Welcome back to St. Martha.
All morning long we are celebrating
the 52nd annual St. Martha picnic.
We have moved things into the gym.
And by tonight, you know, no doubt it's
going to be completely packed in here.
And with Danny Patterson and
Jeff Jewell to talk us through,
I think arguably just one of the most,
this is the place to be because
we're talking about the food, Danny.
Yes, we are. Yes, we are.
OK, So you've been in the kitchen already,
kind of given us a sample.
And working on the fried chicken
because the fried chicken
dinner here is a very big deal.
Why is that?
It is because it's not just regular chicken,
it's a it's a pressure.
It's a marinated chicken that's
that's never been frozen.
Then we hand read it,
then we cook it in a broster pressure fryer.
We cook it in 11 minutes so it holds
in the juices and keeps out the grease
and and it's just a wonderful product.
Is. And you are pairing it with
some wonderful sides as well.
Tell us about some of the sides.
Yep, we have a ham, homemade sides.
We have coleslaw. We have a
wonderful potato, potatoes. This is
what like a cucumber?
Cucumber salad? Cucumber salad.
And the parsley potatoes. Yes,
ma'am. Tell me more. Tell me more.
OK, well, let's see.
Friday we're all we have our
fish dinner and that's going
to be accompanied with our
macaroni and homemade coleslaw.
Those are original recipes that
we've been serving for nearly
are actually over 50 years now.
Is there a secret recipe to the fish as well?
There is, but I can't discuss
that you guys. Geez, like what you just.
Danny described us with the chicken.
I'm like what? Like that's it's done in a
way that you have to say people know about
it and they know to come to this dinner.
I mean it. What is it like in here?
It's it gets crazy in here.
I assure you that we have lines out
the door and where we were serving
all Friday evening, Saturday.
And the chicken dinner
again is all you can eat.
So we have all you can eat dark
meat and sides as well, unlimited,
unlimited and that's unique to any parish.
Probably right to have that kind
of all you can eat situation.
Certainly I don't know any of any other.
I don't either. And so it's rule.
Yes ma'am. Yes, ma'am.
It's definitely official.
And prices can you breakdown like what
what the prices are Again, certainly
the fish on Friday this evening
is $13 and we also give a
dollar discount for our seniors.
Saturday is going to be $15 and a dollar
discount for the seniors as well.
All right. Well Danny,
how long have you been doing the
picnic and and volunteering with
the cooking? It's been about
15 years now and we bring in
special brochure pressure fryers.
We can cook 240 pieces every 11
minutes and those fryers out there,
they they close down under
pressure and cook it quickly.
Then every five drops we have
a filtering system that filters
the oil to keep the oil nice
and fresh as we go along. So.
Do you ever run out?
We it's been a while so we're expecting
and we hopefully we won't but but very,
very good possibility we're targeting
over 2000 dinners this year.
My goodness. Right.
And then after the picnic do you
always start to look forward to
next year and say OK we're going
to maybe we'll try this side or or
maybe we'll or do you just always say
but we're going to keep it the same
Oh, after the dinner we rest
so then then about.
About six months. We start prepping
for the next year. Yes. Yeah.
You guys gonna be need a
lot of rest after this one.
Yes, ma'am. But that preparation
does start in January. So it takes
a while to get it together to
get it down to. I think that is
a very well oiled machine here.
You know what to expect and
you know what people enjoy.
Yes, ma'am. We have a strong group
of parishioners behind us that
help us out significantly. So what?
We're very blessed to have that.
And do you have a favorite?
Do you like the fish or the chicken more?
It's a hard toss up,
but the fish we we have quite
often throughout the year.
So I go for the chicken
special. The picnic chicken.
Yes, ma'am. All right.
Well, we would just want to remind
everybody it's really important to
get out here and kind of support
the parish because this this
helps you all year round. Yes,
ma'am. It's the biggest fundraiser that
we have and it's a wonderful time.
It has a wonderful time. Guys.
Thanks so much. Hey. Oh, can I,
like try the the cucumber salad. OK.
All right. This is your your job now.
Enjoy. Right. I'm a fan of cucumber salad.
So I got a My mother is at home
going mine for bed and I got to try
if I can get that little bit there.
All right, we'll give our run for the money.
I'm getting all of them.
Oh, my goodness, that is so good.
Like the vinegar mixture in it.
You guys, this is going to be a great time.
So once again.
The picnic kicks off tonight at 4:00
o'clock until midnight and any special
hours that we should tell everybody with
the dinner when you guys wrap things up?
No, no, no, Just come get it. Come get it.
They're going to serve it while they have it.
Once again, stay with us, because coming up,
we're going to try a little bit more
of the food here during the break.
And then coming up, we're going to
wrap things up from Saint Martha.
Stay with us more. Great day.
Live straight ahead.