A busy week filled with lots of work and play

Thursday was a busy night and Friday a busy morning cooking up 10 gallons of Navy Bean Soup for a friend who runs a street ministry and feeds homeless people at a shelter. This was the first time I volunteered to provide the food. The sight of all the food plus the smells coming from the kitchen have given my crew dreams of sugar plums or whatever makes Rottweilers hungry. After breakfast they didn't go too far away to take their morning nap.

 

 

A little back story to the 10 gallons of Navy Bean Soup.
During my years in the U.S. Coast Guard I was a cook on a small Lifeboat Station with a crew of 20 men. This was between 1958 and 1962 and much of this station was a leftover from the 2nd World War and in the galley I found an old Navy Cook Book. The recipes and quantities were written to prepare meals for 100-500 people and I had to scale down the quantities for the much smaller meals I was cooking.

When I took on this project a few days ago I found it necessary to go in the opposite direction since cook books didn't have recipes for large crowds. I knew what all the ingredients were for Navy Bean Soup but the quantities for a very large batch needed some thought. In my research I found an interesting source in a most unexpected place. The official web site of the United States Senate. And lo and behold they had a recipe for making 5 gallons. https://www.senate.gov/reference/reference_item/bean_soup.htm The web site actually has two recipes and even though their appears to be an error in the batch quantities its still a useful source.

Playtime.
When is it ever not playtime? The frequently on-again off-again tug of war just drifted into the den. Not only does Griff love to try and take the ball from Bessie, but I think Bess enjoys having him try to take it and sometimes even offers it to him.

 

If only this was a video.
The first time I spotted Griffin digging a hole he was slinging large chunks of dirt and Bessie was standing behind him trying to catch them. These two did it again tonight and all I had was a still camera. The last three pictures they were playing with a Frisbee.