Transforming Food into a Gift of Love and Community: a Weekend Retreat

Join us at The Ruins at Sassafras Museum on MLK weekend for a retreat filled with culinary delights and heartwarming connections. Discover and give permission to your Inner Host's vision and style. Ask the "Shoulds in your head" to step aside to make room for your Inner Host to shine.

Now, more than ever, we are being called to gather in community with our friends and neighbors. Imagine if you could invite people over for a delicious and soul-satisfying meal without the stress of overthinking it, worrying about their approval, or making it more complicated than it needs to be. Imagine what it would feel like to invite friends or community members over and then relax enough to enjoy the evening yourself? Imagine creating a gathering where the focus was on the delight and comfort of sharing food and stories without the pressure of creating the Instagram-perfect event.

What's stopping you? Is it your Inner Critic? Your Inner Judge, or your Inner Martha Stewart that believes you are not up to it? Do you think you don't have the time or energy? Does it seem too overwhelming? Are you holding an image of family gatherings, or those you see in your friends' social feeds that are unattainable, or just not YOUR style?

In this weekend-long retreat, you'll discover your Inner Host's vision and style. You'll explore your vision for the mood, and overall experience you want to createfor your guests. We want you to find a way to host that is delightful for you as well. Part of the struggle many of us face is setting expectations that are not aligned with who we are.

We will create together, shop, chop, and explore in community. You will learn tips on how to host with grace and intention. There are no rules. But there are ways to make the prep and planning less stressful. We will introduce how to design the experience, and execute it so it's relaxing for everyone, including you. We will help you map out the timing of each phase of the gathering—from the invitation, to shopping, and preparing the meal. You will learn how to design a menu that accommodates your vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, gluten-free, and paleo friends in one meal.

We will also explore what happens when we gather and create together. As Priya Parker has shared in her wonderful "The Art of Gathering": [Gatherings are] "what can happen when people come together, exchange information, inspire one another, and test out new ways of being together." You will be guided by your two hosts for the weekend, Etta Jacobs and Liz Keifer, professional coaches who are friends and colleagues whose shared calling is to help their clients connect to their inner essence and outer purpose. They are inspired by their great teacher's mantra: "When in doubt, be curious". They've learned that the antidote to fear is curiosity.

In this 2.5-day retreat you will learn new cooking skills, strategies, and mindsets to help you create memorable gatherings highlighted by delicious meals, meaningful conversation, and last but not least, fun. In addition to learning how to design and prepare a meal for an informal gathering of friends, you will be guided through creative reflective activities designed to shed light on what your true, and ultimately signature, style is for hosting. You will release any long-held beliefs about the right way to host, as well any lurking judgements about your abilities. You will be invited to ask the "Shoulds in your head" to step aside to make room for your Inner Host to shine.

What do Etta and Liz bring to this weekend? Although Etta is not a trained chef, she learned how to cook from her father, who with her mother, hosted many memorable dinner parties throughout her childhood—filled with lively, provocative conversation and fabulous food. Etta has continued this family tradition in her home in the Berkshires, where she and her husband, Aldo, host many gatherings devoted to delicious food, thoughtful conversation, and deep friendship. Etta and Aldo have been hosting biking and skiing trips for paying guests for more than 15 years, with many of them becoming dear friends. Their guests have noted that what set's Etta's food apart, is that it "tastes like love". Liz brings her gift for enthusiasm and delight to all the gatherings she and her husband, Bobby, host in their home in the Hudson Valley. They are known for their notorious sushi parties—packed with fun, joy, and a bit of theater—that keep their guests coming back for more. Liz is the Producer who brings these gatherings to life.

For this weekend workshop, Etta brings her creative cooking skills as our Executive Chef in charge of menu design and food preparation. Liz will operate as Sous Chef to support Etta in the kitchen. For the rest of the weekend, both of us will hold a joyful and safe space to inspire and empower our guests to let go of self-doubt and tap into their Inner Host.The retreat will be held in the Northern Hudson Valley at The Ruins at Museum in New Lebanon NY.

Our host at Sassafras is Carol Reichert, who has created a stunningly dramatic venue for weddings, retreats, and performances. Carol will happily offer tours of her enchanted property. Each of our guests will have their own luxury room, or may choose to share a room with a friend or partner. For this intimate weekend retreat we can accommodate up to 9 guests.

At the end of your stay, you will gain clarity and confidence around the type of host you want to become, and you will create your own recipe for a gathering that captures your style and spirit.

Liz Keifer is a Relationship and Empowerment Coach. Liz brings over thirty years of professional acting experience in television and film to her ICF-certified Life coaching practice. Her specialty is helping her clients access and show up as their most authentic self with empowered imperfection. Liz guides her clients to question the roles they've held that are no longer serving them, and the life they'd like to live. Her mission is to help others be in right-relationship with themselves, so they can be in right-relationship with others. Liz is in the business of possibilities. Liz and her husband Bobby are empty-nesters, living in the Hudson Valley.

Etta Jacobs is an ICF Certified Career Transition and Executive Coach, whose calling is to help you gain clarity, confidence and coherence in every step of your journey. Etta coaches her clients through career transitions, promotions, and job loss by building their confidence, and empowering them to imagine what is possible. Etta's super power is her intuitive insight into her clients’ potential. Etta's first career was as an award-winning Art Director at two Fortune 500 companies. She draws upon this experience to guide her clients to discover creative and unexpected solutions to their career challenges. Etta and her husband Aldo split their time between Boston and the Berkshires.

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