Manly Cooking Night - Boys Club

Every other Thursday evening Calvin Church comes alive with the sounds of children and adults. We host a Boys Club, GEMS (Girls) group, and a Men's Life Bible Study group. The entries listed on this date are all from Thursday, February 19th. This entry is of the Boys Club. Shawn, leader of the group, is always trying to come up with creative ways for the Boys who come to have some fun in the evening. When I heard the idea of "Manly Cooking Night," my curiosity was peaked. I decided to show up and help out when it came about (and eat too of course)! Last night, that event became a reality. The counsellors gathered a bit early to get things ready, and slowly the boys came into the church and began to prepare their dinner (they were not supposed to eat before they came).

Here you see two of the guys cutting onions for frying. A few tears were shed : (

On the menu for the evening was:

• Steak (marinaded in special ingredients)
• Fried Onions
• Fried Mushrooms
• Caesar Salad
• Home made dinner rolls
• Juice
• S'mores for dessert.

Here you see Shawn with the beloved steaks.....mmmmmmmm

Steaks are properly cooked on the BBQ. This is Shawn's. Apparently he didn't know he actually had a portable BBQ in his home. It looks very nice.

Steve gives a teaching course on the proper way to fry mushrooms. They tasted amazing !!!

Nathan fries up the onions. You could smell the onions and mushrooms throughout the church. The GEMS complained. : )

You can't have salad without properly preparing the lettuce. The boys are hard at work.

Caesar Salad is being prepared here.

The S'mores needed crumbs. Using a rolling pin and a zip lock bag Simon makes quick work of it. He had LOTS of fun. : )

Mixing the ingredients for the dinner muffins. Many secret ingredients made them taste VERY good. Sorry, I can't divulge the recipe. Sworn to secrecy on pain of death!!!!

Another boy takes over as the previous one got a tired arm stirring. Apparently these boys need some conditioning training Shawn. Hey, another idea for a Boys Club night?

The final ingredients placed into muffin tins and ready for baking.

Colwyn is still working hard on the Caesar Salad. He had a GREAT time cooking.

The steaks on the BBQ. Seems like this BBQ is not a state of the art one. Seems like the steaks took FOREVER to cook!

Everything is pretty much ready. Before eating, Shawn gives a lesson on manly cookbooks.

Here is one such cookbook that Shawn recommended.

Here's another.

Finally, after Pastor Ron earned his keep by blessing the meal, everyone lined up to feast on all the heard work.

Seems like the steak is a bit hard to chew! hmmmmm

The food was VERY good actually. A great job done by the boys and counsellors.

The BIGGER boys certainly enjoyed the meal as well.

Dessert was S'mores. The proper way to eat them was with your fingers. Colwyn showed us all how.

All in all a GREAT idea, a GREAT night, and GREAT food. The boys had a hoot making their meal and we all learned that cooking can be fun. Thanks guys for giving our boys great evenings that are creative, positive, and diverse. Thanks for showing these boys that loving God comes in many ways, shapes and forms. There is blessing in cooking. Thanks for giving them a connection point to the church that intertwines fun, faith building, food and fellowship. Cudo's. BTW, if you are visiting this site, and are interested in knowing more about our Boys Club and GEMS group, send me an email at youthpastor@calvincrc.ca I'd love to share how your son or daughter can join these great groups.