Friday, Farmer H brought home a carryout meal from the Senior Center. My head is still spinning from the resulting (and previous) conversations.
Thursday, Farmer H brought home TWO carryout meals from the Senior Center. I had still not recovered from THAT explanation.
"I brung you a pork steak from the Senior Center."
"Okay. I can have that tonight. Will I still be making your supper?"
"Yes."
So I was prepared to go forward with his planned-on supper of chicken patties on bun, with a side of waffle fries.
When I went to look in FRIG II while Farmer H was out mowing the lawn, I saw TWO black plastic trays, the kind you find inside a frozen microwave dinner. Each had some steamed broccoli, mashed potatoes with a dab of brown gravy, and two thin pork chops. When Farmer H came in, he said he really wasn't hungry. He'd eaten that for his lunch, and just wanted the ONE dessert he'd brought home, and a snack. He called the dessert "Mexican cheesecake." Not sure what it really was, but he was welcome to it.
Anyhoo... I had to interrogate him further.
"You're full after eating one of those frozen dinners?"
"They're not frozen, HM. The girls cook the food there at the Senior Center. I had my regular tray, and they give me two more pork steaks."
"You mean pork chops. So you had the regular meal they warmed up and put on your tray, plus two more of the meats?"
"They don't warm frozen food, HM! They cook it! They give it to us on a tray, like them yellow ones we got, and put the rest of it in those black trays to send to the shut-ins."
"I don't believe that for a minute! Those are exactly like frozen meal plastic trays! You're saying they put the food in, and seal the top with a clear plastic shrink-wrap?"
"YES! I've done it myself, helping them."
"That's really hard to believe. How come when you bring a dinner home, it's in white styrofoam with a flip top?"
"That's the ones that's left over, HM! How can you not understand? The take-out meals are in black plastic that they put them in. For people who don't come to the center. But for people who call in to pick up, they go in the white ones. Or what they give some of us to bring home."
"It all sounds fishy to me..."
Anyhoo... so here came the fish in a white styrofoam container on Friday.
"You can have it if you want. I just had it for lunch. There's a piece of catfish, and some baked beans, and fries, and corn muffins. I can eat the other pork steak dinner. Or you can. You can pick, and I'll have the other one."
"Well, I only want the fish, and a few fries. You can have the beans, and the corn muffins. Are you sure it's corn muffins? That seems odd to go with that meal. Do you mean hush puppies?"
"No! It's corn muffins."
I took Farmer H's word for it. You know what a mistake that always is! When I went to FRIG II to start warming Farmer H's assorted leftovers, I did NOT see any corn muffins in that white styrofoam container. But there was a small white square styrofoam container. Which revealed a square piece of cherry pie. Funny how Farmer H had never mentioned it! But nevermind, I don't like pie anyway.
"Hey! I don't see any corn muffins in here! Just these little things that I can't tell what they are."
"Them round things? They're corn muffins!"
"They are the size of quarters! They are not bread! They might be hush puppies..."
"They are NOT hush puppies, HM! They are corn muffins! They have corn in them!"
"Huh. Maybe they're some type of corn fritter. But definitely not corn muffins! You never can explain anything!"
"YOU are the one who can't understand anything! Like them containers!"
I gave up. I warmed up Farmer H's pork chops, broccoli, mashed potatoes, baked beans, corn thingies, half the fries, and the two rolls he'd brought in a separate container with the pork chops on Thursday. Then he ate the cherry pie.
Farmer H is definitely not going to starve to death. No. His possible demise would be more violent, if my angry brain cells are able to escape my skull...
5 comments:
Frankly, I do not believe Farmer H has helped put meals in black plastic and sealed them with shrink wrap. He may have helped load them onto trays to go to people in the rooms who don't come to the dining area. They do sound exactly like store bought frozen meals to me. it just doesn't make sense for a kitchen to go to all that trouble when it is far easier to fill the styrofoam containers and send those around. I hope your fish dinner was nice.
You are such a great source of entertainment! The coversations you have with him always make me laugh.
River,
I KNOW! Farmer H has such a history of giving misinformation that it is hard to take what he says as the absolute truth! Everything he has ever brought home has been in the white styrofoam containers.
A couple days later, he described the machine that puts the plastic on top and shrink-wraps it by heat. He said the "cooks" stack them in the freezer before they are sent to the homebound people who get food delivered on a daily basis. He also said that some people come in and get 60 meals! That sounds excessive. I'm back to not-believing! But he says they keep them in their freezer and microwave them.
It's hard to believe the center would have 60 meals stored in their freezers, taking up room. And that a person coming to get that many would want to eat the same thing over and over...
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Kathy,
Sadly, they only make ME laugh to avoid crying in frustration!
It's possible some people get 60 meals and distribute them to (maybe) homeless people?
River,
All I have is Farmer H's word about somebody getting 60. He acted like it was for their own use. I don't know if they paid the $4-$5 per meal that they ask people to "donate" or if they qualify for the "Meals on Wheels" kind of free program that will normally deliver each day.
Farmer H says some people get two meals per day. I don't know all the specifics. I'm thinking this was just somebody who doesn't like people coming to their house every day, and wanted a stockpile of meals to eat daily.
Nobody around here distributes food to homeless people. They are just here and there, since the city ran them out of a small encampment under a bridge over by the cemetery, which was becoming bigger, and unsightly, and unsafe. I suppose they can go to some of the local places that give out boxes of food.
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