Well, to paraphrase Thumper, “if you don’t have something to
write about, don’t write nuthin’ at all”.
Kind of adopted that philosophy lately as my time has been taken up with
a couple of events and my Rotary Club.
Being the club's secretary, I have lots of mundane “duties” to take care of, like
beating dues out of the membership, collecting funds for our Charter Night
(Installation of a new BOD) dinner, and so forth.
The other project we recently took on is actually related to food (or
lack thereof). There are a lot of people
in St. Mary’s county that have to deal with “food insecurity”, which means they don’t
know where their next meal is coming from.
They depend on agencies like the “Soup Kitchen” to provide for
them. There also are a whole lot of “food
pantries” around that give out food to those in need.
Most are in the faith based community and are run out of various
churches. The pantries have to get their
food from local grocers, donations, etc.
The other source of food is from two “food banks”, the Maryland Food Bank,
and the Southern Maryland Food Bank. The
former is located in Baltimore, and the latter in Waldorf. Neither “delivers”, forcing the non-profits to drive to get food, requiring trucks, volunteers, refrigeration, etc. They get what they get, never sure of what is
available. Without going into more
depth, the whole situation is a mess (which nonetheless meet a lot of needs and
aid to those who need help). Different open
hours, days, etc.
So our club is setting out to open a local Food Bank here in Lexington Park, where
the pantries can come and get food to distribute without driving all over. The Maryland Food Bank has agreed to deliver
food to us for two years at which point it would be hopefully self-sustainable. We hope to engage the local pantries and
churches. Right now they all do their
own thing and forming a “coalition” could help alleviate some of the hunger in
the county. Of course there are many obstacles
to address and overcome, but it seems like a very worthwhile goal.
Speaking of goals
Or should I say goooooooooooooooaalllllllllll! I hope you
have been able to see some of the World Cup soccer (futbol) matches. Much drama, such as defending Champion
Germany not making it out of the group stage. Messi (soccer’s LeBron) not having a very good
tournament, but just enough to scrape Argentina out of the group play and into
the “Round of 16”, the surprising emergence of Croatia, the brilliant play of
Rinaldo (for Portugal) is just great.
And the fans are amazing, often in costume, always singing, dancing, and
having a wonderful time. Quite
refreshing..
Here we go again
Well, it seems like there is no end of people wanting to open
restaurants. You know the little place “up
the road (235)” in Laurel Grove, which has been alternatively dark and open
under several guises, the latest being “Zee Best Café” A stringer report gives me the info that it
will now become “Granny’s Country
Kitchen”. Will provide updates as
able.
Red Hen
I can’t help but comment on the recent events at The Red
Hen, a restaurant in Lexington, Virginia.
It has been open a few years, and as I recall, by a pretty well
respected chef. Well, I’m sure you’ve
heard the reports of the Presidential Press Secretary being asked/directed to
leave during their dinner. As a foodie/
restaurant person, you just can’t do that!
If you open a place to the public you can’t pick and choose your
customers. You may not agree with their
politics or personality, but they deserve the opportunity to enjoy a meal
without being interfered with by management and asked to leave. Very Bad.
A sad note
Sometime within the past couple of years, I struck up a
e-friendship with another Food Blogger who wrote a little newsletter called Southern
Maryland Food and Drink. It was always informative,
gave objective reviews, usually in more depth than this office. We had arranged several times to meet for
lunch or wine tastings, and somehow never did.
Well, we’ll now have to meet in the big restaurant in the sky. Don H. was diagnosed with a vigorous form of
cancer maybe two months ago, and passed away just recently. He will live on in my toasts now.
So that’s it for now, do not forget to
DFD
And oh yeah, carry the flag for
NMMJ!
No comments:
Post a Comment