Pork Tacos, Beans, Spanish Rice - and Chris from Tucson Appliance Co.

Some of you know that Hilde & I have been cooking all this time on a stove with just one big burner & three small ones.  :o   It made things considerably harder, especially with those great big pots we are cooking in.  One pot was almost done & the other one wasn't even warm yet.  So our friend Mark Irvin contacted Chris Edwards, the owner of Tucson Appliance Co., & asked him for a stove for us.   :)
Chris was as gracious as ever & gave us a reconditioned flat top stove that is a major improvement over the 28 year old one we had.   :)   Chris, thank you once more for your kind & loving support & for always being there for us !!   May you always be blessed for your generosity !!  :)  

Everyone who reads my blog, please support Chris & his business whenever you are in the market for appliances.  :)  Thank you Mark for your kind support also !!   :)

So today we used the new stove for the first time & what an incredible difference it made to be able to use two big burners & once we figured out the oven it worked great also !!   :)  

Thank you Sue for helping us chop, dice, & pull pork all afternoon !!  :)  You are so much appreciated !!  :)  We couldn't have done this without you !!  :)

We fed 45 people today & the meal consisted of pulled pork tacos, beans & Spanish rice.  It was a big success, the homeless loved it & many got seconds.  :)  Hilde makes the best Spanish rice & I make some pretty good pinto beans, if I could brag a little bit for a second.  :)   We served shredded lettuce with lots of cilantro in it, diced tomatoes, Mexican cheese mix, sour cream, salsa, cookies, some V8 Juice & some sodas, along with cookies. 

Thank you Lee D. for donating all those sodas, especially when it is so hot outside !!  :) 

My whole house still smells like tacos, rice & beans.  :)  Makes me feel hungry.  ;)

J.J. & Mark B., thank you so much for bailing us out by helping serve, since I was short two helpers today & we had so many different things to serve !!   It was really nice to see you both, & to stand in the serving line with you again, J.J., after all this time.  Brought back many memories of days gone by & the meals we served then.  :)  The only thing missing were the cupcakes.  ;)   Thank you also J.J. for the pizza money help !!  :) 

At Estevan Park we made a big Spirit Plate for Mike & everyone shared a little of their food with him.  :)  We then set the plate on a branch of one of his favorite trees & made a circle around it, holding hands.  :)  J.J. said a dear prayer for Mike & we all followed with our own words for him.  It was a sweet good bye to Mike & it felt a little more like closure in a small way.  We all miss him & his always happy face & attitude !!  :) 

Marilyn, thank you for helping serve & then afterwards for helping me clean up the food, dishes & the kitchen !!  :)  You can have all the cookies you want, whenever you want them.  :)   You are such a dear Friend & I am very grateful for you !!   :) 

And I can never thank Dave & Linda enough for donating some of the food we serve & their unconditional support of this endeavor !!  :)

Hilde deserves a great big trophy for being such trooper everytime we cook & serve.  I hope I am as strong & alert as she is when I'm going on 89 !!  :)   Hilde your Angel wings are huge !!  :)

Time to get some rest now !!  :)  It has been a long, happy & fullfilling day !!   :)