The Place to Be Last Night

For Culinary Afficcionados

Miriam's Kitchen, the basement home away from home for street folks to get in out of the cold every single morning to have a hot breakfast, fellowship, some crafts fun if they feel like it and all the toiletries they need, where they can connect with a Homeless Advocate from a Homeless legal clinic, or connect with a social worker, and always connect with the "Cereal Mom" lady who serves the hors d'oevres first course of a selection of breakfast cereals before the feast, has an annual fundraiser every year at the Building Museum. It is called "Bowls of Compassion" and what a brilliant fundraising idea that should be replicated.
What they do is get artists to happily donate exquisite pieces of all kinds of bowls, which liberally means everything from glass sushi platters to large salad bowls, to small designer oval wooden traditional kinds, to anything you could put soup in or just want to hang on the wall. The artists get the publicity and write-ups are featured. They auction the bowls off- typically some of these pieces would go for hundreds if not thousands.
They had a silent auction of a few select artistic pieces of jewelry and handicraft also.
This auction was done electronically with i-pod type devices. They raised a fortune last night-enough to keep it running for another year no doubt.
The regular staff and volunteers last night played cook, chef, bottle-washer, table-setter and chief waiters and waitresses as they paraded around platters of an unbelievably gourmet selection of appetizers, tapas and deserts. I don't need to eat for a week and shouldn't.
Homemade ginger gelatto, coconut-cashew lamb balls dipped in a cilantro sauce, tiny lemon tarts, curried chicken kabobs, and savory chic pea waffles with an out of this planet sauce hot off the griddle. Who thinks of this stuff?
Steve the Kitchen Guru was there, as he is every day in the kitchen at Miriams, rain, shine or blizzard. He is the master chef who literally keeps hundreds of people a day a live with his cooking.
Literally hundreds of people a day stop in each morning at the corner of Virginia Avenue catecorner across from the Kennedy Center to stop first thing in the morning in the basement of Western Presbyterian Church. They take a number and gladly stand in line for a full hot meal which typically includes (after the Cereal Mom treats them to a bowl as they wait) good protein, fruit helpings and a vegetable medley of some kind-the menu varies and is always diner quality food. Steve's motto is 'if you wouldn't eat it yourself we can't serve it.' If it looks too old it goes in the circular file.
I ran across another Favorite Food Afficionado there who as he stood by the pool inside the Building Museum, the fountain mysteriously shot forth a large burst of cascading water behind his head- and I attributed it to him- he is the famous Cook-book writing Jesuit Father Curry.
He has written a book on the Art of Jesuit Breadmaking and Jesuit Soupmaking with a new book on deserts coming out soon. Get the trilogy for Christmas- the first two are favorite smashing gifts that everyone in the family got for Christmas one year from me.

Next Year when BOWLS OF COMPASSION rolls around, you want to be there.
Trust Me- it's one of the best events in town.