Delicious Dinner for the Divine Divas

"True Peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice." Martin Luther King, Jr

I arrived in Truth or Consequences late Tuesday night. Karen, the homeopath who I was to stay with, had just arriving home from a concert, where Miriam, a Peace singer had just entertained a local group for several hours. Karen welcomed me with raw hummus, raw vegan crackers and olives and tales of the beautiful music, which I had missed by a few hours. Karen decided to host a dinner the next evening for all the Divine Divas -- the spiritually inclined women in the community -- to say goodbye to Miriam and to meet with me.

Karen and her husband are raw foodists so the feast the next day was to be a fare of 100% raw food. Though I have eaten vegetarian for many years i had not really thought about food in terms of whether it was raw or not. My stay with Karen was to make me look at the world with new lenses.

The next morning Karen started calling and emailing the local women. We went down town to the local health food stores and met several women who Karen immediately invited. Everywhere we went we met women who we interested in the gathering, some who could make it and some not. In the end we had 9 women who formed the first Goddess Circle in the community, what those who came are hoping will become a monthly gathering for the spiritually minded women.

Karen and I worked all afternoon preparing the spread -- guacamole made with fresh organic avocados, tomatoes, onions and garlic; raw vegan crackers; gaspacho with tomatoes, onions, zucchini and green pepper; my mother's amazing cucumber salad, a huge raw organic salad with romaine lettuce, fresh pea sprouts; carrots, green pepper and tomatoes; a plater of sliced carrots, cauliflower, broccoli; raw goats cheese; a raw banana coconut pie with a walnut date crust; an avocado chocolate mint pudding; gingered grapes and hibiscus sun tea. It was a feast fit for a Goddess, or a Divine Diva.

Women started arriving slowly congregating in the kitchen until the crowd began to spill over into the living room. We introduced ourselves and Miriam welcomed us with several songs of Peace sung in her native language, Hebrew. Karen sang a song she had shared with Miriam the night before and Lou recited a poem. Peace was the topic of the evening. Peace, a Raw feast, Hot Springs and Divine Divas ... what more can you ask for ... a combination made in heaven!!