Tortilla Soup with Corn Chips, French Bread & Brownies

Today's meal was prepared & served to honor the memory of Shani Friedman.  Her husband Jon donated in her name to the homeless food fund & I in turn wanted to do this for her.  Shani crossed over into the Spirit World about eight months ago very unexpectedly.  I've known Shani & Jon for many, many years, we used to be store neighbors on Grant Road when I had Rainbow Moods, and Jon & Shani had the The Wild Bird Store www.WildBirdsOnline.com at that location.  The store now is at the corner of Fort Lowell & Country Club.  Shani & Jon always were very kind & caring & wonderful neighbors.  Please support their business & their dream.   :)

We fed 52 people today, but again it felt like lots more.  Most of the homeless came back for seconds, so we served close to 90 bowls.   :)   Faith & I chopped up 20 pounds of zucchini, shredded four big fat roasted chicken & added lots of cilantro into two huge pots of soup, which was more like a stoup (a cross between a soup & a stew).  We also had six pounds of corn chips, which were almost all gone & there was very little soup left at the end.  :)  

Heily made a batch of her yummy brownies once more & J.J., Marilyn & I got to sample a few also.  :)   It's always a little treat for us helpers too.  :)

Thank you Dave & Linda for donating some of the food for this meal again, you are ever so & always appreciated !!    :)   I feel very blessed to be part of your family & you are the brother I never had !!   :) 

J.J., Marilyn & Faith, thank you for always showing up & for being such a caring support to me & this project of feeding the people out there !!   :) 

I feel that even though the people in the parks don't have a home, they still deserve the very best food we can provide !!  To me it is unimaginable to not have a roof over my head & the thought of them having to sleep on the hard & dry Arizona ground makes me cry.  So the least I can do is provide a nourishing meal & hopefully make them feel loved a little bit from the inside out & not forgotten or ignored as they often are. 

Sure, it is a lot of work, but it also is very rewarding & the loving gratitude we receive while serving the food makes it all worth while.  So far we have served almost 11,000 meals & that doesn't count the second plates or bowl fulls.  It was quite an adventure to learn to cook such huge quantities & now after having done this for three years, I find it hard to cook very small amounts anymore just for myself.  Thank God for hungry friends & neighbors.   :)  

Good night now everyone & sleep with the Angels !!   :)