Monday 29 June 2009

St. Barnabas Anglican Roast Beef Supper Review

You know those weekends when you don't want to face the kitchen? The whole kitchen; the stove, the fridge, the dirty dishes in the sink? Well, sometimes, the best plan of action is to head to the nearest church hall and let someone else deal with the prepping, serving and clean up.

Most of you will not be shocked to learn that I attended yet another church supper fundraiser this past Saturday. This was a new supper for me, it was fun to have a new supper to discover. Also, I had some new guests in tow, my friend and her daughter joined me on my excursion to Blue Rocks.

I describe Blue Rocks to tourists as "Peggy's Cove, minus the tour buses". A quaint village, with houses perched on rocks, lobster traps in front yards and fishing boats tied up to wharfs.

As expected, this supper was heavily attended, and when we arrived we were faced with what seemed like a loooong wait. But, seasoned pro that I am at these functions, we had timed our arrival just before the second sitting. After we purchased our tickets, we took a stroll down "The Lane" and took a quick peek of the road leading out to "The Point".







As luck would have it, by the time we returned our ticket numbers were being called and we were quickly seated inside.

It was a somewhat cool and damp afternoon, but inside the hall, it was steamy and warm! No doubt from all the bodies, plus hours of steam from all boiled potatoes and carrots in the kitchen.

My little guest was a popular attraction, as we entered the hall she ran in to her school bus driver who joked around with her a bit before we kept moving to our seats. Actually, she knew more people there than I did!

There weren't any other children in the hall that afternoon, so as you can imagine, all eyes were on her. She made many, many grandmothers happy that afternoon. I noticed countless smiles directed in her direction, as she sat at the head of the table, dutifully devouring her plate of food.

Dinner was nice, the menu was as advertised: roast beef and gravy, mashed potatoes, boiled carrots and canned peas graced our plates. A delicious bowl of chow chow was a nice complement to the meal, though I always crave horseradish when I'm eating roast beef. Rolls, coleslaw and bread and butter pickles completed the assortment of side dishes on the table.





The only bummer of the meal was missing out on the blueberry and rhubarb custard pie for dessert. Oh well, next time we'll have to shoot for the first sitting!