Saturday, 21 April 2007

"Professor Plum in the kitchen with the candlestick!"

Progressive dinners are a fairly rare phenomenon these days. So it was no surprise when I had no idea what one was when Pastor Brian announced last Sunday that the Young Adults at Engedi were holding one. I asked my parents about what a progressive dinner was, to which Mom said, "Tyler, you should go! They're a lot of fun-my friends and I did them when we were in high school." So I decided to go for it, and boy was I glad.

One of the things I've noticed about people at Engedi is the sincere interest in others. Our first stop was at the Aulick house for hors d'oeurves, and the young adults that I didn't really know came up to me right away to introduce themselves so we could get to know each other. I've appreciated that; being the spoiled kid who never moved growing up, coming to Hope was the first time I've had to ever make a new start in a new community. So that's been a new thing, and Engedi has made that part very pleasant. And Pastor Brian and Christina made some good stuff-the salsa-cream cheese dip was tasty and who doesn't love spinach & artichoke dip?

House number two was a family named Hoffman, and their view of Lake Michigan rivals the Betka family's in Pentwater. It made me so happy to see the lake again that I was speechless for a moment. Our hosts were friendly too and I found their oldest son is off to Hope next year. Apparently they're all very fond of Engedi and they were looking to find out if there's any sort of transportatin offered to Engedi from Hope so he could continue attending. I said I didn't know of anything like that but that I'm always willing to give a ride, so it looks like I could very quickly be meeting one of the new freshmen next year. And who knows-maybe I've already met our first incoming Bible Stud for next year. God works in cool ways.

Stop number three was at the Kanis home, and I thought I had walked into a mansion. Their house is amazing, not to mention huge. But like some of the others said, I agreed that I didn't really see them flaunting their obvious wealth. They acted like the other hosts-glad to see us, excited to host the progressive dinner, and just friendly like most everyone I've ever met at Engedi. Sandra wanted to take some pictures at that point so we moved the table decorations out of the way. Somehow I was handed both candleabras, which then led someone to say I looked like Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast. I looked at the two candleabras, thought for a moment, and said, "Professor Plum in the kitchen with the candlestick!" My friends laughed.

Our last stop was at the Bredemeier house for dessert and their reputation for serving wonderful food was definitely backed up tonight. I'm not exactly how to describe the first dish, but it was something along the lines of a chocolate cake with chopped peanuts, a peanut butter filling, and chocolate frosting-basically a slice of culinary heaven. And the other was fantastic as well-cheesecake with a cherry topping, both served together with ice cream. But I couldn't stop there-the conversation with Barb was great, too. She's a kindred spirit as a musician herself, more specifically in the strings area, so she's always interested in what I'm doing with music education.

My parents were right-progressive dinners are fun, and they're great for meeting people. I spent my evening with a group of people that I didn't know terribly well, and I couldn't have enjoyed it more.