Dear Sisters,

I hope you had a nice weekend. I have been to the seven day Divine Principle workshop not as staff, but as a participant. It was so refreshing to be in that particular atmosphere and all the power points were very different from the classic DP lecture which we are used to seeing on the white board.

It feels like you are listening to a story which you are just drawn into and of course our respected brother David Hanna was a fantastic lecturer. Until now I really didn’t like to appear or talk in front of people. If I had to go on the stage for some reason I always wanted to run away, because I never felt confident in myself. But this time they put me as a team leader for the first time in my life. I had to be the first person who had to talk in the team discussion.

I had to say “my team is washing up” in front of everyone which before I would never like to have to announce this type of thing. I used to hate that moment when people suddenly stop talking and look at you. I always felt my blood vessels shrink in that moment. But I found myself gradually doing it without that uncomfortable feeling. This 7 days workshop had incredible content but the biggest thing for me was that I gained confidence in myself.

On that weekend I prepared the holy table for True Parents Day with my sister Dolores Read which was also a special experience. There were almost 20 sisters preparing, putting in lots of effort. You cannot use sweets or fruit for the table if they are dropped on the floor once. I spent two whole days for the first time with Dolores. On Friday morning I went to her house to go shopping with her. I was nervous because I didn’t know her well.  We got in her car and started to talk and after 15 minutes many question marks started to appear around my head like a cartoon. The car started to suddenly slow down or accelerate depending on her voice tone or hand gesture. Suddenly changing the lane without indicating, I couldn’t concentrate on our conversation anymore and started to look at the car behind in the side mirror. On top of all this because she was talking so passionately she missed the turn to go to her local Tesco. At that point all my nervousness burst and I started to like her so much.

I enjoyed being in the street market pushing a huge cart, which we borrowed from the market, full of fruits with her; and standing for more than 10 minutes in front of the sweet section in Tesco trying to count how many bags of sweets we need and discovering we were not very good at doing simple sums anymore. Of course I learnt a lot about how to prepare the holy table during the two days, but becoming friends with Dolores was the biggest harvest for me.

I want to just quickly introduce to you my favourite balsamic vinegar. This vinegar is a black colour and is so clever which you can use for salad or splash on pasta or even for steak. It gives food a full bodied taste. I went to Sainsbury one day and put one bottle of balsamic vinegar in the basket and when I got home and checked the receipt I noticed that it was £12 and was planning to take it back. But I had to use it for one dish, and it was so amazing I was glad I didn’t take it back. This is called vintage balsamic vinegar and is very different from normal balsamic vinegar.

This is my favourite salad dressing:

2 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil.

Two thirds of a teaspoon of vintage balsamic vinegar.

One small clove of garlic crushed.

Splash of lemon.

Salt, and pepper.

½  table spoon of mayonnaise or yoghurt (optional)

They have this vintage balsamic vinegar in the Tesco finest range, and I prefer the Tesco one to the Sainsbury’s one. The best way to taste and appreciate this vintage balsamic vinegar is to boil fresh spinach and then wash it under cold water after boiling. And then add extra virgin olive oil, vintage balsamic vinegar and salt