Dutch Oven Dinner

Late this afternoon we drove down to the Big Bend Community College (BBCC) in Moses Lake to a Dutch Oven Dinner. The event was held on the patio outside the new library/community building at BBCC. Many years ago -- in the seventies -- I got my start in nursing with an Associate of Nursing degree there as a Licensed Practical Nurse (Mabel Scott, the late Director of Nursing at Samaritan Hospital in Moses Lake refused to hire me, saying that I needed to go on and get my Registered Nurse license and Baccalaureate in Nursing. But that's a story for another day...)

We drove around a bit to see all of the changes there had been in the campus since then. BBCC is located on the grounds of the deactivated Larson Air Force Base. It's certainly a different place from when I went to school there in a little two room surplus building.

Our friends, Katharine and Dennis had purchased the Dutch Oven Dinner donated by the Columbia Basin Dutch Oven Society at the BBCC Foundation Auction earlier this year. They invited ten of their friends to join them. The Society prepared a five course meal for us in their Dutch Ovens.

We had an appetizer course of crab stuffed mushrooms, then a vegetable salad served in these colorful half peppers --

We were so busy talking and eating that I didn't take pictures of the rest of the meal. We had a most interesting fresh tomato bisque-style soup prepared with gin; then a main course of prime rib, fingerling potatoes, green beans and rolls. The finale was a deliciously moist chocolate cherry rum cake.

I kick myself that I didn't walk over and take a picture of the Society crew and their Dutch Ovens. I know there were at least seven or eight of them heaped with ashy charcoal briquettes on their lids. I did find a picture of one in a catalog --

All in all, it was a most delightful evening. The weather was perfect for sitting outdoors and the conversation was lively and fun. Thank you, Katharine and Dennis!