The BIRDS Have Arrived!! YIKES!

 First of all, thank you to everyone for your kind words about the kitchen work.  It takes a village ... it's just better if they aren't ALL in the kitchen at the same time.  Amazingly, THIS time I came home unscathed ... no cuts, burns or missing fingers.  It was a good day.

So here's a little tip from the Chef that I picked up.  It's something I haven't seen before.  Well actually, I saw it, but didn't know what it was.

You know that cold extra crispy lettuce you get at some places?  Ever wonder how it gets that way?  I always thought it funny that my lettuce wilted the day I opened it, even if it was 7 days before the pull date.  Here's what I discovered.  The already chopped lettuce is placed in big restaurant pans of cold water and stuck in the fridge.  

When you are ready to serve, you take it out, stick it in a large salad spinner and VOILA!!!  Cold crispy lettuce.  Just because it works at the lodge, doesn't mean it will work in MY kitchen.  So I'm testing it out on some leftover Cole slaw (without dressing of course) to see if I can duplicate it.  You change the water every two days, and they SAY you can do this for about a week.  

In other words, I'm going to be your guinea pig and see if it works at home.  I'll let you know.  Of course cabbage is not lettuce, so I'll be picking up a package of salad at the store for further testing.

It was a long day yesterday, trying to recuperate from the 30 pound pan lifting exercises of the senior dinner.  My quads remember very well the fact that our warming containers had to be placed on the floor.  Oh my aching knees.

It was VERY weird when I went back to the lodge last night for the initiation.  A little hard to see, but there are literally thousands upon thousands of blackbirds swarming around the Black Bear Diner.  That tree that looks like it has leaves?  It's all crows.  Every light standard is full too ... kind of like Hitchcock's movie The BIRDS.  

Apparently it's because this is mating season, or maybe it's because Black Bear Diner has the best food in town.  

Except for the Lodge however.  Every night there is an initiation, there is a steak dinner.  As you know, I'm not really a steak fan (I always ask for the smallest one), but I must admit, this New York was quite tasty.   That's actually a normal sized dinner plate with a "small" steak.   It looked like they dipped it in some spice/oil mixture after barbecuing.  It was DELICIOUS!  And smothered in mushrooms!  Sadly, my potato was hard as a rock ... left in the ovens too long.  Really, I had to saw on it for 20 seconds, just to cut a piece loose.  

Top that off with garlic bread and thank goodness ... NO green beans.  Instead, we stuffed ourselves with peach cobbler and ice cream!!  All this for $20.  It was a huge success, with the raffle NETTING $1,300.00.  How could that be you ask?  Because this is a farming community ... and it was Farm Equipment night!  The Elks Lodge members know how to support their neighbors.

After dinner was an epically long meeting.  Initiations are long drawn out ceremonies.  Think back to the old days of miners organizations set up to help themselves and others survive.  NONE of those ceremonies have changed in a hundred years.  

It's all very patriotic and every new members gets an American Flag as a memento.  That's pretty cool in my book. 

Following all that, there is yet another raffle.  This time for 15 leftover frozen turkeys.  I couldn't believe it, my number was FINALLY called, but I already HAVE a turkey, so I donated it back, to be won by a new member.  

All that took forever, and it was after 10:00 by the time I got out the door.  I'm still on Arizona time, so I get up an hour earlier ... and then have to stay up an hour LATER for these meetings.  I'm exhausted!!

After a quick breakfast of leftover steak, I'll be asleep on the couch ... at least until the Painters return.  Oh yes ... the painters ... that's tomorrow's story!!