs. of mayonnaise
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Cover the bottom of the baking pan with aluminum foil. Layer the bottom of the pan with half the slices of onion and lemon and orange. Next layer the salmon skin down. Brush the olive oil, mayonnaise and finely chopped garlic on to the salmon and layer the rest of the salmon with the slices of onion, lemon and orange. Juice lime over salmon before baking. Bake, uncovered, until the salmon is done (peek in between the layers of flesh with a thin-bladed knife), 12 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately.
Orzo Pesto Salad
1 box Orzo Pasta
1 lb. fresh Asparagus
1 cup of your favorite Pesto Sauce
2 cups cherry tomatoes
Cook the Orzo Pasta as directed on box. Steam the Asparagus and chop in to 1 inch pieces. Add the Pesto Sauce before the Orzo cools. When cool, add the chopped Asparagus and cherry tomatoes.
A very easy recipe to go with a salmon dish!
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New Krista Colleagues often first meet Alicia Favreau in the kitchen of The Hearth at their initial gathering. An invaluable help in hosting Krista Foundation events, Alicia is an exceptional cook and baker and loves drawing Colleagues into helping prepare our festive meals. In her spare time Alicia is an Elementary Special Education teacher in Issaquah School District in Washington State. A recent graduate of Texas A&M University, she attended on a full-ride graduate scholarship and received a Master's in Educational Psychology, specializing in Low Incidence Disabilities. Alicia is a Krista Colleague Class of 2000, where she served with Peace Corps in Zambia and Americorps in Boston.
