Don and Linda Casey

Dinner February 21, 2011 at the Ronald McDonald House in San Francisco

Our meal last night was wonderful.  Once again, we fed the wonderful families and staff at the Ronald McDonald House in San Francisco.    After the warm welcome I received in January, Don joined in the fun and helped out with our February dinner.  Everyone enjoyed the meal which ended with Triple Chocolate Brownie Sundaes (not in the picture).  Staff, who were not on duty, came in just to eat with us; a family I’d met in January who’s little one was discharged from the hospital,  came back just to say hello and share some food.

It warms my heart to be able to do this, to offer a bit of normalcy to people who’s lives are turned upside down when their child is so ill.  As much as this does for them, it does as much, or more, for me. I am filled with gratitude today for all that I have and the health and safety of our family.  (You have the same opportunity to feel this good 😉

On technical note.  If you read the menu from the last posting, you will see that there was only a turkey and not the ham along with it.  Well, when the turkey came off the smoker on Sunday night, we deboned it, there was only 5 lbs of meat in a 12 lb bird.  Hmmmmm, that wasn’t going to do.  Water injected and deboned, the loss of 7 lbs was surprising.  Don popped out in the morning, picked up a 10lb ham and voila, meat for the crowd.

We’re scheduling the next meal for March.

Anyone can volunteer

Today we’re prepping to cook again at the SF Ronald McDonald House; dinner for 25.

The menu is set:

Smoked BBQ Turkey (a specialty of Don’s)
Wheat Berry Waldorf Salad
Maple Glazed Winter Squash and Parsnips
Honey Whole Wheat Rolls
Brownie Sundaes

The turkey’s been sitting in the bring since yesterday. Apple juice, oranges, ginger and more make up this wonderful brew. Today, Don will smoke the bird and baste it with a Chardonnay Butter sauce. Tomorrow we’ll warm the meat gently at the house.

Three batches of dinner rolls are sitting on the counter rising. This afternoon I’ll bake 4 batches of triple chocolate fudge brownies and serve them with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. The recipe says one batch makes 64 1″ brownies…who are they kidding?

The wheat berry salad is delish…I’ve made this before. The squash/parsnip is new, but what’s now to love about vegi’s roasted in maple syrup? Epicurious.com gave this recipe 4 stars.

We’ll bake the squash at the house so the smell of cooking with fill the air.  The rest we’ll prep today and tomorrow morning.

Interesting how this meal ends up looking a lot like Thanksgiving….