BlogHer - Everyday Spirituality: Holy Moments in your Home Life - Comments

Peanut Butter

Rachelle Mee-Chapman — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 07:55:52 -0600

Mmmmm...peanut butter! They do sell some brands here DK, but my girls are SO picky. I brought 4 jars of Adam's No Stir peanut butter with me and have been slowly doleing it out. You should see me freak out when a kid throws a plate full of uneaten peanut butter in the sink! You'd think they were wasting gold! :-) My husband has a business meeting in the States next month and will smuggle back some more. Other than pb we really aren't missing most "american" foods. Danish whole foods are so much yummier. Yesterday I ate a carrot....and it tasted like a real CARROT! I didn't even know we could grow those anymore. I heart organics!

ex pat

Rachelle Mee-Chapman — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 07:51:51 -0600

Thanks for the tip Alanna! I'll check it out.

No problemo

Rachelle Mee-Chapman — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 07:50:48 -0600

No problem, Kerry. I have Ten O'clock Scholar on my feed list and will keep you in mind for future BlogHer posts. Let me know if you know of other women who do good writing/thinking on religion and spirituality. I'm always looking for good sources!

Intrest in Rachelle's Comments

aw_dw — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:04:36 -0600

Hello! My name is Amy Webber and I am the Assistant Editor for Cool Hunt, an International Editorial Press Agency based out of Los Angeles. We are currently writing a story for Self magazine, one of the largest women’s magazines in Asia, about young, happy women.

I was reading a piece you have on your BlogHer and your spiritual approach to the changes in your life sound like just the kind of woman we would like to interview for this article and I would very much like to get in touch with you to see if you would be interested in participating in our story.

If you would like to contact me directly, my e-mail is editorcoolhunt@gmail.com.

Peanut butter

JenInShanghai — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:04:29 -0600

As an Ex-pat in China I too find that the one of the best things about this lifestyle is that I am able to challenge my culinary skills and with the lack of confidence in the food supply chain here I am forced to avoid processed foods. We too get our peanut butter from home.... I always bring an extra suitcase when we come back to the US just to bring back my American favorites! US imports are actually available here, but it takes a very very special occasion for me to spend 13 US dollars on a box of granola!
Cooking has definitely become a spiritual/communal/social aspect of our lives that we never experienced back home. Our close- knit community and frequently traveling spouses make for some great "mom & kid" meal times!
Enjoy Denmark. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to live and learn another culture. Soak it up!
JenInShanghai

http://web.mac.com/kielgas

what i missed was peanut butter

alyssaroyse — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:05:29 -0600

my husband and i also moved from seattle to denmark about 12 years ago. (we are back in seattle now.) i loved living in denmark, and have kept much of my borrowed danish culture. 3 generations under one roof. small, simple, whole foods. hand made. less material goods. more biking.

i definitely agree that it is good to live in another culture for a while.... puts things in perspective.

while we were there, we did out best to cook a good Thanksgiving meal on T-Day for all our Danish friends, which was great.

But the thing we missed most was peanut butter. 12 years ago, there was no Peanut Butter in Denmark.... so all of our friends shipped it to us.... that, and books.

enjoy denmark. i miss it so much. i left large portions of my soul there.....
___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com

Hello, Rachelle. I followed

ElaineE — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:22:18 -0600

Hello, Rachelle. I followed the link from your Magpie Girl post. Thank you for your meditation (if I may call it this) and links to other sites, some of which are new to me. As a dietitian, I am happy to hear the Danes have their priorities right when it comes to cooking from scratch versus dinner take-out food. I agree with your statement that the "home front can be a place of meaningful spirituality...." Lovely thoughts.

Aha - as a new expat

Alanna Kellogg — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:36:43 -0600

you can join the huge list of ex pat food bloggers who use their blogs to celebrate the new foods and to remain connected to the old foods.

Alanna Kellogg, A Veggie Venture

thank you for the link and links!

kerrywmson — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:01:08 -0600

THank you for including me in your fantastic list of links. Really a great list - I can't wait to go read some of the others.

Moppings Meditative power

moddivorce — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:52:13 -0600

I often find that my mind is cleared while I'm doing mundane chores. Perhaps it's the rhythm of a broom or the swish of a dust rag...or just having to focus on something in the moment other than the past and future.

I once knew a woman who used to be a nun in a convent, which she left when she realized that she could find God everywhere - not just in a building cloistered off from the rest of the world.

Thank you for the great post Rachelle - and good luck with those meals from scratch!!
Helene
The Modern Woman's Divorce Guide
http://themodernwomansdivorceguide.com/blog

Everyday Spirituality: Holy Moments in your Home Life

Rachelle Mee-Chapman — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:38:45 -0600

Twelve days ago, my family and I moved from Seattle, Washington to Copenhagen, Denmark. As we scrambled for dinner the first night—and ended up eating pizza topped with breakfast bacon—we quickly realized that Danes don’t have much of a take-out culture.

In Copenhagen people shop within walking distance of their apartments, usually from small grocery stores that have a very limited amount of pre-made foods. So, that means – yes—cooking from scratch.

Since that first fateful night, I have made dinner, from scratch, every single day. Eleven dinners. This is roughly the same numbers of dinners I made from scratch in the past, oh I don’t know, six months!

One of the loveliest things about changing cultures is the way it changes you. As my premade dinner options shrunk to an all time low, I’ve reclaimed the Zen-y nature of cooking. I’m remembering how I used to make fresh bread, kneading prayers into the dough for each person who would be around the table that evening. With each meal I am recalling how rhythmic and peaceful it can be to slice and dice seasonal veggies. And every time I’ve pushed away from the table, I’ve remembered how good it feels to treat your body as something holy by feeding it a meal full of nature’s goodness and free from preservatives.

Sometimes, when I’m doing something like making the third from-scratch meal of the day, I think “For this, I got a master’s degree.” But at other times I am reminded of the lovely meditative nature of home chores. Whether it’s really being present to the preparation of a meal, or listening to your child talk about their take on God, the home front can be a place of meaningful spirituality where you can experience holy moments, captured in the tasks of the everyday.

Jen Lemen has tapped into this everyday spirituality by hearing an unexpected message about Love around her dinner table, and by grooving along with Mama Zen.

Carla taps into her own household holiness by getting wrapped up in a soft towel – just one great example in her list of sacred moments over at Zen Musings.

The Ten O’Clock Scholar reminds us that the things we consider distractions in our day-to-day are not necessarily interruptions in our spiritual life, but “bells calling us to worship.”

Jennifer F. points us in an interesting direction by redefining what makes a monastery – follow her links to this article and you may find holy spots in your already every day.

And just in case all that talking about dinner inspired you, pop over to my previous site for some suitable soup recipes. They’ll warm you up body and soul.

May many holy moments greet you this day. Shalom.