Cooking dinner at RMH -- Hyde Park -- electric boogaloo
posted March 2, 2013 7:26 PM   RSS | iCal | +googleCal

Sun May 19 at 4:30 PM, ronald mcdonald house -- Hyde Park
5444 South Drexel Avenue, Chicago, IL, USA (Map & Directions)
RMH DINNER: We had a great time cooking dinner for people at the Hyde Park Ronald McDonald House so we're doing it again. It's like a potluck that we all make together at their kitchen, and also feed families of sick kids.
This event is the dinner event. We are also doing brunch. It's event page is here.

Hyde Park RMH asks that we have no more than 12 people. I don't think that should be a problem, but keep that in mind.

At Hyde Park, they ask us to cook for 30 people plus the group of us that comes, and to have dinner ready around 6. I'm happy to help coordinate menus and food amounts and anything else that might need coordinating.

For those that haven't done this before -- they have kitchens in the houses that are well stocked with standard kitchen ware and utensils and tools. We will bring the food along for cooking. Spices they sometimes have, and sometimes don't, so it's safer to bring, but if you forget and it's common, don't worry. They're happy with us cooking whatever menu that we'd like, but to remember that we're cooking for a variety of people with a variety of tastes, so multiple dishes work better than one giant pot of stew so that everyone will be able to eat. So, what do you want to make (yourself, or as a suggestion for the group menu). Please do make suggestions, otherwise I'll accidently come up with something that's a lot of work for everyone like pierogi from scratch.

For those wanting to go, but concerned about distance, carpooling with someone else in the thread is definitely an option.
posted by garlic to Meetup (45 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

My pool league is on Sundays, so I couldn't do May 12 - or any Sunday dinner until late June. Looks like the next Saturday dinner is June 15. This is not to say that if others are available for May 12, you should skip it because of me.

I think doing brunch would be fun. Maybe I could recruit my father to help me make homemade sausage. That man makes some mean sausage.
posted by youngergirl44 at 12:49 AM on March 3, 2013


I can't stand for long periods so I'll have to sit this one out.
posted by Evilspork at 1:41 AM on March 3, 2013


Uh, no pun intended.
posted by Evilspork at 4:45 PM on March 3, 2013


Thursday nights are best for me, but my schedule tends to be pretty random. I think that I would prefer dinner, for no apparent reason.

Both May 12 and June 22 are clear in my calendar.

Thanks for organizing this!
posted by crush-onastick at 6:32 PM on March 3, 2013


Do you maybe wanna sign up for both dinner and brunch? They're separated by a fair bit of time.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 6:24 PM on March 5, 2013 [2 favorites]


I would also be up for either/both.

I would also like homemade sausage.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:01 AM on March 7, 2013


Yeah, what the hell was the jug thing? I wrote it down but accidentally deleted it.
posted by eamondaly at 7:02 PM on March 7, 2013


"Time to jug up!"With hooking motion of picking up a jug of Carlo Rossi Pino Grievio.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 7:09 PM on March 7, 2013 [2 favorites]


Yay updates!

May 19 officially on my calendar.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:38 AM on March 8, 2013


If needed at the last minute, I might be able to step up and fill in, skipping my pool league. For now though, I'm a no for this one.
posted by youngergirl44 at 10:54 AM on March 8, 2013


It was loads of fun last time -- and loads of chicken nuggets, woah -- so I'm in, schedule permitting!
posted by sldownard at 7:19 PM on March 25, 2013


OK. We're about a month away, and in about 2 weeks they'll be asking for our menus. So, what do you want to cook?
posted by garlic at 10:17 AM on April 22, 2013


Assuming the weather is actually nicer by that point, I'm thinking along the lines of a pasta primavera type thing:
Roasted squash, zucchini, bell peppers, maybe eggplant.
Plus italian sausage (or chicken)
Penne
tossed with goat cheese.
This is good hot or cold, eaten with fingers out of the tupperware you were going to take into work the next day for lunch.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 4:27 PM on April 22, 2013


I think I'm going to make a baked bean concoction with bbq sauce, bacon and cow (and beans obviously).
posted by garlic at 12:38 PM on April 23, 2013


I can do buttermilk biscuits and cornbread and maybe some other sort of biscuit/muffin to go with the beans.
posted by crush-onastick at 8:45 PM on April 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm going to be just getting back from overseas a few days beforehand... what do you guys think about caprese salad?
posted by sldownard at 7:47 PM on April 26, 2013


Menu so far:
Cold Lurkey's take on Pasta Primavera
garlic's take on Settler's Beans
sldownard's Caprese Salad
crush-onastick makes all the quickbreads.

This is probably enough, but another side or two wouldn't hurt either. Thoughts?
posted by garlic at 2:18 PM on April 29, 2013


I made some pretty bumping roasted brussel sprouts last night and they're dead easy to execute.
Would that be good, or are brussel sprouts not mainstream enough?
posted by Cold Lurkey at 5:12 PM on April 29, 2013


Kay and I will bring a meat, though exactly what kind is unclear at the moment. Probably pork loin.
posted by eamondaly at 10:57 AM on May 2, 2013


brussel sprouts are lovely, though you don't need to sign up for 2 dishes unless it's an easy thing to hand off to a soux chef.
posted by garlic at 12:04 PM on May 2, 2013


It is indeed a very very easy thing to pass off, as it requires only about 10 minutes of work. I'll gladly accept help, or do it myself. So i'll just show up with a sack full of sprouts.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 2:54 PM on May 2, 2013


Due to unforeseen circumstances, I'm changing my entree from bean dish to polish sausage dish.

Also, does anyone else need any polish sausage, because I'm not sure what to do with 50 lbs of it...
posted by garlic at 8:56 AM on May 6, 2013 [2 favorites]


How does one get 50# of unexpected polish sausage? Extravagance of the polish sausage fairy?
posted by Cold Lurkey at 11:31 AM on May 6, 2013


it was mis-delivered next door to an empty house. I noticed it slowly defrosting on Saturday. On Sunday I rescued it, right before it would have needed to be thrown out.
posted by garlic at 6:09 PM on May 6, 2013 [2 favorites]


hmmm. The polish sausage fairy can be a capricious bitch. Maybe test it on yourself before foisting it on the RMH?
posted by Cold Lurkey at 6:38 PM on May 6, 2013


Will do, but I'm not worried about fridge temperature(when rescued) smoked meat.
posted by garlic at 8:11 PM on May 6, 2013


Oh man. Polish sausage. Yum!

Should I change from quick breads to something like pan-fried potatoes with bell peppers and onions, then? I could also do cookies.
posted by crush-onastick at 6:54 AM on May 7, 2013


pan fried potatoes are delicious. That'd be my vote.
posted by garlic at 11:18 AM on May 7, 2013


Alternatively, I could sub polish for italian sausage into the pasta primaverish... or just go with chickens to not sausage out the affair. My normal progress on this dish is to add the meat last, which allows for portioning out a veggie option. Do you think I should?
But, but, but, pan-fried potatoes are a damn fine thing, so i'll leave it to you to hash out.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 6:54 PM on May 7, 2013


Crud, I'd really like to do this sometime but I'm going to be busy that Sunday. I think it's great that you guys do this.
posted by deathpanels at 1:50 PM on May 13, 2013


Wish I could make this, because it sounds like a wonderful thing.

My sorry-ass non-attendance withstanding, seems like prime time for grilling if anyone can hump a Weber down there.

Even if nothing more than hamburgers and hot dogs, seems like the sort of thing they might not get everyday, and would be something to remember as special.
posted by timsteil at 1:40 PM on May 15, 2013


Do we have an idea of how many guests are going to be in the house this weekend? I've started stockpiling goat cheese.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 7:02 AM on May 16, 2013


Can I hitch a ride with someone? Car issues at casa de onastick.
posted by crush-onastick at 7:15 AM on May 16, 2013


Yeah, crush, I've got you.

So it sounds like pork is covered. Should I still bring something or are we good?
posted by eamondaly at 8:26 PM on May 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


menu as submitted was

Caprese Salad
Pasta Primavera
Polish Sausage and Lentils (which i guess is smoked sausage, not polish)
pan fried potatoes
Brussel Sprouts

We have a good meal covered I think, but am happy for any additions. Dessert items are also often donated separately / already lying around so we can rely on that, or we can make our own again.

The group plan is for 25 adults plus us, so say 35 adults.
posted by garlic at 6:30 AM on May 17, 2013


Okay, I totally forgot this was this weekend and panicked, but then I realized we decided on Sunday rather than Saturday, so panic over.

Menu sounds great. Let me know if I should bring anything.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:40 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


YOURSELF, MIKE. YOU SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT YOURSELF!
posted by garlic at 8:11 PM on May 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


I Had a lot of fun and I think we cooked a lot of good food. Thanks for coming guys!
posted by garlic at 8:12 PM on May 19, 2013


I'm sorry I bailed, and I'm REALLY sorry I did so without letting you know.

The former was intentional as I was playing nursemaid at home all weekend and had a weird sleep schedule going on (Andy's immune system is apparently working too well -- which as ridiculous as that sounds is apparently a thing that can happen -- so they gave him a drug that increases his ability to make white blood cells... which gives you have flu symptoms and bone pain -- which is also apparently a real thing..."bone pain" sounding much cooler in theory than in practice. Of course, they gave them that shot on Friday without letting him know about any of this possible side effects... so FUN!)

But the latter wasn't and I felt pretty bad about it when I woke up from my post-lunch nap and it was already 6:30 PM.

But I'm glad it was fun but still super bummed I missed it.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:24 PM on May 20, 2013


This is an enjoyable thing, which I am glad we do, and sorry to hear about your weekend, MCMike; hope Andy is doing better.
posted by crush-onastick at 4:28 PM on May 20, 2013


Aw man, I used to live next door to that place! Sounds like a great day was had. :)
posted by capricorn at 7:22 PM on May 20, 2013


Glad to hear it went well, maybe next time.
posted by Evilspork at 4:25 PM on May 21, 2013


Next dinner event page is here.
posted by garlic at 8:46 AM on May 23, 2013


This thread is delish and needs pictures.
posted by allkindsoftime at 5:34 PM on May 28, 2013


There are photos on the right hand side column.
posted by garlic at 6:55 AM on May 29, 2013



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