Food

Yesterday was a pretty fat day. We ran down to Springdale and found the Vanzant Fruit Farms. They have the best peaches. We also picked up some okra, tomatoes and a cantaloupe. Will be diving into some of that today. After we left there, it was close to lunch, so we stopped in Lowell at a place called Ron's. You could smell the burgers coming down the road with the air conditioner on! Alex had the Friday special, which is a sausage burger, onion, cheese and pickle with mustard. They do their buns on the stovetop, so the tops are shiny with grease. I had a Mexican steak, which is a burger topped with salsa, jalapanos and cheese sitting in a plate of chili. We split an order of homemade onion rings and washed it all down with sweet tea. Alex said as we were paying to leave that it was sure good to be back in the south. All I'm thinking about is that I should run all the way back to Rogers to work some of that off.

We came home to rest and put the fruit on the counter so we could eat it later. Alex took a nap, and I checked e-mail. Lo and behold, I have been accepted into Asbury Theological Seminary (again). So this means I can take an online United Methodist polity class, which will take care of one of the required core classes needed for the certification in spiritual formation. More on polity when I figure out what the heck it is.

This weekend is also the 112th Annual Grape Fest at Tontitown, which is on the other side of the interstate from Ron's. They have a HUGE chicken and spaghetti dinner at the Catholic church, music and a bunch of those crazy carnival rides that we all went to when we were in high school. We bought our tickets and stood in line. Now two days ago, when it was 105 degrees at 5 p.m., I would have said, "No!" But last night, it was only 90, so we thought that was OK. Let me tell you, after 112 years, they have figured this out in a large way. They get you in the door, you pick up a tray with a bowl of salad on it and then step over to the women handing out the plates. The plates have either one large breast on it or a thigh and a drumstick. Close by is a mountain of spaghetti with sauce over it. Sitting on the side of all this is a homemade butter roll. Oh my gosh, the amount of food was ridiculous! They have been making the noodles from scratch for over a month, the men of the church have this special sauce that they make up, and the women were sitting there on stools making the rolls right there. You sit down and eat, and then they move you out and replace your spot with someone else. I bet they are feeding over 500 people an hour at $10 a head. Those Catholic know how to raise money and cook.

Needless to say, I don't think I will be eating anything but fruit today.