Friday, June 01, 2007

Library Bag: Table Talk

I LOVE this older book by Once-A-Month Cooking authors Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg. Table Talk contains recipes and ideas for making family mealtimes special. I bought a yard sale copy, but I hope it's in your library catalog.

Just after sharing my "make your own tv dinner" practice, I read this humbling idea:

"In downtown Quito, Mimi takes leftovers from the family's evening meal and arranges them on a paper plate. She adds a plastic fork and napkin, encloses the meal in a plastic bag, and sets it on the brick wall outside their home. A hungry person on the street at night won't have long to go through the Wilson's trash for food, nor eat with with his hands. Instead of throwing away leftovers, she provides a meal and a sense of dignity." --Table Talk, p. 62.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh wow what a beautiful idea....its ashame here the racoons would get it first...but i LOVE that idea....

btw that needlepoint pillow, NOW THAT IS A TREASURE....

celina in canada

Anonymous said...

What a caring gesture! I once lived in an apartment complex where many of the residents were immigrants from Central America. After an American family moved out and tossed many of their possessions in a dumpster, the adults and kids went "dumpster diving" for the toys and furniture. When we moved out a few months later, I held a "free garage sale" to give away our unwanted items to the other residents. I couldn't stand the idea of the kids climbing in the filthy dumpsters to retrieve our things after we left. Everything quickly found a grateful new owner, even our old mattresses and a card table. I found out later that some neighbors had been eating on cardboard boxes and sleeping on the floor because they couldn't even afford Goodwill yet. That was the best "garage sale" we ever held. Miss Kris

Anonymous said...

What a kind thing to do. I would do something like that, but we don't have many homeless people in our area. (thank goodness) We live very close to the Texas Baptist Children's Home. That is where the homeless people go to get a meal around here.

Headmistress, zookeeper said...

That reminds me of a passage from Edith Schaeffer's Hidden Art of Homemaking. Back in the days of regular hoboes she used to make up a nice tray, complete with a pretty flower or other small centerpiece item and a small copy of John and serve it outside.

*carrie* said...

Meredith,

Thanks for sharing about this book, and so many others. My list of books I want to read is growing because of your suggestions. I'm going to inter-library loan Animal Vegetable Miracle. I like Kingsolver's writing, anyway, and this is a compelling topic to me.

Thank you for visiting my blog; I find yours inspiring!