Home again

Adhisthana, August 2025 (photo credit: Lola II)

After the Smaller (but still Big) Event ended on Sunday morning there was a quieter period, but still plenty to do. On Sunday afternoon I cleared out the Restricted Diet kitchen and restored it to its former state ready for the new intake of people who would be using it during a 16-week course. I managed to take the tent down during a warm sunny spell in between rain showers, which made me very happy because I could then just put it away without having to take it out again at home to dry.

I spent quite a bit of time noting down all the things we had learned while running the kitchen, all the equipment we did and didn't use, as well as the food itself. I now know how to cook buckwheat and millet (essentially the same way as quinoa and rice). If I were to do the job again, I wouldn't try so hard to please all the people all the time, because as we know, it can't be done. Next year, however, this event is taking place somewhere else, so I'll have the option to do something different with my August Bank Holiday weekend.

My time at Adhisthana came to an end with a periodontal appointment back home on Tuesday morning. The periodontist was very pleased with the improvement to the sites that he'd treated, and then I remembered to mention the pre-diabetes, and of course that might be another reason why I'm getting such trouble with deep infections of the gums. I was astonished that I'd only gained half a kilo during the three weeks I was away, but naturally delighted at the same time. I've still got some work to do, but don't have to start at the beginning again.

The Smaller (but still Big) Event

Sheet folding lesson in the laundry, Adhisthana, August 2025

So I left you as the Big Event started on Thursday evening, when more than 300 people were to be found within the site. Many were camping, many found themselves squeezed into rooms normally for two people with an extra mattress or bed. My friend T and I were allocated the solitary hut that I stayed in last year on my own, but I put my tent up just in front of it so we had a bedroom each.

Our space for creating the meals for people with restricted diets was an ordinary kitchen without any industrial scale equipment, but we were producing food for between 30 and 45 people per meal. We prepared cold food and warm food - with the facilities we had it was almost impossible to provide hot food. To start with we only had one oven shelf, but two more were bought to make full use of the oven. We didn't have any help with washing up on the first day, but we got a bit more help after pointing out that we were doing 12-hour days on our own. It didn't make the day's work any shorter but at least we could plan for the next day while someone else was dealing with the washing up.

In terms of the food - our customers loved tahini sauce (tahini, lemon juice, add water until pouring consistency) and put away about a litre of it every day. Mashed potato was another big hit despite the hot weather as it's not usually offered by a retreat kitchen. On the whole everyone seemed to find enough choice and there were many compliments and thanks. One particularly difficult customer started bringing us a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice every day towards the end of her stay.

The atmosphere was wonderful, and it helped that the weather was perfect. At meal times clumps of people could be found in every corner - on chairs and benches, sitting on the floor, sitting outside their tents, inside in the dining rooms, all happily chatting and eating. It felt like what I imagine a Buckingham Palace Garden Party might be like (except without the Royals). There was so much to do that I hardly emerged from the kitchen at all, but on a couple of days I managed to walk about for half an hour and met a few of the people I knew. That was very worthwhile.

Then the crazy busy weekend finished, and we were straight into the next event, which had fewer people booked onto it but lasted a week. After the first evening I had a whole day off, which I spent with Sister D and Lola II. It was scorching hot, so after a walk up to the local viewpoint we spent some time indoors looking at the different buildings and exhibits before wandering down to see the fruit trees and the solitary cabin. They asked some really interesting and challenging questions that really made me think about what this all means to me, and why I find it so important.

My cooking friend T had to go home the next day but was replaced by another friend, W, whom I'd also invited. Instead of catering to upwards of 30 people we were now down to 'large dinner party' size of about 10 people, which could have been managed by a single person except that I was due to have another day off and we needed a stand-in who knew the ropes. I had a bit of difficulty with some Spanish speakers who decided they didn't like the food in the main kitchen and started coming to the restricted diet kitchen even though they didn't have any intolerances, which meant that we ran short on a few options. (This forced me to examine my own particular views on fairness, kindness and generosity.) So towards the end of the week we were catering for more like 15 people.

My attempt to manage my own diet completely failed after the week of setup. When I was actually cooking, in the kitchen for 12 hours at a time, surrounded by all sorts of tasty and interesting foods, it was utterly insane to imagine that I could maintain any restraint. But under home conditions I intend to return to abstinence.

Photo credit: Sister D