Note:
(a) "I add a little offering of my own to the spread - a packet of chocolate eggs."
spread (n):
"3: something spread on or over a surface: as
* * *
b : a sumptuous meal : FEAST
c : a cloth cover for a table or bed" http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spread
(b) "Sitting here in the genuine warmth of this family - who have not been chosen by any guide or minder - it is difficult to link their friendliness and desire to share and communicate, with the bellicose rhetoric issuing from their government."
(i) minder (n):
"[1:] someone who protects another person, often a famous person [or a gangland boss], from danger and unwanted public attention <The president arrived surrounded by his minders>
[2:] someone who controls what another person says and does <His public-relations minder refused to allow him to answer any of the journalists' questions>"
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/british/minder
(ii) mind (vt): "to attend to closely" http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mind
(c) soju 燒酒 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soju
(a distilled beverage native to Korea; Its taste is comparable to vodka; traditionally made from rice; clear and colorless; Its alcohol content varies from about 16.7%, to about 45% alcohol by volume (ABV) for traditional Andong [安東市] soju, with 20% ABV being most common; "first distilled around the 13th century, during the Mongol invasions of Korea. The Mongols had acquired the technique of distill[ation] from the Persians (Iran) during their invasion of Central Asia/Middle East around 1256")