Stauffer Kitchen Closed
What a whirl wind in the Stauffer Avenue kitchen. We are preparing for a Curry family picnic on Sunday. There usually isn’t much activity in our kitchen as Dennis and I enjoy one meal each day and it does not have multiple entries. The best part is that there is nothing that has gotten splattered onto the ceiling. Not like the eggs that I let boil dry several summers ago. Yup . . . they exploded and the skylight needed cleaning.
So . . . you may ask why Dennis and I decided to prepare all the food. I can recall in the late 60s and early 70s, we would have 4th of July picnics. How could we not as Kevin’s birthday was on the 4th. Oh so many of Orlin’s siblings’ families and from my family. Everyone brought something. Here would come an aunt in the early forenoon with raw chicken on ice needing a fry pan to do her “to share” dish. “Splattering grease . . . watch where you walk.” There are only so many lineal feet of a serving table. Fifteen to twenty small dishes of soups to nuts is difficult to manage and towards the end we would have been thrilled to find chop sticks to use as serving utensils. Oh for the memories. I would do it all over again in a heart beat.
By three thirty today there was a calm in the Stauffer Avenue kitchen. All dishes have been prepared and are in the refrigerator. I love the co-mingling process of flavors. The hubs of three crock-pots are in the garage on the serving table, ready to receive their portion of the picnic Sunday morning and then hit “On.” Dennis has multiple electrical plugins ready as we don’t want to be blowing any circuits. Potato Salad and the ring pasta salad dishes will be sitting on a pan of ice.
Dennis’ daughter had good suggestions for the day keeping in mind safe gatherings. There are several containers of hand sanitizers available. No finger food. The refrig in the basement has 20 plus individual baggies chilling with grapes. Dennis has filled individual baggies of Chex Mix, individual wraped Rice Krispies and . . . we call that the dessert options.
Neighbor Jan gave me a great idea for fixing the beef Ball Park wieners, seeing as we don’t do grilling. They do look a bit bland right out of the package. Her idea is to put them on a cookie sheet in the oven for a short time for the exterior to bubble a bit and then slide them under the broiler for a bit to get the rest of the color on them. She assured me they would look wonderful in a crock-pot. Dennis commented that one thing that is awkward is runny Bar-B-Q that is to stay in a bun. He was right. After all the cooking of flavors was done, I mixed a bit of corn starch with a small amount of cold water. Ramping up the heat as that is what makes the corn starch work its wonder, I poured the mixture evenly over the top of the Bar-B-Q. Yup! The meat will stay on and in the bun with no alterations of flavor.
I am off the clock for making supper. Dennis has plenty to choose from as I left a bit of everything on a supper dish.
It’s Friday. Kick back and realize the wonderful week you have put in whether at work, in the yard or checking out a few chapters in a book. Everyone has their niche. I plan on having mine next week.
I will admit getting to this point for the picnic has been all encompassing. When the scraping and painting was done, I thought I was done and could see if my sewing machine still worked. How could I not kick in and help Dennis cleaning and washing out the garages. Did we know at that time we would be using the garages for the picnic . . . No! Is it going to feel wonderful to be able to set up multiples tables in the clean garages for eating . . . Yes! No one enjoys sitting at a table eating on the patio if the sun is blinding. As I said . . . next week may find me in my nightie feeling the day for what it may bring.