INSULATING WITH FAT

       It's turned off COLD here—below freezing. Had to warm the car a good 10 minutes before heading out this morning. NOT complaining! The folks who came to lunch have no car to warm, no furnace issues (mine put a dent in my wallet this week), no wallet… and they have come in en masse, compared to our usual numbers. The shelter served 54 dinners last night!
       Joey gave me two #10 cans of corned beef hash. Researching the #10 can, I find that it contains 12 servings (we got 15+), and it weighs about 6-1/2 pounds. Try holding that with one hand while scooping it into a pan with the other! Even with Joey's help, by the time I browned four batches of hash in the super-large frying pan, my arms were exhausted. The rest of me was complaining too.
       The frying pan holds only half a can, and as each batch browned, Joey would scrape it into a large aluminum baking pan. We filled two baking pans, and I made 15 little nests in each one. I broke a raw egg into each nest and Joey put the pans in the ovens. Today's efforts demanded a lot more muscle than I have.
       Joey baked a big pan of sausages because he, personally, wanted a sausage biscuit. Then he baked the only 3 biscuits he had. He also put a huge pan of delicious ham in the oven—left over from Friday—and two #10 cans of spinach on to boil.
       As I watched our lunch menu develop, literally on the fly, I felt like we needed grits. No excuse for those, but when you're serving up that much fat and carbs, you might as well go big. So I cooked about a gallon of grits and added cheese and butter. People! That lunch was death on a plate!
       When I'd begun frying the hash, Joey had said despairingly that the pre-release wouldn't eat it. I told him they ate it before. He argued that this group wouldn't eat it. He was wrong.
       Imagine coming to lunch and finding your plate heaped with cheese grits, spinach, corned beef hash (with poached egg), two sausage patties, and baked ham. This was beyond a doubt the least healthy meal we've ever served and by far the most popular. One very young woman in the pre-release group was not shy about expressing her glee at the sight of those plates. We served about 8 folks in that group—4 had seconds.
       Our homeless numbered around 20-25. These "snow birds" are the saddest of the sad. They would not be at a shelter if the weather were such that they could sleep outdoors—or in whatever unheated place they generally abide. Bitty Baby and Brother are still at Grandmother's because it's too cold to take the children out to walk. Mom said the kids will remain there until she and Dad get out of the shelter. In fact, we had NO children today.
       ONE is still minding the door, no doubt waiting for a daytime replacement. He very much enjoyed partaking of the kitchen's offerings. I wish you could hear his PA-system announcements—such a funny man. He's working in a very serious place, but he never lets that kill his sense of humor. If ever such talents were needed, they are needed there!
       Mr. Huggy arrived after the church hour. I got a one-arm hug and gave him a plate to take home. He's exhausted from seasonal duties, and I reminded him to delegate, but he won't. You know how those people are—gotta be hands-on (no reference to his past endeavors).
       For dinner tonight, Joey has put two large pans of leftover turkey in the oven. A lot of turkey has been frozen, so for next Sunday, I offered to make Brunswick stew with it. Joey has a LIST of what to order, and really, I think the only thing he doesn't already have is lima beans... so we'll see.
       Many of our diners stopped to thank us before leaving. Fat IS festive!