September 21, 2023 - Farm to Table Community Dinner in Perryville, Grilled Fish, and Possible Trip

Last Thursday evening we attended the Perryville "Farm to Table Community Dinner" on the square. This dinner is a fundraiser for "Downtown Perryville Advancement", a non-profit corporation which works on projects to revitalize and promote our downtown square.  They have been putting this dinner on for seven years but this is the first year that we have attended. 

The dinner is held from 6:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. on a street just off the square. The meal is served on picnic tables with white linen table clothes, linen napkins, woven placemats, golden tableware, and water and wine for enjoyment with the meal. It was a five-course meal served family style and each course was better than the prior one. Many of the food items were prepared by or donated by local businesses. 

Here are a couple of pictures. The first is as everyone was arriving, staking out a place to sit, and enjoying appetizers, beer and wine.

The lady with the white hair in the following picture is MaryJane Buchheit. Her granddaughter is the organizer of the event and operates a restaurant/bar which she named after her grandmother - "MaryJane's Bar and Grill". It is the white building on the right in the picture below. In addition to Mary Jane's, Carisa operates "JStreet Eats" next door, as well as lofts on the second floor of the buildings. She owns and has rehabbed the entire block.

While eating the meal we were treated to live, easy-listening music by two fellows. One was on the guitar (Roger Prost - I have known him for years) and the other played guitar and sang. I didn't catch the singer's name but I must say he was quite good. You can see them on the left in the picture. 

In the next picture the lady with the blue hair is Angie Hoeckele. She and her husband own "Hoeckele Bakery and Deli" here in town. They baked and donated all of the rolls for the meal.  Hadley's Candy Store in the background is operated by a twelve-year-old who wanted to make many candy options available locally. I hope she makes a million bucks! (I'm a sucker for candy so I'm trying to be a good boy and stay out.)

Here is a picture while everyone was sitting down enjoying the meal. I didn't take this picture but I put it in because of who is in it. The green arrow points to my good friend, John. The red arrow points to Kelly. I'm not sure where I was at the time.

We were blessed with beautiful weather for the event. All of the food was wonderful and plentiful. One course came right after another. I was absolutely stuffed. It is great to see the community turn out for this event. I must say, however, that I was surprised at how few people I knew. We were some of the oldest people there. I guess that is life, you retire, and younger people take over the reins. I am proud of what they are doing to keep our community vital.

 

Grilled fish:

Saturday I pulled all of the Northern Pike caught in Minnesota out of the freezer and prepared them to be grilled. They made nice fillets. I gave them a good coating of Old Bay and turned the heat on low, watching them the entire time so I wouldn't overcook them. 

Northern Pike taste great but they are full of tiny pin bones. Once the fillets cooled, I sat on the deck and picked all the bones out. It was a beautiful day to sit outside and complete this tedious task while listening to a some great music. The meat is now ready for fish tacos or fish soup when we get the urge.

Homer Trip:

We have had no word on when Homer may be out of the shop. We are hoping by October 4th so we can head to Helena, Arkansas, to attend the "King Biscuit Blues Festival". We have been going to this three-day event off and on for over fifteen years. There are usually four music venues going at once. Unfortunately, none of the venues have shade for sitting and listening to music. The last time we went was two years ago, but it was so hot we left after only one day. For a $75.00 donation to the Fire Department we can park Homer in a field with other campers  behind the main stage. There is no shade there either and no hookups. While we can run the generator to cool Homer and then sit inside until evening when it cools off, that is not our style. We like to roam around throughout the day with our folding chairs enjoying the different music playing in the various venues. When it is really hot this isn't fun for these old folks. If Homer is ready and the weather looks to be bearable, we will head out. I'll report.