The Beauty of a Host[ess]

On a chilly day in December 2010, I was blessed to share a special meal with my "Core Group" from church.  One of the young women in our group is from China.  She hosted a traditional Chinese "hot pot" for us.  It is a meal that is usually hosted in the cold winter season of China. 
A broth is boiled in a large pot, and guests continue to add fresh vegetables, meats, seafood, and tofu to the broth as the meal progresses.  The boiling broth cooks the added items, and everyone fishes cooked food out of the pot, enjoys, and then adds some more [repeat process until full].  This image of her hand, about to serve us, with the simple and gorgeous ingredients on her white platters, was so beautiful that I shouted, "I don't have a camera!  I need a camera!"  I even noticed that my scarf balanced with the plum color of her cups. 
[Sidenote: I love pashminas in the winter-- they are my adult security blankets.  I suggest you get one and learn how to tie it in many ways.  I will teach you.  The one I'm wearing in this pic is from K-mart.  I told you beauty is everywhere.] 
The hostess with the mostest also ran and got me a camera.  And I'm so glad she did.
The food was gorgeous.  And the lotus root (new to me-- a cream-colored vegetable that had the consistency of a crisp uncooked potato with a maze of holes in its surface) was even more tasty than it was romatic (in appearance).  Speaking of finding beauty in unexpected places, [ahem] those little orange circles are fish balls.  mmmhmm.  If you ever told me I'd eat from a pot of soup that had fish balls it it, I'd guffaw.  But, just don't get in the way of a selfless hostess.  You can tell her heart is beautiful by this spread.  Her giving is pure, and her table is beauty itself.