Normally, Edith and I go to
the church chicken dinners by ourselves. But today, we finally got my sister to
go with us (she loves good food but has resisted joining us.) We picked up Anne
and Bruce at their White Oak home around 2 and headed for St. John. We took the
“back roads” to I-275 and exited at Colerain Ave. Growth has continued along
Colerain and the entrance to Dry Ridge Road has changed much during the past few
years. It took just a few minutes to get to the church and the county police and
church volunteers efficiently got us into a parking spot. I noticed that St.
Johns still has the drive-through facility to pick up chicken dinners (it’s the
only one that I know of.)
As we walked to the dinner,
the McBreens met a friend of their son Danny with his little boy. A few minutes
later they met another couple that are also friends of Danny who had their baby
in a carriage -- my sister would like for Danny to also provide her with a
grandchild but he has his own ideas about when this may happen. However, she
and Bruce have five grandchildren from their two other kids to help occupy their
time. But, enough about family; let’s talk about chicken dinners (but I must let
everyone know that we now have our first grandchild, Luke, who now is almost 4
months old – and he’s perfect, of course.) The system for the dinners changed a
little in that purchased tickets are numbered. Blocks of numbers are called on
the PA and we waited only a short time before we heard ours. Besides, it was a
nice summer afternoon to be outside since the front that moved through last night
took away
the high humidity.
It was nice and cool in the
large hall and it looked like the gym was newly painted with fresh sports
mascots and symbols. We had exceptionally friendly and helpful people serving us
food family style. It seems that the chicken was served in such a way that it
was fresh from the fryers, at least ours was. This is the way most people like
it (if it is cooked and held in containers, the chicken stays hot but looses
some of its crispness.) I think that I put this dinner on our list of favorites.
If I didn’t, I should have.
Since it takes place later
in the season, the fresh vegetables are available. The fresh corn cut from the
cob made it to my plate several times. We all liked the cucumber salad. It was
sweet and light (but the lady next to us said that she prefers her own recipe,
which contains mainly vinegar.) The dressing is corn-meal based. My sister loved
it and took a few helpings; it was good but my favorite is made with bread (I
guess there wouldn’t be much variety if we all had the same likes tastes.) Edith
and I have been on the Adkins diet for several months with good results, but
food like this will break down one’s resolve. Oh, did I mention that I capped
things off with a slice of berry pie? Mmn, mmn good!
A lady and her daughter sat
next to us, and the mother told us about all the chicken dinners she attends in
a year. It seems that she has a hand-written list. She calls the churches to
confirm the times and she even calls to let them know if something was not quite
right. She told me that someone at St. Aloysius at Shandon told her that they
use an Internet site to find out about the times and dates for church dinners.
My, my, can you imagine that? Her daughter was visiting from St. Louis to be
with her when she has minor surgery next week. Nice people.
My brother-in-law Bruce had
a big conversation with a couple next to them. The man was an ex-P&G guy who had
worked for a number of years in South America. My sister is a slow eater who
enjoys every bite. Between her eating habits and the chatter at our table, it
turned out that the areas to the left and right of us were cleared and set for
the next arrivals while ours was still in use. They didn’t push us out, but we
finally figured out that our time was over and headed for the door.
I may have two new converts to church chicken dinners. I remain convinced that it’s a wonderful way to spend a few hours on a summer weekend.