Yesterday we did an interesting program at work. We had a fish fry lunch!My co-worker, on this Fathers Day weekend shift, is a man who has a lot of past experience in leading youth camping and other outdoor programming and he suggested that we go out on our patio and use an old fashioned Colman camp stove to cook up a fish fry! I thought that was pretty brilliant. With my camping experience we were on the same page about what a good experience this could be and how to do it!
My co-worker, D, took care of all the food aspects and I was supposed to do a few fishing games, fishing reminiscence and jokes but we didn't get all those extras fit in. I wound up spending my time inviting residents to join us for lunch and then transporting them to the patio. I think they couldn't believe I was serious that we were having a cookout.
We have a small but nicely treed fenced patio that is surprisingly pleasant oasis to have in our downtown facility surrounded by large buildings. We set up a cooking station and had a picnic table set up with an old green Colman Stove. Our menu consisted of batter dipped cod fish fillets, bannock or fry bread and baked beans. One fun aspect was that D. found some nice divided take out containers that we used as disposable dishes. They were perfect for our outdoor lunch. People loved sitting out on this beautiful day, listening to a favorite CD of country music, watching the camp cooking and eating such a rare style of cooking for a Personal Care Home.
I was exhausted by 1 pm. so I was really glad we had planned an easy afternoon. My co-worker set up the dining room for watching a movie and put on a Three Stooges marathon DVD. Whoever wanted to watch it could. This was a good choice because it is a series of very short films and on a day like Fathers Day there is a lot of coming and going of visitors, so it made it easy for people to join in at any point in the program or even for people to come and share a laugh with their loved ones.
