Smoking a bunch o' food for a charity auction..

[OU812]

Doing things for a charity is always a good thing.

I do up a bunch of snack sticks, summer sausage and jerky for the girls on the fast pitch softball team for there fund raiser every year. Just trying to help.

The only thing I ask for is to get my coolers back.

[squirtthecat]

Yeah, everybody pitches in for this one.  It's not a big school (only 130 kids right now), but they are a tight-knit family..   It'll be fun.

[ArnieM]

Squirt, wish there wasn't several hours between our home towns, I'd be honored to "sport cook" with you!  I've never called it "sport cooking" I usually just account for it as over indulgence on my part, but I love to cook for people.  A few times a year a few flyfishing buddies and fellow river rats get together for a weekend on the river - guess who cooks?  A big youth group gets together 2 times a year - guess who cooks?  To say thank you to the customers at the fly shop - there is a saturday cook out in back of the store a couple times a year- guess who cooks?  A couple of charity fundraisers - guess who gets to cook?  I get to pull a smoker up to one of our jobsites and who gets to cooks ribs for the whole crew?    My traeger is currently living (hiding from the wife in actuality) at the office - and guess what - they get smoked goodies frequently!   I love it.  But then who got offered a restaurant by his best friend - a floating restaurant - floating in a very pretty lake not 1 1/4 hours from Nashville at a popular and busy marina.  Did I say the restaurant is on the lake that below the dam is the river I most frequently fish!  Someplace to cook for people to my heart's desire and actually get paid for it and in a beautiful setting?  Who?  Yes me!  Who jumped at the opportunity?  Not me!  (in some ways still kicking myself!).  Unfortunately the opportunity came at a very bad time for me - Had my wife and daughter both in grad school at Vanderbilt.  Had to support them, so did not have cash or the time or the risk at the time. ----  dang, dang, dang, dang.    With the extra two days off a week given to me by the state of the economy, I've looked for a place (restaurant) that would allow me to smoke beside their restaurant and them sell the food - no luck yet!  No creativity here in Nashvegas.  A friend of mine lost his 40 year old family business when the landlord suddenly sold the building out from under him in a shady deal.  He's been looking for a place to reopen, and I gave him the idea to help attract business that we open up a BBQ restaurant for at least 2 or 3 days a week as part of his new operations, but he hasn't found a place inexpensive enough in an area he wants - plus he seems really down and not driven to get his business back up.  sigh!

Wow CS, that's one hell of a story!  I think 'dang' is putting it pretty mildly.  How long ago was the floating restaurant deal?  What's happened to it since whenever it was?  The state of the economy has left me unemployed and I'll probably 'officially' retire next year.  I have no real ties here and have a few bucks plus I'm getting tired of New England winters.  Any ideas?  Send me a message.

[squirtthecat]

Update.

Auction was last night... 



('master' - ha..  someone was trying to kiss up to the 4th grade teacher's husband! :D)


It brought in $475.   And the best part is that some friends of ours won the high bid on it, so it might turn into a big party, anyway!   I told them to pick whatever they want and I'll smoke piles of it. 

You call, I haul.

They want to try a whole turkey, so I'll have to do some reading/research on that one.  I've seen some tasty ones come across the board just in the last few days..

[pensrock]

That was really a cool thing to do and I'm sure the winners of the auction are licking their lips already. Great job.

[squirtthecat]

Yeah, it helped that the 'beef' choice for dinner was brisket, and it tasted like it was boiled, then microwaved.   Everyone was still hungry!   :D

[Tenpoint5]

Good Job Squirt $475 is a nice chunk of change for the school

[ArnieM]

Nice looking package squirt.  Based on the final price, it looks like someone knew what they were buying into.  :D

[classicrockgriller]

Nice Job squirt. The school should be smilin from ear to ear too

[squirtthecat]

Nice looking package squirt.  Based on the final price, it looks like someone knew what they were buying into.  :D

Oh yes...   They were at a party at our house a while back, and I had a brisket going in the smoker, and MOINK balls in a roaster.   I hooked them right then and there.  ;)  

All of the other auctions were going for a fraction of that, as things are tight for a lot of these folks.  I was extremely pleased with the 475.

[Habanero Smoker]

Congratulations on your successful auction.

[smokeitall]

Nice story STC, I enjoyed reading it.  Way to go.
SIA

[FLBentRider]

Nice STC - I can't wait to see the pics.

[Hopefull Romantic]

Nice work STC. You made yourself proud

HR

[squirtthecat]

Thanks guys!  I love cooking, and this gives me another excuse to play with raw meat, spices and smoking wood..  (and beer)

Nice STC - I can't wait to see the pics.

Oh yeah, I'll have pictorials of all of it...

Food I have to make and give away.   :D


The couple that won the auction are friends of ours, and they are staying with us in Charleston, SC next weekend.  We'll try to formulate their menu choices/times/dates then.

He was flipping through the pictures on my phone at the auction...    He called it a MEAT MENU.
I'll have my laptop, and probably the wife's HP Mini as well.   I'll be sure bring up some smoked meat p*rn for him to look at from this forum!