Monday Reflections: A Rolling Pin, Three Rum Cakes & the Forgotten Lentils

Monday Refelections: A Rolling Pin, Three Rum Cakes & the Forgotten Lentils

The day after the launch, the dream looked an awful lot like dinner.

🧭 Compass Heading: Bring What You Have

Bearing: Notice the people who show up—and the love they carry through the door.

Well, friends…we launched. 🎉

The Twisted Compass is officially out in the world, and I am feeling a little bit of everything.

Relief. Gratitude. Excitement. That slightly bewildered feeling when something you’ve been working toward is finally happening and you look around like…

“Oh. We’re doing this. We actually DID this.”

It was fun. It was chaotic. And I felt like it was so well received. 🧡

There are things I’ll learn, things I’ll adjust, and apparently ingredients I’ll need someone assigned to supervise.

We’ll get to the lentils.

But first, let me tell you about Saturday.

☕ We Went for Coffee. Florida Had Other Plans.

Rhonda, Stephen, Mike and I headed to the farmer’s market in Hobe Sound to support a coffee-vendor friend of theirs.

A lovely plan.

Florida watered it thoroughly. 🌧️

It was pouring when we got there, so we sat and talked for more than an hour, waiting for the rain to stop.

It did not.

Apparently, the clouds had cleared their schedules.

We eventually moved ourselves over to Hobe Sound Social, got coffee, and talked for another hour and a half.

And honestly? What a gift.

After all the preparation and excitement of launch night, there we were with nowhere we urgently needed to be, having the kind of conversation you don’t have when everybody is halfway out the door.

We went to support a friend’s business and ended up spending a beautiful stretch of the morning together.

The outing changed. The company was still exactly right.

🛍️ Hot Wheels, Secondhand Treasures & Remarkable Restraint

Later, Mike and I went out to Mark’s estate sale store.

Mike bought Hot Wheels.

I found a fired-clay beer-can chicken pan, costume jewelry with a future in crafting, a rotary cutter, and a gloriously colorful platter with a Mexican feel.

And I bought…

NO COOKBOOKS.

Please allow a moment for that information to settle. 😂

A chicken pan is not a cookbook. Neither is a platter. I would appreciate those distinctions being honored.

And then Mark gave me everything I had picked out.

Such a sweet kindness. Things I’ll cook with, make with, and put to use—all coming home with a story already attached.

I love that about secondhand treasures. Somebody else sees something they’re finished with, and I’m over here mentally arranging dinner on it.

🪵 And Then Rick Brought the Rolling Pin

We were having Rhonda, Stephen and Rick over for dinner.

Rick arrived with a wooden rolling pin he had turned by hand.

For me.

And on the end, in his handwriting, were two little letters:

T.C.

Well. 🥹🧡

The day after The Twisted Compass launched, someone walked through our door carrying something he had made with his own hands to support what I’m making with mine.

That’ll get a girl.

The wood is beautiful. But those little handwritten initials? Those are the part I keep coming back to.

He made it for this beginning.

I can imagine that rolling pin years from now, dusted with flour, well used, carrying the marks of whatever gets made around this kitchen.

And someday, when somebody asks where it came from, I’ll get to tell them:

“Rick made that for me. He brought it over the day after The Twisted Compass launched.”

That’s how a kitchen tool becomes a family treasure.

You remember the person. You remember the kindness. You remember what was happening in your life when it found its way into your hands.

My little stone of remembrance happens to be made of wood.

And I intend to roll things with it. 🧡

🥩 Meanwhile, Apparently We Were Opening a Steakhouse

Mike grilled steaks, and I handled the vegetables.

Some vegetables.

A few vegetables.

Fine. There was a considerable vegetable presence. 😂

We had green beans sautéed with butter, garlic salt and pepper; roasted shaved fennel; roasted broccoli and zucchini; baked sweet potatoes; and red wine mushrooms for the steaks.

Ooooh—and roasted asparagus!

I nearly forgot to tell you about the asparagus, which is different from forgetting to serve something.

An important distinction in this particular story.

Rhonda and Stephen brought THREE rum cakes.

Three.

I invited friends for dinner, and they arrived prepared to supply dessert through a modest maritime expedition. 😂

Mike at the grill. Me in the kitchen. Friends bringing what they had. A handmade gift. A whole lot of food.

And then…

The lentils.

🍲 The Parable of the Forgotten Lentil
A little kitchen tale, according to Karen.

Once there was a pot of lentils, cooked and ready for a very important supper.

There was rice. There was pasta. There were beautiful Egyptian spices and a woman enthusiastically building a platter during her website launch.

The lentils waited.

Surely their turn was coming.

The platter went out.

Their turn was not coming.

“I believe,” said one lentil to another, “we have been administratively overlooked.”

And into the refrigerator they went.

The next evening, there was another dinner.

Steaks! Sweet potatoes! Enough roasted vegetables to require a head count!

The refrigerator opened.

The lentils straightened themselves as much as cooked lentils reasonably can.

“Ma’am. Before you get distracted by the THREE RUM CAKES…”

And this time, they made it to the table. 😂

The kitchen moral?

If you forget the lentils, serve them tomorrow. You do not have to cancel the whole beautiful evening.

🧡 Compass Thought: Look What Everybody Brought

I keep thinking about how much of Saturday was people bringing what they had.

Rhonda and Stephen wanted to support their friend.

Mark gave me treasures to put to use.

Rick brought something he had made.

Mike cooked the steaks.

I cooked enough vegetables to make choosing unnecessary.

And Rhonda and Stephen made absolutely certain there would be cake.

Everybody contributed something different, and together it became this lovely, generous day.

The morning plans got rained out. Friday’s platter had been missing an ingredient. There was plenty that hadn’t gone exactly according to plan…did you even see the live? 😂

But look at everything I would have missed if that were all I noticed.

Hours of conversation.

Kindness at Mark’s store.

Two handwritten initials.

Friends around our table.

A launch that was fun.

I want to keep making room for that kind of noticing as The Twisted Compass grows. I’m excited about what comes next, but I don’t want to hurry past the very things that made me want to begin.

There will be more recipes, more stories, and another Have Fork, Will Travel gathering to plan. I’d love to hear your ideas and requests. A family recipe? A heritage dish? Something you’ve always wanted to learn to make?

Tell me what’s cooking in your corner of the world. There might be a table we need to pull up to. 🍴🌎

And keep an eye out Wednesday, October 7th, the launch recipes are coming to the blog! They were delicious, and I’m excited to share them with you.

We will include the lentils in the instructions.

Whether I remember to put them on the platter is apparently a separate department. 😂

🧭 Compass Note 

I remade the dish Sunday and included the lentils! And Again…it was Delicious! AND now I am officially out of Seven Spice from Egypt. Katelyn please tell Chris you need to go back! 😂

📖 Compass Verse

“A generous man will be prosperous,
And he who waters will himself be watered.”
— Proverbs 11:25, NASB 1995

🙏 Compass Prayer

Lord, thank You for the people who show up with willing hands, generous hearts, and time to share. Thank You for carrying me into this new beginning and for the joy tucked into an ordinary Saturday. Help me notice Your kindness, receive it with gratitude, and offer kindness freely to others. As The Twisted Compass grows, keep me attentive to the people right in front of me. Bless the conversations, the work of our hands, and the tables where we gather. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Find Your Way Home.

With a grateful heart and a very well-stocked dessert situation,
Karen 🧡

The Twisted Compass

Notice More. Love Well. Gather Often.