great bbq and food
thank you again
it was nice to meet new friends and see old ones
sorry i cut out so soon i was dead tired from drive home from phionex the day before
very kool to meet new folks and talk bbq with old
nice for so many to make the trek
happy mothers day to jims wife and mom and all other moms too
great food and people thats for sure
jim what a man
keep his shortsleave shirt on from at least 7:15am when we arrived right up to and including when the sun came out
thanks again

Jim & Vangie: Thanks for being such gracious and wonderful hosts and for inviting us to your warm house and killer yard, what a great view! I think you could have easily fit another 50 of us in there!

The food was excellent and luckily the weather held out for us so we could enjoy the event. Thanks everyone for the great food and the great conversations! My Son & I had a great time meeting all for you.

Jim, I know this was a meeting that was long overdue for both of us, and I'm so glad we finally had the chance! I really look forward to meeting up with you and more of this cool group of LTH food lovers in the very near future.

That was a great time, for sure! Thanks, to Jim and Vangie, for being such gracious, hospitable hosts. As usual at an LTH gathering, as good as the food was, the company easily trumped it. It was great chatting with folks I already knew and meeting several LTHers whom I'd not met before.

Everything I ate was terrific -- and I wish I had room for more -- but the real stand-outs for me were the appetizers, meats, side dishes and desserts.

Memphis has absolutely nothing on Marseilles!

Thanks again, Jim and Vangie!

=R=

Hi,

While only minutes away, I never made it to Marseilles in May. I did learn all about car repair options in the area on Saturday afternoon. When everyone else is closed, Farm and Fleet in Ottawa has car mechanics available until 8 PM. An interesting fact not even AAA knew anything about.

It took just over 90 minutes for a tow truck to move me from my perch: a mere 1/4 mile east of exit 97 for Marseilles. Once on our way, the tow truck came to a grinding halt after loosing its drive shaft. We then spent some time sitting a 1/4 mile west of exit 97 to learn how really close we were to Ottawa, IL:



We finally left the vicinity of exit 97, when a half million dollar tow truck that normally tows semis arrived. The semi tow truck, towed the broken tow truck with my car still harnessed. I rode along in a third truck to Farm and Fleet. It was such an unusual caravan, all the mechanics at Farm and Fleet came out to admire the parade.



My car's issue was temporarily repaired enough to drive home, they called it an "Exhaust check" with a charge of $0.00. I had them replace a headlight to have one less violation in case I was tapped on to visit a police officer. My total repair cost was less than $20. and towing change of $11.25.

While waiting on the car, I took a brief tour of the store. While in pursuit of udder balm, I found a horse trough retooled as a nursery for ducklings and chicks priced to sell from 99 cents to $4.00:





I learned Farm and Fleet will not sell anything less than two ducklings to a customer. Ducklings are social animals who will quack themselves to death, refusing water and food, until they are paired up with another duck or duckling.

By the time I was ready to join Marseilles in May around 6 PM, it was closing up. Instead, I went to R Place in Morris for dinner. If I had been a bit faster on the draw, I would have gone to White Fence Farm for my very first visit.

Life is an adventure, if you want it to be.

Ottawa Farm & Fleet, Inc.
4140 Columbus Street
Route 23 North, PO Box 488
Ottawa, IL 61350-0488
Phone 815.433.4536

Regards,

Cathy - Sorry to hear about your misadventures. I saw the Farm & Fleet when we stopped at Wal-Mart. Had we known you were there, we would have given you a hitch (or at least brought you a plate from the picnic)!

Here are some random photos from yesterday's event. If I didn't get a picture of your dish, it was probably because I was eatin'!


LikesToEatOut's Olives


irisarbor's guacamole


mbh's potato salad


ronnie_suburban's charcuterie


abf001's buffalo wings


Smokers smokin'


GWiv, et al. at smokers


One of baby ray's ribs

More ribs . . .












Table shot


Party favors

Anyhow - here's a link to the flickr set.

Hi,

I hope someone saved a cup for me. I like to keep these things for the future LTHforum wing of the Chicago History Museum.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I hope someone saved a cup for me. I like to keep these things for the future LTHforum wing of the Chicago History Museum.

Regards,

As I was leaving I did notice that Jim had a few left.

Looking at all of the pictures I am hungry all over again!

LTH,

What a wonderful afternoon, great food, conversation, muddy rainy day tuning to a less muddy rainy day, but the warm hospitality of Jim, Vangie and daughter kept the elements at bay. (Along with Jim's tequila and Ronnie's exceptional bourbon)

Food was terrific, I still have not met an LTHer who was not skilled in the ways of the kitchen, and it was a bonus to meet MKess and Skess along with ABF005 and son Andrew for the first time, not to mention catch up with old LTH friends.

Pictures to come.

Enjoy,
Gary

Thanks to Jim, Vangie, and family for a wonderful Saturday. RAB, Dash, and I had a marvelous time. Such great company and eats. I was only sad that I wasn't able to try everything.

And thanks for giving us an excuse to see a part of Illinois that's new to us. Today, we spent the morning in Starved Rock State Park (thanks to Panther in the Den for the great St. Louis Canyon suggestion) and then stopped by Ron's Cajun Connection for a lunch only second to the delicious food we enjoyed yesterday.

Ronna

Wanted to add my thanks as well. It was fun to meet all and delicious of course. It was a great first LTH event experience and I hope to be a part of many more.

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I hope someone saved a cup for me. I like to keep these things for the future LTHforum wing of the Chicago History Museum.

Regards,

Cathy, I am sorry you ran into all those problems and couldnt make it. Yes I have some of the cups generously donated by deathbyorca, we will have to figure a way to get some to you.

Once again thanks to all that made the trek out to Marseilles.

I had a blast, and was recovering most of the day yesterday(I was told I went to bed somewhere around 8:30, but dont quite remember it - great food, mezcal, ronnies bourbon, and plenty of beer took their toll).

It was great to hang out with some of the people I had met before, and also great to meet some new people, and others I have conversed with only online up unitl Saturday.

I look forward to next year, and the 2nd Annual MIM.

a couple more pics

Duce & Ron from SBR:



SBRs SMoker:

last of the pics I have:

I had so much fun coming to this event and meeting all of you. What nice people you all are. Thanks again Jim for hosting the event. It was a perfect day, with perfect food and company. I was blown away that Sweet Baby Ray himself showed up and cooked his champion ribs. I finally got to meet my LTH idol (Gary) who graciously signed his book for me, and gave me great tips on how to smoke a turkey so it won’t come out tasting like ham! The food was outstanding. I will never….ever forget the avocado gelato. I hope to be able to come to more LTH functions in the future. It is like coming home to “your own kind”!

LTH,

A few random pics.

Loved the coconut cupcakes


Dug the gelato, especially banana chip and salted caramel


Strawberry pie just waiting for its closeup with picture perfect pecan in the background.


Deviled eggs were heavenly


Chicken wings plump, spicy, meaty.


Loved Ronnie_S's plump, juicy..........(insert double entendre here)


And Steve Z was all about perfect technique with his 4 to a pound natural casing Vienna's.


My buttermilk brined chicken was fine, loved the smoked armadillo eggs, fried armadillo (spur of the moment experiment) no-so-much.


Duce went Texas with full-on spare ribs


Jim hit the loin back lotto with his fresh from the smoker no-foil big flavor ribs.


REB with Dash at attention. I think she has one of Jimswside's ribs in hand.


A really lovely setting for a picnic.


Lovely and restful.


Ronnie_Suburban in his element


Thanks Jim and Vengie a really terrific day.


Additional pictures may be found -->here

Enjoy,
Gary

More photos for your viewing pleasure


The long view


Men hunkering down around their cookers






Happy face! Plus hungry eaters in the background!


It was a great time!