ELAINE  /  CECELIA  /  LIZZIE  /  CATHY  /  CHUCK  /  CHARLES  /  WAYNE  /  STEVE  /  TOM  /  ASHLEY  /  SAVANNAH  /  ELLYN  /  NINA  /  PERRY  /  BRETT  /  HUNTER  /  JOHANNA  /  LINDSAY  /  LAUREN  /  BRIANNA  /  PEYTON  /  ANNA FRAZIER  /  PEYSON  /  MERRITT  /  HOLLAND  /  SHANE  /  TREY  /  MORGZILLA  /  CREEEEEECH  /  BLAKE  /  MARK  /  TJ  /  J.BOGGS  /  EBY  /

Clam Chowder / Vegetable Beef
Baked Potatoes
Meatloaf / gravy
Field peas
Ice Cream Sandwiches
Sweet Tea / Water / Coffee

Had a pretty basic meal planned and then God just kept giving and giving, so we wound up with a table full of food to pass out. We also passed out To-Go bags as they left, with sandwiches and snacks inside.

....and Cruise.

Brisket?
Two things come to my mind when I hear "Brisket":
1. Old women up north asking the butcher if the brisket is any good
and
2. Food Network shows about Texas BBQ joints


The way we cook it (low and slow), it comes out tasting like super good pot roast, and the way we serve it (w/Sweet Baby ray's BBQ sauce as an option), it's more like the Texas stuff.
But I don't get hung up on the words.
It was flat out tasty.


We had Brisket sandwiches last night.  Got these nice big rolls- the exact ones Burger King uses on their BIG FISH and CHICKEN sandwiches- and put some Velveeta cheese potatoes and green beans with it. Man, it was good.


And so was the help:
ELAINE  / CECELIA  / BLAZE  /  THOMAS  /  TJ  /  MARK  /  EBY  /  DAVE  /  JENNA  / TWIG  /  LAUREN  /  LINDSAY  /  JOHANNA  /  BRIANNA  /  JAMIE  /  BLAKE  /  STEVE  /  JBOGGS  /  MORGZILLA  /  CREEEEEECH  /  JANE  /  ANDY  / CHARLES  /  TREY  /




MENU
Brisket sandwiches
Cheesy Potatoes
Green beans
Banana pudding
Sweet Tea / Water
(for seconds we had cheese quesadillas and BBQ chicken. Random? Yes. But we had it to pass out, so we did)


Ate inside at the first stop because it had rained and was still a little wet.


Got two kids who help regularly doing their Graduation Project on some aspect of Homelessness.


That's it for now.  Gotta make like Tom ......

...looking forward to the next time

So.....my last post was June 8.
Hmmm....that's......78 days ago?
NO WAY!
Man, I knew it was most of the summer, but geez.....

I've had a great summer. Hit the road a lot, like usual. Went to the Bahamas, Arkansas and New York in one summer. That's a crazy travel hat trick.

Had a pretty nice birthday. I'll make time one day this week or weekend to tell you about it in more detail. "Pretty nice" is a huge understatement.

Tuesday nights have gone great. This was easily the most people we've had helping over a summer and we needed it because we've had consistently large numbers showing up to eat.

The big regret I have about not posting this summer is not listing the folks who came to help each week. They deserve to be recognized.

BRITTANY / KIMBERLY / SHEILA / MORGZILLA / CREEEEEECH! / ALEXIS / TOM / J.BOGGS / JEREMY / SHANE / DAVE / JENNA / ALAINA / DAVE / CATHY / DONNA / CECELIA / LIZ / SUSIE / JAMIE / MAGGIE / BLAKE / STEVE / BRYSON / TWIG / EBY / JANE / CHARLES / ANDY / LAUREN / LINDSAY /PHILLIP / WAYNE /  were all  tremendous tonight working in the Kingdom of God. 

Tonight's menu was a Dirty Rice Chicken bowl. We've never tried it, but lately we've been on a roll with new dishes. We did Chicken Parmesan sandwiches last week-so good!
We cut up a bunch of chicken breast to go on it and I was given the job of coming up with a seasoning to put on it. I went to the pantry and just started mixing-a base of cajun seasoning but I also tossed in cayenne, Old Bay, cummin, paprika, a smoky chipotle paprika, red pepper flakes, white mustard powder, garlic powder,and seasoning salt.
Not only was it spicy but it kinda bit you on the way down too. It was good but next time I will dial a back a bit. 
Got some things to catch you up on, but I'll have to do it later. Gotta run now.
I missed doing this with y'all. I'm already....

.....haven't spoiled the magic for you!

Yikes.
Where have I been?


I haven't posted anything for the last 2 Tuesdays, but I do have a reason. I had a medical issue that put me on my back for about 5 days and slowed me down for several after that. I missed the Tuesday 2 weeks ago and was back last week in a slowed-up capacity. Still requires "wound care" twice a day but that's about to end along with my excuses.


Last night was great. Here's why:

Lots of good people cooking and serving.
Lots of food to cook and serve.
Lots of people at each stop to be served.


Ran into a buddy named Casey at The Bowl the other week and he asked about his small group Bible study coming to help one Tuesday. He called me last week and they came this week. Great bunch of guys.  They jumped in and did a great job in the kitchen and also on the serving line. Wouldn't bother me at all if they came back.


MATT / DALLAS / CASEY / PRESTON / BRIAN  / MICHAEL / HEATH / ADAM / CONNOR / KYLE / T.J. / HAMPTON / WADE / BLAKE / BRYCE / STEVE / WAYNE / DAVID / CHARLES / TYLER / LANE / MORGZILLA / CREEEEEECH! / LAUREN / LINDSEY / KILLER / CAITLYN / CAYLA / BROOKE / ELAINE / CECELIA / SAM / MYRTLE / SAM / BRIEN / THERESA / ELLYN / SAVANNAH / ALAINA / JENNA / HAYLEY / PEYTON / CHAMBERLAIN /  


The decision on what to cook this week was mine alone again. Now,  I'm not a dictator or a control freak, I ask the folks on Tuesday night for suggestions all the time. I tell them I'm open to what they want to cook. I tell them Let me know what you want to do and I'll make it happen. But I still wind up making the call most of the time. So, I gave it some thought during the day and by 3:30 I was still undecided. The whole day, though, while I was debating and brainstorming and searching for a meal idea, it felt like there was something in the back of my mind kicking around, jumping up and down to be noticed and I just couldn't see it. 
I picked up the truck (pun intended), drove to Sam's and somewhere around 5:00, between the parking lot and walking to the back of the store, Hamburger steak with mashed potatoes jumped into my thoughts and the thing that been kicking around in my head all day screamed FINALLY! 

 HAMBURGER STEAK w/ MASHED POTATOES AND GRAVY
CORN
ASPARAGUS SPEARS
VEGETABLE MEDLEY
PINEAPPLE SPEARS
DESSERT
SWEET TEA / WATER


FACTORS THAT DETERMINE WHAT WE SERVE ON ANY GIVEN NIGHT(IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)
1. What have we got? We try to stockpile some things until we have enough to serve a lot; fish, chicken. We also receive stuff  at the last minute and  that shapes the menu
2. What can we get?
3. Have we done it lately? ( Which is really a matter of perspective. I may say Oh, we did that last week and in my mind I'm thinking two times in a row, but to a person in line, It's been a week since they had it and they probably wouldn't be concerned with two times in a row.)
4.Will it involve lots of people in the kitchen and the serving line? ( Nobody wants to come and watch 2 people stir pots or stand around while 3 people pass out the meal. Ever notice we have a bunch of toppings almost every week? Somebody's got to squirt that TEXAS PETE.)
5. Will they eat it? ( Over a period of time, we've observed and noticed some things. Garden Salad is not a big hit with our crowd. Taco Salad is.)
6. What's the weather going to be like? (When it's cold we try to do hot hearty meals and when it's hot, we try to have things like freeze pops, etc. Things like rain and wind can affect the menu, too.
7. How many people are going to be helping? Most times it's not something we know, but there are times when we know I'll be gone and most of the Youth Group kids will be with me, so whoever is in charge plans accordingly.

Now that I've pulled that curtain back for you and given you a behind the scenes peek, I hope I.........

...but I doubt it.

All right, let's do this before I forget:


EMILY / JULIEANNE / LONDON / PAUL / SOPHIE / DANIEL / ROBERT / JACOB / BRIE / MARY BETH / MERRITT / MADELYNE / PEYSON / HAMPTON / MITCH / BRIEN / DAVE / JENNA / ALAINA / MGAN / ASH / ANNA / CONNOR / KYLE / MEREDITH / MARK / ELAINE / SAVANNAH / ASHLEY / BAILEY / SAM / CHRISTIAN / EBY / TYLER / LANE / LIZ / MORGZILLA / RYAN / CHARLES / CHUCK /JONATHAN / LAUREN / LINDSAY / KILLER / JOHANNA /....make a total of 45 people serving others last night without expecting anything in return.


Looking back, tonight was B_A_N_A_N_A_S !


46 people total and 37 of them were there in the kitchen by 6:30. Twig was still out of town so I was very glad Mitch, Dave, and Brien were there to help me when I was already in 3 places at one time and needed to be in a 4th and 5th. 
Tonight's meal was stovetop-centric. At the start, all 6 burners were being used with 2 more things still needing to be done when room opened up. Big pot of water for pasta (2 burners), sauce, green beans, water for corn on the cob, water for tea, and a burner for asparagus.


There's a word you're seeing for the first time on this blog.  Asparagus?"shudder"
I've never eaten it and for several reasons:
1. Mom didn't cook it. She was straight off the farm and they didn't grow asparagus on the one she grew up on. Beans, corn, tomatoes, squash, okra, potatoes,- That's what Cleo was all about. 
2. The smell
3. The texture. My theory: Feels like rubber before you cook it, probably gonna taste like it after you cook it. 
4. You steam it to cook it. The only thing I want to eat steamed? A hot dog bun.


BUT.......somebody gave us a large amount of Asparagus yesterday. Didn't want to waste it, so about 6:30 I stopped everything and asked if anyone knew how to cook asparagus. I got 4 or 5 muttered responses that didn't inspire confidence in me and then MARYBETH came to the rescue. She said I'll call my mom and see how she does it. A couple of minutes later she came back and said I got it. So I let her take it and run with it. She and a partner got the sauce pan and went to work! 30 minutes later we had a huge pan of asparagus. Good job!*


And then, as if the sheer number of people wasn't enough to deal with, we had door prizes!
I had several bags of gummy bears, 5 leather jackets (LEATHER JACKETS? Yep.) and 3 camp chairs. Not enough for everyone, but I needed to get them in the hands of someone, so we drew #'s out of a bowl and left it to God to put everything in the hands of the ones who could use it.


The coloring on the names tonight is easy. Kids from New Hanover are in black and orange, and college kids are written in white on a blue background. 


Regular readers know ELAINE is the our SWEET TEA maker. She nails it every week. The only thing I do is taste it when she's done. Tonight, she had to wait for space on the stove and we got to a point where a critical decision had to be made. Would the tea be made in time for the first stop or should we throw some instant cold water mix like lemonade in the cooler for the first stop and use the brewed tea for the second?
I showed ELAINE what we had and what we could do and let her make the call. She thought about it and said Let's just do what we're doing. I think it'll be done in time. I said OK. I went back to what was going on and eventually went up top to get things set up. We said grace and the tea still had not come out. I told the kids to tell everybody when they came by that we would bring them their drinks when they came out. As the first person in line got near, they brought the tea out and had cups ready to go before the first person got to them. Way to come through in the clutch, ELAINE!


Penne Pasta with Italian Sausage
Corn on the cob
Green Beans
Asparagus
Carrots and Cucumbers w/Ranch
Dessert
Sweet Tea / Water


MaryBeth was quick to remind me that when she won "Prettiest Christmas Sweater" at the FCA Christmas party, I failed to include it in the announcements at School the next day. So.....
" MaryBeth Sullivan won the "Prettiest Christmas sweater " contest last December at the FCA Christmas Party. Tyler Antonelli won the "Ugliest Christmas Sweater" contest."
Hope that makes up for it.......

...taste sensation that's sweeping the nation.

Tonight was such a good night!
I know I say that a lot, but ....truth must be spoke!

MEGAN / MCKENZIE / EMILY / ELAINE /KILLER / JOHANNA / ELLYN / SAVANNAH / KATHLYNN / CONNOR / CLIFF / KYLE / TOM / ED / CHUCK / CHARLES / JERRY / WAYNE / JERRY / TJ / J.BOGGS / MARK / BLAKE / STEVE / ASHLEY / SCOTT /  .....had things in the kitchen running at full speed !

Twig has been out of town the past 3 weeks (more on that later) and as I have mentioned more than once in these posts, if I don't have to confirm or get anyone else involved in the pickup of food, I tend to make my decision on what we're cooking somewhere around 4:00 on Tuesday. So, when someone called me at 2:30 on Tuesday and said they were at Costco and did I need anything, I had to say  I don't know, because I haven't decided what the meal is yet.
We brainstormed over the phone, finally deciding they would check ground beef prices and call me back. They called back back 10 minutes later and said What about Italian sausage? It's cheaper than hamburger.
I said That works, but last week we fed over 100 people and it would take a lot to cover us this week.
They said No problem, let me help out and pick up the sausage and pay for it.
!!!!!!
Sooooo......

ITALIAN SAUSAGE SUBS with  PEPPERS AND ONIONS
HOMEMADE MAC'n CHEESE
OVEN FRIES
DESSERT
SWEET TEA / WATER

I didn't have time to get the pig cooker out and throw them on that so we put some on the griddle in the kitchen and put the rest in the oven and when they were done we pulled them out and threw them on the griddle to brown them up a little. Delicioso!

We used sub rolls but that's almost too much bread for a lot of our friends so next time I'll probably just use hot dog buns or no buns at all.

Twig has been in Florida the past couple of weeks. He was already heading to see an ailing grandmother when his aunt, who was visiting the grandmother in the hospital, had a brain aneurysm.  She was on life support for a while and now is in Hospice and Twig is still down there. Keep him and the family in your prayers.

BEST IDEA I'VE HAD IN A WEEK WHERE I'VE HAD A LOT OF THEM:
You know the big Pilsbury brownie you can buy at Sam's? The one that you can cut into 42 pieces?
I had one of those in the freezer. I saw it in there and then walked into my pantry and guess what I saw?
A can of chocolate icing.
BOOM goes the dynamite !
Chocolate Iced Brownies.
It's the .......

......Gift certificate to came eat with us free any Tuesday he wants!

SHAUN / LONDON / CHUCK / CHARLES / DAVE / BLAKE / STEVE / DON / TYLER / CONNOR / DENNIS / MARK / BRIEN / KATHLYNN / ALAINA / JENNA / LANE /

Some things you just can't explain

•  Didn't have a single middle school, high school, or college age girl helping last night and only 4 total. Alaina and Yenna are young girls who come with their dad, and Brien and Kathlynn are grown women.
• The first Tuesday of a month is usually a smaller crowd to come eat, mainly because some of our crowd get gov't checks and they get off the street for a little while. This means we might not see them during the first week of the month. Tonight however, we had at least 55 at the first stop. Go figure.

PORCUPINE MEATBALLS
BAKED ZITI
ORZO
PASTA SALAD
VEGGIE TRAY
FRUIT TRAY
CRAB DIP
DESSERT
FREEZE POPS
SWEET TEA / WATER

We also made lunch bags to go with CHICKEN SALAD SANDWICHES , chips and sweets.

What's a PORCUPINE MEATBALL? Well, you take 20 pounds of porcupine meat, add some rice.........
My bad. Couldn't help it.
It's hamburger, rice, a little onion, salt, pepper, and some water mixed up and rolled into 1 1/2 inch balls. Put them in a pan with a tomato sauce mixture that almost covers them, cook them covered at 350 for 45 minutes, then uncovered for 20.
My mom used to make them and it was one of my favorites. I think I've had them once in the last 30 years. My sister made them for me a couple of years ago, which I greatly appreciate. I figured even if i messed it up, it would still be decent, so I rolled the dice and we cooked them. Turned out very nice. We wound up running out at the end of the 2nd stop and started dishing out the BAKED ZITI. Made somewhere in the neighborhood of 280 meatballs.

Did a little detective work and discovered who the 10,000th visitor to the blog was. It was a Mr. Harold DeBoever of Hickory NC.        (Writing it like that was purely for my benefit, because it makes me laugh. He's my college roommate, we talk on the phone 2 or three times a week and he goes by "Butch". NOBODY calls him Harold.)
He called me last night and wanted to know what he'd won. I'm thinking about sending him a ........