The Fourth of July, Landmark Cafe, Share House and a Learning Experience

I've been fortunate to have been asked to join the board of a few years ago. Share House provides emergency and transitional housing for domestic violence victims. I believe it is the largest charity provider of transitional housing in the county. There are too many tragic stories that could have ended better if the abused spouse and children had had an immediate, safe place to go. It's a privilege for me to know I am helping. I volunteered to help with the Share House Fourth of July Celebration at this year, and was put in charge of the barbeque.

Now I love helping the community, and despite or perhaps due to my age, I love to find new learning situations. Well, I found one. Even though I grew up in the country and helped butcher a hog when I was in middle school, I know little about barbeque. In fact I've been a vegetarian for thirteen years, and I can't remember the last time I tasted pork. However, I am experienced in not having experience.. In the late 1970's I was hired as a department store buyer and immediately sent to New York to spend over a million dollars on merchandise. I was to meet my boss there. Since I'd never been to the city I went up a day early to explore. Of course it snowed that night: 27 inches. No one could get in the next few days. I had no experience with the merchandise I was buying, but I managed to accomplish most of what was expected of me. I used good judgment about the vendors and salesman I met and great judgment about how much more they knew than I. I was a fair judge at deciding whom to trust. Since most were used to inexperienced buyers, there were some very capable experts, willing to help. So I tried to use that experience in my barbeque assignment.

Douglasville has plenty of great barbeque choices, and after calling and discussing estimates from many restaurants, I visited the . The Landmark Cafe at Dorsett Shoals and Highway 5 had already been recognized this year as the best new restaurant by A Taste of Douglasville. I met Steve Buckles. He is a character, bubbling over with enthusiasm. He obviously loves what he does. He took me under his wing, and I feel now that I have at least passed BBQ 01 at Steve's BBQ University. He certainly went above and beyond my expectations, hauling his imposing smoker/rotisserie out to the park and cooking until three in the morning the night before at the restaurant. We received great reviews from the crowd.

One great discovery at Landmark was local honey from Sweetwater Creek Honey Farm. I am a big consumer of honey. I sweeten everything with it. I didn't particularly like the taste when I was young, but I love it now. I have heard all of the health claims about honey and the claims that there are no particular health benefits. I believe if you use products rumored to be good for you, there's a chance you're doing something right. Local honey is also supposed to help you with local allergies, because the small amount of allergens in the honey immunize you. However if you're extremely allergic, you should use caution, go slow and make sure you don't react to the honey. By the way, I understand raw honey should not be fed to children under the age of one. All that being said, the price was about the same as the supermarket price for “imported” honey.

The next big Share House event is the annual “Paws and Effects” Dog Sow at on October 8.. Make your plans to be there that day. If you need a dog, Patch has some great dogs posted. I expect that I will be in charge of something simpler at this event. If you check out Landmark Cafe, please don't let them know I'm a vegetarian. If anyone who attended has suggestions about the Fourth of July Celebration, please contact me.