This is the post I wrote the day after Christmas and failed to post before I went out of town after Christmas. My bad. Here it is:
On Monday, in the midst of deciding what to serve Tuesday, I got a call from Thomas Varno. He asked if i knew what we were serving. I said nothing definite. He said his dad would volunteer to make barbecue for us. I ain't crazy. I said that'd be great.
What a nice gesture. At a time when most of us are busy and running around for ourselves, he took time to think of us and prepare food for us. Appreciate that.
So.....since that was taken care of I took on another project. One of the things I associate with Christmas is brown lunch bags filled with fruit, candy and nuts. And the reason is, when I was a kid growing up, every year at the Sunday night Christmas service, Santa Claus would come out and pass out bags like that to all the children. I wasn't a big fan of the fruit, but I loved that bag. (That's right. SANTA CLAUS came to the church. Don't see that happening these days.)
I just figured I would go to Sam's and buy some fruit in bulk and make up bags. Then I got a call from Gaynelle (That's Renee Griffin to the rest of y'all. Don't ask.). She said Johnny gets produce from a place on Carolina Beach Road just up from Legion Stadium and I should check it out because if the guy who owns knew what I was buying it for he might cut me a break on the price. So I went there, and let me tell you, the guy has got it going on when it comes to fruit and vegetables!
He's got the good ones (bananas, pineapples, potatoes, etc.) the bad ones ( leafy greens, squashes, collards, etc.) and and all the ones in between.
I bought four boxes of fruit - bananas, oranges, apples and tangerines for about $60, and I'd rather give that to a local guy during Christmas than Sam's. (Nothing against Sam's. I love the place.)
We made about 80 bags from all that.
Back to the Barbecue.......
It was gooood. I think they thought I was joking when they lined up and I said we were having barbecue sandwiches.
Had a great bunch out helping for the Christmas Barbecue Meal. I always appreciate when people take time during the holidays to help us.
I'll be out next week. Going down to Bimini with Don Vigus and some 10th graders for a little fun in the sun.
I'll let you know how that goes. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
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Friday, December 26, 2008
Me and O.J. pt 2
So you're saying to yourself "Gary, you took the O.J. picture to the party. That's a cool gift. Did you bring a home a cool gift?
No.
No, I did not.
And before I tell you what I did bring home, let me tell you about some of the bullets I dodged.
I was #27 to pick out of 30. I surveyed the room and went pot luck on one the few remaining presents.
Who brought that you ask?
My sister. My sister Linda brought a Winnie the Pooh Tote Bag to the party. And I got it.
That's like Romeo getting Mercutio killed or Brutus stabbing Caesar. You expect it, but not from family.
Oh well. If you see her, ask her what I delivered her Christmas presents in this year. What goes round, comes round
g
No.
No, I did not.
And before I tell you what I did bring home, let me tell you about some of the bullets I dodged.
An empty picture frame.
Peppermint body spray
A wicker and wire basket
A jellybean pooping reindeer
Peppermint body spray
A wicker and wire basket
A jellybean pooping reindeer
I was #27 to pick out of 30. I surveyed the room and went pot luck on one the few remaining presents.
What did I get?
A Winnie the Pooh Tote Bag.
I repeat:
A Winnie the Pooh Tote Bag.
I repeat:
A Winnie the Pooh Tote Bag.
Who brought that you ask?
My sister. My sister Linda brought a Winnie the Pooh Tote Bag to the party. And I got it.
That's like Romeo getting Mercutio killed or Brutus stabbing Caesar. You expect it, but not from family.
Oh well. If you see her, ask her what I delivered her Christmas presents in this year. What goes round, comes round
g
Last holiday List
3 Favorite Christmas Songs.....but first....some explanation.
My favorite Christmas song is Santa Claus is Coming to Town done by Bruce Springsteen, but I'm not going to list it.
Why?
Because it's not fair to everybody else. Springsteen wins all my favorite anything music stuff. He's the man. It's just understood he would be at the top of the list. It's like you have to retire him from consideration just so everyone else can have a shot.
It's the same reason when all time top 10 sports players are listed, they don't say "Jesus".
Jesus would've been the best football player ever but you just assume everybody knows that and don't put him on the list.
Now, to the list.......
1. White Christmas Makes Me Blue by Randy Travis. This song is so sad it will make a dog cry and your roof leak.
2. White Christmas by Clyde McPhatter. Great take on a classic, especially the falsetto in the middle.
3. Santa Claus is back in Town by Elvis or Dwight Yoakam, it doesn't matter.
Honorable Mention:
Merry Christmas, Darling by the Carpenters
Run,Run, Rudolph by Bryan Adams
Great Big Sled by The Killers
...and the winner in the "You need to see the Video to appreciate it in all its bizarre-ness" goes to
The Little Drummer Boy by Bing Crosby and David Bowie. YouTube it.
Merry Christmas!
g
My favorite Christmas song is Santa Claus is Coming to Town done by Bruce Springsteen, but I'm not going to list it.
Why?
Because it's not fair to everybody else. Springsteen wins all my favorite anything music stuff. He's the man. It's just understood he would be at the top of the list. It's like you have to retire him from consideration just so everyone else can have a shot.
It's the same reason when all time top 10 sports players are listed, they don't say "Jesus".
Jesus would've been the best football player ever but you just assume everybody knows that and don't put him on the list.
Now, to the list.......
1. White Christmas Makes Me Blue by Randy Travis. This song is so sad it will make a dog cry and your roof leak.
2. White Christmas by Clyde McPhatter. Great take on a classic, especially the falsetto in the middle.
3. Santa Claus is back in Town by Elvis or Dwight Yoakam, it doesn't matter.
Honorable Mention:
Merry Christmas, Darling by the Carpenters
Run,Run, Rudolph by Bryan Adams
Great Big Sled by The Killers
...and the winner in the "You need to see the Video to appreciate it in all its bizarre-ness" goes to
The Little Drummer Boy by Bing Crosby and David Bowie. YouTube it.
Merry Christmas!
g
Friday, December 19, 2008
In case you're wondering...
...I noticed the times that were being put on these blogs. The previous one has me posting it at 4:55 a.m. Seeing as how I just posted it 5 minutes ago at 7:55 a.m., it's obvious the times are 3 hours off.
Or maybe I'm in California and don't know it.
g
Or maybe I'm in California and don't know it.
g
Another Christmas list already?
YES!
3 CHRISTMAS SONGS YOU WISH WOULD BE RETIRED AND NEVER PLAYED AGAIN.
Me?
1. Frosty the Snowman - never has and never will do anything for me
2. Santa Baby - especially now that Madonna has a version of it
3. I'll be home for Christmas - if Elvis had a version, maybe it would have a chance, but......
Tomorrow - 3 Favorite Christmas songs
Thursday, December 18, 2008
CHRISTMAS LIST!
Do one for each category:
Favorite Christmas smell
Favorite Christmas food
Favorite Christmas movie or tv special
Mine?
Favorite Christmas smell? Cella's Chocolate covered Cherries. Seriously, it does it for me. You don't even have to open the box, just take off the cellophane and ....mmmmmm. I would marry a woman who smelled like that naturally! ( I would not, however, marry one who smelled like that because she ate so many that she sweat it out of her pores)
Favorite Christmas food? Those little ham and cheese sandwiches with the spread on the outside of the roll. So good!
Favorite Christmas movie or tv special? A Tie - A Christmas Story (duh!) and Rudolph.
Yours?
New list coming tomorrow!
Favorite Christmas smell
Favorite Christmas food
Favorite Christmas movie or tv special
Mine?
Favorite Christmas smell? Cella's Chocolate covered Cherries. Seriously, it does it for me. You don't even have to open the box, just take off the cellophane and ....mmmmmm. I would marry a woman who smelled like that naturally! ( I would not, however, marry one who smelled like that because she ate so many that she sweat it out of her pores)
Favorite Christmas food? Those little ham and cheese sandwiches with the spread on the outside of the roll. So good!
Favorite Christmas movie or tv special? A Tie - A Christmas Story (duh!) and Rudolph.
Yours?
New list coming tomorrow!
...reasons you're glad you're not related to me.
The little bit I have to pass on this week is second hand info because I wasn't there. I was in the bed with some nasty sinus drainage. That's the second time this year. I usually don't get sick this time of year. Last time I mentioned it to Brien Campbell and she told me some worst case scenario about her having a sinus infection in the bone and dying if she couldn't get airlifted somewhere within an hour.
I didn't tell her I was sick this time.
Twig said the Bible Study that came this week did a good job. He said the people were very appreciative of the opportunity to do it.
Don't know yet what we'll do next week. Kind of wide open. If any of y'all have ideas, let me know.
I think I might be leaning towards Christmas cheeseburgers.
I've got a Christmas Party in Dunn this Saturday with my Mom's side of the family. It's always a good time and they're a lot of fun. One of the things everybody looks forward to at the party is "Dirty Christmas".
I'm sure a lot of y'all do this. Everyone brings a gift, everybody gets a number, the first number takes a gift, opens it and shows everybody, then #2 can pick a new present or steal the present just opened by # 1. If he steals it, #1 gets to pick again, open it and show it. Then # 3 can steal from #1 or #2, and you just keep going. It's fun.
The thing that gets me about this though, is the presents that are brought. Usually there's a price limit, so that's a constraint you're working under. But it's funny to look at the things that show up every year. In the past, you could always count the ol' 3-pack of canned nuts being in there at least once, if not several times. Candles, plates, cologne,.....that kind of stuff. The rule of thumb for the guys at our party is stay away from the bags. Get something wrapped. Seriously, I avoid the bags like the plague. But even then, you can still get burned. I had a three year run awhile back where I got a silver platter, a pitcher and bowl set, and a clock.
The present that has been automatic the past few years has been the "Hot Chocolate Gift Pak".
You've seen it....big box ,a few mugs, a variety of hot chocolate flavors and some marshmallows. Guaranteed to be under the tree at the party. Somebody always brings it.
I try to have fun with it and bring fun stuff, or something off the wall and then hide money or lottery tickets on it somewhere. In the past I've brought Air-zookas, games that give you an electric shock, etc. Last year I took one of those huge, oversized remote controls. It was a hit.
What am I bringing this year? Glad you asked.
I went to the Bahamas a couple of years ago on a mission trip and saw O.J. Simpson at a restaurant. So I got Don to take a picture of me and him together. I had forgot it about until the other day. I got to thinking about this year's party. What would one of my relatives love to have for Christmas? Well, how about a picture of me and O.J.?
And why not make it 11" by 14" and frame it?
Brilliant!
I'll probably stuff a little cash or a few Powerball tickets in the back for them, if they ever get around to looking back there.
The threat of getting that for Christmas is just one more reason you can add to the already long list of.....
P.S. Pray for Brien and her family. She told me the other day her Fathe rhad been taken to Hospice. They don't know a lot right now about time, but she said it could be a while, which would make Christmas tough for them this year. He lives in Bath, NC.
I didn't tell her I was sick this time.
Twig said the Bible Study that came this week did a good job. He said the people were very appreciative of the opportunity to do it.
Don't know yet what we'll do next week. Kind of wide open. If any of y'all have ideas, let me know.
I think I might be leaning towards Christmas cheeseburgers.
I've got a Christmas Party in Dunn this Saturday with my Mom's side of the family. It's always a good time and they're a lot of fun. One of the things everybody looks forward to at the party is "Dirty Christmas".
I'm sure a lot of y'all do this. Everyone brings a gift, everybody gets a number, the first number takes a gift, opens it and shows everybody, then #2 can pick a new present or steal the present just opened by # 1. If he steals it, #1 gets to pick again, open it and show it. Then # 3 can steal from #1 or #2, and you just keep going. It's fun.
The thing that gets me about this though, is the presents that are brought. Usually there's a price limit, so that's a constraint you're working under. But it's funny to look at the things that show up every year. In the past, you could always count the ol' 3-pack of canned nuts being in there at least once, if not several times. Candles, plates, cologne,.....that kind of stuff. The rule of thumb for the guys at our party is stay away from the bags. Get something wrapped. Seriously, I avoid the bags like the plague. But even then, you can still get burned. I had a three year run awhile back where I got a silver platter, a pitcher and bowl set, and a clock.
In the business, we call those keepers, because you open a present like that and you can bet you'll be going home with it because nobody is going to steal it.
The present that has been automatic the past few years has been the "Hot Chocolate Gift Pak".
You've seen it....big box ,a few mugs, a variety of hot chocolate flavors and some marshmallows. Guaranteed to be under the tree at the party. Somebody always brings it.
I try to have fun with it and bring fun stuff, or something off the wall and then hide money or lottery tickets on it somewhere. In the past I've brought Air-zookas, games that give you an electric shock, etc. Last year I took one of those huge, oversized remote controls. It was a hit.
What am I bringing this year? Glad you asked.
I went to the Bahamas a couple of years ago on a mission trip and saw O.J. Simpson at a restaurant. So I got Don to take a picture of me and him together. I had forgot it about until the other day. I got to thinking about this year's party. What would one of my relatives love to have for Christmas? Well, how about a picture of me and O.J.?
And why not make it 11" by 14" and frame it?
Brilliant!
I'll probably stuff a little cash or a few Powerball tickets in the back for them, if they ever get around to looking back there.
The threat of getting that for Christmas is just one more reason you can add to the already long list of.....
P.S. Pray for Brien and her family. She told me the other day her Fathe rhad been taken to Hospice. They don't know a lot right now about time, but she said it could be a while, which would make Christmas tough for them this year. He lives in Bath, NC.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
..Is she still married to Tom Cruise?"
Hope everybody is well. Seems like everybody helping tonight was doing alright. I gotta go to Dunn tomorrow for my Uncle Leon's funeral. I remember him as a funny guy. He was my Mother's oldest brother and married a woman even funnier than he was, Aunt Nelly. No surprise that both of their kids are funny, too. He was always really nice and had a gentle way, even though he was a pretty big guy.
Tonight was one of those "Breakfast for supper" nights. We had
Biscuits with Sausage gravy
Cheese grits
Scrambled eggs
Home fries
Dessert
Sweet tea/ Water
Helping put it all together tonight was
J.Boggs Kit Michael Nick Cameron Dallas Tom Twig Jane John Ellen Nelly Jennifer Anna Brien Teresa Tom Varno Laura me
Quick Hits
Mary and Alan were out of town this week.
The weather tonight was great. It felt good to be outside.
Teresa Bland is one of the great people that willingly does the dishes on Tuesday nights and is a saint because of it. She let me know tonight that Cheese Grits night is worse than Fish Fry night when it comes to cleaning pots.
Next week is FISH FRY night. JUST KIDDING.
I love when we have mashed potatoes and when we have cheese grits, but I'm telling you......it's dangerous. They come out of the pots so hot and if you get splattered, you're hating life. You can't get them off of you fast enough. And they stick like napalm (at least they way we cook them they do).
Having said that, I burnt the crap out my fingers on a biscuit pan tonight.
I'm a moron.
Eric and Candace are off in the Caribbean getting married. Good for them.
Super Bowl Party is coming up fast. Looking forward to it.
We had enough sausage up in the kitchen tonight to make Paula Deen blush. It was ridiculous. We had to freeze about half of it. If we had served it all tonight we would've had them stroking out right and left. You would have been able to hear their arteries grinding to a halt.
Got a bible study coming in next week to take care of the 1st stop. Somebody Pruden knows wanted to do it, so I said sure. We'll put together something for the 2nd stop.
Saw the movie "AUSTRALIA" last week. It was good.It's a big romantic love story/adventure epic. It was also long-2 hours and 45 minutes. Go see it, but go with a date, a spouse, or member of the opposite sex. I went with Greg Garrett and Don Vigus.
I'll leave you with a quote from Don about 20 minutes into the movie...."Nicole Kidman......
Tonight was one of those "Breakfast for supper" nights. We had
Biscuits with Sausage gravy
Cheese grits
Scrambled eggs
Home fries
Dessert
Sweet tea/ Water
Helping put it all together tonight was
J.Boggs Kit Michael Nick Cameron Dallas Tom Twig Jane John Ellen Nelly Jennifer Anna Brien Teresa Tom Varno Laura me
Quick Hits
Mary and Alan were out of town this week.
The weather tonight was great. It felt good to be outside.
Teresa Bland is one of the great people that willingly does the dishes on Tuesday nights and is a saint because of it. She let me know tonight that Cheese Grits night is worse than Fish Fry night when it comes to cleaning pots.
Next week is FISH FRY night. JUST KIDDING.
I love when we have mashed potatoes and when we have cheese grits, but I'm telling you......it's dangerous. They come out of the pots so hot and if you get splattered, you're hating life. You can't get them off of you fast enough. And they stick like napalm (at least they way we cook them they do).
Having said that, I burnt the crap out my fingers on a biscuit pan tonight.
I'm a moron.
Eric and Candace are off in the Caribbean getting married. Good for them.
Super Bowl Party is coming up fast. Looking forward to it.
We had enough sausage up in the kitchen tonight to make Paula Deen blush. It was ridiculous. We had to freeze about half of it. If we had served it all tonight we would've had them stroking out right and left. You would have been able to hear their arteries grinding to a halt.
Got a bible study coming in next week to take care of the 1st stop. Somebody Pruden knows wanted to do it, so I said sure. We'll put together something for the 2nd stop.
Saw the movie "AUSTRALIA" last week. It was good.It's a big romantic love story/adventure epic. It was also long-2 hours and 45 minutes. Go see it, but go with a date, a spouse, or member of the opposite sex. I went with Greg Garrett and Don Vigus.
I'll leave you with a quote from Don about 20 minutes into the movie...."Nicole Kidman......
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
......I'm gonna miss that ol' baldheaded, sociopathic, dirty cop.
Sure is late, but that's okay.
Tonight was great. You should've been there.
Morgan Campbell did her Graduation Project product tonight. She planned the menu, got the food, and ran the show tonight. She did an absolute bang-up job. It went great and that's because she (and her parents) put a lot of planning and hard work into it and God blessed their efforts.
She took a different route than Chris Armstrong and got people to donate donate the big portions of the meal tonight. She got chicken sandwiches from Waffle House (very tasty) for the 1st stop and pizzas from a couple of different places for the 2nd stop. She fixed mashed potatoes and green bean casserole for both stops. She also put together 100 gift bags to pass out, with items like shampoo, soap, socks and gloves. We had some bags left over and will use them later in the winter.
Had a lot of great folks with us tonight
John Ellen Michael J.Boggs Tom Bob Frank Twig Jane Morgan Brien Dwight Megan Bass Anna Anna Tolan Caroline Laura Richard Chris
Jim Morgan(2 weeks in a row! Yeah!) Thomas Varno Mary Alan Teresa Nick me
I love Megan Bass but it made me a little sad to see her tonight because it reminded me when she graduates this year, all of the kids I taught at Laney in the Bible classes will be gone. She had me as a freshman the last year I taught it. Her, Frank, Peverall, Fussell, West, Jelenovich...all of 'em just as goofy and as freshman-ny as they could be. Matter of fact, Bass is absolutely beautiful, but one day in class, she was telling us all these things about herself when she was born (cross eyed, extra thumb, etc....) and I swear, it sounded like she was going to be destined to a life in a freak show. We laughed the whole period about it. I think it started when someone noticed she had webbed toes.....But like I said, Beautiful now and even nicer than she is beautiful.
It was cold tonight but I never got around to putting on a jacket or anything. I haven't figured if I don't really get that cold or maybe I'm cold and I like it. I ain't worried about it....
Saw a few less people than usual tonight and that could've been for several different reasons.
It's the first of the month and some folks get checks and get hotel rooms for as long as they can.
It was cold and some people get down early and quit moving around in this weather.
And reasons we have no idea about.
But I believe that God watches over us and sends us the ones that come to eat, providing us with the opportunity and the privilege to serve and minister to them. And we thank him for that.
I was reminded of something the other day. I shouldn't pray and ask God to change the world. I should pray and ask God to change me and then go out and change the world.
Working on it.
If you need something to read, I've got a suggestion. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is a great read. So are his two other books: Tipping Point and Blink. Outliers is about success and why the ideas we have about it might not be accurate. He uses the Beatles, Bill Gates, The Canadian Junior Hockey League and the smartest man you've never heard of to absolutely shake your tree when it comes to what it is that makes people successful. I won't go into great detail, but trust me. This is a great read and you will be telling people about it and trying to get them to read it.
Once again...Morgan Campbell.Graduation Project. Great, Great job.
No Shield tonight.
No more Shield ever.
Sad times.
It sounds weird,but.......
Tonight was great. You should've been there.
Morgan Campbell did her Graduation Project product tonight. She planned the menu, got the food, and ran the show tonight. She did an absolute bang-up job. It went great and that's because she (and her parents) put a lot of planning and hard work into it and God blessed their efforts.
She took a different route than Chris Armstrong and got people to donate donate the big portions of the meal tonight. She got chicken sandwiches from Waffle House (very tasty) for the 1st stop and pizzas from a couple of different places for the 2nd stop. She fixed mashed potatoes and green bean casserole for both stops. She also put together 100 gift bags to pass out, with items like shampoo, soap, socks and gloves. We had some bags left over and will use them later in the winter.
Had a lot of great folks with us tonight
John Ellen Michael J.Boggs Tom Bob Frank Twig Jane Morgan Brien Dwight Megan Bass Anna Anna Tolan Caroline Laura Richard Chris
Jim Morgan(2 weeks in a row! Yeah!) Thomas Varno Mary Alan Teresa Nick me
I love Megan Bass but it made me a little sad to see her tonight because it reminded me when she graduates this year, all of the kids I taught at Laney in the Bible classes will be gone. She had me as a freshman the last year I taught it. Her, Frank, Peverall, Fussell, West, Jelenovich...all of 'em just as goofy and as freshman-ny as they could be. Matter of fact, Bass is absolutely beautiful, but one day in class, she was telling us all these things about herself when she was born (cross eyed, extra thumb, etc....) and I swear, it sounded like she was going to be destined to a life in a freak show. We laughed the whole period about it. I think it started when someone noticed she had webbed toes.....But like I said, Beautiful now and even nicer than she is beautiful.
It was cold tonight but I never got around to putting on a jacket or anything. I haven't figured if I don't really get that cold or maybe I'm cold and I like it. I ain't worried about it....
Saw a few less people than usual tonight and that could've been for several different reasons.
It's the first of the month and some folks get checks and get hotel rooms for as long as they can.
It was cold and some people get down early and quit moving around in this weather.
And reasons we have no idea about.
But I believe that God watches over us and sends us the ones that come to eat, providing us with the opportunity and the privilege to serve and minister to them. And we thank him for that.
I was reminded of something the other day. I shouldn't pray and ask God to change the world. I should pray and ask God to change me and then go out and change the world.
Working on it.
If you need something to read, I've got a suggestion. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is a great read. So are his two other books: Tipping Point and Blink. Outliers is about success and why the ideas we have about it might not be accurate. He uses the Beatles, Bill Gates, The Canadian Junior Hockey League and the smartest man you've never heard of to absolutely shake your tree when it comes to what it is that makes people successful. I won't go into great detail, but trust me. This is a great read and you will be telling people about it and trying to get them to read it.
Once again...Morgan Campbell.Graduation Project. Great, Great job.
No Shield tonight.
No more Shield ever.
Sad times.
It sounds weird,but.......
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
And tonight's meal is........
Tonight is our Thanksgiving meal. We serve it on Tuesdays because that's our night and it makes sense for continuity's sake. We don't have to make an announcement about changing days or times. Also, there's several good groups who come out on Thanksgiving Day and serve a meal to the folks downtown on the street, so we don't want to take away the Tuesday meal during that week. Plus, and I don't mean this to sound selfish, but it lets us do a good thing at Thanksgiving without having to do it on Thanksgiving day. Anyway.....
I mentioned in previous posts that we weren't going the Turkey route this year and that I wasn't sure what we'd do.
Well, we had a meeting of the minds last week and decided on Steak. It's not traditional for Thanksgiving but it's still a little out of the norm for us and special for the holiday. We collected a little extra money (and by that I mean some people were very generous to us), and we can swing it.
Believe it or not the biggest decision has been what kind of potatoes to serve. I can make a case for mashed or baked, hashed or new....I waffle on the most insignificant stuff sometimes.
You don't even want to know about me getting a new cell phone. I'll let you know when that matter of universal importance gets decided. Geez....
Talk to you later today. g
I mentioned in previous posts that we weren't going the Turkey route this year and that I wasn't sure what we'd do.
Well, we had a meeting of the minds last week and decided on Steak. It's not traditional for Thanksgiving but it's still a little out of the norm for us and special for the holiday. We collected a little extra money (and by that I mean some people were very generous to us), and we can swing it.
Believe it or not the biggest decision has been what kind of potatoes to serve. I can make a case for mashed or baked, hashed or new....I waffle on the most insignificant stuff sometimes.
You don't even want to know about me getting a new cell phone. I'll let you know when that matter of universal importance gets decided. Geez....
Talk to you later today. g
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Tonight was cold!
(How cold was it?)
It was so cold...I saw a lawyer walking down the street with his hands in his own pockets! Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. Be sure to tip your waitress.(apologies to Johnny Carson)
It was the first really cold night we've seen this year. It's supposed to get down to 26 tonight but I don't know exactly what the temperature was when we were out tonight.
It was a chili and grilled cheese night for sure. We ditched the sweet tea for hot chocolate, too.
Lots of good folks around tonight
MICHAEL MICHAEL'S DAD STEPHEN J. BOGGS JON HILL JOHN ELLEN CAMERON LAURA SAM LIZ KIT TOM VARNO TERESA CHRIS TWIG JANE ANNA MARY ALAN RYAN RYAN MURPHY NICK ZACK me
Gonna be quick tonight. Feel like 700 lbs. of cement on a popsicle stick. Sinuses been draining yesterday and today. I'll have more about tonight tomorrow. Be good. Stay warm. g
(How cold was it?)
It was so cold...I saw a lawyer walking down the street with his hands in his own pockets! Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. Be sure to tip your waitress.(apologies to Johnny Carson)
It was the first really cold night we've seen this year. It's supposed to get down to 26 tonight but I don't know exactly what the temperature was when we were out tonight.
It was a chili and grilled cheese night for sure. We ditched the sweet tea for hot chocolate, too.
Lots of good folks around tonight
MICHAEL MICHAEL'S DAD STEPHEN J. BOGGS JON HILL JOHN ELLEN CAMERON LAURA SAM LIZ KIT TOM VARNO TERESA CHRIS TWIG JANE ANNA MARY ALAN RYAN RYAN MURPHY NICK ZACK me
Gonna be quick tonight. Feel like 700 lbs. of cement on a popsicle stick. Sinuses been draining yesterday and today. I'll have more about tonight tomorrow. Be good. Stay warm. g
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
..."He Taught a lot of kids how to make Tea."
And sometimes circumstances make the decision for you.
I hadn't decided what we would cook this week as late as 4:00. I was waffling leaning towards cheeseburgers, but I had to see if I could get enough buns. I went to the bread outlet and our friend there said all she had was the large 5" buns. I looked at them and knew the burgers we buy and cook would be dwarfed by those buns. She said "I have some sub rolls, though."
Ahhhhhhh....
A little one-stop shopping at Sam's and we were in business with meatball subs and macaroni and cheese!
There was a great crew in the kitchen helping out tonight.....
CHRIS MORGAN ANNA PRUDEN GOLD MEDAL CRAIG ANNA TOLAN BRIEN TERESA JOHN J.BOGGS JON HILL LIZ BAILEY DANIELLE HANNA JELENOVIC REBECCA SAMANTHA ALAN DALTON DREW DALTON DAVE LAURA MICHAEL NICK CANDACE ELLEN me
( Told you it was a great crew. )
Amy Long gave us a big pan of mac'n cheese and we added some more to it. We also had sliced pickles, banana peppers, cheese, and mayo for the sandwiches if they wanted it. It was a good meal and everyone seemed to enjoy it. There was also the added perk of having a little leftover so the crew could dig in when everyone was served and gone.
Altogether we probably saw 30 at the 1st stop and 45 at the second.
I think sometime this winter we're gonna serve Tomato Meatball soup. It's a complicated recipe. Throw a bunch of meatballs in Tomato soup.
But, like Lemon Pepper Chicken, the ease of fixing is inverse to the taste.
The mathematical equation would look like this:
(easy x quick)(redmeat + just about any cheese)= TASTES GREAT
Conversely:
(lots of directions + long time)(lots of vegetables)= BAD
I could graph this, also.
Quick Hits
Craig won a Gold Medal in Golf at the State Games last week, which of course, he proudly wore last night.
Twig was AWOL last night. He was in Charlotte, so we prayed for Charlotte.
Thinking about straying off the traditional Thanksgiving meal path this year and doing something a little off the wall. Maybe a Mexican meal. We could celebrate "El Giving de Los Thankos".
One of my former Laney students, Hanna Jelenovic, came and helped last night. It was good to see her. She was pretty fearless in the kitchen. Every time I looked up, she was helping somebody do something different.
The tea we make each week is so good that I'll be a little sad when it gets cold enough to switch over to Hot Chocolate. Fortunately, I have a lot of love in my heart for Hot Chocolate, too.
I hadn't decided what we would cook this week as late as 4:00. I was waffling leaning towards cheeseburgers, but I had to see if I could get enough buns. I went to the bread outlet and our friend there said all she had was the large 5" buns. I looked at them and knew the burgers we buy and cook would be dwarfed by those buns. She said "I have some sub rolls, though."
Ahhhhhhh....
A little one-stop shopping at Sam's and we were in business with meatball subs and macaroni and cheese!
There was a great crew in the kitchen helping out tonight.....
CHRIS MORGAN ANNA PRUDEN GOLD MEDAL CRAIG ANNA TOLAN BRIEN TERESA JOHN J.BOGGS JON HILL LIZ BAILEY DANIELLE HANNA JELENOVIC REBECCA SAMANTHA ALAN DALTON DREW DALTON DAVE LAURA MICHAEL NICK CANDACE ELLEN me
( Told you it was a great crew. )
Amy Long gave us a big pan of mac'n cheese and we added some more to it. We also had sliced pickles, banana peppers, cheese, and mayo for the sandwiches if they wanted it. It was a good meal and everyone seemed to enjoy it. There was also the added perk of having a little leftover so the crew could dig in when everyone was served and gone.
Altogether we probably saw 30 at the 1st stop and 45 at the second.
I think sometime this winter we're gonna serve Tomato Meatball soup. It's a complicated recipe. Throw a bunch of meatballs in Tomato soup.
But, like Lemon Pepper Chicken, the ease of fixing is inverse to the taste.
The mathematical equation would look like this:
(easy x quick)(redmeat + just about any cheese)= TASTES GREAT
Conversely:
(lots of directions + long time)(lots of vegetables)= BAD
I could graph this, also.
Quick Hits
Craig won a Gold Medal in Golf at the State Games last week, which of course, he proudly wore last night.
Twig was AWOL last night. He was in Charlotte, so we prayed for Charlotte.
Thinking about straying off the traditional Thanksgiving meal path this year and doing something a little off the wall. Maybe a Mexican meal. We could celebrate "El Giving de Los Thankos".
One of my former Laney students, Hanna Jelenovic, came and helped last night. It was good to see her. She was pretty fearless in the kitchen. Every time I looked up, she was helping somebody do something different.
The tea we make each week is so good that I'll be a little sad when it gets cold enough to switch over to Hot Chocolate. Fortunately, I have a lot of love in my heart for Hot Chocolate, too.
Anna Tolan puts together a devotional sheet for us every week. It covers 7 days and is designed so it can be folded twice and be read that way. Just about all of our friends take one. It's a great idea on her part. I like it because it's one more thing I can keep people busy with. "Here. Go fold these for me. Thanks".
When the dust clears and I'm outta here, probably the most accurate epitaph for me would be.......
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
I'm working on it.......
Had the day off. That was nice. Talked to three of my old Laney students from one class today, all at different times without them knowing I'd talked to the others. Kinda wild.
I've had, literally, a week's worth of crazy things happen in the last 24 hours. I gotta find time to get them posted, but time is tight lately.
Tonight went great. I could post for a solid hour but it's an hour I don't have so, I'll get up and get on it in the morning. But for now I gotta Peace Out, Girl Scout!
I've had, literally, a week's worth of crazy things happen in the last 24 hours. I gotta find time to get them posted, but time is tight lately.
Tonight went great. I could post for a solid hour but it's an hour I don't have so, I'll get up and get on it in the morning. But for now I gotta Peace Out, Girl Scout!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
...our old Tuesday Night buddy Jim Morgan, that's who!
Lemon Pepper Chicken
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Dessert
Sweet Tea/Water
That was the menu Chris Armstrong planned and cooked tonight for his Senior Project. He was responsible for getting it lined up and putting it all together. the only thing I did for this week was take some chicken out of the freezer today to thaw out. I stayed out of his way as much as I could and let him be the Ramrod in the kitchen, also. Twig got there late tonight so he really was in charge while I went to get the tables.
It rained tonight so we ate inside in Fireside Hall for our first stop. that's always an unexpected little event for our folks and it makes it feel more special, like it's a holiday. It's different to see our crowd sitting around tables. We're so used to being outside and hearing traffic and sirens.
I sent Chris upstairs around 8:20 and asked him to make the decision on how we would serve at the 2nd stop. Our options were: 1. business as usual or 2. make up carryout trays and hand them out. It was still raining so he made the call to make carryout trays and pass them out that way.
So that's how it went down. There's a element of fun to doing it that way because you assembly line it and everybody has a job and you get to cut up a little. At least I do.
Lemon Pepper Chicken (and any kind of baked chicken, for that matter) is one of those meals where the taste and the work needed to prepare are proportionally way off. I mean, you just put it on a pan, sprinkle the lemon pepper on it and put it in the oven. Take it out and eat it.
But man is it way, way, good!
The ones who would back me on this because they were here tonight are
Morgan Anna Brien Chris Dave J. Boggs Kit Michael Alan Mary Anna Tolan Laura Dan & Donna Armstrong Ryan me
Twig Sprig
I think I mentioned before about doing something other than a traditional Turkey meal when the Tuesday before Thanksgiving rolls around. I asked for suggestions and to date have received a grand total of zip, zero, nada, squadoosh, big honking nil so far. Thanks for the help.
Teresa wasn't here tonight because of a migraine. Pray that goes away.
Pruden and No-Goatee Craig weren't around tonight.
Several of the middle schoolers weren't around because they got back today from the Middle School campout around 4 p.m. and went home and crashed.
Hope everybody voted responsibly and well informed, to the best of their beliefs and convictions.
Speaking of voting, I was at someone's house last night and they had the 11 o'clock news on. (If you hear me say I saw the news on TV, you can assume I was at someone else's house. I never watch the news on TV unless it' s for a particular thing and even then rarely.) All of sudden they're showing Kay Hagen in town speaking to some Democrats at Whitey's (insert your own joke about that here) and who is sitting right beside her?
The President of the New Hanover County Democratic Party.....
Monday, November 3, 2008
That's me......Citizen Gary
Did you vote early?
I hadn't until last Friday. I left school and went to the downtown spot. I wasn't sure I would stay if it looked crowded, so I rolled through the parking lot to check it out. Lo and behold, there was a spot directly in front of the building. I parked there expecting someone to come out and tell me I couldn't park there, but no one did so I went on in.
Two workers at the door told me the wait was approximately an hour and forty-five minutes. I debated briefly about taking off and coming back Saturday morning, but I knew that wasn't happening, so I got in line.
And I'm really glad I did, because for the next hour and forty-five minutes I had a great conversation with the guy in line next to me. We started out talking about voting, and politics, and the process, etc. At some point the word "church" got used and I found out that he went to Port City and worked in the Children's program there. I told him I went to First Baptist and worked with the youth. The cool thing was that we didn't spend the rest of time talking about our churches, but instead it was a common factor that provided a jumping off point for a ton of other spiritual topics such as Christian authors, speakers, trends, and so on. He shared his tesitmony about coming to Christ as an adult and I told him mine about growing up in the church and accepting Christ at age 11. ( For those who don't know, I was a kid with a huge "drug" problem. I got drug to church every time they opened the doors.) It was a great way to kill the time spent waiting for our turn to vote.
It's a good thing the wait in line left me a good mood or otherwise the voting itself would not have. Some of the choices in front of me for offices were no win situations. I wish I could've checked "Neither. Let's do without and try again in a couple of years" (and I'm not talking about the presidential race). But on the whole, it was a good experience.
So not only did I exercise my right as an American to vote, I engaged in freedom of speech and freedom of religion at the same time!WHOO HOO! I was so full of it, I sang "I'm just a Bill" from the Schoolhouse Rock cartoons all the way home.
I hadn't until last Friday. I left school and went to the downtown spot. I wasn't sure I would stay if it looked crowded, so I rolled through the parking lot to check it out. Lo and behold, there was a spot directly in front of the building. I parked there expecting someone to come out and tell me I couldn't park there, but no one did so I went on in.
Two workers at the door told me the wait was approximately an hour and forty-five minutes. I debated briefly about taking off and coming back Saturday morning, but I knew that wasn't happening, so I got in line.
And I'm really glad I did, because for the next hour and forty-five minutes I had a great conversation with the guy in line next to me. We started out talking about voting, and politics, and the process, etc. At some point the word "church" got used and I found out that he went to Port City and worked in the Children's program there. I told him I went to First Baptist and worked with the youth. The cool thing was that we didn't spend the rest of time talking about our churches, but instead it was a common factor that provided a jumping off point for a ton of other spiritual topics such as Christian authors, speakers, trends, and so on. He shared his tesitmony about coming to Christ as an adult and I told him mine about growing up in the church and accepting Christ at age 11. ( For those who don't know, I was a kid with a huge "drug" problem. I got drug to church every time they opened the doors.) It was a great way to kill the time spent waiting for our turn to vote.
It's a good thing the wait in line left me a good mood or otherwise the voting itself would not have. Some of the choices in front of me for offices were no win situations. I wish I could've checked "Neither. Let's do without and try again in a couple of years" (and I'm not talking about the presidential race). But on the whole, it was a good experience.
So not only did I exercise my right as an American to vote, I engaged in freedom of speech and freedom of religion at the same time!WHOO HOO! I was so full of it, I sang "I'm just a Bill" from the Schoolhouse Rock cartoons all the way home.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Some are taken from us way too soon..........
Craig Lindino's Goatee
B. Sept 18 2008 - D. Oct 23 2008 R.I.P.
Craig's Goatee is survived by a wispy mustache and 2 perpetually thin sideburns.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
...and somebody won't be coming back next week, if you know what I mean.
FISHFRY was great!
Wish you could've been with us!
I really, really do love FISHFRY night. We're breading fish, we're deep frying hush puppies, making homemade tartar sauce...It's like being a Shriner or in the American Legion Post for one night. I wish i could've got my hands on one of those little red fez's they wear. It was cold and windy outside too, which made it even better. I like cold, windy nights.
We had several types of fish to cook tonight. Flounder, Spot, Whiting, some Blues, and one little bite size Pompano got fried tonight.
the rest of the menu was:
Hush Puppies
Corn on the Cob
Cole Slaw
Desserts
Sweet Tea/Water
To make sure we had enough fish for everybody, we handed out BB-Q Chicken sandwiches for seconds instead of fish. Amy Long donated the BB-Q Chicken to us from what was left over at the Fall Festival.
Why homemade tartar sauce?
Because.....
Normally I go to Something Fishy and say I'm Gary Harris, I do this thing on Tuesday nights, blah,blah,blah ...Can I buy a couple of quarts of Tartar sauce?
Well, the girl usually just gives it to me for free.
And I go there because I can't find it in bulk any where. I don't want to buy 7 jars if I can help it.
But I wasn't able to get to that side of town today to get any.
So I'm thinking "What is Tartar sauce? Mayonnaise and Relish, right? I got 2 big jars of that downtown in the kitchen."
I figured it couldn't be that easy, so I asked someone and they said it also had lemon juice.
Really? That was it?
So when everything got up and going, me and Little Thug (Emory Miller) got out the Mayo, the Relish and the Lemon Juice.
It seemed like the kind of thing you could just eyeball so I started piling mayo into a container, adding relish, and squirting lemon juice.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Little Thug was backing away from me, as if to say "I take no responsibility for this."
The first quantity was good but it took a couple of tries to get the ratio of mayo to relish right. Then I saw it wasn't enough so I had to toss more in and do it all over again. I had trouble finding anyone to taste it and tell me what they thought. My usual partner in crimes against cooking, John Liverman, was outside working the hush puppies, so I was on my own. In the end it was pretty good.
When no one was looking I added some Texas Pete. I swear we ought to be able to pick up some kind of sponsorship from that crowd, because we use tons of it.
The FISHFRY'ers tonight were
John Ellen J. Boggs Michael Mary Peyson Anna Teresa Brien Twig Jane Tyson Adam Little Thug KK
Laura Frank Candace Morgan me
We saw over 35 at the first stop, which is incredible and makes us nervous about having enough at the second stop. But ...God is good and we had enough for everyone we saw tonight.
It's the time of year when they start to ask about blankets and coats, so if you want to donate any to us, we'll be glad to get them into the hands of people that could use them. You can contact me at 910 6290 5430. Thanks.
Chris Armstrong takes over next week as part of his Graduation Project. he plans on doing Lemon Pepper chicken and mashed potatoes. He'll do a great job. He's already my go-to guy for saying grace and running back down to LEC when I forget something. He's a great guy.
Morgan Campbell will do hers the first Tuesday in December. She'll do fine also. I think she's working on Pizza for that night, which would be a main course first for us.
I'm going to confess something......I gotta take off so I can rush home and watch the 12:00 repeat of The Shield. I could wait 'tli Saturday or Sunday and watch it at Midnight then, but I can't wait that long.
I think Vic and Shane get into it tonight.......
Wish you could've been with us!
I really, really do love FISHFRY night. We're breading fish, we're deep frying hush puppies, making homemade tartar sauce...It's like being a Shriner or in the American Legion Post for one night. I wish i could've got my hands on one of those little red fez's they wear. It was cold and windy outside too, which made it even better. I like cold, windy nights.
We had several types of fish to cook tonight. Flounder, Spot, Whiting, some Blues, and one little bite size Pompano got fried tonight.
the rest of the menu was:
Hush Puppies
Corn on the Cob
Cole Slaw
Desserts
Sweet Tea/Water
To make sure we had enough fish for everybody, we handed out BB-Q Chicken sandwiches for seconds instead of fish. Amy Long donated the BB-Q Chicken to us from what was left over at the Fall Festival.
Why homemade tartar sauce?
Because.....
Normally I go to Something Fishy and say I'm Gary Harris, I do this thing on Tuesday nights, blah,blah,blah ...Can I buy a couple of quarts of Tartar sauce?
Well, the girl usually just gives it to me for free.
And I go there because I can't find it in bulk any where. I don't want to buy 7 jars if I can help it.
But I wasn't able to get to that side of town today to get any.
So I'm thinking "What is Tartar sauce? Mayonnaise and Relish, right? I got 2 big jars of that downtown in the kitchen."
I figured it couldn't be that easy, so I asked someone and they said it also had lemon juice.
Really? That was it?
So when everything got up and going, me and Little Thug (Emory Miller) got out the Mayo, the Relish and the Lemon Juice.
It seemed like the kind of thing you could just eyeball so I started piling mayo into a container, adding relish, and squirting lemon juice.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Little Thug was backing away from me, as if to say "I take no responsibility for this."
The first quantity was good but it took a couple of tries to get the ratio of mayo to relish right. Then I saw it wasn't enough so I had to toss more in and do it all over again. I had trouble finding anyone to taste it and tell me what they thought. My usual partner in crimes against cooking, John Liverman, was outside working the hush puppies, so I was on my own. In the end it was pretty good.
When no one was looking I added some Texas Pete. I swear we ought to be able to pick up some kind of sponsorship from that crowd, because we use tons of it.
The FISHFRY'ers tonight were
John Ellen J. Boggs Michael Mary Peyson Anna Teresa Brien Twig Jane Tyson Adam Little Thug KK
Laura Frank Candace Morgan me
We saw over 35 at the first stop, which is incredible and makes us nervous about having enough at the second stop. But ...God is good and we had enough for everyone we saw tonight.
It's the time of year when they start to ask about blankets and coats, so if you want to donate any to us, we'll be glad to get them into the hands of people that could use them. You can contact me at 910 6290 5430. Thanks.
Chris Armstrong takes over next week as part of his Graduation Project. he plans on doing Lemon Pepper chicken and mashed potatoes. He'll do a great job. He's already my go-to guy for saying grace and running back down to LEC when I forget something. He's a great guy.
Morgan Campbell will do hers the first Tuesday in December. She'll do fine also. I think she's working on Pizza for that night, which would be a main course first for us.
I'm going to confess something......I gotta take off so I can rush home and watch the 12:00 repeat of The Shield. I could wait 'tli Saturday or Sunday and watch it at Midnight then, but I can't wait that long.
I think Vic and Shane get into it tonight.......
Monday, October 27, 2008
....that's all I really need to get excited.
Blog?
What blog?
Yeah, I didn't blog last week because I wasn't there. Somewhere between walking all over SCare-owinds on Saturday and going to the beach for youth group Sunday night when we got back, I messed up my heel/ankle. I walked on it all day Monday with it hurting and Tuesday morning I couldn't put weight on it. So I laid out of school Tuesday to stay off of it. Since I wasn't at work I didn't figure I should be walking around on it all night Tuesday. I also missed Wednesday, too. (Hopefully, your sympathy should be kicking in about now).
A sore heel didn't mean I couldn't blog, though. My bad.
The reports I got from everyone were great. Lots of folks there to help and
everything went fine. Twig had it all under control. They served Breakfast Casserole and Sausage Biscuits and Gravy at the 1st stop, and Fish Stew and Sausage Biscuits and Gravy at the 2nd stop.
Greg Garrett went to Ocean Isle with his family towards the end of last week and caught a mess of fish. We cleaned them Sunday afternoon and so it looks like this week is gonna be FISHFRY!
FISHFRY week gets me excited. It's fun to do and the people we feed love it.
And, sadly enough,.......
What blog?
Yeah, I didn't blog last week because I wasn't there. Somewhere between walking all over SCare-owinds on Saturday and going to the beach for youth group Sunday night when we got back, I messed up my heel/ankle. I walked on it all day Monday with it hurting and Tuesday morning I couldn't put weight on it. So I laid out of school Tuesday to stay off of it. Since I wasn't at work I didn't figure I should be walking around on it all night Tuesday. I also missed Wednesday, too. (Hopefully, your sympathy should be kicking in about now).
A sore heel didn't mean I couldn't blog, though. My bad.
The reports I got from everyone were great. Lots of folks there to help and
everything went fine. Twig had it all under control. They served Breakfast Casserole and Sausage Biscuits and Gravy at the 1st stop, and Fish Stew and Sausage Biscuits and Gravy at the 2nd stop.
Greg Garrett went to Ocean Isle with his family towards the end of last week and caught a mess of fish. We cleaned them Sunday afternoon and so it looks like this week is gonna be FISHFRY!
FISHFRY week gets me excited. It's fun to do and the people we feed love it.
And, sadly enough,.......
Thursday, October 16, 2008
...Fried Baloney and Thanksgiving? It's a natural!
In a continuation of last week's attempt to put as many condiments on cheese grits as we could, this week John Liverman and I took some of the cheese grits we had left from last week and mixed a bowl with this week's tomato soup....and then proceeded to bomb it with Texas Pete and whatever else was handy. It was good and would have been better if we'd had time to do it right and enjoy it but we were rushing to get everything finished and upstairs to the 1st stop.
Quick hits
Craig's goatee is in week 4 and counting.......
Mr. Parker was here this week and OK.
Frank brought us an addition to our utensil collection : a metal stirring spoon long enough to reach the bottom of our biggest pots! A couple of our pots were bigger than our spoons and we were using odd items to get to the bottom of them. I like tongs, but they're terrible to stir with. 3 cheers for Frank!
Chris and Morgan are coming up on the days when they take over and run their own Tuesday night as part of their Graduation Project.
FISH FRY is coming!
Trying to decide what to fix for Thanksgiving. You'd think that was a no-brainer, and in the past it has been - Turkey and gravy...etc
BUT... food comes out of the woodwork at Thanksgiving for the folks we serve and it's all Turkey and gravy....etc. We serve it 2 days before the holiday and we're still not the first to hit them with it.
Now, it's a lot of fun for us to put out the big traditional meal and and cook it and have volunteers cook for us. From our end , there's a real satisfying element to it, but if the ones we're serving are already tired of it, why do it?
So I find myself at odd times of the day thinking of alternatives to fix for Thanksgiving. Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Spaghetti...nothing has really made me go"That's it!" yet. Nothing might. We'll just have to make a decision and go with it. Suggestions are welcome.
If I'd thought about it, we could have held off with this past week's menu. Think about it,....
Quick hits
Craig's goatee is in week 4 and counting.......
Mr. Parker was here this week and OK.
Frank brought us an addition to our utensil collection : a metal stirring spoon long enough to reach the bottom of our biggest pots! A couple of our pots were bigger than our spoons and we were using odd items to get to the bottom of them. I like tongs, but they're terrible to stir with. 3 cheers for Frank!
Chris and Morgan are coming up on the days when they take over and run their own Tuesday night as part of their Graduation Project.
FISH FRY is coming!
Trying to decide what to fix for Thanksgiving. You'd think that was a no-brainer, and in the past it has been - Turkey and gravy...etc
BUT... food comes out of the woodwork at Thanksgiving for the folks we serve and it's all Turkey and gravy....etc. We serve it 2 days before the holiday and we're still not the first to hit them with it.
Now, it's a lot of fun for us to put out the big traditional meal and and cook it and have volunteers cook for us. From our end , there's a real satisfying element to it, but if the ones we're serving are already tired of it, why do it?
So I find myself at odd times of the day thinking of alternatives to fix for Thanksgiving. Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Spaghetti...nothing has really made me go"That's it!" yet. Nothing might. We'll just have to make a decision and go with it. Suggestions are welcome.
If I'd thought about it, we could have held off with this past week's menu. Think about it,....
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
pretty awesome to watch Love like that in action on a regular basis.
What a good night! It just was. I couldn't tell you any one huge thing that made it that way but all the little things taken collectively made it that way. Which is good because that means it was a constant stream of good things all night long.
One of the things that made it so good tonight was the work we had to do to fix the meal. We were hopping from start to finish.
We had EGG SALAD SANDWICHES
FRIED BOLOGNA SANDWICHES
TOMATO SOUP
DESSERTS
SWEET TEA
WATER
.....which meant we had to fry about 250 pieces of bologna, boil 170 eggs, toast about 200 pieces of bread (for the egg salad sandwiches. Fried bologna got it straight out of the bag), make 5 gallons of tomato soup, and make 6 gallons of tea. This is how busy we had it tonight; at one point even Brien and Teresa were peeling eggs, and they usually stick to washing and drying during that part of the night!
I didn't think there was a toaster downtown so I was prepared to put all the sandwiches on plain white bread, but Meredith Stricker saw a toaster up under a counter where I would not have looked so......BOOM! ...we started toasting. It was a 4-slotter. How would you like to toast 200 pieces of bread, 4 at a time? That's pretty much what Meredith did. It might've been boring, but it sure smelled good over there.
Meredith used to be Meredith Lynch until she got married and now she lives in Boston with "Chuck". She's been in town for her brother's wedding. I always call her up when we go see the Red Sox play. This summer I got up with them and they took me to a great pizza place near their house. So how do I repay her? By feeding her egg salad and fried bologna, but making her toast bread and peel eggs first. I'm a heck of a guy.
In addition to MEREDITH, tonight there was PEYSON CAMERON PRUDEN CRAIG ANNA BRIEN TERESA MORGAN ANNA (morgan's friend) ELLEN JOHN TWIG MICHAEL JON HILL DAVE FRANK MARY ALAN CANDACE LAURA me working in the Kingdom.
It wasn't a big crowd at the 1st stop but there were 40 in line at the 2nd before we said grace and at least 20 walked up after that.
It won't be long before people will be needing blankets and gloves and toboggans and socks. We will pass those things out as we get them. Right now we just have a few hoodies and a couple of blankets. We pray that God will provide in the way he chooses this winter to help us continue to meet the needs of the folks he sends our way. If you're reading this and want to help in some way, just contact me, Twig or anyone else that comes on Tuesday nights. Everything is appreciated. And feel free to come help us, too.
If you know any of the folks that were here tonight, ask them why they come.
Ask them what they get from it.
Ask them how they feel when they meet someone's need out on the street.
I'm floored by how great these people are at giving their selves away on Tuesday night.
At how caring they are to the people that walk up.
At how good they are at showing God's love to every one that comes throught the line.
It's ....
One of the things that made it so good tonight was the work we had to do to fix the meal. We were hopping from start to finish.
We had EGG SALAD SANDWICHES
FRIED BOLOGNA SANDWICHES
TOMATO SOUP
DESSERTS
SWEET TEA
WATER
.....which meant we had to fry about 250 pieces of bologna, boil 170 eggs, toast about 200 pieces of bread (for the egg salad sandwiches. Fried bologna got it straight out of the bag), make 5 gallons of tomato soup, and make 6 gallons of tea. This is how busy we had it tonight; at one point even Brien and Teresa were peeling eggs, and they usually stick to washing and drying during that part of the night!
I didn't think there was a toaster downtown so I was prepared to put all the sandwiches on plain white bread, but Meredith Stricker saw a toaster up under a counter where I would not have looked so......BOOM! ...we started toasting. It was a 4-slotter. How would you like to toast 200 pieces of bread, 4 at a time? That's pretty much what Meredith did. It might've been boring, but it sure smelled good over there.
Meredith used to be Meredith Lynch until she got married and now she lives in Boston with "Chuck". She's been in town for her brother's wedding. I always call her up when we go see the Red Sox play. This summer I got up with them and they took me to a great pizza place near their house. So how do I repay her? By feeding her egg salad and fried bologna, but making her toast bread and peel eggs first. I'm a heck of a guy.
In addition to MEREDITH, tonight there was PEYSON CAMERON PRUDEN CRAIG ANNA BRIEN TERESA MORGAN ANNA (morgan's friend) ELLEN JOHN TWIG MICHAEL JON HILL DAVE FRANK MARY ALAN CANDACE LAURA me working in the Kingdom.
It wasn't a big crowd at the 1st stop but there were 40 in line at the 2nd before we said grace and at least 20 walked up after that.
It won't be long before people will be needing blankets and gloves and toboggans and socks. We will pass those things out as we get them. Right now we just have a few hoodies and a couple of blankets. We pray that God will provide in the way he chooses this winter to help us continue to meet the needs of the folks he sends our way. If you're reading this and want to help in some way, just contact me, Twig or anyone else that comes on Tuesday nights. Everything is appreciated. And feel free to come help us, too.
If you know any of the folks that were here tonight, ask them why they come.
Ask them what they get from it.
Ask them how they feel when they meet someone's need out on the street.
I'm floored by how great these people are at giving their selves away on Tuesday night.
At how caring they are to the people that walk up.
At how good they are at showing God's love to every one that comes throught the line.
It's ....
Thursday, October 9, 2008
.... "Let's do stuff on Tuesdays 'cause we know Gary can't come" night
Twig was not here this week. He and Jane have gone on a cruise and are going to finish up in Pigeon Forge and get married this weekend. Somebody suggested we pray for them this week but the general consensus was it's too late, she's already said she'd marry him.
Last time Twig wasn't here we made sloppy joes. That's when John Liverman and I were experimenting with throwing everything we could find in there to give it a little kick. It didn't get that way this week until after the food was cooked. More on that later.
One of the great flip flops in life is eating breakfast for dinner. Honestly, i just don't wake up hungry, so breakfast is not a big meal for me and a lot of times I don't eat any, (I know, I know, you're supposed to.....) which is too bad because breakfast foods are great. That makes getting it for supper a real treat. I say all that to let you know that for supper this week we cooked:
PANCAKES SAUSAGE CHEESE GRITS DESSERT TEA/WATER
Usually when we have Pancakes and Sausage that's pretty much it. This week on the way in to school I went by the church to check on my sausage supply. When I do that, I head toward school on Princess Street, which means I have to go by Parchie's, and If I'm going by Parchie's, well.....I might as well stop and get some breakfast. I got the Grit Bowl Float with bacon, egg, and cheese.
That got me to thinking.
I like grits.
I love cheese grits.
I bet other people love them, too.
Grits are cheap.
A big can of cheese sauce at Sam's is cheap, too.
Plus, you can only have so many people around a grill flipping pancakes and sausage is a pretty passive activity once you put in the oven, but if I had one more thing to cook, I could probably keep everybody busy all night and I'd have one more thing to serve.
You ever made grits?
It ain't hard, but, ...I have delegated it to people before and the results have ranged from soupy to fast acting cement. So it's kind of a "here you go, you're in charge of this and then cross your fingers thing".
Clay Collier, however, knocked it out of the park. The were were just right. By the time we got the cheese in them, man, they were spot on!
And we're talking about 7 gallons of cheese grits.(Two 5 lb. bags)
We had a little more than we could get in our container to take outside, so we had some extra to use as a "taster". Me and Liverman were hitting it pretty hard with the Texas Pete ......and then we found the Parmesan cheese! 2 BIG THUMBS UP! I snuck a little Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce in it too.Very nice.
Alexandra Creeeeeeech-ture Cameron Clay Peyton Chamberlain Anna Pruden Craig Brien John Ellen Michael Stephen Nick Chris Frank Mary Aaron Alan Emory Katherine me were the folks putting it all together.
Mary Dyer and Chris Armstrong were the ramrods that got the pancakes cooked and ready to go- no small accomplishment. A little over 500 pancakes got cooked and we ended the night with about 30 left over.
My friends that needed a preacher weren't there this week, so I'll catch them next week and see if they still need one and we'll go from there.
Quick Hits
Craig still has his goatee.
Mr. Parker wasn't there this week.
Clay suffered for his art this week when some of the grits splashed onto his hand and burned him.
Twig and Jane should be back next week.
God has been very good to us in the ways he has provided for our needs. He has put it on people's hearts to give, he has given people desire to come and serve, and he continually brings us into contact with people who have needs we can meet.
I was looking around at the people who have become a part of Tuesday nights and I noticed that in terms of adults, outside of one or two, most of them are people I met and know mostly through what we do on Tuesdays
That's pretty cool.
Except then I got to wondering if a lot of my old friends were using Tuesdays as ....
Last time Twig wasn't here we made sloppy joes. That's when John Liverman and I were experimenting with throwing everything we could find in there to give it a little kick. It didn't get that way this week until after the food was cooked. More on that later.
One of the great flip flops in life is eating breakfast for dinner. Honestly, i just don't wake up hungry, so breakfast is not a big meal for me and a lot of times I don't eat any, (I know, I know, you're supposed to.....) which is too bad because breakfast foods are great. That makes getting it for supper a real treat. I say all that to let you know that for supper this week we cooked:
PANCAKES SAUSAGE CHEESE GRITS DESSERT TEA/WATER
Usually when we have Pancakes and Sausage that's pretty much it. This week on the way in to school I went by the church to check on my sausage supply. When I do that, I head toward school on Princess Street, which means I have to go by Parchie's, and If I'm going by Parchie's, well.....I might as well stop and get some breakfast. I got the Grit Bowl Float with bacon, egg, and cheese.
That got me to thinking.
I like grits.
I love cheese grits.
I bet other people love them, too.
Grits are cheap.
A big can of cheese sauce at Sam's is cheap, too.
Plus, you can only have so many people around a grill flipping pancakes and sausage is a pretty passive activity once you put in the oven, but if I had one more thing to cook, I could probably keep everybody busy all night and I'd have one more thing to serve.
You ever made grits?
It ain't hard, but, ...I have delegated it to people before and the results have ranged from soupy to fast acting cement. So it's kind of a "here you go, you're in charge of this and then cross your fingers thing".
Clay Collier, however, knocked it out of the park. The were were just right. By the time we got the cheese in them, man, they were spot on!
And we're talking about 7 gallons of cheese grits.(Two 5 lb. bags)
We had a little more than we could get in our container to take outside, so we had some extra to use as a "taster". Me and Liverman were hitting it pretty hard with the Texas Pete ......and then we found the Parmesan cheese! 2 BIG THUMBS UP! I snuck a little Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce in it too.Very nice.
Alexandra Creeeeeeech-ture Cameron Clay Peyton Chamberlain Anna Pruden Craig Brien John Ellen Michael Stephen Nick Chris Frank Mary Aaron Alan Emory Katherine me were the folks putting it all together.
Mary Dyer and Chris Armstrong were the ramrods that got the pancakes cooked and ready to go- no small accomplishment. A little over 500 pancakes got cooked and we ended the night with about 30 left over.
My friends that needed a preacher weren't there this week, so I'll catch them next week and see if they still need one and we'll go from there.
Quick Hits
Craig still has his goatee.
Mr. Parker wasn't there this week.
Clay suffered for his art this week when some of the grits splashed onto his hand and burned him.
Twig and Jane should be back next week.
God has been very good to us in the ways he has provided for our needs. He has put it on people's hearts to give, he has given people desire to come and serve, and he continually brings us into contact with people who have needs we can meet.
I was looking around at the people who have become a part of Tuesday nights and I noticed that in terms of adults, outside of one or two, most of them are people I met and know mostly through what we do on Tuesdays
That's pretty cool.
Except then I got to wondering if a lot of my old friends were using Tuesdays as ....
Thursday, October 2, 2008
NEW LIST
Here we go:
3 TV SHOWS YOU WISH WERE ON 24/7 (but are ashamed to admit it)
Mine ?
Deadliest Catch- I could watch them catch crabs all day long.
Unwrapped- Not always stuff I like to eat, but always cool to watch.
UFC Knockouts- Not fights, just guys getting knocked out. Cool!
Yours?
3 TV SHOWS YOU WISH WERE ON 24/7 (but are ashamed to admit it)
Mine ?
Deadliest Catch- I could watch them catch crabs all day long.
Unwrapped- Not always stuff I like to eat, but always cool to watch.
UFC Knockouts- Not fights, just guys getting knocked out. Cool!
Yours?
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
....get ordained in some bizarro denomination online, though. That'd be kinda cool. Rev. Gary!
Chicken pot pie was on the menu tonight, along with one of my least favorite things in the world - green peas. Ugh. But... lots of other people love 'em so it's no skin off my teeth to serve them up. We also had some croissants and dinner rolls to go with the desserts and sweet tea.
The chicken pot pie was homemade. My less than massive contribution was getting there early this morning, setting out the chicken to thaw and then coming to the church about 4:15 to start boiling it so it would be cooled off and ready to be de-boned when people started showing up. I was out of the kitchen doing the non-cooking things for a good portion of the time until about 7:10. Then it was all wrap up and let's get ready to go.
It's crazy sometimes. I was looking at how many people we had there tonight and then I realized how many people I was used to seeing that weren't there.
The ones there tonight were Twig Jane Teresa Anna Mary Dyer Pruden Craig John Livermann Jon Hill J. Boggs Nick Michael Ellen Zack Danielle Zack Allen Creeeeech Alexandra Dave Chris Connor Peyson Laura Marcus Aaron Emory Katherine Morgan me
That's 29 for those keeping score at home.
A lot of the folks we serve on Tuesday nights assume that I am a preacher, probably because I do a lot of the talking in front of the group. (Trust me, Tuesday night is the only place I get mistaken for a preacher.) And I don't bother to correct them if they call me Preacher or Rev. I just respond to what they're asking about or saying and go on. I corrected people early on and they just called me preacher again next week, so I don't bother anymore unless they flat out ask me if I'm the preacher. Then I say no, I'm just a guy that goes to church here.
Why am I telling you this?
Because tonight somebody asked if I was a preacher and because they hinted that they wanted me to do something for them that required a preacher. I told them I wasn't and I couldn't but I knew some that might.
And that's all I can tell you tonight , but next week I hope I can tell what might be the craziest thing we've pulled off yet on Tuesday night. I really want to talk about it now but I shouldn't. Just stay tuned for further developments. (You can probably figure it out anyway.)
Chris Armstrong and Morgan Campbell are both making the Homeless Situation the focus of their Graduation Project and as part of that are going to be taking one Tuesday Night and plan it on their own, from the menu, to the buying, all the way to the overseeing of the cooking and serving. They are going to do great jobs.
Haven't posted a list lately, and there hasn't been a great cry for me to post one, but glutton for punishment that I am, I've got one I'll put up tomorrow for people to ignore.
It did cross my mind tonight to check the internet and see what it would take to ...........
The chicken pot pie was homemade. My less than massive contribution was getting there early this morning, setting out the chicken to thaw and then coming to the church about 4:15 to start boiling it so it would be cooled off and ready to be de-boned when people started showing up. I was out of the kitchen doing the non-cooking things for a good portion of the time until about 7:10. Then it was all wrap up and let's get ready to go.
It's crazy sometimes. I was looking at how many people we had there tonight and then I realized how many people I was used to seeing that weren't there.
The ones there tonight were Twig Jane Teresa Anna Mary Dyer Pruden Craig John Livermann Jon Hill J. Boggs Nick Michael Ellen Zack Danielle Zack Allen Creeeeech Alexandra Dave Chris Connor Peyson Laura Marcus Aaron Emory Katherine Morgan me
That's 29 for those keeping score at home.
A lot of the folks we serve on Tuesday nights assume that I am a preacher, probably because I do a lot of the talking in front of the group. (Trust me, Tuesday night is the only place I get mistaken for a preacher.) And I don't bother to correct them if they call me Preacher or Rev. I just respond to what they're asking about or saying and go on. I corrected people early on and they just called me preacher again next week, so I don't bother anymore unless they flat out ask me if I'm the preacher. Then I say no, I'm just a guy that goes to church here.
Why am I telling you this?
Because tonight somebody asked if I was a preacher and because they hinted that they wanted me to do something for them that required a preacher. I told them I wasn't and I couldn't but I knew some that might.
And that's all I can tell you tonight , but next week I hope I can tell what might be the craziest thing we've pulled off yet on Tuesday night. I really want to talk about it now but I shouldn't. Just stay tuned for further developments. (You can probably figure it out anyway.)
Chris Armstrong and Morgan Campbell are both making the Homeless Situation the focus of their Graduation Project and as part of that are going to be taking one Tuesday Night and plan it on their own, from the menu, to the buying, all the way to the overseeing of the cooking and serving. They are going to do great jobs.
Haven't posted a list lately, and there hasn't been a great cry for me to post one, but glutton for punishment that I am, I've got one I'll put up tomorrow for people to ignore.
It did cross my mind tonight to check the internet and see what it would take to ...........
Thursday, September 25, 2008
10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TUESDAY NIGHTS
1. We have been serving meals every Tuesday since the fall of '03
2. If you come help, we'll let you wear an apron.
3. We've served over 17,000 meals since we started in '03
4. If there's leftovers, we fix ourselves a plate!
5. You don't need to be an expert at anything (especially cooking) to come join us.
6. No committee meetings. I repeat...NO COMMITTEE MEETINGS!
7. Some of the best prayers you'll ever hear come from the folks we serve.
8. He really does go by the name "Twig".
9. God does amazing things on Tuesday nights.
10. Very few things bless you as much as handing a plate of food to a hungry person.
2. If you come help, we'll let you wear an apron.
3. We've served over 17,000 meals since we started in '03
4. If there's leftovers, we fix ourselves a plate!
5. You don't need to be an expert at anything (especially cooking) to come join us.
6. No committee meetings. I repeat...NO COMMITTEE MEETINGS!
7. Some of the best prayers you'll ever hear come from the folks we serve.
8. He really does go by the name "Twig".
9. God does amazing things on Tuesday nights.
10. Very few things bless you as much as handing a plate of food to a hungry person.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
.....I hope they realize the blessing they were to others and the one they were recieving
Good night tonight! The weather was breezy and cool, which is great for us and it is way better than the humid nights we were having for a while, but it may not be the best for our friends who are sleeping outside, so, I hope they stay warm tonight and other nights, too.
We had hot dogs at the first stop and some killer barbecue sandwiches at the 2nd stop.
It's funny the things you notice over time. In with the hot dogs we had tonight, we also had some hot sausages, the big red kind. And it never fails, once somebody notices that we have some of those, the others start asking for them specifically.
"Hey, got any more sausages?"
"Give me one of those sausages."
"I think I want one of them sausages."
And whoever's serving them that night always notices and mentions it to me. They love sausages. But I don't blame them. I'd want one of them too.
Peyson Hunt was killing me tonight. We heated up a couple of pans of Baked Ziti from last week and served as seconds at the second stop. Except Peyson kept calling it Zanguini.
He started at 7:15 and kept on til 9:30. We kept telling him it was baked ziti and he kept saying oh yeah oh yeah and then 5 minutes later he'd ask someone if they wanted Zanguini.
And to top that off, he kept calling the cole slaw relish.
So he's at the front of the line asking folks if they wanted Zanguini or Barbecue sandwiches with relish. Me and Chris Armstrong were about to send him down to dessert duty. Peyson's a hoot. I'm glad he came tonight.
Speaking of who came tonight:
Twig Ellen John Liverman Creeeeech Morgan Alexandra Zack Katie Liz Jon Hill J. Boggs Nick Michael Crystal Tiersa Alana Anne Alana's Sister Anna Bryan Teresa Pruden Craig Dave Chris Haley Leslie Candace me
Big News
Craig has a goatee now. I'll explain later, but trust me, it's big news.
Working on something to post tomorrow so I'm gonna hit the road for now.
Tonight really was a great night and for more than just the weather. It was cool to watch so many people interacting to do the things we needed to do tonight. As the night went on......
We had hot dogs at the first stop and some killer barbecue sandwiches at the 2nd stop.
It's funny the things you notice over time. In with the hot dogs we had tonight, we also had some hot sausages, the big red kind. And it never fails, once somebody notices that we have some of those, the others start asking for them specifically.
"Hey, got any more sausages?"
"Give me one of those sausages."
"I think I want one of them sausages."
And whoever's serving them that night always notices and mentions it to me. They love sausages. But I don't blame them. I'd want one of them too.
Peyson Hunt was killing me tonight. We heated up a couple of pans of Baked Ziti from last week and served as seconds at the second stop. Except Peyson kept calling it Zanguini.
He started at 7:15 and kept on til 9:30. We kept telling him it was baked ziti and he kept saying oh yeah oh yeah and then 5 minutes later he'd ask someone if they wanted Zanguini.
And to top that off, he kept calling the cole slaw relish.
So he's at the front of the line asking folks if they wanted Zanguini or Barbecue sandwiches with relish. Me and Chris Armstrong were about to send him down to dessert duty. Peyson's a hoot. I'm glad he came tonight.
Speaking of who came tonight:
Twig Ellen John Liverman Creeeeech Morgan Alexandra Zack Katie Liz Jon Hill J. Boggs Nick Michael Crystal Tiersa Alana Anne Alana's Sister Anna Bryan Teresa Pruden Craig Dave Chris Haley Leslie Candace me
Big News
Craig has a goatee now. I'll explain later, but trust me, it's big news.
Working on something to post tomorrow so I'm gonna hit the road for now.
Tonight really was a great night and for more than just the weather. It was cool to watch so many people interacting to do the things we needed to do tonight. As the night went on......
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
More to come......
This'll be quick...
Tonight was a great meal. Amy Long was making baked ziti for the Interfaith Family tonight and volunteered to make us some too. So we had 10 pans of baked ziti waiting for us to pop in the oven when we got down there tonight. It was awesome.
Lots of good folks working tonight;
Crystal Elana Tiersa Emory Katherine Creeeeeeeech Alexandra Liz Tyson His friend (sorry) Twig Chris Anna Morgan Bryan Randy Robin Katie Nick Michael Laura me
We brought folks inside tonight because it was raining lightly at the first
stop, but by the time we were leaving for the 2nd stop, it was clear. Very thankful for that.
Chris Armstrong and Morgan Campbell are both doing Sr. Projects with Homeless themes. Be on the lookout for clothes and food drives. Any help would be appreciated.
I'll try to get back on tomorrow with more about tonight.
Be good til then.
Tonight was a great meal. Amy Long was making baked ziti for the Interfaith Family tonight and volunteered to make us some too. So we had 10 pans of baked ziti waiting for us to pop in the oven when we got down there tonight. It was awesome.
Lots of good folks working tonight;
Crystal Elana Tiersa Emory Katherine Creeeeeeeech Alexandra Liz Tyson His friend (sorry) Twig Chris Anna Morgan Bryan Randy Robin Katie Nick Michael Laura me
We brought folks inside tonight because it was raining lightly at the first
stop, but by the time we were leaving for the 2nd stop, it was clear. Very thankful for that.
Chris Armstrong and Morgan Campbell are both doing Sr. Projects with Homeless themes. Be on the lookout for clothes and food drives. Any help would be appreciated.
I'll try to get back on tomorrow with more about tonight.
Be good til then.
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