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On a Friday morning a couple of weeks ago, I rose early, 6 am to be exact, and headed downstairs to make oatmeal for Coffee. On Wednesdays and Fridays, we load up and head down just over the 4th street bridge to serve coffee, oatmeal and hard-boiled eggs to the folks on Skid Row.
In the kitchen at the Hennacy House that we Catholic Workers call home, the ceiling arcs so high, it would require a tall ladder to reach the top. Our ancient gas iron stove is blackened with use and on this Friday morning 4 enormous pots grace its surface. 2 for coffee, 2 for oatmeal. Using the recipe passed down through the years, I put 2 pounds of butter and 4 heaping measuring bowls of oatmeal into boiling water. 2 x 4, that’s easy enough to remember. Stirring the pots, I put the lid back and start a pot of coffee for the house. Later, I’ll add a scoop of raisins to each pot and a healthy dash of cinnamon. Right before we leave, I heave up the giant metal paddle we use to stir our mammoth pots and find, to my dismay, that the oatmeal is runny. Not just runny, soupy. This is bad news, as the guys on the street like their oatmeal so thick it’s jammy.
Nevertheless, we load up and head down. The man first in line stares, confused, at his bowl of dirty water with floating bits of oats. I cringe as I hand out the eggs on the next table, waiting for angry outbursts or negative comments. None come, though and the line progresses as folks go through and get back in line for seconds. I hear, dimly, the only Catholic Worker who speaks Spanish talking to the latino men who, consequently, make up the majority of our Coffee line. Flacita, I hear my nickname and cringe. He’s telling them who made the oatmeal. Oh boy, I think, I’m not going to be able to live this down. Es bonita, they say, laughing and they forgive me.
I later found out that they laughed, saying that the oatmeal explains why I’m so thin…it’s because I can’t cook! The morning passes quickly, and thank goodness, the 2nd pot of oatmeal is thicker. Crisis passed. I vow to try again the next Wednesday and get it right.
