I’m dragging today.
Sigh!
Yesterday was such a busy day and I am paying the price today.
I don’t know if that means I need to have more days like that as I have become a bit sluggish….. or if it means I might have “overdid” it just a tad. 😉
I was on my feet the whole day, decorating, cooking and organizing a dinner for over 70 people.
It is nothing new as the Captain and I host each month.
Let me explain.
You see, once a month the Captain and I host a themed dinner for our church group and we provide the main dish, decor and all the table settings and entertainment.
This month we had a St. Patrick’s Day theme called “The Luck Of The Irish Mystery Dinner For The Elite Fleet!”
Yes, we named our group the Elite Fleet! 🙂 We are all over 50 years old. This group sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of church functions just for them,…….. sooooooo for the past year we have hosted picnics, dinners and outings.
I LOVE doing it and the rewards are so great as people come up to us and thank us profusely for this time out during their busy or perhaps not so busy week.
Some have said it is their highlight of the month.
That is very satisfying and make all the effort we put into it, entirely worth it.
We had at least 70 people signed up at this month’s event, so I made 13 corned beef briskets with little red potatoes and cabbage.
Others brought the pre-determined menu of Baked Beans, Deviled eggs, Glazed Carrots, Fruit Salads, Dinner Rolls and desserts.
As you can see, there were a variety of green desserts.
So much good food and such a good time.
We also had a St. Patrick’s 3 act skit, which involved 10 suspects and a missing pot of gold from the end of the rainbow.
The suspects had no idea who had taken the gold and the script proved to be hilarious because they had to read the script parts for the first time as I handed them out.
I gave them props to describe who and what their jobs were.
For example, we had a cobbler and his wife, a leprechaun and his wife, a King and his wife, two Irish lads, one a blacksmith and the other a fiddler/shepherd. The two Irish lasses were a seamstress and a milk maid.
Several of the suspects fumbled their lines (which was the intent since they had not seen their script before) and several ad-libbed and used accents.
It was hilarious and all in good fun.
Some said it was the most they had laughed in some time.
We gave everyone cribbage notes to jot down their thoughts on who the “thief” might be.
And of course we gave a prize for the correct answer
… and a prize for the best costume. The two above were the finalists and the prize went to the red bearded leprechaun.
Our Pastor is such a good sport, the prop for him was a small Fedora and he went along with it. His beautiful wife Cindi, in the yellow sweater, also played a part in the skit.
I received lots of compliments on the corned beef and I have a good recipe here that has a brown sugar glaze, if you would care to check it out.
However, Since I had so many to make, I used this simple recipe below.
Tip: place new potatoes and onions in the bottom of the crock pot and place the brisket on top of them. Your veggies will not get mushy this way.
Recipe: One corned beef brisket, 4 cups of water, 6 ounces of beer and the spice packet from the corned beef package. Put it in a crock pot for 8 hours on high.
If adding cabbage, add one head of quartered cabbage in and around the brisket and cook in the crock pot about one more hour for a total of 9 hours.
Yummy and really moist.
Almost everyone wore green which was such fun.
This was a good opportunity to invite one of our neighbors who recently lost a loved one.
Another of our Pastor’s was kind enough to give us a little history on St. Patrick, as well as a short devotional.
All in all, it was really great food and fun and the Captain and I are resting up to do it all over again next month.
Hugs to all and have a great and blessed day.
Nancy Sharp says
Bless you and your husband for this ministry. What fun but a lot of work.
Kari says
You know Nancy, I only think of it as “work” the day after….teehehehe! Go figure! The rest of the month, I love the planning and actually look forward to it.
Thank you Nancy for stopping by and have a great day.
Ross says
Omg that is absolutely fabulous Kari. So much work but how lovely to read how much fun everyone had.
Well done you.
Love and hugs from across the pond xx
Kari says
Thanks Ross…it was such fun. One of the single ladies (Tara Fitzgerald) misread her lines to say (something like) she liked the way Malone MacSweeney fiddles with her when out in the pasture with his flock of sheep …. when she should have said she liked the way he calmed the sheep with his fiddle playing. We were laughing hysterically. And when it was Malone’s turn to speak, he leaned towards Tara and ad libbed he was glad she enjoyed the fiddling….and then he read his next lines. More laughter.
I had downloaded the mystery play from on-line and the instructions were do not read ahead of time, so I didn’t, nor did the ten “suspects” which made it even more fun.
Laughter is the best medicine isn’t it?
Hugs from this side of the pond.