My monastic fantasy

Ever since I read The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris,  I've been fascinated by the monasticism.  The Benedictine lifestyle of communal living and the lectio divina, the balanced life of prayer and work sounds so peaceful.  Praying the Liturgy of the Hours every day seems so relaxing - I can picture myself in a stone chapel reciting the vespers by candlelight.   The hills are alive with the sound of music, and I could be out there....

Time to make it real - a great deal of monastic life is silence.  Me and silence??? I am a big talker...I am always on the phone, or talking on line or talking to my husband (who probably isn't listening) and talking to my kids (definitely not listening).  And the cloistered life means living with a bunch of other people, some of which are certainly going to be a pain in the ass.  Sounds a lot like living in a college dorm without the partying, or being at work 24/7.   Plus, silent praying is really, really hard for me.   I once heard a comedian say "My mind is a scary place - I try never to go in there alone" and that resonates with me.  Each year at Advent and Lent, I cantor a candelight Taize prayer service at my church which is very meditative.   TI dread the part of the service that is actually 10 minutes of silence. I usually spend that time trying not to freak out about the next chant I am going to have to sing.  The Taize music is always really hard, but repetitive, so if you sing it wrong once, it sticks out like a sore thumb.  I suppose there is some kind of "Zen" I am gaining spiritually from this, but I haven't figured it out just yet.  So I know that I am a long way from abbey life, despite my love of the the Sound of Music.   After all, even Maria had to ditch the abbey by marrying the the wussy looking control freak Captain Baron von Trapp.    I don't care how well he could dance the landler....

I think what I really like about the whole monastic lifestyle is the food and drink.   Where would the happy hour be without Benedictine and Chartreuse, Abbey Ales?   How about those Trappist fruitcakes? Let's not forget the Tassajara Bread Book....Also, I love visiting The Society of St. John in Michigan's Keweenaw for some of the most fanstastic baked goods and jams and jellies I've ever tasted.  The idea of living on Lake Superior and baking and canning all day sounds great, but I know that the reality of it all would likely be different.   After all, I am still trying to get through Thomas Merton's Seven Storey Mountain....

The Michigan Lady Food Bloggers

Who are the Michigan Lady Food Bloggers?  It's a group of women that live in Michigan that blog about food.   We have a google group where we talk about food and blogging, and about every quarter or so, we get together for potlucks.    The MLFB started a while ago when there were a few of us that lived in Ann Arbor got together for tea because we read each others blogs.  We've gotten together to shop at the farmer's market, we've held cookie exchanges, we've had outdoor cookouts,  we've tasted French wine and made French recipes featured in MTAOFC a la Julie and Julia.   We've drank many a mojito together.   We've attended folk music festivals together.  We've canned together.  A group of us eats breakfast most every Friday together.  Some of us have moved from Michigan - one now lives in Denver, another in Mexico, but once in MLFB, always in MLFB.   We've got more bloggers outstate now - as far north as Traverse City.  (I'd love to find a Yooper woman blogging about food to add to our group - know anyone?)   Some of us work in the food industry, as food writers or chefs or farmers.  Others are civilians that like eating and cooking.  Some of us are fabulous cooks, and some, like me, are always working on honing their skills.   Being a great cook or a great writer isn't a requirement to join - just a love of food and writing about it.  We write a joint food blog together called My Food Tribe.

Why is it all women?  Early on, we took a poll - because there are many fine food blogs written by men, we wondered if we should include both sexes.   I voted "no" - mostly because I work with all men and most of my friends are men and I wanted to make some more women friends.  The majority decide to keep it all women, so that's the way it is today.  What's the best thing about MLFB?  Blogging can be a lonely endeavor if you never actually get to meet any of your readers face to face - that's where the MLFB comes in.  We comment on each others posts, we link to each others posts.  Also, many people start food blogs, few people keep at it.  Being part of a blogging group inspires me to keep the blog fires burning.    So, are you a woman that lives in Michigan that writes a food blog?  I invite you to join us.   Are you thinking about starting a food blog?  We'll let you join, but you have to promise to start one ASAP, or we will gently nag you about it.   To find out more about joining, send me an email at momskitchen at comcast dot net.