It hardly feels adequate to say that my friends and neighbors took over for a few days a couple of weeks ago when the truth is that they swooped in with food, soups, bread, hand sanitizer, and essential oils, not to mention apple-ginger muffins wrapped in handmade dish towels (recipe below). There were many hugs and nods of understanding, for these were the people who knew and appreciated my dad in his last days, stopping by with quarts of homemade chicken noodle soup, doing reiki treatments for the sheer generosity of it, and bringing pans of chicken and rice, my dad’s favorite chopped salad, fish and stewed tomatoes, and more. Nothing escaped their caring eyes.

One among my community of loving neighbors writes a blog, where she wrote about some of the food she brought us last week. You can have a look here.  A group of us will be getting together this coming Friday afternoon to share a glass of wine and a pile of memories. Please help us drink a toast to my dad — I know he would have loved it.

Ginger Muffins (vegan, gf)
Preheat oven to 400F.
Mix together 1 1/2 cups of Namaste flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. cinnamon.
In a separate bowl mix together 1/3 cup olive oil, 1 egg substitute, 1/3 cup applesauce, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract.
Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture, and stir just until mixed. Place muffin liners into muffin tins, fill halfway with batter, and cook 18-22 min.