Brent and I were in downtown Birmingham a few days ago and popped by Cathedral Church of the Advent for one of their Lenten lunches. Some of my neighbors have had signs about it in their yards and people talk about how great they are — and they are!
A special treat was getting to see their sanctuary, and we chose to take in the daily Lenten service. The guest speaker that day from another congregation focused on verses in Psalms, so it was really enjoyable.
Their chapel:
…and then, lunch in this really pretty room:
Brent had the chicken enchilada and I had half a chicken salad sandwich along with tomato aspic (I was in charge of savory dishes for FP Garden Club this month so I made aspic and a couple of the members said “oh my grandmother made aspic!” which made my little heart happy):
Brent had the bing cherry salad and one of the sweet ladies working brought around homemade mayonnaise which she said would be perfect with it:
Strawberry cake has a special place in the collective culinary repertoire of Birmingham, so we took that in, too. People were friendly and it was terrific all around.
Thinking about other community Lenten meals, there’s:
The Waffle Shop at Calvary Episcopal in Memphis with dishes like fish pudding, chicken hash, waffles — and a salad plate with tomato aspic, shrimp mousse, pears with cottage cheese, and chicken salad.
St Paul’s Episcopal in Richmond, Virginia is well-known for their cheese souffle at Lenten meals. I’m sure there are tons of others who have a fun signature dish! If you think of one that’s unique to a particular place, please share.
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