Thanks for the recipes

[arnie]

I’ve been running a tad too hard enjoying what like has to offer, but the trade off has been no time to smoke and no time to rest. It has been causing me severe hickory withdrawal. I made plans with my older brother and sister to make a quick run to visit our baby sister in Missouri last weekend. She has had a tough start to the year. Two brain surgeries and has just started chemo therapy and radiation treatments and something new called cyber-knife.

Baby sis asked me to cook for all the kinfolk, since I like doing that Her kids were going to be home also. I was more than happy to oblige. It is a 7 hour drive for big sis and I and 14 hours for my big brother. I had to work Friday and we all had to leave Sunday after breakfast. I knew I couldn’t do anything fancy or long like a brisket or a pork butt, but I knew I just had to smoke something

A couple hundred gazillion down and dirty quick and easy recipes from the forum came to mind. The hard part was narrowing choices down to the meals allotted lunch, supper on Saturday, and breakfast Sunday morning. I finally decided on moinkloaf, baked beans, ABTs, mashed taders and gravy for lunch and a good old catfish fry with all the fixens for supper. Breakfast is a cakewalk anytime. For breakfast we had blueberry pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs.

I loaded up the smoker, a cooler full of provisions, and some smoked pepper jack cheese for passing around and set out. Saturday morning I set up my kitchen and commenced to do the things I enjoy most in life, cooking and visiting which is followed real closely by watching people enjoy eating while they visit with one another.

I think my 5 year old grand-nephew devoured more of that moinkloaf than any of the adults. He kept saying “I can’t get enough of this meatloaf”. I know the saying is without the Qview it didn’t happen, but I had my hands full and it all disappeared quite rapidly and that’s what puts a smile on my face.

Collectively we have had hundreds of friends praying for our baby sis and us, and I believe we were able to see the difference that it has made for her. It was very good for me to see my baby sis, witness her recovery process, and be able to give her something she enjoys.

I can’t thank all of you enough for taking the time to share your recipes and your thoughts on what works and what doesn’t. It made my weekend come together so much easier.

 

[SmokinAl]

God bless you, our prayers are with you & your sis.

 

[tyotrain]

prayers with you and your family..

 

[Dutch]

Arnie, sorry to hear this about your sister. I really belive in the power of collective prayers, I have placed your sister and oyour family on my prayer list. 

 

[fpnmf]

We are thinking about you and yours...

  Craig

 

[scarbelly]

We have her covered in our thoughts and prayers

 

[Bearcarver]

Many prayers coming from here, to you, Baby Sis, and the rest of your family !

Bear

 

[arnie]

I am grateful for the thoughts and prayers from my Smoking Meat family

Dutch, my wife is a minister so believe me when I say I have witnessed first hand the power of prayer. However, the most powerful message I have ever received about prayer was given to me by a professed atheist.

When our son was young we almost lost him to a chronic illness that took nearly a year to diagnose and several years to treat. Not to mention the constantly fighting with our HMO over healthcare and treatment. I had a contractor coming to work with me for a week every month. This gentleman was from South Africa and had a very thick accident.  I never discussed anything about my personal life with him, but over several months he picked up enough tid-bits in passing from my coworkers to understand the seriousness of the situation.

One Friday while we were taking a lunch break he asked me if it was ok for him to talk to me about something personal. After I told him he could he proceeded to tell me what he had learned in passing about my son and the turmoil our family was going through from my very caring coworkers. I was quite surprised at how much he had picked up because we generally were around other people only long enough for “hi how’s it going”.

Then he told me that he was an atheist, had been all his life, and he just did not believe in God. But that his wife was a Christian and believed very much in God. He went on to say his wife hosted and attended many prayer circles where they would pray for themselves and others and that I just would not believe the miracles he has seen occur because of these prayers. He very strongly urged me to pray for my son and ask other people to join me in prayer. I felt a cold chill run up my spine as he ministered to me. That was 20 years ago and my eyes still leak whenever I think about it.  

It took me a minute to regain my composure then I told him he would not believe how many people were praying for my son and that we had already seen small miracles happen. His next words made every hair on my body stand up. He looked me square in the eye and said then I don’t know why you are worrying about it. Let go of it.  It’s time to go back to work.

We finished the day going about our business in silence because I was too numb to speak. We never discussed it again and he only came back one more time. I’ve never seen him since. Once in a great while I hear his name mentioned around the business, and I think of him and the lesson he taught me often,  

 

 

[smokin relaxin steve]

My Prayers and thoughts go out to your Sis & your family! Stay strong my friend!